12 Company Swag Ideas For Remote Employees

12 Company Swag Ideas For Remote Employees

What is one company swag idea that is good for remote employees? 


To help companies come up with swag ideas for remote workers, we asked creative professionals and business leaders this question for their best advice. From insulated lunch bags to portable power banks, there are several company swag ideas that remote employees will actually use and enjoy for a long period of time. 


Here are 12 company swag ideas for remote workers:

  • Branded Insulated Lunch Bags
  • Clever Tea & Coffee Accessories
  • Send New Hire Swag Packs
  • Custom Thermos
  • Self-Care Swag Box
  • Branded Headphones
  • An Item They’ll Actually Wear Out in Public
  • Warm Up With Insulated Mugs
  • A Custom Memory Foam Seat Cushion
  • Cocktail Kits
  • Custom Business Card Holders
  • Portable Power Banks

Branded Insulated Lunch Bags

Swag should be practical and useful, especially if it’s being sent out to a hybrid team made up of in-house and remote employees. Something simple, like a branded insulated lunch bag, can be easily mass-produced and shipped everywhere, and be of benefit to employees near and far. Even if it’s never used by remote employees to bring lunch into the office, the practicality and thought behind the swag will be what counts.

Randall Smalley, Cruise America

Clever Tea & Coffee Accessories

Most branded items will not be visible online. The exceptions are the coffee & tea accessories that could accompany colleagues at morning and afternoon calls alike. Providing thoughtfully designed tea infusers, isolative bottles, or filtering straws like those used for yerba mate can make a difference. It can also satisfy many employees, including those seeking eco-friendly options.

Michael Sena, SENACEA

Send New Hire Swag Packs

We mail a swag pack to every single employee who comes onboard Curricula. We call our team members “Curriculoos” and we want them to feel like part of our company culture from Day 1. Each new Curriculoo gets a Curricula mug, tumbler, t-shirt, hoodie, stickers, and coozie all in a branded mailer. It’s so important for new hire onboarding and training to create a great experience, especially with so many people continuing to work remotely.

Nick Santora, Curricula

Custom Thermos

Corporate swag is an awesome way for people to represent their company in and outside of the office. Maybe skip the t-shirts this round and go for something you know everyone will actually use, like a thermos. Almost everyone goes for a coffee or tea in the morning so it is almost guaranteed everyone will use it at some point and there are some really awesome customizable options. You can opt for a custom thermos featuring your company’s logo, and for the ecologically conscious, you can find retailers who have recycled material options. If you give it some really good thought you’ll have a gift that everyone will think is pretty cool!

Tom Mumford, Undergrads

Self-Care Swag Box

A self-care swag box is a fantastic option for remote employees, regardless of industry. Equipped with candles, bath bombs, and teas, swag boxes are a great way to appreciate those who work from home and occasionally need a short break to refresh and recharge themselves. By sending a swag box, you can show your remote employees that you care about their health and well-being.

Allan Switalski, LendThrive

Branded Headphones

More employees working from home tend to share an office space with their significant other or children. Providing them with company-branded headphones can ensure that company conversations are kept private and enable their family members to stay in the office space with them. They also have the opportunity to listen to their favorite music to drown out noise or to help them get through the day.

Annette Harris, Harris Financial Coaching

An Item They’ll Actually Wear Out in Public

So many times, people are given swag that will stay confined at home or get lost in a drawer somewhere. I try to think about swag items as something I personally would want to wear. Something I wouldn’t be embarrassed to wear…and something I’d wear often. The point of swag is to create free marketing for your organization. If you want it to be worth it – make hoodies or beanies or scarfs that have the company name and a fun logo/slogan on them. Avoid obnoxious colors, pick neutral tones or a simple black/white, which will get more wearability. Essentially, the more it’s worn in public, the more eyes/awareness around your company.

Annie Raygoza, WebEnertia

Warm Up With Insulated Mugs

A great corporate gift idea is insulated mugs (with lids) which are perfect for using when you take a walk, in the car, or are working at your desk. That’s something employees will actually appreciate because it’s something they can actually use all the time. Plus, colleagues see each other using it on video chats and feel more connected (or reminded to use theirs!) It’s a win-win, and if you get a high-quality one they last a really long time.

Lisa Odenweller, Kroma Wellness

A Custom Memory Foam Seat Cushion

Give your remote employees a custom swag item that will make them more comfortable as they work from home. A cool item would be a memory foam seat cushion. This is a creative solution to a common problem that remote workers face: their home office chairs are not comfortable. A memory foam seat cushion will not only alleviate the pain they feel in their bottom, but also in their back, legs, and hips.

Melanie Bedwell, Olipop

Cocktail Kits

One gift that can be sent out to remote workers but also will help build your team would be cocktail kits. Though you would not be able to mail alcohol to your employees, you can include all the necessities of a cocktail such as glasses, coasters, shakers & dry ingredients to top off the drink. After sending them out, plan an after-work virtual happy hour where each employee shows off their creation and plays some games. Gifting an item that leads to an event will not only bring your team together without being in person but also strengthen employee relationships with one another in a relaxed setting.

Sacha Ferrandi, Source Capital

Custom Business Card Holders

Personalized business card holders are practical gifts that are appreciated by anyone who’s always giving their old, beat-up one away at networking events or other professional gatherings. With personalized business card holders, they’ll always have an up-to-date collection of contacts and will be reminded of your company every time they’re exchanging cards with someone new.

Marc De Diego Ferrer, MCA Assessors

Portable Power Banks

Portable power banks, in my opinion, are the most useful instances of luxury company swag. When an outlet is unavailable, these gadgets allow people to charge electronics such as cellphones, tablets, and laptops. Charge the bank first, then connect the gadget with a cable. These portable chargers are ideal for use during public events, vacations, and activities. The power banks can be used for both business and personal purposes by employees. The best possibilities are high-end brands, which may still be personalized with the corporate name and emblem. Because this swag is more expensive, it may have a greater influence on employees and be more impressive to onlookers.

Anjelica Rivera, Cell Tracking Apps

Terkel creates community-driven content featuring expert insights. Sign up at terkel.io to answer questions and get published.

13 Spam Trigger Words To Avoid Including In Emails

13 Spam Trigger Words To Avoid Including In Emails

What is one spam trigger word that is sure to send an email to spam? 

To help you know which spam words to avoid, we asked marketing managers and email copywriters this question for their best insights. From using the word “Exclusive” to “Congratulations!”, there are several trigger words that should be avoided to prevent your emails from landing in a spam folder. 

Here are thirteen spam trigger words to avoid:

  • Friend
  • Order
  • Exclusive
  • Services
  • Click
  • Alert
  • Bargain
  • Investment
  • Congratulations!
  • Opportunity
  • Free
  • Guarantee
  • 100% Satisfaction

Friend

A trigger word that you should look to avoid is using “Friend” to refer to your email recipient instead of their actual name. This is an indication of mass email marketing and low personalization to the sender. If you are using Mailchimp, be sure to include Merge tags (https://mailchimp.com/help/all-the-merge-tags-cheat-sheet/) in your email so that your recipient’s first name appears in the greeting. There are also plenty of other merge tags to personalize your emails, decreasing the likelihood that your email ends up in spam!

Thylan Le, Markitors

Order

“Order” is a spam keyword to avoid. “Order now” should be avoided as well since both are sure to send an email directly to spam. You don’t want your customers to miss your direct marketing. You also don’t want to sound as if you’re making a demand of the customer. If it comes across as too forward or abrasive, it could turn the customer off. It’s best to protect your domain reputation by avoiding the use of “order” altogether.

Shaun Price, MitoQ

Exclusive

Anything labeled ‘exclusive’ in an email has normally been sent out to thousands of ‘exclusive’ customers already, if not more. And spam filters are well aware that this word is often used to lure in customers. This is why the word triggers a red flag and prompts email spam filters to send the email straight to the spam folder. Some common variations of the word you can avoid while drafting your email subject line and content are “Exclusively for you,” “Grab this exclusive offer now,” “This exclusive offer is just for you,” and the likes.

Jase Rodley, Entrepreneur

Services

Often, when an email sender uses the word “services” in their email subject line, it can be a fairly clear indicator that the offer inside will be a sales pitch for – guess what – a particular service. If you receive enough of these emails and begin sending them to Trash, this will eventually alert your Spam filter. This will keep your Inbox clean, and stop as many sales pitches from making their way through as possible.

Ryan Rottman, OSDB Sports

Click

If you really have to ask the recipient to “click” on the email, then you can pretty much guess that it’s not an email that they are expecting. And even if the recipient doesn’t recognize the sender, they may sometimes do exactly what the subject line directs them to do, and “click.” However, this word can be seen as very “spammy,” and the chances of an email like this getting past your security filters are slim.

Lauren Kleinman, The Quality Edit

Alert

When a “spammer” is trying to get your attention, they may go completely over the top with their word choices. A word like “alert” can indicate that the email contains a sales pitch that is not welcomed. The subject line may say “Alert: Special Offer” or “Alert: You’re Running Out of Time.”  These types of email subject lines aim to create a sense of urgency so that the recipient will open them right away.

