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The Uberisation of Customer Service Will Kill Retail if we don’t Change

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It’s a weird thing to get used to. For years, it was accepted that if you want food delivered to your house then you can only buy certain kinds: pizza, Chinese food, or some other form of fast food or takeaway.

Your options were limited. Now, UberEats means you can order anything, anywhere. In a new city? No problem: it’s like having all those old, paper menus from the door knob right in your pocket.

I don’t think we quite understand how much this has changed customers’ expectations — not just of food, but with anything. One in 10 Australians aged over 14+ have used an on-demand food delivery service.

It’s only a matter of time before those customers bring those same expectations for quick, trackable delivery to other items.

Like retail.

If consumers can order a cheeseburger through an app and have it delivered to their mouth within 30 minutes, why is it still such a massive headache for retailers to deliver a pair of shoes the same way?

Of course, there are plenty of reasons why. The existing retail and delivery network is a mess; retail chains aren’t logistically or financially set up to support that type of cost structure. The list goes on, but ultimately those excuses don’t matter. If consumers want it, they’ll flock to those who offer it. Which means retailers need to make some tough choices.

A decade ago, we started talking about how online retail would dominate everything — now more than half of all online shopping experiences in the United States begin at Amazon. Now, the next step is happening. If retail wants to stay relevant, it has to offer same-day delivery. And not just same-day delivery. It has to offer same-day delivery with the same type of rapid deployment and tracking that anyone can get in an UberEats’ app.

This is really the last true pain point that’s holding retailers back. A study  conducted in 2018 found only 3 per cent of retailers with both a physical and online presence offering same-day shipping. Just consider these statistics from Roy Morgan:

  1. Nearly 2 million Australians use delivery services of any three-month period
  2. The average waiting time is 32 minutes
  3. 97 per cent of Gen Z shoppers abandon their online shopping cart if they aren’t happy with delivery

It’s that last one that should have you worried.

The good news is that this isn’t as expensive a venture as it once was. True, same-day shipping can be achieved; but it comes at the cost of rethinking some of your existing business practices.

Here’s what you need to change:

Turn your Stores into Fulfillment Centres

It isn’t enough to just consider how back-end inventory systems can be consolidated and connected. Instead, stores need to turn into fulfillment centres for modern delivery programs.

Shops need to fit differently into your cost structures, going forward. Think beyond normal profit and loss.

Offer more Shipping Options

The conversion rate for online shopping carts drops like a cliff as fewer shipping options are offered. Plug into as many networks and providers as you can.

Make Returns Transparent and Easy

Put this front and centre in your shopping experience — make returns easy. Give customers nothing to lose by buying from you.

Remember, this is an expectations’ game that you can’t afford to lose. Your customers are judging you against every piece of technology, not just in your industry. This is an attention and convenience game, and the more you can provide them what they want, the more often you’ll win.

Feature Image Credit: Pixabay 

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Co-Founder, Shippit

Sourced from Entrepreneur

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8 Canvas Printing Tips

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Sourced from Photographytalks

I love a good canvas print. There’s just something about the texture that gives photos an added sense of depth and dimension that I really like.

But as I discovered in my canvas print secret shopper shootout, not all canvas is made alike (spoiler alert – CanvasHQ won that contest hands-down). Unfortunately, a lot of people find this out the hard way when they opt for a bargain-basement canvas that ends up looking like trash.

What’s more, there’s tons of things to consider before you even order a canvas print, like the image quality, where you’ll hang the print, and the shape of the print.

Below, I dive deep into 8 canvas printing tips that will help you ensure you get the highest quality print possible.

Editor’s Note: I lean on my experiences as a customer of CanvasHQ to illustrate many of the points below because they have proven to be the best canvas printing company I’ve ever worked with. You’re certainly free to choose whatever canvas printing company you wish, but for me, no one beats these guys!

Canvas Printing Tip #1: Image Quality is Important

image

Obviously, when having a photo printed, it’s necessary to have a source file that has enough resolution to handle being printed, so the cell phone photo you took with your flip phone back in 2006 is probably not going to cut it in terms of resolution and image quality, unfortunately.

In fact, the larger the print, the greater the resolution the image needs to be.

Not all of us have high-end, professional cameras that capture 50-megapixel images. But you don’t need that much resolution to get a great-looking large canvas print.

Most DSLR and mirrorless cameras (and compact cameras, too) offer plenty of resolution to turn images into sizable prints.

