Market Research Archives - Digital Operative

Do negative reviews have a bigger effect on small business

November 16, 2016/in Digital Marketing, Market Research /by Digital Operative

Your small business has a profile on Yelp! Your Facebook fans are leaving reviews on your social media feed. And, customers are actually using your custom hashtag on Twitter. Excellent!

But, what happens when a grumpy troll leaves a scathing review and bad-mouths your business? Do negative reviews hurt small businesses? Yes!

Since small businesses only receive a handful of reviews each day (or week!) they don’t have as many positive comments to crowd out the negative remarks — like the multi-billion dollar corporations do!

How Consumers View Online Reviews

With people increasingly shopping and socializing online, it’s no surprise that they cling to consumer reviews to gain insight into the products and services they’re researching.

Did you know that 89% of online consumers feel that online reviews are trustworthy? And they trust them so much, that four out of five buyers will change their purchasing decision based on negative information found online. Wow!

So, what can you do about these upset customers? Face them head-on. But, do it nicely.

Publicly address their concerns, educate them and if needed, apologize for the situation they encountered. Your positive response is enough to make other consumers realize you’re really not all that bad — and even courageous for jumping into the fire pit with an angry person.

“More nasty or negative comments will have a worse impact than professional and polite explanation of the problem. Therefore, when responding to reviews on complaints, professionalism and positive language is very important,” Eric Thomas, Brand Manager for Brandme writes on Social Media Today.

Making Lemonade from Lemon Reviews

After responding to the messages, it’s time to suck up your pride and really read what the negative reviews are saying. Of course, pay no attention to the person who thinks it’s crazy you don’t deliver to houses three hours away from the restaurant or who were upset that they couldn’t use six coupons on one item. You will never make them happy.

But, when the negative reviews address issues that you can actually follow-up on and make improvements to, hear the reviewer out, even if their approach isn’t exactly kind. Did their online order arrived damaged? Maybe it’s time to review the packing and shipping method you use. Was the customer service associate rude on the phone? Maybe it’s time for some staff training or to record calls and monitor the situation.

Remember, people like to complain when they’re frustrated. Their stories are often over dramatized and embellished due to their emotions. Strip away the fluff and pay attention to what your customers want. Those lemon reviews might actually be helpful in building your brand in the long run!

Blog content from Connectivity.

Social Marketers’ Guide To Different Languages Of Social Media

November 16, 2016/in Digital Marketing, Market Research, Social Media /by Digital Operative

Our friends over at Studio56 in Australia recently wrote a blog on the different Social Media languages. While their research and information relates to the Australian market we believe that most of the information is relevant to us here in New Zealand.

Success in social media marketing does not rely entirely on the quality of content or number of connections your business has. Though nailing the quality of content is paramount, social media marketers ought to embrace the need for designing specific content for each platform to meet the needs of the majority users of the platforms. This is mostly important when you consider the different kinds of people popular with different social media platforms. The majority of people found in Facebook are different from those on Twitter or Instagram. Same is true for their content preference. Your success in using these platforms will depend largely on mastering the kind of content to post in each platform to capture the attention of the specific users.

Why is this important?

Think of your behavior when you meet with friends; -how you talk, what information you give them, the language and tone. Now, compare this with when you are with your clients. Your topics of discussion and language used are very different in these two scenarios. More so, interchange of the language could harm both relationships. So is true for different social media platforms.

Bombarding your audience with the wrong content has serious repercussions to your marketing effort. For once, such content does not catch their attention. In this case, you lose an opportunity to draw possible followers to your page. In fact, overload with irrelevant content can as well drive away those who have been your serious fans. Losing your target market minimizes your chances of getting expected ROI out of any marketing campaign.

To avoid this, social media marketers need to understand how different platforms work. It is also necessary to find out which kinds of people use a certain platform and the type of content suitable for them. Armed with the information, such professionals will tailor their campaign messages to attract maximum click through. Such users will also be interested in sharing good and relevant content in their timeline for their network to see. This is how you reach new people and draw them to your profile.

Here is a keen look at different social media platforms and some statistics to help you get an idea of who could be your target audience in each.

