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When the software is customized for your individual needs, the job becomes easier. All the functionality your business needs will always be at your fingertips. We offer:

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Data-driven marketing involves using customer information to optimize business advertising and marketing communications. Collect data and run it through analytics tools in CDP Altcraft Platform.

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Advanced and functional HTTP API in Altcraft Marketing will satisfy the needs of developers. API supports JSON and XML formats. It is possible to use queue servers (such as RabbitMQ) to import large numbers of client profiles in real time.

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Create a theme for the form by choosing the appropriate color scheme. Change the style and color of the text. Add photos and YouTube videos to the form. To do this, insert additional code into the required tag.

Design to your taste

Find out what your customers want through questionnaires and surveys. Getting feedback on time will work in favor of your business. If you respond quickly to customer feedback, you will increase their trust and brand loyalty.

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You can customize the logic of the form so that respondents go to different pages depending on which answer they select. This will make your survey or questionnaire more targeted. Before submitting the form, select the «Actions» tab. If the form is completed successfully, the data are automatically imported into your database.

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An event registered on the platform can be redirected to an external system. This provides endless opportunities for integration. Connect external BI, DMP, CRM and other tools.

In Altcraft Platform, you can set up any scenarios for sending messages through various delivery channels. By analyzing the actions of customers, you can anticipate events many steps ahead. Here are examples of scenarios that can be implemented in our marketing automation service:


Email marketing is one of the most important customer communication channels. Four out of five marketers are more likely to give up social media marketing than email marketing. Here are illustrative examples of the email marketing strategy:


Build messages dynamically based on customer data and specified conditions in the template. This data can be obtained from an external SQL database. Substitute data from an external HTTP service via API or based on data from any web page.

<Img 
img="/uploads/Blog_b0169471f4.png"
alt="Sales funnel"
/>

Customers do not always buy as soon as they find a product on a company's website or elsewhere. When it comes to complex and expensive products, consumers take the time to compare and study. For this reason, companies try not to be intrusive and help users go through all stages of decision making step by step.

It is a sales funnel that is used to make the process transparent and simplify analytics. A sales funnel is a concept that describes all the steps a customer takes on the way to a conversion. There are several funnel models: the classic five-step buying scheme, the AIDA model, the SPIN method, and others. The company chooses a model and adapts it to its needs or creates its own version.

In this post, we will explain what a sales funnel is, why use this concept and how to develop it.

## What is a sales funnel and why use it

A **sales funnel**, also known as a **marketing funnel**, is the journey a customer takes from first contact with a business to making a purchase. The model is usually visualized as an upside-down cone and represents all the stages of sales that the client goes through. The top part gets the most [**leads**](MQL-and-SQL). But not everyone gets to the end where the purchase takes place, so the cone narrows to the bottom.

### Why does your business need a sales funnel

- **Highlight weak spots.** When all steps are written and all stages of the sales funnel are tracked, it is easy to analyze and understand where there is a problem in sales.
- **Supervise the work of sales reps and marketers.** The funnel includes marketing tools and sales activities, so it is easy to track the effectiveness of each participant in the process.

*For example, your advertising campaign results in 100 applications per week, but only 5-10 people buy. The analysis shows that the applications are targeted, and most of all clients are “turned back” after talking with the manager. You look into the situation and find that sales reps are not interested in dealing with the client and do not know how to handle objections about the high price. If the company did not have a sales funnel, it would be more difficult to find the reason.*

- **Create controlled sales.** If you know at what stage of decision-making the lead is now, you can make an offer that will satisfy their needs. This approach will speed up the purchase.
- **Analyze sales performance.** You can calculate your sales funnel conversion using the formula. Divide the number of converted customers by the total number of users, and then multiply the result by 100%.

<Img
img="/uploads/sales_funnel_conversion_formula_db6b695bd1.png"
alt="Sales funnel conversion"
/>

In other words, this is the difference between the number of leads at the top and the bottom. The more potential customers reach the purchase, the better the funnel works.

## Sales funnel stages

The classic sales funnel is the AIDA model, which consists of four stages.

<Table>
| **Stage** | **Description** | 
| ------ | ------ |
| **Attention** | The lead contacts the brand for the first time through advertising or direct search on the Internet. |
| **Interest** | The lead is interested in the product, for example, they subscribe to the newsletter, click on the links or ask questions. |
| **Desire** | The lead understood that he needs the product, and now they are looking for options for a profitable offer, such as discounts, free shipping, etc. |
| **Action** | The lead places an order. |
</Table>

<Img
img="/uploads/classic_sales_funnel_8977a756a3.png"
alt="Classic sales funnel"
/>

The other type is the marketing funnel, which repeats the five stages of sales.

<Table>
| **Stage** | **Description** | 
| ------ | ------ |
| **Approaching the customer** | The first contact between a sales rep and a potential client or automatic first message. It is important to make the right impression and motivate a person to continue communication. |
| **Discovering customer needs** | The sales rep asks the client questions about their needs. Then the manager draws a conclusion and offers a suitable solution. |
| **Pitching** | Present your solution. Based on the discovered needs of the client, talk about the features of the product and its benefits. The sales rep presents only those features that are important to the client. |
| **Handling objections** | The sales rep answers the buyer's questions and works out objections. For example, doubts about the cost or quality of the product. |
| **Closing the deal** | The customer is ready to buy and is interested in payment methods or installments. The task of the sales rep is to switch the client to the completion of the purchase: pay, order delivery, and so on. |
</Table>

In brick-and-mortar retail stores, all five steps are done in a conversation here and now. However, if your company operates in the digital space, the online sales funnel consisting of such stages is not always fast. Sometimes the process includes phone calls, messaging, and sending files.

Another option is the SPIN method. Its author, Neil Rackham, said that classic five-step sales models are not effective for large and complex deals, such as B2B. According to SPIN, at each stage managers work with different types of questions that identify the customer's problem, clarify and lead to a purchase.

<Table>
| **Stage** | **Description** | 
| ------ | ------ |
| **Situation** | Open-ended questions to clarify the situation in which the customer is now.  |
| **Problem** | Questions to identify problems and hidden needs. |
| **Implication** | Questions that demonstrate the possible negative effect if the problem will not be solved. |
| **Need-payoff** | A type of “what if” question that guides the customer into the future; questions like these show how a customer's life would change if they fixed a problem with your product. |
</Table>

Each company chooses the model that best suits its needs, and transforms the stages, adjusting them to the business processes.

## How to build a sales funnel

There are no universal methods, so brands not only adapt existing marketing funnel models for themselves, but also develop their own. Some models also include after-sales service, upselling and cross-selling.

Let's create a custom sales funnel in six steps:

### 1. Collect data

Collect information about the audience that should be included in the list of leads. Determine the channels through which customers come. Find out how customers behave on different resources, as well as what their needs and objections are. Next, plan a funnel for a specific audience, and not for all customers at once. Choose one of the existing models, exclude the steps that are not important for your company and add the missing ones.

### 2. Define a goal for the funnel

Specify what conversion rate you would like to receive from the funnel and also rates for intermediate stages. The model is divided into top, middle and bottom. Specify how many users are expected to reach each stage.

### 3. Think through the steps of the funnel

Define actions at each funnel step. For example, at the beginning it may be the launch of an advertising campaign. The middle is a call from the sales rep or an email reminder of the purchase. At the end, you can offer free shipping or bonuses.

### 4. Create content for each step

For automatic funnels, the content can be email templates. If sales reps lead customers through the funnel, prepare scripts, materials that they will send to customers for a detailed acquaintance with the product.

### 5. Set up a sales funnel

Marketing funnel can work:

- manually through the sales staff;
- semi-automatically — email marketing services, phone services and other automation platforms are responsible for some of the stages;
- automatically — a marketer only controls and optimizes.

You will have to use [**special services**](/features/analytics) to set up semi-automated and automated sales funnels. In the future, this will save time for your employees and speed up communication with the client.

### 6. Run the funnel, analyze and optimize

Once the funnel is up and running, it is important to monitor and improve it. Regularly measure performance at each stage and quickly respond to changes. Only in this way the model will bring the expected income. To optimize your funnel, you need to get feedback from users on the sales process and analyze the stages of the funnel.

## Sales funnel example

The user visits your site, adds the item to the cart and immediately checks out. This is an example of a simple funnel, but this rarely happens. Often the path to purchase is longer and more difficult. Here is an example of such a funnel.

The user:

1. Gets to the company's website through contextual advertising. 
2. Views a product, for example, an autumn jacket. 
3. Subscribes to an email newsletter that informs about promotions and brand news. 
4. Receives an email with an offer for the autumn collection. 
5. Follows the link and adds the item to the cart, but does not check out. 
6. The company sends a reminder email about the product in the cart and the user buys.

## How to automate your sales funnel using Altcraft Platform

The platform supports [**omnichannel marketing**](omnichannel-vs-multichannel), so it collects information about different stages of the sales funnel in a single profile. Let's take a look at how to automate the customer journey from the example above.

