Infographic by SEO Book

Since December 6, the .xxx domains have been offered for general availability to domain names registering on a first-come-first-served basis.  If you have not yet registered your domain name, there is a chance an unwanted party will or has already registered your domain name.  You’ve worked hard to earn your company’s reputation and by registering your trademarks and domain names, you help protect your company’s intellectual property.

General availability allows companies to submit domain names in hopes of registering the domain for their own use, and in order to protect their domains from misuse by an unwanted third-party.  Although there is no guarantee that your domain name will be available, you will have the ability to register an approved domain name for 10 years.  In addition, you can also decide what website URL you would like the page to be redirected to.

Acumium understands .xxx domain registry details and is able to help you protect your company’s integrity by submitting your requests for registry.

If you would like us to help you, contact us today. Acumium’s cost structure to register your domain name(s) is dependent on the number of domains to register and the length of time you would like the .xxx domain(s) registered. The pricing structure per domain name is:

• 1 year – $115
• 2-4 years – $100 per year
• 5-10 years – $95 per year

To submit your information, if you have any questions or need further clarification, please contact Blake Hoffmann at sales@acumium.com or by calling 608-310-9700 x521.

Related articles

• Don’t Get Caught With Your Pants Down: Protect Your Trademarks From .xxx Domains (acumium.wordpress.com)
• Protect Your Trademark From Being Registered in the .XXX Grab (tacticalip.com)
• .XXX Domains: Registration, Brand Protection Now Underway (news.dice.com)

The Kindle Fire will allow a user’s everyday activity to be cataloged and saved, utilizes cloud technology, and will be available at an affordable cost of $199.  This low-priced tablet allows for  broader consumership, unlike Apple’s more costly tablet.  With integrated storage, the limitless memory cloud allows users to watch over 11,000 streaming shows and videos, download thousands of books, music, and so much more.

Amazon’s leap into the world of browser providers will continue to put pressure on their competitors and online businesses to optimize the speed of their websites on mobile devices, specifically page load time.  The optimized Silk browser offers an opportunity for companies like yours to showcase faster loading websites by utilizing technology that will enhance Silk’s content rendering and streamlined page loading.  Slow page loads often causes a user to navigate away from a site, so it stands to reason that server-based acceleration could also mean accelerated sales.  In order to viably compete in the mobile market, your site should be optimized with some sort of Content Delivery Network (CDN).

At Acumium, we take great pride in our clients’ site performance, and we are excited to apply our knowledge of CDN to maximize e-businesses for the Fire and Silk. With a CDN such as Amazon CloudFront, you can optimize your website for speed, which will greatly help your user experience on any browser.  By coupling Acumium’s award winning platform structure with a CDN, we can ensure your SEO success and reduce bounce rates while increasing the user time spent on your website.

Expanded cloud services is being offered at an opportune time.  The research and advisory firm Gartner shows that smart phones and tablets will outsell PC’s for the first time this year.  Mobile commerce will only continue to grow, which means the user’s online shopping experience will continue to evolve. With the introduction of the Silk browser in conjunction with the Fire tablet, Amazon proves they are on the forefront of cloud computing.

The switch to the tablet takes the mobile revolution to the foreground of the handheld revolution, which ultimately requires websites to be mobile-optimized rather than mobile friendly. Though smart phones are the majority of the mobile users, companies are finding their new e-commerce sites are not effectively utilizing tablet technology as well as they would hope. Mobile optimized sites are necessary as there are now multiple screen space offerings which are not specifically optimized through mobile friendly sites.

Acumium is taking the mobile revolution on head-first in to offer one of the most effective handheld optimized platforms on the market. Now is the time to be thinking about what your mobile strategy will be in 2012.  The introduction of low-priced mobile products will continue to push the mobile influence and your company’s strategy should be aware of these changes. Though it is too soon to determine if Amazon’s Silk will be a true success or not, it is becoming quite obvious that mobile is here to stay.

The Kindle Fire ships on November 15.  Will your website be Kindle Fire ready?  We’d love to hear from you.  What are you doing to accommodate quicker browsing in the face of evolving technology? Is your website effectively using a CDN? You can reach us at (608) 310-9700 ext 521 or via email: bhoffmann@acumium.com.

