Customising the E-commerce Experience

In the ever-evolving landscape of e-commerce, businesses are increasingly recognizing the significance of personalization as a key driver of customer satisfaction and loyalty. Personalization goes beyond mere transactional interactions; it involves understanding the unique preferences, behaviors, and needs of individual shoppers to deliver a tailored and memorable online experience. In this article, we delve into the world of personalization in e-commerce and explore its impact on customer engagement, conversion rates, and long-term brand loyalty.

So, what is personalisation in e-commerce?

Personalization in e-commerce refers to the process of tailoring a user's online experience based on their preferences, past interactions, and demographic information. This can manifest in various forms, such as personalized product recommendations, customized content, targeted marketing messages, and adaptive website interfaces.

Personalized Product Recommendations:

E-commerce platforms leverage algorithms and machine learning to analyze a user's browsing and purchase history, offering personalized product recommendations. This not only enhances the customer's shopping experience but also increases the likelihood of additional purchases.

Dynamic Content Customization:

Tailoring website content based on a user's preferences and behaviors creates a more engaging and relevant experience. This can include personalized landing pages, customized banners, and targeted promotions that resonate with individual customers.

Behavioral Targeting:

Analyzing user behavior on an e-commerce site allows businesses to segment customers into specific groups. This segmentation enables the delivery of targeted marketing messages, special offers, and promotions to different customer segments, increasing the chances of conversion.

Personalized Email Campaigns:

Personalization extends to email marketing, where businesses can craft personalized and targeted email campaigns based on a customer's purchase history, preferences, and browsing habits. This approach fosters a sense of connection and encourages repeat business.

The Impact of Personalization

Enhanced Customer Experience:

Personalization creates a more enjoyable and efficient shopping experience. When customers feel that a platform understands their preferences and needs, they are more likely to engage with the brand and make repeat purchases.

Increased Conversion Rates:

By presenting customers with products and content that align with their interests, personalization significantly boosts conversion rates. A tailored shopping experience reduces decision fatigue and guides users towards products that are more likely to meet their expectations.

Improved Customer Loyalty:

Personalization fosters a sense of loyalty as customers appreciate the effort invested in understanding their preferences. Repeat purchases and brand advocacy become more likely when customers feel a strong connection with the brand.

Reduced Cart Abandonment:

Personalized reminders, such as abandoned cart emails featuring items left in the shopping cart, can prompt customers to complete their purchases. This proactive approach helps reduce cart abandonment rates and recover potentially lost sales.

Optimized Marketing ROI:

Targeted marketing efforts result in a more efficient use of resources. By focusing on personalized campaigns, businesses can optimize their return on investment (ROI) as they are more likely to resonate with the intended audience.

Challenges and Considerations

While personalization offers numerous benefits, businesses must navigate challenges such as privacy concerns, data security, and the need for transparent communication. Striking the right balance between personalization and respecting user privacy is crucial to building trust and maintaining a positive brand image.

Conclusion

In the competitive realm of e-commerce, personalization emerges as a powerful tool for creating meaningful connections with customers. By harnessing data-driven insights and leveraging technology, businesses can craft personalized experiences that not only meet but exceed customer expectations. The journey towards a more personalized e-commerce landscape is ongoing, with advancements in artificial intelligence and machine learning continuing to redefine the possibilities of tailoring the online shopping journey. As businesses embrace the era of personalization, they pave the way for stronger customer relationships, increased loyalty, and sustained success in the dynamic e-commerce landscape.

Marketing strategies are crucial for any business to thrive in today's highly competitive landscape. Traditional marketing methods are no longer sufficient in setting your business apart from its competitors. That's where alternative marketing strategies come in. These unique and creative approaches to marketing have become increasingly popular in recent years. This blog will explore five alternative marketing strategies that can boost your business.

What are alternative marketing strategies?

Strategies that are unique or creative in how they are used to promote your product or service are referred to as alternative marketing strategies. Such strategies go above and beyond traditional marketing methods and help businesses stand out from their competitors.

Why should I use alternative marketing?

In today’s fast-paced and competitive business landscape, it is more important than ever to have a solid marketing strategy in place. Methods that may have been a hit in the past, such as TV ads and billboards, are no longer effective in differentiating your business from your competitors.

1. Gamification Marketing

Gamification marketing is a unique and engaging approach using games or interactive experiences to promote a business or product. Some examples of gamification marketing include:

• Branded Games
• Contests
• Reward Programs
• Social Media Campaigns

Pros

Increased engagement - Gamification can capture and engage your audience uniquely to other marketing strategies as it requires the customer to participate actively.

Differentiation from competitors - Gamification marketing allows you to stand out by providing an innovative and unique approach to marketing.

Enhanced brand awareness - Because it is unique and helps you stand out from competitors, gamification marketing creates a memorable experience that enhances brand awareness and recognition.

Data collection and insights - Gamification marketing allows you to collect data on customer behaviour, preferences and interests that can be used when creating further campaigns.

Increased customer loyalty - When marketing experiences are fun and interactive for the customer, it can foster a sense of loyalty and emotional connection with your through with your brand leading to customer retention and loyalty.

Cons

Costs and resources - The development and implementation of gamification marketing can require more significant investments in time, money, resources, game development technology and ongoing maintenance.

Complex implementation - Gamification marketing is not necessarily the easiest to “just do” as it may require a skillset you or your team do not already have.

User fatigue - It needs to be done well. Excessive or poorly designed gamification can lead to user fatigue and boredom.

Limited Audience appeal - Gamification may not resonate with all target audiences or work for all brands.

Ethical concerns - Some techniques used in gamification marketing raise ethical concerns. Some of these techniques include addictive gameplay or manipulative rewards. 

2. Reverse Graffiti Marketing

Reverse graffiti marketing is the 2023 version of your traditional billboard. Also known as clean graffiti, reverse graffiti marketing is a unique, attention-grabbing, eco-friendly approach to street art through temporary designs or messages promoting your brand. Some examples of reverse graffiti marketing include:

• Brand logos or slogans 
• Public awareness messages
• Event promotion

Pros

Environmentally friendly - Since it involves cleaning dirty surfaces instead of adding paint or materials, it is considered a green approach to street art.

Unique and eye-catching - Reverse graffiti can be a novel and attention-grabbing way to promote a brand or message.

Temporary - Unlike traditional billboards or murals, reverse graffiti is not a permanent addition to a location and can be removed easily when needed.

Cons

Legality concerns - In some locations, reverse graffiti may be considered illegal or require special permits.