1. You set up and run contextual advertising through Google Ads.
2. Jane visits your site and leaves her email. Her contact details are included in the Altcraft Platform database. The subscription to the resource is added.
3. The platform launches an automatic series of welcome emails.
4. Jane receives an email with a promotional code. She reacts and adds the item to the cart, but does not check out.
5. Altcraft Platform starts an [**abandoned cart**](how-to-reduce-cart-abandonment-rate) email scenario.
6. Jane becomes interested and buys. The funnel ends.

The entire process of moving a user through the sales funnel is automated through workflows and other Altcraft Platform tools. Sending messages through different channels — Email, SMS, Push, WhatsApp or Telegram — can expand the possibilities of your business and make the customer journey completely clear and controlled.

<Img
img="/uploads/abandoned_cart_scenario_607a42d15b.png"
alt="Abandoned cart scenario"
src="Abandoned cart scenario"
/>

The Funnel report is used to track the process performance. The report displays metrics for all actions within the strategy. It is possible to visualize all the steps of the sales funnel: the number of customers and the percentage of conversion.

<Img
img="/uploads/sales_funnel_in_altcraft_platform_d15cdd4757.png"
alt="Conversion funnel in Altcraft Platform"
src="Conversion funnel in Altcraft Platform"
/>

## Conclusion

A sales funnel is a model of a customer's journey from the first meeting with a brand to purchase. Using this approach, you will make sales transparent and controlled. The company begins to control each stage of the transaction, monitor the work of the sales department and find weak spots.

Building a sales funnel is possible using the AIDA, SPIN models, five classic sales steps and others. There is no universal solution, so companies also create their own models. To do this, you need to collect customer data, define goals, make a plan for each stage, prepare content, set up a funnel, and continue to optimize after launch.

This post explains what a sales funnel is, why use the concept, what funnel models exist, and how to build your own marketing funnel.

medium_Блог.png

small_Блог.png

thumbnail_Блог.png

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A sales funnel is a concept that describes all the steps a customer takes on the way to a conversion.

Why Businesses Use a Sales Funnel and How to Build It

Sales Funnel: Definition, Models and Stages

<Img 
img="/uploads/Blog_557f9e4865.png"
alt="16 Mistakes in Customer Satisfaction Surveys"
/>

Customer feedback is the most valuable information for the company. When you analyze consumer opinion about your product, you have the opportunity to improve the company and get unexpected insights. To truly measure customer satisfaction, you often have to initiate surveys rather than wait for random reviews on the Internet.

## Why conduct customer satisfaction surveys

The main purpose of such surveys is to determine the degree of satisfaction of consumers with an experience with your company and product. Based on the results of the survey, the Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) is calculated on a scale from 1 to 10. Over time, the CSAT is compared to the previous value. Analyzing your CSAT and survey responses  can help you understand what needs to be improved.

Poorly conducted surveys do not bring significant results and make analytics difficult. If a customer has a positive experience after interacting with your brand, but then “ran into” a stupid survey, their impression of the company can be greatly spoiled. Therefore, it is so important not to make mistakes in creating surveys. Let's talk about the most common of them.

## 16 Common Survey Mistakes

### 1. Missing survey goal

A clear survey goal determines the duration of the survey, the number and quality of questions. Each question works towards a goal. Do not try to cover a wide range of issues with one survey: this will complicate the survey and cause negativity among respondents.

<Gallery>
<GalleryItem
original="/uploads/Frame_1_7b5d4c48aa.png"
thumbnail="/uploads/Frame_1_7b5d4c48aa.png"
description="Clear survey goal"
/>
<GalleryItem
original="/uploads/image1_c940c09bb1.png"
thumbnail="/uploads/image1_c940c09bb1.png"
description="Unclear survey goal"
/>
</Gallery>

The respondent must also understand what the purpose of the survey is and why it is important to take part in it.

### 2. Too many or too few open-ended questions

How many open-ended questions should you add to the survey? The answer is different for each case. Keep in mind that [**data processing tools**](/en) do not recognize open-ended questions, so you will have to manually analyze these answers.

This does not mean that you should avoid open-ended questions altogether. They can lead to a deeper understanding of customers, provide valuable insights, and reveal weaknesses you didn't even know you had.

So use open-ended questions, but don't overdo them. Otherwise, you will overload the respondent, who may get tired of answering your questions, and the researcher, who will have to analyze the answers.

### 3. Ignoring the demographic characteristics of respondents

Before analyzing the results of the survey, it is necessary to understand your [**target customer**](creating-a-customer-profile) base. Perhaps you should  separate the opinion of one group of respondents from another, or even exclude certain individuals from the survey. For this reason, we recommend that you do not neglect questions about the demographic characteristics of the respondents. Questions about age, gender, profession, social status most often begin or end the survey.

If you are worried that the respondent will not want to provide any information about themselves, add response options such as “I do not want to talk” or “other” with the opportunity to leave a comment.

### 4. Questions are too vague

Compare two questions:

- Did you enjoy working with us?
- How would you rate the customer support and customer service?

The first question is vague. The most likely answers — "yes" or "no",and they will not bring much benefit to the researcher. The second question is more specific and deep. Respondents will not limit themselves to a one-word answer and will add details.

### 5. Difficult questions that don't have clear answers

“How would you rate a purchase from us, would you recommend our company to your friends?”. It is difficult to answer such a question, and it is no less difficult to analyze the answers. Break this question into two, and you will get valuable information for each.

Difficult questions are a waste of time for both the company and the client. Always remember the purpose of the study. Each question should bring you closer to achieving this goal and provide accurate data.

### 6. Survey is too short or too long

If there are too many questions, most users will close the survey before it ends. Nobody likes wasting time.

It is even worse if the respondent answers the remaining questions in a hurry. Therefore, the duration of the survey has a direct impact on the result.

Questions that are too short are often uninformative because there is not enough data to draw any conclusions. Look for a balance between the length of a survey and its value. There should be so many questions that you can solve a specific business problem without taking too much time from customers.

### 7. Leading questions

Of course, any company is flattered when customers speak positively about it. However, the survey should not push respondents to do so. Just like you don't need to pass off your own opinion as correct.

Compare two questions:

- Is it valuable to you that our customer support rep responds in less than 10 minutes?
- How long do you think it should take for a customer support rep to respond?

In the first question, clients will agree that the speed of response is important to them, but they will not be able to specify the waiting time. In the second question, respondents will answer as they see fit.

### 8. Collection of false information

Often in surveys you can find a question like this: “On a scale of 1 to 10, how comfortable is it for you to interact with customer support?”. Below is a scale for answers. What about those respondents who have not had to interact with this service? They answer at random. You should never predict the behavior of customers and generalize them. When you create a survey, think of different scenarios and include the "no data" option.

### 9. Imposing surveys on clients

There are customers who never take surveys from companies, even if it is a tiny survey, that won't take long. Just deal with it. Invite customers to leave feedback unobtrusively. Clients are extremely negative if they are forced to participate in the study. 

Explain to consumers the value of the survey. Tell them that their opinion will help improve the customer experience.

### 10. Survey results are scalable

No matter how large the sample of respondents, it is foolish to assume that the opinion of this group coincides with the opinion of every person on earth. Survey results are limited and should not be scaled to a city, region, or country.

### 11. Survey completed, but no promised improvements

The main mistake is to do nothing with the results of the survey. Customer satisfaction surveys are conducted to find out what customers think about your company. Find out what customers like or dislike. Ideally, after conducting the survey, the company adjusts its business processes and improves the product or service.

Positive ratings indicate that the company is on the right track. When you find aspects that delight your clients, keep working on them. If you get negative ratings, fix the shortcomings that caused dissatisfaction.

The results of the survey may reveal benefits that are worth using in marketing campaigns to attract new customers.

### 12. Typos and grammatical mistakes

Grammar and spelling mistakes in surveys scare customers away. If the [**service you chose to create the survey**](/features/forms-and-surveys) doesn't have built-in spelling and grammar checking, check it yourself. Misspelled questions can confuse respondents, cause laughter or annoyance.

### 13. Hasty publication of the survey

Every project has deadlines. However, even if the company is online, focus on quality over speed. First of all, take enough time to develop an effective questionnaire. Check that there are no errors in it, that all forms work, and that the answer options correspond to the questions.

After receiving the results of the study, do not rush to publish them, check the correctness of the conclusions, and prepare high-quality infographics.

### 14. Gaps in the survey structure

We have already mentioned this problem indirectly in the previous paragraph. It's a big mistake to forget to add a question or answers to it. If there are too many mistakes in the survey structure, users will refuse to complete it.

### 15. Selecting ineffective survey distribution channels

If you choose the wrong distribution channels, the result will be insignificant. The platforms for placing the survey depend on the purpose of the study and the characteristics of the target audience. Focus on the [**customer journey map**](stroim-customer-journey-map). It is necessary to offer clients to take a survey at the moment when they have gained a notable customer experience.