Lindsay McCormick, Bite

Bargain

The word “bargain” is a trigger word that will send your emails to spam. Words or phrases that make your brand sound too discount-focused (like “cheap” or “save $”) should be avoided. Instead, focus on the specific offer and make sure to use an AB-tested subject line and clean email format. You never want to risk being flagged as a dangerous or irrelevant email.

Ryan Brown, Kenra Professional

Investment

There are corrupt people trying to take advantage of innocent ones as long as there are foolish people in the world. But that’s not always the case. The word “Investment” has no negative connotations. Nonetheless, this word is linked to unethical or illegal activity and may be flagged by the spam filter. Spam filters may consider the word “Investment” manipulative & shady. It’s worth noting that a single occurrence of these words might not be enough to set off the spam filter. So, if you insist on using this word, you should do it with caution.

Axel Hernborg, Tripplo

Congratulations!

“Congratulations!” in the subject line of an email can be tricky. The first question the recipient asks is: congratulations on what? And he already imagines that congratulations may refer to winning a prize, which does not exist, for a game he never participated in. So, these fake awards and recognitions go straight into spam!

Chiara Sternardi, PhotoAiD

Opportunity

Unless you’re a known email contact of a recipient, one buzzword that is almost certain to get your friendly email pulled into the dreaded spam folder is the word “opportunity.” The word opportunity is typically associated with all kinds of spammy and soliciting emails – the “opportunity to win,” the “opportunity to enter,” the “opportunity to save a shelter dog.” You get the picture. When someone you don’t know is emailing you, 99% of the time they’re trying to scam you or sell you something, and the path to getting a “yes” from you is through the magic word: opportunity. So my advice for all the email marketers out there – though it may be one, don’t call it an opportunity.

John Ross, Test Prep Insight

Free

Our email campaign analytics always come back with significantly low open rates every time we talk about a ‘free’ or  ‘discounted’ offer in the email. It’s even worse if you try to evade spam-triggering tools by spelling ‘free’ with spaces in between each letter.

Francine Kaye Acelar, Formicidae, LLC

Guarantee

Including the word, “guarantee” can send emails to spam. This is a sales term that is used far too often and thus should be used carefully, if at all. If you can, think of synonyms such as “ensure” (if you’re going for a verb) or consider somehow rephrasing a sentence if you were originally trying to use “guarantee” as a noun.

Schuyler Hoversten, Swoopt

100% Satisfaction

No matter how quality-driven the product is, 100% satisfaction is an unrealistic expectation and Google scans this for sure.  Make sure you don’t use this word in your email subject, title, and content. If the email title or subject line features words making unrealistic claims then the email will land directly in the spam folder. In place of this, try using satisfaction as per the standards. Exaggerating things will only do more harm than good. So, be realistic and set realistic expectations for customers.

Jonathan Tian, Mobitrix

Terkel creates community-driven content featuring expert insights. Sign up at terkel.io to answer questions and get published. 

Top 11 Mailchimp Merge Tags to Use in Email Campaigns

What is one Mailchimp merge tag to use in an email campaign? 

To help you with your business’ Mailchimp efforts, we asked marketing experts and business leaders this question for their best insight. From utilizing date tools to adding a poll to a campaign, there are several strategies that may help you better utilize Mailchimp’s merge tags for your next email campaign. 

Here are 11 top Mailchimp merge tags: 

  • Don’t Overlook Personalization
  • Utilize Date Tools to Save Time
  • Put a Professional Step Forward
  • Confirm the User’s Email Address
  • Speak in the Reader’s Language
  • Add Convenience for Your Email List
  • Provide Dynamic Content
  • Make an Impact With Subject Line Merge Tags
  • Always Enable Users to Unsubscribe
  • Help Knew Customers Get to Know You
  • Add a Poll to a Campaign

Don’t Overlook Personalization

Without a doubt, you should make use of the “*|FNAME|*” merge tag, which inserts a subscriber’s first name into an email. Personalization should never be overlooked since people are more likely to open and interact with messages they feel are directed at them. This is true even if they know they are on a list. So, giving it that personal touch can make a world of difference for your email campaign.

Eric Blumenthal, Zoe Print

Utilize Date Tools to Save Time

We send out weekly email campaigns to our users about new opportunities on our platform. Therefore, my favorite Mailchimp tag to use is “*|DATE:X|*” which will display the current date in whatever format that you prefer. 

This tag is a big time saver when creating weekly emails. To use this tag, replace “X” with a date format, such as “*|DATE:d/m/y|*”

Thylan Le, Markitors

Put a Professional Step Forward

To insert your brand’s logo into the email utilize the merge tag | brand : logo |. This merge tag is great for inserting your brand logo into the email that you are sending to your customers. 

This personalizes the email and makes it more presentable to your customers. You will come off more professional and it will help you tailor your emails better to your audience.

Chris Gadek, AdQuick

Confirm the User’s Email Address

The EMAIL merge tag is useful in email footers. It confirms the current email address of your database contacts. This is especially important when confirming which email will be unsubscribed if the user decides to unsubscribe.

Amber Reed-Johnson, Giraffe Social Media

Speak in the Reader’s Language

It’s really important to include the language merge tag |MC_LANGUAGE|. It allows users to see content in their preferred language based on their profile information. This merge tag inserts a language code at the top. For example, it’s ‘EN’ for English.

Ryan Brown, Kenra Professional

Add Convenience for Your Email List

There is a merge tag that provides a link that says, “Add us to your address book.” This gives your email recipients the option to add your company’s email to their address books in case they want to email the company in the future. 

Down the line when one of your email subscribers is trying to find your company’s email address, they’ll be able to discover it quickly in their address books instead of having to take longer to search for it. People will appreciate this small way of making their lives a little bit easier when they want to email your company.

Joaquín Roca, Minerva

Provide Dynamic Content 

Collecting information about your audience through the Mailchimp signup form is saved in an “audience” field and tied to merge tags. As a marketer, using their services for sending email campaigns (you should be!) allows you to insert personalized or dynamic content for these people into any of those mailings they’re involved with!

Saskia Ketz, Mojomox

Make an Impact With Subject Line Merge Tags

The first thing that a person sees when opening their email is the subject line, and that is why the subject merge tag in Mailchimp is so critical. The subject acts as your call to action and drives the person to open your email. 

Mailchimp’s program allows for both a prominent subject line in the receiver’s mailbox and in the body of text. It creates uniformity while driving the topics that the sender wants to emphasize. It is the most impactful merge tag that Mailchimp offers and is the most effective in an email campaign.

Jeff Meeks, EnergyFit

Always Enable Users to Unsubscribe

You should always have the option for your subscribers to unsubscribe from marketing emails, and you can include this as a merge tag. This will allow people to click a button that says “unsubscribe” which will open up a new page where they can enter their email address to officially take themselves off the email list. If you do not include this merge tag, this will likely bring in complaints.

Mike Clare, Mood Health

Help New Customers Get to Know You

An important aspect of email marketing is to provide a history of previous links and newsletters, so as potential new customers are added to your list, they have reference points to learn about your business, which is exactly what Mailchimp’s List:RecentX merge tag accomplishes. 

This tag provides a list of recent campaigns and categorizes them according to subject matter and date. It can be adjusted to show the ten most recent campaigns or less, depending on how far back you would like your new members to reference. The List:RecentX merge tag is a great tool to demonstrate not only previous campaign highlights but to establish the history of your business.

Adelle Archer, Eterneva

Add a Poll to a Campaign

One really impactful way of gauging subscriber sentiment on a topic is through a simple poll, and Mailchimp makes it super easy. You can embed a very quick and aesthetically pleasing survey on a 1-10 rating scale right in the body of your email. 

By embedding it directly in the email, poll responses are much greater than asking users to link over to a SurveyMonkey poll through a URL. To use the “add a poll” merge tag in your campaign, just use the *|POLL:RATING:x|* and *|END:POLL|* merge tags to open and close your poll.

John Ross, Test Prep Insight

Terkel creates community-driven content featuring expert insights. Sign up at terkel.io to answer questions and get published. 

12 Reasons Email Marketing Is Still Worth It

Why is email marketing still worth it in 2022? Please give one reason.

To help you better understand the value of email marketing, we asked marketing professionals and business leaders this question for their insights. From providing great ROI to building brand awareness, there are several reasons why email marketing is still worth it in 2022.

Here are twelve reason why email marketing is worthwhile into 2022: 

  • Retains Clients
  • Reduces Waste
  • Provides Great ROI
  • Works for B2B and B2C Campaigns
  • Saves Time and Money
  • Encourages Action
  • Hyper-Personalized Emails
  • Provides Value
  • Enables In-Depth Conversations
  • Sends Information to Select Groups
  • Gains Brand Awareness
  • Converts Leads into Clients

Retains Clients

Email marketing will continue to be the most effective and efficient means of acquiring and retaining clients in 2022. It has the potential to keep your company afloat or rocket it into the stratosphere, all while providing a healthy return on investment. It will be even stronger than before, and it will bring with it plenty of benefits and opportunities that, if fully explored, can propel your company to new heights.