Quick Tip: When selecting a printing company, be sure they offer insights into how large your image can be printed. For example, when you upload your image to CanvasHQ, they only show print sizes that are appropriate for a quality-looking print. Nice!

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Canvas Printing Tip #2: Don’t Forget About Old Photos

canvas printing tips image photo by StockPlanets via iStock

While your ancient cell phone photos are probably not going to work for printing purposes, don’t forget that you might have some actual printed photos you might want to turn into a canvas print.

Whether it’s your parents’ wedding photo from the 1970s or your kid’s baby picture from the mid-90s, you can create a high-resolution scan of the print and use that to get a large canvas print made.

Sure, scanning old photos isn’t exactly a fun exercise, but if you have a special photo that you love from decades ago, the time and effort spent turning it into a digital file will be worth it when you see it hanging on the wall as a gorgeous canvas.

Quick Tip: Don’t just scan old photos – process them as well! A little work in Lightroom or Photoshop to remove blemishes on the print, alter colors, crop, and so forth, can go a long way in making it a better candidate for a canvas print.

Canvas Printing Tip #3: Be Wary of Silly Photos

canvas printing tips 2 image photo by Halfpoint via iStock

I have a “wall of shame” in my home office of photos of my loved ones that are truly terrible.

I find them amusing, and love to look at them and bask in the glory of how bad my family and friends look in these photos.

However, I would never have any of the images on my wall of shame turned into a huge canvas print…

The time and effort and cash spent to make a high-quality canvas print are better suited for photos that I want to display in common areas of my home. So while the photo of my little brother vomiting in front of a urinating horse is fine for my home office, it’s not something I’d want hanging in the entryway of my home.

Quick Tip: When selecting a photo to turn into a canvas print, ask yourself, “Is this something I want to look at for decades to come?” This is especially important for older portraits, as hairstyles and clothing can quickly become the butt of a joke rather than being the stylish selections they once were!

 

canvashqbanner image

 

Canvas Printing Tip #4: Ask Yourself Where the Print Will Hang

image

This might seem like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many people order a huge print only to find that it’s too big for the space in which they intended to display it.

Knowing where you want to hang the print will determine all sorts of characteristics about the canvas, from its size and shape (more on that next) to the color scheme, canvas frame depth, and finish as well.

The location you wish to hang the canvas will also be a factor in which image you choose to have printed. While a photo of your daughter with her pony might be appropriate for her bedroom wall, it might not be the best option for the dining room.

Quick Tip: If the hanging location gets a lot of natural light, be sure you opt for a printing company that uses high-grade, UV-resistant inks that won’t fade.

Canvas Printing Tip #5: Consider the Size of the Print

image

Building off the previous point, you not only need to consider where the print will go, but the size of the print as well.

The size of the wall space available for a print will dictate how big or small the print needs to be.

This can be the trickiest part of sizing your print because you don’t want it to be so large that it overwhelms the space, nor do you want it to be too small as it will look puny hanging on the wall surrounded by blank space.

Quick Tip: Bear in mind that the midpoint of the print should be between 58-60 inches above the floor and that you need a few inches of clearance above furniture. This will help you determine how large you can have your photo printed.

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Canvas Printing Tip #6: The Shape of the Print Matters Too

image

Understand that some photos are best displayed in horizontal format while others are best displayed in vertical format.

Your family portrait will likely be in horizontal format, so not only should you choose to print it in that manner, but you should also select a spot to hang it that’s conducive to a horizontal-format print (i.e., above the fireplace).

Conversely, your favorite photo of your favorite waterfall is likely more appropriate for a vertical-format print that hangs on a very tall wall.

Many canvas printing companies offer square prints, too, so be sure to peruse their selection of sizes to ensure you’ve made the right choice regarding the shape of the print.

Quick Tip: Don’t be afraid to crop the original image when processing it to fit a different format. Many horizontal images can be turned into beautiful square or vertical images, and vice versa. Just be sure that when cropping that you avoid cutting off parts of the subject (i.e., like cropping out the top of a person’s head or omitting their hands or feet).

Canvas Printing Tip #7: Consider the Print Options

image Just a sampling of the different sizes, shapes, and print options of my canvas prints.

There is a whole host of options you can select when having a canvas print made that will influence how it looks on your wall:

  • Frame depth – The thicker the frame depth, the more drama the print will have. For example, a two-inch frame will have more visual impact than a .75-inch frame. Likewise, deeper frames are needed if the print will hang on a heavily textured wall, like one covered with stone.
  • Border color – A white border gives a canvas print the appearance of floating on the wall while an image wrap border extends the print around the sides of the frame. There are other options as well, including a mirrored border and just about any color under the rainbow.
  • Canvas finish – If glare is a concern, a matte finish is ideal. If you want your print to have the look of an oil painting, a semi-gloss finish is more appropriate. There are other choices, too, including glossy, vintage, and iridescent.

