2013 Marketing Pet Peeves (so far)
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- Category: Bill Hall Blog
- Published on Tuesday, 19 March 2013 15:31
- Written by Bill Hall
- Hits: 135
Here's some marketing pet peeves already in 2013:
The DMA (Direct Marketing Association) really needs to segment their list and stop mailing me to get certifications that I already have. It's not a good practice as an organization that should be setting an example. And they do have a lot of quality there so it's a shame...
Direct Mail:
“Post office will not deliver mail without proper postage.”
“Attention Postmaster: DO NOT deliver this to anyone but the recipient this letter is addressed to.”
Email:
I love receiving emails that say “Email no longer is an effective advertising medium.” (Yes, these are sent to me by email!)
SEO companies using your “contact us” website feature to give you their SEO pitch since their own SEO evidently is not effective so they have to abuse your website to market their wares. They also are found using the comments on blogs to copy and paste their marketing pitches.
Businesses that only have a Skype phone number (outside of affiliate marketers where that and IM are accepted industry practice.)
Money back guarantees that are set up for you to fail:
Require a receipt and original packaging or no refund: Examples: Radio Shack and Brookstone have horrible return policies – read them carefully before any purchase. Best Buy has a great return policy – you don’t even need a receipt if you pay by a credit card since they have it in their computer. Their policy is set up for you to succeed. L.L. Bean is the master of customer satisfaction (A+). Zappos is committed to great service too, but they have limitations that make them a B-B+ in my book, but overall they are good.
AT&T is the master at bad processes that force employees to suffer through and defend illogical and carefully set barriers to customer service. Too bad too, they usually have good products. But if you have an issue, forgettaboutit! Despite a big ad campaign about the “New AT&T” the “Old AT&T” is back with more bad customer service. 2011 became the year I was able to proudly go on record as an AT&T free household.
Asking customers if there is anything else they can help you with when they haven’t even solved the issue you called them about!
Forcing a customer to call back when the company is “it.”
Saying “I don’t know” or “I think so” and leaving it at that.
A service center with no way to identify the person because they will not give out their name or they don’t have a company identifier. They site that due to threats they cannot give out their last name. Maybe if they provided better customer service, terrorism would not be the driving force behind their service center policies...
Car dealerships that talk your ear off about rating them the highest when someone calls. When you buy a car, they talk to you like you’re a 4 year old about the rating process.
I always say that I was going to rate them the highest but after a conversation where you try to have the survey fixed, I am thinking twice about it! I actually had to tell one car company that kept calling “The service center was great and I appreciated the first follow up call. But this is the fourth. Now it is becoming harassment and my initial great feeling about the service is becoming a distant memory and this harassment is becoming a bad customer experience. Please update your lists properly.
DO YOU HAVE ONE OR MORE TO SHARE? PLEASE DO! Part of great marketing has always been the back end - the actual product or service itself. People need to care about that as much as "new business feeding the funnel."
What the Devil can teach you about word of mouth marketing
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- Category: Bill Hall Blog
- Published on Thursday, 17 January 2013 20:25
- Written by Bill
- Hits: 259
My younger son and I are hooked on watching that sci-fi show "Supernatural." It's really fun. And, of course, like the weird marketing geek that I am, I start thinking of the interesting similarities to marketing.
It is often a struggle to articulate clearly how powerful word of mouth marketing can be and the impact that great customer service can have on your business with the word of mouth that results - regardless of what you do.
I remember clearly a lady who purchased an eBook from me and then immediately wanted a refund saying that she made a mistake when ordering. I gave her a refund within the hour. She wrote me back thanking me. Since then, she ordered one more. She also returned that one and I promptly gave her a refund. I asked her about it since I wanted to provide great service, but I also didn't want to be taken advantage of. She explained that it was her fault and she was having trouble finding her "niche." So I helped her by email nail down something marketable for her that she is passionate about. In return, she wanted to "re-buy" those two eBooks and since then has bought everything I have published and refers others to my website and enewsletter too.
That's the reward of service and positive word of mouth. Now, on to why I thought of marketing while watching "Supernatural" on Netflix!
In one episode, the crossroads were involved. You know, the place where "innocent" people make deals with a demon. These deals are always carried out to the letter by the demon. In other words, the demon NEVER goes back on their word. They ALWAYS keep the deal - no double crossing at all. Of course, why would you when the deal involves your soul for eternity - but that's another story...
So this practice is hundreds of years old and the marketing of these offers is exclusively by word of mouth - positive word of mouth! People talk about how you can make a deal by following these steps and you will get what you want. It's written about in books and those books are found and used over the years. What do you think would happen if the demons provided a bad customer experience? If they repeatedly "broke" their deal? If their service did not live up to its name?
Well, the word of mouth would then be a warning to never make a deal and reputation management is not the easiest task for a demon! Therefore, it would be harder to find souls to make these deals with. Instead, the demons keep a rock solid record of 100% customer satisfaction and that word spreads throughout the centuries.
OK, so I'm in deep with crazy stories - but remember it's a TV show people and I do have a point! The next time you want some proof of what word of mouth can do - think of the crossroads and the deals with the Devil. Promises are always kept and the word gets around for centuries to come.
The unspoken landing page problem that's ruining your conversion!
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- Category: Bill Hall Blog
- Published on Wednesday, 18 July 2012 20:25
- Written by Bill Hall
- Hits: 684
We all talk about forms, calls to action, clarity, great copywriting, asking for the phone number or not, and other tried and true conversion issues that we need to discuss and optimize.
One thing that is often overlooked is the dreaded captcha!
