An issue that repeatedly comes up for businesses is monitoring their online reputation. With all the new mediums these days, it’s hard to keep up with who is saying what about you and your business. If you have any customers, it’s safe to assume someone has said something about your business online. The easiest way to monitor this is by utilizing Google Alerts (http://www.google.com/alerts). Simply enter your keywords, frequency and your email address. I recommend setting ‘Type’ to comprehensive so you get full coverage across the web.
Use this tool to see where your site is being mentioned and in what context. If it’s good, then you should be happy and you may want to consider some marketing opportunities with that site. If it’s not all good, then you use it as an opportunity to correct the issue and make the customer happy.
I'm not going to name the business that recently benefited from using this Google service because they're trying to dig out of a whole caused by one of their customer service reps and its a public company. I was having lunch with the marketing manager and the topic of online reputation management came up. He wanted to know what he could to monitor the business and I suggested Google Alerts. Two days later, I get an email thanking me for this little but significant suggestion because he found a couple things. First, he got an alert for a total of 53 postings about a particular customer service representative who was very harsh with customers and basically didn't provide a level of service consistent with company policy. Several customers stated the rep used foul language with them, called them 'stupid' and hung up on several callers. The rep was immediately terminated. The other incident involved some issues of insider information being leaked to the public which is huge for a public company. After two weeks, the perpetrator was discovered and disciplined. This saved the company hundreds of thousands in fines from the SEC.
In short, if you're concerned about your business reputation on the web then you need to sign up now!
Contact MJM Ecommerce for ecommerce and online marketing solutions
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Numbers to Chew On
For those online marketers or business managers who engage in PPC and SEO take a look at these numbers from Nielson ReelResearch:
- When a brand name appeared in both natural search and paid search results, the brand attracted 92% of the total clicks
- Natural placement without paid search attracted only 60% of clicks
I’m going to write about advertising’s impact on search queries and how you can monetize other people’s efforts…so come back soon.
- When a brand name appeared in both natural search and paid search results, the brand attracted 92% of the total clicks
- Natural placement without paid search attracted only 60% of clicks
I’m going to write about advertising’s impact on search queries and how you can monetize other people’s efforts…so come back soon.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Promotions Test
I recently ran a split test on an email list featuring two unique promotions. The first was free ground shipping on orders of $85 or more and the other was 15% off $85 or more. I chose $85 because I wanted to raise the bar by 10% over the current site AOV.
Each promotion was mailed to over 70,000 subscribers (total list is over 140K) and I waited to see which performed better. It was amazing to see how many orders were submitted for the free shipping promotion. In fact, the 15% discount email only generated 13 orders compared to the 89 orders for Free Shipping. I realize the studies show that more people are willing to pay full price and receive a shipping discount, but, I wanted to see if it held true for this subscriber base. The shipping cost on an $85 order is $7.50 and its clear that the better savings belonged to the 15% discount. According to this test, more people were willing to pay full price on products and receive free shipping because shipping costs are seen as an inconvenience. Be careful when you do a shipping promotion. You should clearly define the restrictions of free shipping because you don't want to send an order to Mexico (for example) for free.
Test promotions on your subscriber base and see what works for you. Always be willing to test because its the only way you'll learn what works and what doesn't work.
Each promotion was mailed to over 70,000 subscribers (total list is over 140K) and I waited to see which performed better. It was amazing to see how many orders were submitted for the free shipping promotion. In fact, the 15% discount email only generated 13 orders compared to the 89 orders for Free Shipping. I realize the studies show that more people are willing to pay full price and receive a shipping discount, but, I wanted to see if it held true for this subscriber base. The shipping cost on an $85 order is $7.50 and its clear that the better savings belonged to the 15% discount. According to this test, more people were willing to pay full price on products and receive free shipping because shipping costs are seen as an inconvenience. Be careful when you do a shipping promotion. You should clearly define the restrictions of free shipping because you don't want to send an order to Mexico (for example) for free.
Test promotions on your subscriber base and see what works for you. Always be willing to test because its the only way you'll learn what works and what doesn't work.
SEO Software
Recently I was doing a google search for 'seo software' to keep abreast of any recent developments that may have occurred. I cam across SheerSEO which was the fifth listing on the first page of results. I hadn't seen them before, but, I was compelled to visit their site because the description line hit two things I was looking for: Google position and backlinks.
It turns out to be a great piece of SEO software that all internet marketers should add to their SEO toolbelt. I'm not ready to replace the other program we currently use (Web Position) because it doesn't have all the capabilities I want. However, its a web based application that provides me with data I can use when I'm out of the office and without my own computer. It can also be especially useful for small businesses that don't have large budgets or extensive SEO knowledge, but, need insight into their site's search engine performance.
Visit the site at www.sheerseo.com.
It turns out to be a great piece of SEO software that all internet marketers should add to their SEO toolbelt. I'm not ready to replace the other program we currently use (Web Position) because it doesn't have all the capabilities I want. However, its a web based application that provides me with data I can use when I'm out of the office and without my own computer. It can also be especially useful for small businesses that don't have large budgets or extensive SEO knowledge, but, need insight into their site's search engine performance.
Visit the site at www.sheerseo.com.
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