Quick Tip: Not sure what type of finish to get or what border color or frame depth best suits your photo? Any canvas printing company worth their salt will help you make smart decisions so you get the best-looking print possible. If in doubt, just ask for help!

Canvas Printing Tip #8: Don’t Be Seduced by Cheap Prices

As I noted in the introduction, I think the biggest mistake made when getting a canvas print is being seduced by bargain-basement prices that seem too good to be true.

Often, the case is that the price is too good to be true and you end up with a print that looks like its low, low price.

Now, this doesn’t mean that you have to dump hundreds of dollars into a canvas print. Instead, you should look for a blend of affordability and quality.

image Needless to say, I have a ton of CanvasHQ prints in my house.

I mentioned earlier that CanvasHQ is my go-to canvas printer, and that’s because they are the perfect blend of pricing and quality.

I’ve tested dozens of printers over the years, and no one has been able to match the final product that I get from CanvasHQ.

image

I appreciate the fact that the frames are handcrafted from kiln-dried wood, that way the print stays square and true for decades to come.

I also like that they use archival-grade canvas and high-quality inks that are fade-resistant and moisture-resistant too.

image

The CanvasHQ team is just plain nice as well! They have top-notch customer service and will bend over backwards to ensure your print is exactly what you want.

Their prints come with a 100-percent satisfaction guarantee, so if something is amiss, just send it back and they’ll remake it or refund your money within 30 days.

I don’t mean to gush here, but these guys really are the real deal. If canvas prints are on your mind, do yourself a favor and see what CanvasHQ has to offer.

Sourced from Photographytalks

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Marketing Strategies to Boom in 2019

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By  Anuja Lath

Internet marketing is all set to undergo a tremendous change in 2019. It will completely change the way the businesses have been handling their marketing strategy and technique. The technological onslaught has redefined the whole marketing ecosystem. The expectations of customers have also changed as everyone not only wants the best product at the most competitive price but are not even ready to wait. There is no room for lags as there are many options available. 2019 will be a signature year in terms of marketing as businesses will have to continuously innovate to keep pace with the changing lifestyles and future marketing trends. Businesses will thus have to look deeper into their marketing strategies and reinvent themselves continuously to survive. Recent trends in marketing suggest that it will no more be an easy ball game as the world wide web is getting exhausted with more than 1,800,000,000 websites present and the number is growing by the day.

Best Digital Marketing Strategies to Make a Mark in 2019

  • Inbound Marketing: This typically focusses on your product which is able to add more value to the lives of your customers or audience. There is an obvious shift in the industry towards enhanced levels of personalized content. Content takes center-stage but it should not just offer the keywords used in searches, it should also be able to address the concern for which someone punched in that keyword. There is no dearth of content on Google, so the content has to offer an accurate and precise solution to the problem. Fresh and original content will remain a hot favourite for both Google and the audience. Content is thus here to stay as more and more businesses are increasing their budgetary allocations for producing more relevant content.
  • Video Marketing: No future marketing strategy can dare to ignore the scope of video marketing. Video and audio form of content is yet to reach its saturation level on the internet, unlike the text content. These forms also have a much more attractive and engaged audience. The prevalence of smart devices has made streaming of videos much more competitive. Marketers thus cannot afford to miss this trend as videos are more likely to result in conversions than plain text. Making a professional video is expensive but it presents a compelling case for businesses that they do not want to miss the chance. The extent of success can be gauged from the fact that more than 100 million hours of videos are being watched on Facebook every day!
  • Growth Hacking: This comprises a group of small and simple techniques which are highly helpful for the businesses for stimulating their growth and demand. Some of the strategies involved may not satisfy the ethical criteria but the results suggest that this cannot be missed. The people behind it, also known as growth hackers, are highly committed to taking your business to a new level as they see the whole idea of digital marketing as a battle which has to be won at all costs. These hackers play with data and creativity to give rise to revolutionary products. Growth hacking has emerged as one of the best marketing strategies of all time.
  • Chatbots: Chatbots are a recent strategy in the realm of Internet marketing but have come loaded with immense potential. These are bots which enter meaningful conversations in real-time with customers with the help of AI. Majority of the businesses around the world are looking at chatbots as the most promising future marketing strategy. Customers also prefer to speak to chatbots over humans due to their efficiency, quick response time, helpful in recalling the whole purchase history and are very cordial. One can instead focus on more important tasks as these help in automation of repetitive work.
  • Automation: Future marketing trends present a strong case for the automation of marketing. It comprises of software which aims to automate repetitive marketing tasks like email marketing, social media or website actions, etc. This has helped businesses to develop their relationships with prospective clients without having to spend any extra time on it. The technology which has developed in recent years has shown no sign of slowing and will stand pronounced in 2019 as one of the best digital marketing strategies.

