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Data Analytics Digital Technology eCommerce Marketing

Improve Your Campaigns With These Critical KPIs

What is a KPI?

KPI or key performance indicators are values that you can accurately measure to show progress. It can be used for a business or personal life, or it can be used in terms of marketing. These are essential values that you can measure and can look at those values over time to know if your progress is advancing or decreasing.

Why set KPIs?

By setting KPIs you can make sure that you actually achieve your business goals and also that will tell you if you won’t. So you can go back to your strategy and you can tweak it and try again. They can be anything that is specific, measurable, and relevant to your business goals.

For example,

  • Conversion rate.

By improving your conversion rate at each step of your customer journey you can get more customers.

  • Relevant audience growth

Once you have worked out all your conversion rates, you may discover that your Instagram followers are more likely to buy. So growing your Instagram following could be a KPI.

  • Email subscribers

If you find that your emails are sending you more customers, then one of your KPIs could be growing your email subscribers. When you set KPIs for each phase of your digital marketing and measure it regularly, you will be able to see what’s working and you will be able to go in and adjust your marketing as you go.

Where do you start with KPIs?

Start with your goal and work backwards through the funnel.

  1. Awareness – It helps you to broaden your audience, so you can use things like organic social, advertising, influencer marketing, and large content projects, to help you reach new people. To set a KPI for this, you are looking to grow your audiences on the specific networks and channels that drive the most sales. Start by defining the channels, that are driving the most sales, then devise a plan that is going to help you increase your audience on those channels, and measure the relevant audience growth over time.
  1. Consideration – is the phase, where people are a little bit further through the customer journey and they’re thinking about buying from you. To move more people onto the next phase, you need to reassure them that they are making the right decision. So content like testimonials and case studies, user-generated content, blog posts, and videos that answer every question that your customer may have is what works here. The more of this type of content your customers consume the more likely they are to buy.

What KPIs should we set for this?

  • You can look at the number of pages viewed by each visitor to your website.
  • Look at views on key content that is designed to convert.
  • The time that people spent on your website.
  • Link clicks to sales content from your social media channels and your emails.
  • The number of email subscribers you have.
  • The number of enquiry forms that are filled in.
  • The number of people that are adding your product to the cart.
  1. Sell– This is the ultimate goal. The obvious KPI for base is sales. But there are other metrics we can measure to see how successful our sales process is. This is where the conversion rate comes into its own. For your KPIs, you want to look at the conversion rate for each phase of the buying process. So from a website visitor to a landing page view, from a landing page view to somebody filling in an enquiry form, from an enquiry form to you setting up a sales call, from there to making the sales.

Set the right KPIs for your campaign – Tips

  • Choose KPIs that are appropriate for the campaign’s position in the sales funnel. A direct response agency means that they’re not interested in things like clicks and impressions. When they can, they want to get down to sales and revenue. When a campaign’s primary goal is awareness or reach, they will look at things like impressions clicks, post-per-click, click-through-rate, and even video completions to tell how well or campaign is resonating with the target audience.
  • Be aware of the limitations in your data structure.

The level agency uses the client’s system of record whenever possible for setting KPIs. This is great when the client’s system of record works as it should. When the CRM and marketing automation platforms and the advertising platforms themselves, all talk to each other and pass information between one another, that’s not always the case. If your systems aren’t talking to each other, if we are not passing UTM parameters or other advertising identifiers from the advertising into the sales platform or CRM, we can’t use those metrics as KPIs. That is why it is so important to set up your tracking. If you are not storing information from your advertising campaigns in your CRM, in your sales platform, or your other advertising system of record, you should be.

  • Choose KPIs that operate on a reasonable time scale. Even if your campaign golds are tied to revenue or other direct sales KPIs, if you have a long sales cycle, it can be really hard to use those Metrics to optimize an advertising campaign. You have to go up the funnel to find the directional KPI that will tell us what the sales will be like in the future.
  • Evaluate and optimize.

Once you have established good KPIs and benchmarks or targets that tell you how you are doing against each of those KPIs, it is time to set up a regular reporting schedule. KPIs are only good if they are useful. This means that you need to track your progress against them, and the actions that are coming out of those meetings consistently.

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Data Analytics Digital Technology eCommerce Marketing

8 Ways to Extract Value from Customer Data

Customer Data : How do you use the most of it?

When you have more data than you know what to do with, finding effective ways to use the data can be difficult. 

 For example, with more  people using desktop computers, laptops and mobile  devices, all of which are generating more data, it makes sense that 90% of the world’s data has been created  in the last three years alone. And not just because people create data; this is due to algorithms and other programs that track user behavior and create their own data from it. 

 In fact,  daily  global computer usage currently generates more than 2.5 quintillion bytes of data, and this number is only growing due to the proliferation of IoT devices. This is a huge, almost incomprehensible amount of information. And only some of them are useful for specific relevant business interests. 

So how can a company sift through the mountain of data it collects every day and find the information that is really useful for improving performance, profits, sales or other operational factors? 

These 5 ways are some of the things a company can do to sift through  information and find what is meaningful and  useful. 

1. Accept that Big Data is here to stay.

Big data can look like a huge and unwieldy jumble of random information when viewed in an unpolished way. And  in that context, the real temptation is to  ignore it. However, to ignore big data is to ignore a major opportunity. For example, data science is a growing discipline because of the value that comes from the ability to sift, filter and interpret what is useful in big data. 

People who choose to ignore big data because of its volume are putting their business at risk. The first step to obtaining valuable customer data is to recognize that good data exists and be prepared to mine  it. 

 2. Invest in Analytics

The key  to getting the most out of big data, once you recognize its potential, is having the right tools and talents to wade into the ocean of data and find the most useful data. . . sense to you 

You should seriously consider allocating some operating budget to analytics. Larger companies may have entire departments dedicated to this work, but while this scale yields results, it is not the only way to obtain useful analysis. Even small and medium-sized businesses can find an analytics solution that fits their size and budget requirements, whether it’s staffing or software.

3. Use Historical Data

People often think of data as a way to  predict the future, but some of the most important lessons  data can teach us  come from the past. A good long-term plan for using customer data is to analyze historical data. 

Businesses should always be aware that  the best available data is a set collected over time. For example, you should not ignore sales data from the last 5-10 years, even if it is not part of your current digital infrastructure. 

Use document management systems and archive this data if necessary, but analysis tasked with obtaining past customer sales data can reveal incredibly useful information about customer behavior and buying habits. If you have existing data, even if it’s not digital, digitize it and make sure your software can access it. Under the right circumstances, it can be much more useful than you think.  

