2015: The Year that Push Notifications Grew Up

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Push notifications are largely viewed as a great mobile marketing tactic, albeit one with great questions about their use and best practices. But are they having a significant impact? We decided to take a look at the state of push messaging in 2015 to find out.

Over the course of the year, push messages continued to improve app user engagement and retention and companies increasingly took the path to personalization. This is largely due to the the shift away from broadcast marketing to an increased adoption of a segmented push strategy, which uses all the data a company has about a user to inform a smart marketing approach. While push messages showed improvement around respecting user data, a recent consumer survey we conducted revealed that 52% of app users are already finding push messages to be an “annoying distraction.”

As more marketers turn to push notifications to communicate with users, the bar continues to rise for them to be hyper relevant (to avoid going the way of email spam). The good news: our data shows that apps are rising to match these higher expectations, and the results of their efforts are improving engagement and retention.

Push Messages Continue to Influence User Engagement

One of the most effective uses of push messages is to encourage inactive users to re-engage with an app. When crafted as a friendly reminder or helpful tip, push notifications can better position an app in the minds of users. The numbers are truly telling of just how effective push messages are in this pursuit for engagement. In 2015, users who enabled push notifications launched an app an average of 14.7 times per month, whereas users who did not only launched an app 5.4 times per month. In other words, users who opted in to push messages averaged 3x more app launches than those who opted out.

This represents a 171% increase in app engagement. In 2014, the increase in engagement between users who opted in versus those who didn’t was 88%. Push messages serve an important role in an app’s user engagement, and there are no signs pointing to a decrease any time soon.

Build Trust Before Asking For Permission

Before an app can reap all the engagement benefits push messages have to offer, it must get users to agree to receive them. This has shown to be more difficult over the past year, as the average opt in rate for push messages in 2015 was 49.8%, down from 52% in 2014.

The decrease in push opt-ins may scare some, but it is not a reason to panic. Rather, this is an opportunity to find smarter ways to get users to agree to opt in. One place to start: build trust.

We’ve outlined before just how important it is to build trust with users before blasting them with push messages. One way to do so is to give a user time to explore the app before asking him/her to enable push messages. The chart below shows that the average push opt-in rate improved when users completed more sessions in an app. Users who complete between 1 and 3 sessions in an app have an average opt in rate of 35%. That rate doubles to 70% when users complete between 4 and 6 sessions in an app.

It doesn’t take too long to establish trust with users, but try to not ask for permission to enable push messages as soon as the app is downloaded. In the beginning, users know very little about the app and therefore will not have a good idea as to what the push messages will be telling them, or the value that will be delivered.

Retention Continues to Thrive Thanks to Push Notifications

Push messages also help apps avoid one of their biggest fears: user churn. Utilizing push messages sets an app up to retain users both in the short and long terms. Push notifications remind users to continually return to an app, which helps keep it top of mind and strengthens relationships throughout the user life cycle.

On average, 65% of users returned to an app in the 30 days after the app’s initial download, if they have push enabled. On the other hand, for users who did not have push enabled, only 19% of them returned the following month. By the third month, one third of users with push enabled were still using the app, compared to only 11% of users who do not receive push messages.

In 2015, retention for apps in which users enabled push increased throughout the first 3 months following download as compared to 2014; this suggests that app marketers used push messages more and the actual messages were more effective.

Users Are Responding More to Push Messages

One metric app marketers use to measure the success of their push messages is the average click through rate. For 2015, the average for push messages was 10.2%, a two percentage point increase from 2014.

Increasing click through rates supports the idea that push messages are becoming more relevant to users. But with every relevant push, the bar has risen for all push notifications to meet users’ needs. As a result, apps must continuously learn about their audiences in order to better serve them.

Push Messages Increasing in Numbers and Intelligence

As push messages continued to benefit apps in more ways than one, app publishers sent them more and more. The number of push messages increased 64.25% since the end of Q1 2015, to an average of 51 push messages sent per app. These messages are sent to various audiences of the app, so users are not receiving all 51 push messages.

The average number of push messages sent per app has steadily increased every quarter since the beginning of 2014. While that could be viewed as negative, our data actually shows that as the volume of messages has increased, marketers have also gotten smarter. This can be seen below as segmented push messages have continued to increase while broadcast messages are starting to become a thing of the past.

Since January, segmented push messages have increased from 53.51% to 65.73%, while broadcast messages have decreased from 46.49% to 34.27%. Marketers have taken notice that users are more likely to respond to a message with information that directly affects them, as compared to a message that was sent to all of the app’s users. This puts the pressure on apps to be doing everything they can to gain as much insight into their audiences as possible so that their marketers can better customize the messages.

Personalization Leads to Conversions

The importance of segmented versus broadcast messages can also be seen in view-through conversion rates (defined as users who view a push message and then convert).

