 Web design has grown up with TED, coming to maturity alongside the TED audience. So it’s no surprise that TED’s online platform offers a variety of talks that help inspire designers and business leaders improve user experiences and aspire to fuel design processes to generate consistently better user outcomes. From talks on the future of prototyping user interfaces to comical musings on how to build a user-focused team, TED offers something for designers of every stripe. Check out these 5 TED Talks that shine a light on design and innovative ways of building user-friendly products by helping you understand inspired web design.  Have a problem; make toast. Or, to put it more finely, think about the process you go through to make toast, and then apply that systematic approach to your original problem. That’s the advice of designer and problem-solver Tom Wujec. In his TED talk, Wujec walks through a simple design exercise that "reveals unexpected truths about the way we think about things". By breaking down "wicked problems" into mental models, designers can get to the heart of the why users act like they do.  Ever thought of exposing UI blunders through some snappy musical numbers? Us neither, but former New York Times columnist and tech nerd David Pogue does just that. In Simplicity Sells, Pogue exposes the very worst UIs he’s seen, and coins the phrase 'software rage' – that feeling users get from crummy interfaces. From Microsoft to Dell, no interface is safe from Pogue’s song and dance takedown. The Steve Jobs song is a must-hear.  He’s the man behind the iPod and the Nest thermostat, so it’s safe to say that product creator Tony Fadell knows a thing or two about great design. In his feel-good TED talk, Fadell lets us into his secrets for driving positive change in design. From understanding habituation and neuroscience to learning from Jerry Seinfeld, Fadell has some awesome tips for building better product solutions.  Uh oh. Looks like your user just got 404-ed. No one likes that. In fact, landing on a 404 is so unpleasant that it’s akin to a relationship break-up, claims Renny Gleeson. But it doesn’t have to be the case. In this TED talk, Gleeson reveals how he and his tech startup created better 404 experiences for users. The key is in having empathy for the user and recognising the UX design potential of 404s. After all, says Gleeson, “little things done right actually matter. Well-designed moments build brands.”  Our digital lives are full of complex data. From media trends to Facebook statuses, we as users are continually asked to parse, sort and understand ever larger quantities of information. It’s up to UI and UX designers, says David McCandless, to make that data comprehensible. In this talk McCandless, a data journalist, discusses how designers can combat ‘information glut’ by designing information so it makes sense and tells stories. There are some great visuals and interesting insights into how context, psychology and empathy help users understand the world around them. Check out the full post on Creative Bloq by Cassandra Naji. GreyPartners is a one-stop digital design agency that helps you attract, engage and convert users into customers. We are website design and lead generation experts passionate about helping you break through competitive clutter and grow.
We provide pro-level functionality with minimized costs, making mobile-first websites affordable for businesses of any size. We ensure that you are always on top search rankings. Since 2009, businesses have grown their businesses online through GreyPartners.
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 Social influence rests on the fact that, when faced with abundance of choice, people habitually rely on others to know what to think, feel and do. As the social influence market evolves, will authenticity rebound or, will bots yield the ultimate power? The most liked photo on Instagram is the picture of an egg named Eugene. With more than 52 million likes and 10 million followers, Eugene represents a mystery. The mystery of who created it and why has been since solved. How it got so many likes is best explained by a disgraced influencer, the model and actor Luka Sabbat: “People are way too influenced by what they see.” Social influence rests on the fact that, when faced with abundance of choice, we habitually rely on others to know what to buy, read, wear, or listen to. When these others are “regular” people just like us, we tend to trust them more than we would a compensated spokesperson, a model in an ad, an invisible editor, or a distant celebrity. Influencers are close and relatable, and we perceive their recommendations as “honest” and “authentic.” Through our daily social media interactions, our vicarious presence at copiously documented weddings or births, we get to feel that we know our connections like we know our own friends. The Market: Buying & Selling Social Influence But the social influence market is just like any market. It uses currency (taste) to build capital (social status). This capital eventually gets monetized, and we inevitably discover that our internet “friends” may be making thousands and thousands of dollars for selling us brands, products, and ideas, just like celebrity pitch people did before them. A decade ago, the opposite of authentic influence was selling out; today, it’s the reverse. Selling out equals being an authentic influencer, with a following and engagement large enough to be recognized and sought after by brands wanting to reach your audience. According to the research firm Neoreach, the number of Instagram posts using hashtags indicating advertising or promotion jumped from 1.1 million in 2016 to 3.1 million in 2018. And these are just the disclosed partnerships. The social influence market lacks transparency, ethics, trust, and, increasingly, humans. According to data from anti-fraud company Sway Ops, a single day’s worth of posts tagged #sponsored or #ad on Instagram contained over 50% fake engagements. Points North Group, an influencer marketing analytics specialist, revealed that 78% of Ritz Carlton engagement from its Instagram influencer campaign came from fake followers or bots. But these are not the social influence market’s biggest issues. The biggest issue is that, in its current form, the market is rapidly becoming irrelevant. “A feed full of #ads comes with diminishing returns,” says Steve Dool, head of Community Partnerships at the U.K.-based social commerce app Depop. In the $6.5 billion social influence market, there are too many influencers not influencing anything. Fifty-two percent of millennials claim they trust influencers less than they used to. Algorithmic Personalization The next iteration of the modern influencer economy is not about hiring existing influencers. It’s creating one’s own. To get a glimpse of this future, look no further than 15-second video app TikTok. Owned by Chinese AI-company ByteDance and known as Douyin in China, TikTok’s core value proposition is algorithmic personalization. Algorithmic personalization means that we get to enjoy highly appealing content regardless of who created it. We don’t need to follow anybody or browse or search. Content is delivered to us based on an algorithmically created taste profile rather than socially. TikTok effectively wipes out social status as the influencer market’s capital and taste as its currency. It creates the radically new kind of market where we equal our own taste profiles. In this market, we are all potential influencers. On Diuyin, many popular videos are not created by celebrities, but by ordinary people doing creative things in the form of life hacks or hashtag challenges, which serve as trending topics on the platform and regularly draw hundreds of thousands of people to participate in making videos on the same theme. In the West, we see this trend in the rise of dedicated enthusiasts turning their passions into how-tos, leading to surge in popularity of topics like farming, house cleaning, cooking, and minding sheep. There’s now more than 2.8 million posts tagged #farming on Instagram–and the same number of those tagged #cleaning. In China, Douyin also actively scouts for new talent in art and music schools and works with MCNs (multi-channel network) agencies specializing in turning “regular” people into internet celebrities. Rise of the Bots Second, in the influencer market of the future, bots wield the ultimate power of authenticity. Since the app is showing us only content that we already like, it teaches us which voices and perspectives are worth trusting. And because content that we like can come from literally anyone–an ordinary person as well as celebrity–it is perceived as more authentic than content created by an individual who was potentially paid for it. Authenticity is implied in the algorithm by design: Its content focus (versus influencer focus) is a powerful trust-building strategy. The obvious danger here is that algorithms are not neutral. By default, they create filter bubbles and reflect the same biases as the humans who designed them. In case of widely used global apps like TikTok, any bias can quickly scale, to potentially disastrous results. Content algorithms are also very far from being a “bicycle for the mind,” as Steve Jobs put it. Instead, they are highly addictive, with potentially equally disastrous results for our brains and our social lives. In the future of social influence, stars are not born. They are created by our collective taste and made popular via personalization algorithm. Post inspired by Ana Andjelic's original article published in Fast Company. GreyPartners is a one-stop digital design agency that helps you attract, engage and convert users into customers. We are website design and lead generation experts passionate about helping you break through competitive clutter and grow.
