Category: Marketing Automation

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Bounce rate is a metric that can be confusing when you first stumble upon it. I’m sure several questions pop into your head: Is a bounce rate close to 100% good or bad? Is it at all like a bounced email? Is it a vanity metric that I should ignore? And if I want to fix it, what should I do?

Luckily, you’re not alone. Many marketers have asked those questions and might not have found a solid answer yet. We’re here to demystify bounce rate with an overview of what constitutes a bounce rate — what doesn’t — and exactly how you can fix it.

Keep in mind that bounce rate is different from an exit rate. Bounce rates only measure “one-and-done” visits — the ones in which people arrive and leave your website without navigating away from a single page. Here’s what they look like in your HubSpot Web Analytics Dashboard, for example:

Exit rates, on the other hand, are a little more complicated. They include the percentage of people who leave your website from a certain page — but, that’s not necessarily the only page they’ve visited on your website. The page from which they exited could be the last in a long sequence of page visits. That’s why the exit rate isn’t always as troubling as bounce rates.

But a high exit rate, on the other hand, wouldn’t be cause for concern. It would mean that this page was the last in a chain of visits — people exiting from that page probably arrived from its preceding landing page, downloaded the offer on the thank-you page, and left to go make use of the content they just downloaded.
Keep in mind that this scenario is hypothetical, and these takeaways can differ based on other page metrics — but it serves as a simple illustration of the difference between bounce and exit rates.

For example, if 100 people visit your site and 10 of them only visit one page, then your bounce rate would be 10%. This number will likely change over time, so using an analytics provider to track all the changes is beneficial for understanding what’s affecting your bounce rate.
What is a good bounce rate?
If you’ve recently taken a look at your website’s bounce rate, you might find yourself discouraged at the number. But if you then decide to aim for a 0% bounce rate, you’ll probably find yourself even more discouraged. The average bounce rate is somewhere between 26% and 70%, with the optimal range being between 26% and 40%. To land anywhere under 20% is generally unlikely, so if that’s what your data is showing then you may want to double-check some things. Duplicate code, incorrectly implemented tracking, and third-party add-ons can all result in an inaccurately reported bounce rate.
The average bounce rate can also change depending on the viewer’s device. Mobile devices, for instance, have the highest bounce rate across all industries at 51%. Whereas the average bounce rate on a desktop is 43% and the average for tablets is 45%. So, take into account where the traffic is coming from as you’re judging your site’s bounce rate.
High Bounce Rate
A bounce rate over 70% is above average, but it’s not necessarily on the high side until it’s reaching 56%. If it’s over 90%, that’s a major cause for alarm but it’s usually easy to decrease because there’s something specific scaring everyone off. Things like bad design, errors in your tracking code, excessive bots, or browser incompatibility could be the culprit. Also be aware that high traffic from social media or paid ads, as well as a lot of mobile visitors can be increasing your bounce rate as well.
How to Reduce High Bounce Rates
Now you know what a bounce rate is. But what can you actually do about it?
In general, high bounce rates might indicate that the page is irrelevant or confusing to site visitors. But don’t jump into drastic actions like deleting a page or undertaking a redesign right away. There are some important steps you need to take before you figure out which action to take.
Remember: Bounce rates only tell you that someone landed on a web page and left it without visiting any other page on your website. It doesn’t tell you how someone interacted with your page. That’s why it’s important, says Director of Product Marketing at Iterable Jeffrey Vocell, to take “practical steps” to examine other metrics and pieces of your web presence to see what might be behind the bounce rates. We’ve outlined these steps below.
1. Ensure your website is mobile-friendly.
Mobile users account for about half of web traffic globally. That makes it crucial, says Vocell, “to not only provide a mobile-ready experience,” but to make sure that experience is engaging. How annoying is it when you arrive at a mobile site, only to have to zoom in to read its content? Having a responsive site is no longer enough — engagement with the mobile version has to be user-friendly and interactive.
Video is one particularly engaging type of content. It can often explain complex topics more concisely than text, which might be why 4X as many customers would rather watch a video about a product than read about it. But when it comes to mobile usage, long videos require a significant amount of data and might therefore slow the user experience — causing the visitor to bounce. For that reason, Vocell suggests eliminating these longer videos from your mobile site or creating more concise versions that still address the most important points.
This kind of improvement, however, isn’t limited to video. Take a holistic approach to evaluating your mobile experience, and consider how you’ll address contingencies like these.
2. Look at your bounce rate based on different sources.
Sometimes, the sources directing traffic to a given page might have something to do with its bounce rate. That’s why the HubSpot Web Analytics Dashboard allows you to break down the bounce rate according to source:

