• it came from an actual person at the company from whom I’d purchased (rather than the usual generic email address of sales type emails).
• it encouraged me to provide customer reviews to help other customers make the right choices – appealing to altruism.
• it displayed in stars, the average usual rating that the particular products I had purchased received.
• it gave me links through for each particular product, to make it quick for me to rate particular items.
• it provided me with instructions and a link to login and change my preferences so that I no longer receive product review emails.

The email also provided at the bottom some links and images for new arrivals, and top rated styles.

This email has a great feel about it – more like a value-add than a sales tool. Of course, if I click through and provide my review, I’m going to be bang in the middle of the store, and highly likely to start browsing through items again, and possibly make another purchase. Overall, it’s a great way to continue the engagement with your customers, and it’s all automated based on a previous purchase.

How would you feel about receiving the email I’ve described? Please share your thoughts by adding your comment below.

The answer we give depends on the desired results, and the targest audience. My biggest concern is when I get a response of “we want to use HTML5 because that’s where everyone is heading”.

This article in The Age gives a good picture of the pros and cons of app development in the various platforms… the most insightful section is posted below:

“HTML5 is appropriate for forms-based apps, or information-driven apps. Apps that require social interactivity or features on the device, whether it’s the camera or software features like Siri or facial recognition – we just see our developers over and over leaning towards native.”

And this is where it gets tricky: cross-platform tools are just another point in the spectrum between HTML5 and native.

CardFlick’s Anjaria opted not to use a cross-platform tool, which he says are more commonly used by design agencies that are not building the kind of apps that are “life changing or industry shattering”.

The midway point for Anjaria was, like Facebook previously, embedded HTML5 with a trade-off.

“In CardFlick, everything is native except for one main feature: the cards that you see are an HTML5 webpage. I can change my card a million times and I don’t have to write a new rendering engine to display the card,” he explains.

“One of the negatives of that is that it is a little slower than native – I have to load a web page every time I want to show you your updated card.”

So, you can see my answer to the question is that it depends on your objectives, what trade offs you are willing to accept, and what your app is going to do. An online survey app is most likely suited to HTML5, whereas an app requiring the use of GPS or a camera is most likely suited to a native app, and which platform you choose (or if you choose both) will depend on your likely audience (and budget).

At Contact Point we build apps in either native iOS, native Android, or HTML5 & Javascript (using a 3rd party tool to build for all platforms). Feel free to chat to us about your app requirements.

Inbound marketing isn’t complicated, however, and can be easily applied to your business.

At its essence, inbound marketing is about giving your customers the opportunity to engage with you; it is bringing them to you rather than you going to them. The term has come from the premise of “permission marketing” that was made famous by marketing guru Seth Godin and ties in with the move away from telling clients what to do via fliers, print advertising and TV advertising (outbound marketing) and, instead, speaking with your customers, not at them, and allowing them to grant permission for you to market to them.

A good example of inbound marketing is rather than using the traditional marketing technique of direct mail to sell your services to unknown contacts, you develop a regular Blog on your website that discuss topics within your business services, highlighting your knowledge-base as a leader in your industry. Your Blog posts will give you more qualified leads from prospects wanting to contact you due to your expertise.

Much of inbound marketing is related to the use of Social Media, which goes beyond the platforms of Facebook and Twitter and includes such things as adding your details to online directories that allow for customer feedback, and the writing of BLOGs, articles and email marketing campaigns. Also consider e-books, videos, whitepapers and podcasts.

A quick test of your inbound marketing is to Google yourself and your business name. If you are using the technique well, then a number of links from different sites will appear in the search result, all leading back to your business website and contact details. For an example, see the image below.

How does email marketing work within your inbound marketing strategy?
Email marketing is a critical component within your business’ inbound marketing strategy. As your target audience (after reading your articles, blogs and other social posts) opt in to hear more, your organisation has the opportunity to take each subscriber through a series of messages to help them solve a particular problem, or understand your organisation better. Alternatively, if the subscriber signed up to receive updates / news from you, these types of messages can provide valuable and practical examples of how your products / services can benefit the subscriber. An eNudge Email marketing message also gives you and your readers the opportunity to share your message in various platforms, e.g. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc, allowing for new prospects to find you and learn about your industry knowledge.

Inbound marketing allows you to start building a customer relationship before a person has had any telephone or physical contact with you.

In addition, a good inbound marketing strategy will organically work on your Search Engine Optimisation!

To discuss how eNudge and our Message Series (systemizing a series of communications) can assist with your inbound marketing strategy, contact us via 1300 137 628 or info@eNudge.com.au.