We provide pro-level functionality with minimized costs, making mobile-first websites affordable for businesses of any size. We ensure that you are always on top search rankings. Since 2009, businesses have grown their businesses online through GreyPartners.  6 Ways to Rock Direct Mail Results Direct mail is often viewed as boring in our digital world. Yet, when done well, it packs a powerful punch. Use these 6 tips to rock your direct mail results: 1. Make Mailers Useful Consumers use scrap paper every day for grocery and to-do lists, websites, phone numbers and such. So, why wouldn’t you want to help them out? One of our healthcare clients sent out a New Year’s resolution sheet (with business info, of course). It was useful and got results long after the holidays. Why, because it was in brand context and provided fresh, on-target value. We encourage you to think about additional uses - patients sure do. 2. Unlike Gravy, Lumpy Mailers are Good The primary goal of a direct mail campaign is for recipients to read your mailer. Lumpy mailers get results. Some open rates have been estimated as high as 95%. Lumpy mailers play on our basic curiosity – we just have to know what that weird lump is! Of course true results only come by giving recipients personal, relevant and compelling call-to-action combined with a strong value-proposition.  3. Creativity Wins
“Direct mail can be very powerful. The key is breaking through the clutter. Last Valentines, we sent out ‘Messages in a bottle’ to a client customer list inviting them to bring themselves and a friend to an event. Each message was personalized to them. The response was overwhelming. People loved it. The key takeaway is to send more creative messages to less people. Focus on quality, not quantity. 4. Tailor Your Content Invest in learning about your customer, and communicate with them accordingly. Leverage information on customer purchasing behavior and shopping preferences to segment and personalize marketing. You’ll create meaningful content that resonates and drive sales. 5. Partner Up Partner up with a complementary company to increase the value of the piece. By doing this you can deliver more creative and useful pieces with a stronger value proposition. Tap into their customer base as well and use the piece both ways. 6. Use a Stamp & Get Personal Consumers can tell when something has been mass-mailed. If you make the envelope look like it came from a person rather than a machine, your piece is more likely be read. Try using stamps instead of metered mail, and use a font that looks like handwriting instead of typed text. Prepared by Chris Lowers, Dec 1st 2018  In 2019 look for SEO factors of mobile loading speed and optimization to influence site design as well as Amazon, Google and GDPR. Check out these 5 trends that are quickly evolving into savvy strategies:
EMBRACE MOBILE-FIRST DESIGN OR BECOME IRRELEVANT Your business website must be mobile-friendly or risk becoming irrelevant. Shockingly, many mid-to-small businesses have failed to upgrade their websites and continue to suffer the consequences. Understand that major search engines rank mobile-friendly versions of your website higher than non-mobile-friendly websites. In industry lingo, it’s termed ‘Mobile-first indexing’ and it is exactly what it sounds like. Mobile-First Indexing means that the mobile version of your website becomes the starting point for what all major search engines now include in their ranking index – the baseline tool for determining search results. MOBILE-FIRST ACTION PLAN: Develop a mobile-friendly website right quick. Any platform will work however, it’s vital that your developer fully understands and embraces ‘Mobile-First’ strategies, tactics and their relation to search results. For example, it’s a common mistake to employ m-dot and responsive on the same page. Doing so confuses crawlers and negatively impacts your search ranking. Continuously monitor and optimize your mobile site for ranking efficiency and user engagement using a mobile bot such as WebSite Auditor to understand how search engines see and users experience your mobile page.  GIVE USERS GREAT EXPERIENCES: FAST! Most sites lose half their visitors while loading. That’s why page loading speed is a dominant search ranking factor. How fast your website loads is critical but site designers often completely ignore this vital element in favor of more robust design elements. That's a colossal design mistake that costs you customers: as of October 2018 the average mobile landing page loaded in 22 seconds. Yet, 53% of visits are abandoned if a mobile site takes longer than three seconds to load. Search engines used to consider speed part of optimization. Site load speed is now evaluated separately. For example, Google uses metrics taken from the Chrome (the Google browser) User Experience report measures how fast your site loads for each visitor. Other browsers (and the search engines they work with) are following suite. This is a game-changer. What you need to know is that your site must be designed and optimized for load speed. Beyond design, your site must run on current platforms and use a fast hosting service. If you create a great user experience – one that gives users what they want, when they want and fast – search engines will reward you with greater search results. Conversely, slow sites will fall further and further into irrelevance.  FAST UX ACTION PLAN: First, ensure that your mobile site is designed, optimized and hosted to load fast and provide outstanding user experiences. Second, understand and manage your optimization score. Google offers a handy list of recommendations for improving user experience through optimization. Most businesses will need an expert to ensure that their site is consistently fast and optimized. Sites are living things. They require regular maintenance to provide peak performance, high search rankings and great user experiences. BUILD YOUR BRAND TO BOOST YOUR SEARCH RANKING Google and most major search engines use online brand presence in their search algorithms. Search engines use ‘Brand Authority’ learn that you exist and why you’re relevant to users. By analyzing all the online properties organically mentioning your organization, search engines develop a picture of your authority in a particular field and the extent to which people know of, believe in, and trust your organization. That’s why it’s so important to have a professional, positive and responsive footprint across multiple platforms from industry sites to social media. A wide variety of online components are considered: reputation, advertising, complaint-solving, etc. Through context, search engines effectively learn to tell the good from the bad. For example, Google’s Search Quality Guidelines state that reputation matters for rankings. Consequently, the sentiment around brand mentions affect the site’s rankings. BRAND BOOSTING ACTION PLAN: Cater to and foster your online reputation. Address the customer pains through responsive brand interactions. Engage with happy clients. Turn poor customer experiences into positive story opportunities. Promote unsolicited mentions on your site. If you’d like to dig deeper, check out the monitoring tool Awario for finding such linkless mentions all across the Web. Backlinks are still a strong ranking signal. However, building links is time-consuming and frankly, not practical for most small businesses. We recommend using linkless backlinks – it’s manageable and scalable in just a few hours each month by mentioning your brand name online as natural opportunities occur. You can even incentivize employees to help out as they search.  