eMail Marketing

eMail Marketing

eMail marketing has become a popular way for businesses to engage in regular communication with their prospects and customers because it is easy to use and very cost effective. As the popularity of eMail marketing has increased so has the amount of spam received. To combat the increase of spam, eMail programs have developed filters. The issue now is that legitimate emails get caught by spam filters and are never seen by the consumer.

Getting Past Spam Blockers

Due to the popularity of spam, junk filters are getting more and more careful blocking suspicious messages. What this means is that spammers are constantly being seen and added to the blacklist of unacceptable marketing behavior. Before sending out emails a useful tip is to give the message a quick review of the words that may  be caught and classify the email as spam. Words or phrases that should  be avoided are FREE, amazing, buy now, congratulations, dear friend, great offer, investment, special promotion, and winner.

Getting Emails Opened

The more people that open emails means more potential people are going to take the desired action. There have been studies that explain factors such as the subject line, the from line expectations/brand relevance, and content value all influence email open rates. Subject lines must provide a compelling reason to open the email and this can be done through personalizing subject lines based on the targets interests or purchase history. The from line is important because if it is recognizable then it is more likely tobe opened. Expectations or brand relevance are important because if the product isn’t relevant to the person’s current interest then there will be no need for the person to open the email. The content of the email needs to have original  and compelling information so that recepients create the idea that they are missing out if they don’t open the email.

The Effectiveness of Online Advertising

Advertising is not an exact science so measuring success of an advertising campaign can be done in multiple ways. It’s impossible to determine if your sales are up due to certain advertisements but it can certainly give an idea of whether or not the ads are in the right direction. To asses the effectiveness of an advertising campaign you can keep track of sales, new customers, requests for information and website traffic or click through rates all to guage the impact the advertisments are having.

An option to track effectiveness is to put a referral box in the site’s shopping cart. This will allow you to ask the customer how they found your site before they finish their order. This method is useful because it is a good way to find out which websites are providing the best impression to click ratios and also the best click to buy ratio.

Another way to evaluate the impact of online advertising is to use cookie-based technology that can help establish whether the consumers have been exposed to the advertising as well as how many exposures. Cookie technology was a huge step forward for measuring advertising effectiveness because it allowed us to see if the advertising effected a transaction as well as you could connect transaction data back to advertisements that referred the transaction.

A different but effective approach to measuring advertising effectiveness is by running ads with different themes. You could place one that focuses on price and then one that focuses on company reputation. Feature different web addresses that will take the users to a common portal like a standard company website, and by doing this you can track where the hits come from and measure with ad is producing more hits and therefore which one is more effective.

Click Through Advertising

Pay per click payment is based on click-throughs, while cost per click indicates measurement of cost on a per click basis for contracts not based on click-throughs. Click-through is the process of clicking through an online advertisement to the advertiser’s destination and it is usually the most immediate response to an advertisement. Accurate counting of click-throughs involves excluding “robot clicks” and duplicate clicks and this becomes especially important when click-throughs are used as the measurement on which payment is based.

Click fraud exists in many forms including automated bots, competitors, and even lard click farms are rumored to exist in third world countries. All of these things has a common result of click traffic that advertisers have to pay for. Some motives behind click fraud include competitive fraud, affiliate or contextual fraud, and impression fraud. Competitive fraud is when a competing advertiser seeks to remove a competitor by endlessly clicking on the competitors search terms. Affiliate fraud is when a website owner might arrange for a lot of clicks on site ads in order to increase revenue from the content listings because they are paid per click. And impression fraud is when searches are done repeatedly on a term but no clicks are registered. This in turn drives down the click through rate for the paid search listing and can lead to disabling the search term due to low click through rates.

When making click-through ads choosing the right keywords can be crucial to getting your ad seen while keeping in mind that it is extremely easy to blow a budget on poorly targeted words. When making a click through ad the target market is a key component to keep in mind because international visibility of the web differs dramatically from country to country and therefore click through rates differ dramatically between regions.

