4Q Survey - I'm seeing results

I have the 4Q user survey up and running on the Market GoGo website. I blogged about this a few days back, and I am very enthusiastic about what iPerceptions is doing to help websites improve their customer satisfaction. Plus, giving away the opportunity to try a customer satisfaction survey is a great way for them to whet the appetite of their prospective customers and ultimately generate more business.

A screen print of one of my 4Q results tabs is shown to the right here.

So far my results are pretty good. I can already learn a lot about why people are visiting my site. I can see that satisfaction is low at 40%, but that everyone was able to complete what they were looking to do. Apparently what people are doing on my site is research!

WAIT A MINUTE. When I look at some of the details, I see that only one person has completed the survey so far.

"Out of the box" only 20% of people were being asked to complete the survey. I don't have a tonne of traffic to MarketGoGo.com (although my traffic is higher than similar sites - according to Google Analytics). So, I've just turned up the crank on asking more people if they want to participate in the survey. Now 90% of visitors to the site should be asked to complete the questionnaire. Maybe for my next post I will have some additional details to share about the survey.

The data I'm collecting from Google Analytics and the 4Q survey will eventually lead me to re-vamp the MarketGoGo.com site.

What are you doing to improve your visitor's satisfaction, the way your site works, and ultimately your business?

For some thoughts on this, please don't hesitate to email Market GoGo.

Customer Satisfcation Survey -- Up & Running on MarketGoGo.com

Thanks to the good folks at iPerceptions and Avinash Kaushik, I have put a customer satisfaction survey on the Market GoGo website.

Why is customer satisfaction important to measure through a tool like the 4Q survey? You may already be using an analytics program like Google Analytics, WebTrends, or Omniture. These will tell you how people surfed around on your site, but they won't tell you what they were trying to do, if they achieved that, and what would have helped them better. A good customer satisfaction survey will. Subsequently, that will help you figure out what changes you need to make to your site to help you ensure that your site achieves your goals.

While the 4 free questions will suit my needs for now, a bigger or more complex organization will probably want to be able to ask a few more questions. That's where iPerceptions can offer you a more customized solution that will provide even better information.

What's it like? Check it out at www.MarketGoGo.com.
(You may have to surf around a bit on the Market GoGo site to find it, as it pops up randomly.)

Trends for 2009: #21. Things that will be a flop (again).

Rejoice, rejoice! This is the last Marketing Trend I see for 2009. To that end, it isn't really even a trend. It is actually a "counter-trend." Anyhow ... on with it.

Here are a couple of things that I think won't reach maturity (again) this year. There is a load of hype around these items, but not a lot of knowledge, practice, or user saturation. At least not enough to make them really usable or useful.

• Analytics: Here's something very important. But, it isn't useful because companies have to invest a lot of effort into setting up, performing, and analyzing numbers in order to begin to understand what the analytics are showing them. Then (yes only then) can they take action on them. By the time you kick off a project to do anything with the analytics, it will be 2010 or 2011, your IT department will have other things going on, you probably won't be in your role anymore, and your replacement will be looking for their own cool project. So, while analyics is very important, there are few organizations that have the fortitude to really do analytics, and very few good people in place to actually build and understand analytics.
• Mobile Marketing: If you've been listening to people in the mobile industry then you may be under the perception that Mobile Marketing is going to rocket next year. Don't fall for it. It won't. Advertisers are still largely ignorant of Search Engine Marketing (which, ironically, is likely the easiest advertising and most effective media going). How are they ever going to figure out Mobile! Besides, mobile browsing is so expensive in North America that consumers don't want to download or click on ads. Mobile Marketing will continue its slow uphill march to effectiveness. So - if you are in advertising ... don't look to mobile advertising as a white knight.

Will I be right? The year will tell!

• Follow this blog and watch for the next marketing trends I'm forecasting for 2009.
• Feel free to contact Market GoGo to discuss this further.

NOTE: Sometime in the coming week I'm going to summarize all of the Marketing Trends I see for 2009, and also summarize all of the strategies. I haven't got that all pulled together yet, and it is going to be interesting to see what it all looks like.