Limited exposure - reverse graffiti marketing uses a fixed location and not in as popular areas, which may limit reach. 

Weather dependent - being outdoors, your message is prone to the elements and may wash away or fade quicker than intended.

3. Crowdsourcing

Getting your customers involved in the marketing process by getting their ideas and feedback is a fantastic alternative marketing strategy referred to as crowdsourcing. This technique leverages the collective wisdom of a whole community that loves your business to create innovative marketing campaigns. Examples include:

• User-generated content
• Invite customers to suggest ideas
• Analyse feedback

Pros

Customer engagement - Crowdsourcing can strengthen the relationship between your brand and customers as you actively involve them in the marketing process through asking for ideas and feedback.

Diverse Perspectives - Having input from many customers means access to a wide range of perspectives and ideas.

Cost-effective - Crowdsourcing can be a cost-effective way to generate ideas as it eliminates the need for a whole marketing team. 

Cons

Quality control - Just because you may get a lot of input from customers does not mean that their ideas will be quality, feasible or on brand.

Time-consuming - The crowdsourcing process can be time-consuming, as it requires reviewing and evaluating a large number of submissions.

Intellectual property issues - submissions may include copyrighted materials or ideas that could potentially be used by competitors.

4. Nostalgia Marketing

Tapping into customers’ sentimental memories of the past is a creative way to market your products or services. Nostalgia marketing uses elements designed to elicit an emotional response from the customer, building a connection.

• Old fashioned logos
• Vintage advertisements
• Classic packaging
• Old fashion trends
• Music

Pros

Emotional connection - Nostalgia marketing can tap into positive memories and emotions, which helps build a connection with the customer and build brand loyalty.

Differentiation - Nostalgia marketing helps differentiate your brand from competitors by creating a memorable brand identity.

Broad appeal - Nostalgia marketing can be used to appeal to all demographics and target markets. 

Cons

Limited appeal - Although nostalgia marketing can appeal to many customers, what is considered nostalgic will vary between generations and cultures. 

Inauthenticity - There is always the risk that nostalgia marketing will come across as tacky, lacking authenticity if not executed well and can be seen as exploiting certain time periods and cultures. 

Risk of alienation - As nostalgia marketing can have limited appeal, you risk leaving customers feeling excluded and less connected to your brand if they don’t relate.

5. Out-of-Home Marketing

Out-of-home marketing is a technique that reaches customers outside of their homes. Similar to reverse graffiti marketing, but can involve more unique advertisements using objects such as street furniture or transit ads. Some examples of out-of-home marketing include:

• Street furniture such as bus shelters, benches, trash cans, and kiosks that include advertising displays.
• Event sponsorship, including at festivals, concerts and sporting events.
• Aerial advertising using skywriting or aerial banners.
• Public art installations that double as marketing displays that generate a buzz.

Pros

High visibility -  You can reach a large number of people in a short amount of time as well as people who you may not reach with other forms of marketing.

Brand awareness - It can help build brand awareness by placing your brand in front of many people.

Creative opportunities - Out-of-home marketing offers creative opportunities to think outside the box and create unique and memorable marketing campaigns.

Target audience - You can still target specific audiences by being intentional about where you place your advertisement, for example, near certain stores or on specific streets.

Cons

Cost - It can be expensive, especially if you want high-traffic or a prime location.

Limited message - You need to get the message across in a few seconds, so it needs to be both engaging and informative, taking a lot of creativity.

Limited tracking - The success of out-of-home marketing is much harder to track than online marketing campaigns.

Weather dependent - Weather may not only impact the advertisement itself but may mean you reach less people than anticipated if there are less people about.

Alternative marketing strategies can help businesses stand out in today's competitive landscape. Each strategy discussed in this blog has its pros and cons, and it is up to you to determine which approach will work best for your business. Your business can reach new heights with the right marketing strategy, so it's essential to explore alternative marketing strategies to achieve your goals.

In today's world, where most businesses have an online presence, customer reviews have become an essential part of building trust and credibility. 

Customer reviews offer potential customers a glimpse into your product or service from a third-party perspective. In fact, according to a survey by BrightLocal, 91% of consumers read online reviews before making a purchasing decision.

In this article, we'll explore the reasons why customer reviews are crucial for any business and how to gather them effectively.

Why do I need customer reviews?

Build Trust & Encourage Loyalty

Online reviews are a fantastic form of social proof for your business. They help build trust with potential customers making them feel more confident about making a purchase and in turn increases your conversion rate.

Trust is a big factor in who customers will buy from, so seeing reviews from other happy customers is great, as well as seeing that you care about your customers' experience by responding to the not so good reviews with resolutions. 

Improve Search Engine Rankings

Google and other search engines alike consider customer reviews as a ranking factor in determining which businesses show in search results.

The more positive reviews, the more likely Google will improve your search engine visibility.

Get Feedback on How To Improve

After all, keeping customers satisfied with the products and services your offer is incredibly important.

Reviews provide an external view of how your business is viewed. Whether the reviews are good or bad, it can be incredibly helpful to see where customers think you do a good job, as well as what areas could use work to enhance the customer experience in the future.

So how do I get customers to leave a review?

Now getting customers to leave reviews can be a challenge. There is a fine line between being too pushy and giving yourself the best chance at receiving a review from a customer. Here are some solid tips for getting more reviews.

Make it easy to leave a review - The more effort it takes to leave a review, the less likely customers are to do so. Make sure there are multiple sites and directories for reviews to be left, as well as send out an automated review request tool.

Time your review requests strategically - Ideally, you want to ask the customer for a review when they have had a positive experience with your business. This could be immediately after purchase or service experience. However, if the purchase is online to be delivered, after the product has been received could be a good time to ask for a review.

Offer incentives for leaving a review - You can offer incentives to customers who leave a review to make the time leaving the review worth it for the customer. Examples of incentives include discounts, prize draw entry and freebies. However, make sure you are clear on the T’s & C’s and don't offer anything that could be perceived as a bribe.

Respond to existing reviews - When you respond to the existing reviews (both good and bad), it shows customers that you value their feedback and care about whether they had a good experience with your business.

5 Creative Ways to Ask for a Review

1. Create a personalised video request: This makes the customer feel like you're not just sending a bulk email and that you care about their individual experience.
2. Include a review request in your signature: This means you aren’t being pushy and send emails with “give us your feedback” in the subject line but offer the customer the opportunity to review easily.
3. Create a review contest: Incentivise the customer to leave you a review by offering the opportunity to win a prize when a review is left.
4. Use social media: Create a unique hashtag for customers to leave reviews under 
5. Host an event: if you have a physical store, host an event for your loyal customers and ask them to leave a review at the event. Or better yet, get them to leave a review as their RSVP for the event.

