人工智能
eCommerce marketing automation
eCommerce marketing automation is using special software and tools to set activities related to online business promotion on autopilot. It helps companies communicate personalized and relevant messages to prospects and customers at any stage of their buyer journey, improving customer experience and boosting sales and overall marketing performance.
In this article, we’ll unveil the importance and benefits of using automation for eCommerce marketing. We’ll also discover 13 excellent eCommerce marketing automation strategies and examples.
Why should you use automation for eCommerce marketing?
Automation allows eCommerce businesses to reap numerous benefits, including more sales, optimized marketing activities, and enhanced customer experience. Here are more reasons to incorporate automation into your marketing strategy.
Improved customer engagement. With automation, business owners can ensure constant contact with prospects and customers across multiple channels like email, messengers, and social media. Companies sending promotional, follow-up messages, or abandoned cart emails keep subscribers engaged and remind them about businesses' products and services. By sending scheduled emails, business owners stay on top of subscribers’ minds, remind them of events, and improve conversions.
Data-driven insights. Since all automation tools provide their users with analytics, business owners can receive valuable information related to customer interactions, behavior, and the effectiveness of their marketing efforts. After analyzing available data from automation tools, you can make well-informed decisions, improve strategies, and take the necessary marketing activities to boost sales.
Automating repetitive tasks. By incorporating automation, companies succeed in streamlining marketing operations. Brands manage to reduce the workload on their marketing teams by using automation for FAQs, reservations, onboarding, etc. With its help, businesses reduce errors and improve overall performance and efficiency. It results in faster execution, better workflows, and more organized marketing activities.
Consistency across multiple marketing channels. With marketing automation, companies ensure consistency across multiple channels they use for communication with customers. Automation used for social media, email marketing, or advertising allows you to provide a seamless customer experience and establish brand recognition. Automation 360 from LIKE.TG empowers you to maintain communication with clients by sending personalized messages across seven channels, including email, SMS, web push, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, and WhatsApp on autopilot. With the platform, you can combine several marketing channels to build a flow that encourages more sales.
Cost efficiency. The tool is cost-efficient, especially in the long run when a business grows and scales. Entrepreneurs need to buy a subscription to enjoy the benefits of satisfied customers, constant interaction and engagement, and higher sales. When a company evolves, the owners can save costs by avoiding hiring additional team members to handle repetitive tasks.
Saving time on marketing campaign execution. When using marketing automation for eCommerce business, marketers don't need much time to launch marketing campaigns since they do it on autopilot. They should find the perfect solution, set up all the details, and send automated messages through various channels.
Benefits of Automation for eCommerce Marketing
Business owners searching for company growth and seamless marketing performance often utilize automation to set up processes related to marketing and sales. They do it because of the advantages marketing automation provides. Here are the main pros.
Cart abandonment recovery. Automation helps companies send automated messages reminding customers about items in their carts and uncompleted purchases. With special tools and software, you’ll be able to return some of the potentially lost clients and boost conversion rates.
Segmentation and targeting. With segmentation, you can divide your audience into groups based on various criteria like demographics, purchase history, or engagement. Using this approach, you personalize your communication with customers, send relevant messages, and meet clients’ needs. As a result, potential customers are more likely to convert.
Multi-channel integration. Since eCommerce companies usually use several marketing channels to execute their marketing campaigns, supporting customers across these channels is essential. With automation, you’ll be able to integrate all the platforms you need and ensure seamless, constant communication. As a result, your marketing strategy will be optimized and synchronized across email, social media, messengers, websites, and other channels.
Consistent execution. By incorporating automation, your company ensures that marketing tasks are performed consistently with no space for human error. Consistency is a crucial factor in building a positive brand image and recognition.
Behavioral trigger campaigns. Marketing automation platforms allow you to launch campaigns as soon as customers perform specific actions. The system will send automated messages that welcome new subscribers, encourage prospects to check out items in their shopping carts, and customers to repeat purchases based on user behavior.
More effective email campaigns. You can benefit from automation by sending emails based on the purpose. For instance, you can set up the sending of lead nurturing, customer retaining, and re-engaging emails. This reminds customers of your brand and makes them consider exploring your products or services.
Now that you know the pros, let’s proceed to the next section to explore eCommerce marketing automation strategies you can apply to your business.
13 eCommerce Marketing Automation Strategies
By incorporating automation, you can significantly improve your company's performance. However, you should know how to do it right to achieve your primary business objectives. In this section, we’ll uncover some of the most effective eCommerce marketing automation strategies for you to consider.
Welcome series automation. Consider using automated messages to welcome new subscribers after they sign up for your email newsletter. This series of automated emails usually includes a welcome message, the most essential information about your company, and an exclusive discount or offer for new subscribers to encourage purchases.
Onboarding. First and foremost, think of automating your customer onboarding to ensure seamless user experience and customer satisfaction. Use automation to create onboarding sequences for new clients, especially when you sell software. Get ready with valuable information, product guides, and exclusive offers to improve experience with your brand and ensure clients understand how to use your product.
Shopping cart abandonment recovery. Since many potential customers abandon their carts, it’s essential to follow up with them after they do it. For this purpose, consider sending automated emails reminding prospects about the items in their shopping carts. It will remind them of your brand and encourage them to complete the purchase. Personalized messages will help you encourage subscribers to open your emails and reduce cart abandonment rates.
Upselling and cross-selling. Consider using eCommerce marketing automation to sell additional products related to your client’s primary purchases. Automation will help you provide customers with product recommendations based on their actions, preferences, and purchase history.
Customer segmentation. It enables you to divide customers into segments based on specific criteria like demographics, purchase history, or behavior and craft personalized messages matching each group. Perform such actions to provide your subscribers with relevant and engaging content, encouraging them to read your messages and perform desired actions. LIKE.TG’s bulk email service enables you to segment and personalize your email campaigns, making it more likely for subscribers to open your emails.
Post-purchase follow-ups. If you want to get repeat customers, follow up with your clients after they make purchases. Consider sending them email campaigns asking for testimonials, reviews, and feedback. Show them that you appreciate their valuable input.
Password reset. Incorporating password reset automation is a crucial feature contributing to user experience improvement and security on an eCommerce platform. This way, you won't need human interaction to send email verifications, identify confirmations, and generate new passwords.
Price drop and inventory notifications. Consider sending your customers notifications related to the products they explored. Price drops on the items they like will entice customers to open your site and explore the offers, resulting in conversions. Inventory notifications also encourage prospects to consider a new purchase if the price is affordable. Price drop and inventory notifications will help you establish a sense of urgency, encourage engagement, and boost sales.
Re-engagement. By developing personalized campaigns and providing relevant offers, you can reconnect with customers who remain inactive for a long time. Consider using segmentation, behavioral triggers, and reactivation offers to help you re-engage customers without manual effort.
Loyalty program updates. Incorporate automated loyalty programs that will reward customers for repeating their purchases with your brand. Consider setting up an automation flow for sending email campaigns with personalized offers and exclusive discounts. It will help you boost loyalty and retention.
Customer feedback surveys. To collect post-purchase customer reviews, consider setting up surveys. After customers complete purchases, you can choose the day and time for the automated email sending. This information will help address urgent issues, boost customer satisfaction, and improve user experience.
Event promotion. To promote your event, consider creating automation and informing potential participants about the main topic, date, and venue. Develop a series of follow-up emails updating subscribers about the event details, speakers, and discounts and add call-to-action buttons for registration to each of them.
Exclusive offers during the holiday season. With automation, you can schedule limited-time offers that establish urgency and fear of missing out. Consider adding countdowns to entice subscribers to check out their favorite items faster.
Now that you know the strategies, it’s time to discover some compelling examples of using automation in eCommerce to grab inspiration.
Examples of Using Automation in eCommerce
You can find numerous examples of eCommerce companies successfully integrating automation into their marketing strategies. In this section, we’ve compiled some examples of automation at different stages of the customer journey so let’s explore them now.
Compass: Welcome Message
Compass uses automation to welcome new subscribers to its services. The email contains all the necessary information for users to start using this platform, uncovering how to search for homes and apartments for sale and rent. This welcome message includes two call-to-action buttons inviting new users to get started right away by simply clicking “Search Listings.” or “View Neighbourhood Guides.” Subscribers can find a link in the email footer to ask for help.
NYX Professional Makeup: Holiday Discounts
The cosmetics brand NYX sends automated email campaigns about special discounts before Christmas and New Year. The email has all the needed elements like phrases establishing FOMO, graphics, CTAs, and links to social networks. Scheduled campaigns before the holiday season allow the brand to encourage repeat purchases and boost sales.
Paperstime: Re-engagement
Paperstime strives to re-engage inactive subscribers by sending personalized email campaigns. This email contains an enticing promo code providing an 11% discount. Potential customers can instantly use the code by clicking the call to action button “Use Your 11% Off.”
Salesforce: Event Promotion
Salesforces uses email automation to increase the visibility of its events and encourage more registrations. The email has all the necessary elements, enticing subscribers to participate. It covers the main topic, key speakers, date and time of the event, and visible call-to-action buttons leading to registration for the event. The email is an automated reminder of the event, preventing subscribers from missing it.
MAC Cosmetics: Loyalty Program
MAC Cosmetics sends scheduled emails to subscribers, informing them about its loyalty reward program. It reveals the benefits of joining the program, exclusive offers, and points on purchases that bring discounts of up to 15% and free shipping.
Congrats, now you know what eCommerce marketing automation is and why it’s crucial. Hope that our examples and strategies gave you a hint on how to successfully implement marketing automation into your company strategy and achieve your primary business goals. Sign up for LIKE.TG now and enjoy the benefits of automated personalized email campaigns, pop-ups, chatbots for WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram, and Facebook Messenger, and live chat triggered by user behavior on your site.
eCommerce chatbot
An eCommerce chatbot is a chatbot created to ensure an excellent online shopping experience within an eCommerce platform. Businesses use artificial intelligence to provide human-like answers to customers’ questions, 24/7 support, personalized recommendations, and all the necessary information. LIKE.TG empowers you with all the necessary tools to build eCommerce chatbots for Facebook Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Telegram.
In this article, we’ll explain why you should create chatbots for eCommerce and how to achieve success with them. We’ll also unveil where you can effectively use chatbots and provide some excellent examples.
Why should you create chatbots for eCommerce?
According to statistics, businesses using chatbots for communication with customers have an open rate of 85% and a click-through rate of 40%. You and your clients reap the benefits by building a chatbot and incorporating it into your eCommerce company. With its help, you can improve customer retention, provide personalized recommendations, come up with instant answers, and increase customer satisfaction.
Chatbots bring many advantages to eCommerce companies. Let’s discover the most important of them:
24/7 support;
higher customer engagement;
personalized recommendations;
instant answers;
cost-effectiveness;
integration with the most popular messengers and social media.
Now that you know the pros of having a chatbot for your eCommerce business, it’s time to find out how to power your success with chatbots.
How to power your success with chatbots?
Chatbots can become a powerful additional tool to your marketing strategy. With their help, you can manage several aspects of your business on autopilot, improving customer support and satisfaction. Let’s uncover several ways to power your success with chatbots.
Appointment scheduling. Using chatbots for appointment scheduling is a practical way of reducing your managers' workload. You can set up your chatbot and launch the booking process. Chatbots will automatically send messages and help your customers make reservations for your services. Chatbot enables you to use a conversational flow to guide clients and integrate with your calendar system.
Answering FAQs. With chatbots, you can provide instant answers to customers’ common questions. By assigning this task to your chatbot, you prevent your customer support agents from answering repetitive questions and let them focus on more urgent issues. The answers are quick, accurate, concise, and consistent. If you implement Natural Language Processing, your chatbot will be able to use natural language to respond. After training, your bot will understand variations of the same query.
Post-sale support. After a purchase, the chatbot provides essential support by swiftly resolving post-sale concerns. Businesses enable customers to conveniently track their orders by entering order numbers or relevant details. The chatbot delivers instant updates on order status, allowing clients to stay informed about shipping and delivery details. Moreover, it assists in managing returns, refunds, product support, and troubleshooting.
Automating sales. You can use chatbots to sell your products or services on autopilot. After training your bot to sell goods, you can integrate payment systems and add payment buttons to your chatbot flow. No sales manager involvement is required because customers can place orders by themselves.
Offering personalized recommendations. By utilizing chatbots, you can provide your prospects with personalized offers. Chatbot can collect user preferences and behavior data to ensure a personalized experience for customers. After gathering information about each customer and lead, the bot can send offers and products clients are interested in. This way, the possibility of customers making a purchase is increasing.
Feedback collection. The bot can become a perfect tool for collecting information about customer experience, products, and customer service. It’s your way of gaining insights into the performance of your business, customer support team, and product quality.
Lead generation. Chatbot is a great solution for lead generation. You can add a bot to your website, interact with potential clients, and collect their contact data. This will help you save time and focus on tasks that require human intervention. Besides, a chatbot will help you qualify leads based on your criteria before delivering them to your sales reps. It will result in more quality prospects.
24/7 support. Since chatbots can function on their own, it means that no human help is needed. With artificial intelligence, you can provide 24/7 support. Prospects can ask questions at any time and receive instant responses. It will make customers happy with your brand.
Marketing and promotions. Chatbots are your perfect promoters. After incorporating these tools, you’ll be able to send interactive marketing campaigns, quizzes, and surveys to customers. You can set up your chatbot to deliver promotional messages and discounts on a specific day and time.
eCommerce assistance. Chatbots can help your clients with product selection. They can serve as virtual assistants that provide your customers with the products they are looking for. Consumers can set their criteria and receive all your brand's items for the requirements provided.
Now that you know how to power your success with chatbots, it’s time to find out where exactly you can use chatbots and benefit from them.
Where can you use chatbots?
Chatbots can be used across multiple social media channels and messengers. In this section, we’ll unveil all the channels and their usefulness for your business.
Facebook Messenger. Since Facebook has 3.03 billion monthly active users, there’s a point in adding a chatbot for your business. It allows you to reach a large audience with many potential customers. All people who see your brand on Facebook and wonder about the pricing, features, and product catalog will be able to instantly receive all the information. By using a Facebook Messenger chatbot, you ensure constant availability to answer inquiries, regardless of the time. This guarantees seamless interactions with prospects and customers, enhancing their overall experience and improving your customer support.
Instagram. Since Instagram DM is a well-known communication channel, it’s essential to take care of it. Many online stores sell online, and it would be more convenient for them to integrate a chatbot. When customers text in DM, the chatbot can answer all the common questions. Customer support agents won’t need to answer the same questions all the time, and customers won’t need to wait for hours to get a response. Instagram chatbot is especially useful for eCommerce companies. It can serve as a channel for product discovery and new releases. Instagram chatbot is also good for frequently asked questions, order updates, basic troubleshooting, appointment scheduling, etc.
Live chat. A live chat carries several benefits, including better customer experience, conversion rates, and higher customer satisfaction. However, these aren’t the only reasons. With a live chat, customers get instant and real-time customer support. They can receive both automated messages and help from customer support agents. Clients can reach out to an agent whenever they need. Live chat has a proactive engagement feature. It means that your chatbot can start engaging with users based on their behavior. You can use live chat for lead generation. By interacting with prospects, the chatbot can sort them out and identify qualified leads. The bot helps you receive contact data of your potential customers and use it for further interactions.
WhatsApp. WhatsApp chatbot is a multipurpose solution suitable for appointment scheduling. It’s always convenient for customers to open WhatsApp and book a spot for a specific service. Businesses in healthcare, beauty, and services can benefit from utilizing chatbots. Users need to open the messenger and choose the appropriate service, date, and time. The bot will reserve spots for users on autopilot. Telegram. Telegram chatbot brings the same benefits as WhatsApp chatbot. It helps with appointment booking, 24/7 customer support, media sharing, etc. The chatbot enables you to automate routine tasks, like collecting user preferences, sending updates, and working with simple queries.
Now that you know where to use a chatbot, it’s time to proceed to the next section. We’ll explain how to set up an eCommerce chatbot with LIKE.TG.
How to create an eCommerce chatbot with LIKE.TG?
This section delves into the comprehensive process of creating an eCommerce chatbot using LIKE.TG. Below, discover a step-by-step guide specifically tailored for setting up booking appointments via Facebook Messenger.
Step 1. Connect your Facebook Messenger to the bot
Log in to your LIKE.TG account or register. Then, go to the “Chatbots” tab and click “Manage bots.” After, select a channel you want to connect your bot to. Log in to your Facebook account and follow the instructions provided.
If you want to add a chatbot to other messengers, social media, or websites, choose the required channel on the “Manage bots” page.
Step 2. Create a trigger
After integrating your bot with Facebook Messenger, you should select the bot on the left panel. Click the “Create a new trigger” button. Add all the possible words that might trigger this chatbot flow.
Step 3. Develop the flow
Add all the necessary messages and buttons to create a perfect flow. You can set the time when the messages will appear and add links with pricing, available services, website, etc.
Now that you know how to set up a chatbot for Facebook Messenger in LIKE.TG, let’s explore the 10 tips for effective eCommerce chatbots.
10 Tips for Effective eCommerce Chatbots
If you want to successfully incorporate a chatbot into your business, you need to consider several steps. We’ll cover the most important ones to ensure the effectiveness of your bot.
Utilize personalization. With chatbots, you can incorporate personalization and provide customers with relevant interactions. The bot can gather and analyze customer data to send special offers, discounts, and items based on clients’ interests. Consider using names to address customers, past purchase history to recommend products, and pay attention to customer needs and preferences to ensure a seamless shopping experience.
Provide shopping assistance. Make your chatbot a shopping assistant. You should train your chatbot to answer questions about products, sizes, colors, and other details related to your products. Consider creating sizing guides and product specifications within your bot.
Pay attention to customer feedback. After customers make purchases, you need to continue interacting with them. Consider sending surveys asking about their satisfaction with your chatbot. Their feedback will help you identify the gaps and eliminate them. You’ll also need to add more functions to your chatbot to assist your buyers more.
Ensure secure transactions. Since chatbots can serve as places for customers to checkout, you need to ensure secure transactions. Provide the security of transactions by using encryption and secure payment gateways. This way, you’ll be sure that your client’s data is protected.
Integrate the chatbot with your CRM. Integrating your bot with the CRM allows you to add prospects' contact data into the system automatically. It’s convenient and secure. Your team won’t need to transfer all the information manually. Customer names, email addresses, and other details are securely stored within the CRM. LIKE.TG empowers you to set up chatbots for various messengers and connect them to its CRM, ensuring the seamless transfer of customer data.
Add clear CTAs. Incorporate distinct CTAs to seamlessly direct users within your chatbot, leading them to essential information. Ensure your call-to-action buttons are clear and intuitive, enabling customers to easily access the product catalog, pricing details, make purchases, inquire about order status, or connect with your customer support agent.
Enable human handover feature. When chatbots don’t cover customers' queries, they need customer support agents. For such a scenario, add a button that allows clients to connect with a human agent. Ensure the button is visible so clients can instantly find it and contact your agent.
Set up a chatbot for multiple channels. Customers can use various channels to connect with your company. That’s why you need to develop chatbots for several communication channels. Consider conducting a short research to identify the most used channels by your audience. Choose several channels and set up a chatbot for them so that customers can instantly reach you.
Incorporate the chatbot for post-purchase engagement. Communication with customers continues after the purchase. If you want to have returning customers, you need to ensure post-purchase support. Chatbot can help you with this task. With its help, clients can solve problems with products quickly and increase satisfaction with your brand. You can also use this chatbot to ask for feedback and comments regarding the quality of your bot.
Enable cart management. Allow clients to manage their carts through the chatbot. You should ensure that buyers can add, remove, or modify products in their shopping carts within the chatbot.
Now that you know the best practices, it’s time to grab some inspiration from the examples below.
Top eCommerce Chatbots
Businesses widely use chatbots for multiple channels nowadays. Many famous brands demonstrate excellent customer support after implementing these tools. We’ll review three successful chatbots that work. So let’s dive in.
