What metrics are EMEA email marketers using to measure their campaign performance?
Following on from the launch of the "Wowing with Contextual Email Marketing" - Email Personalisation report yesterday, I found it interesting how marketers measure the success of their email marketing activities. No matter what type of dynamic content, contextual personalization or segmentation used, the metrics used are largely the same.
Most marketers use the basic metrics to measure success
78% of marketers are using Open Rates and Click-Through Rate
58% are using conversion rate
1 in 3 are using "sales value per 1000 emails"
Every other metric is used by less than 29% of email marketers
Apple's iPhone 7 may yet be a success, but that doesn't mean it deserves to be.
This week I came to the conclusion that I have officially gone mad. Either that, or the entire world is mad, and I am in fact sane (which, in terms of probability: 7.4bn to 1 just doesn’t add up. So it must surely be me who is mad whilst the world is sane). Here's the evidence for my supposition –you decide which, or what it is.
As is now customary, the month of September saw Apple launch its latest ‘must-have’ gadgets and upgrades. As you, me and a stray aardvark in some distant land know by now, the September headline Apple news for 2016 was the launches of the iPhone 7 and IPhone 7 Plus. (Additionally, the September event focussed on an Apple Watch system upgrade, as well as release of new IOS and Desktop software).
Like A.A. Milnes’ Tigger, product managers bounced up and down the Apple sales stage, pointing to a giant screen showing glimpses of animated messaging, intuitive photo and storage management and simpler music store interfaces.
Like virtually every previous Apple product launch, much of the gadgetry was introduced via slick Apple-esque videos voiced-over by Ilford–born Johnny Ive. Mr Ive’s rehearsed dulcet tones (minus any heavy Essex accent) delivered the impression that the latest release of Apple tech was tenderly designed to be exceptionally beautiful and sublimely user- experience friendly.
I’ve crooned along to videos showing slivers of black plastic, specially buffed up and perfectly studio lit. Device lenses glistened, close ups of linen-white packaging led viewers to fantasize that technology in general had become so advanced and assured that even Apple’s HQ was probably located in a serene corner of a faraway spacecraft sterile of human confusion and worry. Everything in Apple-land was meticulously designed to improve the very experience of human living.
Take the latest iteration of the iPhone. It’s dark-chocolate ice-cream body carried a dual-lens camera which promised to mimic what photographers call ‘bokeh’ (the blurry background in the out-of-focus parts of an image). Gone were any sockets for traditional wired headphones. A pocket sized Apple-white plastic cocoon – so smooth, you would want to lick it - cradled a set of dimuniative, yet powerful wireless ‘Airbuds’.
With so much to drool over, I was hoping the event would climax with announcement of MacBook Pro upgrades. Yet nothing followed the main course. Instead the ‘sales-show’ was abruptly closed with a 15-minute performance by a singer whose face was cloaked by a striped wig crowned with a giant chiffon bow.
Everything is clinically perfect in the Apple-experience zone
Driven by the flimflam and bemused by the bow worn by the singer, on the phone’s public release - a week later I went along to a London-based Vodafone store (my telecoms provider).
“So tell me all: What’s so great about the new iPhone?” I asked the manager.
“It’s the iPhone7” the manager answered.
“Why would I want it?”
“Because it is the seven.”
“How does it compare to the iPhone6 plus?”
“There’s wireless headphones and a new camera,” he answered smearing the dual-lens with his fingers.
“Isn’t it supposed to have a ‘bokeh’ facility when you take portraits. There doesn’t seem to be a ‘portrait’ mode.” I pointed out.
The manager shrugged.
“About the wireless headphones, won't they fall out when running?”
“Yeah, a lot people are worrying about these new cuties. Some think that kids could swallow them. Mind you they come with a cable attachment for old-school earphones”, he said.
“So what’s the actual benefit of losing the old earphone socket?”
“Look mate, I’ll let you into a secret: seventy per cent of people ask for the iPhone 7 just because it is the iPhone 7. Now, according to my screen, it will cost you two hundred pounds down and an extra twenty–five every month on your current plan. Can I sign you up?”.
“But explain to me, why would I actually need the iPhone 7?
“Because… it is the I Phone 7. Or if you want to go for the top of the line, the iPhone 7 Plus. Both have with this shiny black finish (nice eh) but we haven’t got any covers in yet.”
At that point I gave up.
