Five Tips to Increase Email Click-Through Rates

Here are five things you can do with your message to generate more clicks in your emails.

 

 1. Restate your key benefits
 

Hopefully, you've made your point in the body of your email and provided the key reasons recipients should take action. Usually, those reasons are the key benefits of responding to the call to action. For example:

• No Reservation Fees
• Park 7 Days and get One Day Free
• Complimentary Shuttle, Water, Coffee, etc

2. Make another promise or introduce a surprise benefit

If you're following basic copywriting guidelines, your message is focused on a single powerful idea (called, appropriately, the "Big Idea").  Let's say you've made a promise and talked about the key benefits, but, unfortunately, email recipients have read all the way to your signature and haven't clicked the link. Try offering another promise or a surprise benefit in your post script to jolt them from their stupor and move them into action.

• LIKE US on Facebook to receive special offer

3. Provide more credibility

Perhaps your email recipients aren't clicking because they don't believe you or what you're saying. Maybe you're pitching too soon in the sales cycle; maybe your offer doesn't offset their doubts at this point; or maybe your email address is not believable (i.e. joepark@aol.com). You must demonstrate a credible image to offer more proof or credibility ... hopefully pushing readers over the edge.

4. Communicate urgency

You can communicate urgency in many ways, and most of them aren't believable. I'm sure you've been to a landing page that shows the number 500 crossed out with the phrase "only 19 remaining!" next to it. Return to that site a year later, and you'll see the same numbers. Some sense of urgency! Urgency works only when it's real. You can't say you've got a limited supply of e-books, for example. Even the most naive shopper would see through that ploy. You can, however, use urgency when a timeline or limitation exists.

5. Restate or expand on your guarantee

If you've got a good guarantee, by all means, flaunt it in your message.  For example:

• Book Online on our Website for the lowest rate....Guaranteed!
• Best Price Guarantee found at www.takecareofmycar.com!
• No Reservation Fees!

 

NEW SMC VIDEO

60-Seconds

One of Six Trends to Watch Out for in 2012

SOCIAL SHARING. Ideas, opinions, media, status updates are all part of what makes social media a powerful and often disruptive force. The media industry was one of the first to understand this, adding sharing options to content, which led to more page views and better status in search results. What comes next in social sharing is more closely aligned with e-commerce or web transactions. For example, Sears allows a user to share a product or review with their networks directly from the site. Sharing that vacation you just booked, or recommending a product, or service from any site to a social network is where sharing goes next. We probably don't know what we are willing to share until we see the option to do it. 

Isn't it about time we show you how to add a "Reserve A Space" link on your Facebook page?  And then direct your follower to a page for transacting and tracking?  This is the future and you can have it now.

We will share the "LIKES" of this strategy at the Client User Conference.

This is last posting for 2012.  

Happy Holidays from your friends at SMC!

Inside Information on Aggregators?

What is an Aggregator?

An online aggregator is a third-party website that accumulates and displays specific information (brands, services, prices) from multiple online sources. There are currently over forty aggregators in the parking industry.

To the consumer, aggregators appear to be a great way to land a reasonable bargain; but in reality, most will cost just as much if not more than booking direct with a company. Furthermore, many aggregators offer strict modification policies, and institute non-refundable booking fees (aka convenience fees).

If we go back 12 years and review how it all started, the large travel aggregators (i.e. Travelocity, Expedia, Orbitz) were created to present best pricing and real-time inventory to online shoppers through a seamless integration into various vendor reservation systems (i.e. airlines, hotel, car rental). These aggregators have done a good job polling real-time information for comparing prices, products and services for travelers to select a brand of choice. The aggregator's success was based on the integration to seamlessly collect data from each of the vendor reservation systems. And, in turn, the aggregator was paid a fee by the vendor and the customer for each reservation booked. Sound familiar?

Aggregators in the parking industry provide a directory model. These third-party websites display various brands, services and prices. However, there is no real-time pricing or availability. So, the big difference is the seamless connectivity between databases to present real-time pricing and inventory. Having said that, parking companies are advised to contact each of the aggregators in the event there is rate change or a block of inventory or face showing incorrect information. This is a similar scenario to how the airlines, car rental and hotel companies processed information back in the 70's. NOTE: If you look carefully right now, in some cases, you may find incorrect pricing and services under your brand name.

Going Direct by Branding your Business!

The fact is, parking companies must focus all efforts on branding their business by driving consumers directly to their website. And although coupons are nice and colorful, parking companies must operate a real-time transaction system that is simple, fast, secure, instant, affordable and mobile-friendly.

We are in a generation wind tunnel. Baby-boomers are enamored with technology toys. Generation X'er's think they invented technology. And the Y Generation, well, their cell phone is an alarm clock, MP3 player, radio, TV, and social everything. With mobile devices (cell and pad) being a large part of our every day activity, brands must develop a proven marketing strategy to control costs, increase revenue and build loyalty.

Google or Bing Search: your city + airport + parking

If you find the first page of these two large search engines listing various aggregator's ahead of your brand, it is time you do something about it, and fast.

The Inside Parking Blog is about communicating to parking operators for the sole purpose of helping owners with trending in 2011 and beyond. Great success to all in the New Year!