For view-through conversion rates, 1% of users converted from broadcast messages, while 3% converted from segmented messages. In other words, users are 3x more likely to complete a conversion event if the message incorporates some kind of personalization.

A Marketer’s Job Is Never Done

Push messages have grown in effectiveness since last year, but there is always more that can be done. The onus is on us as marketers to make sure that push messages do not go the way of email and become spam. As app publishers send more push messages, capturing the attention of users will become increasingly difficult. Marketers will need to focus more on what is working over time by continuing to test different messages, shifting the focus from vanity metrics to those that signify actual ROI and always use audience insights as the root of the message.

With that in mind, we’ll be kicking off 2016 with more data that taps into the current state of consumers’ views on push and reveals the data-driven marketing best practices for segmentation, personalization and measuring performance, as well as some benchmark KPI’s based on vertical platform and the size of the app. Stay tuned!

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December 7, 2015

Attracting Local Traffic to Your Store

Attracting local traffic to your store is a reoccurring task on your to-do list. You want a flood of new and existing customers roaming through your shop everyday. So, what’s the best way to encourage more locals to check out your place?

Aside from a customer loyalty program, the answer is a combination of digital and old-fashioned marketing tactics. Here are four ways (two online and two offline) to increase your local awareness and get your register ringing:

Try Local Awareness Ads on Facebook

Facebook isn’t just for posting status updates, you can attract local customers through this social channel, too. Facebook has an advertising option called Local Awareness Ads. These ads target customers that are near your business. You can create ads that have specific calls-to-action that connect with customers. Take a look at the example below. People that live or work near the market see this ad and can click on the call-to-action to get directions.

Boba Guys, a bubble milk tea bar, had success with Facebook awareness ads. According to a case study on Facebook, the company’s ad reached up to 10 thousand people with each new customer acquisition costing just $1.

Get started with a Local Awareness Ad on Facebook’s Business site.

Set up a business profile on Google My Business

Help your customers find your business by setting up a profile page on Google. When customers search for your business, here’s what they’ll see:

It’s a nice display for your business. In a glance, customers see your address, phone number and hours of operation. Customers can also click on pictures, read reviews and get directions right to your shop.

How successful is this at generating local traffic? According to Google, 4 out of 5 consumers conduct local searches on search engines. After searching, 32% of customers visited stores and made purchases, and another 19 percent made unplanned visits and made purchases.

Here’s the best part: it’s free. Check out or update your profile on Google My Business.

Host a sale with a community connection

Of course, business owners can’t rely solely on digital options to attract local shoppers.

Hosting a sale is a common way to draw customers, but to really entice local shoppers to come in, give your sale a community connection.

Is the local school headed to a championship football game? Are the local firefighters building a new station? If so, offer game-day promotions during playoff week. A cafe could temporarily rename one of its spicy sandwiches to Fire Burner and donate a portion of the sales to support the new station.

Aligning your business with a local cause provides several benefits. For starters, a recent study shows 41% of Americans say they have bought a product because it was associated with a cause. That same study shows 85% of consumers have a more positive image of a product or company when it supports a cause.

In other words, customers reward businesses that support the community.

Plan product demo or sample event days

Don’t wait for your customers to come to you, go to them instead. Grab a calendar and call a team meeting. Plan to do at least two events that give customers the chance to see your product in action. Or, go one step further with a non-stop demo.

For example, teashop, Teavana, has a sample station permanently set up for customers to try its products. Cosmetic stores have artists on hand and offer consumers a free makeover to encourage customers to buy specific products. Cosmetic Promotions looked into the success of these on-going demos and found 35 percent of customers planned to buy products immediately, and 56 percent planned to return to buy products.

Of course, you can also take your demonstration digital. Create a video that showcases your product and upload it on your website. Need a little help? Check out this Forbes article that highlights eight of the best product demo videos and explains why each one is effective.

How do you attract local traffic? What works best for your business? Share your knowledge with the business community in the comment section below.

October 3, 2015

Capitalize on the Love of Mobile Apps

A recent study conducted by Oracle found that over 85% of young people “Millennials” (ages 18-34) own a smart phone. Marketers are rapidly moving in the direction of native mobile applications – or Mobile Apps. In the process marketers, and business owners in general understand that it is not adds that engage young people, its apps!

This consumer segment cannot be discounted when looking to take advantage of growth opportunities. That is where Mobile Apps come in, if you are a small business owner, you can now obtain a completely custom mobile solution, that in the past has been dominated by big budget corporations. There still exists today a misconception that apps are difficult to maintain, and expensive to produce, that is simply no longer true. The study shows that this group of people are using their smart phones for a wide range of uses; everything from paying a bill, interacting on social media shopping, and watching video. Another study conducted by Flurry Mobile Analytics, showed that 88% of time that people in general spend on their smart phones are spent in native mobile apps.