A couple of weeks later Apple’s launched their new IOS followed by desktop systems. Beyond anything that did not actually require any thinking on my part (like a simplified iTunes GUI) when it came to some other features, official available instructions were, to say the least, meagre. Whilst Apple published lots of superficial marketing waffle on its site, operational setup details were mostly left to consumers to figure out.
Many of the operating system’s new features neither appeared on my screen nor worked on my MacBook Pro (late 2013) edition or my iMac 27-inch. (Making me wonder if omitting to announce any new laptops at the September show had something to do with the fact that many laptops, and even more desktops out there (including mine) couldn't at the time use all the new interface’s features.
My options in dealing with all this was either to wait for weeks to get a workshop appointment at a local Apple dealer (my preferred Apple store – in Regent Street, London had been closed for at least five months) or glean what I could from geeky ‘experts’ on YouTube.
From a user’s experience, not instinctively knowing how everything worked made me feel like Sia (the singer at the Apple event) wearing that giant wig and bow– blind and awkward.
I stare at GUIs – therefore I think I am
In the wider world beyond Apple’s core products, user experience in general is being taken for granted, with ordinary consumers struggling to make heads or tails of it all. In attempting to streamline everyday experiences many brands are actually turning what was formerly quite straightforward, into real-world nightmares.
Common examples:
Trying to get customers to buy online when their viewing on mobile devices, but having payment pages that are neigh on impossible to navigate on a mobile device, whilst also being agonisingly slow to load.
Having to remember hundreds of different passwords (out of paranoia that everything online can – and will eventually be hacked).
Parking bays that no longer accept simple coins/– only ‘pay-by apps’ – which in turn often ‘forget’ payment details).
Having to ‘run’ an Olympic hurdle chase over countless “please press number for…” phone options to get through to an actual person on a helpline service – then suddenly being cut off - with just one hurdle to go.
Having to speak very slowly – in a very quiet room for an automated helpline to understand who I am and what I want.
Job sites which either refuse to read uploaded résumés, or worst still: muddle all the text.
Devices that refuse to link to each other.
Sites that don't recognise their own gift cards and certificates codes.
No real people to contact (speak to) on contact forms.
FAQs which only address infrequently asked questions.
Airline sites which increase the cost of your chosen destination each and every time you look up a flight.
User (person) GUI experiences: A psychological primer
1. People (not ‘users’) prefer to keep thinking and working time to a minimum
Instead of just describing things, show examples.
Pay attention to the design practicality of objects on screen, page, or device. If something appears clickable make sure it clicks.
Only provide features people really need. (Conduct user research to understand what they need - as opposed to what you alone want).
Provide defaults. Defaults let people do less work to get the job done.
2. People have cut off points
People can only look at so much on-screen information or read so much text at any one time before losing interest.
Make information easy to scan.
Use headers and short blocks of info or text.
People prefer short line lengths, but read better with longer ones. It's a conundrum, so decide whether preference or performance is more important to you!
3. People Crave Information
Dopamine is a brain chemical which makes people seek… sex… information…food… Learning is dopaminergic. Having more information makes people feel that they have greater choices. More choices cause people to feel in control. Feeling in control makes people beleive their survival odds are improved.
4. People make mistakes
People make mistakes. (Even UX designers).
Make tasks easy to undo.
If a task is error-prone, break it up into smaller chunks.
If the user makes and error and you can correct it, then do so and show how you corrected it - and how they can prevent mistakes from reoccurring.
5. Human memories are complicated
People constantly reconstruct memories. That's why when it comes designing UX, it’s better to observe them in action than to take their word for it.
Memory is prone to misinterpretation. Don't force people to remember details from one task to another, or one page to another. (This also affects remembering passwords).
In fact, people can only remember about 3-4 items at a time. The "7 plus or minus 2" rule is an urban legend.
6. People are social creatures
For thousands of years, people have used technology as a social tool.
People look to others for guidance about what they should do, especially when they are uncertain. This is called ‘social validation’. (A great reason including ratings and reviews on sites).
Acting as one (known in psychology as ‘synchronous behaviour’) people bond. To get people to fill out forms, offer an incentive first before asking them to complete out the form. (Not the other way around).
When you watch someone do something, the same parts in your brain light up as though you were doing it yourself (called ‘mirror neurons’). We are programmed to imitate. So if you want someone to do something, show someone else doing it.
7. Grab attention
People are pay attention to originality. If you make something different it will stand out. However, people often miss changes in their visual field. (Known in psychology as ‘change blindness’).
Exploit the senses to capture attention (colours, fonts - make fonts appropriately large and legible).
