Where can your customers reach you? I'm willing to bet you're active on multiple platforms in addition to having a website and potentially a storefront location. Those of you who don't have multiple marketing channels have a separate issue that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. But for now, let's assume at the bare minimum you've got a:
You may even be active on other networks like Snapchat. With so many channels for marketing distribution, it's essential you have consistency across all your platforms. Creating symmetry on all of these distribution channels will make it easier to brand your company. Once you're able to establish a brand name that's recognizable, it's easier to acquire customers and increase your conversions. Any disconnect between platforms can create confusion for the consumer. You don't want them to see contradicting information on your channels. It's likely consumers will see your company on more than one platform. In fact, the average Internet user has more than seven social media accounts. You'll definitely see some overlap between your Facebook fans and Instagram followers. As part of your marketing and conversion strategy, you're probably promoting multiple profiles on one channel. For example, let's take a look at a recent blog post from Savvy Apps: From their website, their encouraging users to share this blog post on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and email. It's essential these people see the same message across all platforms. If you're having trouble maintaining consistency across all your marketing channels, I can help you out. Here's what you need to do to set yourself up for success. Start with imagesPictures are powerful and resonate more with people than words do. While someone may not always remember the name of your brand, they'll know whether they've seen your logo somewhere. According to a recent study, people remember about 10% of information three days after it's been presented to them orally. But if an image is added to it, 65% of the info gets remembered. Images are also more memorable than just plain text: Furthermore, the majority of people are visual learners. Don't confuse people by using different logos on various marketing channels. Keeping everything aligned will help reinforce your brand and make it easier for them to remember you. I'll show you how I accomplish this. Take a look at my Facebook page: Instead of using a logo, I use my face. That's because I'm trying to promote and brand myself as part of my overall marketing strategy. I want people to know who I am and what I look like. Now let's review my YouTube channel: Notice the consistency? Not only do I use a picture of myself again, but I use the exact same image. This way, there's no confusion for users. I'm not the only Neil Patel on the planet. This way, they don't have to wonder if this is the same Neil. Plus, you can see in the top right corner of my YouTube channel that I'm also providing a link to my website, Facebook, and Twitter profiles: Speaking of my Twitter account-yes, you guessed it correctly. I keep it consistent by using the same image. It should come to you as no surprise that my LinkedIn profile uses the same picture as well. I could go on and on, but I think you get my point. I practice what I preach. While using a personal photo may not always be the best way to brand your company, having a logo that's consistent on every marketing channel is probably your best bet. Some companies like to change or alter the theme of their logo around the holidays. For example, you might use an American flag around the fourth of July or add a turkey to the logo around Thanksgiving. That's fine, but just make sure you change that image on every single platform rather than just one or two. Establish a voice for your brandConsistency goes beyond visuals. It also has to do with the type of persona your company takes on. The language you use on a daily basis will vary depending on your current customers and target market. There's not a one-size-fits-all answer for this. For example, if your company sells surfboards in southern California, your marketing channels can probably get away with using slang terms like:
But if your company sells life insurance on a national scale, it's probably in your best interest to avoid slang altogether. This goes for all written words on each one of your marketing channels. The description of your Facebook page should have the same tone as the replies to user comments on your Instagram profile. Your unique language is a great way to create more engaging content, which is a priority for marketers. This is also essential for your blogging habits. If you've been reading my blogs for a while, you know my tone reflects the way I present information on my other marketing channels. I write as if I'm speaking. My content is very informal and conversational but also packed with information. I present a new video on YouTube in the same way. Earlier, I mentioned responding to user comments. Not only should your voice and language be the same when you respond to all the comments, but you should be responding on every platform too. Don't just respond to Facebook comments and ignore customers on your blog or Twitter. Answering comments is a great way to build relationships with your customers. Discounts and promotional offersAnother aspect of consistency has to do with your offering to your customers. Let's use a hypothetical example to illustrate my point. Pretend your ecommerce company is offering a site-wide sale: 50% off everything, no exceptions. The sale lasts for one week, and you promote it on Instagram and Facebook. Backtrack a few weeks prior to the announcement of this sale. Let's say a Twitter user tweets at your brand, asking when the next sale is. Your repose shouldn't be, “We rarely offer discounts.” I realize this example may be a little extreme, but I'm sure you get what I'm trying to say. Certain luxury brands may never put items on sale as part of their marketing strategy. But a brand that offers items for 50% off on one platform shouldn't be telling consumers on another channel they don't often have discounts. It's contradictory and confusing. Evaluate your call to actionWhat kind of action do you want users to take when they are interacting with one of your marketing channels? Do you want them to sign up for something? Are you trying to make a sale? There are lots of ways you can present your CTA, and you can A/B test different options to see which one works the best. You can't afford to ignore it as part of your marketing strategy. While your CTA wording or button placement may vary slightly based on the platform, the overall message should be consistent. Again, there's not one right answer for this. It depends on your company's goal and marketing strategy. Here are some examples of what your CTA could focus on:
First of all, you need to make sure all of your marketing channels have a CTA. You'd be surprised how often I see companies forget to do this. They have a profile set up on multiple platforms, which is great, but some of these pages neglect to encourage any form of an action from the customer. Once all of these are in place, they should have the same message. An easy way to accomplish this is by having all your CTA buttons link to the same landing page. That way, you can see which profiles are having more success and adjust the placement, wording, or color scheme of the underperforming CTAs accordingly. Contact infoHere's another one you would think should go without saying, but again, I've seen many companies have an inconsistent approach to this. Ask yourself two questions:
There's a difference. Your best bet is to provide different options, but they need to be consistent. As you can see from the data, the majority of customers don't want to get an automated response from a computer or something similar. In fact, the majority of people prefer talking to someone. Whether it's over the phone, in person, via web chat, or email, they want a direct line of communication with a customer service representative. Here's an example of something I saw in one case. I won't use their name because I don't want to embarrass them. They were a regional company that offered both products and services. On their website, their phone number was plastered across the top of their home screen in big bold font. All of their CTAs directed the website visitor to “Call Us Today!” This held true for buying a product, scheduling a service, or just an inquiry. While I didn't think dealing with customers over the phone for each problem was the most ideal option, it was clear the company felt it was the easiest method for them. The business also had an Instagram profile with a decent following for a small and somewhat local company. But their phone number was nowhere to be found on their Instagram. That lack of consistency prevented them from generating new leads on that social platform. Not all their followers will go to the company's website to find their contact info. That's why I recommend giving users as many options as possible to contact you. But if you're going to limit those choices to just phone or email inquiries, make sure all your platforms have that information available. ConclusionConsistency is key. It's one of the best ways to brand yourself and your company. That way it will be easier for customers to recognize your business and what it represents. Start with your images and logo. Make sure it's the same on all of your marketing channels. You can use the examples I gave you earlier with my Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and LinkedIn profiles as a reference for how to accomplish this. Next, you'll want to maintain the same voice, tone, and language across all of these platforms. Establishing a unique voice will help you create a better connection with your customers. Just make sure your language is appropriate for your target market. If you offer discounts or promotions, those should be the same on every marketing channel. Make it easy for customers to get in touch with you by offering consistent contact information on all of your profiles. What do you need to change on your marketing channels in order to stay consistent with your CTA and value proposition across them all?
