What are Push Notifications?

Push notification refers to the message that is received on any mobile device. These messages are sent by app developers and can be sent at any point of time. These notifications look like normal SMS text messages but they reach only those users who have installed your app.

How to Get Started?

In order to send push notifications to an iOS, as an example, the app must be configured properly and registered with the Apple Push Notification Service (APNS). The APNS is a highly secured and robust service that app developers can use to propagate information to iOS (and, indirectly, watchOS), tvOS, and macOS devices.

Things To Avoid While Sending Push Notifications

Push notifications, if done poorly, can result in a spammy user experience. Nowadays, people receive so many messages and notifications at the same time so if you send the notification at the wrong time then there are chances you will lose your customer.

Here are some things to avoid while sending push notifications so that you get it right:

–  Do not replicate email marketing messages in your push notification messages. Most brands make the mistake of using the same message for both email and push notifications. It is a good idea to send location based offers and time sensitive offers.

–  Use rich media notifications in place of dull text based messages. People are keener to see messages that are attractive.

–  Do not send too many messages at the same time. The frequency with which you are sending messages is extremely important.

–  Do not push the product, instead push the value that your product offers. This will enable your message to receive the maximum response and will also increase the chances of user actions.

–  Complement push messaging with In-app messaging.

Know What Your Audience Wants And When They Want it

Sending push notifications is an easy task. Simply configure the message and push it through your customer’s mobile device. But, did you ever give it a second thought to what your customer wants? Marketers often send messages they want to tell the customers and ignore customer wishes. Do not send messages that you want to send, instead send messages that your users want to read. You need to find out what your users really want. This is where a good marketing strategy differs from a bad one.

Another critical element is to identify the timing of the message. Identify the time when your message is likely to receive the best response and ensure that your message is reaching the customers at optimum times.

Top Tips For a Good Push Notifications

Here are some top tips for a good push notification:

–  To make push notifications stand out, use elements like product image, name, discounted price and CTAs.

–  Send a short message and play a notification sound to alert the customer about your message.

–  Always send personalized messages to your prospects as people are more likely to respond to notifications that are personalized for them.

–  Create niche segments and set frequency caps to have an ideal flow of messages. Sending 3-4 messages a week is recommended depending on the type of products that you are selling. Also, identify users who remain engaged often and you can send more messages to them. On the other hand, send less messages to users who do not engage often. This will reduce the chances of app uninstallation.

–  Get that “curiosity push” in your message at the right time. The below message was sent to the users right before bed time.

–  Always test your messages before sending them. You can easily identify elements that have room for improvement via A/B testing. This will help you to properly optimize your site prior to sending visitors.

–  Allow the customer to take actions without opening the app. This will enhance the overall user experience and you can reap the benefits of a timely user action. For example, you can allow the customer to reply to a message in the notification itself.

–  Segment push notifications by behavior and user profile as this will return a higher engagement.

–  Always define your KPIs before starting any campaign.

Mobile marketing is successful when you integrate push messaging into your customer engagement strategy. Always think big and strategize how you can deliver maximum value to your customers during their micro moments.

Always remember that users are already bombarded with push notifications all the time so adopt a strategy that does not irritate the customers. Break the noise and deliver thoughtful and creative messages to get the maximum ROI.

The post Mobile Marketing with Push Notifications appeared first on Upward Commerce.

The below diagram explains the cross-device user behavior in a given day:

A few key findings in “how people use their devices survey” by Google is stated below:

–   We live in a mobile-first world: In an average day, more than 1/4 of all users only use a smartphone, which is nearly 2X as many as those who only use a computer.

–   We freely move back and forth between devices to get things done: Over half of users rely on more than one type of device in an average day, with 1/5 of them using another device while concurrently using a computer.

–   Where we are influences how we use our devices: The top three places people use their smartphones are home, work, and in a store.

–   Search has gone mobile: Of those who search, nearly 4 in 10 search only on a smartphone in an average day.

–   The web is one of our most used resources: Of those who browse the web in an average day, almost half do so on multiple devices. More than 7 in 10 users browse the web on their phones or computers in an average day.

What is a Micro Moment?

A micro moment is an intent rich moment when someone turns to the mobile device in order to know, go, do or buy something.

Marketers need to capitalize on such mobile micro moments so that they are able to effectively connect with the needs of the target audiences.

There are 4 different kinds of micro-moments as explained below:

I want to know moments: When someone is searching for more information related to a product or service. This is the preparation mode when the customer is preparing to buy at a future date.

