SEPTEMBER 2009 NEWSLETTER

10 Must Read Email Marketing Tips

With such a tremendous rise in the popularity of social media and networking websites today, one might be forgiven for thinking that more traditional online marketing methods, such as email marketing - have had their day. But in fact, email marketing remains a very popular and effective marketing medium that continues to thrive alongside social media and networking sites.

Think of it this way - there are 150 billion internet users worldwide - 39.4 million are in the UK alone (Source: eMarketer) and around 90% of those have access to and use email. By comparison, these numbers still generously outweigh social media sites and even search activities. So, how can you make sure your company get the most out of its email campaigns?

10 Checks to Help Sharpen Your Email Marketing Saw
While email marketing still holds its own on the World Wide Web, it's important to consider how recent trends brought about by ever-evolving online behaviours impact the way we access and use email. As a result, the following ten tips include some tried-and-tested advice (from the dawn of online time), along with some more progressive recommendations that will help ensure your email marketing is innovative and successful.

First, some traditional and still valuable tips that remain unaffected by time:

1. Become a Recognised Sender
Be clear, and consistent with your "From" email address and your "Sender" name. This is the first port-of-call in getting your email successfully delivered, recognised and opened and should not be overlooked.

2. Make Them Want to Read More - Be Creative with Your Subject Line
Once your email is recognised, the next obstacle is getting your email actually opened by the recipient. Two key factors remain the best way to accomplish this - your reputation and your email subject line. Take some time to hit the right note with your readers in your subject line, enticing your audience to open your correspondence.

3. Make it Personal - Address Readers by Their Name
This is pretty old news by now – but still not followed widely enough. Email broadcast tools make adding the recipient's name a simple procedure and helps turn a form letter into a personalised message.

4. Tell Them What You Want - Include Unmistakable Calls to Action
Make it simple, even obvious, for recipients to know what you want them to do next. Then, follow through your call to action with consistent messaging on your website landing page.

5. Use a Combination of Text and Images
Most email clients block images by default. This means that an email message made up entirely of images will look completely blank when it is opened. A mix of text and images helps ensure your message comes across even if the images are not permitted to appear.

Now for some more ‘next generation' recommendations...

6. Make it Easy to Unsubscribe
While making it easy to opt-out of your list may sound a little crazy, it is in line with how consumers are used to being treated on social networking sites. The ability to unsubscribe easily from a list - or stop receiving feeds on Facebook, for instance - is a key component of acknowledging consumer choice and, in the long run, ensures happier customers.

7. Bring it all Together - Include Social Links
Use your social media and networking activities to promote your newsletter, and use your newsletter to help promote your website and your social media presence. Eventually, your subscribers will be used to seeing "Find us on Facebook" and "Follow us on Twitter" buttons, and with only one or two clicks, you will have the opportunity of opening an additional correspondence.

8. Provide Greater Data Management
Web users are developing more astute surfing habits and are increasingly aware of the value attached to their data. Giving subscribers the opportunity to view and manage their data will help build trust, keep your lists updated and enable you to send more targeted messages.

9. Implement List Segmentation
With so much online content competing for consumer attention, the emphasis is well and truly on message relevancy. Collecting relevant data about your subscribers lets you segment your list to ensure you send the most targeted content possible to those who will be most interested in it. The more relevant your message, the better it is received and the more often it is acted upon.

10. Finally, Test and Learn
Activity resulting from an email, as with other online marketing activities, is very track-able. Analysing how recipients behave as a result of receiving your email message will help you identify areas to improve.

Email marketing consistently offers a solid return on investment. Adapting your efforts to accommodate Web 2.0 trends will ensure it remains that way. If you would like to explore how your email marketing activities can be improved, call us on 01488 72281.

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Composing Compelling Copy that Sells

The power of good sales copy should never be under estimated. For example, have you ever shopped around to find the best deal, but still ended up making your purchase at a less-competitive price? Having leading products and offering the lowest prices does not always make for the best value.

Whether motivated by emotions or logic, the decision to purchase online is strongly influenced by powerful sales messages and reducing shoppers' perceptions of risk. If your copy can accomplish these two things, your bottom line will thank you.

How to Win Sales and Influence Profits
Improving sales and profits together may sound too good to be true, but as many UK brands can attest, people don't always buy based on price alone. Even in the present economic climate, shoppers are proving that what will win their patronage is:

1. a compelling sales message
2. minimised risk associated with the purchase

The following tips help address these two key factors to improving both sales and profitability, allowing you to successfully hone your website copy.