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“Engagement.” It's a term often dismissed as “fluffy” that lacks true value towards primary business goals. But we live in a world where customers can engage with us in real time. And with this comes an expectation of delivering the best experience possible. It's not just about letting your customers feel heard. Engagement metrics, while often seen as “vanity metrics,” are important indicators of how well your marketing is performing. In this article, I'll share six engagement metrics you must measure throughout the funnel to ensure your marketing is working. I'll also share actionable tactics on how to improve them and, as a result, your bottom line. 1. Content ReachYou put in the grind and work hours to create a superb piece of content. You know it will serve your audience, but… Crickets. While often considered a vanity metric, Reach is still a great indicator of your content's performance. If you're promoting visual media through social platforms or blog posts, Reach dictates how well it will perform. A simple definition of Reach is: “the total number of people who see your content.” It's a metric that indicates the unique users and readers who see the content you promote. There are a few elements to consider when measuring Reach:
Another metric to keep an eye on is social shares. Calculated as part of your Reach, shares can provide an indicator on how well your content is resonating with your audience. How to Boost Content ReachThanks to algorithm updates, organic reach is now tougher than ever. Last month, we saw the biggest ever drop in Facebook organic reach to date. So how do you combat this? The most obvious way is through paid promotion. Many brands are allocating budget to boost the reach of their content. Sponsored posts on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, are more popular than ever. For example, Barry Feldman invested in sponsored Facebook posts to announce his new eBook. While this post only generated 100 organic views, his paid efforts reached over 2,400 users: Amplifying content using sponsored social posts and other paid media can be an effective way of extending reach, as well as generating a fresh stream of traffic. When it comes to earned media, influencer marketing is more popular than ever. In fact, 84% of marketers planned on running at least one influencer marketing campaign in 2017. Consider starting by engaging with micro-influencers first. Unlike celebrities or public figures, they're individuals who operate in specific verticals. Their follower size is between 1,000 to 100,000 – which makes them more affordable and accessible than traditional influencers with an audience of 1M or over. They also tend to have a much higher rate of engagement. Stitch Fix uses Instagram as a method of collaborating with micro-influencers. In the example below, they linked to a Q&A post with a fashion blogger to add value to their community while tapping into a wider audience:
Identify the micro-influencers relevant to your brand, and then engage with them via social media before reaching out. Alternatively, get connected with influencers quickly using a platform like Upfluence or Hype Factory. 2. Time on Page vs. Scroll DepthWhen you create an awesome piece of content, you want people to read it. However, if it takes ten minutes to read and users are only spending two minutes on the page, this might indicate a deeper issue. “Average time on page” is a Google Analytics metric that helps you understand how users are engaging with your content. Before we cover this metric, it's important first to understand average session duration. Calculate average session duration by dividing total duration of all sessions (in seconds) by the number of sessions: Total session duration (secs) / Number of sessions The session duration for an individual user varies by how a user engaged with the last page of a session. For example, if a page contains a video, the session duration is tracked until the moment they hit “play.” Otherwise, the time spent on the page does not count towards the total session duration. Analytics Edge puts it best:
So, why is “average time on page” such a tricky metric to measure? “Time on page” and “time on site” are measured between timestamps of hits. So, if a user bounces, no time is recorded. Furthermore, time on page is recorded even when a window or tab is inactive. This means that time on page is an average of users who didn't bounce from that page. Many marketers prefer monitoring scroll depth to time on page. It can provide a more accurate engagement metric for content, as the further someone scrolls through content, the more engaged they're likely to be. The truth is, you should measure both. Scroll depth alone can be misleading, as many users scroll through a page before deciding whether or not to continue reading. You can access on-page metrics on Google Analytics using the Chrome extension (In-Page Analytics was removed from the GA interface this year.) Another solution is CrazyEgg or Hotjar's Scrollmap technology, which shows you where on your page users are most engaged. How to boost Content EngagementThe more time people spend on your content, the higher the chance they are to convert. Start treating your content as a marketing asset. Run regular A/B tests on pages with the large opportunities. You can find these opportunities by identifying pages that generate large amounts of traffic with low engagement. Head to Behavior > Site Content > All Pages on Google Analytics to access this data. When Alex Turnbull wanted to improve engagement on the Groove blog, he ran an A/B test to see what effect storytelling would have on readership: The result? A 300% increase in people scrolling to the bottom of the page. Look at your content and put yourself in your user's shoes. Where are you failing to get their attention? At what stages might they get bored of your content? Identify these potential points of friction, and then experiment with different headlines, introductions, and design layouts to improve engagement. 3. Social Comments & Conversation RateReach is a great indicator of how many eyeballs view your content. Engagement with that content is often neglected and is arguably the most important aspect of social media marketing. Therefore, comments should be regularly measured. Not only that but the overall sentiment of the conversation (i.e., positive or negative.) Comment count is an exciting metric but can be meaningless without context. You must also measure the conversation rate. Calculate your conversation rate using this formula: Total comments / Followers * 100 = Conversation rate For example, a post that generates 30 comments may not seem like much to some. But for a Facebook page of only 250 likes, this number is significant. Using the formula above, the conversation rate for this post is 12%. However, not all of your followers may see your post, and the above calculation doesn't account for “non-followers” who see your content. With this in mind, another way of calculating conversation rate is against total reach: Total comments / Reach * 100 = Conversation rate With the above calculation, you're measuring engagement against the number of users who actually see your post i.e. total impressions. This metric helps answer the question: is this post interesting enough to initiate a discussion around? How to Boost Conversation RateUsing the question above, you can assume that the higher the conversation rate, the more your social content can be considered “interesting.” Therefore, to increase engagement with your brand on social media, your content must be more interesting! Ok, great. But “interesting” is subjective. What may be interesting to one audience may be boring to another. To find out what content to create, look at the data. Look at your social media analytics over the last year and see where the spikes in engagement and reach occurred. Ask yourself:
Use Unmetric's free Discover tool to uncover popular content around specific topics. Search for relevant keywords/hashtags, select “Organic” under Post Type and then sort by “Most Comments:” Using this approach, you can let the market tell you what it finds interesting. Use the data available to you and do more of what works. 4. Brand Name SearchMany marketers consider “branding” another fluffy term. It's still important, and can often be the first step towards a sale. The fastest way to measure your brand awareness is through brand query searches. To uncover this metric, head to Google Search Console and navigate to the Queries page and select the “Impressions” box: This page gives you an accurate estimate of how many people are searching for your brand name. Other ways of measuring brand awareness include:
How to Boost Brand AwarenessThe more content you produce, the more your brand awareness will grow over time. Use retargeting ads to maintain top-of-mind awareness. Use Google's display network and Facebook Ads to serve ads to those who have visited your website. Retargeting ads can also help increase conversions using the Facebook pixel. For example, Expedia uses Facebook retargeting to capture users who viewed hotels without booking: Content creation and PR also helps with brand building efforts. If your content is useful, entertaining or insightful, you'll increase brand awareness over time. 5. Email Marketing EngagementEmail marketing is still one of the most effective marketing channels. When it comes to measuring engagement, there are:
Conversion rate is especially important. This metric is the biggest indicator of email marketing success. The ultimate goal of your email is to make a sale or persuade leads to take the next step in the funnel. Using a tool like Return Path can help give you further insights into how your recipients are engaging with your emails. It shows you which devices and browser's users use, as well as insights on when and where they view your emails. Furthermore, it allows you to segment emails by demographics, mobile use, and custom tags. How to Boost Email EngagementThe best approach to improving your email marketing results is to optimize each stage of the journey. Open rates, for example, can be optimized by testing subject lines and which days of the week to send them. It's also worth segmenting the users who open them most frequently and analyzing their behavior. Many factors will affect clickthrough rates. For example, if your opening sentence doesn't hook readers in, they're less likely to read the rest of the email. But your main focus should be on conversion rate. Test the following elements to improve conversions and, ultimately, ROI:
The example below from Freshbooks used social proof to reduce anxiety when releasing a new integration. It featured a testimonial from a customer, including a headshot to add an extra layer of personalization: It's the same approach you would take when optimizing a landing page. Test every element, from subject lines (headlines) to call-to-action text and buttons. Remove any unnecessary elements to make your emails as clear and persuasive as possible. 6. Net Promoter ScoreAs marketers, we're always striving to make our audience happier. Net promoter score (or NPS) allows us to measure how happy they truly are. Developed by Fred Reichheld of Bain & Company, NPS is a measure of how likely a customer is to recommend your brand. Customers are categorized into three different segments: Promoters (score of 9 to 10), Passives (score of 7 to 8) and Detractors (score of 0 to 6.) NPS can be calculated simply the question “How likely would you be to recommend our product/service?” Use this question within your website, SaaS platform or in an email survey. How to Boost NPSTo improve NPS is to improve customer satisfaction. It's a score that indicates how well your entire business is doing. Your goal is to generate more promoters, while converting passives and detractors into promoters. It all boils down to delivering a delightful experience from the very beginning of the marketing funnel all the way to your product and service delivery. NPS shows your product and marketing teams what users love about your product and where their pain points are. Use customer development to uncover where these sticking points are for your detractors. So, then, the question is: what do you do with your promoters? Referral and ambassador programs can turn happy customers into an entirely new acquisition engine. Lululemon is a great example of this in action. They empower their ambassadors to lead yoga classes all over the world, and get support directly from the brand in the form of guidelines and content: The key is to make them feel a part of something. Give your promoters the tools to easily create user-generated content (UGC) around your brand and to spread your message. ConclusionWhile engagement is often associated with “vanity metrics,” they can still be a key indicator for success. The fact is your audience is active on many different platforms at once. Not just your blog, platform or website. The question is how do you get them onto your own media and into your marketing funnel? Nurturing your audience on the platforms they're active is the best way to do this. Improve each touchpoint on every channel you communicate with your audience on. This is how you convert attention into traffic & leads. How do you currently measure the conversation with your customers? What are you doing to keep them engaged? About the Author: Juuso Lyytikkä is the Head of Growth at Funnel.io. Funnel is a marketing analytics tool for online marketers that collects data from ALL advertising platforms and allows marketers to send and visualize this data anywhere. Book a demo to get a free trial. Projecting an account's trajectory is a vital skill for every account team. You can't escape it. It comes up when performance is great and it comes up when performance is poor. Despite the demand for these skills and insights, it can be one of the scarier tasks. The uncertainty of accounting for everything makes […]
Read more at PPCHero.com KPIs are due EOD. Profit and loss statements need to be generated. Budget status updates have been requested. Juggling multiple marketing campaigns is stressful. But more importantly, it's also incredibly risky. Soon enough, you've depleted your budget to the last few cents, and you have nothing to show for it. Or worse, you didn't spot the right trends in a successful tactic before spending too much on the underperforming ones. And now you don't have enough money to re-allocate to top-tier mediums. Curiously enough, adopting the same methodical mindset of a financial currency trader can help you better manage results. Here's how. Start With a Currency Arbitrage MindsetHere's the problem with digital marketing. It changes every day. Old stuff gives way to new stuff. And you never really know how a campaign will perform until you try it. That saying (1) is unhelpful and (2) requires extra money to experiment with potentially budget-draining activities. But it's true. You really don't know which playbook, game plan, or actionable tip is going to work until you experiment. The stuff that worked last year almost certainly won't work the same this year. Not to mention that every business is structured differently. Each caters to diverse audiences. So copying your competitors or that awesome tactic you read about is also out. What works for Company X might bankrupt Company Z. If there were set-in-stone tactics that produced million-dollar businesses overnight, every dude on GrowthHackers.org would be rich. PPC might be amazing for your friend's business. But that doesn't mean investing in PPC is instantly going to turn you into the next Zuckerberg. So where do people turn when they hit this realization? A/B testing. You all know those case studies that promise a mythical pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. I did X and generated a 40000000000% increase in conversions! Okay, maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but it's not that far off. Most A/B tests fail, though. They take too long to get results. Plus that whole “bias” thing. And of course, sample size. You need a minimum of 1,000 conversions monthly for statistical significance. So what should you do instead? Implement a currency arbitrage mindset. Currency arbitrage is a strategy in which the trader takes advantage of different spreads offered by brokers for a particular currency pair by making trades. Different spreads imply a gap between the bid and ask prices. Meaning, they can buy and sell pairs to make more money. What does this mean in English? Place lots of small bets on different tactics, channels, platforms, and mediums so that you can evaluate their effectiveness in real-time. Once you see specific trends developing (either positive or negative), you double down on the winners and cut your losses on the rest. This way, you can test multiple experiments at once without the bias and lack of statistical significance that comes with A/B testing. You get in and out fast. And you come out on the other side with specific campaigns to focus on rather than a mixed bag. For example, you can't always control the end result. But you can control the inputs that eventually get you there. And you can monitor, forecast, or predict where those will fall based on just a few days' worth of performance. Then, you can fine tune and adjust each 'level' accordingly to squeeze out the best results. Adjusting Your Budget Based on Market MovementThe first banner advertisement ever appeared on HotWired in 1994. Look at this gem: By today's standards, it looks like a joke, right? Is that tie-dye? Yes, yes it is. But it gets worse: See that subliminal “YOU WILL” message on the right??? Super subtle. Lord have mercy on us all. But guess what? This banner ad debuted with a click-through rate of 78%. Yes, you read that right. Seventy. Eight. Percent. If you told any marketer today that your banner ads are getting a 78% CTR, you'd get laughed out of the room. Why? It's inconceivable. It's probably impossible in today's world. Today, the average display ad CTR is 0.05%. This all brings me back