WordPress (2006) claim that every single month a massive 409 million people view blogs. If the sheer amount people viewing blogs don’t encourage you to start a blog for your business, maybe the following points will change your mind!

Reasons for making your business have a blog

The increase of traffic to your website

If you have a website for your business, you want as many people being driven to it as possible, and the use of blogs are a great way at doing this. That’s because it creates more pages on your website index, thus having more phrases and topics that will show up in search engines, generating multiple ways that people will be put through to your website. Without having blogs on your website, you are not creating any new features, resulting in a lack of traffic being driven.

Blogs give your website new content

How often does your website get updated? Most websites very rarely get updated with new content, which can result in many visitors getting bored and eventually stop coming back. Due to blogs being made fairly often, there is a constant flow of new material, which could keep customer retention and engagement because they know that there is always going to be new content for them to look at.

Discover audiences you never had

Once a business is established and the target audience has been connected with, it’s very hard for them to then reach another audience. That’s where blogs come in handy, because blogs are written informal and do not focus on any specific topic, they are able to seen by people that would not necessarily associate with that business. An example being Tesco’s, if someone shops at Aldi there is very little chance of them changing their buying habit and start shopping at Tesco’s as they are not actively looking to change. However if they were to come across one of Tesco’s blogs on cooking recipes that had been shared on social media, there could then be a possible connection formed and a chance that the person will give Tesco’s a go.

The above image shows Tesco’s recipe blogs.

Build relationships and brand loyalty

Due to blogs being very informal a closer relationship between the customer and the brand can be built (Business Know-How, 2016). With informal language being used, blogs can be come across much more personalised to the reader enabling them to relate to the business. Plus readers are able to comment on blogs, which creates direct contact, which can increase brand loyalty by both, the person that posted the comment and others that see it. This is where the Equity Theory applies, when both parties are receiving an equal amount of effort of what they are putting into the relationship (Pritchard, 1969). For example the reader is putting in effort to view recipes from Tesco and then receive the information they are looking for, thus gaining an equal amount of effort. According to Forbes (2016), 81% of those that read a blog believe the content information. This can benefit a business hugely as it increases an individual’s trust within the brand.

Awareness is created long term

Posts on Facebook and Twitter fade out of the public eye as quick as they are made, within a matter of weeks no one is viewing the post. This is not the case with blogs, according to (Hubspot, 2016) awareness of a blog post actually increases, because when the views increase it also climbs the search engine ranking. Then eventually the blog will be at the top of the search results, which increase the chance of someone clicking the link.

In the first month of a blog release it may have little amount of interest, although as you can see by the chart above, interest will steadily increase each month (Hubspot, 2016).

Potential drawbacks

Time and cost

Blog are not easy to write! If you want your business to have a successful blog then you need to have excellent writing skills, if not then you need to hire someone to create blogs, which can end up costing a lot of money. Time is a big issue when it comes to blogs, they take a long time to write and if you want to keep customer retention you need to create a new blog as often as possible. Avon is an example of a business with an excellent blog, they have many different blog writers (which will cost a lot!) and release at least one blog every day.

Overall, there are many reasons for your business to start blogging especially if you are aiming at increasing loyalty and reach a wider audience. That’s if you have the time or money to enable you to do so!

Useful links of businesses with successful blogs:

http://www.avonbeautyconnects.co.uk/t5/Avon-Beauty-Blog/bg-p/beauty_blog

http://your.asda.com/news-and-blogs

https://realfood.tesco.com/blog.html

Useful links to give more variety of the pros and cons of using a blog:

http://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/negative-side-using-blog-6113.html

http://www.jasminedirectory.com/blog/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-blog-marketing/

http://www.businessknowhow.com/internet/blogbenefits.htm

Bibliography

Business Know-How. (2016). The Pros and Cons of Business Blogging. [online] Available at: http://www.businessknowhow.com/internet/blogbenefits.htm [Accessed 5 May 2016].

Pritchard, R. (1969). Equity Theory: A review and critique, Organizational Behaviour and Human Performance. Vol. 4, No 2, p176-211.

Forbes. (2016). Forbes Welcome. [online] Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/ajagrawal/2016/03/28/building-trust-how-blogging-can-improve-customer-relationships/#678344cb7a48 [Accessed 5 May 2016].

Hubspot. (2016). Why Blog? The Benefits of Blogging for Business and Marketing. [online] Blog.hubspot.com. Available at: http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/the-benefits-of-business-blogging-ht#sm.00000yb7roasp6cu4tb9pg3cpqddj [Accessed 5 May 2016].

WordPress.com. (2006). Stats. [online] Available at: https://wordpress.com/activity/ [Accessed 5 May 2016].

Only in recent years has Vlogging become another form of marketing for retailers, although the big question is, are they even worthwhile? CMO (2016) claim that Vloggers reach around 1 Billion people and that the power of Vlogging is only just beginning and is sure to become an extremely powerful form of marketing.

The aim of this blog is to analyse the advantages and disadvantages to determine whether the use of vloggers for marketing should be adopted or left well alone.

Advantages

There are many businesses that are now using Vloggers as a key marketing strategy, here are just some of the benefits, which could suggest why they are using them:

Provides authenticity

Many retailers really struggle to gain authenticity from consumers because they seem more like a business instead of a person. Therefore having a member of the public who is not associated with the business, yet reviewing the product and giving good feedback, is seen by viewers as a genuine honest review. Furthermore, there is a high potential that subscribers are going to imitate the Vloggers buying habits, as they want to be able to relate to them as they are seen as role models. The videos created contain a high amount of personalisation, as the viewer sees the Vlogger more of a friend than someone just trying to sell a product or service. Personalisation is incredibly important as it keeps the viewer engaged as they feel like the video is unique and aimed at them specifically (Jung Kim, 2008).

Cost effective

Marketing via the use of vloggers can be a very cheap form of marketing. Vloggers are given incentives by the business to give a positive review of their product/service, in the form of gifts or money. Obviously if a Vlogger has an extremely large amount of subscribers, like Zoella, the incentives need to be pretty large otherwise there is a high possibility that they won’t do it. However, there are other Vloggers that still have quite a sum of followers that will accept a small incentive.

Reach target audience

Using already established Vloggers is an excellent way for retailers to guarantee they are reaching their target audience. This is because the Vloggers can see who their subscribers are, so they know who their audience is. Furthermore, the audience of the Vlogger are generally the same age because they relate more, which creates huge engagement levels (Retail-week, 2015). Two examples are shown below of how retailers have cleverly selected the Vlogger to advertise for them to reach their audience.

Zoella (Youtube, 2016)

Boots managed to get Zoella to do a make-up haul Vlog. Zoella’s audience on Youtube are aged between 16-24 and are female, which is the age group that Boots want to reach regarding make-up sales. She managed to gain a staggering 2,497,762 views.

Chengman (Youtube, 2016)

Topman enlisted Chengman to create a Vlog for male clothing. Chengman’s target audience is males in the age bracket of 16 – 24, which is the audience that Topman want to appeal to. Chengman received 23,051 views for his Topman Vlog.

Disadvantage

There is no control of the content!

Businesses love to have control over everything they can to minimize risk, which could prove to be a big problem if they are intending to use a Vlogger as a form of marketing because they have no control whatsoever. Yes, they can tell the Vlogger what they want them to talk about, but how the Vlogger does it is down to them. This could be a problem, if the Vlogger mentions something in the Vlog that a lot of people don’t agree with, for example how much they love Donald Trump, the brand being advertised in the video could then be associated with him, which could lead to a damaged reputation. Although the risk of something like that happening is low, is it worth it?

Vlogs don’t work for all audiences

If the brands target audience is aged over 25, research shows that they are 4 times less likely when compared to the 16-24 age bracket, to view a blog (CMO, 2016). So there’s pretty much no point in somewhere like Marks & Spencer using them.

Not good for finding out about a new product

Research suggests that the use of Vlogs is not beneficial for creating awareness for new products, with only 7% of Internet users claiming to actually being made aware of new products (Telegraph, 2015). This information suggests that viewers are only focusing on the content of the Vlogger they are following and not actively looking for any product/services that they can buy.

So what’s your verdict?

With this form of marketing there are just as many benefits as there are negatives. However it really depends on what the business is, and who the target audience are. Retail shops like Boots, Topman, Superdrug, and JD sports may benefit out of using Vloggers because their target audience is 16-24 year olds, which is the age bracket most engaged to viewing Vlogs. Also retailers that are really struggling to connect with their audience may benefit from them due to the high engagement levels created. Although as mentioned, there are risks that can occur and lack of control of the content in the video is a considerably high one. After all, it only takes one bad video to really damage your reputation.

Some useful links regarding the pros and cons of using Vlogs as a marketing initiatives are below:

http://www.doubleshot.tv/three-key-benefits-of-vlogging-that-will-strongly-improve-your-marketing-efforts/

http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/news/1332870/why-vloggers-may-not-next-big-thing-brands/

http://www.atlargeinc.com/insights/pros-and-cons-vlogging-video-blogging

Bibliography

Bourne, L. (2015). How Authentic Can Vloggers Be When They’re Being Paid Millions By Brands?. [online] StyleCaster. Available at: http://stylecaster.com/beauty/how-authentic-can-vloggers-be-when-theyre-being-paid-millions-by-brands/ [Accessed 5 May 2016].

Cmo. (2016). Are Vloggers The Next Content Marketing Frontier?. [online] Available at: http://www.cmo.com/articles/2015/5/11/are-vloggers-the-next-content-marketing-frontier.html [Accessed 5 May 2016].

Jung Kim, M. (2008) A case study of mobile advertising in South Korea: Personalisation and digital multimedia broadcasting, Journal of targeting, measurement and analysis for marketing. Vol. 16, No 2, p129-138.

Retail Week. (2015). Comment: Vloggers can provide retailers with the authenticity they often lack. [online] Available at: http://www.retail-week.com/topics/marketing/-comment-vloggers-can-provide-retailers-with-the-authenticity-they-often-lack/5072188.fullarticle [Accessed 5 May 2016].

Telegraph (2015). Why vloggers are a waste of time and money for brands. [online] Telegraph.co.uk. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/11393587/Why-vloggers-are-a-waste-of-time-and-money-for-brands.html [Accessed 5 May 2016].

YouTube. (2016). Huge Boots Haul | Zoella. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ty0PScqt1w8 [Accessed 5 May 2016].

YouTube. (2016). TOPMAN’S BRAND AMBASSADOR. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVJ-Iz88k-o [Accessed 5 May 2016].

In March 2015 online sales in the UK accounted for £52.25Billion with a growth of 16.2% on the previous year, and this year there has been a growth o 14.9% with online sales reaching £60.04 Billion (Retailresearch.org, 2016). Further more Business Reporter (2015) claim that 71% of shoppers did over half of their Christmas shopping online in 2014 an increase of 45% on 2013. This figure demonstrate how having a website is now a complete necessity for retailers and not just what was once seen as a slight advantage. This blog aims to give an insight on why shoppers behaviour is changing, whilst also suggesting factors that need to be implemented when designing a website, to make it stand out and draw in those customers!

So why are shoppers preferring to shop online?

Forbes.com (2016) state that a study by Simon-Kutcher & Partners with over 1000 respondents to identify why customers are changing to online shopping, found the main reasons to be:

• That there is generally a larger selection online.
• Time – it being much quicker than shopping on the high street to find what you want.
• Free shipping.
• Lower prices can be found – Surprisingly this was not the top reason for shopping go online.

Creating or developing a website for retail is not always easy and if done incorrectly can actually result in a decrease in sales, as Marks & Spencer’s and the Boo.com found out when redeveloping their websites (Retail Week, 2014). Both failed connect with their target audience by making their websites too complicated to use, for example when M&S changed the ‘your basket’ icon to ‘your bag’, even a miniscule change like this confused its customers (Retail Week, 2014).

So, what needs to be done to stand out from the crowd?

1. Keep a simple layout that easy to use.

To stop what happened to M&S happening to your website, keep a simple and easy to navigate platform. Its vital that shoppers don’t struggle to use the website because there is a chance that they will get fed up and give up, potentially throwing away any brand loyalty that the customer once had. Many retailers have stuck to this layout, some being, Boots, Tesco, and Superdrug. As seen in the images below, all three of these websites have the exact same layout. A function bar and search box at the top of the page to create easy navigation, and large images of promotions which dominate the centre of the page to draw customers attention.

2. Exclusive deals on the website

It is important to create a reason for customers to look on your website, therefore having deals that are exclusive to the website is considered an important factor. This will keep customers engaged and help influence customer retention. Boots is a good example, they have a section on their website showing online exclusive offers.

3. Keeping content on website relevant.

It is vital that a website is constantly updated and not neglected. Any upcoming events or the change in seasons need to be confronted with content on the website that relates. For example, by the end of September the home page and background of the website will need to be changed to prepare for the Christmas period. So, Christmas products will need to dominate the homepage, with link to related products. By doing this, the website will keep customers engaged as it is likely that they are looking for that range of products. If a website was not to keep up events/season changes, then it is possible that their sales will decline through that period, as they cannot find what it is they are looking for. For example if Boots were not to change their website in February and March to a home page of perfume offers ready for Mothers day, there is a high possibility that customers will look elsewhere because they cant find any related deals.

4. Promote other digital marketing initiatives.

As already discussed, people are moving online and becoming more web based. So, freely promote your other means of contact with customers on the website, after all, the more presence the business shows in the customers life, the more likely they are to choose to shop there. Put a icon and link to your other means of contact, not forgetting to include an email sign up bar. Example are shown below.

Schuh’s website with links to their other digital based pages and email sign up.

As with anything, there are potential drawbacks.

1. Cost of creating and running a website.

An initial website can cost thousands of pounds especially if an impressive one is wanted. The cost doesn’t stop their either, a dedicated team will be needed to maintain the website around the clock to make necessary changes and fix any problems that can arise. These two costs combined come to quite a hefty figure that could put you off of making one. Although this cost could be worth it if it increases sales by a considerable amount.

2. Negative publicity.

Even though a large some of money may have been used to ensure the security of the website, there is always a chance that the website could still be hacked. If this happens, its inevitable that the company will receive some bad publicity. Ebay’s website, which is considered to have excellent security was hacked in 2014, in which all customers confidential details were exposed, such as their emails, passwords, and other data (BBC News, 2016).

Overall, despite there being possible negative in creating a website, one is needed in order to keep a business competing in todays competitive retail market and without one, there is a chance that the competition will steal customers.

Below are some links of examples of excellent websites that really stand out:

http://www.very.co.uk/

http://www.boots.com/

http://www.tesco.com/

http://www.debenhams.com/

Below are links of useful ideas to keep in mind when making a website:

http://webdesign.about.com/od/webdesignbasics/tp/aa112497.htm

http://www.wix.com/blog/2014/03/5-web-design-tips-for-a-professional-site/

Below are links informing you of possible negatives that can arise:

http://blog.thecompanywarehouse.co.uk/2010/10/06/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-websites-for-business/

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/disadvantages-businesses-web-4040.html

Bibliography

Adviser Store. (2016). 10 tips to make your website stand out – Adviser Store. [online] Available at: https://www.adviser-store.com/2016/03/10-tips-to-make-your-website-stand-out/ [Accessed 25 Apr. 2016].

BBC News. (2016). eBay faces backlash on hack delays – BBC News. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-27517907 [Accessed 25 Apr. 2016].

Business Reporter. (2015). Shoppers ‘prefer online to high street’ – Business Reporter. [online] Available at: http://business-reporter.co.uk/2015/03/19/shoppers-prefer-online-to-high-street/ [Accessed 25 Apr. 2016].

Forbes.com. (2016). Forbes Welcome. [online] Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/barbarathau/2013/10/08/why-consumers-really-shop-online/#15487a944ab5 [Accessed 25 Apr. 2016].

Retailresearch.org. (2016). Online Retailing Research – Centre for Retail Research, Nottingham UK. [online] Available at: http://www.retailresearch.org/onlineretailing.php [Accessed 25 Apr. 2016].

Retail Week. (2014). Analysis: Why did M&S’s new website fail to click into place?. [online] Available at: http://www.retail-week.com/technology/multichannel/analysis-why-did-mss-new-website-fail-to-click-into-place/5062287.fullarticle [Accessed 25 Apr. 2016].

The amount of registered users of social media is consistently growing year after, with a current record of 1.59 billion active monthly users of Facebook and 205 million Twitter users in the fourth quarter of 2015 (statista, 2016). The vast volume of social media users alone make the use of social media for companies appealing, as there are so many potential customers they could connect with. This blog will be drawing attention to the benefits and potential negatives of a company adopting the use of social media, whilst also providing examples of how companies are currently using it.

Benefits

Create a brand community

Companies are constantly seeking ways to strengthen the bond and brand loyalty with customers in order to keep customer retention. McAlexander et al (2002) claim that this can be done with the use of a fan page on social media. If a fan page is created then a brand community will develop, where individuals can communicate with one another talking about that particular brand. Below is an example of users on Imperial Leathers fan page sharing comments about their favourite product.

(Facebook, 2016)

Increased brand recognition

Social media is an excellent form of marketing for creating awareness, whether it be to the brand itself, or towards the products it produces. However it is particularly good when used for a newly formed company or for when a new product range is being released. (Forbes, 2016) suggest that the presence of the new product/company on social media creates familiarization, which enables people to retain awareness of the new product. Below is an example of how shower and bathing brand Imperial Leather posted images of their new foam blast shower gel on Facebook to inform their current customers whilst also hoping to gain new ones by keep appearing on other users newsfeeds. From February to April 2016, a total of six posts regarding the product foam burst were posted on Imperial Leather’s Facebook page, which suggests that they are trying to create awareness and familiarization of the product.

(Facebook.com, 2016)

Allows better communication with the public

Some social media sites, like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr are quite informal, therefore when businesses are communication on these websites they are able to act more like people and less like businesses, resulting in customers feeling more connected to the brand. Furthermore, companies using social media are able to communicate directly to a problem or query that a customer may have. By doing this, not only does it generate greater brand loyalty by that one individual, it also allows any other social media user to witness how well the company treat their customers and how they deal with any problems, which could result in the company gaining customers. In effect, this helps to improve trust and credibility of the brand. By companies communicating back and forth with customers on social media, they are able to adopt the Social Penetration Theory. Carpenter & Greene (2016) claim that the Social Penetration Theory is when direct communication occurs between two parties in which both give self-disclosure, a more intimate relationship will occur, thus beneficial for companies as customers will become more brand loyal. Below is an example of where Sainsbury’s have comically replied to another twitter users comment.

(Molloy, 2015)

Enables the opportunity to convert customers

By having a social media presence, companies are able to communicate and generate awareness with those customers that have no current intention of shopping with them, that they would not usually be able to interact with. For example loyal Tesco shoppers may have no intention of swapping to another grocery store and therefore would not actively look at other supermarkets to buy. However, if the Tesco shopper is a social media user then there is no way of them being able to avoid other companies. So, even though they had no intention of shopping at Aldi, they could not escape seeing advertisements from them, which may in fact influence that individual to change their supermarket once they see that Aldi is far cheaper than Tescos. This demonstrates a huge benefit for the use of social media when marketing in order to convert customer’s form other brands.

(Facebook, 2016).

Potential Drawbacks

Cost

nibusinessinfo.co.uk (2016) claim that although the cost of creating a page on any social media website is free, costs at maintaining the page could considerably increase. For the page to be a success, there will need to be a team dedicated to managing the social media websites, so that responses can be made quickly to any query, whilst also continuously creating posts to remain in the public eye. Having a team dedicated to social media will cost a considerable amount over time.

Ineffective use

It is not easy to make a social media page a success and there have been times where companies have unintentionally damaged their own reputation. For example when McDonalds tried promoting its brand by encouraging users to use the hash tag #mcdstories to share any memories they have of McDonalds (Casti, 2013). The intention of this hashtag was to receive positive memories from customers, however, quite the contrary happened, with many customers sharing horror stories that they had encountered instead. This highlights how companies need to be really careful when creating posts to ensure that there is no way that their reputation could be damaged.

Useful Links

https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/openforum/articles/how-to-steal-customers-from-your-competitors/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/hbsworkingknowledge/2014/06/02/the-secret-to-a-successful-social-media-strategy/#4e46e0785ebd

http://www.jeffbullas.com/2014/02/10/5-essential-steps-to-success-in-social-media-marketing/

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/218160

Bibliography

Carpenter, A. and Greene, K., (2016). Social Penetration Theory.

Casti, T. (2013). The 5 Most Notorious Brand Feuds on Twitter. [online] Mashable. Available at: http://mashable.com/2013/10/12/twitter-brand-feuds/#_hAvF.QqNuqX [Accessed 15 Apr. 2016].

Facebook.com. (2016). Security Check Required. [online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/imperialleatheruk/timeline [Accessed 16 Apr. 2016].

Forbes.com. (2016). Forbes Welcome. [online] Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2014/08/11/the-top-10-benefits-of-social-media-marketing/#79a949912a4d [Accessed 15 Apr. 2016].

McAlexander, J., Schouten, J., Koenig, H. (2002) Building Brand Community, Journal of Marketing. Vol. 66, No 1, p28-54

Molloy, M. (2015). 10 of the most brilliant customer service exchanges ever seen on Twitter. [online] The Telegraph. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2015/12/010/10-of-the-most-brilliant-customer-service-exchanges-ever-seen-on/ [Accessed 15 Apr. 2016].

nibusinessinfo.co.uk. (2016). Using social media to support innovation. [online] Available at: https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/using-social-media-support-innovation [Accessed 16 Apr. 2016].

Statista. (2016). Number of Facebook users worldwide 2008-2015 | Statistic. [online] Available at: http://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/ [Accessed 16 Apr. 2016].

Email subscription services are a great form of marketing and it is one of the most effective. In 2015 the email marketing industry census findings showed that email marketing has the highest return on investment when compared to all other forms of digital marketing (Econsultancy, 2016).  However, there are some common problems that are faced, mainly being, getting people to subscribe and keeping the customer engaged and looking at each email that is sent to them. This blog will be highlighting simple but effective ways to hopefully help overcome these problems.

1. How to get people to subscribe

Although email subscription may be one of the leading channels in marketing, some companies struggle to get those all-important subscriptions, and without sufficient amount of subscribers it would be pretty useless.

• Do automatic signups – most retailers have loyalty clubs, so on the signup form ensure to ask for the customers email. This email can then automatically be put into the email subscriptions. This stops retailers even having to pester the customer by constantly asking them to subscribe.
• Cleverly word questions to trick customers – when a customer is purchasing a product online, there is often a tick box saying ‘tick box if you would like to receive emails’, change the sentence to make the customer have to tick the box to not receive emails, for example ‘tick box to not receive emails’. Customers normally forget to tick boxes because they’re rushing or they might have just not noticed them. So by making the customer having to select a box to not sign up, there is a high chance they will miss this therefore automatically be opted in.
• Make opt in box visible – it is very unusual for customers to actively look to find email opt in boxes. Therefore they should be situated several places throughout the website to promote customers to sign up. Holdsworth (2016) claim that there should be three opt in boxes on every page of the website, the top, side, and bottom. Customers will never have to look far to sign up. However, the subscription boxes should be subtle and it is strongly advised to steer clear from using annoying pop-ups to encourage customers, as it’s more likely to do the opposite and annoy them.

Don’t use pop-ups. (Salcido, 2014).

• Make an incentive to subscribe – everyone loves a freebie or even just a discount voucher, there are many bargain hunters out there that would happily subscribe knowing that they are going to get something in return. Once someone has subscribed it’s very unlikely that they are going to unsubscribe, so it’s well worth the initial freebie giveaway.

2. Keeping the customer retention

Okay, customers are now signed up, but the next problem being faced is keeping the customer engaged and making sure that the email being sent to them is being opened, not just put straight in the junk folder

Up to 70% of people that receive emails from a brand or company, mainly open the email to search for any vouchers or discounts (Campaignmonitor.com, 2016),  so why disappoint? This creates an incentive for the customer to open the email every time they receive one, because they know they are going to be discounts and deals. Companies that have loyalty cards can make it even better for those who subscribe by linking their loyalty card to know what discounts to provide. This prevents the customer getting unwonted vouchers because using the loyalty card; vouchers can be tailored to the persons purchasing habits. Geert Hofstede culture model was created to determine whether a culture is individualism or collectivism. Each year a score is given to every country to identify what category they fit into. The idea of this model is to give insight into consumer behaviour in that specific country. If a country is categorized as individualism, it means that individuals in that culture purchase products depending on their own preferences, needs and wants. Where as those that are classed as collectives, put their preferences aside and purchase products that everyone else have, to ensure they are similar. The UK scored 89, classing us as individualism (Geert-hofstede.com, 2016).  This highlights how important it is for retailers to tailor deals around individual’s preferences, otherwise if an individual notices that they never see a discount that they will actually use, it could cause disengagement, resulting in them no longer opening their emails.

Hopefully this blog has given an insight on some ways a retail company can get people to subscribe to emails whilst also keeping them engaged and continuously view their emails. Below are some useful links:

https://blog.kissmetrics.com/get-more-email-subscribers/

http://www.wearemediaheadz.co.uk/4-ways-to-dramatically-increase-email-subscriptions/

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/254225

References:

Campaignmonitor.com, (2016). 20 email marketing statistics to help you prove how awesome email is – Campaign Monitor. [online] Available at: https://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/email-marketing/2014/09/email-marketing-statistics/ [Accessed 31 Jan. 2016].

Econsultancy, (2016). Email Marketing Industry Census 2015. [online] Available at: https://econsultancy.com/reports/email-census [Accessed 31 Jan. 2016].

Geert-hofstede.com, (2016). United Kingdom – Geert Hofstede. [online] Available at: http://geert-hofstede.com/united-kingdom.html [Accessed 1 Feb. 2016].

Holdsworth, B. (2016). 4 Ways to Dramatically Increase Email Subscriptions – Media Headz Design. [online] Media Headz Design. Available at: http://www.wearemediaheadz.co.uk/4-ways-to-dramatically-increase-email-subscriptions/ [Accessed 30 Jan. 2016].

Salcido, M. (2014). Social Media Strategies Your Business Should Adopt This Year. [online] AllBusiness.com. Available at: http://www.allbusiness.com/social-media-strategies-business-adopt-year-13898-1.html [Accessed 30 Jan. 2016].

Research suggests that customers are becoming less satisfied when they go shopping due to the poor service that is provided, for example, the stock availability, and the lengthy process shopping itself holds (Burke, 2002).  This therefore demonstrates the importance for retailers to use e-commerce marketing to be able to contend with the ever-changing consumer behaviour. If retailers were not to do this they are at high risk of losing custom whilst also damaging their ever so important reputation. Would you change your choice of shop if you could purchase the exact same product somewhere else, without even leaving your sofa? I would!

However it is important that if you are going to release an app, it is done properly, otherwise that itself is risky and you’re more than likely going to do more bad than good. An example of the company that got theirs completely wrong was boots, they have only got one star rating on apples App Store with many reviews claiming they would no longer shop there. So, what are the key points to success?

• Ease of access/simple layout – The layout needs to be as simple as possible, while still having the eye catching affect and contain all the necessary functions, but most importantly make it a pleasant experience for the customer. EBay is an excellent example of an app that has stripped back to the bare minimum yet still doing the exact same as what it has always done. The app has just three categories: activity, shop, and sell. It couldn’t get any simpler if it tried and each category does exactly what it says. Apps are meant to be quick and easy, so as soon as any difficulty navigating the app is incurred, the customer is likely to just exit the app and delete it.

EBay’s simple layout (Iclarified.com, 2016).

