Archive for the ‘Blog’ Category
Apr
28
The development of the Web today includes powerful applications that mimic desktop software. Google Docs has tried to provide the functionality of Microsoft Office. Picnik is attempting to target Photoshop users. And even our own Content Management System, WebGen, uses some of the basics that made Dreamweaver so popular a few years ago. Perhaps the majority of us may soon only need an Internet connection rather than a computer when Web sites mature into full online applications.
In the meantime, we will experience the migration of software evolving into websites, and Twelve Horses is expanding its boundaries with these new technologies. Recently, we created a new event planner that integrates the functionality of software but utilizes the power of the Web.
Dynamic Meeting Planner
Our client, Dynamic Competence, needed a way to transform a paper-based meeting system into a dynamic communication tool that facilitates conversations for meeting topics. To be successful, the client needed to manage and monitor meeting plan revisions, improve group communication, and use a medium that would help save time and effort for meeting planners.
In this project we developed features that we have not yet seen: the website works more like a software application than a traditional HTML site. Below I’ve highlighted some of the functionality we developed.
Features for Success
1. Drag-And-Drop Interface
 A planner has the ability to categorize their contacts into different groups before sending out the meeting invite. To help increase speed and usability, the interface allows the planner to drag-and-drop their contacts into the available groups before sending. This saves the planner time and effort when creating the invitee list to be a part of the meeting process. |
2. Double-Click Editing
 Instead of making edits via a regular textbox and hitting save, a meeting planner simply goes to the topic they need to edit, double-clicks on it, and this opens up the section to be edited. This dynamic interface also allows editors to add and disable topics with one-click, saving time and effort. |
3. User Feedback System
 The success of the system relies on the interaction of the client’s users. If, for any reason, a user has an issue with a website or wants to comment, a Feedback button is provided on every page. To provide more insight into the feedback, the user’s comments, current page, and date submitted are all tracked by the System Admin Inbox (see below). This valuable feedback data also provides insight on how to improve the application for future use. |
4. System Admin Inbox
 The system administrators wanted to be sure all the feedback was being read and responded to appropriately. With multiple feedback messages, this could be a daunting task to make sure everyone is receiving a response. To complicate matters, there could be multiple System Admins in the system. To resolve this, the feedback items are displayed in an email inbox format (read or unread), and the message tracks which System Admin first read the response. |
5. Versioning
 Each iteration of the meeting process is saved as a separate webpage to the website. With this, a meeting planner can see how the meeting agenda transformed from the first draft to the final version of the agenda. This tracks all comments and changes, keeping the meeting processes organized and easily retrieved for historical purposes. |
Using web-based applications provides many advantages: updates and new features are rolled out across to users in real time; data is stored on the server and is accessible from anywhere that has Internet access; and custom solutions are tailored to a client’s needs, which isn’t as easily done with software.
Soon we may solely rely on the Web for our daily workflow. Until that happens, we will continue to push the boundaries of Web technology to help meet clients’ needs and increase the usability of applications.
Posted in Atlanta, Blog, Company News, Current Affairs, Finance & Banking, Las Vegas, Marketing, Marketing Tools, Member Orgs, SEO, Salt Lake City, Service Industry, Social, Travel & Tourism, Utah, Video, Web & SEO, Web Design
Apr
27
At a recent TED conference, best-selling author of Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert stated, “we have completely internalized and accepted collectively this notion that creativity and suffering are somehow inherently linked.” She goes on to further frame “the utter, maddening, capriciousness of the creative process” by suggesting that we pull from something greater than ourselves. Maybe Gilbert was thinking of the late Carl Jung who once said, “Art is a kind of innate drive that seizes a human being and makes him its instrument.”?
When it comes to email marketing, designing for your objectives can be a little maddening. If you do pull from something greater than yourself, and then translate that perfect vision to strategy and paper, you may find that your creative team is not realizing it. So, back and forth you go until there is no time left. A deadline is a deadline. But there is no doubt that the battle for the inbox – and your customer’s attention – requires engaging, actionable designs. What can you do to minimize your suffering and help aid that creative process along?
Know Your Audience
Through personalization, you no doubt consider who you’re addressing with every send. But who really is your audience, and what are they expecting from you? If you have a sizeable database with varying preferences, this is where you can not only practice segmentation, but also employ different designs and messages for each segment. What a great way to make your audience feel like you are personally interested in their needs and goals. Not to mention leveraging different designs for newsletters, promotions, events, and important notifications, as many businesses do.
Get Your Rendering Right
There is nothing worse than a well-designed email that just doesn’t render right. Ask yourself whether your recipients are primarily businesses or consumers? This will determine if the majority is using say, Microsoft Outlook vs. Gmail or Hotmail, or perhaps even receiving their emails on a mobile device – keep in mind that 30% of B-to-B recipients are receiving emails on their mobile devices. Regardless, it is impossible to get an email design, or the content offer itself, to render perfectly in all email clients, so you want to shoot for the top 2 or 3 and then make sure you test – test – test before you launch.
Avoid Graphical Overload
Remember less can be more. It’s especially important not to overuse graphics in an email to the point that images constitute the entire message. It is that much easier to delete an email message if nothing at all captures the consumer’s attention before they have opted to download images. Ask yourself, what are recipients going to see above the fold? Does it stand out? Does it speak to their needs? Call upon Maslow’s hierarchy of needs if you need some help with this.
Content is King
Great designs fall flat without good content. No amount of slick design skilz are going to carry your customer over the line if the message doesn’t add value to the recipient’s life. Subject lines, headlines, offers and calls to action are all crucial to a successful campaign. With one quick glance of these elements a recipient will understand what the value is immediately upon viewing the email. Easier said than done, but if you solidify the messaging first, establishing a strong supporting design can be made much easier.