AsosHelper Bot
Asos, the famous online fashion retailer, has a huge number of customers not only in Britain but all around the world. Chatbots support their customer service. One of them is available on Telegram. Since the number of customers is instantly rising, it becomes impossible for agents to answer all common questions on pricing, product catalog, and other details. That’s why the well-known brand has bots to do it. AsosHelper Bot is designed to help customers make faster and data-driven purchasing decisions. The bot allows clients to compare product prices on Asos’ sites and choose the lowest price.
Wingstop
Wingstop is a fast food restaurant that uses a chatbot on Facebook Messenger to accept orders. After creating a new order or re-ordering the same items, customers can set up the delivery. Besides, clients can find the nearest restaurant and connect with the agent through the chatbot.
Turkish Airlines
One of the most trusted mainline carriers, Turkish Airlines, uses live chat to manage various customer queries and support clients worldwide. The chatbot serves as a source of answers to FAQs. Customers can find information about baggage allowance, lost baggage handling, miles and miles, and more.
Congrats, now you know what an eCommerce chatbot is and why it’s crucial for businesses. Hope that our tips and examples will be useful once you decide to set up the bot for your company.
eCcommerce marketing
eCommerce marketing is a method of promoting a business that sells its products or services through the Internet. The goals of eCommerce marketing are driving traffic to the online store, converting visitors to paying customers, and retaining them after a purchase.
As a complex tool, eCommerce marketing implies a lot of strategies for leveraging these purposes. Read on to learn which types of eCommerce marketing are worth using and how to incorporate them into your overall marketing strategy.
Types of eCommerce Marketing
Pay-per-click advertising (PPC)
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Web push marketing
Social media marketing (SMM)
Chatbot marketing
Influencer marketing
Affiliate marketing
Email marketing
eCommerce marketing comprises various actions aimed at increasing profits and ROI while reducing investments in brand promotion. Some of them work better for attracting new customers, others for retaining existing ones, or provoking a purchase. That is the main reason every business needs to try different types of marketing. We’ve picked the eight most appealing and effective of them for you to try.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
This type of marketing implies optimizing your website for further promotion in search engine rating. SEO is applicable for any kind of business represented on the Internet that owns a website.
Companies use SEO to increase their website traffic, but it has other advantages, including an increase in clicks and sales. 70% of marketers consider it to be more effective than PPC ads.
Many believe that SEO comes down to incorporating some “magical” phrases in the text on the website. Meanwhile, in 2020, effective search engine optimization includes plenty of other things, such as relevant content creation and promotion, content updates, link building, adding mentions and reviews, HTML-code improvement, and more.
HM is an example of great work with search engine optimization. The brand is the first result for the search results for the query “women clothes online”. According to Ahrefs, the website has an excellent domain rating – 87, an enormous amount of backlinks, and amazing site speed for both desktop and mobile versions.
Pay-per-click Advertising (PPC)
PPC, or pay-per-click advertising is a type of digital marketing where a business pays a fee to an ad network each time someone clicks on their promoted link. This method allows companies to get new visits on their website.
Some doubt that PPC is still useful today when everyone uses ad-blocking applications. However, 75% of people said that paid ads helped them find what they needed, and 26% clicked on the ad because they were familiar with the brand. That makes PPC advertisements effective in interaction with interested and loyal customers. Apart from that, search ads can increase brand awareness by 80%.
PPC advertising positively affects businesses with high customer lifetime value (healthcare, education, cable internet providers), high margins (lawsuits, repair jobs, cars), retailers, and producers of unique products. Moreover, each small business benefits from the pay-per-click model — it allows companies to work on tight budgets.
In the example below, you can see the text advertisement for a “running shoes” Google search. Google shows this promoted content first and marks it with an “Ad” label, so users can distinguish paid search results from organic ones.
Web Push Marketing
Web push marketing is an advertising strategy that implies sending short notifications to the target audiencein a browser or mobile app. As you can send both promotional and transactional messages via this channel, goals can include advertising your goods, notifying your clients about their order status, communicating your updates, and more.
The average reaction rate to web push notifications is 7.8%. Readers respond most frequently to notifications from businesses in travel, finance, and online stores. Web push notifications can be helpful for those who promote their businesses through content marketing — notify customers about new articles or videos and increase your website traffic.
Applying this type of marketing to your strategy allows you to do better outreach, get higher engagement, and collect useful statistics regarding your open rate and CTR to improve your strategies. Another advantage of this communication channel is its low price. For instance, with LIKE.TG, you can send push notifications for free as long as you have less than 10,000 subscribers.
Start your web push marketing with LIKE.TG — register and create appealing personalized notifications. Segment recipients by location or other details and send them messages automatically.
Here is a notification created with LIKE.TG for boosting sales of an old clothing collection. To make it appealing and clickable, we added images and a CTA button. In the notification editor, you can not only create web push notifications but also preview them in different browsers straight away.
Social Media Marketing (SMM)
Social media marketing means using social platforms as channels for brand promotion, target audience growth, driving website traffic, and increasing sales. The SMM audience is enormous — 3.8 billion people. In 2019, 43% of internet users browsed h social media when researching products before making a purchase.
Social media marketing is suitable for every business, including B2B. This type of eCommerce aims to increase brand awareness, boost website traffic, improve content distribution, interact with a target audience regularly, and more. 73% of marketers believe that SMM is effective or very effective for leveraging these goals.
To nail SMM, create different strategies and content for each social media platform you use for your brand promotion. Vary the frequency of posting, themes, post formats, and so on to get the most from every social network.
Let’s learn some tricks from GoPro. The brand hasmillions of followers and posts different content on several social media platforms. For instance, GoPro goes for user-generated pictures and videos showing the quality of their cameras on Instagram.
Meanwhile, on Facebook, the brand pays more attention to promotional messages, special occasions, and challenges.
Chatbot Marketing
Chatbot marketing involves using a special computer application — a chatbot — for marketing purposes, such as supporting customers, handling orders, sharing company news, and promoting special offers. Chatbots communicate with customers based on predetermined scenarios or with the help of AI.
The biggest beneficiaries of chatbot marketing are businesses with large customer support services —bots can decrease customer support costs by 30%. Apart from that, chatbots provide round-the-clock interaction with clients, increase engagement, help with lead nurturing, and speed up the payment process.
Chatbots are helpful in eCommerce, healthcare, telecommunication, banking, food, and retail. Customers use bots to solve problems, make reservations, pay bills, buy various items, or get ideas for purchases. In the example below, a simple chatbot created with LIKE.TG helps clients subscribe to email campaigns and get consultations.
Start your chatbot marketing with LIKE.TG — create a chatbot for Facebook or Telegram, set up auto-replies, launch promo campaigns, and automate your business processes. Send up to 10,000 messages a month to an unlimited number of subscribers for free.
Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is brand promotion through publications made by bloggers or opinion leaders. It is a great way to attract new customers — people are more inclined to trust brands if they’ve seen their favorite blogger promoting it.
68% of marketers believe that influencer marketing is effective or very effective. Done correctly, this type of eCommerce marketing can increase your brand awareness, reach your target audience, help drive quicker customer acquisition, and boost sales. It is useful for every business but shows the best results for the fashion, cosmetics, travel, and holiday industries.
To benefit from influencer marketing, choose influencers correctly. Pay attention to their audience — it may be not very large but devoted, which increases your chances to make the most of the collaboration. Another key to success is to make sure your partner’s audience coincides with your target audience.
Here’s an example of collaboration between the pet supplies brand “I and love and you” and famous Instagram pups. The company chose the influencer perfectly — most of the subscribers are pet owners interested in providing a top-quality life for their dogs.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing implies promoting your brand through affiliated resources while paying a commission to them for every new customer. At first sight, it may seem similar to influencer marketing, but the mechanism is different. While in influencer marketing, you pay for the ad itself, in an affiliate model, you pay a fee after a sale occurs.
This type of marketing increases brand awareness, improves SEO, boosts sales, and gives you more R
OI. Well crafted programs can increase revenues by 30%.
Affiliate marketing is suitable for businesses that strictly control their product and purchasing, for instance, in direct selling. It helps lower reputational and financial risks from such kind of promotion.
This type of eCommerce marketing works well for most niches, from online education to retail. Here is an example of affiliate marketing on a financial expert website. As you can see, the resource promotes household appliances from Dyson and offers its readers a promo code.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is pivotal for lead nurturing, sales, and improving your customer experience. This communication channel works for B2B and B2C, international corporations, local businesses, and more.
To nail email marketing, include different types of emails in your strategy. Marketing emails will help you build relationships with customers and encourage them to make a purchase. Meanwhile, transactional emails will improve your clients' experience by informing them about changes made to their account, the status of a purchase, shipping updates, and so on.
Match your campaigns with customers’ interests, create engaging and good-looking emails, and always apply personalization. Otherwise, instead of boosting sales, you’ll create irritated clients. Don’t forget about automation — welcome, abandoned cart, birthday, and other emails sent automatically require minimal effort but enlarge your revenue greatly. We’ve created an appealing email with LIKE.TG. It provides unique offers and contains elements of personalization — receiver’s name and company’s address.
To create beautiful personalized email campaigns and send them automatically, register with LIKE.TG. We offer a convenient drag and drop email editor, our Automation 360 tool for sending trigger and other types of automated emails, and services for adding personalization and segmenting subscribers.
eCommerce Marketing Strategies and Tips
Upsell and cross-sell your products
Reward your loyal customers
Speed up your website
Optimize your website for mobile
Add personalization
Optimize for voice search
Add social proof
eCommerce is a promising market — by 2022, sales are projected to increase to $5.8 trillion. However, it’s a tough business — you have to compete with several million other companies, including giants such as Amazon.com. We’ve picked marketing strategies and tips to help you succeed in the eCommerce realm.
Upsell and cross-sell your products
Let’s start by differentiating one from another: cross-selling is offering additional products or services, for instance, a T-shirt in combination with jeans or speaking clubs in addition to Spanish lessons. Meanwhile, upselling allows a customer to get a better or larger product — meal or a laptop component — for an extra payment.
To nail upselling, stick to some rules. Offering additional value, think about the problems that users may face with the product and ways to solve them. Compare cheaper and more expensive versions to emphasize the advantages of the latter. And finally, be wise about the price and don’t ask too much—customers will rarely pay more than an additional 25% of the original price.
If you go for cross-selling, remember that your additional offer should fit well with customer’s needs and interests. Asos does it perfectly, letting customers shop the whole look — chances are a buyer would like to get everything.
Reward your loyal customers
Did you know that retaining your current customers is five times cheaper than attracting new ones? Loyal customers spend 67% more in months 31-36 of their shopping relationships with the brand than in the first half of the year. So, the key to higher revenue is to retain your customers — try to reward them for staying with you. Organize a customer loyalty program and offer bonus points, which can be exchanged for discounts, gifts, or free shipping.
For instance, Sephora launched a club for loyal customers. The brand divides members of the club into several groups according to how much they’ve spent shopping at Sephora. Each group earns a different amount of points and spends them on cosmetics or make-up lessons. Also, members get other perks, including birthday gifts, exclusive events, early access to new products, and more features shown below.
Speed up your website
There are few things more annoying than a website that loads for ages. The acceptable time of download is five seconds or fewer. Each extra second leads to a 7% drop in conversions and affects your website’s search results ranking.
Skyscanner demonstrates great website speed results in the Pingdom Tools service. The picture below shows that it takes a bit more than three seconds to load the main page, which is an excellent result.
We have a precise guide on speeding up websites on the LIKE.TG Blog. Here are the main hacks from it:
reduce the amount of hypertext used;
transfer protocol requests;
optimize and compress your files;
reduce the number of redirects on your page;
utilize browser caching;
choose a reliable web host;
use a content delivery network.
Remember that your website will probably slow down with time, so monitor it and make adjustments regularly.
Optimize your website for mobile
In the last quarter of 2019, mobile devices accounted for over 52% of internet traffic worldwide. People not only browse through the Internet for fun, but use it for work, study, and to make purchases. 69% of smartphone users said they would rather buy from companies with informative and convenient mobile websites. Don’t miss this audience — optimize your site for mobile.
Start with improving your website speed — it is crucial for mobile users to access content in seconds. Evaluate your speed with Google’s Test My Site feature. However, don’t fall into the trap of deleting your product images and videos — customers still need them to decide about the purchase.
Create a mobile version of your website instead. You’ll have to make some tweaks with mobile users in mind. Think about their needs, whether they are using a bigger “Add to cart” button or optimized content. Look at the mobile version of cosmetics brand Lush website — the page loads in seconds, contains all the features available for the web version, and provides easy access to buttons, including “Add to basket”.
Add personalization
80% of customers are more likely to purchase from brands that provide personalized experiences. You can add personalization to most communication channels, including email and messenger campaigns, web push notifications, and your website.
To nail personalization, get to know your customers’ gender, location, favorite products, and other demographic information. You can segment them with a subscription form on your website or track the items they viewed. Here is an example from Net-a-Porter, that shows items similar to those the customer has browsed before. In the picture below the website recommended summer shoes according to the user's previous views.
Optimize for voice search
Voice search shopping is predicted to be a $40 billion market by 2022. To stay ahead of the curve, think about optimizing your website for voice search right now. It may encourage you to re-approach your SEO in general.
Bear in mind that voice search is not the same as type search — queries are longer and more conversational. Don’t be afraid of applying a conversational style to your blog or website — create articles and other types of content to answer popular questions.
In the example below, the travel agency, Kayak, uses this strategy. As a result, their website appears in the first line of search results with several queries, such as “Book a flight to Alaska”, “What is the cheapest flight to Alaska”, and “How long is the flight to Alaska.”
Add social proof
Social proof can do miracles for sales and ROI. 93% of consumers say online reviews impact their purchasing decisions. There are a lot of ways you can add this tool to your marketing strategy.
Add reviews to product pages on your website. Ask an expert to test and recommend your products or services on their resources. Publish showcases in your blog. Share awards you have won or milestones, such as 50,000 subscribers to your YouTube channel. Mention your customer base size or their names in your bio, as OptinMonster did on their main page. The company shows its clients' logos, names the number of websites using their service, and the number of visitor sessions optimized monthly.
Combining sales tricks and technical methods, you can take your eCommerce marketing to the next level and skyrocket your ROI. The main secret is to use different types of eCommerce marketing and find those that best fit your business. For better performance, make use of an eCommerce platform. To apply email marketing, chatbots, web push notifications, and more to your strategy, register with LIKE.TG.
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Dropshipping
Dropshipping is a business model that lets brands sell products without stocking inventory. Usually, dropshipping suppliers are responsible for delivering goods so that retailers can focus on other management aspects.
In the article, we describe the advantages and disadvantages of this business model and explain how it works and how to start your dropshipping business. We also provide useful tips on improving the performance of such companies.
Dropshipping Advantages and Disadvantages
According to Grand View Research, the dropshipping market is expected to grow more than 3.5 times from 2020 to 2025. These inspiring statistics highlight the perceptiveness of this business model. Discover more about its pros and cons below.
Let’s start with dropshipping advantages.
It is easy to start. It doesn’t require much time and effort to launch your company. You don’t need to ship orders, track inventory and manage returns and exchanges. Find suppliers you will work with, register an account on social media or the marketplace and start selling.
It is scalable. Dropshippers don’t need to develop new products for months if they want to increase the sales volumes. They can find a few new suppliers and offer a wider variety of goods for a larger target audience. Also, dropshippers may spend more money on marketing and raise the number of sales without worrying about product availability.
It requires a little start-up capital. You do not need to purchase inventory and store it at home or rent a warehouse. The only spending you will have while starting a business are ecommerce platform fees and marketing costs. You may also need a domain if you would like to create a brand’s website, but it isn’t necessary as you can sell through social media.
You can fulfill orders from various locations. Dropshipping is an online business that lets you communicate with suppliers and clients from anywhere. It leads to high mobility and allows you to combine running the company with other aspects of your life.
It is a flexible and low-risk model. Dropshipping lets you react to the changes in your audience’s needs and preferences and offer only relevant products without having them in stock. You can adjust your online store assortment anytime it’s needed. Also, such a business model allows you to sell goods from multiple platforms, such as marketplaces, social media, or your website. In such a way, you can diversify risks and be agile.
Now let’s turn to the disadvantages of such enterprise management.
The dropshipping market is rather competitive and often has low margins. People can launch their businesses fast and without huge spending leading to enormous competition in the sphere. Most business owners try to attract buyers by setting low prices, which hurts potential profits. Dumping is widespread, so you will need to sell many products to earn enough money.
It may be difficult to track what products are out of stock. Inventory management isn’t dropshippers’ responsibility, which can lead to problems with fulfillment orders. If a client buys something in your store and you find out that there are no such goods at your suppliers’ warehouse, it will dissatisfy a customer and create a poor experience. If such situations happen regularly, it will influence your brand’s reputation negatively.
You don’t have control over the product quality and the supply chain. The reason is the same: you can’t pack and ship orders on your own. If a customer purchases a few products available from separate suppliers, it will be difficult for you to fulfill such an order and not overpay for the delivery. Moreover, sometimes your buyers may receive goods of bad quality, which will harm your reputation.
There are limited opportunities for customization. Branding is vital, as it helps raise your consumers’ awareness. Dropshippers can’t always control the product and package design making the goods they sell less distinguishable. Also, they are limited in providing discounts and special offers and have to discuss them with the supplier.
Keep in mind all these benefits and drawbacks while starting your dropshipping company. Continue reading to study how this business model works.
How does dropshipping work?
Shift Shop states that dropshipping is a business model of approximately 33% of online stores. It lets retailers sell goods and fulfill orders without having products in stock. The process goes like this.
Dropshipper finds a supplier on a database or special application, signs an agreement and discusses all the peculiarities.
Dropshipper creates a website or social media page, promotes the products, and attracts clients.
Consumers order goods from a dropshipper.
The brand’s owner forwards these orders to the supplier who packs and ships them.
Clients receive products and pay money to the dropshipper.
Such a model is beneficial for both supplier and retailer. The first one can collaborate with multiple stores and reduce marketing efforts, while the second one buys goods at a wholesale price and sells at a retail one. Usually, contractors share the areas of responsibility: the dropshipper deals with the promotion and the supplier works with product development and order fulfillment.
This business model can be extremely effective if you prepare carefully and do everything correctly. We provide a step-by-step guide to launching your dropshipping company in the next section.
How to start your dropshipping business?
Launching a company may seem complicated and terrifying, but it isn’t so. Here we will prove that establishing a dropshipping business isn’t difficult and give some tips to start it successfully.
Choose your niche and analyze the competition. We recommend you focus on one sphere, such as clothing, cosmetics, technology, or household appliances, and offer the product assortment connected with it. Pay special attention to this step. Although the dropshipping market is highly competitive, some industries are easier to work with. Evaluate companies that have already been on the market and identify their strengths and weaknesses.
Study your buyer personas. Once you find the niche, describe your ideal clients. You should study their demographics, pains, needs, and behavioral patterns. Segment the target audience according to their preferences and consider how you will interact with each group.
Find suppliers and test their products. You can search for wholesale businesses on your own or register on an ecommerce platform. Be attentive to the people you are going to work with: they should be reliable and trustworthy. Then evaluate the products they offer. You can order a few goods from every supplier to study their quality, shipping time, packaging, etc. Note that wholesale prices should be at least 30% lower than average retail ones so that you’ll be competitive and make profits.
Register your brand’s name and fulfill other legal obligations. Once you find suppliers to work with, getting permission to trade from official structures is vital. The legislative nuances vary from country to country, so we suggest you consulting with a lawyer to ensure you do everything correctly.
Сhoose platforms to work with. You can sell products through ecommerce marketplaces, such as Amazon, but the competition there is rather high. Also, you can start working from a social media account. Many dropshippers do so, but such a model requires continuous qualitative content marketing. We recommend create a handy landing page with LIKE.TG drag-and-drop builder. Having your website can help you stand out from competitors and attract more clients by using SEO.
