Why Testing is Key

A man I know who manages a high-end car dealership recently held an event for his top customers. To promote this event, he did three things:

Testing helps you get results. Image from Dave Bleasdale.

1) Mailed a postcard that encouraged customers to call and RSVP.

2) Sent an email that encouraged customers to call and RSVP.

3) Sent an email that said "click here to RSVP."

Here's what happened:

1) 100 people responded to the post card.

2) 150 people responded to the first email.

3) 500 people responded to the second email.

4) 600 people attended the event, and about 50 of them decided they were ready to buy another car.

This was a great lesson for my associate in testing.

Until this point, he hadn't been a big believer in email, or in clicking on things, but this proved to him without a doubt that he had to make things easy for customers if he wanted results, and that an email with a one-click RSVP was far easier for customers than asking them to call.

Next time, he'll do the one-click email first, and follow up only with the people who don't RSVP with other methods. It'll be faster, cheaper, and more effective.

So what are your takeaways here?

• Just because you've always done something a certain way doesn't mean that's the way you should do it this time.
• You have to meet customers where they are. If everyone's on email, then that's where you need to be, no matter how much you'd rather they were on the phone, or on Facebook.
• Testing often tells you things that challenge your assumptions, which is why you should do it. Don't assume that one approach will always work better because that's what conventional wisdom tells you. In this case, the business owner assumed a telephone call-to-action would work best because it had worked in the past, and because his high-end clientele liked a personal touch. It turned out that high-end customers still prioritized convenience over everything else.

What have you tested lately, and what were the results?

Need help setting up some tests? Let me know, I can help.

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How Facebook Ads Can Work for You

If you've tried online advertising and you're having trouble seeing any returns, you might want to give Facebook Ads a whirl. I think you'll find, like my clients have, that the targeting is easier to manage, easier to test, and can even be more affordable than other ad networks.

Creative Advertising Photo by Flickr user rooneg.

Say, for example, like the people installing a new window in my dining room, you run a local home improvement business. Like them, you're not seeing a lot of results from advertising in the phone book.


Here's what to do:

First, write the ad. Keep it simple. Use a headline that pops - I like to try a question, and then a call to action, like "Great deals on quality home repairs - windows, floors, more. Click for current specials."

Then, add an engaging photo. I like pictures of people. If you don't have any good photos of people, consider a membership in a site like iStockPhoto, where you can choose what you need from millions of photos with practically any subject matter.

Now, let's talk targeting. This is what's so amazing about Facebook ads, and one reason why people are valuing its upcoming IPO so highly. Anyone, yourself included, can deliver highly targeted ads to a group that's self-identified as interested in what you might be offering. How?

• First, you can target by location - by country, then by state, city, and/or zip code. For a business like this, I'd target by city - you're free to chose more than one.
• Next, you can target by demographics, including age, sex, interested in (for dating purposes), relationship status, and language. For an ad like this, I might choose people 30 and up, since they are more likely to own a home, and maybe test ad response for single vs. engaged or married people. I might change the photo to something more group or family-related for the engaged and married folks.
• Then comes the most exciting part - I can target this ad by likes and interests. I can choose fans of things like the DIY Network, Martha Stewart, Home Depot, and HGTV, since people interested in these kinds of things might want to fix up their houses. After I do this, Facebook will continue to suggest more opportunities for targeting. As you can imagine, this makes Facebook a powerful way to identify and connect with very targeted audiences.
• Finally, you can target by education and work. You can target people by level of education, by school attended, and also by where they work or worked in the past. I don't think we need this kind of targeting for the ad we're working on today, but it can come in handy for other things.

All that's left to do is set our budget by impressions (how many people see your ad), or clicks. Facebook provides suggested bids. We'll also set a daily budget for each ad campaign.

And finally, once your ads are up and running, Facebook provides reporting on who has responded, by gender, age, and location, to further help your future targeting. How cool is that?


So, are you advertising on Facebook yet? Why or why not? 

Let me know in the comments, or send me a note and I'll help you get set up.

