It goes without saying that the content you create and share is the essence of building your personal brand. Producing top quality content, in high volumes and in new formats, will have you standing out …
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Running a blog is a lot of work. You have to continually feed it new content, keep up with WordPress updates, maintain your hosting account, moderate comments, respond to readers…dozens, maybe even hundreds, of little tasks. On top of all that, there’s promoting and monetizing your blog, which is even more work. It’s hard for …
The post Should I Outsource My Blog? 5 Questions to Help You Decide first appeared on Online Web Store Site.
The age of the smartphone opened up a whole new window for businesses to connect with their customers in an interactive way using apps. Because apps allow customers to interact with businesses from anywhere at any time, apps quickly became popular. Unfortunately, apps are not as exciting to consumers as they were in their early …
The post When Should You Use Progressive Web Apps? first appeared on Online Web Store Site.
The post When Should You Use Progressive Web Apps? appeared first on ROI Credit Builders.
Running a blog is a lot of work.
You have to continually feed it new content, keep up with WordPress updates, maintain your hosting account, moderate comments, respond to readers…dozens, maybe even hundreds, of little tasks. On top of all that, there’s promoting and monetizing your blog, which is even more work.
It’s hard for anyone to manage, and the larger your blog grows, the worse the situation becomes. That’s why it’s good to prepare in advance for blogging eventualities you might face.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, one of the questions you should ask yourself is “should I outsource my blog?”
If so, there’s a few ways to do this.
You could split up the work with guest posts, staff bloggers, or outsource your blog completely. The method you select will depend on a couple of things.
When you blog, you need to build trust, bonds, and relationships with your readers. They grow to know you and like you, and they can’t wait to read your next post.
There’s a downfall to this though: your readership may want content only from you. They may be turned off if you step back and start outsourcing your blog posts.
What will happen to your blog if you outsource your blogging? It depends.
If a blogger like Dooce or Naomi Dunford decided to outsource their blog, their readers would probably revolt. Their personalities are such a large part of the blog that it would be hard to get their readers to accept anyone else.
If your blog is already big and established, and you have thousands of loyal readers, it could be tough to outsource your blog. There’s a good chance you’ll lose some readers if you hire staff or start adding guest posters.
Fans will read their work politely, but it’s really you they want. It will take time, a good plan, and weathering rumbles from readers until they accept it.
No one likes change, but eventually, things will settle down. They’ll hang in there, especially if you’re still publishing quality content, are active with posting now and again, and if you hire a blogger whose style and tone match your brand personality. Make sure the blogger also provides similar-quality advice, info, or entertainment as you’ve been giving.
Of course, all of that only matters if you have an audience. What if you’re just getting started?
The truth is it’s a lot easier. You can build your blog around posting awesome content, rather than one particular personality. It won’t matter where the content comes from; as long as it’s awesome, your readers will be happy. That leaves the door open for you to hire other writers.
You can’t hire just anyone to write for your blog. You need to find a writer who fits with your business brand, its mission, and the level of knowledge your blog provides. Of course, this writer also has to be able to fit in with your goals and get results.
Here are some questions to think about before bringing someone on:
(Note that I didn’t mention, “How much do they cost?” We’ll get to that in a bit.)
First, though, recognize that outsourcing writing comes down to basically trusting someone with your business reputation. You’re not just shoving off a task; you’re giving someone permission to represent you and your business.
This means the person you hired needs to be able to maintain your credibility (or enhance it), please your readers and get them talking, and generally make your life better and easier by freeing up your time and becoming an asset to your blog.
Good writers don’t work for free, but they don’t always want just money, either.
Some ask for marketing exposure. Others want a link to their blog, republication rights, or a barter arrangement.
Before hiring someone, decide what you bring to the table. Can you send them traffic? Build their credibility? Improve their search engine rankings? Recommend their products and services to your readers?
You need to have something to offer in exchange for a writer’s work (and you’ll need more than $10 and a link), so figure out what you’re prepared to give in return for what the blogger brings to you.
In general, the more you give, the more you get.
Pay $10 for a blog post without offering anything else in exchange, and you’ll probably get a bad headline, sloppy grammar, and ordinary ideas, none of which would do much to build your blog.
At the other end of the spectrum, some bloggers will do everything for you, including editing, polishing, getting photos, and promoting your post to generate traffic. You’ll pay a lot more, anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars per post, but you’ll be getting a lot more for the money, too.
Ghostwriters write on your behalf and you present the work as your own. The President uses ghostwriters for his speeches; nothing wrong with that.
