Websites Need to Accommodate ‘ROPO Customers’
While it’s obvious websites drive online sales, business owners need to recognize the Internet also influences purchases made offline.
In fact, 97% of consumers use the Internet to research products or services in their local area, revealed a Kelsey Group Study, which was released in March 2010. Marketers label these consumers research-online-purchase-offline customers, or ROPO customers.
How to Avoid Being A Difficult Client (And Get More Bang For Your Buck)
Like anyone whose job involves direct client contact, web professionals often come across difficult client behaviour patterns. But as the saying goes — the customer is always right — and often these problems go unchecked in favour of politeness. These things not only affect your web professional’s sanity, but may also be detrimental to your working relationship, your project’s productivity, and even your wallet’s contents.
The following is a collection of things you should avoid saying to your web professionals, including designers, developers, and copywriters, if you want to get the most out of their services, while making the world a happier place.
Listening to Customers Through Social Media
One of the most important steps to take before speaking to your customers through your web copy is learning what they want, and what opinions they have about you and your competition.
But what if you don’t have the budget to pay for expensive research data or conduct focus groups? Targeted market surveys can cost up to $10,000 to reach a sample of just 1,000 people.
The advent of social media over the past decade has resulted in more and more people voluntarily sharing the valuable information market researchers pay for on sites like Facebook and Twitter. eMarketer predicts that the number of Twitter users alone will skyrocket this year to over 18 million, and March 4, 2010 marked the 10 billionth Twitter status update. That’s 10 billion times people have posted information online for all to see about what they are doing, thinking, and buying.
The Future of Marketing
Canadian Business’ Paul Brent recently suggested in Dewing It Alone that the power of social networks could render traditional marketing departments obsolete. It certainly seems to be putting the nail in the coffin.
Marketing spend is rapidly shifting online as businesses are realizing they can get more bang and reach through the Internet. To be sure, the Internet has already killed the old music institution and transformed TV. Case in point: the appeal and effectiveness of traditional 30-second commercials are fading fast, and new players and methods are taking over.