• Start with an eye-catching, punchy headline. Your headlines should attract attention and peak visitors' curiosity.
• Lead with your strongest message. People don't care so much about your product as they do about the benefits of buying it – sales copy at the top section of your page should be loaded with these benefits.
• Prominently feature a snappy call to action on a central position of the page.
• Keep your content easy to read, limit your column widths and try not to bloat your paragraphs - around three sentences per paragraph is quick and easy to read.
• Make it simple for your visitors to take the next step toward their purchase – lead customers through a streamlined process without giving them any reason to navigate away.
• Remember, your site is about your customers – your sales copy should contain four "you"s for every one "I."
• Be topical, your sales copy should speak to the current needs of holiday shoppers.

Make it Easy - Reducing Perceived Risk
Now to address issues that may cause shopper anxiety. It's natural for your customers to have concerns over product quality, shipping terms, customer satisfaction and so on. Of course, risks can not be removed completely, but much can be done to keep anxiety levels to a minimum.

• Try not to over-hype your sales copy. If something seems too good to be true, your customers believe it is.
• Don't make unsupported claims – customers may smell a rat (even if there isn't one).
• Consider including testimonials from satisfied customers.
• If you have a certification from a reputable or well-known organisation, let your visitors know by featuring this information prominently on your site.
• Make sure your contact and guarantee details are prominently displayed and easy to find.
• On a similar note, make your shipping terms and returns policy easily accessible.
• Include your physical business address.
• If you offer a free trial, don't ask for your shoppers' credit card details too soon.
• Provide sufficient product details.
• Streamline your purchase process and don't ask for more information than you need.

The final step, once you have won the sale, is to exceed your customer's expectations by providing excellent after-sales care and value added correspondences.

Your sales copy is often overlooked, yet it is one of the most common obstacles to a site's effectiveness in its ability to make sales for you. If you would like help reviewing your web copy, or to discover how to streamline your sales process, call us today on 01488 72281.

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5 Ways to a More Sociable Website

A well-designed website is now an essential element of any prosperous business strategy – and rightly so. An effective online presence offers you a virtual "shop window," open 24/7 – enabling customers worldwide to find, interact and even buy from you without even leaving home.

Now, with the introduction, growth and huge popularity of social media and networking websites, the online emphasis is shifting again. Thousands of businesses are now embracing social media trends in order to engage with their customers in new and innovative ways. So how can your website take advantage of this emerging online social "revolution?"

Use Your Web site to Join the Conversation
Recent figures show that Facebook – one of the most popular social networking sites – has topped 250 million users (If it were a country, it would be the fourth largest in the world). Twitter, a recent entrant to the social networking marketplace, now reaches some 50 million users. While these two media giants are getting all the attention of late, there are hundreds of other successful social networking sites that can be added to the mix - all eager to have you engage them via your Web site.

You may already be on Facebook, perhaps you are a keen Tweeter, but have you considered how your own site – your primary web presence – can be more "social?" Here are five keys to your website to becoming more socially interactive.

1. Share This!
Content is still king. Whether it's an article, image, audio or video, good content is always shared online. Getting your website content personally recommended by other web users is a powerful way to get your message to resonate throughout cyberspace. Your job is to capture your audience's attention and then make it easy for visitors to recommend your content.

To join the social networking conversation, be sure to include some social links to the end of your content. This will enable visitors to share your content with family, friends and colleagues using a few simple clicks. Popular social link services include content-sharing sites such as Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit and more, which all offer the ability to recommend your content via their Facebook or Twitter profiles.

2. Invite Comments
If you have written an interesting article, or published a thought provoking video, invite your visitors to comment on it. A good comment approval system will enable you to moderate your comments with ease.

Comments not only give people a chance to sing your praises, comments also allow visitors to interact with your company and the content you have provided – inviting visitors to ask questions as they arise. This helps you on two levels. First, it shows your visitors that you welcome genuine participation and it also gives you the opportunity to demonstrate your expertise beyond your initial message.

3. Publish a Business Blog
Adding a blog to your website is very Web 2.0, because it allows you to incorporate the suggestions above with ease. Publishing a business blog is important because it gives your visitors a reason to return and offers information they need. But publishing a blog shouldn't be entered into lightly, as a blog which is rarely updated may not be beneficial at all.