It’s controversial, however, especially when it comes to blogging. Some feel it’s dishonest.
Others feel that there’s nothing wrong with hiring someone to help write and share your knowledge with your audience. There’s no rule that says you must slave over writing posts if you absolutely can’t stand it, don’t have the time, or just don’t want to.
Here’s another argument: if your writing skills aren’t up to snuff, you might be potentially damaging your credibility and sales.
People with average writing skills often hire ghostwriters who turn their notes, audio files, thoughts, and outlines into great posts. You’re using the same knowledge; someone else is just doing the writing. Often, it’s the knowledge that your readers care about, not who puts it into words.
Ghostwriting may be a great option for you if you don’t like to spend time writing, can’t write well, aren’t seeing the results you want, or want time to develop other areas of your business.
Every time you make a change in your business, there’s always the risk it might not have been the best decision.
Let’s say you hire a writer, work with a few guest posters, or decide to hire a ghostwriter. After a couple of months, you realize that you’re not getting the results you wanted; maybe traffic is down or your audience has shifted or sales have dropped.
Don’t freak out. It happens. All you need to do is adjust. Unless you’ve completely trashed your business reputation, you can always change your content and blogging strategy.
You can go back to blogging yourself, hire a new writer with a different personality, get a ghostwriter to write more posts for you; whatever works.
As we’ve demonstrated in this article, if you’re wondering “should I outsource my blog,” the answer is: it depends.
No matter what you decide about outsourcing your blogging, you’re never stuck and committed forever. A blog is just a marketing tool that you can play with and test, adapt to your needs, and measure for effectiveness as you go along, just like any other form of marketing.
If you’re nervous to start or shift your blogging strategy, reach out to us for a consultation. We are here to help you find success with your blog and content marketing in general.
The post Should I Outsource My Blog? 5 Questions to Help You Decide appeared first on Neil Patel.
The age of the smartphone opened up a whole new window for businesses to connect with their customers in an interactive way using apps.
Because apps allow customers to interact with businesses from anywhere at any time, apps quickly became popular.
Unfortunately, apps are not as exciting to consumers as they were in their early days. This has resulted in app retention rates declining rapidly and, for some brands, their revenue has declined with them.
That’s why progressive web apps are becoming increasingly popular.
Progressive web apps (PWAs) are regular web applications/pages designed to look and function like native mobile applications. PWAs use features of web browsers and advanced enhancement strategies to give users a native app-like experience on any device.
In short, a progressive web app fuses the look, feel, and ease of use of an app but with the easy coding of a website.
What’s the difference between native, hybrid, and progressive web apps?
Despite being limited in tapping into a device’s native capabilities, are there any advantages of using progressive web apps?
There certainly are. Here are some of the most prominent:
Another significant advantage of PWAs is users can save them on their home screens without the hassle of downloading. This allows the PWA to load faster the next time it’s used.
One reason users love apps is they generally offer better experiences than web applications. However, developing and maintaining native apps is a lot of work, not to mention the expenses involved.
If your users use different platforms (Android, iOS, etc.), you have to code your app for each platform.
PWAs, however, don’t require you to code for each platform. They were designed with the philosophy of “code once, use everywhere.” Once you code your PWA, it can be used in-browser (as a website or web app), on desktops, and on mobile devices.
This often results in better performance, improved retention rates, and, ultimately, an affordable application offering your users a positive user experience (UX).
One reason brands develop native apps is to cater to users who return to their websites to perform specific actions frequently. Apps make it easier for these functions to be performed without going to the brand’s website. They also have characteristics that make them fun to use.
You can use progressive apps in the same situations native apps are used—for applications you expect your visitors to visit frequently.
Other times you should consider using a progressive web app are when:
If you meet any of the criteria above, chances are you need a progressive app.
Now that you know what a progressive web app is, let’s look at some examples.
Uber, the ride-hailing company, saw an opportunity to expand their customer base by creating a progressive web app to make it easier and faster to request rides. The PWA works well regardless of location, network speed, or device.
For people who love keeping abreast of news and trends across the globe, Flipboard is a must-have. To increase their reach and enable users to have access to their favorite online magazine, Flipboard developed a PWA.
Reduced data usage enables users to enjoy a fast, sleek experience even in places with poor network coverage.
In a bid to drive more online orders, Starbucks invested in a progressive web app. Even when offline, customers can browse the menu and add items to their carts. Once back online, they can then place their orders.
