Friday 5 Marketing Observations – Vanity Metrics

Friday 5 Marketing Observations - Vanity Metrics

Photo by Simone Scarano on Unsplash

I’ve been working on Marketing Resources for Tradies.

One of our Google Ads Campaigns for a client, we have reduced their Ad spend from $15.70 per click to $ 3.70, which means we can spend & get more Clicks & make more sales.

Time to Learn & implement, enjoy the weekend. Go Swans…

I’m Sorry, But Those Are Vanity Metrics

I’m Sorry, But Those Are Vanity Metrics

Our taste for vanity metrics starts early. Take schools, in which most students receive grades. Does an “A” reflect the promise of a student’s future performance or actually show who’s better at studying? On its own, doesn’t a “B” just signal “work harder” rather than “work smarter?”

Grades can easily slip into vanity metric territory, prizing comparison over advancement, and ego over evolution. They can become a tool for teachers to contrast students or for school boards to evaluate schools, rather than for students to improve. It’s easy to fall prey to the “A.”

  • Vanity Metrics vs. Clarity Metrics – Vanity metrics are surface-level metrics. They’re often large measures, like number of downloads, that impress others. Use them to initiate partnerships and gain a following… Clarity metrics are operational metrics, like the number of minutes a day your product actually gets used or how long it took for a user to get service. These are the hidden gears that drive growth. Use them to solidify your competitive advantage…
  • According to Tabb, advertising companies are dangerously susceptible to vanity metrics. But ad impressions represent exposure not results… “If you don’t track click-through rates and purchase metrics in the same database, you just end up with a percentage of people who clicked on your ad. You have no idea what they did next. A million people can visit your website and not purchase anything. Averages are one-dimensional vanity metrics. Without context, they leave out the why.” Lloyd Tabb Looker founder and CTO
  • SaaS platform  – How many times have you downloaded software you don’t use or use for a short period of time and forget about? “The number of people who download your product has no correlation with your company’s survival,” he says. “How many apps go on viral spins and wither months — even weeks — later? Software companies need to focus on active engagement minutes. That’s the clarity metric.”

Go ReadI’m Sorry, But Those Are Vanity Metrics


Email Copywriting 101: Five Steps to Better Converting Emails

Email Copywriting 101: Five Steps to Better Converting Emails

“Email marketing is dead.” That’s what a digital marketer told me while trying to sell me his messenger bot software.

But email isn’t going anywhere. Customers who buy through email spend 138% more than those who don’t sign up for email offers. And email marketing has an ROI of 28.5% compared to 7% for direct mail.

  • Define your goals for email – 4 questions to define your email goals… 1. Where are you right now?… 2. What action do you want the reader to take?… 3. Who are the recipients of the email?… 4. How will you convince readers to say “yes”?
  • Understand what matters to your audience—and how they talk about it… You need to move beyond one-dimensional customer personas. A Customer personas is a good starting point but you need to do more…
  • Write compelling copy – “You’re not writing copy; you’re feeding your prospect’s words right back to her. We want her to see herself on the page. We’re selling her a better version of herself. So we use her words, not ours.” Joanna Wiebe

Go ReadEmail Copywriting 101: Five Steps to Better Converting Emails


6 Rules of Visual Hierarchy That Will Help You Design Better

Exhibition signage for Alexander McQueen via Petr Kudlacek.

Exhibition signage for Alexander McQueen via Petr Kudlacek

Visual hierarchy consists of the arrangement of all design elements in a manner that guides the viewer throughout the composition. Use these six essential techniques to take your design to the next level.

In graphic design, visual hierarchy refers to the presentation of elements within a composition in a way that prioritizes their importance. Arranging components based on importance guides the viewer through the design and ensures the message is clear and concise. You can make one portion of the design appear seemingly more important by adjusting its size, weight, spacing, position, color, or font style.

The purpose of hierarchy is to successfully convey information in a short amount of time. Without it, any composition can be difficult to read and comprehend, leading to a loss of interest. Brands and businesses often rely on this design principle to market a product or service and urge the consumer to take action.