Let’s say your bounce rate is particularly high from direct traffic — take a close look at the URL to make sure it’s easy to read, remember, and type in. Then check to see that the visitor isn’t being greeted with a 404 error or a home page that isn’t very inviting. The headline should be clear and signal to the person that they’re in the right place.
You have to meet the expectations of the visitor — regardless of source.
3. Avoid other disruptions that might hurt the user experience.
We’ve already discussed the importance of a good mobile user experience, and that goes for all platforms. Things like full-screen pop-ups, for example, are not only annoying but can also result in search penalties.
The key thing to consider is the user. “You want visitors to be drawn into your page and stay for as long as needed to convert,” says Vocell, and while “some pop-ups are good,” — like well-crafted inbound messages that add context to a site — avoid any that significantly disrupt the user experience in a way that might cause visitors to leave.
4. Determine which keywords this page ranks for — and if your content sufficiently covers those topics.
Remember how we cautioned against misleading visitors about your site’s content in social distribution? The same goes for keyword rankings. “Matching keyword intent to your content is important to ensure organic visitors get the content they expect,” explains Vocell.
Let’s say someone is searching for “marketing automation software solutions” — it’s likely that this person is looking for software to help nurture leads into customers. But if someone is using the query, “What is marketing automation?”, she’s probably not at a stage where she’s looking to buy a product. Rather, this person is looking for content that’s more informative than anything else.
So when you evaluate the keywords for which your page is ranking, make sure they’re aligned with the actual content. Once you’ve done that, try looking at a topic-cluster framework — the kind that groups your site’s pages into clusters according to subject — to help attract organic traffic to the right pages.
Let’s Bounce
When you’re investigating bounce rates, make sure you’re looking at the full picture. Take a look at the time people spend on your site, where they’re coming from, and what device they’re using — and if your content and experience are aligned with all of those factors. You might uncover patterns that show how you can fix the bounce rate problem.
Think of bounce rates like your car’s “check engine” light. When it goes on, you know there might be a problem — but you need to check all of the car’s systems to accurately diagnose the issue. There’s no one-size-fits-all fix for bounce rates, but knowing what they are and how they can inform your marketing strategy can help ensure your website’s success.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in April 2014 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

I first discovered podcasts a few years ago when I was commuting for work two to three hours a day, every day.
The first podcast that got me hooked was NPR’s “How I Build This” show on entrepreneurship. 

Today, I listen to a wide range of podcasts on business, pop culture, and current events, like The Nod and “Louder Than a Riot.” So, what does it take to start a podcast in 2022? We’ll cover that in more in this article.

What is a podcast and how does it work?
What is a podcast host?
What equipment is needed to start a podcast?
How to Start a Podcast

Find a unique and compelling topic or theme.
Set up your show format.
Leverage your network.
Record and edit your episode.
Finalize your creative assets.
Set up a website.
Build a promotion strategy.

Track your metrics.

Learn how to monetize your podcast.

What is a podcast and how does it work?
A podcast is an audio series that a user can download to a personal device and listen at their leisure. It centers around one theme or topic, with each episode typically ranging from 20 to 60 minutes.
Think of a podcast as the audio version of any television series. It follows the same production format: It follows a specific theme or topic, t’s episodic and can have several seasons, and can be reality- or fiction-based.
One thing that sets podcasts apart from TV series is the use of a podcast host. Every podcast needs a host who can narrate the story and guide the listener through the episode. In addition, podcasts are only audio. Otherwise, the two mediums are very similar.
The most popular platforms to listen to podcasts include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.
Google Trends shows that podcasts have gradually become more popular, peaking around the fall of 2019 and the spring of 2020 worldwide.
Today, 28% of the U.S. population over 12 years old listens to podcasts on a weekly basis, according to the 2021 Infinite Dial study – a 17% year-over-year increase.
Podcasts vs Standard Audio Files
The difference between a podcast and standard audio files is the same as the difference between a video and a television series.

An audio file is a file format used to store audio on a digital device. A podcast, on the other hand, is a produced show that involves storytelling, formatting, and audio sourcing. You need audio files to create a podcast, but the same is not true the other way around.
What is a podcast host?
A podcast host is a platform that stores your podcast and distributes it to publishing platforms like Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Here’s how it works: You first upload your audio file to your hosting platform, then they create an RSS feed and send your episodes to various directories (AKA publishers).
The most popular podcast host platforms include Casted, Buzzsprout, Captivate, Libsyn, and PodBean. Here are the top features you should look for as you evaluate your options:

Transcription integration
Unlimited storage and bandwidth
Custom website

Analytics
Text editor for show notes

What equipment is needed for a podcast?
One of the best things about starting a podcast is that it doesn’t take much to get started. All you need are these high-quality items:

A microphone – While you might be tempted to use your computer’s or phone’s built-in microphone, invest instead in an XLR or USB mic that will offer better sound quality. If you’re just starting out, you might opt for a dynamic mic that’s less sensitive to ambient noise. If you have a studio set up, a condenser mic might be better.

A studio or soundproof room – When recording a podcast, you should minimize ambient noise as much as possible as that can distract listeners. Because of this, it’s important to create a quiet, soundproof space to record.

Editing software – Once you record your episode, you will need to edit it to add in music and ad spots and remove any content that may not fit. There are various audio editing software that you can use, including Audacity, Adobe Audition, and Descript – each ranging in editing features.

Noise-canceling headphones – Headphones are important both during production and in post-production as they allow you to monitor and detect sounds during the recording.

A hosting platform subscription – Before you can distribute your episodes, you must first upload your files to a hosting platform first.

1. Find a unique and compelling topic/theme to cover.
The first thing you need to start a podcast is an idea. For an individual, it can stem from a passion for or expertise in a particular topic/industry. For a brand, this can come from research you’ve gathered about your audience.
At the core, your podcast should speak to a particular audience. Because if there’s no interest in it, then you’ll be speaking into an empty room. And if you’ve ever done an 8 a.m. PowerPoint presentation in college, you know exactly what that’s like.
If you’re reading this article, there’s a good chance you already have an idea for a podcast. In this case, the goal is to dive deeper into your idea and see if it’s worth pursuing.
To do this, here are the questions you want to ask yourself:

Has this been covered before in another podcast? If so, is there another angle I can take?
Is this idea relevant and timely?
Is there an audience for this? If so, what type of listeners will it attract?
Is there enough content to create a season?

You’ll know you have a winning idea when you have a clear answer to these questions. Your idea may go through some changes as you develop it but the foundation starts here.

During this step, you may be tempted to secure your name and logo but we recommend waiting on that. More on that in step five.
Want some inspiration? Check out these marketing podcasts.
2. Set up your show format.
The great thing about podcasts is that they can follow just about any format.
Some are interview-based and conversational with one or several hosts bringing on guests while others focus on storytelling (fictional and non-fiction). It’s up to you to decide which format will suit your theme the best.
From there, start brainstorming your episode segments, which break down your show into sections to make it easier for listeners to follow.

Segments aren’t always clearly stated either. Sometimes, it’s as simple as act one, two, and three. It’s all about finding the best way to tell the story in a way that captures and maintains the audience’s attention.
3. Leverage your network.
Once you’ve figured out which format you want to follow, you might need to reach out to your network.
Perhaps you need a co-host, or you need to line up a few high-profile guests for upcoming shows. This is when you reach out to your network.

In addition to posting on your social platforms, you should also reach out to your network in shared interest groups, like Facebook Groups, as members may have a special interest in your project.
4. Record and edit your episode.
Now that you’ve worked out all the editorial details of your podcast, it’s time to record your first episode.
While this may seem nerve-racking, see it as a dry run. Once you review the recording, you can work out any kinks in the episode regarding segments, flow, storytelling, etc.

Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback from others. While you’re in the early stages of developing your podcast, this is the perfect time to get notes on where you can improve and implement them before it officially launches.
5. Finalize your creative assets.
So, earlier I mentioned not finalizing your name and logo during the initial development stages. That’s because, from idea to production, your idea may have evolved into something different from what you originally thought.
In addition, you may get more inspiration after creating your first episode and having a clear product to name.

You may find that you had a name for your podcast from day one, and that’s great. But if you need something more concrete to get your juices flowing, that’s fine too.
6. Set up a website.
Consider your website as your home base for your podcast.
It’s where all information surrounding your podcast will live, including show notes, transcripts, episode descriptions, host descriptions, and more. It also allows you to get more listeners by increasing organic traffic to your website.

By following SEO best practices, you can reach consumers who may be interested in your content and make them convert once they land on your website.
7. Build a promotion strategy.
Having a great podcast concept won’t be enough to attract users. You have to build a robust promotion strategy to get it in front of your target audience. Because how will they listen to something they don’t even know exists?
First, the pre-launch. Promotion doesn’t start after your first episode has aired, it should start before.
Why? It builds anticipation surrounding your show and can help you start out with a strong listenership right out of the gate. Share on platforms you’re already on along with those you haven’t yet explored.
For instance, you might start by securing your handle on social media and sharing a few posts to count down the air date for your first episode. If you already have a captive audience elsewhere, like a newsletter or a blog, prioritize promotion on those channels as well.
Once your show launches, be consistent about promoting the episodes, and don’t be afraid to test various methods.
You may find that posting audio snippets from episodes get higher engagement rates than posting about your guests. Or vice versa.
Once you identify what your audience responds to, stick with it.

Pro-tip: Reviews can go a long way in gaining new listeners. During your post-launch strategy, consider incentivizing your audience to leave a show review by hosting a giveaway.
8. Track your metrics.
If you’re not tracking it, did it even happen?
Once your podcast launches and is in full swing, start monitoring its performance. Here are the metrics you want to keep an eye on:

Subscriber count
Monthly episode downloads
Unique page views to the podcast page
Average listening time

Every piece of data you track will offer insight into your listeners and inform your strategy for future episodes.

For instance, say your top episode is on a particular topic, you could cover that more. Here’s an in-depth piece on how to grow a podcast.
9. Learn how to monetize your podcast.
Finally, it’s important to figure out how to earn an income based on your podcasting.
The most straightforward way is through sponsorship. Ever heard “This episode is brought to you by [insert brand]”? Well, it means the show has set up a partnership with the brand to increase brand awareness or meet another marketing goal.
In some cases, the sponsorship will also include ads pre-roll (at the beginning of the episode) and mid-roll (in the middle of the episodes). However, that’s not always the case.
Affiliate marketing, which refers to the process of promoting a product or service in exchange for a commission on the sale. Podcasts hosts will often do this by offering a unique discount code that includes the show name.
With both strategies, you’ll have to actively seek out these brands in the beginning. Create a pitch explaining the benefits of partnering with you. It’s easy to do this once you have a few episodes under your belt and can show metrics to support your points.
Another podcast monetization strategy is offering paid membership tiers for exclusive, bonus content through services like Patreon and Stitcher Premium. For instance, say your podcast is interview-based.
You could promote extended interviews at the end of each episode and encourage your listeners to join your membership platform.
If you join a podcast network or advertising network, some of this work is done for you. But it also means you don’t have full control over which ads are placed on your show. Additionally, you may not receive the full profit from the ad, as that may be split between you and the network.
Lastly, you can also maximize your podcast by publishing it on YouTube. If you have a good at-home setup or a studio setup, consider recording both video and audio – particularly if your show is educational or conversational.
This way, you can publish it on YouTube, access a wider audience, monetize your channel, and diversify the ways in which you promote your show.

What do you use spreadsheets for? If you’re anything like me, you likely use them to collect data, track campaign or blog post analytics, or keep track of weekly assignments.
But have you ever thought about using spreadsheets to make a calendar? If not, let me tell you why Google Sheets is the perfect tool for your content calendar.

If you often work on campaigns for a few different clients, creating individual calendars in Google Sheets could be uniquely useful for ensuring the client understands when certain content will go live. Alternatively, perhaps you need to create an internal Google Sheet calendar for your team to keep track of upcoming projects.
Making a calendar in a tool that’s commonly used for spreadsheets sounds a little intimidating, but don’t worry, the process is actually pretty intuitive. And with the help of some tips, you can easily make a functional calendar that you can sync your schedule with.
Below, we’ll go over how to make a calendar in Google Sheets and include some tips that’ll help you elevate the design. At the end, your calendar will look something like this:
Open up Google Sheets and get ready to create your very own calendar. 📅
1. Open a new spreadsheet and choose your month.
First, open a new spreadsheet. 
Then, choose your month. For this example, I decided to do January 2022, so I filled that into the first cell. What’s great about Google Sheets is that it automatically recognizes dates, so typing in a month, followed by the year in YYYY format will tell Google that you’re going to be working with dates.
2. Begin to format your calendar.
Next, format your calendar. I selected the text, January 2022, in Column A, Row 1. I highlighted seven columns (A-G), and clicked Merge to make that cell span across the entire column. You can find this button to the right of the Fill tool.

Here, I also center-aligned my text using the tool next to Merge. Then, I increased the font size and bolded the month.
3. Use a formula to fill in the days of the week.
Next, fill in the days of the week in each column (A-G). You can do this manually but I decided to use a formula. Sheets has a function that lets you type in formulas to complete certain actions at once.
To fill in days of the week, in the cell where you want your first weekday to be, type: =TEXT(1, “DDDD”). What this tells Google is that your number will be replaced by a date or time and the format you’re using is weekdays.
Highlight the number 1 in the formula and replace it with: COLUMN(). Then, press enter and select your first day. You’re going to copy the formula in Sunday’s cell by dragging the selector to the end of your row, (A-G), and pressing enter again.
Pressing enter should automatically fill in the rest of the week. Remember, if this doesn’t work for you, you can always fill in the days manually.
Pressing enter should automatically fill in the rest of the week. Remember, if this doesn’t work for you, you can always fill in the days manually.
4. Fill in the numbers.
Excellent! You have your days of the week. Now we’re going to fill in the numerical values. Before this step, I took the time to add color to the days row and changed the font to one I liked a little more.
For the numerical values, we’ll simply identify the first day of the month and click and drag to fill in the rest.
How?
Place the number 1 on the box right underneath the first day of the month, then click and drag horizontally. Depending on the day of the week, you may need to follow this process using the second day of the month so you can click and drag horizontally.

5. Fill in the rest of the numbers.
Note: In this step, I filled in the calendar numbers every other row to help with my formatting later.
Now that you’ve filled out your first row, it’s time to fill in the rest. Manually insert the next number under “Sunday,” then click and drag horizontally to fill in the rest.

Repeat the process for the next rows. You’ll insert the first number manually, then click and drag down the row. Here’s what that looks like for the next row in January.

Note: Make sure to end the month on the right number! For January, that would be the 31st.

6. Reformat your calendar if necessary.
Everything is starting to look like a calendar, right? At this stage, I reformatted things to clean up the look of my calendar a little.
Remember those extra rows in between the numbered rows? I expanded those rows to create boxes underneath the numbers. To do this, I simply dragged the rows down to make those cells bigger.
Here are some additional formatting tips:

Select the empty rows underneath your numbers and center them using the center text alignment tool.
Select your entire calendar and vertically align all elements so that they’re in the center of their cells. To do this, use the vertical alignment tool.

Bold your day numbers.
If desired, lightly shade your numbered rows.
If desired, gray out the Saturday and Sunday columns so that your workdays stand out.

7. Add design elements to professionalize the look.
Finally, you can add in some fun design elements to personalize the look and feel of your calendar. If it’s for a client or upcoming project, you’ll want to incorporate the necessary launch days here.
For this step, I added in a few fun images, included a few hypothetical calendar events, and played with font sizes.
8. Repeat the process from February to December.
It’s time to repeat for the month of February to December. Simply duplicate your January calendar once you’ve designed it how you want it to look. To do this, right-click the sheet’s tab and select Duplicate from the menu.
To fill in the numbers, you’ll only need to know the beginning day, then click and drag to fill in the rest of the rows. Here are the first days for every month for the year 2022:

January: Saturday

February: Tuesday

March: Tuesday

April: Friday

May: Sunday

June: Wednesday

July: Friday

August: Monday

September: Thursday

October: Saturday

November: Tuesday

December: Thursday

Next, you’ll want to know how many days you’ll need to fill in. Here are the number of days you’ll need for each month:

January: 31

February: 28 or 29

March: 31

April: 30

May: 31

June: 30

July: 31

August: 31

September: 30

October: 31

November: 30

December: 31

And then, you’re done!
It’s handy to use Sheets because you can open your calendar right on your browser. You can also keep track of your schedule in a place that’s separate from your phone.
Alternatively, you can create important business documents such as social and editorial calendars. Below, I share a template that’s perfect for the task.
Google Sheets Calendar Template
Here’s an editorial calendar template for all of your editorial planning needs. This template helps you lay out a strong editorial strategy on a daily basis.
Featured Resource: Free Editorial Calendar Templates

Download the Free Templates
Use a Google Sheets Calendar to Organize Your Tasks
If you’re handy with Sheets and want to give it a shot, create a Google Sheets calendar. It’s a great option if you need to create a clean calendar to track an internal marketing campaign, organize a client’s upcoming projects, or share an event calendar with key stakeholders. But if you don’t want to create one from scratch, use our editorial calendar template to jumpstart your planning and organization efforts immediately.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in May 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Have you ever sat down at your desk first thing in the morning and spent a good 45 minutes browsing social media or getting lost in your inbox because you can’t focus on what you need to do? At the end of the day, you feel as if you’ve wasted 8 hours of your life that you’ll never get back.
On the other hand, have you ever sat down, opened your calendar app or a to-do list, and jumped right into work, knocking out task after task in a matter of minutes? When you shut your computer at the end of the day, you feel accomplished and know that you’ve done everything possible to move towards your professional goals.
What’s the difference between these two scenarios? A plan. Having your day (or week, or project) mapped out with a concrete action plan will help you feel more focused and accomplished in less time. When it comes to marketing, an action plan could mean the difference between a campaign that sizzles and a campaign that fizzles.
Now that you know there’s a way to ensure more days end with the satisfaction of work done well, let’s take a closer look at what these plans actually are and how they can benefit you.
What is an action plan?
An action plan is a proposed strategy for whatever you want to accomplish. It’s a clear, detailed list of all the steps you need to take to reach your goal, along with a proposed timeline of when you’ll complete each step or task.
Perhaps you’ve heard of action plans in the past, but never tried to create one of your own, Or maybe, this is a brand new concept to you and you’re pretty sure you just heard a choir of angels in the background.
What is the purpose of an action plan?
Action plans are designed to help you reach your goals faster. By breaking down projects into smaller steps, you can ensure that you:

Meet your goal in a timely fashion
Don’t skip a step
Communicate effectively with team members
Set reasonable expectations for what you can accomplish in a specific period of time

While they will vary in complexity, action plans are good for small projects, large projects, projects that you complete on your own, and projects that involve other team members or individuals outside of your organization.
Convinced you need action plans in your life? Good. Let’s take a look at the steps necessary to implement them.
How to Write an Action Plan
Action plans can be as simple or complex as they need to be. However, before you start writing out the steps to reach your goal, you’ll need to identify something very important… your goal, of course!
What is it that you’d like to accomplish? Is there a new campaign you need to prepare before a specific launch date? Maybe you’re teaming up with another business or a nonprofit for cross-promotion. Perhaps you’re looking to increase brand awareness through various channels.
Whatever your goals, get very clear on what it is you want, why it’s important, and when you need it done. You may wish to create a SMART Action Plan by incorporating SMART goals into it. SMART stands for: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. This framework helps you determine if your goals are realistic, identify what actions are needed to reach your goals, and defines what success looks like.

Once you’ve determined what you want to accomplish and when it will need to be done, it’s time to start devising your plan. Follow these easy steps to create your plan of action.

Use a template or tool to capture your action plan and share it with anyone who needs to be involved. (You’ll find some options in the next section)
Brainstorm. Consider all the steps that need to get done to complete your project. You may find it helpful to start with larger aspects of the project and then break those down into smaller tasks. No task is too small to be listed (let’s be honest, checking things off a to-do list feels amazing).
Delegate and assign responsibilities to team members. You don’t have to go it alone! Hopefully, you have a trustworthy team standing by to help complete tasks and inch you closer and closer to the finish line. This also allows you to identify what resources you need to achieve the goal.
Schedule due dates. If your project needs to be done by a specific day (which it should or it could stretch on indefinitely), then each task will have its own due date. Keep in mind that some tasks can be worked on at the same time, while others will require that a previous task has been finished before you can start the new one.
Set up alerts to keep yourself (and your team) on track. It’s very easy to get caught up in the day-to-day grind and forget about a larger project looming in the distance. Use your scheduled due dates to set up reminders and pencil in time to work on specific tasks.
Track your progress and check in with your team. Your action plan may have looked top-notch when you wrote it, but as you work through it, you may discover that things need to change. If you see that you’re falling behind in the tasks, it may be time to re-evaluate and potentially tweak your action plan.
Celebrate. Completing a project is often cause for celebration, but don’t forget to review what worked and what didn’t for a smoother project next time.

Leadership action plans will not only help you achieve your goals, but will also help your team be clear on what they need to do, and feel accomplished once they’ve done it. They will also serve to identify any weak links in your organization.
Action plan Formats may differ depending on the needs of our specific project, however, as long as you include the goal, the steps, the people involved, and the due dates, you’ll have a solid plan to work with.
Action Plan Templates
When you’re ready to create an action plan, there’s no need to start from scratch. There are a number of templates and examples available that will provide the framework you need to devise your marketing strategy.
Below, is an action plan example for a 30-60-90 Day onboarding plan. This can always be tweaked to onboard individuals into a marketing position, or to create a marketing plan for your organization.

A marketing action plan may be as simple as this template:

Image Source
You can also use Hubspot’s Marketing Plan Generator to guide you along the way.
No matter how you do it, an action plan may take a little bit of time to create, however, you’ll save time, energy, and resources when you have a clear plan of action for your next project or campaign.

There are lots of benefits to a well-planned content marketing strategy. Whether you’re after raising brand awareness, building authority, boosting organic traffic, or increasing conversion rates on your website, you’ll find that there are a few approaches that always work better than others. For one, focusing your attention on quality instead of quantity might not…
The post 6 Tips for Creating More Shareable Content (With Examples) appeared first on Benchmark Email.

I am trying to post ads on tiktok for my online store however I keep getting this message “the products/services displayed on the landing page require more information to be disclosed” I think the problem is I do not have a business license? Does anyone know if you need a business license to post TikTok ads? And does that mean I need an LLC? I was planning on getting one soon anyway.
submitted by /u/Michael_Gilder [link] [comments]

When Apple announced Mail Privacy Protection, earlier this year, it threw marketers into a bit of a frenzy. No one knew exactly what the effects of the new feature would be, but we knew it’d change the way we thought about and reported email marketing metrics.
The announcement had shades of GDPR, for those in the digital marketing world who were around to remember it. And while it seems like MPP’s effects won’t be as broad, the feature still has wide-ranging implications for the future of email.
While a lot of marketers will mourn the loss of data like opens and geographic location, we’d argue that MPP is actually going to be a good thing for everyone involved in the email marketing industry.
Here’s why.
How Mail Privacy Protection effects marketers
If you’ve heard the terms Mail Privacy Protection, MPP, or iOS 15 tossed around the past few months, but aren’t sure what they actually mean don’t worry! We’ll catch you up really quick.
In September, Apple released its new software update, iOS 15. And with it came a new feature: Mail Privacy Protection.
In short, MPP does two things: 

Effectively disables open tracking
Obscures the user’s IP address, removing an email marketer’s ability to know their location

For more on how it works, make sure to check out our guide. But to understand what the feature actually does, those are the two things you need to know.
Now, while that might not sound too bad, there are some serious implications for email marketers. The first and most obvious implication is that MPP makes open rate tracking far less reliable, putting the future of open rates as a metric in serious jeopardy. And as if changing our metrics and reporting wasn’t enough, it also means you’ll probably want to rethink any automated journeys you have set up that have automation steps based on whether or not a person opens an email.
While the loss of geographic data might not seem quite as drastic, there are a lot of marketers who depend on that data for list segmentation purposes. For instance, if you plan on sending different emails to different subscribers based on location, that becomes a bit trickier. Rather than relying on collecting that data automatically, you’ll now have to ask your users for it first-hand.
Losing this data also means that send time optimization — a popular feature among ESPs — will be less dependable, as it won’t have location data for a lot of users.
Why this is good for the future of email
This doesn’t exactly sound like a win for marketers, does it? While we’d agree that the loss of some data and functionality is inconvenient, we do think MPP will ultimately be a good thing for the future of email.
How? Because MPP will force marketers to focus on the experience they’re creating, not optimize their campaigns for hollow metrics like open rate.
With all of the email marketing metrics available to us, it’s become too easy for marketers to define success by top-line metrics like open rate. While those metrics are helpful, they’re not the end goal.
Our hope with MPP is that marketers will feel less compelled to write a deceiving subject line that overpromises and underdelivers on what’s actually inside the email, and more compelled to deliver value and enhance their subscriber experience every chance they get.
And hey, by focusing more on the experience you’re creating with email and the value you’re giving your subscribers, odds are, your metrics will probably all start to look better anyway. Funny how that works
How to focus on the user experience in your email marketing
So, what does it actually mean to focus on the experience when it comes to email? 
Don’t be deceptive with your subject lines or CTAs
Like we mentioned, it’s easy to feel compelled to write deceptive, overpromising subject lines or calls-to-action for the sake of seeing higher open rates or click rates. But ultimately, when subscribers catch on to the fact that you’re consistently letting them down with your actual content, they won’t keep coming back.
To be clear, we’re not saying that you shouldn’t follow best practices and make your subject lines and CTAs clear and engaging. We’re just saying that you shouldn’t try and boost your stats at the expense of your subscribers. If you can’t make the content of your email or the content you’re linking to compelling without lying about it, you probably shouldn’t send it in the first place.
Align your email goals to business goals, not just metrics
While email-specific metrics like open rate are a helpful proxy for success, they’re not the definition for success itself. We don’t just send email so that people open it — we do it do contribute to larger marketing and business goals, like website visits, purchases, or revenue generated.
Now that metrics like open rate and click-to-open-rate (CTOR) are out the window, it’s time to start re-thinking how we are going to define success with email. And in doing so, it’s also a good time to make sure your email marketing strategy is based around your broader business goals.
Focus on adding value
Let’s be honest, most marketing emails just feel like noise. Inboxes are crowded, and users are constantly scanning through to decipher what’s important and what’s not.
So, what’s the key to being one of the names that people look out for? Consistently add value to your subscribers.
This will mean different things to different types of people and businesses, but a good question to ask before sending a marketing email is whether or not you have a reason to be in their inbox. If you don’t, and you’re just sending for the sake of sending, then it’s probably best to rethink it.
Begin with the end in mind
When crafting a campaign or a single marketing email, it’s important to have your end goal in mind when you start. What, exactly, do you want to teach your subscriber, tell them, direct them to? Knowing what action you want them to take before starting will help inform all of the decisions you make when creating your actual campaign, leading to a better email experience for everybody.
Wrap up
Apple threw the email marketing world for a loop when they suddenly announced Mail Privacy Protection earlier this year. And while it may have sounded scary at first, marketers will adapt (just like they have with every other major tech update), and ultimately, we think they’ll be better off for it.
Here’s to hoping MPP brings a new focus on the experience that marketers create for their subscribers.
The post Why MPP is Good for the Future of Email appeared first on Campaign Monitor.

Last Updated on December 21, 2021 by Rakesh Gupta Introduction First of all, we’d like to introduce ourselves and our company: SharinPix. We’re based in France, and we aim to be the default go-to when it comes to taking, uploading and working with images in the Salesforce ecosystem. We started
The post Five Lessons Learned Working with Components in Salesforce appeared first on Automation Champion.

 

 

Raise the sail! … Or the sale, if your proverbial “ship” happens to be an eCommerce business. Such a decision never seems wrong; this is what brave, relentless managers and captains do. But, to keep the metaphor relevant, let’s assume the ship is sinking. Will simply going forward faster stop you from ending the journey on the ocean floor? Or maybe theEuropean Maritime Safety Agency will later judge that you allocated resources in the wrong place for the situation? In this article, we explain how a company with high churn and low customer retention resembles a sinking ship and direct you toward some unfailing, proven countermeasures.

 

What is the customer retention and retention rate?

 

The company’s ability to keep its customers over time is called retention. It’s a percentage-based metric that tells you how large a portion of the customer pool you retained by the end of a given period.

The new customers just acquired by the company, and the customers that churn by closing the contract, not returning to buy, or ending the subscription, both influence retention.