Any industry can use progressive web apps. If you can serve your customers via a website or an app, you can also serve them using a PWA.
Thanks to the many advantages that PWAs offer, there are myriad reasons why you should use one. Let’s look at nine of the most common ones.
Because progressive web apps are easy and cheaper to develop than typical apps, you could have yours running in no time. If you’re starting from scratch, you’re probably better off starting with a progressive web app as it will get to market faster.
Since it has most of your website’s core functionalities, you’ll still be able to offer your customers good service and a positive user experience.
One of the main reasons for high bounce rates is a sluggish website or app. Users don’t want to wait long for a page to load.
That’s another great reason to use progressive web apps.
Progressive web apps help reduce bounce rates as they offer users a fast and seamless experience. Take, for example, Superbalist. By implementing a progressive web app, they reduced their bounce rate by a whopping 21 percent.
If you want to increase the time users spend on your pages, a progressive web app is one way you can do that.
Users will often abandon your page if it loads slowly. Because a progressive web app is lightweight and doesn’t put a lot of demand on a device’s resources, it loads pages fast.
Transitioning to another page is also seamless.
This can result in users spending more time on your pages. For example, Pinterest invested in a progressive web app for mobile experiences, which resulted in time spent on page increasing by 40 percent.
Because of the lack of heavy coding and service workers’ use, progressive web apps can load information faster than traditional websites. Since fast loading times can be the difference between a conversion and a drop-off, offering users a quick way to interact with your brand is essential.
Apart from speed, PWAs are generally more reliable than both traditional websites and apps. By design, there are fewer things that could go wrong. Because they’re network-independent and platform agnostic, they should work every time on any platform.
One of the main drivers of conversions in today’s highly competitive landscape is UX. Progressive web apps rank highly among platforms that offer the best UX.
If increasing conversions is important to you, take a cue from AliExpress, who increased their conversion rate for first-time users by 104 percent.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the main pillars of digital marketing. Every marketer is always looking for strategies to make their brand more visible on search engine results pages (SERPs) and drive organic traffic to their website.
This is one area in which progressive web apps outshine native apps.
Native apps, because they’re hosted on the users’ devices, aren’t discoverable online. However, because progressive apps are essentially websites, they’re seen by search engines.
But discoverability is not the only advantage PWAs have over native apps. Other advantages include that progressive web apps are:
If you want to boost your SEO while giving your users a native app-like experience, a progressive web app may be the solution.
Research shows that mobile devices drive 65 percent of all e-commerce traffic. If you’re in an industry that relies heavily on mobile traffic, you’ll undoubtedly want to leverage progressive web apps.
Because your users don’t have to download an app, you could enjoy better retention and engagement rates.
While progressive web apps work on any platform, they’re notably useful on mobile devices. Mobile devices have less ability to load large websites or heavy apps, which results in slow load speeds and poor UX.
Progressive web apps solve this problem by offering users the same experience without demanding their device’s resources.
There are close to three million apps on Google’s Play store. Unfortunately, for most of the apps downloaded, only 25 percent of users use any given app after the day they downloaded it.
App abandonment results in a huge waste of time and resources for the developers and businesses sponsoring those apps’ development.
Again, this is where progressive web apps can save the day.
A few reasons why progressive web apps help retain users more are:
Progressive web apps are an excellent way of keeping your customers engaged with your brand.
One of the most significant limitations of native apps is that Google or Apple must process all in-app financial transactions. No third parties are allowed. For some businesses, this arrangement can be limiting.
With progressive web apps, on the other hand, you’re not bound by such regulations. You can choose any payment processor of your choice, just as you would on your website. You’re also able to monetize your PWA in any way you wish.
Progressive web apps are the future of web browsing. More than that, they could be the future of customer experience in the e-commerce world.
That’s why you must invest in developing one for your businesses.
With many advantages ranging from ease of development to improved SEO to creating exceptional user experiences, investing in a progressive web app may be worth the time.
Have you developed a progressive web app for your business?
The post When Should You Use Progressive Web Apps? appeared first on Neil Patel.
The average American sees up to 10,000 ads and brand messages every single day. Sounds a little overwhelming, right? That’s because it is.
After seeing this many ads every day, viewers simply stop noticing them—meaning they aren’t engaging with them. As a result, you miss out on sales opportunities.
You need to go further to engage your target audience and convert them by personalizing the whole marketing experience through interactive marketing tools. Here’s what you need to know.
Pretend for a moment that you’re looking for new hair color. It’s tricky because you’re unsure which colors suit you, and you could use some personalized help.
