Atlantic Business Technologies, Inc.

Author: Atlantic BT

  • Inc 5000 6 in-a-row

    What is the Inc. 5000?

    Inc. magazine, founded in 1979, is a monthly publication focused on growing companies. Its own history is rich with entrepreneurship – its founder was an MIT trained engineer who worked at Polaroid before starting his first company, Sail magazine. Sail was sold for $10 million, and the profits were used to found Inc. Since then, the magazine has been acquired twice – once in 2000 and again in 2005 (the price in 2000 was rumored to be over $200 million).

    Atlantic BT Inc 5000 2014The magazine published its first list of the “Fastest Growing Companies in America”, the Inc. 500, in 1982. In 2007, the list was expanded to 5000 in order to give readers a “deeper, richer understanding of the entrepreneurial landscape”. Only privately-held companies are ranked, and the rankings are based on overall revenue growth over a three year period – so to be listed in 2014, you actually had to show growth since 2011.

    2014 marks Atlantic BT’s sixth consecutive time on the Inc. 5000 list. Last year, we were inaugurated into the “Inc. 5000 Honor Roll” by making the list 5 times (not necessarily consecutively). I decided to do a little digging and uncover who has made the list consecutively – showing consistent growth in spite of, shall we way, inconsistent US economic growth over the last 6 years. Here’s what I found:

    In the southeast US, 49 companies managed 5 consecutive Inc.5000 rankings in 2013. By 2014, 9 of those companies dropped off the list entirely, leaving only 40 to remain. Of the 40 remaining (showing 6 consecutive years of growth, like Atlantic BT), only 3 are located in North Carolina:

    “It is exciting to see great companies like The Select Group and Bronto continuing to generate record growth year over year. We have worked closely with both companies on projects over the last several years, and have gotten to know them well. The Select Group and Bronto are captained by great leaders and are doing outstanding things for entrepreneurship and technology in the Triangle.  They each are well deserving of the honor.”   — Jon Jordan, CEO

    What kinds of companies make up the Inc. 5000?

    By revenue, “Health” companies make up the largest single category, with the “IT Services” and “Business Products & Services” categories following closely behind. By growth percentage, “Consumer Products & Services”, “Advertising & Marketing”, and “Software” round out the top 3. When scanning through the list of fastest-growing companies in our region, you can see those trends easily reflected – many companies with the highest growth rates could easily span multiple categories (one such company does B2B consulting around electronic medical record software, for example).

    It’s also easy to see the “small business” representation – nearly half the companies on the list (47.1%) generated revenue of less than $10 million, and increasing that threshold to $20 million adds another 19.8% to the total. In other words, two thirds of the Inc. 5000 is made up of companies with gross revenues of less than $20 million in 2013.

    What traits do Inc. 5000 companies share?

    From here forward, research should be considered anecdotal – the results of creative Google work rather than in-depth interviews and surveys. Still, I think my conclusions would stand up to reasonable scrutiny (if someone out there would like to do the research).

    Inc. 5000 companies are employee-focused

    Many of the companies listed claim “Best Places to Work” (or similar) awards both before and after being honored by the Inc. 5000.  Not all companies earned those awards consecutively – but by earning that recognition repeatedly over a span of 5-7 years, it certainly shows an emphasis on company culture and caring for employees.

    Atlantic BT earned “Best Places to Work” two years in a row; Bronto and The Select Group are also multi-year winners.

    Inc. 5000 companies are metrics-focused

    Ask any CEO from the Inc 5000 (and certainly the Inc 500) if they have a dashboard of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and they’ll be able to point you directly to it. They may even be able to pull it up in real-time on their tablet or smartphone.

    At Atlantic BT, we have done for ourselves the same we’ve done for our clients – we have recognized that profit is the result of clear goals and metrics. Not only do you need to capture the data, but it also needs to be the right data displayed in a meaningful way. Take our CQS service, for example. Every morning the average score and submission rate are announced at a daily huddle of the management team, and each week that same team at Atlantic BT views all scores for all active projects. We are never more than a click away from the numbers – whether that’s productivity across a project or client satisfaction across the company.

