Non-Line Blogging

Let me start with an apology.

Dear Ford, I am sorry that your email registration is so bad that for 3 years I have been using it as an example of how not to do it.  I am the owner of a Ford Galaxy and a Ford Fiesta and have owned more Fords than any other car brand.  My mother recently bought her 14th Ford car and so it is in my genes to be brand loyal.  It's only because I care that I choose to write about my on-line experience.  So there.

Now I've got that out of my system here's the business issue:  The aim of an email marketing programme should be to acquire, convert and retain customers.  When we focus on the start of this process we should be looking to convert as many vaguely interested web visitors into qualified prospects by encouraging them to part with an email address or some other direct relationship (RSS subscriber, or Twitter follower, or Facebook Fan, and so on).  

I'd like to think of these as "visitor-based micro-conversions".  Having the mechanism to get back in touch with people is an important first step in a long sales process.  So, maybe one of the most important things you can work on is turning a visit into a lead, and I did a little blog on that a year ago to help you with the maths.

Gentlemen, start your engines

OK, which one of these 2 sites do you think offers the best email registration experience?

Now, on first impressions it's a walk-over.  The sleek engineering of the Ford site will power past poor old Ling's Cars and their (deliberately) amateur look and feel.  And yet...

First challenge is to find the button that allows people to sign up.  It's in the top navigation on Ling's site and also a long way down the right hand content bar.  It's an image with a recognisable "Email Updates" or "Get Car Updates" heading.  In one click I am on my way.  

However, on the Ford site there is no obvoius link for people to begin an email relationship.  The call to action people may be looking for is something like "click here to sign up for our newsletter", but it's nowhere to be seen on the Ford site.  

Right at the very bottom of the left hand navigation is a cryptic "keep me informed" link.  Could this be the one we need to follow?  Who knows.  So, in terms of clarity of the navigation, Ling's Cars is a bit ahead in the race to generate a registration...even though it is harder to find, the objective is clearly shared.

Lap 2 - what happens next?

In my breathless haste to sign-up for the Ford newsletter I click on the least important link on the home page (that's what the Home Page Committee thinks of the importance of building relationships eh?).  I go to a new page that is strangely deviod of any of the magic and sparkle that was on the home page.  It is as if I have arrived at a completely new site, designed in about 1975.  

Where is the persuasive momentum in that journey?  There is nothing on this page suggesting that this is the right journey, how long it will be and what the rewards will be.  It's a leap of faith to click a button and proceed to the next page.  But, as you know, I love Ford and so I click the New Galaxy box and click in faith...  

Meanwhile, on Lings Cars, I'm on a page that delivers the value proposition, asks questions with explanations why you need to share the data and it is all done in a seamless, humorous way.  It's pretty good.

Not only that, the Ling's Cars registration page is dynamic, using client side rules to make the experience swift and painless.  And how about this for humour...the map of the UK alters dynamically based on your Post Code selection and comes up with some on-brand opinions about where you live...its about as fun as email registration gets...well done Ling! 

Better still, as you work through the form more dynamic content appears...like images of the car make and model that you have selected.  The whole process is engaging, relevant...even exciting! 

Error Messages?  Sorry again, Ford

In June 2008 I wrote a Blog piece entitled "The 1 Million Pound Error Message" and ventured to suggest that the way Ford told people off could be costing £1m of lost sales a year.  It's a pity that 2 years on we still have the same error messages.  Here is Ling's one, and beneath it Ford's version.  I venture to suggest that Ling's Cars uses red imagery and rude tone of voice in a horrible font because they are pretending to be un-professional, whereas Ford....?

Anyway, my point here is that "error messages" should be called "sorry, we didn't explain things very well messages" and we should be using all our persuasive techniques to re-assure people that they should continue in their journey.  

Page 3 - and Journey's end for Ling's Cars

Well, it's been a short, pleasant drive and we're greeted at our destination by Ling with a personalised landing page in the form of a sample email.  Delightful.  And at the same time a welcome email has pinged into my in-box and I am re-assured that everything is now under control.  Put the kettle on.  Have a cup of tea.  After a little while look out the window and see if there is any sign of the Ford email registrant.  I have a feel they are a very long way from home....

