Web design Archives - dancingmango

The book on digital marketing

Friday, 25 April, 2014
By: marc

I thought about writing a book on digital marketing last year. I got as far as a title “Fishing where the fishes swim – marketing to a digital generation” and a table of contents but never got any further. There’s probably some milage in the idea – I don’t think there’s anything on the market in print that does this, and I definitely think there’s a need (especially in large organisations where marketing has been structured around non-digital thinking). I’ve not got the time to write it. Maybe you will… Or maybe it could be a crowd-sourced effort? The idea’s out there.

Part 1.Introduction

What is digital marketing?

Setting the scene / overview
The funnel: AIDA in a digital world
Introducing the conversion funnel

Part 2. Building for conversion

Customer development

Understand the audience
Getting out of the building
Validating ideas at speed

Lean and agile engineers

Overview of agile software development
How to make things happen at speed

Agitating action

Information architecture
Persuasion architecture
Structuring websites to sell

Content is king

Effective copywriting / writing for conversion
Micro copy

Landing pages

Why they are important
How to build successful landing pages

Mobile

Responsive design
Apps

Test test test

How to measure success
AB testing
Multivariate testing

Part 3. Creating a buzz

Viral marketing

What makes a campaign go viral?
Ingredients of virality

Infographics

Why use infographics
Ingredients of a successful infographic
Now you’ve designed it, what to do with it

Social engagement

Introduction to social media

How to decide where to socialise
Measuring success

Twitter

Maintaining a twitter account
Promoted tweets
Measuring success

Facebook

Maintaining a Facebook account
Facebook ads
Measuring success

YouTube

Creating video that has impact
Maintaining a YouTube account
Measuring success

And the rest

VOD?

Part 4. Every journey starts with Google

All about search

Overview of search, how people search
Introduce different search engines

How to ascend search rankings (and stay there)

Introduction to natural search and SEO
Technical optimisation
Content optimisation
Techniques for getting inbound links
Black hat and white hat
Measuring success

Paid search

Introduce AdWords
Keyword mining
Creating campaigns
Writing adword copy
Managing the account
Quality score
Measuring success

Part 5. Building relationships

Email marketing

Email overview / the virtuous cycle
Segmentation and campaigns
Avoiding spam and blacklists
Measuring success

Loyalty and referrals

Refer a friend schemes
Why do people refer
How to build an effective referral scheme

Part 6. Appearing elsewhere

Affiliate marketing

Introduce affiliates and networks
Measuring success

Display

Advertising on the web
Advertising on mobile
Retargeting

Part 7. Making it happen

Convergent marketing

How to work with traditional marketing channels
Building the team
Who do you need?
Where digital marketing should fit in the organisation
Closing thoughts and what’s next.

Rout me a parcel

Wednesday, 22 December, 2010
By: marc

Graham Charlton wrote a great blog on eConsultancy a couple of days ago on how on-line retailers are managing customer expectations. (Or not as the case may be). He takes it as far as the check out, but what happens next?

The ability for customers to track parcels and delivery is becoming increasingly common.

The requirement is simple. Take the package tracking status (that we have already) and display it to our customers.

The execution of this separates the customer led from the IT led. The former will take the internal codes and language, ditch the codes that mean nothing to the customer and translate the status into words the customer understands. The latter just display the internal codes and status verbatim. Both deliver the same functional requirements, one delights, one confuses.

Compare the following:

1. BPost: what does “parcel is routed” mean?

2. Royal Mail: “We received item xxxxxxx at [Placename] DO on the 2010-12-22. The item is now ready for delivery.”

3 For exactly the same package at the same time, Amazon track its status as “Latest event: Out for delivery – Dec 22, 2010 4:34:51 AM”

As you’d expect, the eCommerce website does eCommerce the best.

Me-too brochureware banking

Monday, 2 August, 2010
By: marc

Take a look at this template. Header and navigation at the top, large hero to the left, with three product panels beneath. Log-in to account is on the right with information on security and help beneath. If you want to be an information architect for a bank, it would appear this is all you need. This is your cookie cutter to success.

Don’t believe me? Start with Lloyds TSB.

Yep, that seems to fit. how about Halifax. Almost the same grid being used there.

Can’t be coincidence can it? Let’s look at HSBC… There’s the hero again. And the three content boxes. And internet banking on the right.

This is getting a bit repetitive. What about Santander?