Of course, getting information about customer behavior and other data sets can  help  increase sales, but don’t forget that another way to make more money is to spend less. In addition to increasing sales, the right kind of customer data can also help  increase efficiency and reduce waste,  which can increase your bottom line. 

For example, your customer data shows that more and more of your marketing responses are coming from YouTube and Instagram, and less  from Facebook. This may indicate that for your product and target market, you can spend less or reduce your Facebook spend altogether and focus more on platforms that perform well. Let customer behavior data simplify your business.

4. Analyzing Customer Loss

“Customer loss” is a term used to describe the turnover  of customers or clients from  regular buyers to doing business elsewhere. This is another area where big data combined with analytics can make a big difference. 

 The purpose of this process is to review your user data and draw conclusions that help explain why some customers remain loyal and others support your business for a  period of time and then leave. You may find correlations between declining customer retention and the discontinuation of certain products. Alternatively, you may find that certain sales or seasons bring you a large increase in customers, but they don’t stick around afterward. By focusing on the specifics of customer attrition, 

 Analytics helps you understand how you can retain more customers and thus generate more consistent profits.

5. Social media is too much data

Up to 80% of the information produced today consists of videos, documents and images, a large part of which is published on social media. Analyzing social media and using the unfiltered, unsorted data it reveals can be extremely useful in not only identifying your niche, but also  what the market wants or is looking for. 

 It is important to understand that the content that appears on social networks can be a symptomatic indicator of other trends and factors that benefit companies that are turning around. So don’t think of social media as a channel to reach  your market, but realize that it can also be a window into what that market might be looking for, and you can get ahead of the market to give it to them. Don’t ignore trends, take advantage of them. 

Conclusion

More data is generated every day than any human or group of humans can reasonably track. Beneath that data, however, is a wealth of useful and actionable insights. Businesses can only increase sales through strategy and sensitivity when selecting, analyzing, and using the right data correctly.

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SEO

Creating A Customer Journey Map for your brand

It goes without saying that a unified customer journey is critical to success. These marketers understand how a customer or user journey map can streamline processes and provide customers with a unified brand experience. Ideally, a customer journey map turns the online customer journey into a visually accessible method that digital marketers can use to their advantage. 

To streamline your customer experience and be constantly available to consumers throughout their online experience, read on to learn how you can create the best customer journey map for your brand. 

 What is a customer journey map? 

 A customer journey map is “a visual representation of each of your customer experiences.” Throughout their experience with your brand, a customer will likely interact with or remember your brand on multiple platforms and in different ways. A customer journey map helps your brand provide a seamless narrative of the customer experience through the online sales funnel. 

 Although it may seem that the journey from first contact to sale is quite simple, it is anything but. The customer is bombarded with countless daily advertisements, newsletters, and competitive content. This complicates their journey with your brand, and a comprehensive customer journey map is your solution to making the experience easier. 

Customers can interact with your brand in many ways in today’s digital environment. Some examples are: 

  • Reading a  blog post related to your brand 
  • Accessing your website through a search engine platform 
  • Following your brand on various social media channels 
  • Creating a clear visualization of all the possible ways a customer can interact and connect with your brand. A journey map helps you keep customers engaged while increasing conversions and revenue. 

 Why create a customer journey map? 

 With so much travel happening digitally, it’s critical that digital marketers understand exactly where customers interact with your brand while providing regularly accessible, high-quality content. With an effective customer journey map, digital marketers can better understand how their customers interact with their business and gain useful information about which channels are most effective in converting leads and prospects into loyal customers. 

 Gone are the days when products with special features were traditionally marketed. Modern buyers are interested in the brand as a whole, how it interacts with them personally, and most importantly, how the offer can solve the problems they face. A simplified customer journey map helps explain how digital marketers can most effectively provide this information to potential customers and keep them engaged and committed to making a purchase. 

 Get started with a customer journey map 

 Now that you understand what a customer journey map is and how it can take your digital marketing efforts to the next level, let’s move on to online journey mapping. Your customer journey is complex, so a map’s job is to make it as focused and straightforward as possible. 

 Step 1: Use Your Sales Funnel to Define the Buying Process 

 Ideally, your brand already has an online sales funnel that shows how leads move through your content and marketing strategies to ultimately complete a purchase. This data gives you guidance on how many potential touch points a customer has with your brand and content, and how each interaction impacts the next. 

 Step 2: Think Like a Customer 

 Despite the massive growth of customer data, it is difficult to truly think like a customer. Each prospect is a unique individual with different needs, feelings, personalities, responsibilities, etc. So how can you, as a digital marketer, understand how your customers choose to reach the bottom of your sales funnel and buy your product or service? 

While you can’t completely predict a prospect’s next steps, you can target them at different stages of your sales funnel as you go through the process yourself. Follow these steps as you cycle through different combinations of touchpoints and options. If you find a part of your buying journey that doesn’t seem like a natural next step, take note and optimize that step to make the customer journey more logical and understandable. 

 If you really want to optimize your customer journey, review your support call and email transcripts so you can track errors and resolve issues in the purchase process  before moving on to the next step. 

 Step 3: Develop  customer interaction touchpoints 

 Simply put, a touch point is any digital place where a customer can learn about your brand or interact with your website. Each touch point in turn is critical to communication and conversion from a business prospect. 

Many of these touch points were traced in the second stage of this process. But now it’s time to design these touch points logically. For example, having a customer “like” a social media post counts as one touchpoint while clicking a link on that social media post is another. Group these touchpoints into logical areas such as “social media touchpoints” and “website touchpoints”. 

 Step 4: Implement Your Customer Journey Map and Do Your Research 

First, create a visually appealing customer journey map that is accessible to all necessary team members. A graphic designer helps bring together findings and touch points in a visual sequence that is understandable, logical, and beautiful. 

Now that you’ve identified all the potential touchpoints, grouped them into logical sets of regions, and created an easy-to-use customer journey map, it’s time to put your new discoveries to work and see how they perform digitally.

Platforms like Google Analytics are a big help if you want to see where buyers regularly go in the customer journey. If you notice patterns, such as a lack of clicks on newsletters or customers abandoning right before purchasing, analyze those touch points and make the necessary improvements. 

Target customers want their journey to be as easy as possible, so including too many touch points in the purchase process may not keep them engaged throughout the journey. When looking at your customer journey map, make sure the journey is simple enough to keep them in the perfect logical steps, while still providing the personalized and educational content they need to keep them engaged. 