Finally, a website catches your eye because there’s an interactive tool designed to help you pick a hair color. All you need to do is input some simple details, such as your skin tone and eye color, and you’ll see a list of compatible hair dyes.
The outcome? You purchase a hair dye. In other words, you just went from a potential lead to a paying customer, and it’s all thanks to that interactive website tool.
Essentially, this is precisely how interactive tools for marketing are meant to work. And this particular example isn’t imaginary—you can check out Boots to see what I mean:
If you go through the sequence, you’ll find a list of compatible colors. Then, when you click on a color, a link pops up to take you straight to the right product:
How’s that for convenience?
With just a few minutes of interaction, users get helpful, meaningful results—and you may make a sale.
That’s just one example of interactive tools in a sales context. However, you can build many interactive tools and discover at least as many ways you can use them in your marketing strategy.
Here are five common types of interactive marketing tools we can use in different ways.
This one’s similar to what we just worked through, but it’s not quite identical—we’re taking it one step further.
Embedded “quizzes” like the one we just looked at rely on customers clicking on certain answers. The algorithm then presents people with solutions matching their answers.
Conversely, virtual try-ons use augmented reality or simple image captures to let people use selfies to “try on” everything from makeup to glasses.
The benefit? Customers know whether the product suits them or not, so they’re more likely to buy. Briefly, here’s how they work:
It’s not just limited to beauty products or accessories, either. For instance, platforms like Amazon allow their users to “place” furniture around the room to see if they look good in their home. The same technology applies.
Customers sometimes find buying products like shoes online challenging because it’s hard to determine what size to get.
That’s where measurement tools come in. Let’s break down Nike’s Digital Foot Measurement Tool as an example.
It’s easy to see how this may lead to more sales and, happily, fewer returns.
Calculators are useful interactive tools for your website and can be used in more ways than one might think, including as:
Whichever sector you’re in, there’s a good chance you can use an interactive calculator to personalize the user experience.
For example, say you run a kitchen supplies website, and you want people to buy your recipe books. They’ve asked questions about how healthy the recipes are.
A nutritional calculator can help them out and, in turn, encourage people to spend more time on your website and potentially have more trust in your brand.
We’ve explored what interactive marketing tools are and how they work. There’s still a fundamental question remaining: Can these tools increase your sales?
The answer is: Yes! Here are my top seven reasons why interactive tools in your marketing strategy can increase sales:
Customer engagement is vital, but it’s hard to stand out from the crowd. Here are two reasons why:
Don’t worry, though. This time is where interactive tools have their chance to shine. 66% of marketers report an increase in engagement levels after introducing interactive content to their marketing plans.
Ultimately, increased customer engagement is a pretty effective way to generate more sales in the long-term, so it’s worth using interactive tools in your content.
Conversion is what marketing is all about, and interactive tools could help you do just that. Let me show you how it’s working for JINS, a prescription eyewear provider.
As a forward-thinking company, JINS wanted a new, innovative way to increase conversion rates and improve customer experience. Their solution came via virtual try-ons for glasses.
All someone needs to do is turn on their camera and upload a selfie to the platform. Once that’s done, the user chooses which frames they’re interested in and puts them onto the selfie.
Here’s what it looks like in action. On the left, we have the selfie, and on the right, the actual frames after the customer made their purchase:
Potential customers now have a quick and accurate way to gauge which glasses to buy! According to JINS, conversion rates have drastically improved since they added this interactive tool.
Like I said earlier, this is not just about trying on hair colors or checking out fashion accessories. This technology is about making big purchases, too.
Take Target, for example. Users upload a picture of their room and place a true-to-life copy of a furniture piece in the space. They can also download the Target app and try out the augmented reality version instead, which is a little more engaging because you can move the product around the room. Amazon does this with many of their products in their app as well.
This feature allows users to check if the furniture or other large item fits their space before purchasing it, which means they’re more likely to click “buy” and less likely to make returns.
Do you see a pattern of personalization forming? Interactive tools allow us to personalize marketing like never before. Here’s why it matters from a sales perspective:
These stats tell us two things:
First, customers crave personalization. They want to feel valued by companies.
Second, they’re more likely to become loyal customers if there’s a personal touch to your marketing efforts.
This is a no-brainer way to build brand loyalty and increase your chance of future sales.
I’ve touched on this already, but it’s worth emphasizing just how effective a lead generation strategy using interactive tools can be from a sales perspective.