Where are they?

It's getting dark.  the Ford subscribers should have been here hours ago.  So you go out to find them and discover why they are so slow.  On page 3 of the Ford registration we are asked for our Post Code.  Now, that might be enough to dissuade plenty of people from going any further, and it seems a strange time to ask for such details.  I think Steve Krug sums up my views with a cartoon from his excellent new book.

 Anyway, as I LOVE the Ford brand I am willing to share my postal details and I get to the next page.  But Ford have done the web equilavent of changing road signs at this stage of the journey:  On most web sites the "next stage" button is at the bottom on the right, so I click on that button and find myself going round and round in circles wondering why they want my post code AGAIN.  After a few loops of this process I see the right sign post and, clicking on the left hand button I get to the next page.  This is what Her Majesty the Queen would see if she was popping her post code in...

Are we nearly there yet?

By now the passengers in the Ford car are getting a little fractious.  They set off on this journey a long time ago and its taking much longer than planned.  Only the people who REALLY want to get to the end will be still travelling (more of that in a minute).  We round what we think is the last corner and we are greeted with the most confusing, demoralising page so far...

 So, what a frightening form.  And look at all those mandatory fields - Phone Number as well...so unless I share my phone number my whole journey has been a complete waste of time.  Anyhow, let's just put our foot down, grit our teeth and drive on into the night and we should be home soon.

Eventually I get to a thank you page that does include my name, but there is little else to re-assure me that this is the start of a wonderful journey.  I'm tired, stressed and not really sure what I will receive and when.  A quick look in my in-box and, Surprise!, there is no welcome email for me.

What have we learned from all that?

Using Ford as a metaphor for any customer form we see that we should try and keep data gathering to a minimum, unless we are building the value exchange and encouraging people to keep going all the way.  Think about "persuasive momentum" as people are going through the process, remembering to make your error messages and any other navigation as on-brand and encouraging as possible.  

The delicious irony of all this is I reckon Ford probably get really good results from their email marketing...their open, click rates and outcomes are probably better than average.  But they have probably put off most of the prospects due to the lenghty registration process and the people who make it to the end really really want a Ford car.  Like me. 

Happy motoring.

We're gripped with election fever in the UK right now.  We're being told to vote with our hearts by some parties, and tactically with our heads by others.  One thing we do know is that this election has been dominated by the old medium of TV and not silly old new media.

However,  to show just what is possible, here is a great viral campaign from the Obama camp a couple of years ago.  Pretend that you're called David Hughes (it's easy for me) and you've just been sent an email from a friend worried that non-voting will ruin Obama's chance of victory.  Click on this link and enjoy great personalisation, fantastic re-statement of the issue and some really nice calls to action to spread the word.

http://bit.ly/9KQGkb

A good point well made, I think

Happy voting

Here are a few definitions from Wikipedia to get the blog rolling:

Serendipity is the effect by which one accidentally stumbles upon something fortunate, especially while looking for something entirely unrelated

Behavioral targeting uses information collected on an individual's web-browsing behavior, such as the pages they have visited or the searches they have made, to select which advertisements to display to that individual

Stalking is a term commonly used to refer to unwanted attention by individuals (and sometimes groups of people) to others.

We’re not short of data in digital marketing.  In fact, we’ve too much of the stuff.  Let’s take the marketing of expensive holidays:  Every couple of years in the Hughes household wanderlust overcomes us and a couple of weeks in delightful West Wales will not quite tick all the R&R boxes.  So, sensing this restlessness, I venture onto a few travel web sites and see what destinations like Thailand may offer us that Wales can’t.  (Sunshine seems to be the short answer).

