One of the usability issues i came across as a group-buying-virgin was having to go to different group discounting websites, which is a bit of a pain. But I came across DealsGuide, which aggregates all the daily deals and a great tool that saves time and effort :)
Enjoy!
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Group Buying - Silver Bullet Marketing for New Business Owners?
In the beginning, I was getting quite annoyed with daily emails on so-called discount coupons flooding my inbox. But then my colleagues and friends started ranting and raving on the discounts, and then news hit of Groupon turning down Google takeover and currently being valued at US$7.8 billion.
Some of the visible players in the Australian market are Spreets, Scoopons, Living Social, Cudo and GrabOne
So I decided to take a quick look, and I must admit the revenue model is quite robust - in a nutshell, you only pay marketers when you get conversions. But eBay and Amazon also run under the same premise right? Yes and no. With the 'group buying' revenue model, what stands out is the simplicity by which bricks n mortar businesses can acquire buyers at virtually no risk, i.e. you only pay if the 'deal is on' or minimum number of buyers transact.
The only risk to the advertiser, in my opinion, is the perceived value of a highly discounted product - "People will think my product / service is actually worth a lot less than it's discounted to because it's highly discounted!"(weird logic) or "Perceived value of my product against my competitors may hit an all time low" or "People may thing we are desperate".
But with the omnipresent GFC and rising costs of living , this is a quick and easy way for any businesses to:
1. Not only get customers through your door, but make them spend.
2. Target local audience, and make them spend.
3. No initial outlay, only pay if you make money.
Particularly for new businesses, hungry to get the initial clients through the door, I cannot think of any other low risk, high volume advertising solution - just make sure these buyers are treated with utmost care and attention. Contrary to popular believe (and practice), I strongly feel customers that buy using discount vouchers can become the most loyal ones provided they are treated with exceptional service. Just think about it - not only are you buying a luxury item for peanuts, but exceptional service is thrown in too - think 'network effect'!
Only for Lifestyle Products and Services?
So far I've only seen discounts on offer for hotels, restaurants, beauty treatments, winery tours and the like - businesses that cater to the lifestyle needs and wants. Also, group discounts seem to circumnavigate around luxury items, which in my opinion works well with the aspirational target audience. I would, however, like to see other industry applications of this revenue model, say, Trades, Building & Construction, Automobile, etc. The question remains, though, for the marketers, how best to target audience during their research phase of their buying decision making process and whether medium to large corporations will be more prone to perceived value issues of their products being discounted.
Personally, I believe it should be used as an advertising module and not an end all to be all. For example, a large tool company may use group buying provider as soon as they introduce a new product into the market. Customers of this product should be treated as kings and queens, which would start a solid network effect and referrals would flow from this base.
All said and done...
I still have not made a purchase, sadly, but will probably get my first online group discount voucher today! Will let you know how it goes....
Some of the visible players in the Australian market are Spreets, Scoopons, Living Social, Cudo and GrabOne
So I decided to take a quick look, and I must admit the revenue model is quite robust - in a nutshell, you only pay marketers when you get conversions. But eBay and Amazon also run under the same premise right? Yes and no. With the 'group buying' revenue model, what stands out is the simplicity by which bricks n mortar businesses can acquire buyers at virtually no risk, i.e. you only pay if the 'deal is on' or minimum number of buyers transact.
The only risk to the advertiser, in my opinion, is the perceived value of a highly discounted product - "People will think my product / service is actually worth a lot less than it's discounted to because it's highly discounted!"(weird logic) or "Perceived value of my product against my competitors may hit an all time low" or "People may thing we are desperate".
But with the omnipresent GFC and rising costs of living , this is a quick and easy way for any businesses to:
1. Not only get customers through your door, but make them spend.
2. Target local audience, and make them spend.
3. No initial outlay, only pay if you make money.
Particularly for new businesses, hungry to get the initial clients through the door, I cannot think of any other low risk, high volume advertising solution - just make sure these buyers are treated with utmost care and attention. Contrary to popular believe (and practice), I strongly feel customers that buy using discount vouchers can become the most loyal ones provided they are treated with exceptional service. Just think about it - not only are you buying a luxury item for peanuts, but exceptional service is thrown in too - think 'network effect'!
Only for Lifestyle Products and Services?