Firstly, there’s an SEO angle. If you can attract more social media shares and inbound links, you should generate more traffic. Additionally, if people spend more time on your website and there’s a lower bounce rate, your search engine ranking can improve. Social shares may boost your SEO ranking by over 20%, too. (You can check who’s linking back to you with my free backlink checker.)
The upshot of interactive tools catching people’s eyes is that there could be more organic traffic and better quality leads because the people you’re attracting are already looking for your product or service.
Let’s think about this from another angle, too. The data you’re capturing from prospects as they use your tools may help you figure out what your customers want so you can improve your products and services.
Consequently, you can generate more quality leads in the long-term, all without much extra effort from a marketing perspective.
Sounds great, right?
Yes, interactive tools can help you automate your marketing efforts, and the tools do much of the work for you. The algorithms detect what the customer wants and make recommendations or offer solutions based on this information.
This can help you increase sales and make alterations as needed because you can:
Without traffic coming to your website, there’s little chance you’ll make sales. Again, interactive tools can help you out here. Here’s why.
Firstly, 47% of people use ad blockers now, so there’s a chance some potential customers won’t even see your marketing if you’ve focused efforts on those. Interactive tools help you sidestep this problem.
Secondly, 79% of successful marketers say interactive tools and content encourage people to return to their websites. It’s not just about creating new content, either—you can use the same content time and time again when you have interactive tools.
Think about it. If a customer loves the eyeglasses they purchased from you the first time around, they’re more likely to return to your online shop. There, they’ll use the same virtual try on tool they used before to check out different pairs. You didn’t have to try to impress them with new interactive tools, promotional emails, or any other marketing strategy—they liked what they used the first time and engaged with it again.
How’s that for a cost-efficient way to solidify a lasting relationship with your customer base?
Why should you build interactive tools to increase your sales? Well, as we can see, they’re not just a reliable way to generate leads and improve conversion rates, but they’re cost-effective, too.
They’re not especially challenging to deploy, either. It’s easy enough to find interactive tools you can tweak to suit your needs and embed them on your website. If you want more help with introducing interactive tools into your marketing strategy, check out my consulting services.
Have you tried interactive marketing tools yet?
The post Why You Should Build Interactive Tools to Increase Sales appeared first on Neil Patel.
Even during COVID-19, you can still get financing via crowdfunding. But you should know these recession crowdfunding terms.
Crowdfunding can seem to be a bit of a mystery. Why are people willing to part with their cash in this particular manner? There are a lot of recession crowdfunding terms thrown around all the time and they can sometimes get confusing. So consider this your primer on some basic crowdfunding terminology.
Because even if you do not think you will use this method of fundraising, you will probably encounter it all the same.
But before going any further, does crowdfunding ever actually, you know, work?
For some companies which crowdfund, the rewards are great. According to Crowdfunding Blog, the single most successful crowdfunding campaign was for the Pebble Time Smartwatch. And that was as of November of 2018. But before you run out and buy one, note that they are now a part of FitBit.
As in, they went out of business in July of 2018. And this is a business which raised over $20 million in 2015. That is no typo. And in point of fact, Pebble holds three of the top six spots in the biggest crowdfunding successes of all time. Together, these three crowdfunding campaigns took in a staggering $43.39 million. This is about $8 million more than the town of Huntington, New York (population 203,264) budgeted for highways in 2018.
Hence there is one thing that should be clear to all. Runaway crowdfunding success is no guarantee whatsoever of actual success.
But now it is time to get to the recession crowdfunding terms themselves.
A project is what you are asking for money for. Projects can take a few months or even years. The more complex your project, then (usually) the longer it will take. The person starting the project is generally called the project runner or the project creator.
Projects can be for goods or for services.
What frustrates you the most about funding your business in a recession? Tell us in the comments.
The people who donate to the project are called donors. Or sometimes they are referred to as contributors or backers.
On rare occasions, they may even be called investors. However, such a word connotes a far different relationship. Many crowdfunding platforms shy away from such a term. And this is for good reason. It is because investors and investments may come under the purview of the SEC. The Securities and Exchange Commission exists in order to protect investors. This is in ways not current available to donors 0r other contributors to the success of businesses.
Hence, unless the crowdfunding platform is specifically for investing in companies, more like angel investing, you are not too terribly likely to see the investor.
The act of requesting money on a crowdfunding platform is called a campaign. This is the soup to nuts of crowdfunding. So it covers everything from the first pitch to the final collection or perk distribution.
