Category: Marketing Automation

Looking for inspiration for your online portfolio? Learn from these 12 top-notch portfolio sites.

 

 

Email marketing personalization is a surefire way to boost performance in this channel. According to Smart Insights, up to 63% of consumers won’t buy from brands that don’t use personalization*. Email marketing practitioners know many tricks to personalize email campaigns even better. Here are 5 turbo-charged ways to personalize emails.

 

There is no need to convince anyone about the necessity of using personalization in email marketing. It is quite a well-known fact.

 

Personalized emails have a 29% higher unique open rate (OR) and a 41% higher unique click rate (CR) than non-personalized ones. (Active Trail)
About 75% of consumers find the idea of “living profiles” (highly detailed customer profiles) valuable if they were used to provide more personalized experiences. (Accenture)

 

The top three reasons to use personalization in email marketing are (SaleCycle):

 

better OR (82%),
higher click-through rate (CTR) (75%),
greater customer satisfaction (58%).

 

The question arises, “How do you do it?” when everyone has it as standard? The answer is to go above and beyond what your competition is offering.

 

5 turbo-advanced ways to personalize an email

 

Easy to say, but how to implement it? What specific mechanisms are worth using when creating an email to mesmerize your audience? Here are 5 examples.

 

#1 Find a logical connection to encourage discovery of new products [Online drugstore example]

 

The connection between products worth recommending is not always obvious. What motivates a person buying, for example, perfume in an online drugstore? Most likely they have their favorite fragrance compositions. Thorough analysis of purchased products allows you to suggest products that are likely to be of interest to individual clients. You can, of course, recommend products already bought, or chosen by people who have already bought the product, but there are many other, more impressive possibilities.

 

The idea: 

Emails personalized regarding the favorite perfume lines / fragrances / fragrance notes

 

Conditional content helps you tailor a 1-to-1 message to your recipients

 

The setup:

 

To carry out this procedure, you will need a solid description of the assortment in the XML file. In the description, it is certainly worth marking the fragrance notes and fragrance category for different perfumes. This will make it easier to recommend perfumes with similar notes, but for example from different price shelves (upselling), or whole fragrance lines of different products (cross-selling).

 

This is the data you will use:

transactional data
declarative data
visits to a website
visits to a mobile application
transaction analysis (XML)

 

Actions: 

 

Using selected data, you can segment your recipient groups into appropriately named groups, e.g. floral fragrances, Channel, musk (fragrance notes). You can also assign appropriate tags to contacts based on preferences and transaction history.

 

Those are the features you can use:

With your audience and recipients already segmented, you can start sending diversified content to them based on the segment they belong to. There are many ways to personalize email, but in this case the best choice will be Conditional Content and Dynamic Banners. You have several scenarios to choose from, such as:

 

Discover new [Fragrance line] fragrances
Set of [Fragrance name] perfume + body lotion
We just added a [fragrance note] perfume that you might like

 

#2 Paint the world with your favorite team’s colors [Sports streaming service example]

 

To quote a 2004 study by Alain Decrop and Christian Derbaix “Color seems to be the key attribute of a ‘good’ football fan. Half of our informants spontaneously refer to that attribute when defining a ‘good supporter’. It is seen as an easy way to make a distinction between a football supporter and another person. Colors are related to clothing items such as scarves, hats, or shirts.” The Effect of Identification with a Sports Team and its Performance on the Willingness of Fans to Pay for Team Products study says that the level of identification with a team is one of the key factors (along with team performance) affecting fans’ willingness to spend money on team-related activities and items.

 

The idea: 

The entire message (layout, content) is tailored to the aesthetics of your favorite team/sport plus it presents interesting facts about your favorite athletes

 

Transactional data is an excellent basis for email marketing personalization

 

The setup:

Take information about purchases, visited websites, declarative data and in-app behavior and prepare 3 segmentations based on them: favorite teams, favorite sports, favorite sportspeople.Then group the graphic materials and order banners in the colors of selected teams.  Finally, prepare interesting facts about people from the world of sport and divide them according to the sport they practice and the teams they belong to.

 

This is the data you will use:

transactional data
declarative data
visits to a website
visits to a mobile application
transaction analysis (XML)

 

Actions:

Instead of drafting a separate email to each sports enthusiast, create a universal message that automatically serves your readers information about their idols. You can send information about upcoming broadcasts, offers from the fan store, and even interesting facts about the lives of celebrities associated with specific sports.

 

Those are the features you can use:

Using advanced hyper segmentation capabilities, you can target people from a variety of predefined segments, such as those interested in making a purchase or avid fans who frequently visit the website. Then, using personalized banners and conditional content, customize messages to show information that will interest them.  You can create, for example:

 

newsletter for [athlete’s name] fans
gadgets offer for [soccer team name] fans
educational series for [sport name] fans

 

#3 Address your customer’s shopping habits [Apparel eCommerce example]

 

A research article The Influence of Product Price on Consumers’ Purchasing Decisions states that “price is an important factor in the purchasing decision, especially for products that are frequently purchased, and in turn, influences the choices of which store, product, and brand to patronize.” Following this logic, consider a campaign that will leverage this very factor to convince customers and clients to make a purchase.

 

The idea: 

Personalization by price range combined with recovery of abandoned carts through offering cheaper products / progressive discounts

 

The CDP platform offers the possibility to automatically grant progressive discounts

 

The setup:

Prepare a product feed (XML) and make sure you have access to the AI recommendation module.

 

This is the data you will use:

transactional data
RFM
product feed

 

Actions:

Prepare a mailing that implements an AI-driven recommendation scenario. You can combine it with abandoned shopping cart recovery. You will encourage shoppers by showing them slightly cheaper products and additionally adding a personalized discount.

 

Those are the features you can use:

When preparing the message, make room in it for AI recommendations with additional filters (filters: price range). Furthermore, configure the appropriate segmentation rules that will assign discounts. To display the discount in email, use personalization formulas in the body of the email. You will get a message showing products from a selected price range and also encourage your recipients to make a purchase with an attractive progressive discount.

 

#4 Use data to make others’ lives easier [Delivery company example]

 

According to Harvard Business Review “after controlling for other factors that drive repeat purchases in the transaction-based business (for example, how often the customer needs the type of goods and services that the company sells), customers who had the best past experiences spend 140% more compared to those who had the poorest past experience.” Post-transaction emails, including the shipping message, are a very important part of the customer experience. That’s why it’s worth taking care of them.

 

The idea: 

Personalization using package details combined with footer personalization with region manager signature

 

Post-purchase message with shipping details makes life easier for buyers!

 

The setup:

Create a message that provides the orderer with all the details about the package. Also add a footer of the person who is in charge of customer service in the region to which the package is sent. You can read about how to do this in the article: 3 Out-of-the-box Ideas For Personalizing B2C Emails.

 

This is the data you will use:

external events (e.g. RESERVATION)

 

Actions:

In desired places in the message, add fields that pull value from external events. This way each message will be fully personalized and responsive to the needs of the selected recipient.

 

Those are the features you can use:

You will definitely need segmentation rules to assign a set of details needed for personalization. Also, make use of the formulas for personalization. These are responsible for displaying the package details and the personalized footer in the body of the email.

 

#5 Take advantage of the specifics of the VIP sector [Jewelry eCommerce example]

 

Price is the first threshold of entry into the VIP area of luxury products. Unlike the premium class, luxury goods are distinguished by the fact that not everyone can have them and they are perceived as artifacts of luxury. This is why customers who buy them often like to be treated like a closed VIP club. Upselling and raising prices while limiting product availability works very well in this group.

 

The idea: 

Personalization using scoring, RFM segmentation and VIP funnel, so that the exclusivity of recommended products increases along with the spending

 

Singling out VIP customers is a good practice in the high-end products industry

 

The setup:

Your main tool will be a sales funnel, which you can easily create in the SALESmanago system. To add a new sales campaign (funnel) go to CDP → Campaigns and funnels → Add new campaign. Then fill in the right fields, add campaign stages, choose how to add contacts to the funnel and save your progress.

 

This is the data you will use:

transactional data
RFM

 

Actions:

Using RFM segmentation and transactional data, prepare a set of rules that will add customers to the campaign and move them down the purchase funnel if they reach the required in-store spend cap. The funnel will be the basis for segmentation in the VIP campaign. Order appropriate banners and graphics for your messages as well. You may also decide to change the layout and color scheme as the prestige level in the campaign increases.

 

Those are the features you can use:

Segmentation rules are the basis in this case. They will assign specific contacts to the appropriate stage in the funnel. Of course, you also need the funnel itself. While creating an email campaign, use dynamic banners, which will differ depending on the segment. You can also leverage conditional content and AI recommendations with additional filters (filters: products marked as exclusive in the product feed).

 

Advanced email personalization: a brief closing note

 

Personalizing emails is a lot of fun. Discovering newer and newer ways to reach your audience 1-to-1 is a fantastic analytical and psychological exercise. A thorough knowledge of your target group and a hyper-personalization tool make this process much easier.

 

If you have any email personalization ideas and want to test them in practice, be sure to email your account manager at SALESmanago. Let’s explore the vast possibilities of our CDP platform together. 

 

*Source: Smart Insights

If you’re working in digital marketing for a business with an online presence (which, let’s be real, is most businesses these days), there’s a good chance that you live in dread of the infamous “Google algorithm update.”
Many marketers see this periodic switch-up in Google’s algorithm as a lurking nemesis out to slash their metrics and banish traffic.
The typical response? Every time Google comes out with an algorithm update, SEO specialists and thought leaders try to decode and decipher the algorithm’s secrets to find out what makes it tick. The idea is that, if you can figure it out, you can reorganize your SEO and content strategy to regain (or surpass) your pre-algorithm rankings.
This might seem like the best plan of attack. However, I believe this metrics-hungry, beat-the-algorithm mentality just ends up hurting companies in the long run. It’s inefficient, it distracts from the true purpose of SEO, and it ultimately wastes your company’s time and money.
My take? While algorithm updates shouldn’t be minimized (because they can negatively effect businesses), they also shouldn’t be feared. I believe we should work with the algorithms, not against them, ultimately creating a win-win: a better experience for users and a more successful web presence for deserving businesses.
Let’s explore how to do that next.

