Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Thursday, July 29th, 2010
| The competitive economy has made it essential for almost all businesses to opt for email marketing services. It is an effective way to reach millions of prospective clients and customers online. This article talks about certain points that should be kept in mind before choosing a bulk email marketing service provider.
Assess your needs
It is essential to determine in advance the type of services you require. Before you go in for email marketing services, you should be very clear about your promotional needs. Auto-responders, monitoring tools, and shopping carts are some of the services you can choose. You should decide, well in advance, what type of email marketing service is consistent with your promotional requirements.
Background verification
Before you hire bulk email marketing services, do not forget to do a background verification of your chosen service provider. You also can have a look at their past assignments to find out if they are efficient and have talented professionals. Make sure they provide you with an updated list of emails of potential customers in order to increase your market share. Internet is the best way to gather information about various service providers and compare them in order to find the best service provider for your needs.
Other points
It is advisable to enquire about the methods and techniques employed by your chosen email marketing firm. You should pay due attention to their pricing structure. Try to look for reputable companies that offer a short trial period to let you assess the level of their bulk email marketing services. It also is essential to enquire about the steps your email marketing service provider takes to control SPAM. Read the terms and conditions of your service agreement carefully in order to avoid any nasty surprises.
Promoting your products or services via email helps you to spread your business globally. Once you are convinced about the good reputation and efficiency of any email marketing service provider, do not hesitate in spending a little bit more for their services. The long term benefits of email marketing are sure to be enough to cover any extra cost you have incurred for online advertising. |
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Friday, May 28th, 2010
| Chances are you have heard about ’social media’ and how it is transforming the way we communicate in business and personal lives.
The online marketing and creation of company/brand awareness, which ultimately drives web traffic, is increasingly turned to the explosion of newsletters, articles, videos, podcasts, blogs, micro blogs (Twitter), and newsfeeds (RSS) used as vital back linking tools.
In other words – user generated content. The function of website design is itself evolving.
Developing a social media network to grow your business is a proactive online marketing strategy that is increasingly being seen reflected in new design approaches to website accessibility.
Web designers are creating layouts to direct visitor’s attention to content predominantly user-generated and interactive. The focus is on human network connectivity calls to further action and greater participation, which specifically demand a depth of engagement that extends visitor dwell time at a site.
An online marketing strategy requires you decide upon your message themes and keyword links and how they may need to vary across the agreed range of networked sites and prepare a precise message delivery schedule.
Increasingly, the phenomenal success of Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, and other social sites is rapidly forcing change towards redefining the function of a website as an open resource for peer networking, accessible across different viewing and communicating channels. Twitter alone is ranked as one of the 50 most popular websites worldwide and is the third most used social network. The number of unique monthly visitors is now at six million and the number of monthly visits around 45 million.
This means website innovators are now catering for the new ‘best of breed’ technology and its array of applications intended to up the ante on web performance. Unprecedented outreach, visibility and engagement impacts on increased interaction and ultimately, trading activity results. The future of online business is the future of website design, functionality and social / prospective customer engagement. It is on a steep growing curve and impossible to predict the possible outcomes.
You need to be prepared, so your website is not doomed from the start.
Here are several reasons most new sites fail:
1. Cookie-cutter websites. Templates are so amazing because with a few clicks, you can have a great looking website. But, everyone has that same website. If you picked it, probably a few thousand other have too, and that’s being conservative. Google hates this and those websites are ranked lower in the search enginesbecause of this.
2. Too much, too fast. Designing a website takes time, it just does. No matter what anyone says. Why? There are a million things that need done. You need to add your content and pictures. Your website needs a custom design so you do not look like every other site out there, and you certainly need time to check things and make sure your website is functioning properly. Let alone the search engine optimization, search engine marketing, and backlinks that need creating if you want your website to have a decent chance online.
3. Search Engine Optimization, SEO. This one should be a no-brainer, but it is actually one of the most powerful reasons of them all. Most website designers, especially new ones, do not know anything about proper search engine optimization. It is a process, it requires tweaking, and there are no guarantees. It also takes time. If you do not get your SEO right, you might as well not bother with the website for the traffic you will get.
4. Not staying up on the process. Two terms to remember about website design are Online Reputation Management, ORM, and Search Engine Marketing, SEM. You have to know about them and you have to implement them if you want your website to have a chance online. SEM is your basic marketing campaign, while ORM requires a bit more dedication. You need profiles with your business name to be set up on all the social networks and you need to get involved in the “conversation.” This gets your name out there, filling up the search engine rankings and makes things a lot easier on your company.
