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Survey Incentives: Response Rates and Data Quality
Many clients are interested in conducting surveys to gain knowledge and insight into not only customers, but potential customers. The most cost-effective way to conduct a survey is through the email channel. But, just like emails designed to sell a product or service, the offer will be important for a survey as well. The recipients time is valuable so they should be rewarded as such. This post outlines survey incentives and how they relate to response rates…
Source: www.nbrii.com
Offering incentives for a survey respondent’s time is one way to increase customer survey response rates. Some people feel a sense of civic duty when approached with a survey, and it is enough motivation for them to know their input will be used to help others. However, the use of a monetary or gift incentive has been proven to significantly increase response rates in many customer surveys. The question is not whether incentives will increase response rate percentages, as this remains true throughout many examples. Instead, what kind of effect does the incentive have on data quality? Are the survey results positively or negatively biased because respondents are given an incentive to participate? How much incentive do I need to include with my survey for it to be effective?
Several studies have indicated that the use of incentives reduces to some extent item non-response and “bad answersâ€, such as “don’t know†or “no answerâ€. It was also noted in a study published by Public Opinion Quarterly that respondents who received incentives have (read entire post here)
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posted in: Creative | Metrics & Testing | Stats | Targeting & Planning | Trends | Writing Effective Copy The 5 Critical Components of Fantastic Lead-Capture Forms
Landing Pages are a critical part to not only lead gen, but also email marketing. This post covers some of the critical requirements needed for building a successful landing page including positioning, length, form fields and more…
Posted by Sarah Goliger, HubSpot.com
This article is an excerpt from BlogSpot’s new ebook, An Introductory Guide to Building Landing Pages. To download your free copy of the complete ebook, click here.
On any given landing page, the lead-capture form is the most crucial element. Without the form, lead generation simply wouldn’t be possible.
Therefore, the form is the main focus of your landing page, since the ultimate goal is to get your visitors to complete it. Because the formatting and design of your form have a direct impact on conversion rates, it’s absolutely critical that you approach them wisely. Here are the five most critical components of fantastic lead-capture forms.
1. Positioning
First of all, you should make sure your form appears above the fold, or in other words, that the viewer does not have to scroll down the page in order to see it. Immediate visibility is important, since you want
Read on here: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/28472/The-5-Critical-Components-of-Fantastic-Lead-Capture-Forms.aspx#ixzz1dEHt418c
Retailers Open a New Vein for Email Marketing
Contributor: C. Galbornetti, V12 Group
Email takes a big hit now given the fact it’s an “older†technology that’s considered a thing of the past by many marketers (especially staunch supporters of social media tweeting live from their desks). But, the one thing that social media can never replace is the one-on-one private communication that email provides. One emerging trend we’re seeing in the retail arena is giving email its day in the sun and proving to everyone that email isn’t dead yet. One-to-one communications are often, if not always preferred especially when it comes to personal retail shopping habits and purchases.
Some of the many reasons email became so successful was the fact it was very cost-effective, quick and easy, AND provided personal interaction with recipients. Back when junk mail had reached an all-time high and millions of dollars were being tossed in the trash, marketers welcomed the economical and environmentally friendly email communications. Now with an industry plagued by SPAM and a slew of unsolicited emails that have taken over the Inbox, it leaves many marketers asking, “What’s next for an aging email era?â€
This latest and greatest retail trend uncovers a whole new world for email marketing taking it to a new level of usefulness…shopping receipts via email. Big-name retailers like Nordstrom and GAP are now asking customers right at the point of purchase if they’d prefer their transaction receipts via email; which is then delivered right to the Inbox. Of course, this requires the shopper to disclose their PRIMARY email address and that’s one of the most coveted assets for email marketers today.
“It does a lot of different things,” said Nordstrom spokesman Colin Johnson. “If they (customers) prefer to save paper, they can get it electronically. If they want to save some time, it can do that.†                                    Source: Cincinnati Enquirer, www.wusa9.com
While, some may view this as just another ploy to obtain email addresses, others will see it as a GENIUS opt-in method to build an in-house email list of your very best customers!! Once you’ve captured that address, think of the possibilities to append relevant consumer data to cross-sell, up-sell and communicate more effectively with your current (and buying) customers.
Let’s not forget the benefits to consumers as well, who then will receive much more relevant marketing messages they actually want. Marketers can then take those blasted generic email marketing campaigns and focus more on what their customers are actually interested in buying from them. If I just purchased a ski jacket yesterday, smart marketers will hit me with gloves, hats and other outwear gear a few days later.