Step 5: Optimize Your Customer Journey Map Regularly  

 Like most aspects of your digital marketing strategy, your online customer journey often changes as technology evolves and new digital platforms are integrated into the buying cycle. By regularly monitoring how your customers are progressing through your buying cycle, you can identify gaps and develop processes to streamline the customer experience. 

 According to Aberdeen Group’s 2016 report,  Customer Journey Mapping: Lead the Way to Advocacy, organizations experienced a 16.8 percent increase in sales cycle size when a user journey map was successfully developed, implemented, and maintained. While creating a customer journey map can be a timely endeavor for a digital marketer, it offers unparalleled value to your brand and your customers. 

Conclusion 

 Providing your potential customers with a smooth and enjoyable online experience will help them increase sales. By understanding your customers’ needs and preferences, you can increase your productivity by focusing your digital marketing development on the touchpoints that need the most help. Empower yourself to create consistent customer experiences that connect your digital marketing strategy with the quality digital content your customers expect from your best-in-class organization.

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Influencer Marketing

Marketing with Memes: What difference does it make?

What are memes? 

 Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins coined the term “meme” in his book (1976) The Selfish Gene. The word is a combination of the Greek words “mimeme” (something imitated) and “gene” which rhymes with “chorus”. 

In Dawkins’ definition, memes involve how “our ideas, ideals, culture and habits reproduce themselves. Almost like a virus, they move from person to person by copying, sharing and replicating.”

Dawkins suggested that egos also exist in the animal kingdom, suggesting that they have some evolutionary basis. We are all willing to pass on  memes that serve a purpose. Memes that aren’t worth sharing  die out fast. A University of Vermont study even found that infectious diseases follow similar  patterns of spread to Internet memes. 

Today’s social networks  are perfect for passing on these cultural genes. Once a message resonates with an audience, it can go global almost instantly. The most successful memes usually capture a moment, thought or feeling in a visual, social media form. 

This timeliness does not have to be in the original self; The user can add it with new text or  using it in a new context. Take the classic “distracted boyfriend” for example. You can’t say you haven’t seen this image — which first appeared online in 2015 — in one form or another. 

 Reasons to Use Memes in  Marketing 

 In an interview with Wired magazine, Richard Dawkins confirmed that Internet memes are similar to what he imagined, saying, “It’s all that happens.” As such, anything can be a self; Dawkins himself received the self-treatment several times. 

  Reasons to Use Memes in  Marketing 

This meme started on Reddit , where users Photoshop beautiful images of Shiba Inu dogs into various backgrounds. The dog’s curious expression creates a humorous confrontation with its new environment.

The meme spawned the satirical cryptocurrency Dogecoin, which was later backed by Elon Musk and is now the shirt sponsor of Premier League football club Watford FC. This trajectory is crucial to the life cycle of online memes; they are contagious, but they are also infinitely adaptable and  take on a life of their own.

 Another new form of currency where memes are showing their value are non-fungible tokens (NFTs). A woman whose picture in front of a burning building as a 

-year-old sparked the “disaster girl” meme just received half a  million dollars after selling it as an NFT and used the proceeds to pay off her loans and donate to charity. 

So memes are a cultural phenomenon that seems to have been with us for a while. Does this mean that  brands should use memes in their marketing? 

 Advantages of using memes in marketing 

 1. Memes are cheap to create 

 Internet memes have a certain homely charm. Anyone can contribute and add text to the classics of the genre using sites like Meme Generator. 

Brands can use memes created by others in their marketing campaigns, but  if you intend to use them for marketing purposes, it is recommended that you create your own memes. Marketers have to work a little harder to keep up with cultural trends. 

The hardest part is coming up with a witty title. This example from BarkBox provides a handy reference point: 

It relates to your brand and audience without destroying the relationship with a pushy sales message. 

Skillfully executed  memes are a cheap and cheerful way to attract interaction on social media. 

2. Memes can be a powerful brand marketing tool 

You can also create  content suitable for memes. In other words, brands can create content that can become  its own self. 

For example, when Netflix released a preview  for its Bird Box series (like the image below), it was the basis for countless memes: 

Bird Box reviews were not very kind.  Melanic McFarland of Salon wrote, “Is it good? Not really, but it doesn’t have to be.” Thanks to what we might call the “meme effect”, people watched Bird Box anyway – it had 5 million views within 7 days of its release. Netflix even had to warn people not to try eye contact tricks to recreate memes. 

Recently, the huge success of the Netflix Squid Game has spawned countless new memes, many of which – like those that fit the format and boost Netflix ratings – are understandable only to those who have seen the show. Brands also quickly began to get involved. Pepsi has already gotten over 37,000 likes on this Instagram photo with the iconic Squid Game visual reference (no spoilers!) next to one of  the drinks titled “When You Know You Know.” 

It is important for marketers to embrace the spirit of a trend like the squid game if they want to use it as a  brand communication tool. The Pepsi example is playful and the text “If you know that you know” gives a suggestive nod to other fans. 

A company like Netflix has an advantage with its content factory and Hollywood stars. However, memes don’t need that gloss to appeal to a mass audience. The more widely known, the more people see the brand. And the best memes last for years. 

 3. Memes can show your company its human side  

When companies use memes, they inevitably show their human side. That could mean gently poking  fun at the brand’s traditional ways, as in this picture of Denny’s: 

Denny’s jumped on Facebook’s “10 Year Challenge,” which has already gone viral. It didn’t try to hijack the trend for its own purposes, but combined it with fun in  a different way than the self format. 

A 2017 online study of complex contagion patterns that accurately predicted the duration of the ALS Ice Cream Challenge  found that when people see a meme that reflects their current mood, they feel seen. As a result, they share the meme in hopes of finding social validation from other social media users. 

That said, memes don’t always have to be funny. They can be thought-provoking and insightful, not just  frivolous. However, it is safer for brands to start with  lighter memes,  as  more serious images tend to be political. Denny’s offers a convenient plan for this; brands do best when they show some self-awareness. 

4. Memes Generate Instant Reactions 

Memes appeal to marketers for all of the above reasons. Their raison d’etre is to go viral, and that’s what every brand has been talking about since the advent of social media. 

There are no guarantees on this side and most memes  die out quickly. But brands should see this as a learning opportunity, not a reason to abandon the meme. While the meme experiment isn’t destructive (we’ll get to those examples  later), marketers can use memes to get instant feedback from their audience. 

If it fits your brand, you should try creating a meme. They are cheap to make and usually fade quickly if not raised. And when they  go viral, you may  find you’ve tapped into something you never knew about your audience. 

