The Needle In a Haystack

As discussed at the opening of chapter 2 of Web Analytics 2.0, many companies are unsure as to what tools they need to meet their marketing needs. Some companies seek reporting tools when their actual needs are analysis tools or vice versa. In addition to seeking the right tools, corporate variables such as company culture, affordability, employee knowledge and availability attribute to the effectiveness of the selected tools. The lead management system of WhatConverts offers a key solution to overcoming fear, uncertainty, and doubt of selecting an analytics tool for company marketing strategies.

WhatConverts offers integrated solutions across web platforms such as Google Analytics and Google AdWords while identifying and quantifying customer acquisition. WhatConverts is a lead management system that is applicable to phone calls, web forms and e-commerce transactions. The integrated filter and sort function of the software reveals where a company is gaining the most value from their advertising sources and where they need to focus their energy. At the end of the day, this solution is to uncover the needle in the haystack. 

I believe WhatConverts to be a valuable application as it is able to run seamlessly with Google Analytics and Google Adwords. This software is able to tie individual leads into all your data while tracing user contact information back to original source. It allows companies to decipher if leads were good or bad when it comes to conversion rates. In other words, it is able to assign a value to conversion rates. For example, you are able to tie a conversion back to the originating landing page a visitor landed on and identify which keyword or topics brought them to that page. In addition, WhatConverts adds value assessment to the lead history by its source and by keywords.

The key word that I would like to hone on in which makes WhatConverts a valuable solution is value. WhatConverts adds value to your data which means you are able to quantify your costs associated with running a particular marketing campaign. As outlined in Chapter 4 of Web Analytics 2.0, many analytic tools will not include the incurred cost to manufacture a product or service. Since this software allows the client to quantify the value of each marketing source, this will aid in computing “campaign cost”.

The Lead Management System reporting of WhatConverts identifies the marketing source and keywords that brought the most value to your marketing strategies. To highlight which lead is worth pursuing, the easy to use sort and filter function of WhatConverts allows users to view data per day or within a specific date range. 

                                          (Images Retrieved from www.whatconverts.com)

I would like to share a cited example of WhatConverts solution software.

Goal: A client wanted to evaluate the quality of leads generated through targeted keywords vs. more broad industry terms.

Objective:

Determine if the targeted or broad terms generated the most value, not just number of leads.

Result:

After a month, both campaigns were generating roughly 40 to 50 leads each.

Using WhatConverts to be track form submission quality. They were able to determine:

1.      Only 30% of the broad term campaigns were leads they ended up quoting.

2.      75% of the targeted term campaigns were leads they ended up quoting.

3.      The budget for the broad campaign was higher, due to higher traffic and cost per click.

After seeing that the broad campaign cost more and delivered fewer quality leads, they were able to optimize their Google AdWords spend better to generate additional qualified leads.

Without WhatConverts all they had was a number of leads per campaign. Now they could evaluate each lead, which allowed them to make more data-driven decisions (WhatConverts, 2018).

                                    (Image Retrieved from www.whatconverts.com)

As a review, WhatConverts concludes that the data from the Lead Management System can be used to:

1. Improve Conversion Rate and identify rates as good or bad.
2. Prove the value of marketing strategies and a portion of “campaign cost”.
3. Identify content highlights or keywords that generate leads.
4. Integrate seamlessly with existing web platforms.

In addition to web trends, WhatConverts assists in recording phone call leads. This software allows companies to personalize their greeting options for customers. They are sure to be transparent as they inform the caller that they are being recorded for quality assurance. In addition, they offer their clients multiple language preferences for the prerecording. While the customer is informed of the intent of the recording, the client is also informed of the intent as WhatConverts can inform the client or recipient of the call where the call source originated. This software applies tracking numbers to each call source. If you were to read about an advertisement in a magazine publication, the magazine advertisement would have a preassigned unique phone number that is identified by the software when it is used. A unique phone number can be attributed to flyers, landing pages or billboards. 

                                        (Image Retrieved from www.whatconverts.com)

An added value to WhatConverts is the transparency of the software for corporate development. If a company has multiple clients, branches or division, each of them can view their dedicated platform of reporting. Each client may have separate marketing focuses or methods of data collection. With this software, clients are able to view data gathered from segmentation strategies, content analysis, and purchase behavior. Therefore, the client is able to see real-time reporting that can assist in recruitment, retention, and reactivation of their customers. 

 

Transparency is carried through by their tired package offerings with monthly payment plans. They offer three package options tailored to fit your corporate needs. The three options are the Plus, Agency or Enterprise Plan. The main difference as you progress in plan options is in customization and security upgrades.

A noted benefit of this Software lies in their customer service. Online ratings showed that this software received a 5-star rating from their customers. Many of the reviews highlighted customer satisfaction with the companies feedback and response time to inquiries or need for assistance.

