Tony Attwood's Blog

For a person who runs a blog that gets half a million visits a month, and who writes and posts a series of news emails that also have a fairly broad coverage, I am extremely cautious about Twitter and Facebook.

I have been running a Twitter ad programme for a year, and am running a very low-key Facebook experiment for one web site, and I have been asked why? Why be so cautious in one medium, when I face hundreds of thousands in another?

The answer is that with blogs and email lists I really do believe know what I am doing. With Twitter and Facebook I not only have less experience, I am also aware of some of the disasters that have happened this year.

Take McDonalds for example, who ran a Twitter campaign which asked people to share their memories of McDonald’s. The aim was to get all sorts of nice friendly messages up, whereas what they actually got were tales of bad work conditions and food poisoning. A huge own goal in fact.

Then there was ChapStick (a lip gel). They put up an ad on Facebook which many took offence too. Thousands of people wrote in to their Facebook page complaining. Chapstick took down all the complaint notices and instead put this one up…
“We see that not everyone likes our new ad, and please know that we certainly didn’t mean to offend anyone! Our fans and their voices are at the heart of our new advertising campaign, but we know we don’t always get it right. We’ve removed the image and will share a newer ad with our fans soon!

“We apologize that fans have felt like their posts are being deleted and while we never intend to pull anyone’s comments off our wall, we do comply with Facebook guidelines and remove posts that use foul language, have repetitive messaging, those that are considered spam-like (multiple posts from a person within a short period of time) and are menacing to fans and employees.”

The big mistake was the second paragraph – blaming the readers for the firm’s mistake was a worse error than the first one, and caused an even bigger backlash.

Then there is Greenpeace who had campaigned against Volkswagen’s opposition to environmental laws. In response VW posted this.

“We hope you had a fantastic New Year. Do you have any resolutions and what would you like to see us do more of this year?”

This sounded to everyone as if VW had every intention of taking no notice at all of environmental concerns and so it was no real surprise that over 1000 negative comments were received in the next 24 hours.

Then VW made matters worse by not replying to any of them. Instead it posted a statement saying that it does care about the environment, but it really had no effect.

Now my point is that these are huge firms making mega mistakes with using Twitter and Facebook – so I take things cautiously.

But in terms of news-orientated emails and with blogs, eleven years experimentation with this news service and others, and four years with my initial blog have given myself and Hamilton House some confidence that we know what we are doing.

If you would like to discuss how you could utilise email news letters and a blog – and indeed just what works on Twitter without causing difficulties, please do get in touch. There is more about how you can set up your own blog at a very low cost on http://www.hamilton-house.com/blogs Or you can call 01536 399 000.

If you would like to read our daily email of news and thoughts about direct marketing, just send an email to direct-mail-secrets-subscribe@yahoogroups.com – and then click reply to the email yahoo send you back

Tony Attwood

Success in direct marketing depends on a whole variety of factors – but top of the list for issues that determine just how many sales you are going to get there will be two key factors:

The relevance and quality of the list you are using
The creative techniques you use.

The first of these two is fairly obvious – if your list contains the wrong sort of people or out of date information, you can’t expect to make sales.

But there is far less understanding of just how important the way you write is.

Three years ago I wrote a piece called “How to write the perfect sales letter”. It has been on the internet ever since, and has been downloaded thousands of times since then, and from the feedback I get, I think most people who read it find there is something of use therein.

It is still on our web site – or if you want to explore what we have on offer rather than jump straight to the article, just got to www.hamilton-house.com , click on the “How To Guides” section on the left, and work your way down the list.

If you read it and find it useful, please do give us a call. Maybe we can help further.

Mind you, you can call whether you have read it or not. Always nice to have a chat. 01536 399 000. If I am not available, my colleagues will be very happy to oblige.

Tony Attwood

Every month, on line sales go up – but not always by the same amount. Last month showed the weakest online sales rise for six months.