Five Ways to Beat Last Week - Using Sales Data to Maximize Your Opportunity

If you're like most brick-and-mortar retailers, you see the majority of your sales on the weekend. So when you start your Monday morning, the first thing you do is take a look at last week's sales (you do, don't you?). This data, when used correctly, will help you to make this weekend's sales even better than the last one.

Photo: Flickr user GoodNCrazy.

Here's five steps to making the most of your opportunity:

1) Identify what worked last week.
-  What product generated the most net dollars?
-  What product generated the most net profit by unit? - Which promotion generated the most traffic?

2) Identify what you need to sell this week.
-  What inventory do you need to move the most? What products are sunsetting?
-  What were the most profitable products you sold last week?
-  What's new on the market that needs promotion?

3) Check your calendar and see what promotions you'll have in the marketplace right now.
-  What are you advertising in the paper and local magazines?
-  What are you advertising online?
-  Did you have any emails or social media promotions planned for this week? For what?

4) This should provide you with a pretty comprehensive landscape of where you are - what's working, what you need to sell, and, based on your current marketing calendar, what you're pushing already.

5) Now, take a look at what you can adjust for the week based on what you need to sell. Adjustments you make now on email and social promotions can make a big difference this weekend. If you've ignored any of the things listed under item #2 above, then use today to adjust your email, Facebook, and Twitter posts accordingly.

Need help making sense of all of this? Let's connect and I'll provide you with a system for capturing the right data early in the week to understand your sales landscape and adjust to maximize your profitability each weekend.

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News This Week: Shopping Habits of Frugalistas, Curated Content

Early online shopping. Flickr user Garethjmsaunders.

What should you be paying attention to this week?


39% of Americans have already started their holiday shopping, and some frugalistas are already done. Retailers discounted aggressively in October, and without any one toy or tech gadget rising to the top as this year's must have, there's no reason for shoppers to wait.

Your Takeaway: How are you helping holiday shoppers plan their shopping and get great deals? Help them get organized with gift lists and gift ideas by type of recipient. Click here more posts from this blog about holiday planning.

Macy's, Target and other major retailers now using editorial and curated content to drive sales. Macy's and Target both launched online magazine-type sites that include trending news, fashion guides, and user-generated content to help guide shoppers to the right looks.

Your Takeaway: You're probably not in a position to create something on the magnitude of what Macy's and Target are doing, but that doesn't mean you can't give your customers a little more guidance. Consider putting together outfits or other sets of product that go together, linking relevant posts from your blog to your product, and bringing up the prominence of customer generated content on your site. This doesn't just mean customer reviews - get customers to send you pics and videos of them using your products, and you may gain some marketing gold.

Consumers shop in stores but buy online, finds a new survey by electronics site Retrevo.com. The most typical behavior is for today's frugalista customers to find something in your store that they like, and then use their smartphones to compare other retailer's pricing and availability to yours.

Your takeaway: How will you measure up when customers do this? People don't always buy the least expensive thing, but you'll need to be competitive, on service and quality as well as price. Also, now is a good time to make sure your site is optimized for mobile and you're available on check-in sites like FourSquare. After all, people will be in your competitors' stores checking your prices, too.

Have a great weekend, and thanks for reading.

Your Customer Referral Program

Friends. Flickr user Glennharper.

What customer referral program, you ask?


The one you should have already.

The one you need to start this week. Here's why:

•  90% of customers seek others' opinions before making a purchase - using online customer reviews, Facebook, forums, and other tools to validate their purchasing decision. When we read online reviews and forum posts, we don't know who is putting forward their opinion, and it's sometimes hard to know whether or not to trust those opinions, and...
• People naturally trust the opinions of people they know over people they don't know, and it's vital that you make it easy for your most satisfied customers to tell everyone they know how great you are.

 
Simple enough, right?