LEVERAGE THE POWER OF AMAZON SEARCH More and more people shop Amazon first. A recent study revealed that 56% of consumers visit Amazon first if they have shopping in mind. 51% check with Amazon after finding something elsewhere. Designing with Amazon in mind helps develop brand trust through the comfort that familiarity provides. Understand that Amazon is not a universal search engine. It’s used for internal search within Amazon pages. What this data tell us is that Amazon is becoming the Google of e-commerce. It means that if you sell something and you’re not on Amazon, you are invisible to 56% of potential customers. Thus, if you’re a seller of books, music, electronics, etc., include optimization for Amazon into your SEO strategy. LEVERAGING AMAZON: Run keyword research regularly and use Amazon itself. Keywords tend to trend so avoid being lazy and research quarterly at a minimum. We recommend monthly for most retailers. Provide high-quality images that provide meaningful context for the user. Cater to “backend keywords” (or meta tags, if in Google’s terms). They tell Amazon that a specific item targets a specific keyword on your site. Be immediately responsive to positive and negative feedback. Track customers’ reviews, address complaints and celebrate good reviews. DATA PROTECTION GOES LOCAL: BE PREPARED AND WIN Let’s bet you got annoyed this spring when your inbox got filled with GDPR and Privacy Policy mails. GDPR is the General Data Protection Regulation passed in the European Union. It regulates a very nagging issue – who owns the data created by users’ interactions online. This regulation affects the EU companies and customers. My company and customers are US based so, why should I care? Because user-data control efforts are important to everyone. First, all major search engines operate internationally, they must comply with GDPR, which means it affects your site too. Second, because GDPR-like laws are now being passed in the United States; California was the first to enact legislation and several states have bills circulating. GDPR ACTION PLAN: We recommend full GDPR compliance no matter what – no if’s, and’s or but’s. Review all the sources collecting user data on your site. Ensure that private data is never sent to third-parties and that you have a process to prevent this from happening. Update your Privacy policy file to conform to GDPR requirements. Revise your cookie consent form. It should have the following content: what information you collect, why you do it, where you store it, affirm the info’s protected. If you use Tag Manager, activate IP anonymization. Doing this will reduce the specificity of your traffic tracking however, you’ll mitigate the risk associated with non-compliance. We hope you find this information helpful to build your brand and drive your online presence.
GreyPartners is a one-stop digital design agency that helps you attract, engage and convert users into customers. We are website design and lead generation experts passionate about helping you break through competitive clutter and grow. We provide pro-level functionality with minimized costs, making mobile-first websites affordable for businesses of any size. We ensure that you are always on top search rankings. Since 2009, businesses have grown their businesses online through GreyPartners.  Subject lines play a critical role in the success (or failure) of your email marketing. How critical? 47% of email recipients open based on the subject line alone. Conversely, 69% report emails as spam based SOLELY on the subject line. Read on to learn how you can achieve better results by crafting subject lines that drive through proven psychological triggers. To help you improve your open rates, our friends at SendX compiled a list of the top performing email subject lines from some of the highest volume email service providers. The collection consists of some of the best subject lines used in some of the most successful email campaigns. There are 12 core categories, each employs a different driver and basic formula for success: Curiosity
We humans, hate it when we are not able to complete a mental loop inside our head. This is why cliffhangers work so well. We can’t help but look at the next segment to close out that cliffhanger. And this is precisely why the curiosity subject line works extremely well. But only if done right. You can make your readers curious with your subject line by asking a question or promising something interesting within the email.
Formula: Here’s Why We [Something Awesome] Example: Here's why we are giving 100 Teslas away. Check out these subject lines that leverage the power of curiosity: 1. Mary Fernandez: “? a surprise gift for you! {unwrap}” 2. Refinery29: “10 bizarre money habits making Millennials richer” 3. Manicube: “*Don’t Open This Email*” 4. Digital Marketer: “Is this you?” 5. Thrillist: “What They Eat In Prison” 6. Eat This Not That: “9 Disgusting Facts about Thanksgiving” 7. Chubbies: “Hologram Shorts?!” 8. Digital Marketer: “Check out my new “man cave” [PICS]” 9. Digital Marketer: “Is this the hottest career in marketing?” 10. Digital Marketer: “Start using this new Facebook ad type” 11. Grubhub: “Last Day To See What This Mystery Email Is All About” 12. The Hustle: “A faster donkey 13. UX Collective: “Your fingerprints are all over the place” 14. Select All: “The Two Possible Futures of Virtual Reality” 15. Refinery29 Everywhere: “The $1,000 hair trend with a dirty little secret” 16. Book of the Month: “Our most riveting book this month.” 17. Sephora Insider: “You NEED to see this new eye treatment.” 18. Madewell: “Everyone’s gonna ask you about these” 19. Hiten from Product Habits: “2 hours before launch and we are still scrambling” 20. Instant Boss Club: “80 likes to 458 likes SAY WHAT?” 21. Intercom: “Are you making this landing page mistake?” 22. Zillow: “The truth about moving expenses” 23. LinkedIn: “This is how much working from home saves you” 24. BuzzFeed Books: “A very ~controversial~ opinion" 25. LOFT: “Just wait till you see these skirts” 26. Pocket: “How to Sleep. Sleep for Success. Why Eight Hours a Night Isn’t Enough” 27. Tory Burch: “This. Is. It.” 28. Apartment Therapy: “Why You Should Keep Your Clothes in the Freezer.” 29. Digital Marketer: “Important message (about tomorrow’s big announcement)” 30. Digital Marketer: “[POLL] Can you answer this?” FOMO
Just make sure this subject line is used for a real scarcity (not one that resets every time). Be cautious, overusing FOMO can decrease its value and result in people not taking the emails seriously. Formula: [Action] Now Before It's Gone Example: Download This for Free Now before It's Gone Here are a few email subject lines that utilize FOMO: 31. Dollar Shave Club: “We want to give you money.” 32. J.Crew Factory: “Click it or miss it, people: Over 500 styles under $25 is ending!” 33. Charles Tyrwhitt: “Shirts for $39 ENDS MIDNIGHT” 34. Book of the Month: “May’s best books are just too good to miss.” 35. Uber: “Grab a ride pass before they’re gone” 36. Digital Marketer: “[WEEKEND ONLY] Get this NOW before it’s gone…” 37. Poshmark: “Your discounts EXPIRE SOON.” 38. Shoes of Prey: “In case you missed these…” 39. Warby Parker: “Uh-oh, your prescription is expiring” 40. Airbnb: “Barnstable is in high demand for August” 41. Guess: “Tonight only: A denim lover’s dream” 42. AMC Theatres: “Hurry, Get Your Tickets to SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY Fan Event!” 43. JustFab: “By Invitation Only: Exclusive Rewards Inside!” 44. Groupon: “Starbucks – By Invite Only” 45. Killington: “Season Pass Savings Disappear Thursday” 46. Verizon Wireless: “[Name], your home is missing these easy upgrades.” 47. BaubleBar: “You’re a winner!” 48. Ibotta: “Don’t let this $5 bonus slip away!” 49. Crate and Barrel: “2x the rewards, 2 brands, 5 days only.” 50. JetBlue: “You’re missing out on points.” 51. Digital Marketer: “[URGENT] You’ve got ONE DAY to watch this…” 52. Digital Marketer: “Your 7-figure plan goes bye-bye at midnight…” 53. InstantBoss Club: “NEVER AGAIN SALE” 54. Jersey Mike’s Subs: “Mary, Earn double points today only” 55. Digital Marketer: “[LAST CHANCE] 85% off sale ends today!” PAIN POINTS
As a marketer, it is one of your main jobs to understand your customers and know their pain points. And you should constantly be on the look out for what they hope to gain or fear to lose and, ways to help them out with your solution.
