Thursday, 28 November 2013

Enticing Email Marketing - Does It Always Work?

Looking through my numerous emails this morning I started to notice the differences and similarities in the subject lines. At this time of year most are offering deals and sales to entice Christmas shoppers to their site but I thought we could take a closer look at this email from Glossy Box.


The subject line was appealing but not personalised like some of the others, such as those from TheTrainLine and eBay

"The golden Limited Edition Christmas box is here!"

It certainly did grab my attention, considering it is something I buy on a regular basis, the 'Limited Edition' aspect created immediate interest.

Upon opening the email, the Christmassy colours and fancy fonts gave the email a prestige feel, making me feel like I wanted the product even more. The links to the site, the products within the 'box' and the 25% voucher all added to the sudden 'need' for the product. 

The well-crafted email is attractive to look at as well as engaging to use; with links to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest I found myself learning more and more about Glossy Box, despite being a regular customer. The social media sites allowed me to see other users reviews of the Limited Edition Glossy Box through their wall comments and re-tweets. 

It could be said though, that Glossy Box could put a little more effort into the personalisation of their email marketing. I know that the company have my details including name and products I've bought from them before (allowing them to know which products I'm more inclined to purchase if the Glossy Box contained them!). 

As I read through my unopened messages, there is a clear reason why. Most are from companies that I have never bought from, and the subject line tells me more than I need to know about the email, allowing me to skim straight past, or even delete without opening.

Glossy Box is definitely one of the more successful email marketing efforts, making me open their emails almost every time. However, personalisation could increase the open-rate and the follow on links to their site and social media. 

Thursday, 7 November 2013

Getting Used to Google Analytics


Ever wondered who visits your blog? 

Google Analytics (GA) allows you to understand you're audiences characteristics and demographics through the use of their 'The Audience' reports. 

Customization improves the the quality of the insight you can gain into different groups and types of visitors. 

Filtering your page visits can allow you to figure out who engages with your website and can allow business to know where their revenue is coming from. Understanding the information that GA gives you enables you to tailor your content and advertising towards the different groups and audiences. 

For example: 
  • Finding out how many page views took place on an iPhone, by people aged 25-34
  • Where the views came from, around the world: 

Dan Barker  started using Google Analytics and soon realised his blog was most popular on certain days of the week, allowing him to time his posts to meet the demand of his blog readers by posting on the days that he got the most page views. 

This is just one example of the many ways that GA can help you understand your audience and personalise your blog posts/characteristics to get more people on your blog and increase page views! 

Lots has been written about GA, including guides on how to use it effectively. The following articles might be of interest if you're looking for an insight on how to use GA, I certainly found them very useful!  
http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/63372-10-useful-custom-google-analytics-reports-and-dashboards-for-publishers