This specific, tailored marketing can be done easily with the correct database platform that aggregates consumer data into specific profiles. Current customers will benefit, but prospecting campaigns can also become more effective. Another added benefit to every consumer is the reality of no more paper receipts to keep track of, file and/or lose since they can now be saved in a folder on your home PC. Not to mention, this can also make the return process more streamlined adding to an overall enhanced shopping experience for both parties.
There are so many marketing mediums available today, and many marketers feel they need the latest and greatest technology to be successful but with this one new retail trend, it opens a whole new can of worms for more strategic email marketing. Smart marketers will reap the benefits of primary email capture and consumers will get a much needed shopping convenience, plus…more tailored marketing messages.
Shoppers (and eMarketers) Rejoice!
Five Reasons Why Websites Still Matter
Just back from DMA2011: The Direct Marketing Association’s Annual Trade Show Event and I’m fresh with ideas for marketing for both the email and social arenas…and then I stumble upon this article (which I thought was a given industry law) that…WEBSITES STILL MATTER!! Don’t overlook the core selling feature of your entire business, the website. All the email, social, online, print, etc. dollars your companies are spending mean nothing if your website is not up to snuff. Here’s why…
Original post by Mikal E. Belicove, (excerpt taken from entrepreneur.com)
You know you must leverage Facebook, Twitter and word-of-mouth marketing to increase awareness of your brand. But the fact is, websites remain infinitely more popular with consumers than all of the business pages on social media sites combined.
Only 22 percent of those of us online in the U.S. visit a branded social networking page such as those found on Facebook, while 62 percent of us regularly visit branded websites, according to the latest Global Web Index report. If you were starting to let your site become outdated or haggard, consider a refresh. After all, as these figures note, websites still matter.
Here are five reasons why you shouldn’t ignore yours:
1. Branding: Since it’s your site, you set the design, which affords you the flexibility to optimize the user experience in ways that directly support your business model and brand-related goals. There’s no competition on your website, just a branded experience that you direct yourself.
2. IT and Engineering Jurisdiction: When you control your own site, you have complete jurisdiction over its code, hosting environment, page count, content, plug-ins and more. Just as I mentioned above with regard to branding — here too you have the elasticity required to make small or sweeping adjustments at will, an advantage you don’t get with third-party websites. With sites like Facebook, you can change minor graphics and some content but not code, navigation scheme, server speed or the graphic user interface.
3. Content: Speaking of content, more of it can be found on your own website than on a third-party utility or platform, and none of it competes side-by-side for your visitor’s attention. Create compelling and useful content that speaks to why someone is visiting your site and you stand a higher chance of that visitor taking action with respect to your products or services. And since inventory (i.e., web pages) is virtually unlimited on a site under your control, you have ample opportunity to add additional content and calls-to-action in the format you deem most appropriate.
4. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): If garnering multiple, relevant and highly positioned placements in the SERPs (search engine result pages) is part of your sales and marketing strategy, a website is a must. When properly coded and managed, your site delivers natural and sustaining search results that drive qualified traffic to the exact pages on your site where you want visitors to be.
5. Analytics: While many social utilities, platforms and networks provide access to data related to demographics associated with who accesses your profile and how often they do so, website analytic tools go much deeper. They can provide you with the type of business intelligence you need to determine in real-time how your online marketing performs and stacks up against the competition.
Don’t think for a moment that I’m suggesting you drop social in favor of your own website. What I’m advocating is that you lead first with your website, followed by leveraging social, email marketing, point of purchase, mobile, apps and other forms of marketing and outreach to drive traffic to your website where you can generate qualified leads who convert to paying customers.
Image credit: Idea go
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posted in: Industry | News & Articles | Social Media | Targeting & Planning | Writing Effective Copy 2011 Trend Watch Questions and Answers
Excerpts taken from a recent Webinar: The Future of Email
Written by Jennifer Cook, Nello Franco, Lyris
On Social Media/Social Currency:
Q: What’s the best way to run a promotion through social media to gain social currency?
A: The first step is to figure out where your customers are so that you can determine the best way to actually reach them. There’s no point in running a promotion on Facebook if your customers aren’t there. Next, identify your marketing objectives – what are you trying to accomplish? Are you looking to grow your fan base? Showcase a new product launch? Drive conversions?
Then, design your offer or announcement based on these objectives. Remember, social media provides a uniquely personal brand experience – it’s a chance to connect with customers in a one-on-one way and build a community around your brand.
The best programs are simple, easy to understand, and most importantly, easy to share.
Q: Â What can I do to increase our fan base on Facebook?