Lior Abady, Boho Magic

Reduces Waste

At a physical business location, it is great to be able to speak directly with clients or hand them physical pamphlets, however, physical pamphlets are often wasteful. Most people would either throw out the page immediately or need a reminder of the information at a later date. As such, most clients would much rather receive an email with useful information and reminders of specials and events. This is why email marketing will continue to be worth it to my business now and into the future. This way, I can ensure that my resources are reducing waste, while also providing the right information at the right time to the right clients.

Vanessa Molica, The Lash & Sugar Company

Provides Great ROI

Despite the fact that email marketing is over 20 years old, it continues to play a pivotal role in modern business. In fact,according to Experian, $1 spent on email advertising shows a return between $45 – $51, making it a highly profitable marketing strategy. However, email marketing is always evolving, and you can’t expect to gain new subscribers by employing old and out-of-date content creation techniques. On the contrary, in order to capture the attention of the target audience, you must learn how to integrate traditional and digital techniques.

Vicky Franko, Insura

Works for B2B and B2C Campaigns

Email marketing isn’t dead, and it’s never been. Many businesses, large and small, are reaping the benefits of a B2B email marketing strategy. Email marketing is still one of the most efficient marketing methods for both B2B and B2C companies. Instead of debating if email marketing is still worthwhile in 2022, marketers should focus on upgrading their strategies. You can convert email into a profitable marketing approach if you pay attention to consumer preferences and follow industry best practices.

Eric Blumenthal, Zoe Print

Saves Time and Money

In 2022, email marketing will still be a very effective digital marketing strategy. Beneficial due to its low-cost, time-savings, efficiency, and accuracy, email marketing is a powerful marketing strategy in a digital marketing campaign. Email marketing is often overlooked these days, it is still a good idea to use this well-known and cost-effective marketing approach to reach out to your digital audience. All of your digital marketing efforts may be easily integrated via email. It’s also worth noting that practically everyone with internet access has at least one current email address, which is the best choice for focusing on email marketing.

Henry Babicheknko, Stomadent

Encourages Action

Let’s face it, most professionals today are frequently checking their inbox multiple times a day. Email campaigns are an easy and simple way to ignite action within your community! We use email marketing in order to send out weekly opportunities to our audience. From our email, our community can view new opportunities and easily navigate to our platform in order to act on these opportunities. This is a sleek way to reach your community and add value to your subscribers, all while being relatively non-intrusive compared to other forms of advertisements.

Thylan Le, Markitors

Hyper-Personalized Emails

Yes, email marketing is still worth it in 2022. Here is the biggest reason why: trigger-based emails. Let’s say I send someone a daily email where I talk about different topics. Let’s say day 1 is about email marketing, day 2 is about content marketing, and day 3 is about social media marketing.

I can set up different triggers to hyper-personalize the emails based on the email subscriber’s activity. So, if the subscriber ignores the first two emails and clicks on the third one, it is a signal to me to send more emails about social media marketing. Based on that click, I can put the subscriber in a different sequence built around nothing but social media content.

James Pollard, The Advisor Coach LLC

Provides Value

Plain and simple, share great content and your subscribers will consume it. Email is cost-efficient, targeted, and has outstanding conversion rates. The problem with email is so many marketers don’t provide value and soon the subscriber loses interest.  Then they either stop opening or worse unsubscribe. Either way it is hard, if not impossible, to win them back. So only send when you have great content that provides value.

Eric Rutin, Marketing Mentor

Enables In-Depth Conversations

Unlike visual forms and calls, emails have the advantage of being the best communication form for longer messages. Many people treat email newsletters similar to the press and are willing to retain their focus longer. It is also a preferred medium of communication for Generation X and those that don’t like lengthy podcasts and Youtube videos. As such, an email will remain effective in passing complex ideas and long-form content at scale and without time pressure on the reader.

Michael Sena, SENACEA

Sends Information to Select Groups

Although social media has become arguably a more popular form of digital marketing than email marketing, this is not to say that email marketing is still not important. One of the main differences between social media marketing and email marketing is that social media marketing is meant for anyone online to see, while email marketing can only be sent to a select group of email addresses from people who have previously expressed some kind of interest in your company.

Organizing these emails into particular groups can end up being beneficial for sending out strategic email blasts. For example, if you have an email list of all of your previous customers who have not done business with your company lately, you can send out a marketing email to them to thank them for their prior business and to encourage them to do business with your company again.

Amber Theurer, ivee

Gains Brand Awareness

While email marketing is certainly not perfect, it is still an important marketing tool for companies as we move into 2022. This is especially true for a new brand that doesn’t have much awareness yet. Especially when entering a saturated market, email marketing is a great tool to tell your story and offer an explanation of the value your product/service will add in their lives. Though it shouldn’t be solely relied on as a marketing source, it is highly powerful to have as part of your marketing strategy. In addition, it is cost effective, drives traffic to your company website, and gives you a space to engage with your audience by asking them for feedback through surveys, etc.

Sara Shah, Journ

Converts Leads into Clients

Even though many marketers are becoming more and more skeptical about email marketing and its effectiveness, it is an extremely powerful tool. Emailing is probably the easiest way to reach your leads and convert them into clients. Just think about it, email gives you what none of the ads or targeted sponsored content does — a person’s attention. Not to mention that it is the content they willingly signed up for to either receive curated offers or learn more about your business and its offerings. The hardest work here is done, you don’t need to fight for their attention with ads, cold calls or cold emails. They came to you because they are interested in your product or service.

Anna Klis, HelloFlow

Terkel creates community-driven content featuring expert insights. Sign up at terkel.io to answer questions and get published. 

10 Abandoned Cart Series Strategies to Boost Conversions

Abandoned carts are sales that need a little push to close, but recovering carts require a solid plan. What is one strategy to boost conversions through an abandoned cart series?

To help you boost conversions through an abandoned cart series, we asked marketing professionals and business leaders this question for their insights. From sending follow-up emails to adding discount incentives, there are several tactics you can incorporate to increase customer conversions. 

Here are ten ideas for improving conversions with an abandoned cart series: 

  • Follow Up With Expert Advice
  • Add a Discount Incentive
  • Create a Sense of Urgency
  • Build Trust by Addressing Pain Points
  • Use Humor to Bring Them Back
  • Schedule Your Abandoned Cart Series
  • Simplify the Checkout Process 
  • Engage Them With a Story
  • Close the Sale Using Chatbots
  • Personalize Communications

Follow Up With Expert Advice

Sometimes online shoppers need a little nudge to complete their purchase, so we like to offer more information about the specific products in customers’ abandoned cart emails. As eyelash professionals, we take pride in the fact that everything we sell undergoes a detailed approval process by industry experts so we know our line of products from the inside out. 

When a customer abandons their shopping cart, we send a follow-up email about the product in their cart as well as suggestions of similar or related products. We also have written and video guides that can help potential customers select the right tools for everything from lash extension tweezers to glue to increase conversion rates.

Vanessa Molica, The Lash Professional

Add a Discount Incentive

One good way to boost conversions of abandoned carts is to send an email. But don’t forget to add a little treat inside of it as well. We never really know why someone’s abandoned their cart  — searching for a coupon, needing to rush from place to place, and the list goes on. 

When you send your follow-up email to the potential customer, keep it polite in tone and, if you can, add a small discount to incentivize them to complete their transaction. Keep it time-sensitive without being unrealistic, a max of 24 hours. This way, the customer still has some time to get through what might’ve interrupted them and, in turn, boost their chances of finishing the transaction. 

Carol Bramson, Side By Side

Create a Sense of Urgency

The best way to boost conversions through an abandoned cart series is to create a sense of urgency for the customer through catchy, on-brand language. Customers abandon carts for a number of reasons, from price concerns to just getting distracted. By using engaging language that hooks the customer and creates a sense of missing out on a big opportunity by purchasing your product, you can help them remember why they not just want but need your product. 

With Kegelbell, our sense of urgency comes from the opportunities that customers will have after using the product, which helps move them closer towards not just purchasing Kegelbell but living their best life as a result. 

Stephanie Schull, Kegelbell

Build Trust by Addressing Pain Points

A simple, low-lift tactic to increase conversion rates and reduce abandonment rates is to openly address people’s reservations about your product in a strategic way. First, this begins with getting data from your current and potential customers through the use of surveys and focus groups. It’s imperative that you find out their points of hesitation about your product. Is it the cost? Is it its durability? Is it the product’s reputation? 

Then, address these factors on your landing pages. If a majority of the potential customers site the cost as too high as the main factor they abandoned their carts, then include a discount code for a percentage of your site’s users. Alternatively, you can keep the cost at the same amount and not offer a discount but include more language about why the cost is high and why it actually adds value to the product (e.g., increases quality, allows for more investment in R&D). 

The takeaway is: provide reassurance to potential customers during the buying process so they know they can count on you — and your product.

Mike Krau, Markitors

Use Humor to Bring Them Back

The abandoned cart email is a great opportunity to be quippy and snarky in a fun way. I have found that abandoned cart emails that are variations of “Why do you hate us so much??!!” are a great way to disarm a customer with humor and bring them back to the fore. Often abandoned carts occur due to a customer having second thoughts at the last minute. Therefore, your abandoned cart email should act as a device to get them over the finish line, and often a disarming, humorous comment is just the thing to bring them back on board. 