Top items millennials prefer to do or have in-app (by percentage):

74% – Purchase a product or service through a company’s app

65% – Flag issues or raise complaint/concerns that are submitted directly to the company

62% – Receive notice of upcoming deals/offers

60% – Advice on how to best use products/services received from the company

Always maintain your brands identity and continuity throughout all marketing channels. Try to incorporate functionality that would be beneficial to your users, for example: a Realtor may want to include a mortgage calculator, a Salon a calendar to schedule appointments, a boutique a gallery, and everyone should include some form of loyalty – its cliché but if you build it they will come. Just give them a reason to keep coming back.

September 22, 2015

IOS 9: APPLE SHUTS DOWN THE MOBILE-WEB GRAVY TRAIN FORCING PUBLISHERS TO PRIORITIZE APP DEVELOPMENT

Posted by: Daniel Finn

Apple’s support of ad-blocking technology in the upcoming release of iOS 9 puts the $70 billion global mobile ad market at risk, forcing publishers to rethink their mobile strategies.

Over the past few years, publishers have seen a large chunk of their revenues coming from ads served to users consuming content via the mobile browser. The main strategy concentrated on getting stories widely shared on popular social apps such as Facebook, which in turn drove users to mobile-optimized websites that served up ads.

However, Apple’s latest software update enables the use of content-blocking tools that will let users block ads in the Safari browser. Users who adopt the technology will be able to bypass banners, pop-ups, and pre-rolls, upending the mobile-web strategy that has allowed publishers to make money without charging end users.

With over 1 billion iOS devices out there – what does this mean for publishers?

Ad-Blocking on the Mobile-Web Drives Publishers To Promote Apps

One thing we know for sure is that publishers need to take the threat of ad-blocking on the mobile-web seriously. An August 2015 report from PageFair places the number of ad-blocking users at around 198 million worldwide and draws attention to the significant cost to publishers, estimating up to $22 billion worth of inventory was blocked in 2015.These figures are expected to rise dramatically over the next year when mobile users learn about the value of content-blockers beyond just stopping ads to include faster load time. For example, Crystal, one of the most hyped content-blocking apps, claims its users see pages load nearly 4 times faster with the app installed and use 53% less data.

So, are the days of enjoying free content on mobile gone for good? Not quite.

Apple is only allowing ad-blocking technology to work on the Safari browser, leaving publishers free to reap the benefits from the App Store. With this tactical move, apps will continue to work unhindered by the ad-blockers and, as a result, publishers will start aggressively pushing users to download their apps to bypass the ad-blockers.

Short-Term Pain (Reshuffling Focus) for Long-Term Gain (Better User Insight)

Although this shift requires new effort on the part of publishers, it will likely benefit their core business for the long term. Publishers will gain a much more granular view into their users, because of the richness of data that can be collected through apps. This insight will enable the creation of inventory that targets users based on the types of content they consume, the devices they use, their location, and demographic information – which could sell for a premium.

Balancing Ads with a Smooth App Experience

It is important to note that in an app environment, publishers will need to pay much closer attention to the balance between serving ads and creating a great user experience. App users are generally more valuable than the typical mobile-web visitor because of their expressed loyalty. A user downloads an app if they value the content and intend to consume it on a regular basis. The smartest publishers will work hard to embrace and retain their app users by constantly evaluating the impact that different types of ads have on consumption, social sharing, time spent in app, and user retention.

The Future for Publishers

Apple has once again flexed its muscles to shake up the mobile landscape. With this new policy in place, publishers will likely come out as winners. Publishers will create better experiences for their users through apps that are designed for iOS and create loyal audiences in the process. Furthermore, they stand to benefit from the granular data that can be collected via apps and the premium inventory to be created from it.

August 27, 2015

7 Stats That Show Mobile Marketing Is The New Leader

Mobile marketing has been one of the most explosive technology waves since the internet was invented and shows no signs of slowing down. Mobile-commerce sales are booming and areforecasted to reach $100 billion in 2014. Businesses across a wide range of industries are implementing mobile strategies to grow their companies. Are you planning to join the mobile marketing world and jump on the app trend? There has never been a better time.

Below are some statistics to help you better understand the importance of mobile marketing today!