Create a brand platform. Describe the distinctive features of your company to gain a strong competitive advantage. Highlight your brand’s values and purpose, and identify visual language and tone of voice. Remember that all these elements should resonate with the buyer personas’ preferences and the lifestyle they aspire to. Show people how your products can make their lives better.
Launch your company and promote it actively. It is critical to develop a strong marketing strategy to start sales immediately. Reach the target audience through the channels they use the most often. Combine different approaches to advertising, as it takes 5-7 interactions to remember the company. Use email, SMS, and web push campaigns from LIKE.TG to catch up with consumers on several platforms.
Now you are almost ready to launch your dropshipping company. Empower existing strategy with the insights we provide in the next section.
5 Dropshipping Tips
Dropshipping is a scalable business model that can help you earn much money. However, to reach such results, you should work hard and develop your company constantly. Below we provide some tips on improving your business and making it more profitable.
Develop accurate workflows. Good organization is a key to qualitative service. Build your business processes in a way you’ll be able to manage them easily. It will allow you to serve customers better and provide positive experiences. It will lead to word-of-mouth marketing, as 58% of consumers share positive impressions with friends and family. Try our free LIKE.TG CRM to organize workflows and streamline sales.
Pay attention to your content marketing. It is especially important if you run your business on social media. According to HubSpot, 90% of marketers with a content plan will continue their strategy. Remember that all photos, videos, and posts you produce should align with your brand platform and be engaging.
Automate routine processes. Dropshipping may seem easier than a regular retail business, but there are still plenty of things you should care about. Use automation platforms and tools to reduce the number of repetitive tasks and focus on your company’s development. There are more than 300,000 chatbots on Facebook, and this number is growing. LIKE.TG offers an easy-to-use chatbot builder for you to automate answering FAQs and create sales funnels that don’t need the human element.
Monitor the trends in your sphere. One of the main dropshipping advantages is high flexibility. When you discover a new trend, you can get in touch with a supplier and start selling such goods very quickly. To promote only actual products, check Google trends and other similar platforms regularly. They will let you find out the things people are interested in now and study the ones that are only gaining popularity.
Provide high-quality service and be ready to own supplier’s mistakes. In the competitive dropshipping market, it is critical to deliver only positive experiences to consumers. It will help you reduce brand switching and turn new buyers into regular ones. Remember that even the best suppliers can sometimes make mistakes, so you should be able to solve these problems. It is better to consider how you can fix various issues in advance.
Congrats, now you know what dropshipping is and how it works, understand its advantages and disadvantages, and the ways to improve your performance. Start your business and empower it with LIKE.TG products to skyrocket your company on the market.
Dynamic pricing
Dynamic pricing is a pricing strategy that uses flexible prices instead of fixed ones. Prices vary based on changes in the market, such as competitor pricing, demand, supply, time, and customers’ behavior.
In this article, we willtalk about the importance of dynamic pricing, its advantages and disadvantages, and the types of dynamic pricing. We will give you a step-by-step guide on how to implement a dynamic pricing strategy and take a look at some examples.
Why is dynamic pricing important?
Many business owners prefer flexible pricesfor their companies— let’s talk about why dynamicpricing models work so well.
First, there is a great chance to increase sales with dynamic pricing. You can adjust to the ever-changing market and react toemerging market demands more promptly. For example, there might betimes when lower prices can trigger sales and generate more profit. At the same time, raising prices, catching sales opportunities, and maximizing profits is a better strategy when customer demand is at its peak.
Second, it ischallenging to setspecific prices based on dynamic parameters. The market abounds withcomplex products, so such situations do not come as a surprise.Companies use dynamic pricing strategies to manage a range of pricing alternatives and adjust the prices according to the relative market value.
Now you know thekey reasons why many brands prefer dynamic pricing over fixed pricing. In the next section, we will describe the pros and cons of this pricing strategy.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Dynamic Pricing
Theprimary idea of dynamic pricing is to make businesses more flexible andraise the margin by reacting to customers’ demands. However, as with every strategy, it hasupsides and drawbacks.
Advantages of Dynamic Pricing
Prices can reflect demand. Certain products are in highdemand during specific periods and in low demand during others. Dynamic pricing is a way to reflect the changes and increase profitsby keeping tabs onthe number of people interested in certain products.
For example, Christmas decorations are in high demand in December, so it is a great time to increase their pricesand earn more. At the same time, no one needs them in summer, so you can decrease the prices to boost sales. This strategy can also be used in grocery shops, before events, etc.
Price changes can trigger sales and increase profits. You can use dynamic pricing to boost either profits or sales, as lower prices can trigger people to buy more and increase demand. Monitor and analyze your customers’behavior and adjustyour prices accordingly to earn more.
Brands can get more insights into customers’ behavior. You can calculate the demand curve for your clients and discover the minimum and maximum price they are ready to pay for a particular product. Keep track of customers’ behavior, think about the necessary changes, andoutrankyour competitors by providing a better customer experience at a lower price with dynamic pricing.
Your business can become more flexible. Using the dynamic pricing strategy can help you not to concentrate on keeping your prices stable, as you can change them anytime. Focus on other aspects of your business and look for new sources of revenue instead of worrying about prices.
You can manage your product line better. Sell the overstock with a discount andraise the prices for productsin high demand. You can control all the changes and maintaina steady flowof yourdynamic pricing strategy.
Disadvantages of Dynamic Pricing
Dynamic pricing is not in favoramong all consumers.Not every company implements dynamic pricing — clients who donotdo enough research to find out about your reduced priceswill inevitably pay more, which will make them feel bad. While suchconsumerscan become hostile to your company because of this, the ones who purchased from you and saved moneywill come back to you again and again.
Clients can beat the system. Many peoplehave figured out how to useany dynamic pricing strategy to their maximum benefit.Consumers know that if the demand for a certain product rises,its pricewillbe increased. So, customers started using private browser sessions to limit theamount of information companies collect and prevent them from believing that a certain product has become more popular.
There aretools that help people compare prices on the same productson different websites, allowing them tobuy the cheapest ones without caring about a specific brand.This defeatsany dynamic pricingstrategy and decreases customer loyalty many brands struggle to achieve.
There is always the risk of dumping prices and price fluctuation. If you lower the price using a dynamic pricing strategy, your competitors may make their prices even lower. It will cause dumping, which is harmful to all business owners.
Using dynamic pricing also can cause pricing fluctuation in the industry. If you increase prices and your competitors lower them simultaneously, it won’t attract customers to your business, leading tolost sales.
Dynamic pricing is not a solution for everyone.Although dynamic pricing usuallyworks well for businessesinthe retail, air transportation, and hospitalityindustry, it is definitely not a one-fits-all strategy.Businesses that prioritize customer satisfaction and brand imageoverprofits will not find dynamic pricing beneficial.
Now you know all the pros and cons of this strategy— continue reading to discover the mostpopulartypes of dynamic pricing.
Types of Dynamic Pricing
To effectively use a dynamic pricing strategy, you need to know how to change yourprices based on different metrics. Let’sgo over the most popular dynamic pricing types, their peculiarities, and the spheres of usage.
Segment-based pricing
With this pricing strategytype, companies can use algorithms or machine learning to set up prices for different segmentsof customers. Prices vary based on location, demographics, social status, and other information aboutclients foundusing open resources. This is the mostdubious type of dynamic pricing, as it makes higher-paying customer segments feel disadvantaged and harmsbrand loyalty and image.
Time-based pricing
This type of dynamic pricing is often used in online retail, utility pricing, and electricity pricing. It means that prices can change depending on the time of the day or the dayof the month. For example, online shops may set higher prices for their products from 9 am to 5 pm, which is a high-demand period.
There is also critical peak pricing. It requires business owners to settheir priceson a time-of-use basis except for the critical days whenprices rise to reflect some other expenses.
Cost-plus pricing
The cost-plus techniqueis one of the mostpopular types of dynamic pricing. The price formula is the average fixed cost plus a certain amount of profit. However, this strategy does not reflect many factors, such as consumer value, competitors’ prices, changes in the market, etc.
Competition-basedpricing
If you want to succeed in the competitive environment, keeping track of your competitors’ prices is vital. This strategy is often used in online retail. For example, Amazon is one of the leaders in theindustry and changes its prices regularly, encouraging its competitors to adjust.
Companies tend to cooperate when it comes tohigh competition in the market. Setting up similar prices helps avoid dumping and increases profits for all businesses.
Value-basedpricing
In the ideal scenario, the pricing of certain products should be equal to their value for customers. However, it is almost impossible, as the value can differ from customer to customer. Moreover, it depends on the time and retailer. Use value analysis as a guideline in your dynamic pricing strategy.
There is also a subtype of this pricingstrategy called conversion rate pricing— itrelies on the percentage of website visitors who turn into buyers. When the conversion rate increases, the prices on a website increase, too. This strategy is used among online shops, and its peculiarity is that customers can influence the products’ prices.
Bundle pricing
According to this dynamic pricing strategy, the price of a product depends on whether it is bundled with other products. The prices for bundled products are lower than the prices of the same products sold separately. Subscription-based platforms, printed media, and online courses often use this dynamic pricing type.
Now you know the most popular types of dynamic pricing strategies. Read the next section to discover how toimplement them for your company.
How do you implement a dynamic pricing strategy?
Countlessbusiness owners want to change their pricing strategy and implement dynamic pricing into their policies. Below, we provide a step-by-step guide on how to do it successfully.
Define your commercial goal. Decide on your priorities besides making a profit. This goal will lead you and navigate you in the right direction during your business development, especiallywhen it comes to pricing and marketing.
Discover more about your target audience. Who do you sell your products to? Quantify the approximate number of clients and find their everyday needs and pain points. Afterward, segment your audienceto offer services, packaging, and pricing based on every group’s specific preferences.
Identifyother metricsthat influence the price. If you want toleverage a cost-plus dynamic pricing strategy, ensure that yousingle out proper metrics. While setting up your prices, add a fixed percentage on top of your unit cost.
Build a pricing strategy.Choose from the dynamic pricing strategies provided in this article or develop a complex one. Then turn it into a plan for your team to follow.Focus on your commercial goal and think about the ways to reach it.
Choose your pricing methods and rules. Methods and rules are the next steps to developing your dynamic pricing strategy, so think about how you will set up the price for every product.Come up witha system of discounts and consider high-low pricing.
Test your strategy and make changes if necessary. Launch your product and follow a dynamic pricing strategy. Test different priceoptions and monitor the changes in demand and income.
Let’s talk about industries wheredynamic pricingfits the most and discuss the peculiarities that influence the implementation of this strategy.
Dynamic Pricing Examples
Dynamic pricing is often used in many industries, such as air transportation, rideshare services, hospitality, and retail. Read more about them in this section.
Air transportation
All travelers know that prices onplane tickets to the same destination changedepending on the departure time, season, holidays in the area, and many more. Most airlines use a time-based dynamic pricing strategy— they developed expensive programsthat change prices automaticallybased on specific metrics.
Rideshare services
Many taxi and rideshare services, like Uber, use dynamic pricing systems.Fares always rise when it is rainy or snowy outside and during rush hours, meaning thatservices use dynamic pricing based on time and value. Moreover, food delivery services often use the same strategy in their work.
Hospitality
Just like airline companies, hotels set up their pricesdepending on the time and season. During the peak season, prices are much higher, and businesses earn most of their income. During therest of the year, the prices are usually much lower.Hotels also use demand and value tocalculate the highestamount of money customers are ready to pay. When the demand increases, business owners raise their prices, too.
Retail
Online retailers often use demand-based dynamic pricing and even develop special software to track how many people are interested in certain products. The higher the demand, the higher the prices.
Congrats, now you knoweverything there is to dynamic pricing. Think about how to use it for your product line and increase your profits.
Dynamic email content
Dynamic email content is any personalized part of a mass message that changes based on user behavior or data you have about your subscribers. To create personalized emails, marketers add variables to the mailing list, and group people based on specific common characteristics like location, gender, age, etc. Dynamic email content may also be referred to as AMP emails.
When companies use dynamic email content, they provide subscribers with a more personalized experience. Today, many users are ready to share personal data with brands in exchange for a highly personalized shopping experience and product recommendations. Using this approachmay help your business win the competition for the inbox, build long-lasting relationships with youraudience, save time, and increase revenue.
How Dynamic Email Content Works
Based on variables. A variable represents dynamic parts of content depending on the information you know about the recipient. Let’s see how to add a variable in two simple steps with LIKE.TG, using location information as an example here.
Step 1: Add a variable
Go to your mailing list, click on “Add variable,” insert its name, “location” in this case, andselect a variable type.
Step 2: Gather user data that applies to this variable
Upload data from an Excel doc, type it manually, or use a subscription form.
Create a subscription form and add a “Location” field. This way, your mailing list will be filled with location data from new users when they subscribe. However, don’t ask for toomuch information in addition to email address and name. Otherwise, users will be more likely to churn. The screenshot below is a subscription formthat collects users’ email addresses alongside with their location and gender.
Now that you are acquainted with the concept of variables let’s see how you can use them in your email marketing strategy.
How to add dynamic content to emails
Dynamic Email Subject Lines
Dynamic Email Body
Dynamic Email Footer
The usage of variables differs from service to service, so let’s focus on how to use them with LIKE.TG. You can make any part of an email content dynamic: text sections, images, calls-to-action, or subject lines.
There are three types of variables that you can use:
Subscriber data variables. By default, these variables include email address, name, and a subscriber ID. Add other variables like birth date, gender, location, order date, etc. to your mailing list using subscription forms or surveys.
Technical data variables. There are two technical variables: a web-version and an unsubscribe link variable. The first one adds a web version of the emailthat ishelpful when an email is not displayed correctly, or the recipient’s email service provider doesn’t display images. The second adds an unsubscribe link to the footer.
Sender data variables. These variables include company name, company address, company phone number, and sender email address. These variables are placed in the footer of each email sent with LIKE.TG by default.
When adding a variable to make content dynamic, think of users who haven’t shared their information: they will see an empty field instead of the material. To avoid that, set up criteria that will automatically substitute an empty field with a general piece of text. When a part of textlike “Paris” or “London” from a location variable is absent, use general text instead, for instance, “your city,” or othervariations according to the context.
Let’s move on and see how you can personalize different parts of the email.
Dynamic Email Subject Lines
According to MarketingDive, a personalized subject line gives a 50% higher open rate. To personalize it, create an email campaign, select the mailing list, sender email address, and type in the sender name. Write a subject line and add a variable according to your idea.
Write the text for users who haven’t shared their data to keep your content looking natural. For this, set a condition according to which general text should appear, like in the example below.
Dynamic Email Body
You can make different elements dynamic while editing your email template. For this, insert a variable where you want a dynamic text to be displayed, and add the necessary criteria like in the example below.
Dynamic Email Footer
LIKE.TG automatically adds a footer to every email template to help your company comply with the CAN-SPAM Act — a law against spam emails. Here’s how it looks in a LIKE.TG email template.
Dynamic Email Content Examples
No doubt, dynamic email content may affect your email marketing results, level of user engagement, and sales, so we’ve gathered some inspiring examples of big companies using variables for personalization.
Netflix. This streaming service encourages users to watch more series by sending them a personalized email based on user's preferences. The dynamic content, in this case, is the image from the series and its name.
Strava. This fitness tracking company sends personalized emails based on user activity during the last month. It helps keep subscribers motivated and inspired. In this example, dynamic content is represented by personal achievements.
Mitsubishi. Here is an example of straightforward dynamic content in the subject line, based on a variable {{name}}.
Read our blog article to get more insights into dynamic email content alongside with fresh ideas for your inspiration!
Duopoly
A duopoly is a market situation that entails two competing companies that share the market. In this market, two brands can collude to set prices or quantities and make customers pay more money.
As with any market structure, a duopoly has a significant impact on how companies interact with each other. Since there are only two players within the market, the actions of one will affect the other’s response and activity. They also influence the way a company operates and how it produces and promotes its products.
In this article, we’ll uncover the features of a duopoly and its advantages and disadvantages and make the difference between a duopoly and an oligopoly clear. Then, we’ll review the types and examples of a duopoly.
Features of Duopolies
Duopoly is a market structure similar to oligopoly. However, it still has some distinctive features. The first thing that distinguishes this market structure is that there are only two companies that share the market. Secondly, both businesses that exist within a duopoly are interdependent. To win the attention of customers, companies often take strategic actions, such as price reductions. If one company makes its product cheaper, the other will follow. This is necessary to attract consumers and encourage them to purchase.
It’s worth mentioning that players can collude to determine a price or output or maintain a competitive environment for significant profits. Since companies in a duopoly take different measures to developbrand loyaltyand implement low-pricing strategies, it’s hard for new firms to enter. As a result, sales volume and revenues are good enough because there is only one competitor and the barriers to entry are high.
Knowing the features of this market situation allows you to proceed to the next section, where we’ll discuss the pros and cons of a duopoly.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Duopolies
A duopoly is a market situation that influences businesses and consumers both positively and negatively.
Its advantages include the absence of other competitors. It gives all the opportunities for two companies to collaborate to receive the highest profits. Simply put, this market situation makes collusive cooperation possible.
Firms in a duopoly don’t strive to bring new products or services to the market. They rather concentrate on bringing innovation to their existing products and services. Considering that the market is divided only between two businesses, it’s worth pointing out that they are the ones to control prices and prevent other companies from entering the market.
The main disadvantage of a duopoly is that it creates limits for free trade. The existence of only two companies within the market significantly limits the choice of products for customers. It’s difficult for new firms to join the market and obtain some market share because of the barriers that existing companies create. One more drawback of a duopoly is that it involves price fixing and collusion. As a result, consumers have only a few alternatives and still have to pay a high price.
Duopoly vs. Oligopoly
Both duopolies and oligopolies create high barriers to entry, making it impossible for new companies to enter. They are also similar in terms of authority and power their players have since the competition is low. Moreover, businesses within these market structures choose cooperation rather than competition to maximize their profits. After all, the number of companies is limited, so customers have only a few alternatives.
However, a duopoly and an oligopoly differ in the number of companies their markets have. In an oligopoly, we can see a small number of companies (two and more), while in a duopoly, the number of players is always limited to two, and the market is divided in half. In a duopoly, firms have monopoly power and are interdependent in their strategies. The decision of one business will definitely influence the other company.
Now it’s time to move to the types of a duopoly.
Types of Duopolies
Duopolies can be divided into two main groups:
Cournot duopoly. According to this duopoly, the output of produced goods and services shapes the competition between players. Businesses in this market system manufacture a certain amount of products to maximize their profits. Besides, firms have to negotiate to divide the market. In the long run, companies establish stable prices and output. This type also excludes the presence of collusion.
Bertrand duopoly. In this market situation, prices shape the nature of competition between companies. Customers opting for the firms with the lowest price can cause price war and high competition between players. Consequently, brands implement low-pricing strategies and lose profit while consumers enjoy purchasing products or services for incredibly low prices.
Long story short, the two types differ in triggers that cause competition between players within the market situation. Let’s proceed to the examples of duopolies to see how that works in real life.
Examples of Duopolies
Sometimes it’s really helpful to review several examples to fully understand some marketing definitions. That’s why now we’ll discuss six large companies — prime examples of duopolies.
Mastercard and Visa
The two famous payment solution companies are a great example of a duopoly. Together, they own approximately 80% of all European Union card transactions. It’s no secret that both corporations have strong pricing power and prove resilient against payments newcomers.
Pepsi and Coca-Cola
The two companies that are famous for their carbonated drinks are the embodiment of a duopoly. According to Statista, the market share of Coca-Cola company was 43.7% in 2019. At the same time, the market share of Pepsi amounted to 24.1%.
Airbus and Boeing
The market share of airplane manufacturing is concentrated between Airbus and Boeing. The competition between the most prominent manufacturers of airplanes in the world is fierce.
To conclude, companies in a duopoly are either competitors or partners in collusion. Everything depends on the situation. The market structure entails fixed pricing, price wars, and a few alternatives for customers.
eCommerce email marketing
Ecommerce email marketing is an effective marketing strategy that uses email to promote products of an online store to existing or potential customers.