5.You hired your neighbor’s son.You know he is not a professional but you know you can save a buck by using him. After paying him next to nothing, you find that the website he created hurts more than it helps. You find yourself taking your URL off your stationary and business cards and not mentioning your website to your clients. You have lost more than the couple hundred dollars you spent on it; you have lost the potential of a successful website until you have it redone.
6. You Outsourced Your Work. Another tempting alternative to what might seem to be costly work inside the country. There are two reasons why this alternative is risky and painful for you and your business. First, communication problems. You will either have a hard time understanding or being understood by the firm or freelancer you hired. Second, like so many have already found, you may be promised everything and receive a small portion of what you expected.
7. You Can Count the Number of Pages on Your Site with One Finger.Limiting the content on your site is unadvisable. There are so many opportunities your website can take advantage of, but without content virtually none of it is possible. Content is king.
8. Your site is boring.If your site cannot create interest in your product or services, your website will lose to the competition. Focus your attention on benefits, not features. Create page titles that make your audience want to learn more. Show how the application of your product or service will change your audiences’ lives in some positive way.
9. You thought a web designer was enough.Do not have a professionally made website with no budget for marketing. When budgeting out your website, make sure to appropriate sufficient funds to attract an audience to it. Use the following flexible rule of thumb for a website budget: a quarter of your budget for design and branding, a quarter for development, a quarter for public relations and SEO, and a quarter for advertising.
10. Your website is too generic.This is why web templates can be a bad move. If your web design and content are generic and bland, you are not portraying a well conceived and implemented brand image. Branding is about determining your company’s persona. A well branded website builds trust with your visitors and shows competitive advantage.
11. You did not monetize your site.If you did not plan out the primary and secondary objectives of your website, then your website is probably spinning your visitors in circles. Give your website an objective, and every aspect of it should be working to accomplish it. If you are trying to sell a product, make it appealing and easy for them to buy it. If you want them to call you on the phone do the same. Too often a website is about a company and loses the potential influence it can have to make your company more money.
*Did You Know– The first website was created by a man named Timothy John Berners-Lee, an English computer scientist and MIT professor, in 1990. He proposed a concept to facilitate the sharing and updating of information among researchers. This concept was – hypertext. With the idea of hypertext, connected with the Transmission Control Protocol and domain name system ideas, the World Wide Web was born. The first web site was built and put online on August 6, 1991. The main purpose of this web site was to explain the concept of the World Wide Web and how to use a browser and set up a Web server. |
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Friday, April 16th, 2010
It is said that building an email list of contacts for your campaigns is one of the most important pieces in the email marketing puzzle.
Creating an email list of contacts does not have to be a burdensome and confusing process.
Here are some tips I researched to assist you, in creating email lists:
1. Offer an incentive to join your email list.
This can be a product coupon, a free sample, an industry whitepaper, or an invitation to an event.
2. Host a contest for subscribers.
Give your subscribers the opportunity to be entered into a drawing, sweepstakes, or other contests.
3. Reward your customers who refer their friends.
You could launch a new email marketing campaign for the “Refer a Friend” program, or simply highlight the program in your existing messages.
4. Make it easy to sign up.
Your customers likely lead hectic lives, so require them to provide as little information as possible to make the process quick and efficient.
5. Reassure your subscribers that their personal information will be kept private and safe.
Respect that promise by not sharing subscribers’ information with any other parties or businesses.
6. Ensure your signup form is prominent on your website.
If you are placing a signup form on your site, be sure it’s easily accessible on the homepage, as well as on other pages of your site.
7. Make sure your subscribers can easily share your messages.
Allow your subscribers to forward your emails to others. You can also provide the ability for your subscribers to share your email content on social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter.
If you want to build a list fast, you are going to need discipline.
You must do your homework. If you are going to have a successful business, you need to have extensive knowledge. The only way you are going to make money online is by offering something of value. Everyday people are looking for solutions to a problem. What you need to do is find out what their problems are and then you can provide a solution. List building is an art that should be practiced. Target your market and provide content that delivers.
Make sure your page is converting. If you want to build a list fast, you need a lead capture page that converts your visitors into subscribers at about 30%. So, if you get 1000 visitors to your page, 300 of them should subscribe to your mailing list. Always test and make changes to your pages for the best conversions. The three things you should focus on are the headline, your bullet points, and your call to action. Your headline is probably the most important part of the page. A good headline should compel your visitors to keep reading the page. Your bullet points should be benefit oriented and not include features. People will not opt-into your list for features, but they will do it for benefits. List what they will receive for subscribing to your mailing list.