I want to go moments: When someone is looking for products or services nearby from a local store. The customer often searches for the availability of products before they visit the physical store. Optimizing for such moments is an absolute necessity for local physical store owners.

I want to do moments: These moments happen when someone is trying to do a particular task like preparing a chocolate cake.

I want to buy moments: These moments happen when the customer has finally made the decision to buy. They simply need the help in deciding what to buy and how to buy.

What Brands Must Do?

Be there: Brands must make proper use of content marketing in order to remain present before the target audience whenever any micro moments happen. For example, any group of target audience searching for “how to take care of a Rottweiler puppy” should find your brand if you are selling dog food. This will educate your target audience and you shall be able to build trust in the minds of the consumers.

Be useful: Do not sell often, instead help the users. Selling should happen automatically and should not be the only target. We are living in the era where the purchasing power is resting in the hands of the millennials who resists brands that try to sell products directly to them. Instead, help the users by content, infographics, images, videos, podcasts and provide answers to their questions. Once they connect with your brand, they will automatically get converted sooner or later.

Be accountable: Create a seamless experience across a wide range of channels like organic traffic, paid traffic, social media, offline media, mobile channels etc. The consumer should be able to locate your brand no matter whatever channel they are using at the moment. Track your success in every medium and constantly try to optimize your brand performance.

The Future of Mobile Marketing – 3 Things to Focus Upon

–   Optimize your site for mobile and opt for AMP: To improve the overall experience of the users, it is recommended to deliver fast, relevant, and assistive experiences. Switching over to HTTPS, creating AMP pages and making use of CDN are some of the ways to improve the user experience.

–   Enable personalization at scale with smart automation: Make use of big data and AI to better understand the behavior of the consumers. Use smart marketing automation tools that helps to enable personalization at scale. Your brand’s focus should be to connect the first-party data to media execution in order to generate success. For example, people are more keen to make searches related to health, parenting and beauty using their mobile devices.

–   Embrace omnichannel assistance: Not only online, your brand should be able to provide a seamless experience across all channels and mediums in order to remain present with the customer throughout the customer journey.

Hundreds of micro moments happen during the day and people are constantly turning to their mobile devices in order to find answers to their questions and solve the problems.

There are more opportunities existing for the brands than ever and it completely depends on you to capitalize on such micro moments and be successful.

The post Micro Moments are the Future of Marketing – Are You Ready For It? appeared first on Upward Commerce.

The old glory days of SEO where you could win the algorithm with basic backlinks, metadata, and keyword-rich content has been replaced with actual, value-added content that audiences are seeking. And not only is unique content so competitive these days, but the web has become saturated with content, and good content.

Which is why you have to truly go above the great, and be 10x greater. Create shareable, compelling content that signifies you as an authority in your space.

Ever heard of “10x content”? Well, if not, be prepared to be enlightened. Moz Founder and Former CEO Rand Fishkin introduced the now infamous term in a Whiteboard Friday video (watch here- “Why Good Unique Content Needs to Die”).

Fishkin defined it as “Content that is 10 times better than the best result that can currently be found in the search results for a given keyword phrase or topic.”

So, out is “Content is King” and in is “10x content”.

Easy breezy? Here are some tips on how to optimize your site for search engines, and increase traffic to your ecommerce website.

Remember the Basics (Site Architecture, Inbound Links, General Content)

Site speed, crawlability, mobile friendliness and duplicate content are just some of the success factors you must master in order to get your foot in the door. Without these SEO basics, your shot at being heard or seen will be limited. Set up the foundation and pillars on which your site rests, and then you can truly begin optimizing.

10x Content, Again

10x content can take the form of buying guides, industry white paper, ebooks, essays…and so forth. 10x content must possess overwhelming value; it can’t be good, it can’t be great – it has to be 10x greater than great.

You have to be a renowned innovator, accredited professor, or guru of some sort…or so it seems. “The hard truth is that if you can’t become this kind of an expert, then you probably don’t deserve to rank highly for your keywords”.

Know the Influencers and Become an Influencer

In today’s world of SEO, you can’t become an authority in your industry sector unless you actually provide expertise on the services & products you sell.

Every business must have an embedded connection within its community. Find the most relevant bloggers, websites and aggregators in your community and become a valuable asset to them. Share your knowledge and expertise by becoming a content contributor, answering questions, and allowing influencers to do the same for you – work together. The relevance, trust, and traffic will naturally begin to unfold.

Links

Google and other search engines rank your site by considering a number of key SEO elements.