Conclusion

2019 will be a defining year for the marketers as the latter will have to experiment and come up with new approaches and strategies to win the customers. Technology will continue to evolve and keeping pace with it will be the biggest challenge. It is going to drive you crazy and it is this craziness which will make you succeed. The best digital marketing strategies to rule 2019 will be marked by technologies like AI and machine learning. Chatbots and other automation techniques present a strong case along with video marketing. Content will still be valued provided it is original.

 

 

By  Anuja Lath

Anuja is India’s #7 LinkedIn Top Voice 2017. She is the Co-founder and CEO of RedAlkemi Online Pvt. Ltd., a digital marketing agency helping clients with their end to end online presence. Anuja has 30 years of work experience as a successful entrepreneur and has co-founded several ventures since 1986. She and her team are passionate about helping SMEs achieve measurable online success for their business. Anuja holds a Bachelors degree in Advertising from the Government College of Fine Arts, Chandigarh, India.

Sourced from BBN Times

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Success Is Hard Because You Overcomplicate It. Keep Your Strategy Simple With These 7 Questions

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By Marla Tabaka

Entrepreneurs who overthink their plan just get stuck. Success is not necessarily easy, but it’s probably simpler than you believe.

They had built a seven-figure business in less than three years. Three years ago, I asked these entrepreneurs, who happen to be my daughter and son-in-law, about their business plan. As they exchanged humoured looks, my son-in-law asked, “What plan?” I laughed because, of course, you have to have a plan. As I persisted, he finally shrugged his shoulders and drew their plan on a napkin. Here’s how it looked:

            $ + $$$ = $$$$$$$$

Translation: Make a little money, put it back into the business, make more money and get rich. Today, they are on their fifth self-funded business–all of them very successful, none of them with a complicated plan.

Why entrepreneurs tend to overcomplicate their strategy.

Conversely, many business owners come to me for help, expecting to develop a plan and strategy the size of Long Island. They need to believe that success is complicated, because if it isn’t, then why haven’t they achieved it already? For some, there’s a sort of security in documenting and analysing every little step before it’s taken. This tendency falls into the categories of procrastination and fear of failure. If you spend more time thinking about your business plan than you do acting on it, this may be your problem.

I’m not sure that everyone has the ability to grow a business from an abstract reference on a cocktail napkin, but I do know that small and midsize business owners who overthink their plan don’t succeed. Begin with these seven questions and stop overcomplicating things. Just get to work.

1. Who is my audience?

If you find yourself using phrases like anyone who, then you don’t know who your audience is. If you could sell to just one person, who would it be? That’s right, one person or industry. I once worked with a professional speaker who thought his audience was any company that had a sales force. He was barely supporting himself. We narrowed it down to the sales force within manufacturers and distributors in the medical supply industry. His business took off within months.

Here’s something that’s very important to know about niching: You don’t have to stick with only one. Start with one and when and if the time is right, create a second silo. Choosing a niche is not as restrictive as you’d believe.

2. How will I reach my audience?

Once you have a niche, you will have a better idea of where they hang out. What are the best social media platforms, the industry events, and associations they’re associated with, and which people in your network are closely associated with them?

3. What makes my product or service different?

This one is difficult for many entrepreneurs. You may believe that one business accounting firm may be just like the next, for instance. When one of my clients differentiated her firm by offering freelance CEO and CFO services, along with 30-minute quarterly meetings with her clients, her practice grew by 34 percent in one year. I call these touches white-glove service. What’s your white glove?

4. What are my costs and margins?

Once you find that amazing accountant, pay the money to have him or her calculate your cost of doing business, as well as your margins. You may be amazed at how many entrepreneurs have no idea where their money is going and what their margins are. I had a client who sold two different product types to two different industries but ran her numbers together. It wasn’t until we began working together that she came to realize that one of her product lines was sucking up profits from the other. It didn’t look that way on paper–until she separated the costs associated with running each side of the business. You may think you understand your numbers, but do you really?