This is contrary to that which is normally imagined. It is thought that if it chucks it down with rain (which it did in most of Britain in April) people shop on line rather than in store. But it seems not.

This is just one of the many things about direct marketing that counters common sense. And it is yet another issue that reminds us that we need to test any notion we have, no matter how logical or obvious it seems.

I recall when we first started writing adverts that didn’t get anywhere near the product details until half way down the page, we had customers of our marketing service complaining bitterly that our pieces were written by amateurs.

In fact the opposite was true – we had experimented and found that this alternative approach hugely increased sales – in fact on occasion doubling response rates.

Now that we know that, the reason is clear. Not focussing on the product to start with allows us to focus on grabbing attention. Do that, and more people read – which inevitably leads to more sales.

There is also the point that through experimentation one finds a way of doing things which are different from the competition – which is never a bad idea.

If you would like to talk about how we achieve this please ring 01536 399 000. Or you might like to read the article “How to Double Response Rates” at http://www.hamilton-house.com/free%20reports/How%20to%20double%20response%20rates.pdf

Tony Attwood

A survey of 2,000 online users has found that by and large many people don’t know about cookies.

True, only 8% had never heard of cookies, and 95 had heard of them but didn’t know they could turn cookies off. But around a third of those questioned thought that cookies were a source of viruses.

23% said they were happy about cookies – and understood what they were.

Not surprisingly, given those answers, 75% of users surveyed didn’t know that the EU had issued a cookie directive.

The new rules mean that websites need to explain to visitors how they use cookies and what cookies are on their site. In the last survey 95% of UK web sites were not compliant with this requirement. From May 26, 2012, websites that fail to comply with the new EU Cookie Law face fines of up to £500,000

In essence the new law says

Cookies or similar devices must not be used unless the subscriber or user of the relevant terminal equipment:

(a) is provided with clear and comprehensive information about the purposes of the storage of, or access to, that information; and

(b) has given his or her consent.

Tony Attwood.

A question was raised this week about VAT on postage this week and I thought I would try and answer it here so that all readers of this news service see where I am going with this.

As with any VAT rule there are complexities, but in essence, Hamilton House (in common with all mailing houses) is now being charged VAT on postage by Royal Mail, and so we are passing it on.

In short, if we are doing a mailing using our account facilities with Royal Mail we have to charge you VAT.

But, there might be a way around this. I say “might be” because I do not want to drop myself in it and find that I promise no VAT on postage, and then you have to pay it. Take my words with caution and check the situation with Royal Mail.

However reading the regs I believe that if you have your own account with Royal Mail, and if you are using straight second class post (that is post without a discount applied) you will be able to send it out without VAT. If you have your own account, we can still handle the mail for you, but you will then be charged by RM straight into your account – the money does not pass via us, and thus is counted as a transaction with you.

If you are concerned about VAT then I would certainly urge you to discuss the matter with your Royal Mail rep and if possible get a statement in writing from RM about VAT using the route I propose.

But do please note the caveat that you can’t combine this route with getting a discount.

Confusing, I know, but that’s VAT for you. Generally speaking the rule is, for bulk mailing there is now VAT on postage.

Tony

Hamilton House Mailings Ltd reg number 2444392 VAT 354907535GB. Phone 01536 399 000.

Putting a lot of articles about your products and services on your web site serves two purposes.

First it allows you to find more readers – they will in fact stumble across your articles when searching in Google. Put up enough articles and eventually you will have one in two new customers saying, “actually I found you while searching on the internet”.

Second they help with conversions. If you have a complex or expensive sale to offer, when you are talking to a potential new customer there is every chance he/she will not want to make a decision at once.

The potential customer will go away, and ponder. But if during that pondering the customer comes across another of your articles, or indeed remembers something that you have said in one of your articles, then the positive feeling about your product or service will grow.

Thus more readers equals more conversions.

