Smartphone users hear a lot of different rings, beeps, blips, etc. There’s Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, personal email(s), work email(s), texts, picture messaging, chat clients, app alerts,the list goes on and on. And there’s phone calls, less we forget the prime use of the device... That means these wonderful devices are alerting the user a lot, and it is up to the user to define a hierarchy of the order of importance for each type of notification. Imagine each different type of alert had a completely different sound. Which, out of all of these, would you think ranks highest with most users? My “guess” is text messaging. It is the easiest to read, and respond to. It only comes from people that actually have your phone number. They are typically from people that you know, and have regular dialogues with. Plus, it’s not exclusive to smart phone users, as everyone can get text on their phone. This “guess” is based on the fact that text messages have an astounding open rate of 97%. The average email open rate is around 20%. Sufficed to say, Text messaging rules the roost, when it comes to communication methods. What does this mean for marketers? It means that you’d better start texting! Here are some rules and suggestions.
- Don’t extend past the 160 character limit. If your offer extends beyond one message, it’s too complicated for a text message.
- Make the offer good. You are making an offer via a more personal form of communication, and if the offer isn’t good, you can actually harm a relationship.
- Remember to offer an “unsubscribe” message. You can offer an unsubscribe message for 28 characters a message (reply "stop" to unsubscribe.)
- Don’t overdo it. I recommend against texting more than once a week. You don’t want to overextend your welcome.
- Short links are your friends. Need to bring people off the text message? Use a short link to bring mobile users to a mobile landing page, and make sure that traditional desktop users that enter the short code into a traditional browser have a pleasant experience as well.
- Don’t forget calls to action! Interaction is key. If the person receiving the text message wants to call right away, or respond with some form of answer, you’ve been effective. Read and delete messages are not memorable, and you’ll receive a lot more “Unsubscribe” or “Stop” messages if there is no call to action.
- Everyone likes games, and everyone likes winning. Set up some contests, random drawings, and games, like trivia, with winners being awarded some prize. Signing up for a newsletter is much more fun if I can win an iPad when I do!
Have any suggestions or rules of your own? Leave them in the comment section below!
We spend a lot of time on this blog talking about marketing strategies. Many of these are in relation to technology, like QR codes. We’ve discussed different social media tools that businesses should use to forward their brand awareness and increase customer loyalty. Texting, web design, and branding are all popular themes on this site. All of these are important aspects that you need to think about, frequently. However, there could be something hurting your business every day that you walk right by, and never think about.
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| Your signage looks like this... |
Alright, hopefully that’s an overstatement. Let’s face it, perception is reality, and if your business appears to be out-dated, there’s a good chance it’s hurting your bottom line. Let’s pretend a traveler’s car breaks down in a town he’s never been in. He’s going to have to stay a couple of nights while waiting for it to be fixed, and he’s trying to pick out a hotel. There are two within walking distance of the automotive dealer fixing his vehicle. Which one is he going to pick, based on looks alone?
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The example above may seem a little extreme, but in reality we do this every day. There are stores that you have never gone in, because their display or signage from the street does not look appealing to you. In these stores you may be missing the deals of a lifetime, and you will never know because they look closed due to horrible signage. Even if a friend stated that there were great deals to be had, some people would still avoid a location due to the effect on their own self image that shopping at a place that looks close to condemned would have on them.
If I accidentally posted your sign as one of my examples, please call us today, so we can schedule a sit down and discuss the drastic overhaul you need!
Are you in the market to buy a new car? You can look forward to: 1. Spending an hour or more with a sales consultant, building rapport and establishing trust. 2. Working out a pricing agreement that makes sense to both parties. 3. Arranging the details and scheduling regarding the transfer of ownership of the new vehicle. Your next step sends you into an office to sit with someone you haven’t met before to discuss financial terms, and who offers additional products not previously mentioned, and can potentially change the scheduling of the delivery and the pricing agreement. Any time you end one process and begin another is called a transition. In the automotive business, the transition listed above can potentially destroy customer satisfaction, and it is one of the areas that dealerships are constantly trying to reorganize, to make it more streamlined and comfortable for the customer. Social media has the potential to have the same jarring transition for the user that the sales process in the example above has for the customer. For example, Twitter users are accustomed to very direct messages, and the entire statement needs to fit into 140 characters. Bringing a person over from Twitter to a website that has too much text, without precise descriptions to determine the worth of each portion of a website, makes for a poor transition. Someone who gets the majority of his news from Twitter is less likely to sit down and immediately dive into a 1500 word blog on a random subject. Let’s assume you have a great website, with intense graphic use and bold coloring. Would the “Info” tab on Facebook, with its text only lists, be a smooth transition? If you have a great following, with lots of interaction from fans, the wall may be too busy to use as the default landing. That’s why Facebook now has the ability to create custom-coded tabs. Remember where people are coming from and where they are going. You want people to come into your site comfortable. If they found you via Twitter, have a landing page designed to make a Twitter user feel comfortable. For each social media platform in which you are taking part of, you should have a custom landing page on your website that welcomes them to your site. Companies spend lots of time making sure that the branding message across all of their different websites and pages line up visually. On top of this, companies need to make sure that they are talking to their customers in the appropriate manner that their customer has learned to expect.