Hosea Chang, Hayden Girls

Schedule Your Abandoned Cart Series

One strategy to boost conversions is to time your abandoned cart series perfectly. Specifically, the first abandoned cart email should take place four hours after the prospective customer’s cart has been abandoned, while the third and last email should be sent 72 hours after the first email has been sent. By providing evenly spaced emails, customers are more likely to pay attention and less likely to ignore the emails entirely.

Jameson Rodgers, CBDfx

Simplify the Checkout Process

Analyzing your consumers’ habits will help you understand their satisfaction level with your purchasing process. A great indicator is your cart abandonment rate. There was an obvious interest in your product. However, something happened between the initial search and checkout. This can indicate where there were issues. A simple trick is to make your checkout process simpler. The more steps a consumer has to take to purchase your product, the less likely they are to finalize the purchase.

Arthur Garber, Audien Hearing

Engage Them With a Story

As humans, we’re wired to love stories. When clients abandon their cart when booking a private yoga class with us, we email them with a story about how our existing clients achieved their wellness, fitness, or mindfulness goals thanks to our private classes. We make sure to write the story in a way that elicits strong emotions and encourages the user to give us a try because they too can experience the success our existing clients do. Finally, we include some stats and information to help disarm the main objections that may have held the users back from completing their booking in the first place.

Shayna Hasson, Yoga Beyond The Studio

Close the Sale Using Chatbots

The abandoned cart recovery chatbot is a very popular template. This is one of the most important chatbots for e-commerce as it solves one of the biggest concerns of store owners — abandoned carts. It is a fast, efficient, and easy-to-use solution for businesses of all kinds and sizes. Your customer adds products to their cart but doesn’t proceed to checkout. 

Your chatbot can engage them, ask a question, or offer a discount. It actually works and increases the odds of completing a purchase. The abandoned cart chatbots have one mission — don’t let customers walk away without buying! As a result, the conversion rates inevitably increase. Even if customers do not buy anything eventually, they can leave useful feedback on what you can improve. Of course, a chatbot helps with this, too.

Maryia Fokina, Tidio

Personalize Communications

Whether you choose to use paid ads or email to convert customers who left your website without finishing a purchase, personalize your communication when you reach out to the customer. One easy way to do this is to ensure your email templates include your customer’s name. But take it a step further by filtering product reviews for the items the customer had in their cart, generating personalized discount codes, and offering other products similar to or complementary to abandoned products.  
Nataly Vanunu, Boho-Magic

Terkel creates community-driven content featuring expert insights. Sign up at terkel.io to answer questions and get published. 

10 Tips To Ensure Sufficient Coverage

10 Tips To Ensure Sufficient Coverage

What is one tip for small businesses to obtain sufficient insurance coverage?

To help small business owners with having enough coverage, we asked CEOs and business leaders this question for their best pieces of advice. From exploring dental options to asking your employees about their needs, there are several ways that may help you ensure enough coverage for years to come. 

Here are ten tips to ensure sufficient coverage: 

  • Review Business Needs
  • Consider Retirement Plans
  • Explore Dental Options
  • Go With What the Contract Says
  • Talk to More Than One Broker
  • Ask Your Employees About Their Needs
  • Retain an Insurance Broker
  • Research What is Required by Law
  • Explore Cyber Insurance Policies
  • Opt for Overall Coverage

Review Business Needs

Determining whether you have sufficient coverage depends on your business needs. Every business is different. Some factors to consider are the value of your business in terms of revenue, assets, and liabilities. You should also consider how many employees you have and the type of work they do. However, when in doubt an umbrella commercial liability policy might be right for you. These policies generally increase your liability coverage to provide additional coverage for most business liability claims.

Brandon K. Berglund, Berglund Insurance

Consider Retirement Plans 

I definitely would recommend that small businesses look into some type of retirement plan. Your business is your financial lifeline and while it can be easy to want immediate results, you’ll want to also look into a way to help you when you decide it’s time to retire. To obtain full coverage you’ll want to cover everything from disability insurance to preparing you and your employees for retirement. Small businesses will have a variety of options for them from Safe Harbor 401(k) to simple IRA. Knowing those options and selecting the best one for you and your business will help you make sure you have full coverage on all ends. 

Chris Abrams, Abrams Insurance Solutions

Explore Dental Options 

It can feel easy to make sure you have insurance for your business, but it’s equally important to make sure that you’ve got your health covered. You’ll need a variety of types of insurance while running your business. When you’re looking into business health insurance, don’t forget to explore the dental options. You and your employees will be happy to have it in case of emergencies, implants, and for regular cleaning as these are important steps for preventative care. Medical bills can be costly, so make sure that you’re carefully reading the coverage options and get the best options for whatever your budget is.

Henry Babichenko, Eurodenture 

Go With What the Contract Says

In the past, the thing that inspired our marketing agency to obtain insurance coverage was when client contracts called for the coverage. For example, one client agreement required that our agency have a $2M limit on Professional Liability (E&O). When determining what is “sufficient” coverage, I recommend using client contracts as a guide to meet external vendor requirements and ensure good coverage.

Brett Farmiloe, Markitors

Talk to More Than One Broker 

Insurance is confusing, and it can be easy for small business owners to take the path of least resistance when they look to protect their business. To make sure you’re comfortable with the choices you’ll have to make, try talking to more than one broker. While the first broker you come to may be great, or come highly recommended, it’ll be good to have someone to compare them to. You’ll also get more than one opinion on any sticky topics, which may help you understand what you really need.

Elliott Brown, OnPay Payroll

Ask Your Employees for Their Needs

It’s important to understand the needs of your employees when selecting insurance coverage options. One of the ways to do this without overstepping is to send an anonymous survey with questions inquiring about problems with current coverage options, their desired must-haves in an insurance plan, and other basic questions! This helps you see what your employees truly want and need in a plan and you can tailor your options to match those as much as possible!

Brandon Brown, Grin

Retain an Insurance Broker 

As a small business owner myself, I highly recommend not spending time shopping around for the best insurance rates. Let an insurance broker do it for your company. An insurance broker can shop for the best insurance rates for the specific needs of your small business. Retaining an insurance broker will save your small business time and money.

Tate Meagher, Meagher Law Office, PLLC

Research What is Required by Law 

Your insurance needs, in my opinion, will vary depending on a number of things, including your industry, specialty, and business assets. Purchasing business insurance may not only be a wise investment, but it may also be a necessity for your small business. You may be obliged to carry particular coverage depending on your industry, state, clients, and lenders. If you rent a commercial space, for example, your landlord may require you to get a general liability policy to protect yourself from third-party lawsuits alleging bodily harm or property damage. For business property owners, mortgage lenders frequently have similar requirements.

Eric Carrell, SurfShark

Explore Cyber Insurance Policies

Ensure to investigate cyber insurance policies that may be a wise expense to cover up gaps in coverage when obtaining sufficient insurance coverage. Most policies cover damages and losses sustained due to certain types of cyberattacks, as well as personal liability. Ensure you are protected by a policy that includes the right coverage for your needs while keeping your liabilities and operational costs low. Check out our list of best cyber insurance companies to learn about different policies that may be best suited for you. Ensure that your cybersecurity plan includes penetration testing and continuous monitoring and a plan for how to respond.

Katherine Brown, Spyic

Opt for Overall Coverage

Get a Business Owner’s Policy to ensure that your business receives sufficient insurance coverage. A Business Owner’s Policy (BOP) is a type of insurance package that covers all the various types of policies that you will require for your business. This will be easier and usually cheaper to purchase all the insurance you require in this bundled form.

Omid Semino, Diamond Mansion

Terkel creates community-driven content featuring expert insights. Sign up at terkel.io to answer questions and get published.

How To Avoid Spam Filters: 9 Tips From Email Marketing Experts

how to avoid spam filters

How can an email marketing campaign avoid spam filters?

To help you avoid your email campaigns getting sent straight to the spam folder, we asked business leaders and marketing experts this question for their best email tips. From avoiding spam trigger words to choosing the right email providers, there are several tips for email marketing campaigns to avoid spam filters.

Here are nine email marketing campaigns that avoid spam filters: 

  • Send Email at Optimal Times
  • Send Direct Mail
  • Avoid Spam Trigger Words
  • Make Unsubscribing Easy
  • Get Permission
  • Segment Mailing Lists
  • Warm Up Your Email Account
  • Carefully Choose Your Email Provider
  • Clean Up Your Mail List

Send Email at Optimal Times

Studies suggest that B2B emails for the “9-5” office employees are best sent mid-week around 10 AM. However, make sure that you balance being relevant and being annoying. It is a delicate line on the marketing end of your business. You want to make sure you’re keeping your customers up-to-date about new services, or products, or sales, but you don’t want to bombard anyone and they see it. Sending a marketing email in the middle of the week and sticking to a schedule for emails operates best. This allows you some freedom if you need to send out a special promotional email without crossing the too-much line.

