Statistics are everywhere, whether we’re talking about crime rates going down or high school graduation rates going up. It’s no different when it comes to websites, where we track metrics like page views, conversions, and bounce rates. Although we’d like to believe that we’re savvy about the numbers, we may not be as adept at interpreting them as we think. In his book Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman explains why.

One Mind, Two Systems

Kahneman characterizes our two thinking systems as fictional figures called System 1 and System 2. System 1 operates automatically to quickly generate complex patterns of thought. We use this system when we perceive that one object is farther than another one or when we detect an angry tone of voice. Its capabilities can be innate, such as recognizing objects, while others are learned, such as reading and understanding social situations. Whether they’re inborn or acquired, System 1 thinking requires little or no effort on our part.

In contrast, System 2 thinking is deliberate. This system handles operations that require our attention, and we don’t perform them well if we’re distracted. We use this system when we focus on one person’s voice in a crowded and noisy room or when we search our memory to identify a surprising sound. System 2 thinking involves making choices and deciding what to think or do.

The Division of Labour

Although they function in different ways, they work together to make sense of the world. Both systems are active when we’re awake; System 1 runs automatically while System 2 operates in low-effort mode, using a fraction of its capacity. System 1 generates suggestions based on impressions, intuitions, and feelings. System 2 will usually adopt these suggestions with little or no modification. Most of what we think originates with System 1, but System 2 has the final say. However, when System 1 runs into a situation that doesn’t fit into the model of the world it constructed, System 2 is activated to help by searching our memory to find a story that explains the anomaly.

This division of labour works well most of the time because System 1’s models of familiar situations and short-term predictions tend to be accurate. It’s good at automatically identifying causal connections and events—even when it’s not a solid connection. System 1 suppresses ambiguity and spontaneously constructs stories that are as coherent as possible, and System 2 will generally accept that answer without questioning it. This story construction can work to our disadvantage in considering statistics.

The Wrong Focus

We tend to focus on the story rather than the reliability of statistics. In one example, Kahneman cited a study of kidney cancer rates in 3,141 counties in the US. The counties that had the lowest rates were mostly rural, sparsely populated, traditionally Republican, and located in the Midwest, the South, and the West. If we try to explain this pattern, System 1 brings up facts and associations that support an explanation for System 2. We would probably examine the rural characteristic because we associate it with clean living (access to fresh food and no water or air pollution). This explanation makes more sense than trying to explain the lower rate in terms of political views.

However, the counties that had the highest kidney cancer rates also had the same characteristics (rural, sparsely populated, Republican, same locations). Again, we might focus on the rural lifestyle, which might mean poor access to medical care, a high-fat diet, and too much tobacco. For both situations, we look for a story that explains the cancer rate. We’re so focused on explaining how a rural lifestyle contributes to a lower or higher cancer rate that we miss the fact that these areas are sparsely populated; as Kahneman points out, smaller sample sizes tend to yield extreme results more often. Rather than questioning the validity of the statistics, we skip over that to try to explain the results.

Objective Results

So what does this mean for you? When it comes to your website metrics, do some preparation before you gather data. Here are a few tips to get you started:

1. Define your goals. The information you’re looking for will determine which metrics you’ll use. Are you trying to increase conversions? Do you want to make sure that your site is user-friendly? Are you looking for more information about your site visitors?
2. Decide which metrics to use. Before you begin measuring, make sure the metrics will answer your questions. For example, if you want to test the usability of your site, you should consider metrics such as the time taken for a task, the error rate, and the user’s subjective satisfaction.
3. Pick a tool that meets your needs. There are plenty of options out there, so do your research to find the best fit for your goals.
4. Make sure your statistics are reliable. Before you try to explain the statistics, make sure they have a solid basis. Are you looking at the right metrics? Is your sample size big enough? Is it composed of unique site visitors?

Remember that website statistics aren’t necessarily objective because you can interpret them subjectively based on your prior experiences and associations. If it’s your own site, you may be too close to what you’re measuring to analyze it. For example, you may be too invested in a design to objectively evaluate the metrics for the calls-to-action. Bringing in outside help to assess your site’s analytics can help ensure that your metrics are being measured and interpreted properly.