On the other hand, retention can be described not as a state but as an action. From this standpoint, you can think about retention as all the actions your company takes to increase the number of repeat customers and the number of purchases throughout their lifecycle.

Simply put, retention is all the efforts a company undertakes to convince customers to stay with it.

The customer retention rate is a measure of retention over a given period.

 

Customer retention formula

 

To effectively care for and nurture customer retention, it is important to know how to calculate it in the first place.

The first thing that interests us is a period of time during which the retention will be observed. This can be quarterly or yearly.

Then, we use the following formula:

[(No. of customers at the end of the period—No. of customers acquired during the period) / No. of customers at the start of the period] x 100

If we:

assume a yearly period for the customer retention rate
started the year with 20 customers
gained an additional five customers over the year
but one customer churned

We get the following formula:

[ (24 – 5) / 20 ) ] x 100 

which gives us a 95% retention rate.

 

Usual reasons for retention importance

 

Knowing the retention rate enables you to perform an audit of churned customers to determine the reasons for churn. The audit results should help you employ countermeasures and lower churn rates to enhance retention.

Why is it so important for businesses? First, let’s look at the most common and well-known arguments for keeping a high retention rate.

 

Loyal customers buy more often and spend more

 

Loyal customers purchase more regularly and in greater quantities. Retained customers are more likely to make additional purchases if you pay attention to what brands or types of products they like. The differences between “regular” and “loyal” customers are not small either—a 5% increase in customer retention can increase company revenue by 25–95%.

 

Access to more data

 

The longer customers stay with your company, the more data you’ll have access to and the more you can learn from their shopping habits. Data is crucial to eCommerce to better understand your current and returning customers so you can address their needs more precisely. Identifying their patterns, demographics, and other important factors can help you create more effective marketing strategies for retention and acquisition.

 

Referrals

 

Customers feel good telling people about quality service they received or a product that makes their lives easier. Satisfied and therefore loyal customers are more likely to share their experiences with your company and refer their friends and family, effectively bringing new customers.

 

Less price sensitivity

 

Loyal customers are significantly less price-sensitive or even price-conscious. They focus on the value your company brings to their lives and trust you with solutions to their vital problems. Loyal customers are experienced with your brand and understand well what they get for their money. Therefore, they are more likely to accept premium prices.

 

Better lifetime value

 

Engaged customers tend to have a longer lifetime and therefore also a longer lifetime value (LV) metric. It tends to be four times greater than in the case of the average customer. Engaged customers generate 80% of sales.

 

Affordability

 

Customers your business retains are familiar with your products and services, which reduces your marketing expenses, such as creating brand awareness and advertising your product range. Retaining a customer is 5–25 times cheaper than acquiring a new one!

 

The REAL reason why customer retention is crucial for eCommerce businesses not to sink

 

And these reasons are absolutely true! Looking at them, it’s easy to imagine how much faster your business will grow: the key metrics look awesome, and the ROI will get better and better in proportion to the rising retention rate. This shows how much better the business can be when the retention rate is high.

But to really understand how the marketing funnel works, imagine the opposite situation.

Imagine a customer churn so high and a retention rate so low that the customers are going out your back door quicker than they’re coming in the front door. This means that you are losing not only clients. You are losing money exponentially, as we explain in a minute.

Is this situation really so uncommon? After all, consumers today have more opportunities than ever in the history of eCommerce to simply move to the competition, if your company lets them down, does not engage them enough, and provides a subpar customer experience.

So let’s ask the same question with different words—do marketing budgets rise? Or even “skyrocket,” as sometimes claimed? Yes, they do.

When a company loses its customers, extra pressure is usually applied to the lead generation and sales team to keep the funnel filled. Without proper customer retention, defined as a set of actions the company undertakes to keep customers for as long as possible, this is, from the financial standpoint, extinguishing the fire with gasoline.As mentioned, acquiring new customers is 5–25 times more expensive than keeping existing ones. Increasing sales and lead generation represent the most expensive and unsustainable solution possible, resulting in marketing budget inflation.Simply put, it’s like trying to save a sinking ship with a small bucket when the water gets in faster than you are able to get rid of it—the effects cannot last; they only delay the inevitable.

There’s no way a company can grow in such circumstances. The positive reasons for keeping customer retention high are tempting. The one big, negative reason simply makes it a must.

 

The real job starts after the first order. And Customer Data Platform can save the day!

 

Among the ways of boosting customer retention, the most effective are efforts to enhance customer experience and, consequently, customer engagement. Following a poor customer experience, 89% of consumers began doing business with a competitor.

In most situations, consumer experience directly translates to consumer engagement and thus to retention. In this blog we show in detail how the use of modern, AI-backed CDP, enabling omnichannel communication, can aid your company to track vital engagement metrics. But CDP provides you with more than tracking. To learn how SALESmanago can translate the knowledge you gain into retention-oriented action, request a SALESmanago demo.