Anastasia Avgerinou, Comidor 

Send Direct Mail 

One thing Mailchimp began doing several years ago was offering customers the ability to send postcards to their mailing list. There’s a reason why Mailchimp made postcards available: to help customers improve their deliverability rates. It’s easy for an email campaign to get caught in a spam filter or an inbox. By sending direct mail to accompany an email campaign, marketers can extend the effectiveness of their communication and ensure the recipient gets the message. 

David Wachs, Handwrytten

Avoid Spam Trigger Words

As the client services manager at an SEO company, words really matter to me. Words also matter when composing email marketing campaigns. Certain words and phrases, such as ‘free,’ ‘best price,’ ‘cash,’ ‘no obligation,’ have been blacklisted, which will send your email campaign straight to spam. Remember those emails we used to get that offered a free prize in the subject line in return for following a couple of steps listed in the email? Spam trigger words were usually collected from emails such as these and should be avoided.

Kayla Centeno, Markitors

Make Unsubscribing Easy 

If a customer who wants to opt-out of your communication can’t easily find a way to unsubscribe, they’ll often simply mark your emails as spam. So, make sure your emails have a clear “unsubscribe” button. If your correspondence is marked as spam often enough, your emails could automatically be flagged as spam when it’s sent to subscribers that actually want to receive your emails. This is because spam filters weigh campaigns with a “spam score,” and if the score becomes high enough, it’s automatically filtered into the spam folder. Each time your campaign is marked as spam, its spam score increases.

Vincent Bradley, Proper Wild

Get Permission

First and foremost, only email people who have signed up for your email list. Not only is permission important for your marketing strategy, but it’s also required by many mailing services. If customers have expressly signed up for your email list, they’re more likely to interact with your campaigns — and the more they interact, the less likely it is that your correspondence will end up in the spam folder.

Tyler Boyd, Squeeze

Segment Mailing Lists

Instead of sending the same email to your entire list, try segmenting your list and targeting the campaign to those you know will be interested. By doing so, you will increase the number of recipients who open your campaigns and decrease the number of people who delete them, sending positive signals to email providers about the validity of your campaigns.

Oliver Andrews, OA Design Services

Warm Up Your Email Account

When you’re ready to implement a new marketing campaign, don’t use a brand-new email account. Nothing will set off spam filters faster than a never-before-used email address instantly sending out hundreds of messages. If you have the time to plan ahead, start sending out a few emails slowly to establish your account. Or, better yet, use an email that has already been put to use. Many companies create an email account specifically for their marketing endeavors.

Travis Killian, Everlasting Comfort

Carefully Choose Your Email Provider

You might think that the different email marketing service providers out there are all the same. But that’s far from being the case. The email marketing tool you use plays an important role in the deliverability of your email campaigns. So, it’s critical that you do your research, find out which platform has the highest deliverability rate, and invest in it. Also, consider using an SMTP tool to whitelist your domain and make sure your emails land in your users’ inboxes. 

Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner

Clean Up Your Mail List

Low opening rates and lack of engagement from your subscribers might hinder the trustworthiness of your company’s domain, decreasing the deliverability rate. To avoid being blacklisted, assess your emailing KPIs such as CTR and response rates. If necessary, use more captivating call-to-action text and email subjects. As the option of last resort, unsubscribe inactive accounts.

Rebeca Sena, GetSpace.Digital

Terkel creates community-driven content featuring expert insights. Sign up at terkel.io to answer questions and get published. 

9 Email Automation Campaign Types for Small Businesses

9-Email-Automation-Campaign-Types-For-Small-Businesses-scaled

What is one type of email automation campaign every small business should consider building?

To help small businesses with building out email automation campaigns, we asked marketing professionals and PR experts this question for their best advice. From thank you emails to abandoned cart reminders, there are several considerations that may help improve your small business’ email marketing strategy. 

Here are nine email automation campaign types for small businesses: 

  • Send Out Thank You Emails
  • Asking for Reviews/Feedback
  • Combine Bulk Campaigns and Advertising 
  • Pass Along a Happy Birthday
  • Send Out a Fun Quiz
  • Push Welcome and Check in Emails
  • Remind Customers of Upcoming Sales
  • Dispatch Transactional Emails
  • Remind Customers about Abandoned Carts

Sending Out Thank You Emails 

Handwritten cards should be one automation campaign that is built into a small business’ strategy. Nothing says “We care” more than a personalized handwritten note thanking the customer for their support. You’d be amazed at how far a handwritten note can go in creating a connection with customers. Handwrytten has sent out more than 2.5M handwritten notes for companies, and we always love hearing how well the simple gesture improves customer experience. 

David Wachs, Handwrytten

Asking for Reviews/Feedback 

Email campaigning can feel like a huge time suck, but it’s really worth it in the end as it builds trust with current and potential customers. It also keeps your name out there. Consider automating a feedback form or email. Use it after someone’s made a purchase with you to assess how they like the product or what their experience was like. For example, we also have classes for various lash and brows procedures, and hearing back from people who take the class helps us assess any weak spots and shows that we care about our customer’s success Getting this sort of feedback can help you re-evaluate any business goals or product processes you have that should either be continued or be updated. 

Vanessa Molica, The Lash Professional

Combine Bulk Campaigns and Advertising

Sending bulk emails is the practice of internet marketing which consists of sending mass emails to your customers and email subscribers. Combining your bulk campaign with your other advertising efforts will ensure that more eyes get to the information you want people to see. For example, if you publish a new piece of content for SEO efforts, send out an automated bulk email to let people know. 

Bailey Mills, Markitors

Pass Along a Happy Birthday

I’d recommend automating emails to send out to current and past customers/clients for their birthday. I’d recommend having the email automatically sent out 5 days before their birthday, as they may get quite a few of these emails on their actual birthday (or the day before). These emails keep your company on the mind of current and past customers/clients and it’s very important for any business to continue to market to current and past customers/clients.

Tate Meagher, Meagher Law Office, PLLC

Send Out a Fun Quiz

Everyone loves a fun quiz. Find a way to implement a quiz into your email automation. Get creative. These emails are the ones that usually receive the highest open rates and click-through rates. They are pretty easy to have automatically sent out as well. It improves engagement and leads.

Bari Medgaus, Stabili-Teeth

Push Welcome and Check in Emails

Building an engaged email list is one of the most valuable things a company can do. Creating a robust welcome email automation should be top priority. It shouldn’t be a set of emails all about you, it should offer valuable content or offers to engage your readers. From sending them relevant articles and tools to help them with their number one struggle to an email offering a special offer. This is also your chance to show your brand personality and help them get to know you a little better. They can unsubscribe at any time so the goal of this automation is for them to love what you send so much that they look forward to, and open every future email you send.

Tanya Gagnon, Miss Details

Remind Customers of Upcoming Sales

Build email automation campaigns to remind people of holiday sales. People enjoy getting excited about holidays whether it’s the 4th of July or Christmas, and of course, everyone appreciates a sale. You can send an email leading up to the holiday sale and another one as a reminder closer to when the sale ends.

Mike Pasley, Famous IRL

Dispatch Transactional Emails 

One type of email automation campaign that every small business should consider building is a transactional email campaign. This is a campaign that triggers every time there is a transaction. This email includes a summary of the transaction, shipping details, and a thank you note for doing business with the company. These can be really helpful for the consumer and can help build brand loyalty with the account. These types of emails are also very effective, receiving more clicks and opens, and generating more revenue as well. 

Jason Butcher, CoinPayments

Remind Customers About Abandoned Carts

One campaign that every business should consider building is an abandoned cart email automation campaign. This campaign would automatically follow up with people who abandoned their cart and didn’t finish checking out on your website. This campaign would be really effective at getting people who almost bought, to go back to the website and use a 10% coupon to save on the item that they almost previously bought.

Chris Gadek, AdQuick

Terkel creates community-driven content featuring expert insights. Sign up at terkel.io to answer questions and get published.

10 Benefits of Local SEO for Local Businesses

10 Benefits of Local SEO For Local Businesses

How is your small business benefiting from local SEO? How are you measuring that benefit?

Being a local business comes with a lot of perks. However, it can be discouraging to feel like you have to go up against the big-name brands. The continued growth of your business is important and could benefit from local SEO work. 

To help local businesses rank better for their local SEO, we asked small business owners and business professionals this question for their best insights. From increasing website traffic to building your community, there are several benefits that may help you rethink your SEO strategy and continue the growth of your business. 

Here are ten benefits of local SEO for local businesses:

  • See Results in Sales
  • Get on Google My Business
  • Increase Website Traffic
  • Generate High-Quality Leads
  • Track Success With CRM
  • Build Your Community
  • Boost Online Visibility
  • Help Customers Support Local
  • Utilize SEO Tools
  • Create Specific Content

See Results in Sales

Local SEO is a more vital strategy for small businesses than you might think. Did you know that 50% of people who did a local search on their phone went to a physical location that day? 18% of those searches also lead to an immediate sale. Google has put such an importance on local SEO that they have provided a guide on how to improve your local ranking on Google. Small businesses with local, brick and mortar locations can’t afford to NOT invest in local SEO efforts. The benefits are simple, local SEO leads people to your store and results in sales! 