### 16. The language of the survey is difficult to understand

No matter how complex the research topic, customer satisfaction surveys should be written in the language of the respondents. Customer-friendly language is a companion of success. Remove jargon, specific vocabulary, unnecessary terminology from the questionnaire. They confuse, annoy and slow down your respondents.

Choose a survey style that is simple and casual. Talk to customers in a friendly manner, and they feel comfortable to answer your questions.

## Bad questions in customer satisfaction surveys

### "When choosing a product, I pay attention to its ease of use"

Reformulate such a question in an open form: "What is important to you when choosing a product?". So you will collect much more valuable information.

### “Did our product meet your expectations, and how useful was it for you?”

A question like this does not provide adequate feedback. Break it into two.

### "How good was our product?"

This is a leading question, and it assumes that the client must have had a pleasant experience. If this is not the case, the user will be confused with the answer. Instead, you can ask, “How would you rate our product?”

### "Was it difficult to use our website?"

The question contains an attempt to predict the client's actions. If the client has not used the site, he will have to come up with an answer, and you will get poor-quality results. Invite the user to rate the site navigation on a scale from 1 to 5. In addition, provide the answer option “no data”.

### "How likely are you to recommend our product to a colleague or friend if she asks for your advice?"

There is an assumed pronoun in the question. It would be better to ask, “How likely are you to recommend our product to a friend or colleague?”

### “Onboarding process made it easy to get started with the product. Response scale from 1 to 5, where 1 - completely agree, 5 - disagree"

Carefully check questions with answers on a Likert scale. Make sure that the logic is not broken and that the answers on either side of the central value are diametrically opposed.

In this post, we'll talk about the mistakes you can make when creating a customer satisfaction survey and how to avoid them.

A survey is a great way to gauge customer satisfaction, but mistakes can lead to incorrect conclusions.

16 Mistakes in Customer Satisfaction Surveys: Find and Avoid

Top 16 Customer Satisfaction Survey Mistakes

<Img
img="/uploads/Blog_1_d855861e54.png"
alt="How to Segment Your Target Audience: Criteria, Steps, Models"
/>

Business audiences are rarely uniform, especially if it is an audience of many thousands. Customers differ in age, buying methods, and interests, so making the same offer for everyone is inefficient. Segmentation of the target audience (dividing into groups) is a step towards personalization, insights for the development of new products and services, as well as the success of  advertising campaigns that become more targeted.

A business gets [**77% ROI**](https://www.notifyvisitors.com/blog/segmentation-statistics/) and increased customer loyalty with proper segmentation. In the post we will describe the benefits of splitting clients into groups, as well as by what criteria and how to segment the audience.

## What is target audience segmentation

**Target audience segmentation** is the distribution of current and potential customers into groups (segments) according to certain similar characteristics. Users fall into segments by age, gender, personal, socio-economic and other characteristics.

### Why does your business need customer segmentation:

**[Increasing loyalty](customer-loyalty).** The more detailed the company defines segments, the better it understands the needs of customers and more effectively personalizes offers. Users get a positive experience and give high rates to the brand.

**Effective advertising campaigns.** Audience segmentation shows the pains of the target audience and removes the random effect when advertising is set up for everyone at once in order to hit at least some customer preferences. Promotion goes faster with clear segments because the business offers the right product to the interested audience.

**Reducing marketing costs.** Audience segmentation is beneficial because there are no extra costs for testing, fewer errors in setting up campaigns. Thus, the business saves the marketing budget.

**Increasing profits** as a result of offering the right product at the right time to a ready-to-buy customer.

**Product improvement.** When you understand the segments, it is easier for you to tailor the product to the interests and needs of the audience.

**Insights for development strategy.** Segmentation is a detailed definition of the [**target audience**](creating-a-customer-profile). In the process of customer research, the company often receives unexpected conclusions about their interests and understands what development options are. For example, one target segment buys with the same frequency, and the other only during discounts. In this case, you should consider whether it is necessary to spend the company's resources on additional mailings (which are not free), if it is enough to send just a promotional code.

**Increasing competitiveness.** The one who knows the audience segments better, determines their needs faster and accurately “hits the target”, while the rest of the companies act at random.

**Choice of communication channels.** Segments will not necessarily be users of the same social network, and then marketers will have to add new promotion channels after segmentation.

## How to segment your customers

### Segmentation steps

1. Goal setting and hypotheses. Decide what result you want to get / what needs to be revealed as a result of segmentation.
2. Define segmentation criteria.
3. Divide the audience into segments based on the data collected from analytics.
4. Analyze the received segments and draw conclusions. Determine what you can offer to each group of customers.
5. Write a strategy and action plan for the groups. At this step, the company decides with which segments and how to work: perhaps some should be prioritized, while others should be completely removed.

### Types of segmentation

Here are the criteria for defining segments:

- **Socio-demographic.** Demographic data includes statistical information, like a person’s age, income, gender, education, etc.
- **Geographic.** Includes the client's place of residence: country, region, locality. It is also important to consider the characteristics of the place: climate, natural disasters.
- **Behavioral.** How often and in what way the client buys, readiness to buy, [**feedback**](how-to-use-customer-feedback-to-increase-sales) and ratings for products, behavior on the website.
- **Psychographic.** This can include personality variables like ways of self-expression, values, sociability, attitude to the new, lifestyles, attitudes, likes, and dislikes. 

Here are other segmentation criteria:

- **Business criteria.** Describes the income, size, industry of the company (for B2B).
- **Generation theories.** Baby Boomers, Generations X, Y, Z, and Alpha.
- **Life stage.** For example, having a child, getting married, graduating from university.
- **Seasonal activity.** When purchases are made during a certain period. For example, buyers choose seeds before the summer season.

### Ben Hunt’s Customer Awareness Ladder

The idea behind the model is that a customer comes to a purchase through five consecutive steps.

<Img
img="/uploads/ben_hunt_s_ladder_292f447b2c.png"
alt="Ben Hunt’s Customer Awareness Ladder"
/>

### The 5 Ws of audience segmentation

<Img
img="/uploads/5_ws_segmentation_052e8a297a.png"
alt="The 5 Ws of audience segmentation"
/>

It is much more efficient to combine different criteria and segmentation methods, rather than one. There is no universal set of characteristics for segments, so each business chooses the best for itself. Think right away what a segment is for your business.What is the size of each group, how detailed you describe it, and on the basis of what characteristics do you divide the audience.

**Data sources for audience segmentation:**

- surveys on the website and in social networks;
- [**email database**](how-to-build-an-email-database);
- analytics systems;
- social media statistics;
- feedback analysis.

## How to evaluate segmentation results

First, we check the segments for:

- Stability. Groups should remain unchanged for the next few years (according to forecasts);
- The possibility of communication. The audience is available in one or more channels;
- Uniformity. Within the group, customers are as similar as possible and very different from other segments.

Also, the result of proper segmentation is the growth of [**marketing KPIs**](top-digital-marketing-metrics): clicks on links in content and advertising, conversion rates and sales.

## What awaits a business without segmentation

Incorrect audience definition results in wasted advertising campaigns and, possibly, minimal effect from them. If you show all customers the same offer, only some will respond, and the rest will not buy. It can take a long time to test options for ads without segmentation, and each attempt is an additional expense that is not always paid off. 

Without segmentation, [**personalization**](/features/personalization) is also impossible. The group of customers whose interests are “not hit” will turn out to be less loyal, and the business will lose potential income.

## Examples of segmentation

Let's do an audience segmentation for an [**online learning platform**](marketing-automation-for-online-education) that offers courses in digital professions. For example, we need to define the target audience for selling a course on Internet marketing.

<Img
img="/uploads/examples_of_segmentation_fa7e50f2f1.png"
alt="The 5 Ws of audience segmentation"
/>

### The 5 Ws of audience segmentation

<Img
img="/uploads/5_ws_example_8d5cc04fa5.png"
alt="The 5 Ws of audience segmentation"
/>

### Ben Hunt’s Customer Awareness Ladder

<Img
img="/uploads/ben_hunt_ladder_example_b609fcf55c.png"
alt="Ben Hunt’s Customer Awareness Ladder"
/>

## Summary

Target audience segmentation is a grouping of customers according to similar characteristics: gender, age, interests, frequency of purchases, readiness to place an order, and others. The division into segments gives ideas for business development and increases loyalty, competitiveness, and the effectiveness of advertising campaigns.

Usually the audience is segmented according to socio-demographic, geographic, behavioral, and psychographic characteristics. But it is also possible to use alternative approaches or combine several methods. For example, there are such methods as Ben Hunt’s Customer Awareness Ladder or a 5W model. Without dividing customers into groups, the business works blindly and loses money on testing advertising campaigns. It cannot personalize the offer. However, proper segmentation saves the marketing budget and leads to an increase in marketing performance and sales.

In this post, we talk about the benefits of dividing customers into groups, by what criteria and how to segment the audience.

medium_Блог (1).png

small_Блог (1).png

thumbnail_Блог (1).png

Блог (1).png

By dividing the audience into segments, you can get ideas for business development and increase the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.