How do you get started? Here are some ideas:

• On your web site, add a "tell a friend" button, where your customers can send your home page to others - on email and via social networks. Even better? Go one step further and let people share specific products with one another.
• Once a customer has made their purchase - add a "tell a friend what you just bought" button to the purchase confirmation page. 
• Make sure customers are able to share product reviews - their own or other people's - on email and via social networks.
• Add a page to allow customers to request catalogs for a friend, or a copy of your latest enewsletter.
• Reward referrals with discounts on future purchases. Give customers points or dollars towards their next order when they refer a new customers.

Need help getting it done? Drop me a line.

Creating Your Branding Statements

So, last week we talked about building your brand and what you need to do to create meaning and strength behind your brand.  I asked you three questions:

Boxer puppy. Flickr  user MythicSeabass.

1) What do you do?


2) How are you different than the competition?


3) What do you stand for?

Now let's go through a branding exercise - we'll answer these questions for a sample brand.

Imagine that you own a small, local pet-sitting service, called Pets n' Friends. So...

1) What do you do? 

Pets n' Friends offers dog walking and pet sitting services for local pet owners and their pets.

So far, so good...

2) How are you different than the competition?

We really care about your best animal friends. Our qualified pet sitters and dog walkers are not only specially trained, bonded, and insured, they are genuine animal lovers. Our pet people love spending time with your pets - interacting with them, snuggling them, walking them, and playing with them. We offer great value, with weekly, monthly, and annual packages tailored right to your pets' needs.

Great job! And finally...

3) What do you stand for?

At Pets n' Friends, we feel like your best animal friends deserve the best quality of care, even when you can't be there. We believe that pets that have lots of caring people around are the happiest and healthiest, so we've designed a full suite of programs for play, exercise, and companionship.

Well, there you go. How would you describe your brand?

Need help? Let me know.

Improve Your Web Site

Now is a great time to take another look at your web site.

Why?

Old-school web site. Photo: Flickr user Cybershotking.

It's a smart idea to do a regular site audit. Sometimes when we upgrade our design and update our content, important things get lost. Take some time today to go through this checklist:

• Is it easy for users to find multiple ways to contact you (online form, phone, email, live chat)? Is your contact information on every page?
• Are your navigation bars intuitive, and complete on every page?
• Does your search function deliver results that make sense? 
• Do graphics download quickly?
• Does your site look good using different web browsers and screen resolution?
• Does the user's natural progression through your site end in the result you want - an inquiry, purchase, or other engagement?
• Are you promoting your other customer channels, like Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn so users can join you there?

Hopefully you can answer yes to all of these questions. If not, fix these now, before they cost you more sales. Need help? Let me know.

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How LinkedIn Can Help You Build Your Business

You're a consumer-oriented business, so you don't need to be on LinkedIn, right?

Wrong. There's plenty on LinkedIn for you, even if you're not using it to sell directly to your customers.

Chain links. Photo: Flickr User Horia Varlan.

1) It's a great place to connect with others practicing your craft. Join groups, keep abreast of the news, and share ideas with folks who do what you do.

2) It's a great place to find vendors. Need an accountant? Need a PR or marketing manager? You can go on LinkedIn to read profiles and recommendations, and then connect to do business with just the click of a mouse.

3) It's a great place to recruit new employees. Search for the expertise you need, post open positions, and recruit. Find people who know people you know - people you can trust.

If you're looking for more ways to use LinkedIn to build your business, click here for an excellent post from Guy Kawasaki. 


Are you on LinkedIn? It would be great to connect with you there. Click here to connect with me.

Why All Marketing is Local

OK, all marketing isn't really local, but local marketing should be a strong component of your marketing strategy, whether your customers are consumers or other businesses. Why?

Local businesses. Flickr user RachelVorhees.

1) Being local gives you a natural connection to your customers. You're from the same place. You live and work in the same place, and this gives you a serious, valid reason to support one another.

2) You'll be able to make face-to-face connections. This is especially important if your customers are other businesses. You can call on new and prospective clients in person, sharing local stories, and building long-term connections. Your customers won't need to wait for you to fly into town to see you - you'll be able to stop by anytime. If you sell to consumers, you'll also be able to invite them to your store or call on them much more easily.