In general, donor levels refer to the amount of rewards which are on offer for a particular size donation. Note: I will get to rewards in a moment. Your donor levels might look something like this:
Donor levels are limited by your imagination and your capacity for handling complexity. After all, five separate donor levels mean you are keeping five separate lists. If you are well-organized, then this is possible. But it is not easy. Five separate donor levels are plenty, particularly for people running their first campaigns.
Truthfully, you will be a far happier person if you cut the number of donor levels to no more than three.
Of course, time and budget should be considerations for anyone. But that is not just the case for crowdfunding.
What frustrates you the most about funding your business in a recession? Tell us in the comments.
One basic about crowdfunding for creative projects is that you will need to provide incentives for your donors to open up their wallet. Crowdfunding to help someone with their medical expenses is a different animal. So let us get back to crowdfunding for business funds.
This is where perks come in.
Your rewards can be nearly anything. But it can quite literally pay to have them relate directly to your project.
For example, if you are crowdfunding to get enough money to back your new smart phone invention, then your rewards probably should not be your grandmother’s blueberry muffin recipe. And this is no matter how wonderful it may be. Instead, you could base your rewards around your invention. So this could be everything from offering a case to an extra battery or charger. Or you might even offer an app which only your donors can download.
Rewards are a very real part of crowdfunding and they can often be a part which project creators do not take into consideration. Sometimes, we think a product will go to market in, say, a year. But circumstances change, and now one year turns into two. So be it – this sort of thing happens all the time.
But it is an issue if your perks are dependent on your product going out the door. So if you need to fulfill perk promises to 10,000 people, you will likely find you need to do one of any of these things:
Reneging is not an option, and it can get you on the wrong end of a lawsuit if you are not careful.
A fourth option is delaying perk fulfillment. Not every donor will go for that.
Sending out so many perks is a major task. It can take months to get everything out the door.
Why does it take so long? Consider the degree of complexity. Let’s go with an easy number: 100. So let’s say you have 10 separate perk levels and they each have 10 slots. Once an eleventh person wants a certain perk level, they just plain can’t have it, as it’s gone. Are you with me so far?
Your ten separate perk styles may be of differing weights. So this means they will have different shipping costs. If any of your 100 donors are outside of the United States, then you will have to pay more to ship to them as well. Plus of course you have to make sure all of the addresses are complete and correct.
It becomes even more complex when your perks do not fit into such neat little buckets. This is where you have, say, eight perks. And you might have anywhere from 12 to 1,000 people who are supposed to be getting them. Plus some people may have donated twice and are waiting for two separate perks. Or maybe even more.
See how ugly and difficult this can get – fast?
What frustrates you the most about funding your business in a recession? Tell us in the comments.
The easiest way to get around these issues is to offer intangible perks. In our smart phone example, the exclusive app would fit the bill nicely. Your best bet is to make the intangible perk good for the largest number of donors possible.
Hence if your lowest level is $10, and you have 100 of those slots, then you could just give 100 people a download code. This is a lot faster than figuring out postage for all of those donors. Plus, with an intangible perk, technically the number of perks is effectively infinite. But scarcity gets people interested, so you might not want to make the downloads never-ending.
For the more tangible perks, leave them for far smaller groups, such as the 25 people who are at your two top donor levels. Mailing to 25 people is far easier than it is to mail to 10,000 people. And this is so even if the mailings are difficult.
No? Then what do you call a coupon sent in email? See, there are ways to offer intangible perks even when the entire business operation is very, very tangible. Coupons have been around, seemingly, forever. People will gladly print them off or carry them in their smartphones for scanning.
Or there can be discount codes, which are virtually the same thing, except with no designing of a coupon to be cut out or scanned. Amazon, for example, gives these out all the time. And the vast majority of backers will know exactly how to use them.
There is, of course, more to recession crowdfunding terms than this. But these should at the very least get you started. And as always, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask them in the comments section of this blog post.
In Part 2, we will talk about types of crowdfunding and types of platforms. There’s more to this unique form of financing than just recession crowdfunding terms.
The post Recession Crowdfunding Terms You Should Know, Unveiled appeared first on Credit Suite.
