According to Forbes Insights, “85% of companies are succeeding with analytics.”
At one point in time, analytics was only used for selected projects by data wizards. However, with online usage and social media marketing on the rise, there has been a subsequent increase in digital marketing data too. This has resulted in analytics becoming an integral part of every business – the reason being the information it provides can actually make or break a business.
Analytics is a critical part of your business to gauge the success of a lead generation campaign, website content, marketing strategy etc. It provides your company with real leverage to target the right audience and increase revenue.
Read on to know 5 reasons why analytics is important for business –
1. Puts your brand in a strong competitive position
According to Forbes, “companies who adopt data-driven marketing are more likely to have an advantage over the competition and increase profitability. In fact- they are six times more likely to be profitable year-over-year.”
Insights from historical as well as real-time data, when put together can provide your brand an edge over competitors. Merging and analyzing all this information and putting it to use is important because disruption is quite common among most industries. For example, in the telecommunication industry, customers tend to change connections easily for a better deal. So, if such a trend shows up in the analysis, a customized offer can help retain the customers and stay ahead of competition.
2. Helps you find new opportunities in business
Identifying new opportunities in business is an integral part of its growth. Analytics can provide important insights that helps brands understand the best way to engage with their customers across all platforms of communication.
Using past information and predictive analysis can help businesses plan a successful future. Moreover, time is a valuable factor and identifying the ‘right spot’ to focus on is important to know that you’re on track. For instance, analytics can find that your website gets a good amount of leads from particular keywords. Hence, you can focus on those keywords while writing content for the website or planning a marketing campaign.
Source: slideshare.com
3. Reduce expenses to become more cost-effective
Improper planning or a poor financial strategy often creates complications in business. Data insights can be a great help in this regard to identify areas where cost can be reduced and prevent unnecessary spending.
A complete budget analysis can help figure out the areas where cost can be minimized. Apart from that, identifying the best marketing strategies and campaigns increase the chances of higher ROI.
Source: Business Wire
An example to consider in this regard would be an e-commerce store. “On an average, the cost of product returns is 1.5 times than that of actual shipping.” Now, if companies can analyze the city or customers with the most returns, they can take preventive measures or get feedback from customers to control expenses in logistics and transportation.
4. Deeper & detailed understanding of customers
“49% of marketers use data to enhance customer experience.”
With access to more sophisticated analytics like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and third-party data, more information about customers can now be collected apart from gender, age and location. More detailed insight on factors like affluence, price sensitivity, brand loyalties and behavior traits of your potential customers will help in tracing their complete digital footprints.
Source: slideshare
A McKinsey report states that “companies that use customer analytics comprehensively report outstripping their competition in terms of profit almost twice as often as companies that do not.” Today’s customers are more connected and empowered than ever before. This is the reason why it is all the more important to predict their behavior when they visit your site to give out a feasible response. The deeper the understanding, the more accurate will be the prediction and the more successful you will be at providing offers to attract and retain your customers.
5. Leaves scope of improvement
The data collected from analytics not only helps to understand customer behavior but also to improve marketing tactics. Data analysis can help identify the strategies that are working well and the ones that are failing.
This information can help in both refinement and improvement of strategies in the future. Moreover, other factors like where it should be marketed and how often should it be done can also be predicted. For example, if data says that a particular campaign works better on social media instead of an emailer or newsletter, you would know where to run it in the future.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed with customer information. You don’t need hours to analyze every data, but using the right metrics can help you track where your business is heading and help you plan the next course of action. To know more how to use analytics for your business growth, leave us a message and we’ll get back to you.
“Generating leads and conversions is the top marketing challenge for 63% companies.”
Landing pages are undoubtedly the primary way of converting an audience to a lead. Moreover, since it’s on a digital medium, marketers have access to a lot of relevant data like forms, load times or buyer behavior for performance review and optimization. The main objective for a landing page is to provide better experiences, as that will lead to better conversions.
Proper targeting and testing can increase conversion rates up to 300%. In order to achieve that, it is important to have the landing page created and designed correctly. Take a look at the 6 principles to keep in mind while building a landing page for higher conversion rates –
1. No distractions at all
The most important job of a landing page is to deliver what has been promised in the displayed ad. The purpose is to bring visitors to your page for conversion and therefore, it has to be ensured that the process is made as smooth as possible, sans distractions.
