Bob Dearsley brings the second in a three-part series of articles looking into how businesses and marketing managers can generate prospect leads and B2B sales through website optimisation. This article looks specifically at website design and structure to encourage engagement.
Big Data is everything, marketing practitioners from agencies around the world agree. But it isn’t easy to stay abreast of it all and many feel overwhelmed by data, data, everywhere. Don’t be engulfed by the Big Data wave, says Bart Omlo – who brings together comments from senior marketers on how companies are adjusting their strategies and using the latest technology to keep up with the ever-increasing data flow.
Does your website generate B2B sales leads? Bob Dearsley brings the first in a three-part series of articles looking into how businesses and marketing managers can trigger prospect leads through website optimisation.
While e-commerce has levelled the selling field, artificial intelligence is propelling e-retail players forward, says Keren Zimmerman. Personalisation is the key to winning customer loyalty and repeat business and brands that leverage AI will turn that key. The technology is now becoming more affordable, so here’s how to compete with the bigger brands and use AI to power your audience data.
For long-term business profitability, e-retailers aim to encourage repeat custom by providing visitors to their websites with a simple and efficient user experience (UX). But not all online strategies are completely ethical, says Hilary Stephenson – some deploy psychological persuasion techniques, such as scarcity ‘offers’ or unclear signposting. She cites e-commerce research that reveals some larger organisations – such as fashion brands – have used ‘dark UX’ website design patterns to prompt ‘fear of missing out’ impulse buys. It’s not a good look for the e-retailer, she says, and explains why.
Using the example of a food chain based in the north of England – that offers the hugely popular and now famous Yorkshire pudding wraps – Rob Meakin details how well personalised customer loyalty schemes can work and how shoppers expecting speed, efficiency and simplicity in every step of their retail experience can tap into a ‘membership economy’.
How many times have you sat behind someone at a major event whose mobile phone is aloft, masking your view, streaming the content to an absent audience? Live events – such as conferences, fashion shows and concerts – should ideally be a mix of physical and digital experiences, says Hannah Farrell – hugely aware of the value of social media for events promotion. But how would brands and events organisers balance the wider and welcome sharing of their content with a sympathetic social media switch-off for real-world events’ ticket-holders? It’s not a quandary, if applied in the right way…
The forthcoming GDPR is designed to help protect consumer data, not to hamper businesses and hog-tie them with red tape. Those businesses that adapt to the changing rules – that turn big data into smart data – will survive and thrive, says Julie Neilson, explaining how marketers in the retail, automotive and financial services sectors are surmounting the obstacles and reaping the opportunities . . . showing that it can be a case of new privacy rules OK!
The way we buy products and services changed forever when the internet was born. In the ensuing 35 years or so, e-commerce has transformed how shoppers make their purchase decisions, with so many of them now relying on the advice and recommendations of their peers – whether they are friends, relatives or even complete strangers. It’s called third-party endorsement, or social proof. Here’s how to make that work in your favour and how get the best for your business via email marketing via ratings and reviews:
Wonderfully convenient or a bit too close for comfort: when does personalisation and detailed data usage become just a bit too personal? And how on earth can marketers tell when their carefully crafted messages are actually creeping their targets out? It was the subject that was under discussion at a masterclass in London recently. Here’s what the experts had to say about walking the tightrope between too much and too little: