May 9, 2013
Brands I Love The people at Nuts.com really have it together and make doing business with them a pleasure. From the simple ordering process to the out-of-box experience they are remarkable. The freshness of the product, sweet packaging and whimsical brand story-telling are still producing a grin on my face. Check them out: http://www.nuts.com/

Brands I Love

The people at Nuts.com really have it together and make doing business with them a pleasure. From the simple ordering process to the out-of-box experience they are remarkable. The freshness of the product, sweet packaging and whimsical brand story-telling are still producing a grin on my face.

Check them out: http://www.nuts.com/

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May 6, 2013
Top Social Media Trends 2013 Our new infographic, kudos to my team!

Top Social Media Trends 2013

Our new infographic, kudos to my team!

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December 18, 2012
“

See me in DM News Today!

http://www.dmnews.com/how-a-heavily-nostalgic-brand-can-and-should-evolve-its-story/article/273025/
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November 15, 2012
Shoppable Content! Check out the Juicy Couture campaign on YouTube, undisturbed video and seamless linking to actionable experiences! http://creativity-online.com/news/youtube-helps-retailers-embrace-shoppable-video/238296

Shoppable Content!

Check out the Juicy Couture campaign on YouTube, undisturbed video and seamless linking to actionable experiences!

http://creativity-online.com/news/youtube-helps-retailers-embrace-shoppable-video/238296

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August 25, 2012
TD Bank Definition of “Legendary Customer Service”: they negligently debit my account for $500 one night and take 3 to 5 days to give me the money back. Their customer service folks are worthless and arrogant—time for a new bank! Talk about not delivering upon a brand promise and placing customers at risk. I would strongly advise to stay away from a banking institution that takes a customer’s financial situation this flippantly.

TD Bank Definition of “Legendary Customer Service”: they negligently debit my account for $500 one night and take 3 to 5 days to give me the money back. Their customer service folks are worthless and arrogant—time for a new bank! Talk about not delivering upon a brand promise and placing customers at risk. I would strongly advise to stay away from a banking institution that takes a customer’s financial situation this flippantly.

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June 14, 2012
Life Is Short. Drink Good Gin. I generally don’t blog promoting products but if you like gin you must try Farmers Organic Gin, summer is here, get busy.

Life Is Short. Drink Good Gin.

I generally don’t blog promoting products but if you like gin you must try Farmers Organic Gin, summer is here, get busy.

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When Homepage Takeovers Work Is the homepage takeover promotion diluting my positive user experience? Not when I might win $500, in fact bring it on! Good job American Apparel.

When Homepage Takeovers Work

Is the homepage takeover promotion diluting my positive user experience? Not when I might win $500, in fact bring it on! Good job American Apparel.

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June 6, 2012

Showing Off Again; Scholastic Books

I am really proud of the job we did creating a unique experience for the Teen segment at Scholastic. From initial conceptualization to a rapidly developing, highly social and engaging brand community, we knocked it out of the park on this one. Check it out:

http://www.thisisteen.com/index.htm

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June 5, 2012
project-adotme: Now that’s how you write a brief.  

project-adotme:

Now that’s how you write a brief.  

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May 31, 2012
Customer Aquisition Via Email: Top 3 Considerations To Ensure Registration Email continues to grow as an efficient and effective tool to engage with customers and as an essential part of the conversation ecosystem. My team and I see impressive and measurable results in the campaigns we create and manage for our clients when these conversations are relevant, mobile enabled and intuitive in design. Email success is dependent upon having a sizable targeted audience receiving relevant messages tailored to their likes and interests. Frequently we consult with brands that are struggling with collecting enough names to see the desired response and ROI in their email programs. We address the issue of anemic email registration results by evaluating the Placement, Proof and Process involved in the collecting of names. 1. Placement: THINK: “Hi, I am here whenever you are ready” By placement I am referring to the location(s) within an online property where we display email registration units or callouts. Nearly every major brand we have consulted with in the past two years has acquisition teams that do not understand this concept. From usability studies to behavioral analytics the conclusion is clear; people register at places where value has been proven. These value “zones” include content pages, product detail pages, download/video pages, and Facebook plug-ins. At these locations one must employ proximity design principles to ensure that value association is intuitive and encourages registration. One of the most common oversights we encounter and one of the major flaws responsible for yielding weak results is concealing registration units in the page footers or headers in an attempt to keep the page design clean and simple. 2. Proof/Incentive: THINK: “Let’s talk, I’ve got some great stuff to share, just ask your friends” What are you going provide in exchange for a prospective customer’s email address? Special offers, exclusive content, coupons, first-to-know news, are key incentives with measurable proof of value that encourage registration. It needs to be good and it needs to be stated simply in strategic proximity to the registration unit. In addition, the value of social proof displayed within the same proximity can’t be over emphasized. This must be viewed from the customer’s perspective: “why should I surrender my personal information?  Will this be a nuisance or will it provide value?” 3. Process: THINK: “A simple handshake will do!” To ensure acquisition request the customer’s email address only. Trying to collect too much information initially via multiple fields is perceived as “work” by the customer, and behavioral data concludes that this approach will result in high abandonment rates. Once the customer submits their address they should immediately receive a confirmation notice, followed by a welcome email. At this point we can begin our conversation and eventually persuade customers to engage with a preference center where gathering additional info can be facilitated.  Any questions feel free to reach out to me directly: rdeyoung@pmdigital.com

Customer Aquisition Via Email: Top 3 Considerations To Ensure Registration

Email continues to grow as an efficient and effective tool to engage with customers and as an essential part of the conversation ecosystem. My team and I see impressive and measurable results in the campaigns we create and manage for our clients when these conversations are relevant, mobile enabled and intuitive in design.

Email success is dependent upon having a sizable targeted audience receiving relevant messages tailored to their likes and interests. Frequently we consult with brands that are struggling with collecting enough names to see the desired response and ROI in their email programs. We address the issue of anemic email registration results by evaluating the Placement, Proof and Process involved in the collecting of names.

1. Placement: THINK: “Hi, I am here whenever you are ready”

By placement I am referring to the location(s) within an online property where we display email registration units or callouts. Nearly every major brand we have consulted with in the past two years has acquisition teams that do not understand this concept. From usability studies to behavioral analytics the conclusion is clear; people register at places where value has been proven.

These value “zones” include content pages, product detail pages, download/video pages, and Facebook plug-ins. At these locations one must employ proximity design principles to ensure that value association is intuitive and encourages registration. One of the most common oversights we encounter and one of the major flaws responsible for yielding weak results is concealing registration units in the page footers or headers in an attempt to keep the page design clean and simple.

2. Proof/Incentive: THINK: “Let’s talk, I’ve got some great stuff to share, just ask your friends”

What are you going provide in exchange for a prospective customer’s email address? Special offers, exclusive content, coupons, first-to-know news, are key incentives with measurable proof of value that encourage registration. It needs to be good and it needs to be stated simply in strategic proximity to the registration unit. In addition, the value of social proof displayed within the same proximity can’t be over emphasized. This must be viewed from the customer’s perspective: “why should I surrender my personal information?  Will this be a nuisance or will it provide value?”

3. Process: THINK: “A simple handshake will do!”

To ensure acquisition request the customer’s email address only. Trying to collect too much information initially via multiple fields is perceived as “work” by the customer, and behavioral data concludes that this approach will result in high abandonment rates. Once the customer submits their address they should immediately receive a confirmation notice, followed by a welcome email. At this point we can begin our conversation and eventually persuade customers to engage with a preference center where gathering additional info can be facilitated. 

Any questions feel free to reach out to me directly: rdeyoung@pmdigital.com

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