So far I've only seen discounts on offer for hotels, restaurants, beauty treatments, winery tours and the like - businesses that cater to the lifestyle needs and wants. Also, group discounts seem to circumnavigate around luxury items, which in my opinion works well with the aspirational target audience. I would, however, like to see other industry applications of this revenue model, say, Trades, Building & Construction, Automobile, etc. The question remains, though, for the marketers, how best to target audience during their research phase of their buying decision making process and whether medium to large corporations will be more prone to perceived value issues of their products being discounted.
Personally, I believe it should be used as an advertising module and not an end all to be all. For example, a large tool company may use group buying provider as soon as they introduce a new product into the market. Customers of this product should be treated as kings and queens, which would start a solid network effect and referrals would flow from this base.
All said and done...
I still have not made a purchase, sadly, but will probably get my first online group discount voucher today! Will let you know how it goes....
Effective Online Marketing Strategy - Making Sense of Stats
I'd like to share what I've learned so far in (1) managing advertiser accounts, and (2) what businesses should request for online stats:
As an online marketing solutions provider, keep Stats (A) Simple, (B) Honest and (C) Highlight Emerging Trends:
As an online marketing solutions provider, keep Stats (A) Simple, (B) Honest and (C) Highlight Emerging Trends:
- Use histograms & frequency tables and show percentages rather than pageviews, unique visitors, hits, etc. on graphs.
- Report the pitfalls in addition to the successes as pitfalls themselves when analysed can show significant milestones, e.g.
"Your "glass wool insulation" product category performed the best over the last 60 days, resulting in 28 direct email inquiries from 954 page views - 3% conversion rate. Your "polyester foam insulation" product category had the lowest conversion rate at 0.5%, however, it steadily increased from 0.1% over the last 60 days to 0.5% making it one of the most improved product categories."
- Always suggest new ways of maximising online exposure and ROI - nothing stays stagnant in the online space, ever. e.g., (added bonus if they're done without spending more $$)
"Government legislation on residential insulation grants has negatively impacted general traffic that generally results in direct email enquiries from home-owning consumers. Over the same period, however, we have found an increasing number of traffic to our commercial insulation product category zone, particularly 'bulk buy'. If you see this trend at your end as well, I would like to suggest the following strategy to increase leads:
- Update banner copy to reflect insulation bulk buy.
- Update site to create dedicated bulk buy zone for your polyester foam insulation.
- Modify current ppc campaigns to drive relevant traffic."
As an advertiser, (A)Read Between the Lines, (B) Seek Citations & Knowledge and (C) Appreciate Honesty (but also be vigilant):
- Stats are most useful when they tell a story rather than finding, "I spend x amount of dollars on this campaign and I need to make x + y back to justify ROI, so have I done it?". Try to ask the following:
- How many unique visitors did my "Contact", "Distributor", "Reseller" pages get? - activity on this page indicates visitors are actively looking for a physical representation / phone number to call, and potential lead source.
- Have you followed up on email inquiries? A lead is a lead is lead is a lead..... I have clients that are so turned off by grammatical errors on product info requests that they completely ignore them! Then there are ones that complain about getting inquiries from areas that lay 5kms outside their service zones...and discard them right there and then!
"If someone has gone to the effort of providing their mobile number & address to request a quote or product info, you should immediately jump to the opportunity and call them up. Maybe they are willing to pay the extra service charge - simple demand economics theory suggests if you can provide your products/services at the level of price someone is willing to pay, then nobody loses out. This, of course means that the customer is able to pay for it, but how would you know if you don't follow up?"
- Are there any parallel marketing campaigns running that could have impacted each other? E.g. Own Adwords campaign and SEO initiatives to drive traffic to your website impacting traffic to your micro-site within a niche directory for the same keywords - consolidate your existing campaigns.
- When your online marketing solutions provider make sweeping remarks on industry trends, upstream traffic, keyword popularity, don't be afraid to ask for citations and in the process try to learn the general terminology. This is NOT rocket science, and always be weary of consultants / account managers that keep using the term 'complicated' when describing what they've done for you. Steer away from asking 'How' and towards 'Why' questions. Yes, there are companies that use ways to boost traffic to your site, so always ask why there are peaks and troughs. Things don't just happen, everything happens for a reason!
