Capturing More Sales From the Growing Number of Tablet Shoppers

May 17, 2013 – 4:15 am

The recent surge in tablet sales is changing the face of ecommerce. Consumers no longer need to carve out a separate time to shop online. Tablets make it easy to multi-task, and more leisurely shopping occurs in front of the TV in the evening or on the train on the way home.

Savvy retailers recognize that although the tablet lends itself to product research, many consumers opt to complete their purchase on a desktop. Indeed, Google has reported that 85% of customers start shopping on one device and finish on another. It’s just plain easier to place an order accurately when you can type instead of poke and swipe a screen. Designing mobile sites to minimize the amount of typing is a critical first step in maximizing tablet sales. But that’s just a start.

Payment options present another common obstacle to completing the sale on a tablet. While our customer’s tablet may be on their lap while watching TV in the living room, their credit card is likely to be in a purse or on a dresser in another room. “I want this – I’ll buy it later,” they think. For every person who reaches a buying decision and completes the purchase later, just as many never get around to it.

One way to overcome this obstacle is to offer Paypal as a payment option. With payment information stored in Paypal, the checkout process is greatly simplified, and the need to remember a long credit card number eliminated. Accepting Paypal payments is one of the easiest things any retailer can do to capture more sales from the growing number of tablet shoppers.

By Val Gosset | Posted in Ecommerce, Mobile marketing | Tagged , | Leave a Comment

Overcoming a Common Objection When Selling Plants Online

May 2, 2013 – 4:15 am

I just scanned hundreds of customer reviews on Garden Watchdog for our next newsletter on “Lessons From the Garden Watchdog Top 30.” In the process, I was struck by the overwhelming skepticism by so many buyers that plants can be shipped successfully and arrive in a healthy state.

Those of us who sell plants via catalogs and online know that the delivery of healthy plants is the norm, not the exception. Doing so requires specific labor-intensive processes, but they get the job done right nearly every time.

Given the widespread hesitation to order plants for delivery by mail, it’s surprising that more companies don’t address the objection head-on. Show photos of how your plants are packed. Explain how your process ensures their safe delivery. Emphasize your money-back guarantee. It’s a perfect opportunity to educate your customers and overcome an extremely common objection.

 

By Val Gosset | Posted in Marketing | Tagged | Leave a Comment

New Ways to Reach Younger Audiences With Trackable Advertising

January 15, 2013 – 4:15 am

The explosive growth of tablet computers promises new opportunities for magazine publishers and advertisers alike.

As more and more people read magazines on tablet computers, advertisers stand to regain the ability to track results. A recent study by Comscore reports that 40% of all tablet owners already use it to access magazine content. According to the Magazine Publishers Association, 59% of tablet owners who access magazine content online are interested in buying directly from tablet ads, and 70% would like to buy directly from articles and features.

What’s more, online magazines may prove to be an effective way to reach younger audiences. At last week’s Direct Gardening Association conference, which included a panel discussion on Reaching the Digital Audience, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that printed gardening magazines and online communications from the same publisher reach substantially different audiences. Digital media isn’t cannibalizing print media, but expanding the market instead.

If you’re looking for ways to reach a younger audience … or if you’ve turned your back on print media because it’s so difficult to track results … digital publishing could change all that in the very near future.

By Val Gosset | Posted in Advertising, Mobile marketing, Online marketing | Tagged | Leave a Comment

How Small Businesses Can Outshine Big Ones

September 26, 2012 – 4:15 am

I was just reviewing notes from the last Direct Gardening Association conference, where Michael Katz of Blue Penguin Development made an interesting observation about the difference between small and large companies’ approach to marketing:

Small companies are trying to look big, and at the same time, big companies are trying to look small.

In today’s automated, technology-driven business environment, the slightest personal touches shine through. Whether it’s a handwritten “Thank you!” across an order acknowledgement or customer service that exceeds all expectations, there are dozens of ways that smaller companies can turn their size to their advantage.

Social media is highlighting the importance of putting a human face on every business. This ultimately personal form of communication doesn’t lend itself to “corporate speak.” If you’re a small business, introduce yourself and your employees on your website and Facebook page, in your catalog and enewsletter. Show photos. Give names. Let customers know who’s working to get their order out smoothly, and how they’re doing it.

You know what they say: People buy from those they like. It’s hard to like a faceless, non-descript business entity, so don’t be afraid to add some personality into your marketing. Don’t apologize for being a small business. Use it to your advantage!

 

By Val Gosset | Posted in Advertising, Marketing | Tagged , | Leave a Comment

Crafting a Great Tagline

August 8, 2012 – 4:15 am

I’ll admit I’m an Olympics junkie. Every night lately, I’m glued to the TV, taking in the Olympic highlights of the day. And every time I hear Visa’s tagline for their 2012 Olympics campaign — “Join our global cheer” — I’m in awe of how much is packed into those four words.

Crafting a powerful tagline is tough. The best ones are short, clear, and emotional – a pretty tall order. “Join our global cheer” is a winner on all three scores. Word by word, here’s why I admire it so:

“Join.” Active verbs always trump every other part of speech. And what more inviting verb could you find than “Join”? Who doesn’t want to be asked to join something worthwhile?

“Our.” Someone decided to use “our” instead of “the” global cheer, for good reason. It connects every one of us to the games, the athletes, and the pursuit of excellence. It lifts us all up together.

“Global.” Not “international.” Not “worldwide.” Those words are too distant, too impersonal. “Global” is everywhere, including right here.

“Cheer.”   By contrast, “applause” is expected in certain circumstances, and often restrained. “Praise” may be deserved, or it may be disingenuous. But “cheer” is always heartfelt and spontaneous.