University student Should Have A Student Credit Card Pupil credit scores cards are additionally referred to as university credit rating cards, we will certainly utilize the identifier, trainee credit score card in this details launch. Generally, for a lot of university pupils, their trainee credit score card is their very first credit rating card and …
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University student Should Have A Student Credit Card Pupil credit scores cards are additionally referred to as university credit rating cards, we will certainly utilize the identifier, trainee credit score card in this details launch. Generally, for a lot of university pupils, their trainee credit score card is their very first credit rating card and …
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In today’s global marketplace, it’s a great time to be a consumer. The rise of e-commerce means more and more businesses are striving to get the consumer’s attention, offering better prices and services just to keep them interested. With online sales representing 16 percent of total retail ad spend, business owners don’t want to leave money on the table.
The smartest business owners know that the only way to consistently beat the competition is by offering more value to customers.
However, if everyone in my industry is selling the same products, at the same price, how can I stay competitive? The answer: Create memorable experiences.
If you’re looking for a unique way to offer value to consumers, customized products can be a powerful, engaging tool that improves customer satisfaction and drives up conversions in the process.
Customized products exist as a way for consumers to customize their purchases and walk away with a unique brand experience.
Examples include:
These examples showcase the importance of offering customization and customization.
It’s not just a theory. Epsilon’s research found that 80% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase when brands offer customized experiences.
The concept of customization was designed just a few decades ago to promote exclusivity. Customized products were a status symbol, a vehicle to make consumers with massive budgets feel special.
Although that’s still the case with certain products (exotic cars and designer handbags, for example), rapid advances in technology have made mass-customization a possibility for everyone.
Still, despite the lowered barrier to entry, product customization maintains a certain allure to consumers. This begs the question: If the key component of customized products is no longer there (the exclusive status symbol), then why are consumers still so interested?
The answer is actually pretty straightforward: Businesses were operating with a fundamental misunderstanding of what made customization so appealing in the first place.
What massive brands around the world have figured out, and what e-commerce business owners need to understand, is that exclusivity was only a small piece of the puzzle.
Product customization can have a massive impact on customer satisfaction, and by extension, your e-commerce business’s success. Why? Because not all of your customers want to experience your product in the same way.
Think about it. When it comes to something like marketing, we understand that different customers have different needs. The first-time visitor to your site needs a different call-to-action than the customer with the abandoned shopping cart. Customized customer experiences are nothing new, it’s just time that e-commerce businesses started to expand their customization horizons.
Where things get really interesting for me is when you start considering the potential financial value this brings to companies all over the world. Let’s not ignore the fact that 91% of consumers are more likely to shop with brands that provide relevant offers and recommendations. More specifically, it puts business owners in a win-win scenario.
When you offer dozens of different variants and options to users, you’re creating a more inclusive marketplace, and different consumers with unique priorities can still walk away with something they like.
Even more interesting is the capacity for testing. You don’t need to make everything in your store customizable. Instead, you can test for specific features and determine the ones that people love.
Over time, business owners can collect data and use this information to build product offerings that their customers are statistically more interested in. More value for consumers, more value for the business. Win-win.
The benefits of customized products are pretty easy to measure. When a consumer can personalize a purchase, it gives them a chance to “stand out” and be distinctive.
Let’s use the example of a custom T-shirt. On the surface, it seems like customers are simply modifying something to maximize the value of that product. In reality, the experience is a bit more layered.
For the sake of analysis, let’s break down a study conducted by the Journal of Information Technology Management.
We’ve established that customizing products brings consumers a certain level of enjoyment. We can view “Enjoyment” as the umbrella category.
Within that category, there are two subcategories of enjoyment. On one hand, there’s “Use Enjoyment” and “Design Enjoyment.” Certain customers will fall into certain categories, depending on what they value in particular.
Each of those subcategories had its own subdivisions.
Consumers who fell in the “Use Enjoyment” category either enjoyed the unique appearance of the item or enjoyed the functionalities of the item that fulfilled their unique needs. Consumers in the “Design Enjoyment” category either enjoyed innovating or enjoyed participating in the design process.
You can use this framework as a way to test what your consumers expect from your business, but the key lesson to keep in mind here is that product customization should be an engaging, exciting process for customers.
All of this can get a bit abstract, so let’s take a look at a tangible example. Here’s how Dollar Shave Club handles customization.
They start with some strong and clear copy, and with a single click, you’re building your custom Dollar Shave Club box.
From there, you’ll complete a quiz and come out on the other end with a straightforward recommendation and a strong call-to-action. Of course, you can further customize your options by scrolling down the page.
On the surface, this might look like just another way to sell their products. In reality, that’s only half the story. Every aspect of this quiz is designed to ensure that consumers are presented with a solution that accurately addresses their pain points.
Lenovo, on the other hand, actually lets you build out your dream laptop.