Use grouping to help focus the eye. (Things that are placed closely to each other are believed to ‘go’ together).
On the other hand, people are easily distracted. Avoid flashing objects on the page or self-playing videos. (Unless you actually want to distract them – as in video advertising – which is increasingly being shown not to be as effected as it once was).
8. Little things lead to bigger actions
Most mental processing occurs unconsciously. Encourage people to commit to a small action (for example, sign up for a free membership): They’ll be more like likely to go on an make a bigger commitment, such as upgrading to a premium account.
9. People build mental models
People ‘carry’ subconscious mental models regarding conducting tasks (paying bills, asking for a kiss, ordering on Amazon, Tweeting, using Apple Pay at the train station…).
In the majority of cases, your UX has to reflect their mental model.
Metaphors such as, "This is just like writing with a pen" helps people understand a conceptual model.
Human (‘user’) experience has become synonymous with just one small aspect of an interface with a brand communications - GUIs alone. We have forgotten that at its heart, real user experience is practised throughout a brand journey – from distribution to packaging…. a friendly smile at a check-out to a human voice at the other end of a sales support line which can ‘think away from a script’.
Worryingly we have arrived at a ‘mad’ state of living, where technology expects people to instinctively understand it – rather that it being designed to understand us. Consumerism has reached a bizarre tipping point where we are not simply willing, but actually take a sense of higher life purpose in rushing about from one digital marketing soundbite, or video snippet to the next in a dizzying dash to invest in user experiences like the latest iPhone - simply because it is.
How Do Thought Leaders & Social Media Influencers Use Hashtags On Twitter?
Last week I published a seeminglycontroversial article and infographic about howhashtags have become almost worthless for businesses. I found thatmany generic hashtags like #Marketing or #SocialMedia were magnets for bots or spammers. What I did not expect was such a fevered pushback from some of commenters and readers. They felt I took to harsh of a stand on hashtags and that they were still the best thing since sliced bread. And there were a lot of people who believed that.
Since so many people thought that hashtags were still relevant in business, I decided to take a look at how thought leaders and influencers are using them. For this sample I selected 30 thought leaders analyzed 15k of their most recent tweets. To keep the sample diverse people likeRyan Hooverr from Product Hunt,Rand Fishkin from Moz and evenDharmesh Shah from HubSpot were included. Plus we also looked at brands like Wired, Y Combinator and Digital Trends.
After just a fast review of the numbers, I saw that something was amiss. In fact, I quickly found that the days were numbered for hashtags in their current form. With some of the best people on Twitter even using them poorly or in reality not at all.
How Do Influencers Use Hashtags?
1.They Don’t
As you saw above I pulled tweets from 30 different thought leaders in the tech, innovation and marketing world. This left us with a total of 15k tweets over the last month to analyze. And after a cursory glance at the numbers, we found that the usage of hashtags was paltry.
Out of the sample of 15k tweets there were only around 1.9k that used hashtags at all. Or they are used in only about 13% of all tweets, which is honestly a higher number than we expected. But probably a lower number that what Twitter would like to see at this point. Especially if this is one of the core features that sets it apart from other social networks.
It should be noted that about 25% of the total hashtags used came from one user and DOUBLED the usage of their closest comparison. If we drop them from the total, it lowers the usage to down to about 10% of all tweets. Again this is not looking great for the lowly hashtag.
2.They Use Them Generically
When my original article about hashtags was published a majority of the comments were about the hashtags I studied. Most were very extremely negative and believed that the ones I selected to study were not actually used by people. There was a belief that they were too generic and that thought leaders or social media pros would never use them. But many other people push theextremely generic hashtags to cut through the noise. For example, using something simple like #ContentMarketing:
And I was starting to side with that belief, but alas that was premature. In fact, 6 out of the 10 most used hashtags in this study were tested in the original article. Plus if we drop the #IFA16 and #IFA2016, which is an event put on by one of our thought leaders, that number jumps up to 8 out of 10.
Below are the most used hashtags by our thought leaders, as you can see they are extremely generic. Which is one of the main things we advised against to stay away from bots and spammers.
Because as soon as a hashtags become popular, the bots will find them. Then they will quickly add them to the growing list of to auto like or retweet.
3. They Use Them For Conferences & Events
After starting with what the thought leaders do poorly, let’s jump to something they do very well with hashtags. They are extremely good at using hashtags for live chats, events or conferences. Pretty much anything where something is happening in real time. Twitter was built to spread your content and message to a wide audience, using hashtags for a conference or event is a perfect way to do that.