The Running World meme promotes a sense of community and is essentially a “joke”. really just runners (and their friends). This approach might not work as well if the audience didn’t get the joke, but  it wouldn’t hurt to try. However, brands should be careful. This example from the potato chip brand Ruffles is common in social media folklore as an example of how not to do it: 

It’s too focused on the brand, doesn’t give the user a reason to share , and uses a format that has  been seen too many times. Every time someone adopts a meme, they have to add something new to the existing list.

It’s also worth noting that the cultural (and political) meaning of memes can change over time, as  this documentary chronicles how Pepe the Frog went from an innocent amphibian to a divisive symbol. By following the basic principles of self-marketing, brands can avoid these pitfalls. 

 Reasons to use Memes in Marketing :

Brands need to be aware that memes only help achieve certain marketing goals. When they publish a sales message, users are immediately rejected. This brings similar considerations to our marketer’s Reddit guide. The most important thing is to understand the pulse of the audience and join and add something that affects the moment. Brands that wrongly undermine morality and pay the price. 

However, memes can be part of a serious strategy. When adding memes to your marketing plan, keep these tips in mind: 

  1. Keep Up With Pop Culture: It’s important to keep up  with current trends; relevancy is the lifeblood of a viral meme. 
  2.  Show  self-awareness: If you want to convey your brand’s message, use humor to turn around and  show the human side. 
  3.  Finding the right channel: Memes are everywhere, from Snapchat to LinkedIn, but they vary in form and tone between channels. For example, TikTok memes  use music as an additional element. 
  4.  Use an on-brand tone: It’s important to remain professional even when participating in  a social media challenge. Customers expect the brand to act according to its traditional identity. 
  5.  Research your audience’s preferences: Identify these cultural preferences using social media marketing tools before launching a marketing strategy. 
  6.  Join Trends and Challenges: Because they are already viral, they offer guaranteed visibility. Just make sure you use this coin wisely. 
  7.  Build a meme library: The same memes keep popping up all the time, and their familiarity is comforting. Keep a  library of memes and quickly edit text  when an idea strikes. 
  8.  And look at image licensing: a bit of a boring point to cover, but an important one. If you’re collecting images to create new memes,  check for possible licensing considerations.
Categories
Digital Technology

QR Code Marketing

What exactly is a QR code?

The QR stands for quick response. They’re essentially squares with black and white symbols on them. Every QR code is unique and holds encrypted information like a website link, product landing page, promotional details, coupon, or other information. Whenever someone scans the QR code with a smartphone or tablet, the code reveals the encrypted information, taking the user to the desired destination. This is very similar to that of a barcode, but it can hold more and different types of data. 

How to use QR codes for marketing?

To have a successful marketing campaign, you have to know who it is you’re marketing to. Whether you’re conducting a survey or poll, asking people to sign up for an email list or taking orders, it’s important to get information from customers through some kind of an online form.

The most common purpose of a QR code is to direct users to a specific landing page. This page could have a sign-up link, a campaign page, or even a product catalogue. The possibilities are virtually endless. Make sure your QR code directs users to your campaign’s landing page rather than a home page. This way, users don’t have to navigate to the correct page. Also, make sure your website is mobile-friendly, as many users will be scanning on the go. Make QR codes fun and exciting by including instant coupons, freebies and offers. Instead of having a customer clip a printed coupon, you can create a QR code that saves the offer directly to the user’s mobile wallet. Users can then easily provide the digital coupon during checkout at a physical retailer. You can also direct QR scanners to an online store. Instead of asking them to manually enter a promo code, you can set it up so the discount is already applied at checkout.

Promotional QR codes are very versatile. You can integrate them into print ads, direct mail, or even a giant billboard. A whopping 92% of consumers consider online reviews when they’re searching for local businesses. So turn your biggest customers into your biggest advocates? Simply include a QR code on product packaging along with a brief message encouraging customers to scan the code and leave a review on platforms like Yelp. Throwing in a freebie for leaving a review won’t hurt either. Use QR codes to incentivize customers to download and use your branded apps. Context is key here the QR codes direct users to apps that complement the ad or printed material where the code appears. 71% of shoppers report that digital billboards grab their attention more than online ads do. Pairing outdoor spaces with QR codes can enable innovative marketing ideas to flourish. 

What’s great about using QR codes in your marketing campaign is the convenience of tracking and reporting. With web analytics and other campaign measurement tools, you can easily track the number of scans over time, capture geographic data, and gather additional info to measure your return on investment.

No matter how you decide to integrate QR codes in your next marketing campaign, they’re a great way to promote interaction and engagement, not to mention super efficient.

You can drive data collection from an online form, direct customers to a website, or deliver instant coupons, freebies and offers. You can also direct customers to social media pages, download or launch apps from QR scans, and even conduct scavenger hunts. Whichever way you choose to use QR codes, one thing is for sure your customers will have a unique experience. 

Five tips- How to integrate QR codes into your marketing strategy?

  1. Determine where the QR code should go. So what landing page or page on your site or where do you want the user to end up when they use the QR code? What’s that destination? Figure out what that URL is.
  2. Take that URL and create a Trackable URL from it. One way to do this is to add a simple ref code to the end of your URL. To do this, simply add a question mark, reflected by whatever you feel, which will help you identify the campaign. This is a really important step because you’re going to track the performance of your QR code, and without doing this, you won’t be able to do that.
  3. Generate your QR code. There are many free QR code generators. Just go to Google and search QR code generator and you’ll find several tools. Pick one that you like. Use the Trackable URL, paste that in there, and generate the QR code. By doing this, the QR code will fire that URL that you created when somebody uses it.
  4. Once you have generated your QR code, download that image and add it to your marketing materials or your ad campaign so that it’s in your TV commercial or on your flyer or wherever you want it to be, so somebody can use it.
  5. Track the performance of your QR code over time in analytics. So within analytics, because you created that Trackable URL, you’ll be able to see the performance. You’ll be able to see how many people use the QR code, how many people landed on your landing page, how long they stayed, if they converted, if they became a lead, if they made a purchase, everything. That’s the beauty of using the Trackable URL. Now you can track the performance of things like print materials, flyers, direct mailers, TV commercials, and brand campaigns of all sorts by using your QR code, you can then track the performance if you use the Trackable URL.

Some ways you can use QR codes in marketing campaigns.