Submit articles for traffic. The best quality traffic is generated from articles. This is because articles are helpful and informative. So, your traffic is much more targeted and qualified to be on your list.
Here are some additional items to consider:
- Get Signed Up With An Auto-responder
This is your personal assistant in the online world – a very important list-building tool. This piece of software will automate all of your emails, allowing you personal time and freedom.
Your goal is to come up with a series of emails that will give your subscribers VALUE; this is a key to your success. They came to you because they’re ready to learn something they don’t already know. You need to become that go-to maven in your niche. The purpose of your email series is for that subscriber to know, like, and trust you.
Understand your subscribers are willing to buy; they just need to know from whom to buy. Build that relationship and become that person they choose.
A good strategy is to fill your auto-responder up with weeks of emails, and they will be sent on your behalf.
An auto-responder service is your bloodline to your business and should be part of every email marketing campaign.
A Squeeze page has one goal in mind, and that is getting contact information from your website visitor. If you want to know how to make money with an email list, you need a squeeze page.
An effective Squeeze page with boost your list building efforts and grow your email list.
*Did You Know– Studies found that 41% of consumers have changed an email address at least once in the last two years, with 15% of that group changing email addresses two or more times in the last two years. Consumers reported that the leading cause of email address changes were ISP switches.
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010
| SaaS or Software as a Service is a technique in the field of software technology that enables you to hire any software application only when there is a requirement of such a utility. In other words, it is a web-based, on-demand software service provided by vendors to consumers. The licensing for using this application may be solely with a single user or it can be shared with multiple users (as per the product ordered). The user license terminates as soon as the purpose of this application software is over, thereby eliminating unnecessary expenditure in the future. Businesses use a pay-as-you-go method (typically monthly) for SaaS applications allowing them to save their capital for core business functions.
A classic example of SaaS for the average consumer is online banking or online tax preparation software. In the business world, Google Apps is a common SaaS offering.
The SaaS methodology is becoming popular because of its high services and less maintenance. The availability on demand makes it highly flexible when the maintenance of the tool is taken into account. The user does not have to be troubled with maintenance, when the application is not in use. Moreover, the on-demand service also saves the complex hardware requirements, once the use of the software is complete. The SaaS allows a centralized control of the business by the service provider. In other words, the network of action is distributed amongst many users from a single server. Thus, there is lot of sharing, i.e. sharing in the license.
Sharing of license within an organization makes you cut down the expenditure on EULAs (End user License agreement). Although SaaS permits sharing of license, the individual security is not hampered. In addition, there are no copies and distribution, which further extinguishes threats on security of individual system. Therefore,SaaS is the perfect service to meet the demands of any software consumer. The SaaS also omits re-installing of the software within an organization because of the central control.
A brief history …
SaaS almost died with the dot com bubble. While initially hailed as a concept whose time had come in the late 1990’s, SaaS grew wildly based on inflated expectations and amid the unsupported growth of the dot com bubble. When the bubble burst, SaaS fell from grace along with most other new technologies. However, unlike the majority of over-inflated concepts, SaaS came back and excelled beyond its dot com stage.
In the late 1990’s, the initial difficulty with CRM (Customer Relationship Management) SaaS was that the software applications at that time were not intended for hosted delivery. Few people disagreed with the concept of subscription pricing, hosted delivery, and outsourced expertise, however, the CRM applications were not designed (and not capable) of operating over the limited bandwidth of the Internet and the software vendors were not interested in changing their pricing model from an all-money-up-front approach to a deferred revenue collection over the life of the customer. The generation of CRM vendors at that time – led by Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP – took the approach to ignore SaaS, and even ridicule SaaS, rather than embrace an inevitable application software evolution.
Benefits …
The benefits of SaaS are improved average revenue per user (ARPU). This is a strong benefit behind offering SaaS. As a SaaS provider, you define service plans that appeal to existing and new customers while automating tasks for greater scale of service. The advantages the SaaS delivery model brings to the end user (individuals, SoHos, SMBs, and corporate clients) are the main drivers for companies to change the way they think about software deployment. Some of these advantages include:
- Financial- SaaS is subscribed to and not purchased; instead the end users are offered less costly and more predictable monthly fees, with no capital expense.
- Ease of use- SaaS applications can be easily accessed anywhere the Internet is available through a web browser, thus taking advantage of attributes like usability and innovation of the web.
- Uptime- Server applications are hosted in a highly-available datacenter, minimizing the effects of power outages and Internet outages from incidents that affect local offices.