5. How will I manage my company’s growth?

Here’s where entrepreneurs fall into a very problematic trap. They end up wearing the CEO hat, along with the other six or seven hats necessary to run their business. If you have the mind of an entrepreneur, it’s not likely that you will excel in performing every task needed to deliver your end product. When you’re entrenched in the day-to-day operations, you won’t have time or energy to grow the business. Perhaps you don’t need full-time employees, but you do need to outsource. If you try to do it all you will burn out and fail. It’s that simple.

6. What mindset do I need to maintain to become successful?

Do you have a lack mindset or a wealth mindset? If you are constantly worried about money, you fall into the lack category. If you believe with all of your heart that there will always be more than enough, you tend toward the abundant, wealth mindset. This is not to say that you don’t watch your money, but that you understand the need to spend money to make money and you spend it wisely.

Please know that determining and changing your mindset is not likely something you’ll do on your own. Find a coach who specializes in mindset and strategy and invest in yourself. It will be the best money you’ve ever spent.

7. What are my company’s values and how will I develop its culture?

Oblivious to how things must change once they begin to bring employees on board, some entrepreneurs neglect to develop processes and what I call an intentional culture. Before long, the business is a mess. This is a costly oversight.

I use this simple question to help entrepreneurs lay the foundation for a healthy culture: When employees and customers talk about your business, what exactly do you want them to say and how do you want them to feel? I always say that if an entrepreneur does not put effort into building culture, it will build itself–and you won’t like the results.

That’s it. Throw away those pages and pages of notes. Stop losing sleep in search of the magic bullet. If you focus on these seven areas and believe in yourself, you will go much further in life and business.

Feature Image Credit: Getty Images

By Marla Tabaka

Sourced from Inc.

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Overview on Using Search Intent for SEO Content Research

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Search intent is one of the primary reasons we do SEO. After knowing what the people are searching for, focus on why they search for that particular content. Search engines detect the pages they want to rank according to the quality and relevance of the content, and this is where search intent comes in. Pages who rank the highest fit the search term well which is why it is essential for you to optimize your site’s content to cater to a specific search query.

Reviewing Search Intent

Using search intent for keywords alone would not be a wise decision on your part. Branching out to content using intent-based research can help you climb up the ranks simply because you are generating rich content based on specific queries. Search intent is the reason behind a query through a search engine. It is vital to optimize your site according to this because it is a way to know how customers can reach a particular business.

What good is an SEO provider if it does not deliver the right kind of answers to people, right? This can be answered simply with search intent. To know more about this, here are the types of search intent according to Yoast.

Informational Intent

Informational
Informational intent is from those who have a specific query that they want to learn from. For example, there are those who search for Virtual Office in Manila. In return, a Landing Page will supply them with the information on what it is and how it can help them in for their particular question. Content that is centered on informational intent would mostly consist of facts, significant benefits, history, overviews, summaries, etc.

Navigational Intent

navigational

Navigational content is the type of search intent wherein people use the search engine to go to a specific website. A navigational term would be great if you want clients to find your business instantly. If a broad keyword is from the navigational intent type, chances are that your competitors are also aiming to rank for it so you should generate content that can pull up your ranking and increase your organic traffic.

Transactional Intent

transactional

Transactional search intent is for people who are looking to find a site that can give them the best value for their money. Obviously, as the name suggests, this intent type is focused on the goal of the search query ending in a transaction with both the business and the buyer receiving a benefit from it.

Commercial Investigation

commercial

Similar to the transactional intent but with people looking into more options instead of focusing on one. They may not be ready to buy immediately, but they are investigating which are the best products or services they may purchase in the future. So keywords would be about finding the best plugin, an alternative to a current tool, or just a simple product comparison.

Importance of Audience Analysis for Search Intent

To go deeper into a viable content strategy centered on search intent, it would also be a big help if you look at the people who visit your site and how you can cater to their intent. By looking at users who are actively on your site and have a brief overview of your services, you can provide an analysis based on data from Google Analytics.

Audience Analysis Based on Age

GA Age

It would be impossible for you to know each one of your site visitors so looking into a simple demographic based on their age would tell you that these are the people who intend to be on your website. It may seem stereotypical but look at their age to determine how your content could be of interest to them. Additionally, trends can help you set up a content strategy since the trend that is popular for a particular age group will also attract them to your content so you should consider reading up on what they would be interested in.