Algorithm Updates Improve User Experience
Because the digital landscape is constantly changing, businesses have to accept that these algorithm updates aren’t going anywhere. They are happening, and will continue to happen, indefinitely. And that is okay … and what we, as search engine customers, should want too!
The first step in working with Google algorithm updates is to understand why they happen in the first place. These updates are designed to create a better internet experience for both businesses and consumers.

The idea is to make browsers “smarter” so that internet users are able to find what they’re looking for faster, and with less effort.

Sounds great in theory, right? Under this model, businesses find the right customers and vice versa. If it’s an improvement for the user, it should be an improvement for you.
The problems start when we begin to analyze and crunch numbers after a post-algorithm-update …  
Don’t Get Caught Up In The Metrics Game
For many SEO managers, numbers are everything — total organic clicks, bounce rates, keyword rankings, impressions, the list goes on. And for good reason! This data helps us to understand what’s going on on the other side of the screen.
However, when this data becomes the end goal, we get into trouble. A lot of times, from an SEO standpoint, there’s a tunnel-vision focus on metrics and traffic, which leads to tilted strategies purely bent on maximizing the wrong numbers.
But, here’s the thing — higher rankings on Google aren’t necessarily great for business. Yes, they look great on a quarterly report. Yes, they’re easy to track. But do impressions necessarily convert to leads? No. These numbers turn into a sort of meaningless trophy rather than a useful tool.
Let’s take a look at an example to highlight what I mean.
Lower Traffic Could Mean Higher Revenue
Over a period of time, I worked with a business that had two sides to their site: user-generated content, and professionally-generated content. The user-generated content was produced in higher volumes, but also tended to be lower quality.
Every time there was an algorithm update, the user-generated side of their business was impacted negatively. They lost significant chunks of their traffic, time and time again. However, the company’s overall revenue simultaneously increased.
Why? Because the other side of their business was benefiting. The high-quality, professionally-generated content was favored by the algorithm because it was closer to what internet users were actually looking for. Therefore, it benefitted when its lower-quality competitors were demoted.
To me, this is the perfect argument for why businesses should spend time creating a great product rather than putting a laser-focus on SEO hacks or metrics. If you create an effective website with relevant content, the clicks will come organically.  
Stay Focused on the User
Ultimately, the solution sounds too good to be true — stay focused on who the user is and what the user wants to find on your site.
Rather than asking yourself, “Do we deserve to be #1 because we have the most keywords or the best backlinks?”, ask yourself, “Are we the best solution for what the user would want? Do we deserve to be #3 from a user standpoint?”
The way Google algorithms are headed, I believe that focusing on the actual service or product over the minutiae of SEO is the secret to creating a successful business.
This is what I termed “Product-Led SEO” in my book with the same name. This approach upends the whole premise of marketing the product to promote adoption.

Instead, the shift focuses on getting a great product into the hands of users who get excited enough to become marketing agents on the product’s behalf. In this paradigm, there may also be innate triggers within the product that encourage sharing, thereby forcing the hand of the user.
Algorithm Updates Aren’t Your Enemy
In the end, Google Algorithm updates are a fact of life. The sooner everyone can accept this and learn to work with the updates, not against them, the sooner they will find successful strategies.
The key to “going with the flow” is to take a good, long look at which direction the water is going. And, from everything I’ve seen, the proverbial algorithmic river is flowing straight towards the direction of Product-Led SEO. In my opinion, every good SEO strategy will follow.
Start by talking to users. Get in touch with what your customers want. What are they looking for? What do they like? What makes them click on a CTA? What cues do they use to navigate a site? Once you have a good handle on the needs of the user, you can begin to create a site that naturally rises above the algorithmic chopping block.
When your site becomes more effective, and you are able to connect with the right customers, everyone wins. This is the whole point of algorithms, and finding the harmony between the two will help ease a lot of stress and boost business.

“Your company is one viral moment away from a potential shutdown.”
Yes, you read that correctly.
Imagine your company is fortunate enough to appear for a few minutes on a national TV show with millions of viewers. You can hardly contain your excitement. All eyes are on you. There’s no turning back. 
Your excitement soon turns to horror, however, when you realize your company isn’t ready for this type of attention. Suddenly, a surge in traffic to your company’s website causes it to crash. Team members quit from the stress of performing under pressure. Vendors threaten to sue you for late payments. Customers are angry because their orders are either incorrect or weren’t provided on-time.
What took you years to build has effectively been destroyed overnight. 
How can a successful organization good enough to land a coveted spot on a TV show succumb so quickly? The answer lies in Marketing vs. Operations.

