At least I assume they do. 12 months ago after subscribing to their home media package (phone, TV and wifi), I started receiving letters through the post from Virgin Mobile trying to sell me a new mobile phone contract. I hadn't answered any questions or filled anything in as part of my sign up to Virgin Media to a) suggest I was interested or b) to indicate I needed a new phone contract. But hey, they sent them anyway. Regularly. More recently I cancelled my Virgin Media package and notified them of the date we were moving out. They told me they would send boxes for me to post back the set top box and router and we agreed the date the services would be cut off. However, before the boxes even arrived I started receiving letters through the post addressed to 'the new homeowner'. Intrigued I opened one, to find that Virgin…

Do you conform to the typical LinkedIn user?

Every wondered how people are actually using LinkedIn? How much time do they spend? Who pays for the premium services? How many groups are people joining? Which features are the most popular? Who uses their company page?

We are not saying that the persona is the same for everyone, since we all have different goals and LinkedIn has such an array of features for brand awareness, lead generation, job hunting and the list can go on. But we are all curious... perhaps this data will help you win an argument or persuade a colleague!

Wayne Breitbarth has produced an infographic, to look at the profile of a LinkedIn user gathering data from Power+Formula and his 2013 LinkedIn Survey.

Some highlights include:

85% of LinkedIn respondents have a free account.35% have joined up…

Google Helpouts are the latest in a long line of services from Answers through Knol

From when Google Search launched in 1997, Google has always been trying to find the best answers to its users' queries. Google Helpouts are the latest approach to help answer users queries, but in a quite different way to standard search. Did you know that Google briefly tried a similar approach before? In order to provide a more dedicated response to users' queries, in Aug 2001 Google decided to launch 'Google Questions and Answers'. This service allowed users to send their questions by email and for a flat fee of US $3 Google staffers would reply to those questions. Unfortunately the Google service ran for only 24 hours, after which it was shut down due to excessive demand! This was followed by 'Google Answers' in April 2002. This  was different in the…

Brands and businesses using social data to inform their social media strategy

However, in more instances than ever before, social data is also being used in other areas of the business, and social media has evolved from just being a vehicle for marketing. ‘Social business’ and ‘social across the enterprise’ are now commonplace phrases in modern business terminology. 

Why become a social business?

Social media is changing the way people connect, and is changing the relationship between consumers and brands. Becoming a social business means looking beyond social media to understand how it can benefit your business and change the way you operate. IBM’s statement on their website couldn’t have put it better:

'When you inspire your workforce to innovate and collaborate more productively, you create tangible business value. When you anticipate needs and deliver exceptional experiences, you delight your customers and create advocates. When you integrate…

Which channels do consumers prefer in the omnichannel world?

Last month Mitel commissioned this research which gives an interesting consumer perspective on how they like to contact brands and gain customer service today. The survey delved into channel preference, consumer frustrations, motivations and important factors when contacting a company. It was interesting that '70% would switch companies due to poor experience over customer service' and 'the contact centre has a major influence on this'. Though as expected, the highest frustration was paying for premium rates. How many times have we as consumers put the phone down? Their infographic below highlights these key findings and Mitel's report can be downloaded for further survey findings. …

Research examples of measuring email marketing effectiveness using attribution

Sometimes email is a victim of its own success. It works so well to drive revenue across all channels but this cross channel revenue is rarely calculated accurately and attributed to email. Why is this? Possible because email is the cheapest of the channels and it is shown to work without having to pull together all possible revenue. Basic stats prove email works.  However, every channel is competing for budget and has to be seen to improving over time so maybe it is time email got its fair share of the pie. An unpublished study by Alchemy Worx for one of their clients over a 10 month period to monitor revenue on days with and without sending any emails.

The charts shown in this article and all the data behind it is taken…

Correlation vs causation in an email

Did you know… that global warming is caused by a decrease in the number of pirates in the ocean? That’s what the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster believe! Just look at the ‘proof’ – as the number of pirates decreased, the global average temperature has increased! This is a silly example but the same misattributions happens in many areas of culture, science and certainly in marketing. With the availability of big data, the abundance of reporting and analysis tools, increasing time pressure and increasing importance of proving ROI; it can be easy to look at results and jump to conclusions. Seeing a correlation and assuming a causation is one of the most common examples of this.

Recognising correlations

We’re presented with correlations all the time, to the extent that people often want us to assume that one factor caused…

A case study showing how to research the impact of Facebook on sales

The journey of measuring Facebook success has been fast paced. It started with how big your fan page was (counting likes), then to visits from social profiles, to getting very excited by the concept of Engagement Rate. Some opinion believes social media is best used to drive brand awareness, others for customer service. And there are brands that use Facebook as a successful sales channel. There have been frameworks and methodologies as well as plenty of "proof" (largely published by service providers in the social media industry), yet the fact still remains that demonstrating the value of a Facebook page or Twitter account is still hard in 2013, especially if you're not a retail brand. The reason? For travel brands like us it's hard to imagine that anyone is going to see a post of ours on Facebook, click through…

...and what they mean for your own emails

Email marketing has been around a while. Anything with a long history inevitably picks up its own set of truths, half-truths, beliefs, myths, best practices, rules, guidelines and even jokes. A new infographic from Alchemy Worx highlights seven myths. Here's what they look like, followed by my quick review of the practical implications for your own email efforts.

My take on these myths... Yours?

As you might expect, there are plenty of nuances when it comes to analysing the implications of these myths, but here is one simple takeaway to go with each.

Myth 1: Consumers are drowning in emails from trusted brands

If people aren't getting that much brand email, then getting a piece of that inbox pie is critical. Are you making special efforts to promote your list to those who already have a good (customer)…

Do you dare ask your mailing list if they want to unsubscribe?

In this post, I'll veer away from my usual advice and updates on Facebook, although Facebook does feature. This is the story of what some might think is pretty much the anathema of a good marketer... I proactively tried to reduce the size of my mailing list. Why? Well a number of reasons, the idea was initially driven by the fact that we were about to go over a monthly price threshold in our email provider's pricing options. At the same time the list felt like it was getting a bit dated with open rates languishing and some names having been with us for up to a decade. We'd recently done a competition which rewarded people for referring "friends". It was clear from a look through some of these email addresses that they were in fact second or third emails…