Related articles

• Amazon Silk brings super fast, cloud-powered web browsing to Kindle Fire (geek.com)
• Amazon Silk browser revealed (slashgear.com)
• Amazon Silk browser could hit PC, Mac and mobile (slashgear.com)

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has created a comprehensive plan to help you protect your name and reputation by fulfilling certain trademark protection requirements. The application  must be completed during what they are calling the “Sunrise B” time frame, which alows companies with a registered trademark to block associated domains from .xxx abuse.  The Sunrise B period is between September 7 and October 28, 2011.

ICM Registry Inc, “.xxx Isn’t Just Coming, It’s Here” Sept 27, 2011

 

Acumium can help you take the appropriate steps to complete the application during this period.  In order to meet the application requirements, you will need the following:

1. IPR Name – The word mark of the trademark; the exact word or phrase described by the registered mark
2. IPR Number – The registration or serial number of the trademark (not the application number)
3. IPR Registration Locality – The nation/jurisdiction in which the trademark is registered
4. IPR Registered Date – The date the trademark was registered/granted
5. IPR Entitlement – Whether the applicant (corresponding to the Registrant Contact) holds the trademark as the original “OWNER” or “ASSIGNEE”. Please utilize “ASSIGNEE” to also indicate where ownership of the Registered Mark is not yet reflected by the trademark office; ie: where the mark has been recently transferred.
6. Domain name – the full domain name associated with the registered trademark
7. Contact Acumium by October 27th 2011 – (608) 310-9700 x521, or sales@acumium.com
8. Complete the Application Process – The application process must be completed by October 27st 2011.  Applications should be sent in early to guarantee protection.

If you have a REGISTERED TRADEMARK, you must complete the appropriate application processes by OCTOBER 21st, 2011.  If the domains of your brands and intellectual property are NOT registered trademarks, you can protect your name and reputation during the General Availability period on DECEMBER 6th, 2011 starting at 11:00am ET by purchasing the .xxx domain yourself.  The December 6th release is a “First Come, First Served” application process, so it does not guarantee your domains will be protected.

The new .xxx domain offers a few challenges for your company, but you can help protect your company’s reputation by being proactive.

Please see a list of Frequently Asked Questions below for additional information on the .xxx domain.  To get your trademark block application started as soon possible, call Acumium today at (608) 310-9700 x521 or email us at sales@acumium.com.

.xxx Domain FAQ

Am I able to register varying URL’s correlated to my trademark? (Typos, varying spelling, etc.)

No.  During the Sunrise B time frame, you are only allowed to block domain names associated with trademarks registered prior to September 1, 2011.  You will be allowed to purchase multiple domain names which include keyword, typographical errors and unregistered products when the .xxx offering goes public on December 6, 2011.

My company has multiple brands and websites; Can I block each brand name during Sunrise B?

It depends.  If your brands have registered trademarks, you will be able to block the associated domain name(s) with these trademarks during Sunrise B.  Each domain requires an individual application and separate application fee.

If your brands are not registered trademarks, you will not be able to block domain names associated with these brand names.  The block is offered to registered trademark names only.  You will be able to purchase the domain name(s) when the .xxx domain offering goes public on December 6, 2011 at 11:00am EST.

How much will it cost to have Acumium complete the required application?

$250 per trademarked domain block.

How do I know if I am a Member or Non-Member of the “Sponsored Community”?

The “Sponsored Community” is the adult entertainment industry for which the .xxx domain is intended.  If you are not in the adult entertainment industry, you are a non-member and your purchased or blocked .xxx domains will specifically be “non-working” domain names.

Non-working domains will be protected from adult content and your company’s intellectual names and product names will not be used in association with adult content.  However, you must register your domains prior to anyone else during the “First Come, First Served” availability on Tuesday, December 6th, 2011 at 11:00am EST.

Once my domain’s .xxx url is blocked, will I be able to use it?

You will not be able to use the domain’s url as a working live website.