- Faster Time to Market- Cloud and SaaS services can be brought to market quickly using automation service modules.
- Installation Ease and Low Maintenance- upgrades and patches to latest versions take little time and reduce resource requirements.
- Access Anywhere- customers can connect to their applications anywhere with a Web connection.
- Low cost of entry and lower total cost of ownership- elimination of capital expenditures and dramatic reduction in IT salaries.
- Vested vendor interests- if the application utilization is not successful, the vendor loses the customer revenue opportunity.
- Much lower risk- faster implementations and outsourced expertise dramatically lower risk.
- A more powerful and secure IT infrastructure- few organizations can match the infrastructure and security investments made by SaaS vendors.
- Hosted ISV applications suited to the SaaS model include collaboration software and business applications such as e-commerce, customer relationship management, web content management, and email.
Visit our Software as a Service offerings today …
Our Email Marketing Manager – visit Emercury.net
Our E-commerce Solutions – visit PT.CART.
Our Content Management System – visit PT.CMS.
Our Email Solutions – visit Exchange Mail.
*Did You Know- A recent Gartner study predicts that SaaS will enjoy a compound annual growth rate of 22.1 percent through 2011 for the aggregate enterprise software markets – more than double the rate for total enterprise software. |
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 20th, 2010
Spending a portion of your marketing budget on Internet Strategies is no longer a suggestion; it is a necessity.
The rules vary by industry and by market. One cannot simply say your marketing budget should be a specific amount and be confident that it is the magic formula. The Counselors to America’s Small Business (S.C.O.R.E.) and the U.S. Small Business Administration (S.B.A.) define the variable for a proper marketing budget to be between 2% and 10% of sales, noting that for B2C, retail, and pharmaceuticals, these budgets can exceed 20%.
If you are an internet based business then you will be spending more for online marketing. If you are a brick-and-mortar business then you will allocate less for your online marketing. Either way you need to accept the fact that online marketing is the only way to succeed.
So again you ask – What percentage of my marketing budget should I allocate for online marketing? Unfortunately, there is no short answer; it is more about using the resources you have in the most effective manner. The accurate answer to the question is as much as you can once you have proven to yourself that it works, using the conversion tracking you can see how much each sale has cost you and from there you can work out the profit per $100 you spend on advertising and work out your marketing budget from there. Remember, marketing efforts should have a direct impact on revenue. The budget is a proportion of last year’s actual sales, or next year’s forecast sales.
The approach will be to think about what you are trying to accomplish and build your budget around that goal. For example, if you are trying to lead the market in a service priced at $2000 month you could spend:
1. 10-15% of Estimated Sales: 2000 x 50 sales per month x 10-15% = $10,000-15,000/month.
2. For the objective grow sales 20%: You could figure that $10,000 = 50 sales and therefore spend $12,000 and expect 60 sales.
3. You could research a competitor and discover that they spend $9000 therefore you could win if you spent $10,000.
4. You could realize that you only had $10,000 to spend and just do that.
5. You could do a ton of research and modeling and come up with $10,000.
Here are some Trends to consider:
Search Engine Optimization (S.E.O.)
Websites with relevant content and credible links will continue to rule the search rankings in 2010. As the volume of web content continues to grow, consumers will demand even more relevant and personalized search results. That means search engines will be looking for more relevant and personalized content from publishers and brands.
Make sure you allocate a portion of your budget to testing content, keywords and links that are targeted toward niche audiences. Test keyword and link placement in social media and mobile websites, and refresh the content you dedicate to search engine rankings. Once the search engines have tested these new search targets and revealed some concrete standards, you should be prepared to invest accordingly.
Paid Search
Consumers will use search engines in 2010 as a primary means of finding products and services to fulfill their needs, and they will still be clicking on relevant ads. Search advertising prices will remain reasonable, and average returns will remain comparably high as larger companies with decreased search marketing budgets continue to allocate resources to lower-cost S.E.O. tactics in hopes of attracting visitors at lower prices. You should consider investing in the highly qualified leads that paid search is capable of producing for your business.
Email Marketing
It is not hard to justify an investment in email marketing when the cost of sending emails is so low. The low cost is not the only reason to send email. Most consumers consider email to be their primary form of communication.
Email marketing will become more powerful as email service providers improve social media integration, search engine access to archived emails, auto-responders, and new integrated applications. If you do not already use an email service provider, invest in one in 2010. If you already use an email service, invest in your email list and in producing valuable content to nurture leads and attract repeat customers.