Mobile is now the leader.
According to predictions by Google, mobile searches (at 85.9 billion) will soon surpass desktop searches (84 billion) in 2015. Search ad spending grew, and desktop search ads only experienced small growth, supporting this prediction. By 2015, it is predicted that there will be 2 billion smart phone users globally. As of right now, 57% of the United States owns a smart phone. These numbers all add up to show ups that mobile and mobile devices are here to stay.
Mobile is local.
Currently, 40% of mobile searches are local, and 77% of them take place while the user is at home or at work. Mobile-on-the-go is crucial to everyone, and users are utilizing mobile in local areas, for local businesses.
Mobile has fast conversions.
81% of conversions from mobile search happen within five hours of the search. Searches are important because they lead to other actions like calls, visits to a business, and ultimately. Sales. Conversion is dependent upon you, the business owner, which means that you need to be available via mobile to snag those customers, and provide them with accessibility and great customer service/products.
Mobile presents new opportunities to connect.
What are the top five tasks that users need their smart phone for? Making phone calls at 83%, checking email at 74%, searches at 67%, taking pictures at 62%, and accessing social media at 57%. You can use each one of these tasks to help your marketing strategy. Tasks like email, social media, pictures of your products and services, and more, will all help you further your business.
Mobile peak times are growing.
Knowing when users are active is really smart. Most mobile searches take place during the time frame of 8pm to midnight, and mobile searches double during the holidays. Little facts like these can really help you base your advertising and marketing strategies around user habits, to make the most of your advertising dollars.
Mobile usage growth applies to everyone.
Mobile isn’t just for kids and teenagers anymore. As of right now, the 55-64 age group is the fastest growing demographic on Twitter, and for Facebook and Google+, the fastest growing demographic is 45-54. So what does that mean? You should find a way to tie your marketing strategy into those demographics, and adjust your social media and email presence to those groups.
Mobile apps are preferred.
85% of Mobile users are more comfortable with apps than mobile websites. iOS apps currently generate four times the revenue than Android apps do. When it comes to social media, Facebook is downloaded the most, followed by Google+, and Google Search. Using these statistics to help design your mobile strategy is really smart. When used in conjunction with the demographic information, you can customize your advertising and other strategies to bring in the most business.

These are just a few helpful mobile strategies and stats to help you along. Mobile marketing is here to stay and with these powerful stats we encourage every small business to get on board as soon as possible.

August 26, 2015

2015 Back to School Shopping Insights Every Small Business Owner Should Know

By: Colleen Corkery

Are you ready for an influx of Facebook and Instagram pics from life’s next big event? The event that affects parents, kids, businesses, and social feeds everywhere? We’re talking about back to school. Just how big is the back to school shopping season? Here’s a pop quiz for kicks:

Back to school generates more revenue than:
A) Father’s Day
B) Mother’s Day
C) Valentine’s Day
D) All of the Above

If you chose D, you get an A+ for being a top-notch business student. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF)’s 2015 survey, back to school/college is expected to collectively result in more than $68 billion in revenue this year. That’s more than Father’s Day ($12.7B), Mother’s Day ($21.2B), or Valentine’s Day ($18.9B) combined, making back to school the second highest revenue generating “holiday” after the winter holidays ($616.1B) – Now that deserves a gold star.

What’s motivating people’s back to school spending habits? The NRF says 40.6% of people are shopping for sales more often, 45% of people decide where to shop based on the coupons they receive, and 26.5% of people plan to redeem coupons using their mobile phones. This is why sending mobile-friendly promotions via email or text message (sms) is key.

As a business owner, jumping on the back to school sales bandwagon today will earn you extra credit. While the traditional season starts after Labor Day, August 24th is the new trending school start date. In fact, some kids on the East Coast are already back in school now!

If you’ve already got your sales, offers, and promotions in the (brown) bag, keep spreading the word. NRF’s survey shows that 42.8% of people will shop three weeks to one month before school, and 30% of people don’t plan to shop for back to school until 1-2 weeks before school starts.

Researchers from Eyeview also found that found 66% of students and 74% of parents believe localized messaging is “the most impactful” part of a promotion. This gives local, small businesses an advantage.

What exactly are people spending their money on? The biggest contenders for households with children K-12 include clothing ($8.59B), electronics ($7.78B), shoes ($4.63B), and typical school supplies ($3.85B). Families with college students are spending more on electronics ($9.93B), clothing ($6.56B), dorm furnishings ($6B, up 31%), food ($5.65B), personal care items ($43.73B), gift cards ($2.28B), and more.

What if your business doesn’t sell traditional back to school items like backpacks, supplies, or clothing? Don’t let that discourage you. Appeal to the emotions and actions of a parent or new college student (others will gladly reap the benefits): Provide deals on anti-stress methods like spa and gym services, or outdoor activities. Own a salon? Everyone needs a new back to school picture or ID – Offer a deal on haircuts or color. Parents or college students may be driving back and forth from school soon – Offer deals on auto tuneups, car washes, etc. Who doesn’t appreciate a deal on lunch/snacks, or a fast meal after work/school when making dinner won’t cut it? The options are endless.