In the video below, Anya shares 3 powerful benefits of using email marketing for eCommerce. Check it out!
Emails are one of the most popular means of digital communication, and that’s the main reason why using them for marketing activities can be extremely effective. They help blow up user engagement, build customer loyalty, share useful information, announce the hottest deals, and boost sales.
The Importance of Email Marketing for eCommerce
Email marketing is crucial for achieving business success. The benefits of implementing effective email strategies are immense. Email marketing allows developing brand awareness, building credibility, and establishing trustworthy relationships with the customer. Also, it is a perfect way to generate leads, drive more sales, and boost website traffic.
The latest email marketing statistics
Here are the most recent statistics to prove that email marketing can take your eCommerce to the next level.
99% of consumers check their email inboxes every day;
The end expects 5.6 billion active email accounts in 2019;
59% of consumers indicate that marketing emails have the power to influence their purchase decision;
Email Marketing Strategies to Boost Sales
User onboarding
Lead nurturing
Mailing list segmentation
Re-engaging passive users
Cross-selling
Upselling
Let’s take a look at the most effective email marketing strategies that can help you boost sales, attract customers, and re-engage passive clients.
User onboarding
Awelcome email is a perfect wayto show new customers your attitude towards them. You have only one chance to create a positive first impression. Therefore, you need to think about how to grab readers’ attention. It’s worth mentioning that 33% of clients get more engaged with a brand if they receive a welcome email from the company. Also, you can encourage customers to purchase with a unique first-time-visitor discount provided in the email.
Onboarding emails often come in a series of 2-3 messages to provide the newcomers with a smooth start. Marketers share educational content to nurture leads. It may be a welcome video from the CEO of the brand, a how-to guide, or a short checklist.
Seehow ShortStack greets new subscribers. They explain how the service can help users and provide a short how-to guide to get started.
Lead nurturing
It is vital to make efforts to retain the generated leads and nurture them into loyal clients. One of the greatest ways to do it is to provide them with the necessary educational content during the entire lifecycle. Find out the reasons why leads drop off and support them right when they need that.
Below is an example of a lead nurturing email. Eventbrite offers an event venue checklist to increase subscriber engagement.
Mailing list segmentation
User segmentation is an essential strategy to provide your clients and leads with a more personalized approach. All users are different and have different interests. You need to know your clients and segment them according to their needs and preferences. Then, you can come up with emails that will be more appropriate for each group of clients.
Collect the data via a subscription form, preference management center, and based on user behavior on your website. Armed with this info, create highly personalized emails that will strike.
Take a look at the abandoned cart email below. That is one of the ways to segment your mailing list and increase sales.
Re-engaging passive users
You can opt for this email marketing strategy if your clients start losing interest in your services or products. By sending this kind of email, you will be able to draw your customers’ attention and invite them to your website to check out the latest discounts or seasonal offers. As this example shows, you can ask inactive users if they are still interested in receiving emails. Make sure that users can unsubscribe anytime.
Cross-selling
To make your visitors buy more, you can offer them products that complement their orders. Offer items thatare a perfect match for the selected products. Look how iHerb cross-sells to their customers.
Upselling
Upselling emails work perfectly for eCommerce businesses. After clients make an order or purchase, offer some new, pricier options or different models with advanced features. If you highlight the value the customers will get after purchasing more expensive products, they will go for these products.
To motivate users to buy a more expensive product, Clinique offers free shipping and a treat at checkout.
eCommerce Email Marketing Best Practices
Create eye-catching designs and use responsive email templates
Run A/B testing to know your customers better
Send extra discount emails to your loyal customers
Always notify your consumers about forthcoming sales
Send behavioral emails
Implement a referral program
Below, you can find some hints on practical email marketing approaches for an eCommerce business.
Create eye-catching designs and use responsive email templates. Make your emails convenient to read on any device and include a visible link to follow.
Run A/B testing to know your customers better. It will help you discover your clients’ needsand make your email campaigns more effective and sales-driven.
Send extra discount emails to your loyal customers. It’s one of the most working email marketing strategies for eCommerce business for nurturing loyal customers and building your brand image.
Always notify your consumers about forthcoming sales season, holiday-themed deals, and hot discount offers to entice them to visit your website and make a purchase.
Send behavioral emails. These messages are highly personalized and relevant to each client. They're sent in response to the user's actions. These emails include an abandoned shopping cart email, order confirmation emails, shipment status email, feedback request email, etc.
Implement a referral program. It’s a highly important step that will attract new leads and nurture loyal relationships. People tend to trust the recommendations of their peers, so it’s a great chance to promote your brand and attract new customers.
How to take your eCommerce marketing to the next level
Many email marketing tools can facilitate the process of email sending and allow achieving the best possible results. With LIKE.TG email service, you can create well-designed emails with a simple drag-and-drop editor. You don’t need any technical skills to do it. There are plenty of pre-designed templates to choose from, so you can opt for the one that suits your purpose.
Moreover, you will be able to analyze the effectiveness of email campaigns, monitor subscribers’ activities, and behavior. Track the results, run A/B tests, and send triggered emails to automate everyday challenges.
To improve your performance, use an eCommerce platform. It will help you build your site and manage the work of your store. Integrating it with LIKE.TG, you can exchange email addresses between services. This enables you to create an advanced email marketing strategy.
Final words
Email marketing has enormous potential for eCommerce businesses. You can use these best practices to attract new customers, retain existing clients, and drive more sales. There are plenty of email marketing services that can make this process easier, and LIKE.TG is one of the options available on the market. Give it a try and see the tangible results in almost no time. Start eCommerce email marketing with LIKE.TG!
Durable goods
Durable goods are consumer goods that have a long lifespan and don’t wear out quickly. Customers don’t purchase them often since they are considered expensive, and people can use them for at least three years.
In this article, we’ll review the characteristics of durable goods and their types, make the difference between durable and nondurable goods clear, and see various examples.
Characteristics of Durable Goods
Durable goods (also called durables) can be used for a long time, and customers don’t have to purchase them often. In general, if employed correctly for either individual or business purposes, they can serve their owner for years. This type of goods includes cars, appliances, office furniture, garden equipment, electronics, motorcycles, jewelry, and more. It’s essential to know how exactly durables differ from other goods, so let’s review their characteristics:
such goods have a long life cycle (more than three years);
they don’t wear out or break down quickly, so people don’t have to purchase them frequently;
they can be used many times;
these goods can be expensive, and that’s why many people rent them instead of purchasing them;
an increase in orders of durables signifies that the economy is getting better (i.e., consumers purchase durables when they know that the economy is improving);
customers sometimes rely on bank loans to buy these items because of their high price;
the process of purchasing these products usually requires careful planning.
Now that you know their features, it’s time to proceed to the types.
Types of Durable Goods
Durables can be divided into two groups that include consumer durable goods and business durable goods.
Consumer durable goods. This group refers to goods bought by individuals or households with the hope that these products will serve them for years so that they don’t need to buy them again soon. Examples include cars, furniture, electronics, books, tables, chairs, etc.
Business durable goods. These are the goods that entrepreneurs need for the proper and successful functioning of their firms. Machinery and equipment are necessary to start specific types of businesses. Engines, metalworking machinery, and electrical transmission apparatus belong to industrial equipment that enables certain types of companies to operate. Commonly, firms need buses, cars, and trucks to transport goods necessary for production or to deliver products to their customers. Besides, business owners often need computers, laptops, smartphones, and tablets to control their business and track its success.
Now when you know the types, let’s make the difference between durable and nondurable goods clear.
Durable Goods vs. Nondurable Goods
Nondurable goodsare goods that have a short lifespan and are usually consumed in one use. After a short period of time, these goods must be bought again in successive purchases. Customers buy nondurable goods regularly. They are cheap, and people can pay for them with cash to obtain the benefits as soon as possible. Examples include perishables (meat and fish, fruits and vegetables, dairy and bakery products) and other products like cosmetics, soft drinks, dish soap, laundry detergent, etc.
In contrast to nondurables, owners of durable products can obtain their benefits not only once but during a certain period. Eventually, their advantages might reduce, but people canstilluse them until these durables break down. Let’s take automobiles, for example. People use them for years, although their speed and convenience might decrease over time.
Now that the difference between these types of goods is clear, we can move on to the examples.
Examples of Durable Goods
Durables are not presented only in specific industries, but you can find them everywhere, starting with electronics and finishing with factory production machines and equipment. That’s why it’s essential to mention that there are different categories of durables that you might need in your everyday life and business practices.
Let’s begin with the first category — home furniture and equipment. For sure, items like air conditioners, tables, chairs, microwaves, plant pots, beds, shelves, or blankets belong to this group of goods. We can also proceed to consumer electronics and products like tablets, laptops, earbuds, or smartphones. Long story short, you can find durable goods everywhere around you.
Now you know the characteristics of durable goods and the difference between durable and nondurable goods. The examples above show that it’s essential to differentiate these products since you use them differently in your daily routine.
Drip marketing
Drip marketing is a strategy that encompasses a company sending a series of pre-written emails to its prospects and customers to make them take the desired action. Drip campaigns can be sent based on subscribers’ actions or scheduled on specific dates. Drip marketing helps increase brand engagement and loyalty, promote relevant content, interact with customers, and capture abandoned carts.
In this video, Alex explains how to create killer drip campaigns.
In this article, we’ll explain why use drip marketing and its benefits. We’ll also uncover how to set up a drip campaign and provide you with some amazing examples.
Why use drip marketing?
Some brands send drip campaigns to interact with their target audience and boost conversions, others strive to increase customer loyalty. However, all of them use the same technique. Drip marketing is an essential strategy for lead nurturing since it allows companies to communicate the benefits of their businesses to potential clients who aren’t ready to purchase yet. With drip campaigns, they can educate leads about their products so that people consider their brands once they are ready to buy.
Marketers deliver the right content at the right time to provide subscribers with solutions they need at a specific moment. Since emails are sent in response to subscribers’ actions and people expect them, marketers receive great open rates and higher click-through rates.
A series of pre-written emails sent in response to specific visitors’ actions make users think of your brand and remember it. Once they need what you offer, they will recall you and purchase your product. You’ll build better relationships with customers and show them that you are a company they can trust and rely on. As a result, brand awareness will increase.
Now that you know why to use drip marketing, let’s discuss the advantages.
Benefits of Drip Marketing
Business owners can reap many benefits of this marketing strategy. If implemented right, it can bring the following pros to entrepreneurs:
higher brand engagement;
increased customer loyalty;
promotion of important offers, discounts, and releases;
higher sales volume;
effective lead nurturing;
brand awareness;
re-engaging passive subscribers;
higher customer satisfaction;
upselling and cross-selling;
customer retention.
Now that you know the pros, it’s time to find out how to set up a drip campaign.
How to set up a drip campaign?
Setting up the sending of automated series of emails is easy when using a specialized platform. With LIKE.TG, you’ll be able to schedule drip campaigns for different marketing scenarios: abandoned carts, re-engagement, purchases, etc.
1. Register with LIKE.TG
LIKE.TG is an all-in-one marketing platform that enables you to create various drip campaigns to meet your main business goals. With Automation 360, you’ll send relevant emails at the right moment to subscribers on your list. Fill in the registration form with your contact information to start using our service and reap its benefits.
2. Create an Event
Once you finish your registration and log in to your account, proceed to creating an event. When your prospect performs a specific action, the event will be triggered. In this case, an event is a condition that will cause the sending of emails, SMS, push notifications, etc.
Go to “Automations” and click the “Events Manager” button.
Click “Add new event” and select one of four default events or create your own to reach your business objectives.
After clicking “Add” and creating the necessary event, our service will generate a unique URL. Ask your developers to send data to that URL.
3. Build an Email Workflow
Return to the “Automations” tab and choose “Create new automation.” Fill in the form with the information necessary to send your new drip campaign.
Once you click “Apply,” select the most appropriate trigger to send your emails. For example, brands send a series of emails when their customers abandon their carts because of their effectiveness. To create a series, follow the steps.
Use email, push, SMS, filter, condition, action, and goal elements to build your flow. You just need to drag and drop those necessary for your workflow. Add relevant content to attract subscribers once they receive your emails. Set conditions for the system to identify when the emails should be sent.
Below you can see a great example of how to do it.
4. Evaluate the Performance of your Drip Campaign
The last step is tracking and assessing the performance of your campaign. This is the perfect moment to find out whether your tactics work and bring great results: sales, conversions, customer loyalty, engagement, or brand awareness. LIKE.TG provides you with statistics: deliveries, opens, and clicks for each part of the flow in real-time.
Here you can see the numbers LIKE.TG users receive on their campaigns.
Now that you know how to build a drip campaign with LIKE.TG, it’s time to jump into some examples.
Examples of Drip Campaigns
The task of drip campaigns is to speed up the passage of the lead down the sales funnel with minimal discomfort by offering tutorials, guides, instructions, discounts, etc. Amazing drip campaigns can delight customers, make them engage with your brand again and buy your product. Let’s now explore some outstanding examples that hook the audience and entice them to engage.
Duolingo
Duolingo’s drip campaign mission is to win users back and make them more active. The company sends a series of emails to its subscribers once they show up in the app.
The first email welcomes you back and informs you that Duolingo is happy to see you again practicing and doing lessons. The team encourages to perform streaks to develop learning habits and attain goals.
The next email reminds you to take a lesson to practice language and improve your knowledge and skills. This way, this language learning company keeps in touch with inactive subscribers.
Leesa
Leesa, famous for its mattresses, uses drip campaigns to encourage potential customers to buy with a discount. The offer is very attractive and entices customers to shop immediately. There is a powerful trigger that informs about the upcoming Black Friday in July.
The first email in a sequence urges customers to hurry up to enjoy the benefits of the sale. It says that the discounts will end soon, so people who haven’t managed to grab the deal can do it now.
The second email is another way for a brand to increase conversions. People can still purchase mattresses at attractive prices since the sale was extended. If subscribers have a fear of missing out, they can hurry up to shop the mattresses.
Congrats, now you know the importance of drip marketing. Hope that our examples will serve you as a hint once you are ready to create email campaigns for different business events.
Double opt-in
Double opt-in is an email subscription method. It means that users are added to your mailing list only after they confirm the subscription two times. With this method, you’ll get high-quality leads and better email deliverability.
Building a mailing list using a subscription form can seem like a tedious process, but it is a must for your email marketing strategy. When choosing a list building technique, you should decide which email subscription method to use — single opt-in or double opt-in. Each of them has its own peculiarities as well as advantages and disadvantages. Read on to discover the difference between single opt-in and double opt-in.
Single Opt-in vs Double Opt-in
The difference between these two methods lies in the number of steps users must take to subscribe. Hence, the choice will influence the quality of your mailing list, email deliverability, and number of conversions.
Single opt-in means that a user joins your list right after they provide their email address and click “Subscribe.” So, this is a one-step process that doesn’t require users to go to the inbox to confirm their subscription.
Look below to see how the single opt-in subscription process looks. Users enter their email address.
Then, they submit the address and immediately join the mailing list.
A double opt-in method implies a two-step subscription process. After users leave their email address in a form, they receive an email with a confirmation link. If they follow it, they join a company’s mailing list.
Look at the example of the double opt-in form below. After users leave their email address, they’re asked to verify it.
Immediately, they receive a confirmation email. The brand asks them to follow the link if they want to subscribe or delete the email if it was received by mistake.
Advantages and disadvantages of double opt-in
Double opt-in subscription forms have several significant advantages over single opt-in forms. Check them out below.
Advantages
Quality leads. If users went through two-step verification, you can be sure they’re aware of what they’re doing and are really interested in your brand.
High email deliverability. The double opt-in method helps marketers eliminate spam traps, emails with typos, and their competitors’ attacks aimed at harming the sender’s reputation. With this method, you’ll collect a high-quality mailing list and send campaigns to engaged subscribers that will result in high email deliverability, open rates, and overall email performance.
Compliance with GDPR regulations. Despite the fact that double opt-in is not required by the GDPR regulations, it won’t be superfluous. Use it as extra proof that you send legal campaigns.
Still, the double opt-in method has some minor disadvantages. Before creating a subscription form, you should be aware of them.
Disadvantages
Slow mailing list growth. Since the subscription process takes two steps, users need more time to join your list. Besides, some of them can forget to check their inbox. As a result, it takes much longer to collect a list.
Lower conversions. Some users interested in your blog or products may not have time to check the inbox or simply give up halfway because of this two-step process. So, you should realize that you’ll get lower conversions.
Now, that you know the peculiarities of each method, it’s time to choose one and start collecting leads. No matter which method you like, LIKE.TG allows marketers to create both forms without any technical skill for free. Follow the instructions below.
How to Create a Double Opt-in Subscription Form
Register with LIKE.TG
Choose a subscription form type
Design your subscription form
Select the necessary subscription method
Creating a subscription form won’t take you more than 30 minutes with the LIKE.TG Subscription Form Builder. You only need to drag and drop the necessary elements to your form, and design them to your liking.
Step 1: Register with LIKE.TG
If you don’t have an account yet, create it. You can sign up with Google or Facebook.
Step 2: Choose a subscription form type
In your account, navigate to “Subscription forms,” click “Create a new form.” Then, choose the form you like and select a mailing list where all the addresses will be added.
Step 3: Design your subscription form
Drag the necessary elements from the left to your form, and edit them in the right panel. You can add as many fields as you need, use checkboxes, radio buttons, drop-down menus, etc. Change style, colors, font, images, background color, etc.
Step 4: Select the necessary subscription method
In the upper right corner, click “Form Options” and go to “Opt-In Settings.” Here you should enable the corresponding setting by turning the toggle switch to the ON position. So, after subscribing, users will receive a confirmation email.
After that, you can edit the text of your confirmation email below.
If you decided to use a single opt-in method, you don’t need to change the settings since it is configured by default.
In our knowledge base, you’ll find a step-by-step guide to creating a subscription form.
Direct sales
Direct sales – a type of sales that implies direct contact between a seller and a consumer without involving any third parties. Direct sales occur in a non-retail environment – at home, cafe, online, office, etc.
Commonly, people associate direct sales with MLM-companies, such as Avon or Amway. However, many other businesses use this model. For instance, direct selling is popular in the B2B sector, where sellers communicate with their clientele personally.
In 2019, direct sales alone enriched the world economy with over $193 billion in total sales. The direct sales industry includes over 118.4 million representatives worldwide. 59% of them are located in Asia, 26% in North and South America, and 12% in Europe.
Advantages of Direct Sales
Maybe you are wondering why direct selling is so popular in different parts of the world? This business model has certain advantages. Most prominent of them are:
Promising business model. According to the World Direct Sales Association, direct selling has been experiencing sustainable growth during the last couple of years. Between 2015 and 2018, direct sales generated a compound annual growth rate of 1.7%.
Opportunity to adjust a product to customers’ needs. Direct selling companies control the whole cycle, from manufacturing to a final sale, in-house. With this approach, a brand swiftly receives feedback from customers and can tailor its products or services to meet clients’ needs and market demand on the whole.
Better personalization. By interacting with customers directly, sellers know their buyer persona better and can provide their customers with highly relevant and personalized offers. Consumers are more likely to shop with brands that make relevant offers and recommendations.
Better control at every stage of customer interaction. By not having middlemen, a company has full control over its product's price and can adjust it to customers’ needs. Companies can strictly regulate customer experience during the purchasing process and have lower reputational risks.
Strong customer relationships. The foundation of direct sales is personal contact with customers. It allows representatives to use an individual approach to every client and build long-lasting relationships with them. It has a major impact on business – a 5% increase in customer retention enlarges profits by over 25%.
Higher margins. Another benefit of having no intermediaries is that all revenue goes back to the company. There is no need to divide it between the business and third-party vendors.
What is the difference between direct sales and indirect sales?
In a direct sales model, a brand interacts with customers immediately. An example of a direct seller is Boeing. The company offers its products directly to potential customers – airlines.