The cost of building a permission-based list is likely to stay the same in 2010 as it was in 2009, but more than one-third of consumers changed at least one of their email addresses in 2009 due to job changes or other economic factors. Spend more time and money in 2010 focused on keeping your email list current.
Social Network Marketing
Social media has one redeeming quality for marketers – tons of visitors. This is enticing if you are a major brand, but profitable interaction will continue to be the exception for small businesses in 2010 rather than the rule. A good test of your social network marketing potential is to survey your current customers to see how many of them consider social networking to be a primary form of communication. You should probably experiment with a Facebook fan page and a Twitter page if you find that a meaningful percentage of your current customers indicate an interest in following your business.
Blogging
If you are writing a blog to help with search engine rankings or to inform existing customers, you should continue to test or invest. However, if you are blogging in an attempt to attract new prospects and convert them to customers, 2010 will be a year that exposes the blogosphere’s vulnerability to the law of averages. Converting prospects into customers depends on driving visitors to content that maximizes conversions, and that means your conversion rate is only as good as the content on your landing page. Instead of blogging to convert your website visitors into customers in 2010, work hard to test and develop great landing page content.
Website Presence
Advertise the location of your website content by placing ads on other high-traffic websites. Driving visitor traffic to your website is not the way to go for 2010. Instead, you need to spend 2010 driving your website content to the visitor traffic.
To take advantage of content in 2010, your website content needs to be nested in as many content aggregation websites as possible. For example, a lot of people search for videos on YouTube. If you have a video on your website and it is not also on YouTube, people on YouTube will not bother searching for your website.
Mobile Marketing
Mobile marketing is about marketing to people through their mobile phones and smart-phone devices. Small businesses have not had much of an opportunity to engage consumers on mobile devices, but 2010 has the potential to change that.
Demand is increasing dramatically for mobile applications and mobile web-browsing due to wider adoption of devices like the iPhone. As more people adopt these phones and features in 2010, look for small-business marketing services to start providing lower-cost mobile marketing solutions like text messaging, mobile e-mail marketing, mobile websites, and mobile application development.
Coupons, Discounts, and Savings
This one is not entirely an internet marketing trend, but it is important enough to mention because of the economy. 2009 was another tough year for retailers, and consumers are so accustomed to shopping for deals they might begin to expect the deep discounts currently available to continue. If you are engaged in heavy discounting to attract sales and survive the economic downturn, you will need to spend 2010 slowly weaning your customers off your lower prices, assuming the economy recovers. Changing expectations will not be easy, so try switching discounts for special privileges like loyalty discounts, free upgrades, and other offers.
Internet marketing trends develop quickly, so expect new and exciting trends to emerge in 2010. Stay focused on attracting repeat business, deepening your customer relationships, and solving problems for people.
*Did You Know – Nielsen Ratings say that research shows people are 31% more likely to recall an ad online than on television.
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009
Let’s discuss Email Marketing and cloud computing.
As cloud computing rolled onto the marketing landscape in 2009, email became more critical to marketing success. Cloud computing allows marketers to connect business-critical systems without having to invest in new infrastructure, train new personnel, or license additional software. But what is the point of building these complex, customized clouds if you cannot actually leverage the data housed within?
Therefore we have entered a new role for email. As you integrate CRM, Web analytics, lead development, and other systems using cloud technologies, email should be at the core of your integrated marketing strategy. No other one-to-one messaging medium better lets you harness the power created by cloud computing and turn it into measurable marketing ROI.
While reports vary these days on the exact level of demand for cloud computing by businesses, it is clear there is a general interest if the features and cost are right and the risks are reasonable. In the short term, the organizations looking for effective new business strategies in the downturn are finding that cost is a compelling argument for cloud computing, especially for transitioning non-critical IT operations or to inexpensively harness cloud computing for resource intensive but low-risk tasks like software testing.
The real question for many IT departments is whether the cost of transition to an external compute cloud will be low enough to benefit from any medium-term savings. That process might be costly enough in itself to delay any significant ROI by outsourcing to the cloud.
Once your systems are connected via cloud technology, plug in your email platform and extend the power of your integration by making the rich data inside your cloud actionable.
Cloud computing reduces operational expenses. Also, just like email marketing you only pay for what you use. Being cost-effective, these technologies will continue to attract businesses.
With cloud computing, businesses do not need to set up a team to handle system updates and back-ups. Automation is one of the biggest attractions of this technology. Also, cloud computing does not require a dedicated team at the business’ end to look after it; internal resources are released to handle higher-priority tasks.
