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This final blog of the series will show you how you can really start to build a solid plan to make your eCommerce site a success. Our eCommerce specialist, Sarah, has a real understanding of what makes eCommerce sites a roaring success, that’s why we’ve come up with some questions (that businesses like yours, will ask themselves when making the all-important move online) to ask her.
It is understandable, and sensible to ask yourself a whole host of relevant questions when planning to move your business online. As with any business venture, there is always a risk involved and it is important to have a bullet-proof plan to make sure you have considered everything before your eCommerce site goes live. So we’ve saved you some time and hassle and came up with a few FAQ’s to get you on you started…
Why bother with an unsubscribe option?
Many people feel including an unsubscribe option on their emails is a waste of time. A common perception is that unsubscribes encourage your audience to opt out of your emails and therefore reduces the success of your campaign. However, it is now a legal requirement to include an unsubscribe option in your email, so whatever your opinion you don’t really have a choice, and believe it or not, making it easy for someone to unsubscribe is a good thing.
This article will look into the benefits of managing unsubscribes and how to get just the right balance between avoiding but still offering unsubscribes whilst getting your message across.
The number 1 hint for avoiding spam filters
You probably won’t be surprised to learn that the number 1 way to avoid spam filters is to make sure that you don’t spam!
Not spamming means that you only send relevant content to a targeted audience – the very fact that you are reading this means that we have achieved this, you clearly have an interest in email marketing and avoiding spam filters!
Sounds obvious, I know, but actually it means much more than you may think at first glance. By paying attention to this mantra you will not only help avoid spam filters, you will also increase the effectiveness and results from your emails.
Please read on for the additional information on the details of content control by spam filters.
The importance of the recipient experience
If you’re already using a form of email marketing I’m sure you know as well as we do how difficult building your emails can be.
When you create an email one of the hardest things to do is step back and think about what the recipient’s opinion of your brand will be. The experience your recipient has in the first 3 seconds of looking at your email is the difference between an open or a delete; or even worse a spam hit.
So, how do you ensure a positive recipient experience; capturing their attention, whilst maintaining your message, building trust and increasing your brand awareness?
Like I said, building your email is often the most difficult part, so we’ve created a checklist with the things your recipient notices in that vital 3 seconds…
Email is still the most popular means of online communication
Depending on who you speak to there are differing opinions on email marketing. People unfamiliar to email marketing often don’t understand what all the fuss is about. It’s old fashioned, boring and with so many new methods of communicating such as Twitter, Facebook and blogs why bother with email?
Well the fact is the number of emails sent per day still outnumbers Facebook posts, tweets and web pages four to one – even excluding SPAM.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t bother with other types of marketing, but the problem is unless you have a lot of followers, and customers who are going to discuss your products you could be wasting your time. When it comes to email there are over 730 million business inboxes in the UK (that’s only a quarter of all inboxes). This means your prospects and customers are using email. Why not put your focus on an area you know works?
Creating and managing a successful sales team is becoming more and more difficult. There is a fine balance to be had between mentoring and monitoring. Getting the most from a sales team depends on quality information and, much like selling itself, asking the right questions.
Most companies are either thinking of implementing, or are currently using a CRM system. Research shows that for those already using a CRM system, many have not realised the importance and potential benefits of integration with their back office accounting system.
Why? The simple answer to this question is that people underestimate the potential benefits of CRM, and often mistake CRM as a tool solely to manage contacts and documents. However without realising the importance of better CRM through accounts integration, many are not maximising their return on investment (ROI).
Continue reading…
Doing CRM the right way…
Our first CRM Best Practice blog explained that the right way to go about a CRM project is to forget about the detail to begin with and concentrate on the bigger picture.
Implementing a CRM system is not an easy to task to take on. Your initial questions should be based on what you are trying to achieve and why you are looking to invest the time and effort.
Even after you have implemented your system there needs to be some commitment to tweaking and adjusting it as your market and customer change. This process is inevitable as you continually evolve the customer-facing side of your business.
So, if there are some good reasons behind implementing a CRM system you can move forward in the right way.
There are too many failed CRM projects
How many times have we all heard about failed CRM projects? How many times in fact have we heard about failed, over-budget or under-performing IT Projects? Plenty I am sure! But for every failure there are tens or even hundreds of successful projects – whether we are talking CRM or anything else. So, as a potential CRM buyer or user, what is it that differentiates success from failure and how can we ensure that our CRM project delivers real, tangible business success?
So far our eCommerce series has focused on the end product. By this we mean:
- Deciding on the right web layout to ensure success
- Choosing which of your products and/or services are suited to online selling
- How to make sure your existing customers and prospects are visiting your website instead of calling your sales team.
But how do you get to this point – your site up and running, reducing pressure on your sales team, offering customers the same fantastic experience online and overall supporting your offline business?
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