20 years ago I went on a Kuoni holiday with my parents and, as it was a great success, I thought I’d check out the delights of Kuoni once again, so Googled the brand and went to their site.  I say this to demonstrate that key drivers to branded search could well be deeply emotional , not just seeing a Kuoni banner a few days ago – oh! the perils of attribution modelling.  Anyhow, I now left a rich stream of data across the Kuoni website and was maybe a couple steps nearer to knowing what I wanted.

Meanwhile in a distant galaxy far, far away...some analysts were piecing together this trail of data. 

• Total pages in session – check. 
• Depth of content viewed  - check.  
• Total time on site – check. 

We have engagement!

Cue the scary music. 

A few days later I am on the Autotrader website looking to replace my recently-written off Fiat Punto (that’s a long story), and what appears before me – a display ad for Kuoni.  But this is not any old banner – it has behavioural targeting under the bonnet:

“Thank you for visiting the Kuoni website” whispers the disembodied voice of the banner.

And then it gets a little more scary.  A couple of page loads later, my stalker says

“Thank you for your interest in Thailand”

Now at this point some people may be looking over their shoulder to see if some Peeping Tom is behind all this.  For hairy old digital marketers like me it’s not a problem – good luck to Kuoni for using all this data in a positive way.  But I can’t help feeling that some customers out there will be a little spooked by all this, which leads onto my real point here...

The medium is the message.

I often use an Amazon email as an example of “as good as it gets” in digital marketing.  A few months ago my TomTom SatNav died and I wandered on to Amazon to check out prices of a new one.   24 hours later I got this delightful email with the wonderful copy...  

I’m a little more comfortable with this “email stalking” because the terms of engagement are different to display advertising:  I leave myself logged in on Amazon because I can do useful things like “buy now with 1 click” and  I expect Amazon not to shout general email offers at me...I am delighted when they notice things that could be worth re-visiting.  Similarly, I like it when they say on the web site

“Hello David Hughes.  We have recommendations for you”

They remind you of things you may have been looking at and fire up the old “collaborative filtering” engine to make things even more relevant for me.   Virgin Atlantic  have a delightful personalisation box in the “My Booking” area that reminds you how long it is until the next time we meet.  They could probably serve that up to me as a banner when I’m on Autotrader, but just wouldn’t be right and proper, would it?

Less is more.

I may wish to keep myself anonymous in certain media, but expect/demand more personal touches at other times.  I do not always expect to be singled out for personal treatment and when strangers start talking to me like long, lost friends I begin to feel uncomfortable.  I’m talking here about a slight shift in creative tone that would have the same relevance but in a less threatening way...

“Latest ideas and greatest offers for Thailand Holidays”

...could have been equally powerful from Kuoni but with far less emotional damage! People like it when they "accidently" stumble upon something fortunate, especially when looking for something else unrelated!  Maybe Amazon has mastered the science of "dynamic serendipity", where people think that stumbling upon relevant things is pure luck!  After all, Amazon don't say:

Last night between 7.21pm and 7.28pm you viewed the Garmin Nuvi 225 pages for 4 minutes, the Navman S30 for 2 minutes and then you had a quick look at the Tom Tom ONE v4.  Here are some special offers.

That would be stalking.

But, Behavioural Targeting is wonderful! 

Wherever I have seen it used, behavioural targeting generally drives up opens, clicks, conversions, average order values and drives down costs per outcome.   It may well be that Kuoni have tested the “less” versus “more” intrusive copy and the ones I didn’t like pushed up sales...so there, they would say.  But for many consumers this “stalking copy” can create the wrong feeling, a sense that something sinister is happening on the interweb.  It's a question of using the right tone and not relying too much on the data to drive the conversation.  The whole BT industry nearly came clattering down in Europe a couple of years ago with Phorm and British Telecom’s sneaky attempts to get it in under consumers’ privacy radars.  Let’s hope that over-friendly creative techniques don’t have a similar impact on people’s goodwill.

With Christmas nearly upon us I was wondering what presents digital marketers would like to find in their stockings.  A perennial favourite toy across the world is Lego and, whilst we’re probably a bit too old/busy/grown up to get any this year, the joy and wonder of the little bricks is brought to life with these fantastic advertisements from 2006.  