For example, Digital Trends used the #IFA2016 flawlessly to engage with people at theIFA 2016 conference in Berlin. It gave the people who attended the conference and those watching from afar a place to engage with their content:
They spent the time and effort to produce this content, why not make sure the people will find it. Without the event hashtags it would most likely get lost in the Twitter noise of the tech world.
Michael Hyatt also uses hashtags very well to promote an event that he is not only speaking at but also organizing.
Again it gives attendees and those at home a way to follow along with what is happening at the conference. And gives the speakers at this conference a much larger audience, which is what Twitter is all about.
4. They Use Them One At A Time
Using a mess of hashtags per tweet is a telltale sign of people not using them properly. We all know that one user who has a hashtag for every keyword in the tweet. In the example below, more words are hashtagged than not!
No one wants to be known as a hashtag spammer and it looks very unprofessional. Additionally, it is probably hurting your brand more than helping it.
In fact, this belief was echoed by the thought leaders we looked at, with many using only one at a time. We found that if a hashtag was used that in 60% of cases only one was used. Below is the full breakdown of the usage of multiple hashtags:
The thought leaders are really about the adage of less is more it seems when it comes to hashtag usage, andthe professionals agree. Also to the 11 thought leaders using 5 or more hashtags, you guys are the worst. Come on, that is amateur stuff.
5. They Use Them For Specific Niches
Using hashtags for extremely specific niches was suggested many times by readers of the original study. It had not crossed my mind that some people are using very technical or specific hashtags for their business. It could be only a few hundred people caring about a hashtag or topic but they are who you should be trying to reach. It much is better to be specificthan being generic.
Although it may be a struggle to find your specific niche and even harder to find those people on Twitter, it will be worth it. It will give your business an almost direct line to people who want to read your content or buy your product or message. Try some of these tools to find those hashtags.
A great example of this was the #AgTech hashtag used by one of our thought leaders. It was used exactly once in the whole data set but was on an extremely relevant tweet. Plus if you are trying to get this in front of people in the Ag Tech field it is perfect. I am guessing there is not much competition from other sources for those views as well.
Targeting niches may not bring in the most followers or double your notifications but it will work in the long run. And it will not reach the masses of people but it reaches the right people, and that is what your Twitter strategy should focus on. It also will create a conversation that leads past just a fleeting notification. Just remember it is better to bespecific instead of generic.
Conclusion
So what have we learned from the thought leaders about using hashtags today? Other than the days are numbered for the once great hashtag.
First, that many power users like the ones we studied are not using them at all. Or that they are using only one at a time, which is how it always should have been. Some also are targeting many niche topics effectively by using very specific hashtags, which is great.
But even those who could call themselves social media experts are using them correctly. The overwhelming use of generic hashtags only creates more noise. And lessens the likelihood of the audience you are trying to reach actually seeing it.So if you want to take only one thing from this article is stop being so generic with your hashtags. It will only bring bots and spammers to your content instead of the people you want to see it. Specific hashtags may not drive the likes or retweets that generic ones will but they will bring the customers.
Thanks to Ryan McCready for sharing their advice and opinions in this post. Ryan McCready went to the University of Arkansas and graduated with a degree in economics and international business. Now instead of studying the economy he writes about everything data related for Venngage and enjoys stirring the pot. You can follow him on Twitter or connect on LinkedIn.
Just what are the barriers to embracing contextual personalisation in email marketing? Budget? Senior manager buy in? Lack of strategy?
Today we launched our report Wowing with Contextual Email Marketing with our partner Movable Ink: we wanted to share some interesting stats from the report.
We wanted to understand what stops EMEA marketers from using personalisation in their email marketing campaigns due to its potential.
As can be seen in the chart above, budget, platforms not up to scratch and surprisingly, a lack of email communications strategy were the biggest barriers.
For this question within the report we found that:
Lack of strategy was the largest barrier with 45% of respondents indicating this, this suggests that EMEA marketers may be using email without a long term strategy
Budget was also a major barrier for over 4 in 10 respondents (41%) - email marketing could be perceived as low cost, which means that budget may be allocated elsewhere. Email marketing budgets were expected to increase in 2016 and budget should not be restricted for such an effective form of marketing
Some Email Service providers (ESP's) are not offering contextual personalisation functionality that EMEA marketers desire, as 35% said their current ESP was a barrier.
