Buzz!Words

Writing Like Your Customer

I just participated in an online "webinar" (that's web seminar to the uninitiated) by sponsored by Marketing Profs on writing killer content for the web, presented by Gerry McGovern, an expert in writing for the web. 

He has lots of good stuff to say, most of which you can dig out of the marketing profs site content.  But one thing stuck with me.  Gerry recommends that you write how your audience searches.  For example, when you go to an airline website, you may see writing about "low fares".  But what people really want is cheap flights. 

How do I know that?  I went to the overture search suggestion tool, and found out that in the month of December, 4,063 people searched the term "low fares" but 1,480,440 searched the term "cheap flights".  But that doesn't say it all.  According to WordTracker, not only does cheap flights have more searches, but it also has less competition - fewer websites are using "cheap flights" as a key word. 

So, when you are planning your website and choosing keywords, think like your customer, write like your customer -- even if you think "cheap fares" sounds bad, your customer won't. 

Email Marketing Why Use a Service

Summary:  Email marketing can be a powerful tool if you do it right.  Here are some tools to consider.

Just finished reading an interesting discussion thread on Marketing Profs.com about why you should use an email supplier, rather than just using Outlook. 

If you don't want to read the whole thread, I've summarized it here.  You should use an email marketing service because:

1. Your database is stored on the supplier's server
2. Outlook will require you to use the blind cc function, other wise you will share the email addresses with everyone on your list, a real no-no.  The BCC doesn't look very good.
3. Outlook will not have a one click unsubscribe, which is becoming industry standard
4. Many of these companies have content checkers, that help you ensure that you are not inadvertantly spamming someone.
5. These sites have online, real time reports on the emails that are opened, bounced, clickthrough, to help you measure your success.
6. Most provide professional layouts and templates which improve the readability and look of your emails. 

Summary:  If you are going to spend the time and effort to conduct an email campaign, make sure that you use the right tools.  They will improve the effectiveness of your campaigns, and help you do a better, more professional job, which will reflect positively on your business. 

ENewsletters Dos and Don'ts

Okay, life caught up with me this past week, and I have not been able to get my daily posts completed.  I guess that's what happens when starting a business.

I had an interesting discussion with a client last week about an enewsletter we were talking about doing together. 

She wants to email her prospect list a page of her website.  Wow.  Yes you did hear that right.  Her rationale?  It's good advertising. 

Unfortunately, when her customers receive this little gift, several things will happen:

1. They won't know what they are getting or why they are getting it -- there is no context just emailing a webpage
2. They won't know what they are expected to do with this web page -- and it is critical that the recipient know what is expected of them when they get an email
3. They may have serious techno trauma, as emailing a large web page can really overload an inbox
4. The content is all about the company, not about the user, and newsletters are suppose to be about useful news, not self promotion. 
5. Customers will not likely open, or click through to the website because of the above issues, which makes the effort a bit of a waste of time. 

So, here is a collection of dos and don'ts for email marketing, sourced from Marketing Profs, Michael Katz of Blue Penguin Development, CRM Guru and a half a dozen other sources on the web:

• Make sure the content is useful and relevant to the reader
• Get their permission to receive the email
• Focus on the reader's needs, not what you have to sell
• Make sure that the context of the newsletter is clear
• Ensure that the reader knows what you expect him/her to do
• Tell stories that the prospect can relate to, that shows that you understand their problem
• Be brief - 800 words maximum
• Make sure there are links to your site that the reader can follow for more information
• Share any good news you have about your clients, your company or your industry
• Make it a clean, simple design
• Make sure the copy is easily scanned and not long blocks of text
• Don't use Outlook to send emails -- you can't measure or manage your campaign effectively
• Use an email service that allows you to manage permissions, bounces and measure the effectiveness of your campaign
• Use compelling headlines to communicate the benefits of your article or offer - the more specific the benefit the better

Okay, so there is probably another 30 or so bullet points, but I'll save that for another time.  But please, please, don't just email a web page to your prospects. 

Lesson Learned: Email marketing requires an investment of time and planning, but can be very effective.  But if you do it wrong, you can damage your relationship with your prospects badly. 

Email Newsletter Writing

Summary:  How you write your newsletter matters.  It should be short, relevant and enjoyable. 

I found a great resource on e-newsletters, Blue Penguin Development.  He has a newsletter archive that is useful, funny and relevant to the needs of people writing e-newsletters.  Here is a quick summary of his guidelines:

• Short
• Relevant to the subscribers needs
• One topic only.  Stay focused
• Scannable - easy to read in a glance
• Accessible, authentic language
• Fun, or at least mildly interesting

According to Michael Katz, the content that you write for an enewsletter is even more important than for the web.  Because, people see email as more personal, more interactive and as a reflection upon their personal choice. 

Summary:  You e-newsletter is an important tool to reach your clients and prospects in a targeted manner.  But you have to write well, entertain and provide value in order to benefit. 

Moms Make Decisions Online

Summary:  Moms use the internet for multiple tasks.  It's key to reach them if you are in travel, financial services or retail.

A recent study from of 1600 moms who are on AOL, shows that

• 96% go online for email
• 75% use it to research and plan trips
• 68% pay bills or manage their finances
• 67% research purchases

Lesson Learned:  Get online, what are you waiting for?