Where can I go to learn more?

http://www.icmregistry.com/press/videos/wake-up-to-sunrise/wake-up-to-sunrise.mp4

Related articles

• Be Wary of Losing Your Trademark to a .XXX Domain Name Holder (dunnerlawblog.com)
• Let’s be adult about it. .XXX isn’t just for the adult industry (techburgh.com)
• New Google Product Search Datafeed Requirements Announced – Your Deadline to Comply is September 22nd! (acumium.wordpress.com)
• Understanding and Surviving Google Panda (acumium.wordpress.com)

If you have ever test driven a car, chances are you drove the model with all the bells and whistles.  Car models all start out the same way, with the basics, and then features are added: air conditioning, sun roof, leather interior and automatic windows.  The point is that multiple versions of one model of car exist, save for a few variables.  This is a great way to understand A/B testing.  By changing a variable in your split tests, you can track consumer behavior which in turn helps you build a race track to your own success.

ProClip’s car mount products are custom fit for each vehicle model and for numerous mobile devices, from iPads to GPS devices.  Their customer base is broad, servicing original equipment manufacturers, vehicle dealers, police and emergency vehicles, sales and delivery, leasing companies, construction industries and the average consumer.  ProClip’s car mount products are made to service a large customer base in the United States and as part of the effort to increase sales, ProClip and Acumium set up an email blast with an A/B test earlier this year to figure out whether or not an email blast which included a discount offer would drive more sales than one that did not.

One of the first things ProClip did was determine who would receive the emails.  Thousands of customers were selected to receive the email, based on their past purchases of iPad/iPhone/iPod ProClip Mounts.  Half of the list would receive a typical ad (the “control”) encouraging the consumer to click on the ad with a 10% discount.  The other half would receive the variables; the exact same ad encouraging the consumer to click on the ad, but with no 10% discount.

The 10% discount email ad looked like this:

Not seen here: The bottom of the ad contained text that would allow a potential customer to opt out of the mailing list.  The ad was basic and informative and offered clients a discounted rate.  It did well when it came to click-throughs and conversions.

Overall, the results were fairly successful.  38.4% of the mailing list actually opened the email to look at it, with 23.7% of those actually clicking on the ad to open the website.  Of the participants, 81.8% were new clickers (past customers who had never participated in an email campaign before) and 18.2% were active participants in the past. Overall, the total percentage of potential clients who clicked the ad registered around 9.1%.  By tracking these click-throughs and customers on the back-end, ProClip was eventually able to determine a conversion rate per opened email of 2.6% with a 10.8% conversion rate for active clicking participants.  In addition, we were able to determine what products were wielding the highest clicks; invaluable information.

The true test was the second half of the email blast with the ad variables.  If you had to guess, which ad do you think would do better:  the ad with the 10% discount or without the 10% discount?

The second ad without the discount looked like this:

The overall percentage of people who clicked on this ad was 10.7% compared to 9.1% from the 10% off ad, but more surprising were the unique email opens:  an impressive 47.9% compared to the first email’s 38.4%!  Are you surprised by the results?  Could you have imagined the ad without the discounted rate would out-perform the first test of emails?  Before we begin to analyze the email results, the overall conversion rate of sales were actually 161% higher with the discount than with the control group.

When offering a discount, the profitability is always a concern and can be a debatable cost-to-benefit discussion.  We compared the two tests and found a 166% increase in orders from the 10% discount but only a 6.3% decrease in average order value.  This means that although ProClip offered 10% off, the average purchase was 3.7% higher than those without the 10% offer.  This information is very interesting when deciding the benefit of sales in comparison to a percentage discount, because even though you are lowering profit margins with a discounted product, it may be worth the discount overall.  In this case the 6.3% order discount value was worth the 161% increase in generated sales.

Consumer behavior can be unpredictable, but A/B testing is the simplest and fastest approach to testing the success of changes.  Who would have guessed that there would be higher participation without an offer, but a higher conversion rate with an offer?

A/B testing can be applied in a variety of ways than email blasts.  A great example is a graphic display A/B test from Anne Holland’s visual test: http://whichtestwon.com/webster-bank-direct-mail-test.  The test asks the viewer to look at two web pages and discern which one yielded the highest results in an A/B test based on the graphics alone:

What do your instincts tell you at first glance?  The actual test results revealed Version B to be the better of the two, with 37% more prospects convinced to open business checking accounts with Webster Bank as a result.  Holland writes, “According to age-old, direct marketing best practices, adding offer choices usually kills response rates.  So, we love this test because it proves sometimes testing ‘worst practices’ is worthwhile!”  Webster Bank’s success with their multiple-offer letter and ProClip’s success with their non-discounted ad show the best way to get to know your consumer is to test.