    Inc. 5000 companies are strategically results-focused

    It’s easy to be short-sighted when you’re results-focused and you have great access to good metrics. After all, the operation is humming along, profits are solid, and growth is steady. At Atlantic BT, and many other consistent performers among the Inc. 5000 Honor Roll, the leadership team is strategically results-focused. In other words, we use our metrics to forecast results well into the future, and then set a Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal (or BHAG) that describes what Atlantic BT looks like 5 years from now. If we hadn’t set that goal (and achieved it) 5 years ago, we wouldn’t have been one of the fastest-growing companies in America 6 years in a row – and we have to continue to work towards a new goal if we want to keep the run going.

    If you’re interested in being part of the growth, or even part of the BHAG, contact us!

  • Email Marketing is Easy. Or, Is It?

    Ahh, email marketing. The great workhorse of digital marketing! Everyone loves email marketing. And it’s so easy to do, right? I mean, you just create your message, drop it into that nicely designed email template, fire it out to your list and sit back while the results roll in.

    Except email marketing isn’t that easy.

    Yeah, that’s what I said: email marketing isn’t easy. And in today’s post, I’m going to show you why some of the things you thought you knew about email marketing are all wrong.

    1. Email Deliverability is a Problem. A Big Problem

    One out of every six people on your list will never see your message. How do we know? Because the experts at Return Path study this issue relentlessly and their most recent benchmark report found that 17% of email messages in marketing campaigns never make it to the inbox. Where do they go? That vast wasteland where your great offers go to die: the spam folder. And who put them there? The large email providers (think: Gmail and Yahoo) and Internet services providers (ISPs) like Comcast and TWC.

    I know what you’re thinking: “But hey! I’m not a spammer. They can’t do that to me. These people are my subscribers. They ASKED to receive my email.” Well, friend, they can and they do. Why? Because the ISPs are trying to keep spam messages out of their customer’s inboxes and one of the signals they monitor is your engagement with subscribers, usually through clicks on the links to your products, content and offers.

    You want to break the cycle of deliverability problems? You’ve got to do a better job of engaging the subscribers on your list by getting them to interact with your emails.

    2. Your Subscriber List is Dying

    I know. You’ve built a sizable list of email subscribers. And it is probably a pretty good list, too. The problem: about 25% of your list goes dead every year. That’s right: 1 out of every 4 subscribers on your list goes dormant. They change their email address to a new one and don’t tell you. Or, they simply stop using that email address. Or … well, you get the idea. They are gone.

    To combat the problem, you have to continually work at developing your email list. You have to give people a reason to join the list. You’re going to need compelling offers, valuable information or inside access to your brand’s community.

    3. One Size Doesn’t Fit All. You Have to Segment Your Email Marketing List

    Take a look at your most recent email messages. Did you send the exact same message to every single subscriber on your list? If so, you’re violating a major tenet of email marketing. Early in my career as an email marketer, I was given a valuable piece of advice: it is a privilege to be able to get into someone’s inbox. You need to bring value in every single message you send.

    How do you do that? You segment your list and carry on a personalized conversation with your subscribers. If you’re an online retailer, you know who buys which products from you and when they purchase them. Your email campaigns need to segment your customers into product categories so you can present them with offers that are based on their buying habits. And that’s where you start to speak directly to your customers. By the way, it has the benefit of being good for engagement, which just so happens to help with deliverability (see point #1 above).

    4. Great Emails are Designed for “Mobile First”

    You’ve probably taken time to create a great design for your email campaign. A design that really stands out, communicates the essence of your brand/company and has a designated place for all the content you’ve generated to share in the email. Life is good and you are ready for success.

    But did you think about how your email will render on a mobile device? According to the US Consumer Device Preference Report: Q4 2013, about 65% of all email is now opened on a mobile device.

    Let that sink in for a moment. 65% of all email is opened on a smartphone or tablet device. If you do not have a mobile-first strategy for your email marketing campaign, there’s a high likelihood that your campaign is going to fall flat.

    Bottom line: design everything in your email marketing campaign with mobile users in mind. The design, the calls to action, the volume of text, the images. Everything.