As a small business, the back to school shopping season has potential for placing you on the revenue generating honor roll. With that, here are even more insights to consider when planning or managing your back to school sales and marketing strategies:

July 27, 2015

Increase Customer Spending: 6 Ways to Encourage Loyal Spenders

For better or worse, I am somewhat of a regular at the local casino. I don’t have TOO many vices, and I’m always extremely responsible – I have a pre-set limit of how much I’ll allow myself to spend per visit and have only exceeded it on a handful of special occasions. Many people I know will spend much more on bar tabs or shopping sprees in a day than I will spend in two weeks at the casino, and none of them will have a chance at striking it rich…but that’s enough of me trying to justifying a bad habit of mine.

Anyway, I am sometimes chagrined at the fact that I don’t see a lot of comps or freebies thrown my way. I’m there fairly often, and I know most of the dealers by name – where’s my free meal every time I sit down?

Then I’ll see someone who comes in maybe three or four times a year, but will plunk down an obscene amount of money on the table – many times over what my limit would ever be – and receive free meals, discounts on rooms, and all sorts of goodies. And I’m reminded that although I come in more frequently, there are a ton of other gamers that spend more money than I do. THOSE are the customers worth wooing in the casino’s eyes. The same principle holds true for small business owners.

What small business owners can do to encourage customers to spend more each visit

While regular customers are undoubtedly a good sign for your business and are absolutely worth your time to cultivate, at the end of the day you’re running a business. You need money to keep your doors open, and the more money somebody spends at your place of business, the more valuable they are to your success. With that in mind, here are a few suggestions to consider in order to increase customer spending per visit.

1. Build Loyalty

If you’re a fan of this blog (and c’mon, who isn’t?), you’ve no doubt heard us bang the drum on the importance of loyalty. That’s no coincidence – it truly is that critical, especially in today’s connected world of e-commerce where there are no shortage of other places your customers can go to buy what you’re selling. You can read other entries on how to gain loyal followers, but our focus with this entry is how to increase customer spending per visit.

Not only are loyal customers more likely to spend more money at your business because they visit more often, but they are also going to serve as your best test market to unveil new goods, new premium packages or services, and even higher prices on current goods.

You have already earned their trust and loyalty – the hardest part of the battle is over and you are the victor who earns the spoils. Try out a new premium, high-priced item with your most loyal consumers and inform them that they are part of an elite member of people that gets first crack at it before anyone else does. Not only will this make them feel elite and a valued part of your business (which they are), you will also be able to see how successful this new product or service you’re about to debut is. Keep in mind though, that loyal customers are MUCH less sensitive to higher prices than infrequent or completely new customers.

2. Package Your Goods

“Would you like fries with that?” is synonymous with package deals – burger purveyors from long ago realized the value of bundling their goods together, which is why you would be extremely hard pressed to find a fast food chain that didn’t offer some semblance of a value meal. Burger, fries and a drink may not be what you’re selling, but don’t overlook this tried-and-true mechanism of increasing customer spend amounts.

Some packages just make sense, plain and simple. If your business is in the outdoor and hiking/backpacking trade, you probably sell your fair share of sleeping bags and tents. You also probably sell a decent amount of backpack water purifiers and hiking poles. Many of your customers are probably purchasing an item or two for a backpacking trip – why not combine them and offer a slight discount on both? If your customer buys a winter-rated sleeping bags, why not offer to throw in a set of hiking poles for 25% off? They may very well be in the market for the poles as well, and a small discount certainly won’t break your bank.

Another tactic to consider when it comes to bundling is to offer extreme discounts on items that you’re struggling to move off the shelf. If you have a plethora of mosquito netting that you just can’t seem to offload, try offering it for 75% off with any purchase over a certain dollar amount. You may not be making as much (or any) money off the netting, but at least you’re reducing your inventory and making shelf space for something that will (hopefully) sell better.

3. Raise Prices

This is often seen as tremendously scary territory for small business owners – after all, consumers can be notoriously sensitive to increased prices and rightly so. But instead of viewing it as simply raising prices without cause, try and think about what kind of value and results you are providing to your customers, in addition to your goods and services. It can be wise to try and match your prices to be in line or under what your competition is offering, but don’t you feel your offerings are superior to theirs?

Try toeing the waters first with small increases – something as little as one to five percent on a basic or entry level item that is purchased often. Give it a few months or at least enough time to gather a large sampling pool. Compare this data to your previous, lower price and compare. Did people run for the hills in disgust at the increase in price? Odds are good they did not, but at least with measurable data you’ll be able to see if the increase was worth it or not. Experiment with different prices – as long as you give them enough time to find a foothold, you’ll find that the market will dictate the sweet spot in terms of pricing.

Happy and comfortable customers spend more, use that to your advantage

In addition to some of the more straightforward tactics mentioned above, there are a few seemingly non-sequiturs that are worth mentioning:

4. Smells Good in Here

If you run a bakery, cologne shop, or potpourri emporium, you can skip right over this – but for other small business owners, do not overlook the importance of a fragrant physical storefront. Studies by marketing services company DMX and the Smell and Taste Research Foundation have both shown that customers are not only more likely to make purchases in a pleasant-smelling environment, but are also willing to spend more money for the same item. The most popular fragrances to open up the ol’ wallet? Coconuts, flowers, and tropical gardens.