- Last, but not least, appreciate honesty. As consumers are rushing online, so are marketers together with businesses that want to emulate competitors and nab as many of those consumers as possible. It's an exciting world out there, however, the perceived value of 'moving offline to online' and so-called 'success stories' can be highly inflated. Not to mention the army of 'digital marketers', 'online specialists', 'PPC guns' and 'SEO gurus' at the beck and call of flashy agencies and advertising platforms. It can be a bit overwhelming and not very simple, so what do you do? Use your online advertising solutions provider as a you would use a marketing department within your company:
- Appreciate learning the confronting facts sooner rather than later.
- Treat your online marketer as your employee, hold them responsible and reward accordingly.
- BE OPEN to building relationships with them, e.g. invite them to product demos, seminars, training events and product launches - it's always a good sign if they take initiative and suggest how to get more bang for your buck!
- Always remember, with Social Media and Networking, people that sell to you can easily become your customers ;)
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Nightmarish Usability (revised) - www.carsales.com.au doing it right!
I just wanted to reflect on my experience with carsguide.com.au with an example from www.carsales.com.au:
- Browsing issue is sorted by carsales.com.au disabling the browser navigation button on their photo gallery window;
- they have, however, maintained individual URLs for gallery pages, which is completely fine as long as visitors can close the window when they're done browsing the images (see below in red):
I am sure carsales.com.au will want to ultimately host banner ads in the future in these "sticky pages" (and rightfully so...), but it will be interesting to see how this affects overall usability. I hope they find a way to do it with minimal frustration on end-users and maintain their "Australia's No. 1 because it WORKS!" slogan in reality :)
Thanks www.carsales.com.au, will be using your site from now on!
- Browsing issue is sorted by carsales.com.au disabling the browser navigation button on their photo gallery window;
- they have, however, maintained individual URLs for gallery pages, which is completely fine as long as visitors can close the window when they're done browsing the images (see below in red):
I am sure carsales.com.au will want to ultimately host banner ads in the future in these "sticky pages" (and rightfully so...), but it will be interesting to see how this affects overall usability. I hope they find a way to do it with minimal frustration on end-users and maintain their "Australia's No. 1 because it WORKS!" slogan in reality :)
Thanks www.carsales.com.au, will be using your site from now on!
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Nightmarish Usability - Squeezing last cent out of advertisers - www.carsguide.com.au
There's nothing wrong with banner ads, hell, online advertisement pays my bills! But there're limits...
Take www.carsguide.com.au for instance:
When browsing a picture gallery of a particular car, you can either click on the thumbnail (blue box) or link titled 'view all 9 images' (red box). Both these link to the same EXACT gallery page, except for the former the gallery page loads in the same browser tab and the latter loads in a new tab.
There are two things completely wrong and utterly annoying:
(1) Relevance - regardless of the image/link you're clicking on, you CANNOT view all nine images together.
(2) Browser Deadend - this 'gallery page' having a unique URL is a waste of resources because if the visitor wants to go back to the car profile page after browsing the pictures, hitting the browser's backspace button goes through every single image they've just browsed!
Moreover, the information presented in this gallery page, e.g. email enquiry form (see below), can easily be incorporated in the profile page - you don't need an entire new page for assurance that the visitor will engage with the advertiser via the email query form. In my opinion, there is no need for a new page, a flash-based pop-up gallery would've sufficed. Also, if carsguide really thinks email enquiry form should be present while visitors are browsing pictures, then it should be coded into the pop-up gallery. But the funny thing is that the page can be 'closed' (see below orange box), which returns the visitor back the profile page...and yet it's a page of its own...!?!
I have a strong feeling the reason for this gallery page is to increase exposure for their banner ads - in this case AAMI and RedCross (see above in lime green). More pages mean more 'impressions' (or the number of times an ad is viewed), and better metrics for the advertiser/agency...while the user/visitor gets frustrated and leaves the site for www.tradingpost.com.au and www.gumtree.com.au for simple, straight-to-the-point browsing!
Sadly, NDM's reach with carsguide having a decent marketshare in the online car sales directory business, more and more visitors are settling with less and advertisers are getting duped into hollow metrics.
But on the bright-side, maybe it's time for a third entrant to give carsguide and drive a dash for their money :)
Take www.carsguide.com.au for instance:
When browsing a picture gallery of a particular car, you can either click on the thumbnail (blue box) or link titled 'view all 9 images' (red box). Both these link to the same EXACT gallery page, except for the former the gallery page loads in the same browser tab and the latter loads in a new tab.