Interest Overview

GA Audience Interests

Of course, your site has a particular niche in your industry but you should also consider that the site visitors have other interests aside from your own. Content should never be subjective, you will know that it passes a high standard of quality when you satisfy the needs of your audience. It pays to know a little more about them so why not use this data to make a solid audience analysis?

Intent-Based Research for Content Relevance

All in all, the main essence of focusing on search intent is for your content to stay relevant, not only for the SERPs but for users as well. Content relevance would go a long way in relating your site to a particular search term or topic. Churning out content would be a waste if you do not optimize it according to search intent.

A content strategy would be for nothing if it does not boost relevance and quality for SEO. Search intent keeps you relevant because it gives out the signal that you are well-optimized to provide answers and solutions to user query. Also, you should also keep in mind that content relevance is an important ranking factor and a way for you to establish authority. These are the reasons behind why you should consider doing intent-based research the next time you are planning around your blog or site content.

 

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is a motivational speaker and is the head honcho, and editor-in-chief of SEO Hacker and God and You. Check out his SEO School and SEO Services site.

Sourced from SEO-HACKER

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Why Marketing Change Management Fails

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My daily “grind” is helping complex marketing organizations with change. This could be change in the way they work, who they work with, how they measure the output of their work, and so on.

It’s rarely just one thing that triggers the need for change. It is almost never “Our agency/agencies suck, can you help us find a new agency/agencies?” More often it is a combination of lack of results combined with a marketing structure and process that is no longer fit for a purpose (but rather has organically grown into whatever it is today), as well as a marketing ecosystem stuck in neutral. They often have questions about the effectiveness marketing dollars and how they are deployed.

Let’s start with a platitude: Change is hard. It is even harder when it is supposed to correct for poor performance. Patience is not exactly a marketing strength; results need to be delivered every month, every quarter and every 12 months, rolling.

Lack of patience is getting worse rather than better; short-term results trounce everything. Because other parts of the organization nowadays move fast, or give the illusion of moving fast with implementing changes (sales, CRM, online marketing, etc.), the expectations of implementing marketing change, especially by those without marketing experience but with results-driven performance metrics hanging over their heads, are often grossly unrealistic.

Having been “inside” many different companies of all shapes, sizes and industries, I have learned a thing or two about factors that impact the outcome of a change management process.

If you can address these issues before you set off on your change management journey, you’ll stand a much better chance of delivering results.

Align all parties before you start. Aligning does not mean telling them what is about to happen. Aligning means ensuring all parties understand what is going to happen, why, in what time frame, and what their role is in the process.

Use “their” language. Refrain from using marketing gobbledygook, and instead use either simple language or the language of the company. If it smells like a “marketing initiative,” other departments and parties might feel as if it’s your journey, not theirs, and they don’t need to be actively involved.

Similarly, explain what the benefits are for each party. Make it about “wins,” not just about “change.” If they understand what they stand to gain from you taking production in-house, or changing their way of working, they’ll be more likely to  actively participate.

Start small and build it out, rather than tackling the whole deal at once. I have seen “everything at once” succeed only very rarely, and that was when a company was going through a profound change like a merger or a significant downsizing. Under all other scenarios, it usually pays to go slower.

Build incentives into the process of delivery. If teams can win by playing ball, they will. Incentives for delivery, teamwork or implementation of new tools and processes will pay dividend in the long run. It also shows that senior leadership is serious about the change because they are measuring the organization against implementation success. The incentives should be levied across all departments involved, not just marketing.

Good luck. Change is hard, but not impossible.

 

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Sourced from MediaPost

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3 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Email Marketing Software

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By Sean Peek

Email marketing is often cited as having a high ROI, but only if you use it right. Here’s how to make the most of your email marketing software.

Many companies use email marketing to engage consumers and increase sales. Having a list of contacts who want to receive your latest deals, announcements and other advertisements will help you better establish your brand and ultimately grow your business.

If you’ve invested in email marketing, it’s crucial you understand how to best leverage your software to help you manage and target your contacts. Here are some basic tips for using your email marketing software.

Build your opt-in email list

Every good email marketing campaign begins with a curated list of subscribers. Simply mass-emailing past customers and business contacts will not necessarily increase sales — and may, in fact, be against the law, depending on where you do business. If you have customers in Europe, for instance, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which mandates certain rules and policies about collecting and storing customer contact information for marketing purposes.

When launching your first campaign, you’ll want to obtain permission from customers before sending the emails. Your email marketing software should provide opt-in forms for prospects, so you’re only investing in consumers who are actually interested in your brand.