    Don’t Worry. All is Not Lost for Your Email Marketing Campaigns!

    By now, you’re probably getting the idea that email marketing campaigns require a bit more effort than they did in the past. And you may be thinking: “great. I don’t have a lot of time and now I need to do even more just to stay effective with my email marketing campaigns.” I won’t lie. It’s true. You will need to do more. That’s why the best place to start is conducting an audit of your existing email marketing campaigns and developing a strategy that will help you incorporate these updated tactics to connect with your customers. And at the end of the day, isn’t connecting with your customers what email marketing is all about?

    About Jon Parks

    Jon Parks is Director of Marketing with Atlantic BT. Through his work with Atlantic BT and the digital marketing consultancy, Dijital Farm, Jon’s focus has been in helping companies develop digital marketing strategies to achieve their online marketing goals. In his spare time, Jon trains for and competes in Ironman 70.3 distance triathlons. You can follow Jon on Twitter (@jonparks), circle him on Google Plus or connect with him on LinkedIn.

  • 3 Keys to Getting Started with Google Shopping

    If you sell online, you know how tough it can be to connect with buyers. It’s a noisy landscape and standing out from your competitors can be tough. But late last month, Google made it just a little bit easier with the formal transition to Google Shopping campaigns in AdWords. In this blog post, we’ll explore Google Shopping and provide you with 3 keys to getting started with Google Shopping.

    What is Google Shopping?

    Google Shopping campaigns are the next generation of Product Listing Ads (PLAs), a solution Google first launched in 2010. Google Shopping campaigns use a product data feed from your Web site connected to Google Merchant Center to create ads that use a thumbnail image of the product and include a sales price. The ads are usually given a very prominent position (typically the upper right-hand corner) and are great at driving buyers to your site. Google Shopping campaigns build on the concept of PLAs, but they also introduce new possibilities such as managing your product by “product groups” instead of product targets.

    So, if you run an eCommerce Web site, you may be interested in getting started with Google Shopping. But where do you begin and what do you need to know? Below are three key points you’ll want to keep in mind.

    3 Keys to Getting Started with Google Shopping

    1. Understand what type of eCommerce platform you are using. There are a lot of eCommerce platforms available today for businesses to use to sell their products online. Magento, WooCommerce and Shopify are just a few of the leading solutions among many, including plenty of custom-built solutions. We recommend that you have a good understanding of what eCommerce platform you are using and how your products are categorized so when you create your data feed for Google Merchant Center you’ll know how your data will be stored and presented for creation of the ads.

    2. Create a reliable data feed for Google Merchant Center. Google Merchant Center is like a data broker that sits in between your Web site’s store and Google AdWords. Merchant Center needs to know what you sell so it can tell AdWords what type of items are available for your campaigns. That’s where the data feed comes in. The data feed for your site must be well-maintained so that Merchant Center and AdWords always know what you have available on your site. If the feed gets interrupted or is outdated, your ads will be ineffective. As a result, a reliable, accurate data feed is a must for creating effective Google Shopping campaigns.

    3. Group your products together correctly. By default, Google Shopping will take your data feed and deposit everything you sell into the “all products” campaign. For a simple clothing site, this means that shirts, hats, pants and shoes will all be placed into one campaign. As you can imagine, these types of campaigns are fairly unfocused and could end up costing you a lot of money. Better campaigns will use product categories that mirror your site’s product offerings. This will allow you to be very focused with your advertising. It will also allow you to measure results and find out which product category produces the best results within your advertising campaign.

    Need Help Getting Started with Google Shopping?

    Google Shopping has the potential to dramatically boost your eCommerce performance through targeted and qualified paid search ads. By setting up your campaigns correctly from the beginning, you’ll be in a great position to capture sales that you may have missed out on in the past. Are you ready to get started with Google Shopping campaigns for your eCommerce site? Contact the Atlantic BT team today and let us help you explore your options and find out whether or not Google Shopping is a good fit for your business.