There are two things completely wrong and utterly annoying:
(1) Relevance - regardless of the image/link you're clicking on, you CANNOT view all nine images together.
(2) Browser Deadend - this 'gallery page' having a unique URL is a waste of resources because if the visitor wants to go back to the car profile page after browsing the pictures, hitting the browser's backspace button goes through every single image they've just browsed!
Moreover, the information presented in this gallery page, e.g. email enquiry form (see below), can easily be incorporated in the profile page - you don't need an entire new page for assurance that the visitor will engage with the advertiser via the email query form. In my opinion, there is no need for a new page, a flash-based pop-up gallery would've sufficed. Also, if carsguide really thinks email enquiry form should be present while visitors are browsing pictures, then it should be coded into the pop-up gallery. But the funny thing is that the page can be 'closed' (see below orange box), which returns the visitor back the profile page...and yet it's a page of its own...!?!
I have a strong feeling the reason for this gallery page is to increase exposure for their banner ads - in this case AAMI and RedCross (see above in lime green). More pages mean more 'impressions' (or the number of times an ad is viewed), and better metrics for the advertiser/agency...while the user/visitor gets frustrated and leaves the site for www.tradingpost.com.au and www.gumtree.com.au for simple, straight-to-the-point browsing!
Sadly, NDM's reach with carsguide having a decent marketshare in the online car sales directory business, more and more visitors are settling with less and advertisers are getting duped into hollow metrics.
But on the bright-side, maybe it's time for a third entrant to give carsguide and drive a dash for their money :)
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Augmented Reality Presentation
Augmented Reality definition. Presentation shows this technology's potential.
Augmented Reality Video - little trailer of cool AR stuff from eyeborg on Vimeo.
Augmented Reality Video - little trailer of cool AR stuff from eyeborg on Vimeo.
Augmented Reality by St George Bank - Housefinder iPhone App
Pretty cool AR-tool by St George Bank....
....now all I need is to come up with the half-a-million for a two-bedder in Sydney's overpriced housing market!
....now all I need is to come up with the half-a-million for a two-bedder in Sydney's overpriced housing market!
Augmented Reality on Sydney's George Street - by Insqribe
Take a look at an iPhone app created by Insqribe with real-time tagging and tracking:
Simply amazing!
Simply amazing!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
QR Codes - The Missling Link between Print and Online
I'm sure some of you must have seen QR codes around in Sydney. You will notice the square-sized, data-matrix-looking objects on advertising posters by Telstra. These 'bar codes' can be scanned by most cameras on mobile phones (on my Nokio E71: Tools>Barcode) and is one of the most hyped-up emarketing tools to hit us this year.
QR Codes can be generated by free online tools, kaywa, zxing and mobile-barcodes to name a few. Here is the QR code of my blog (generated by kaywa):
To read this on your Nokia phones, Tools > Barcode > Scan Code (and point your camera to scan)
Digital barcodes have actually been around for a while. Magazines, brochures and newspapers in Europe use QR and other formats of barcodes for promotions, while QR codes have become the norm in Japan for most business selling tangible products/services. Bloggers write about the many uses of QR codes and advertising companies such as Google have recently incorporated QR codes to local classified listings.
For me, however, QR codes serve as the fundamental missing link between print and the Web. Before the launch of the iPad and other readers/tablet PCs, I had always pondered on a way to connect print to the Web. This philosophical question largely resulted from my dealings with SMEs whose notions on the effectiveness of traditional advertising mediums were rock-solid unassailable. I just could not shake them to drop their print advertising budget! In time, however, they either capitulated or released part of their budget to experiment online. While taking their credit card details and reading out the carefully scripted sale confirmation of their online advertising product, I quietly thought to myself:
"How do we match quality traffic to online directories / web sites similar to their offline counter-parts"
"How do we promote specific products/services/attributes/unique selling points (USPs) of our clients, and more importantly how do we track traffic to these 'destinations'?"
Then one day out of complete boredome I was fiddling with my smart phone, Nokia E71, and came across the barcode scanner. At first I couldn't put two-and-two together as I had not noticed the codes on the Telstra poster ads, and it took me a good six months to a year to come around!
