A Glossary of Terms: Demystifying Online Marketing

Posted by Karen Renzi

Yesterday morning I presented a seminar at the Niagara USA Chamber entitled Demystifying Online Marketing. While there is no way to address EVERYTHING in the realm of online marketing in one morning (that would take more like a full semester), I approached this presentation as a sort of survey class – to give a sense of context and understanding for some of the main terms and acronyms online marketers throw around everyday.

Graphic from presentation: Online Marketing Tree

Attendees asked for a recap of some of the terms, so here it goes – feel free to add or elaborate on more terms in the comments, I’m not claiming this is a comprehensive list by any stretch of the imagination:

ANALYTICS

Google Analytics – Free website traffic measurement tools (analytics). Just need to create an account and have someone familiar with code install the code on each page of your website.

Visits / Hits – Some of the measures of traffic for your site. Visits is more meaningful because it tracks “unique visitors.”

Referral Sources – Analytics programs will

How NOT to Service an Online Customer: OfficeMax Impress

Posted by Karen Renzi

One thing I took away from Seth Godin’s seminar earlier this year was that Your Whole Company is the Marketing Department. This is never been more true than in today’s social networking world. Even a year ago, I probably wouldn’t have done anything more with this experience than complain to my colleagues but TODAY – I couldn’t wait to tweet on it. Here it goes:

Last night and this morning, I used OfficeMax’s online Impress website to upload some files I needed copies of for my meeting tonight. I filled out all their forms, including all my contact info, my customer loyalty card number, phone number, etc. All the specifications for the 3 jobs I submitted.

Great. Fine. But…

Problem #1: They didn’t send a confirmation email for the orders. Of course I’m used to getting one so I didn’t bother to write down the order numbers or waste paper to print the page.

Problem #2: They didn’t provide anything to indicate what time the jobs would be ready.

Problem #3: So that I would be sure the jobs would be ready when I needed to pick them up, I took extra time to find the store’s phone number on the website, since it wasn’t listed on the confirmation page.

Problem #4 – the big one: I called the store to make sure the jobs were done. They told me they don’t run jobs WITHOUT THE CUSTOMER CALLING THEM TO CONFIRM. They had been “burned too many times” by customers placing big orders and never showing up to pick them up. So what? If I hadn’t called myself I would have shown up with no jobs there ready? Now I can’t blame the sweet girl who informed me of this policy, but I DO blame OfficeMax for not thinking through the customer experience to make sure this would not happen.

How could they have avoided it?

1. Require payment at the time of placing the order. Would anyone comfortable enough to order a print job online NOT be willing to pay online? I think not. This protects OfficeMax’s loss exposure.
2. Be more explicit in setting customer expectations. Is there a specific time when the order would be ready? Does the customer need to call to arrange pick up time or delivery instructions? If so, provide the number.
3. Email a confirmation for the customer’s records and to reinforce procedures. Transactional messages can also serve a secondary purpose as promotional vehicles.
4. Train store personnel to be PROACTIVE in customer service. They have my phone number, call it to confirm the order and advise of pick up time. Don’t expect the customer to do your work.

The lesson: As a marketer you must consider the entire customer experience. This includes service process and transactional communications. Marketing is no longer just lead acquisition and sales support – your marketing department is your whole company.