  • You can boost brand identity because QR codes could impact retention, loyalty, and brand advocacy. By providing creative, convenient ways to use your codes, you can reach the right people on their terms. 
  • Brands can now customize QR code designs, including their colours, CDAs and frames. After personalizing your QR code to fit your brand, you can then drive traffic to your website, link them to Google Maps, or send them to social media accounts. 
  • You can increase brand transparency because QR codes can help drive that transparency. Manufacturers and brands must be transparent about what’s in their products and how it’s made. By placing codes on packages, wrappers, and containers, brands can make it simple for consumers to click through to find out more about the product. This transparency promotes engagement and also builds trust and improves brand reputation.
  • Increase Customer Engagement- Empowering customers to pay on their terms not only makes life easier but can also help increase engagement.
  • QR codes can avoid the situation of customers carrying cash or cards and enable convenient and contactless point-of-sale transactions.
  • What most folks care about the most is generating more leads. What’s important to keep in mind here is being cohesive with the customer journey and adding value. It’s great to get more leads, appointments, phone calls, and all those bottom-funnel metrics that we all care so much about. But maybe it’s adding value somewhere at the top of the funnel that shortens that customer journey and leads to a higher lifetime value.

Are QR codes still relevant?

They’ve been around for years, and marketers have debated whether they are the next big thing or are nearing extinction. Many businesses are trying to keep their daily operations safe and contactless. And it turns out QR codes are the solution.

Categories
eCommerce Marketing

Impacts of AR and VR on eCommerce

The recent proliferation of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technology has significantly changed the way consumers interact with e-commerce brands. Recent research shows that 80% of US consumers are aware of VR, while 79% of those who have tried it would do it again. 

Global adoption of immersive technology is definitely on the rise, led by the UK, US and China. In fact, 95% of the world’s VR devices are currently manufactured in China, and its own government is committed to supporting the development of virtual reality throughout the country. 

 How will AR and VR affect e-commerce retailers and what does the future hold? 

Both AR and VR offer today’s digital consumers a unique opportunity to go (of course) into an immersive experience where they can get up close and personal with a brand and its services or products. This bold new online shopping trend brings with it a wealth of possibilities. 

 Here we explore how VR and AR are impacting e-commerce, as we ask what the future holds for the relationship between these new technologies and e-commerce. 

 Bridging the Digital and Physical Worlds

While many experts and publications have announced the death of the high street, it appears that we are in the midst of a brick and mortar renaissance. 

 E-commerce brands are now able to deliver a more personalized customer experience than ever before, turning brick-and-mortar stores into an extension of e-commerce and vice versa. And with huge e-commerce players like Amazon gearing up for the brick-and-mortar arena, AR or VR-based features seem to have great potential to bridge brick-and-mortar and e-commerce experiences. 

While many established e-only brands are reluctant to set up brick-and-mortar stores due to cost and resources, it is possible to partner with brick-and-mortar retailers using AR and VR platforms, programs and brand awareness initiatives. 

To illustrate how these ubiquitous technologies are shaping e-commerce in physical terms, let’s look at the well-known American retailer Macy’s. To improve its in-store shopping experience and accelerate its business growth online, Macy’s has selected 69 furniture stores in the United States that now offer innovative, engaging features, functions and displays. 

Using the seamless combination of VR and AR to its advantage, Macy’s has combined online and offline shopping into one seamless, highly connected experience. Its latest initiative, “Visualize Your Space,” allows shoppers to place different pieces of furniture in their home environment while shopping in-store. 

Here, customers can see, touch and experience products in person and use comprehensive technology to decide whether they are worth buying. As a result of this AR-based initiative, the typical cart size in these tech stores is said to be 60% larger compared to other Macy’s furniture departments. 

Additionally, this success based on AR and VR has had a positive impact on the brand’s e-commerce sales, with its in-app sales growing by 50% at the beginning of last year. What a testament to the power of the marriage of VR, AR and e-commerce. 

Extreme Personalization and Immersive Online Shopping:

The interactive nature of VR and AR means that online consumers can now enjoy a much more personalized and meaningful shopping experience.

Although many are aware of AR and VR-based technologies, and despite their proven e-commerce success rates, 61% of brands do not use the technology at all. More and more e-commerce brands are now using these features to personalize and differentiate their customer experience. 

Many Fortune 500 companies such as Walmart, Boeing and UPS are using VR for consumer marketing in addition to educating, training and inspiring employees. 

One of the early adopters of VR technology, Amazon recently patented a mirror with Body Labs that can dress you up in virtual clothes, adding extreme personalization to the brand’s customer experience. 

This part-reflective, part-transmissive device, when fully realized, zooms in on the wearer’s face and transports them into a reflective environment where they can virtually try on different outfits, allowing them to make informed choices based on real-world interaction. without leaving home. 

Another notable example of brands using VR to drive extreme personalization while creating an immersive shopping experience in practice is the growing Snapfeet. An AI-powered algorithm uses a 3D biometric image to allow customers to scan themselves with its proprietary app, offering a series of “custom” recommendations based on characteristics such as shoe size, foot shape and style preferences. This immersive application also presents its recommendations with an interactive 3D image that allows the user to visualize the products before buying them: 

Although this innovation is in its infancy, it has already been well received by critics and consumers, suggesting that it will see a lot of growth of this type in the near future.immersive online shopping experience in boom. 

AR, VR and the Future of E-Commerce:

Research shows that in the US alone, around 22 million people experienced VR in 2018, and that number is expected to rise to 

9 million by the end of 2019. That’s an incredible adoption rate. 

However, here are some predictions about AR, VR and e-commerce in the near future: 

  •  AR and VR will continue to drive and shape experiential marketing, giving e-commerce brands more tools and opportunities to deeply invest their audiences in their offerings. . . products, services or content in a mobile or virtual sense. 
  •  The continued growth of immersive technology allows e-commerce brands to make brand storytelling much more interactive and engaging, allowing the user to control content and connect with the company on a deeply personal level. 
  •  As AR becomes more and more integrated into our daily lives and applications and virtual touch points are readily available at every turn, e-commerce companies can use the data generated by these touch points to completely customize the user’s online shopping experience.
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Content Marketing

Expand Your Email Marketing Database

E-mail marketing continues to be a leading marketing channel for businesses of all sizes. It’s also considered one of the most effective marketing strategy. Because of its continued effectiveness, marketers can’t afford to overlook opportunities to grow their e-mail databases. 

It’s the marketing channel that sees the highest open rate and click through rate. However, many businesses are struggling with their e-mail marketing efforts because of the rise of spam filters and general users becoming increasingly wary of suspicious offers from strangers.