How do I handle reviews?

It is very important to respond both promptly and professionally to ALL reviews. Yes, this means both the good and the bad ones. This shows that you value the feedback and want to resolve issues or concerns.

The Good 

• Positive reviews are an incredibly valuable marketing tool. 
• Not only do they help build trust and social proof, but you can share these reviews on social media, your website or in any other form of marketing you use. 
• Just make sure to ask permission before sharing feedback publicly.

The Bad

• Nobody wants to receive a bad review; however, it is important to respond in a way that shows the customer you care. 
• How you respond to a negative review can actually lead to a positive review from the same customer. 
• Make sure to apologise and provide either a solution or compensation when appropriate.

Where to gather your customer reviews

Website

Your Website is a fantastic place to gather reviews. You can have relevant reviews on the respective product and services pages you are advertising. 

This not only provides feedback but allows potential customers to be able to get a better idea of your product/service and builds their trust when there are multiple good reviews.

Reviews on your website under specific products/services can also help potential customers in their buying journey when it comes to what size or colour to purchase.

Social Media

Social Media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram are another great place to gather reviews.

Receiving reviews on social media not only means that they are easy to reuse on your own social media, but are shared with that customers following also. This is potentially hundreds of people directly being exposed to your product/service in a positive light.

You can also easily offer incentives such as prizes or discounts for customers who leave a review using social media.

Google Business

Using your Google Business Profile to gather online reviews is also a great way to increase business.

When people google your business, they don't even need to enter your website to see a star rating and review summary.

Receiving good reviews on Google can also increase your visibility and online presence by ranking higher in google search results.

In conclusion, customer reviews are a vital part of any business's success, helping to build trust, improve search engine rankings and provide valuable feedback for improvements. By making it easy for customers to leave reviews, strategically timing review requests, offering incentives, and responding to both positive and negative reviews professionally, businesses can gather feedback to build credibility and grow their customer base. So, if you haven't started gathering reviews for your business, it's time to start now!

Social commerce has become a powerful tool for businesses to boost customer engagement and sales through social media platforms. 

With the acceleration of online shopping and ecommerce due to the pandemic, it has become essential for businesses to find new and innovative ways to connect with customers. 

Social commerce allows businesses to interact with customers in a more personal way, providing them with the opportunity to browse, research and purchase products without leaving their favourite social media apps. 

In this article, we will explore the pros and cons of social commerce, ways to overcome its challenges, and examples of businesses that are using it successfully.

What is Social Commerce?

Social commerce refers to the use of social media platforms to boost customer engagement and sales. In simpler terms, social commerce is online shopping through social media. We live in a digital age where social media has become a crucial aspect of your business’s digital marketing strategy, whether you have an e-commerce or a physical store.

But why is it so important to leverage?

1. We live in a digital age where social media is becoming less of an option and more of a requirement for businesses, whether they are purely ecommerce or with a physical store.
2. Thanks to the pandemic, the shift toward the number of people online shopping has been accelerated, and it is now crucial for businesses to find new, innovative ways to engage and connect with customers. Social commerce provides the opportunity to do just that.
3. Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok are just some of the social media platforms that allow you to interact with customers in a more personal way. Customers can browse, research and purchase products without even leaving an app.
4. Let’s just say you can consider yourself out of the loop if you’re not leveraging social commerce…

Pros and cons of social commerce

Pros

Increased Reach and Customer Engagement

Social media platforms have a massive user base, and using these platforms for social commerce opens your business up to a much wider audience in a more cost-effective way.

Seamless Shopping Experience

Social commerce allows customers to shop without having to leave the platform they are using, creating an easy process from start to finish that they are less likely to abandon.

Effective at Building Trust

Customers are able to see, in real time, the reviews and recommendations from others who use your products, which is fantastic at building trust. 

Reviews are already a fantastic tool to leverage; reviews that come with photo/video, as well as being able to see that a reviewer is a real person by going to their profile, provides the extra reassurance customers look for.

Cons

The balancing act of commerce and social media

Social media is a fun platform where people can interact with their friends and family; too much promotion may lead to frustration and a negative pushy perception of your business.

Businesses need to find the balance between having fun and interacting with customers and using social media to promote and push products.

Privacy and Security Concerns

Customers want to feel in control of how their data is being used and can be hesitant to share their personal information.

Therefore, it is important for businesses to be transparent about how customer data is used and that it is protected and secure. For example, using secure payment gateways and consistently monitoring for security threats.

Conquering the Algorithm 

Social media platforms use an algorithm to figure out what content is shown to what users, which means you can put in a lot of work for little traction.

How can I leverage social commerce for my business?

Like all things, social commerce does come with its challenges. The following points will help youovercome the challenges and make the most of all social commerce has to offer.

Choose the right social media platforms for the demographic and user behaviours of your target audience. Put in the research. Instagram is great for a younger audience, where Facebook caters to a wider age range.

Integrate your chosen social media channels with ecommerce to streamline the customer journey. Don’t make the customer have to exit the social platform they are on. Use the shoppable post feature so customers can shop in their chosen app.

User generated content (UGC) is your friend, as satisfied customers post about your product in reviews, photos and videos. This content not only means less work for you but provides an authentic way to build trust and credibility with potential customers.

Invest in influencer marketing to reach new audiences and build trust by working with influencers who fit your brand values and have an audience that consists primarily of your target market.

What does the future hold for social commerce?

Although it has already seen so much growth in the past few years, social commerce still has much further to go.

What can we expect?

1. The number of businesses using social commerce will continue to grow and will quickly become less and less of a choice and more of a requirement to succeed. 
2. It is predicted that over time social commerce will use data and analytics to refine and personalise marketing campaigns further.
3. Augmented reality (AR) and Virtual reality (VR) will likely increase in popularity, providing a more interactive and immersive shopping experience than ever seen before.
4. As technology evolves, it's expected that chatbots will improve and become a key tool in creating a personalised experience for customers.
5. Artificial intelligence (AI) is also becoming more prevalent and will be able to help businesses in analysing customer data for marketing purposes.

Examples of businesses using social commerce today

Instagram

Most people have heard of Instagram as it is one of the most powerful social media platforms today. Instagram has millions of businesses using the platform to promote and sell products using the integrated in app shopping feature.

Shopify

Shopify is a super popular ecommerce platform that uses social commerce well, integrating with platforms such as Instagram and Facebook for a seamless customer experience. They allow businesses that use Shopify to sell directly on social media.