It’s important to keep the limitations in mind, of course. While the laptop would be customized, the capacity of the laptop is limited.
When creating your customized product offerings, remember that removing concerns about compatibility can make life much simpler for your consumer. Unless they’re particularly tech-savvy, they probably wouldn’t understand why certain components just don’t work together.
Alleviating friction before it becomes an issue is one of the many benefits that come from creating a rich customization experience.
All of that looks and sounds great, but how on earth are you supposed to create customized products for your consumers? After all, offering 100+ options isn’t exactly budget-friendly.
Well, remember that consumers aren’t just interested in custom products. They want customized experiences. Most business owners already know this. It’s the reason so much time and money goes into marketing campaigns.
Focusing on customized experiences helps you develop a deeper relationship with your consumers. They can buy products anywhere, but your business is the only one that helps them customize their experience. Those better experiences lead to customer satisfaction, brand loyalty, and hopefully, repeat customers!
So, with that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the tools you can use to build tailor-made products and experiences.
Whether you sell swimsuits, winter jackets, or everything in between, you understand that selling clothes online can be a customer satisfaction nightmare.
The biggest problem? Fit.
Everyone seems to have different definitions of small, medium, and large. While this can usually be fixed with a quick return and exchange, it tends to leave a bad taste in your customer’s mouth.
So rather than focusing on fixing the problem, let’s find a way to make sure it never happens again. Making it an engaging sales tool is just a bonus!
A Custom Fit quiz might seem simple but make no mistake: Making your customers feel more secure about their sizing choices means they’re more likely to purchase as possible sizing issues are avoided.
One of the most undervalued aspects of product customization is its potential for reducing friction.
When you offer to bundle an accessory with a particular product, you’re not just upselling to make some extra money on the sale. You’re addressing two possible customer pain points before they even arise.
Right off the bat, you’re making customers aware of the fact that a particular accessory is necessary to ensure they maximize their purchase. As a bonus, you’re able to confirm compatibility by clearly showing consumers which items they should pair together.
It’s a way to ensure that consumers walk away with everything they need after a single transaction. Further, it’s more than just a good sales tactic. It’s an effective, thorough customer satisfaction tactic.
Maximizing your sales and profit margins is always going to be a priority, and every tactic here is designed to support that goal.
That being said, selling a consumer on the concept of customized products is less about actively selling and more about creating experiences that guide customers down the sales funnel with valuable information.
As far as I’m concerned, the best-customized experiences sell themselves. Of course, it helps if you’re building experiences that are so compelling and engaging that consumers can’t help but click the “Buy” button.
Use these tactics to drive conversions while still keeping the shopping experience engaging and personal.
All this talk of customized products might have you worried that you’ll need to spend tons of money on new inventory and be stocked up for potential buyers.
In reality, the process should start small. Unless you have a massive budget, your best bet is to test the waters and figure out what versions of products consumers are actively seeking.
If you’re experimenting with customizable T-shirt colors, you don’t need 50 new colors. Start with a few set colors, and give yourself plenty of lead time so you don’t have to rush production.
People aren’t interested in new colors? You can phase them out without worrying that you’ve let hundreds of dollars go to waste.
We already discussed this a bit earlier, but the value of the customer quiz shouldn’t be understated.
Let’s say you frequently have website visitors that don’t have a well-defined shopping list yet. These are people who are just browsing and seeing what catches their eye.
Well, what if you could guide that person towards a sale, while also providing them with value in an engaging way? Sounds like a great way to kick-start your relationship, if you ask me. Keep in mind that 90% of consumers are willing to share their behavioral data if it’ll make their shopping easier.
By creating a simple quiz and offering customized product recommendations, you can accomplish so much.
For starters, customers will walk away with a much clearer understanding of their needs. They’ll also associate you with industry authority since your business showcased your know-how and expertise.
Beyond that, your consumers are one step closer to making a purchase through your site. All thanks to a simple, two-minute quiz.
Customized products are often seen as some sort of gimmick, a cheap way to offer variety instead of value.
Interestingly enough, I’ve found that well-designed customized products offer an impressive amount of value to consumers.
Consumers can be empowered by a process that simplifies their shopping experience. Or they can walk away with a deeper understanding of what they need from your business.
As long as your customized e-commerce experience is compelling, engaging, and generally value-driven, you can be optimistic that you’re enhancing your customer’s shopping experience and by extension, increasing your chances of making a sale.
What kind of customized products do you think offer the most value? Let me know in the comments below!
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