How to Segment Your Target Audience: Criteria, Steps, Models

How and Why to Segment Your Target Audience

<Img
img="/uploads/How_to_Reduce_Cart_Abandonment_Rate_c3b28f1af3.png"
alt="How to Reduce Cart Abandonment Rate" 
/>
 
According to [**FinancesOnline**](https://financesonline.com/statistics-shopping-cart-abandonment-statistics/), online stores lost more than four billion dollars in 2021 due to incomplete purchases on the site. Abandoned cart is a common occurrence for an online store. It happens when a user adds items to the shopping cart on an e-commerce site but does not complete the purchase. The reasons are different. Customers change their minds about a product during checkout, refuse to buy because of an inconvenient interface or an expensive final price. 

However, it is worth working with abandoned carts. One of the best ways to do this is to remind users about the items in the cart by sending emails. The [**Open Rate**](https://www.cloudways.com/blog/shopping-cart-abandonment-statistics/#statistic-13) of such emails reaches 45%, and 11% of users who open this email end up placing an order.

In the post, we will explain why users change their decision to buy, and also show examples of emails that force the user to complete the order.

## Why Users Abandon Carts 

**Shipping is too expensive or inconvenient.** [**48% of buyers**](https://baymard.com/lists/cart-abandonment-rate) abandon a purchase due to additional shipping costs, taxes and fees. Especially if the final cost can only be found in the basket. Another common reason for changing the decision is the speed of delivery.

**Website is slow.** In the age of fast internet, no one wants to wait. 70% of users say that a [**slow site speed**](ways-to-keep-visitors-on-your-website) affects their buying decision.

**The buying process is long and complicated.** If new users have to create an account, fill out dozens of fields, go through authorization and figure out how everything works, they will most likely give up halfway through and find a way to checkout faster on another site.

**There are problems with payment.** Customers abandon the cart if there is no convenient payment method or their cards are rejected by the service. A potential client leaves disappointed.

The reason for refusal can also be a suspicious payment method. If the store offers to pay for the items by clicking on the link, this looks like phishing — one of the ways scammers steal card data.

**The site is experiencing errors.** Inactive buttons, broken layout, strange error notifications prevent users from placing an order. Only the most motivated customers will be able to go through all this garbage, the rest will leave.

**The user is not going to buy.** He puts items in the cart because it is easier than adding them to favorites. This happens when the site does not provide a function that allows users to mark the item they like.

**The user forgot about the purchase.** Start placing an order, but get distracted by something else and forget about the purchase is a standard situation. Humans are imperfect, and distractions are on the rise in the digital world. Sometimes a person is just contemplating a purchase. In this case, your reminder may push him to complete the order.

## How to deal with abandoned carts

It is impossible to completely get rid of abandoned carts, but you can and should work with them. Learn what prevents users from placing orders. To do this, use [**analytics systems**](how-to-use-end-to-end-analytics) and other available methods. Then you can start working on the problem. 

If the reason is ‘absent-mindedness’, a reminder message will save the purchase. You can remind about the items in the cart using email, [**push notifications**](in-depth-guide-on-web-push-notifications) or retargeting.

You can send a single message or set up a chain of notifications that the user will receive some time after they leave the site or application.

<Note>
NB! Be sure to add the items that the customer has chosen to the abandoned cart trigger. Also include a direct link from the email to make it easier for the user to navigate to the shopping cart page.
</Note>

## Examples of abandoned cart emails

Let's take a look at a few emails that brands send to their customers who have abandoned shopping carts on the site.

<Img
img="/uploads/boohoo1_2a0a98e029.png"
alt="How to Reduce Cart Abandonment Rate"
/>

This triggered message hints to the user that the product may run out. A message from the brand says that the items in the basket “won’t be around for long". This is where the client's fear of missing out on a profit should come into play.

The store does not end the campaign after one reminder. The next day, the user receives a second message with the subject line “We’ve cut the cost of your items”, where he is offered a [**promotional code**](how-to-use-promo-codes-for-business). Such a move encourages those buyers who did not complete the order because of the cost of purchases.

<Img
img="/uploads/boohoo2_b270936e02.png"
alt="How to Reduce Cart Abandonment Rate"
/>

The same mechanism is used by the clothing store *Steve Madden*. There is a slight difference. They wait longer (3 days) before sending the promo code to the user.

<Gallery>
<GalleryItem
original="/uploads/steve_madden_3_3b67113d12.png"
thumbnail="/uploads/steve_madden_3_3b67113d12.png"
description="Steve Madden"
/>
<GalleryItem
original="/uploads/steve_madden_2_de32583587.png"
thumbnail="/uploads/steve_madden_2_de32583587.png"
description="Steve Madden"
/>
</Gallery>

Not only large online stores work with abandoned carts, but also niche projects. Due to the friendly and almost conversational style, such campaigns get high conversions. Small businesses also do not forget about the benefits for their customers.

<Gallery>
<GalleryItem
original="/uploads/pipcorn_1_d82d642fae.png"
thumbnail="/uploads/pipcorn_1_d82d642fae.png"
description="Pipcorn Heirloom Snacks"
/>
<GalleryItem
original="/uploads/pipcorn_2_7dbfa0abe6.png"
thumbnail="/uploads/pipcorn_2_7dbfa0abe6.png"
description="Pipcorn Heirloom Snacks"
/>
</Gallery>

Abandoned carts are not only for online stores. Streaming services also remind you of pending orders. For example, you once tried to buy a subscription, but stopped at the last step. Netflix sends an email asking you to finish signing up. Realizing that the subscriber was most likely stopped by the price, the service offers the cheapest tariff plan. The message also contains information about the benefits of subscribing to the service.

<Img
img="/uploads/netflix_62c38ad8e2.png"
alt="How to Reduce Cart Abandonment Rate"
/>

Another sender who plays on the benefits of the product is the furniture store *Kardiel*. Since furniture is an expensive purchase, the store also shares its phone number and email so that a potential buyer can contact them and discuss all the details.

<Img
img="/uploads/kardiel2_a0dfcb16d9.png"
alt="How to Reduce Cart Abandonment Rate"
/>

The bookstore *Thriftbooks* doesn't get hung up on which books the user has left in the cart. Instead, it suggests other books based on the user's interests.

<Img
img="/uploads/triftbooks_d240cab8a8.png"
alt="How to Reduce Cart Abandonment Rate"
/>

Another bookstore is betting on the moral character of the buyer, so to speak. By buying on their website, the customer financially supports local bookstores.

<Img
img="/uploads/bookshop_4f17729c89.png"
alt="How to Reduce Cart Abandonment Rate"
/>

## Summary

Abandoned cart is a common problem for different online stores. Users stop checking out because they are not satisfied with the final price or shipping cost. Other reasons may be problems with payment or with the site (errors, download speed). Some users are not going to buy anything yet, but just mark interesting products by adding them to the cart. Sometimes users simply forget about the purchase because they were distracted.

An automated email campaign reminds the customer of the purchase. In messages, companies often play on lost profits for customers and say that the product will soon run out. But you can act differently. Offer users help with the choice (even on behalf of a specific manager), remind about bonuses, convenient delivery and a wide range of products. The most important thing is to communicate in a human friendly way. Also use intrigue or humor to get attention. In this case, your email will definitely be opened.

Find out why users change their buying decision after adding an item to the cart. Analyze examples of emails that push the user to complete the order.

medium_How to Reduce Cart Abandonment Rate.png

small_How to Reduce Cart Abandonment Rate.png

thumbnail_How to Reduce Cart Abandonment Rate.png

How to Reduce Cart Abandonment Rate.png

Online stores lost more than four billion dollars in 2021 due to incomplete purchases on the site. It is worth working with abandoned carts.

How to Increase Conversion Rates Using Abandoned Cart Emails

How to Reduce Cart Abandonment Rate

<Img
img="/uploads/CRO_35eb42856c.png"
alt="CRO"
/> 

**CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization)** is essential when it comes to lead generation and effective sales. In an attempt to improve the functionality of sites, many companies overload it with complex algorithms and completely forget about convenience and logic. However, it is “smart” but not complex sites that work best for traffic. 

Increasing traffic is an important task, but not the final one. It is much more significant for businesses to convert the attracted traffic into quality leads. Moreover, according to statistics, it is more profitable to keep existing leads, rather than attract new ones. Businesses are more likely to grow progressively and have a stable future with such leads. In this context, it is important to keep track of the Conversion Rate.

## What is Conversion Rate

**Conversion Rate** is the [**ratio**](https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/conversion-rate-optimization-guide%23conversion-rate&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1662554610152440&usg=AOvVaw0PugTYPGDhW9B6woIORNAs) of site users who have completed the target action to the total number of visitors. The target action can be anything: purchase, registration, subscription, and others. It depends on the tasks of the business at the moment.

