Tag: Quick Digital

9 Pre and Post Launch Tips for Successfully Launching Your Mobile App

9 Pre and Post Launch Tips for Successfully Launching Your Mobile App by Boaz Amidor.  Available from <http://www.business.com/mobile-marketing/9-pre-and-post-launch-tips-for-successfully-launching-your-mobile-app/>. [August 09, 2016]

As of July 2015, Google Play housed 1.6 million apps, the Apple Store housed 1.5 million apps, and Windows and Amazon app stores housed about a million or so apps each.

This is indicative of not only booming mobile app growth and variety but also an insane amount of clutter. One in four apps are downloaded and never used again.

The average user takes a reported 35 seconds to judge if they like an app or not before deleting it. While it is a brutally competitive market, there are plenty of factors at play that contributes to app success outside of market saturation level.

Particularly, how you market and build launch hype can give your mobile app that additional sense of credibility and visibility in the growing marketplace. Here, we’ll go over some of these strategies that you as a developer can do to ensure a successful launch.

1. Tracking Customer Milestones

By having a set of milestones, you can easily track where your customers are in onboarding, for example, have they signed up yet? Have they stalled at any point? Track total download numbers, average star ratings and your active install rate, which is basically your app retention. Track your App churn for signs of product deficiency. A quick 30-second turnover indicates some serious problem with the app itself. This way, your team knows when to jump in and contact your customer or potential customer, and give them the extra nudge to move further along in their SaaS journey.

2. Know the Rules and Protocols of Your Launch Platform

Each store has its own rules and protocols that need to be conformed to from usability and UX requirements to payment models. Google Play, for example, will let you change your app from a paid model to a free app, but not vice versa.  If you’re planning to release an app for both platforms, it may be prudent to focus and fine-tune one platform instead of juggling two or more unless your company has the resources and dedicated split teams to handle such a task.

3. Craft Story-Type Content to Create Pre-Launch Buzz

Demo videos are only one part of your content creation process. It’s important to prepare stories regularly leading up to the launch, and then doubly so during launch week. Update multiple times a day letting your users know your product is finally out and ready for them to get their fingers on. The stories should be produced in a video, text and images.

More in-depth blog posts explain why and how users should use your product. Your value proposition should be made very clear. Highlight what makes your product special and different from the competition. Having this content available is important for pre-launch buzz, and to support customers over the long term.

4. Secure Product Reviews and Testimonials

Getting your product out to a professional reviewer is an excellent way to generate more visibility. Reviewers already have trusted followers and their opinions are seen as more objective as well. Do not limit yourself to large reviewers such as CNET. Nowadays there are plenty of independent micro-bloggers and tech review sites that review all kinds of apps and technology. Find one relevant to your sphere.

5. Create Social Media Presence Linked Back to the App Store

Creating a social media presence gives you a place to showcase your demo videos, blogs, third party reviews etc. Don’t forget to create a portal straight back to the landing site on the app store for your app. You want to give yourself as many opportunities as possible to drive downloads. All social media and blog content should lead directly back to the app.

6. Shoot a Demo Video to Help Users Navigate the UI

In addition to app screenshots, app marketplaces allow for short multimedia clips. Before you discount this idea as only applicable to larger companies with fully fledged production teams, know that you can create a demo video using a basic smartphone screen emulator with voiceover capabilities. A good demo video will smoothly take a user through the interface and show workflow capabilities and features. Creating longer more immersed product tutorials and walkthroughs for YouTube are another option.

7. Paid Advertising During Launch Week, Esp. on Facebook

Creating additional visibility during launch week can give your launch numbers a boost. Setting up paid targeted ads on Facebook can lead users through your Facebook portal straight to your app. You can additionally connect with related app developers and advertise through their apps or sites. Advertising with well-established related apps gives your product a sense of legitimacy.

Linking up with other developers also does not have to cost you anything. You can offer to host related apps to advertise with you in exchange for advertising space on their app. If it is an app with a similarly sized user base this could be a mutually beneficial affair.

8. Integrate a Sharing Feature to Secure Referrals

Leverage the power of social networks by integrating a sharing widget into your product that invites the user to share the application with their friends. At WalkMe, where I work we use our own technology WalkMe Apps to incorporate social sharing widgets that allow the user to invite his/her friends to download the app, but there are other libraries to find them as well. Just make sure that you only integrate with the accredited and secured 3rd parties. Some of the social channels that are available are Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter etc. Users can also share the App via personal email.