Creating your own A/B test should not be intimidating.  The best thing you can do to start is arm yourself with knowledge and have an idea about how long it will take to run a test before you move on.  You want to repeat variations when possible and create impeccable tracking methods.  Like Anne Holland suggests, think outside the box when it comes to “best practices” of marketing.

Chances are you wouldn’t buy a new car without test driving it, right?  Your ultimate goal in measuring success is to create a better experience for your consumers and drive results.

Please feel free to get in touch with us as we continue this ongoing series on Measuring Success.  Have you performed an A/B test with surprising results?  How do you track your conversions?  Let us know!

Related articles

• Measuring Success: An Introduction to Testing (acumium.wordpress.com)
• 5 Ways to Improve Email Marketing-Based Lead Generation (acumium.wordpress.com)

In continuing our Measuring Success series, we want to express the importance of testing and recording.  Too often companies make changes to their websites without tracking or testing.  Imagine your fully functional volcano letting out an anticlimactic puff of smoke instead of a steady flow of lava!  Clearly something went wrong with your science experiment, but without tracking your changes, how would you know what to fix?  If the scientific method has taught us anything, it’s this:  Not tracking the cause and effect is a sure path to failure.

Constructing the Hypothesis:  Why Should I Track My Changes?

By tracking and recording variables and by adding quantifiable values to the data, you can begin to calculate conversion rates and determine what impact the changes have on your overall success.  In addition, you can track visitor web page trends and correlate them to the factors of your website, economic state and even seasonality.  The variables are limitless.

Just like a science fair project, one of the first things you have to do is choose your experiment.  Perhaps your website is an e-commerce site and the most important measurement is the conversion of site visits to sales.  You might measure conversion like this.

# of visitors who purchase an item / # total number of visitors   = conversion rate

If one hundred people visit your website but forty people visiting your site make a purchase, your conversion rate is 40%.  The more statistical information you can generate from your testing and the changes you make, the greater the chance to enhance your current and future strategies for success.

Testing the Hypothesis:  How Should I Measure the Success of My Changes?

A/B Split Testing is the simplest and fastest approach to testing changes made to the user interface of your website.  A/B Testing lets you compare several versions of the same web page at the same time in order to see which web page produces the greatest results.  You can do this by navigating half of your website visitors to one version of a web page and the other half to another.  A/B Testing simply takes one variable on a page and alters it, while the other page remains the same.  Like a science experiment, one page is your “control group” which allows you to determine exactly which variables have an impact on the way people interact with your web page.  Maybe you see a higher conversion rate on a page with a blue background versus your control page with a yellow background.  The variables to test are virtually endless.

Taken from Paras Chopra’s case study. Click to view

Another tool for testing data is Multivariate Testing.  Multivariate Testing uses the same concept of testing variables, but rather than testing one item at a time, it changes multiple variables and tests the best combination simultaneously for the best optimization.  Maybe you see a higher conversion rate on a page with a blue background and an interactive interface and flashy action buttons; multiple variables.  This optimization testing helps quantify the best changes and offers an ending recommendation for the final website design, layout and content.

When constructing and testing a hypothesis in a scientific experiment, you always want to keep in mind that you are making an educated guess about how things will work:  “If ____ [I do this], then ____[this]___ will happen.”  Using A/B Split Testing and Multivariate Testing correspondingly is the best way to increase effect with the greatest success.  Maybe if you change a layout or design interface, your conversions will increase by 40%…  you just have to test in order to optimize success.

Best Practices For Tracking and Recording

TRACK EVERYTHING

You’re the scientist conducting an experiment, so recording your data as thoroughly as possible is necessary to later communicate your results and prove your “hypothesis.”  The metrics you track become a data log of information that can help define past performances and influence future variable changes for your company’s success.  Like a science experiment, testing can only have three outcomes: no result, a positive result or a negative result.  In order to optimize conversion rates, you have to track the results in order to get to the positive outcome.