Poshmark

Users of Poshmark are able to buy and sell their new and used clothing and accessories. This is all done through customer profiles so they can follow each other and shop for relevant products.

In conclusion, social commerce is becoming a crucial aspect of digital marketing, whether your business is purely ecommerce or has a physical store. However, as with any new technology, it also comes with its challenges, such as the need to balance commerce with social media, privacy and security concerns, and the challenge of conquering the algorithm. By choosing the right social media platform, integrating with ecommerce, leveraging user-generated content, and investing in influencer marketing, businesses can overcome these challenges and make the most of all that social commerce has to offer. The future of social commerce looks bright, with the increasing popularity of augmented and virtual reality and the potential of artificial intelligence to analyse customer data for marketing purposes.

The terms “landing page” and “product page” are often used interchangeably in the ecommerce sector, but they couldn’t be more different.  Landing pages are incredibly important. They provide the opportunity to target a specific audience as part of a larger marketing campaign.

This article will explain the differences between landing pages & product pages, how they play a role in ecommerce success, and how to design a landing page for high conversion rates and maximum revenue.

What is a Landing Page?

A landing page is a standalone page that a visitor “lands” on after clicking  a link in a specific marketing or advertising campaign. Optimised for high conversion rates and personalised to a particular audience segment, landing pages aim to accomplish just one goal in a campaign – move the customer further along in their journey. 

When a visitor clicks on a link they are directed to the landing page which provides exactly what the customer expected. For example if they clicked on a link that was provided in an email marketing campaign for 40% of a certain product or service the landing page would provide exactly that.

Wait… Isn’t that a Product Page?

Landing Page Versus Product Page

Although product pages are often used as landing pages, they are not the same. Landing pages are designed to move a particular customer or audience segment further along in the buying process whereas product pages are only intended for purchase decisions.  

Consider this: If you were to drive paid traffic from social media to a product page, the conversion rate would likely be extremely low and the campaign would be ineffective. But if users were instead driven to a landing page where they could submit their email for a discount code or more information, the conversion rate would likely be much higher down the road.

In fact, studies suggest that visitors who land directly on product pages are 72% more likely to bounce than those who land on a personalised landing page.

The landing page is designed to fulfil a single purpose for a single customer in a specific marketing campaign. Landing pages removes unnecessary distractions so that the customer reaches the desired goal and provides one offer.

The product page is designed to provide all the information about a product/service in a much broader sense to cater to a wider variety of visitors. Unlike the landing page, the product page provides a variety of different actions for the visitor to take with multiple CTA’s and links where more information can be found.

Why Does My Ecommerce Site Need a Landing Page?

To Increase Revenue

High-quality landing pages are guaranteed to increase your ecommerce revenue with higher conversion rates, increased AOV, and greater customer retention. 

You don’t want a customer looking for a beanie being directed to a category page for winter clothing as this does not show them exactly what they want. 

To Maximise Conversion Rate 

Landing pages should only have one CTA! There is only one goal for the landing page and that is to move the customer to the next phase of the customer journey, so you only need ONE CTA. 

Adding other links or information risks distracting the user from the goal, crushing your conversion rates and harming the campaign.

To Generate Leads

The more landing pages the more new leads will be generated! More landing pages = more conversion opportunities 

Companies with 10-15 landing pages see a 55% increase in leads shown in a study by Hubspot.

To Target Specific Audience Segments

Landing pages provide the opportunity to target a very specific audience. A landing page targeting Gen Z (1996 - 2010) would look completely different to a landing page target Gen X (1965 - 1980).

Personalized landing pages increase conversion rates because customers feel like they’re being catered to rather than just being sold products.

For example, a stationery brand would not want to target a full time worker with an offer catered to a student with a student discount or similar. Likewise a student between the ages of 18 - 21 doesn’t want to be targeted with a gold card offer.

To Learn More About Their Customer Behaviour

Landing pages provide a fantastic opportunity for A/B testing to find out exactly what works with a specific target market and what doesn't.

For example, two landing pages with the same offer could have slightly different headlines, CTAs, or images but one might convert far better than the other. The more you test, the more you’ll understand their behaviour. Remember to only test one variation at a time to avoid skewing results. 

What Makes a Great Landing Page?

Cut The Clutter, Design a Clean Page

Cut the clutter. Your landing page only has one goal, don’t over complicate it. Place the primary CTA so that it is clear and visible above the fold. Use colours that draw attention to the most important details on the page - CTA, Offer, Offer End Date 

Sell your high-quality product with high-quality content

The landing pages on your Ecommerce website are like windows in the shop. Customers are more likely to enter a store with a 50% off sign in the window than a shop with no sale or decor.

Use high quality images which draw your target customer in and allude to the quality of your product/service.

Clearly Define the CTA

Your CTA button is the most important button on the landing page. The visitor shouldn’t have to put any effort into finding it. Use contrasting colours to make it easy to spot and copy that makes it irresistible to click.

Focus On Your Target Audience

One of the features that differentiates landing pages from other pages on your ecommerce website is that landing pages are created for specific target markets.

The value proposition on the landing page needs to be crafted specifically for the audience segment being targeted.

Offer Social Proof & Case Studies

Showcase the best reviews from customers to increase social proof and build trust with the target audience to make the offer seem more desirable.

How Do You Design a Landing Page?

Landing Page Structure

Write a great headline - the visitor to your landing page should be instantly interested in your offer. Make it irresistible yet concise.

Add high-quality images & graphics  - this is your opportunity to really make the visitor feel like they are having a personalised experience. Use the high quality images that you cannot use in general marketing!

Center the content around one CTA - the landing page is for one offer so use one clear CTA, they either want it or they don’t.

Write in short, concise sentences - you should include a brief yet powerful description that entices the visitor to click on the CTA.

Add social share buttons (If Applicable) - if it makes sense for the landing page, include social sharing buttons so that visitors can share the offer with their friends and family. Be careful though, these buttons could distract users from the main goal. 

Landing Page Layout

Most visitors to your landing page won't read everything you’ve written so make sure to make the most important parts stand out!

Keep the most important information above the fold… this means anything that a visitor NEEDS to see should be available on the screen without having to scroll down.

A visitor to your landing page should be able easily find what the offer is and the CTA in less than five seconds.

Only have one offer per landing page! Landing pages that use more than one offer/CTA get 255% fewer leads than landing pages with one offer.

How Can I Improve My Landing page?

A/B Testing

Due to the unique ability of a landing page to be shown to a very specific audience, there is a lot of potential for A/B testing to find out what works and what doesn't. 

This means having the same offer but two different page designs or layouts to figure out what works best for that specific audience.

Irresistible Offers

Even if the landing page is extremely well designed using high quality images and catchy on brand copy if the offer isn't irresistible you can’t expect to convert.

An offer is irresistible when there is a limited amount of time or number available. Another way to make an offer irresistible is for the offer itself to be marketed as a once in a lifetime never again will this offer be available again.

It is the irresistible offer on your landing page which at the end of the day will create a sense of urgency in the visitor and lead to conversion.

Creative Copy and Images

Using your brand voice and being creative in your copywriting and CTA’s can help significantly increase conversions. Simply adding personality by changing the copy on a CTA from “buy now” to “I want it” can make all the difference and liven up your landing page.

The same goes for the images your use on your landing page. Stay away from manufacturers' photos and take your own. The landing page is aimed at a specific target market so use photos of someone within the target marketing using your product or service.

In Conclusion

Landing pages are important, so make sure that you are making the most of them on your ecommerce site. The more landing pages you have the more opportunity there is for new leads, so do not hesitate to add new ones wherever possible to cater to specific audiences. 

What is On-Page SEO? And Is It Important?

On-page SEO is the process of optimising website content for both search engines and users. It includes elements such as metadata & heading optimisation, image compression, URL structure, and more.

All everyone seems to talk about these days are backlinks. So if you’re wondering if on-page is even important, think again.

On-page SEO is fundamental to the success of your search engine strategy. Even with successful technical and off-page elements, your website will struggle to rank without the proper optimisations.

What’s the Difference Between On-Page and Off-Page SEO?

Unlike on-page, off-page SEO refers to optimising for signals that happen off of your website, such as backlinks. 

Similarly, technical SEO differs from on-page in the fact that it refers to elements such as pagespeed, robots.txt files, indexing, and more.

So let’s get into it. Find out how you can level up your SEO with these 10 on-page SEO tips..

10 On-Page Optimisations You Can Do Today

Whether you’re an expert or totally new to SEO, here are 10 on-page items you can take care of today to improve your position in search rankings and drive more organic traffic to your website.

Keyword Research

You’ve done your keyword research. Great!

Now what to do with it?

Use Your Target Keyword in the First 100 Words

This principle has withstood the test of time in the world of SEO. 

Use your primary keyword at least once in the first 100 words of your blog article, product/service page, and all of the other pages on your website.

Just as users read top to bottom, so does Google.

Just imagine you were writing a blog about the best flavour of ice cream. Imagine not mentioning the term “best ice cream” until halfway down the page. Wouldn’t make much sense would it?  

Keyword Density

Now that you’ve mentioned your keyword at the beginning of the page, how often should you use it in the rest of the article?

Keyword density is the amount of times a specific keyword appears on a given web page.

In the early days of Google, most SEO “experts” were cramming their primary keyword onto a webpage as often as possible, a practice known as “keyword stuffing.”

Nowadays, this is considered bad practice. Most experts agree that the proper keyword density is around 1-2%, meaning that your primary keyword should only appear 1-2x per 100 words.

Title Tag

Your title tag is one of the most important on-page SEO factors. It gives users and search engines a high-level overview of what your page is all about. 

Let’s stick with the ice cream example.

If you’re writing an article comparing different types of ice cream, you wouldn’t title it “Chocolate v. Vanilla: Which is Better?” right?

Without reading the article, someone looking at the title may think it’s about cake or protein powders or anything else. They’d have no idea if it was about ice cream, and they’d never click on the search result.

A better title would be “The Best Ice Cream Flavour: Chocolate v. Vanilla.” 

In short, include your primary keyword (or a close variation of it) in your blog title. And similar to your copy, try to place your keyword as close to the beginning of the title tag as possible.

And though you may want to write a long, descriptive title, it’s best to keep it short and sweet. Keep your title under 580 pixels in length, as Google will cut off any characters after the pixel limit. You want users to read the full page title in search engine result pages (SERPs) right?

There are several tools online that help you check optimal title tag length, such as ToTheWeb.

Meta Descriptions

Meta descriptions are snippets that appear in SERPs directly below the title tag that allow users to understand what your page is about.

Though meta descriptions aren’t a direct ranking factor with Google, they’re still important to your on-page strategy.

To write a well-optimised meta description, include your primary keyword (towards the beginning if possible) and write a description that makes users want to click on your page. Using persuasive language that inspires the user to click on your page gives your page an indirect SEO boost.

And similar to title tags, meta descriptions also have an optimal length. Keep your meta descriptions under 920 pixels in length. 

Headings

Headings provide structure to pages, enabling users to quickly scan for the information they seek.

Take this page for example. It’s full of H2s, H3s, and H4s which help structure the page and make scanning easier.

As such, the headings differ in size, ranging in size from largest (H1s) to smallest (H6).

H1s

H1s serve as primary headings, and offer insight into the rest of the article. It’s important to include your primary keyword in the H1, and use persuasive language that makes them want to keep reading.

In this blog, for example, the H1 is “On-Page SEO: The Beginner’s Guide.”

H2s

H2s typically are reserved for main topics covered in your blog. In this blog, some of the H2s are “What is On-Page SEO? And Is It Important?” and “10 On-Page Optimisations You Can Do Today.” 

Though not as important as H1s, it’s important to use keywords in these subheadings. 

H3s, H4s, and More

Use these subheadings to further structure your article, and draw attention to supporting topics. 

Notice how in this section, “Headings” serves as the H3 and “H1s,” “H2s,” and “H3s, H4s, and More” serve as the H4s.

Image Optimisation

Images are great. They add a pop of color to your pages, and add plenty of design value when used properly.

Unfortunately, images are resource-heavy elements. They take a long time to load on websites, and pages that load slowly do not provide a great user experience.

But with proper sizing and compression, you can strike a balance between beautiful and fast.

First, you’ll need to convert your images into the proper format. Google recommends WebP (a next-gen format), but WebP files are not supported on Safari browsers. Instead, convert your images to a JPG or PNG type. These file types work just fine as well.

With the right file type, you’ll now need to compress your images. There are plenty of online tools for this process. One of our favourites is Tiny PNG. Tools such as these can compress images up to 80% of their original size, without sacrificing quality.

Sometimes, an image doesn’t need to stretch across the entire screen. Take your image : optimisation a step further by resizing the image to only the necessary size. A smaller image requires fewer resources to load.

Image Alt Text

Alternative text, commonly referred to as “alt text,” is used within your HTML code to describe the appearance and functionality of an image.

Alt text helps visually-impaired users better understand the context of an image, and search engines use it the same way. 

Just as with other on-page elements; it’s great to include keywords in your alt text, but remember to avoid keyword stuffing.

The purpose of alt text is to describe the image, and including keywords is a bonus.

So if you’re using an image of a child eating chocolate ice cream, don’t just define the alt text as “ice cream.” Try to be more descriptive: “child eating chocolate ice cream on a hot summer day.”

BONUS TIP: Save your image files with descriptive names (with keywords if possible). This can help Google better understand your images. 

Internal Linking

Internal linking is an underrated element of on-page SEO.

Internal linking is the practice of linking from one page on your site to another, typically a related page.

Linking between pages helps users and search engines better understand your content in a contextual sense by knowing which pages are related to each other.

To best structure your internal linking, link from high-authority pages to low-authority pages to increase the low-authority pages and make your entire website more authoritative as a result. 

And when linking between pages, be sure to use keyword-rich anchor text. This provides context to search engines about the link. You’ll notice a few keyword-rich internal links scattered throughout this blog. 

External Linking

Internal linking is the process linking between two pages on your website. External linking on the other hand, is the process of linking between your website and another website.

You may be thinking “why would I want to link to another website? They’re just going to click the link and leave my website.” Well, you’re not alone in that thought.

However, external links to related pages, especially authoritative pages, improve Google’s understanding of your page.  

URL Structure

Though URLs aren’t quite present “on-page,” they’re still considered an on-page SEO factor.

There are two things to remember when creating SEO-friendly URLs:

Keep them short and sweet
Include a keyword in every URL slug/extension

It’s that simple.

Let’s take a look at the URL for this blog:

It's short, sweet, and includes a keyword.

Here's a few more examples for good measure:

• Blog - www.icecreamcompany.com/blog/best-ice-cream-flavour/
• Service Page - www.icecreamcompany.com/ice-cream/vanilla

Write High-Quality Content

Now that you have the page laid out, it’s time to write great SEO content.And though you may be a great copywriter, you may not be an expert SEO writer (yet).

To write content that ranks, it must be unique, valuable, and optimised for search intent.

Unique

If you publish an identical article to one that is already ranking #1 in SERPs, not only is it plagiarism, but it also won’t rank.

Why, you might ask?

Because it’s not unique. If it were this easy to write great SEO content, everyone could do it.

To make your content unique, you have to add more value than the pages that are already ranking.

So whether it’s a new tip, more authoritative resources, a new case study, or something else, your content has to be better and more unique than the ranking content that already exists.

Valuable

There are billions of websites on the internet, and millions of people writing similar content to yours. To stand out from the crowd (and search engines), your content has to be more valuable than the rest.

To add more value than your competitors, add more details, use newer (and better) resources, cite case studies, and include images/infographics that support your writing.

Search Intent

Your content may be unique and valuable. But if it doesn’t satisfy search intent, it’s effectively useless.

Your content has to satisfy the searcher’s intent, otherwise it won’t rank.

Generally, search intent can be broken down into 3 main types:

• Informational - the user is looking for information, whether it be about the weather, recipes, or something else
• Navigational - the user is looking for a specific website (for example, Facebook)
• Transactional - the user is looking to buy/purchase something online, whether it’s a product or service 

You’re all set! Take these 10 actionable on-page SEO tips to your website and start growing your organic traffic.

And, if you’re looking for a full SEO strategy to boost your keyword rankings, contact us to speak with one of the SEO Specialists at Activate Design. 

SEO remains a vital tool to help you rank well in search engine results (SERP’s). There are many “experts” giving plenty of advice on how to optimise your website for Google, but what does good SEO website design look like?

Many designers think they understand SEO strategies, but opinions and facts can easily get entangled, confusing business owners who need to know what is best for their business. In this article, we’ll tell you what you need to know about SEO.

The Big Three SEO Techniques you need to know.

When designing a website for SEO, there are three fundamental techniques to employ:

1. Keyword research and placement
2. Making your site search engine friendly
3. Building links

Keywords and key phrases are the backbone of search results. There are many online research tools to get you started, but you mustn’t use keywords indiscriminately and diminish the quality of your content. Original visual content, including photos, videos and infographics, can also boost your site’s traffic and encourage content sharing.

Your web designer will ensure your website is easily indexed and searchable. Descriptive titles, meta tags, headings and alt-text are all opportunities to make your site more search-friendly.

Once your site is live, the ongoing SEO work begins through link building. Backlinks are links on other sites that send traffic to your site. Having high quality inbound and outbound links helps establish your site’s authority with Google and other search engines. So that’s a brief intro to SEO; now, let’s explore the subject a bit further.

With SEO, Everything IS Black and White…

But the only SEO techniques worth using are White-hat SEO.

These are the safe and long-term result producing techniques that the major league search engines recommend as part of good web design. Here are a few of what we think are the main White-hat SEO techniques:

1. Content is KING

There’s no point in having a website with poor content. A search engine is like a nightmare editor: it will catch you out on poorly written work. The best way to optimise your site for search engines is to produce excellent writing. Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft endorse websites that are the most appropriate for any given search. Google’s new Rankbrain algorithm rewards websites that provide compelling content—the longer they browse your site, the better your rank prospects. Your content needs to get to the point quickly and encourage users to keep reading and clicking links.

2. Mark-Up Matters

Semantically structure your markup to help search engines understand the content of your webpage. Keep it simple! Search engines like proper heading and titles. Use CSS to separate design elements from your content and make it easier for search engines to find what they’re looking for. If your titles are declaring certain content, make sure you deliver. Make your title and description tags more compelling by browsing the Google Ads that appear at the top of search results. Use these keywords and phrases in your meta tags to generate more clickable SERP’s. 

3. Keyword is Key

You’ve got to create your website with well-researched keywords and phrases in mind that you think your customers may use to find your particular site. Keep in mind that single words are not the most effective. Instead, try multi-word phrases that are more specific to your product/service and use them effectively throughout your website. Not sure what phrases to include? Reddit is an excellent resource for finding search phrases. Just search your topic and scan the threads for phrases that keep popping up. Another great source of keywords come courtesy of your high-performing competitors. Type their URL into a keyword research tool, and you’ll learn what keywords they rank well for. Incorporate the relevant keywords into your content.