Agencies can use data to plan for the coming year, and to improve digital marketing services
You don’t have to search far to find information about the marketing budgets of the mammoth corporations, like Proctor and Gamble and Verizon. However, the typical US marketing agency has small business clients with small budgets—details about the marketing budgets of these smaller businesses is hard to come by.
For the past two years, HubShout has surveyed small to mid-size marketing agencies and the data from the surveys shows where their small business clients are investing their dollars, and how much they’re investing in each service. The survey of 200 professionals who deliver online marketing services to small businesses provides plenty of data that is useful for small to mid-size digital marketing agencies. In addition, this article provides helpful tips on selling and improving digital marketing services.
First, Get a Piece of the 28 Million
The HubShout survey found that small to midsize agencies struggle with finding new leads, which is interesting when you consider how many potential clients are out there. The Small Business Association reports that 28 million small businesses currently operate in the US. There’s plenty of work to go around, but finding the small business owners who are likely to be ready to buy into digital marketing is hard work.
Digital Marketing Spend Continues its Upward Trend
HubShout’s survey respondents reported that their clients spent more on digital marketing in 2015 as compared to 2014. We do our surveys after the year has based to establish annual budgets, so the data on 2015 spending comes from early 2016 to give a proper picture of spending across the year rather than just estimates.
This is not a new trend. According to Advertising Age, digital marketing spending went from $6.2 billion in 1999 to $25.6 billion in 2009. There is every reason to believe that digital marketing industry will continue to grow as more and more people spend more and more of their time online, although that’s not to say there won’t be some push back as traditional methods respond to the competition.
The #1 Digital Marketing Service Is….
The largest chunk of the small business marketing budget for the past two years went to website development.
Even so, many small businesses still don’t understand that an SEO, PPC or any digital marketing campaign can only be successful with a website that is designed to convert. Digital marketing professionals don’t want to turn down business but they know that sending traffic to a lousy website is going to end with an unhappy client who may be inclined to trash the agency all over the web. Instead of setting yourself up for bad reviews (that never go away), or turning down work, educate the client on the importance of a website that converts. And if you don’t offer website design, outsource the work, or partner with a website design agency that you trust. If a business owner is not willing to invest in a website that you feel comfortable promoting, it’s best to walk away.
Mobile is Mandatory
A mobile-friendly website is perhaps more important for a small local business than it is for a large business. According to this consumer survey:
94% use a mobile phone to search for local businesses.
While conducting a search for local goods and services, 78% of mobile users discovered a new business - one they didn’t know existed.
The most important takeaway from the survey: businesses that are lacking a well-designed, mobile responsive website can lose nearly 50% of their potential customers.
SEO - Still Not Dead
We keep reading about the demise of SEO but SEO is still very much with us. Small businesses continue to see SEO as a basic need. As indicated in the graphs above, in 2014 and 2015, SEO accounted for about 26% of the marketing budget.
Links were and still are a big factor for SEO (search rankings). For proof on that, read Moz.com’s study entitled Can You Rank in Google Without Links? New Data Says Slim Chance.
The Missing Ingredient
A few years ago, Google essentially said, “Create great content, share it and the links will come.” But the links didn’t come, as confirmed by this Buzzsumo study. Turns out, Google’s recipe was missing a key ingredient: Link Outreach. If you create great content, post it onsite and share it on social media, you have not completed the job. To do it right, SEO requires great content PLUS link outreach.
Look to link outreach experts like Brian Dean for some of the best advice on link outreach. It’s important to understand that link outreach is not easy; it requires more upfront planning to locate the sites on which you want to get a link and to find contact information for the people who Brian Dean refers to as your “linkreators.”
It’s also important to manage expectations. You won’t get a response from everyone. Be prepared for a variety of scenarios:
Some who respond will link to the content.
Some will request a unique article on the topic that they can post on their blog and link to the original source article.
Some will tweet or share you content on social media
PPC Comes On Strong
HubShout’s survey shows that PPC made a big leap from 2014-2015. In 2014 businesses allocated about 12% of their budgets to PPC. In 2015 that number nearly doubled, to 23%. It could be that agencies are doing a better job of educating clients on the value and affordability of PPC advertising and more are buying into it. Or, perhaps businesses are catching on to Facebook PPC which tends to be less expensive and can be a great lead generator, if done right.
Facebook is No AdWords
No doubt, many agencies jump into Facebook advertising with just a cursory understanding of how it works. AdWords experience does not translate to Facebook. An agency that wants to add Facebook to its service offerings must learn the platform and understand the big differences between AdWords and Facebook PPC.
