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8 Ways to Boost Your Email Click-Through Rate

MAY 27, 2020

Did you know the average email CTR is about 2.5%? Not bad! But some brands are more than doubling this figure, and Sleeknote has some awesome tips so you can do the same.

Start By Setting a Clear Goal With Each Email Your goal might be letting subscribers know of a flash sale or a new product launch. Knowing your goal will allow you to more easily communicate with a purpose.
Use Segmentation to Send Hyper-Relevant Content It’s time to ditch “spray and pray” if that’s your approach. This can be as simple as including the subscriber’s name in the message. Keep in mind that segmented and targeted emails generate 58% of revenue for eCommerce brands.
Use Strong Visuals A picture is worth a thousand words. A great image in your email will grab more attention.
Eliminate Distractions Clutter won’t do your CTR any favors. Less is more, so let your CTA’s be concise and easy to find.
Design Your Emails for Scanners 79% of people scan content, and scanning is more prevalent for emails than for websites. Break your email into smaller pieces to digest. Give each piece a headline and keep the most important pieces toward the top.
Use Buttons For Primary CTAs (And Text Links for Secondary CTAs) People love to push buttons. Use them to draw subscribers to your primary CTA. Don’t overwhelm them with buttons, so stick with text links for other CTAs.
Create a Sense of Urgency Give people a reason to act soon. A limited time offer or a sale deadline is more enticing to subscribers.
Practice Email Scrubbing Unengaged users do you no good. Scrub your list about every six months. This can save you money since you’ll raise your conversion rate and you’ll be sending fewer emails.

Did this whet your appetite for a higher CTR? Check out the nitty-gritty details and some great examples.

How to Use Google My Business to Get More Customers

MAY 27, 2020

Google My Business is one heck of a resource. It ensures an online presence, improves local SEO, keeps customers connected, and boosts credibility. It’s also the topic of discussion today and we’re getting the goods from Hootsuite!

The very first step is creating an account using your business email domain. Hootsuite has our back with step-by-step instruction. Plus, the article goes into how to get verified, claim an existing business profile, and edit info.

But we’re jumping straight into the strategy part, aka the fun stuff!

1. Fill up your profile with contact details, categories, attributes, and more relevant info. The more you share on GMB, the easier it is for Google to match your biz to customer searches. Oh, and don’t forget to utilize keywords to improve relevance.

2. Images on GMB is more powerful than you think. Google reported businesses with photos receive 42% more direction requests and 35% more click-throughs.

A logo and cover photo can help people recognize your brand online. Whereas, photos of your location, products, or handiwork offers insight into your biz.

3. Post news, updates, events, and special offers to keep customers informed. Like any content strategy, it’s important to clarify your goals first before aimlessly posting.

Pro Tip: Google says people engage more with posts that have photos, videos, or GIFs.

4. Choose up to 10 categories for your business and get access to special features. For example, eateries can upload menus, service businesses can add a booking button, shops can share wheelchair accessibility and more.

5. Encourage customers to leave reviews to gain higher ground over competitors. Regardless of online or brick and mortar, if you offer a great experience ask for the review. Do so by getting creative with e-receipts, stickers, social posts, or create a custom short link. After all, people trust people.

You know what to do to get more insight!

Everything You Need to Know About Email Scrubbing

MAY 20, 2020

A lot goes into email marketing. We know this and we’re sure y’all know too. One element that has some question is caring for your list. So let’s talk about email scrubbing. Specifically with the help of Sleeknote.

What does it mean anyway to scrub an email list? Well, the goal is to maintain a healthy, active list, so you cut out unengaged subscribers. With regular practice, you’ll improve open rate, CTR, lead quality, and more.

Now let’s get into the when and how!

How do you know when it’s time to get your scrub on? That’s the big Q. Luckily, Sleeknote has three classic signs to look for:
- A noticeable decline in open rate and/or CTR
- A high number of recent spam complaints
- A large number of people have recently unsubscribed
How frequently should you trim an email list? Well, there’s not a straight answer. Some practice once every 6 months or once a quarter. The more aggressively you grow your list, the more frequently you should clean it.

On a general level, here’s how to effectively scrub your list.

1. Identify inactive subscribers. Do this by considering send frequency and content promotion.

2. Inactivity aside, you’ll also want to cut out duplicates, spam, or misspelled email addresses. Eliminating duplicates is fairly straight forward. Spam addresses are the fishy letter/number combos that will hurt ROI. Misspelled emails aren’t going to an inbox, which can cause overall deliverability issues.

3. Segment undesirable subscribers. With the email marketing platform of your choosing, create an inactive segment by adding the criteria that define inactivity.

All doesn’t have to end as inactivity clouds your email campaigns. As a last-ditch attempt, try wining back those folks with a personalized email. But when that fails, it’s time to kick ’em out of your list.