I believe WhatConverts is a surefire solution as it is easily integrated with Google Analytics and Google Adwords as it adds value to web analytics. As a client who may be new to web analytics, this serves as a cost-efficient software that operates with low maintenance features and the data is carried captured and reported in a user-friendly platform.

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References

Kaushik, A. (2010). Web analytics 2.0: The art of online accountability & science of customer centricity. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing, Inc

WhatConverts. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.whatconverts.com/features

WhatConverts. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.whatconverts.com/blog/instantly-improve-your-web-form-tracking/

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You Are Only As STRONG As Your WEAKEST Link

A Look into the Success of Avocados From Mexico’s 2017 Super Bowl Marketing Campaign

In today’s digital world, the consumer controls what information and advertising he or she will receive and decides how they want to react. The thoughts and habits of consumer behavior create the framework of what the internet will offer. Therefore, quality content is necessary to reach your audience and encourage their participation within your brand. As of January 2018, Owner, founder and CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg has adopted a quality content approach geared for more meaningful action across their digital platform. More value will be awarded to how time is spent versus how much time was spent on their platform (Figerman & Segall, 2018).  It is expected to see a shift from pitching business ideas to valuing interaction amongst friends and family. It has been recognized that conversations between friends and family are shared on a bigger spectrum in terms or personal views, opinions, and preferences. In contrast to the delivery, an advertisement from a product that the user has sought out in the past has been delivery by the process of segmentation.

To illustrate the importance of engaging your customers with two-way communication while rolling out a paid media campaign, I would like to review the marketing strategy for Avocados From Mexico’s 2017 Super Bowl campaign strategy. This company optimized their paid media content by building supplemental and complementary owned or organic media that encouraged consumer participation. According to Ian Dodson’s, The Art of Digital Advertising, “Successful digital campaigns share a range of characteristics but campaigns that fail have one thing in common: They don’t acknowledge the empowered consumer” (Dodson, 2016).

In 2013, the marketing team for Avocados From Mexico was born. It is made up of two branches of marketing teams with seasoned backgrounds in consumer-packaged goods and the produce industry. One branch represents Importers Association and the other to represents the  Growers and Packers. As Avocados From Mexico expanded and continued to grow across the nation, they developed a marketing strategy directed toward the audiences in each of its four business segments: general market, Hispanic market, food service, and retail (avacadosfrommexico.com).

With the assistance of digital technology, the organization has been able to collect data about their consumers that has opened the door for innovative ways of connecting to them. In 2017, Avocados From Mexico became one of the first produce brands ever to run a Big Game TV ad. Creating engaging content formulated around three principles marketing strategy led to the success of their Super bowl 2017 campaign. As Ivonne Kinser, Director of Digital Marketing for Avocados from Mexico said “It’s not enough just to manufacture impressions or a one-sided conversation. What makes brands break through the clutter is the meaningful back and forth conversation with their audiences (Eckerle, 2017).

Marketing Strategy:

Principles

1.     Initiate- The consumer becomes the driver of the internet, brand awareness. The consumer is the starting and ending point for all digital activity. The consumer decides which route they want to take. Digital activity with brand is carried out as two-way conversation.

2.     Iterate- Brand to manipulate content dependent on response rate, click through and conversion rates. For Avocados From Mexico, this was a strong suit for them as they were a smaller company that was able to make changes quick and with intent.

3.     Integrate-Integrate engagement across all marketing channels to include digital and traditional avenues.

Objectives, Strategy, and Tactics

Objective: To increase the reach of Super Bowl advertisement

Strategy: Leverage digital platforms to amplify content and engagement before and after the super bowl advertisements.

Strategy: Create options for consumers to interact with the campaign.

Strategy: Develop congruency of advertising elements. A key point of interest to remain congruent is to be the parody of a secret society preventing the secret of avocados to reach the public. The secret is that avocados are healthy and have good fats. Social media and email marketing is to inform consumer and potential brand advocate about the secret society campaign. Mobile app will carry the key point of interest as a concept of a “found” phone of one of the secret society members.

            Tactics:

1.     Super Bowl ad. Ad also placed on YouTube where it received over 3 million views and implemented hashtag #AvoSecrets to drive conversation

2.     Microsite created. Landing page included an interactive application.

3.     Mobile phone interface. Built around the “found” phone of secret society member. Each application on the phone was dedicated to the brand. Supplements super bowl advertisement as one character in the advertisement is live streaming the secret society meeting from this mobile phone. Created an interactive story around the “found” phone.

(Retrieved from marketingsherpa.com)

4.     Interactive apps- place live links within campaign pages that allow for a new user experience with the brand. “Making interaction a game”.

(Retrieved from marketingsherpa.com)

5.     Snapchat filter- Send user to the official snapchat for Avocados From Mexico.

6.     Twitter- Invite users to share their experience and their feedback about the campaign. Insert CTA to enter sweepstakes as it is only available to Twitter users only.