Search Engine Pitfalls

The main objective of search engine marketing is to be in the top few results. Being in the top few results of a search engine can be vital to driving traffic to your website because most adults who buy things online rely on search engines to research their purchases. The problem with search engine optimization is that marketers can try to buy specific key word positions (buy their way to the top) as opposed to previously receiving a top standing was based on optimization techniques. While some people play by the rules, there are others who try to manipulate or trick their way to the top of search engine lists. Some of these tactics include hidden text or hidden links, cloaking, doorway pages, phishing, malware, and other types of badware.

Hidden text or hidden links can be explained as white text on a white background and is something you want to steer clear from. Some forms of hidden texts or links are hidden text that also happens to by hyperlinked, using CSS to make tiny hyperlinks (1 pixel high text), and hiding links in the text (a period in the middle of a paragraph). This is a violation of many search engine guidelines and the sites that you are directed to are most commonly inappropriate sites. Another form of manipulative behavior is called cloaking and big time company BMW was caught using this by Google and their page rank was reduced to zero. You are not to deceive your users or present different content to search engines then you display to users, however when a user clicked on the link displayed in Google’s results window they were redirected to a regular BMW Germany page containing far fewer of the key words. The spokesman for BMW insisted the company’s intentions were honorable but on Google’s website the guideline was in violation because BMW designed the webpage for the search engine, not the users. Due to the breaking of the guideline BMW was hit with the zero ranking list result. Another deceptive technique is phishing. Phishing is done through sending emails from seemingly credible senders such as well-known bank institutions or online payment processing for online vendors. What goes on is the messages sent by phishers usually have a fake link to a credible company and the website contains a form that visitors need to fill out. The information that is gathered from the page can contain credit card information and other sensitive data. So in all, the competition for top search engine results can be a very competitive game and many people can get caught up in the destructive tactics that some businesses chose to use.

Online Public Relations

Online and offline public relations differ in their ways of pitching things but both try to do the same things. Online public relations involve activities that are geared towards influencing media, communities, and audiences that exist solely on the Internet using online channels. These things include search engines, blogs, news search, forums, discussion threads, social networks, and other online communication tools. Offline public relations deal with the same kinds of things just with print, radio, TV, conferences/events, and other “real life” venues.

The Internet provides valuable public relations opportunities that are now equal to or are even better then the standard marketing and public relations tools. There are many online public relations tools that we can use to try to spread the word about a product. Reaching the public can be beneficial because it allows us to connect directly with people with specific interests via internet newsgroups. One key to posting online in newsgroups is to try to soft sell your product. Making a blatant sales pitch will only get people to tune you out of the newsgroup very quickly. It is also important to try to share advice in your areas of expertise and always to include the name of your business and a link to your own site. Another valuable key is to return to the site often and post regularly to give you multiple exposures and it shows that there is a consistent presence on the site. A good idea when starting out blogging is to look at the blogs that other people have created in the corporate world. Even though there are many people that don’t want to hear what corporate people have to say, hundreds of thousands of others are tuning in. So even though blogging is easy to do and is being done by more than 8.5 million people today, there are public relations and legal hoops to jump through before executives can start writing about their ideas.

Viral Marketing vs Word of Mouth

Word of mouth marketing and viral marketing are very different marketing tools that can be easily confused as the same. Word of mouth marketing is a form of promotional campaign which operates through an individual’s personal recommendations of specific brands, products or services. It is much easier for someone to take a recommendation from a friend or family member then from an advertisement or advertiser. This is on the basis that recommendations are generally perceived as incentive-free, unlike the obvious motivation of advertisers. Word of mouth works in the form of a marketer doing something and then the consumer tells five or ten friends. It usually has a short life span because at first it amplifies the marketing action and then it fades, usually very fast. Most organizations are better of working with word of mouth marketing because it is more likely to occur, it’s more manageable, and it’s more flexible.