We use those pain points to bring out the pain in the reader and then offer a solution within the subject line. Know that the pain point you’re addressing must be a major one for your customer. This is where the practice of segmenting the list according to the type of customer helps. Formula: How To [Achieve Desired Result] Example: How To Make Millions by Losing Money Here are a few subject lines incorporating the pain points: 56. Pizza Hut: “Feed your guests without breaking the bank” 57. IKEA: “Where do all these toys go?” 58. IKEA: “Get more kitchen space with these easy fixes” 59. HP: “Stop wasting money on ink” 60. Sephora: “Your beauty issues, solved” 61. Uber: “Since we can’t all win the lottery…” 62. Thrillist: “How to Survive Your Next Overnight Flight” 63. Guess: “Wanted: Cute and affordable fashions” 64. Evernote: “Stop wasting time on mindless work” 65. Duolingo: “Learn a language with only 5 minutes per day” 66. J.Crew: “Your summer outfit dilemmas SOLVED” 67. Groupon Experiences: “Fun to Help You Survive the Holidays” 68. Terrain: “Your all-weather dining solution.” 69. Qapital: “Don’t think about saving. Save without thinking.” 70. ByRegina: “Struggling with a business decision? I made you a 1-page framework to help.” 71. Le Tote: “Monday-Friday Style Simplified” 72. Domino’s: “No address? No problem. Now Domino’s can deliver to over 150,000 Domino’s Hotspots.” 73. Adobe Stock: “Beautiful brochures made faster” 74. Verizon Wireless: “Enjoy NBA games right at your fingertips.” 75. Vidyard: “Engaging your prospects can be hard. Video makes it easy.” 76. Grubhub: “Sit back and let someone else do the cooking” 77. Yelp: “Keep From Melting With These Iced Drinks.” 78. Grubhub: “Repeat meal syndrome? We understand.” 79. Digital Marketer: “[CHECKLIST] Get up to 20% better email deliverability” 80. Digital Marketer: “The 30-Second Sales Pitch” RE-ENGAGEMENT
No matter how good of a marketer you are, you’re gonna have a few people who will stop engaging with your emails. Added to that, there will be people who will drop off your sales funnel, abandon their carts or jump off in between a webinar. In such cases, we send them emails in an attempt to grab their attention and get them back into the sales funnel. If you have an eCommerce Store, you can literally triple your sales with cart abandonment emails. These subject lines primarily tend to overcome an objection which the customer might be facing, offer an exclusive deal which makes it easier for the customer to buy, or simply generate more FOMO. Here are a few examples of retargeting/re-engagement subject lines: 81. Dollar Shave Club: “Hey, did you forget to open this?” 82. The Bouqs Company: “Can You Believe It’s Been a Month?” 83. Chubbies Shorts: “Lemme Teleport You Back to Your Cart. Free Of Charge.” 84. LinkedIn: “[Name], people are looking at your LinkedIn profile” 85. Groupon: “Still Interested in That Deal?” 86. ClassPass: “New things are happening!” 87. Airbnb: “Pick up where you left off” 88. DraftKings: “[Name], you have an undrafted contest entry!” 89. Vail Resorts: “Come Back This Winter With an Exclusive Deal, [Name]” 90. Glassdoor: “It’s Been A While…” 91. Marriott Rewards: “We’ve missed you, [Name]! Please come back!” 92. Nick Stephenson: “How you can afford Your First 10,000 Readers (closing tonight)” 93. Bonobos: “Hey, forget something? Here’s 20% off.” 94. Target: “The price dropped for something in your cart” 95. Syed from Envira: “Mary, your Envira account is on hold!” 96. Syed from Envira: “I’m deleting your Envira account” 97. Ugmonk: “Offering you my personal email” 98. Animoto: “Did you miss out on some of these new features?” 99. Pinterest: “Good News: Your Pin’s price dropped!” 100. Unroll.Me: “ Unroll.Me has stopped working” 101. Vivino: “We are not gonna Give Up on You!” EMOJIS
Even if the user doesn’t open the email, the subject line would still make you more memorable than the rest of the brands. So unless your brand has a very specific messaging that does not sit well with emojis, you definitely should try and test out emojis within your subject line. Emojipedia.org is a wonderful resource. Simply search, copy and paste. While we cannot tell you which emoji would work the best for your subject line, here are the most popular emojis used in subject lines: 102. JustFly.com: “✈ SEAT SALE: Boston to Las Vegas!” 103. Digital Marketer: “🔨Let’s fix your offer together” 104. Digital Marketer: “🔥New Facebook Group features – this is BIG” 105. Wayfair: “😳 JUNE CLEARANCE ENDS TONIGHT.” 106. Dunkin Donuts: “🍦We’re screaming…” 107. Product Hunt Daily: “World’s first flying car 🏎️👀” 108. Yummly: “🍓Berry impressive summer recipes” 109. BuzzFeed News: “Instagram will let you mute your friends’ baby pics ” 110. Instacart: “🍝🍞🌽 Market Basket: Save $10 off your next order” 111. IMPACT Branding & Design: “IMPACT Live: Last week to save ” 112. Hotjar: “Customise your visitor feedback experience 😠😀😍” 113. Crate and Barrel: “Up to 40% off ️+ 30% off 🍹+ 15% off 🛍️ + Free 🚚 “ 114. Wish: “90% off store prices… Today’s top 5 discounts on summer sunglasses 😎” 115. Nordstrom Rack: “🌙Up to 75% OFF ends tonight 🌙” 116. ClassPass: “Go from 🌱 to 🌳 for just $4” 117. Gary Vaynerchuk: “New tshirts, a new movie, and episode 100 of #AskGaryVee✴️✴️★” 118. StubHub: “🚨 Great deal alert! Zac Brown Band at Fenway Park for a steal.” 119. Gary Vaynerchuk: “Tell me what you want to get out of this email service⚠️” 120. Digital Marketer: “Sales ⬆︎, Refunds ⬇︎, Retention ⬆︎” 121. Digital Marketer: “①⓪① ways to boost email open rates” 122. Digital Marketer: “ ⏰ FINAL NOTICE: “Perfect Offer Mini-Class” 123. Digital Marketer: “ Claim your free heat map!” 124. Digital Marketer: "🚀 Your perfect product launch for $7” 125. Digital Marketer: "⚡[FLASH SALE] My 11-step business launch plan (and templates)" 126. Digital Marketer: "Does your landing page suck?… or is it ‘perfect’? 😊" 127. Digital Marketer: "⏰ LAST CHANCE: T&C closes tonight" 128. Digital Marketer: "❄️Turn ice cold prospects into buyers 🔥" 129. Digital Marketer: "🎯Facebook Targeting Expansion: The Test (and the results…)" HUMOR
