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E-Marketing Tips From the Front Lines
Podcast listeners more likely to buy. The truth about online registration forms. Why post negative customer feedback on your site?
from AICPA Custom Media Solutions

Podcast listeners more likely to buy.

Prospects who listen to online podcasts are 73 percent more likely to buy or use a product or service advertised during a broadcasts, according to Internet Marketing Report (IMR). IMR says when it comes to podcasts, the shorter the better (within reason).

Podcasts are particularly effective when prospects can listen to them while exercising, commuting, having coffee or dressing for the day.

There are many ways B2B marketers are using podcasts to acquire, upsell and retain their customers. Here are two great examples:

Broadcast the Voice of the Customer. Show prospects that people like themselves are buying your products and services and using them successfully to solve a problem.
Establish Your Company’s Top Guns As Thought Leaders. Try producing speeches by executives or interviews or roundtable discussions with top names in your industry.

The truth about online registration forms.

We put a great deal of stock in what our Web site visitors reveal about themselves, but how much can you really trust what they’re telling us in our online registration forms? A recent survey of nearly 3,000 technology professionals by MarketingSherpa and KnowledgeStorm says not that much. Researchers found that other than the visitor’s name and e-mail address, you’re mostly collecting bogus or incomplete information.

While 72 percent of survey respondents said they always provide accurate information about their name and 68 percent always provide an accurate e-mail address, only 38 percent provide an accurate phone number, while 40 percent provide accurate information about their company size and only slightly more than half accurately identify their company name or job title.

Tip: Ask for bite-sized chunks of information in your online registration forms.

Is it crazy to post negative customer feedback on your Web site?

If you’ve noticed more and more companies posting surprisingly candid customer comments on their Web sites, it’s not your imagination. Online marketing experts are increasingly advising their companies (or clients) to post all customer feedback on their Web sites, even when it’s not very flattering. It may sound counter intuitive, but posting the good, the bad and the ugly comments on your site gives more credibility to the positive comments you feature. It also shows you actually read and respond to your customer comments and posting on your own site, at least gives you some control of the way the comments are displayed than on an independent site.

A recent piece in Boston.com picked up by IMR, among others, cited four reasons to load all your customer comments, including the less-than-stellar ones:

Control. You can ensure the comments aren’t taken out of context and you can arrange the display and order of the feedback, such as positive comments first.
PR. It shows your organization is proactive and not trying to hide from or dodge its critics, whether they’re analysts, customers or potential customers.
Idea Generation. The less-than-favorable comments can give your sales, marketing, customer service and even product development people ideas for doing better or creating new products and services that you don’t currently offer. For every one critical customer who took the time to respond to you, there are probably another 200 who feel the same way, but who didn’t take the time to respond.
Credibility. It’s human nature. Prospects are more likely to believe claims made on your Web site when you have a realistic mix of pro and con comments.

So when it comes to your site. Bring real-life customer experiences to the forefront. Don’t ask too much in your online registration forms and play it straight when it comes to customer comments. The more honest you are, the more they’ll trust you in the long run.