Indirect sale, on the contrary, include various intermediaries – distribution centers, wholesalers, regional representatives, and so on. For instance, Coca-Cola uses this model. That means that a customer can buy a Coke from a third-party vendor, but not from the company’s website.
Top Direct Sales Companies
When it comes to the biggest direct sales companies, network marketing giants top the list. Below are the global top-five direct sales companies, by revenue.
Amway. An American company that sells health, beauty, and home care products.
Herbalife Nutrition. A global MLM-corporation that develops and sells dietary supplements.
Avon Products, Inc. A multi-level marketing company headquartered in the U.K. specializing in beauty, household, and personal care products.
Vorwerk. A brand from Germany that sells appliances, clothing and accessories, cosmetics, home decor, kitchenware, and personal care products.
Natura. A global company from Brazil with 6,400 regular employees and 1.7 million salespeople. This brand sells cosmetics and personal care products.
Types of Direct Sales
Information about the types of direct sales is inconsistent – people often confuse them with methods various companies use. Generally, the classification includes two categories:
Single-level sales. In single-level sales, a salesperson earns a commission for trading products. For instance, an advertising agency’s employee gets a certain commission from the sum of services they sold.
Multi-level sales. A representative not only sells products but also recruits new salespeople. They get remuneration both for their own sales and for sales made by people they have recruited. This approach is popular among MLM-companies.
Methods of Direct Sales
Salespeople use different communication approaches with their prospects. Let’s shed light on some of them.
One-on-one sales. This method implies in-person communication between a seller and a customer. It occurs when a salesperson goes to an individual business meeting with a client or wanders from door to door to present their products to prospects.
Online sales. Single-level and multi-level sales companies both love this method. Huge international MLM-companies, as well as small businesses and local representatives, sell products and services through their own websites or social media accounts.
Host or party-plan sales. Here, a seller gathers a group of customers and presents a product to them. Such meetings often resemble parties – participants enjoy a laid-back atmosphere of celebration and become more and more inclined to purchase something. However, the presentation can also take place in an office environment.
How to Do Direct Sales
Direct selling has its peculiarities. For instance, it should emphasize sales techniques and invest more in improving the team’s sales skills. We’ve picked five tips on how to manage a business in direct sales from the very beginning.
Set your goals. It’s impossible to do business without clearly defined goals. They are both motivators and the basis of success. For successful work, your goals should be specific and measurable, like “increase revenue by 15% in the third quarter.”
Determine your target audience. Often businesses have a vague understanding of their audience. Meanwhile, knowing your prospects is the key to better sales and ROI. Start by identifying your buyers’ personas – notice and include their occupations, lifestyles, habits, interests, and pain points.
Create a sales strategy and KPIs. To eliminate chaos, build a sales strategy. It will enable you to address the needs of your customers, increase ROI, and shorten your sales cycle. Include key performance indicators to make sure your business implements the strategy correctly and achieves its goals. Always keep track of KPIs – it will help you evaluate your strategy, spot the flaws in it, and find effective techniques.
Align sales and marketing. Marketing and lead generation are pivotal for any business, so develop a detailed plan on how to target potential customers. For achieving better results, join your sales and promotional efforts. Sales benefit from marketing by obtaining warm leads, and marketing improves their results by getting information about the customers from salespeople.
Learn and implement sales activities. Be aware of how to interact with your audience during each stage of the sales funnel. This includes being able to qualify a prospect as a potential buyer, present to them your product, work with their objections, close deals, and keep in touch with clients to turn them into returning customers.
How to Promote Your Direct Sales Business Online
Start a blog
Use lead magnets
Go social
Benefit from email marketing
Promote your brand with influencers
Think about messenger marketing
4.57 billion people worldwide are active internet users, and they are ready to interact with brands online. Boost your direct sales by applying these digital marketing tools to your strategy.
Start a blog
No matter what industry you are in, blogging is an effective way to promote your business. That is the reason 55% of marketers make blog content creation their top priority. Blogging helps attract people, build strong, trustworthy relationships with them, and eventually turn them into your customers. To achieve it, make your blog informative and helpful for your target audience. Post not your company’s news, but useful articles, like the social media posting service Amplifr does.
Use lead magnets
Once you have a blog or a website, make use of a lead magnet – a special offer for your audience in exchange for their email addresses. The lead magnet can be anything you’re ready to suggest to potential customers like a: discount, gift with a purchase, e-book, check-list, additional service, and more. After a person fills in the form with a magnet, they can proceed down the sales funnel with an email or messenger campaign.
Create subscription forms for your lead magnets easily with LIKE.TG. Our drag-and-drop editor, simple but powerful, enables you to build free customized multichannel forms in minutes to sign up customers for your email campaigns, messengers, and chatbots.
Go social
Social networks are a wonderful channel for communication with your audience. Almost half of the global population spends around 2.5 hours on social media daily. Using social media, companies generate leads and increase their brand awareness. In 2019, 43% of internet users browsed social media when researching products before making a purchase.
Another reason for going social is building a strong community around your brand. Look, how one of the top direct selling brands, Avon, maintains its Instagram profile. To reinforce its relationships with clients, the brand offers them free online consultations, reposts their publications, and encourages them to share their thoughts about everything that matters. You can adopt these techniques for your social media marketing strategy or check out our article about social media marketing for more inspiration.
Benefit from email marketing
Email campaigns are one of the most powerful tools to boost your sales – in 2019, for every $1 invested in email marketing brands received $42 back. With this channel, you can both engage your customers and send them special offers. They will love it – 60% of people prefer to receive promotional messages via email.
To increase your sales with email campaigns, you can send collections of your best products, like Stitcher does in the email below, as well as seasonal offers, birthday or trigger emails, and more. To create beautiful and personalized automated email campaigns easily and send them right in time to each customer, register with LIKE.TG.
Promote your brand with influencers
Collaborations with bloggers and influencers is a promising promotional channel. 89% of marketers claim that ROI from influencer marketing is better or much better than other marketing channels, and 41% say it’s comparable to other ways of promotion.
This practice is applicable in most industries, not only in cosmetics or wellness companies like Oriflame in the example below. Even if you do direct sales in B2B, there are likely some influences your audience appreciates. For instance, if you offer software for recruitment and HR, find an influential and respectable professional in this field on Facebook and get in touch with them.
Think about messenger marketing
Over 1.3 billion people use Facebook Messenger monthly. And you can benefit from it by starting messenger marketing with chatbots. They allow a brand to interact with customers round the clock, provide clients with feedback in seconds, and support personal contact with a client.
Launching a messenger chatbot has never been as easy and cheap as right now. Start by creating your Facebook Messenger or Telegram chatbot with LIKE.TG and make the most of this marketing channel.
Five Direct Sales Techniques
With immediate contact between a salesperson and a customer, direct selling requires certain tricks. True virtuosos in this field can convince a client they’re making the best decision by buying your product. To achieve this result, salespeople can use the techniques below.
FAB (features – advantages – benefits). The majority of scripts, landing pages, and promotional materials use this scheme. It implies consistently telling customers about the key features of a company or product, its main advantages, and positive effects on a prospect. This technique makes an offer crystal-clear for a consumer and boosts their interest.
BYAF (but you are free). Persistence is crucial for closing deals, but salespeople run the risk of going too far with it. As a result, customers often turn away from an overly-pushy brand representative after one purchase. To mitigate the pressure during negotiations, let your customer know they’re free in their decisions. It’s a popular technique for selling info-products and services.
The foot-in-the-door technique. The core of this technique, perfect for upselling, is to make small initial requests followed by bigger ones. Another option is to offer a low price at first, and then charge an extra sum for more profound services. For instance, if you’re selling online English lessons for international students, you may offer them a cheaper level check at first, and then start negotiations about buying the whole expensive course.
SPIN selling. The most interesting subject for every person is themselves, not your product. Benefit from this tendency by using the SPIN technique. During negotiations, allow a customer to talk more than you do and ask them questions about their situation (S), problem (P), impact (I, or implication) of the issue on them, and the need for a solution (N, or need-payoff). Once moving through all these stages, you can introduce your product as the key to solving the prospect’s issues.
The favor upfront technique. As social beings, humans tend to give something in return for the favors they receive. This trait lies at the core of the widely used reciprocity principle. To leverage reciprocity, give something in advance – a free trial period, discount, or additional service. This goodwill gesture will persuade the customer to accept your offer.
You can apply these tricks not only for in-person communications with a client but in your digital marketing as well. Reinforce your direct selling business with amazing email campaigns, chatbots, SMS, and push notifications. Register with LIKE.TG to create them with a few clicks.
Display advertising
Display advertising isthe process of promoting a product using an online paid adplaced on relevant social media accounts and third-party platforms. These ads include text, images, or videos and encourage site visitors togo to a landing page and takea certain desired action or buy a product.
In this article, we’ll explainhow display ads work, cover their advantages and disadvantages,discuss their types, and provide some examples.
How does display advertising work?
Display advertising is a great marketingtechnique since it benefits both website owners and advertisers. Host websites can monetize their traffic by selling some spaceusing Google AdSense while advertisers buy it with Google Ads.
Ads are served by the Google Display Network. It allows advertisers to find the right target audience and show their promotions in the right place at the right time. With this network, you can find new prospectsbased on similar audiences and reveal the most promising audiences to blow up your conversions with automated targeting. It works based on a landing page and your existing audiences. Alternatively, you can start with remarketing. Tracking users’cookieswhen they leave items in their shopping cart without buying enables marketers to sell more.
Google uses two pricing models: CPC(cost per click) and CPM(cost per thousand views). It means that every time a user clicks through your ad, you’re charged a specific amount of money based on your bidding strategy.
Advertisers monitor cookies and collect data from several external websites to keep track of users’ activities. This data aggregation enables them to do behavioral targeting. Google also makes it possible to create contextually targeted and geographical ads. Contextual ads are only placed on sites relevant to your commercial message. For example, if you sell sports shoes, your ads can be promoted on sports store sites and sport-themed blogs. Demographic and geographical targeting allows you to reach specific audience segments that might be interested in your products, and that is an excellent choice if you provide seasonal offers.
Now that you know more about the display advertising algorithm, it’s time toreview its advantages and disadvantages for your business.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Display Advertising
Before creating your first display ad campaign, you should be aware of its pros and cons. Besides, you will need to figure out if this type of ad is the best choice to reach your marketing goal, so let’s uncover the opportunities it provides.
The biggestperk of display advertising is its wide outreach that allows businesses to find prospects worldwide. Take a closer look at other benefits of this type of ad.
Helps build brand awareness. Unlike search advertising, display ads don’t reach audiences with purchase intent. However, they allow businesses to make people remember their brands even if these users have never needed their products before. This way, they manage to evoke initial interest and let people recall it once they have a need for it. As a result, this particular brand is associated with a certain product they promote using display advertising.
Provides targeting opportunities. With display ads, you can narrow down your audience to the most high-performing prospects. This is possible due to various targeting opportunities available. You can reach people based ontheir demographics, geographical position, language, general interests, behavior, and previous interactions. The last one means you can win back leadswho liked your products and added them to their carts but didn’t make purchases eventually.
Enables to track results. After launching your display ad campaign, you can monitoryour number of clicks,determine when a prospect converted into a client,identifyon which platform conversion took place, and reveal the most effective advertisements. This is a great chance to improve your future campaigns and invest in more successful strategies.
Now that youare more interested in creating your first display ad, you should also be aware of its shortcomings.
Low conversion rates. Compared to search advertising, display ads show lower conversion rates. Thisshould not come as a surprise — search ads are designed for leads with purchase intent, while display ads allow businesses to create more interest in a product. So, if you aim at increasing your sales, display ads maynot be the best choice.
Lack of reputation management. Since youdon’t have that much influence on the choice of platforms for your ads, they can sometimes beunrelated to your business, which also means you’ll be charged either way. Besides, such irrelevant ads may irritate site visitors. If your brand is famous and authoritative, displaying ads onimmaterial sites may damage your reputation.
Banner blindness. It has become a common phenomenon for many internet users in the last few years.Banner blindness helps us deal with information overload and ad fatigue. Peoplesubconsciously ignore advertisements, especially when they are designed as separate blocks that strike the eye. To make your display ads stand out, make use of rich media that attract users’ attention better.
Ad blockers. More and more people are using ad blocking technologies every daydue to ad fatigue. However, some brands try to cushion this negative impact by askingtheir site visitors to allow ads or buy subscriptions.
Now you can weigh all theperks anddrawbacks to decide which type of ad to choose. Since we’ve mentioned search advertising, let’s take a closer look at it in comparison with display advertising.
Display Advertising vs. Search Advertising
Search advertising and display advertisingare similar, yet they havetheir fair share of differences— the key one is user intent. Let’stalk about these two terms in more detail.
Search advertisingappears on the search engine results page (SERP) after a user types in a corresponding keyword. This ad reaches users with clear purchase intent since they look for the same product a brand advertises.
Display advertisinginvolves placing ads on sites relevant to your product and target audience. This kind of ad is based ona push approach, while search adsrevolve around apull approach. With search ads, only users looking for a particular product come acrossthesepromotions, while display ads are shown based on different targeting criteria.
When choosing the best ad to reach your goal, stay mindful ofyour need to increase brand awareness, search volume, budget, and business type. Firstly, you need to know ifyour audience is familiar with your brand and product. For this purpose, you can checkyour search volume for the necessary keyword with tools like Ahrefs. If the volume is low, you can choose display advertising, and if the audience is familiar with your brand, invest in search ads.
Secondly, decide whether you need to improve your brand awareness. If you’re an established brand and your outreach is wide, make use of search adsto sell to customers who already know you and your product.
Thirdly, think of your budget. Building brand awareness with the help of display advertising is an expensive and long-term strategy that will bring youfewer conversions than search ads can. If your business is on a tight budget,itmight be a better idea to invest in search ads because they will bring you more profit.
One more crucialfactor here is your type of business. Say, if you provide local products and services, choose search ads. If a person has an acute toothache, lost their apartment keys, or their pet got sick, they will look for immediate and specific solutions on Google and choose a company ranking high on SERP.
Now that you have a clear picture of the opportunities display advertising provides, let’s discover its typesso that youcan choose the one that fits your business.
Types of Display Advertising
There are different types, forms, and formats of display ads. To choose the most effective one for your business, check them out below.
Based on the type of targeting, there are the following kinds of display ads:
demographic (based on users’ general interests, marketers create personalized ads for specific websites);
geographic (based on users’ location);
contextual (based on a website’s theme, keywords, and ad topic)
retargeting (based on users’previous actions, for example, they viewed your product but didn’t buy).
Based on the ad format, there are the following types of display ads:
static (a traditional ad that includes text or images that don’t move);
animated (a GIF);
interactive (implies engaging a user to take action, for example, play a game);
floating (a kind of a pop ad that doesn’t disappear while scrolling);
expanding (an ad thatbecomes bigger in size after a user clicks on it);
video.
Now that you know the types of display ads, it’s time to see some examples to gain inspiration for your campaign.
Examples of Display Ads
Interactive and video display ads are becoming more and more popular since they help attract user attention and can be more engaging than traditional ads. Let’s check out several examples of display ads.
Tokionomo promotes its product on New York Times’ site using an interactive ad to draw users’ attention. The brand offers a shelf-advertising robot thatprovides businesses with a new type of brand communication.
Elle provides its ad space for Intertop. This is an example of contextual display ads since promoting shoes on a fashion blog seems relevant.
Below is an example of a retargetingad campaign on a beauty blog. Site visitors are shown the items they havepreviously looked through.
Congrats, now you know the pros and cons of display ads, their types, and the way they differ from search ads and have some examples at hand. So, choose the best type for your business, and increase your brand awareness and sales.
Drag-and-drop editor
The drag and drop editor is a powerfultool that allows you to easily create emails by adding particular blocks in a templateand changing the color, style, size, and location. You do not need specialized knowledge to work with the drag-and-drop editor. Every tool of the editor is arranged for editing your email template.
This video demonstrates how to create an email template with a drag and drop editor with LIKE.TG. It doesn't require any experience in HTML.
Elements of the Drag-and-Drop Editor
text
picture
button
separator
video
social media
checkout
Tips to Create a Template
Make sure the font is large enough to be read comfortably. Choose font size 12-14px with a line spacing of 1.5.
Set a background color that will contrast with your text font. Note that people with poor vision might read your email; that’s why the background color should be appropriately selected.
Use big headlines and other formatting to make the text easy for skimming.
When you add pictures to the drag and drop editor, their size will be 100%. Don’t forget to make it smaller if it is needed. It’s possible to change the format from 100% to 10%.
In the drag and drop editor, you will find all these settings for every block in your email template. For inspiration and better results, you can look through our template gallery.
Read our article on how to create your email template with LIKE.TG's drag-and-drop editor.
Discovery call
A discovery call is the first interaction with a prospect interested in a specific product or service. During a discovery call, sales representatives determine whether potential clients fit their ideal customer profile. It helps prevent salespeople from spending time, effort, and resources on unqualified leads.
In this article, we’ll unveil the purpose of a discovery call and how to run it. We’ll also review the 7 best sales discovery call questions.
What is the purpose of a discovery call?
After prospective customers show interest in a particular product or service, salespeople start interacting with them. The first-ever communication with a lead is a discovery call. This call is designed to identify whether a lead is a great fit for a brand and intends to purchase a specific product with a company. During this call, sales representatives can sort out prospects and only spend time with those willing to buy a product or service soon. As a result, a business prevents spending additional resources on potential clients who don’t fit the ideal customer profile of a brand.
Discovery calls help figure out the problems and desires of leads willing to purchase. The first interaction also enables you to establish good relationships and encourage trust. After listening to potential clients, your sales reps can receive valuable customer insights and outline their strategy to make a deal. Discovery calls allow your sales teams to frame a personalized approach to each customer by meeting their needs, requirements, and interests.
Now that you know the purpose of a discovery call, it’s time to uncover how to run it.
How to run a discovery call?
In this section, we’ll provide a short step-by-step guide showing you how to start your calls. Remember, before interacting with potential clients, you need to focus on research. We’ll dive into this essential step with details in the first step.
Research and prepare before the first interaction. Before any contact with a prospect, you need to conduct research. It will help you find more information about your client and make the right sales pitch. You should be as personalized as possible so that customers consider buying from you. The next step involves the preparation process. Get ready with your speech and rehearse it. This way, you’ll be able to avoid talking about unnecessary things.
Ask discovery questions. You need to ask the right questions to identify customers' pain points. Questions will help you qualify your prospects and figure out their problems and willingness to purchase. You should be friendly and sympathetic when uncovering the main purpose of your call and presenting your product. This is the time for you to identify future opportunities with these leads. Make sure to confirm your discovery call with a prospect. It will prevent you from being unanswered. During the call, ask questions that will help you qualify leads and receive answers to points you didn’t find when conducting research. The pace of your questions should be approximate to keep a natural conversation without any rush.
Outline your further steps. At the end of the discovery call, you need to prepare a proper solution for customers’ challenges and wants. The goal of the call is to evaluate the level of customers’ urgency to get a solution for their problems. Make sure to inform customers of the next step. You and your prospect should know what to expect from your further interaction.
Record your call to check for mistakes. To assess the quality and meaningfulness of your call, consider recording it. This way, you’ll be able to identify mistakes you need to avoid. Sometimes salespeople can talk too fast or too much. You'll find a golden middle for your sales pitch by evaluating your call. Listen to the recording to determine whether you communicated all the key points, which will help prospects understand your product and its usefulness. Evaluation of your calls will enable you to identify your mistakes and give some space for improvement. As a result, your next calls will be better, and communication with customers will be smoother.
Now that you know the steps, let’s proceed to the questions you need to ask your customers.
7 Best Sales Discovery Call Questions
By asking discovery questions, you can qualify all your prospects and list those who are a perfect fit for your product. In this section, we’ll unveil the best sales discovery call questions for you to consider.