Do a mental stocktake on how many of these technologies you are successfully employing:

1. website - there are some businesses that still don’t have a website, or have a site that presents their organisation in a poor light, so I can’t leave that off the list. Your website may have more than one objective – make sure that it’s achieving your goal/s, whether that’s to generate leads, automate distribution of valuable information, build your credibility, facilitate sales…
2. email marketing – despite the scourge of spam, and how long this medium has been used, it’s still the greatest tool of many of our clients for generating sales and enquiry, increasing customer retention and providing better service. You should encourage visitors to your website to register for your regular emails, but also promote this through offline channels (think business cards, brochures, invoices…).
3. SMS marketing – a well executed SMS campaign can generate an immediate response. Of course, as per email marketing, you’re going to be obeying the Australian Spam Act to the letter, so an SMS won’t be a surprise to your customers.
4. blog - pointing your readers to your website’s blog will drive traffic to your site (where hopefully they will explore more than your blog, or read related posts and add their comments), and allow them to interact with you and others on your chosen topic. It has the added advantage of being great for your rank in the search engines, especially if you choose your topic heading well and utilise social media and SEO friendly URLs.
5. social media – dubbed “the personalisation of business”, the astute use of social media can help your organisation connect on deeper levels with your customers, understand your customers better, build community around your brand, and establish you as a thought leader within your industry or area of expertise. And it doesn’t have to take up vast amounts of your precious time.
6. pay per click online advertisements – for the right category, a well written online ad linking through to a strategically written landing page, can be very productive for generating sales and enquiries. Social media and the proliferation of rich information about the website visitor’s preferences and behaviours, now provides the opportunity for very targeted ads.
7. video – a powerful medium for connecting with a wider audience. Video allows you to convey your message much more richly than text and imagery.
8. mobile applications – the use of mobile devices to browse the web and carry out web based activites has increased exponentially over the past few years. Every B2C website should strongly consider having at least a mobile friendly version of their website. Apps provide a unique opportunity to deliver market leading tools, build loyalty, and increase customer retention.
9. online surveys – don’t groan! These used a strategic points in the delivery of customer service, or customer enquiry, can allow you to deliver the right clients to your sales team, and gather rich information about your customer’s desires.
10. QR codes – a smart phone readable bar code allowing you to quickly take a customer to your web page after they scan the code you’ve placed in your email, on your printed poster, on a billboard…

When employing these technologies, you should endeavour to link them together to gain cost effectiveness, richer engagement and provide a consistent message across all fronts. They should also reflect your offline marketing.

If you would like to discuss the appropriateness of any of the above technologies for your business, and exactly how it could be used for your benefit, feel free to get in touch.

http://www.theage.com.au/it-pro/security-it/rude-awakening-for-mac-users-serious-mac-flaw-needs-urgent-fix-20120405-1we6x.html

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• Mollard Property Investment Consultants – the holistic approach to property investment.
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I am truly grateful that you were so generous with your time, and helped us to all have a lovely afternoon of specialty teas, fresh cappuccinos and more delectable cakes and sandwiches than we could eat!

Thank you so much!
Heather Maloney

1. Live webcam as the media, from two different angles and corridors in the Parliament building, wait for the ALP politicians to come out of their vote for either Ms Gillard or Mr Rudd.
2. If you don’t want to watch the webcam, the politics blog page of the The Age is being updated every 5 minutes or so with another comment or photo to keep you up to date.
3. You can follow tweets attached to particular hashtags in Twitter to hear the news as it comes to hand.

I wonder what the price was for advertising space on the political pages of the national newspapers during this morning?

In a nutshell… there’s no need to stay in the dark for very long, whether you are sitting at a computer or using your mobile phone!

What’s your favourite way of watching the news unfold?

The subject of the newsletter below was the first thing to get my attention. It read: “Is this goodbye? CNET will miss you.” I couldn’t help wonder what it was all about, as I skimmed that subject line (I skim due to the volume of email I receive on a daily basis). In an instant, they had piqued my curiosity and I found myself opening their email!

Next, I saw the big CNET logo, and then I read their first paragraph, where they explained that they “loved it when I would click “open” on their emails” and that they wanted me back. Cute. The rest of the email was very simple, and set out to show me why I should be opening and reading their emails based on the value they provide. So, now that their brand is firmly back in my mind, I may well open more of their emails in future.

What do you think of this strategy? Have you used a different “list refresh” strategy or had someone use a successful one on you?

Landing Page Design Trends for 2012 – Website Magazine – Website Magazine.

You can read more about iOS5 here.

You can read more about the new iPhone 4S here.