<Img
img="/uploads/Conversion_Rate_19102f3e3b.jpg"
alt="Conversion Rate"
/>

*Let’s say, the target action is a subscription to a newsletter. The subscription form is placed on all pages of your site. In three months 500 people out of 20,000 site visitors became subscribers. To calculate the conversion rate, you need to divide the number of subscriptions by the total number of visitors and multiply by 100. We get 2.5%.*

You can calculate the conversion rate for each page of the site separately, and the calculation formula is universal for any task.

*For example, you need to calculate the conversion rate of a [**lead magnet**](what-is-a-lead-magnet). You use an e-book as a lead magnet. You add a download link only to some pages of the site. To find out the conversion rate, it is enough to divide the number of downloads by the number of visits to those pages where the lead magnet is located.*

A quality website has a high conversion rate. What does quality mean? User-friendly, informative, attractive to the [**target audience**](creating-a-customer-profile). Low Conversion Rate indicates poor design, low site speed, and form errors.

## "Good" Conversion Rate

What are high values and low values? What value will be a positive result? Everything is very individual and depends on the scope of the company, its geography, business goals, characteristics of the target audience and other factors.

In the [**field of e-commerce**](https://www.statista.com/statistics/439576/online-shopper-conversion-rate-worldwide/#:~:text=Global%20online%20shopper%20conversion%20rate%202018%2D2020&text=In%20the%20United%20States%2C%20online,the%20top%20spot%20for%20conversions.), the average conversion rate globally was 2.17% in the third quarter of 2020. A year ago, the indicator was 2.37%. At the same time, the American market showed a value of 2.57%. 

The conversion rate varies significantly in different time periods and in different countries. It also varies depending on the niche.  The conversion rate of e-commerce in the food segment is 5.5%, and in the hair care segment - 3.5%.

What should you rely on? On your own expectations, on the increase in the indicator in relation to the previous year, on the comparison of the conversion rate with the average value for your industry, on the achievements of competitors. If any position doesn't suit you, start optimization.

## Where is the CRO strategy applied

Any page on your site can convert, whether it's the home page, pricing page, or blog. You need to tidy up each section of the site in order to achieve the maximum effect from optimization.

1. A [**main page**](https://altcraft.com/) is the number one goal for CRO, since the first acquaintance of the user with your company begins with it. A good homepage will encourage a visitor to continue their journey through your website. A bad homepage will force them to leave it. The homepage is a good place for "anchors". It can be a chatbot for constant communication with the client, a subscription button or interesting links.

2. A **pricing page** visit can be decisive on the way to conversion. Attractive and convincing prices will strengthen the desire of the buyer, and the biased prices will scare away. How to convince buyers of the adequacy of the cost? Use CRO. The conversion can be increased by changing the pricing intervals (cost per month or per year), information support of the price, noticeable contacts for communication with the manager and the usual pop-up form.

<Img
img="/uploads/pop_ap_s_predlozheniem_11ec493171.png"
alt="Pop-up form"
/>

*For example, Hotjar placed an email collection pop-up on their price page. As a result, the company received more than 400 new customers in less than a month.*

3. [**A blog**](https://altcraft.com/blog) is an interesting section of your website that has a high conversion potential. Post useful and high-quality content and convert readers into potential customers. Use a CTA button to do this. You can provide readers with extended content, summary reports, or e-books in exchange for email.

4. **Landing pages** have the highest conversion rates because that's what they're made for. They are needed so that the person who visits them completes desired actions. On average, the conversion rate here reaches 23%. Landing page optimization is simple and very creative. *For example, it is enough to add a video from last year's event to the page in order to optimize its conversion rate. This will increase the interest and desire of visitors to attend this year's event in person. Share with users some free material. At first, make available a preview of the content, and then offer to download the full version.*

## CRO in figures

There is no doubt that CRO is useful for any company that is interested in a strong digital presence. The desire to make casual website visitors into potential buyers and, ultimately, high-quality leads, doesn’t depend on the size and type of your business. Everyone wants it. It remains only to choose an effective optimization method.

Easy to say, not easy to do. Marketers face difficulties already at the stage of setting a conversion goal. “Last month the landing page converted 50 people, next month it should convert 100 people.” What does this phrase mean? When it comes to CRO, it is not about getting 50 extra conversions next month, but about getting 50 conversions for every X number of people who visit the site. In other words, we are not talking about sales in absolute terms, but about the effectiveness of sales, in relative terms.

Conversion rate optimization is not about generating more new traffic, but about getting more out of existing traffic and leads. Here are two formulas to calculate CRO:

1. **Calculate conversion rate**. As we wrote above, you need to divide the number of conversions (leads generated) by the total website traffic, and then express as a percentage.

<Img
img="/uploads/calculate_conversion_rate_cd3de2eb4c.jpg"
alt="Calculate conversion rate"
/>

2. **Calculate the lead goal**. Determine the required number of new customers and divide it by the ratio of attracted customers to their total number.

<Img
img="/uploads/calculate_the_lead_goal_9b26eba51d.jpg"
alt="Calculate conversion rate"
/>

*For example, the website has 10,000 monthly visitors. 100 of them become leads, and 10 people become customers. The conversion rate of this website is only 1%.*

At the same time, it is interesting for a business to receive not 10, but 20 or even 30 customers every month. What to do? You can try to increase website traffic to 20,000 people, and pray that traffic doesn’t drop. However, this method carries certain risks. Or you can go the other way and use conversion rate optimization. It will allow you to “squeeze out” the required number of customers from current traffic.

*Doubling the conversion rate doubles the number of potential leads and customers.*

<Table>
| Company | A | B | C |
| ------ | ------ | ------ |
| Traffic per month | 10 000 | 10 000 | 10 000 |
| Conversion rate | 1% | 2% | 3% |
| Leads received | 100 | 200 | 300 |
| New clients | 10 | 20 | 30 |
</Table>

Have you noticed that along with the increase in the conversion rate, the number of new customers and leads has also increased? And yet the traffic remained unchanged.

It’s like filling a bucket with water: no matter how much traffic you pour into a “leaky bucket”, it will never be full. If you don't fix the cause of the “leak”, you won't improve business performance. So, it's time to start optimizing.

## Conversion Rate Optimization Strategies That Work

Here are 7 CRO strategies your business could benefit from.

1. **CTA in blog texts**. If you manage to overcome the banner blindness of readers, then the practice of using CTA in articles will show itself perfectly.

2. **A/B testing of landing pages**. Landing pages promote close interaction between customers and the company This is where users become leads and then buyers. Use A/B Testing to optimize landing pages. Tests will suggest designs and content that are interesting to visitors. Test different site versions, images, forms, CTAs, buttons to find the best combination.

*For example, China Expat Health was able to achieve a 79% [**increase in conversion rates**](https://techcrunch.com/2021/07/02/79-more-leads-without-more-traffic-heres-how-we-did-it/?hubs_post-cta=blognavcard-marketing) through testing. Among the activities that led to a significant result, it is worth noting the change of the name "Health Insurance in China" to "Save 32% on Health Insurance in China". The effect was backed up by posting real customer reviews.*

3. **MQL without delay**. Some leads are ready to become part of the conversion without preheating. Don’t interfere with them, don’t push them on the typical path of an ordinary lead, but on the contrary, help them. A qualified marketing lead will be interested in thoughtful design, high-quality sales texts, and attractive CTAs.

4. **Automation of the work of your employees**. Among the variety of work processes, there are absolutely routine ones. Such tasks can be taken out of the manual control of your colleagues, which will make their life easier. It's not difficult to do with marketing automation software.

*For example, set up [**automatic sending**](marketing-automation-for-insurance-companies) of messages to subscribers. After that, a potential client with one touch will be able to book a convenient time for him to meet with the manager. You can also set up notifications that the sales team will receive when leads move through the site and take a valuable action (visiting the pricing page).*

*According to statistics, the Open rate of abandoned cart emails reaches 45% ([**Moosend**](https://moosend.com/blog/cart-abandonment-rate-infographic/?hubs_post-cta=blognavcard-marketing) research). In the field of e-commerce, this knowledge definitely needs to be used. After opening an email, 21% of readers click on the link, half of them complete their purchase.*

<Img
img="/uploads/uvedomlenie_o_broshennoj_korzine_786032bf92.jpg"
alt="Pop-up form"
/>

Such letters also can be automated.

5. **Distinguish high-converting website pages**. You need to know the pages of your site with high conversion rates inside and out. And in different ways to communicate with visitors on these pages. If suddenly the user has a question, he should be able to instantly get an answer. For this purpose, use live chat software, various messaging functions, and chat bots. If the user is “stuck” on the page for more than 2 minutes, offer him help through a pop-up window.

6. **SERP for effective articles**. The posts you publish on your blog are sometimes useful to analyze and categorize. There are those who have high traffic but low conversions. Then SEO is needed, or you need to work on the CTA or the content of the article as a whole. High conversion rates for an article are a reason to think about improving the quality of the traffic they attract. To do this, apply to such posts SERP — content optimization for the search engine results page. Don't forget that your blog should contain only relevant information.