Pretty smooth – with just four words, we all feel just a little more upbeat and a little more connected in our celebration of the quest for excellence.

By Val Gosset | Posted in Copywriting | Tagged | Leave a Comment

Emphasize the Positive in Guarantees and Disclaimers

July 27, 2012 – 4:15 am

While running errands today, I presented my American Express card at two different merchants, with radically different results.

At the dry cleaner, I was told flatly, “We don’t take that.” Ouch. The rejection was so emphatic, he might have well have said, “Your money’s no good here.”

Next stop, Penzey’s Spices. When I offered my American Express card, the cashier smiled broadly and said, “We take everything else .” No apology necessary – she just gently guided me toward a solution that worked for both of us. I recalled similar experiences at Penzey’s in the past; clearly their staff has been trained well.

While the end result was the same in both cases, the precise words used made an enormous difference in my feeling about the store.  So it is with guarantees and disclaimers. It’s understandable that certain stipulations are necessary when dealing with live plants.  A carefully crafted guarantee can still incorporate those restrictions while leaving the customer with a good feeling about the transaction.

For some tips on how to do so, have a look out our May 2010 blog post on My Favorite Plant Company Guarantees.

By Val Gosset | Posted in Copywriting | Tagged | Leave a Comment

Marketing Insights From Pinterest

May 9, 2012 – 4:15 am

Chances are, you’ve heard of Pinterest, the virtual pinboard that soared to 10 million US monthly visitors faster than any other website in history. Even if you’re not currently using Pinterest, checking to see what people are pinning from your website can be informative. Here’s how:

Go to http://pinterest.com/source/yoururl.com/, replacing “yoururl” with your actual website address, minus the “www.” Up will pop a page showing all the images that have been pinned from your website, who pinned them and any comments they or their Pinterest followers have made.

After checking what’s been pinned for all my clients, I encountered a number of surprises. Based on the overwhelming number of pins of one product, we’re trying a new photo in one client’s ad. Other pins suggest some sleeper product categories we’ll feature in future emails. One Pinterest user noted that they liked one of our client’s products, but noted one feature they did not like, some helpful feedback.

Click on the name of anyone who pinned your product, and you can see what else they’ve pinned, and who they follow on Pinterest. It’s not very scientific, but it does give you visual birdseye view of who your market is, and what’s important to them. Check it out and let me know what kind of insights you discover!

By Val Gosset | Posted in Marketing, Pinterest, Social media | Tagged | Leave a Comment

3 Simple Secrets to Refining Your Keyword List, Part 3

May 2, 2012 – 4:15 am

Our last two blog posts discussed an often-overlooked but extremely effective method of doing keyword research, plus another for refining keyword lists you’re bidding on. Today, here’s one more tool for developing a strong keyword list:

As with our last tip, start by choosing any keyword in your Google AdWords account, and go to the Keywords tab. In the middle of the grey bar above the keyword list, look for the drop-down menu titled, “See all search terms…”  Click on that tab, and select “All.”

Look for search terms listed as “Phrase match” that get a fair amount of volume. Add those to the keywords you’re bidding on. When someone searches on those search terms in the future, your ad will show up as an Exact match. Since Adwords deems Exact matches to be more relevant that Phrase or Broad matches, you’ll get a little extra boost in ranking without raising your bid amount.

By Val Gosset | Posted in Pay-per-click advertising | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment

3 Simple Secrets to Refining Your Keyword List, Part 2

April 27, 2012 – 4:15 am

In our last post, we discussed a little secret for researching keywords easily and inexpensively. Today, here’s another tip for developing a strong keyword list:

Choose any Ad Group in your Google AdWords account, and go to the Keywords tab.  In the middle of the grey bar above your keyword list, you’ll find a drop-down menu called “See search terms…” Click on that tab, and select “All.”

That will give you a list of all the search terms people used to find your ad. Review it carefully for unqualified search terms.

For instance, people looking for “cheap plants” may be bargain hunters you’d prefer not to attract. Those searching on “The Black Dahlia” are probably looking for a murder mystery, not a perennial flower.

You can specify that your ad does not appear  when words like “cheap” or “black” are included in the search by using Negative Match. Eliminating such searches should improve your click-through rate, which will in turn boost your ranking without increasing your cost per click.

Coming up next: another tip on using often-overlooked Google tools to boost your AdWords ranking.

 

By Val Gosset | Posted in Pay-per-click advertising | Tagged , , | Leave a Comment

3 Simple Secrets to Refining Your Keyword List

April 25, 2012 – 4:15 am

Whether you want to optimize your site for organic search, or get the most out of a paid search campaign, focusing on the right keywords is a critical first step. No matter how hard you try, it’s tough to brainstorm every keyword possibility.  What’s more, the relative popularity of various keywords is often hard to predict. Even Google’s Keyword Suggestion Tool can be remarkably inaccurate.

What to do? Here’s the first of three little tricks we use to refine keyword lists for our clients:

We’ll often set up a Google AdWords campaign and choose a very broad search term – “greenhouse,” for instance – and bid on it using Broad Match. With Broad Match, any time “greenhouse” is included in part of the search term, our ad is eligible to show.

If our goal were making sales, this strategy would be a budget-killer. However, when our goal is research, we’ll use a low budget cap and a low bid amount.  By using the “See search terms” feature in AdWords, you can see exactly how many people searched on exactly which keyword phrases, and – if you have conversion tracking in place – how well they converted.

Armed with that information, you’ll know which search terms will give you the biggest payoff for your SEO and/or paid search efforts.

Stay tuned for our next two posts for additional tips on refining your keyword list.

 

By Val Gosset | Posted in Online marketing, Pay-per-click advertising | Tagged | Leave a Comment
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