  • Make a Focal Point with Color – By using colour intentionally, you can create a focal point wherein the viewer will go to initially… If you use colour in your headlines you’re giving copy below the headline a better chance to be read…
  • Size truly does matter. In graphic design, components that take up a large area in a composition get noticed first… it’s not just typography that responds to size and scale; images, illustrations, symbols, and shapes can also benefit from this technique.
  • I’m always telling clients they should be using more whitespace… Negative space, or white space, refers to the spacing around a specific subject whether it be a title, image, or illustration…. Negative space help to separate varying entities, it also helps to establish hierarchy and organisation… 

Go Read6 Rules of Visual Hierarchy That Will Help You Design Better


How Dawn’s Ecommerce Business Helps Fight Human Trafficking

How Dawn’s Ecommerce Business Helps Fight Human Trafficking

“If there is any way I can help girls like this by selling pants, I will sell pants.”

At a seminar in St. Louis, Dawn Manske watched a video of an undercover reporter in Cambodia. The reporter asked traffickers for the youngest girls they could find. In came a group of girls ranging in age from 7 to 13 — all victims of human trafficking.

Dawn knew she had to do something, but she didn’t know where to start.

  • Made for Freedom – Dawn sells unique clothing and accessories, donating 20% of each purchase to organizations that support victims and prevent future trafficking… ade for Freedom is more than an online clothing store: Dawn works with centres around the world to provide dignified employment to victims of human trafficking…
  • Jobs aren’t enough. Dawn creates “dignified employment.” – “Rather than focusing on the amount of money, I went with a larger term that talks about the amount of money plus the dignity that comes with supporting yourself and working in a safe place.”
  • Made for Freedom goes beyond a typical online store. Dawn’s automation go beyond typical marketing emails. She uses ActiveCampaign to connect volunteers with opportunities to support her mission. Using ActiveCampaign, Dawn:
    • Sends regular updates to her volunteer network
    • Connects with new centers around the world
    • Shares more information with potential volunteers
    • Reaches out to potential resellers with information about Made for Freedom

Go ReadHow Dawn’s Ecommerce Business Helps Fight Human Trafficking


The Top 5 Grossing Shopify Stores (Based On Actual Sales From Sumo)

Taft Sales Strategy: Welcome Strategy

The Shopify stores I’m about to show you have all grossed over $500,000 using Sumo’s email marketing tools:

In this blog post I’m going to go through each store one-by-one and show you:

  1. Who the store is.
  2. Their total gross sales from Sumo.
  3. The #1 sales strategy they use to get over half a million in sales.

Note: All gross sales numbers quoted in this blog post are gross sales generated from Sumo (not the stores’ total gross sales). They are all within a 6-12 month timeframe since each store installed Sumo.

  • RANK #1: BLENDJETGross Sales From Sumo: $3,133,551.92  1 Sales Strategy:Abandoned Cart Strategy… Their strategy is simple: offer a 10% discount to people who abandon their cart or checkout pages. 
  • RANK #2: TAFTGross Sales From Sumo: $1,816,576.13 #1 Sales Strategy: Welcome Strategy… Taft shows this $20 off welcome offer five seconds after someone has been on the mobile version of their site (excluding cart and checkout pages)…Using this welcome strategy, Taft has made $1,641,170.44…
  • RANK #4: WORLDWIDE CYCLERYGross Sales From Sumo: $839,379.84. #1 Sales Strategy: Cart Casino Strategy… Using one cart casino game on the site, Worldwide Cyclery has made $839,379.84 (100% of gross sales). $784,274.47 from current prizes, and $55,105.37 from old prizes.

Go ReadThe Top 5 Grossing Shopify Stores (Based On Actual Sales From Sumo)


Google Ads Customer Match: A Step-By-Step Guide (With Real Results)

Google Ads Customer Match: A Step-By-Step Guide (With Real Results)

How many of your current customers do you think you can target using Google Ads?

Don’t know? Good news! Google can tell you.

Google will even tell you how many of your customers they can find on the Search Network, the Display Network, YouTube, and Gmail.

  • This long technical article, but it well worth learning about Customer Match, which allows you to use your customer data in your Ads targeting… Jeff has a video to go with this article…
  • Customer Match allows you to only show your ads to customers… Targeting existing customers is one of your most efficient forms of PPC advertising… You can also exclude customers from your ads…
  • Information is power … When it comes to targeting with Google Ads, information is power. So the more data you can build on your target audience the more efficient you can make your advertising.

Go ReadGoogle Ads Customer Match: A Step-By-Step Guide (With Real Results)


Friday 5 – Vanity Metrics