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Our predictions, in no particular order:

1) Corporations try to attract and retain loyal customers by marketing to the individual, not a market. Digital marketing and NFC devices make this reality easier, and companies evaluate strategies that leverage different social media channels, devices, and apps.

2) Marketing and IT departments become more integrated. Digital marketing and analytics have become essential to tracking and measurement, not just for marketing campaigns but as bellwethers of company success. Could a Marketing IT department be far off?

3) Better use of social media to convey company character and values. It used to be Price, Product, Place, Promotion. Now add to that Personality. When all else is equal, consumers prefer to buy from a brand that shares their values and presents an engaging personality.

4) Marketing gets real time. Instead of, or as well as, the traditional planned annual campaigns, brands will develop the capabilities to launch opportunistic campaigns that capitalize/respond to social media buzz—or lose out to their more agile competitors.

5) Marketing departments outsource more content development and curation. As competition for mindspace in the digital world keeps getting worse, quality and credibility matter more and more. And it takes more effort than internal resources can manage. Time to build a freelance team.  (See our blog post on the Digital Slush Pile.)

6) Companies adopt a focused approach to social media. Companies who decide to take social media seriously will do so by investing in the few that matter to their audience, and which are appropriate for their brand. Instead of getting overwhelmed by the number of channels out there, CMOs take a step back and assess where to focus their digital marketing efforts instead of diluting their brand across the Internet.

7) eBooks take it up a notch with rich media. The technology is ripe, and now with Apple leading the charge, textbooks go digital and more eBooks go multimedia, thanks to enhancements in tablets.

8) Gamification inside the corporation for training and motivation. For a generation of employees brought up on video games, it’s a natural evolution to take training courses or work on tasks that score points—on the job.

9) Intuitive user experience design know-how enters the list of most-wanted skills. With more technology that combines multiple functions into a single device, successful brands are the ones who can create a user experience for every device and app that allows consumers without previous digital knowledge to just pick up, use, and enjoy.

10) NFC gains traction. Retailers and advertisers find creative ways to deployment near field communications in ways that create more consumer intimacy. (See our NFC blog series.)

11) A new appreciation for content curation. Content, content everywhere but not from anyone who thinks. Or as the song goes, “fifty-seven channels and nothin’ on”. A jaded Internet audience seeks out sites that feature credible sources and well-written analyses that explain what’s really going on (closely related to #5).

12) Game theory gets real for retail. Bricks and mortar shops haven’t been able to track how visitors travel through their stores the way their digital competitors can. Companies such as LightHaus VCI use mathematical methods to analyze video footage taken inside stores. Heat maps and other data inform companies about shopper behaviour and where to improve customer engagement. The real borrows from the virtual.

Have you ever heard the saying “not seeing the forest for the trees”? It means that someone doesn’t see the forest (the big picture) because they’re too busy looking at the trees (the details). We experienced this problem while performing A/B testing and want to share our lessons learned. In this case, it took some time to figure out why we weren’t getting conclusive results—we had been focusing too much on the small details.

Defining A/B Testing

A/B or split testing is exactly what it sounds like: testing one version of  an ad or webpage against another one to see how a change to one component affects the conversion rate. Conversion, the desired user action, is defined before testing. It’s a key part of split testing because it determines which version is more successful.

Performing the Test

Last year we performed A/B testing on a client’s homepage to check the effectiveness of the booking call-to-action. On the original homepage, the button was placed in a static image at the bottom-right corner. In our variation, we placed the button in a prominent sliding banner.

To determine which one drew a stronger response, we needed to define conversion for this test. We decided that it occurred when a visitor booked the client’s services. The homepage that elicited the highest number of bookings would be the most successful.

Solving the Problem

As the testing went on, we monitored the numbers, but there weren’t any significant results. We brainstormed possible explanations and tweaked aspects like the button label and placement in our version. Even with these modifications, the results continued to be inconclusive.

Then a team member found the solution; rather than adjusting the design of the page, we should have examined the test plan. Quite simply, we had come up with the wrong definition for conversion.

Remember, we had originally defined it to be when a visitor booked the service. However, between clicking the call-to-action and submitting the booking request, there were several factors—beyond our control—that might have influenced someone’s decision to book. They may have made the decision based on the wording of the booking page or the workflow to book the service; this decision was not necessarily dependent on the call-to-action on the homepage.