Trends for 2009: #8. Online Advertising will Continue to Grow

As Marketers (perhaps like you) struggle with a tightened budget and getting the best bang for your buck, it will be time for Advertisers to look more closely at the multitude of advertising media that is part of Online Advertising. Consequently, online advertising will grow in 2009. In contrast, almost all other media will shrink dramatically.

During the Great Depression, the "new media" of radio took off. In fact, in every recession since then Radio advertising has fared very well. Expect similar this time around - except in Radio's place, you will see innovations and growth in online advertising.

Now, that said, if you are a Publisher or an Advertising Network it isn't time to start counting your coins yet. While online advertising will grow in 2009, budgets will still be tight, and it may not even grow as much as it did in 2008. Relative to other advertising media however, it will be glowing. Why? Well, the equation might look something like this for an Advertiser:

This Year's advertising budget = Last Year's Budget / 2.
Where do I put that little bit of money?

• Print 2009 = Print 2008 x 1/3
  
• TV 2009 = TV 2008 x 1/2
• Radio 2009 = Radio 2008 x 3/4
  
• Out of Home 2009 = Out of Home 2008 x 2/3
• Online 2009 = Online 2008 x 1.1

Okay ... the math may not make sense, and those numbers are all just a WAG, but the concept stands. Budgets will get cut, and the increase in online spending is going to come at the expense of other media.

What online advertising is going to grow? All of it. Paid search (probably more than the rest), Banner Ads, Video, Online Games and Contests, etc., etc., etc.. Some people are forecasting that this will lead to an overall increase in Cost Per Acquisition (CPA). Maybe, but maybe not. The content and opportunities on the internet are almost limitless, but there are only a small handfull of really popular sites. The CPM (thousand impressions) or CPC (click) will increase on those sites. But as an Advertiser, if you focus on conversions and use an outlet like an Advertising Network that leverages the power of the long-tail, then you may actually come out with a low and stable CPA.

What's a Marketer to do in 2009?

• Do review your traditional advertising spend VERY closely. What worked? What didn't? What is dubious? Slash and burn anything but that which worked. Figure out how you can build on those things that worked.
  
• Do online advertising. Look at how you can be creative with it. Also, look at how you can integrate with traditional advertising that is working. Similarly, look at how you can integrate it with Direct Marketing opportunities.
• Focus on your Cost Per Acquisition. Use analytics and look at all of your online advertising and its performance (including creative, message, placement, etc.). Use this information to tune your ads and your media buys in order to lower your CPA. To lower your media buys, look at options like bulk buys, advertising networks, or even changing the type or mix of ads you are running entirely (e.g. maybe increase your search spend, and reduce your banner ad spend).
  

Will I be right? The year will tell!

• Follow this blog and watch for the next marketing trends I'm forecasting for 2009.
• Feel free to contact Market GoGo to discuss this further.

It's fun when you find you rank high

I've been watching my Google Analytics stats lately, and it is fun to find that my content shows up on the first page of Google search results for various terms that people are searching. For instance, if you hit Google and search terms like:

• business strategy today's economy
• brand audit process
  
• big three what went wrong
  
• marketing audit rfp
• (and a whole bunch of others)

You will find that you the Market GoGo blog entries and web pages manage to show up on the first page frequently. Ahhh... SEO at work.

Google Analytics is EASY

So - I've been doing web stuff for a while now. But, it has been a long time since I've actually been hands on with anything (in fact, I'm to the point where it is dangerous to give me any passwords, as I might just try to do something on my own).

For some time now I've been a "concept guy", with the ability to craft a credible business case, the capability to pull together a comprehensive workplan, and the experience to put together sound and complete business requirements. However, I've been lucky enough to have a team of people that I could rely on to design user interfaces, write code, test things, and implement changes. So much for that. This is all on my own now.

Every day I plug away and do "a little bit more" of one thing or another to tweak my site or this blog. Every day I up my "technical" challenge to myself. Of course, I know that the technical stuff I'm doing is still all child's play!

But yesterday I took on the challenge of setting up Google Analytics. I headed into it tentatively. I took small steps. I waited to see if it would work. It DID.

I would recommend to you that if you haven't set up Google Analytics or something similar yet ... don't wait any longer. Go get it done today. The implementation is easy, and the results are fascinating.

Enjoy.