Bailey Mills, Markitors

Get on Google My Business

Appliance repairs are a service that customers look for on the local level. Some customers want to avoid the big, national companies who pass themselves off as “local,” and would prefer to work with a company that is actually local to the area. That’s where small businesses can really benefit from local SEO initiatives. By getting visibility for local searches through a Google My Business profile, businesses can better connect with prospective customers in their service area. 

Alex Belladorsi, Appliance Technician

Increase Website Traffic

Since I started investing in local SEO strategies, potential customers can find me and learn more about my business and the products that I offer on my website. My main reason for investing in local SEO is to drive traffic to my website, and ultimately, get more requests for quotes. The increase in quotation requests from my websites is how I measure the success of this business strategy.

Brian Greenberg, Insurist

Generate High-Quality Leads

The highest-quality leads for my transcription business come from organic search. Clients who find me on Google are usually larger companies with longer-term projects, as opposed to the tire kickers who tend to frequent local business directories. I keep it simple when it comes to measuring my local SEO efforts: Using basic rank tracking software, I audit my rankings every month, and I aim for an overall increase in average position for my target keywords. If I see more red than green, it usually means I need to focus more on my link-building strategy.

Chloe Brittain, Opal Transcription Services

Track Success With CRM

My personal injury law office has benefited a great deal from local SEO. I have attracted numerous new clients to my office as a result of local SEO. I measure the success of local SEO by using CRM (customer relationship management) software that tracks how any lead that contacts my office found my office. This allows me to determine whether any marketing source I invest in for my company is worth the money I am investing.

Tate Meagher, Meagher Law Office, PLLC

Build Your Community

Supporting local businesses has been a consumer trend for a number of years now, and even urbanists are re-thinking the cities of the future so that most people will be able to quench their thirst for goods and services at a local level, thereby reducing unnecessary car travel and pollution. This is where local SEO, the art of optimizing your content and visibility online to a local audience, comes in. It is more than about online visibility: it is also about having local customers return and help create a real sense of community, where customers feel at home and like they’re part of something. The role of local SEO then takes a whole new meaning: by reminding local customers of your presence online with relatable content they will be coming back to you in no time.

Daniel Torres, Zety

Boost Online Visibility

I am a small business owner and have utilized local SEO for my company. I have optimized the business site for the USA. As a local business operator, I have always wanted my web pages to rank for specific search queries performed by a local group of audience. Local SEO helped me a lot to promote WeInvoice on various location-based keywords. I have gained huge traffic from Arizona, Alaska, California, Connecticut, and others. With the help of local SEO, I got a higher ranking locally without many worries. It boosts my online visibility and fetches traffic from those locations. Therefore, the conversion rate has increased after attracting the targeted traffic. Now, competition is less, and chances of clicking are massive.

Eden Cheng, WeInvoice

Help Customers Support Local

Our business thrives on local SEO. Being a watch company out of Dallas, TX we use local SEO to drive our business locally in Dallas. We find that people really want to support local businesses and will buy our watches to support a local Dallas-Fort Worth business. We find that our local SEO efforts really help raise awareness around our brand to the Dallas area. We are then able to target people who land on our website through social media advertisements. We find this to be a really effective way to convert people into buyers.

Craig Carter, Jack Mason

Utilize SEO Tools

In terms of SEO Tools for site audits, I’ve found Ahrefs to be extremely useful. It’s one of the most user-friendly options out there and provides you with a comprehensive analysis of all aspects of your website’s traffic, backlink profile, and competitor information too. If I had to pick one tool to use, I would definitely choose Ahrefs.

Brandon Brown, Grin

Create Specific Content

Our firm has benefited a lot from local SEO as it helps us to build stronger relationships for more precise reasons. As a firm operating in the niche of personal injury law, we understand the benefits of focusing on niche categories in order to grow trust. Local SEO helps us do that by allowing our audience to find a local firm with lawyers who can accurately address their needs. This is done through the creation of more specific content, using long-tail keywords, and more. While the audience reach for local SEO techniques is smaller, the value you get from that audience is very high, and our aim is, therefore, to continue using these techniques for the foreseeable future.

Peter Horne, Geoff McDonald and Associates

Terkel creates community-driven content featuring expert insights. Sign up at terkel.io to answer questions and get published.

9 Ways To Improve Page Experience

8 Ways To Improve Page Experience

What is one way that a small business can ensure visitors have a great page experience?
To help small businesses optimize their websites, we asked PR experts and business leaders this question for their best interface advice. From ensuring that your pages are scannable to adhering to accessibility guidelines, there are several tips that may increase your user experience for your site visitors.

Here are nine ways small businesses can ensure they have a great page experience for site visitors:

  • Ensure Your Pages are Scannable
  • Be Informative and Available
  • Create Local Landing Pages
  • Prioritize Optimization
  • Think About UX
  • Speed Up Your Website
  • Use the Accessibility Guidelines
  • Add a Call to Action
  • Implement a Site Maintenance Plan

Ensure Your Pages are Scannable

Most website pages are scanned by users, not read word for word. It is an SEO best practice to utilize headers to break up content by topic. While John Mueller of Google explains that using keywords in headers is not necessarily a ranking factor anymore, utilizing H1, H2, and H3 headers appropriately creates a better user experience so readers can easily scan the content and find what they’re looking for!

Kayla Centeno, Markitors

Be Informative and Available

Answer customer questions in multiple ways. That may be accomplished by providing useful information in an article or pricing page. For our company, we go one step further by having LiveChat and a clear phone number on our stair lift page so that customers have every option to connect with us. By having several contact options, customers can feel comfortable getting their questions answered.

Liz Riggleman, Arrow Lift

Create Local Landing Pages

Creating local landing pages ensures that the customer receives the right and relevant information according to their location. For example, our denture center lists out local landing pages for our four different locations. This ensures that our patients in Boise have a different website experience than our patients in Caldwell, and receive the correct information like address and phone number.

Henry Babichenko, Eurodenture

Prioritize Optimization

The first step to ensure a great page experience for your customers is to focus on optimization instead of a fancy design. When you get too deep into the design aspects, you can lose sight of making the website easy and simple to use. I’ve seen many big venture-funded brands focusing a lot of capital and resources on intricate designs instead of optimization. Simple, elegant, and optimized is still the most powerful formula for success. Additionally, I learned the importance of spending equal time on desktop design as well as mobile. It’s no secret that the majority of shoppers use mobile. This should be the easiest to use and most optimized piece of your website. My biggest tip here is to limit the amount of scrolling. Give your potential customer the easiest path to checkout!

Brandon Monaghan, Miracle Brand

Think About UX

Since our company is launched on an app, we made sure our website is an extension of what our users can find on their smart devices. Consumers can still subscribe to user profiles, view customer review videos, and purchase products with external brand links. We wanted our consumers to have fun being involved in our community platform, so we livened up our website with bold colors on video thumbnails. We also always feature the reviewer’s faces when we post their videos on the feed.

Savannah Scott, Supergreat

Speed Up Your Website

Both Google and your website visitors will be pleased if they don’t have to wait for your website to load. Speed up the loading time. Use GTMetrix, a free service, to check your site speed. Try to keep your loading time at two seconds or less. Remove needless plugins. This helps speed up your site.

Janice Wald, Mostly Blogging Academy

Use the Accessibility Guidelines

From my personal experience and our business expertise, the most important part of e-commerce is having an accessible website and an accessible customer service system. This ranges from making sure your web developers and web designers adhere to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG standards) when creating your website and marketing materials but also having a range of customer service and support channels. For example, a deaf person might prefer instant messaging to a voice phone support system. In travel and hospitality, common issues relate to inaccessible date pickers and graphical captchas, which prevent some populations from buying your product.

Dale Reardon, Travel For All

Add a Call to Action

If your website doesn’t have an easy-to-find Call to Action (CTA) button on your homepage, you’re missing out on a major opportunity to convert potential customers into paying customers. The CTA button is a classic marketing method for a reason — it easily boosts your revenue by directly asking for what you need from your potential customer. Design an aesthetically pleasing CTA button that will stand out on your homepage, and include enough relevant information around it to let your potential customers know what they’ll gain from clicking through. That relevant information is key to transforming your CTA button from a marketing tool into a one-two punch that builds trust in your website and your company through education. The more transparent you are about your product, the more your customers will trust your website.

Bill Glaser, Outstanding Foods

Implement a Site Maintenance Plan

To make sure a site is properly maintained, there should be a regular plan in place to check it monthly. Some tips are to check the webmaster tools data to ensure everything is running smoothly, keep track of the traffic data to see your audience, make sure the software is up to date, and look out for any feedback. Most importantly, run security scans so you know how the site is running internally and externally.

Nina Jensen, 8×8

Terkel creates community-driven content featuring expert insights. Sign up at terkel.io to answer questions and get published.

9 Email Marketing Segmentation Strategies For Ecommerce

9 Email Marketing Segmentation Strategies For Ecommerce (1)

What is one way e-commerce companies should segment their customer list for email marketing? 

To help your company segment their customer lists for email marketing, we asked marketing experts and business leaders this question for their best advice. From reaching out to customers with abandoned carts to analyzing customer spending patterns, there are several pieces of advice that may help you with your email marketing.

