Any reputable company has some kind of online presence. Websites build trust and loyalty with your audience. Evaluate and ask yourself the last time you searched for a service, did you choose to use the company with the outdated website, or did you choose the company with an engaging website? Let’s be honest, we tend to lean towards doing business with an attractive website.

The experience on a website sets the tone for what to expect; it sets the tone for trust too. Consumers connect the experience of your website with the service that is expected to be received. You wouldn’t want your outstanding product or service to be dismissed because it’s associated with your confusing website, would you?

Your traffic and lead generations can be affected if the design strategy is not considered. Check if the following issues could be resolved with an updated or new website: non-readily contact information, confusing navigation, hidden important content, unclear call-to-action, and un-updated offered products or services.

Your business website is essentially your digital office. The organization is reflected by the impression your website gives. If the visuals, design, and structure are outdated, the target audience will make assumptions that your business cannot evolve with the product or services it offers as well. Take note of what works, what doesn’t, and what your website has outgrown.

We believe that a fully functioning, high-speed, lead-generating website is more important than your physical office or brick and mortar! You read that right. It is likely that you pay thousands of dollars per month to house a few employees and a few products. However, the website you have was likely not built by professionals and is simply an online page that houses the things you do. What it should offer is the solution to your future and current clients’ needs. It’s the website that stays open 24hrs a day, 365 days a year.

Websites that are built to tell clients about what you do is an old and outdated way of thinking. We believe your website should cause your future clients to take action. In order for your clients to take action, they need to be presented with something worth taking action on. That’s where a GreenFox Marketing, custom-built website is ready to help you grow!

This is the first and possibly the only thing visitors will read. The headline is where you win or lose them. The key here is to explain the benefit you are offering to users in a single sentence. Don’t talk about features, talk about what they can achieve thanks to your offering. Make it all about the user. You should spend as much time on this single element as you do creating the rest of the landing page. Why? Because research has shown that over 90% of users who read your headline will also read your CTA.

You could have the best landing page in the world, but if your offer sucks, users aren’t going to be converted. If your goal is to get new subscribers to your blog, you’ll probably want to give away something for free like an in- depth guide to your chosen topic. If you want people to sign up to your webinar, you’ll need to highlight why your webinar is so good. What is the user going to learn from you and how will it benefit them? This will be the second thing users will read, so make sure the copy for your offer follows on nicely from your title.

Some users won’t bother to read your headline. But if they see an image that they relate to, they may be persuaded to give the landing page a second chance. Don’t just use any old stock image, however. Think of your image as a second headline. Make it powerful; make sure it shows off your product or offering and the benefit to the user if possible.

Do you know what’s better than images? Video! If a picture says a thousand words, how many words does a video say? Ten thousand? A million? However many it is, videos are a great way to increase conversion rates. In fact, research from Eye View Digital has shown that using video on landing pages can increase conversions by 86%.

These can be anything from testimonials and reviews to customer logos and Industry certifications. This is an especially important element if the goal of your landing page is to persuade users to buy a product. But even if you’re just trying to get more email sign ups, it is still a good idea to put trust indicators on your landing page.

It’s no good having a landing page if users don’t know what to do on it. This is where your call-to-action (CTA) comes in. It should be clear, prominent and assertive. “Sign up here”, “Add to cart” and “Download now” are common calls-to-action that you will see across the web. As always though, your CTA should be tailored to your offering and your audience.

When’s the best time to get a user to convert? When they’ve already converted. This is the goal of a post-conversion landing page. Once they’ve clicked the call-to- action and filled in their information, follow them up with another offer. Maybe this is a product upsell or a request to become a newsletter subscriber. Whatever it is, there’s no better time to strike than while the iron is hot. (Note: SharpSpring makes this easy with landing page funnels – a series of pages served up in sequence.) If you don’t have an applicable post-conversion offer, consider a thank you instead.

If you’ve gotten this far, all you will need is our free Ultimate Guide to Marketing Automation for  everything you need to know to start creating and optimizing landing pages for your website. The Marketing Dept. Platform makes it easy to get started. With pre-built templates and a drag and drop interface, you won’t even need a designer. Get out there, post a page and start getting leads today. Schedule a call!

Download our Creating Landing Pages That Convert Guide!