Tell me about your business. This question implies asking prospects about their own companies. Although this question seems simple, you need to choose the right time. This way, you can receive a clear introduction to your leads. No need to rush because you need to make sure that your interlocutor is ready for the question. It helps prevent customers from forming negative opinions about you and your company. Good timing shows that you’ve done a good research before starting your first interactions with potential clients.
Tell me about your day-to-day tasks and responsibilities. At this stage, you should know more about the prospects themselves. Focus on identifying roles in their companies and daily tasks. Be friendly, empathetic, and understanding when listening to your leads’ responsibilities. This knowledge will help develop a clear strategy and a personalized approach.
Tell me about the metrics you take care of. If prospects need to mention the metrics they take care of, start this topic. During the conversation, use the word “metric” so that potential clients provide you with accurate answers. Your target here is to receive a quantifiable measure of the success of a company you’re trying to reach. Once you identify the metric, your team can evaluate how your product can improve it.
Tell me about your goals. Consider asking about prospective customers’ objectives for a month, quarter, or year. It’s necessary to find out during which time frame your product can help reach stated goals. Goals can be financial, customer-related, and operational.
What is your time target? The next step is asking customers about the time target. You need to determine when your prospects want to attain their goals. It can be a week, month, quarter, or year.
Tell me about your main problem. You should figure out the problem your lead wants to solve. Try to bring up the company's challenges to understand what solution your business can provide. Uncovering some pain points allows you to understand company problems at a more overarching level.
Provide me with a source of this problem. Besides identifying prospects' problems, you need to dig deeper and find out their sources. You need to know the source to understand the necessary solution clearly. Identifying the source is the key to creating an effective and personalized sales pitch.
Congrats, now you know what a discovery call is and why it’s crucial. Hope that our short guide and best sales discovery call questions will help you establish good relationships with your qualified prospects.
Drip email campaign
A drip email campaign is a sequence of emails sent during set periods to optimize an email marketing strategy and provide subscribers with more value automatically.
Watch this video to get inspired by the tips that will help you create effective drip campaigns for your business!
Trigger Email vs. Drip Email
Drip email campaigns are often confused with trigger emails because both can be sent as a response to the user’s action. The difference is that a drip email campaign always stands for a series of emails, while a trigger email consists of one email only.
If there are a couple or more emails sent to respond to a user’s action, consider them as a drip campaign. Each drip email campaign with LIKE.TG’s Automation 360 includes a trigger email as a start.
Whyare drip email campaigns important?
Increases revenue
Improves click-through rate
It helps with lead nurturing
Informs well
Saves time
Convenient to create
Increases revenue. Relevant drip email campaigns drive 18 times more revenue than mass emails.
Improves click-through rate. Drip email campaigns result in 119% higher CTR comparing with regular email marketing campaigns.
It helps with lead nurturing. High-quality content in the emails within a drip email campaign helps to build trusting relationships with the subscribers, warm up leads and gradually turn them into customers, loyal ones, ideally.
Informs well. Drip email campaigns are useful for giving people all the necessary information about a product or service, uncovering their properties, and igniting customers' curiosity step by step. For instance, the first email contains essential information, like product features, price, and its purpose, the second — a how-to-use video, and the third — customers’ testimonials.
Saves time. Developing a drip email campaign takes time, but after that, it works automatically without constant control. Drip email campaigns save time on various email marketing processes, like onboarding, promotions, invitations, etc., which run on their own.
Convenient to create. Email templatesfor a drip email campaign, whether created from scratch or pre-designed, can be built once and used multiple times. LIKE.TG’s feature for trigger emails “Automation 360” is also convenient for users, as it helps automate different processes of email marketing — welcome emails, birthday emails, promotions, etc.
How to Create a Drip Email Campaign
Create a mailing list
Build email templates for your drip email campaign
Set the start of the flow
Add emails to the flow
Launch your drip email campaign
Step 1: Create a mailing list
Registerwith LIKE.TG. Select the category “Email” and choose “Mailing lists.” Click on “New mailing lists.” Name your mailing list. Leave it empty until the launch of a drip email campaign. After the launch, you can add your existing subscribers to this mailing list, and they will all get this drip email campaign as well as new subscribersthat you can gather from subscription forms.
Step 2: Build email templates for your drip email campaign
Go to “Email templates.” Choose a template from the previously created ones or the library of pre-designed templates. If you want to create a new one, click on “Add a template.” Choose between “Layout template editor,” “HTML editor,” or “Template import.” If you choose the first option, select the style of your template: empty, basic, news, commerce, text.
Try out our user-friendly drag-and-drop editor. Drag elements from the left-hand side into the working field and set the elements to your liking on the right-hand side. Here’s how to create an email campaign.
Step 3: Set the start of the flow
Go to “Automations.” Click on “Automation360.” Name your drip email campaign. Select the sender and type in the sender’s name. Choose the preferable days and time for sending emails. Click “Apply” to continue.
Select the trigger action on the right-hand side. Choose the “Add subscriber” event to trigger the drip email campaign. Click on “Apply.”
Step 4: Add emails to the flow
Drag elements from the left-hand side and connect them with the flow start. On the right, choose the time for email sending, create a subject line, and select one of the templates you’ve designed for this drip email campaign. Click “Apply.” Repeat these actions to add as many emails as you need. Add filters, conditions, goals, and actions to increase the coverage and efficiency of your drip email campaigns.
Step 5: Launch your drip email campaign
If everything is up and running, click “Save and launch” at the right upper corner. On this page, you will be able to monitor the campaign’s progress in the automation flow, check detailed messages list, and examine statistics and conversions.
Drip Email Campaign Best Practices
Create a logical automation flow
Automate more processes
Personalize subject lines
Monitor your success
Create a logical automation flow. Develop a consistent sequence of emails for your drip email campaign. Leave time gaps long enough between emails so that the automation flow won’t be overwhelming for your subscribers. Provide customers with different benefits in each email, dropping to their inboxes.
Automate more processes. If you seek to optimize your email marketing strategy, start sending different drip email campaigns to various groups of people. With a drip email campaign, you will spend less time and effort creating separate campaigns.
Personalize subject lines. Send personalized emails, using datathat subscribers give you when opting in. A personalized subject line increases trust among your subscribers, so they are more likely to open an email of yours.
Monitor your success. Examine the data that you can observe after you started a drip email campaign. If some emails show lower open rates than you expected, try to change the subject line. If the CTR is low — change thecall-to-actions and work more on email content.
Drip Email Campaign Examples
Bear on my Ear. This drip email campaign is suitable for a popular music blog or review website. You can use a drip email campaign to send exciting articles about musicians, their bios, and the most popular album reviews.
Homeboy Travel Agency. A drip email campaign is terrific for keeping constant contact with your audience and inform them of the most interesting facts about the world’s most famous sights.
Booker T. With a drip email campaign, you can send promotions on the best selling literature for competitive prices once a month to bookshops and libraries representatives, stimulating them to order.
Send a drip email campaign
Distance learning
Distance learning is the process of teaching students online, which implies studying from home and receiving materials and lectures via the internet. It allows learners to take classes in colleges and universities, training, and online courses in any country. You can create an online course for free with LIKE.TG without any technical skills.
In this video, a LIKE.TG marketer, Anna, shares the perks of monetizing your digital education expertise and tips on switching to teaching.
In this article, we’ll uncover the pros and cons of distance learning, its types, and the 3 best platforms. We’ll also compare distance and online learning.
Why is distance learning important?
Due to COVID-19 outbreak, the process of learning has changed. Colleges, universities, and schools have switched to distance learning to ensure education for students. Distance learning is a perfect alternative to traditional education, where students and teachers should interact face to face. Educators can utilize technological innovation and inspire students to study hard to reach their goals.
Now people can find various courses, training, and master classes to obtain new knowledge and skills. They can master new professions remotely from any location. For example, influencers with millions of followers share their success stories and the power of Instagram. They teach how to write posts, pose for photos, and increase social media engagagement.
With distance learning, students can earn their degrees without any need to leave their homes and move to a new city. They can stay in their comfort zone and save money on paying for a room in a dormitory. Online classes allow students to stay flexible and combine work with their studies. Moreover, the price of online learning is lower than offline.
Now that you know the importance of distance learning, it’s time to uncover more reasons to consider making an online course for your business, school, college, etc.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Distance Learning
eLearning brings many benefits to students and teachers. We’ll review them all so that you can decide which type of learning you would like to implement.
The advantages for students include:
flexibility (can access the class anytime from anywhere);
lower price (distance learning is usually more affordable than offline);
technological innovation (teachers use all advantages of technology and the internet to provide the best knowledge);
saved time on getting to the classrooms of universities and colleges;
The advantages for educators include:
various formats of lessons;
flexibility (different schedules: asynchronous and synchronous learning);
saved time on traveling to class;
the opportunity to teach from anywhere in the world;
space for the application of theories;
time to answer students’ questions in private messages or group chat.
Each approach in education has both pros and cons. Since you need to be aware of both sides of this business, we’ll unveil the drawbacks.
During online classes, students can
get distracted by their devices;
lose their focus because of big amount of information;
have a lack of face-to-face interactions with teachers and students;
have a poor internet connection;
feel isolated;
have a laptop without necessary characteristics;
face technical problems.
During online classes, educators can’t
prevent cheating;
communicate with students in person and explain complex material;
focus on practice;
have full control of students who neglect assignments.
Now that you know the benefits you can reap after incorporating distance learning, let’s compare distance learning and online learning. People often suppose these concepts are the same, although they aren’t.
Distance Learning vs Online Learning
In this section, we’ll clarify the difference between distance and online learning, so you don’t misinterpret the terms. The concepts are different in terms of location, intention, and interaction. Let’s start with distance learning.
Distance learning is a learning process that involves an educator teaching and students studying remotely. Students visit online classes via the internet, and teachers check assignments online. The participants of the learning process can join the class from anywhere in the world. The process doesn’t include any in-person interaction.
Online learning is a learning process that implies students studying and communicating with a teacher in real time. A teacher has an eye on their progress. Students join lessons through Zoom, Google Meet, or Cisco Webex. Learners can communicate with teachers live, ask questions, and share opinions. Students can also request a teacher to explain some unclear points.
Simply put, distance learning is solely remote learning where students access real-time or recorded lessons, while online learning is real-time exclusively learning..
Now that the difference is clear, it’s time to proceed to the types. The next section will help you decide which distance learning format fits your main goal.
Types of Distance Learning
There are four main types of distance learning. Let’s review each of them to find out the details.
Synchronous distance learning. Educators deliver information to students in real-time using special video conferencing tools like Zoom, Google Meet, Cisco Webex, and Skype or chatting online. Usually, participants connect with each other using video. Synchronous learning implies live communication online and it is less flexible than other forms of distance learning. The platforms help students and teachers communicate and see each other in real time.
Asynchronous distance learning. Teachers provide students with materials and deadlines to complete the tasks. Students work on their assignments on their own in their free time but they still have the opportunity to contact their instructors. Once they complete the tasks, they submit them through universities’ sites. Students only get access to a new module after completing the previous one.
Hybrid distance learning. It’s an integration of synchronous and asynchronous distance learning. Hybrid distance learning is the most popular form of distance learning that implies students accessing the course at a designated time and pre-recorded lessons. Instructors provide learners with pre-scheduled classroom activities they should complete to proceed to the next section. Students might be given tests, quizzes, surveys, and other forms of assignments after completing a lesson or section. These courses encourage interaction between students and communication with experts. Students can ask questions and share their opinions. These courses have little space for independent work.
Now that you know the types and can decide which one you prefer, it’s time to explore the platforms. One of these services will come in handy when you are ready to create an online course.
3 Best Distance Learning Platforms
The choice of distance learning platforms is vast. Your main task is to select the one that suits you in terms of short-term and long-term goals, usability, price, number of students, and courses. We’ll now review the 3 top services for you to consider. They are affordable, easy to use, and have an intuitive interface.
LIKE.TG
LIKE.TG is an all-in-one marketing solution that will help you create online courses, promote them, and manage communication with students. The platform offers you to send email campaigns, web push, SMS, and set up chatbots. For an affordable price, you’ll be able to create online courses for different purposes: online schools, employee training, customer onboarding, etc.
You can share your expertise in an interactive way by using LIKE.TG’s drag and drop editor to add multimedia. The service allows you to apply plenty of content formats like videos, audio, text, PDFs, downloadable items, infographics, and other images. This way, your course will look more attractive and exciting to students.
If you have no intention to develop the course by yourself and you have a team of professionals, you can add instructors. They will manage different tasks, including program development, creating lessons, designing tests, monitoring students’ progress, and issue certificates of completion. With the help of the platform and your team, you’ll be able to create a course from scratch and provide an exceptional experience to students.
Once you build a course, think about the channels you prefer to use for promotion. Use LIKE.TG to send email campaigns informing your subscribers about your upcoming course, set up chatbots to share the details about the start, and deliver SMS to remind them about the event. Since you don’t need to change the platform to perform different tasks, you can save your time on adding information.
With LIKE.TG, you don’t need to think about how to accept payment from students. The service has integrations with famous payment systems like PayPal, Stripe, and Liqpay.
Below you can see how to create a lesson in the service.
Free plan: 3 courses, 200 students, 1 instructor, and 1 GB of file storage space.Paid plan: From $42 for unlimited courses, 1,000 students, 10 instructors, 15 GB of file storage space, personalized course link, and no LIKE.TG branding.
Ruzuku
Ruzuku is a platform that focuses entirely on creating, selling, and teaching online courses. The service provides training to its users, so you will figure everything out very fast and be ready to build courses. The interface is user-friendly, so you’ll create and launch eLearning in no time.
With Ruzuku, you’ll be able to design a visual course and encourage students to remember the essential information. If you have your materials ready, you can add them to the course so that it looks more interactive. You can diversify text with videos, audio, and PDFs in minutes. The platform provides students with space for their opinion. The service allows users to leave comments and share ideas under the course’s images. This way, you can make sure that students are involved in your learning process. Ruzuku helps build both classes and communities for like-minded people.
The service has integrations with universally accepted payment solutions. You can accept payments from students through Stripe and PayPal or add another payment method.
Below you can see how to create a lesson in Ruzuku.
Free plan: 14-day trial.Paid plan: From $99 per month for unlimited courses, students, and 1 instructor.
Systeme.io
Systeme.io is a multifunctional platform that enables you to send email campaigns, create websites, run evergreen webinars, and build online courses. The service is simple in use and doesn’t require any technical skills. The platform’s team worked at your convenience and took care of your product promotion. Once you build your course, you can create a website, integrate course access and payments, and sell it to students.
The solution is fully integrated. It means that you can use all features without any need to input information several times and save your time and effort.
With Systeme.io, you can grant access to a course for students on a specific date. The platform allows you to register students for your courses by giving them full access or drip content. Full access implies having instant access to all lectures, while drip content implies accessing classes in progression. With drip content, students have to complete the lesson to proceed to the next one.
Drag and drop the elements you want to add to your course. You can use videos, podcasts, text, and images to draw attention and increase memorability.
To receive payments from students, consider using Paypal and Stripe integrations. They will guarantee your money is safe.
Below you can see how to build an online course in Systeme.io.
Free plan: 1 course, unlimited students, unlimited storage space, and assistant accounts.Paid plan: From $27 per month for 5 courses, unlimited students, storage space, and assistant accounts.
Congrats, now you know what distance learning is and why it’s essential. Hope that the list of recommended services will be useful when you decide to develop your course!
DKIM
Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM) is the technology that helps to reduce spamand phishing. It allows companies to vouch for their email messages. Technically, it can be done with the help of a cryptographic signature linked to a domain name instead of the traditional IP address.
Follow this video guide to create SPF and DKIM records with LIKE.TG.
For example, if you deal with banking and you sent mailings from the address [email protected], to prevent your subscribersfrom spamming and phishing, you should prove that domain, "vipbank.com," belongs to you. If you don’t set DKIM, there is evidence that email services like Gmail, Yahoo, and Hotmail deliver your mailings to the spam folder. It happens because there are a lot of attempts to steal users’ passwords or financial details from email messages. Phishers often send emails on behalf of large companies and ask users to "verify their account" or "confirm their billing information," and then use the subscribers’ accounts for fraudulent purposes.
DKIM technology determines who the sender of an email is. That means that the email you send will not be regarded as an email from phishers, and so email services will deliver it to the "inbox." The sender authentication with DKIM is implemented by a digital (cryptographic) signature – a hidden code that is added to the email. The signature confirms that the email was sent from an email address in the particular domain.
Direct response advertising
Direct response advertising is a short-term strategy that entices leadsto take immediate action. Its main goal is to convert a lead into a client, and hence, drive sales.
Direct response advertising is a concept that is opposite to branding. While both approaches are aimed at promoting a brand, there is a key difference between them. Branding is a long-term strategy that implies investing money into several techniques to establish brand awareness. Direct response advertising is a short-term strategy that enables marketers to drive as many conversions as possible with the help of a single marketing campaign.
Let’s take a closer look at the advantages of a direct response ad.
Benefits of Direct Response Advertising
This marketing strategy allows companies to reap several benefits.
Powerful lead generation. Brands that strive to bring in a lot of new leads as soon as possible opt for direct response ads. They create high-converting landing pages, enticing lead magnets, and targeted ads on social media.
Quick revenue growth. Quick decision-making means moving leads down the sales funnel faster. You should ensure that your users are qualified enough to make a purchase to enjoy this benefit. The more they know about your products, the more chances you have to close a deal. Thus, this strategy is especially popular among marketers who drive clients back to their abandoned shopping carts, offer customers to buy their favorite items at a reduced price, and inform them about the products that are back in stock. Email marketing is an excellent choice in this situation.
Segmentation opportunities. You can target your direct response ads to specific market segments for better performance. This way, you can communicate your offer to the warm leads who are likely to buy from you. LIKE.TG allows you to segmentyour subscribers based on their gender, location, age, occupation, and activities.
Easily traceable results. It’s easy to measure the conversions of each advertising campaign. You can monitor the number of users who filled out yoursubscription form, followed a link from an email campaign or web push notification, and clicked on your banner. This will help you identify the most profitable advertising mediafor your business.
Direct response advertising has a lot of advantages that can help you bring high revenue. Send promotionalemail campaigns with LIKE.TG for free. Segment your mailing listand track results immediately with the help of reports. You don’t need any special skills or HTML knowledge.
Now that you know the benefits you can reap with direct response advertising, let’s have a look at some examples.
Examples of Direct Response Advertising
In this section, we’ll share several examples of direct response ads that make users take action. Check them out to see what benefits they can bring.
Below is a behavioral email triggered by an abandoned shopping cart. Patagonia’s team reminds their client about an item left in the cart, states its price right in the email, informs about two-day free shipping, provides an option to contact their support team, and offers to complete the order right away.
TopShop’s team uses Instagram Stories in their marketing strategy. They share news about new arrivals in Stories and enable their customers to check them by including a swipe-up link to their site.
Below is an example of display ads. The festival is promoted in a California-based newspaper and targeted at Californians.
Now you have some examples of effective direct response advertising at hand and know about its benefits. Choose the best media for your business or create a killer promotion mix for better performance. With LIKE.TG tools, you can communicate your message to the target audience for free,so start right now.
DMARC
Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) is an email-validation system designed to detect and prevent spamand phishing.
The Purpose of DMARC
With the growth of the internet, spammers and phishers more often attack users’ accounts and steal passwords, bank accounts, and credit cards. Emails are sent on behalf of a well-known company or brand, and it is easy to forge emails. That’s why phishers use mailings for fraudulent purposes. Email providers are forced to track whether emails are from real companies or fake ones, and decide to deliver such messages or not because it might harm users. DMARC helps email senders and receivers work together to better secure emails, protecting users and brands from painfully costly abuse.
How does DMARC work?
A DMARC policy allows a sender to indicate that their messages are protected by SPFand DKIMand tells a receiver what to do if neither of those authentication methods passes (such as junk or it rejects the message). DMARC removes the guesswork from the receiver’s handling of these failed messages, limiting or eliminating the user’s exposure to potentially fraudulent and harmful messages. DMARC also provides a way for the email receiver to report back to the sender about messages that pass and fail DMARC evaluation.