A: The best way to build your fan base is to offer incentives to become a fan. For instance, you can create a program that provides an immediate discount on purchase offer – something like “become a fan and get 15% off your next purchase.â€
You can also communicate the availability of exclusive “fan only†offers and other special perks to motivate prospects. You can provide things like special product previews, exclusive bundles, or everyday free shipping for fans. It’s about providing tangible and immediate value to entice your fan prospect to “Like†you.
Another way to increase your fanbase is by sharing any charitable activities on Facebook . Philanthropy has an amazing viral affect. Share stories and videos about how your good deeds are making an impact. You also can kick off fundraisers via Facebook and ask your fans to spread the word to friends for whom the cause is important. Â Stories about philanthropy are a very shareable way to grow your fanbase.
On Social Media/Location-based Marketing:
Q: How do I segment in social media?
A: The way to get started is to think about how your fan or subscriber is experiencing your content in the social sphere and look for ways to improve their experience.
If you’re a large company with a broad portfolio of brands and products, you may find that it’s best to set up individual pages. For instance, if you were Proctor and Gamble, your Tide fan may not be interested in viewing content about your Pringles product. You could set this up with an umbrella page for Proctor and Gamble and individual pages for specific brands.
Another way to do it is through geography. If certain goods or services aren’t available in a given area, then you don’t want to frustrate subscribers with content about products they can’t purchase.
It’s about maintaining relevancy and the quality of the user experience.
On Mobility:
Q: Â What are the most important things to know about designing for mobility?
A: The first thing to keep in mind is that you need to remember that your content is very likely to be accessed on a mobile device, and that you need to consider this factor on each and every campaign send.
Remember that mobile devices, while very convenient, offer a very different content experience than what a user gets with a traditional interface. The screen is small, and users are on-the-go. So, you need to keep messages concise and subject lines short.
Definitely use pre-headers and remove images and don’t forget to test how your campaigns register across various mobile platforms.
On Location-based Marketing:
Q: Can you give some examples of what you can do with location-based marketing?
A: With location based marketing, you’re leveraging the power of social media to get granular information on your subscriber. This allows you to message them with highly targeted offers. To get them to check in with you initially, you can offer an immediate reward – something like check-in and get 10% off today’s purchase.
Once you have engaged them in a location based activity, you can reward them for their loyalty – something like check in here 10 times and receive a special incentive.
You can also engage them with Foursquare’s mayor offers – if someone becomes the mayor of a your location, you can grant them a special prize or discount – like a week of free coffee at Starbucks or a free appetizer at TGI Fridays.
Location based marketing engages subscribers in real time based on what they’re actually doing and therefore creates an amazing opportunity to be extremely timely and relevant.
On Social Gaming:
Q:Â So, is gaming something marketers should really take seriously? It seems like just playing around. Is it worth the investment?
A. Yes, absolutely. Gaming is an extremely profitable industry and a great way to get potential and current customers to engage with your brand in a way that’s fun, interactive and 100% voluntary. The potential for word-of-mouth, viral exposure is immeasurable.
And, big brands are getting involved in gaming, experimenting with this playful medium to deliver their messages. We showed how McDonald’s is gaming, but there are others. Century 21, USA Network, Expedia, MasterCard and even the New York City Public Library have all leveraged gaming and developed virtual goods to bolster their investments. They’re seeing results in the form of increased web site pages views, increased revenue and growth in their online influence.
image credit: dan
The Newest Trend for Retailers: Emailing Customers’ Receipts
One of the main reasons I fell in love with the email industry (after a 4 year stint in direct mail) was the fact it was cost-effective for clients AND environmentally friendly for the world. I think all that wasted junk mail had me feeling a little guilty about all the trees used to create millions and millions of printed marketing pieces. I’m even more thrilled to see that retailers are now using an email option for receipts. While this article addresses the controversial capture of email addresses, in my opinion, it’s a GENIUS opt-in method build your in-house email list!!
Once you’ve captured that address, think of the possibilities to append relevant consumer data to cross-sell, up-sell and communicate more with buying customers. Let’s not forget the benefits to consumers as well, who then will receive much more relevant marketing messages. AND, no more paper receipts to file and/or lose since they are all saved in a folder on your home PC. Not to mention, this can also make the return process more streamlined adding to an overall enhanced shopping experience. Shoppers rejoice!
Source: Cincinnati Enquirer, www.wusa9.com (read full article here)
You’ve heard it a million times at the checkout counter: “Receipt with you, or in the bag?”
Now, you might hear a third option: your email inbox.
An increasing number of retailers are offering to send receipts by email, touting it as a convenient, environmentally friendly alternative to paper receipts. Gone, they say, are the days of digging through your purse looking for that crumpled slip of paper.
Retailers including Nordstrom and Gap began offering paperless receipts in the past few months, and Indianapolis-based Finish Line and Fort Wayne-based Vera Bradley are testing the option or plan to begin testing it.
It also has been embraced by smaller businesses, including crepe shop Three Days in Paris at the City Market.
“It does a lot of different things,” said Nordstrom spokesman Colin Johnson. “If they (customers) prefer to save paper, they can get it electronically. If they want to save some time, it can do that.”
But while some praise the policy for its added convenience, others view it as a ploy to gain access to a customer’s email account.
“It’s a subtle way of saying, ‘How can I invade your personal life but not offend you.
Image Source: Stuart Miles
5 Steps to Spelling Out E-M-A-I-L
Source: www.blog.hubspot.com with Guest Poster Jim Ducharme, a social media professional and online marketing consultant who helps companies use an integrated approach to their online marketing. You can read more of his thoughts on social and marketing at: www.hugehead.ca.
There’s nothing I love more than a good acronym and so a while back I set out to create one for the word “email” in order to help people remember some of the key points to an effective email marketing campaign. I hope it offers a little inspiration for your integrated email marketing efforts. continue reading »
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posted in: Email for Mobile | Social Media | Targeting & Planning | Trends | Writing Effective Copy WHITEPAPER: Top 10 Mobile Design Tips for Email
So many smartphones, so little time to design an email template that works for them all! The team at V12 Group has compiled the 10 top best design tips that can turn your everyday email design template into a mobile-friendly version to help solve most of those stubborn rendering issues. Download the FREE Whitepaper here
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posted in: Creative | Email for Mobile | HTML Creative Best Practices | Industry | Resources | Trends | Whitepapers Tactics for Engaging Email Subscribers: Five Companies Getting It Right
Source: Kara Trivunovic, MarketingProfs.com
In this article, you’ll learn…
- The pros and cons of focusing on engagement as an email metric
- How engagement levels today can affect your email deliverability in the future
- Out-of-the-box ways to drive engagement
“Engagement” is a term that has sprung up in the vocabulary of email marketers worldwide as a metric, a program goal, or even a brand directive. And though we can apply multiple definitions to this important word, in the nearer term we need to be approaching it the same way the Internet service providers (ISPs) are—as a measurement of consistent open and click behavior by your email subscribers.
Though open and click metrics are waning in importance as an overall measurement of program success, those are the metrics available to ISPs, which will therefore use them to determine whether your message makes it to the inbox, bulk folder, or nowhere at all.
The good news is that email marketers recognize the overall importance of email engagement and are focused on it this year. According to a recent survey conducted by StrongMail of nearly 1,000 global business leaders, 52% cited increasing subscriber engagement as one of their top priorities in 2011, making it the No. 1 initiative.
To effect this change, however, you need to do more than recognize the need; you need to understand what is driving it. The short answer is ISPs.
ISPs are inundated with email traffic—so much so that many categorize upwards of 90% of traffic as unsolicited. Depending on the inbox provider, you could be talking about billions of emails each month—and, unfortunately, some of those messages may be yours. Inbox providers trying to make the environment as pleasant as possible for their subscribers are constantly looking for new ways to determine inbox placement, and this year it’s engagement.
The Pros
* More relevant email communications. If you’re focused on driving increased open and click behavior on a consistent basis, content relevant to your subscriber base is going to be crucial to that success.
* Increased focus on life-cycle-based messaging. Communicating with customers at a time that is integral to your relationship (relevant timing) will help drive consistency in engagement.
* Improved program performance. If customers are engaging more consistently and your content and timing is more relevant, you should see spikes in your overall program conversion.
The Cons
* Seasonal business. If you have a seasonal business, getting recipients to engage consistently and frequently during off-peak periods will be difficult.
* Resource strain. Attaining a high level of relevance may strain your already-taxed resources. Achieving relevance to drive engagement may mean more content development, increased production requirements, or even infrastructure strain—all things that need to be considered before diving in headfirst.
The Best in Class
Some marketers are finding inventive and just plain fun ways to drive engagement today. Let’s look at how some organizations are meeting this new challenge head-on, and how you can apply it to your email programs today.
* Crocs drives engagement to other channels via its email communications. You can shop for Crocs footwear online (click), find a brick-and-mortar location (click), or even provide preferences to help mold the long-term communication plan (click). Each email message provides multiple options to drive click behavior regardless of where you prefer to shop.