Landing pages are a great way to convert users into customers. Consider the impact of delivering a personalized message to every user. The details will, of course, depend on the product. Start by integrating the lead’s name into the page design, and then reference products the lead has already used. Go one step further by personalizing the call to action. If a lead has already downloaded one of the opt-in rewards, for example, display another to ensure that she remains in the funnel.

Delivering dynamic content to users in email campaigns is a great way to increase open rates and conversions. Again, there’s much more to personalizing an email than including the user’s name. Content can be changed depending on the user’s location or browsing history in the same way it works on your landing pages.

With dynamic content, a site can offer a better user experience by delivering personalized forms. When a visitor is identified as “known” versus “unknown,” the site can present variations on forms displayed or hide them altogether. For example, an unknown visitor might receive a form with a special offer whereas a known visitor might simply need to confirm his email address. Other website personalization can happen once someone is a known visitor. A known visitor might see a login page instead of a registration page.

Another way to convert users into customers is by using redirects. If a user has been seeking more information about Hawaii, for example, he could be redirected to a page about Maui. Redirects can happen almost instantaneously, and the visitor may not even realize that they’ve been redirected.

You don’t have to rely on past behavior to deliver dynamic content to users. By using real-time signals, such as the time spent on a page, length of inactivity, scroll activity, or user clicks, you can deliver intelligent pop-ups to achieve a specific action. Usually, this will be to prevent a visitor from leaving the website without first entering into your sales funnel. Use this type of dynamic content to direct him to the best content based on his location.

Recommendations don’t just have to be product-related. You could also recommend content from your blog based on the articles a user has previously read. In essence, this helps to “free” content from the “confines” of repeat purchases and to ensure users see as many of your products as possible.

On large websites with hundreds or thousands of pages, search bars can become user-unfriendly very quickly. Here, use individual user data as well as site-wide data to deliver a personalized, user-friendly experience. One method would be to suggest the most frequent search queries. Alternatively (or in addition), the site can deliver results based on a user’s previous preferences. For instance, a user might prefer a particular brand of clothing or only buy items in a particular pricing bracket.

There are many ways you can integrate dynamic content into your marketing strategy. Below you can download these seven examples, along with additional tips and information, but there’s no need to limit yourself to these! Test and experiment with different options for your business. The important thing to remember is to always make sure that the content you are serving is relevant to the user.

Download our Dynamic Content Go-to-Guide 2021 today!

Facebook’s ad policy requires ad images that do not have text over 20% of the area. It can be tempting to display as much information as possible, but be strategic and only use text that is needed. Allow the visuals and minimal text to drive the audience to navigate toward an effective landing page, where it will give them all the information they need. We recommend sticking with your branded campaign. Develop your campaign, the word verbiage, tagline, etc., that will make it easier to know what to include for it to all line up and make sense.

Think through what you want your audience to do next. The entire ad should be centered and designed around the call to action. Do you want them to like your Facebook page, download a free template, or sign up for a newsletter? Be clear about what you want your audience to do next and then make it extremely easy and understandable for them to follow through. According to AdRoll, adding a call-to-action button boosts the click-through rate by 2.85 times.

Facebook Pixels and extensive ad targeting options make it incredibly easy to promote relevant offers or content. It takes effort upfront but making your ad hyper-targeted will make it better and more effective since it is based on the audience’s past likes and site activity. Though we encourage hyper-targeted ads, we also warn of over-personalization. Harvard Business Review published a study that found when “unacceptable, third-party sharing had occurred, concerns about privacy outweighed people’s appreciation for ad personalization.” Don’t make users feel uncomfortable with your ads by making them feel like their personal information was accessed.

What is encouraging your target audience to click through your landing page? Make sure it is something that your audience wants or will benefit from. Whether you’re providing information they need, a solution to their problem, or offering a great deal, it all helps lead your audience to your landing page.

Facebook’s goal is for users to have a positive experience when interacting with ads, which is why ads are manually reviewed. By using more visuals with less text, providing a clear call to action that offers value, and keeping it relevant will ensure a positive experience for your visitors, along with a strong conversion rate.

At GreenFox, we know getting Facebook Ads approved can be a hassle, along with other platform ads. We work to improve social media marketing and keep up with the constant changes in requirements and effectiveness. Learn more about how GreenFox can help improve your paid social media marketing strategy.