Facebook

Facebook is the largest social media platform in the world today, with over 1.55 Billion active users. Besides, it is a popular platform with people of all walks of life using it on a daily basis. Its numbers are growing as well and this makes it a great marketing resource for both small and large enterprises. However, before you jump in with your marketing content and spread it all around the platform, here are some interesting statistics that may guide you with your marketing strategy.

According to Sensis report on social media user demographics in Australia, in 2015,

– 93% of adults using the Internet in Australia have Facebook accounts.

– To be more specific, 93% of Australian female online population and 92% of Australian male online population is on Facebook

– The most active user group are young adults – 97% of them are on Facebook.

– The study also shows that even people at the age above 65 are using Facebook

This gives an idea of what to expect with Facebook users around the world. Using this information, any effective social media marketer is aware of the kind of people they are likely to reach with the content they post online. This should guide you in creating posts that reach your target market effectively.

Some Quick Tips on Wise Language Use in Facebook

Generally, this platform is your go-to option when you want to reach the highest number of people with your marketing efforts. People in this platform will enjoy high visual content which includes videos and photos. Also, you can add clear descriptions of what each image or video is about. You could also include a link to articles and other content where necessary. Here are other tips to make your posts in Facebook more effective.

1. Use photos: photo posts are among the most engaging in Facebook. Most people will comment, like, and share images more than they do text-based posts. Their performance is even better when you make the images self-explanatory. According to a Hubspot study in 2012 done on 1,545 B2C and B2B companies, those sharing photo-based posts in Facebook got 53% higher likes and 104% higher comments than those posting words only.

2. Include emoticons: Many people think emoticons are suitable for teens only. Conversely, you would be amazed that these expressions can improve your likes by 57%, comments 33% and share rate by 33%. How can this be? Perhaps it is because it breaks the tension or seriousness with your posts thus giving it a relaxed tone or showing the human side.

3. Question posts are great when looking for comments: There is no better way to prompt users to comment than seeking their opinion or answer about a subject. Be ready, however, that your question posts will not attract many likes or shares. Also, the best questions would be the types that involve ‘which’, ‘would’, ‘who’ as opposed to those defined by “why”, and “how”

4. Make your posts short: the point here is to be precise and to the point. In any case, there is a lot of content to read in social media and it helps if one doesn’t spend a lot of time trying to figure out what your post is all about.

5. Write catchy titles: when you are sharing external links, whether to your own site or someone else’s, try to write a catchy title or caption. You can hear people complaining about click-bait titles on social media quite a lot, but they actually do the job and most people click to see what is going on! Just don’t be too aggressive and misleading.

There is a common belief that most users of Pinterest are women. Well, you wouldn’t be wrong to assume that going by the following demographics by Sensis.

– According to the study done on social media adult users in Australia, 17% of them are using Pinterest, but 25% of women online are using Pinterest, while men accounted for only 8%

– 22% of users are between the age of 18 and 29, while 36% are between 30 and 49, with only 8% aged above 65 years

– Most of Pinterest users, 38%, check their profiles once or twice per week and spend up to 5 minutes browsing the platform

As a marketer, you look at those demographics and you can tell what kind of content your target market could be interested in. For once, it is notable that this is a popular platform for the young. In addition, a majority of them won’t be there every day and spend too much time, so your pins need to stay relevant for longer time. However, do not forget that your main audience here will be women.

When posting, you can view Pinterest as a virtual board, where you pin images advertising your product, an upcoming event, or so. The best part is that you can easily add content to describe or emphasize key points of your message. Your aim is to make it clearer as well as give more details.

Always make sure to choose beautiful imagery. You can use colors that stand out to make it more appealing to your audience. A tall image of 1000 pixels or more will carry the day.

Some Tips For Great Pinning

1. Add descriptions to every pin: this is your chance to sneak in your brand name or products and services, so don’t miss it. Explain what is on the image or link you are pinning and make sure it’s conversational and not stuffed with keywords.

2. Create different pinning boards: not all people in your Pinterest audience are the same, so try to make a board for different tastes. A comedy board, a board with tips from your field of interest, a DIY board, and update all of them regularly.

3. Use hashtags: but don’t over use them. It’s easier to target best audience when using a good hashtag, but people will get annoyed if you stuck 5-6 of them next to one pin. Hashtags should be describing the pin and helping people find what they are looking for, and not just to get clicks.