While smartphone owners in Europe, Japan and now the US are aware of this functionality, barcode scanning capability is not a feature that is publicised by most, if not all, manufacturers/retail outlets/mobile phone companies in Australia. This is probably the case because QR codes decrypt URLs and mobile phones need Internet access to access these sites, which is a premium service. That said, with pre-paid and post-paid plans increasingly featuring Internet access to respond to growing demand for social networking access, it's only a matter of time until the market is truly ready to whip out their phones and start scanning!
Pros of QR Codes:
-Assign individual URL to each product / service / USP
-Track access to the above using any analytics platform
-Print QR codes as decals, on T-shirts, mugs, any print-based advertisement
-QR codes can be generated for free using many online tools.
-You don't need a smartphone to read QR codes, free readers can be downloaded and installed easily.
Cons of QR Codes:
-Market awareness of barcode scanner is not yet mature in Australia.
-Unsure of legal implications, i.e. answers to questions such as "who owns the QR codes?" if an online generator is used.
General Framework to use, in my opinion, when starting a QR code Campaign:
- Ensure all landing pages are mobile/iPad/table PC-friendly, no point in directing traffic to a site that requires constant scrolling.
- Ensure each landing page is treated as 'inventory' linked to a primary key of an individual QR code; features such as start/expiry dates should be tracked in the inventory management system so as to plan, execute and manage campaigns effectively.
- Ensure there is a tangible prize for the user accessing the landing page, i.e. give them something for taking out their phone, selecting/executing the bar code reader application, accessing the Internet (which they are paying a premium for!) and finally landing on your promotional page - make sure they get REWARDED, and none of the crap 'get in a draw to win blah blah' but something more like 'send a rose to your partner', 'download free mp3/ringtone/app', 'code for a free cupcake at the Cupcake Shop', etc.
Something tells me the mere reward after performing the above-mentioned tasks should allow the visitor to form a lasting opinion about a brand/business/online functionality/product/service. And not to mention the nifty techie trick of 'point n click' it's surely to seal the deal! That said, careful segmentation of demographics
(age, disposable income, level of Internet savvyness, etc) of the target audience will be key for successful campaigns.
At this point, start planning and get your websites and inventory management systems ready, and let market awareness of barcode scanners be tackled by the big players like Google, Microsoft, Fairfax, News Ltd, etc. through their fat advertising budgets.
Helpful Links:
Really cool Facebook page dedicated towards finding 1001 ways to use QR codes.
Lifehacker article about generating QR codes while shortening URLs using goo.gl
Cool QR code video from http://blog.cliffano.com/:
QR Codes can be generated by free online tools, kaywa, zxing and mobile-barcodes to name a few. Here is the QR code of my blog (generated by kaywa):
Digital barcodes have actually been around for a while. Magazines, brochures and newspapers in Europe use QR and other formats of barcodes for promotions, while QR codes have become the norm in Japan for most business selling tangible products/services. Bloggers write about the many uses of QR codes and advertising companies such as Google have recently incorporated QR codes to local classified listings.
For me, however, QR codes serve as the fundamental missing link between print and the Web. Before the launch of the iPad and other readers/tablet PCs, I had always pondered on a way to connect print to the Web. This philosophical question largely resulted from my dealings with SMEs whose notions on the effectiveness of traditional advertising mediums were rock-solid unassailable. I just could not shake them to drop their print advertising budget! In time, however, they either capitulated or released part of their budget to experiment online. While taking their credit card details and reading out the carefully scripted sale confirmation of their online advertising product, I quietly thought to myself:
"How do we match quality traffic to online directories / web sites similar to their offline counter-parts"
"How do we promote specific products/services/attributes/unique selling points (USPs) of our clients, and more importantly how do we track traffic to these 'destinations'?"
Then one day out of complete boredome I was fiddling with my smart phone, Nokia E71, and came across the barcode scanner. At first I couldn't put two-and-two together as I had not noticed the codes on the Telstra poster ads, and it took me a good six months to a year to come around!
While smartphone owners in Europe, Japan and now the US are aware of this functionality, barcode scanning capability is not a feature that is publicised by most, if not all, manufacturers/retail outlets/mobile phone companies in Australia. This is probably the case because QR codes decrypt URLs and mobile phones need Internet access to access these sites, which is a premium service. That said, with pre-paid and post-paid plans increasingly featuring Internet access to respond to growing demand for social networking access, it's only a matter of time until the market is truly ready to whip out their phones and start scanning!
