How a Typo Can Hurt Your Business

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“Have you noticed spelling errors on the websites of major, legitimate retailers and/or service providers?” asks Julia Rubiner in the Editorial Emergencynewsletter. “The answer is almost certainly ‘no.'” Large corporations set a high bar for the rest of us: A single error looks sloppy and unprofessional to visitors, who are used to polished online copy. But the ramifications can be worse than making a bad impression.

Typos on your homepage, landing pages and product pages aren’t just embarrassing; they might actually hurt your business. Rubiner points to a BBC News article that provides anecdotal—but startling—evidence of a misspelled word’s negative impact on income: After a spelling error was corrected at tightsplease.co.uk, the online retailer’s revenue per visitor doubled.

“I like to think this is attributable to widespread disdain for spelling errors,” she notes, “but it’s not; it’s attributable to shoppers wary of fraud.” According to Rubiner, many people associate typos with phishers and con artists. “[I]t positively screams ‘fly-by-night operation,'” she explains.

In an ironic twist, customers who notice misspelled words might suspect your website is merely pretending to be your website. Or—if they’re unfamiliar with your brand—they might worry that you’re not even a real company. That’s when they’ll decide to withhold their personal information and credit-card numbers. And a valuable click-through becomes a lost sale.

Clean it up. Any copy destined for your website or your email campaigns should be spell-checked and then printed out for a hard-copy proofread. “Your bottom line will thank you,” Rubiner concludes.

Source: Editorial Emergency.

Why Surprising and Delighting Customers Isn’t Enough

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“As much as creative marketing and promotions can help a product, service, or company stand out,” writes Linda Ireland at the MarketingProfs Daily Fixblog, “it always comes down to a simple premise: Did you solve the need that triggered the customer to act in the first place?” In other words: You can surprise and delight customers all you like, but it won’t matter if you don’t fix what they asked you to fix. So keep your focus on this goal with tips like these:

Do what you said you would do. You’ll impress customers by providing the product or service you promised, on time and without any surprises along the way. It would seem self-evident, but this oft-forgotten concept forms the foundation for every positive customer experience.

Don’t create more work for your customers. They’re paying you to make a pain point go away—it won’t seem that they’ve gotten their money’s worth if they have to jump through hoops to get anything done.

Don’t tout unnecessary benefits. A slew of new features won’t excite a customer who doesn’t need them; if you insist on discussing them, it’ll start to feel like tiresome oversell. “Keep it simple,” she says. “Fix their problem. Then stop. Then solve another one.”

Don’t forget the emotional aspect of customer experience. Inspire loyalty and satisfaction by matching your actions to the way a customer should feel at each stage of the process.

The surest way to surprise and delight a customer is to roll up your sleeves and solve her problem.

Source: MarketingProfs Daily Fix.

Three Email Message Types That Keep Subscribers Engaged

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“It’s easy to bore your customers to death with email,” writes Karen Talavera in an article at MarketingProfs. “Just send them the same type of message repeatedly, and you’ll succeed.”

Many companies, for instance, fall into the easy rhythm of sending e-newsletter after e-newsletter, never adding anything else to the mix. While there’s nothing wrong with an e-newsletter, your campaigns start to feel stale if you don’t offer a variety of message types. Here are three that can work well for you:

Announcements, alerts and reminders. Whether you’re hosting an event, launching a new product or promoting an offer, Talavera recommends a three-message series that: “(a) gives your audience a heads-up as to when your initiative will ‘go live,’ (b) tells them when it’s official, and (c) reminds them before it’s over or expires.” It sounds like a lot of email, but she downplays frequency concerns by noting most marketers don’t send enough messages like these.

Helpful, educational content. You’ll increase customer loyalty and engagement if you intersperse sales-oriented messages with information that explicitly benefits subscribers: articles, blog posts, white papers, videos, webinars and podcasts.