DMARC focuses on two existing methods: Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM). It allows the administrative owner of a domain to publish a policy on which mechanism (DKIM, SPF, or both) is employed when sending email from that domain and how the receiver should deal with failures.
Read the DMARC official sitefor more detailed information.
Direct email marketing
Direct email marketing is a method of email marketing where email campaigns are sent directly to prospects.This marketing approach isaimed not only on selling goods and services but also on improving relationships with your customers.
Goals of Direct Email Marketing
Establishing relationships with yourprospects;
Drawing the attention of consumers;
Monitoring the success of productswith clients;
Tracking feedback from customers;
Increase brand awareness and customer loyalty;
Optimization of current email marketing strategies.
Stages of Direct Email Marketing
Creating mailing lists.
Developing an email marketing strategy.
Creating a special offer.
Selling products/services.
What is essential in direct email marketing?
The success of sales depends on your mailing lists. A product of high quality, an appealing offer, and a well-written advertisement isuseless if sent to the wrong people.
Segment the audience!
It is essential to segment your mailing lists properly.
The mailing list is irrelevant if:
There are no appropriate people. Never buy mailing lists, since people on the list will not be interested in your products. Only a few of them are likely to buy something; in this case, your money was spent in vain. Do your best to create a segmented mailing list, understand your clients.
You don’t have a clear idea about people on yourmailing list. The more you know about your prospects, the more chances you have to succeed.
You don’t pay attention to details. For example, if you try to sell fur coats to vegetarians. Is it relevant?
Pros of Direct Email Marketing
You can establish relationships with your prospects. If your segmentation is relevant, people will need your products and services.
You can personalize emails, emails tailored to each recipient will increase email open rates.
You can estimate the results by checking your email open rates, click-throughs, andconversions. These metrics allow you to optimize your work and make it better.
Cons of Direct Email Marketing
If your mailing list isn’t correctly segmented, it won’t bring in any results, and you will have spentyour money in vain.
People who are not interested in your products may not only ignore your email but even send it to their spam folder.
Thus, make sure your emails don’t look like spam, don't use: spam-like words, overly attractive offers, CAPS LOCK, exclamation points, or colored fonts.
Be creative while working on your subject line!
Digital marketing strategy
A digital marketing strategy is a set of planned actions performed online to reach specific business goals. In simple terms, this means performing consistent actions at the right time via the most suitable online channels to increase revenue and improve relationships with your audience.
In this video, Alex, a marketer at LIKE.TG, shares creative ways to make your business digital.
The complexity of a digital marketing strategy primarily depends on the size of your business and your long-term goal. If you have just launched your business, you may only need to make a few simple steps using one or two digital channels.
So, let’s discuss why you should plan your digital marketing activities.
Why Do You Need a Digital Marketing Strategy?
It motivates you to learn more
It provides real data
It structures your actions
It helps to increase ROI
It helps you reconsider your relationships with the audience
Generally, making a strategy helps you move more consciously and thus more confidently no matter what you do. When it comes to digital marketing, building a strategy can help you in the following ways:
It motivates you to learn more. When you start to develop a digital marketing plan, you need to think through every aspect of your business. You also have to thoroughly analyze your audience, competitors, trends, and neighboring niches to create a polished and up-to-date digital marketing strategy. Developing a plan is an amazing chance to get more in-depth knowledge of your business!
It provides real data. During the analysis, and after turning your strategy into action, you will get a lot of comprehensive data about what works well for your brand and what doesn’t. Empowered with that information, you’ll have a catalog of options for improving your business.
It structures your actions. Developing a digital marketing strategy avoids the chaos of making blind guesses that you have to make without having a plan. If you create a strategy, you will get a better understanding about how to combine various marketing channels and realize the full potential of your company.
It helps to increase ROI. Once your actions are structured, you make fewer actions and fewer mistakes. With a well-crafted plan, you will be able to detect your weaknesses, predict problems, and quickly react. You will save time, money, and efforts to increase margins as a result.
It helps you reconsider your relationships with the audience. A digital marketing strategy gives you a fresh look at your communication with prospects and customers during all of the stages of the buyer’s journey. When you make a business plan, you need to focus on your customers, find ways to add more value to your relationships, and develop new ways to engage with them.
So, now you know that you need a digital marketing strategy, let’s sketch a general digital marketing strategy.
How to Create a Digital Marketing Strategy?
Research and define your goals
Collect data about your audience
Generate leads
Nurture leads
Take care of returning clients and advocates
Set up marketing automation
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach for developing a digital marketing strategy. Keep up with your critical thinking while following our suggestions and choose tips that resonate with your brand the most.
Here’s a step-by-step scheme.
Step 1: Research and define your goals
First of all, ask yourself if it’s possible to optimize your existing content to rank higher on Google. Here’s what you can do with it if we focus on SEO strategy:
Structure your content according to Google’s algorithm to rank higher;
Reduce the weight of your images to make your page load faster;
Get linked by relevant and authoritative websites to signal that you have a good reputation.
Then try to compare your content against the competitors’. Perhaps they’ve covered relevant topics that you didn’t think existed. With the help of tools like Ahrefs or Moz, you can analyze which of your competitors’ pages rank in the top 10 for specific keywords and use these insights to cover these topics yourself.
Perhaps your observations will tell you to share more video content or add more customer feedback throughout your pages.
By the way, It’s okay to ask people to share their feelings about your brand and what they’d like to see changed in your mutual relationship. Yes, you won’t have a 100% response rate, but chances are you will get a lot of fresh insights to use in your digital marketing strategy.
Importantly, be sure to choose digital marketing channels that best fit your business. Don’t work with too many channels from the very start, but gradually implement one channel after another only when necessary.
So after you’ve done your research, set up your realistic goals based on the insights it gave you.
Step 2: Collect data about your audience
The second thing you should think about is the target audience for your product or service.
Develop your business’s buyer persona — a portrait of your regular customer, that includes data regarding their preferences, behavior on your website, and habits as consumers. You can combine your assumptions with real data collected using Google Analytics, for example.
All the data you gather can help you create highly relevant display ads, use personalized email campaigns, and perform behavioral segmentation.
Step 3: Generate leads
Your next step will be to optimize lead generation and search for new ways to do it.
You can start by gathering subscribers with the help of LIKE.TG’s free subscription forms. This form allows you to get users' email addresses, names, phone numbers, and other personal information for further communication. Create multichannel forms by adding links to your messengers. Here’s the layout of our intuitive subscription form builder:
You can also collect subscribers using highly targeted display advertising with Google Ads. This service allows you to display relevant ads based on the user’s search history, which is called retargeting.
Below is an example of such an ad, it is displayed because the user previously searched for copywriting courses on Google.
Facebook is another great channel for growing your audience. It allows you to show relevant advertising in the Newsfeed and Messenger Chats based on the large amount of data Facebook collects about its users. Below is an example from the Masterclass ad based on the previous website visits.
You can also suggest that your existing audience communicates with you on another medium to refresh your relationships. For instance, you can ask your Facebook audience to share their email address in a chatbot. Alternatively, you can suggest that they subscribe to your Facebook chatbot in an email newsletter.
There are also some ways to generate leads based on virality. For instance, you can run giveaways that target interested people and incentivize them to join your mailing list.
Maybe a combination of Facebook or Instagram with giveaway emails to serve the giveaways and send notifications. Below is an example of a giveaway held on Facebook used to increase the number of subscribers and make the brand more recognizable.
Another way to build your audience is via influencer marketing. This is when a popular person, respected by thousands of subscribers, shares information about your brand and encourages their audience to check it out. It is an effective marketing approach because people regard it as a recommendation from someone that they trust more than advertising. Below is an example of an influencer marketing post on Instagram.
Learn more lead generation best practices here.
Step 4: Nurture leads
Lead nurturing moves leads towards a purchase after they’ve started communication with your brand. You can do it with the help of emails, chatbots, socials, but what matters most is how you do it.
You need to educate your audience, add value to their presence in your contact list, and at the same time, try to promote your brand in a non-intrusive manner.
For example, try to ease their onboarding with a welcome email, like in the screenshot below.
You can also ask your audience to share more data in exchange for better-personalized content and offers. Sending a survey email, for instance, is a great way to engage, entertain, and nurture your subscribers. Just ensure the recipients know that they won’t need to spend too much of their time on the survey, just like MobileMonkey did in the screenshot below.
In addition, it is wise to share content based on the user’s stage in their buyer journey. Gradually change the purpose of your content from educational to conversion-focused based on how close people are to making a purchase.
Here are some essential lead nurturing best practices.
Step 5: Take care of returning clients and advocates
Once a user has made a purchase from you, it shouldn’t be the end of your relationships. Be sure to thank your client for their purchase, ask for feedback or a review, and try to cross-sell in the follow-up email.
To generate return customers, provide an excellent customer experience and quality products. Make them feel like a VIP with exclusive personalized offers and unique content for loyal customers.
You can also motivate customers to become brand advocates by offering them discounts for referring other people.
Here are some customer retention strategies to ensure that you keep your customers for life.
Step 6: Set up marketing automation
When you realize what works, and what doesn’t, for your digital marketing strategy, you need to optimize processes by automating them.
You can easily create automated email workflows to send sequences of emails to support subscribers at various stages — onboarding, purchasing, cart abandonment, etc. The example below shows how to deal with an abandoned cart.
You can create an email workflow with LIKE.TG in less than an hour by following this guide.
Chatbots are also a great tool in terms of releasing stress from your sales and customer support teams.Chatbots in Facebook Messenger and Telegramcan answer FAQs, help users book a room in a hotel, or even support a job application.
LIKE.TG allows brands to create a chatbot for Facebook Messenger and Telegram without having to code. With our intuitive builder, you can easily design auto-replies for your chatbots.
Here’s a great example of a chatbot from booking.com, where a virtual assistant helps you choose a place for vacation and book a room.
Scheduling may also be beneficial. On the one hand, you can schedule SMS and web push notifications and always be prepared in advance, without creating campaigns in a hurry. On the other hand, you can set up auto-posting in socials and in a Facebook Messenger chatbot. It allows you to plan your marketing campaigns.
If you are searching for a marketing automation tool, LIKE.TG provides all the features mentioned earlier and more. Learn more about our features here.
Final Thoughts
A digital marketing strategy can do a lot for your business. There are plenty of online channels to choose from. They all vary in price, outreach potential, usability, and purpose. What you need is a solid combination of channels that best fits your business.
Whatever the channels and approaches are, we recommend not sticking within the bounds of a single plan, especially if it doesn’t work as expected, leave lots of room for experiments, so stay open-minded.
Direct marketing
Direct marketing is a type of promotion that entails communicating information on a product, service, or company directly to the customers. All promotional information is relayed without intermediaries and any third parties.
Emails, online adverts, flyers, database marketing, promotional letters, newspapers, outdoor advertising, phone text messaging, magazine adverts, coupons, phone calls, postcards, websites, and catalog distribution are some examples of direct marketing strategies. Now, while other advertising methods aim to educate prospects about a brand’s services or products, direct marketing solely intends to persuade the recipient to take a specific action. This strategy achieves this by providing calls to action (CTAs) that prompt the customer to act.
Examples of CTAs used in direct marketing include:
Visit our website or store.
Call us to get more info on our products or services.
Subscribe with your email address.
Purchase from us.
The success of direct marketing strategies is measured by tracking the achievement of the goal. Note that when targeted lists of prospects are used, direct marketing is more effective. Also, picking the appropriate communication channel for a specific business is necessary for success.
Today, many companies that do direct marketing practice permission marketing to eliminate any friction with leads and customers. Moreover, many businesses are turning to services such as LIKE.TG to boost their direct marketing campaigns. With this service, a brand can effectively promote its products via SMS marketing, email marketing, and web push notifications.
Why is direct marketing important?
It helps marketers reach customers fast
It is an efficient promotion strategy
Direct marketing can be customized
Direct marketing allows measuring its efficiency
It helps marketers reach customers fast. A direct marketing campaign is sure to reach the potential customer quickly. For instance, a marketer can create an email marketing campaign now, and merely two hours later, it will be in the recipients’ inbox.
It is an efficient promotion strategy. Unlike other strategies, direct marketing allows companies to create targeted campaigns that reach audiences that are genuinely interested in their products or services. This focused nature of these campaigns ensures maximum efficiency when sending out promotional messages. With direct marketing, marketers are saved from sending advertising content to regular lists that are not refined in any way.
Direct marketing can be customized. Direct marketing allows businesses to create personalized messages using customer data. For example, a company can access useful information such as age, income range, reading and browsing habits, etc. and then use this data to create tailored marketing content for their prospects and existing customers.
Direct marketing allows to measure its efficiency.Companies and businesses that implement direct marketing techniques can track the success of their campaigns by analyzing things such as the number of customers who have responded to their ads, the revenue earned, and the overall return on investment. Moreover, direct marketing enables marketers to learn how much their prospects are willing to spend on particular products or services.
Features of Direct Marketing
Since direct marketing strategies are focused on communicating a brand message directly to customers, there are certain characteristics that help us differentiate this type of promotion from others.
Targeting. Direct marketing is successful only if it targets the right people. If you're going to promote your offer to your entire audience, you risk spending much money in vain. For that reason, direct marketers work with the most interested customers and rely on segmentationtools.
Database segmentation. Marketers divide their customer base into small groups with some common characteristics which include age, gender, occupation, location, interests, needs, income, etc. This allows them to craft highly personalized offers that will be relevant to each segment.
Tracking responses. Without monitoring customer responses, you will never know which strategies perform best for your brand. Online direct marketing channels allow users to easily respond to marketing campaigns as well as they let brands to monitor the entire process. Users can communicate with companies via emails, social media channels, chatbots, etc.
Advantages of Direct Marketing
Targeted advertising
Budget marketing
Boosts sales to existing and lapsed customers
Improves customer loyalty
Helps in pushing new business
Allows to measure product performance
Direct marketing comes with an array of useful benefits for both businesses and companies. Here are the most useful ones.
Targeted advertising
Direct advertising allows marketers to target particular groups of customers with customized promotional messages. In turn, businesses are likely to achieve high conversions since they focus their messages on people who are most likely to need their products or services.
Budget marketing
Direct marketing that focuses on a particular demographic can help businesses set plausible sales goals and also improve sales results when on a tight marketing budget. With direct marketing, companies can run effective and enterprising marketing campaigns at a small fraction of the cost of mainstream broadcast promotions.
Boosts sales to existing and lapsed customers
Customers are often ready to welcome businesses that show that they understand users’ needs and also those that are keen on building personal relationships. Direct marketing allows to increase sales to existing customers by maintaining their customer records and selecting simple, thought-out marketing techniques for their audience.
Direct marketing also shines when it comes to re-establishing relationships with all customers who have not returned to a company in a while. It helps businesses understand why customers chose to move on and what can rekindle these lapsed relationships. When a business learns what they need to do to improve sales from previous customers, it can keep accurate records to ensure that returned customers get to stay.
Improves customer loyalty
Direct marketing is excellent for building and maintaining relationships with customers and prospects. It allows marketers to personalize both advertising messages and offers to create solid links with customers and also strengthen existing personal connections.
It is good practice to combine direct marketing techniques with customer loyalty programs to increase the bond. Examples of customer loyalty strategies include giving discount offers, sending birthday cards, and inviting customers to upcoming sales events.
Helps in pushing new business
Direct marketing gives business owners an excellent launching pad for their companies. It enables them to effectively communicate with their target market, thus bringing their businesses more sales. Moreover, when marketers implement effective direct marketing techniques for customer acquisition, they can generate genuine fans of their brand and thus grow sales. This strategy also helps new businesses to adapt and respond to market demands.New businesses can also use direct marketing to:
Improve sales of specific products.
Clear discontinued stock.
Renew sales.
Increase customer retention and loyalty
Follow up on promotional offers.
Allows to measure product performance
Direct marketing is an excellent way of evaluating the appetite customers have for particular products and services. Moreover, this strategy enables marketers to try out new markets, evaluate sales results, and gauge the effectiveness of their sales and promotion tactics. In turn, marketers can easily tweak their campaigns to ensure success. Each time marketers run advertising campaigns, they should monitor and analyze their results so that they can use this information to improve subsequent campaigns.
Direct Marketing vs Indirect Marketing
While direct marketing involves exactly communicating with customers and prospects in a one-on-one manner, indirect marketing entails all marketing techniques that are broadcast to audiences randomly.
How do these marketing strategies compare? With direct marketing, businesses can reap the returns way faster. Moreover, the gains can be measured easily, particularly so if the marketing campaign was thought-out and received well by the audience.
On the other hand, indirect marketing techniques require much time before a business notices gains. For instance, it takes a lot of time to grow a brand on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. And it takes a while too to get used to things such as Search Engine Optimization and hashtags. Thus, a business should be ready to wait for a long time to see any returns with indirect marketing.
Which is better? Well, there is no telling here. However, a combination of both approaches proves to be more effective than either of the methods on their own.
Types of Direct Marketing
Email marketing
Mobile marketing
Web push marketing
Messenger marketing
Let’s discuss some of the most popular direct marketing techniques implemented by businesses today.
Email marketing
Email is a simple, affordable, and measurable method of communicating with customers. Promotional emails, ads in business emails, newsletters, transactional emails are examples of email marketing strategies that work.
Mobile marketing
This form of direct marketing involves sending promotional material to users on their mobile devices. Marketers launch mobile marketing to tell about the best deals and sales and to inform about the order status.
Web push marketing
Web push notifications are messages that appear in small rectangular sections at the corner of a mobile or computer screen via the browser a person is using. Web push notifications enable marketers to establish one-on-one communication with subscribers without the need for an address or any other consumer data. Subscribers are simply identified from the information stored in the browsers they use.
Messenger marketing
This type of direct marketing approach entails creating a chatbot for messaging apps like Facebook, Telegram, WhatsApp. It allows brands to put answering everyday customers' questions on autopilot, make it possible to order right from the messenger and find out more information about a brand.
Tieks by Gavrieli share their recent release of shoes via a Facebook Messenger.
Swelly allows users to make better decisions in a matter of seconds via their Telegram chatbot. It contains a question and two options. Check out below.
Other Forms of Direct Marketing
Social media
Telemarketing
Direct selling
The list of direct marketing forms does not end there. Some of the other marketing types businesses can use include:
Social media. Businesses promote and grow their audiences via social media. Social media also helps customers get feedback regarding their products in the form of comments.
Telemarketing. This approach involves reaching out to potential customers over the phone in a bid to sell specific services or products. It is an excellent tool for finding prospects and following up on marketing campaigns.
Direct selling. It entails posting mail that promotes brands, products, and services. Direct mail includes catalogs, envelope mailers, and postcards.
Direct Marketing Tools
Email marketing
SMS marketing
Web push marketing
Messenger marketing
LIKE.TG has a variety of useful direct marketing tools that help in promoting businesses, various products, and services. These are:
Email marketing
Marketers can implement a successful direct marketing campaign using LIKE.TG email service. It offers a convenient drag-and-drop editor to create a professional email template without knowing HTML. With Automation 360, marketers can also set up event-based campaigns. You can start direct marketing with the LIKE.TG email service for free after the registration.
SMS marketing
LIKE.TG SMS service allows marketers to send promotional SMS that sell their products or services to 800 mobile networks across the globe. Some of the benefits of working with LIKE.TG when sending SMS campaigns include:
Fast delivery of SMS globally.
Easy-to-implement automation.
Marketers can send personalized SMS by adding customers’ personal info.
Web push marketing
With LIKE.TG web push notifications, businesses and companies can promote their products and services even if they do not have consumer addresses. Marketers can personalize, segment, and quickly set up their notifications.
Messenger marketing
LIKE.TG also provides marketers with an easy way of creating chatbots for Facebook Messenger and Telegram. With chatbots, you can collect orders, let users register for your event and provide the answers to frequently asked questions. You can create three chatbots totally for free and send 10,000 messages per month to unlimited subscribers.
