Posts

Michael Rabinovici

Groupon Groupoff

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Chicago based Groupon ("group coupon")  is one of the great technology stories in recent memory.  For those of you who still spend most of the time in the physical world, Groupon is a deal-of-the-day website localized to major markets that promotes itself with the now well-known tag line: 1 Ridiculously Huge Coupon A Day.  It’s been described as the fastest-growing company in Web history.

Here’s how it works:  your business gets exposure to Groupon’s gigantic user base and, in return, you give potential customers a juicy discount.  Whenever Groupon collects money on behalf of merchants from selling  coupons on its Web site, it keeps an average of 50%. The twist – the deal is on only “on” if a pre-determined number of people sign up for it (usually 10 or more). The platform is used daily by a multitude of businesses, ranging from small enterprises to large brands such as the Gap and the Toronto Raptors.

Here are some Groupon highlights:

Launched November 2008
Number of subscribers who receive emails with “Coupon of the Day” offers – 50 million
Revenue (2009 est.) – US $30 million    Revenue (2010 est.) – US $760 million    Revenue (2011 est.) – US $2 billion
Number of employees (2009 est.) – 120  in 30 cities          Number of Employees (2011 est.) – 5,000 in 565 cities
Buyout offers  –  Google made an offer for $6 Billion (offer was turned down)
IPO  – rumours of an IPO within the next 24 months at a valuation of $20-$25 billion

Now that we’ve established that all is well for Groupon, how is it working out for the merchants?  Stay tuned for my next post.

Michael Rabinovici

Flip the Funnel – What if all of your company’s marketing is completely backwards?

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I often discuss books with our clients and business partners that I think can have a major positive impact on their businesses.  One title which has consistently been on the list for the last couple years is Joe Jaffe’s “Join the Conversation”.  His most recent book, “ Flip the Funnel”,  is equally powerful.    The assumption in this book is  that many traditional marketing approaches are getting it all wrong.  In other words,  the focus has been on customer Acquisition as opposed to customer Retention; on the fat side of the funnel, as opposed to the skinny one.

Jaffe passionately argues , and backs it  up with statistics, that investing in existing relationships is far more profitable than devoting the bulk of your budget to acquiring new customers.   “Retention is the new Acquisition”.

I know what you’re thinking – how can I possibly find the time to read another book?  Fear not,  we’ll do that for you, and more.  Below you will find a link to a video where Jaffe himself gives an overview of the book.

Length of the video – 4 minutes and 33 seconds.   The impact it will have on your bottom line – Priceless.

Here is the link to the video – http://bit.ly/beh1xP

Here is the link to the book – http://amzn.to/alaDJT

Michael Rabinovici

Your Company Sucks

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Just kidding. You know we love our clients. But someone, somewhere on the vast network we call the Internet, may be saying this about your company.  The better known your brand and your products, the greater the chance that someone is taking a pot shot at you.  The issue is not whether the criticism is justified but how quickly you find out about, and respond to, it.  The difference in finding out within hours as opposed to days or weeks can be measured in millions of dollars and, once in a while, can even become a matter of survival.

If your company was “slammed” for no good reason, you can set the record straight.  If the criticism is justified, you can fix it quickly and win points for your lightening-speed response and exemplary customer service — a perfect opportunity to make lemonade from the lemons you’ve been handed.

So how do we find out as soon as possible? By using a set of tools readily available online. We’ve covered some of these before, but they are worth mentioning again:

1. Google Alerts — http://www.google.com/alerts.  A content monitoring service, offered by the search engine company Google, that automatically notifies users when new content from news, web, blogs, video and/or discussion groups matches a set of search terms selected by the user.  The service is free with a Google account and is easy to set up.  The key is to set up alerts for numerous terms, including product names, as well as those of key executives.  I would even go as far as to suggest that one of your alert terms should be “your company name sucks”.  Most of our clients have been using Google Alerts for a while and we are working with them to gain even better leverage with this tool.

With Twitter growing by leaps and bounds on a daily basis, you absolutely have to monitor conversation in the Twitterverse.  Recent stats tell us that users currently generate 2 billion (that’s a “B”) per month.

I previously recommended in this space Tweet Beep (www.tweetbeep.com) which enables anyone to receive alerts by email whenever a specific word or phrase is tweeted on Twitter.  Here are a couple of other options for Twitter:

2.  Tweet Alarm – http://www.tweetalarm.com/

3.  Tweet Alerts – http://www.twitteralerts.net/.  With this service, you have a number of options when it comes to notifications, including SMS.

To see the effectiveness of Twitter as a customer response and service tool, Comcast is the classic example. Read the these stories and you’ll become a believer:

Savvy online service can win back customers – http://bit.ly/apZlyP

My @ComcastCares Customer Service Story – http://bit.ly/dqx3L7

Michael Rabinovici

If a blog falls in the forest does anybody hear?

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With March break upon many of us, my mind is onto more metaphysical questions – thus the subject line.  What I am referring to here are metrics and measurement, a subject whose importance cannot be overemphasized.  One of my favourite business mentors taught me that “what you do not measure cannot be improved”.  It is a lesson that we constantly convey to our clients, as well as applying it internally.  When you consider that improving conversions from 2% to 3%, for example, can mean a 50% jump in revenue, you start to take it seriously. 

In the Web 1.0 world, there are numerous software measurement and metric packages that vary in sophistication and price.  The one you choose depends on your type of business and the metrics you look for.  In our business, and for clients, we use Google Analytics, as well as a server–based package that acts as a check and balance, so to speak.  In my book, when considering data richness, ease of use, and price (free!), Google Analytics is unrivalled.