There is actually a third reason why this works so well. Few companies do it. Most web sites are full of pictures – which is nice, but doesn’t usually manage to convince people to buy.

The text however can do it by increasing your status, as well as finding more readers and making them feel good about you.

If you would like to see how we do it, subscribe to our daily email news service – it is of course free. Email Direct-mail-secrets-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Or to discuss this approach call 01536 399 000.

Tony Attwood

We tend to focus on the notion that “brand” is something that applies to big companies. Smaller firms tend to go just for the sales.

I am not sure this is really true, for whenever we deal with a company either as a consumer or for a B2B transaction we get what might be called a “brand experience”. That is to say we have a perception of the company that we are interacting with. That perception defines the relationship, and that is especially the case when things go wrong.

This simple and fairly obvious observation is one that is getting lost when people start focussing more on the medium than on creating that “brand experience”.

When email became big news a lot of firms focussed on email and the technology, rather than on creating the “brand experience” for their customers in the message. Now the same seems to be true with the fixation on social media. Yes it can be important, but still the brand experience is everything.

In short, email is not a business activity in its own right, nor is postal direct mail, nor is social marketing. They are simply channels to the customer.

It all comes down to the way in which you want people to feel about your company. Ask that question, and most people say, “we are friendly”. OK – so how do you show that. How do people know you are friendly?

That is the key to everything. And time and time again I see companies that tell me that their prime selling point is the friendly helpfulness of their sales team who have marketing that does not put that across at all.

Dealing with a company is an experience that you create, in my opinion. The medium you use is an issue, but not the prime issue.

Tony Attwood

Hamilton House Mailings Ltd reg number 2444392 VAT 354907535GB. Phone 01536 399 000.

Every month a new report appears which tells us that certain times of the week are ideal for sending out emails, and that others times are an absolute waste of time.

One month Monday at 10am is great. Another month Tuesday is seen as the better deal. And so on.

A recent report has considered exactly when people are most likely to be on line, and then suggested that we should email during that period – although such an idea is based on an assumption that people respond better to adverts that appear while they are on line, rather than to adverts which are in their in-box waiting for them when they log in. I am not sure anyone has tested this.

I have seen so many of these “best time” reports that contradict each other, that I have now reached the view that there is no best time and that as with other things one needs to experiment in relation to ones own advertising.

My thinking on this is enhanced by an experiment we have done.

Hamilton House sends out a lot of adverts to schools, and a lot of our customers express the view that they don’t want their advert to go out on Friday. So quite often our Friday schedule is half empty – and we fill it with emails to teachers advertising the books that the publishing company that we own, is promoting.

And guess what – on Friday afternoon – the time no one else wants – we get a far better response rate than any other time of the week!

I have no idea why this is – except that perhaps it is the one moment in the week when teachers are not getting many other emails so they are more likely to read ours!

But my point is clear – don’t assume, and don’t believe the reports you read. Do a test and see what happens. No matter how unlikely the time slot might seem.

Tony Attwood
01536 399 000.
Hamilton House Mailings Ltd reg number 2444392 VAT 354907535GB. Phone 01536 399 000.

To be clear, a landing page is the page you direct people to from an email advert. Generally it is not the home page of your web site, but rather a page specifically created for the advert.

In this approach, the email advert grabs attention and generates the excitement while the landing page fills in the details. The email focuses on benefits, the landing page on features.

The theory is simple – anyone clicking through to the landing page is expressing an interest, and so will give you a moment or two to express what your product or service is about.

I mention all this because landing pages are one of the issues we most frequently talk with our clients about.

Typically what happens is that we send out the email, and get a decent enough number of people clicking through to the landing page. But then very few sales result.

The reason at this point can only be the landing page – because we can measure the effectiveness of the click throughs via the normal email software. So what goes wrong, and what can be done?

Landing pages need to tread a fine line between complexity and simplicity. Quite often being too complex, having too much information, can end the sale (for the reader is interested, but not ready to give you 10 minutes ploughing through complex data). Sometimes however the page is too simple – doing little more than repeating what is in the email.