Then I began thinking that, just like some children these days, digital marketers have too many toys to play with.  We should play more often with the fantastic tools we have or we should be using our imagination to make the most of them. 

Display Advertising - Just add imagination

What do you see when you look at a 728 x 90 Leaderboard display ad - just some pixels (a digital Lego Brick?) or a wonderfully flexible and creative marketing format?  

Here are some games you can play long into the New Year with your digital ad inventory:

• Frequency capping – it’s amazing how many campaigns still get deployed in a wasteful, sub-optimal way...work out how many times people need to see an add before it wears out, and make sure your ad budget goes further by serving it to somebody else
• Format testing – so they didn’t click on a leaderboard, so re-assemble the pixels into a sky or an MPU and measure the impact of format on response (interactions or clicks...you choose).
• Contextual targeting – find out from publishers how they can deliver ads based on page content and do some playing (testing).  The click-through rate uplift should pay for the incremental costs and your conversion rates should grow too.  
• Behavioural targeting – make 2010 the year that you unwrap individually targeted ad deployment.  It will mean that you can alter your creative to suit people who are in different stages of the consideration and purchase funnel, based on what they have been viewing and clicking recently.

Email recipients are like snowflakes - every one is different

What do you see when you look at an email address?  Just another name to blast a standard message to?  The wide-eyed marketing child will see some wonderfully exciting opportunities to create imaginative messages that make email more interesting for the customers and more successful for you. 

Here are a few traditional email marketing games to get you started...fun for all the marketing family:

• Acquisition tools – if you’re renting data, ask the list owner what variables they hold and then deliver different versions of the same message.  For BtoB that should be different subject lines, opening paragraphs and calls to action based on “job function” or “industry sector”.  For consumers you may know their lifestyle and affluence from geo-demographic variables that list owners like Acxiom hold...have different propositions for less affluent and older prospects or use a different creative for young professionals.  Let you imagination run free!
• Conversion - as digital marketers we sit on the most valuable real-time prospect data so let’s get it out of the toybox and play with it.  Who clicked on an email link but did not complete a successful outcome?  Who looked at deep product pages on your site but did not buy?  These re-marketing campaigns should deliver 4-16 better conversion rates than one-size-fits-all messages so start building them.
• Retention – send different message programmes to your newer customers, or have a different tone of voice for purchasers of specific products.  Build “personas” (imaginary friends?!) to help with your tone of voice, imagery and calls to action.
• Re-activation – how do you know when you’ve lost a customer?  Probably when they’ve not bought for a specific time period.  So develop a “win back” programme with the first message triggered by a “date of last purchase is more than 60 days".  And be relevant...”we’ve noticed that you have not bought from us for a little while....” is a good start.

Fuel your imagination – get reading!

It’s good to know that even digital marketing kids can find pleasure in moveable type. When I was growing up the “must have” book was the BBC’s “Blue Peter” annual.    This year you ought to be asking Santa to bring you the wonderfully comprehensive “Web Analytics 2.0” by Avinash Kaushik.  Weighing in at more than your festive turkey, with 450 pages that gives you just over a page a day for all of 2010! 

But aside from being a real “value for money” present, this book encourages us to explore our world of data.  It’s partly a “how do they do that” book (go on, admit you’re not really sure how “multi-tabbed time on site is calculated, are you?), but it’s also an activity book along the lines of “what shall we do today to make sense of our marketing”.  With information covering pure web analytics, analytics for search, email and social media and links to further reading it is as near to a “Boys Own Annual” that digital marketers can get.

So there you have it.  Some ideas for kindling your imagination in 2010.  And we’ve not even touched on multi-variate landing page testing, search marketing or social media experimentation...better leave some of those for your birthday!

Here's wishing you a peaceful Christmas and an imaginative New Year. 

I want to challenge our assumptions about email frequency.  Let’s start with a piercing question: If you mail people more often do you deliver more “successful outcomes” or just make people angry?