4. Make the Link

The rule here is Quality over Quantity. You want links from other web pages that are regarded highly by search engines and relevant to the content of your page. The amount and quality of inbound links to your site affect how high up the search engine your site is placed. Talking about quality, make sure your content is easy to read and broken down into bite-size chunks. Remember, most users are browsing on their phones and don’t want to read great blocks of heavy text.  Keep your URL’s short and descriptive.

White-hat SEO’s evil twin, Black-hat SEO, uses techniques that are disliked by search engines. Unfortunately, websites that employ these techniques can suffer a number of punishments ranging from ranking penalties to complete removal from the index. Some websites can be banned. For the love of Google, do not do the following:

• Hide-and-go-Seek

Hidden content is the sneaky, underhanded content hiding within the code for a site that is stuffed with keywords. Developers can also hide this content using CSS, ridiculously small text or coloured text on the same colour background. If search engines catch a whiff of this, your website will be penalised or banned altogether. You’ve been warned.

• Stuffing is for Turkeys

Don’t stuff your site with Meta keywords. Two main Meta tags are used to inform search engines of the content on the page, and when they’re misused, they serve as an alarm to search engines that you’re using spam techniques to improve your ranking. Google is smart, don’t risk trying to fool it.

• Doorway to Destruction

Doorway pages are designed for search engines and not for your customers. These fake pages are stuffed with content and highly optimised for 1 or 2 keywords that link to a target or landing page. Search engine spiders/crawlers can detect these pages, alerting the powers that be, resulting in being flagged and banned.

• Farming Saga

The temptation to link all kinds of crazy things to your website to increase traffic is understandable. But, it has the opposite effect. Link farms or free for all (FFA) pages list links of unrelated websites. Trust us when we say they won’t provide your site with an increase in traffic. The only thing you can be sure of is the risk of having your site banned for participating in this scam. On the other hand, having good outbound links to authoritative sites can help establish your website as an information hub in the eyes of Google’s Hilltop algorithm, lifting your ranking.

The Internet is a Beast

SEO is essential because it’s all about ranking. A higher ranking will result in more customers, which is imperative for companies that make most of their money online. Good SEO can help these companies improve their organic traffic significantly. As you’ve seen, it’s not about the stuffing. You need an excellent game plan for SEO, and this is where we can help. We know a lot about how search engines work.

The internet is unfathomably large. Without search engines to help us navigate through the approximately 50 billion indexed web pages, we’d be lost in all the disorder. Search engines help find order amongst the chaos by creating an index that directs you to the most relevant website for your search query. Life is moving fast, and this index changes with it. Every day new websites are added, existing pages are redesigned, and new content is uploaded. The internet is fluid, dynamic. And search engines need to stay up to date. Enter the crawlers.

Creepy Crawlers

Search engines use crawlers to create search engine result pages by finding your website via a link from another website or the Add URL page. The crawlers then process this information and index it. When a person enters a query, the search engine analyses their index and generates results of the most relevant websites. Search engines use a ranking system to deliver relevant results. Numerous factors are taken into consideration, and your SEO success depends on your understanding.

Ranking Factors

So, relevancy is determined by over 200 ranking factors. I’m not going to list them all; however, some of the most important factors include:

• Links: When I’m talking about links, I’m referring to Pagerank, the link analysis algorithm used by Google. It takes the quantities of links into account and essentially translates every connection to a website as a vote for that particular website. Essentially, the more links you get, the higher you will rank, which is why some people lean towards farm linking. Remember when I told you that quality comes before quantity? Well, not all links are created the same. Links from authoritative websites will have more influence than links from less prevalent websites. Keep your links relevant, or suffer the consequences.
  
  
• Keywords: The keyword distribution on your page is extremely important as Google checks how often the search query can be found on it. If the search query appears in your domain, URL, and content, for example, your page will be considered more relevant and will thus rank higher. Just don’t overdo it.
  
  
• Site Age: Is it just Google who honours the knowledge that comes with age?! Google perceives older websites to be more authoritative than new websites. Take that, you young whippersnappers.
  
  
• Fresh is Best: Frequently updating your website is a good idea. It keeps you on Google’s mind. Adding new pages and deleting old ones indicates that your website is still alive and kicking.
  
  
• Algorithm Updates: Google’s Hummingbird algorithm uses semantic search to deliver results based on intent as well as language. So while keywords are still important, your page will perform better with related subtopics that are a good match for a user’s search query.

Your website’s load times and usability can significantly impact your ranking. Slow websites will have higher bounce rates, and Google demotes sites with high bounce rates or short dwell times.

If you want your website to achieve greater success on search engines, you’ve got to get your SEO just right. Doing it the wrong way can seriously mess with your reputation and your business. 

At Activate Design, we can help you with SEO and improve website performance. 

Marketing specialists have been arguing the pros and cons of traditional versus modern marketing since the dawn of the internet. We thought we'd take a look at the state of play in 2021 and weigh up the benefits and disadvantages of traditional marketing against modern digital marketing.

What is Traditional Marketing?

Not that long ago, the tools of marketing were limited to print (magazines, newspapers, flyers), broadcast TV (commercials or sponsorship) or radio (Ads or sponsored content). Print, TV and radio are what we now call 'Traditional Media'. Despite predictions about their demise, these media forms continue to operate and can still deliver large audiences.

Modern Marketing

Modern marketing, sometimes called digital marketing, encompasses everything from eDM's, podcasts and websites to digital ads, YouTube videos and social media content.

The pros of digital marketing include:

• The ability to target particular demographics or interest groups
• Detailed metrics on audience responses, including open rates, viewing time etc
• Lower costs and a greater return on investment

Even if your campaign assets are expensive to create, digital marketing still wins on cost over traditional marketing because you can continuously test and modify your campaign based on the audience data received. By comparison, a TV Commercial, once completed and ready to air, cannot be easily modified. Nor can a TVC garner the immediate feedback that is available on a digital platform.

Digital marketing content is a lot more malleable as well—it can be easily adapted to different channels and customised to suit specific audiences.

Why use Traditional Marketing then?

The key to successful marketing is knowing your audience, and this is why traditional marketing still has a role to play. For example, customers expect to see a premium or luxury product advertised in a glossy magazine or a big-budget TV commercial. Likewise, a community newspaper ad or mailbox flyer can still be very effective when targeting a local audience.

Modern marketing and traditional marketing are not mutually exclusive—the best campaigns combine the strengths of both media. Let's face it, we still live in a physical world, and a well-placed billboard can reinforce your digital messaging and encourage that final call-to-action response in a customer.

There are some unavoidable disadvantages with traditional marketing though. Typically, a page of advertising in a magazine or newspaper is much more expensive than the digital equivalent. That printed content also has a shorter lifespan, as the newspaper quickly becomes yesterday's news.