There’s a pattern going on here. Looks like they are all at it! Does any other industry segment from such ‘me-too’ism? If it was the right model to be using it wouldn’t be so bad, but their consistency is around consistency of what they do. No-one is really thinking about the customer and what they want. Barclays gets close, but there’s little in the way of understanding customer needs and goals. Little to support customer journeys. It’s all about the Bank, with Products and Services. And Access your accounts on-line! (And ‘We’re so complicated we need help on our home page’). And if everyone else does it obviously we are doing The Right Thing. Does this matter? Isn’t there a better way to design a bank’s brochureware pages? I’m looking for examples. I fear I’ll be looking for a while.

Silver surfers

Saturday, 31 July, 2010
By: marc

News this week was that Ivy Bean died aged 104. A good innings, but there is more to the story than that, Ivy got on Facebook aged 102 and was a regular twitterer with more than 62,ooo followers. One of my colleagues at work announced as he got off the phone with his mother that she had just upgraded the ram in her computer, herself. My father has just got an iPhone and is hooked on apps. Maybe they are late to the game, but the over 65s represent the fastest growth in take up of digital technologies. Whilst mobile ownership for the 25-44 year olds remained static (saturated) between 2007-9, for the 65+ it grew by 17% (source: Ofcom Communication report 2009). And internet adoption grew by 11%. The 2007 Ofcom report found that the 65+ spend 42 hours a month online, four hours more than the most active users who are aged between 18 and 24,

It’s an old finding but the Henley Centre reported that the over 65s most felt part of a virtual community thanks to the internet; with the growth of Facebook that statistic is probably out of date, but still worth reflecting on.

The ‘silver surfers’ are not the techno-fearing, techno-illiterate luddites you may percieve them to be. They are a segment of the market that cannot be ignored, and an opportunity that are craving to be served. Do they figure in your plans? Do you have any personas for the over 65s? Have you tested your propositions with this demographic? Is your design optimised for the 18-34 demographic who have less disposable income that the older demographic who have a greater propensity to spend?

I’m not sure where this quote is from so I can’t credit it, but it is worth reflecting on: “The wealthiest generation in the history (and possibly the future) of the earth are in the process retiring. And they don’t intend to do it quietly”.

Just ignore what they say

Thursday, 3 December, 2009
By: marc

What customers say they like and how they behave are not the same thing. Don’t always trust what you are told, use data and real insights to drive decisions that have major commercial implications.

So there was a skyscraper, banner and numerous MPUs across the website. A survey panel was set up and the results came back. The agency briefed the team, “Your customers really don’t like all the ads you have on the page”. The message was reiterated in focus groups. Ditch the ads. This would be a painful decision, despite customer’s not liking them they were still delivering reasonable revenue.

The organisation was striving to be more customer-centric; if the advertisements were degrading the customer experience then removing them would be a price worth paying. And so they were switched off.

The result? Nothing. Except lost revenue. Analysing the data, customer volumes remained the same. There was no difference in the successful completion of customer goals. Switching the ads off had no impact on customer behaviour on the site; when asked customers said they didn’t like them, but what they said and what they did were different things.

The moral: if you are going to use emotion and what customers say to make commercial decisions, consider A/B testing with real data before making wholesale changes.

Put some fun back into your business

Friday, 23 October, 2009
By: marc

Litter bins on the street aren’t the most interesting of objects. The design is pretty standard, with variations on a couple of themes – cylindrical or rectangle and colour being the primary tool of differentiation.

“To throw rubbish in the bin instead of onto the floor shouldn’t really be so hard. Many people still fail to do so. Can we get more people to throw rubbish into the bin, rather than onto the ground”

One answer is to make it more fun. Check out The FunTheory for other ways of improving mundane products by making them fun.

Now think about that mundane product of yours. Maybe it is your on-line retail bank. It is getting tired and it is time for a technology refresh. You’re going through a process of capturing requirements. How about playing an innovation game, but base it on the concept of fun. What could you introduce to your product that would make people smile? What would make people laugh? OK, so after a while the bin would no longer be fun. What makes it fun is the element of surprise. Again, what could you drop into the product that would surprise people. What would a ‘fun’ internet bank look like? Focus on fun and surprise and you might uncover a nugget of inspiration that will make the final product.

What’s a URL?

Wednesday, 18 March, 2009
By: marc

Do you know what a URL is and what to do with it? It sounds like a stupid question, of course you know what a URL is, everybody does! But you’d be wrong. Having observed countless users interacting with websites, it is striking how many people enter the URL into their search engine. My hypothesis is that the URL bar in the browser is something technical and best left alone. But don’t just take my anecdotal evidence for it, look at the top 500 search engine keywords– in the top 20, four are URLs that could have been typed into the browser address. Look at the keywords in your web analytics, almost certainly (if yours is a B2C proposition), your URL will come in the top ten keywords for your homepage.