One particularly effective way to build an email list is to offer some kind of incentive — for example, a free, exclusive piece of content like a whitepaper or e-book — in exchange for a person’s contact information. Typically, visitors will need to check a box confirming their consent to receive marketing emails if they want to receive the incentive.

When launching your first campaign, you’ll want to obtain permission from customers before sending the emails.

How to use email list segmentation

Once you have your list of contacts, you should segment your email list to break them up into smaller groups based on specific demographics, like past relationships with your business, location or interests. This will help you target your customer groups specifically, rather than applying a one-size-fits-all approach. Subject lines and messages can be customized based on the group and their email or buying habits, and increase your conversions.

How to improve your email open rate

To ensure your contacts are actually opening your emails, you’ll first have to figure out how to avoid landing in spam (which is why opt-in and opt-out options are crucial). Email marketing software typically takes care of this for you, ensuring your IP address hasn’t been flagged as spam in the past. You’ll also want to personalize your metadata, like your To: field and domains.

There’s also no point in wasting time with inactive subscribers. If a consumer hasn’t been engaging in your content for over six months, it’s best to send a last-chance email that asks if they’re still interested in receiving emails. Anyone who does not respond can then be removed.

To encourage subscribers to stay active, though, SCORE recommends making emails short and mobile-friendly, and including a call to action (CTA). Taking that a step further, the SBA recommends testing as a great way to ensure you’re actually reaching your targeted inboxes, your subject lines are catchy enough and that you’re sending emails at the right times and on the right days.

CO— aims to bring you inspiration from leading respected experts. However, before making any business decision, you should consult a professional who can advise you based on your individual situation.

Feature Image Credit: Getty Images/skynesher 

By Sean Peek

Sourced from CO – by US Chamber of Commerce

 

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You Can’t Trust Google Maps To Find It All — Fake Businesses Are Everywhere

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By Alexis Reliford

In search of a plumber or tow company? Don’t call just any business listing you come across on Google Maps.
A Wall Street Journal report found that about 11 million businesses shown on Google Maps are fake, with new listings and phones numbers cropping up each month. So that florist who never called you back? Maybe not a thing! Many of the listings are created for and by other companies that want to boost their own business info ahead of competitors in the search results, while others are simply scams.
In a blog post, Google responded to the WSJ report and shared that in the last year they had removed more than 3 million fake listings, with more than 90% of those removed before a user even saw them. The company noted its internal systems flagged “more than 85% of these removals” and more than 250,000 fake profiles were reported by users. So if you run across something that seems fraudulent, don’t hesitate to turn it in.
Google typically verifies if a business is legit by calling, mailing a postcard, or emailing a numerical code that is then entered on the website. It’s a pretty easy process for savvy scammers who likely use fake addresses and businesses for their listings anyway. Knowing this, the company says that they are constantly developing new ways to weed out fake listings, but can’t elaborate on what they are due to the sensitive nature.
“Every month Maps is used by more than a billion people around the world, and every day we and our users work as a community to improve the map for each other,” Google Maps’ product director, Ethan Russell, wrote in the blog post. “We know that a small minority will continue trying to scam others, so there will always be work to do and we’re committed to keep doing better.”
In the meantime, the WSJ shared simple ways users could protect themselves from scams, including being wary of business names with keywords like “dependable” or “emergency,” screening phone numbers, and taking reviews with a grain of salt.

Feature Image Credit: Valentin Wolf/imagebroker/Shutterstock.

By Alexis Reliford

Sourced from Refinery29

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Salesforce makes email marketing smarter with new Einstein AI innovations

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By Roy Edwards

Salesforce has announced new Einstein AI innovations for Marketing Cloud. The enhancements will enable brands to increase customer engagement with relevant and timely email marketing messages. This potentially is an invaluable channel for marketers.

The Salesforce report ‘State of the Connected Customer’ shows that 64 percent of customers prefer email communications over other digital channels. These channels included mobile and social media. Furthermore, for every $1 a company invests in email marketing, the return is estimated at $42.

Analysts have forecasted that Salesforce is a leader in marketing automation and the preferred email service provider amongst companies worldwide. Salesforce sends more than 4 billion personalised emails per day for its customers. During Cyber Week 2018, the busiest time of year for retailers, Salesforce sent 20.6 billion emails on behalf of customers. The company also powered 22.8 billion Einstein engagements such as product recommendations within email and mobile messages.

Einstein AI engagement

Einstein Engagement Frequency enables marketers to know the right number of emails to send to customers based on their previous interactions.