The actual definition in this case was much simpler: conversion meant that the visitor clicked the call-to-action. And once we changed the measurement of success, we began to see clearer results for the split testing.

Seeing the Forest

When facing a problem, it’s so easy to focus on fixing the small details that we don’t consider the big picture. For our split testing, we thought the problem was in our homepage design; we didn’t consider our plan to test it. A key part of split testing is comparing conversion rates; if that definition is inaccurate, the results will be too. Once we were reminded to step back and look at the big picture, we found the solution to our problem.

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When a company wants an effective sales tool, there are few types of collateral that deliver as much impact as a well-written case study. A case study offers these benefits:

• It’s a customer testimonial.
• It helps prospects relate your product or service to a real-life situation.
• It can be used as content for a website or newsletter.
• It can be pitched to publications as a feature article.
• If published, the magazine reprints make an even stronger selling piece because it implies editorial approval

Starting a Case Study

The best time to start is shortly after your solution has been installed and the customer is seeing results. Their impressions will be fresh, and they will be as eager as you to promote their success. If you wait too long, that team or manager may be transferred to another project; you’ll be speaking to newcomers who lack knowledge about the original reasons for bringing in your solution and who may not be as positive.

Writing a case study is rarely a smooth, uninterrupted process; the stars that need to be in alignment are often outside your control. So before you hire someone to work on your case studies, take a look at the project workflow—in an ideal world, of course.

Find Case Study Candidates

Salespeople are always eager to promote their successes, so ask account managers to nominate customers who would be good case study candidates. Ask them to approach the selected customer(s). You want to avoid situations where you build plans around a customer who isn’t ready.

If customers opt out of participating in a case study, add them to a list and follow up with them. (More on that later.)

Confirm How Customers Handle Case Studies

If the customer is open to a case study, ask about their company policies regarding them. Sometimes there are no guidelines, and the story goes to their Marketing and Legal departments for review on a case-by-case basis.

Communicate Your Plans

Prepare briefing notes for the customer. Tell them the general intent of the story; the classic format describes:

• The business challenge.
• The solution requirements.
• The solution deliverables and implementation.
• The happy situation afterward.

Include how the story will be used: in a data sheet, in a newsletter, on the website, or as a contributed article to a certain publication.

Respect the Customer’s Time

Your writer must develop the case study with help from subject matter experts (SME). The customer is only one SME; the others are from your own organization. Make sure the writer gets thoroughly briefed by your internal SMEs before interviewing the customer. For example:

• The Account Manager provides background on the situation before and after implementation.
• Marketing provides messaging and the benefits to highlight.
• The Systems Engineer outlines the implementation challenges.
• The Customer provides their view of how your product or service has vastly improved productivity and delivered on cost savings.

Track the Approval Process

Once the story goes to the customer for review, track the approval process and nudge things along in a professional, courteous way.

Build in lots of lead time for customer reviews. Legal and Marketing approval from a customer can take longer than writing the story. Avoid making deadline promises you can’t keep.

Follow Up and Get More Case Studies

Maintain a list of case study candidates. In addition to new customers, this list should include ones who previously opted out. Follow up to find out if their situation has changed. The goal is to have an ongoing case study program, so you can freshen up your website and collaterals with new stories.

As you can see, writing the actual case study may be the easiest part of the process. However, with some preparation and realistic expectations, your company can reap the benefits from a case study program.

So you know what you want to talk about, but how will you write it? One of the first things they teach you in technical writing is know your audience, and this applies to blogging or any other type of writing.

Before you compose your content, think about who will be reading it and what you want them to do with the information. Use this analysis to guide the tone, language, and strategy of your writing.

Your Audience

Consider your current readers as well as the ones you would like to target. Study your clients, and look through comments for previous blog posts to see if they reveal anything about your audience. Then think about the people that you want to attract. For both groups, consider their level of knowledge and interest in your topic, as well as your relationship to them.

Your Purpose

Decide what you want to accomplish with your writing. Are you trying to attract potential clients? Are you sharing information with your peers? Are you trying to convey a certain image of your company? What action do you want readers to take based on your writing?

