Email Marketing 101: Fundamentals

Jay

 

Jay Kang

HE B2B Division Marketing Senior Marketing Manager at LG Electronics USA, Inc.

 

 


We are living in a world where people are becoming less patient while more information, marketing emails making up a large portion, is being delivered to them than ever before. What used to be a ten-second attention span has now become three seconds, relatively speaking. Consequently, email marketing is more difficult now than it has ever been, and it is becoming more competitive every day. That being said, if I had to offer my tips for new email marketers, I would tell them to make sure you have the following fundamentals down.

1) Set a clear objective – Setting a clear objective for your email will define its purpose and guide how you want to drive your email strategy to achieve your goals.

2) Keep it simple for higher CTR – There are a lot of test data out there that show plain or rich text emails yield more clicks than pretty HTML. But if CTR is not your main objective and you just have to have some visuals in your email, do not include too many CTAs. Recipients can feel overwhelmed by too many choices so they often do not take any action. Or if they are like me, I set the email as ‘unread’ thinking I’ll come back later to read it more closely but I usually don’t.

3) Test everything – From the email subject line to the layout to the sent times, test everything that can be tested to improve the performance.

4) Limit your emails – if you want your audience to be loyal, don’t send them too many emails. I would say no more than one email per week. How many white papers or special deals can your audience possibly handle in a week? Give your audience quality not quantity, and give them ample time to digest what they are getting from you.

CONCLUSION:

There are no magic formulas or email techniques that will achieve maximum email campaign results for all audiences. That’s because there are way too many variables that change all the time, like technology and peoples’ preferences to name just a couple. So your best option is to keep up with the trends and keep testing your emails for improvement. Like Confucius said, “Look for progress, not perfection.”

Thinning is Winning in Digital Signage

“By 2020, customers armed with more technologies than you can imagine will bedemanding more from your organization’s customer experience.”

— Gartner

In today’s screen-driven world, customers are much more sophisticated and tech-savvy than ever before. Online businesses are offering lots of content, helpful user reviews and faster service, all without customers having to leave the house. People are used to instant communication and gratification, and this has caused a massive disruption in the way people shop.

As a result, brick-and-mortar businesses are facing increasingly greater challenges when luring customers through the doors, grabbing their attention, keeping them interested and getting them to open their wallets. It’s not just about satisfying their needs anymore; it’s about leaving a dazzling impression that will give customers more reasons to come back, and bring friends. Brick-and-mortar brand loyalty is difficult to achieve nowadays without a better customer experience.

In order to transition a shopper from occasional customer to loyal fan to brand ambassador, a business needs to create an experience with the shopper that is attractive, exciting and sustainable. It needs the “wow.”

Download our Thinning is Winning… eBook and learn how breakthrough LG OLED technology is revolutionizing the brick-and-mortar customer experience.

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INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVES: The Best Time to Purchase


Lyle Bunn

LYLE BUNN

Digital Media Strategy Architect, BUNN
Lyle@LyleBunn.com
Lyle Bunn is an independent analyst, advisor and educator providing digital place-based signage expertise to end users in the planning, design, sourcing and optimization of their initiatives. He has published more than 300 articles, whitepapers and “how to” guides and helped to train over 10,000 end user and supply professionals. See www.LyleBunn.com.

 

On a recent family vacation the question was constantly asked, “can we leave yet?” The same question applies to the purchase timing of dynamic signage projects, and this question applies at two key stages including planning and purchase.

The best time to start the purchase is when a problem or an opportunity is first realized. Dynamic signage is a proven tool for improving branding, revenues, profitability, inquiries, information posting and modernizing an environment.

As the family considers the options for a vacation, some questions merit attention when considering dynamic signage as an option to meet a need or opportunity. These include:

  • What generally do we expect to get from our investment?
  • What generally might this cost? A telephone call or meeting with an LG representative or one of its many integration partners will allow for a general order of magnitude amount to be established.
  • Can we afford this, or afford not to do this? Budget availability is important and it is important to know at the start that purchase decisions can be made.
  • Where might the displays be suitably placed so the content is highly visible or interactions are possible? Dynamic displays often replace static signage or are added to important or high traffic locations so that viewers are well served and the displays do not obstruct traffic flow.
  • Who should lead the planning? And should all involved be available to contribute so their interests are met by the possible investment?
  • How will we know that it is providing good value? This element of planning for maximum benefits will serve the initiatives later as messaging is optimized to continuously improve return on investment.

The answers to these questions provide a feeling of satisfaction that more in-depth planning is merited and will be successful toward the purchase, implementation and use of dynamic signage.

Fear of the unknown is overcome as questions are asked, in particular when they are continually put in the context of what is needed or intended.

As planning is deepened and refined, a clearer picture of the ideal solution emerges. Numbers and sizes of flat panel displays, software capabilities, connectivity, mounting approach, content strategy and impact analytics all fit together as pieces of the picture.

Risk is managed as the features and functions of each element of the dynamic signage technology ecosystem are considered as part of the overall solution in a holistic approach to media presentation and viewer engagement that will achieve the desired outcomes.

This consideration defines the best value for purchase against current and future-state requirements. Best value considers total cost of ownership over an operating period where capital and cost of operations are both considered.