to one concept coined by Andrew Chen: The law of shitty click-throughs: All marketing strategies over time will result in shitty click-through rates. As more and more people use these tactics, the market becomes saturated. Users get sick of it, and they don't click. Or they go banner blind. You can see trends that follow this concept with almost any marketing activity. Remember the good old days when Facebook organic reach was insane? You paid nothing and reached thousands or millions of eager users. Now, organic reach is almost nothing: As more and more marketers use the concepts put in place, it results in fewer and fewer results. This is a perfect example of market movement and active management in currency trading. You can't hold certain trades forever and expect exponential performance. Just because something is generating an insane ROI now, doesn't mean you can ride it off into the sunset. Markets are constantly shifting, just like marketing tactics. What was hot one day (banner ads) isn't now. If you don't adjust your strategy based on analytic research and forecasts, you risk declining performances associated with passive management. Passive management is when you sit idly by and attempt to cruise to the finish line on your current strategy. Active management relies on analytical performance data over time to spot trends and make informed decisions about what needs to change. If you notice a decline in organic reach on Facebook, you probably shouldn't be dumping your campaign dollars into it. Unfortunately, us marketers (including me) fall into this trap more often than we'd like to admit. You log in to Google AdWords or Analytics and see some great conversion data: Your plans are working as you'd hoped. But that doesn't mean you can sit back and let the good times roll. Sure, you can do that for a little bit. But over time, as markets, tactics, and consumers shift, you've gotta take an active role in managing campaigns. Adjust based on trends. A great way to do this is by analyzing specific topics on Google Trends: Or even keeping up to date with the latest studies on popular marketing tactics by conducting a basic Google search: Stay up-to-date with market movement and look at the underlying trends or patterns. Because when people are blogging about it, tweeting it, favoriting it, or liking it, it's already too late. Be Cautious in a Bull MarketWhen everything is running smoothly, it's referred to as a bull market. Investor confidence and financial optimism are at an all-time high. On the surface, everything is running like a well-oiled machine. Unemployment is low. The economy's GDP is growing steadily. Stocks are rising. And your marketing tactics are getting more traction. But with all of this surface-based optimism comes serious potential side effects: It now becomes difficult to predict potential shifts and trends or when tactics might change. Facebook's organic reach was booming just a few years ago. Until, of course, it didn't. Now? Good luck. We've crapped out. There is actually a pretty easy explanation for it. Simple supply vs. demand. User growth is slowing while the number of content pieces has exploded exponentially. Too much supply, not enough demand. Guess what's going to repeat now on Instagram? Right now it's the place to be for your content. Just give it a minute. And don't get swept up by the bull market. Find your own Big ShortHave you ever seen The Big Short? If not, I highly recommend it. It's a great movie. Not just because it's an incredible, intense account of the 2005 housing crisis. Mainly because it features Steve Carell: Inspirational as always, Prison Mike. In all seriousness, it's a great movie that heavily relates to digital marketing. The main concept of the movie was based on the true story of Michael Burry, a hedge fund manager who shorted the housing crisis of 2005. He believed there was a housing bubble, leading him to short sell and bet against the banks who thought he was a chump, taking his deals like candy. The idea of short selling is motivated by the belief that a security's price will decline, enabling it to be bought back at a lower price point for maximum profit. And people thought Michael (Burry, not Prison) was insane. Who in their right mind bets against the housing market when prices are nearly doubling year after year? But Burry noticed a few troubling trends. He saw that subprime home loans were in danger of defaulting. And many adjustable rate mortgages with balloon payments were all adjusting around the same time. He decided to throw more than one billion dollars into credit default swaps. It's safe to say that the banks weren't too happy in the end. Here's the moral of the story: Very few people believed him. But Burry discovered the mystical unicorn that most marketers strive to find. The main point as it relates to marketing campaigns is this: You need to find your own big short. Your own diamond in the rough that you can tap into before anyone else. Your own display ad invention that generates a 78% CTR. Finding the tactic that brings your conversions up by 10x. Sounds wonderful. But you know it's not easy. Because it hasn't been blogged about or shared at conferences just yet. But examples of it do already exist in the marketing world today. For example, Brian Dean of Backlinko raised the link-building bar with his skyscraper technique. He took a spin on a classic link-building tactic that increased his search traffic by 110% in just two weeks. On top of a massive increase in traffic, he generated countless backlinks from thousands of different referring domains: He effectively took his link-building strategy to the next level by going against the grain. He didn't sit back and ride the wave of guest blogging or other outdated, declining strategies. He found his own big short. While small marketing tactics like A/B testing and creating new ads or creative for your campaigns is a step in the right direction, it isn't the end-all-be-all. Small bets don't move the needle. They merely help you figure out if you're on the right track (or not). And help to show you when it's time to go all-in. ConclusionManaging marketing campaigns is a stressful task. Big, splashy, high-budget campaigns have high expectations. Bosses and clients expect big, lofty performance to go with it. Money can get away from you fast if you aren't careful. Even worse, you can get so caught up in data that you miss the right trends. Trends that tell you which aspects of your campaign are winning and which are losing. Instead of flying blind or crossing your fingers, think like a financial currency trader. Analyze the data with a currency arbitrage mindset. Keep up with market movement by taking an active management role in your campaigns. Be cautious in a bull market when everyone's saying the same things. And don't be afraid to bet big when the time comes. About the Author: Brad Smith is the founder of Codeless, a B2B content creation company. Frequent contributor to Kissmetrics, Unbounce, WordStream, AdEspresso, Search Engine Journal, Autopilot, and more. Dale Carnegie, author of the famed How to Win Friends and Influence People, said in his book, “Remember that a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language." That concept is a powerful truth that you can spin to your advantage in practically any aspect of your marketing strategy, most of all in email since it is the most personal, one-on-one online marketing channel. That being said, let's explore how and when you should use personalization in your email marketing campaigns and why it matters so much. How to Personalize Your Emails Using the recipient's name is certainly the foremost way to personalize your emails and start the one-on-one conversation with your subscribers but it's not the only way. Here's a quick list of more options to personalize emails that go beyond using just the name:
The important thing, however, is to remember to collect all of this data. Some of this data can be collected through form fields when a new subscriber initially inputs their data. The rest of it, such as location and browsing data, can be obtained through user tracking and the like. One of the keys to implementing personalization is not to go overboard with it. Often, just the mention of a name can pique subscriber interest, then adding in one or two more data points really makes the email seem individualized. Here's an example of how Shopify uses personalization to keep subscribers to their forum interested: Not only do they use a first name, but they also utilize the user's browsing history on their website to match up forum threads that the subscriber will actually find interesting and relevant to Jonathan. When to Personalize Your Emails Knowing when to personalize an email and when to withhold revealing information collected on a customer is tricky but extremely important. The first email, serving as the initial contact point between you and the subscriber, is critical to the future of your relationship. First impressions do matter, and if you can make the user feel like you're paying them attention right from the get-go, by at least including their name, chances are you'll preserve a favorable perception of your brand. Other important email types to personalize are transactional emails, upsell emails, and emails during the course of a sale. Personalization can help to make a purchase memorable to your customers, and it will also go a long way towards your current customers feeling comfortable with purchasing other related products, ultimately boosting sales and revenue. On the contrary, including too much super-specific information, like location, can be off-putting to some users. Given the current climate surrounding the whole privacy issue, subscribers, particularly older generation Internet users, may be disturbed by how much you know about them. Keep this in mind and choose when to use data wisely. Why Personalization Matters So now that we've discussed when and how to implement personalization in your email marketing strategy, let's drive home why it matters to your business. There's no better way to do that than by taking a look at the results other marketers have achieved through personalization:
If you haven't yet started using personalization to revamp your email marketing strategy, you're missing out. Download The Personalization Playbook today to deliver on your customers' expectations and in return win their loyalty and increase revenue! Before you start trying to drive traffic to your website, you need to master one factor. I'm talking about credibility. Without a credible website, you'll struggle to get more customers and increase conversions. Plus, credibility shows you're trustworthy. If you're offering something without a trusted name or brand behind it, people will be hesitant to buy what you're selling. Why? Well, with so many other options available on the market, it's too easy for people to find what they're looking for somewhere else. This goes for ecommerce stores, blogs, or any business that has a website. If a visitor sees a red flag on your website, they will leave. It's that simple. Some of you may not even realize you have components on your site that drive people away. That's why I came up with this list of the top 20 ways to add credibility to your website. Even if you don't necessarily have elements driving people away, you can always add more components to improve your credibility. Having a trustworthy website will also improve your search ranking in Google's algorithm: Being credible will drive more traffic to your site as well. This doesn't just go for websites that sell a product or service. If you have an informational site, credibility will make it easier for other websites to cite statistics, images, infographics, and other data off your website when they conduct research on the subject you cover. This will also help drive more traffic to your site. No matter what type of site you operate, here are some easy ways for you to improve its credibility. 1. Limit advertisementsWhile advertisements may be a nice form of income for you, they aren't popular with your visitors. How much do you rely on ads to make a profit? If it's just a small percentage, I recommend getting rid of them altogether. If you're an ecommerce site or have a website that makes money from other revenue streams, ads aren't always necessary. But say you run a blog and ads are your primary income. In that case, you'll need to keep them as limited as possible. Take a look at the types of ads people dislike the most: Take these numbers into consideration. Avoid popup ads, and use minimal banner ads. Although 43% of customers still dislike banners, it's not as high of a number compared to some other options. 2. Customer service that's easily accessibleIf someone visiting your site has a question or problem, they shouldn't have to hunt for customer service options. This should be readily available. When customer service is unreachable, it makes the visitor feel uneasy. Especially if it's during normal business hours. Note how Apple Support gives customers a variety of ways to reach customer service: They even have a recommended option. People love to have choices. Not everyone wants to pick up the phone. It's great when companies have customer service available via online chat. If you can swing it, give it a try. 3. All your contact informationThis should go without saying, but you'd be surprised how often I can't find contact information on websites. When I see that, I think it's sketchy. What are they trying to hide by withholding their phone number? Make sure your site has:
Failure to do so will make your page appear untrustworthy. 4. Reviews and testimonialsShowcasing customer testimonials on your website helps generate social proof. This is especially true if you can get a testimonial from an expert in your industry. You should also have a place on your site where customers can leave reviews. While good reviews are obviously what you're looking for, some unfavorable comments may actually boost your credibility as well. If all customer feedback on your website is positive, it may appear fake. Even if some people didn't have the best experience with your business, allowing them to leave a review for others to read will establish trust. It also helps prove you're an actual business and not a scam. Interact with the customers who left a review on your site. This will help build credibility as well. 5. Security badgesWhat kind of security measures are you taking to protect users who visit your website? Showcase those badges on each page. Studies show that people trust the Norton AntiVirus seal the most compared to other badges. If you use Norton, proudly display that badge on your site. If you're looking for services to improve your site security, Norton may not be a bad place to start based on this information. 6. Validation from other media sourcesHave you been featured in a magazine, newspaper, or on a website? Any positive press about your company should be proudly displayed on your site. If established media sources have verified your business, it will increase your legitimacy in the eyes of anyone who visits your website. Find a good spot on your page to add any videos, screenshots, or links to all those stories. 7. AwardsYour website is a great place to show off any awards or achievements. Whether it's local, regional, or national, anything helps. Even if you won an award a couple of years ago, put it up on your website. Showcasing awards from the past shows you've been credible for a while. It establishes your company's history over time. Companies that have been in business for longer periods tend to be well established and appear more credible than those that just started. If you've been operating since 1950, don't be afraid to plaster that fact on your website. 8. Social proofWe just talked about how customer reviews and testimonials can help establish social proof, but you can take this one step further to add even more credibility to your site. Do you have any partnerships or relationships with celebrities? Use that to your advantage. Look at how IcyHot does this on their website: The picture of Shaquille O'Neal is the first thing you see when you visit their page. Knowing such a prominent figure stands behind the brand helps reassure visitors the product is legitimate. This added comfort builds trust between the brand and the consumer. 9. Guest postsGuest posts are one of my favorite ways to build credibility. There are two ways to do this, and you should take advantage of both:
Here's why both can lead to success. By allowing other people to write on your website, you show visitors that someone else is willing to associate their name with your brand. This is especially true if that person is an authority figure or person of importance within a particular industry. But you should also try to get featured on other blogs as much as possible. It will give you a chance to get your name exposed to a wider audience. Since an established person or brand is letting you write on their page, it automatically tells their readers you are a credible person. You can include a link to your website, which will drive more traffic from people who already trust you. Both of these strategies, especially combined, can drastically improve your business. 10. A design that's simple and professionalKeep your website simple. Don't go overboard with flashing lights or other bells and whistles. It needs to be clean. Take a look at the top factor that influenced credibility based on visitor comments: Over 2,600 responses were factored into these results. The design look had the biggest impact. 11. Typography and grammarIn addition to the design, you should also consider your typography. Don't choose a font that's difficult to read. Use a large font and short sentences whenever you're writing. Make sure you proofread everything too. Grammar mistakes and spelling errors are a great way to show customers you don't care enough to check your work. That will put you on the fast track toward losing credibility. This can easily be avoided if you take the time and effort to make sure your writing is grammatically sound. 