Here are nine ways e-commerce companies should segment their customer list for email marketing: 

  • Track Your Promoters
  • Complement Their Past Purchases
  • Reach Out With Their Abandoned Carts
  • Target Your Engaged Audience
  • Analyze Customer Spending Patterns
  • Segment By Platform
  • Organize By Location
  • Target Last Website Visit
  • Streamline Follow-Up Campaigns

Track Your Promoters 

Promoters. Some customers are so happy with their purchase that they will promote your brand through beneficial actions like leaving a review on an e-commerce site or sharing their purchase on a social media profile. Tracking which customers are your “promoters” can be a beneficial way to segment and reward customers on an email list.

Daniel Richmond, Tic Watches

Complement Their Past Purchases

The best way to segment an email marketing campaign for an e-commerce company is by looking at the buyer’s past purchases. The easiest way to do this is to start sending out email recommendations for similar items that you sell that would go well with the buyer’s previous purchases. This will ensure that you are capturing the right target market! 

Kayla Centeno, Markitors

Reach Out With Their Abandoned Carts

We have a shopping section on our website for the products we sell. There are many ways to segment customer lists from e-commerce for email marketing. For instance, creating lists of those who abandoned carts can be useful to eventually follow up with those customers. They were obviously interested in our products in the first place, so there is still a chance to gain their interest and eventually gain more conversions.

Matt Seaburn, Rent A Wheel

Target Your Engaged Audience

It’s important to segment engaged versus unengaged audiences. Many e-commerce brands send out their email campaigns to their whole newsletter list. We recommend sending out all campaigns to just your engaged list—this helps with spam, open rates, etc. It’s also important to have a strategy to warm up unengaged users or remove them after a win-back series!

Hannah Byrd, Absolute Web

Analyze Customer Spending Patterns

As with all things in marketing, there is no right or wrong way to segment your customer list for email marketing as every business is different. The one thing that holds true across all businesses, however, is the need to thoroughly understand your customers and their spending patterns, i.e., how often they shop at your store, what their average basket ring is, what products are commonly purchased together, etc. With a solid understanding of these metrics, you can create powerful segments that target your best customers, repeat buyers, and even the ones that don’t convert with highly targeted promotions. My one rule of thumb is that the customer metrics being used to develop these segments must come from first-party sales data, as no one knows your customers better than you!

Amy Zwagerman, The Launch Box

Segment By Platform 

One quick and easy way that e-commerce companies can segment their lists is by how they arrived at your website. So if it’s through social media, drill down more and find out which platform, like Instagram, Pinterest, or Facebook. Analyzing the different platforms and other ways customers found you, such as organic search or ads, will help you create a more customized customer journey for the people coming to your website.

Gresham Harkless Jr., Blue 16 Media

Organize By Location 

Location is an important way that ecommerce businesses should segment their customer lists. Segmenting by location has been shown to increase open and click-through rates. This is because location-specific targeting creates value for the customer. You are sending them something that is of interest to them and is relevant to where they are.

Joe Flanagan, VelvetJobs

Target Last Website Visit 

Segmenting by “last website visit” is big for us. We know that if a user has visited our site within 30 days, they are likely to be more receptive to marketing emails, and we can send them more. Conversely, if a user bought something last year and we never saw them again, we don’t want to be emailing them weekly until they show back up on our site. In short, we let them determine how close they are to buying again and, therefore, how many emails they should be getting.

Quincy Smith, TEFL Hero

Streamline Follow-Up Campaigns

People dislike getting spammed with similar emails. If you plan to send a follow-up to a marketing email, most email marketing tools offer the option to segment and target users who did not open the first email. Doing so helps create values for users who inadvertently missed the first message while avoiding sending the same email to users who already opened and engaged with the first email. Failing to omit engaged users can lead to poor user frustration and a high unsubscribe rate.

Hung Nguyen, Smallpdf

Terkel creates community-driven content featuring expert insights. Sign up at terkel.io to answer questions and get published. 

8 B2B Instagram Marketing Tips & Best Practices

B2B Instagram Marketing Tips

Instagram has always been a place for brands to shine–interacting with customers and creating a feed akin to an art show. But what about B2B businesses looking to enter the game?

How should a B2B business use Instagram? 

We asked eight B2B leaders, “What Instagram tip would you have to offer other B2B businesses?”

Here’s what they had to say:

It’s All About Insights

For us, Instagram is a place to share insights and wisdom. Our work is about people and we want to put people first through the content we share. As a result, much of our content is motivational and inspirational. Connect your business, whatever you offer, to something personal and that will offer something valuable to your audience. 

Jenn Christie, Y Scouts

Share Your Brand Personality

We use Instagram as a way to share our brand’s personality beyond our site while still promoting our business. Instagram allows us to connect to our audience in a way that’s more personable. We share our sales and products, of course, but we also engage with our followers by asking questions and including them in the content. Create a brand personality and use that to guide your content.

Vanessa Molica, The Lash Professional

Network

We have a podcast (CEOpodcasts.com) so we use it very much as a way to connect with podcast guests and generate content. The reality is that most businesses are looking for visibility so we try to provide that opportunity with our platform. By doing that, it opens up the opportunity to develop, nurture, and cultivate relationships. Simply by sending a direct message to a potential podcast guest can open up a tremendous amount of opportunities.

Gresham Harkless, Blue 16 Media

Promote Brand Identity and Culture

We use Instagram for culture posts. Our audience doesn’t consume content or convert on Instagram so we’ve switched from trying to promote on there to showcasing a more human side of us and highlighting our great brand!

Janelle Amos, Revenue Marketing Manager

Be Consistent

We use Instagram to promote our mission, programs, and fundraisers. The best practice we strive for is consistency. What I have learned about social media engagement is it is all about consistency. It is also important that you create polished and eye-catching content for social media since it is driven by picture content.

Lloyd Hopkins, Million Dollar Teacher Project

Start Your Narrative

You are not the hero of the story. This comes from Storybrand by Donald Miller and it is more applicable than ever. To be effective on Instagram, start your narrative where the user is and not what you want them to see. Provide value by helping them navigate the problem they are currently having.

Lukas Ruebbelke, BrieBug

It’s OK if it Isn’t Right For You

First, determine what business objective(s) you want to achieve from Instagram (and social media as a whole). Instagram isn’t for everyone, and if your efforts on the platform aren’t organic or authentic, it could actually damage your brand reputation with your followers. If you do create a presence on Instagram, commit to conceptualizing the type of visual content that will tell your brand’s story in a compelling way.

Rennie Leon, Director of Marketing and Communications

Feature Behind the Scenes

Instagram is our favorite tool for letting our brilliant team shine. Since we’re a digital marketing company for small businesses, it’s important for us to have a medium where our clients can learn more about the awesome people they’re working with. Through our efforts, we aim to show that we connect small businesses with customers and have a great time doing it. Since Instagram is a casual social media platform, I recommend using this channel to feature the people working behind the scenes. Show people what your business is all about, but don’t forget to highlight those who make things happen! 

Grecia Olachea, Markitors

8 Reasons Why Working For A NYC Startup Was My Best Career Move

After deciding I could no longer spend my life auditioning for Broadway shows and waiting tables (let’s face it — I was burned out from singing 16 bars), I then spent many years working 9-6pm “assistant” jobs in NYC. I worked for a hedge fund, I worked as a nanny (another fave job), I worked as a personal assistant, an executive assistant, admin assistant in financial services and I’m sure a few other assistant jobs in there. But what prepared me MOST for owning my own virtual “assistant” business was the one job where I was NOT an assistant. It was my final NYC job as Program Coordinator for a busy, NYC startup non-profit where I worked for nearly 4 years.

I realized recently that working for a startup was the best training ground for creating the business of my dreams. The startup environment is so unique and also hard/exhausting, but so rewarding.

If you’re looking to learn a ton and you’re just starting out– look for a GREAT startup to work for. You’ll learn a lot.

