Businesses today must have a digital presence in a world where nearly 4.6 billion people used the internet last month. Thus, digital marketing is required. But having a website isn’t enough. How well-versed are you in digital? How effective is your digital marketing? If you don’t know where to look, you might be throwing money away. These are the top 5 digital marketing mistakes.
- Relying only on Customer Acquisition
- Ignoring Mobile Users
- Poor Customer Service
- Not Setting Goals
- Not Offering Promotions or Discounts
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Relying only on Customer Acquisition
New customers are important, and you need to grow your customer base to survive, but don’t forget to keep the ones you have. You want repeat customers, so you must also focus on retention. A new customer costs 6-7 times more than retaining one, according to a Harvard Business Review study. The same study found that increasing retention rates by 5% can increase profits by 25-95 percent.
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Ignoring Mobile Users
Globally, 3.5 billion people own smartphones, with 77% of Americans owning one. Your site must be mobile friendly, but also mobile optimized. What do I mean? To be mobile friendly, your site must display correctly on both desktop and mobile devices. The website will be smaller and may not be touch friendly, but it will still work. You don’t want your mobile users waiting too long for pictures to download or links that are difficult to find and click. You want a mobile site. A mobile optimized site will reformat itself for common mobile devices, have larger navigation buttons, and display content differently for mobile viewers. Links will no longer be stacked on top of each other, but rather appear as buttons, and the site will be redesigned to help mobile users avoid typing.
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Poor Customer Service
In marketing, most people don’t consider customer service, but how happy your customers are directly affects their loyalty and referrals. If your customers are unhappy, they will post negative reviews online for all to see. Quick customer service will help. If your team sees a negative review, responding quickly will help improve your image.
Positive customer service experiences increase customer loyalty and retention. Your team can help promote your marketing goals if they understand them. It’s also a good idea to encourage customers to follow you on Facebook so they don’t miss out on new product announcements and discounts. If someone contacts your team asking about possible discounts or specials, your team can inform them of the newsletter and ask for their email address to get them subscribed.
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Not Setting Goals
It’s easy to enter the digital world without considering your goals. You can’t measure your success if you don’t know what you want. Make SMART goals. They must be precise. You can’t just say you want more business; what does that mean? Goals must be measurable; how will you know if you are on track? They must also be feasible. You can’t expect to gain 10,000 followers overnight. Are these goals actually related to digital marketing and improving your business? They must be time-limited. With no timetable, a wish is.
Make sure you don’t set too many goals. Overwhelming yourself won’t help you achieve any of them. Write them down and review them regularly to see if they are still relevant to your business goals. Once you have goals, you can make decisions that help you achieve them.
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Not Offering Promotions or Discounts
Discounts and promotions drive traffic to your site and encourage purchases. Promotions can usually boost sales. Better yet, coupons have been shown to increase oxytocin levels, happiness, and customer loyalty. Discounts reduce abandoned carts, encourage new product testing, and increase new customer loyalty.
Discounts are also a great way to build a customer loyalty program. Your newsletter subscribers can get special discounts, allowing you to keep marketing to them and keeping them happy. You can offer products for free. Scientists discovered that people who receive something for free will value it more than its face value. Customers feel better served when they receive something for free rather than a purchase discount. For example, selling hand lotion in a bonus pack sold 73% more than selling it at a discount. Offering promotions and creating a customer loyalty program that rewards customers will bring in new customers, retain existing customers, and increase sales.