Pros of QR Codes:
-Assign individual URL to each product / service / USP
-Track access to the above using any analytics platform
-Print QR codes as decals, on T-shirts, mugs, any print-based advertisement
-QR codes can be generated for free using many online tools.
-You don't need a smartphone to read QR codes, free readers can be downloaded and installed easily.
Cons of QR Codes:
-Market awareness of barcode scanner is not yet mature in Australia.
-Unsure of legal implications, i.e. answers to questions such as "who owns the QR codes?" if an online generator is used.
General Framework to use, in my opinion, when starting a QR code Campaign:
- Ensure all landing pages are mobile/iPad/table PC-friendly, no point in directing traffic to a site that requires constant scrolling.
- Ensure each landing page is treated as 'inventory' linked to a primary key of an individual QR code; features such as start/expiry dates should be tracked in the inventory management system so as to plan, execute and manage campaigns effectively.
- Ensure there is a tangible prize for the user accessing the landing page, i.e. give them something for taking out their phone, selecting/executing the bar code reader application, accessing the Internet (which they are paying a premium for!) and finally landing on your promotional page - make sure they get REWARDED, and none of the crap 'get in a draw to win blah blah' but something more like 'send a rose to your partner', 'download free mp3/ringtone/app', 'code for a free cupcake at the Cupcake Shop', etc.
Something tells me the mere reward after performing the above-mentioned tasks should allow the visitor to form a lasting opinion about a brand/business/online functionality/product/service. And not to mention the nifty techie trick of 'point n click' it's surely to seal the deal! That said, careful segmentation of demographics
(age, disposable income, level of Internet savvyness, etc) of the target audience will be key for successful campaigns.
At this point, start planning and get your websites and inventory management systems ready, and let market awareness of barcode scanners be tackled by the big players like Google, Microsoft, Fairfax, News Ltd, etc. through their fat advertising budgets.
Helpful Links:
Really cool Facebook page dedicated towards finding 1001 ways to use QR codes.
Lifehacker article about generating QR codes while shortening URLs using goo.gl
Cool QR code video from http://blog.cliffano.com/:
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Managing online Reputation - how do negative reviews affect businesses?
I regularly deal with unhappy clients that have received negative online reviews. Most websites will allow reviews to be flagged for a determinate period of time, while the reviewers claims are investigated. If a resolution is made between the business and the reviewer where either the reviewer is compensated for their experience or business owner is vindicated, say, due to hellish attitudes of prior management staff, the reviewer should be invited to leave a second review. In any case, the website should allow the business to respond to a review, good or bad. Back and forth communication makes content 'sticky', engages visitors and shows the web community that not only businesses do care about their overall image on the Internet, they are also ready to take necessary steps to rectify misconceptions/misrepresentations as well as own-up to poor/lower-than-average levels of service.
It's important to note that bad reviews that have responses against them builds online credibility. While there is research (i'll post as soon as i find it...) that concludes positive correlation between number of reviews and click-thru rates, there is also research done on 100% positive reviews vs. <100% positive reviews - apparently it helps to have a few negative comments because it supposedly shows business is unafraid to be candid about their shortcomings. I'll get this research article as well and post when I can.
My advice to panicking clients is to first calm down, take a deep breath and read and re-read the bad review. If they feel the bad review will affect them negatively, then to mark it as inappropriate while the webmaster / moderators attempt to contact the reviewer. If the complaints are true, then come to an agreement to resolve the matter - i.e. public apology and compensation in some form, free product/service on their next purchase, gift voucher, etc. If client is convinced complaints are baseless, I work with them to create a professional response along the following lines:
"Thank you for your comment. Comments, postive or negative, are very important to our business. It is unfortunate that you have experienced [this level of service from our staff member / this llack of functionality from our product]. We take pride on our [service / product] and believe your experience is an exception to the rule. We would like to discuss the matter further to understand how we can re-instate your confidence in us. My name is [don't be afraid to use your real name and direct contact number, would be better if it comes from someone in management level like a supervisor or customer relationship manager]."