5. Let the Sunshine In

People tend to be happier in sunshine, and when people are in a better mood, they tend to spend more. A study conducted by the University of Alberta found strong empirical evidence that customers who shopped in an area with more natural light were more likely to make a purchase and spent more per visit – in some cases, as much as 56% more. Take advantage of sunny days and consider splurging on one-time upgrades such as skylights or additional windows.

6. Chill Out

The expression “Don’t sweat it” is usually uttered to someone who is worried or stressed about something – that’s because when anxiety or apprehension sinks in, our heart rate tends to increase, which in turn increases or temperature, and thus causes the body to respond by perspiring to cool us down. Whether or not we realize it or not, when we’re warmer, we are perceivably less likely to make complex decisions (such as decide if something is a good deal or not) than we are when we’re cooler.

Translation? People spend less when they are hot, according to a study conducted by Virginia and Houston universities. When the hotter months roll around, don’t be a miser and try to skimp on the AC – your bigger utility bill may very well be offset by bigger purchases from your customers.

If each loyal customer buys just one more item than usual, it will add up

Not everyone that is a patron of your business will turn be a big spender – most just simply aren’t going to frequent your place of business often enough to even qualify, and many that do won’t have the budget or spending habits to fit the bill. Try not to think of the above ways to reel in “big fish” that will bring in half of your month’s revenue each time they stop by. Instead, think of them as ways to turn somebody who usually purchases three items for around $20 into someone who usually purchases four or five items for $25 or $30. It may not seem like much at the time, but it all adds up and more importantly, adds to your bottom line.

July 24, 2015

How to Write the Perfect Welcome Email

By Ryan Diess from Digital Marketer

Congratulations! You have a new email lead.

Now what?

First, know that your new lead is as excited to hear from you at this moment as they will ever be… what will you do with that power?

Indoctrinate.

Take this opportunity to…

Introduce yourself/your company
Set expectations for what they will receive
Restate the benefits of being a subscriber/lead
Get them to make microcommitments
Open a loop

If you craft this Indoctrination email properly you’ll be much more likely to convert this lead to a customer.

Let’s take each element of the welcome email in turn…

Introductions

Your welcome email (in most cases) should come from a real human being… not the company. The CEO (or other face of the company) is a good person to put in the FROM line on an Indoctrination email.

It’s as simple as stating…

“Hi, My name is Ryan Deiss and I’m the founder of Digital Marketer. I wanted to take a second to say hello and welcome you to the family.”

Set Expectations

Tell them exactly what to expect from you, when and how often.

Say something like…

“Here’s what you can expect from us…”

Then, simply list everything they will begin receiving from you via email (and otherwise) now that they are a subscriber.

This includes letting them know, in a subtle way, that you will be sending promotional email.

Restate Benefits

While you’re telling them what they should expect, restate the benefits of these communications.

Something like this will do the trick…

“I know this is going to be an absolute game changer for you because…”

Don’t expect your new subscriber to connect the dots. Hit them over the head with the benefits and take advantage of their attention to build excitement and anticipation for future communications.

Make micro-commitments

In future emails you’ll be asking your subscriber to do things such as read a blog post, download a white paper or buy a product.

An Indoctrination email is the time to start training your new subscribers to make small commitments.

The first microcommitment is to ask them to whitelist your email address. Create and link to a page on your website that gives clear Whitelisting instructions (see ours at digitalmarketer.com/whitelist-instructions/).

Let them know that they run the risk of not receiving your emails if they don’t whitelist you.

Second, ask them to connect with you elsewhere. This is where you can increase engagement with your new subscriber on social media. We’ll talk more about why “engagement” is so critical to today’s email marketer in a second. (Hint: We aren’t talking about fluffy, hippy marketer “engagement” metrics here)

Say something like…

“Take two seconds and join us on [FACEBOOK, TWITTER, YOU TUBE, LINKED IN].”

Opening Loops

Do you know why your favorite TV drama ends every episode with a cliffhanger?

Because it creates tension. And tension creates attention.

The human brain craves conclusions and a good email leaves your subscriber on the edge of their seat — anxiously looking for your next email.

It’s called “opening a loop” and your Indoctrination email should contain one.

Try something like…

“As an added bonus for subscribing, I’m going to be sending you my best [white paper/blog posts/case studies/tools, etc.] It’s about [DESIRED RESULT]. Be on the lookout for an email from me tomorrow.”

“Do you know the #1 reason why [INSERT A RIDDLE/REASON WHY/ETC]. I bet it’s not the reason you think. I’ll give you the answer tomorrow but for now…”

Then, set up a second email that closes the loop… and, perhaps, opens another.