In a large crowd, a genuinely funny person automatically grabs our attention. The same thing applies to our crowded inboxes. Answer this honestly: When has it ever happened that you found a genuinely funny subject line in your inbox and you didn’t open it? Probably never. While funny email subject lines are a great way to grab attention and get opens, you need to make sure they will resonate with your audience and not go on the offensive side. Doing that can result in an immediate backlash and a loss of subscribers. Here are some examples of funny email subject lines: 130. Groupon: “Hey… Were You Gonna Delete This?” 131. Red Sox Ticketing: “Come to Fenway May 2 - we won’t tell your boss!” 132. The Muse: “We Like Being Used” 133. Dollar Shave Club: “Open up and say wowie zowie!” 134. Eater Boston: “Where to Drink Beer Right Now” (Sent at 6:45am on a Wednesday.) 135. Travelocity: “Need a day at the beach? Just scratch n’ sniff your way to paradise…” 136. Brooks Brothers: “Up to 40% off trousers & sport coats. It’s a tailor-made sale.” 137. Thrillist: “Try To Avoid These 27 People On New Year’s Eve” 138. Free People: “‘Can I PLEASE borrow?!’ - everyone you know” 139. Baby Bump: “Yes, I’m Pregnant. You Can Stop Staring At My Belly Now.” 140. Gozengo: “NEW! Vacation on Mars” 141. The Bouqs Company: “Pow-pop-boom-crackfsss” (Note: This was for a 4th of July sale.) 142. The Hustle: “Look what you did, you little jerk…” (this one is a hybrid of curiosity and humour) 143. TicTail: “Boom shakalak! Let’s get started.” 144. OpenTable: “Licking your phone never tasted so good” 145. Funny or DIe: “Revised policy regarding jean shorts at work” 146. UncommonGoods: “As You Wish” (This is a reference to the movie The Princess Bride.) 147. Grubhub: “Breaking chews! We found new restaurants near you!” 148. Warby Parker: “Pairs nicely with spreadsheets” 149. NextDraft: “OMGodfather” 150. Dollar Shave Club: “What to Do When You’re the Sweaty, Smelly Guy at the Gym” 151. Groupon: “Deals That Make Us Proud (Unlike Our Nephew, Steve)” 152. Nordstrom Rack: “Ray-Ban up to 50% off. Get in a new frame of mind.” 153. Crate and Barrel: “New planters? Oh, kale yeah.” 154. OpenTable: "Licking your phone never tasted so good" 155. Move Loot: "Seat Your Heart Out" 156. Overstock: "Seriously. We’d like to thank you." 157. Grubhub: "Last Day To See What This Mystery Email Is All About" 158. Refinery29: "10 bizarre money habits making Millennials richer" 159. Fabletics: "Your Butt Will Look Great in These Workout Pants" 160. Edgevale: "Get In Our Pants" 161. UrbanDaddy: "You’ve Changed" 162. Influitive: "So I’ll pick you up at 7?" 163. BloomThat: "Better than a pumpkin spice latte!" 164. Gap: "Mondays are suddenly AWESOME" 165. The Bold Italic: "Just Pho You: Where to Eat SF’s Best PhoPop" 166. Physique: "Get Ready. Keep the Pie Off Your Thighs Returns." 167. BuzzFeed: "Yes, We’re Still Talking About Kim Kardashian’s Butt" 168. Groupon: "There are no deals in this email" 169. Sublime Stitching: "Bummed you missed out? Console yourself…" 170. NightLife at the California Academy of Sciences: "Show Us Yours and We’ll Show You Ours" 171. Benefit Cosmetics: "Do you like to watch?" SOCIAL PROOF
As a marketer, you’re probably no stranger to the fact that social proof is a huge booster for engagement and sales. People like to do what other people are doing. It makes the brand more relatable and improves trust. This same principle when incorporated within the email subject line can make a huge impact to your opens. Try to highlight a major objection and how a customer is overcoming it using your product. Formula: How Lessons [I/We] Learned [Action You Took] Example: How I Grew My Business to 10k/mo in 90 days 172. Patagonia: “Top reviewed styles from customers like you” 173. HelloFresh: “Pssst… your friends are cooking up a storm!” 174. GolfNow: “You deserve some golf this week (top picks inside)” 175. Yummly: “Most Popular Recipes this Week” 176. Airbnb: “Make it a good night with John Legend and Airbnb” 177. Yummly: “Simple recipes from popular chefs” 178. Zillow: “5 homes that are trending right now” 179. Lenny: “Rachel McAdams and Rachel Weisz on the Female Gaze” 180. Inc: “18 Habits Highly Successful People Have (And the Rest of Us Probably Don’t)” 181. Adobe: "Adobe named a Leader in customer analytics" 182. Instant Boss Club: “See what our clients are saying…” 183. Sephora: “The people have spoken: these are their faves” 184. Target: “Moms are loving these fave maternity looks.” 185. Wish: “Whoa… These are the most wanted handbags this year.” 186. Digital Marketer: "This, friends, is how you sell with email…" 187. Digital Marketer: "[Case Study] $25,865/mo in recurring revenue" 188. Digital Marketer: "Case Study: 7-figure eCommerce Funnel" 189. Digital Marketer: "This guy makes 6 figures per month?" 190. Digital Marketer: "28,507 leads in 45 days" 191. Digital Marketer: "Tim Ferriss says “Hi”" SELF-LOVE