9. Integrate a User Feedback Feature to Gain Credibility

Integrate an Applet that lets users rate your app so that you can begin to build a reputation within the developer community. User feedback is the primary way that users decide whether you’re worth their time and can be trusted. Reviews not only drive your downloads but also give you insights into pressing problems that need to be addressed.

Provide incentives to leave feedback, such as unlocking extra features. Star ratings, reviews, and download numbers are the first thing a new user pulling up your app will see, and this will drive their decision whether to download or not. This is especially true for users finding your app through an organic search, which of course your app should be optimized for.

9 Pre and Post Launch Tips for Successfully Launching Your Mobile App by Boaz Amidor.  Available from <http://www.business.com/mobile-marketing/9-pre-and-post-launch-tips-for-successfully-launching-your-mobile-app/>. [August 09, 2016]

Cold Email Tactics That Get Response

Cold Email Tactics That Get Response by Sean McGuigan.  Available from <http://www.business2community.com/brandviews/pipeline/cold-email-tactics-get-response-01615288#1zQIIG3mYh5dRzsC.97>. [August 01, 2016]

We constantly hear about the powers of networking with the right people and building social goodwill. Emails are now thought to be things of the past which don’t play a role in marketing or any part of business because people don’t have the time or energy to read through or even open an email. It is almost impossible to believe that cold emails can be effective in today’s hyper-connected world.

However, it is a mistake to completely write off this strategy because it will offer results if implemented properly.

Optimizing Your Cold Email Strategy

No matter what type of business you are running, it is important that you equip yourself with cold email tactics that work with your specific audience. Here are a few general tips which should be the basis of your cold email strategy:

  1. Personalized research and finding the right recipient profile is as important as the sales tactics
  2. Important people have busy schedules, in order to win their trust and time, do your research and be concise.
  3. Make your email stand out by choosing the right subject line. Try to be specific and make sure your email copy lives up to the promise of the subject line

Improving Cold Email Deliverability Rates

You have written a killer email with an attention grabbing subject line, but how can you increase your chances of higher deliverability rates? Here are some tips you can use to start off:

  • Closely monitor your campaigns and keep track of metrics
  • Remove any addresses which are consistently resulting in undeliverable results
  • Monitor the replies from prospects and respond to any unsubscribe requests ASAP
  • Use a clearly recognizable email address in the “From” field and the “From Name”
  • Write a relevant and clear subject line
  • Stay up to date with the best practices of email communication
  • Use an updated spam checker tool to make sure your email does not contain any spamm-y content. Most email filters are smart enough to pick out almost all marketing-heavy phrases/words

Improving Cold Email Open-Rates

According to research conducted by MailChimp and ConstantContact, average open rates for business emails falls somewhere in the range of 14% – 23%. How can you increase your odds? Here are a few ways you can make sure most of your emails are read:

  • Craft a great subject line which sparks interest and stands out in a flooded inbox
  • Use a recognizable name in the “From” field
  • Add a short reminder message to jog your recipient’s memory about who you are and what they signed up for
  • Segment your contact lists for better relevancy, most email software will let you create groups and assign unique tags
  • Set a fixed frequency and inform your contacts about how often they can expect to hear from you
  • Clean out your contact list if it hasn’t been updated in a while
  • Use free online tools to check if your message might end up in the Spam folder

Improving Click-Through Results for Cold Emails

Now that you have got your customer to open and read your email, you must have an intelligent call-to-action which attracts immediate attention. Here are a few ways you can accomplish this goal:

  • Use a strong and clear call-to-action in your email message
  • Use simple words and short phrases in your main message. Keep paragraphs short, about 1-3 sentences is the ideal length
  • Make sure your email copy lives up to the promise of your subject line
  • Set appropriate contact expectations
  • Connect a sense of urgency to your offer, try using short words according to customer numbers, time, etc.

Parameter Variations You Need to Test

Email marketing metrics mentioned above depend on a few basic parameters. Optimizing your campaigns means you have to test out a few variations of parameters. Measure these parameters across different recipient groups. They can also help you diagnose any problems in your email marketing.

  • Email length—Longer, context-heavy copy vs. Short, to-the-point copy
  • Subject Line—Specific, customized vs. Vague
  • Nature of Request—Seeking a favor vs. seeking advice
  • Purpose—Selfish request vs. Selfless offer

Cold email campaigns can be quite tricky to perfect. Creating effective campaigns come with a somewhat steep learning curve because it involves some research. The good thing is that the tricks are repeatable, learn them once and you will become an expert at cold email marketing. So be sure to use these tips to improve your email marketing strategy and remember that cold emails are effective if done in the right way.