How to Stay Out of the SPAM Folder

I saved this for last but it may be the most important purpose of your Indoctrination email.

Engagement. And I mean engagement as judged by Internet Service Providers and email clients, particularly Gmail.

The primary metric used to determine whether your future emails will make it to the Inbox or the SPAM box is Engagement.

When subscribers take actions like…

Open
Click
Favorite/Star
Reply

… they are much more likely to keep getting your email.

Many of the elements of this Indoctrination email are intended to increase these engaging actions.

Opening loops increases open rates. Whitelisting increases deliverability. Clicks on social media links increases click-through rates.

The perfect welcome email not only creates new prospects that are indoctrinated to you and your business… it also ensures that future content and promotional emails get delivered.

July 21, 2015

SEO basics for entrepreneurs: Easy tips for optimizing your website

This article was originally posted in June of 2014 by, Philippe Desjardins. It is very informative and helpful for newbies to internet marketing!

One of the obvious keys to growing a business is to get introduced to people who need your products and services. Great news! Research indicates that over 90% of people use the Internet when evaluating a purchase. In other words, the Internet is full of people looking for you.

But how do you get them to find your website?

There are two options: either you purchase the traffic by buying online ads or you don’t. If you’re one of the 100% of people who prefer free options to paid options, this article is for you.

The free option is search engine optimization (SEO).

What is SEO?

The term refers to techniques you can use to improve your website’s ranking on the results pages of search engines such as Google. If you want to attract more free Internet traffic, it’s something you need to focus on and get right.

SEO can be complicated when you dig deep into it. But, it’s relatively easy for you to understand the basics and implement them on your site. And, just by covering the ABCs, you will be putting your business ahead of the competition in many cases.

A simple SEO recipe

Here’s how to do it

First, take a look at your website and structure it so that each page is built around one single theme.

You want to do this because search engines aim to provide users with the information they’re seeking the first time, every time. In order to do that, they need to understand the content of your webpages.

Make it easier for search engines

By building each page of your website around a single theme you make it much easier for them to classify your page and present it when it’s relevant to a search.

Next, choose keywords you will use to optimize each page. Think about the keywords people are most likely to use to find the information provided by that page.

How to choose your keywords

Write down your choices for the 5 to 10 most relevant keywords for the page.
Go on Google AdWords. If you do not already have a Google Account, create one. It’s free.
Once on Google AdWords, go in the Tools menu and select Keyword Planner.
Select Search for new keyword and ad group ideas. This will bring you to a page where you can input the keywords you have written down as well as the address of the page you are optimizing and your product/service category.
Once you have entered your information click on the Get ideas button.
Right below the Search volume trends graphic, you will see two tabs; Ad group ideas and Keyword ideas. Click onKeyword ideas tab. It was a bit complicated to reach, but this is the magic page.
Here, you can plug in your search terms (the keywords you wrote down) and find the average monthly searches for each of them. Now you know if people are actually searching for the keywords you came up with and how often they do so. You want to make sure the keywords you will be optimizing your page for are as popular as possible while still being very relevant to your page theme.
Below your search terms you will find keyword suggestions from Google as well as their own average monthly searches. Look for relevant keywords with high average monthly searches.
Now, come up with your final list of five relevant keywords with the highest average monthly searches. These will be your targeted keywords for optimizing your webpage. It is likely to be a combination of some of your own keywords and ones suggested to you by Google.

Next, create your SEO tree. This is a document where, you will track six important optimization components for each webpage as a reference to use when you prepare your content. Here’s what it will look like.

Search Engine Optimization – SEO tree
Page name	Component	Details
Home	Keywords	Search engine optimization Online marketing SEO tips SEO marketing SEO training
	Page title	Search engine optimization (SEO) tips for small business
	Page description	Search engine optimization for small and medium business. How you can easily improve the ranking of your website in search engine results.
	Headings (H1, H2, etc)	Example: H1 = Search engine optimization for small and medium business H2 = SEO tips for your online marketing
	Image ALT tags	The SEO tree, a free SEO tool
	URL structure	www.bestseotips.ca

Keywords

Input your list of five targeted keywords for the page. Having them written here will help you to optimize the other components.

Page title

Search engines look at the page title, also known as the title tag, to understand the page’s content. They also show it in search results pages, as highlighted below:

Page titles have to be unique and include the most important targeted keyword for that page. The title should be compelling enough to trigger interest in 60 characters or less. Also note that the words at the beginning of the title have more SEO weight than the ones coming after. So, you should try to start your title with your keyword.

Page description

Search engines display the description under each page title on the results page to help searchers determine the best link to click on. See an example below.

Having a good page description is important because the information you put there greatly influences the decision of the searcher whether to click on your link or someone else’s. The description must be unique too and be no longer than 160 characters.