Direct Marketing Strategies
Issuing loyalty cards
Guerilla marketing
Branding of clothes
Issuing coupons
Promotional gadgets
Issuing loyalty cards. It entails giving loyal customers membership cards. Customers can then use these cards to access price discounts, free trials, and other offers.
Guerilla marketing. Small businesses with tight budgets often implement this approach. It involves adopting unconventional low-cost promotional strategies that yield maximum results, for example, outdoor installations, stickers, contextual marketing, etc.
Branding of clothes. Companies can make customized clothes with marketing messages. These clothes can then be gifted to prospects, customers, or staff members.
Issuing coupons. It involves a business giving documents and tickets to targeted customers. These cards are then redeemed for discounts or at times rebates when purchasing a product or service.
Promotional gadgets. In this strategy, a business sets out to market its products by giving specific devices to customers. By doing so, the company provides its customers with an opportunity to test out their products and get an idea of how they work, their benefits, and so forth.
How can you get started with direct marketing?
Register in LIKE.TG
Choose the best channel or mix them
Create a mailing list or collect contacts via a subscription form or a script for push notifications
Send a campaign
Analyze your results with the help of reports
Register in LIKE.TG. To start direct marketing at LIKE.TG, sign up.
Choose the best channel or mix them. Select an appropriate marketing channel or pick a combination that is best for your particular business.
Create a mailing list or collect contacts via a subscription form or a script for push notifications. Input prospects’ emails or upload a file containing them. Alternatively, create multichannelsubscription formswith LIKE.TG for free and use them to collect email addresses.
Send a campaign. Once you’ve checked all the details, roll out your campaign.
Analyze your results with the help of reports. Check out LIKE.TG reports to measure the effectiveness of your campaigns.
Direct Marketing Examples
Below is an example of a marketing email from Chewy.
And here is a marketing SMS from Starbucks.
Eddy Travels Telegram bot helps find a ticket for any flight. Look below.
Finally, a push notification from Wanelo on a mobile device.
Direct Marketing Tips and Best Practices
Check out some best practices for direct marketing:
Personalize and segment your marketing content
Consider lead nurturing programs
Write effective CTAs, relevant both for prospects and loyal clients
Always update your data
Integrate various marketing techniques for better performance
Launch your direct marketing campaign with LIKE.TG to promote your business, services, and products to the right customers effectively!
Direct costs
Direct costs are expenses that can be easily assigned to the production of a specific product or service. These costs are often variable and fluctuate based on the production level. Examples include expenses on raw materials, manufacturing and packaging supplies, credit card fees, etc.
In this article, we’ll compare direct and indirect costs and review the examples. We’ll also unveil how to calculate and reduce direct costs.
Why are direct costs important?
Knowing direct costs helps you make the right business decisions and develop a relevant marketing strategy. Before producing the products and selling them to your customers, you need to calculate your expenses for the manufacturing process. After you identify the total spending, you can determine the price and the number of items you need to sell to cover the expenses and receive good revenue. So to recoup the costs, you need to be aware of each dollar you spend to produce goods.
You should keep an eye on direct costs to determine whether the production price stays the same or increases. When the expenses for product manufacturing rise, you should review your product pricing. If you don’t monitor fluctuations in the prices of supplies, your profits might decrease. To avoid this scenario, estimate direct costs every month to make sure that they have no changes.
Now that you know why it’s vital to keep track of your direct costs, it’s time to get to know the difference between direct and indirect costs. After reviewing the next section, you’ll see distinctive features and will be able to differentiate them in your business.
Direct Costs vs Indirect Costs
Entrepreneurs often neglect the difference between direct and indirect costs. However, it’s essential to identify and be aware of these expenses. In this section, we’ll make the difference clear.
Direct costs are expenses directly associated with producing a specific product or service. These costs tangibly contribute to the manufacturing process. Examples include commissions, raw materials, labor, transportation, fuel, certain utilities, etc. For example, a brand needs cocoa mass, cocoa butter, and sugar to produce chocolate. To print books, a company needs paper and ink.
Indirect costs are expenses that can’t be directly tied to the manufacturing process of a specific good or service. However, they are critical since support the existence of a business and fulfill operational needs. Examples include business insurance, building rent, office equipment rental, security costs, accounting, maintenance, administrative costs, etc. For instance, if a company has problems with equipment, having business insurance will prevent it from huge repair expenses. Insurance doesn’t have a direct connection to the product, but a company can’t freely operate without it.
Now that you know the difference, let’s review how to estimate direct costs. It’ll help you identify your major expenses and find ways to reduce them and optimize your budget.
How to calculate direct costs?
Direct costs make up the most significant part of your budget for product manufacturing, so it’s critical to track them. The easiest way to estimate these costs is by summing up all money you spend to buy raw materials and pay wages. Identify all expenses that directly contribute to the production of your product. Since calculating direct costs is essential for your marketing strategy, pricing, and revenue, we’ll provide you with a short step-by-step guide.
List all costs associated with the manufacturing process. Before preparing a budget, you need to consider all possible costs involved in the production process of your goods. Make sure to list all of them to calculate the right price for your products. Pay attention to materials’ cost, labor cost, sales commission, packaging supplies, etc.
Write down the value of each. Find the accurate prices for all supplies and mention them in your list. To optimize expenses, you need to have exact figures.
Sum up all expenses on your list. Add up all costs you spend to manufacture your product. The sum of these contributes to the manufacturing of your goods. With this indicator, you can make the right business decisions regarding pricing, materials, vendors, salaries, and profits.
Let's imagine you have a company with the following cost object.
So, the total of your direct costs will be $1,660,000. You need this sum of money plus indirect costs to produce your products.
Now that you know how to estimate production costs, it’s time to unveil some examples. With their help, you’ll make sure that the expenses you identify as direct are right.
Examples of Direct Costs
Direct costs are the basis of proper company operations. They play an important part in budget calculations, price determination, revenue estimations, and more. This section will review some prominent examples of direct costs that can be easily identified within a specific product or service.
The production of a specific product is possible when the company has all the necessary raw materials. The quality of materials might vary, but a company should have them. For instance, to make tables, a business needs to buy all the materials, including wood, glass, stainless steel, etc.
Transportation costs are also examples of direct expenses. These costs are associated with specific ready-to-use items moved to their owners. Every dollar spent is included in the cost of the product. The shipping of materials and changes in production and sales locations are calculated as transportation costs.
Now that you know the examples, it’s time to jump into the next section. After reading it, you’ll figure out how to reduce direct costs and increase revenue.
How to reduce direct costs?
Constant changes within the market, fluctuations in prices, and customer demand urge companies to keep an eye on direct costs. This enables them to adapt their pricing and receive profit from sales. Once identified, entrepreneurs search for ways to reduce direct costs and encourage business growth. We’ll provide you with the steps that will help you with this.
Negotiate with suppliers. You can reduce direct costs by reviewing your contracts. Revise the list of your vendors and the prices they offer. If you think that some suppliers' prices are too high and influence the profitability of your business, conduct negotiations. Ask vendors to provide you with discounts for making big orders or long-term cooperation. You can also talk with them about free shipping. If the answer is negative, then consider other suppliers and their offers. Once you find vendors that meet your expectations in terms of price and quality, consider cooperation with them.
Manage inventory properly. To avoid big inventory expenses, ensure you don’t have overstocking. Customers won’t buy an old stock at full price and you can have problems with revenue. To save yourself from unnecessary costs, always consider customer demand. Research what products and in what quantities are sold fast and which are rarely bought. Make demand forecasts to identify the number of products your company needs. Consider using software to track stock in real-time and take action when you have overstock. It’s critical to sell old items with discounts, special offers, and seasonal sales to get your money back.
Ensure proper logistics. All parties involved in the production process should have access to the transportation information. This way, they’ll make sure that goods are manufactured, packed, and shipped to end users without delay. Your company needs a centralized logistics hub, insurance, and trusted carrier.
Now you know what direct costs are and why they are critical for business. Hopefully, you’ll implement our tips right to prevent a decrease in business profitability, wrong budget calculations, and wrong business decisions.
Digital marketing plan
A digital marketing plan is a document that outlines the marketing goals pursued by a company. It encompasses strategies, timelines, channels, and budgets.
In this video, Alex, a marketer at LIKE.TG, talks about ways to make your business more digital-friendly.
Why is it important to have a digital marketing plan?
Although only 37% of marketers document their actions, data shows that recording your strategies increases the chances of business success. An accurately designed plan contains a "map" with step-by-step instructions for achieving goals. Here are the main advantages a marketing plan can bring to your business.
Understanding of the target audience. A well thought out marketing plan begins with research to define your target audience. With a specified target audience, you will understand the behavior of your customers and adjust your sales model to help them purchase; speak one language with a customer and provide real help during the buyer journey; better understand the needs of your audience and prepare relevant product launches.
Efficient use of resources. Having a plan prevents you from spending money on things that are unnecessary for business and were not mentioned before. You can also manage your time properly by having clearly defined deadlines in your marketing plan as well.
The same direction for all company departments. Since all members of your company can access the plan as a coordination tool, it allows your company’s team to communicate and accordingly move in the same direction.
So, a digital marketing plan will guide you to your goals and help you benefit from your business. Next, we will discuss the components of a marketing plan.
Components of a digital marketing plan
Content marketing
Email marketing
Advertising
Mobile marketing
Reputation marketing
Social media marketing
Video marketing
Search engine optimization
Web analytics
The components presented here communicate their message in several ways. Now let’s take a closer look at each of them to understand how they work.
Content marketing
The main goal of content marketing is to attract a customer’s attention, educate newcomers, and nurture leads. With this marketing strategy, you can nurture and educate your potential customers by providing them with the necessary content, guide them through the sales funnel, and finally make them take a desirable action.
Content can be presented in the form of case studies, blog posts, articles, reviews, surveys, white papers, quotes, charts, glossaries, dictionaries, webinars, newsletters, how-to guides, and more. It aims to convey important information and educate leads about your product. There are some of the reasons companies prefer content marketing:
target audience growth;
new leads;
higher customer engagement;
more loyal customers;
re-engaging passive clients.
Here is a great example of content marketing from HubSpot’s blog. HubSpot educates readers about their tools and services such as HubSpot CRM and HubSpot Service Hub and provides instructions on how to use them.
Let’s take a look at webinars as a form of content marketing. A webinar is an event held online that enables companies to connect with existing and potential clients. Webinar marketing allows you to present content in the form of a seminar or product demonstration in real-time. Nowadays webinars are considered cost-effective and convenient for presenters as they can reach a big audience from a single location. They help drive viewer attention, warm up leads, bring conversions, and generate leads as well.
To stay in touch with clients, Bain Company constantly conducts webinars on critical issues for global businesses. Their webinars on various topics enable clients from all over the world to receive the necessary information.
Email marketing
Email is a worthwhile marketing tool that involves sending promotional content to your clients. 3.9 billion daily email users make this channel the most popular for eCommerce businesses. It allows marketers to send personalized campaigns, segment their audience, and create relevant content for them.
You can easily create professional emails without any technical or coding skills. Add text, video, or images and design them to your liking.
With LIKE.TG, creating a successful email marketing strategy is easier than you think. Automation 360 allows you to send emails automatically in a response to your clients’ actions.
Advertising
Advertising is a powerful tool that helps promote your business, find a customer base, and expand revenue streams. There are many advantages that internet advertising can bring to your business, it:
helps to greatly expand a diverse audience;
increases traffic to your website;
allows targeting and retargeting;
enables you to track the efficiency of your efforts using web analytics tools.
Nowadays, the Internet offers different ad formats to reach customers. So, it is crucial to know the types of advertising that exist on the Internet. Here are the most popular types:
social media ads;
search engine marketing;
email marketing;
display ads;
native ads;
video ads;
web push;
mobile ads.
Here is a great example of a pre-roll video from Artgrid. It offers unlimited downloads of footage with the help of video advertising on YouTube. This pre-roll ad starts before the main video and actively promotes the benefits of this website.
Mobile marketing
Mobile marketing is an advertising activity aimed at promoting products and services via smartphones. This type of marketing also involves optimizing sites, content, landing pages, and emails so that a person can freely use it on mobile devices.
Companies use SMS marketing as an effective way of promoting their products. Here you can see how Domino’s Pizza uses SMS to inform customers about their 25% discount.
Reputation marketing
Consumer feedback is essential both for brands and potential customers. Nearly 3 out of 4 customers trust a brand if it has positive reviews. That is why positive online reviews are important for a brand's success. With reputation marketing, you can highlight positive consumer reviews of your brand and strengthen your image through both digital marketing and traditional channels. This type of marketing is aimed at enhancing the reputation on the market and increasing sales of the brand.
Below you can see the way GreenBay supermarket asks for feedback and shows reviews from their customers. Reviews help clients get acquainted with the main advantages and quickly decide on a purchase.
Social media marketing
There are 3.5 billion people that use social media for different needs, they make up 45% of the world’s population. Social media marketing means using social media channels, such as Twitter and Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, Tumblr, and LinkedIn to connect with their audience. It is aimed at building a brand community, boosting sales, increasing traffic to websites.
To reach your goals through social media, don’t forget to publish relevant content, pay attention to the preferences of your followers, and try to engage them in several ways. Finally, analyze your results.
You can use LIKE.TG’s chatbot builder to create auto-reply flows for Facebook Messenger and Telegram.So, let’s walk through the steps on how to create a chatbot:
If you don’t have a LIKE.TG account yet, register. If you already have one, just log in and go to the "Messengers" tab. Afterward, click the "Connect channels" button.
Sign in with Facebook to create your first bot.
Subscribe to your chatbot so that you can test the system by sending automated messages and campaigns to yourself.
Set up welcome messages to be sent to your clients.
After creating a trigger, design an automated flow. When creating a flow, you can use trigger words, quick replies, input elements, buttons, and more. Once all of the elements you need are added, save the flow and link it to your trigger. Follow this step-by-step guide to create an automated chatbot flow.
Here you can see a sequence of predetermined auto-replies that simulate real-life conversations. This particular chatbot allows users to look for realty, both private and business premises.
Video marketing
According to statistics, 54% of consumers prefer videos over other types of content from brands. This means that if you want your business to go viral, you should try video marketing. It helps companies provide step-by-step instructions, demonstrate their products or services, show an event, or make a particular announcement as well as share behind-the-scenes.
YouTube, with over 2 billion monthly users, is a great example of a channel widely used to share and advertise products and services. Pre-roll ads are the best way to bring your product to customers.
Here you can see how HM’s video marketing on recycled clothes works. The video demonstrates the processes that take place after they collect used clothes. With this video, HM tries to promote such clothes.
Search engine optimization
SEO is about optimizing your site and improving organic traffic. Commonly, digital marketing managers pay attention to cross links and backlinks, keywords, and unique content to maintain high rankings. It increases the visibility of the website. Remember, the better visibility, the more customers you can attract.
For instance, when you are searching for a grammar checker, it is obvious that you will pay attention to the website at the top of the search engine results page.
Web analytics
This is a way to track the activity of users on web pages. It enables companies to access information about the preferences and behaviors of customers. Analytics platforms usually report on the number of visitors and pages they visit on this site, the duration of their visit, and more. Tools like Google Analytics, Coremetrics, and Adobe Analytics are the most popular for a website traffic analysis.
For instance, Google Analytics gives you all insight into your site performance. This software helps you receive information about site visitors, segment them according to their interests, age, and gender; analyze visitors’ behavior and conversion path.
Below you can see Google Analytics’ dashboard where you can find the following information: demographics (age and gender), interests, geo (language and location), behavior, technology, mobile, custom, and benchmarking. In the section below you can get to know the average age of your site visitors.
Today, it is essential to know the components of a digital marketing plan. Besides, it is equally important to know what to do to design a plan.
How to create a digital marketing plan?
Outline your brand
Define the audience
Establish your goals
Select a digital marketing strategy
Create a budget
Evaluate the results
This step-by-step guide will walk you through the process of creating a well-thought-out digital plan. Follow the 6 steps below.
1. Outline your brand
To create a successful marketing plan, first of all, you should outline your brand. It includes the ins and outs of your business to effectively sell it to your customers. Secondly, you should mention the benefits of your company. This will give you an idea of what makes you unique and helps to stand out from competitors.
Also, create your unique selling proposition (USP). It establishes the image of your brand and makes customers trust and choose you over others.
2. Create your buyer persona
A buyer persona is a fictional person that embodies an ideal customer. It enables you to target prospects and develop a product so that it could satisfy the needs of your customers. To create a buyer persona, you should know the background of your clients including their job and family, as well as demographics such as gender, age, location, and income. Ideally, you would know about their interests and communication preferences.
Below, you can see an example of an online shop that knows its target audience. TheVeganKind Supermarket provides customers with cruelty-free products. Although the supermarket is located in the UK, and they are ready to ship to every European country. TheVeganKind donates money to animal charities. So, their team focuses on vegan customers from Europe who are animal lovers.
3. Establish your goals
Before you decide to enter the market, make sure the goals are set. Your goals will define your tasks, means, methods of achieving them, and channels of communication with the audience. Make sure that both long and short-term goals are set because they are equally important.
You should establish relevant, timely, specific, measurable, and attainable goals so that it is clear in what direction to go. Also, it will be easy to track your implementation and performance. Remember to track goals regularly, if you are eager to improve your strategy, tactics, and methods.
4. Create a digital marketing strategy
Once your objectives are set, you should think about how to accomplish them. Select a digital marketing strategy that suits your company. When creating a marketing plan, it is essential to consider which strategy is the best to reach your buyers. Let’s take a closer look at the main steps of building a marketing strategy.
Make sure your goals are defined. Ask yourself what you are trying to achieve by using this strategy. For instance, if you need to drive more traffic to your website, it is clear that an SEO strategy will be a great fit for you. Then, correctly formulate the goal for your strategy, for example, increasing traffic to a certain page by 50% in 6 months. It should be specific and spelled out.
Analyze your target audience. The second point you should consider is whom you are trying to reach. Creating a buyer persona will help you portray your ideal client as it contains information about preferences, behavior, and habits. After this, the acquired information will help you personalize your email campaigns, create relevant display ads, and segment your customers.
Generate leads. This step includes collecting subscribers. This can be done by applying LIKE.TG’s free subscription forms or using online and offline events, social media accounts, contests, landing pages, surveys, quizzes, and partner websites for list building.
Nurture your leads. Chatbots, SMS, emails, and social media will help you move your leads towards a purchase. Educate your leads and show them how to use your product to get the most out of it.
Retain your customers. Thank them for every purchase made, ask for their feedback or reviews of your product. You can retain your customers in several ways: provide previous case studies to demonstrate the way you communicate with your audience, set expectations, create a roadmap for clients to be informed about their relationship with your business. Moreover, you can create memorable events, develop loyalty programs, and ask consumers to rate your products and services.
Set up automation. After understanding what works well and what doesn't, you can automate email workflows to support subscribers during their buyer’s journey. Also, you can create chatbots on Facebook Messenger and Telegram that answer FAQs. You can also schedule sending SMS and web push notifications to your customers. Automation helps you save money and time on routine tasks and devote it to more important things and creativity. LIKE.TG enables you to create email workflows easily by following our guide.
5. Create a budget
Before implementing your strategy, you should be aware of how much you need to invest. A well thought out budget helps you distribute money properly. You can divide the budget for your business into several parts and direct them to different channels. Figure out how much you are eager to spend to gain some positive results.
You need to consider paying for SEO, social media and email marketing, website design, paid advertising, and more. LIKE.TG helps small businesses get started for free. You can send email campaigns and create chatbots at no cost.
Here is an example of money allocation. You can enter your company’s name, monthly and yearly budget as well as spending on tools, services, channels necessary for your business success.
6. Monitor the performance
Lastly, to make sure that you have selected the right strategy and it’s effective, constantly track your performance. This will help you find problems and improve your tactics on the go. Besides, you should also track your organic traffic and virality on social media.
Now you are acquainted with the points important to know when developing a successful plan. LIKE.TG will help you advance your business at any level of its development.