Triggered up-sell and down-sell offers. Encourage existing customers to make another purchase with automated messages that suggest complementary products or services. “For those who don’t convert on the up-sell offer,” Talavera advises, “especially after a free trial, proceed to a down-sell offer (usually a lower-priced, lower commitment than the up-sell or original purchase).”

Don’t be a bore. If you want to hold subscriber interest, you’ll need to create a diverse, engaging mix of email campaigns.

Source: MarketingProfs.

What Does Opt-In Really Mean?

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The debate between opt-in and opt-out email marketing strategies isn’t simply about one choice or another. The reason? Any two marketers might have strikingly different definitions of opt-in. “[N]ot all opt-ins are created equal,” writes Maria Pergolino at Marketo. “In fact, it’s quite the opposite.” What one marketer considers strong opt-in permission might be, from another marketer’s perspective, barely up to CAN-SPAM standards.

Get on the same page by determining which opt-in category you’re discussing:

Unconfirmed opt-in. This is as close to opt-out as opt-in gets because visitors don’t actively subscribe to your newsletters or offers. Instead, their addresses are added to your list when they register at your website for other reasons—like downloading white papers. “You may be in keeping with the law but you’re not getting high marks for credibility,” Pergolino notes.

Single-confirmation opt-in. With this much better option, you add visitors’ addresses to your list only when they actively subscribe by checking—or not un-checking—a box. “To make that opt-in easier,” she advises, “have the permission box pre-checked and be sure to highlight all the reasons they will benefit from continuing a dialogue with you.”

Double-confirmation opt-in. Pergolino considers this the best of all—a policy that removes any doubt about new subscribers’ intentions. They’re only added to your list after they confirm their subscription by clicking on a link in a follow-up email.

It should be up to them. You won’t sell anything to a list of people who can’t figure out why you’re sending them newsletters, so focus on building a list of engaged customers who actually want to receive your relevant information.

Source: Marketo.

Three Ways to Adapt Your Email Communications to Changing Times

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“Email marketing is thriving—especially for businesses who can adapt it to the changing world,” writes Veronica Maria Jarski at the Daily Fix blog. In her post, she gives a sneak-peek at material presented by Silverpop’s Loren McDonald in MarketingProfs’ Email Marketing Essentials online course.

Here are a few of Jarski’s takeaways from the course—tips on keeping email relevant to the times:

Promote following and sharing within all your email communications. You need to go where your customers go, and—like it or not—they spend their time at social networks. “Branch beyond the newsletter by letting people ‘like’ the content on Facebook, forward it to a friend, post it to Facebook, or tweet it,” says Jarski. “And don’t forget to use social media to grow your email database. For example, on Facebook, provide email opt-ins for existing customers (and potential new ones).”

Design your email marketing for people on the go. “Don’t just picture people reading your email marketing pieces in front of their office desk,” she says. “Imagine them waiting in traffic, grabbing a spare moment or two at their children’s swim meets, traveling on trains.” In other words, picture them everywhere.

Make sure all your emails are relevant to the reader. Your subscribers have inboxes filled with vibrant content. “That’s because, thanks to smart filters, consumers now avoid spam altogether—and have their inbox prioritize their mail according to their reading habits,” she explains. “If a consumer reads your stuff, your emails will start gaining a higher priority in a person’s inbox. (And if they don’t, your emails will start being pushed to the bottom of the list.)”

Keep adapting. If you don’t evolve your email programs with the times, the times may well leave you behind.

Source: Daily Fix.

Beware of Shiny Marketing Toys

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Many marketers can’t resist a shiny toy. Whether pay-per-click in the mid 1990s, Web 2.0 in the early 2000s or mobile marketing in the late 2000s, we want it—and we want it now. “But at what price?” asks Laura Patterson at MarketingProfs. “I’d suggest at the price of our credibility and the opportunity to be perceived as a strategic player.”

“When our enthusiasm (or that of our colleagues) convinces an organization to experiment with the next shiny toy without understanding the strategic implications,” she continues, “as marketers we are doing a disservice to the organizations we support and we’re presenting marketing as a primarily tactical function.”