7. **Retargeting**. Here's the simple truth. Most visitors leave your website without taking the targeted action. Retargeting from social networks and other platforms will allow you to return some of the "runaway" customers. Retargeting works on the following principle: visitors to your site are “tagged” and then they are tracked. When they visit correlated sites on the Internet, ads pop up that remind them of you. This method works especially effectively for those who have left high-converting pages of the site.

For ads used in retargeting, the same “golden rules” apply. Advertising should be bright, texts should be selling, CTA should be eye-catching, and your offer should be clear, concise and attractive, without puzzles. Then the retargeting tool will work as it should.

*For example, [**United**](https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-strategies/video/acquisition-video-marketing/?hubs_post-cta=blognavcard-marketing) launched a retargeting campaign that focused on potential customers who interacted with the company for the first time and were already considering booking a vacation. The target audience was shown with a 15-second video with a CTA at the end. If the client was attracted by the video, he clicked on the button and instantly got to the company's website. The system worked great: 52% of monthly YouTube conversions came from ads from this video.*

## How to take the first step

We invite you to evaluate the potential of the project using **the PIE system**. This simple method will determine the course of action if you are confused.

Each element of optimization is evaluated from the position of three factors:
1. **Potential**
2. **Importance**
3. **Easy**

Score each item from 1 to 10, where 1 is the lowest score and 10 is the highest score.

The following questions will help you to grade:

1. How much improvement will this project bring?
2. What is the significance of these improvements for the business?
3. How much effort will it take to bring the idea to life?

After scoring, calculate the arithmetic mean for each item. Rank items in descending order based on results. The best projects will head the list, and you should start with them.

The PIE system is quite subjective and primitive, but it is simple to understand and implement, and can definitely serve as a starting point at the beginning of CRO.

## CRO FAQ

### What is the goal of CRO?

Companies use conversion rate optimization to increase the likelihood that website visitors will take targeted actions. In other words, the goal of CRO is to increase the percentage of people who complete the targeted action out of the total number of visitors.

### What is a CRO strategy?

A CRO strategy is a set of actions that a business takes to achieve its goal. In simple words, it converts random visitors into potential customers, and then into people who have made a purchase. Each CRO strategy is individual, because it depends on the starting state of the company, key indicators, characteristics of the target audience, and other factors.

Before developing a strategy, do not neglect [**feedback from customers**](how-to-use-customer-feedback-to-increase-sales). Reviews will help you find interesting ways to improve. Conduct A/B tests to find the best combinations of website elements that drive conversions.

### Why are CRO tools needed?

CRO tools are a set of tricks and software that simplify the process of website optimization. Some tools allow you to fully automate CRO, others help with customer acquisition and retention. There are tools that help with analytics, as well as tools that allow you to track the actions of visitors on the site, work with heat maps, collect feedback, or automate tests.

### Why do a CRO test?

CRO tests are carried out to understand how you can change the elements of the site to increase conversion. For example, you can change text, buttons, page design, element layout, colors, and shapes. In this case, your decisions are based on an accurate calculation, and not on personal opinion.



In this article, we talk about what is conversion rate, where is the CRO strategy applied and how does this strategy work.

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What is conversion rate, where is the CRO strategy applied and how does this strategy work.

How to Optimize Your Conversion Rate

7 Effective Ways to Optimize Your Conversion Rate

<Img
img="/uploads/podcast_marketing_bc95cead53.png"
alt="Podcast Marketing"
/>

Podcasts have taken over the world. There are over [**four million podcasts**](https://www.thepodcasthost.com/listening/podcast-industry-stats/), and the average person listens to eight podcasts per week. Podcasting is like radio, but it's much more convenient because the episodes are available at any time and on different devices.

Podcasters create content for businesses, talk about social and cultural topics, and make entertaining series of podcasts. As a marketing tool, podcasts are a native format that attracts a new audience and increases the loyalty of the existing one.

In this post, we will tell you how a business can use podcasting for promotion, how to create your own podcast. We will also give some examples.

## What is a podcast and why do you need it

A podcast is a pre-recorded audio program that is uploaded to one of the digital platforms. 

The process of creating and promoting podcasts is called podcasting. The word "podcasting" comes from a combination of "iPod" and "broadcasting". It was first used by journalist Ben Hammersley in an [**article**](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2004/feb/12/broadcasting.digitalmedia) for The Guardian in 2004. So it was not Apple who invented podcasts. It is just that the iPod was one of the MP3 players for listening to audio files. Although the podcasting boom didn't happen at the beginning of the 2000s, useful podcasts began to gain millions of listens in the 2020s.

People often compare podcasts to 21st century radio. The format is similar. Podcasters take interviews, have discussions with multiple people or record monologues on a topic. The only difference with radio is that you can save podcasts as mp3, aac or ogg/vorbis, and listen to them at any time. Separate episodes are released on different topics or set one per season, as in TV shows. Usually podcasts are only audio, but there are YouTube podcasts, where the conversation of the participants is also recorded on video.

Topics for podcasts are not limited by any rules. Podcasters talk about everything that is interesting to listeners: business, psychology, marketing, history, fashion, sports, cinema. They share the latest news and discuss other interesting topics.

Podcasts make it easy for users to get information. Listening to a recording is more convenient than waiting for an online broadcast in the fast pace of life and in a huge flow of information. This format does not tie the user to time, place and device: a person chooses when, where and how to listen to a podcast. Special listening platforms have desktop and mobile versions. Also, any user can download an audio file to the device and not depend on the network. 

Through podcasts, people get news, learn, search for answers to questions, and just have fun while listening in the background, which saves time.

## How marketers can use podcasts

Podcasting in marketing is an additional promotion tool that:

**Expands the target audience of the brand.** People find a podcast on the platform by interest or recommendation, listen and learn about the company that produces or sponsors the episodes. Then users go to the site —  the business gets new leads.

**Increases loyalty.** Podcasts often show the informal side of the company, which humanizes the brand. Live stories of employees, their internal affairs form additional loyalty: people empathize with people. When people are listening to a podcast, they have a sense of presence, and customers become closer to the company.

**Natively advertises.** During the conversation, participants mention the company's products, tell examples and cases in the context of other stories.

Types of podcasts that work as marketing tools:

- **Branded podcast**. This format sometimes replaces brand media or complements the usual blog. Podcasts analyze topics relevant to the audience that are related to the company's product: cases, news and trends.

- [**Affiliate podcasts**](affiliate-marketing-for-beginners). The company's experts come to other podcasters with related topics and make a joint project or a regular feature from their brand. This is how the partner audience learns about your brand, and you get additional traffic to the site.

- **Sponsorship of podcasts**. The company pays for the creation of the project, and the authors regularly advertise the brand. In podcasts, the audience is more loyal to advertising and doesn't scroll through it as often as in a video. Sometimes this is simply inconvenient. For example, when the user listens to an audio broadcast while driving.

## How to create and promote your podcast

### 1. Looking for a topic

Think about what topic the brand will talk about in the podcast to promote your product. Broadcasts should not be only advertising, you should give your audience some value. For example, a fitness clothing brand may invite trainers, nutritionists and other professionals for interviews to talk about sports and healthy eating. Don't talk about everything, be specific about the topic.

### 2. Determining the format and preparing a plan

Decide how to convey information. You can do a classic interview, choose a format with one narrator, or come up with a detective audio series with musical accompaniment. Write an outline with the number of episodes and the names of the guests. Specify whether you want to add welcome music beats or sound effects.

### 3. Writing a script

The best improvisation is good preparation. Even in a live conversation, you need a script, an understanding of how the conversation will be moderated. If the podcast is planned to be narrative (for example, in the format of a series), the script needs to be accurate.

### 4. Recording the broadcast

Broadcast recording is resource and capacity dependent. If the participants are in different locations, recording a phone call can be a way to go. If podcasters can get together offline, they go to professional studios, record audio in a quiet room using microphones, or even use voice recorders to get started.

### 5. Editing an audio file

The sound quality of a podcast is important. Clean up the recording from pauses, sighs, noises, and even filler words from speakers. The audience should enjoy listening to you. You can use one of the editing programs such as Audacity. Add a jingle. It is a short audio intro, that you can find on free resources or recorded by yourself.

### 6. Publishing on podcast platforms

The podcast is uploaded to a website or special hosting service via RSS technology. RSS feed connects to podcasting platforms and automatically submit content each time a new episode is published. You will also need podcast covers and descriptions in order to add a podcast to the service. Here are popular podcast platforms: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Castbox, SoundCloud.

## Podcast promotion

Regularity is important for podcasting. This way platform users will see your activity. Set a rule to publish a new episode once a week or two, or set a different frequency of publications.

**Here are the methods of promotion:**

**Through podcast platforms**, that put new or interesting episodes at the top of the list. Learn the rules of the site: somewhere you have to pay for advertising, and somewhere you just need to explain why your podcast deserves attention.