Your Writing

Now that you know who your audience is and why you’re writing for them, think about the tone you’ll use to communicate the information. A good guideline is to write as though you were speaking to them in person. Would your tone and language be more familiar or formal? Your relationship with them will determine your tone, which can be conveyed by the type of words, such as slang or contractions, that you use.

If you want your readers to do something based on your writing, how can you persuade them to do it? A common method is to present their problem and then provide your solution.  Keep in mind your audience’s level of knowledge and interest in the topic; you may need to explain unfamiliar terms or provide more background details. And when you present the call to action, give a reason why they should do it because they’ll be more likely to comply.

Finally, before you publish your blog post, read it out loud. Make sure your writing sounds natural, that the content flows in a logical way, and that it supports your purpose.

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When you run a digital marketing agency, the #1 query you get is: if I contract with you for search engine optimization, can you guarantee a first place ranking on Google?

What this tells us is that there are SEO providers out there who make such promises. As a result, there are clients who may achieve a top ranking – but not much else to show for their investment in SEO. The words “guaranteed rankings and traffic” have tainted the reputation of the industry. One of the most common tactics is for the SEO provider to select your keywords for you. They will select non-competitive keywords which your potential customers are unlikely to use. This makes it easy for them to deliver a high search ranking based on those keywords, but this does not deliver quality traffic.

Companies who spend a lot of money raising their ranking from #2 to #1 may lose sight of conversion or dismiss pay-per-click campaigns that could help their bottom line. It’s possible to reach #1 and achieve little or no impact. It depends.

Search Engines Warn Against Guarantees

Google provides a very instructive set of guidelines on search marketing that every SEO client should read. They make one very clear statement: No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google. Although this section specifically warns about providers who claim to have special relationships with Google (such as access to knowledge of the ‘secret sauce’ behind Google’s search algorithms), the warning comes straight from the company who would know better than anyone that SEO guarantees are not feasible. For one thing, this would destroy the integrity of Google’s organic search model, which is the entire basis of their business success.

Rankings are Dynamic and Unstable

A reputable provider knows that search results for the same search term can vary from hour to hour, and from location to location. It depends on which search engine server is fulfilling your query at any point in time; whether you log in to your personalized Google account or some other account; or which city you’re in when you type the query. These factors change the order of results, so making guarantees based on uncontrollable circumstances does not make sense.

Rankings are the Wrong Metric for Business ROI

This is the most important thing to remember. The reason companies want high search rankings is to increase business. Rankings are a means to an end, not the end. Rankings alone do not increase traffic or convert traffic into business.

The most basic metric of SEO success is quality traffic. If an SEO campaign shows a marked increase in search engine traffic, that’s one part of the success. The other part is whether visitors stay on the site and spend time on product and services information, play with demos or watch videos. This means SEO has brought the right audience to the site.

Traffic is good, but converting traffic into visitors who take action is the ultimate success metric. Conversion could mean buying a product, or for non-eCommerce sites, it could mean signing up for a newsletter, or downloading a white paper. When visitors land on a company’s website, how easy is it to find information? Is the content clear and informative? Is the website easy to navigate? Does it provide calls to action in visible, logical places? Does the company know which phone calls or emails to the sales department come through search and which ones through traditional marketing?

SEO can drive traffic but not conversion once the visitor lands.

This is where Analytics come into play. An SEO provider will always install analytics to determine where the traffic is coming from, which were the most popular search terms and so on. Analytics can also monitor user behavior on a website: which pages were most popular, how long did visitors spend on each page, when they abandoned the site and on which page. This helps determine how a website could be improved for better conversion. A website optimized for conversion is also part of the business equation. A high search ranking definitely helps, but by itself will not convert business for you.

So What’s a Reasonable Promise?

A good digital marketing provider will focus on increasing a client’s business. This means taking a consultative approach that is broader than merely SEO. Typically this means an audit of the client’s existing online presence that includes search, website effectiveness, social media, and even offline mediums that drive visitors to the website. This will generate recommendations which may include content strategy, website optimization, or a social media strategy. This takes a lot more work than just promising to submit a client’s website to all the search engines.

A client may not have the budget to implement all the recommendations, but the provider will be able to advise which components are the most critical.