Visitors only read 20% of your webpage

March 2, 2016/in Development, Market Research /by Digital Operative

It seems we don’t read a website the same way we read our books or newspapers, and the team at Econsultancy have an interesting article which explains why and gives you some tips on how to write for those of us who are scanners.

But just remember that while you’re putting together your text for your blogs and business pages, that to build a high performance site you also need to write effectively using your keywords. That means your content needs to sound natural and be contextually appropriate.

If you have any questions or need some help with your content, keywords and digital marketing strategy then please drop us a line.

Here is the article from the team at Econsultancy.

Twenty percent? Please tell me you’re joking. I don’t spend hours crafting a perfectly worded article only to have four-fifths of it ignored!

Sadly it’s true though. On average a user will only read 20% of the content of your page.

There is one very simple reason for this slightly depressing fact… scanning.

You could stop reading this article now because I’ve already spoiled the ending (more on that later). But if you want to know why people scan and how do deal with it then please read on.

Scanning

People don’t read a web page in the same way as they do a book or a newspaper. When people browse the web they are looking for quick answers.

This isn’t just the educated guesswork of an online writer. Eye-tracking studies have found that the majority of people read online content in an ‘F’ pattern.

The image below shows you what the F pattern looks like. It is a heat map, so the red parts are where people spent the most time looking and the blue parts the least time.

The F shape explained

As you can see from the image above, the heat map generated by the eye-tracking study forms a rough F shape. Let’s break down each part of the shape.

Horizontal movement across the first paragraph forms the top of the F.
Second horizontal movement slightly further down that covers a shorter area than the first.
Vertical scanning of the left side of the content.

Why do people scan?

Are we getting lazier? Less literate? The continuing popularity of door-stopping novel series such as George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire would suggest not.

You could argue that it is simply more difficult to read lots of text on a computer screen. It strains the eyes and therefore makes it far less pleasant than reading something on paper.

But there is another simple reason for people scanning in this way: they are looking for a specific piece of information and they don’t want to read the whole article to find it.

Think about the behaviour of someone using a search engine. They are ultimately looking for an answer to a question.

They will click on a link and scan the content for that answer. If they don’t find it quickly and easily they’ll leave, go back to the search engine and try another link.

How to write for scanners

Here are some other things you can do to make scanners’ lives easier, which should always be your aim when writing online content:

Create bulleted lists like this.
Use plenty of descriptive subheadings.
Write in short paragraphs.
Give each point or idea its own paragraph.
Create plenty of white space.
Highlight key points in bold.
Put important information near the beginning of sentences and paragraphs.

You can see from this post that I use paragraphs of only one or two sentences. This helps create the white space I mentioned so people can easily scan the article for what they want.

I also use simple language so that someone scanning the copy can easily pinpoint what they’re looking for without having to struggle with technical jargon or marketing stuff.

Keep everything clear and easy to navigate. Remember you are dealing with fickle readers who will make a decision about the usefulness of your content within seconds.

I’m not saying you should dumb things down for your readers, but yes actually that’s exactly what I’m saying. Far from patronising them you’ll actually make their lives easier and they’ll thank you for that.

If you got into online writing because you wanted to be the next literary great then you’re in the wrong business. This is the business of delivering information as quickly and clearly as possible.

Spoilers welcome

You should also aim to get the main point of the article into the first couple of paragraphs.

I mentioned earlier that I’d spoiled the ending of this post. The point of the article is that people only read 20% of content because they scan, and like I said you could have stopped there.

You’re not writing a thriller novel, so forget about building mystery and revealing the big twist at the end.

Tell people your main point/s as early as possible and as clearly as possible. Then go into further detail in the rest of the article for those that want to read it.

Did you scan this post?

I’d be interested to know how much of this post you actually read, or how much of an article you think you usually read in general.

I promise I won’t be offended if you only say 20%.

The state of Digital Marketing AUS/NZ

January 16, 2016/in Market Research /by Digital Operative

A recent report in to the state of digital marketing in Australia and New Zealand emphasises what the team at Digital Operative expected – businesses are realising the importance of investing in digital marketing.

However, with a shortage of key skills in the industry, it can be difficult for companies to find not only people that they can trust, but also those with a proven track record in delivering digital marketing ROI.

The report is based on a survey of almost 500 client-side marketers and agency respondents, and follows similar pieces of research carried out in 2012 and 2013.