Lesson number one: people are not as tech savy that you think they are. If they don’t know how to use URLs, what other assumptions are you making about your customers in the product you are developing?

Lesson number two: your URL is not as important as your ability to be found in the search engines. It is refreshing to see an increasing number of companies not giving any URL in their print or TV advertising, rather “search for us on google using <insert term>”. But before you go off engaging SEO snakeoil merchants, the basics of optimising your website for search engines (SEO) are hardly rocket science (especially if you are an already trusted brand), and Google let’s you in on a lot of their secrets which is 80% of what any SEO company will tell you. Only google give it to you for free.

What’s your social strategy?

Wednesday, 28 January, 2009
By: marc

Last year Twitter grew by an incredible 752%. That is something too large to ignore. It’s not just individuals who are twittering, corporates are getting in on the act. But do they think before taking the plunge?

The tools for getting a social presence on the web are easy. Twitter is free, there’s little effort to setting up a blog, it is simple to plug in reviews and ratings with BazaarVoice. But with the tools comes commitment; you need to start listening and have a strategy for responding.

Listening

You can start listening by setting up Google News Alerts. You will be alerted whenever someone is talking about you (or your competitors, or anyone or anything you like). It can deliver alerts as a digest or as they happen. This gives you a fundamental tool to find out who is talking about you and where they are doing it.

Responding

Knowing people are talking about you is one thing, knowing what to do about it is another. Making a decision to start engaging in social media is the right thing to do, but with that decision comes responsibilities. This is where having a clearly thought-out strategy is essential.

The strategy starts with a role, someone responsible for the conversation. Jeremiah Owyang lists a number of oganisations who have a dedicated role for social computing and community management – Dell has a VP Communities & Conversations. This is not a PR role, it is not something that will have messages crafted by committee with formal sign-off before speaking. It is about having an authentic voice, speaking with honesty and personality. Using Twitter to broadcast your traditional press releases is more likely to alienate than win you friends and lovers (you want people to love your brand right?).

Your customers want to help

“But why?” is a question I’ve often heard asked when talking about social media. “Why would anyone want to comment, or write advice, or be bothered to ‘get social’ with us?” Good experiences and (especially) bad experiences bring out the passion in people. And then there are the people who just like to have their voice heard. There’s an often used ratio, 1:9:90 – for every one regular contributer there are 9 occasional contributers (commenter’s) and 90 ‘lurkers’ – see Jakob Neilsen’s post on this.

Even if they don’t engage in the conversation themselves, most people listen to the contributer – it is (usually) an authentic voice, and that authenticity is priceless. Word of mouth is more valuable than any advertising, it is by far the most trusted source for purchase ideas and information (funny how so many organisations when they ask that question, “how did you hear about us, they list their channels- TV, Radio, Press, but often leave out recommendation from a friend, or heard about you from an acquaintances, or even “I just know you”). The challenge is to harness the conversation that others are having and where appropriate engage in it in a natural and honest way.

Rather than questioning why someone wants to talk about your brand, or offer support to the community on your products for free, build a relationship with that person. They will feel all the better for being listened to. Invite them to customer panels, tell them about your ideas, and let them generate buzz about your product.

Some listening anecdotes

Here are three brief anecdotes of organisations who have started by listening and then engaged in conversation. To be contrasted with doing it the other way round.

A client we’ve been working with had been ignoring the conversation in technical forums. There was a wealth of discussion about issues with their hardware, fixes and work-arounds. Much of the comment, whilst positive about the brand overall, was negative about certain aspects of the product and customer service. They took the plunge and engaged in the conversation. A regular poster who was being particularly vocal (and getting a lot of response) was directly connected. His issue was simply addressed. He then posted to the forum how he had been listened to, and the negative experience was transformed into a positive experience. Inviting him to customer panels makes him feel even more valued.

A while back I posted about a negative experience with Norwich Union. I blogged about the experience – a few days later I had a comment from their Head of Customer Experience. I was listened to. NU had a face, we spoke and I will now sing the praises of Norwich Union (I’m still a customer). I’ve forgotten what the problem I has was all about.

Another blog was about a poor experience with the Fedex website. Their Application Development Team left a comment thanking me for the feedback, again I was listened to. This has erased the memory of the bad experience I had.

Speaking, not listening

I don’t know anything about confused.com internal operations, but my experience suggests the following. Someone suggested they get a Twitter account and they started tweeting. Only their tweets were for PR messages. They were not ready for inbound Tweets from customers about them.