Comparatively, the most obvious reason why most people try email marketing is because it is profitable. This is mainly because of the following attributes:
- Low Cost. Communicating via email has many of the advantages of traditional direct mail or print advertising but with much lower costs. When you add email to your marketing strategy, you spend less time, money and resources.
- Global reach. No matter where you are or whom you need to reach, targeted emails pave the way. Borders are no obstacle in email marketing.
- Speed. Email lets you deliver your message directly to the people (unlike with websites, where you have to wait for the people to come to your message).
- Highly Personalized. Email enables you to personalize and greet every person you target. This helps in creating a special bond with your potential customers.
- Interactive. You can innovatively initiate campaigns using video, music, quiz, game, and graphics to grab their attention and interest immediately.
- Tracking and testing. Special tools are available that accurately measure click-through rate, generate tracking reports for emails that are successfully received, or check if the email was read or not. You can also test different subject lines, calls to action, use of images, etc. All these can help enable you to hone your techniques and improve performance and asses the success of different email campaigns.
- Targeted marketing. It allows you to send targeted messages to specific individuals or market segments and select based on geography, age, income, and other parameters.
- Opt-in or unsubscribe options. Emails contain opt-in and opt-out options which help you to shortlist your prospects and reach only the ones genuinely interested in your offerings and require your services, solutions or products without bothering those who do not.
- Build better relationships. It reinforces relationships, loyalty and trust when emails deliver valuable content to recipients.
*Did You Know – According to some cloud computing experts; as cloud computing continues to grow, many of the successful providers will want to expand even more, which will involve buying up the smaller guys. Therefore, there will be less small providers and more big consolidation. As consolidation occurs market value will increase and more VC-backed startups will sprout up.
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
The holiday shopping season begins the day after Thanksgiving, known as Black Friday, when retailers open their doors, as early as 4 a.m., to welcome bargain shoppers with special deals and one-day specials.
The Internet has its own complement. It is known as Cyber Monday — the Monday after Thanksgiving when work resumes and e-commerce experiences a boom, as employees begin their holiday shopping on company time.
Shop.org, the online retailers’ trade group that coined the term, is projecting 85 million Americans will shop online either at home or at work this Cyber Monday. This is an increase from last year’s mark of 72 million.
On average, the past three holiday seasons recorded annual spending growth of 23 percent. Last year, online retailers posted $731 million in sales on Cyber Monday, according to comScore.
Cyber Monday is a real shopping holiday now. Retailers are highly motivated to move sales earlier in the holiday season and Cyber Monday gives them another occasion relatively early in the season to promote sales through email marketing.
Review some of the Experian marketing statistics regarding Black Friday and Cyber Monday:
- It is expected email volumes will increase on these days. Considering the volume of email sent on Black Friday increased 64% from 2007 to 2008, and 40% from 2007 to 2008, quite as large an increase is not expected from 2008 to 2009. However, the economy stands to play a large role in just how much email gets sent on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
- Two years ago, online purchases peaked during the traditional shopping week ending Monday, November 26th (Cyber Monday) when fully a quarter of all adults bought something online. Online purchases in 2007 remained high for several weeks after Thanksgiving before falling to 17% during the week of Christmas. Compare those statistics with the ones from last year (which had a late Thanksgiving) when online purchasing commenced even sooner – several weeks prior to Black Friday. In fact, between the weeks ending November 3rd and November 10th in 2008, the share of adults who made an online purchase more than doubled from 11% to 23%. For the most part, online purchase levels remained at or near this level for the duration of the 2008 shopping season until dropping back down to 16% during the week of Christmas.
- With Thanksgiving falling late in the calendar again this year, expect consumers to exhibit similar purchasing patterns as they did last year. In a typical week of the year, approximately 15% of all American adults make a purchase online. However, during the five weeks prior to last Christmas, an average of 23% of adults made an online purchase.
You need to remember when sending out your email blasts to promote your holiday offerings certain guidelines:
1. Offer Free Shipping and Other Shipping Discounts
2. Have Your Holiday Email Schedule Mapped Out
3. Provide a Holiday Guide
4. Use Gift Cards
5. Coordinate Online Marketing Campaigns
According to MSN business there are additional preparations you should be making throughout this holiday season:
- Update your email signature to include holiday greetings and offers, along with a link to your holiday web page.
- Create and send additional holiday emails sharing greetings, helpful holiday gift or planning ideas, and special offers.
- Update holiday offers throughout your social networks, and encourage customers and fans to do the same.
- Be sure inventory, staff and promotions are ready for Black Friday when holiday shopping kicks off in brick-and-mortar outlets and Cyber Monday when online shopping goes into high gear.