It's time to get serious about email marketing

Summary:  Email Marketing has hit the mainstream. Moms use email to make purchase decisions 

A recent study Email Marketing Impact with Moms, posted on Lucid Marketing's website shows some interesting trends.  139 moms who subscribe to the Blue Suit Mom's newsletter responded. 

Although women still prefer using the phone, 47% of moms prefer email for communications.   Almost 80% have both personal and business email accounts, and most check their email 3 - 4 times per day, spending an hour and a half each day on email. 

• 50% of moms feel that companies would gain more purchases if they sent regular emails that make their lives easier
• 66% would spend more money with companies that sent useful and relevant email that met their needs
• When they make a purchase triggered by email, about 54% of the time they buy offline; 47% online

Keeping in mind that these are tech savvy moms who actively subscribe to online newsletters, it's likely that these results are a bit overstated for the general population.  That said, it's an indicator of things to come. 

Lesson Learned:  It's time for service and sales businesses that target moms and families to figure out email/newsletter marketing.  It's targeted, cost effective and clearly can lead to sales. 

Easy Way to Lose Sales

My rant today is about responding to customer inquiries. Did you know that the average consumer expects a response to an email inquiry within one day? They would prefer it to be within one hour.

I sent an email last week to McAfee, about their Spyware software, because I couldn't seem to get it to work properly. It took me 20 minutes to find the "free" support email on their site. I couldn't call them, cause they charge $1.99 USD per minute, and the average call is 17 minutes. And I'm cheap. I have not yet received a return email, even acknowledging that I am in some kind of response queue. Eight days later.

This is a problem. For McAffee. Because next year, when my Norton anti virus subscription runs out, I was considering buying the McAfee big bundle (you know the anti superbug killer, spy ware remover, spam killer the whole kit and caboodle package). Now, it's Norton for sure, even though it costs more.

Here is an interesting fact. 84% of realtors in the US agreed in a poll that email inquiries from their customers should be answered within 8 hours of reciept. So Realtors.com did a study and found that 73% of all email leads did not meet this 8 hour guideline. And 44% of leads were not responded to at all. Talk about wasting marketing money. You just spent big bucks to develop a website, and lots more bucks to market it.

If I will migrate to another supplier for $149 software purchase, you can bet your boots I'll go to another real estate agent for a $300,000 purchase. And, with the internet, it's as easy as clicking a button.

Lesson Learned: Always have a customer response plan for all email leads generated from your website and other marketing initiatives.

Website Marketing - Effective Use of Hyperlinks

Read an interesting article about website links today in Clickz by Brian Eisenberg, The Resolving Door. The gist of the article is that there are two kinds of links. The first is a call to action, such as "contact us", "email us", "sign up for a newsletter", "shop online", "search for a retailer". These are what you want the customer to do.

A "Resolving" link is one that helps the visitor in their buying process, by providing information to clarify and solidify the buying decision. A visitor can dig deeper into the research, or they can enter a call to action by clicking on a call to action link on each page. A solid internal linking strategy can also help search engines more effectively index your website.

In yesterday's post, Consumers Research Online, Buy Offline I noted how many consumers are using the internet for research prior to a bricks and mortor shopping trip, and how critical it is to have a website that is effective in providing the right information.

Brian Eisenberg shows us how to make it easy for website visitors to do that research online, and to encourage them to complete a call to action.

Consumers Research Online, Buy Offline

Great article from Clickz on online shopping behaviour Majority of US Consumers Research Online, Buy Offline.

Cross-channel shoppers actually comprise the majority of all online consumers, 65 percent in 2004. Of these, 51 percent are characterized as active cross-channel shoppers who made at least one purchase in the past three months.

Then, there are those that come in to a retailer already knowing exactly what they want because they've done their product research online. Forrester Research has a name for it: "cross-channel shopping." Cross-channel shoppers actually comprise the majority of all online consumers, 65 percent in 2004. Of these, 51 percent are characterized as active cross-channel shoppers who made at least one purchase in the past three months. The trend is bound to continue; the number of new cross-channel shoppers in the past year was 30 percent.

Even more important, about half of the online research consumers spent $154 more on additional items, once they got to the store.

Lesson Learned: Have detailed product catalogue online, with specs, product features and prices available for consumers to research.

Marketing to Older Canadians Online

According to Ipsos Reid, a major Canadian polling company, 60% of people over the age of 55 have internet access, up from 48% a year ago. Almost two-thirds of those users have high speed access, spending and average of 9.6 hours online every week. Forty-one percent have made a purchase online. Stats Canada recently reported that Canadians are spent $3.0 Billion in online shopping in 2003.

So what does that mean to you? If you have largely ignored the internet because your customer base is in that 55 plus age group, you can ignore it no longer. And for those who are ignoring the 55 plus age group in your online efforts, you're going to have to consider the needs of that age group in your online activities.

If your customer base is largely the 55 plus group, you may want to consider working with them to refine the look and feel of your website, online newsletter and email programs. Consider the readability of your site, including the size of the font. The 55 plus group are very savvy consumers, who are looking for information, research and value. Make sure that your site has content that is useful to them and up to date. Also make sure that any retail shopping sites have detailed information, in an easily navigated, and read format.

This age group is one of the wealthiest and fastest growing groups online. This is the leading edge of the baby boom. They've changed things before, and they're not about to stop now.