I heard about confused.com from a friend as a good site to get a home insurance quote from. I tried it and had a far from satisfactory experience. I persevered (because of the personal recommendations) but after a bunch of techinical problems with the site I gave up.

I then actively sought out confused.com on Twitter, my thinking if they have an account I can give them my feedback direct (I am one of the 1 of the 1:9:90 who so many business people don’t understand. I also have almost 17 years of usability experience behind me which I would be happy to share with them – as a customer, not professionally). So I did a search for confused.com on Twitter and found them. I was pleased to see they had an account and wrote a tweet to @confused_com. But it seems twitter was just a mouth piece for their PR and all I was greeted with was silence. I heard nothing back.

I returned back to their website a few days later and tried again to get a quote, this time I had an even worse experience, the site failed to return any results to me. Again, I Twittered about it. I was creating some negative feedback, and feeling doubly annoyed. Not only was I having a crappy experience but they weren’t listening to me on a channel I expect to be heard. Now I am a small fish in the big ocean and easily ignored, but look at Motrin and you can see the consequences of not engaging in the Twitter conversation.

To their credit, Confused.com have recently sent me a private message on Twitter informing me they are going to start “more interactive twittering soon”. I look forward to that. If there is a lesson in this it is when getting onto Twitter you have to be ready to engage in the conversation that is likely to ensue. Have a strategy before playing with the tools.

If software was an airline

Tuesday, 27 January, 2009
By: marc

All airlines are the same. They fly the same planes to the same airports for (roughly) the same prices. What differentiates them? Attention to detail. It’s not just the functional detail – it’s the experiential detail that really makes the difference.

It’s the same with software. If the application you are building was an airline, which airline would it be? All to often developers focus on the plane, building something to fulfil the utility of getting people from A to B. Yet the customer doesn’t care about whether it’s an Airbus A330 or a Boeing 777, what they care about, and what they remember is the experience they have.

(This can be a useful exercise at the outset of a new project, ask stakeholders to imagine their finished applciation was an airline, what brand would it be? This helps anchor expectations; are you building a full service Singapore Airlines or a no-frills EasyJet?)

Behaviour, intentions, interactions and corner cases

Saturday, 3 January, 2009
By: marc

According to an article on eMarketer the method customers book travel depends upon their needs. Nothing revolutionary there; what is interesting is that fewer travelers are booking their trips online overall.

“This is not due to personal financial concerns—online travel bookers are an affluent demographic,” Mr. Grau [senior analyst at eMarketer] said. “Rather, it is caused by frustrations related to the planning and booking capabilities of OTAs (on-line travel agents). This, in turn, is spurring a renewed appreciation for the expertise and personalized services offered by traditional travel agents.”

“Online travel bookers are an affluent demographic” and yet we continue to let them down with poor customer experiences and an inability to let them do what they want to do. As an e-marketeer, your sales numbers may be satisfactory, but how much more traction could you get if your customer interactions were more realistically modeled around their behaviours and their intentions. You may point to your personalization engine, but that is probably doing little more than offering up pages and offers based upon information the customer has told you, or prior pages they have visited. It is not going to be a challenge to “the expertise and personalized services offered by traditional [insert domain here] agents“.

Customer frustrations with the web are more often than not due to usability and restrictive Web 1.0 interaction paradigms. It need not be like this. Interactivity can be more human. Some sites such as Kayak.com are introducing web 2.0 interactivity to introduce more fuzzy searching to find what you want. Forms can be more like their real-world brethren. Rather than the “command and control” approach of imperative programming that drives a sequential, rule driven flow, the declarative approach to programming enables greater flexibility and puts the user in control.

So we can do something about the technology to provide a better customer experience, but that won’t be enough. The perfect customer experience will not fit in business rules your IT analysts have determined. In the real world, corner cases and ‘exceptions to the rule’ are abound. In the real world sales people, customer service reps (or their supervisors) have ‘management discretion’. They can listen to the customer, understand their story, recognise them as a loyal customer who made a mistake, and override the business rules to satisfy/ delight the customer in a way the cold logic of the business rules never considered. True personalization will focus upon the corner-case long-tail.

The next generation of eCommerce will be declarative, forgiving and understanding. Rather than being based upon a paradigm that is the result of the technical constraints of the channels early days, it will be something that more closely mirrors the real world. Getting there however will be difficult. As a first step Marketing departments need to address the shortcomings of their existing digital channel before their IT organisation embarks on new channels such as mobile and TV.