**Publication on social networks.** Leave a link to the podcast on social networks: personal or brand accounts. Ask the audience to rate and share the episode. There are also ads on social media that promote any content formats.

**Promotion through the media.** Contact the editor of a publication that writes about your business niche. If the journalist finds the podcast interesting, you will receive free advertising.

## Podcast examples

There are thousands of podcasts on the platforms. Let’s take a look at some of them.

### Branded Podcasts 

[**TRAINED by Nike**](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/trained/id1414073313)

The podcast focuses on healthy lifestyle topics such as mind, move, nutrition, recovery and sleep. Host Jaclyn Byrer talks to athletes, psychologists, researchers, doctors, coaches and other experts.

<Img
img="/uploads/podcast7_1a81c69419.png"
alt="TRAINED by Nike"
/>

[**Wireframe by Adobe**](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wireframe/id1437677219)

The podcast explores the principles of good design and discusses tips on how to make great branding.

<Img
img="/uploads/podcast8_4dd6e3ce96.png"
alt="Wireframe by Adobe"
/>

[**2 Minutes of Zen by Zenduim**](https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/2-minutes-of-zen/id1462196753)

The Host discusses with leading health experts quick and easy health hacks you can do while brushing your teeth to keep your mind, body and mouth healthy.

<Img
img="/uploads/podcast5_5d1cd27dc4.png"
alt="2 Minutes of Zen by Zenduim"
/>

### Other podcasts

[**Best Interview Show: Entrepreneurs On Fire**](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/entrepreneurs-on-fire/id564001633)

On the podcast, John Lee Dumas interviews successful entrepreneurs, celebrities like Tim Ferris and Tony Robbins, as well as lesser known people. The episodes cover how to build a business with just an idea, how to improve overall productivity, and how best to use Facebook ads.

<Img
img="/uploads/podcast2_c284994727.png"
alt="Best Interview Show: Entrepreneurs On Fire"
/>

[**Best from the Ivy League: HBR IdeaCast**](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hbr-ideacast/id152022135)

The short episodes highlight the concepts that major companies around the world are thinking about and using to increase their competitive advantage and productivity. Recent topics include how to manage someone who is too fond of interacting with their co-workers, challenges minorities face at work, and out-of-the-box ways of thinking.

<Img
img="/uploads/podcast3_773268180f.png"
alt="Best from the Ivy League: HBR IdeaCast"
/>

[**Best Practical Tips: The $100 MBA**](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-%24100-mba-show/id906218859)
 
In the podcast, Omar Zenhom teaches everything you need to know about building a business: how to invest in your business, how to set your rates, email list growth strategies, and a seemingly endless list of other topics.

<Img
img="/uploads/podcast6_862463f6aa.png"
alt="Best Practical Tips: The $100 MBA"
/>

[**Marketing School - Digital Marketing and Online Marketing Tips**](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/marketing-school-digital-marketing-and-online/id1138869817)

In this podcast, Neil Patel and Eric Siu, CEO of marketing agency Single Grain, cover a wide range of marketing topics. The duo discusses [**NFT in relation to marketing**](what-is-nft) and why Web3 is the future of marketing.

<Img
img="/uploads/podcast4_3d30ccdde0.png"
alt="Marketing School - Digital Marketing and Online Marketing Tips"
/>

[**Everything Is Marketing**](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/everything-is-marketing/id1549291757)

Here you will find a variety of themes presented. For example, cold email tactics with Laura Lopuch or buying and growing a Shopify SaaS app with Daniel Mitchell and Andrew Gazdecki.

<Img
img="/uploads/podcast1_e840e7c88a.png"
alt="Everything Is Marketing"
/>

## Conclusion

A podcast is an audio program on a specific topic in the format of an interview, discussion or author's monologue. This type of media content is similar to radio, but episodes are available at any time on different types of devices. Podcasting expands the brand's audience, natively advertises the company's products and increases customer loyalty. When it comes to marketing, businesses can create branded podcasts, partner projects, or simply act as sponsors.

To create your own podcast, you need to come up with a topic, think over the format and write a script. The next step is to record an audio file, edit it and upload it to hosting platforms via RSS (a technology that automatically shows a podcast from a host on connected sites). Then all you have to do is to promote your podcast on podcasting platforms or through social networks and media.

Podcasting is easy-to-consume content that doesn't take up a lot of your time. Users often listen to recordings in the background when they are doing other things, so they are less likely to rewind ads.

In this post, we talk about what is podcasting, how to use podcasts in marketing, and how to create and promote your podcast.

medium_podcast marketing.png

small_podcast marketing.png

thumbnail_podcast marketing.png

podcast marketing.png

A podcast is easy-to-consume content that helps businesses grow. Learn how to create and publish your first episode.

Podcast Marketing: How to Use Podcasts for Promotion

Podcast Marketing: How to Use Podcasts to Promote Your Business

<Img 
img="/uploads/Blog_9d32e26a52.png"
alt="5 Techniques Marketers Use to Push Customers to Buy"
/> 

You buy a lot of everything you really need at an online sale, and after a while you realize that you spent all your money, but you have no idea on what. Do you know that feeling? I do.

My name is Daria Rodionova, and I am a content marketer at [**CRM-group**](https://emailsoldiers.com/?utm_source=mediaaltcraft&utm_medium=content&utm_campaign=emailsoldierscom), where we help brands build customer relationships. In this article, I have collected popular tricks that brands use to encourage customers to buy.

## You will receive a reward! But first, do something.

On the website of the Israeli cosmetics company Zielinski & Rozen, there is a banner that promises free shipping. To get it, you need to place an order of $100 or more and immediately pay for it. If you buy for $400 or more till June 6th, you will receive a limited edition gift. 

<Img
img="/uploads/image4_a750fc2f54.png"
alt="Banner on website"
src="Banner on Zielinski & Rozen website"
/>

This helps the brand to increase revenue and purchase conversion. The limited-edition product on the site cost $97, but consumers can get them "for free".

## Last item left!

The exclusivity of the product motivates the customer to make a purchase. According to the FoMo principle (Fear of Missing Out), users will buy a product much faster if they feel a shortage of it.

Some companies convince buyers in plain text. For example, ‘Call within ten minutes and get a discount and a second necklace as a gift!’. Others — come up with more subtle versions. For example, when customers are buying plane tickets, they see: ‘There are 2 tickets left at this price’.

<Img
img="/uploads/image3_7d19decf99.png"
alt="Product card"
src="Product card in Shiekh. It is highlighted that the last pair left."
/>

**Life hack: How to use your abandoned cart to get a discount**

<Note>
Most brands have a [**trigger workflow**](https://emailsoldiers.com/blog/vichy-triggers-dynamic-content?utm_source=mediaaltcraft&utm_medium=content&utm_campaign=vichy-triggers-dynamic-content) set up for a specific action. For example, if you add something to the cart and leave the site, the trigger will fire. So do not rush to place an order. Wait 2-3 days. There is a high chance that the company will want to get back the client, so it will send you a promotional code for an additional discount.
</Note>

## Do like me

A favorite blogger wrote a good review about a Mexican restaurant. An artist posted a story about a cool car sharing service. Do not underestimate [**influencers**](what-is-influencer-marketing-how-to-build-strategy) and the power of native advertising.

Here is Khloe Kardashian's review of vitamins for hair:

<Img
img="/uploads/image2_9e179bdeaf.png"
alt="Positive feedback"
src="A positive brand review expands your audience reach. You can alse use promo codes to track traffic and conversion."
/>

Take a critical look at information and remember that a nice bonus can be behind any native advertising.

## Easy to Lose and Impossible to Forget

The effect of trial periods for online products is similar to how offline retail works. You are offered samplers as a gift, only virtual ones.

In an ideal world, the client cancels the subscription a few hours before the end of the trial period, or keeps it, because he is ready to use the service for a whole year.

In reality, if the user has agreed to a free trial period, he has two options:

- The user forgets to cancel the subscription and is charged for the annual subscription. It takes a long time to return the money.
- The user bails on money and keeps the subscription, because he does not have time to cancel it.

<Img
img="/uploads/netflix_sub_1a1002eafd.jpg"
alt="Netflix trial period"
/>

To avoid this, don't be too lazy to turn off auto-renewal after the subscription. Sometimes it's hidden deep in the app, but this can save you a couple thousand.

## Everything is relative

Here is a classic trick of retailers. If you put a discount on a more expensive product, it will look more advantageous than a [**similar product**](https://emailsoldiers.com/blog/cross-selling?utm_source=mediaaltcraft&utm_medium=content&utm_campaign=cross-selling) with the same price without a discount.

<Img
img="/uploads/image5_2b70d95b4a.png"
alt="Two products of the same category"
src="Two products of the same category side by side - the first one is a little more expensive, but the discount captivates."
/>

It's a similar story when brands sell a larger product for a little more than a similarly small one. The savings may be false. For example, you may not have time to use up a liter of sesame oil by the expiration date. Or can a large cappuccino please you more than a medium one?