According to sources, 48% of landing pages contain multiple offers – which is NOT a good practice. Remember that the audience is always curious, so if there are multiple offerings on the page, users may wander away from the main form. One page should only have one purpose.
2. Easy to spot CTA buttons
The CTA button of a landing page should be such that it can be recognized easily. A good CTA button has two main aspects – one that it can be easily spotted and two the user knows why he/she is clicking the button and what to expect after that. These two aspects help create a user experience that makes conversions easier.
If a user wants to take some action after visiting the landing page (fill a form or make a purchase) and fails to figure how to do it, he/she will probably leave the page without completing the action.
3. A simple design
“You have only 8 seconds to captivate your audience.”
In terms of design, the focus should not be on impressing visitors but converting them. Keeping the design simple will help people take the right action. It is also important to mention who you are, what you do & the services you offer. In other words, a brief idea of what the audience can expect if they share their contact information.
Using videos on landing pages is known to increase conversions by 86%. Including short clips on the page can be really effective.
4. User-friendly forms
“Your leads are only as good as the information you get from them.”
The form is the most valued part of a landing page and of pivotal importance. That’s the place where you collect information from your leads for further interactions. Hence, to increase the completion rate, it is imperative that forms have a user-friendly design.
Keep minimum fields in the form and ask only for relevant information. Make sure that it’s not too lengthy and has a clearly visible CTA button at the end. An A/B testing can further help in the process.
Source: ispionage
Given the fact that people are spending more and more time with their smartphones, the landing page form should be mobile-optimized. You have to make certain that filling it with the mobile keyboard is as easy as possible.
5. No complicated copy
Jargons are a big no-no when it comes to writing content for a landing page. Heavy sounding words may make you look smart, but if people fail to understand the meaning, it’s ultimately your loss. Stick to simple words with clear explanations to get your message across easily.
Reading out the copy and CTA button content to someone is a good way to test whether it is easily comprehensible or not. Get feedback from 2 or 3 people and you can also create a few versions of different copies and test to check which works best.
6. Pay heed to what happens after the landing page
The post-conversion part is often not given much importance in a landing page. However, this is a wrong practice. A thank you page not only looks polite, but it also completes the user experience. Apart from that, it is also an opportunity for further interaction that can make way for a secondary conversion.
Offering some brand resource like a blog or a case study on the post-conversion page can be an interesting way to understand how engrossed your leads are in your products/services. Knowing the leads better will enable you to nurture them later efficiently.
Source: Mobify
While it is true that nobody can exactly predict how the audience will react to your landing page, following these principles will definitely make the job easier. Optimizing content and design based on feedback and regular testings will ensure your landing page gets more visitors and conversions. To know more about UI/UX designs for landing pages, just leave us a message and we’ll get back to you!
“64% shoppers say that they buy products right off the shelf without researching about it, if they like the packaging.”
For a lot of marketers, packaging resembles the ‘First Moment of Truth’ where a potential customer first comes face to face with a product, either online or in store and makes the decision of whether to include it in their cart or not.
Also referred to as the ‘silent salesman’, packaging fulfils many roles –
Functional role of containing and protecting the content
Informative role of informing customers of the ingredients, nutritional value & usage instructions
Branding role of enticing and influencing new customers
A well-thought of and effective product packaging design makes it easier for buyers to understand what a product is all about and the purpose it will serve. The brand’s point of view needs to be distinctively made clear and packaging can greatly help in this regard. Here are five major points to keep in mind while deciding on product packaging –
1. Does it stand out in the crowd?
“63% consumers agree that product packaging is as important as the brand itself.”
Stocking the shelves or an online site with your products will not guarantee an increase in sales. The brand should stand out in such a way that the customer invariably chooses your product. Conceptualizing a certain orientation point in the packaging is important so that it attracts attention and encourages people to choose your product over your competitors.
2. Is it simple?
When it comes to packaging, sticking to simple designs is one of the most effective ways. The idea of putting more to add more value can be alluring, but this is not always true. Keeping the design sparse, with enough white space and clarity will help your product break the clutter and stand out.