Cold Email Tactics That Get Response by Sean McGuigan.  Available from <http://www.business2community.com/brandviews/pipeline/cold-email-tactics-get-response-01615288#1zQIIG3mYh5dRzsC.97>. [August 01, 2016]

Top 7 Ecommerce Tips for Success

Top 7 Ecommerce Tips for Success Written By: maulikshah.  Available from <http://www.theworldbeast.com/top-7-ecommerce-tips-success.html> [July 26, 2016]

What makes an ecommerce business successful? Is it the products you sell, or their price or marketing? Ecommerce industry is continuing its upward trajectory, will continue to do so for some time. But the market is already crowded with a plethora of players and success would be hard to come by with a me too online store. Innovation in product strategy or delivery process is key to success in this competitive industry.

Focusing on the 4 PS of marketing – Product, Price, Place and Promotion can give you a starting point to build a strategy that leads you to ecommerce success.

Here are some tips that will guide you to success in the competitive world of ecommerce.

Create a Niche For Yourself

The days of general ecommerce stores are over. That war has already been won by Amazon and the other major players. If you get into eCommerce trying to become another amazon or eBay, that’s a surefire way to fail. The future of ecommerce is about specialty stores. Stores that specialize in one product category and stock deep. For example if you select eyewear as the category to specialize, stock so many variety for eyewear that even amazon doesn’t have. Become the destination for people looking to buy eyewear online.

Choose The Right Technology Platform

Since ecommerce business is heavily dependent on technology, Getting the right technology is critically important. Consult with a good ecommerce development company and decide on the platform. For example if you have enough resources, you can go with Magento. But if you want your development maintenance costs to be low you can go with WooCommerce.

Whichever platform you finalize you also need to ensure it is fully functional and scalable to meet the demands of a growing business.

Get Your Pricing Right

Your product pricing strategy may make or break your business. Do a thorough research of your competitors and their pricing and decided on your products prices (and discounts) accordingly. If you are in a very competitive category you may have to keep your prices low initially to make a dent in the market. You can run periodic discount offers to attract more customers. But try to strike a balance. Don’t give too much discounts or else customers will start expecting discounted price all the year round.

Examine Where Your Target Audience Is

Be it a small eCommerce business or big, you must know your customers and figure out where they hang out. Where they go to buy products and how they purchase. You need to take this step sincerely, because your eCommerce business is centered on your “customers”, what they look for and where they are. This will also help you improve your online store will give you insights on how to reach your target customers.

Promote Your Business Online

Online promotion is more suitable for ecommerce industry than any other. Since every promotional content will include product links, you have a great way of attracting customers to your online store and increase sales. Focus on organic SEO to increase traffic from search engines but focus equally well on paid promotion methods like PPC advertising through ad networks or social media sites depending on where your customers hang out more. PPC gives immediate sale and as long as your net ROI is positive its just a matter of scaling up your ad spend to grow your business.

Become A Credible Brand For Your Business

Assure your customers that your store is a good place to buy products from. Ask for testimonials and feedback’s of satisfied customers. To make your customers review products they purchase you can offer a small discount for their next order if they write a review. Integrate reviews from third party sites to your store to make the feedback look more genuine useful.

Get your website audited trusted certification companies like Verisign and show their certificate. Add a ssl certificate to your site to make the payment process more secure.

Improve Shopping Experience

If you want to sell more products, you must ensure that your buyers are not getting irritated, leaving their carts, just because of the long check out process or insufficient information or less than desirable checkout options. These problems can get escalated on mobile devices to make sure to make your online store completely responsive.

Apart from removing long check out process, you can eliminate the requirement of creating an account. Also ensure your default shipping option is pocket friendly. You should also include various payment options like credit card, debit card, mobile wallets, net banking, etc.

Final Thoughts

Success in ecommerce industry isn’t easy and would require creative ways to reach your target customers and make them more loyal to you through various means. Online shoppers are notorious for switching store far too often depending on who gives more discount. If you don’t build a brand and engage in price wars with your competitors then you are fighting a losing battle.

Top 7 Ecommerce Tips for Success Written By: maulikshah.  Available from <http://www.theworldbeast.com/top-7-ecommerce-tips-success.html> [July 26, 2016]