With the right strategies, you can build your e-mail marketing database in no time. Here are 5 easy ways you can grow an email database and increase your e-mail marketing success.

Landing page

Before moving forward to any strategy, the first thing you need to shape is your landing page. This is the page that’ll convince your users to subscribe to your newsletter in the first place. The landing page should have enough information and should communicate with the user in such a way that the user sees immense value to your page.

Analyze your landing page yourself and see from a user’s perspective, ask yourself that if the page adds any value to you or not. If it can’t add value to you, I can’t add value to the user. Make your form easier to fill, removing any unnecessary fields of input will just induce boredom in the user.

Lastly, express the benefits the user will get after signing up with your newsletter, how frequently will they receive updates and what’s coming up next. Keep your landing page optimized to yield the best value out of the upcoming systems. Now that you know how to optimize your landing page, let’s move onto these mind blowing strategies.

  1. Run Referral Programs

Referral programs are a tried-and-true way to grow your email marketing database. A referral program offers rewards — like discounts or free products — to customers who refer new customers to your business.

For example, let’s say you sell eco-friendly cleaning supplies. You can offer customers who sign up for your e-mail list a free pack of your eco-friendly cleaning cloths when they refer a friend to sign up for your e-mail marketing list.

When customers know they’ll receive tangible rewards for signing up for your e-mail list, they’re more likely to do so. And the people signing up after receiving the referral, are just another layer of goodness in this strategy.

  1. Offer a Free eBook or Guide

People love free things — especially when they’re Business-related. Offer a free e-book or guide to your customers in exchange for their e-mail address. You can even offer this in exchange for them visiting your site. 

Your customers will appreciate the free content and be more likely to sign up for your e-mail list in exchange for it. When choosing the type of e-book or guide you want to offer, be sure to select something that will appeal to your customers and help them succeed at their goals.

E-books and guides can cover topics like business growth, productivity, career development, or any other topic related to your business or industry. In fact, e-books make great lead magnets because they’re low-cost to produce and provide substantial value to customers.

  1. Leverage Existing Relationships

If you already have business relationships in place, you can leverage those relationships to grow your email list. You can ask current customers, employees, or other stakeholders to refer their contacts to sign up for your e-mail list. 

When asking for referrals, emphasize the value your e-mail marketing program brings to the table. Ask your customers to refer their contacts based on the value your e-mail marketing program brings to their businesses.

  1. Host a Contest or Sweepstakes

Are you looking for a way to provide value to your customers in exchange for their e-mail addresses? Hosting a contest or sweepstakes is a great way to provide added value while growing your e-mail marketing database.

You can host a contest or sweepstakes on any platform you prefer, but we recommend running it on social media. E-mail marketing is great, but it doesn’t always reach as many people as social media.

Hosting a contest or sweepstakes on social media will increase the amount of people who see your e-mail marketing campaign. Customers who enter your contest or sweepstakes will be more likely to sign up for your e-mail list in exchange for an entry into the prize drawing.

  1. Use Influencers to Grow Your Database

For an added boost to your e-mail marketing efforts, you can enlist influencers to grow your e-mail marketing database. Surprisingly enough, a large number of influencers still use e-mail marketing to grow their brands. 

You can reach out to influencers in your industry or niche and ask to be added to their e-mail marketing campaigns. You may have to pitch your e-mail marketing campaign to a handful of influencers before you find one who will add you to their lists.

Whether you work with a single influencer or multiple ones, you’ll benefit from the increased exposure your e-mail marketing campaign will receive. This increased exposure will help you grow your e-mail marketing database and reach a wider customer base.

Wrapping up

E-mail marketing is an essential tool for businesses of all sizes. While it’s important to grow your e-mail database, it’s just as important to keep your lists clean and compliant. If you want to avoid spam complaints and improve your e-mail marketing results, you need to take the time to remove unwanted subscribers from your lists.

A quick recap, e-mail marketing is the most effective marketing strategy, there are several ways to expand your database. You can run a referral program, offer a free e-book or guide, host a contest or sweepstakes, or enlist influencers. With these strategies in your toolkit, you’ll be growing your e-mail databases in no time.

If you liked this article then make sure to subscribe to our newsletter, comment any queries down below. If you’re seeking some professional advice or just want to connect, find us on social media.

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Content Marketing

How to Great Customer Reviews #101

“The word of the mouth” is a term that has been used across several sectors. It is of great importance when it comes to transferring information. Especially when it comes to online shopping. In this sector, word of the mouth is simply the review a website gets for its services and products. It was found in a survey that more than 70% of consumers go through the reviews and critics before getting a product and around 63% show that they are more likely to buy from a site that has product ratings and reviews. It has also been noted that these ratings and reviews play a more dominant role in converting leads to customers than the actual content strategy of the brand. Hence a brand’s growth needs to get great reviews and have a very accommodating customer community.

Here are some efficient ways to increase the number of Customer Reviews:

Ask at at the Right Moment

It is very important to approach your customer at the most comfortable and right time for a review. Asking for a review at the wrong time can simply backfire and give you a very negative response. Hence you need to make sure to get in touch with your customers depending on the product and the convenience of the customer. Such instances could be after they experience or demonstrate success with your product or service, When they post an overjoyed post about your brand on their social media, when they re-purchase or re-order, if they spend time on your website browsing other products or services or if they refer another customer to you. These are extremely favourable situations that you should leverage and it could just you with an amazing review boosting your whole company outlook in front of the consumer community.

Use a Variety of Platforms to Get Reviews

One should seize every opportunity the virtual world presents to get a review from a customer. It is important to have fresh reviews about your website as the dated ones are valued less by the new consumers. It is hence pivotal to curate content and be active in all possible and popular social media platforms. And through all these channels make sure to revitalize your connections with your customers and find the right timing to get the reviews from them. Also, make use of the brilliant tool of email automation and as thank you emails and other newsletters make sure to add a link for the consumer to give a review for his or her experience. Also, make sure to strategically post SEO content on your website to make it more accessible to the customers.

Keep it Easy and Simple

The modern man resorts to whatever is the most simple and the easiest. This is very much seen as a trend among all kinds of customers. Make sure that you give them different kinds of options to submit the review. Examples include simple MCQs, polls, Ratings etc. Also, make sure to let them know the time they will have to devote because people often assume giving feedback to be a lengthy process and refrain from doing so. The simple tagline of “it will only take you a minute” can actually take you miles ahead. Keep the friction of the whole process low by giving them links that will directly take them to the review page and hence save their time.