There has been a significant drop in the numbers of people who watch broadcast television, as more viewers switch to streaming services and content delivered through social platforms. Last year's lockdowns saw the closure of some magazine titles, as readers migrated to online content.

Digital marketing offers one killer feature that no magazine or TV ad can match—the ability to convert ad viewers into e-commerce customers with a single mouse click or finger tap. Internet-based marketing opens up a wealth of different creative outlets for promoting your company and products, including:

• YouTube' How-To' Videos
• Podcasts
• Live-streamed events
• Social media competitions

So, in the battle of digital marketing vs traditional marketing, we have a winner, and it's digital. But while digital marketing is more effective, it's not necessarily easy. As more businesses promote themselves online, the competition for eyeballs has become fierce. Marketing pro's like the team here at Activate can help you design digital campaigns that actually deliver on their objectives. The key is integration—making sure your messaging is consistent across all platforms and working together to drive sales. We believe a great website should be the core of your marketing strategy, as it offers you the most control over your brand and the customer experience.

If you're looking to refresh your digital marketing this year, we can help you with website development, brand design, SEO and online marketing. Contact the team at Activate to get started.

After the challenges of 2020, this year is shaping up to be much more promising for small businesses. The economy is in better shape than many expected, and there is growing consumer confidence. It is by no means ‘business as usual’ though, and company owners need to keep on top of their marketing efforts to ensure they maintain visibility with their customer base.

One of the sobering lessons from last year’s lockdowns was the need to be nimble in your business so that you can react quickly to changing market conditions. We saw how restaurants and food outlets with e-commerce enabled websites could keep trading by offering online click and collect orders, while those with no internet presence suffered. Even the hardware giant Bunnings had to quickly upgrade their online shopping capability to meet this new normal.

So what can you do to make sure your business continues to thrive? We’ve identified our five top marketing tips for small businesses, based on our experience in the online and traditional marketing space. These tips will help you grow sales and build more resilience into your business.

1. Upgrade your Website 

Our number one online marketing tip is to make sure your website is ready to do business. Can customers get to your products and services easily? Can they book online? Can returning customers log in and avoid time-consuming data entry? Websites are no longer just an online brochure for your business - they should be the front end of your sales and ordering system. 

2. Local Internet Marketing

If your business has a distinctly local client base, then local internet marketing is a no-brainer. Whether it's digital ads or boosted posts on social media, online marketing allows you to focus your advertising spend on a specific geographic location, minimising expense and targeting relevant customers only. Traditional marketing can take a local approach too, with strategies such as:

• Billboards in prominent traffic locations
• Sponsorship of local events or sports teams
• Letterbox mail drops

3. Connect with Your Customers

It might seem like a cliché to say it’s essential to communicate with your clients, but many businesses don’t have an adequate presence in the world where their customers live. Social media provides huge opportunities to make those connections, but it’s important to choose the right platform to reach your audience. Whether its Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok or another channel, you need to be active and ready to respond to enquiries.

4. Build Authority

One of the best ways to improve your company’s search ranking is to build your reputation as a source of quality information. You can do this by:

• Creating helpful blog posts with relevant keywords that answer specific questions
• Registering your company in industry databases and sites like Google My Business
• Contributing to other websites and getting them to link back to your site.

5. Inform your Customers

Email newsletters are still a highly effective marketing tool that you can use to convey new product information, run competitions and promote special offers. Platforms such as Mailchimp make the whole process easy and provide you with useful data on views and click-throughs so that you can refine your marketing content.

We hope these small business marketing tips have given you some ideas on generating more leads and ultimately, more sales. While online marketing can offer incredible efficiencies, we still believe traditional marketing has a role to play in a company’s overall strategy, whether it be print brochures, business cards or promotional items. 

Talk to the team at Activate Design, and we can develop a marketing plan for you that incorporates website optimisation, SEO, email marketing and print solutions. Contact us today!

While some might argue that business cards are no longer relevant in our increasingly digital world, the same argument has been made about brochures and print magazines, which continue to be popular amongst consumers and business people. In this article, we look at why business cards remain a valuable tool for marketing and communication.

Here’s a typical scenario—you meet a potential customer at a trade show and agree to exchange contact information. You open your contacts app and ask for their name, mobile number, and email. It’s a noisy hall, and you’re not sure you’ve entered their name correctly. Did you get their email address right? Did you remember to save the contact in your app? The whole exchange is clumsy and time-consuming. Sure, you could share your contact details over Bluetooth, but many people are wary of receiving files on their phone from someone they’ve likely just met.

By contrast, the mutual exchange of business cards takes seconds and guarantees both you and they have the correct contact information in an attractive, wallet-friendly format. When someone presents you with their business card, being able to reciprocate with your own card undoubtedly helps the business relationship get off to the best possible start.

Also, having printed business cards doesn’t mean you can’t embrace digital technology. A QR code printed on the back can be easily scanned (something we’ve all gotten used to over the past year!), directing users to your online profile, company homepage, or e-commerce site.

What a business card says about your business

Business cards help reinforce your brand, displaying your logo, company byline, or tagline. By handing out a professionally designed and printed business card, you demonstrate that your company is established and credible. A memorable slogan on your card can be a real conversation starter too, allowing you to explain your business to a potential customer.

Another undeniable benefit of a printed business card is the opportunity to add extra information on the back, such as an appointment time, a thank you note, or even a quick quote. Business cards can be slipped in with gifts or left as a calling card.

Modern digital printing techniques allow for short print runs, so business cards can be produced in smaller batches and adapted to suit any changes to your business. You may wish to have special cards created for a large event or promotion, complete with a discount code. So your business card not only delivers your company’s information, it has a tangible value that will encourage the receiver to keep the card for longer.

What are the correct business card dimensions?

While business card dimensions are not as critical as they used to be, many people still use Filofax sleeves or desktop Rolodexes to store their important contacts. It’s worth sticking to a standard business card size such as 90 x 55 millimetres or 86 x 55 millimetres.  This new, smaller size fits better into wallets and has become a print standard.

Business card size might be fairly standard, but there are many ways to add impact through good design, quality print materials, and colour choice. Ensure your card design is consistent with your brand by using the same artwork, colour palette and typefaces.

Business cards remain a vital first point of contact with potential customers—this small printed card may be the first exposure they have to your company! So it pays to make a good first impression. Here at Activate Design, we can help you put together a complete brand portfolio, including print and digital assets.

Contact our team to start designing your business cards now!