AdWords PPC is about the headline and text, and keywords of course. Facebook PPC is about the image. A mix of an interesting image combined with a clear description of what the business does is the approach that gets results. HubShout has run A/B testing on Facebook for a number of years and in our first experiment, quickly learned that this kind of thing doesn’t work. At all.
Campaigns with eye-catching graphics and a clear offer got great results.
HubShout developed several campaigns, tested them, and learned that the unusual and offbeat works on Facebook. It’s matter of changing up the image about every two to three weeks and watching the campaign very closely. It’s also important to make sure the text describes the business, especially when the eye-catching image doesn’t.
Conclusion
Digital marketing is a growing industry and there’s plenty of business out there for the small to mid-size agencies. Understanding the budgets and needs of the smaller businesses will help these agencies plan effectively and deliver high quality services at a price that their clients can afford.
Thanks to Ellen for sharing their advice and opinions in this post. Ellen Gipko is a digital marketing specialist for HubShout, and a writer specializing in the topics of social media and digital marketing. She has contributed content to Social Media Today, Search Engine Watch, Search Engine Journal and other industry websites.
Taking action with the collection and analysis of survey data to help improve the customer journey and strengthen company processes.
Data collected from online surveys can do so much more than tell you what your customers are thinking. Research is a vital addition to any B2B and B2C marketing toolkit. Successful companies are developing their business strategy - with the aid of data - to make marketing decisions that identify and resolve customer issues.
The team at SmartSurvey (the UK’s leading online survey provider) have put together a guide to demonstrate effective use of online questionnaires and how to utilise surveys to shape your marketing strategy.
Sections covered in this guide include:
The Benefits of Collecting Customer Data
How to Collect Reliable, Honest Feedback
Designing Effective Online Surveys
The Market Research Society (MRS) recently published an article demonstrating that the UK research market has increased by 62% to £4.8 billion. A recent comprehensive sector review (The PWC report Business of Evidence 2016) shows the research industry in the UK has grown by almost £2 billion in the last 4 years and now employs 73,000 people. Its annual revenue exceeds that of the UK music industry and the public relations and communications sector.
Jane Frost CBE, CEO of MRS, commented in the review that “the incredible growth we have seen since 2012 is testament to the value that organisations place on the importance of evidence-based decisions. It reflects the increasing confidence and importance of research and its practitioners to decisions being made at every level across both the public and private sectors”.
This development is primarily due to an increase of data analytics and the amount of research being undertaken in-house by the private sector.
Key areas of growth include:
Data analytics
Qualitative research
Social media & web traffic monitoring
Online & mobile surveys
The top three business benefits of research and analytics, shown in PWC’s Infographic, are:
Increased efficiency
More confident decision making
Cost savings
John Gambles, Chairman at Quadrangle Group commented, “In the second wave of digital, whoever can integrate research and data and turn this into value for clients has tremendous, unprecedented power. It is an enormously exciting period of change for our sector”.
So, to help you shape an effective marketing strategy by using research as a tool, we have compiled answers to some key questions marketers may be asking.
Section 1: The Benefits of Collecting Customer Data
What is the Importance of Collecting Customer Data?
Customers are spending increasingly more time online. They’re connecting with digital channels and are spending less time having human interactions. Marketing teams are capturing accurate metrics, however, they’re not using one-to-one communications that show their customers that they are listening and understanding their problems. This is why surveys are important: customer data can help to inform better practices in the future.
Admittedly, online surveys are sometimes subject to criticism, described as one-way conversations that gather data for the benefit of the survey maker and not the customer. However, surveys that are designed well are valuable because they can be used to nurture loyalty by building a sense of community, encouraging customers to return time and again.
It’s worth remembering, according to research carried out by Econsultancy, that 70% of companies say it’s cheaper to retain a customer than acquire one. Surveying your customers is a proven method of developing customer loyalty as customer feedback offers insight about what your customers are thinking.
The Benefits of First Party Data
Collecting first party data provides the richest, highest quality insights into consumer behaviour. Digital Strategy Consulting has provided research demonstrating first-party data is a marketers’ top choice for success across key metrics:
· 74% said it gives the greatest insight
· 64% said it offers the highest increase to customer lifetime value
· 62% said it provides the highest lift among data sources
82% of all marketers surveyed are planning to increase their use of first-party data, while 1 in 4 marketers plan to decrease their use of third party data according to MarketingTech.
Why is Customer Satisfaction important?