Keep in Touch

Make sure to revert and appreciate the ones you get a glowing response from with a small thank you token or a surprise discount coupon. This will improve their experience even more and by incentivizing your review process you could take your company to new heights as more and more people will be interested in giving you reviews.

Also, make sure to get in touch with the ones that reported a bad review about your brand or product. This is very pivotal for the growth of your brand and for nurturing a healthy customer community. Make sure to respond with your testimonial on the social platform or the mail itself along with mentioning the customer so that your response shall also be known. All of these actions can actually gain a good amount of trust in the customer community as they will feel more prioritized as a customer, hence giving them the feeling of “Customer being the King”.

Give them a Reason to Review

To expect great reviews you should obviously provide great service and impressive customer support. It is quite vital to provide immediate assistance whenever necessary for your customers. Also when it comes to writing the review itself give them questionnaires and hints on a particular service on which you would like to know the customer’s experience. Also, make sure that you give them open-ended questions so that they have enough room to think about the review as well. The idea is simply to make the process, simple short and sweet for the reviewer. They should find it as an activity out of the joy they received through the product and not as something they are forced to do.

Following up with your buyers, running interesting contests and campaigns and rewarding reviews are all measures through which you emerge in flying colours when it comes to getting wonderful customer reviews. Incentivizing the process by automatically signing them up for a contest, or by sending them a surprise discount coupon are all brilliant measures to make your customer feel warm about giving you a review. With satisfactory customer support, quality service and implementation the efficient ways to ask for reviews that were discussed above getting great reviews and being the #1 option for future customers could become much more easier. With happy customers comes happier reviews, and with great reviews comes great website traffic!

Categories
Social Media

WhatsApp Marketing #101

Why do you need WhatsApp marketing?

WhatsApp is a powerful and useful messaging app that anyone can use, be it for personal use and also for business purposes. If you want to use a free messaging app for connecting with your friends and family, you can download the WhatsApp Messenger personal app. For business purposes, you can download the WhatsApp Business app to showcase your business profile and connect directly with customers or potential customers. When using the WhatsApp personal app, sending too many messages might put your account at risk. This is where WhatsApp business becomes the best option. It’s possible to showcase your business on the WhatsApp business app. You can use features such as the status to show a demo of your product and remember to build a trusting relationship with your regular and potential customers, give value and don’t expect every message you send them to make a sale or you might risk losing your customers. You can also use the WhatsApp web through web.whatsapp.com. WhatsApp web mirrors the WhatsApp personal app on your mobile phone. It saves you time. Today, WhatsApp is the most widely used messaging app. It is a free platform that anyone can use to send messages to anyone under WhatsApp contact lists. WhatsApp is the most popular messenger application which is widely used. 

WhatsApp has a very wide global reach. And by using the app you can talk to people and impact people in your country. You also get to have a great chance to reach your target market. With the help of messaging services, people communicate fast, active users are making use of the various features of WhatsApp and smart businesses are using it for their benefit.

Different ways to use WhatsApp as a marketing strategy

  • You can provide fast customer service to your customers. You can get in touch with their customers and respond to their enquiries and solve their issues right away. By doing this, your customers will experience great support from your business. After-purchase support is very much important for the customers if your product is great. But then your customer support is bad, especially when complaints arise, it will make your business be rated low by your customers, and it will ruin your business’s reputation and will turn off your potential customers.
  • Send exclusive discounts on WhatsApp.

 If your customers are aware of your WhatsApp business account you can use it to send them offers and promotions. In addition, vouchers or coupons can be sent as discount privileges to encourage your customers to purchase the product. People love getting discounts. so even if they don’t need your product for service coupons where they can get use discount will urge them to buy from you.

  • Send creative promotions to your contact list. 

WhatsApp isn’t limited to sending plain text messages to people on your list. You can send messages as videos which you can use to promote new products or services, as people love watching videos more than reading text products or still photo promotions. You can also share pictures that you have created for a particular campaign for upcoming products that your customers can look forward to. You can also share voice messages, if you prefer sending recorded voice messages, you can use WhatsApp to ask your customer you give a review of a product or service used by your business. 

WhatsApp Business

WhatsApp Business is a mobile application from WhatsApp, that is meant for small-scale businesses. It will be easier to respond to customers using the WhatsApp Business app. You can even set auto-replies if a customer sends you the same messages, and instead of answering the same question every day, you can set a default answer to such questions. this is very helpful if you are a very busy business owner who needs less time in handling thousands of messages every day. This business app will save you time. So you can spend more time on more important business activities. you can also present your business, by creating a business profile with all the necessary information that your customers will need if they visit your local business address, know more about the business or contact you. Facebook owns WhatsApp. So a feature of WhatsApp Business that is driving an increase from your Facebook page’s advertisements to your WhatsApp business account is available. So when your customers click the message button shown in your Facebook ads they will be automatically directed to your WhatsApp Business account page. Businesses can now enjoy the benefits of the features of WhatsApp Business, regardless if they are using an Android or an IOS mobile phone. They are both usable on both platforms. WhatsApp Business app charges the businesses on those messages which are not attended to for more than 24 hours. This feature encourages business owners to offer the best customer assistance and service, which would help in building a good trusting relationship with their customers. We all hate it if our inquiries for complaints are not attended to right away. This feature helps the customers, in getting their concerns addressed by these business owners in less than 24 hours using WhatsApp Business. There are features on the business app which are not available to the personal app.

Messaging tools

  • Pre-Defined Greetings

When someone sends a message on your WhatsApp business account for the first time you can automatically send them a greeting message. It serves as a welcome message for your customers on your WhatsApp business account. It will help improve your customer experience and customer satisfaction with your business. You can set your greetings relevant to what your business promotions are. You can also set customer support greetings as well. You can also collect leads using your greeting message. For example, inform them that you cannot respond at the moment and tell them to leave their name and email address so that you can get back to them within business hours. 

  • Away Messages

The away messages help inform your customers that you are not currently available to send the response at the moment. It also reassures them that you can reach them once your business is back from a temporary vacation or business activity. If you don’t enable this feature, your potential customers might lose interest in doing business with you. if they are informed that you are away for a specific reason and tell them when they can expect to receive a message from you, then they will be eager to wait for your response at the set date. 

  • Quick replies

WhatsApp quick replies are saved messages that you can easily use to send frequently asked questions. This helps you respond to users without typing the same messages to different contacts. Quick messages help improve your response time and it is easier to keep the same tone of voice when your business team is sending messages to your customers. 