A part of what makes us human is our desire for love and acceptance by other fellow humans. Everybody takes a little too excessive pride in ourselves and our abilities from time to time. We can use this human tendency to our advantage and capitalize on our audience’s vanity. Be sure that you don’t go overboard with this. A little too much and people consider it spammy. Your job in this one is to provide something that makes the reader look better or look worse than her peers. 192. Pop Physique: “Get Ready. Keep the Pie Off Your Thighs Returns.” 193. Guess: “Don’t wear last year’s styles.” 194. Rapha: “Gift inspiration for the discerning cyclist” 195. La Mer: “Age-defying beauty tricks” 196. Jeremy Gitomer: “How Have You Progressed Since the Third Grade?” 197. Rapha: “As worn in the World Tour” 198. Fabletics: “Your Butt Will Look Great in These Workout Pants” 199. Sephora: “Products the celebs are wearing” SPECIAL OFFER
Additionally, these types of emails get higher CTRs as well. This is because the people who are interested enough to open them email are highly likely to be interested in the actual offer as well. 200. Rip Curl: “Two for two” 201. Rapha: “Complimentary gift wrap on all purchases” 202. Guess: “25% off your favorites” 203. HP: “New must-haves for your office” 204. Seafolly: “A new product you won’t pass on” 205. Topshop: “Meet your new jeans” 206. La Mer: “A little luxury at a great price” 207. Topshop: “Get a head start on summer” 208. The Black Tux: “Get priority access.” 209. Digital Marketer: "Google Display Network (Your one page cheat sheet)" 210. HP: “Flash. Sale. Alert.” 211. Digital Marketer: “[Flash Sale] 85% off our Podcast Launch Plan” 212. Digital Marketer: “Your Content Campaign Planner (Google doc)” 213. Digital Marketer: “[EMAIL TEMPLATE] Fix your company’s biggest marketing issue” 214. Digital Marketer: “[CHECKLIST] Get up to 20% better email deliverability” 215. Digital Marketer: “Swipe these 5 killer traffic campaigns” 216. Digital Marketer: “Paid traffic not converting? Download this… ” 217. Digital Marketer: “Digital Marketing Mastery is open!” PROCRASTInATION
Humans, we’re a lazy bunch - even the workaholics among us. We love saving time through a quick hack or a shortcut that helps us get what we want faster. You can use this to your advantage. You can offer a quick cheat sheet or a resource that will help your subscribers get some result really fast. And frame the subject line accordingly that makes the user want to check out the resource. If you're giving a step-by-step guide to achieve a result, you can use this formula: [Ebook] Step by Step guide to [achieving a result] 218. Digital Marketer: “[Free PDF Download] Claim our Social Media Swipe File” 219. Digital Marketer: “Steal these email templates…” 220. OptinMonster: “63-Point Checklist for Creating the Ultimate Optin Form” 221. Digital Marketer: “A Native Ad in 60 Minutes or Less” 222. Digital Marketer: “212 blog post ideas” 223. Digital Marketer: “[EMAIL TEMPLATE] Fix your company’s biggest marketing issue” 224. Ramit Sethi: “How to email a busy person (including a word-for-word script)” 225. Digital Marketer: “Brand NEW (and free) Training: 3 Steps To a Perfect Offer ” 226. Digital Marketer: “[85% Off] 3 Proven Facebook Campaigns to Run Today…” 227. OptinMonster: “Grow your email list 10X faster with these 30 content upgrade ideas” PERSONALIZATION
But don’t worry, you don’t have to use your subscriber’s names to personalize the subject line. The person’s location, time zone reference, events in the area work too! Additionally, you can also use casual language or share something personal to better relate with your audience. 228. John Lee Dumas: “Are you coming?” 229. UrbanDaddy: “You’ve Changed” 230. Bonnie Fahy: “Mary, do you remember me?” 231. Influitive: “So I’ll pick you up at 7?” 232. Kimra Luna: “I didn’t see your name in the comments!?” 233. OptinMonster: “300% increase in revenue with a single optin + a neat growth trick from my mastermind!” 234. Guess: “Mary, check out these hand-picked looks” 235. Mary Fernandez: “you free this Thurs at 12PM PST? [guest blogging class]” 236. James Malinchak: “Crazy Invitation, I am Going to Buy You Lunch…” 237. Brooklinen: “Vanilla or Chocolate?” 238. Sam from The Hustle: “I love you” 239. Revolution Tea: “Thanks for helping us” 240. Ryan Levesque: “Seriously, Who DOES This?” 241. Rent the Runway: “Happy Birthday Mary – Surprise Inside!” 242. Jon Morrow: “Quick favor?” 243. Mary Fernandez: “? your detailed results…” 244. Harry’s: “Two razors for your friends (on us)” 245. Digital Marketer: “Did you get your book yet?” 246. Digital Marketer: “G + L + F = 2X Your Sales” 247. Digital Marketer: “You’re Invited” 248. Digital Marketer: “Is this you?” 249. Digital Marketer: “What happens when you’re approved?” TO-THE-POINT
Respectfully blunt works. Analysis of 40 million marketing emails found that descriptive and to-the-point email subject lines had the highest open rates. Yes, simple subject lines that are perceived as “boring” in the industry tend to get really high opens. So why do we all not just send straightforward emails? What was the point of the whole article above? The thing is, these straightforward subject lines are only to be used once in a while. And your other emails have to be a value bomb. This will make your subscriber used to opening your emails, thanks to the awesome value inside them. And when the to-the-point subject line arrives, they would be so happy with your content already that they would gladly open your emails. Formula: [Number] Lessons [I/We] Learned by [Action You Took] Example: 100 lessons I learned by Vlogging for 3 years 250. Barack Obama: “Hey” 251. AYR: “Best coat ever” 252. Al Franken: “Yes, this is a fundraising email” 253. “Thanks for Joining – Here’s What’s on Sale” 254. “Top 10 under $10” 255. “212 Blog Post Ideas” I hope you find this helps you find the direction and inspiration to take your email marketing to the next level. Now it’s your turn.
