Business Services

3 Consumer Sites that will Impact Your Business

Consumer reviews matter a lot to businesses given the influence that it has on prospective customers, especially if it turns out to be a negative one.

Of course, these sites allow for businesses to claim their own listing while responding to complaints, if there are any.

Having said that, here are 3 consumer sites that can impact your business and that you should be aware of:

#1: Yelp

This site is a directory that helps consumers to find local businesses and that users can filter either by the highest ratings or most reviews. Interestingly, the site has almost 700 categories in all.

In addition, Yelp allows businesses to claim their own listings and better still, if it isn’t listed yet, helps you verify it so that you can add it to the directory.

You can add reviews, advertise on the site for increased visibility or even send private messages to customers.

#2: Google My Business

While it was known as Google Place earlier, this service helps you be found on Google+, Google Search and Maps. You can sign up for an account quickly if you already have a Google account.

You can add your business to Google Maps and once it has found your business, you have verify it by phone or mail.

#3: UrbanSpoon

Simply put, it is an online local bar and restaurant guide that collects reviews from food critics, diners and bloggers. You will have to claim your business if it is listed which will be confirmed by UrbanSpoon by phone. Of course, if your business is not listed, then you will need to fill up a form in order to be.

advertising, Internet, Internet Marketing, Marketing

Three Common Mistakes When A/B Testing Emails

Written by eTargetMedia.

By now, you are likely aware of the need to perform A/B testing on your email campaigns. Making changes to your emails — whether major or subtle — can have a significant impact on your email’s effectiveness so it’s important to test potential changes and monitor their effectiveness. But in order to get the most out of your A/B testing you need to do it correctly.

Here are three common mistakes which eTargetMedia has found that even experienced digital marketers make when performing A/B testing on their emails:

Drawing Conclusions From Early Results: With email marketing, you can see the results of your A/B testing in real time as recipients open their emails and click through to your site. This is powerful information but it can also be misleading. People who open your emails right away are likely to respond differently than people who take their time. Wait at least 24 hours before doing any serious analysis of your results.

Testing One-Off Emails: If your company has a one-time Valentine’s Day sale, chances are you are going to send an email about it. But you aren’t going to learn a lot that will help your business long-term by testing the Valentine’s Day specific content in that email (such as the size and shape of a heart). Save your A/B testing for elements that can apply to all of your emails.

Altering Too Many Elements: It’s tempting to test multiple elements in one A/B email campaign. The problem is that this makes it impossible to determine which changes led to which results in your testing. You should only change one element at a time during your A/B testing.

eTargetMedia is a leading provider of targeted email and postal mailing lists. The company also provides creative services that can help businesses of all sizes with their digital marketing needs.