Blog
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Spam redefined (again)
You’ve probably all heard about Microsoft’s plans to upgrade Hotmail in order to “address inbox clutter”. With important repercussions for online marketers I thought I’d take this opportunity to clear up a few details about why the system has been introduced, how the plans will affect email marketing campaigns and suggest what email marketers can do to avoid the spam trap. But before I start I want to make one thing clear; marketers need not be afraid. ISPs are not the enemy. Read more »
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How to get more from your email this Christmas
Catalogue e-business – July 2010
We’ve seen a shift in catalogue marketing moving towards better targeting and more channels. In the eighties, catalogues mainly used off-the-page advertising for customer aquisition. The nineties saw the advent of co-op databases, such as Abacus and Transactis, which led to an increase in direct mail targeting. With the new millennium the Internet started to generate meaningful sales for cataloguers. In the next decade catalogues will use more effective online targeting tools such as behavioural email.
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Behavioural email – Instant or targeted on behaviour
When is the best time to send a behavioural email?
Behavioural email is a hot topic nowadays; plenty of people want to add it as a key part of an overall conversion strategy. Of late the thing that seems to be generating the most column inches is around the best time to send these emails. So as someone that’s been doing behavioural email for longer than most I thought I’d throw my opinion out there. Read more »
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Is the free web dead?
Database Marketing – June
“Quality journalism is not cheap,” said Rupert Murdoch. “The digital revolution has opened many new and inexpensive distribution channels but it has not made content free. We intend to charge for all our news websites.”
The free web has created winners, such as Google, and many losers, such as publishers. In the mid-nineties everyone believed that the information rich internet would be built on an advertising model. Fifteen years later it is hard to find a publisher that makes a profit online. Read more »
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What can we do about customers abandoning their shopping baskets?
As promised here is the follow up to my December blog about why customers abandon their shopping baskets.
Below I’ve given some tactical ideas on how to target and engage with these distinct segments.
Wish List’ers
They spend hours online. They look at every option and test the varieties. They may never buy from a company but they sure will fill their shopping basket up with things they wish they could buy. Offline they are called window shoppers. They are often the young, energetic and underfunded.
For these guys you need to create a sense of real urgency. Make them realise NOW is the time to buy. Limited stock…end of sale…4 hour offers…All help speed these orders through the checkout. Use emails leading with the most appropriate offer to catch the attention of these wish list shoppers who have not yet decided to buy, but want to. They just need the right excuse. Read more »
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Trying to improve your conversion rates from 100 miles up?
Most people are now pretty familiar with great map applications that provide maps, satellite imagery, and now immersive photographic street level views. And the latter is invaluable when you need to see how it really looks ‘on the ground’. The satellite view is great for perspective, but nothing can compare to seeing it first hand. Just like with weather maps – you need to be there, outside with the wind in your face, to really know what is happeningTo be able to fully optimise your designs and maximise your conversion you need to see the big picture and know first hand exactly what your customers are experiencing. Read more »
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Is there one magic button to rule them all?
In ‘The Lord of the Rings’ the evil Lord Sauron was always hunting for “the one magic ring that rules them all”. Luckily he’s not an online marketer as that sort of attitude just wouldn’t do…
Life would be very easy if one call to action could rule them all. Sites would all be identical and the one ‘super design agency’ would be shared by all companies. Unfortunately this is not the case. As online marketers we are uniquely placed to use the wealth of data and expertise at our disposals to understand exactly what works well on our websites and then select the right elements through testing and optimisation. Read more »
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Evolution of behavioural email
I’ve been asked to write a piece for a magazine about the future of behavioural email and as any good historian knows, before you start writing about the future you need to understand the past. So I thought I’d write down a few lines about how behavioural email has evolved over the last 10 years (it really has been around that long).
The first genuine example I can find of behavioural email (that’s email driven off behavioural information not simple transaction confirmation emails) was William Hill in 2001 with a registered and not deposited email targeting users that were warm (registered but had not deposited any money). Read more »
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Designed to be touched
Apple’s new iPad will make ‘Touch’ an even sexier way to browse the net, which will inevitably lead to a greater number of touch-screen users visiting your website. And as ‘touch-ing’ websites is quite a different experience from moving a cursor around the screen with a mouse, it’s never been so important to design and test your site for touch-screen interaction. Read more » -
Is your email marketing moving in the right direction?
Looking back, I am surprised about the speed of development and thinking amongst emailers in 2009. It seems to me that all but the most backward of mailers have finally stopped bulk sending, chided as they were by deliverability concerns. The real sea change, however, is the recognition that in email terms less is often more (revenue, that is!). 2009 was also the year triggers became central to most email strategies, mobile handsets began truly to manage email and email platforms became integrated with social media. Read more »