We seem to be obsessed about hurting people’s feelings.  We’ve been brought up in a culture that says too much email is a bad, bad thing.  But we've probably never tested "how much is too much", and we've never established the risk of people un-subscribing against the reward of incremental success.   I've tried to model it as a couple of graphs...

In this graph we see 2 campaign options...maybe invitations to an event, or follow-ups to a quote enquiry.  If we only send 2 messages to people (the lighter columns) we end up "converting" only 40% of all those people who could be convinced into buying.  However, if we kept hammering away at people with more messages we may convert the remaining 60% by the 9th message.  Makes us feel un-comfortable, doesn't it?  That's because we intuitively feel that the un-subscribe rate will increase.  But will it really?  Have we tested it?  Can we graph it?  Will it look like this?

The darker columns indicate our best guess of what will happen.  We think that by sending out 1 message few people will un-subscribe, but by sending out 2 or 3 the sky will be blackened with people hitting the "un-subscribe" button, and by message 9 we will probably have deliverability problems for ever.  Yet the reality (lighter columns) could be that even after 5 messages half the people are still "in the market", and only by message 9 do we reach un-subscribe saturation point.

Let's take a campaign opportunity - one where we have a "window of opportunity" to get somebody to buy/register.  Insurance quotes are a great one for this model...people get a quotes from a few companies and make up their mind about which company to go with in about 10 days.  Here's what we do as marketers...

• We send out a quote confirmation on day 1
• Then 2 days later we send out a quote chaser.
• That's it.
• Silence.
• They choose a competitor on day 6
• They stay with them for 3 years
• What a wasted opportunity.

Now, what if we found reasons to get back in touch with people?  What if on day 3 we told them that we had a competition for all new insurance customers?  And on day 5 we told them that they could possibly save more money on the quote as you had taken on another under-writing company..or you just offered them another 20% discount?

• 3 more messages
• 30% more customers for 3 years
• A few more un-subscribes...probably people who were never going to be customers anyway
• More sales - very low risk
• What are you waiting for?

Some examples to inspire - and re-assure

Please don't think that by simply hammering people with the same message more often you will be more successful.  Try and think of engaging ways to re-position the call to action.  Be interesting.  Do a few different things.

Abandoned Registrations

This is a great opportunity to turn up the message frequency to get people to complete a "double opt-in" join process.  I was told by a fried that, as I have a lovely pet dog, I should sign up to Dogster.  I went through the web bit, but never quite got around to the email activation bit.  So I was locked into their "email opt-in reminder programme"

What I like about this is the need to chase people to complete the registration process.  Not one chaser, but 5.  Not one subject line, but 3.  Question marks and exclamation marks!  I converted on the last one...maybe there would have been a few more had I resisted.  And, as this is the only excuse I'll ever have, here is a picture of my faithful hound, Dylan.

Registered but not Purchased

Here is a lovely BtoB example of contact density.  I received 10 emails from the same company for the same event with the same call to action - "please come to our event".  But it was spread over a 5 month period, and they used a variety of angles to seduce me into registering.  Here they all are...

Nice variety of subject lines moving from "be better at your job" through to "have a wonderful time with loads of fun people" through to "make sure you get a bed for the night".  In essence it is saying "please come to our event".  Sadly I didn't, but that's because I was busy not because the email failed to convert me.

Frequency + Engagement = Results?

So what have we learned from all that?  Maybe you can ramp up the number of times you reach people by email during "windows of opportunity"...abandoned shopping carts, abandoned registrations and "non-purchased" segments.  We have to do it in a creative, engaging way otherwise we look and sound like spammers.    But if we get it right there should be little collateral damage as the only people who might un-subscribe could be the prospects who were not right for you anyway.

One final thought...as more people tune in for Google alerts, what is the "frequency" defaulted to?  

Daily.  

Just goes to show that we don't mind getting an email a day if it is relevant.  Maybe now is the time to test reaching people just a little bit more often.