Don’t limit yourself to only using your company name or sticking to one team member when it comes to the “from” name. Get creative! According to Influence&CO., “friendly froms” can increase open rates significantly. They did a trial and found that “friendly froms” received 144% more total opens and enjoyed a 168% greater unique open rate. This increase in opens also translated to 60% more click-throughs and 11% more conversions. Get specific with the name, like including a job title or department name to help ad a description to the employee’s name. Try different formats to find out which works best for your audience.

Most companies treat their subject line too literally and it keeps messages from being opened. Don’t let this be you! It’s all about catching your audience’s attention as they scroll through the endless amount of unread emails for the day. Of course, verify your subject line reflects the content of your email, but also make sure it matches your business’ voice, tone, and style. Is your business humorous? Emoji-loving? Rock the caps lock text? Find what stands out for your business.

Did you know that though the email preview text is auto-populated you can customize it? That’s right, you can use this text real estate as another way to stand out. It may take some effort and code to do it (depending on who your email platform is), but it is worth it. Stand out by using white space through a short description. You can also use humor or even start a sentence with the “from” name, keep the sentence going with the subject line, and end the sentence with preview text. Think outside the box.

A lot of times, businesses make their CTA too literal. Your entire email should be intentional and that definitely applies to the areas where you ask your readers to take action. Be clever to entice your readers to click. Use attractive colors and even get creative with the button copy. For example, your email can be about “the secrets to communicating better with stakeholders” and your CTA button can read, “Enter the Chamber of Secrets.”

Email marketing best practices are in place for a reason but don’t hesitate to experiment and think outside the box. It’s about testing and adjusting your strategy. What works for your audience, what doesn’t work? Give yourself ample time to be creative in standing out. You may think the “from” name, subject line, preview text, and CTA button copy are minor things, but it can be just the details that get your audience to engage with your message.

At GreenFox, we know email marketing success can be found in the smallest of details. We work to improve the email marketing and campaign design for large and small businesses. Learn more about how GreenFox can help improve your email marketing strategy.

As EmailMonks puts it, you could probably agree that an email to a marketer is about ROI, open & increase click-through rates, low unsubscribe rates, large subscriber base, improved customer touchpoint, and conversion rates. Though these are all reasonable things to consider, you cannot forget about the subscriber’s perception. For a subscriber, an email is about discounts, visually pleasing design, exclusivity, copy customization, and a hassle-free experience. See a large difference? To be successful with your email content, you must create it by bridging the gap.

Give them what they want to know, and go a step further by giving them information they didn’t know they needed. Take note of what people typically ask about or the problem they need solved when they come to you for your service or product. It gets your target audience to view you as the expert, and trust is then developed.

Offers are effective if you don’t have a minor sale going on all the time. Consider doing a large sale, discount, or freebie every other month or every quarter. It keeps your audience subscribed because they know your business is good about offering them desirable perks. They also plan to shop or use your services during that time. We see it again and again that a significant promotion (over 10% off or even free queso) will satisfy your customers.

First name personalization captures your audience’s attention but go a step further. Send a tailor-made email that resonates with your target audience. Make them feel special and like you’re listening to them, for example, giving them outfit suggestions if you’re a retail shop. According to EmailMonk, 91% of email marketers get improved open and click-through rates from email personalization. Your content must be short and sweet to keep from overwhelming them with unnecessary information. Know what part of the buying cycle your recipients are in. As EmailMonk suggests, ensure that every email you send is relevant to every subscriber based on their preferences, browsing and purchase history, or products left in their cart.

Remove distractions from your email. Resist the temptation to offer multiple things at once in hopes that the audience will choose something. This creates an overwhelming experience and makes the call-to-action unclear. Think about the email’s objective and write your content around the thing you want your reader to do. Make sure you strategically create content, design, and graphics that are attractive to the target audience. You want to grab their attention to be curious about the CTA. Keep in mind that it must direct them to the proper place or provide what you say you will provide them with. There is nothing worse than confusing your audience and losing their interest.

Nowadays, there are so many helpful tools that can help with this. You should rely both on software and a human editor. Grammar software help with minor catches or even can guidance. Be sure to still have someone proofread your emails, preferably twice! Often, context is not something software can understand or pick up on, which is why we encourage it so that your content quality feels personal and not automated.