To ensure a shiny toy also makes strategic sense, be sure to ask questions like these:

• Has our target audience adopted this new channel, or will we get there before they do? “Being first on the block may be irrelevant if the markets you serve or want to serve aren’t ready,” explains Patterson.
• Does our company have the wherewithal to exploit the new channel? “If a successful implementation requires complex new skills, and if it is too time-consuming or costly to acquire that level of competence, it may be too soon for your organization to tackle the new channel.”
• Will we see a return on our investment? “The adoption of a new channel may require configuring systems, upgrading technology, or even adding new systems and training employees,” she notes. In other words, you need to be reasonably sure that it’s worth it.

A shiny toy can quickly lose its luster if it fails to boost your bottom line—so refrain from what amount to impulse buys.

Source: MarketingProfs

How the Epsilon Breach Might Affect Your Email Campaigns

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“The recent Epsilon breach that exposed millions of email addresses has the potential to create a very big problem for all email marketers and will demand development of new best practices in the world of email marketing,” writes Candyce Edelen at PropelGrowth.
Although the phishing danger is most pronounced for banks and brokerages with retail-facing business, fallout from the attack affects everyone, especially for the following reasons:

Hackers captured email addresses, company names and full customer names. “This enables a much more effective fraud tactic called ‘spear phishing,'” Edelen explains. “The fraudsters know that jdoe [at an email address] is John Doe who has an account with Citibank.” With that much information, a phisher’s message sounds far more convincing.

Phishers are producing better content. Phishing used to be easy to spot—badly designed email rife with grammatical errors, strange syntax and odd requests. But, reasons Edelen, “If the hackers that broke into Epsilon’s database knew what they were stealing and are planning spear phishing attacks, then it’s likely that fraudsters using this data are going to get more sophisticated in their approaches.”

Repeated warnings have made customers leery of legitimate messages. “The affected Epsilon clients rushed to inform their subscribers of the breach and tell them to be suspicious of any email purported to come from them,” Edenlen notes. But that approach could work too well. For instance, a routine transactional email with a new call to action might—mistakenly—raise a red flag.

Arm yourself. Whatever your product or service, it’s important to develop best practices that address the ramifications of attacks like the one against Epsilon.

Source: PropelGrowth.

Three Ways to Thank Your Loyal Customers via Email

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“Unless you were raised by wolves in the wild,” writes Karen Talavera in an article at MarketingProfs, “at some point you learned that it is polite to say thank you. It’s not merely proper etiquette; it’s just downright considerate and gracious.”

Customers need to know you’re grateful for their business, and adding thank-you emails to your marketing “illuminates the human side of your brand,” she argues.

Talavera breaks down the thank-you email into three categories:

The Immediate Thanks. It’s important to acknowledge any transaction or communication right away; be sure to do it in a tone, style and design that match the channel in which your customer took action. And don’t skimp on the gratitude if they spent lots of money. “Match your thanks, in magnitude, to the action you are thankful for,” Talavera advises. “The last time I bought real estate, for example, I received a huge housewarming gift basket, not a lame postcard or text message.”

The Seasonal Thanks. Holidays—especially Thanksgiving—are a natural time to thank loyal customers. “[B]ut go beyond national or religious holidays,” she suggests. “Are you also thanking your customers on the anniversary of their relationship with you? Of their first purchase? On holidays relevant to them (Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, New Year’s Day, Veterans Day, Grandparents Day)?”

The Surprise Thanks. Even the most jaded customer will likely appreciate an expression of thanks that comes for no particular reason. “To start,” she says, “weave a quarterly or (if you’re ambitious) monthly thank-you campaign to reward repeat business and customer loyalty.” You can establish a regular schedule, keep customers guessing or tie the program to behavior.

It’s OK to show you’re grateful. Like friends, your customers won’t feel valued if you contact them only when you want something from them. Thank them once in a while.

Source: MarketingProfs.