The Paradigm Shift from Not Enough Customers to Too Many 
When an organization officially opens its doors for business, marketing-related activities tend to be the primary focus. And it makes sense. After all, if no one knows about your product or service, you won’t be in business long. Those activities can include sales strategies, P.R. and social media campaigns, and digital ads that catalyze advancement from the startup to the growth stage of business. 
Eventually, if you have a great product or service that customers want, you’ll see a return on investment for those marketing activities. At this point, as an organization advances from the growth stage to the emerging and scaling stages of business, the need for Operations becomes paramount.
The reason is that this transition is usually accompanied by periods of unmanageable fast-growth – customer demand is greater than what your company can supply. It’s at this point that Operations-related activities like building the right teams, documenting and standardizing processes, and upgrading equipment and digital technologies becomes a higher priority.
If Operations is critical for scaling, why don’t more companies focus on it?
The answer depends. When it comes to Operations, leaders of small businesses fall in one of more of three categories:

Unaware: They either don’t know about Operations or they’ve never been exposed to it.

Uninterested: They believe that Operations isn’t “sexy.”

Undiscovered: When they try to search for information to scale their organizations, they find the lion’s share is reserved for large enterprises or manufacturing companies.

Let’s unpack each of these.
1. Unaware
It’s no surprise that many founders and leaders (business savvy and technical acumen aside), are largely unaware of Operations – what it is and how it applies to their businesses.
With customers and cash being the lifeline of any organization, special attention is given to customer-facing activities that ensure their satisfaction. This is an anchor against which we can define Operations.
As the diagram below illustrates, Marketing represents highly visible activities that customers tend to interact with directly. It involves making some sort of promise or guarantee to customers who purchase your product or service. 
Conversely, Operations is like the stealthy cousin of Marketing. It represents those activities that ensure customer orders are fulfilled on time, within budget, and within specification.
As the heartbeat of an organization, day-to-day Operations are not necessarily seen by your customers, but they certainly experience the result of it.

Operations teams work behind the scenes to make sure a company can deliver on promises made.

A frustrated client in charge of Operations once told me, following a conversation with a Sales Manager, “They sell the dream while we deal with the nightmare!” It’s a humorous take on the historical divide between Marketing and Operations teams.
That’s why the Revenue Operations movement is so important — it breaks down these silos to encourage transparency while working toward the common goals of customer satisfaction and profitability.

2. Uninterested
Founders and CEOs are known for being big-picture, strategic visionaries. The thought of getting bogged down by details isn’t necessarily their strength or interest. It’s part of the reason why Operations can take a back seat to the more visible initiatives offered by the Marketing department.
But there’s another culprit — small business event planners. Attend any small business seminar, webinar, or conference, and your chances of seeing an Operations topic included is slim to none. This omission creates a knowledge gap for leaders of small businesses and causes disinterest.
Through personal conversations and informal surveys, I’ve learned that a shockingly high percentage of these event planners think, “Operations is boring.” I’ve also had many of them tell me that, “No one is interested.” And perhaps most egregiously that, gasp, “Operations just isn’t sexy.” This type of thinking is dangerous and does a disservice to those seeking resources to scale to the next level. 
Consider these stats from the U.S. Small Business Administration:

81% of businesses are sole-proprietorships

32% of small businesses fail within the first two years

51% of small businesses fail by year five

67% will fail by year 10

I’ve often argued that more businesses could graduate from sole-proprietorships if they had a better understanding of Operations. This means job creation which has a net positive effect on local communities and economies.
I also believe that more businesses can avoid failure if they had a solid Operations foundation. Yes, there are number of reasons why a business fails. But the reasons why they fail within the first five years versus years five through ten can vary significantly.

There are businesses that fail not from a lack of customers or poor cash flow, but because they have too many customers.

3. Undiscovered
When small business leaders proactively seek resources to scale, they often find that those resources are not written or formulated with them in mind. Plus, if they are lucky enough to find resources for small businesses, it’s usually for those selling tangible goods.
Where can service-based businesses go for guidance on scaling without failing? 
Learning about frameworks like Lean and Six Sigma can be intimidating and sometimes too “corporate” for a small business’ needs. Thankfully, there’s a growing faction within the Operations community who are actively working to make this information accessible to small businesses. 
Learn More about Operations for small businesses in HubSpot’s RevOps & Operations Community
 Dr. Jeffrey K. Liker is one of them and he was careful to be more inclusive in the second edition of his critically acclaimed book, The Toyota Way.
Listen to my interview with Dr. Liker to learn more:

Ignore Operations at Your Own Risk: Cautionary Tales
Perhaps Kyle Jepson, Senior Inbound Sales Professor at HubSpot, said it best: “Operational failures are dramatic and visible. Operational success is invisible.” 
He’s right. There’s no shortage of examples of companies that, to their detriment, chose to ignore the due diligence and rigor required for sustainable Operations and continued to focus on the outward appearances that great Marketing afforded them.