Viral marketing is any marketing technique that induces web sites or users to pass on a marketing message to other sites or users, creating a potentially exponential growth in the message’s visibility and effect. Viral marketing is like a compounding function. A marketer does something and then a consumer tells five or ten people, then they tell five or ten people. All the while the message grows enormously like a virus spreading through a population. Starting that one marketing message is all that the marketer has to do. Viral marketing is advantageous to use because of its easy execution through email, instant messaging, and using other web sites. It is a low-cost method of marketing because with just a little investment on viral advertising, its power can reach even hundreds of thousands of people as compared to spending the same amount of money to traditional advertising methods. Viral marketing is good for targeting people who are likely interested because the people who see the message generally pass it along to their friends who are also interested in the same things. Due to the widespread effect of going viral is has a high and rapid response rate. Viral marketing can be very effective, but it’s odds of great success are much like wining the lottery. So for an effective viral marketing campaign to go big it is a very good idea to start by focusing on who the target market is and then placing the viral agent in the most effective websites, blogs, or any other influencing places.

Website Usability and Testing

An important aspect of creating the customer experience is website usability. Website usability testing is important because it provides designers and businesses with valuable information about whether or not customer’s needs are being met on the website. The word usability has five quality components attached to its meaning. First there is learnability and this tells us how easy it is for users to accomplish basic tasks the first time they see the site. Website efficiency would help us learn how fast consumers can accomplish tasks once they know the design and memorability which helps show when users return to the site after some time has passes how easy they can pick up the design again. Errors tell us how many errors users make, how severe they are, and how easily can they recover from them. Lastly there is satisfaction and this shows us how pleasant it is for users to use the site. One other good function is utility and this element would show us if the website is doing what the user needs it to do. By focusing on all of these components an easy to use interface design can be created.

Usability of a website is important based on 3 different aspects. An effective website will allow consumers to achieve goals, have a high conversion rate, meet business objectives, and also deliver a positive brand image. An efficient website provides answers quickly to consumers, will follow a logical sequence, doesn’t waste resources, and requires less management time. A satisfied user achieves their goals, enjoys their experience, tells others, and comes back again. Having usability testing will help in first telling you where these aspects are not effective and secondly help with improving those areas.

Website usability testing can be a vital tool in creating a website that creates an enjoyable experience to users. Appropriate times for usability testing are the web site’s conception, before planning a redevelopment, repeatedly during redevelopment, and when traffic analysis shows an anomaly. When doing usability testing it is essential to know what you hope to discover and also you want to find out if the user gets the point of the page, understands the navigation system, and can guess where to find things. When conducting usability testing it should be shorter then 5 minutes or longer than an hour. The participants for testing should not be involved with the website in any way, be completely new to the site (don’t ask the same person twice), and somewhat familiar with the web in general. Ideally usability testing should be done in the home of participants or at their workplace because the atmosphere is more relaxed and it also gives you a chance to see how the website works on multiple computers, browsers, and modems.

Developing a Web Presence

It’s becoming very easy to create websites but it’s become harder to create websites that attract and maintain consumers. It’s become quintessential to understanding the Internet as a medium and how web users interact with it. When creating a website there is a six step process that can be used as a guide to ensure everything is staying on track and meeting the wanted objectives of the company in need of a website.

The web development process begins with discovery where we begin to study and analyze the requirements needed through emails and questionnaires. The next phase is defining the proposal and specifications which will create a further understanding about the system that is needed. Next, the designing of an actual prototype website is created to check that the client is seeing eye to eye with the designer and that the interface, navigation, and all the specifics wanted are being implemented into the site. Once we have a prototype the actual development of the site can being. This is where integration of content and databases are applied as well as usability testing and any further programming that is needed. Now that there is a working, running website it’s time to begin final testing and the actual launching of the site. Final testing would include load testing, cross browser compatibility testing, resolution testing, and integration testing. All of these final tests will help work out any undetected bugs in the system before the launch of the site. The last step, and it’s by no means the final step, is maintenance and evaluation of the site. This process is constant once the site is launched and it’s purpose is to refine, implement, and retest any changes that were made.

When it comes to establishing a web site another important aspect is picking a service provider. There are many questions that should be thought about when trying to make an informed decision for who fits best with the needs of the company/website. Some common ones are: how long have you been in business and who are some of your clients; what industries do you specialize in; what qualifications do your team members have; and also what devices will a web site be available from. All of these things are important things to know about your service provider to help chose an appropriate provider. Another issue that is very important is whether the provider is national or regional. It’s not always a good plan to go with the bigger company because there are pros and cons to using either size of provider. While national providers are usually established and have been around for years they may be less responsive to small business customers. Although regional providers are most often just as established as national providers they may not survive in a competitive market in the long term. There are many important things that should be taken into consideration when choosing a service provider including business size and the future needs of the website.

