by Amber Miller | Jun 24, 2016 | Blog, Customer Service, Marketing
We wanted to let you know about an import update!
We have found out today that Gmail and Microsoft are set to adopt strict email deliverability policies similar to Yahoo and AOL. Word on the street says the policy will be enforced by June 30, 2016.
This will impact any email service provider including Infusionsoft, MailChimp, and Constant Contact.
What does this mean to you?
Basically, users who use an email address from any of the below email domains as the “From” email address when sending any type of email from these email systems will no longer have their emails delivered.
Impacted email domains: @gmail, @hotmail, @yahoo, @aol, @outlook, @live, @msn.
You will need to be sure any emails you send are coming from a domain email account such as yourname@yourdomainname.com (note – this is really best practices anyway!).
Our team has been made aware and we are making sure we are on the lookout for you if we are supporting you with email marketing.
If you have any questions please reach out!
by Tina Walker | Apr 19, 2016 | Blog, Marketing
The Divas have been listening to me for months talk about how much I love the Divi theme. I mention it on team calls, I mention it on team Skype and I almost feel like the team might roll their eyes when I suggest it being a good fit for multiple projects. Somedays I feel as if I chant the name “Divi” over and over. Let me share with you why I love it so much, and what it can do for you.
What is Divi?
Divi is a multi-purpose theme created by Elegant Themes. For me, as a developer, it’s the ULTIMATE WordPress theme with endless possibilities for layouts and styling. Combine that with the Divi Page Builder, which is an extremely easy and versatile drag and drop builder, and it becomes a monster do-anything, be-anything WordPress theme option.
Divi Announces Built-In Split Testing – perfect for Opt-In Pages, Landing Pages, and Sales Pages
So many clients use programs such as Leadpages or ClickFunnels and many times those programs are used for the purpose of ease of use, built-in split testing and conversion rates. But, you also have a heavy price for these programs. With Divi’s most recent update, they now offer Divi Leads Split Testing and a conversion optimization system!
With Divi Leads Split Testing we can build amazingly beautiful custom landing pages using a simple WordPress Install with Divi. This is the effective landing page tool that I have been waiting for, because for me, this puts Divi in the category of Leadpages or ClickFunnels at a fraction of the price! The look and feel you see can be created in Divi, plus you have the benefit that it’s fully customizable.
The Divi Leads Split Testing also allows you to not only A/B test pages, but modules within pages, individual sections, or rows. The results are also very in-depth. This includes bounce rates, click-through rates, engagement rates and sales rates.
Complete Websites with Easy User Interface
Divi also can be more than marketing pages. It can be an entire website with ease in functionality that anyone can easily use. For those who want to be able to add or change their own content easily, this is the theme for you. The drag and drop interface is the easiest interface I have seen in my 20 years of experience.
Sometimes with easy interfaces, you lose the power of options. Not with Divi. It integrates with membership plugins, commerce plugins, and community components with ease. It’s used to build full blown powerful website designs. In February, Elegant Themes launched the ability to import Squarespace sites with minimum fuss, as well as a new feature – the dynamic help system which, if needed, Divi will troubleshoot itself and help find the problem and fix it, saving a lot of time and frustration.
The support that Divi has from the WordPress Community is huge and I only see the future being brighter as Elegant Themes continues to offer amazing add-ons, modules, and more tools such as the split testing piece that was just introduced.
by Amber Miller | May 16, 2015 | Featured, Marketing, SEO, Social Media
Everyone knows that they need to track their marketing efforts. If you didn’t track your marketing you would not know what’s working and what isn’t. Now I know tracking and analytics isn’t really sexy and exciting, but it is a necessary evil that we have to do to determine if our marketing is paying off.
If you don’t already have Google Analytics set up on your website then that is going to be your first step. Google Analytics does a great job at tracking your visitors as they move from page to page on your website. But if you don’t know what you are looking at, Google Analytics can be very confusing and overwhelming.
The good news is that there are some free tools that can help simplify Google Analytics so you can understand the data that comes from this form of tracking.
Below are 3 free tools that will help simplify Google Analytics for you.
Need to know helps you find out what you need to know when it comes to Google Analytics.
So what does it do?
Need to know is relatively new and is definitely worth checking out.
N2K gives you a one-page overview of your Google Analytics data. This report will highlight your key information over the last month. It takes all of the complicated Google Analytics and presents it to you in a compressed format.
It is incredibly easy to use while still giving you a very detailed easy to read report.
What story will your data tell you?
Quill is another fairly new free service that will take the data that is gathered from Google Analytics and transforms it into an easy to read and understand report. Quill gives you the option to receive a weekly or monthly email that is written in plain English.
Take a look at this example report from Quill Engage
Why is Quill Engage Useful?
Quill Engage will literally take all of the data you get from Google Analytics and convert them to an easy to read, easy to understand report. This will allow you to take action on the data that is being collected.
Tracking webpages just got easier.
What does PadiTrack do?
Just like the other two tools shared before, PadiTrack connects directly to your Google Analytics account and displays the data in an easier to understand format. This tool especially works well when it comes to tracking sales funnels.
How is PadiTrack useful?
One cool thing that Paditrack shows you is the conversions for each and every step of your sales funnel. This allows you to quickly pinpoint “problem areas” in your conversion process.
PadiTrack also allows you to see how well your sales funnels are doing against specific segments. For example you could create a segment of users from a new email campaign, traffic driven from a specific keyword or from new visitors to your website who found you through Google search.
PadiTrack offers a ton of other great reports and comes with a free version and makes a great “add-on” to your analytics toolbox.
These 3 tools are just a few tools to check out that will assist in making those hard to read Google Analytic reports a breeze to understand and read. Smart to Finish offers website analytic tracking support that will help give you a leg up on your competition.
by Tina Walker | Mar 26, 2015 | 1Shopping Cart, Blog, Entrepreneur, Featured, Infusionsoft, Marketing
New Tax Rules for Selling to European Countries
If you haven’t heard, the European Union has new rules on value-added tax (VAT), which took effect on January 1.
To put it simply, ANY businesses selling digital goods and delivering them electronically to customers in European Union member countries will be required to collect and pay VAT based on the VAT rates of the country where the customer is located and does apply to businesses based outside the EU who sell to consumers in the EU.
So what does that mean to you? Well, if you are selling digital products to European Countries, it might be something you want to have us setup in your tax settings to collect the tax for those specific countries.
What are the consequences if you don’t? This is a new thing, so we are not sure on that and would probably advise asking your accountant.
If you want help with us setting up your shopping cart so that you are in compliance, contact us at assist@smarttofinish.com, we are happy to help.
by Amber Miller | Jan 1, 2015 | Blog, Blogging, Marketing, Social Media
In an effort to cater to Facebook users Facebook has a major change coming that will affect millions of businesses that use Facebook to drive traffic for sales and conversions.
In November Facebook made an announcement that stated that it is going to change how your news feed posts that are used for the purpose of:
1. Posts that solely push people to buy a product or install an app
2. Posts that push people to enter promotions and sweepstakes with no real context.
3. Posts that reuse the same content from ads
A couple examples of the type of ads they are describing:
Per Facebook’s changes the problem with this ad is the part directing people to purchase their Season 1 DVD set.
Per Facebook’s changes the problem with this ad is the part directing people to purchase and install the app.
These changes are going to force businesses to purchase more ads from Facebook if you want to promote any type of the above ads. This does two things 1) increases revenue for Facebook and their shareholders 2) allows Facebook to have control over what “advertisement” content users are seeing. Basically Facebook is forcing business to “pay to play”.
Per Facebook’s statement the reason behind this is:
“One of the main reasons people come to Facebook is to see what’s happening in their News Feeds. Our goal with News Feed has always been to show people the things they want to see. That’s why we often look to people on Facebook to tell us how we can improve. As part of an ongoing survey we asked hundreds of thousands of people how they feel about the content in their News Feeds. People told us they wanted to see more stories from friends and Pages they care about, and less promotional content.
We dug further into the data to better understand this feedback. What we discovered is that a lot of the content people see as too promotional is posts from Pages they like, rather than ads. This may seem counterintuitive but it actually makes sense: News Feed has controls for the number of ads a person sees and for the quality of those ads (based on engagement, hiding ads, etc.), but those same controls haven’t been as closely monitored for promotional Page posts. Now we’re bringing new volume and content controls for promotional posts, so people see more of what they want from Pages.”
Moving into 2015 Facebook is still the #1 place to go for businesses to advertise their products or services. Even with this major change Facebook still has the most highly targeted advertising capabilities and the largest diverse audience you will find anywhere. In the 3rd quarter of 2014 Facebook had reported that is has 1.35 Billion active users on Facebook and this number continues to climb.
Facebook continues to be a great avenue to market on with a little training or by hiring the right company to assist you; you will be able to use this powerful platform to reach millions of people when promoting your business.