12. Ease of navigationCustomers shouldn't struggle to find what they're looking for on your website. The menu options should be limited so it's not too overwhelming. Adding a search bar so your readers can look for something specific is a great way to improve your navigation as well. All of this helps enhance the user experience, which helps with your credibility score. 13. No glitches or technical errorsYou also need to make sure your website doesn't have any bugs or glitches. If a customer clicks a certain link, it should bring them to the right page. Any error messages will hurt your credibility. To prevent these problems, you need to do regular maintenance on your site. 14. Page loading speedLet's take our last point one step further. In addition to not having any errors, your website should load fast. It not only affects your credibility but also helps with your conversion rates. The faster your page loads, the higher your conversion rates will be. It's that simple. Don't try to find the cheapest web hosting service on the market. You get what you pay for. It's worth it to pay a little extra to avoid technical glitches and always have fast loading times. 15. Photos and biographies of your staffAdding a page that introduces your staff to your visitors will help establish trust. It shows you're not some nameless and faceless brand-real people work for your company. This simple page will make it easier for customers to relate to your business. 16. Clearly state all policiesDon't assume website visitors know your company policies. All of these should be clearly stated on your website. This will help you from a legal perspective as well in case there is a dispute. Make sure things such as your return policy or money back guarantee are outlined in detail. If you're an ecommerce business, consumers may be hesitant to shop if they don't think you stand behind your product. 17. Back up all your dataAny time you're referring to statistical information, studies, or other data, don't forget to cite your sources. It's easy. Just say something like, “According to research conducted at the University of XYZ…”, and include a hyperlink to the original source of information. This will show people visiting your site you're not pulling numbers out of thin air. If you read my blogs regularly, you know by now I always hyperlink data claims to their sources. 18. Be upfront about your pricesDon't try to sneak hidden fees past your customers. It's shady. Let's look at the top reasons for shopping cart abandonment: Don't wait until the last minute to tell customers you're charging them tax, shipping, or other fees. You should have all your prices clearly listed on the website. Adding extra costs in the shopping cart could make the customer think you're trying to sneak one by them. It's just not good business practice. You also shouldn't say things like “Contact us for pricing.” Why wouldn't you just list your prices? What are you trying to hide? Those are questions that will go through the customer's mind if you do that. 19. Make sure everything is up to dateCompanies make changes over time. That's understandable. You may move, get a new phone number, and hire a new manager. None of this is unreasonable. But failure to update these changes on your website is a big problem. If customers are trying to call you and they are getting a phone number that's out of service, that's an issue. Or if they try to mail you something and it gets returned back to the sender, that's a problem. I'm referring to physical mail as well as a bounced email. This can damage your reputation. Earlier I mentioned that it's a great idea to add employee photos and bios to your page. But you need to keep those up to date as well. Let's say your company's Vice President has their photograph on your home page. Underneath the picture, it says, “Call today and ask for me directly.” Imagine someone calls only to find out this person no longer works there. How does that make you look? It hurts your credibility. The customer may think that person never worked for you. It's just not a good situation for anyone involved. 20. Secure the checkout processRefer back to that graph we just looked at regarding shopping cart abandonment. Note 18% of those respondents said they didn't trust the website with their credit card information. In addition to adding security badges to your page, you have to make sure your checkout procedure is secure. Look at this example from Dick's Sporting Goods: The secure link will make their customers feel comfortable about entering their personal information, including a credit card number. ConclusionHaving a credible website is essential for every business. If your site looks sketchy or untrustworthy, it can drastically impact your traffic and conversions. Making minor adjustments to your page can really improve the way it's viewed through the eyes of a visitor. The tips I gave you on this list are really easy to implement. First, remove anything from your site that appears untrustworthy. Next, add certain elements that improve the overall credibility. It won't take much time at all. Trust me, you'll notice a big difference right away. What type of feedback have your website visitors given you about the user experience and navigation on your pages? You don't need to come up with a complicated marketing campaign as a last-ditch effort to increase your sales revenue. All too often I see businesses drastically slash their prices or run other insane promotions, that aren't profitable, just to get more sales. Don't get me wrong. I'm definitely an advocate for running promotional campaigns. It's just not always necessary if you're trying to boost ecommerce sales. Instead, take a look at your channels for content distribution and sales platforms. Are they optimized for mobile devices? If you're not sure, the answer is probably no. That's a big problem. You have to understand how people consume content, browse, and ultimately make purchases. In the last six months, over 60% of smartphone users purchased something online with their mobile devices. Furthermore, 80% of consumers use their mobile devices while shopping at physical store locations. Why would they do this?
If your business doesn't have a strong mobile presence, you're neglecting a huge share of potential sales. Accommodating the needs of mobile users could end up being the cash injection your company is looking for. I've got plenty of experience with this, so I can help steer you in the right direction if you don't know how to get started. Here's what you need to do. Optimize your website for mobile devicesHow does your website look when it's loaded on mobile devices? Take a look at this example from the Medical Web Experts website: The left image is what their standard website looks like. The image on the right is the same website after it's been optimized for mobile devices. Notice the differences? It's much harder for users to navigate on their phones if the site isn't optimized. The font is smaller and harder to read, which forces users to zoom in to find what they're looking for. Scrolling can be an issue too. That's because the website was designed for laptop and desktop screens. The page will load, but ultimately it has too many problems. Once it's optimized, the page will fit much better on a smaller screen. Now users will just have to scroll up and down to navigate, as opposed to zooming and needing to scroll left and right as well to see all your content. This makes it easier for the site visitor to find what they're looking for in just a click or two. Ease of use will keep the consumer happy, which can ultimately lead to higher conversion rates. These are some other added benefits of a mobile friendly website: I would definitely recommend adding a search bar to your mobile site at the top of the screen. That makes it even easier for the user to get where they need to be as fast as possible. Check out these examples from Patagonia, Amazon, and The New Yorker: All three of these popular websites simplify the search and navigation process for people using their phones and tablets. Once you modify the design of your mobile site to accommodate mobile users, it's time to put it to the test. Enter your site URL on the Google mobile friendly test to see the results. These are my results when I run the test for Quick Sprout: As you can see, my mobile site is friendly for users. In fact, you might even be reading this blog on your mobile device right now. Speed mattersHaving your website designed for mobile devices is only half the battle. The site needs to load fast too. You can use the Google mobile speed test to check how fast your page loads on mobile devices. It all goes back to accommodating the user. People are busy. More importantly, they are impatient. This is a major problem for you if your mobile site takes too long to load. It doesn't matter what kind of device they are using. According to recent studies, users expect mobile pages to load as fast or faster than the pages on their desktop and laptop computers. Mobile sites