Web Analytics and Data Collection

With the help of web analytics, web sites are becoming a very useful tool in understanding the people who use web sites. Web analytics are used to assess and improve online marketing by analyzing things like website traffic volume, referrals from affiliates, click paths, and customer satisfaction surveys. Web analytics can be very useful but in order to utilize the effectiveness of these services it’s a very good idea to know what kind of information is needed from the program. Google analytics is a very easy program to use and implement to find trends or patterns or any kind of activity on their websites. Webtrends is another very popular program but it carries a much higher cost to attain so for a smaller business this program might not be the most affordable option. Web analytics are very useful that come in many different programs offering different options among them all.

 

Web analytics can be collected using two different methods, and knowing each option can assist in getting the most from the data collected. One way of collecting information is the use of log files. Log files are stored on host’s servers and they are automatically recorded. These files can contain a range of things like how much time was spent on the site, what pages were visited and can then be used to manage storage and bandwidth issues. The second way of collecting web analytics is called the “Java Script Method”.

With this tactic, instead of using log files, it uses Java Script code that is embedded into every web page. The code collects information and sends the activity to a computer hosted by that analytics service provider where the site owner can use a web browser to view the findings. Each method has is differences and pros and cons. For example, the log file method is generally significantly cheaper only paying a one time software fee and a lot less time and effort is needed to implement it where as Java Script is usually charged monthly and it requires some time to embed all the coding into each website.

 

One very unattractive aspect of Java Script is that it is reliant on the placing of cookies. Cookies are a bit of information that your website can have a visitor store in their browser. People have caught onto this trend so now there is the issue of people refusing to accept cookies from sites. Websites that require their users to accept cookies are now losing a large portion of their potential visitors or cliental.

Permission Marketing

Marketing today has taken a significant turn in how it is approached. Marketing has become a contest for who can capture your attention. There used to be a time when if we wanted people to see our products, all that advertisers had to do were put up billboards and people would look at it. People used to listen if you asked them to but over time, this has become so tedious to consumers that we no longer want to pay attention to things that we don’t need at that moment. Consumers are no longer willing to give up their time to see advertisements for products they don’t need.

Over the last few decades interruptive marketing has been the way of attracting a consumer to your product. Finally, after we’ve been subjected to so much clutter and noise from all the different competitors, interruptive marketing has started to decline in effectiveness. One of the newer approaches to marketing products is permission marketing or relationship marketing. Seth Godin has published multiple books that describe how permission marketing works and what it’s all about. Basically, permission marketing is gaining a relationship with consumers. Companies are now trying to gain loyalty and trust from consumers over time in exchange for information. If the company asks for personal information that the consumer feels uncomfortable giving at that stage in their relationship, the consumer is free to just walk away. That is why there is an emphasis on relationship marketing.

Relationship marketing is aimed at building long term relationships with customers using one to one marketing. One to one marketing is becoming important because it’s becoming more expensive to attain new customers then to try to maximize the customers you already have. With relationship marketing we try to retain the loyal consumers we have and gain as much as we can from those customers.

Advertising via mass media used to make it very easy to spread ideas but recently this kind of marketing is having decreased effectiveness. We can simply choose to just ignore messages we no longer want to pay attention to. Consumers have become much more aware of how little time they have and how they don’t want to waste that time viewing advertisements that mean little or nothing to them. It’s the idea that when consumers have too many choices and not enough time they find a solution by ignoring the advertisements. The newest idea is to not sell products to the general population anymore but to focus now on the innovators and early adapters. By focusing on this smaller group, the group who is usually obsessive about their products and purchases, we simply hope that this group will like our product and possibly tell a friend. Most of us will agree that given a review critic’s advice or a friend’s advice, we all will most likely pick the advice from our friends be it good or bad. These are all ideas that Seth Godin presents in this video of him explaining many successful and unsuccessful marketing attempts.