Smash that button to get the full details from Sleeknote!

The 3.5-Minute Google Analytics-Driven Website Audit

MAY 20, 2020

We’re a team full of data fanatics, and the folks at Orbit Media seem to be too. If you share in that fandom then you’re gonna love today’s feature. We’re learning how to use Google Analytics (GA) to perform a super quick website audit. Let’s dig in…

Are there broken pages or bad URLs? We’ve all experienced a 404 page. Maybe your fingers went rogue and mistyped or misclicked something sending you to a page that doesn’t exist.
- In GA, use this navigation: Behavior > Site Content > Page Title dimension, filter for *Page Not Found*
- Redirect traffic from these pages to the most relevant page OR create content on these URLs
- Make your 404-page awesome by adding links to other web pages, adding humor, creating an apology video.
Is your shopping cart broken on certain browsers? Much of our job is picking up what our fans are putting down. Data from your e-commerce shopping cart can reveal a whole lot about your buying process. Specifically, discover which browsers are causing problems for customers and making it difficult for them to buy.
- Here’s how to check it out in GA: Audience > Technology > Browser & OS (Conversion Rate).
- Now you can either call on the developer den or use a tool like HotJar to watch screen recordings of actual visitors.

Is your site not working on some devices? COVID-19 caused a behavior shift as the public is consuming content at skyrocketing rates and is using multiple devices to do it. So, make sure your site can handle this heightened behavior.
- Let GA show you what’s up: Audience > Mobile > Devices (Bounce Rate)
- You’re looking for an outlier. Engagement and conversion metrics will naturally vary across devices but it should be fairly similar.

Alrighty, fam we’re wrapping it up but Orbit Media covers much more. Move on over to catch the rest!

Amazing Instagram Stories Examples (With Tips & Tricks to Copy)

MAY 18, 2020

What better way to tell your brand story than with Instagram Stories.

AdEspresso’s latest blog tackles IG Story Ads. We’re skipping the how-to and focusing on the examples and brilliant tips. Let’s take our Story campaigns to the next level, shall we?

Tip 1: 4 Qs to answer for killer headline and copy messaging.

Is this useful – do people see the value in it?
Is this unique – does it promise a unique benefit?
Is this urgent – does it lead the audience to act now?
Is this ultra-specific? – does it quickly address why someone should swipe up?

For example, The Daily Harvest shared this message, “Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are covered. Worry about fewer things. — Swipe Up for $25 off”

Rather than sharing prices or the latest flavors, The Daily Harvest understands consumers are stressed and the response is any time of day we got you when you need a meal.

Tip 2: Create a sense of exclusivity or luxury.

Curiosity kills the cat, right? Building a sense of suspense or keeping your fans on their toes can encourage engagement like nothing else. Take the luxury strategy, for instance.

Make your fans feel your product or service is just for them by giving exclusive offers, providing loyalty perks, presenting a limited-time offer, or expanding on personalized experiences.

Tip 3: The sound of silence is your friend.

40% of your audience will watch your IG Stories in silent mode so mastering the sound-off environment is key. How can you accomplish this? Use bold headlines, powerful imagery, and animations that draw viewers in.

We’re leaving it with a few honorable mention tips, but there’s more involved in Adespresso’s blog:

- Delivering a slew of lovely products in rapid succession
- Using keen narrative techniques
- Making everyday moments more exciting with video editing tools

4 Growth Opportunities Hiding in Recession

MAY 14, 2020

Soooo recessions. Kind of scary. But the more you know the less scary things seem. After all, this fam is the sharpest marketers we know.

To become more comfortable handling marketing strategies with a looming recession, we’re learning from Animalz about 4 potential growth opportunities.

1. Build audiences with cheaper paid advertising. It’s simple math, friends. More folks online, plus a decrease in overall media buy becomes a decrease in cost per acquisition. If this doesn’t scream opportunity to you then we’re not sure what will.

Experiment with ad messaging and audience targeting.
Run paid ads to gated resources and generate email sign-ups.

2. Ride the wave of growth from changing consumer behavior. Recessions prompt change. There’s no way around it. Start asking yourself, “what will the post-COVID economy look like?”

Pay attention to how your customers react.
Get creative with how your brand serves your customers.
Adjust marketing messages and search terms to your customer’s new needs.

For example, Zuora anticipates a growing demand for membership programs to allow consumers to support local, brick-and-mortar businesses.

3. Shift event budget toward content marketing. One big question mark lies with live events. Hosting a 100+ person event isn’t happening any time soon, and this uncertainty is affecting both B2B and B2C markets.

Animalz suggested using content marketing to fill that void. For example, live events can shift to webinars or podcasts.

4. Double down on search to overtake your competitors. People are keeping busy online. As a matter of fact, countries are seeing a 30-50% surge in total monthly internet usage (Cloudflare). Woah.