The other factor is time. There will always be components that only the client can implement. This includes tasks such as freshening content and images, developing marketing content specific to the business, regular blog posts, and setting up offline mechanisms for tracking (different phone numbers for web queries and print ad queries is a good example). Fresh content helps boost search engine rankings; this is why regular blog posts are important. Social media also requires real commitment from the client. But a client may not have the staff or time to do this, so again, a good provider will explain how the various components impact the success of the plan and help the client prioritize.

Given factors such as: competing SEO campaigns, changing search algorithms, client resources and/or ability to implement, the only guarantee a digital marketing agency can give a client is: to provide the best advice possible for using the Internet to increase traffic and improve business.

On October 22, twenty-six emerging writers will take the stage at SFU Woodwards. These students, from SFU’s The Writer’s Studio program, have just published a student anthology, emerge 2011, and are launching the book with readings from their works of fiction, poetry and lyric prose, and creative non-fiction.

MarketingSmartt is proud to be a corporate sponsor of this event. We have a passion for communication. We help clients communicate their brand, benefits, and values. We communicate these messages through social media campaigns, email, or a great website. In an age of increased digital communication, the written word matters more than ever.

When any person with an opinion can publish online, quality content lifts worthwhile reading above the digital slush pile. While tweets and texts may dominate the airwaves, it is still the well-honed sentence that slices through our consciousness. Good writing will always find its audience.

TWS poetry and lyric prose student Meg Torwl agrees. With an established career in photography, video, radio, and new media, she still works hard to master the “old” medium of writing.

“It’s about finding the right medium for each story,” she says. “Whether a poem, photograph, video, radio, or live performance, the skills of narrative, pattern recognition, dissonance, editing are the same in each media.  Writing is the backbone of all arts. I often include poetry in radio, video, live performance, and at exhibition openings. TWS teaches you everything – from creative and technical aspects, to trusting your instincts, ergonomics of writing, getting published, networking and readings.”

What draws students to TWS is the way the program addresses all the needs of a writer.

“I was attracted to the well-rounded blend of individual courses,” says fiction student Claire De Boer, ”from how to workshop your prose to navigating today’s publishing world. Few creative writing programs offer an opportunity to work in a one-one-one setting with a mentor. This feedback is invaluable. The program also places great emphasis on community and I knew this would be critical to my writing journey.”

The notion of community underscores The Writer’s Studio, which encourages participation in literary events and public readings.

“Writing is a solitary pursuit,” says Carol Tulpar, creative non-fiction. “We need to meet readers and hear what they have to say about our work. We also need the fellowship of other writers, who can articulate their sense of what needs work, regardless of their own genres. TWS founder Betsy Warland says ‘To write is to enter public space’. The opportunity to gauge audience response to my work has been priceless, both within the workshop setting and in our public readings.”

In the past, MarketingSmartt has supported charities, such as A Loving Spoonful and the Union Gospel Mission, which feed our community. We support The Writer’s Studio because the arts also feed our community.

Register to attend the emerge 2011 Student Anthology book launch and reading. Admission is by donation.
Copies of the anthology available for purchase at the event, the SFU Bookstore at Harbour Centre, or by contacting: twsinfo@sfu.ca

Tweet and post about the TWS emerge 2011 event

Chat about the event live on Twitter:  #TWSEMERGE2011

Join the discussion on the TWS Facebook page

Find out more about The Writer’s Studio at Simon Fraser University

“Words make the sale.” Maria Veloso

Are you frustrated by the low conversion rate of your website? Do you need compelling copy that will convince clients to buy your product or service?

Web Copy That Sells by Maria Veloso is a guide for writing web copy that persuades clients to buy your product or service. As she points out, the text is the first thing that visitors look at on your website. Web sales are text-driven, so you need to make sure that your copy is doing its job.

Killer Copywriter

Maria Veloso, known as the Killer Copywriter, has written advertising copy since 1977 and has specialized in web copy since 1996. Her scientific approach to copywriting, which she shares in this book, has been effective offline and online.

Creating the Blueprint

The foundation of her copywriting technique is a set of 5 questions that helps you to articulate your clients’ needs and how you can help them. Once you have this basic framework down, you can use her tips for making the content persuasive and creative.