Google, which is still the web’s largest search engine, accounts for over 90% of global organic search traffic. Google’s algorithm takes into account a link value and scores accordingly based on quality, relevancy, and quantity of incoming backlinks pointing to your website.

– Quantity: The number of backlinks pointing to your site indicates to search engines that you are an active & respectable force within your industry, and that people like you! It means you need to make connections, contribute guest posts, and churn out lots of on-theme, relevant, and shareable content that people will link to.

– Quality: It doesn’t matter if you have a ton of backlinks pointing to your site if they’re not quality links. Quality links have to come from quality sites. For example, search engines consider web addresses ending in .edu and .gov and .org more valuable than .com – primarily because these are typically resourceful domains and have excellent content to share. So, if one of these types of domains links to you, then it must be for a worthy reason – and deserving of organic rankings. Additionally, you want links from sites that have a lot of credibility with search engines; If you can get your website submitted to the DMOZ directory, then you might gain a little more credibility yourself.

– Relevance: Search engines factor in the relevancy of your incoming links. The links must be on-theme and part  of your industry realm. If you are selling bikinis and have a ton of automobile links pointing to your site, then the  value isn’t there. Keep it relevant.

Social Media

Social media is here to stay. Whether or not you’re fan doesn’t matter because if you’re in ecommerce then you better become best friends with Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and the likes.

Likes, shares, promotions, followers, sales, & relevance are all part of the social media ecosystem in which every business must think about.

Share then Promote

Sharing comes first. Promotion comes second.

First try sharing non-promotional, valuable content with your followers before shameless self-promoting.

Inspire your pages with personality, ensure you are optimized for all device screens (mobile, desktop, tablet), be openminded when it comes to feedback from your users, and genuinely create shareable content that appeals to your audience, preferably in a fun and informative fashion.

I’ll Scratch Your Back

Help the people you are trying to attract. Providing amazing content is great, but seek out opportunities to help your audience. Believe me, everyone will return the favor.

Follow them, promote them and ask for nothing in return. 15% of Twitter users unfollow brands within three weeks. Don’t be part of the statistic.

Know Which Platform to Choose

Know which social media platforms garner the most popularity and influence in your space. For publishing, maybe it’s Twitter; for photography, maybe it’s Instagram. LinkedIn might be your drink of choice if you’re a recruiter looking for candidates. Think about your business goals, and then choose your channel wisely.

Optimize for Mobile

Mobile, mobile, mobile. Ecommerce shopping is taking over smartphones. A huge percentage of online shoppers are taking it to a mobile device. 89% of the time people are using their phones, many times on social apps like Instagram and Facebook. Think about how your social posts and landing pages render on a mobile screen, and how the mobile experience can dramatically affect your business. Think about posting more videos as opposed to still images; studies show it’s more engaging. Speaking of videos, use long captions with emojis and numbers – studies also show this gets more clicks.

Sales

Many social media sites, Facebook for instance, have integrated shopping functionality into the platform, allowing shoppers to make purchases on Facebook.

And Facebook is just the beginning, folks. Instagram has turned its platform into a place to shop (unofficially) for photography, art, fashion, and more.

It’s a Commitment

Social media requires investment & commitment. Understanding your audience, posting compelling content, engaging with followers, contributing to your community, creating groups, updating profiles, and running social ads isn’t something a small to mid-sized retailer should underestimate. Having a robust social strategy requires genuine time and commitment. Social media is growing and transitioning into a marketplace. Don’t take it lightly.

Lastly…

Follow and engage with the people that are engaging with your competitors.  These are people who are interested in what you do, it’s free advertising and it’s a great approach at driving awareness to your brand.

AdWords and Pay-Per-Click Advertising

The quickest way to gain traffic is to pay for it.

But pay-per-click advertising might need to take some notes from the art of war when it comes to competing with big-box retailers.

How can you compete without outbidding them? The market sets the bid price, and the price can be exorbitantly high.

But there are some rules of thumb you can do to even the playing field.

Quality Score

Your Quality Score and bid determines your Ad Rank in AdWords. As a smaller retailer, you might not be able to compete with competitive bidding against big retailers, but you just might with Quality Score. Ad Extensions are one way to boost your Ad Rank.

Bid Modifiers

Day Parting: Maybe it only makes sense for you to serve ads during certain times of the day. If customer service is important for your business, then you might serve ads only during work hours when your staff is present.  If you’re business is international, you might set your campaigns to run according to specific timezones.

Geo-Targeting: You can deliver specific content to different markets based on their physical location. If you’re selling snow boots, don’t serve ads in Florida.