Ross Beard of Client Hearbeat explains that “any customers that give you a customer satisfaction rating of 7 and above (out of 10) can be considered satisfied and you can safely expect them to come back and make repeat purchases. Customers who give you a rating of 9 or 10 are your potential customer advocates. Scores of 6 or below in terms of customer satisfaction are in danger of leaving’. By constantly appraising customer feedback, a business can reach potential detractors, re-engage them and keep them as customers.
The Importance of Customer Loyalty
Businesses thrive on repeat customers. By maintaining and improving quality of products and levels of service, you will build loyalty to your brand.
The key benefits to fully utilising survey data is in its application. Gathering customer data without using it appropriately means it becomes a one-way conversation, or worse, serves very little purpose at all. Many digital marketers would agree that the use of website analytics and email reporting is redundant unless data is used to shape improvements. The same thinking should be applied to the survey process in order to enhance the marketing plan.
Why Does Analysis of Customer Data Benefit Your Business Strategy?
Businesses have many uses for survey data:
Increasing Net Promoter Score: NPS is a simple and effective way to measure customer loyalty. A pre-set question type can be added to any online survey that you create. Results will allow management teams to make well-informed business decisions. Research by Marketing Week shows that Marketers who fail to address brand experience will see loyalty drop.
Product development: Organisations must diversify and improve in order to grow. Developing your product range will help achieve business goals. A well planned product development strategy can help establish your company as an industry leader. By surveying existing consumers, you can validate a plan for entering new markets.
Concept testing: By evaluating consumer response to product ideas with concept testing surveys, you can trial your ideas before bringing them to the market. This pro-active strategy can help save time and money across all marketing projects from designing ad campaigns to product launches.
Employee engagement: Higher levels of employee engagement leads to increased productivity. By surveying your staff you can demonstrate that you understand their needs and act upon negative trends before they escalate.
Section 2: Ways to Collect Reliable, Honest, Actionable Data
Successful surveys are the key to understanding what your audience is thinking. The insight gained from an online survey can instantly empower a range of significant decisions.
Successful Surveys – Your 6 Point Guide
Online surveys are easy to create in a few simple steps, but some initial planning will aid you in collecting useful data that can help you achieve your objectives.
State the objectives
Select your audience
Ask the right questions
Distribute via the right channels
Report results in real-time
Identify key issues
Survey Distribution and Data Collection
As part of your survey strategy, think about how the survey is being received and completed. Are your respondents going to be in the office, at home or on the move?
The modern day consumer is very engaged with their smartphone. In fact, it has become the main device for mobile research and communicating directly with brands, businesses, and friends. Your mobile responsive survey can be delivered directly to smartphones and tablets, reaching audiences on the move.
What are the Challenges of Gathering Data?
The key challenge for the success of most surveys is making sure the questionnaire is accessible for your target audience.
Features that will help increase response rates are:
Multi Language surveys: Create just one survey in as many different languages as you like. The benefit means that you can survey anyone in the world with the same questionnaire, giving them the choice of language at the outset. This should lead to increased response rates and more reliable results for analysis.
Sending surveys via SMS: Reach a wider audience by catching users whilst they are on the move. Mobile Squared anticipates Smartphones in use to grow 63.5% to 4.48 billion users by end-2018. Sending survey invites via SMS allows you to reach potential respondents in the field, at the exact moment their opinion is formed.
Offline surveys: Collect face-to-face feedback on your tablet or smartphone at the point of experience. This method allows you to gather the data you need anywhere, regardless of connectivity.
Section 3: Why Online Surveys Should be Part of Your Marketing Toolkit
Online surveys can provide an integral part of your research and measurement toolkit to help shape marketing strategy. Don’t think about sending surveys just to gather data on customer satisfaction, you can ask as much or as little as you want about any topic.
Features to Use When Planning Effective Online Surveys
Below we have highlighted 6 features available for building state-of-the-art surveys. All allow you to use online questionnaires to help you meet your marketing objectives.
Automation: Send bulk email and SMS survey invitations, send reminders and easily manage contact lists. Check on the status of your invites, track open rates, views, failures and opt-outs.
Security and compliance: Control access to any of your surveys by applying password protection and setting username/password security. Also, set passwords for your survey results in order to keep the private, private.
Multi-language accessibility: Create surveys in any language, including those with right-to-left formatting, for use with worldwide audiences.
Branding & design: Customise everything from the logo and background image to the fonts and question colours in order to build trust and loyalty to your brand.
Accessibility & compatibility: Send surveys that are compatible with mobile devices, support different languages and integrate with your social media networks.