DON’T SURPRISE REGULAR VISITORS

A/B Testing is not intended for use on your frequent visitors or repeat customers.  Testing is temporary in nature, so frequently changing your website may cause discomfort and irritation, drastically reducing the success of your efforts.  The variations you change may not ultimately be implemented if you test on regular site visitors.  It is better to test A/B Splits on new or infrequent visitors in a way that the testing cannot be detected.  The most meaningful and relevant testing results will be objective.

COMBINE TESTING METHODS

A/B Split Testing is a great funnel for initial results.  It can eliminate testing variables by determining poor results quickly and allow for additional testing soon after.  For this reason alone, A/B Testing should be your primary test strategy for determining optimal site changes.  Once those variables have been determined through A/B Testing, you can use Multivariate Testing to then determine appropriate optimization efforts.  We use this type of testing to determine which combinations of changes have the greatest optimization and conversion.

TESTING, TESTING, TESTING

By employing the first three Best Practices, you have a good start to continue building on the success of your website through testing, and we recommend you do multiple tests in order to optimize conversion rates.  It probably took you quite a few tries to get lava flowing from your homemade volcano, right?  There are limitless items to test and endless combinations to test so it makes sense to do many tests.  Data is collected daily and testing will continue refining your customers’ interactions as well as optimize your efforts for conversion.

The ultimate goal of testing is to create a better user experience, which in turn helps increase conversion rates and your success.  Testing turns browsers into buyers – homemade volcanoes into science fair winners.

We would love to hear from you as we continue this ongoing series on Measuring Success.  What are some of the combinations of tests you have performed on your own web site?  Have you seen a change in conversions as a result?  Coming up next in the Measuring Success series, we will look at A/B testing more in depth and how the theory relates to reality.

Related articles

• SUCCESS: Do You Measure Up? (acumium.wordpress.com)
• Measuring Success: PoolDawg Sinks the Bank Shot (acumium.wordpress.com)

In this series, we will help define these struggles of measuring success and the best ways to improve your success into the future.

What Is Success?
In business, the typical measures of success are commonly understood to be: increased awareness, prospects, opportunities and eventually sales.  However, sales are not necessarily the greatest measure of success.  Some of the best ways to improve your website success is through the use of basic, best practice business operations.  For example, routinely utilizing SWOT analysis, evaluating your company/product value proposition and comparative analysis is essential in understanding your company’s positioning with respect to your competition.  These few steps are essential in determining where to focus your efforts to drive the success of your company, which then allows you to decide which success measurements to integrate within your overall website strategy.

How Do I Measure Success?
Organizations use Performance Measurement to supplement the tracking of Key Performance Indicators (KPI).  Performance Measurement helps assess a company’s success in comparison to their overall strategic goals by using data and analytics to determine if the agreed upon KPI’s are being met and/or exceeded.   KPI’s are predetermined, quantifiable, trackable goals that are typically tied directly to a company’s performance.  In order to accurately measure performance, members of your organization must agree on your KPI’s in order to track visible progress against them throughout the year.

Measuring success is SMART… literally!  SMART components of an effective KPI are:

Specific:  The KPI pertain to the goal of the organization
Measurable:  The KPI allow the organization to assess its progress
Achievable:  The KPI are realistic in terms of the business environment
Relevant:  The KPI directly link the business and the metrics
Time-Sensitive:  The KPI place goal achievement in a certain time frame

All forms of information that can be gathered from your website, should be gathered.  This information is pertinent to current success rates and future growth opportunities.  Information can include the number of visitors to your website, how long they were on your website, the number of referrals, number of links to your website, number of forms filled out, average click throughs, site loading time and so much more.  (Google Analytics is a great resource.)

Once information has been collected, it then needs to be analyzed and correlated against your KPI.  The most current and relevant information will have the greatest impact on your initial results.  Then you need to ask the right questions.  The right questions will be different for each company, but some common measurements of success might ask:

• How does my number of website visitors compare to the competition?
• Does it correlate to my KPI selection?
• Is there improvement from last year? Last month?
• Are these successes organic or influenced through change?
• Do the results meet my anticipated return on investment?

Regardless of whether or not your website is an eCommerce site, KPI and information-gathering are always important steps in measuring your success.