One example is Ample Hills Creamery. Once known as “Brooklyn’s most beloved” establishment, this local New York ice cream shop caught the attention of Disney’s CEO. Soon, they landed a contract with Disney World only to lose it all a couple of years later as they hemorrhaged money despite enjoying a steady flow of customers.
One of their investors, Greg O’Connell noted, “It was a fairy tale. They were kind of living in a dream world because their marketing was so great.” Their failure resulted in bankruptcy, but other more severe failures land leaders in jail.
 Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos), Adam Neumann (WeWork), Billy McFarland (Fyre Festival), and Trevor Milton (Nikola) are highly visible examples of leaders who, despite receiving warnings, continued to mislead and defraud investors and customers only to find themselves either incarcerated or facing serious allegations.
Examine the back office of any wildly successful company and you will find ironclad Operations: solid teams backed by standardized, streamlined, and efficient processes and technologies. Operations pairs with innovation, and both are imbued into the fabric of the companies that are both profitable and sustainable.
Achieving this balance with Marketing is critical. This is what marketing expert Andrea D. Smith and I talked about on an episode of the Business Infrastructure podcast:

Business is complicated. It requires a constant balancing of not just Marketing and Operations, but all aspects of business. Don’t silo or sacrifice one group for the other. Attracting a steady flow of customers is fruitless unless you can also guarantee customer satisfaction.
Join the quest to change the narrative about back-office activities. Operations is savvy, sophisticated, and smart. And that’s very sexy!

When you think of online shopping destinations, Twitter may not be the first place that comes to mind. However, with ecommerce sales continuing to rise due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic, social platforms want in on the action.
On Instagram, business owners can add a “shop” feature to their profile, allowing users to make purchases directly from the profiles of their favorite brands. Similarly, TikTok teased an upcoming shop feature and integration with Shopify earlier this year. Now Twitter is testing new strategies to integrate online shopping experiences into the user experience.

The platform previously had a “Buy Now” button before retiring the feature in 2017 to focus on other avenues. Now Twitter appears to be circling back on this idea giving business account holders new tools for converting customers on the platform potentially turning Twitter into a space where buyers can discover new products while engaging in conversation with brands and communities.
Here’s what we know about Twitter’s commerce experiments so far.
Why Twitter Is Testing Ecommerce Features
In early 2021, Twitter executives announced their goal to double revenue to $7.5 billion and reach 315 million active users by the end of 2023.
Working towards such ambitious goals, Twitter is looking to introduce new revenue streams to help grow and monetize its user base – and one of those key streams is an ecommerce play designed to give businesses the tools they need to drive conversational sales.
During Twitter’s 2021 investor’s call Bruce Falck, Revenue Product Lead at Twitter said:
“We’re also starting to explore ways to better support commerce on Twitter. Our MAP (mobile application program) efforts help us understand how our users are transacting on the platform. Installing an app via an ad is in itself a form of commerce. We know people come to Twitter to interact with brands and discuss their favorite products.
In fact, you may have even noticed some businesses already developing creative ways to enable sales on our platform. This demand gives us confidence in the power of combining real-time conversation with an engaged and intentional audience.”
Essentially, the platform has aggressive business goals over the next two years and sees commerce as a viable way to increase engagement and revenue opportunities outside of traditional advertising.

Then we’re also thinking about commerce. Helping people buy things on Twitter. We want to be really thoughtful about how we do this so that we’re helping advertisers find their customers and continue to own that relationship with the customer. $TWTR— Twitter Investor Relations (@TwitterIR)
March 3, 2021

Twitter’s Ecommerce Test
The Shop Module
In July 2021, Twitter rolled out a robust ecommerce test: The Shop Module.

Image Source
The Shop Module will allow brands to display products in a carousel format at the top of the profile. When a user visits a brand’s Twitter account, they will be able to scroll through a handful of products, have the ability to tap in to learn more about each product, and eventually purchase.
This initial test is designed to determine the shopability of Twitter profiles. Though consumers typically visit Twitter to connect directly with brands for questions and customer service inquiries, Twitter is looking to understand what in-app behavior can drive users to make a purchase. As more data is collected, it will be interesting to see if Twitter can see a clear link between conversation topics and sales of related products through the platform.
Twitter has rolled out this feature to a small number of brands across industries based in the United States, and Twitter users based in the U.S. who use the English app on iOS devices are currently able to see it live.
With the feature being deployed to business profiles offering vastly different products, Twitter is also testing which product verticals sell from the platform. See The Shop Module in action below.

Image Source
Shoppable Twitter Cards
In March 2021, Twitter also began testing commerce features for organic tweets. Essentially, tweets that feature a direct link to a shopping page or product can generate a new Twitter card with a “shop” button and auto-populated product details.