There is also the issue of design. You may want to impress people with your design, but in many cases being on the landing page means the reader already trusts you to an extent. What they want are facts.

The first question we have to ask is, what do you expect to happen next. Are you looking for a move from the landing page straight to a sale, or are you looking for the customer to browse products, or indeed do you hope they will call.

Whichever of these you see are you ideal, you need to create the landing page around this end result. But whatever approach you have in mind, don’t try to get a quick sale.

Putting your email, phone number of the on-line shop or a link to the next site, at the top, generally doesn’t help (and can hinder) because you are acting like a pushy shop assistant who is trying to force you into a sale before you are ready. People are perfectly capable of skimming down the page to find the sales mechanism.

As for the complexity, if you are selling a product that comes in 9 different versions, each with a slightly different spec, you might do a quick summary of each one, and then have a link to the page for each one. Don’t try and put everything on one landing page.

In terms of illustrations and other bits and pieces, try and keep these out of the way of the text. Text is the way in which people sell – via words. Yes of course if you are selling jewellery or cars you need pictures – but most purchases are made on the basis of benefits, price and reliability, so don’t go in for looks unless there really is something to look at.

Above all you should be designing a page that helps your potential customer work his/her way through making a decision about purchasing. And you do that by supplying information.

Exactly what information and how you provide it does depend on the nature of the person you are reaching, and their view of your products. But whatever answer you have to that issue, you are still taking the reader on a journey.

And journeys are generally conducted through words.

If you would like to talk about this further do call 01536 399 000. We work with clients on broader issues of this nature in our Velocity programme, which is described on www.velocity.ac

Tony Attwood

I recall being a guest lecturer on a university post-grad marketing course, finding myself introduced as something of an expert on creating original advertising copy.

That was rather nice, but the edge was taken off when the senior lecturer who was introducing me expressed the view that it was important to get your advert right – “because you only get one crack at this”.

Which was a bit unfortunate because much of my prepared lecture was on the need to experiment and the belief that in terms of audience reaction no one remembers your ads that don’t work. They don’t remember because they don’t read the ads.

Advertising is mostly about getting noticed. If no one reads what you write or looks at your pictures then nothing happens. But getting noticed is an art and a science – which is why experimentation is always needed.

The way we do this with email and postal marketing involves taking part of our list and trying different adverts so that we can which one works best. With postal advertising we might try just 200 or 300 letters in the post to potential customers selected at random. Typically with email a list is divided in two and we try one copy to one half and one to another.

Unfortunately most companies don’t do this type of testing, and I can never quite work out why. If you put all your eggs in the single basked and go for one advert to your list, and it works, you don’t know if it could have worked better with another advert.

(Interestingly even those firms who have bought our CD of generic school address lists and who have the whole list available, generally don’t test, even though they could do this at no extra cost to themselves).

True you can always try another advert next time if the first one fails, but only by testing two or more messages together on the same day can you get a true reflection of the results.

With our publishing company we have on occasion tried six different versions of our advert in an attempt to find the best version. That’s how much we like to test. “But,” say those who are against the idea, “we couldn’t afford that.”

However testing is remarkably cheap, because quite often you will get sales back that will pay for the test. You might not make a profit on each test, but most of your expenses will be covered from the sales you get.

“I don’t have time to test,” is the other objection. “This is our selling season and I need to advertise now.” Fair enough – but I would still say – take 5% out of your list and send those people a different advert. Keep a record of the schools involved, and if the response rates to those schools is much higher, you know your experimental advert is better than your standard advert. Now you can use that information in the next round of adverts.

If you would like to talk about experimentation in advertising please do call 01536 399 000. If you would like to work with us on a regular basis, experimenting to find your best approach, we can do that through the Velocity programme: www.velocity.ac

Tony Attwood