3) You'll have a much better understanding of the market than your non-local competition. Since you'll be selling to people who live and work in the same community as you do, you'll have an intrinsic understanding of the needs, environment, and conditions of that community. Knowing your local market inside and out will put you one rung above your non-local competition.


How do you access that local network? Simple is best - use your local papers (web and print properties), local events, local chambers of commerce and business groups, and local groups on LinkedIn to connect. Facebook also allows you to advertise by location, so you can find local customers there as well. Don't forget other networks that focus on local business reviews - like Yelp, ServiceMagic, and MerchantCircle.

What are you doing to strengthen your connection to your local community? Please share in the comments.

Are you local to the DC area? Drop me a line or let's connect on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Confident Consumers and Consumer Confidence

The Consumer Confidence Index®, which had improved a bit in July to 59.2, was down sharply at the end of August, to a worrying 44.5 - a 14.7 point drop.

Pensive piggy bank. Photo: Flickr user Bradipo.

How does consumer confidence affect your business?

Consumers are feeling pinched by gas prices, which remain fairly high, and poor job prospects, which aren't getting any better. Consumers surveyed felt that the short term outlook wasn't improving, and this means they are going to be holding off on purchases.

Couple this with the fact that negative customer reviews now mean more than ever, and you've got a recipe for slow sales.

So what do you do?

It's up to you to make your customers feel more confident - enough to buy from you for the first time, or to buy again. There are a couple of things you should consider here.

1) What's your guarantee? Do you have a 100% satisfaction guarantee? Customers want to know that you'll stand behind your product.

2) What's your return policy? If people change their minds, is it easy and quick to send it back?

3) How are you dealing with any negative reviews and problems? If you're not addressing these issues, and letting people know you are, people will be looking for a brand that's more reliable.

4) Like Mom said, don't you catch more flies with honey? Now is a great time to thank your customers for sticking with you during this difficult time, and to offer them incentive to shop with you again.

What about you? How are you sticking it out in these days? Drop me a line or leave a note in the comments section.

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Low Cost Sales Channels

Last week, I wrote about using different sales channels to find better customers. I mentioned that it might  be a good idea to figure out which customers are the most costly to serve and the least profitable, and direct them to lower-cost channels.

This is only part of the story.

Adjust customer channels to find the right balance
of profitability. Photo: Flickr user Dustin.Askins.

Just because a customer is expensive to serve, doesn't mean that customer is the least valuable. In fact, customers who require a lot of time, energy, and money can certainly be very profitable customers.

The key, then, is aligning client profitability with the appropriate channel, or balancing profitability across channels.

How does this work?

I used to work for a large company that served customers in several different ways. There were low cost channels and high cost channels, and I think we did a pretty good job of aligning customers accordingly.

Our low-cost channels included web sales and telesales. It was inexpensive for our company to do business online and via our call centers, so, where possible, most customers were directed to one of these channels - "Just call or click," we'd say.

Our retail stores were medium-cost, because we were able to effectively bring in new customers this way, and sell them lots of profitable add-ons. Once we had these customers in the fold, they were encouraged to deal with their bills and any additional service they needed via lower-cost channels like web and telephone. In this way, we balanced channels so that high-value sales, like signing up for new service and purchasing equipment and accessories could happen in-store, and lower value activities, like address changes and billing questions, could be directed to lower-cost channels while still providing customers with great service.

Our highest-cost channels were what we referred to as "National Accounts." This included a sales force who called on businesses with multiple customers in-house. While it was expensive for us to maintain this sales force, provide them with the right equipment and tools, and send them all over their territories to meet with customers in-person, it was still profitable for us to serve customers this way since these were very high-value customers that provided a high rate of annual revenue.

So, what's the moral of the story?

Take a look at your channels, and make sure you're putting your energy in the right place. There's nothing wrong with a high-cost channel as long as you're getting a return on your investment.

How do you balance across channels and where are you realizing economies of scale? Need help doing this?  Let me know.

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