The Beauty is in the Data
Don’t be afraid to test a few different designs early on in the game. Many email marketers get their template and design down to a point where everyone internally is pleased with the outcome. But no one has any idea what the customer really thinks! Each time a client has pursued A/B testing, it was completely obvious which email design performed the best. Also, don’t be afraid to test offers and subject lines. As you achieve greater relevance it will have a direct result on your clickthrough rates. Yes, you may have to invest more time in creating additional versions at the outset, but the payoff will be greater conversions with the final send.
Break the Rules
The email marketing industry loves to apply various rules and best practices by which we should guide our “online lives”. While it’s great to have a foundation to work from, don’t let best practices become a burden either. At the end of the day, your job is to move the needle more than you did the last time, so don’t be afraid to experiment with the experiential and maybe even defy conventional wisdom.
Considering these factors during the early stages of an email marketing campaign will lessen the suffering and assist you in finding the drive to make email a more effective instrument.
Posted in Atlanta, Blog, Email, Finance & Banking, Las Vegas, Marketing Tools, Member Orgs, Reno-Tahoe, Salt Lake City, Service Industry, Travel & Tourism
Jan
29
Old school branding tactics simply are not enough anymore. Consumers are getting information all across the web, and they are touching brands in so many more places. But how do you control it? How do you influence it? And more importantly, how do you keep messaging inline across mediums that you don’t directly control? Alpine Meadows Ski Resort has found that answer.
Real. Pure. Authentic.
Three words that Alpine is known for. Three words that have helped mold a website, guide blog posts and continually increase web traffic to keep sales steady despite a slow economy and a late starting season. Of course, it isn’t just the words, but the translation of these words across multiple channels that are bringing them continued success.
Real Communications
Alpine maintains a constant stream of video, photography, blog posts, as well as events and promotions to help drive home those three key tenets of their brand and increase conversions through search engine optimization and stronger relationships with their customers. Many companies view social channels like Twitter and Facebook as marketing tools in the same way they view a print ad or TV spot. But the users of these social networks simply won’t allow it.
Studies have proven that people are tolerant of advertising in exchange for good content. The same goes for the Web. But no one is willing to follow a company on Twitter if the majority of their tweets offer no discernible value and are purely promotional. It is a tough concept for many to understand, and spending two hours a day keeping up with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr is a hard concept to swallow. If you do it well the results are quite rewarding, but you must first have a good base.
Pure Design
Every good online strategy starts with a home base, a place where all the information is stored and transactions can be facilitated. Because of this, websites and their accompanying databases serve as the most important interaction points in the online marketing mix. But many websites end up overflowing with too many promotions and special offers competing for precious real estate on the homepage. Not the case with Alpine. Instead, they use texturing, leverage terminology like The Blogosphere, The Haps and The A-list, and utilize image-based navigation with animation. The end results is a better use of graphics and messaging that support one another in order to produce the desired conversion. But how do you get new customers to the website, and once you do, how do you keep them coming back?
Authenticity
Many companies choose to portray only the best about themselves on the web. They remove negative comments from their blog and they push the same print and TV messages across all available channels. But there is nothing real or pure about that. Alpine embraces the negative and uses it to stay authentic. They don’t lower their voice when bad weather and lift holds hit, they don’t produce video that is just a smaller version of their TV ads, and they definitely don’t consider their website to be an online brochure. Instead, they inform their customer. They send twitters when the lifts are on hold, they tell you to sleep in and wait for the avalanche crew to blast the hill before heading up, and they let negative comments spark greater conversation on their blog. These tactics might make the average marketer nervous and feel as if they are not in control, but in many ways they already aren’t, and the only way to help guide the brand forward is by openly engaging with the consumer and interacting well.
The Stats
In the month of December, with much less snow fall and much harder economic times, Alpine has seen an increase in overall traffic to their website by 25%. Web analytics show that this increase in traffic has much to do with their Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, and blogging activities. Since the redesign of the website, Alpine has also seen a 19% increase in email subscribers and a 22% increase in text messaging subscribers.
Of course, we can’t all be ski resorts. Design, messaging, and communication channels are going to vary for different industries. Nevertheless, Alpine serves a great example of how we can all benefit from a multi-channel marketing mix that stems from a well-constructed brand that delivers on its promises and keeps it real.
Posted in Blog, Las Vegas, Member Orgs, Podcast, Reno-Tahoe, Salt Lake City, Service Industry, Travel & Tourism, Web & SEO
Dec
11
That’s right folks! Last week the Twelve Horses crew received this following internal email from IT:
Automatic will be releasing WordPress 2.7 in the next few days. This will be a very significant upgrade for quite a few reasons. One of which makes me very very excited. Automatic Upgrades! Not only is it an important security upgrade, but it also has the potential of making future upgrades painless and far less time consuming for both Twelve Horses and our clients. The first thing everyone will notice is that the Administration area has received a major overhaul. The navigation menu appears to have taken on a more classic CMS design, and is now on the left side with collapsible menus. The Dashboard is now customizable with drag and drop widgets including a simple WYSIWYG quick post widget. Plugins now have a “Search and Install” feature built in, so you don’t need SFTP access to install your FlickrRSS and wptwitter plugins. Like I said, there is also the new Automatic Upgrade tool. A feature I cannot wait to test and use in the future!
One personal reason why I posted most of the email verbatim is because I find it quite amusing. IT get excited about something?!? Ha! Shows you how much we all love Wordpress.
Props to the Wordpress crew for this excellent video detailing its launch. It is soooo Matt Mullenweg with the jazz theme.
Posted in Blog, Social, Technology, Web & SEO, Web Design