 There is a lot of competition for my business on my drive in to the office. I pass by 6 different coffee shops/restaurants that offer a drive thru service to sell me my coffee. That’s not including the 9 different mini-marts, of which 7 are attached to gas stations, that also provide freshly brewed coffee. All in all, on my half hour drive in, there are 15 different places that can earn my business. I’ve been to the majority of these places, and had decent coffee at all of them. Four out of five mornings, I stop at the same one. The one time I don’t, it is usually because I need gas, and I don’t want to stop twice. How did the one business win my business? They offer better service than the others. It’s that simple. When I drive up to order, they do not interrupt, and say, “Anything else?” while I’m halfway through my order. They let me finish talking. When i have completed my order, they repeat back the entire order, tell me the price, and ask me to pull up, please. When I arrive at the service window, they acknowledge my existence, even if my order is not ready yet. More times than not, the order is completed quickly. When it is taking a little longer, they tell me it will be a minute. Then, I am on my way, with a “Have a nice day!” Did any of this sound like phenomenal service? If you look at it on the whole, they did nothing that I would consider above and beyond. They let me order without interruption. They were courteous. That’s really it. Does that mean that the other places offer bad service? I believe it depends on your definition of “Bad”. To me, “Bad” service is any that leaves a bad impression. If you do not let me finish my sentence when I’m talking, I feel like you're not listening to anything I'm saying. If I drive up to the service window, and you look like you are avoiding me until the order is complete, you make me feel as though I am a leper. If you hand me my coffee and my change, and say, “Thanks” as the window is closing, I feel like I’m the one that provided you a service, not the other way around. You don’t have to spit in my coffee for it to be bad service. You don’t even have to be overtly rude for it to be bad service. This is good news for small start-up businesses. You don’t have to be a superhero. You don’t have to be the most innovative, and re-create the wheel. You simply have to make sure that your level of service is better than your competition’s service. I’m waiting for the phone call from the coffee shop willing to advertise, “We’ll let you finish talking before we ask, ‘Anything Else?’”
 Social Media can be scary. I know we have had conversations with clients that frown on this new communication idea. Of our clients and prospective clients that do not use social media, the number one fear is that use of Social Media will provide customers with a complaint platform to voice and discuss problems with potential customers, which could drive away business. I’m sure you know that if a tree falls in the woods, and you aren’t around to hear it, it makes a sound, right? Likewise, if customers complain, and you don’t hear it, they are still complaining. So listen for the complaints. Set up a tool to watch for any possible customer issues, and be aware of what is being said about you. Your first step is to publicly address any complaint. Use the customer’s name, and tell him or her that you want to help. Offer an opportunity to speak directly to this person. Don’t simply give a phone number to call. The customer has chosen to talk about this in an alternative manner, otherwise the complaint wouldn’t be on Twitter in the first place! A good example of a possible initial response to a complaint would be: @angrycustomer, We are sorry for your problem, and we want to fix it. Can you DM me your email, so we can make it right? The response is to the point, states you are sorry for the mistake, and that you want to fix the problem. What else can you say? Customers cannot DM (Direct Message) you unless you follow them, and unless they are following you. You always want to follow someone who is complaining about you. You want an email address, and any other contact information that you can get, but you should attempt to open the channel in a non public forum. Understand – You are planning on fixing the problem, and you want the world to know that you are trying to fix the problem. You do not need the world to see every step you take to fix the issue. Get out of the public eye while you are fixing the problem. After the matter is resolved, you can go back to the public domain, and ask the customer if he or she is happy with the resolution, but do not complete the entire repair out in public, for everyone to watch. Once the customer has contacted you in a private manner, you need to fix this problem as quickly as possible. Once again, the best way to handle this is to imagine the customer is in your establishment, not on the internet. How would you address this if it was happening in person? Once the situation is resolved, try and engage the customer one last time privately. Since you handled the problem, gauge the customer’s temperature in the resolution, before going back to the public forum. If the customer seems completely happy, ask something like, “Are you now 100% satisfied?” If the customer is still a little warm under the collar, maybe, “I’m glad we could come to an arrangement. Thank you for your business!” would work better.
The most important trend that we see in marketing today is the change in the consumer to the “ME” consumer. The collapse of the financial world in 2008/9 has had a major impact on today’s consumer. No longer were world financial issues a world away or someone else’s problems. Now they are my problems, or my family’s problems or my neighbor’s problems. The collapse of the real estate market, financial markets and the economy in general has had a direct effect on today’s consumer. It has made a substantial change in how they think, whom they choose to do business with and what services they expect. The days of blind trust in financial institutions are over. Today consumers wants to know first and foremost what you are going to do for them, followed closely by concerns for their community and society as a whole. Today’s consumer expects more from all those they choose to do business with. Banks today need to build trust through actions not just words. Today’s consumer wants to know what you’ll do for them today not what you did in the past. In June 2009, a KPMG study reported only 19% of Americans trusted the financial system. How you communicate with this consumer…the perception this consumer has of your bank is at the core of your bank’s future success. Today’s consumer is more serious, has more savvy, and is not willing to put up with poor service. Don’t expect loyalty from them, especially the younger demographics. They will leave you after one bad experience. That experience will soon be communicated to the hundreds of friends they have on social networks. Viewing this with today’s technology that single negative experience is likely to be multiplied by the hundreds. This consumer needs to know that they have a true friend in their bank. They need to be communicated with one on one. They need to know that they are your focus.
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