7.     Instagram filters- Within this mobile application, the user is presented with 3 pictures that are hiding a message. By selecting the correct filter, the message is revealed.

(Retrieved from marketingsherpa.com)

8.     Emails- Application users could browse sensitive information contained in society members email inbox to include Area 51 which is spoken about in TV Ad.

9.     Text message and voicemail- Users can browse text messages of society member, centered around brand awareness.

(Retrieved from marketingsherpa.com)

10.  Spotify playlist- Curated around avocado-themed songs.

(Retrieved from marketingsherpa.com)

11.  Sweepstakes rules- Twitter account holders were entered to win sweepstakes if they shared #AvoSecrets hashtag. 1 winner per week. 5 weeks  leading up to Superbowl. Sweepstakes ran 2 days post-Super bowl. Consumers could reenter each week, prompting continued participation in the sweepstakes. Travel inspired prizes

Results:

• Results: Use of Interactive apps prompted 2 billion impressions before the game even started
• A spike of 10,000 mentions of #AvoSecrets in 15 minutes after the commercial aired
• 3.2 billion impressions overall

By dedicated most of their marketing efforts to create an organic engagement marketing campaign of owned media ultimately led to the success of the paid advertisement that was created primarily for the Super Bowl.  Supporting the notion, that you are only as strong as your weakest link. Pun intended 😊

References

Avacadosfrommexico.com. Retrieved from https://avocadosfrommexico.com/about/

Dodson, I. (2016). The art of digital marketing : The definitive guide to creating strategic, targeted and measurable online campaigns. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.

Eckerle, D. (2017). B2C Marketing: How Avocados from Mexico’s Super Bowl campaign got 2 billion interactions before the game even started. A case study. Marketing Sherpa, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/avocados-from-mexico-superbowl-campaign

Figerman, S & Segall, L. (2018). Facebook to show more content from friends, less from publishers and brands. CNN Tech. Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/11/technology/facebook-news-feed-change/index.html

Visualize The Transaction

Visualize The Transaction

Conversion rate as defined in Web Analytics 2.0 is the outcomes divides by unique visitors( or visits)expressed as a percentage. Outcomes are customarily the submission of an order on your e-commerce website (Kaushik,2010). Although outcomes may be in the form of customer acquisition for a sales team and/or marketing campaign. For example, inviting a customer to create an account with your company or sign up for a newsletter mailing list. Or directing a customer to a landing page created for an advertisement or call to action.

The question of the day is how to capitalize on the consumer's experience once they have visited your webpage or landing page to complete the action you have requested from them?

Digitalmarketer.com offers some great insight on increasing your landing page conversion rate and I would like to share those with you today. On Episode 41: 9 Ways to Increase Landing Page Conversion Rate, The Director of Marketing, Justin Rondeau, with Digital Marketer shares his advice on 9 ways to optimize conversion rate of your landing page:

1.     Optimize page load speed. It is ideal to shoot for sub 2-second load speeds. Justin Rondeau shared that 57% of viewers will abandon the page if it takes 3 or more seconds to load. Google Analytics is referenced as a useful tool in determining your page load speed.

2.     Be sure that your Advertisement, call to action and landing page are congruent. Congruency element of  “no surprises” include:

• The projected promise or benefits of the product or service are clearly reflected on the page in which you are sending traffic.
• Repeat the design across all platforms. A similar copy of data format, color, and visuals.

3.   Page Layout presents a visual hierarchy to the consumer. Appropriately guides them from Point A to Point B.  To determine how customers are interacting throughout the page, administer an eye tracking or click tracking test. These tools may be acquired by Hot Jar https://www.hotjar.com or Crazy Eff  https://www.crazyegg.com/.

4 . Personalize Content of page. What message are the consumers receiving? You may suggest creating 3 different web pages to receive the targeted traffic of whom you may have sent a targeted advertisement. How did they receive the invite to visit the landing page? Provides an opportunity to “personally” welcome them back.

5.     Have a clear, singular Call To Action

6.     The depiction of the intended offer is clear. Visual of the product will aid in assuring the customer they are in the right place.

7.     List the benefits of the product. Be sure to illustrate how the features and benefits of the product or service.

8.     Trust Indication. Build testimonials or reviews on the page. Keep in mind, this you attempt to break the anonymity of the web experience. Help build an affiliation with your product.

9.     Content: Value Ratio. Provide content about your product or service that is going to justify the purchase. Place content about the perceived value of your product or service.

           

Nature Air, a traveling website for tourism along the Pacific and Caribbean coasts identified areas of their website that needed improvement as web sales were decreasing. With usability testing and online surveys, they identified areas of improvement in regard to their main homepage navigation, content, and call to action. Once improvements were made in these key areas, the overall conversion was increased substantially by 591% and on the 17 flight destination pages.