Everybody hates their complaints going on deaf ears, and the beauty of online forums, directories, etc. is that comments are NOT going to be deleted just because they are negative (perhaps if they are slanderous and derogatory, but that's another story), so SMEs, you must wake up and smell the coffee and re-engage. Webmasters, understand this desire for SMEs to re-engage with customers, and give them time to find resolution by allowing them to flag comments/reviews pending investigation - always remind them negative comments are NOT going to be deleted. And finally, reviewers, ALLOW yourself to be re-engaged because you never know what you might be walking away with :)
Check googleblogs post on online reputation management:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/managing-your-reputation-through-search.html
It's important to note that bad reviews that have responses against them builds online credibility. While there is research (i'll post as soon as i find it...) that concludes positive correlation between number of reviews and click-thru rates, there is also research done on 100% positive reviews vs. <100% positive reviews - apparently it helps to have a few negative comments because it supposedly shows business is unafraid to be candid about their shortcomings. I'll get this research article as well and post when I can.
My advice to panicking clients is to first calm down, take a deep breath and read and re-read the bad review. If they feel the bad review will affect them negatively, then to mark it as inappropriate while the webmaster / moderators attempt to contact the reviewer. If the complaints are true, then come to an agreement to resolve the matter - i.e. public apology and compensation in some form, free product/service on their next purchase, gift voucher, etc. If client is convinced complaints are baseless, I work with them to create a professional response along the following lines:
"Thank you for your comment. Comments, postive or negative, are very important to our business. It is unfortunate that you have experienced [this level of service from our staff member / this llack of functionality from our product]. We take pride on our [service / product] and believe your experience is an exception to the rule. We would like to discuss the matter further to understand how we can re-instate your confidence in us. My name is [don't be afraid to use your real name and direct contact number, would be better if it comes from someone in management level like a supervisor or customer relationship manager]."
Everybody hates their complaints going on deaf ears, and the beauty of online forums, directories, etc. is that comments are NOT going to be deleted just because they are negative (perhaps if they are slanderous and derogatory, but that's another story), so SMEs, you must wake up and smell the coffee and re-engage. Webmasters, understand this desire for SMEs to re-engage with customers, and give them time to find resolution by allowing them to flag comments/reviews pending investigation - always remind them negative comments are NOT going to be deleted. And finally, reviewers, ALLOW yourself to be re-engaged because you never know what you might be walking away with :)
Check googleblogs post on online reputation management:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/managing-your-reputation-through-search.html
Friday, May 7, 2010
ROI Case Study 1 - Concrete Supplier - Ongoing
Client objective: Be number one ranked business for concrete supplies and concreting along a coastal area on various business directories.
Scenario: Client owns multiple mobile concrete readymixers located along the coastal area. Client has no website, but wants a solution to manage their online exposure starting from implementation to reporting.
My assessment:
- client not a household name
- minimal understanding of the web, and possibly no particular requirement to have a website at this point in time.
- needs location-specific exposure and dominance on the Internet.
- catering to the building industry so ratio of Cost per Click (CPC) to Revenue per Sale will be relatively small - i.e. only a couple of jobs to justify ROI.
My solution:
Paid Placement - sponsored positioning on reputable, multi-channel online business directories that allows rich content uploads and have brand awareness.
Location-specific placement - multiple listings reflecting the locations of clients concrete supply readymixers.
ROI Reporting - provision of 1300 number to appear on their online ad that provides instantaneous email reports; useful to track phone leads.
Client-end ROI tracking - client to always ask caller the source of info; simple questions like 'did you hear about us from ad on newspaper or the Internet' is a good starting point to collect information, which can be later dissected into which particular Online source - client understands that ALL calls need to be screened.
Reputation Management - informed (and constantly reiterate) the importance of encouraging reviews from his customers; not only does it help increase click-throughs to his ad, local search directories like Googlemaps index the reviews, which assists in SEO, without having the need of a website.
Status:
Client so far satisfied with service and engagement. They continue to receive reviews from happy customers. Still in progrees. I am, however, unsure as to whether or not they've received a job from their online spend.
Scenario: Client owns multiple mobile concrete readymixers located along the coastal area. Client has no website, but wants a solution to manage their online exposure starting from implementation to reporting.
My assessment:
- client not a household name
- minimal understanding of the web, and possibly no particular requirement to have a website at this point in time.
- needs location-specific exposure and dominance on the Internet.
- catering to the building industry so ratio of Cost per Click (CPC) to Revenue per Sale will be relatively small - i.e. only a couple of jobs to justify ROI.
My solution:
Paid Placement - sponsored positioning on reputable, multi-channel online business directories that allows rich content uploads and have brand awareness.