Real-time reporting: Immediately use and act on the respondent data, testimonials, market data and satisfaction feedback you collect. As Sean Jackson explains in his post in Digital Marketing magazine, companies need to be able to analyse data in real-time. “By identifying relevant data quickly, companies can improve their competitiveness and the performance they deliver to customers”.
Conclusion
By instituting the strategy highlighted in this report, you can use online surveys to act on customer feedback to make informed decisions in all areas of your business. Use the information from the data collected to strengthen your customer offerings and improve company processes.
We hope this guide on the benefits and effective use of online surveys is useful - please share it and send us your feedback or questions.
Thanks to Mo for sharing their advice and opinions in this post. Mo Naser is an industry expert in the field of online survey software. In his job as Sales & Marketing Director he introduces people and organisations to SmartSurvey by demonstrating how advanced survey software can help them make informed business decisions. SmartSurvey has provided over 100,000 users in businesses & organisations worldwide with powerful, market leading software that delivers real insights to empower effective decisions. Follow SmartSurvey on Twitter, LinkedIn & Google+
How JD Sports outdoors brands Blacks and Millets integrated personalisation into their experience
With average online conversion rates still languishing below 5 percent for retailers, the use of personalised merchandising techniques to boost conversion is a popular investment for many retail sites. This case study of two outdoor retailers who are now owned by JD Sports shows the type of benefits that are possible with different forms of personalised recommendations and how they can be used on different page types:
“Compared to average site conversion rate, conversion rates were increased by 332% on Millets.co.uk and 277% Blacks.co.uk where a visitor selected a personalised product recommendation. The proportion of site revenue from product recommendations is significant, accounting for nearly one fifth of all sales (19.0% at Millets 16.9% at Blacks)”.
These examples and results relate to improvements during 2014.
Before this project, the sites were already using default recommendations from the commerce management platform on some pages, so this case study shows the types of uplift that may be possible for retailers who have not implemented personalisation or are looking to improve their personalisation. To help make the business case for investment in a personalisation tool it’s common to complete an A/B test on select product categories to prove the effectiveness of product recommendations solution. The results showed a 10% increase in conversion rates when Barilliance Recommendations were shown against the default recommendations Blacks had previously been using.
As well as the improvements to the customer experience and the direct sales benefits this gives, other requirements from the service included ease of use and a ‘software as a service’ SaaS platform that would enable personalisation to updated and new campaigns added without the need for IT support.
How does personalisation work?
The types of personalisation used include both automated and rules-based up-sell and cross-sell personalisation as the examples below show. Increased conversion rates and sales are the ultimate aim of a CRO project like this, but when a personalization solution is implemented, there will also be improvements in micro-conversion steps, such as an increase in conversion to product pages views. Following an initial data indexing phase, the recommendations increased bother the number of product page views and average time on site
The Barilliance product recommendations engine makes recommendations based on the intent and preferences of each visitor based on the page types they browse and product categories they interact with. More than 20 types of product recommendations are automatically presented to site visitors on category pages, product pages and basket pages. In addition to the auto-generated product recommendations, the teams at Millets and Blacks also create up-sell and cross sell merchandising campaigns that override the auto recommendations.
Examples of personalised product recommendations
In this section of the case study we look at examples of different types of personalisation
1. What customers ultimately buy recommendation
We've started with this type of recommendation since it's the most important to get right. A recent research study evaluating types of product recommendations , found that out of the 20+ product recommendations types that were reviewed, the most engaging recommendation type was ‘What customers ultimately buy’. This is the equivalent of the well-known Amazon recommendation "What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?" Here's an example from
One of the rules previously implemented on the Blacks.co.uk site relates to the weather: on a rainy day, whenever visitors were about to conduct a purchase on the blacks.co.uk site they were presented with recommendations of some waterproof essentials:
An example of a cross-sell personalized product recommendations (this rule was created by Blacks marketers and is auto presented to anyone who has any of the following products: shoe, boot, wellies, wellington in their shopping basket.
This is another example of related product recommendations:
3. Example of auto-generated product recommendations
Since it's not practical to create rule-based recommendations for all systems, auto-generated recommendations are essential too. In this example from Millets, a selection of top-sellers are automatically presented.
Looking at the Return-on-investment for the project as a whole, for every £ spent on the personalisation technology, JD Sports revenue from recommendations was £291.7.
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Thanks to Mo for sharing their advice and opinions in this post. Mo Naser is an industry expert in the field of online survey software. In his job as Sales & Marketing Director he introduces people and organisations to 