While your competitors are pulling back marketing efforts in fear of a recession, take advantage of the power in search content. In the long run, you’ll have a clear advantage with built-up evergreen content, consistent traffic, ranking keywords, and backlinks.

Head over to Animalz for more details. You know what to do!

The Indistractable Model: Tips from Productivity Expert Nir Eyal

MAY 12, 2020

It’s easy to get caught up in the rings, pings, and dings of daily life. Though it feels like we’re busier than ever, it seems as if getting work done is becoming more and more difficult. What can we say, distractions are everywhere.

If you’re ready to get off that distraction train, Woven is helping us find the best ways to reach that productive station.

Create an Identity Pact. Decide that you’re no longer a person who gets distracted. We hear you, this is definitely easier said than done. But it’s possible with practice. Take on a moniker of someone who’s “Indistractable” you can own that new identity and embrace the habits of someone who’s “Indistractable.”
Recognize internal distraction triggers. With internal triggers, Eyal says, “human behavior is prompted by a desire to escape discomfort, that means that time management is pain management.” Become aware of how you’re feeling when you find yourself getting distracted. The more self-aware you are the easier it will be to manage.
Create a Time-Boxed Calendar. A time-boxed calendar means taking time out ahead of the week to plan your activities. Doing this can help curb external triggers because you’re making time to relax and be distracted (watch Netflix, play a video game, Zoom call with friends). The main difference is that you intend to do it – you plan on it rather than using it as a distraction from the work you should do.
Create A Weekly Review. Eyal recommends once you incorporate these activities, you create a weekly review to see where you spent your time, how you did it, and what you might be able to do differently the next week.

These science-backed strategies can turn you into productive-maniac! Give it a go and check out the full cliff notes of Nir’s book.

How to Stay Creative With an SEO-Driven Content Strategy

MAY 11, 2020

The heck with SEO! We’re fueled up and ready to write a full book about how banana pancakes are the perfect mid-day snack. But, we’ll resist.

We have to talk about how focusing on organic growth doesn’t have to mean sacrificing your creative freedom. Moz is going to show us the way on this topic.

1. Tap into your inner investigative reporter to grab insights from experts. After getting tied up from writer’s block, nothing will get you more fired up than talking to someone who genuinely loves the subject you’re attempting to write about. An expert can

offer inspiration to get the writer wheels going.
provide quote that can be presented as valuable tips.
add a perspective that emphasizes your main point.
allow human-emotion to shine through

2. Turn boring into Mona Lisa level-content. As marketers, writing is a large chunk of our job. And the end result offers advice and value to fans. To level-up, make your boring content exciting by finding the human angle.

Focus on the bigger picture and the search journey a consumer may take. The user asks Google a Q. Google then offers the top 10 resources, plus Related Search links or what People Also Ask boxes.

Tip: Get clear on the human angle by asking yourself, “why would I ever search for this topic?”

3. Shake it up with multi-media marketing. Struggling to write it out. No biggie. Chat about it on a podcast, get adventurous with a video, play around with a creative, or dabble with an infographic. All are fantastic alternatives to generate traffic to your site.

Smash the button to get more tips!

Online Reputation Management: What It Is & Why You Need It

MAY 10, 2020

Get those pencils out, ladies and gents! We’re working to improve Online Reputation Management (ORM) with the help of AdEspresso, today.

One-star reviews, a negative message, or an angry email can be day-breakers. But it’s how you respond that determines if the customer remains loyal or not.

You’ve been the unhappy customer before. Think about a time when a customer service team listened and actually helped. It made your day, right? So much so, you might’ve felt inclined about filling out a feedback service.

ORM tackles the little fires with open, personalized conversation before it causes serious damage, and it’s a vital ingredient to building brand loyalty.

Let’s get into the 5 ORM strategies recommended by AdEspresso:

Answer Promptly and With Empathy. As a matter of fact, 83% of people expect responses to social media comments in a day or less (Clutch survey). Prompt responses prevent frustration and show the customer they are a priority. Take a peek at this example via Twitter.
Address Negativity Up Front. 82% of consumers read online reviews AND 97% also read the business’s responses. If that’s not enough reason to always address unhappy customers, we don’t know what is. With a closer look into Peloton’s response to unsatisfied folks shows:
- “Thank you for” or “We’re sorry about” – show empathy
- Offering a FAQ link or an email – make the answer convenient
- Provide a timeline – set expectation
- Mention your team – the customer is the companies priority
Own Up To Your Mistakes. When you hurt a friend, you apologize. Dealing with tense customer situations isn’t any different. Here are a few insights to crafting an honest apology:
- Consider the medium.
- Directly address the concerns raised by consumers.
- Describe how you intend to resolve the situation.