  • Labels

Users can mark chats from their contacts with the label. it can help you categorize the chats you receive from your recipients. it will allow you to add labels and organise chats with the color coding scheme. you can set labels such as new customer, new order, pending payment, paid, order complete, and you can add more labels that you can customize for your business needs. 

  • WhatsApp Short Link

If you have customers, you can allow them to send a message and chat with your business directly. When you want to share your WhatsApp contact number faster, you can use the WhatsApp short link feature. Using a WhatsApp business app you can create a generated link to use for sending to multiple customers. 

  • QR code

You can also use a QR code and share them with your customers instead of using a link. This is useful when you have a physical store and you want to use this QR code so that your customers can easily send a chat with your business. this also saves them time rather than saving your contact number. you can also use this QR code on other social media platforms so that your visitors can send you a direct message on WhatsApp. 

  • Business Profile

Your WhatsApp business account should have details about your business including your business name, business category, description, business location, business hours, email address, and your website. Your business profile is important as your customers may check out your business profile before they choose your business.

  • Catalog

WhatsApp Catalog helps businesses share their products with their customers. It can allow your customers to enjoy online shopping using your catalog. Instead of sharing photos of your products with any potential customer, who asks about what products you are offering, you can save time by adding items to your catalog. It can allow your business to showcase your products on one page. it can result in a better customer experience and an improved shopping experience with your business. 

  • Using cart

With the use of carts, customers can place orders from businesses that have an existing catalog under the WhatsApp business app. Customers can place orders quickly, ask questions about the items in your catalog, and place an order for multiple items simultaneously. 

  • Collection

This feature allows businesses to organise their catalog and group similar items into categories. This is helpful for your customers to browse the items in your shop without scrolling through a list. 

  • Advertise on Facebook

Advertising is essential to promote your business. You can create an ad that can help you reach customers on Facebook and send them directly to your WhatsApp Business account. 

Categories
Industry Insiders

3 Marketing Bloopers Digital Marketers Can Learn From

When we think of speakers, we usually think of actors spouting lines or collapsing on set. However, the marketing world sees its fair share of fluff – errors in judgment that can have devastating effects on a brand’s reputation. 

The marketing game not only causes reputational setbacks, but  can also seriously drain your advertising budget. Misplaced messages, poor campaign strategies, poorly thought out images and investments in the wrong channels are  the most common marketing mistakes that brands make.From Lunya’s confused HandMaid’s Tale underwear campaign to Pepsi’s creepy Chinese ad copy translation, GAP’s quirky temporary rebranding and more, marketing talk is not uncommon. 

 3 Marketing Bloopers Digital Marketers Can Learn  

 Some bloopers are small, some are big, but they all have one thing in common – they take time, effort and resources to recover from. To help you avoid making  your own mistakes, here’s a look at two of this year’s worst marketing mistakes and older classics, and what we can learn from them. 

 1. Burger King’s Awesome Marketing Fop 

The tweet was an attempt to push back against marketing communications that were quickly removed after causing outrage online. The original marketing hook was “women belong in the kitchen,” but with little context around it, the controversial slogan became a slogan for sexism. The timing was particularly unfortunate because the tweet was posted on International Women’s Day, a day that celebrates women’s empowerment and gender equality. 

This social media marketing hoax caused a hot segment to spread and unfortunately earned 527% more engagement than the brand’s scholarship program ad: 

 Lesson: 

 The culture industry is indeed male domain , and while the campaign was meant to make things better, it  buried itself deeper than a  pickle wedge in a giant hamburger stack. 

 Keys: 

  •  When developing  marketing messages for a specific event or party: 
  •  Share your ideas and content with relevant audiences internally 
  •  Collect feedback before signing up 
  •  Avoid  overly controversial copy 
  •  Choose language, images or concepts very carefully 
  •  Use your message to empower your audience, don’t create a sense of alienation. 
  •  Remember that not all advertising is good advertising. 

 Tip: Consider using a social media style guide so everyone on your team and working with your brand knows the agreed tone  and tailored messages for all relevant platforms. 

2. Snickers ad campaign fails 

Snickers Spain got its reputation in  hot water this year when it released a misleading video ad that used one of the brand’s slogans: “You’re not the one who’s hungry.” 

There is nothing wrong with that. clause itself (actually solid  copywriting), but the context in which it was used caused an unwanted association. 

The ad shows influencer Aless Gibaja transforming into a Snickers “man” after eating a Snickers bar. This misogynistic homophobic narrative is ill-earned high-level negative publicity almost as soon as the campaign launches. 

Even Spain’s Minister of Equality, Irene Montero, publicly slammed the ad with a tweet that read: 

 “Our society is diverse and tolerant. I hope that those who have the power to make decisions about what we see and hear in commercials and television will learn that too.” 

Lesson: 

If political parties and figures are seen criticizing your marketing campaign, you are likely to lose a large portion of your target audience and existing brand advocates, even if you offer a full and honest apology. 

Before working with influencers, make sure they are relevant to your niche or industry and work closely with them to make sure they like your message. It is recommended that you build strong influencer relationships and avoid controversial advertising ideas that have no meaning or substance – as this will almost never end well.

 3. Timothy’s World Coffee Rewards Misfortune 

Last but not least in our selection of marketing mistakes is the infamous example of an earlier failure of Timothy’s World Coffee, an established brand that is  still trying to redeem itself from this folly. 

To expand their social media reach, a brand offered current and prospective fans a coupon or free sample for following them on social media—usually an effective tactic for driving engagement and loyalty. 

Unfortunately, Timothy’s World Coffee offered more than it could deliver and ran out of  free K-cups in just three days. A full two weeks after this embarrassing blow (that’s a pretty big hiccup), Timothy released a public message announcing that they were giving away coupons and samples  on a first-come, first-served basis. While this claim may have resonated with consumers immediately after the incident, the  delay in communication caused outrage and further dug the brand  into a publicity hole. 

Despite the apparently genuine second apology message and its offer to send  a free coupon to all disgruntled customers, the damage had already been done. 

 Lesson: 

 If you’re going to offer an incentive, coupon, freebie — or basically any promise — through any consumer channel or touchpoint, you need to make sure you deliver on your offer. No exceptions. No compromises.

Whether you’re offering free shipping to follow your brand,  running a contest with multiple prizes, or offering unique content to sign up for an email newsletter, you should never offer anything less. Always strive to provide value and demonstrate that  you are trustworthy – if you don’t, almost all marketing efforts will fail. 

Oh, and if you screw up, deal with it publicly in a hurry, instead of letting the problem drag on for hours, days or (worse) weeks. 

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