A blog, due to the way it organises and archives your content, is also very search engine friendly, and is an easy way to add value to your online marketing arsenal.

4. Offer Forum Functionality
Unlike a blog, forums may not seem very Web 2.0 – they have been around for a comparatively long time, but forums are still one of the best ways to ensure that your website remains interactive while providing a great way to source and share valuable information. The key to success with forums is making sure your content stays relevant (to your niche) and finding creative ways to encourage participation.

Forums offer not only another way to demonstrate your expertise, but they also allow others to interact with each other and share solutions to questions related to your niche market.

5. Add a Pinch of Media
If your products are visual, consider incorporating a customer-driven image gallery or video library into your website. Offering prizes for the most creative entry is a great way to encourage participation on your site, while driving traffic as well.

Using online media in this way offers your site some key benefits:

• It produces ideal content for viral sharing (users posting your content elsewhere) across social media sites.
• It helps present your company as forward-thinking and innovative.
• It provides a great opportunity to show off your products.
• It makes your website more interactive and interesting for visitors.

Keep it simple, and don't get too hung-up on using professional video footage – some of the most-watched videos on YouTube are produced by absolute beginners.

As the popularity of social networking sites continue to grow, the opportunities to make your site more socially interactive are endless. The key lies in finding what appeals most to your customers, and then integrating it well. If you would like help making your website more interactive, call us today on 01488 72281.

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Boosting E-commerce Sales with Video

The recent economic downturn may be taking its toll on the high street, but not online. eMarketer predicts that total UK business-to-consumer online sales will be worth £68.4 billion in 2009, a 14% increase over 2008. With e-commerce revenue remaining strong, sales are there to be won. So, how can your store stand out from the crowd in order to win new customers?

Thanks to online video sharing websites such as YouTube, Hulu, BBC iPlayer (and legions more), watching videos over the web is second nature to a majority of internet users. Retailers, however, have not yet seized opportunities to incorporate videos into their online stores.

Using Videos to Drive E-commerce Sales
With video almost commonplace throughout the web, surfers are becoming accustomed to a richer media experience. Google recently purchased YouTube for over $2 billion because Google knows that videos are key to the future of online marketing.

Currently, consumers view over 14 billion videos every month, spending 49% more time per viewer watching them than they did last year. It isn't surprising then that videos are transforming how web content is consumed.

The following are some cost effective ideas for retailers who want to use video to attract, engage and convert more customers on the run up to Christmas.

Start With the End in Mind
As with any online marketing activity, establish what your objectives are, then proceed with them in mind. Your videos could be used in the following ways:

• For product demonstrations – so much more can be conveyed in a simple, 60-second video than a page full of text and images.
• As a short, concise introduction to your online store, helping to put a face (and personality) to your website in seconds and putting shoppers immediately at ease.
• To provide product training – if your products are technical, a 2-3 minute video can help put shopper minds at ease and drive traffic to your site for information purposes, giving you a decided edge over your competitors.
• To illustrate product quality – videos are the best way to demonstrate product quality online. While a list of features is great, actually watching how your products fulfil customer expectations is even better.
• To introduce and review new products – sharing your knowledge of the latest and greatest products to hit the shops helps demonstrate your expertise and lets shoppers know where to come for the best value.

Once you know how to use videos for your e-commerce site, the next step is preparing the appropriate video footage.

Personality over Perfection
Try not to get too hung up on creating perfectly produced videos. Remember, some of the most popular videos shared amongst web users are done by true amateurs. Your message is the key factor to success with your company's online videos.

Consumers inherently trust opinions and feedback from other consumers. You may want to consider running a competition that encourages user-generated video content. User-created videos offer a win-win situation – you get some great video footage and product endorsements, and your site visitors get some entertaining product videos.

It's All in the Numbers – Review Response Rates
As with any marketing initiative, try to build in a way to measure the effects of your videos. Tracking response rates can help you test the waters before allocating additional resources to roll videos out across all your product lines.

In conclusion, the financial climate may be causing shoppers to count pennies, but millions of people are still likely to spend a greater proportion of their budgets on the web. Using videos to help sell your products not only gives your consumers a richer media experience on your site, it also helps your company stand out from the crowd – ultimately winning you a greater portion of the lucrative Christmas spend. If you would like help adding videos to your website, call us today on 01488 72281.

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