Key findings from the report:

Keeping the customer front of mind is the key priority:

73% of respondents agree that they ‘are becoming more customer-centric as an organistion’

Marketers are committed to investing in technology:

96% of companies agree that ‘a good understanding of technology is critical for senior marketing leaders’

A digital skills gap still looms large:

marketers are recognising the shortfall in the competencies required to be successful in the digital age.

To see the full report please visit the econsultancy website

Are loyalty programmes for ecommerce effective?

January 1, 2016/in Ecommerce, Market Research /by Digital Operative

When developing an e commerce strategy for business we often get asked about the effectiveness of loyalty programmes. Are they worth the effort? Do they really help to grow and retain your customer base?

Of course there are always variables that affect how we would answer this question. Do you have the resources to implement this type of programme? How would this type of programme affect your business model and current customers? While these may play a role in whether you want to implement a loyalty programme for e commerce and traditional retail, it appears the evidence suggests that loyalty programmes do make a positive impact and your business and they are effective.

Check out this article from Sweet Tooth.

One of the first things I am asked when I say I work in customer loyalty is, are loyalty programs effective? My response…. Yes, but it is my job to show people that loyalty programs are effective. I might be a little biased so let’s look at the data.

When asking about loyalty program effectiveness people like to focus on the big retailers like Sephora, Starbucks, and Home Depot. That is why for the purpose of this analysis I have used the National Retail Federation’s top 100 retailer chart.

Loyalty programs are helping America’s largest retailers:

The logical place to start is to see what percentage of the top 100 list is using a loyalty program. Of the top 100 retailers 51% have some form of customer loyalty program in place. This could be a savings card, a points program, or a credit card that rewards store credit.

We could conclude that if retail loyalty programs weren’t effective over half of the top retailers would not be using them. But let’s dig a little deeper and see how those retailers with programs are performing compared to the others.

Retailers Without a Loyalty Program

Let’s start by looking at the retailers who are not using a loyalty program. These retailers generated $496 billion in revenue or $9.9 billion each, on average. The non loyalty group of retailers are lead by Safeway (10), who actually recently eliminated their club card.

Now this is great but what about overall sales growth for these loyalty neigh sayers. The non loyalty program retailers saw an average growth rate of 3.3%.

Retailers Using a Loyalty Program

So, are retail loyalty programs effective? In comparison to the non loyalty retailers, the loyalty program retailers did $1.3 TRILLION in revenue during the same period or $26.7 billion on average. That is more than triple what the non loyalty retailers did.

There is a significant outlier in this set however, and that is Wal-mart and the rewards they offer through their MasterCard. Wal-mart’s revenue accounts for almost 25% of the total revenue. So for arguments sake lets take out the retail behemoth and re-compare.

Without Wal-Mart the retail loyalty programs still did $1 trillion in revenue and had an average revenue of $20 billion. Still twice as much revenue as the non loyalty retailers.

What about growth though, all that revenue doesn’t mean much if the non loyalty retailers are growing and the loyalty program retailers are not.

Well I am glad to say that the loyalty program retailers are on average growing as well, but despite the larger sales numbers are actually growing at a lesser rate than the non loyalty retailers. They are growing revenue at 2.7%.

Loyalty Programs Are At The Top

Although the loyalty program retailers do have a lower growth rate I would still classify them as effective. 9 out of the top 10 retailers have a loyalty program in place, and 30 of the top 50 are using loyalty. It is difficult to grow at a rapid rate when you are already at the top of an industry. The chart above demonstrates where loyalty programs are on the list relative to non-loyalty programs.

The other thing to note when looking at the growth rate of the top retailers is assessing the age of the company. Older companies are reaching their peak and using loyalty to get more profitability out of each customer rather than acquiring new ones.

The rapid growth of many younger non loyalty retailers is from rapid customer acquisition which is not a sustainable long term strategy. These younger companies will one day reach the point where customer acquisition is no longer possible, and will then look to retention strategies such as loyalty programs.

The Final Verdict:

Loyalty programs are effective! They are helping retail giants stay at the top of the list and stay relevant in an emerging ecommerce world. Stay tuned for when I look at the Internet Retailer top 500 to show how loyalty programs are working in the ecommerce world.