that take more than three seconds to load will see a 40% abandonment rate. Just take a moment to let that sink in. Four out of every ten users will leave your website if it doesn't load fast enough. Fixing a slow loading time can drastically improve your sales because your abandonment rates won't be as high. Look at the other statistics on the graphic above as well. Over 70% of Internet traffic today comes from mobile devices. The majority of people who search for your site are probably doing so from their phones and tablets. If you're not making it as easy as possible for these people to navigate, you are hurting your bottom line. This is true regardless of what kind of site you're running. For ecommerce sites, obviously, the goal of your business is to get users to buy what you're selling. But if they can't locate your items and the pages don't load fast, you won't get sales. Even if you're not selling a physical product online, you still need to optimize your site for mobile devices. How do you make money? Let's say you run a blog. You may rely on advertisements to make ends meet. But if users aren't spending time on your site or they are abandoning it, you won't get as many impressions, and your click-through rates will suffer. Look at the direct correlation between load times and abandonment. Your website simply can't survive if your rates are this high. Recognize how many people are using mobile devicesPart of operating a business and running a website is keeping up with the trends. You would be surprised how many business owners don't have a clue about what's going on, even in their own industries. It's mind blowing. But for argument's sake, let's pretend you're an expert in your industry, which you very well may be. That's not enough. If you have a website, you need to understand how people consume information. That goes for small businesses too. Take a look at how searches on various devices resulted in purchases from a local business. More searches resulted in purchases from mobile phones and tablets than from computers and laptops. Remember what I said earlier? People search for items online while they are shopping inside of a physical store. Obviously, for convenience and practicality purposes, they don't whip out a computer to do this. But they can easily reach into their pockets for their phones. Let's continue analyzing the trends. In 2017, laptops and desktops are trending down. On the flip side, mobile phones are trending up. This holds true on a global scale as well. Over 66% of the population owns a mobile device. As a business owner who operates a website, you've got to stay on top of these kinds of numbers. Analyze your target market. Age impacts how people browse and shop online as well. As you can see from the graphic above, people over the age of 55 use their devices much less than younger generations. So if you're selling a product or service that targets senior citizens, you might be getting away with not having a mobile friendly site at the moment. But you're still missing out on sales. Think about all the younger people who may want to buy a gift for their parents or grandparents. They would browse and shop on their mobile devices. Plus, this isn't a sustainable business plan. Those younger generations are only going to get older, so it's safe to say these trends will shift and even out over time. Mobile devices impact buyer behaviorContinuing with our last point, the devices that people browse on impact how they shop. The reason behind this statement is due to a combination of everything we've discussed so far. Consumers are more likely to buy something if you have a mobile friendly website. It's that simple. Here's a hypothetical situation. Let's say a consumer is shopping in your competitor's brick and mortar location, which is within a walking distance from your storefront. The customer is interested in an item, but they want to make sure they're getting the best price. They run a quick Google search to see if anyone else sells this particular item at a more reasonable cost. You offer the same exact item for 20% less than your competitor. But when the consumer clicks on your website, it takes too long to load, and it's not mobile friendly. Now what? The customer didn't want to take the time to figure out scrolling and zooming through your complicated website because it wasn't compatible with their mobile device. You just missed out on the sale. They bought from your competitor instead. If this pattern continues, it will put you on the fast track to going out of business. A/B test different versions of your mobile siteOnce your mobile site is up and running, you have to keep working on it. Sure, it's better than it was before, but that doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement. Just like you do with your website and email campaigns, you need to A/B test your mobile website as well. This will help ensure you get the highest conversion rates possible. That way you know it's performing to its full potential. Approach this test the same way you would any other A/B test. Just change one component. For example, you could change the wording, colors, size, or placement of the CTA button. Here's a basic example to illustrate what I mean: I'd recommend testing the performance of different site variations often. That's the best way to ensure you're accommodating the needs of any mobile user who visits your website. Build an appFor those of you who want to take mobile optimization a step further, it may be in your best interest to build an app for your company. Apps can help enhance the user experience even more. It's not for every business, but I definitely recommend looking into it. Mobile app development is expensive and takes time. Even after your app is finished, it's still going to cost you money to keep it running. But if you think you have the funds to pull it off, it can definitely be worth your time and financial investment. The majority of the time that gets spent on mobile devices is through app usage. It's a great way to increase the chances that customers spend more time engaging with your company. I recommend building an app for your business if you have an ecommerce website. Here's why. Your mobile site may be better for the users to browse on when they're looking up information in a store, but apps make it easier for them to purchase. The checkout process on your mobile site is long and tedious. Users have to enter all their personal information, shipping address, and payment method. This takes a long time, especially on a mobile phone. There is just too much room for error, and you could see a high number of abandoned shopping carts. But if you have an app, users, once they download it, can create a profile. This profile saves all their information. So when it's time to check out, your customers can add items to their carts and pay with just a couple of clicks. This simplified process will increase sales for your ecommerce store. ConclusionIf the sales for your business are stagnant or declining, it may be because you're ignoring mobile users. The trends are changing toward more mobile usage each year. Optimizing your website to accommodate the needs of these users will help you make more money. You just have to make sure your mobile site loads fast in addition to being optimized. Otherwise, you'll see high abandonment rates. A/B test different versions of your mobile website to get the highest number of conversions possible. It may also be in your best interest to build a mobile app for your company, especially if you're selling something. Follow these tips, and your website will start making more money from people using mobile devices. How long does it take your mobile website to load? Jan Ingenhousz Google doodle marks 287th birthday of scientist behind photosynthesis discovery12/8/2017 Ingenhousz also served as the family doctor for Austria's royal House of Habsburg under the rule of Austrian Empress Maria Theresa.
The post Jan Ingenhousz Google doodle marks 287th birthday of scientist behind photosynthesis discovery appeared first on Search Engine Land. Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article. You don't need to come up with a complicated marketing campaign as a last-ditch effort to increase your sales revenue. All too often I see businesses drastically slash their prices or run other insane promotions, that aren't profitable, just to get more sales. Don't get me wrong. I'm definitely an advocate for running promotional campaigns. It's just not always necessary if you're trying to boost ecommerce sales. Instead, take a look at your channels for content distribution and sales platforms. Are they optimized for mobile devices? If you're not sure, the answer is probably no. That's a big problem. You have to understand how people consume content, browse, and ultimately make purchases. In the last six months, over 60% of smartphone users purchased something online with their mobile devices. Furthermore, 80% of consumers use their mobile devices while shopping at physical store locations. Why would they do this?
If your business doesn't have a strong mobile presence, you're neglecting a huge share of potential sales. Accommodating the needs of mobile users could end up being the cash injection your company is looking for. I've got plenty of experience with this, so I can help steer you in the right direction if you don't know how to get started. Here's what you need to do. Optimize your website for mobile devicesHow does your website look when it's loaded on mobile devices? Take a look at this example from the Medical Web Experts website: The left image is what their standard website looks like. The image on the right is the same website after it's been optimized for mobile devices. Notice the differences? It's much harder for users to navigate on their phones if the site isn't optimized. The font is smaller and harder to read, which forces users to zoom in to find what they're looking for. Scrolling can be an issue too. That's because the website was designed for laptop and desktop screens. The page will load, but ultimately it has too many problems. Once it's optimized, the page will fit much better on a smaller screen. Now users will just have to scroll up and down to navigate, as opposed to zooming and needing to scroll left and right as well to see all your content. This makes it easier for the site visitor to find what they're looking for in just a click or two. Ease of use will keep the consumer happy, which can ultimately lead to higher conversion rates. These are some other added benefits of a mobile friendly website: I would definitely recommend adding a search bar to your mobile site at the top of the screen. That makes it even easier for the user to get where they need to be as fast as possible. Check out these examples from Patagonia, Amazon, and The New Yorker: All three of these popular websites simplify the search and navigation process for people using their phones and tablets. Once you modify the design of your mobile site to accommodate mobile users, it's time to put it to the test. Enter your site URL on the Google mobile friendly test to see the results. These are my results when I run the test for Quick Sprout: As you can see, my mobile site is friendly for users. In fact, you might even be reading this blog on your mobile device right now. Speed mattersHaving your website designed for mobile devices is only half the battle. The site needs to load fast too. You can use the Google mobile speed test to check how fast your page loads on mobile devices. It all goes back to accommodating the user. People are busy. More importantly, they are impatient. This is a major problem for you if your mobile site takes too long to load. It doesn't matter what kind of device they are using. According to recent studies, users expect mobile pages to load as fast or faster than the pages on their desktop and laptop computers. Mobile sites that take more than three seconds to load will see a 40% abandonment rate. Just take a moment to let that sink in. Four out of every ten users will leave your website if it doesn't load fast enough. Fixing a slow loading time can drastically improve your sales because your abandonment rates won't be as high. Look at the other statistics on the graphic above as well. Over 70% of Internet traffic today comes from mobile devices. The majority of people who search for your site are probably doing so from their phones and tablets. If you're not making it as easy as possible for these people to navigate, you are hurting your bottom line. This is true regardless of what kind of site you're running. For ecommerce sites, obviously, the goal of your business is to get users to buy what you're selling. But if they can't locate your items and the pages don't load fast, you won't get sales. Even if you're not selling a physical product online, you still need to optimize your site for mobile devices. How do you make money? Let's say you run a blog. You may rely on advertisements to make ends meet. But if users aren't spending time on your site or they are abandoning it, you won't get as many impressions, and your click-through rates will suffer. Look at the direct correlation between load times and abandonment. Your website simply can't survive if your rates are this high. Recognize how many people are using mobile devicesPart of operating a business and running a website is keeping up with the trends. You would be surprised how many business owners don't have a clue about what's going on, even in their own industries. It's mind blowing. But for argument's sake, let's pretend you're an expert in your industry, which you very well may be. That's not enough. If you have a website, you need to understand how people consume information. That goes for small businesses too. Take a look at how searches on various devices resulted in purchases from a local business. More searches resulted in purchases from mobile phones and tablets than from computers and laptops. Remember what I said earlier? People search for items online while they are shopping inside of a physical store. Obviously, for convenience and practicality purposes, they don't whip out a computer to do this. But they can easily reach into their pockets for their phones. Let's continue analyzing the trends. In 2017, laptops and desktops are trending down. On the flip side, mobile phones are trending up. This holds true on a global scale as well. Over 66% of the population owns a mobile device. As a business owner who operates a website, you've got to stay on top of these kinds of numbers. Analyze your target market. Age impacts how people browse and shop online as well. As you can see from the graphic above, people over the age of 55 use their devices much less than younger generations. So if you're selling a product or service that targets senior citizens, you might be getting away with not having a mobile friendly site at the moment. But you're still missing out on sales. Think about all the younger people who may want to buy a gift for their parents or grandparents. They would browse and shop on their mobile devices. Plus, this isn't a sustainable business plan. Those younger generations are only going to get older, so it's safe to say these trends will shift and even out over time. Mobile devices impact buyer behaviorContinuing with our last point, the devices that people browse on impact how they shop. The reason behind this statement is due to a combination of everything we've discussed so far. Consumers are more likely to buy something if you have a mobile friendly website. It's that simple. Here's a hypothetical situation. Let's say a consumer is shopping in your competitor's brick and mortar location, which is within a walking distance from your storefront. The customer is interested in an item, but they want to make sure they're getting the best price. They run a quick Google search to see if anyone else sells this particular item at a more reasonable cost. You offer the same exact item for 20% less than your competitor. But when the consumer clicks on your website, it takes too long to load, and it's not mobile friendly. Now what? The customer didn't want to take the time to figure out scrolling and zooming through your complicated website because it wasn't compatible with their mobile device. You just missed out on the sale. They bought from your competitor instead. If this pattern continues, it will put you on the fast track to going out of business. A/B test different versions of your mobile siteOnce your mobile site is up and running, you have to keep working on it. Sure, it's better than it was before, but that doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement. Just like you do with your website and email campaigns, you need to A/B test your mobile website as well. This will help ensure you get the highest conversion rates possible. That way you know it's performing to its full potential. Approach this test the same way you would any other A/B test. Just change one component. For example, you could change the wording, colors, size, or placement of the CTA button. Here's a basic example to illustrate what I mean: I'd recommend testing the performance of different site variations often. That's the best way to ensure you're accommodating the needs of any mobile user who visits your website. Build an appFor those of you who want to take mobile optimization a step further, it may be in your best interest to build an app for your company. Apps can help enhance the user experience even more. It's not for every business, but I definitely recommend looking into it. Mobile app development is expensive and takes time. Even after your app is finished, it's still going to cost you money to keep it running. But if you think you have the funds to pull it off, it can definitely be worth your time and financial investment. The majority of the time that gets spent on mobile devices is through app usage. It's a great way to increase the chances that customers spend more time engaging with your company. I recommend building an app for your business if you have an ecommerce website. Here's why. Your mobile site may be better for the users to browse on when they're looking up information in a store, but apps make it easier for them to purchase. The checkout process on your mobile site is long and tedious. Users have to enter all their personal information, shipping address, and payment method. This takes a long time, especially on a mobile phone. There is just too much room for error, and you could see a high number of abandoned shopping carts. But if you have an app, users, once they download it, can create a profile. This profile saves all their information. So when it's time to check out, your customers can add items to their carts and pay with just a couple of clicks. This simplified process will increase sales for your ecommerce store. ConclusionIf the sales for your business are stagnant or declining, it may be because you're ignoring mobile users. The trends are changing toward more mobile usage each year. Optimizing your website to accommodate the needs of these users will help you make more money. You just have to make sure your mobile site loads fast in addition to being optimized. Otherwise, you'll see high abandonment rates. A/B test different versions of your mobile website to get the highest number of conversions possible. It may also be in your best interest to build a mobile app for your company, especially if you're selling something. Follow these tips, and your website will start making more money from people using mobile devices. How long does it take your mobile website to load? Jan Ingenhousz Google doodle marks 287th birthday of scientist behind photosynthesis discovery12/8/2017 Ingenhousz also served as the family doctor for Austria's royal House of Habsburg under the rule of Austrian Empress Maria Theresa.
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