## Conclusion 

In the post, I have listed popular techniques in online marketing. Whatever new tricks marketers come up with, users need to be alert and make conscious decisions. Businesses, on the other hand, need to remain ethical, not use crude tricks, and prioritize solving customer problems.

In this article, we talk about popular online marketing techniques that companies use to get the user to make a purchase decision.

Here is a list of popular tricks marketers use to get a user to make a purchase decision.

5 Techniques Marketers Use to Push Customers to Buy

5 Marketing Techniques to Push Customers to Buy

<Img
img="/uploads/Blog_1_ad7a164313.png"
alt="What is Drip Marketing"
/>

Customers are not ready to buy right away, even if they have subscribed to your newsletters. When the product is complex, the user needs time to explore it. The business task is to help the client make a purchase decision. This can be done in different ways. Your company can tell a story about the product, demonstrate its own expertise, build customer trust or offer favorable conditions.

Drip marketing makes all these actions possible. This is an automated marketing strategy that is planned ahead of time. Step by step — or drip by drip — such campaigns lead a client to a conversion or a target action through increasing loyalty, useful content, promotions and other methods.

In the post, we will tell you what benefits the drip method has, what emails are classified as 'drips', and how to launch such a campaign.

## What is Drip Marketing

A **drip campaign** is a scheduled series of automated emails that are sent when a customer takes an action. The drip method leads the user to communication with the brand or to the sale.

The trigger for newsletters can be the actions of the client on the website, reactions to messages,  certain events. It can also be inaction if the subscriber stops responding to messages from the company. If you carefully craft your email series, users will get a personalized experience.

### Benefits of Drip Marketing

**Increasing customer loyalty.** When users receive only the emails they need, they have no reason to be annoyed. There is less chance that they will [**unsubscribe**](how-to-win-back-email-subscribers), moreover, their loyalty will increase.

**Increasing sales.** A well-thought-out drip campaign moves the client through the sales funnel neatly and unobtrusively. The emails progressively reveal the benefits of the product or promote content that also advertises the product. ‘Drips’ push the customer to buy at the right time, for example, they remind you of an abandoned cart.

**Simplifying the work of the marketer.** Drip emails are automated, so marketers don’t need to do routine actions. They have time to develop strategies, come up with creative campaigns, and solve other tasks.

**Increasing engagement**. By reminding itself regularly, the brand maintains communication with users and [**builds trust**](customer-trust). When you conduct audience surveys or ask for feedback, you make it clear that the brand is ready to listen to customers, and they begin to respond more to the company's messages. Businesses better understand the interests of the audience through engagement tools.

**Content promotion.** No one will see your content without promotion, even if it is very interesting. The company shows expertise and demonstrates the product through blog posts, videos, infographics and other types of content. This is why it's important to invest in content advertising. Drip marketing is one way to promote your content.

**Re-engage customers.** Drip emails automatically return inactive subscribers: those who have stopped reading messages or haven’t completed the purchase. It is difficult to keep track of such actions manually, and it is even more difficult to respond to them quickly.

**Detailed audience segmentation.** The more personalized the offer for the client, the higher the chance of a purchase. Drip campaigns adjust automatically to the client and are more likely to reach the business goal.

## 8 Types of Drip Campaigns

Not every email campaign is a drip campaign. Here are some examples of drip emails:

### Onboarding emails

Companies use onboarding emails to introduce the subscriber to their product step by step.

Now the user is more likely to be surprised if he doesn’t receive confirmation of the subscription, because we are used to such communication.

<Img
img="/uploads/alison_onboarding_2d599e10da.png"
alt="Welcome email"
src="Welcome email"
/>

### Feedback emails

These emails usually come after a purchase or brand interaction with a user. Use email surveys to collect feedback. This way, you will improve the company’s service and increase loyalty because people love it when a company asks for their opinion.

<Img
img="/uploads/feedback_3a20794bde.png"
alt="Feedback request from customer after purchase"
src="Feedback request from customer after purchase"
/>

### Holiday emails

Congratulate the client on the holidays in a drip campaign. For example, wish a happy birthday or a Merry Christmas. Send [**promotional codes**](how-to-use-promo-codes-for-business) or gifts. This way, you  remind the user of the brand and encourage them to buy. 

<Img
img="/uploads/drip_email_3_38ed137713.png"
alt="Congratulation email"
src="Congratulation email"
/>

### Educational emails

You shouldn’t always send only sales emails to the client. Try sending useful newsletters containing life hacks or tutorials on working with your product. Such content is an indirect way of selling and another way of increasing loyalty.

Emails can be educational or redirect the user to other sites: a blog, a page for downloading manuals, or to a useful video on Youtube.

<Img
img="/uploads/drip_email_4_c43bdf822c.png"
alt="Educational email"
src="Educational email"
/>

### Reactivation emails

They return users who have stopped clicking on links in your emails or who click but don't purchase your products. Emails are sent after a certain period of client inactivity. To [**reactivate customers**](how-to-reactivate-inactive-email-subscribers), you can use different methods: unsubscribe the client, ask to come back, give discounts, etc.

<Img
img="/uploads/drip_email_5_fbaa7163e6.png"
alt="Reactivation Emails"
src="Reactivation Emails"
/>

### Trigger emails

Usually, they remind the user of some unfinished action: an incomplete registration or an abandoned cart. Customers don’t always stop the purchase intentionally, sometimes they are simply distracted and forget. The email will bring the customer back to action, and the additional discount will speed up the purchase.

<Img
img="/uploads/drip_email_6_ef156174a1.png"
alt="Email with additional discount"
src="Email with additional discount"
/>

### Transactional emails

It is important for the client to know that his order has been accepted and work has begun on it. Drip campaigns include order confirmation emails, payment confirmation emails, delivery status notifications.

<Img
img="/uploads/drip_email_7_6478b8d1d7.png"
alt="Transactional emails"
src="Transactional emails"
/>

This also includes emails that report the status of the subscription. If the validity period ends and the client has not renewed it, you send an email.

### Sales funnel promotion emails

This is a series of emails that encourages the customer to buy in different ways. For example, it offers a demo, webinar, discounts, and so on.

<Img
img="/uploads/mango_drip_marketing_a2487085f9.jpg"
alt="Special offer email"
src="Special offer email"
/>

## How to create a drip campaign

### 1. Set a goal

Specify what should happen when the drip campaign starts to work. Here are some possible goals: sales, increasing customer engagement or brand awareness, subscriptions to other sources, responses to content, etc. Describe the intended goal with numbers. Use ‘increase sales by N over time’ instead of just ‘increase sales’.

### 2. Define your target audience

Decide to which segments of the audience you will send messages and under what conditions. Buyers don’t behave in the same way and are at different stages of decision making. The task of the business is to divide customers into groups in order to send the most personalized newsletter. Don’t send everyone the same versions of emails.

### 3. Create campaign plan

Designate the number, frequency and time of sending emails for each of the groups that you identified in the previous paragraph. Also decide which communication channels you will use: email marketing is often complemented by [**push notifications**](mobile-marketing-101-push-notifications) and [**SMS**](sms-marketing). Don't forget to select campaign analytics metrics: opens, clicks on links in emails, conversions.

### 4. Make content

It is the longest and most important stage, because without attractive content, the newsletter won’t bring results.

Here are a few rules: 

- Write clear topics so that users don’t guess what is waiting for them inside.
- Personalize the newsletter not only with the person's name, but also with selections based on their interests and purchases.
- If you are going to bombard a subscriber with a lot of information, correctly format the text with highlighted paragraphs and subheadings in the article.
- Be helpful. Nobody likes trite content.
- Be moderate in design.
- Add [**CTAs**](what-is-cta) to emails.

### 5. Launch a campaign

Drip emails are automatic, so the first thing you need to do is to set up sending with your automation tool. For example, our Altcraft Platform service has a function of [**personalized trigger campaigns**](/features/personalization) and regular campaigns. All data is stored in a single profile, which simplifies and speeds up personalization. When the settings are done, feel free to press the ‘Start’ button and start monitoring the campaign performance.

### 6. Analyze and optimize drip emails

Although newsletters are automatic, marketers need to work with analytics. Monitor results to optimize content, email subject lines, send time, number of emails, and more. Data analysis will be useful for future campaigns.

## Conclusion

Drip campaign is a series of emails that users receive automatically when they take an action. For example, they make an order, abandon items in the shopping cart or browse the products they are interested in, but never buy.

Drip marketing increases loyalty, customer engagement, promotes content, simplifies the work of marketers, moves the client through the sales funnel and increases the company's profit.

Drip emails include onboarding, feedback, welcome, educational, reactivation, congratulations, trigger and sales emails.

Start creating a drip campaign by setting a goal and choosing a target audience. Next, you develop a plan, create content and launch a newsletter that you set up in one of the services. After that, you just have to analyze metrics and adjust the campaign.

Read about the benefits of drip marketing, what emails can be classified as "drips", and how to launch such a campaign.

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