2. Make the app benefit the customer – Customers love nothing more than to think they are getting a good deal, furthermore it gives an incentive for them to come back again. If the retailer incorporates their loyalty card with the app it will benefit both, the retailers (because it’s creating loyalty to brand and customers will continue to return) and the customers (they get continued discounts). 90% of people that download an app delete it with just six months (com, 2016), so keeping them engaged is key.

There are other ways other than loyalty cards to keep customers using the app, a product scanner. This makes customers feel as though they have the upper hand, because they can know they are going to get the best deal if they scan a product and a price check of several stores appears showing which is cheapest. Or it could even just be used for those annoying times when you want to buy products but there is no price tag. All in all, it just makes the experience more pleasurable for the shopper.

3. Promote the app – Although 40% of smart phone users browse the App Store to see if there are any apps that take their fancy (Think with Google, 2016), that means that the other 60% do not, therefore they need to be told about the app. This highlights the importance of companies to promote their apps, because if people don’t know they exist, they won’t download them. There are several ways of doing this:

• Simply advertising it through other points of contact – put the App Store logo on the website, customers receipts, posters, throughout the store.

Starbucks invitation to get their app (Starbucks Coffee Company, 2016)

• Fund the advertising – spend some money getting awareness of the app out there. There are many different means of doing this, such as, social media and promoting through the App Store.
• Encourage reviews – positive reviews from customers is a great way to promote an app, as most people look at reviews first to see if there is any point downloading the app. The more positive reviews the app receives the more likely it is to go up the charts. Hopefully if the app is good, people will talk about the app to others, word of mouth is one of the best forms of publicity and even better knowing that it doesn’t cost a penny. Trusov, Bucklin, and Pauwels (2009) claim that word of mouth has a substantially larger influence than traditional marketing approaches, and also reaches more people. Therefore getting people to talk about the app is important.

4. Get the app tried and tested – this has got to be one of the most important fundamental things about making an app. So many companies have failed to do this and not noticed any bugs, glitches, or problems that are in the app before making it live. A couple to name our boots and forever 21. By failing to extensively test apps, companies could actually end up losing customers. For example, if a customer selects a coupon on the app to use in store, then visit the store and find that the coupon does not work and then having to spend more money than they wanted, they’re not going to leave the store happy and most certainly won’t use the app again and possibly change to a different store.

Example of an bad review due to poor app testing for Boots.

There are many companies that can be paid to test apps vigorously to check for any errors, therefore limitation any possible problems.

Here are some links to mobile app testing companies:

https://saucelabs.com/mobile/

http://www.applause.com/mobile-app-testing

Hopefully this blog has given an insight of the importance of companies entering the e-commerce market and highlighted some of the key factors to remember when creating an app. Below are some useful links to websites containing interesting information to keep in mind when making apps.

https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/articles/mobile-app-marketing-insights.html

http://www.forbes.com/sites/avidlarizadeh/2013/07/19/eight-tips-for-a-successful-app/#2cb0751865cc

References

Burke, R. R. (2002) Technology and the customer interface: what customers want in the physical and virtual store, Journal of the academy of marketing science. Vol. 30, No. 4, p411-432.

Iclarified.com, (2016). [online] Available at: http://www.iclarified.com/images/news/28004/108869/108869.png [Accessed 30 Jan. 2016].

Starbucks Coffee Company, (2016). Starbucks coffee shops – Starbucks.co.uk. [online] Available at: http://www.starbucks.co.uk/?gclid=CLDZp8aO18oCFeISwwodcbAHDg [Accessed 30 Jan. 2016].

Kissmeterics.com (2016). [online] Available at: https://blog.kissmetrics.com/mistakes-in-app-marketing/ [Accessed 28 Jan. 2016].

Think with Google, (2016). Mobile App Marketing Insights: How Consumers Really Find and Use Your Apps. [online] Available at: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/articles/mobile-app-marketing-insights.html [Accessed 29 Jan. 2016].

Trusov, M., Bucklin, R. E., Pauwels, K. (2009) Effects of word of mouth versus traditional marketing: Findings from an internet social networking site, Journal of marketing. Vol. 73, No. 5, p90-102.