Image Source
When a user clicks the shop button, they would be taken directly to the product page of the account’s website. The shoppable Twitter card appears very similar to promoted tweets. With this feature, Twitter is testing the viability of commerce through organic shares.
At the time of publication, this feature is still an experiment and hasn’t been rolled out to all Twitter users. It has been reported the shoppable Twitter card has been seen by international users and on Android devices.
How Brands Could Leverage Social Commerce on Twitter
Even if your company profile hasn’t been granted access to these new features, now is the perfect time to put a strategy in place so you can be ready to use Twitter’s commerce tools to your advantage.
1. Create organic conversation around products and services.
Consumers engage with brands on Twitter to ask questions and surface customer service inquiries. Start organically aligning your content on Twitter with products and services you’d like to highlight in the space to prepare your audience for what’s ahead with these new commerce features.
For example, a skincare company could start a conversation with its audience on Twitter about creating the ideal skincare routine. The company’s profile could start a thread with educational tweets about each essential step of an effective skincare routine and why each step is beneficial.
The audience would likely join the conversation sharing steps of their skincare routine and asking for product recommendations, creating space for the brand to share more information about its products to an engaged audience.
By continuing to prime the audience with these types of interactions, once the skincare brand gains access to Twitter’s commerce features, they can begin featuring the products discussed and measuring the audience’s response (through clicks and purchases).
2. Select a variety of products to feature on The Shop Module.
If your company profile is granted access to The Shop Module, use it as an opportunity to conduct research on what products best resonate with your Twitter audience. Try incorporating a variety of products at different price points, and regularly assess which products are getting the most click-throughs and purchases.
3. Take an experimental approach.
In the initial stages, don’t rely too heavily on using these new features to drive more sales. Instead, take a more experimental approach to gauge performance with your audience then refine your strategy when you have a more robust set of data.
When rolling out these new features, Twitter has clearly stated it is testing things out to better understand user behavior. Marketers should take the same approach to learn what resonates with their unique audiences.
With social media platforms giving brands more opportunities to sell through their platforms, marketers can find innovative ways to organically connect consumers to products and services they’ll love.

Would love to know what was your best marketing automation campaign and why
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https://digitalthoughtz.com/2021/05/08/what-is-the-benefit-of-email-marketing/ Check out the top 7 advantages of Email Marketing,
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Hi all, I just applied for solar sales agent and I am thinking to use online marketing. I did some research and found websites that can automative emails for you as cold calling. But I don’t have the experience to know what to use. Any suggestions? Would really appreciate any advice or feedback! Thank you!
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Have you been tasked with the job of creating a request for proposal, or an RFP?
Whether you have no idea what that is or haven’t written one in awhile, today’s guide can help.
We’re diving into the specifics of what an RFP actually is, why you might need one, and how to create your very first one today.
To start, you should understand what all these letters even mean.

 

When your company has a new (often large) project, or one that’s more complex and requires a bit of outsourcing, an RFP can help you get the job done right the first time.
The RFP doc becomes a way for you to quickly uncover the strengths and weaknesses of potential vendors in relation to your project without having to spend too much of your time hunting for them yourself.

RFPs can also give you a sneak peek into different strategies you may not have considered since each vendor will include their own unique action plan along with their bid.
And you’ll have this information before you ever have to commit to the vendor.
Keep in mind, this should not be confused with an RFQ.
RFP vs. RFQ
An RFQ, or request for quotation, is slightly different than an RFP since it’s just the quote itself. Here, companies solicit multiple price quotes from various vendors to compare services based on price alone. While an RFP includes a price quote (along with several other specifics), an RFQ does not detail anything other than price.
As opposed to an RFP, an RFQ is a request for quote or quotation.
Here’s how to understand the difference:
While you’re technically receiving a quote in an RFP, you’re also getting information like the action plan, timeline of completion, deliverable schedule, and the list of services provided as well.
But with an RFQ, you’re only receiving the quote itself for the service or products you’re interested in purchasing.
In most cases, simply comparing quotes is not enough to see if a potential vendor is the right fit for your company, which is why an RFP is more appropriate in these situations.
What is an RFP in marketing? 
In Marketing, an RFP is often used to outsource any marketing activities that could help your brand increase reach. These activities include anything related to marketing that you can’t do internally. 
For instance, if you work at a small startup, you might create an RFP to find a full-service communications and marketing firm to create an integrated marketing plan for your business. If this is the case, you’d outline in your RFP that you’re looking for a firm to help you “increase SEO presence” or “attract social media followers”, etc. 
On the flip side, if you work for a marketing agency, you’ll want to keep an eye out for RFPs in your area related to services you offer. For instance, if you work for a web design company, you’ll want to look for businesses that have created RFPs for web design services. 
What is an RFP in sales?
In sales, an RFP is often created when a business is looking to purchase a product or service to suit its needs. For instance, if an enterprise company is looking for a new CRM software, the business might release an RFP that outlines what it’s looking for, and what it’s hoping to achieve with new CRM software. 
For this reason, RFPs can play a critical role in the enterprise sales cycle. Enterprise companies that issue RFPs are often looking for businesses that can provide them with IT support, security, onboarding and training, and other additional services. To close these larger accounts, it’s vital your sales team is prepared with an RFP response process, and is able to efficiently respond to these large companies within the time allotted. 