    About Jon Parks

    Jon Parks is a Sr. Consultant with Atlantic BT. With more than 15 years in the digital marketing and communications fields, Jon’s focus has been in  helping companies develop digital marketing strategies to achieve their online marketing goals. You can follow Jon on Twitter (@jonparks), circle him on Google Plus or connect with him on LinkedIn.

  • Is Your Business Ready for mCommerce?

    Recently, InternetRetailer.com released their annual “Internet Retailer Mobile 500” report which examines the trends impacting the top 500 online retailers. The study found that by the end of 2014, sales that take place on smartphone and tablet devices– known as mCommerce– will approach $84 billion and represent about 21% of all online sales for these 500 retailers. Not to be outdone, research firm Forrester is projecting mCommerce to total 4 billion in the U.S. by the end of this year.

    $84 billion or $114 billion: either way you slice it, that’s a lot of transactions and a tremendous amount of revenue. So the critical question to ask: is your business ready for mCommerce? In this post, we’ll show you what you need to do to get your business ready for an mCommerce environment.

    Is mCommerce Right for Your Business?

    Just because mCommerce is growing at a rapid rate doesn’t mean that you need to rush right out and get ready for mobile shoppers. In some instances, your customers may not be ready to make the jump to buying from you on mobile devices. If that’s the case, you’ll be better off applying your marketing and development dollars to other, more effective areas. But, you may ask, how can you tell if it is time to make the jump to mCommerce? Consider the following:

    How much mobile traffic do you get today? A great place to start is to open up your Web analytics and take a look at how much traffic your Web site currently receive from mobile sources such as tablets and smartphones. Tools such as Google Analytics do a good job of breaking out this data so you can easily answer this question. Look at that traffic. Is it growing over time? Has it risen to what you would consider a significant level? Just having mobile traffic isn’t enough, so you’ll need to go one step further. Segment your mobile traffic and look at it for sales to see if you have any visitors currently trying to purchase from you on mobile devices. Are you finding any attempts? Is it growing over time? If so, you may have an audience that is ready to buy from you on mobile devices.

    Are your products/services a good fit for mobile devices? Would a reasonable person expect to be able to make a purchase from you on a mobile device? I recommend taking a dispassionate look at what you sell and try to make a purchase on a mobile device. Does it work? Would it make sense to complete the transaction that way? There’s a big difference between purchasing a book on a mobile device and trying to complete the purchase of a car via your smartphone.

    What are your competitors doing? Like any good business, you probably have a handle on what your competitors are doing. Take a look at their site. Can you purchase from them on a mobile device? Do they use dedicated mobile apps? Do they have a responsive designed site that makes it easy to buy using a smartphone or tablet? If your competitors are already inching toward mCommerce, chances are you will need to also.

    3 Steps to Getting Started with mCommerce

    So, you’ve looked around, checked the data and it seems like mCommerce is a good fit with what you sell online. The next critical question: how do you get started with mCommerce? Let’s take a look at three key steps to getting started with mCommerce.

    1. Mobile app or responsive Web site? Mobile apps are great for specific types of purchases such as booking and paying for a hotel reservation. In this instance you’ll need to make certain that the app framework will work well with your eCommerce platform. On the other hand, if you have a large product catalog, a responsive Web site might be a better fit.

    2. Involve a good user experience (UX) designer to create a focused design. Good design is important to creating a buying experience that will lead to conversions (sales). Whether you create a mobile app or a responsive site design, working with a UX designer can help you eliminate unnecessary design elements and clutter from the overall design. This creates a more focused experience for the buyer and provides a clear path to purchase.

    3. Get ready to measure your efforts. One of the best things about digital marketing is that you can measure your efforts. MCommerce is no exception. Prior to going live with your mCommerce offerings, you’ll need to develop a marketing analytics strategy that is focused on what you need to measure to evaluate success. Your mCommerce analytics strategy should be able to help you identify what parts of the mobile environment create the best results (sales). This data can be used as part of an ongoing effort to fine tune your digital marketing efforts to drive more mCommerce sales.