This list is, and always will be, a work in progress. Post your favorite subject lines in the comments below, and I’ll surely add them into this article. Society is obsessed with consuming and creating content—we simply can’t get enough of it. Every second, there is more content being produced than ever before. In a world where attention is the most valuable commodity, if you aren’t producing solid storytelling, it’s like shouting into the wind. Enter branded content into the conversation. There are so many articles written about taking the brand out of branded content. Yet, funnily enough, most aren’t written by brand marketers. They are written by people begging brand marketers to stop making branded content. So where does this leave the brand marketer in a world where content is supposedly king? All too often brands look at branded content as a means to put themselves front and center, making it all about me, myself and I. As a result, the content feels like an elaborate and over-produced ad. Therein lies the problem: Brands look at branded content as the brand’s content, forgetting about the viewer.
As a result, brands are being told to simply sponsor the story, make it “brought to you by” or to appear only in the credits. Essentially, brands are being asked to sit on the sidelines and hold up a poster with their logo on it.
It shouldn’t be about removing the brand from the content but instead about providing a more meaningful role for the brand within the story. What that doesn’t mean is simply inserting the logo or product in the middle; that’s where things can go incredibly wrong. To create a meaningful role, the brand/product must be critical to the story. This character must build the plot, push the narrative and add substance. For example, is the product the connection point between two strangers? Does the product enable a function to happen? Does the brand provide a unique point of view on a situation? When done correctly, if you were to remove the brand—or in this case, the character—the story should fall apart. But above all, any story worth telling must be inherent to your brand’s DNA, the fabric of your past, present and future. Even the best-told story coming out of the wrong brand’s mouth will immediately seem disingenuous, and the internet will very quickly sniff you out. So, as a marketer, you must first ask yourself, “Is this a story that my brand can credibly tell?” And believe it or not, there are some brands that not only create great content, but they also create great branded content. The role of the brand or product can have a multitude of rules. Ranging from a highly integrated character, such as Lego’s insanely successful Lego Movie, where an entire story is developed around the brand’s product to an online video where the product—in this case, a Heineken beer that acts as the connector between two people with very diverse points of view—to less integrated but just as meaningful that showcases the brand’s values coming to life, just as when Netflix’s hit series Orange Is the New Black leveraged The New York Times to continue to shine a light on the struggles facing female inmates through a thought-provoking, interactive article that could only be written in partnership with the prison drama. At the end of the day, branded content can’t only get the viewer to learn about your product. The best content keeps the consumer in mind, aiming to entertain, inspire or educate, whether the brand is there or not. Because, always and forever, good content will be good content. Want to create a compelling user experience for your customers? User experience design is a journey, not a destination. Constantly iterate and improve or you'll fall behind. Follow these five rules to make that happen.  Know Your Users
Before you can design a pleasing user experience, you need to know what users actually want. Unfortunately, many brands don’t do enough to understand their customers and how the business can meet their needs, says Jonathan Goldmacher, managing director for Valtech in New York. “You need to start with the audience you’re serving,” he says. “Understand their lives intimately, the role your category and brand play in their lives, and the places where you have an opportunity to do things in an exceptionally better way. You also need to understand the business you’re in and what’s possible inside that environment.” Look Beyond Your Category You might be doing a fine job keeping up with other brands in your competitive set, but you also need to keep up with Amazon, Netflix and other digital startups. “People bring their expectations from every category,” says Elephant vp Kevin Kearney. “You may be best in your category, but if you’re not thinking about where people’s expectations are going and what their needs are, someone will enter your category and meet those needs the way other brands do.” But Don’t be a Copycat There’s a long history of brands imitating other successful products. That’s a really dumb idea, says Charming Robot CEO Dan Maccarone, because that brand’s strategy and audience might be entirely different. “A few years ago, every company would come to us and say, ‘Our homepage needs to look like Pinterest because Pinterest is successful,'” says Maccarone. “Well, maybe it’s successful for their strategy, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s right for your strategy. And just because someone else is doing it, doesn’t mean they’re doing it right.” Go Where Your Customers Are Brands spend millions trying to lure customers to their own sites, when they should focus on improving the customer experience across all platforms, says Linda Holliday, CEO of Citia. “Most companies spend most of their money trying to drag attention back to their own website,” says Holliday. “If you’re Condé Nast and you want readers to have an extended experience with Vogue, it doesn’t matter whether it happens on the company website, YouTube or Instagram when the alternative is ‘not at all.'” Don’t Stop User experience design is a journey, not a destination. You need to keep constantly iterating and improving or you’ll fall behind. “People don’t understand how much failure goes into every successful interface they see,” says Khoi Vinh, principal designer at Adobe. “They also don’t see how essential it is to continue to experiment with new ways of doing things to adapt to users’ changing habits. No UX design can stay fixed for very long; it needs to evolve with the user if brands want to stay relevant.” By Dan Tynan | July 23, 2018 This story first appeared in the July 23, 2018, issue of Adweek magazine.
As human beings, we get used to "the way things are" really fast. But for designers, the way things are is an opportunity... Could things be better? How? In this funny, breezy talk, the man behind the iPod and the Nest thermostat shares some of his tips for noticing - and driving - change. Learn more from this insightful TED Talk.
Why You Should Listen Tony Fadell became a tech superstar as a colleague of Steve Jobs and developer of the iPod, which rejuvenated Apple, rebooted entire industries and changed the way the world consumes entertainment. After leaving Apple, Fadell founded Nest on a familiar experience - frustration with household technology, still resolutely frozen in the 20th century. With its first products, Nest has brought the modern household one step closer to becoming a truly connected “smarthome.” In January 2014, Nest became Google’s second-biggest acquisition to date, positioning both companies to become revolutionary players in home technology.