The best time to purchase is when the consideration of how the purchase will lead to realization of benefits is complete. With this confidence comes the alleviation of fears.

Fear of the unknown – that there might be something better or that the solution might not be the best fit – is the major concern in making the purchase, but when planning defines the need, these fears give way to confidence of correct action.

The best time to purchase is when the planning is done and the solution that fulfills the need is defined.

The welcome answer to the family vacation question, “Can we leave yet?” is like the answer to the dynamic signage question “Is now the best time to buy?” The answer is “Yes, now is the time” when the planning is done, the intended outcomes are decided, the right people are gathered and the way of getting to the destination is known. Needs turn into plans for all important journeys.

Big Things Come in Thin Packages

It’s only fitting that the world’s largest shopping mall should have the world’s largest LG OLED video wall.

The mall is the Dubai Mall, the city’s shining landmark. Home to 1200 shops, the multi-million-dollar mall contains the area of 50 football fields filled with rows upon rows of opulent spaces and stores.

The Dubai Mall also hosts the world’s largest acrylic panel aquarium, the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo, which is 107.8 ft. wide x 27.2 ft. high x 29.5 in. thick, and weighs 245 tons.

Sitting atop the aquarium is the world’s largest LG OLED video wall, and it has officially received three Guinness World Record titles. Thanks to the partnership with LG, the screen has set the record for being the world’s largest high definition video wall, the world’s largest OLED screen, and the world’s highest resolution video wall.

The LG OLED video wall has 820 ultra-thin 55-inch panels and 1.7 billion pixels that emit their own light; no backlighting required. Taking advantage of LG OLED’s flexibility, the mammoth video wall is also beautifully curved, mimicking the curve of the aquarium below it.

Now imagine LG OLED at a mall near you.

Have a look at the triple record maker in action.

Read more.

 

LG Introduces LV640S – the New Series of Smart TV Signage

We’re hearing it more and more. Small and medium-sized businesses are looking for eye-catching, affordable and easy to manage ways to communicate with their customers. And it has to be attention-grabbing—enough to get customers to look up from their smartphones for a while.

That’s why we’ve created a smart new solution—the LV640S Series Smart TV Signage.

Smart TV Signage builds upon the success of our SuperSign® TVs. Like SuperSign TVs, they have built-in tuners to support a variety of TV broadcast signals. They enable businesses to show live TV programs and deliver customized messaging and advertisements simultaneously. They include pre-installed templates to make it easier than ever to create dazzling content for various types of businesses and use cases.

So what’s the difference? The Smart TV platform. Smart TV Signage offers a number of exciting new capabilities like embedded CMS software for PC-less operation. (But they also have PC-based SuperSign Simple Editor software.)

The new LV640S Series Smart TV Signage is engineered for reliable 16/7 operation in business environments, and is backed by our commercial 3-year warranty.

New Smart TV Signage Features

  • Crestron Connected® Certification – Quickly integrate the LV640S Series as part of a totally automated A/V and IT environment. It will function seamlessly with all other Crestron Connected Certified products.
  • Content Manager – Without an extra PC, you can easily create content using embedded templates and play it according to scheduled sets.
  • Group Manager – Smart TV Signage works as a server. Without any extra device, a master TV can distribute content and set data for a selected group within the same network.
  • YouTube and Web Browser – Access various content via the pre-loaded YouTube app, web browser and live channel.
  • Smart Share and Screen Share – Use features such as Wi-Fi Direct®, WiDi and Miracast® to view content from mobile devices on the TV screen.
  • Wireless Hotspot – SoftAP (software enabled access point) is a virtual Wi-Fi feature that enables Smart TV Signage to function as a wireless access point for mobile devices in the vicinity.
  • Wi-Fi / Bluetooth Built-in (Bluetooth Sound Sync) – Distribute content and control the TV through a wireless network. Listen to audio from a Bluetooth-enabled mobile device through the TV speakers.
  • Full IP control through the network, including WoL (Wake on LAN) to remotely wake the TV from low power mode.

Any View Is the Best View with LG’s IPS Technology

Travelers in an airport searching for gate information, looking for a grab-and-go lunch and rushing to catch their flight. Mall shoppers coming and going but their phones hold most of their attention. A line of QSR lunch-hour customers growing impatient with the wait time.

What do all these scenarios have in common? In each case, the people could have a better customer experience if they were accommodated by digital signage with IPS screen technology.

IPS-based panels provide a true wide viewing angle of up to 178 degrees, where data is clearly readable and colors and contrast remain consistent. With a non-IPS display, however, the viewer needs to be centered directly in front of the screen to experience the best performance—at an angle the text becomes illegible and color and contrast decrease dramatically. Only IPS technology solves that problem and vastly improves off-angle viewing, which is extremely important in areas with heavy foot traffic.

With IPS, travelers can quickly glance at wayfinding information and flight data. Distracted shoppers can be attracted to the bright and colorful images. And the lunch crowd can drool over the mouthwatering pictures and read the menu from a distance, then be ready to order when they get to the counter. Just Picture It.

Here is an infographic to show you what IPS is, what it does, and why you want it in your digital signage.