    Take the Next Step with mCommerce

    As you can see, mCommerce is an area with a lot of potential. And while many of the traditional concepts of digital marketing are applicable to mCommerce, there are a few specific considerations you’ll want to pay attention to as you explore this for your business. Atlantic BT has helped many leading companies create and establish their eCommerce presence, including mCommerce. Contact our consulting team today to learn more about how we can help you capitalize on this growing avenue.

    About Jon Parks

    Jon Parks is Director of Marketing with Atlantic BT. In his work with Atlantic BT and through the digital marketing consultancy, Dijital Farm, Jon has experience helping companies develop digital marketing strategies to achieve their online marketing goals. You can follow Jon on Twitter (@jonparks), circle him on Google Plus or connect with him on LinkedIn.

  • Evaluating Web Design Companies – 5 Disruptive Ideas

    Evaluating Atlantic BT

    Atlantic BT is an idea as much as a company. We know your project, no matter what it is, will need to disrupt existing competitors since every business segment is a “red ocean” of furious online competition. Instead of evaluating Atlantic BT in traditional ways (award winning design, SEO, customer service), this post suggest 5 new “disruptive” ideas to consider when searching for a web and software design partner.

    * Tech Agnostic, Solution Focused.
    * Innovative Process Engineering (like CQS).
    * Magic of Place.
    * Spirit.
    * Understanding.

    If your web or mobile application needs any of the 5 disruptive ideas listed call us at 919.518.0670 #6.

    We look forward to hearing about your project.

    Disruptive Idea #1: Tech Agnostic, Solution Focused

    We are “agnostic” to a project’s “how”. With more than 80 programmers, Internet marketers, graphic designers and project managers coming to work at the Atlantic BT Center daily we can program a project in any system. Instead of forcing round peg problems into square holes we customize solutions to fit customer online marketing and mobile communications needs.

    You want a company to be tech agnostic and solution focused.

    We pull ideas from a vast “application archive” created since our 1998 founding.  Chances are good we’ve built something similar since our designs span everything from fast minimal viable products (MVPs) websites for startups to redesigns for million dollar ecommerce platforms on Magento or .Net. Being one of the largest web and software development firms in the southeast means diversity of solution and thinking protects your project.

    Diversity protects your project’s ability to scale and evolve. Diversity is a CSF (Critical Success Factor) to developing “mission critical” web or software projects to disrupt and generate return.

    Disruptive Idea #2: Innovative Process Engineering

    We agree with Dov Siedman’s book How: Why How You Do Anything Means Everything. Process matters in creating great websites and mobile applications. From our GoTo Timer to Continuous Quality Score (CQS) our dedication to innovative process engineering and creative project management is clear. Our “Agile” project management process defines who did what and our Continuous Quality Score provides feedback used during all company “stand up” meetings every Friday, meetings that inspire and motivate. Innovative process engineering is proof a web and software design company can innovate on your dime.

    Disruptive Idea #3: Magic of Place – Atlantic BT Center

    We believe in the magic of “place”.  Bringing a company together in the same place daily is a valuable “throwback” idea. Atlantic BT team members create unique community every day at the Atlantic BT Center (across from Macy’s Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh).

    Many companies outsource large portions of projects. We prefer to “hire in” expertise needed. We ask these “deep category experts” to come together, teach, learn and improve because knowledge transfer takes place in many unplanned and unanticipated ways. Casual conversations in the hall or thoughts over lunch can make a difference. Some benefits created by being in the same building email and Skype will never replicate.

    Disruptive Idea #4: Spirit

    Spirit may be the most important aspect of “fit” between two companies where one seeks services provided by the other.  Atlantic BT likes challenge. We hire people comfortable in the deep end of the pool because they’ve been there before and may have had to learn to swim again and on the fly.  Much like our home city of Raleigh, NC, we are scrappy, confident and growing.

    Our 5th Inc. 5000 award (2013) as one of America “fastest growing companies” helped Atlantic BT achieve something less than 10% of Inc. 5000 accomplish. Getting on the Inc. 5000 list is an accomplishment. Staying on the Inc. 5000 list for five years straight is almost impossible. Winning a “growth race” is more meaningful when combined with Atlantic BT’s second year as a Triangle Business Journal Best Places To Work.