See it in this way – in a visually agitated busy market, people will gravitate towards your product if they experience a moment of visual calm in it.
3. Will it pass the 5-year old test?
The 5 year old test in marketing can help you determine if your product has been able to make a strong connection with customers. The idea is to pick up a distinctive brand mark on the packaging and tell a 5 year old child to get it from a number of other similar products. If the child can get it, your packaging wins!
For example, if a child is sent to a dog treats section and asked to bring the packet that has the image of a dog holding a bar in the mouth, he/she would always bring the Dogsee Chew product.
4. Does it trigger emotions?
Brands that can make consumers feel something have higher chances of getting a positive reaction from them. For example, in real life, people are more compelled to look at someone they think is looking at them, but not in direct eyesight. The same psychology can be applied in packaging design.
Notice that a lot of products have packages that have photos of people who do not make direct eye contact – either they are looking slightly away from you or in some other direction. It is an effective way to catch people’s attention subconsciously.
5. Can it grab attention?
“52% people say they are willing to pay extra money happily for products if they like the packaging.”
Customers are willing to make the purchase, but before that it’s your job to grab their attention. Whether you are selling it online or offline, it is important that the right people – your target audience – notice it to increase sales.
The general interests of your target audience and your product should be taken into consideration before you decide on the packaging. For example, a masculine product can have a rigid and angular design whereas a feminine product can showcase softer attributes with a curvy design.
An important thing to remember is that customers always shop with their eyes first before going into the details of the products. This makes the look and appeal of the packaging all the more important. To know more about the right kind of packaging design for your product, leave us a message and we’ll get back to you soon!
According to Hubspot research, 45% of people watch videos for an hour or more each day and almost 79% of them prefer watching a video to reading about a product. Video marketing is therefore very important to marketers and is only going to become increasingly so with more channels joining the bandwagon. Instagram’s IGTV is the latest to join the competitive market.
IGTV short for Instagram TV is a recently launched channel that allows videos of up to 60 minutes to be uploaded in a vertical format. This is perfect since almost 50% of video consumption happens through a mobile phone. Not only does the vertical format make consumption easier, it also makes video creation easier. It has been launched keeping in mind the younger generation who spend a considerable amount of time on their mobile devices.
When videos are uploaded on IGTV, they start to play automatically for followers and are also accessible to Instagram users through the ‘newly added’ tab on the app. Users can discover more videos through content discovery tools based on their interests or brands/ people they follow.
Following are some of the benefits of using IGTV for business:
1. Reach a Large Audience:
As of June 2018, Instagram has around 500 million daily active users. In order to reach a large audience brands only need to reach a small percentage of this number. Another benefit brands have with IGTV is that all their followers on Instagram automatically follow their IGTV content as well. Audience building, therefore does not have to be done from scratch.
2. Affordable:
Videos on IGTV are intended to be uploaded in a vertical format which makes it easy for brands to shoot small-budget films or videos. A good phone camera (on selfie mode) and a stand is often all that is required. It is a God-send especially for social media influencers who previously had to invest in high-end cameras to shoot HD videos.
3. Better Mobile Experience:
A vertical format has not only made video creation easier, it has also enabled brands to offer a better video experience to the audience. Consumer led brands specifically those that cater to a mobile-first audience stand to gain the most. How-to tutorials, product unboxing, commentaries and documentaries all have a uniquely better experience when watched upright on a mobile phone.
4. Make Videos Shoppable:
According to research, video marketers get 66% more qualified leads per year and also achieve a 54% increase in brand awareness during marketing their products through videos. These are definitely 2 ROIs brands can hope to achieve with IGTV. Unlike Instagram, where brands cannot add links to their posts, on IGTV brands can add links to every video. Depending on whether the goal is to increase traffic or sales, brands can choose the right place to send their audience.
If used in the right way, IGTV can offer a host of benefits to a business enterprise. Talk about the journey, brand, values, success stories, benefits, uses and many other things. Brands only need to ensure that the video content they upload is unique, interesting and adds value to their audience. For ideas on how to use IGTV for your business, leave us a message and we will get back to you!
