Feb 10 2009
Growing Your Online Channel and Why You’ll Have to be Good at this Going Forward
If there was ever a time to start learning how to grow your online channel, it’s now. Being creative and starting to use your online tools can help leverage your business, improve customer service and extend your market reach without a huge cost investment.
In this newsletter we’ll be describing three easy ways to help you action an online channel. Some you will already be aware of and even use in your business activities. They are easy, quick and measurable.
- Tracking Offline and Online Promotional Campaigns by using CRM reporting tools and Google Analytics to measure the touch points. Click throughs to the site is only one part of the measurement, by measuring and analysing the other activities, for example conversions over time (leads vs visitors), lead source via forms, potentials pipeline, market input and revenue will help you optimise your next marketing activity.
For example, a success story is Shapland Swim School, had the highest online registration in January 2009 via a TV commercial. Hilton quoted “To achieve on-line registrations we’ve invested in advertising on other websites, SEO and television. We’ve certainly found the television campaign managed by our agency RHA Advertising to have the “most bang for the buck” in terms of achieving online registrations and cost per lead. Our franchisee’s send us emails telling us how happy they are with the online strategy. And that’s the best measure you can have.”
- Online customer service. Create a 24/7 Knowledge Base by publishing FAQ’s in vTigerCRM. By using the database for displaying answers to frequently asked questions, allows for self-service client support. Having the ability to deliver information quickly about products and services from a searchable database removes the need for a pre and post support, lowering support costs for both you and the client. People are automatically turning to the web to get more information.
- Start a Blog. Blogging is a great way to get more traffic from the right audience. Blogs allow you to engage your customers and guests in a dialogue and humanise your brand. For example, testing new products and services before you launch. Just by encouraging your prospects to engage with you online through a blog or forum opens up a new way to receive genuine client feedback.
The web is turning into a new communication channel. Companies can now successfully correlate market input to online response rates as an effectiveness measurement.
For further information or would like to discuss your online requirements, contact Emma Puttick at Sauce Software.