The RFP Process Explained

Before potential bidders can submit their proposals, an RFP must be drafted by the company requesting the work. (P.S. We’ll show you how to do this later in this guide)
This gives potential contractors a better idea of what your company is looking for.
Once your RFP is sent out, contractors or vendors can review it and submit their best bids to compete for the job.
In these proposals, vendors generally include the following items:

An action plan of how they’re going to solve the issue
A timeline of what you can expect
Any necessary background information
How much they expect the entire project to cost

In certain cases, bidders may come back and say specific components of the RFP need to be adjusted based on their experience in the industry.
At this point, you can either review their feedback and create a new RFP to adjust for the changes, or you can leave the original as is and keep it in mind while considering the other submitted bids.
Once you receive all the proposals, it will be almost effortless to compare each one and determine which vendor is the best fit for your company.
Out of the stack of bidders, you’ll want to narrow this down to a handful of your top three, five, or 10 favorites to consider, depending on how many you receive or are interested in.
From here, you’ll want to spend time vetting potential vendors further to determine who’s really the ideal fit for the job.
Some companies may request one more best and final offer from their top vendors after they’ve started this negotiation process to ensure they’re not only getting the right person or company for the job, but at the right price, too.
While this may sound like an extra step, it’s one that may save you money, time, and headaches down the road.
But this also leads us to a big question: Is all of this really necessary?
Can’t you just spend time reviewing two or three vendors on your own?
As you’ll see next, that route is definitely not in your best interest.

Why Issue a Request for Proposal?

Let’s briefly compare these two scenarios:

Option #1: Spend time finding the perfect vendor on your own.
Option #2: Use an RFP to get potential vendors to come to you.

Choose the first route, and you’ll probably use your coworkers, friends, and networking groups to help solicit possible referrals for the job.
Or you might perform a Google search to check out the top vendors in your area.
After you review the website of a possible candidate for the job, you’ll craft the perfect message to reach out and learn if they can even help.
Then, you’ll have to explain the specifics of your project and you may or may not ask them to submit a proposal before deciding to choose them for your project.
It’s not a complicated process, but did we mention you have to repeat it for every promising referral or vendor you come across?
Imagine how long that’s going to take!
Now, what if these potential contractors already knew your project details and they came back with their best plan of action and a formal bid for you to review?
So instead of having to explain your needs each time, you would simply outline it once, and send it out to the masses.
And to save you even more time, it would be up to potential contractors — not you — to reach out.
The RFP route also gives you a sneak peek into each vendor’s real plan of action, not the one they talk you into over the phone or in person.
Since potential candidates have to submit a formal bid, they’ll need to spend time outlining the solution and really working through the problem at hand.
And if they don’t, you have an easy way to weed out vendors and cut through the stack of options fairly quickly.
But, to get to this point, you can’t make this next mistake.
Here’s What Not To Do With an RFP
If you want to find the right vendor, you need your RFP to be specific.

Only asking “yes” or “no” questions won’t get you anywhere.
That’s why you must create specific questions that require thoughtful answers.
Try to use sentences similar to these:

Can you share an example of how you’ve solved this problem or a similar one for another company? Did you encounter any unforeseen roadblocks? What would you do the same or differently this time?

With your proposed redesign, how long would it take a non-tech savvy person to complete the new registration form? How much time do you estimate this could save?

With these tips in mind, you’re ready to draft your first RFP.

How to Write an RFP

Here’s the basic structure of an RFP and what to include in yours:
1. Project Overview
Before you go into the specifics of your company, you should give a brief introduction to the project itself so vendors know right away if it’s something worth bidding on.
2. Your Company Background
This shouldn’t be a long history of your company. Rather, it should give contractors a better idea of what your company does and who you serve as a target market.
3. The Goals of Your Project
Clearly identify what you hope to accomplish with this project and what you see as a “win” so everyone is on the same page.
4. Project Scope
The details of the project are essential in an RFP. In the same way you don’t want to use vague questions, a vague project scope won’t help you find the right vendor either.
Spend time really detailing your project scope so there’s no surprises later on.
5. Target Deliverable Schedule
Even if your deadlines aren’t super tight, you should still have a target deliverable schedule in mind. This needs to be included in your RFP so potential vendors can properly gauge if they have the resources and bandwidth to complete the job on time.
6. Possible Roadblocks
Don’t hide your existing or potential issues under the proverbial rug if you want them to disappear. A successful RFP is explicitly clear about any technical issues or possible roadblocks, such as: Are you dealing with custom coding or an outdated platform? Does your team have limited resources?
By explaining these up front, potential vendors will know exactly what they’re getting into.
You’ll also naturally weed out contractors who can’t handle the task due to those constraints.
But you’ll also connect with companies that know how to work around these common issues with skill and finesse.
Remember, it’s far better to find this out now than after you’ve accepted the bid and started work.
7. Budget Constraints
It’s also important to be upfront with your budget too. The more you can eliminate surprises, the better for all parties involved.
8. What You’re Looking For in Potential Vendors
Another way to reduce or eliminate surprises is to explain exactly what you’re looking for in potential contractors.
All you have to do is outline what matters most to your project (i.e., time, solution, budget, etc.) and show how you’ll be evaluating their proposals based on that.
We’ll show you how this is done soon, but before we do, there’s one more thing to add here: an RFP cover letter.
Just like a cover letter for a resume, an RFP cover letter creates a professional image for your brand and sets the tone for prospective vendors. It signals that they should take the proposal and the project seriously.
The good news is there are a number of tools to make creating RFPs easier and less stressful than you’re imagining.
Sample Responses to RFPs
If you’ve issued an RFP and are collecting responses, you might be wondering what you should look for in effective RFP responses. Here, let’s look at a few examples of impressive RFP sample responses. 
Example One: General RFP Response for Web Design Services
Dear [author of RFP]:
Regarding your request for proposal (RFP), [our company] is thrilled about the opportunity to provide you web design services. Having worked with [brief list of past clients], we believe a partnership with [company you’re writing to] would have a tremendous impact on your customer satisfaction and bottom line.
As one of [client’s industry] leading providers of [client’s main service], you know just how critical this time of year can be for your customers. On average, the cost to deliver is $[xxxx.xx], and [client name] is committed to “[client’s mission statement].”
As these challenges become more common, it is increasingly important to provide customers with a powerful, SEO-optimized website to atttract new leads. With this in mind, [our company] intends to help [client’s name]:

Create a sleek, impressive website that is clean, user-friendly and mobile responsive to work on all devices, so web viewers have a strong first impression of your brand regardless of the device they use to find you. 

Help you strengthen brand identity through a new logo and a new, cohesive color palette. 

Ensure each of your web pages are SEO-optimized to rank quickly, which will attract new customers to your website and demonstrate your leadership in the industry. 

As stated in the executive summary, [our company] intends to help [client’s name] [brief allusion to client benefits outlined in executive summary]. To do this, our team has outlined a proposed set of deliverables, an order of operations, division of labor, and expected dates of completion to ensure the partnership between [your company] and [client’s name] is successful.
[Your company] can’t wait to work with you to help [client’s name] in addressing [client’s challenges described in Executive Summary]. To recap, please see below a brief overview of the services included in this partnership.
This sample response clearly and succinctly explains how the vendor’s service will solve the buyer’s critical pain points when it comes to creating a strong website. By outlining the key benefits, you’re showing the client how you’ll put them first and focus on their needs to get the job done. 
Example Two: Video Production Company Offering Its Services

When responding to an RFP from Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Paul Horton Visuals chose to create a full webpage dedicated to their RFP response. The webpage format enabled the team at Paul Horton to create a full sample video treatment and process to show Anthem what they’d be able to deliver if Anthem chose them. The page also includes an embedded video to highlight the strengths of Paul Horton: video production. 

Proposal Software Tools to Help You Manage RFPs

In this article, we outlined 10 tools to help you manage and create professional looking proposals in less time.
For today’s purposes, the following five tools are great places to get started:
1. RFPIO

RFPIO Solves the problem of responding to RFPs, from project management to collaboration, to integrating with other software.  Their solution includes reporting dashboards, auto-response features, and automated generation of proactive proposals from within your CRM. RFPIO also includes an intelligent answer library that turns previous RFP responses into on-demand intelligence that empowers revenue teams with enterprise content at their fingertips wherever the work. 
And what’s better? RFPIO has an integration with HubSpot that will automatically sync your RFP with your portal, making it easy to share information with your team. 
2. PandaDoc

To create customized RFPs with your own branding, consider using the proposal software PandaDoc.
Here you can set up your first RFP within minutes and even collaborate with team members using real-time updates within the document itself.
3. Nusii

Similar to other proposal software on the market, Nusii uses a drag and drop editor that makes building RFPs a breeze — especially for beginners.
Thanks to its clean, modern, simple design, it’s also really easy to figure out too.
One of the most helpful features of Nusii is using it for re-working existing RFPs to save you time. Just copy the content from an RFP you like and edit information to fit your new request.
4. Loopio

How do you plan on organizing all the responses to your RFPs?
One standout feature with Loopio is its RFP response library, which gives you instant access to all your answers from previous RFPs. This saves you the hassle of digging around to find what you need in a crowded inbox.
Their magic feature will even help you auto-populate a response if it appears similar to one you’ve already done.
Plus, you can manage your entire RFP process — including sending automated responses — and collaborate with your team all in one place with their intuitive dashboard.
And if proposal tools are out of the budget right now, or if you’d like to try your hand at creating your own first, use this template as a starting point.
5. RFP360

RFP360 streamlines your approach to RFP response management. Their intuitive knowledge management, workflow and collaboration features make it easy to create, review, update and approve compelling responses in a single library. Proposal automation and answer intelligence (AI) capabilities accelerate your ability to answer questions, suggesting the best possible responses and automatically completing them in bulk.
You can also import RFPs in various formats and generate polished final proposals, and integrated extensions allow anyone across your organization to use content from your knowledge library in Microsoft Office files, online questionnaires and forms — without leaving those applications.

Free and Editable RFP Template

Download a free, editable RFP template.
To use this template, simply download it here or fill out the form below. You can remove sections or pieces of information that don’t pertain to your project and add whatever else you need for your RFPs.

Over To You
Now that you have a better idea of what an RFP is and how to create your first one, you’re ready to get started.
Sit down with your team to narrow down your project’s specifics, goals, and scope of work. Then determine when the project needs to be completed and your budget before moving on to the drafting phase.
With this intel gathered, you’ll be ready to plug everything into our template.

You can also use this tried-and-tested proposal formula to ensure your RFP is professional and polished too.
Follow these steps and you’ll have an RFP template you can quickly update. Your next project will be a success that much faster. 
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in August, 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Read: https://nexuses.in/ways-to-enhance-customer-experience-in-b2b-e-commerce/
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