Why am I writing about this? Well I was researching a very competitive area and looking for consultations. One captcha I couldn’t get by so I closed out the webpage and moved on. I didn’t think about this at all until afterwards that I filled three web forms out – all of the landing pages were pretty good (good enough for me to pursue contact), however, I closed out of three of them due to difficulty with the captcha.
Sure, if I kept at it I probably could have figured it out, but why? I was just starting out and didn’t know any of these companies. Therefore, if they looked OK, I was going to put them in the potential pile – until the captcha got me!
In marketing, we often look for the very intellectual answer. Was it the word they used? The graphics? The load time? The image? But I have yet to hear people say “Was it the captcha?” What is a captcha?
It’s an annoying self centered form input device so the company can make sure you are a real person without giving you the benefit of the doubt that you are. I never use captchas. And I drive a lot of traffic and leads to multiple websites. And yes, I get spiders filling out a bunch of forms every eight months or so – big deal. They are deleted and I move on. I save prospects and customers the agony of dealing with the captchas in order to make their life easier.
After all, aren’t spiders filling out forms an internal problem? If so, then why would I want to bother every single one of the good people I am trying to interest in converting on my landing page?
And if your client’s page is not converting, then you better look for the captcha before they blame your copywriting as the culprit. In fact, even if it’s working, you can be the hero and increase their conversion several points I bet just by having them test without the dreaded captchas.
The big questions everyone who uses these things should ask are:
- Is my captcha hurting my conversion?
- By how much?
- And knowing the value of a lead, how much money is my captcha costing me?
- Is the lower conversion worth the benefits of the captcha?
- If I have no choice but to include the captcha, can I at least make it more palatable to the visitor?
Captchas to me are internally focused, difficult, a barrier to your objective that you set up, and a major inhibitor to conversion. You literally make some people fight to complete the form.
However, since I feel my writing will not rid the world of captchas, if you must use them, keep these tips in mind:
- Add an audio option to hear the captcha. This will help, but remember that everyone won’t be in a place where they will be willing to use the audio or be able to use it.
- Enable them to change to a new captcha if the one presented to them is too hard for them
- Have a link to an email, a click to call button, and other ways to contact you near the captcha so they could skip it altogether and still contact you.
- Have text that shows it is correct or incorrect when you finish typing the captcha so the person can correct it before they hit the submit button. Otherwise, they are more likely to abandon the effort.
I still say that you do an A/B test with and without the captcha. Who knows? It may even convert more than other improvements to the page that you or your client are real exited about!
Is your marketing for short or long term?
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- Category: Bill Hall Blog
- Published on Saturday, 05 January 2013 15:31
- Written by Bill Hall
- Hits: 258
We teach our children to not take the shortcut - to do things that are enduring - to do them right. Then we get into the world of business. Whether you work for a company or are an entrepreneur, you must have faced situations where you had to do what you knew was not best. Maybe you had to settle for a simpler, less attractive website or not market to get more leads since you just couldn't afford it. Well, we all have.
And, whether you are an individual with an internet business or a large stock company, you still make those sacrifices. But how to you avoid taking shortcuts?
You need to understand the priorities and importance of everything you do. A nicer website would be nice, but if you know you could get more business in the door by doing more promotions, should you do that? At least first?
Later on, or at some point, you will need to look at those nice website changes. Knowing your objectives can you help you proritize your business objectives. You need to look at short, medium, and long term, as well as mission critical, and then cross reference all of that to time and money. Isn't that hard? It could be. But by doing that you can end up knowing when you need to take shortcuts and when only the best will do. Then, and only then, can you do as you were taught!
If you have helpful strategies, tips, or stories, please share them!
Subject lines to avoid and why
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- Category: Bill Hall Blog
- Published on Tuesday, 10 July 2012 06:37
- Written by Bill Hall
- Hits: 623
This month, let's talk about another pet peeve of mine. One I simply don't get. Why would someone trick you into opening an email knowing you'll find out quickly that you've been tricked? How can they think that this behavior would somehow make you interested in what they have to offer? Please join me in never doing this!
So here are subject lines that are ineffective in reaching your actual objective! Always avoid them and never use them!
1. Your paypal account is frozen
OK - this one I will certainly open and after my heart settles down, how happy do you think I will be with you when you start your clever little email? It goes on to say: Prevent your paypal troubles with this new fraud protection software... Well, I won't be doing business with you. In fact, I am still getting over the shock. You fooled me,. It wasn't pleasant. I am distracted and now I can not even read your message and I certainly am not open to it. These tactics alienate your perfect customers who are ready to buy!
2. Order confirmation, Your order #254364PTD, Your order has been placed, and so on
Again, you fooled me. Congratualtions. Like #1, this does not make your target market ready to receive your message. Prooving you can't be trusted is not a good first step. And to think you ruined all that trust even before the email was opened...
3. Re: or Fwd: or pretending to know you when you don't
Do you see the trend? Business is about trust, respect, and liking the people you do business with. It doesn't mean you would trust your baby with them, but if you cannot even trust them with a simple email ad, where do you go from there??
4. Oops! Sorry about the error yesterday: These were quite creative at first, but the gig is up. You are either eternally sloppy or you think we still believe that you made a mistake. We actually know by now that you were aching for another excuse to send me an email again. It just doesn't work.
5. The color red OR Fat Tuesday OR Jumping for joy
Confusing, right? Confusing subject lines are ineffective and pointless. Don't use them. It is always better to be clear than confusing. Give them something. We're busy and we are open to marketing when it's something we want. We'll never know with marketing mistakes like these being made.
A better way to communicate would be to learn all about lead nurturing. Check out the details here: Autoresponders
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