How considering the psychology of your audience can yield more effective creative
I recently read this interesting psychology article about a phenomenon called the 'False Consensus Effect', which is directly applicable to so many situations. In a nutshell, it is about how people believe that most other people behave similarly to themselves, and if they don't, there must be something wrong with them (we all consider ourselves rational). However, in reality it is difficult to accurately predict the behaviour of others, and if they behave differently to us, or how we imagine they will behave, it is simply because they are different (despite usually also being completely rational).
In the article above, the first study of the False Consensus Effect was a theoretical one, and the second a practical one which was…
New survey shows that clicks are only one part of the story
Email marketing enjoys a solid reputation as a direct response channel. Which is one reason email marketing metrics tend to focus on just that: the direct response questions:
"Did they open? Did they click?"
We congratulate ourselves when we go "beyond the click" and measure conversions, revenues and profits. And we're understandably excited about new metrics like read and print rates.
All these numbers have important roles to play. But their availability seduces us into forgetting they do not capture all the important responses to email.
The UK DMA, fast.MAP and Alchemy Worx just released the 2012 Email Tracking Study, which looks at the self-reported inbox and social habits of just over 1,000 UK consumers.
New update: Infographic released:
"In this post I share some survey data and explore the implications of email marketing “beyond the open”...showing how consumers really…
An introduction to the value of investing in User Experience Design
It seems there’s a myth accepted by some in online marketing that UX isn’t needed; simply put, “let’s just make it look good” is the attitude, but I believe this a dangerous stance to take.
To explain why, let’s start by looking at what User Experience Design (UX) is and what it does.
In layman's terms I'd say:
"UX is designing something to give the user the best experience and to tasks to be completed easily and efficiently as possible".
Usability is at the heart of UX, we want the user to be able to complete their tasks as easily as possible, to be satisfied with the experience. Take this common real world example:
This door gets me every morning! There’s actually a push…
14 simple steps to help find relevant influencers
Lots of people will tell you ”Social Media Influencers” are the key to social media marketing, but what does that really mean? Is influence based on number of connections? Klout, Peer Index or Kred score? A combination of all of the above? How do you identify them and what do you do with that information once you think you know who they are?
The short answer is all and none of the above. There is no cookie cutter answer for creating an influencer list on a particular topic because you have to fine tune the list of influencers to the ones who are most likely to be interested in what you have and willing to…
Four segments that look to community reviews when selecting products
Leading customer community platform company GetSatisfaction recently conducted research on the kind of person that values a customer community as part of a purchase or brand experience. This cleverly put together infographic explains the four active consumer types within communities that were highlighted by the research. While the data is largely American I don't believe the types will differ in the UK, although I do wonder whether the grouping is too simplistic.
Customer communities are a fast growing requirement for businesses that need to connect with their cosumers (so all businesses in my opinion). Allowing customers to feedback (good and bad) and connect with one another about using your products services. They can help bring new ideas to your business, some you would have anticipated. If your consumer…
What does it mean for content marketing?
What is it with the idea of storytelling these days, everyone's at it apparently - creatives, PR execs, ad agencies and now digital marketers, it appears. It sounds useful, inspiring even, I used the expression myself last week in a marketing seminar, but as the word came up again in a meeting yesterday I wondered - what does it actually mean for modern marketing? And, do we all think it means the same thing?
"Marketing is storytelling. The story of your product, built into your product. The ad might be part of it, the copy might be part of it, but mostly, your product and your service and your people are all part of the story. Tell it on purpose." ― Seth Godin
Bigger than marketing
First and foremost it's important to say that stories have to reflect the sum total of your business or brand, you…
A matrix to help you review the tools, services and software that you use to manage digital marketing
As digital marketers we're certainly not short of tools to review and improve our marketing. There are many free tools available and certainly some that are worth paying for too.
A recent Redeye/Econsultancy report on Conversion Rate Optimisation contained useful charts for considering the use of marketing technology to impact on bottom line and resource intensiveness. I compiled some of these charts into a matrix to help show where the opportunities lie for marketers who are assessing technology expenditure:
As a digital strategist you can use this matrix to assess your current use of digital tools and plan new tools into your budget for future year(s).
From the report we can draw that conversion optimisation technology is underutilised by organisations yet has the biggest chance of improving…