How Do I Measure Success For My eCommerce Website?
The first Performance Measurement to come to everyone’s mind when thinking of eCommerce success is of course, sales.  Though sales are important, they are not a measure of standalone success.  Revenue is not impressive unless it coincides effectively with all other variables.   These variables include basic business components such as fixed and variable costs, overhead, production turnaround times, and every financially influenced value you can imagine.  These numbers must be configured correctly to influence adequate profit margins in respect to sales.

Ecommerce companies must measure the success of their operating practices, tools and website performance results in correlation to sales.  Some of these results include the conversion rate of site visitors that become sales, completed abandoned shopping carts, return customer percentages, average transaction values and product reviews.  Each value is important and has an impact to the success of an eCommerce business.

How Do I Measure Success For My Non-eCommerce Website?
Success in a non-eCommerce organization is more difficult to understand initially, but can be simplified:  Giving quantitative value to variables in your company and its website allow you to measure the success of non-eCommerce driven organizations.  For example, a 15% increase in website visitors in the month of July would be a quantitative value that acts as a measure of success.  A few important measurements of success can include:

1. An increase in customer awareness
2. An increase in click rate
3. An increase in referrals
4. A higher number of filled out forms
5. An increase of email-opens rate
6. Better search engine results
7. An increase in site visitors
8. An increase of the amount of time a visitor spends on the website

How Do I Continue Success?
Specific value metrics and KPI’s help establish what items to measure.  These metrics become a data log of information to help define past performances of your company and help visualize strengths and weaknesses.  This information should also be analyzed to determine the best variables to test for future growth and success.

We will explain what to test on your website as well as when and how to test for success in our upcoming series of articles.  We will cover everything from determining the best tools and testing methods to the length of time to test, and much more.  Until then, if you have any questions or would like to share success metrics that work for you, please let us know.  There are endless combinations of success measurements, but please share what has worked best or has not worked for your organization.  We will include/correlate your answers in our future articles.

In our new series, “Measuring Success”, we will discuss several topics related to using an analytical approach to evaluating the success of such activities as making changes to your website or implementing various marketing tactics. We will also share our expertise in different testing methods and measurement techniques to ensure you are accurately measuring your company’s performance.

The Measuring Success series will focus on such topics as:

1. Understanding Success Measurement
2. Comparing Testing Techniques
3. Tools for Testing and Measurement
4. Website and Email Success Stories
5. Creating your own strategic testing model

Our goal with this series is to show how measuring success is essential to the continued growth and improvement of any company.  In addition, we will outline an incremental approach you can employ to help your company’s continued measurement initiatives and growth.

We would like to hear from you so please join in the conversation by asking questions or adding additional insight.  If you would like help improving your measurement of success right away, contact us at sales@acumium.com or 608-310-9700 for a consultation.

P.S.  Mobile Just Got Serious!  Google’s acquisition of Motorola has made huge waves in the mobile market. (Apple is even scared)  In upcoming articles we will discuss ways to help your company take full advantage of this new mobile opportunity.

Click here to learn more about this $12.5 billion buyout.

P.P.S. News confirms it was a hoax!  Internet Explorer (IE) users are just as intelligent as non-IE users.

“Internet Explorer users are dumber” story was a hoax

This higher conversion rate explains marketers’ top two objectives this year:

1. Be more relevant – Improve segmentation and targeting
2. Be more engaging – Improve digital demand generation and online relationship building**

Email marketing continues to offer benefits above traditional marketing.  Correctly using these email marketing best practices, marketers can add value and growth to their lead generation and segmentation efforts.

5 Email Marketing Tips to Improve Segmentation and Lead Generation:

1. Collect data over time
Many marketers try to gain customers’ information in one step and often scare away the people they are attempting to attract.  The best way to collect details via email is slowly and over time.  People are more willing to offer information after continual interaction, gained trust and non-invasive questioning.

The questions you ask and data you collect are strongly determined by the type of marketing and sales strategy you have.  When sending email campaigns, start with the basics and work your way into data collection.  The most basic items include the name, email address and possibly a phone number.  Additional demographic information should be collected at a later date.