- Send holiday emails and gifts, each one personalized so employees, customers, and friends know you value them.
- Send an email blast announcing the last day you can ship orders to arrive before Christmas.
*Did You Know — According to shop.org 75% of consumers surveyed consulted the retailer’s website to research products and special offers before heading out to shop offline on Black Friday and 61% also consulted emails they received from retailers
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Friday, November 20th, 2009
Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving in the United States is historically one of the busiest retail shopping days of the year. Retailers will open early and usually offer significant discounts. The origin of the name, Black Friday comes from the retailer’s shift to prosperity during the holiday season. Back in the day when accounting records were kept by hand, red ink indicated financial loss while black ink indicated profit.
Data indicates people also are excited about Cyber Monday. The term Cyber Monday refers to the Monday immediately following Black Friday (November 30, this year). It symbolizes a busy day for online retailers. The premise was that consumers would return to their offices after the Black Friday weekend, making purchases online they were not able to complete in stores.
The term Cyber Monday was coined by Shop.org.
According to comScore, Black Friday of ‘2008 was not nearly as profitable as anticipated. This report indicated that e-commerce sales were $534 million, but that was only a single percent increase over the previous year 2007. What many online retailers actually walked away with on Black Friday in 2008 was a big letdown.
In December 2008, comScore released its Cyber Monday data. The report suggested online retail sales for Cyber Monday in 2008 were up 15 percent over 2007. It should be noted – this data also showed the average dollars spent per buyer declined by five percent, due to the attractive prices offered by a number of large online retailers.
Will Black Friday and Cyber Monday experience a big boom in 2009?
The National Retail Federation (NRF) released its 2009 holiday forecast. In the report, NRF projected that we would see holiday retail sales decline by one percent this year to $437.6 billion. This data is based on expectations for the full months of November and December, a total of 55 shopping days.
What does all the Black Friday and Cyber Monday buzz mean for small online retail stores? You should expect more website traffic than usual during this period in November and possibly more sales when compared to any other days in November.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday mean your holiday selling season is here!
It makes perfect sense for small online retailers to start their holiday shopping promotions – this should include email marketing promotions. This will help you kick off the holiday shopping season for your customers and let you take advantage of the increased shopping traffic in November and December.
According to a survey conducted by ISACA, the IT governance association, 63% of people of all ages say they shop online during the holiday season from their workplace computers.
CareerBuilder says employers lost 580 million in productivity on Cyber Monday in 2008. They estimate 43% of those planning to shop from work on Cyber Monday will spend at least one hour doing so, and 23% said they shop two hours or more from their workplace computer.
This is why Black Friday and Cyber Monday is essential to your business even if you do not see direct sales from it. It is a chance for you to get your brand recognized; highlight special holiday deals; mention lower-priced items when possible; stress the ease and convenience online shopping offers; and most importantly remain in the mind of your shoppers.
For retailers, it seems, the internet continues to be an incredibly powerful way to market and sell their products. Companies have come to understand that, even for those individuals who prefer to purchase their gifts in stores, the internet can still be a great tool. Online retailers generally offer information along with high-resolution images of their products so that consumers can research them and make purchasing decisions before heading out to shop.
*Did You Know – According to comScore in 2007, on Black Friday consumers spent $430 million, on Cyber Monday they spent $610 million.
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Friday, November 13th, 2009
|
Good for you – you have decided to embrace the necessity for email marketing. It is a wise choice.
There is an old adage that says – ‘Timing is Everything’ – this is true in life as well as email marketing.
|
|
So when is the most effective time to send?
Our research, here at Emercury, shows the best days are Tuesdays, Wednesdays,and Thursdays. The reason these days are better (for businesses) is simple – during Saturdays and Sundays your audience is not in the office. We suggest, on Mondays, you allow existing and prospective customers to get caught up after their weekend. Monday tends to be a day when there is a multitude of internal work and organizing to complete. In other words – leave them alone.
What about Fridays? People are generally in a good mood. They are more likely to reciprocate a quality solicitation – right? Wrong! They are closing out the week, and their minds can be elsewhere. Too often a project commencing on a Friday can be overlooked Monday.
I want to reiterate, so you follow this formula — the days to send to your subscribers are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Since these days are mid-week, your subscribers should be in the ideal state of mind to want to read, and hopefully convert on your newsletter. Monday nobody really has the time, or wants to take the time, to read a sales email. Likewise, Fridays are often filled with wrapping up work and procrastination. Do not send your message on Friday, unless you do not want people to read it. Statistically, Friday is one of the worst days possible to send an email blast.