In the social media world, measurement and metric software is a fairly nascent space but it is developing rather quickly.  One option I have been testing and will deploy in a number of upcoming social media campaigns is Ubervu, which measures “conversation”, “reactions”, and a variety of other metrics in the social media universe.  Go to www.ubervu.com, input your company name in the “Search for Social Media Conversations” window, and click “Analyze”.

 At the end of the day, it’s the not the software you pick but the fact that you do it consistently and continuously adjust.  Remember: “you cannot improve that which you do not measure”.

Michael Rabinovici

Your Worst Customer is Your Best Friend

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Huh? How can that be? Well, according to the book What Would Google Do?, in a “google universe” most information is both public and transparent. That means you can save a lot of anxious moments down the road (not to mention revenues) by knowing your worst customers and finding out what they have to say. Imagine a world where customers could not pan your products or services with a few clicks of the mouse. A world where bad product and service reviews could not be easily tracked or discovered. In that world, negative news would spread slowly and stealthily by word of mouth and, by the time you found out about it, it could be too late (and infinitely more expensive) to fix.

What’s the lesson here? Leverage the Web and social media tools to get as much feedback from your customers as possible. Give your worst customers the opportunity to speak up quickly and easily so you can fix their grievances in the same fashion. Here is author Jeff Jarvis’s description of a restaurant run according to Googlethink. Once you read it, ask yourself how it applies to your business. What can you do to find your worst customers/best friends?

“What would a restaurant run according to Googlethink look like—other than being decorated in garish primary colors with a neon sign, big balls for seats, and Fruit Loops and M&Ms on every table?

Imagine instead a restaurant—any restaurant—run on openness and data. Say we pick up the menu and see exactly how many people had ordered each dish. Would that influence our choice? It would help us discover the restaurant’s true specialties (the reason people come here must be the crab cakes) and perhaps make new discoveries (the 400 people who ordered the Hawaiian pizza last month can’t all be wrong??? Can they?).

If a restaurateur were true to Googlethink, she would hunger for more data. Why not survey diners at the end of the meal? That sounds frightening—what if they hate the calamari?—but there’s little to fear. If the squid is bad and the chef can hear her customers say so, she’ll 86 it off the menu and make something better. Everybody wins. She’ll also impress customers with her eagerness to hear their opinions. This beats wandering around the tables, randomly asking how things are (as a diner, I find it awkward and ungracious to complain; it’s like carping about Grandmother’s cranberry sauce on Thanksgiving). Why not just ask the question and give everyone the means to answer? Your worst diner could be your best friend.”

Michael Rabinovici

What Would Google Do? Trust vs. Control

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In WWGD, Jeff Jarvis addresses a number of principles (he refers to them as laws) that have enabled Google to become so dominant so fast.  His first law is: “Give the people control and we will use it; don’t and you will lose us”. He speaks of it primarily in the context of the media business – where the fence between journalists, editors and the readers/consumers was tall and inviolable until the advent of the Internet and the rise of the Blog (not the “Borg”).

If you think about it, it also applies to many other industries.  Henry Ford’s old adage that “people can have a car in any colour they want as long as it’s black”, which held sway for decades, is no longer.  Companies that give their customers choice (read control) engender their audience’s trust and this translates into increased revenues and profits (see Google and Craigslist).

How can you apply this to your business? Engage your customers in the areas that are most important to them: product development and customer service.  For powerful examples, see – My Starbucks Idea and  Dell Idea Storm.  My favorite Starbucks idea: coffee ice cubes – brilliant!

Please share your experiences and post any questions you may about how to apply this to your business.

Side note:  Jeff Jarvis first came to prominence due a critical blog post of an experience he had with Dell and which ultimately led Dell to pay attention to blogs and to begin engaging their customers.  Check one of the posts here – http://www.buzzmachine.com/2005/08/17/dear-mr-dell/

Aviva Rabinovici

How to get action on your calls to action

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As entertaining as some marketing communications are, what it all comes down to is whether or not they compel the reader, viewer, or listener to take action.

People take action as a way of meeting their most basic emotional needs. People decide with their feelings and then rationalize their decisions with the facts. If you can match your offer with their needs, you’ll get better results. For example:

People want to belong – Show them that other people, just like them, have taken the same action that you’re asking them to take. Use testimonials, case studies, or stories.

People want to escape pain – Put them in touch with the pain that will continue and worsen if they fail to take action.

People want to experience pleasure – Paint a colourful picture of the benefits and positive feelings waiting for them once they take action.

People want to feel financially secure – Offer a financial incentive to act now, such as a time-limited discount or bonus offer.

Depending on your product or service, you may also want to align your message with people’s needs for fame and fortune, increased wealth, or health and happiness. The inducement will differ with each offer you present, but the result should always be the same: Measurable response with every communication.

Aviva Rabinovici

How much news should actually go into a newsletter?

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Regular newsletters are a fantastic way to keep in front of your market. With every issue, you have the opportunity to solidify your credibility, likability, and trustworthiness, and reinforce your brand identity. And if you’re doing it right, that’s exactly what will happen.

Of course it needs to look great – a clean, attractive design with your corporate look, white space that makes it easy to read, and pleasant, colourful pictures that capture attention.

But what, exactly, should you put in there? How much news should actually go into a newsletter?

News they can use – This should make up the majority of your newsletter, at least 80%, and includes articles, tips, and industry announcements that teach your readers something they didn’t know or reinforces something they already knew. It has clear applications they can take action on immediately, and plenty of resources (including your products and service) to help them do it.

News about you – If your newsletter was targeted well, your reader is genuinely interested in what you do, and will eagerly want to hear your latest news. Reward their interest with sneak previews of new services, special offers, advanced notice of upcoming events, or other “insider” or “subscribers only” information. Even if your reader simply found your newsletter left behind in a boardroom or on a city bus, if you’ve provided some news they can use, they will usually keep reading.