Check out more illuminating talks at TED.com
How Women Want Tech to Shape the Shopping Experience
62% believe same-day shipping will become the norm
Women are embracing more personalized, speedy and seamless customer experiences. New research reveals that while in-store shopping is still king in some areas—90 percent of women still purchase their groceries in-store, for example—online is steadily gaining traction in others, including apparel and accessories (63 percent of women make these purchases online), beauty and personal care (54 percent) and consumer electronics and tech (59 percent). That said, a whopping 94 percent of women are at least somewhat interested in in-store experiences beyond just shopping. Learn more about how women want tech to shape their shopping experience (62% believe same-day shipping will become the norm) in Sammy Nickall's article published in Adweek, August 5th, 2018 
Sammy Nickalls is departments editor at Adweek.
Previously, she was night editor at Esquire. She's also the creator of #TalkingAboutIt. Grey Partners is honored to help Pause4Paws, a new Tulsa non-profit, establish a strong brand and craft their digital footprint through branding, website and social media. On behalf of our entire team, thank you. We are honored to be a small part of your mission.  Pause4Paws, Inc. is a new Tulsa non-profit that arranges foster homes for pets while their owners experiencing homelessness, mental illness or addiction receive urgent medical, mental health, or substance abuse treatment.
That care often is a matter of life or death. Pause4Paws foster services are limited to pet owners who have been referred by an agency or organization that helps individuals experiencing homelessness, mental illness or addiction. The mission of Pause4Paws is to help these pet owners receive necessary emergency services without their pet being a barrier to available care. Learn more at https://www.pause4pawsok.org/ or https://www.facebook.com/Pause4PawsOK/ Apple’s new ad cinematically captures the pressure of remembering yet another password and transforms our shared frustration into a high-stakes quiz show  Recalling a password becomes a high-stakes quiz show in Apple's visually detailed new spot. Remembering a new password, even one you just created this morning, can stump you in any situation. Sometimes it can even feel like you’re in the spotlight, sweating in front of a gleefully tense and elegantly dressed audience of hundreds—or at least, that’s the metaphor Apple is going with in its new spot for the iPhone X. In the ad, we see a golden-age quiz show contestant doing the mental gymnastics of remembering his newest password, as the crowd becomes increasingly worked up and borderline hostile.1:3  With the payoff being that the iPhone X makes password management simple by using your face as a universal login, the spot is rich in costume and set design, among other fun details. In a few fleeting ...
In a world of too many options and too little time, our obvious choice is to just ignore the ordinary stuff. Marketing guru Seth Godin spells out why, when it comes to getting our attention, bad or bizarre ideas are more successful than boring ones.
How consumers experience marketing communications has evolved in profound ways over the past decade. Interestingly the insights revealed in this 2003 Ted Conference have proven to be a tremendous help in shifting mind-sets to embrace brand-building strategies so that we can help clients succeed in our brace new world.
This talk was presented at an official 2003 TED conference.
Seth Godin is an entrepreneur and blogger who thinks about the marketing of ideas in the digital age. Check out this 2009 talk The Tribes We Lead.
Digital marketing is oversaturated. Brands wield billion-dollar budgets like the internet is about to go out of style—and maybe that’s because, in some ways, it is. So how can you better guide your brand through this cluttered space? “Saturated” does not begin to describe the channels for digital marketing. Brands wield billion-dollar budgets like the internet is about to go out of style—and maybe that’s because, in some ways, it is.
The next wave of marketers should beware of the possible effects of digital marketing fatigue and consider getting inspired by some of the most front-running and innovative brands, like the ones who leverage physical elements as anchors in their marketing campaigns. Traditionally, creating physical products for the purpose of a marketing campaign would be costly and inefficient. But as tech continues to accelerate faster than ever, we’re seeing traditional processes like manufacturing become much more accessible. Advancements in AI and robotics have significantly decreased the costs and increased the capabilities of custom manufacturing and therefore custom products. Nowadays, getting a physical product made is comparable to the process of ordering business cards online, which is arguably easier than implementing an effective digital marketing campaign. Perhaps, this generation of marketers may want to think twice before pouring their entire budget into digital marketing. With each passing year, consumer audiences become harder to impress, making it increasingly difficult to leave a lasting impression on a cohort who believes they’ve seen it all. Ads can be great, but remember the feeling of finding a surprise gift in your cereal box? Unlike fleeting digital experiences, physical products create a long-lasting emotional and nostalgic connection. Appealing to emotion is known to be an effective marketing strategy, but tapping into fond memories to serve up genuine nostalgia can truly be invaluable. For brands already selling physical products, this kind of nostalgia-focused marketing might manifest itself as a “free gift with purchase.” Beauty powerhouse Glossier includes a pink bubble wrap makeup bag and branded sticker set in each order, not only delighting the customer with thoughtful relics of yesteryear but indoctrinating them into Glossier’s massive influencer network. Whenever that customer uses their Glossier makeup bag in public, for a brief moment, that customer is a walking talking Glossier billboard. By incorporating this kind of sustained physical touchpoint in your marketing strategy, you can stay top-of-mind in the consumer psyche. That said, even solely digital brands can incorporate a physical element into their marketing strategy. For example, a mobile gaming company might consider moving away from an in-game rewards model and try out a physical item (think personalized trophies or figurines of the game’s characters) to give players a tangible reward for their achievements in the virtual world. This is important because physical real-world moments are shareable in a way that digital experiences are not. Creating opportunities in your marketing strategy for physical touchpoints is more likely to help your brand’s reach than even the most nuanced and targeted ad content. When you’re thinking long-term about your brand, opportunities to deliver a personalized experience are key. Consumers want to feel like they’re purchasing from somewhere small and from somewhere that can give them a bespoke experience—even if they’re purchasing from a giant conglomerate. Novelty is shareable, especially when it is physical. In addition to offering limited edition and short-run specialty products, brands can go so far as to engage users with opportunities to design their own text, colors or shapes into a product. These kinds of personalized products can become treasured items. Between digital marketing resources, insights we have about customers and flexible supply chains using digital manufacturing, there has never been a better time to add a physical layer to your brand’s marketing strategy.  Leanne Luce
Product manager at Voodoo Manufacturing.  A visitor takes action, a contact form is submitted, a lead is born. It happens millions of times each day. It’s common, but not simple. There are dozens of little factors involved in lead generation. When it works, a stranger who needs help finds a webpage offering a product, service or advice. They learn, they trust and they take action. Some websites do it well and generate leads all day long. Most don’t. A lead generation website has a specific set of pages, each with specific elements. Each element aligns with the expectations and psychology of the visitor and the marketing program of the business. Let's break it down. The flow often looks something like this:  Learn more in the complete post from Andy Crestodina of Orbit Media, as he guides you through what a purposeful lead-generation process should look like as he breaks down best practices that you can put to work now.
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