Your subscribers should be influencing your email marketing content creation and will create interest with your prospective audience. Script a foolproof email campaign by bridging the gap between what marketers think an email should contain and what the subscriber thinks. Offer expert content, discounts/freebies, personalized information, and attractive call-to-action. Apply these email content tips to your email marketing campaigns to enhance the chances of conversions.

At GreenFox, we know email marketing success is dependent on content creation. We work to improve the email marketing and campaign design for large and small businesses. Learn more about how GreenFox can help improve your email marketing strategy.

It is all about convenience when it comes to providing a stellar user experience. Chatbots provide support to customers ‘after hours’ and meet the audience’s desire to have information instantly. Chatbots are programmed to respond through naturally-developed conversation. Availability, whenever the customer needs assistance, adds a major value that overall improves website and company experience.

Customer experience is only getting better because of AI, especially chatbots. The whole point of chatbots is to create a custom experience systematically and efficiently. Chatbots allow businesses to provide a more interactive and personalized purchase experience through an increasingly accurate ability to analyze consumer behavior. Most customers do not like calling customer support, so providing an easy and natural alternative will provide a better experience.

The good thing about chatbots is that your business has full control over programming them. Design chatbots around your brand personality and company voice and tone. The goal is to provide a cohesive impression for customers, so don’t be afraid to add humor or charm if it fits within your brand. Your business can be as straightforward or fun as you want. Use chatbots to leave a memorable impression.

Chatbots can be programmed to receive information, not just provide it. If included in the chat lineup, a chatbot can qualify a lead based on initial questions. We encourage your business to request an individual’s email address once qualified and gather this information for a sales rep. Chatbots help turn the manual process into an automated process.

As previously stated, your target audience wants information fast and with minimal effort. The ease of retrieving information is attractive and is what makes your website UX better. Reinvent or replace the outdated technology on your website with chatbots. Think through how your current website and technology infrastructure’s design. If it is not providing easy support, replace it with relevant technology.

GreenFox has a client who gained a one million dollar lead because of chatbots incorporated in their website. Another significant impact it is making is through brand-focused chatbots in social messaging platforms; Facebook took the lead by creating a bot specifically designed for businesses to integrate into their messaging service. People want to be taken care of. It is important for them to feel like they are interacting with you at any time of the day. There are many options for chatbots to be integrated into your website.

The key to better UX is through better digital customer service, which can be easily implemented through chatbots. Using chatbots positively changes your digital architecture by providing 24/7 support, better digital customer support, making your brand interactive, automating leads, and replacing irrelevant technology. Verify that your chatbots include interaction style, menus and resource links, conversations that guide, carousels, and personalization.

At GreenFox, we know automated marketing through chatbots can improve your website user experience. We work to improve the digital marketing and technology infrastructure design for  large and small businesses. Learn more about how GreenFox can help improve your digital strategy through your user experience.

Hubspot says that “Politics, equality, education, mental health, finance, changing food trends are proliferant conversations on social media. These topics are critical to [the Z and Alpha] generations, and social media is their way to bring them to attention.” The rise of these socially conscious consumers is expected to grow since Gen-Z is now moving toward adulthood and will soon enter the workforce.

According to Forbes in 2019, “88% of consumers want to support brands that have social causes aligned with their product/service.” It’s no longer acceptable to only have it included in your mission statement; it is now profitable to have purpose-driven campaigns. The number of consumers that expect action, not just lip-service, is rising and they gravitate towards companies that show it. Take a note from Nike, where they are using a socially conscious strategy that is making a difference with their powerful messaging.

You must understand your target audience and discover the social issues they care about. Choose your topic wisely and make sure it lines up with your brand. Your business must be authentic and plan to take action toward the cause. Your target audience will sense if it is not sincere and write you off as a service/product option.

According to Hubspot, “A mission-led marketing campaign will connect with the audience on a more emotive level, creating stronger brand resonance.” Advertising is not seen the way it used to by Millennials and younger generations. They express that it doesn’t build trust and instead feels pushy. Focus on your business mission and build trust as a company that cares.

Take your time building out your socially conscious cause and strategy. It must be something your business feels passionate about and ties into your mission. Be fully committed to your chosen cause and go all out. Monitor responses. You won’t always please everyone but make sure the tone and timing of the message aren’t off.