Written by Skye Hawk, Smart To Finish Diva
by Amber Miller | Dec 12, 2014 | Blog, Customer Service, Featured, Marketing
We have all heard the cliché “Customers are always right.” While that is not always the case, they ARE always the customer – your most valuable business asset. Without customers, your business wouldn’t exist – it would just be a hobby. So obviously, how you meet, greet, and keep customers is a vital part of your business success. Customer service IS more than a department in your organization. It should be a part of everyone’s job – whether the owner, manager, or the janitor. (If it’s not, then you might want to research and find some customer service training programs available, for you AND your staff )
In today’s market, you need every competitive edge possible to succeed. How you provide customer service is just as important as the actual product or service you provide. You could have the “best” of whatever product or service you offer, but if you don’t have a system in place when issues arise, then you are like a sail boat without a sail, going nowhere fast. (Notice I said WHEN issues arise, not if issues arise.)
Let’s look at some key components (and thought provoking quotes) to providing great customer service.
Courteous treatment will make a customer a walking advertisement. – James Cash Penney
Customers appreciate being treated with courtesy and respect. It gives them a sense that they are important to you, not just for the money they spend, but for the connection they have with you. When you value your customers more than their money, you will cultivate a long-lasting, mutually satisfying relationship that goes far beyond the cash register. They will become the best word-of-mouth advertising for you and what you offer. Customers who are well taken care of and satisfied will be sure to tell everyone they know, and that is far more valuable than the dollars allocated to any advertising budget.
Customers don’t expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong. – Donald Porter, V.P British Airways
Yes, no one is perfect. We all make mistakes. But how we handle those mistakes can make the difference between a happy customer and a lost customer. When a customer is dissatisfied with the product or service they have received, the process to communicate with you should be an easy one, and the customer should feel that you are actually LISTENING to them. If your response to customer complaints is “Sorry, you’re wrong, that’s not our policy,” or “There’s nothing I can do for you,” then you can literally kiss those customers goodbye. A better response would be “I could be wrong, let’s take a look” or “I’m not able to do that, but I can do this….” The goal should always be to resolve the situation to your customer’s satisfaction.
Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning. – Bill Gates
If you believe that fewer complaints mean more money, you are…..WRONG. The majority of customers who are dissatisfied will never complain because they perceive it as too much of a hassle; they will just never come back. For those who DO actually take the time to complain, it is your BEST opportunity to learn, make adjustments, and correct the things that need to be fixed. Remember the old saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”? Well, there’s a flip side to that old cliché: “If you don’t know it’s broken, how will you fix it?” If you don’t welcome feedback from your customers, regardless of whether it is positive or negative, you are operating in the dark. And once you DO fix the problem, imagine the benefits of having a customer who has experienced you “fixing” it. You have turned a negative situation into a positive one for them, and they will long remember it the next time they need the type of product or service you offer.
There are no traffic jams along the extra mile. – Roger Staubach
Going “the extra mile” is something that can pay huge dividends in the long run. Of course, it should always be your goal to meet your customers’ expectations. Exceeding those expectations, however, is what can set you apart from your competition and be the deciding factor when a customer chooses to do business with you. Not everyone takes the time to fully “serve” their customers. They offer their product or service, receive the money, thank the customer on their way out the door, and that is all there is to it. The most successful business owners or managers strive to be the best at what they do and offer the most value for what the customer receives. A huge part of that “value” is conveyed to the customer in how they are treated when they receive your product or service. If the standard operating procedure is to just “get the money and run” without any regard for the customer relationship down the road, you may get a lot of customers, but you won’t keep them. Sometimes the little things can mean the most. A simple follow up “thank you for your purchase, please provide feedback” card or email goes a long way to solidifying the connection with your customers. Customer loyalty programs or Bring-A-Friend offers are excellent ways to reward customers for their continued interactions with you and your business.
It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. – Warren Buffet
Reputation. It can be, and very often is, the very thing that makes or breaks a business. If you have a bad reputation, then customers will hesitate to do business with you. Customers are not willing to associate themselves with a business that has a bad reputation for fear that it will “rub off on them” or it will affect how they are perceived (You are doing business with THAT company??) If you have a good reputation, however, customers will flock to you, and they will bring their friends with them. Providing excellent customer service is one way to establish your reputation. When customers know you will “take care of them” no matter what, they will be some of your most loyal advocates. It has been proven time and time again that when customers identify and connect with a business based on more than economics, they are staunch supporters of that business.
Some of the “ingredients” for a successful customer service experience are summed up in this acronym:
Satisfaction
Enthusiasm
Respect
Value
Integrity
Courtesy
Excellence
The nutshell: In order to achieve customer satisfaction, you should greet customers with enthusiasm and respect, and convey their value to you, beyond the money they spend or any issue at hand. When they complain, you should welcome their feedback with integrity and courtesy, and the problem should be dealt with fairly and quickly. When these guidelines are followed, your customers will truly experience the excellence possible when customer service becomes more than a department in your organization – it is a part of everyone’s job description!
Written by – Janet Broer, Smart To Finish Diva
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