To further enhance your data collection and tracking, email marketers who use GravityMail have access to analytical tracking of visitors, links they follow, conversion rates and can include additional analytical tagging with Google Analytics.

2. Keep email lists clean
Email lists should be free of data entry errors, un-subscribes, auto-generated email accounts(no-reply@), misspelled email accounts and syntax errors.  Its a matter of basic housekeeping and systematically reviewing to ensure you have a clean list with active participants.  In addition, clean lists offer a concise perspective into the habits of the people included in your lists and offers great opportunity for segmentation.  Through continued monitoring, filtering, editing and cleaning of email lists, marketers can create a strong tool to enhance their marketing strategies and return on investment. For example, as part of reviewing lists, marketers can keep people engaged by reaching out if contacts stop responding or become inactive recipients.

3.  Align email campaigns with your marketing strategy
One of the most common mistakes is sending email campaigns that do not correlate to your company’s strategic marketing plan.  Companies often send emails with little relevance or correlation to the overall scheme of things.  The best way to connect emails to your company’s marketing plan is to create a strategic campaign map.  This will help determine your campaign’s plan of attack and the direction it takes your readers before the next email.  Look at the big picture goals of your strategic plan, and break the points down into steps which you can correlate with email campaigns.

4. Incorporate other digital channels into your landing page
Every email campaign should include some type of landing page; whether your blog, a customized web page you’ve created, home page or use of a social media outlet.  Always help direct readers where you want them to go.  Direct them to current news about your company and products on social media outlets or if you are not actively updating your social media accounts, directing them to your website.  Believe it or not, people are still 22% more likely to regularly follow company’s’ email campaigns than follow them on a social network***.  So don’t underestimate the importance of effectively engaging your customers through email and utilizing email to increase engagement through other channels.

5. Listen before you speak
Social media has given customers a voice they have never had before and they are taking advantage of the new channels available to share their thoughts about your company and products.  Marketers must be willing to listen if they want to be relevant and successful creating leads and sales.  Listening to people allows marketers additional opportunities for data collection, determining trending topics, incorporating segments and creating marketing campaigns with high ROI.  In addition, companies and marketers willing to listen to their customer base are much more likely to be talked about (in a good way) than companies who do not.

Despite what you may read, studies show that email marketing is not dead and remains very  effective.  If you follow these basic principles and invest in email marketing you are sure to see the ROI as qualified leads roll in.

Not a GravityMail customer? Contact Acumium today and start increasing your lead generation and sales figures through relevant email campaigns with analytical tracking.

Are you already a GravityMail customer but would like help?
Call us at: 608-310-9700 x521 or email us at sales@acumium.com.

*Experian Simmions, “National Consumer Study”, February 16, 2011
**CMO Council, “The 2011 State of Marketing” sponsored by Deloitte and Openet, July 17, 2011
***Netpop Research, “Social Face-Off: A comparison of US and China Social Media Use”, April 27, 2011

Simply put, you must implement the required data feed changes before the deadline or your products may be dropped from Google Product Search altogether.

Product attribute requirements for Google Product Search:

1. Basic Product Information- specific information and description of the product
2. Availability & Price-updated  inventory and price of products
3. Unique Product Identifiers- brand names, UPC’s, EANs, JANs or ISBNs
4. Product Variants- only differs by color, material, pattern or size
5. Apparel Products- all variations such as color, gender, size, material
6. Tax & Shipping- local tax rates and shipping costs
7. Nearby Brick and Mortar Stores- include store locations where customers can find you

Also, as part of the change, Google will be spot checking to verify all requirements are met and remove products that fall short.  It is Google’s intention to improve shoppers’ experience by way of more accurate and relevant details, such as inventory levels and pricing.

• To learn more see Changes to Google Product – Search Summer 2011.
• Find additional product feed specifications at the Google Merchant Help Center.

Since many Acumium customers use Google Product Search to enhance their products’ presence on the Internet, we want to make you aware and help implement these required attribute specifications to guarantee all criteria are met.  In addition, Acumium would love to track timeline analytical information in a case study, showing your company’s success through the implementation of the Google Product Search updates.

ACT NOW!  Contact Acumium to meet the September 22^nd deadline.

608-310-9700 or email us at sales@acumium.com