(Image credit/Linkedin/Nick Antonelli)
Nick Antonelli, Chief Customer Officer, Naehas,

According to Nick Antonelli, Chief Customer Officer, Naehas: “We are focused on providing solutions that deliver personalised offers and communications. This is needed for our clients across financial services and other highly regulated industries. That’s why we turned to Salesforce Marketing Cloud. We are excited to leverage Einstein content tagging on behalf of our customers.

“Einstein content tagging will help them minimise the use of assets within email marketing campaigns that aren’t resonating with customers. The platform assist with the identification of new images while enabling the re-use of those that are highly effective. It will improve personalisation and also enhance the image library based on actual customer engagement.”

New Einstein AI enhancements include:

Einstein Engagement Frequency: Marketers know that it takes more than one email to engage a customer. But how many emails is too much, and at what point does a marketer risk fatiguing their audience? With Einstein Engagement Frequency, marketers know exactly how many emails to send to customers in order to keep them engaged.

Einstein Send Time Optimisation: Just as important as knowing how many emails to send, is knowing when to send those emails to a customer. With Einstein Send Times, AI automatically predicts the best time to send marketing emails to optimise customer engagement and avoid creating unsubscribers.

Einstein Content Tagging: Marketers turn to their content libraries to find the best, most engaging images for their emails. In order to access and manage these assets, marketers historically had to manually create image tags–a cumbersome and imprecise process. Einstein Content Tagging uses image recognition to automatically and accurately tags thousands of images within a content library, helping marketers save time and locate the best images.

Transaction Messaging

Businesses send promotional and transaction emails, and mobile messages to customers. Promotional messages offer discounts, coupons and other incentives encouraging customers to view or buy products. Transaction messages include purchase confirmations, shipping notifications, password resets, financial alerts and appointment reminders.

With Transaction Messaging now part of Marketing Cloud, customers can integrate transaction and promotional messages into the same campaign. Companies can now understand the complete customer journey, ensure a single voice is being used for all messages. Furthermore, they can embed promotional content in transaction messages and vice versa.

“Brands seek the ability to predict customer wants and needs, and deliver personalisation at scale for email, mobile marketing and all other channels. AI-driven approaches empower marketers to take the guesswork out of knowing when to send and how frequently to send marketing messages, improve efficiencies with content tagging and complete the customer journey with transaction messages. The end result is higher engagement through contextual relevancy and improved conversion rate optimisation,” said R “Ray” Wang, Principal Analyst and CEO, Constellation Research, Inc.

Salesforce to buy Tableau Software

Earlier this month, Salesforce announced its intention to acquire Tableau Software, an analytics platform operator. Tableau pioneered self-service analytics with an intuitive analytics platform that empowers people of any skill level to work with data. More than 86,000 organisations around the world, such as Charles Schwab, Verizon, Southwest and Netflix, use Tableau to understand data.

Salesforce believes Tableau will play an even greater role in driving digital transformation. The company believes businesses around the world can tap into data across their entire business. This could provide deeper insights to make smarter business decisions, drive intelligent, connected customer experiences and accelerate innovation. The acquisition is currently going through the required US financial regulatory processes.

Enterprise Times: What this means for business?

With the introduction of Marketing Cloud Einstein, companies will be able to engage with customers with personalised marketing campaigns. Salesforce is in an enviable position. It provides a complete view of customers across every touchpoint – sales, service, marketing, commerce and more. Salesforce pioneered AI for CRM.

With Salesforce Einstein, the company can now deliver AI-enabled analytics for sales and marketing. This means the company is in a good position to provide the legendary 360 degree intelligent view of their customers across every touchpoint.

Adding Tableau to the eco-system is another piece of the jigsaw puzzle. Companies of every size and industry are transforming how they do business in the digital age. More importantly, customers and data are at the heart of those transformations. This creates an incredible opportunity for Salesforce and Tableau as IDC projects worldwide spending on technologies and services that will enable digital transformation to reach $1.8 trillion in 2022.

By Roy Edwards

Trained as a journalist and editor at Reuters, Roy is a qualified Prince 2 project/programme manager, consultant with more than 20 years experience of working for some iconic brands in digital, eCommerce and bespoke software. He has delivered both website and ecommerce strategy and projects and has a wide experience of different products and sectors. Roy has worked on projects including Jimmy Choo, Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, Savills, Tui, P&O Ferries and the NHS. During his career he has also lectured at London Metropolitan University and has an MA in journalism studies from the University of Westminster.

Sourced from enterprise times

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