* Just tell your subscribers what you want them to do—GameStop does. In the fourth quarter of 2010, GameStop sent a message to subscribers, encouraging them to share their opinions in exchange for points in its rewards program. Often, encouraging engagement is as simple as asking.
* Show some gratitude. These two little words can mean a lot: Thank you. Fandango figured that out. As a way to thank recipients for subscribing to its emails, Fandango entered them into a sweepstakes to win movie tickets. But to find out who won, subscribers needed to open the email announcement on a specified date. The message was image heavy, and to render it subscribers needed to enable images—which recorded an open. Engagement, check.
* Bribery can get you everywhere, especially if you are United Airlines and have a subscriber base that loves to collect miles! United Airlines encouraged customers to provide permission to receive terrific email offers—in exchange for bonus miles. Sometimes it takes more than the promise of intriguing content to drive engagement. Don’t sell bribery short!
* Just be creative. Though many say that a mere 20% of the conversion dependency for email is on the creative, sometimes it may just be the creative that is driving engagement… period. Check out this email from UncommonGoods. Thinking outside the 650-pixel box that has become your email creative may just do you some good. Using creative elements that require enabling images, excessive scrolling, or click activity to reveal something fun can drive the behavior you seek. UncommonGoods recognized that through its innovative Knock Knock campaign. Who can resist a good riddle?
Though we as an industry have not yet standardized the definition of engagement, one thing is for sure: Your subscribers’ engagement with your email program will have some effect on your deliverability in the future. You may as well get ahead of the curve and start focusing on it now. Start by doing the following:
- Define what it means to be “engaged” for each of your email programs.
- Determine how you will measure engagement.
- State your goals and objectives surrounding engagement.
- Start!
Don’t let the ISPs relegate you to the bulk folder. Get engaging… today.
Image credit: arztsamui
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posted in: Creative | Deliverability | Metrics & Testing | Resources | Targeting & Planning | What to Expect | Writing Effective Copy Five Fundamentals To Great Email Marketing In 2011
This is a higher level thinking to email marketing with some strategies to consider this year and beyond.
Source: David Baker, Media Post
The essentials of great email marketing programs have not changed a lot over the years, but the number of options at your disposal has definitely increased. Let’s map out a few fundamentals that can help tell how we’ll adapt for success tomorrow.
It’s the experience, not the product/service or other values. Brand connections are made and formed based on experiences — and the simple goal of email in brand building and brand relationship marketing is to help connect the experiences while reinforcing why people buy from you. Today’s marketers have to look past the promotional calendar and traditional segmentation to understand engagement, not simply conversion (which will only define a small subset of the population).
Targeting at scale is the key to great contextual marketing. Targeting and personalization aren’t just about right offer and right timing — for email marketing, it’s about doing this in scale.  Your goal in is to minimize the “wrongs” while making real choices about where you spend your resource time. You spend time assimilating “look alikes” that help magnify the opportunity and you continually look for reach factors that extend multipliers to your programs.
M-Email – According to Forrester, the mobile commerce space will exceed $10 billion by the end of next year. While this is a small chunk of the ecommerce sales (>7%), it is growing rapidly. As the utility of the device and consumer content demands prevail, MCommerce will be vital, and WAP to APP to MCommerce will need to be a seamless design. The conversion will emanate from two sources: email and on-premise prompts.  You need to begin to isolate the new mobile consumer and think strategically about where email can be a notification agent for the channel.
The dashboard is only so big; make the best use of it. Making sense of reports can be a very difficult and valueless effort if not done with a sense of purpose. If you craft the email experience properly to transcend cross channels, with great hypotheses specific to program, campaign and customer level goals, then how you dashboard results should follow this logic. This should naturally interpret decision points, not just aggregate views. It should have point-in-time comparisons that help shape opinion and it should represent cross-functional sources that lend credibility. This is still a challenge to operationalize, and will become increasingly more difficult going forward. I believe the future dashboards will be a linear view more congruent with the experience, and KPIs that drive decision points that are important for the organization (discounting/promotion, lifecycle, COS, etc..)
Artificial intelligence is exactly that – artificial. We want to be as predictive as possible, and AI offers the opportunity to apply marketing intelligence into a self-fulfilling instrument. But be cautious. With all the unstructured data that is becoming available, this can be a distraction without great result. If you remember how hard it is to operationalize the front-end of the efforts, adding complexity through AI can dramatically challenge resource drain. Be cautious about value props centered on AI as the center of marketing insight.