Location-specific placement - multiple listings reflecting the locations of clients concrete supply readymixers.
ROI Reporting - provision of 1300 number to appear on their online ad that provides instantaneous email reports; useful to track phone leads.
Client-end ROI tracking - client to always ask caller the source of info; simple questions like 'did you hear about us from ad on newspaper or the Internet' is a good starting point to collect information, which can be later dissected into which particular Online source - client understands that ALL calls need to be screened.
Reputation Management - informed (and constantly reiterate) the importance of encouraging reviews from his customers; not only does it help increase click-throughs to his ad, local search directories like Googlemaps index the reviews, which assists in SEO, without having the need of a website.
Status:
Client so far satisfied with service and engagement. They continue to receive reviews from happy customers. Still in progrees. I am, however, unsure as to whether or not they've received a job from their online spend.
How to determine ROI?
From my experience as a digital media consultant and account manager, most small to medium sized businesses/enterprises (SMBs/SMEs) 'waste' their online marketing dollars because they are unable to 'capture leads'. I deal with clients on a regular basis complaining about online marketing strategy with XYZ company not generating into enough click-throughs to their website and/or phone-based inquiries.
These clients usually call us after receiving their monthly bank/credit card statement that show deducted payments from various subscripting-based, online e-marketing providers, e.g. SEM resellers, business directories, etc. In light of the recent economic downturn (and possibly one that'll last for years to come), you have to understand this is very normal - think of a mom n pop small business start-up, struggling to make ends meet reacting to, say, their Google Adword spend as opposed to an Accounts Payable department of a large company having to merely get approval to pay outstanding invoices. The same company can consult with their, say SEM strategy, department to check if their monthly 6-digit Adword spend is justified (yeah, there are many out there!), while Finance department pays their 6-digit invoice amount. However, the small mom n pop shop, say corner shop for wedding gifts, is biting through their nails, hoping they won't be sent to a credit/mercantile/debt-collection agency for not being able to pay off their bills - simply because their e-marketing spend toward their, say online ad, had not even generated enough to pay for itself!
I see these cases every day of my digital account management career and it is frustrating to see these SMEs either jump on the band-wagon and dedicate too much dollars for online promotion, sales reps selling the equivalent of a vacuum cleaner that can in theory make you a martini and/or SMEs expecting their one dollar to bring in 100 dollar worth of return. All these scenarios are completely ludicrious, which is why I've decided to create this blog to share my e-marketing experience working for one of the worlds largest news and media companies for both SMEs and companies that provide e-marketing, online marketing, SEM/SEO services, etc to these SMEs.
I will skip the theoretical jargon and go straight through to actual case studies that I've worked or am currently working on. As I am degree qualified in e-Commerce, I may pull some theory in these studies, but will keep it very simple and interesting.
These clients usually call us after receiving their monthly bank/credit card statement that show deducted payments from various subscripting-based, online e-marketing providers, e.g. SEM resellers, business directories, etc. In light of the recent economic downturn (and possibly one that'll last for years to come), you have to understand this is very normal - think of a mom n pop small business start-up, struggling to make ends meet reacting to, say, their Google Adword spend as opposed to an Accounts Payable department of a large company having to merely get approval to pay outstanding invoices. The same company can consult with their, say SEM strategy, department to check if their monthly 6-digit Adword spend is justified (yeah, there are many out there!), while Finance department pays their 6-digit invoice amount. However, the small mom n pop shop, say corner shop for wedding gifts, is biting through their nails, hoping they won't be sent to a credit/mercantile/debt-collection agency for not being able to pay off their bills - simply because their e-marketing spend toward their, say online ad, had not even generated enough to pay for itself!
I see these cases every day of my digital account management career and it is frustrating to see these SMEs either jump on the band-wagon and dedicate too much dollars for online promotion, sales reps selling the equivalent of a vacuum cleaner that can in theory make you a martini and/or SMEs expecting their one dollar to bring in 100 dollar worth of return. All these scenarios are completely ludicrious, which is why I've decided to create this blog to share my e-marketing experience working for one of the worlds largest news and media companies for both SMEs and companies that provide e-marketing, online marketing, SEM/SEO services, etc to these SMEs.
I will skip the theoretical jargon and go straight through to actual case studies that I've worked or am currently working on. As I am degree qualified in e-Commerce, I may pull some theory in these studies, but will keep it very simple and interesting.
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