To view the case study, please visit http://www.blastam.com/assets/pdf/blast-natureair-casestudy.pdf

References

Digital Marketer. (Producer) (2016, April 19). Episode 41: 9 Ways to Increase Landing Page Conversion Rate [Audio Podcast] Retrieved from https://www.digitalmarketer.com/landing-page-conversion-rate/

Kaushik, A. (2010). Web analytics 2.0: The art of online accountability & science of customer centricity. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing, Inc

Ruffolo, Bob. 2016, December 27. 12 Amazing Conversion Rate Optimization Case Studies. Impact. Retreived from https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/conversion-rate-optimization-case-studies

Bounce Rate: The One Click Hop

Bounce Rate, The One Click Hop

Bounce Rate: Percentage of users who enter and exit on the same page. Or begin and end their session on your homepage.

An Indicator of low quality of the webpage and user experience. But how?

• Low relevance of webpage content
• Content marketing needs work
• Web page is unorganized

Although it may seem challenging, breathe easy as you are in control, it’s your website after all. The key is to have targeted language and content that seems organic to the consumer who is visiting your site. Remember to put the customer first, keep their attention, build their trust and ultimately their service and loyalty. The Main objectives with improving your bounce rate is to keep the customer’s interest and prompt action for further exploration on your website.

Strategies to Improve Bounce Rate:

• Improve content readability/legible. Make your content easy to read by reducing large chunks of text. Guide the customer through your text with headlines, sub headers and bullet points. Accentuate your text and keywords.
• Site navigation is helpful. Include home, about and contact. Every page has a purpose.
• Create Call to Action. Create something that that is useful to customers. This could be a free trial, or a payment calculator, digital application of a design element such as paint color or a piece of clothing. Or perhaps a prompt to make the purchase or “add to cart”. The intent her is to offer something with urgency.
• Improve Brand storytelling. Find something to “stop the scroll”. Could be a subheading, a word, term or image. Provide a reason for the customer to pause and think about your product or service and how it applies to them. You could be providing context to aid the customer in making an informed decision such as choosing product A or product B. Or perhaps they learned about a certain side effect of a product or inflammation factor of a certain food. Perhaps the product usage displays the customer as a hero. Maybe their donation or purchase of the product is humanitarian or philanthropic.
•  Be truthful, Be transparent and Be credible. Address your customers concern or the main reason they are visiting your site. To learn about your product and how much will it cost to acquire it. 
• Marcus Sheridan, Owner of River Pools, revealed he made $2million in sales from a post titled, “How Much a Fiberglass Pool Cost?” (Cohen, 2014). Here, Marcus Sheridan addressed his customers primary concern, the total cost of a pool. He then adds to the discussion about customer upgrade options and how their products align with their competitors. Also listed on the website are customer reviews to add to their credibility.
•  Keep your blog update with fresh content. Assists in building momentum and establishing trust.
• Target Keywords. Keywords are words or phrases that describe your website and its content. Keywords can be informational and commercial. Informational keywords create awareness while commercial keywords show a desire for a specific product. The intent is to lead your customer from Point A to Point B. In addition, as a rule of thumb, eliminate phrases that are unnatural to be used in everyday language (Fleischner,2016).
• Make your website mobile friendly.

As a leader in marketing, I would like to highlight Best Made Company for their website design as visual for the bounce rate strategies mentioned above. The Best Made Company was acquired by a biotechnology firm, Bolt threads in August of 2017.

“In order to deliver breakthrough product to customers, we need to innovate from first principle to final sale – this is why our first acquisition as a company is Best Made Co.,” Bolt Threads said in a statement on the acquisition. “The brand is known for its distinctive identity, beautiful approach to design, and commitment to incredible craftsmanship and quality. Creating products from the ground up with Best Made Co. allows for both of our brands to bypass a traditional supply chain, and provides an opportunity to design, test and creatively market to customers.”

Easily identified in the Best Made Company webpage is:

• Product description (informed decision)
• Discover more (additional information if you aren’t convinced yet to make the purchase)
• Questions? Ask our experts (providing additional service on site to make customer experience more enjoyable, personal and informative
• Product price (transparency)
• Add to Cart (Call to Action)
•  Shipping Guarantee (trustworthy)

References

Cohen, H. (2014, February 18). How One Blog Post Generated $2 Million Sales. Actionable Marketing Guide. Retrieved from https://heidicohen.com/blog-post-generated-2-million-sales/

Fleischner, M. H. (2016). SEO made simple: Insider secrets for driving more traffic to your website. United States: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Friedman, A. (2017, August 8). Bolt Threads Goes Vertical with Best Made Co. Acquisition. Sourcing Journal. Retrieved from https://sourcingjournalonline.com/bolt-threads-goes-vertical-best-made-co-acqusition/