Headings

In website code, headings are designated <h1> to <h6>. These simply define the size of your headings, as they appear to the reader. Among these six levels of headings, H1 is the biggest and H6 the smallest.

The headings are more than shortcuts to quickly change the size and face of your text. They tell the search engines that the keywords in headings are more important. This is a great opportunity to use your targeted keywords. Remember, you must use one and only one H1 header per page. This is your main title and it should include your most important keyword.

You can then sprinkle your most important and other keywords throughout your text. But don’t overdo it. Using keywords too much is called keyword stuffing. It can annoy your readers and cause Google to penalize your pages in its search rankings.

Image ALT tag

The ALT tag is used to display descriptive text when an image cannot be displayed. Obviously, using image replacement texts makes sense for users who prefer to browse the Internet with images disabled. What’s more important for you is that search engines can’t read numbers or text on images, let alone understand the context of the image itself.

Your keywords may look fantastic and eye-catching on an image, but the only way for search engines to see them is the ALT tag associated with the image. Therefore creating ALT tags and including your targeted keywords in them is another efficient SEO technique.

URL structure

The URL is the address of the page. The words used in URLs send one of the strongest signals to search engines concerning the content of the page. URLs should contain the most important keyword for that page. You should also try to avoid using strings of characters in URLs that don’t make sense to the visitor. Only lower-case letters and numbers should be used, and dashes should replace spaces.

Helping your pages to climb

If you create SEO trees for each of your webpages and make sure you optimize the six components, you will have covered the most important aspects of search engine optimization. You will definitely help your website climb in the search result rankings.

In some industries where online marketing is fierce, this may not be enough for your site to appear on the all-important first page of search results. But without optimizing these components, it’s very unlikely that your website will rank for any searches not involving your brand/company name.

Implementing your work

Now that you have all your optimized content, it is time to implement it on your website. If your website is built using a content management system (CMS), such as WordPress, all the changes can easily be implemented in it without the help of a programmer.

If your website is built using an older proprietary system, you will have to give your SEO trees to your programmer so that he or she can implement your optimization work on each page.

SEO is in constant flux

The search engines are constantly changing the way they rank websites in their search results. What’s important now may not be so important two or three years from now.

One development in recent years is the growing importance of social media in search rankings. If you are regularly involved on social platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn, you increase the chances your website will rank higher in search results.

Great content is your best weapon

One thing that is sure to remain central to SEO is the need for good content. As long as people will be looking for answers, search engines will strive to find and deliver them the best pages to provide these answers.

So your best strategy to get to the top of search results and stay there is to create good fresh content regularly. This will help position you as a leader in your field and attract more visitors who you will be able to convert into customers.

July 21, 2015

IN-APP MESSAGES DRIVE 3.5X HIGHER USER RETENTION [NEW RESEARCH]

By: Dave Hoch

In-app messages are a great communication tool for engaging (or re-engaging) users who are already using apps. Yet, many app owners wonder how to create content that isn’t viewed as spam and doesn’t detract from the user experience. This may explain why only one third of app marketers are currently using in-app messaging as part of their mobile engagement strategy. [Share This Stat]

According to our recent research, when in-app messages are used effectively, there is a strong correlation with higher user engagement and retention:

Apps that send in-app messages show 2-3.5x higher user retention and 27% more app launches than apps that do not.
In-app messages triggered off of an event have higher click-through and conversion rates than those triggered at the start of an app session.
Photography and Sports apps see the highest lift in click-through rates when in-app messages are triggered by an in-app event.

Apps That Send In-App Messages Have More Loyal and Engaged Users

In-app messages are the perfect tool to guide users to the most valuable parts of an app, because they either act as directional guidance to get to the next step or serve as an opportunity to offer incentives delivered at appropriate points in the app. Once a user sees the value of an app, they are more likely to return frequently and often. Our latest data supports this idea.

Overall, apps that send in-app messages experience 27% more launches than apps that don’t send them, seeing an average of 13 launches per month.

In addition to a higher number of app launches, apps that send in-app messages have significantly more loyal users. For example, these loyal users return to the app 3.5X more often in their third month of using the app.

This means that these app owners are retaining nearly 50% of their users three months after their initial engagement, thanks in part to the effectiveness of their in-app messages.

In-App Messages Triggered From an In-App Event Are 4X More Effective

Delivering relevant in-app messages is the key to negating their perception as spam.

Our research observes the average click-through rate of an in-app message is 28%. But, on average, when the in-app message is triggered off of an event (i.e. an action taken inside the app), the click-through rate is 2x higher than an in-app message presented at the start of the app’s session. The same holds true for conversion rates, as in-app messages presented based on an event have 4x higher conversion rates, on average, than those shown at the start of a session. [Share This Stat]