If your business brand doesn’t market around a social issue or inclusivity, that doesn’t mean you won’t be dinged for not speaking out. Younger generations research if companies are making efforts toward issues. If a company is not, the chance they will become a customer decreases. There are times they can become negative if they find something that is not up to par, so make sure your website is up to date and relevant.

Brands have started shifting their marketing toward more cause-driven messaging. Brands that act superficially when it comes to socially conscious marketing will be called out by consumers and lose potential customers. Brands that authentically engage with issues that their customers care about will thrive with younger generations.

As younger consumers become more socially conscious and express it on social media platforms, they are increasingly engaging with authentic brands that are making efforts toward change. Take that to your advantage and build trust with your audience through your business cause. For your business success, implementing socially conscious marketing into your business social media strategy is a wise move for 2021.

According to Hubspot, from February 2020 onwards, mentions of fake news, misinformation, and conspiracy theories increased dramatically. Consumers could not identify an authoritative source they felt they could trust, leading to an influx of people seeking trustworthy brands. Tim Williamson, Managing Director of APAC, Telum Media, says, “Trust and authenticity will be key themes. Weary consumers are gravitating to trusted media brands to help navigate uncertainty. The tech giants are under greater public scrutiny. There is an opportunity for brands and marketing and communications teams to build trust by engaging authentically with their audiences.”

Hubspot shares “66% of consumers state that brand transparency is one of the most attractive qualities in a brand.” Position your business to be open and honest about your brand, behind-the-scenes, etc. Consumers will appreciate it and be refreshed by the willingness to share.

Hackers don’t hesitate to take over authentic channels to share false information, especially if you’re business has a trusted foundation. Ensure your channels, social media accounts, email platform, and other communication platforms are secured.

If your business hasn’t already, put in place communication guidelines. Ensure your team knows that they must be certain of a source’s authenticity before sharing it or posting it. Don’t assume something is accurate information; dig deeper and fact check.

Check who controls your social media accounts, and verify that rogue employee, or recently made ex-employees don’t take over your channels. Minimize admin access to your accounts, and have a plan in place if there is about to be a shift in positions.

Expect the continuation of social media channels to actively tackle misleading information. Hubspot says, “It’ll be a challenging task [to tackle disinformation], as platforms find the balance between transparency, open communication, and managing the issue, so expect numerous fixes to appear throughout 2021 as a fitting solution is found.”

As consumers become more discerning about disinformation on social media platforms, they are increasingly engaging with authentic and more real content. Take that to your advantage and build trust with your audience through your social media content. For your business success, implementing brand transparency into your business social media strategy is a wise move for 2021.

Hubspot shares, “old-school marketing tactics such as newsletters and podcasts may lack the finesse of more recent methods, but they’re easy to establish by marketers and most importantly, easy to consume by customers. 55% of Americans now listen to podcasts, while newsletter mentions were up 14% during the lockdown.” This year, we will see continued growth in these methods.

Hubspot has shared that “31% of B2B marketers say newsletters are best for nurturing leads. With creative segmentation of your database, you can have hyper-personalized messaging that really cuts through to the information that your consumers are looking for.” Newsletters are a great way to increase customer loyalty and move prospects into the sales funnel. Be sure to effectively harness the power of newsletters.

Podcasts have become a broad marketing tool. It is another effective old-school method to build consumer relationships. Feel free to get creative! Set up interviews with guests that your target audience would like to hear from. Use it as an opportunity to connect with prospective customers.

Work across multiple channels. Combine newsletters and podcasts with TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook content. Bring on an omni-influencer who has multiple connection points with their audience. This is a great strategy for maximum engagement and impact.

Audio analysis ensures that you won’t miss a brand mention. Social listening is important, but with the rise of voice usage in podcasts and social media, spoken mentions could be missed. Collaborate with advanced social analytic platforms that include audio analysis.

Like trends mentioned in previous weeks, this social media strategy trend is about building communities. Hubspot states that “it isn’t about how the content is shared— it’s that the content is good and easy to access making for a great user experience. Expect brands to focus more on providing consumers with more content to fulfill their information voids with a particular focus on content over style.”

With the absence of a physical office, podcasts, blogs, and newsletters allow a trust to be built up. There are a deep audience engagement and strong host/listener rapport that come with old-school marketing. For your business success, implementing old-school marketing into your business social media strategy is a wise move for 2021.