And here’s why:

  1. I wore 15 hats. No really – 15. Ok, maybe 6 (but it felt like 15 some days). I spent my mornings working in logistics/international shipping and then afternoons doing an email campaign/tweeting, entering invoices into QuickBooks, booking international travel, helping to design a new office space, assisting our accountant with our annual audit, booking hotels in remote parts of Africa and more. Endless. When you work for a startup, you get the chance to take on many things. This was such an incredible training ground for a future small business owner.
  2. Freedom. I was given the freedom to try things in my work. I think this should maybe be #1 here. For many years as an assistant working in financial offices, it was the opposite. No freedom. No say. A very “Mad Men”-ish, secretarial existence (which killed me softly inside for years). In a startup, many times, you’re given a lot of freedom in your work to try things. No one ever breathed down my back to make sure I was completing a task. Therefore, I worked harder. I was happier. I wanted to be there making an impact every day. A sense of “freedom” in the workplace makes the difference between a job and a great job.
  3. Small teams. At this startup, I worked on a small, amazing team. Working closely with just a few people (who also each wore 15 hats) taught me so much about working closely with a colleague. Most of my work now is one-on-one with a client or solo-entrepreneur. It’s so important to learn how to communicate well (and fast) with your colleagues and working in a startup was great prep.
  4. Fast-paced. In a startup (or a great startup at least), you’ll learn quickly the meaning of “fast-paced.” I’ve always worked pretty fast, but when you have 4 people running an entire company with many things happening, you learn to work as fast (and diligent) as possible. Learning to work in a fast-paced environment is so, so important if you want to run your own business. It’s a must. I’m still trying to get on “Tahoe Time” here…
  5. Great People. I had incredible managers who asked me on a monthly basis – “what do you want to do, Emily?” — “what do you want to focus on?” — “How can we help you develop this?” A great startup usually has a rigorous hiring process because they want the brightest people on their small team to grow their business from the ground — up. I was very lucky to have worked with smart, smart people who taught me to so much and cared enough about me to help develop my natural work talents.
  6. Risk-taking was OK. I worked for a CEO and manager who took risks (see my “testimonials” page). Calculated, smart risks…but risks. We tried things a lot — some worked and some didn’t. Most did — not gonna lie. But — this sense of “the worst thing you could do is NOT try” really stuck with me. In this past year, I have said yes to some potential clients who I did not think I could take on (or was scared to) and it’s turned out wonderful.
    facebook office
    Funny enough- this image was taken on a visit to the NYC Facebook office for an event on women in business, which I was encouraged to go to from my manager.
  7. Flexibility in the workplace. What literally led me here was that I was given flexibility with my job. We had a generous maternity leave policy and the option to “ease” back into work after maternity leave (working from home on Fridays for a few months before coming back 5 days a week), which was SO incredibly helpful for me. These things really make a massive difference and most big corporations don’t have such flexible policies. I was also given the flexibility in the office to work wherever – rarely at my desk. At the office kitchen counter. In the small phone rooms. On the couch. The startup environment is awesome in this way — allowing employees to get up and move freely, which in turn makes them more productive and never bored. I am a firm believer that you could and should work where you’re most comfortable. For me, it’s at home by myself. For some, it’s in a bustling office. But it should be wherever you work the best.
  8. Modern business systems/ideas. Most startups are just that – starting up. And to do this, the business owner/CEO/Founder wants to make their employees happy. Many startups have a lot of fun perks and benefits (we didn’t have a ping pong table, but we did have a sweet espresso machine and some awesome views). They also use a lot of modern systems to run their business. Because of this, I learned so much about working “in the cloud” and running a paperless/electronic business. I think so much of my work now involves systems for entrepreneurs (and systems that I learned there), so learning these programs was huge.

Lately, I think a lot about — how did I get here after just starting this business a year ago? I think a lot of it is because I worked for a fast-paced, NYC startup that gave me the freedom to thrive and focus on what I loved working on. Instead of being pushed down in a cubicle, I was built-up daily and given the reigns to try things and take risks (something I had never had before). I owe so much to the time I spent there. I would not have been able to move here to Tahoe, to work from home and to live out this little business dream of mine.

So yes…working at a startup…a great idea.

My Typical Work Day: Broken Down

I’ve always loved blog posts where people lay out their “real” day-in-the-life schedule. I get a kick out of seeing how people spend their time. And when they’re really honest about it. Working from home has always been a dream of mine and it’s a lifestyle that is all new to me and comes with its own set of challenges. Sometimes I think it’s actually harder than going into a real office. And with a toddler at home, even more so. So it’s been interesting figuring out how to schedule my time.

See – this working-from-home-while-the-baby-is-home-thing is hard. Even with a great babysitter. There is no break. Ever. Your breaks are your time to work. I work during naptime. I work at night. But this is what I choose to do and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I have the afternoons with my child and I can run to the store if I have to. Or to Starbucks. To me, it’s the way working should be.

So I’m breaking down my “typical” work day for you (and let’s face it, nothing is ever “typical”) and really I’m doing this for myself to see it all on electronic paper:

6am-7:30AM: Sometime between these hours, my little guy wakes up. I pray for 7:30am, but some days it’s 6:01am. And some days it’s 8am! I always try really hard to get him back to sleep, but he usually disagrees. I unfortunately check my email upon waking. I know, I know. Most of my clients are on the East Coast, so they’re already hard at work and I like to make sure nothing crazy has happened. I try not to start work until 8am though even though I know it’s already halfway through the morning on EST.

7am-7:30: I start the coffee and this is our special breakfast time together before the madness begins. I make blueberry pancakes or eggs. Or toast. We eat lots of toast. But one of the most wonderful things I’ve loved about working from home is that I can make a big, fun breakfast for my little guy each day. I love this time so much before the madness begins. FullSizeRender

8:00am: Babysitter arrives. Big Yay! Mama goes downstairs (long commute, y’all!) to her office and shuts the door. I turn on Spotify and get to work. I try to have “normal” clothes on when I go down to work, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was in sweatpants/leggings/workout clothes most days.

8am-11am: Work.

Babysitter plays with my son upstairs and I work in my office. These three hours are my most productive of the day. I bust out as much as possible, make my calls, update Asana, handle client requests, etc. It’s all client work during this time and I try to be as efficient as possible with these morning hours.

11am-11:30am – Break! I come upstairs (mama is back from work!) and I spend the next 30 mins or so playing with my child and making a quick smoothie or a quick snack before his nap. Babysitter leaves. Sigh…. (I feel so grateful that I get to be home with him – even though I’m working. It’s everything to me. Not easy and always hectic, but wouldn’t trade it.)

11:30am-2:00pm– Admin work + lunch + a few social media posts (for work)

The little guy goes down for his nap and I quickly get back to work. This is my 2nd slot of sacred, work hours. I call it 2.5 hours but it can range from 1 hour – 3 hours. I pray for 3 hours. It’s tough to depend on “nap time” for work, but this is just the way it is for now. I make myself a quick lunch. Maybe run the dishwasher. A load of laundry and do a little admin work (invoicing clients, tracking expenses, leads and emailing). I usually find myself working on bigger projects at night or in the morning. The mid-day work is all administrative, with some social media/FB Groups thrown in (we gotta do it!).

It’s also my most stressful time of the day b/c I am trying to accomplish as much as humanly possible during his nap — coupled with feeling like the home has to be somewhat taken care of/cleaned since I am technically here all day…

2pm-5:00pm– Play! Usually around 2pm or so (or when he wakes up), I finish working. This is the best thing about working from home with my own business — it’s on my schedule. I choose my schedule (I still can’t believe I’m able to say that). I still work 8 hours a day but it’s split into hours that make sense for my life. This makes me way more productive and happier. I get ultimate family time each day with my favorite little person and I get to work and make a living. We usually have lunch together, do some errands, go for a run or hike, go to the beach/lake or go down the hill to Target or Trader Joe’s. (This is kind of my chunk of time to pretend I am a stay at home mom and I love pretending!) I used to worry so much about running out to do an errand between 9am-5pm but now that I work for myself, I am able to do that without guilt and that’s awesome, right?

5pm-6pm – Dad is home and we all hang and make dinner. We love when Dad comes home.

6:30-7:30pm – Bedtime routine is in full force. (We’re talking bathtime, reading lots of books, pajamas, diapers, nursing. It’s no joke!) It’s then goodnight to my sweet child.** (**Sometimes I am so tired that I fall asleep putting him to sleep. That is not good for the biz and I try to not let this happen. But it happens sometimes.)

7:30pm-10pm – MORE WORK while hanging with husband

As hard as it can be, I often have to work at night. Luckily my husband is understanding (he likes that I’m working to make $$!) but it’s hard on a marriage sometimes. We do spend time together and have some (or a lot on some days) wine/beer while I’m plugging away on the laptop. I decided it’s one of the trade-offs to working from home with a baby. If it means I get to spend those afternoon hours with him, then I’ll work every night if I have to. I also tell myself that it’s only temporary that I’ll have to work late. Someday he will be in school and I’ll have the whole day to myself. For now, this is how I work though.

10:30pm – Fall asleep very quickly. (Although tonight, it’s 10:45pm and I’m writing this blog…)

This is my typical day lately. What’s your schedule like? I’d love to hear! Comment below.

Emily Shows You How To Setup A Twitter “List” (one of Twitter’s most useful features)

I recently listened to a great podcast (I believe it was an episode of Entrepreneur on Fire) that discussed ways to find your true calling. In it, they said to think of something that comes EASILY and naturally to you. Something that people might come to you with questions about. Something that you may spend a spare hour or two doing on a Sunday afternoon. I had never really thought of it this way, but it was quite a “lightbulb” moment for me. If something comes easily to you, it could be a “revelation” to someone else and you could possibly be very successful at this one thing.
So…I am no IT professional and I haven’t really mastered CSS or HTML, but I do know a bit about computers and especially social media. I’ve always been quick with computers and it’s always come naturally to me. So, I thought it would be fun to make some quick and easy “screencasts” showing you how to do some cool (and hopefully useful) things online. In doing this first one, I’ve realized there are so many little tips and tricks I want to keep sharing. So, here we go…
My first screencast on making a “List” in Twitter, one of my favorite features about this platform. Click here to watch.

YouTube - Twitter List Tutorial