Crafting the Text

Veloso goes on to share many useful writing tips. One chapter lists some psychological motivators (which she cautions readers to use ethically). For example, you should always tell clients why they should comply with a request because they are more likely to perform an action when they’re given a reason. (”You must act now because this offer expires Oct. 30 and we can’t take any orders after that.”)

Overall, I found this book to be useful because of the practical advice and insights into how clients think. I would add this to my personal bookshelf, and I’ll be practicing her techniques in the weeks to come.

Buy Web Copy That Sells at Amazon.ca.

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Writing a blog post can be difficult—even when you’ve picked a topic. Here are a few tips to get you started:

Just Write

For some of us, this might be the best way to start. Don’t worry about getting your blog post perfect on the first try; just write everything you want to say. You can (and will) edit it later.

Organize your thoughts in an outline

This is the opposite of the first tip and may work better for others. Think about what you want to say and in what order you want to present it. Write the major headings and main points and use this as a guideline for filling in the details.

Write notes

Sometimes you look at what you’ve written and it doesn’t work, but you don’t know how to fix it. Write notes in the margin about what bothers you and why. This leads us to the next tip…

Walk away

When you get to the point where you can’t write anymore, take a break. Work on another project, take a nap, do the dishes, etc. Don’t force yourself to think about the blog post or avoid thinking about it; you may be able to work out the problem while you take a break. And when you come back to your writing, you’ll have a fresh perspective on it.

Edit, edit, edit

Once you’ve written the main content of your blog post, edit it until it’s ready to post. Here are a few things you should do:

• Check the flow and organization of your writing.
• Check all facts to make sure they’re correct.
• Remove unnecessary words that don’t add to the meaning of a sentence.
• Refer to a dictionary if you’re unsure about the usage of a word.
• Fix any grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors.
• Ask someone to read through your blog post to check for clarity issues and typos.

These tips are useful for any sort of writing, not only blog posts. If you have any other writing tips, add them in the comments below.

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Event management company TM Events used social media during their 10^th Anniversary Party to drive up awareness of their brand. This one campaign doubled Facebook page views and increased their fans and followers by more than 25%.

When TM Events decided to include social media as part of their 10th Anniversary Party, they turned to MarketingSmartt to create their social media campaign. They liked the philosophy behind MarketingSmartt’s Fully Immersed Social Event Experience™, which integrates social media activities with the physical venue to deliver measurable results.

TM Events CEO Traci Myles had two main goals behind adding social media to the party:

• To prove that social media built around an event can help companies gain Twitter followers and Facebook fans,
• To do it in a way that merged social media with an event in a fun, seamless, unique, and memorable way.

Social Media Plan

MarketingSmartt created a social media plan that included content strategy, schedules, creative briefs, detailed roles and responsibilities, and staff education. Social media provided multiple touch points to connect TM Events with audiences before, during, and after the event.

“TM Events started getting new Facebook fans and Twitter followers even before the event date,” says Traci Myles, CEO of TM Events. “

Email and social media facilitated event logistics such as invitations, registration, and promotion. At the party, guests checked in using QR codes.

Social Media Activities

Social media activities also increased the fun factor with a social media game, a video testimonials booth, and a “Social Bar” staffed by volunteers with PCs and iPhones. The volunteers helped guests set up and use social media, explained the game, and directed them to various social media stations.

Attendees used Facebook and Twitter to share the party in real time with colleagues, family, and friends. This expanded TM Events’ reach beyond the event venue and into the virtual community, making it a truly inclusive event for on-site and online followers alike.

Feedback

MarketingSmartt monitored social media activity throughout the event so that TM Events would have a report on metrics the next day; but three hours into the party, TM Events CEO Traci Myles already knew it was a success.

“I heard comments like ‘cool idea’, ‘this is fun’, ‘what an interesting way to capture a testimonial’, and ‘I learned a lot about social media today,’” recalls Myles. “But the best moment came with ‘hey, we’re not just trending in Vancouver, we trended in Canada!’ We proved social media can drive up brand visibility when it’s integrated with a well-planned event.”

Key Statistics

Key statistics for TM Events’ social media campaign:

Other Key Results

• TM Events party trended in Canada
• 73,000 Twitter impressions
• Over 100 hashtag mentions
• Over 100 Facebook wall posts