Additional days to steer clear of are holidays and primary vacation months.
The time of day you send your email blast is not as important, but it definitely must be considered. Research when your readers are online. You do not have to presume – go to your logs. Discover when your website receives the most traffic. You can find out when the people on your list joined. If you find a pattern within an approximate time range, then select that time to send your emails.
We suggest, to our Emercury clients as a general rule of thumb, to send your email blast between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. You want your message to reach your audience when they are most accessible. Early in the morning and late in the afternoon are not those times. People will be more frenzied in the morning – retrieving their coffee, making a quick call, cleaning out their inbox – you do not want your message to get lost in that shuffle.
Remember; do not place all your email marketing strategic thought in these areas. Let your subscribers have a say with their purchases. Tracking and testing is the only way to know when your audience is the most willing to respond to your offer. As a business owner, what you need to prioritize is finding your niche market for your email list; this allows you to target your sales messages. When you have defined you market, you can have a targeted business email list with contacts who welcome your offers and the priceless information you send them. The more you refine your niche market, the easier it is for you to furnish your audience with their specific needs and interests. People do not respond to impersonal emails. They react when you relate to them and provide a solution.
*Did You Know — SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, which controls email relay on the Internet. All online mailing services use SMTP, and all email is SMTP mail. Delivering email and e-marketing since 1996, SMTP.com is the world’s oldest independent SMTP service provider.
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Friday, October 30th, 2009
Are you correctly utilizing data to optimize your email marketing?
It is time to get scientific! Well, at least more knowledgeable about your email marketing. You are ready!
While Emercury.net can assist you with all facets of your email marketing campaigns, there are subjects you must consider for success.
To optimize your database for the best email personalization, keep in mind — the more you can focus your message on the customer, who is your reader, the greater the effect your message will have.
A data strategy is required when utilizing email marketing. Business owners want to drive targeted email communication and marketing offers. Emails permit click measurements, which allows for easy ROI tracking. Another opportunity would be to optimize the click call to action with landing pages. It is important that marketers continually test, optimize, and refine all aspects of their strategy.
Remember, welcome messages are important because they reassure prospects that your company has a pulse, and they also reduce SPAM complaints by reminding new subscribers they have been added to your list. Welcome messages are also critical for response rates. They are an important tool for prospects to interact with your company. Many of your email recipients are presumably in a buying mode. They might even have other browser windows open to your competitors when your welcome message arrives in their inboxes. In that sense, welcome messages do a lot more than just tell new subscribers they have been added to a list. To improve response, the welcome email should also contain the following:
- A personal message from the CEO, founder, or owner;
- A coupon or other incentive to buy;
- Links to your most popular entry-level products;
- A good testimonial or two.
Most importantly, welcome messages must serve as two-way communication tools. Replies to welcome messages should be encouraged, and you should respond to inquiries immediately.
Other tips to consider:
- Set a goal to tailor at least one email message a month per subscriber. We all have some data on every subscriber – use this data.
- Consider a different subject line for different segments, based on interest level. Replace generic promotions with specifics – a targeted whitepaper or an untapped product feature. Track performance by segment against generic messages.
- If 30% open your email that means 70% did not find your message helpful, or did not bother to select it from their inbox clutter. The impact of inactive subscribers was never neutral, but now carries even more risk. Subscribers will quickly block (complain by clicking the Report SPAM button) or unsubscribe from senders who annoy them – which is any brand sending irrelevant, poorly timed or too frequent offers, regardless of permission. Plus, ISPs like Yahoo!, Gmail, and Hotmail are increasingly looking at engagement metrics to determine the value of each marketer or publisher.
- The only way to make money is to either increase revenue or reduce costs, or both. In email marketing, the “cost” side is counted in lost opportunity. When a subscriber complains (clicks the Report SPAM button), they are gone forever. Complaint and deliverability data are essential parts of a good email marketing optimization effort.
Finally, while using these techniques can help your business succeed, there is even more you can do to tip the odds in your favor. You will want to become familiar with a technique that is called marketing optimization. This is a technique that is intricately connected to data mining. With market optimization, you will take a group of offers and customers, and after reviewing the limits of the campaign, you will use data mining to decide which marketing offers should be made to specific customers.
*Did You Know — Response rates are almost always higher for new subscribers to an email list. According to the “Email Marketing Benchmark Guide” subscribers click through at a 25 percent higher rate in their first month than in their second, and 67 percent higher in the first month than after the first year.
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
|
|
| |
|
Home
My Account