Mobile

If your business relies on phone calls to seal the deal, then you should consider a bid modifier to serve ads to those already on their phones.

Match Types

Broad Match and Modified Broad Match leave a lot of interpretation into the hands of Google and can be quite costly.  Exact Phrase Match gives you more control over your spend while providing the awareness you need.

Overspending on Retargeting

Be sure to remove successful conversions out of your retargeting list. No need to spend more money on the ones already converted.

Google is Not Alone

There are other search engines besides Google. If you’re on a tight budget or just starting out, you might want to serve ads on Bing, as an example, for lower conversion costs. The competition might not be as extreme on alternative search engines.

Google Shopping

Think of Google Shopping as a search engine completely dedicated to shopping. Every shopaholic’s dream come true.

Google Shopping is different from Adwords in that retailers can display product images & information within search results. Shoppers can then compare prices for the same product between different merchants/retailers. Shoppers can go granular and filter by price point, brand, size, etc.

Google Shopping is a paid search initiative, just like AdWords, but the rules are different. Today’s ecommerce retailer must be proficient at converting these comparison shoppers.

Feed Optimization

Your Google Shopping feed is what matters most. It is the most critical factor in driving success for this channel.

Here are some tips on how to optimize your feed:

Product Titles: It is thought that Google adds value to title keywords & descriptors from left to right. When writing titles, make sure to place your most important keywords first. For example, you might use a title like this: “UGG Adirondack Women’s Waterproof Snow Boots in Black/Grey Size 7”. This title is using the following in order by importance – “Brand, Gender, Product, Color, Size.”

Product Descriptions: Try to keep it short and stay under 1,000 characters. Just like the product titles, add your most important info first and least important last.  Make sure it includes targeted keywords that shoppers are using. Consider the format you are presenting; maybe bullet points is all you need to list specs and dimensions or maybe adding a cool story in a short paragraph form is better.

Last Click Conversion

Google Shopping is full of bottom-of-the-funnel shoppers. They’ve done their research and are ready to buy. So you might want to optimize your bids accordingly.

Budget

As Google Shopping continues to grow, so should your budget allocation. As an online retailer it’s important that a fair portion of your marketing budget be allocated to this channel.

Driving traffic to your ecommerce website can be a grind, but if you can effectively build campaigns via SEO, Social Media, Adwords/PPC, and Google Shopping – then you’ve got your bases covered.

The post How to Drive Traffic to Your Ecommerce Website appeared first on Upward Commerce.

Google’s expert webmaster trends analyst, Gary Illyes, confirmed the game-changing news in October’s press release and follow-up interviews. Illyes added that the new mobile index would be the company’s “primary” index for search engine queries and will be more current than its desktop counterpart. This comes as little surprise for many; while the desktop index continually generates invaluable usage, the device is currently in the minority of Google queries. Furthermore, smart phones with online capabilities are ever increasing, as well as the mobile search engine engagement. Though no timeline was given during the announcement, Illyes later implied the index will be implemented on devices within months.

Search Results Will Differ

Though direct impact on usage is unclear, a one key consideration is certain: desktop and mobile users will receive different search results. Google will prioritize the mobile index by updating it more frequently, utilizing more resources, and providing more expedient answers. Google knows mobile users are more apt to seek immediate answers on their devices while desktop users are more likely to research topics to a fuller extent, sifting through several pages of results.

How Does This Affect Brands?

How do the index priority changes in Google Search affect brands and businesses banking on search engine optimization (SEO) and other common online marketing tactics? Google’s new mobile search prioritization necessitates businesses to create mobile-friendly content to continue thriving within the online market. The most successful businesses will employ various marketing campaigns focused on reaching Google’s vast mobile users while reformatting outdated desktop sites to fit more accessible mobile metrics. To capitalize on the changes, businesses will also need to gather more insights and pursue engagements through the separate indexes differently.

Upward Commerce can offer businesses insight into Google’s dual index system while establishing and converting target customer engagement. Through the tireless combined effort of tech, retail, and branding experts, our company provides creative solutions to the unexpected issues involved in a constantly fluctuating market. Upward Commerce’s hands-on guidance can not only assist businesses struggling with Google’s newest index addition, our company also offers the necessary tools to navigate and grow in a dynamic digital marketplace. While Google prioritizes mobile users, Upward Commerce prioritizes our client’s success. Let us assist in creating an efficient marketing, technology, merchandising, and operations strategy for your growing business today.

The post Google Prioritizing Mobile Index over Desktop appeared first on Upward Commerce.