    Toss in an IndyWeek.com “Best In The Triangle” award for web and software design and Atlantic BT’s creative “can do” spirit is present and accounted for.

    Disruptive Idea #5:Understanding

    Web design companies pitch on three to five key ideas such as “award winning design”, “customer satisfaction” or “SEO expertise”. All important ideas, but how relevant is the past to your project? Your project is happening NOW and will be launched into the web of tomorrow.

    We suggest thinking like Venture Capitalists (VC) when evaluating web and software design firms. VC invest in teams not widgets. Widgets change, VC know TEAM is where return lives. Hire a team who sees your project’s dimensions, opportunities and possibilities. Hire a team who understands something that, at its core, can never be fully understood – websites and Internet marketing.

    The web is changing even as you read this. We’ve learned the folly of trying to collar the web. Better to float on a board capable of surfing any wave. We could match competitors in any static measurement, but we suggest adding new dimensions to your evaluation. We aren’t the only web design firm who can surf the web’s new waves, but no wave scares us and we match our ability to understand, change and create ROI against anyone.

    That said, we also know Atlantic BT isn’t a perfect fit for every project.

    Recently we referred a very cool project, The IndyWeek.com Give Guide, to a great competitor in Hillsborough. Why give up such a cool project? Part of “understanding” is knowing when a project can be better served. Calling a competitor, asking for help and letting a cool project go requires courage. Our loyalty is to our customers and their work. The courage of our convictions helps us understand not every project is a fit. When we treat our customers as we want to be treated our Continuous Quality Scores (CQS) stay high and a new generation of work finds us.

  • Rocketbolt’s Conversational Popunder Is A Cool New Tool

    Ubiquitous Popunders

    “Popunders” are annoying messages you get after clicking on a website like the J. Crew example above. Popunders ask visitors to join an email list in exchange for special benefits. Couple of weeks ago we reviewed holiday design (Why Is Holiday Website Design So Bad This Year) for 37 leading online retailers. Almost every website in our study uses a popunder.

    Last week we also noted our confusion about Rocketbolt after Triangle Startup Factory’s Fall 2013 Showcase. After lunch yesterday with Rocketbolt’s Biz Dev Manager Andy Roth we understand and like Rocketbolt’s value proposition of creating a better popunder.

    Q: Why are popunders so ubiquitous?

    A: Popunders work, and email marketing has never been more important (or difficult)!

    Like all Internet marketing tactics popunders work best when your website is the only one popping your message under your customers’ visits. Now that most websites use popunder efficacy will decline UNLESS your popunder is different. RocketBolt.com creates a “popunder Quid pro quo conversation” that feels different from the J. Crew “Give Us Your Email To Learn About Fashion First” “blast” offer (any visitor sees the same offer so it is a “blast”).

    Rocketbolt.com creates a three step “Quid pro quo conversation”:

    1. Ask for a Facebook LIKE, tie the LIKE to a Call-To-Action offer or LIKE us, get X (the ASK & can easily grouped by persona).
    2. Secure Facebook LIKE (the GIVE).
    3. Ask for email to deliver the reward (the Quid pro quo).

    These images illustrate RocketBolt’s “conversational Quid pro quo popunder” approach on Thundershirt.com a very successful Durham based comfort garment for dogs:

    RocketBolt Popunder for Thundershirt

    Click on the box and you are asked to complete the Facebook like.

    RocketBolt Facebook Like Window

    Complete the like and you are asked where to send your offer:

    Rocketbolt share email window

    Why Rocketbolt’s Conversatonal Popunder Is Better

    We don’t have a dog in this hunt (so to speak). Atlantic BT didn’t create Rocketbolt’s website and I just paid for lunch with Andy. We like the idea of a “conversational Quid pro quo popunder” despite the clicks. We don’t like creating Internet marketing that is the same as everyone. Popunders asking for email subscription are beyond ubiquitous, so Rocketbolt’s new idea should get traction with ecommerce and B2B teams.

    When I was a Director of Ecommerce email marketing was 10 full margin points more profitable than organic SEO (our #2 channel). The email marketing tsunami of the last three years was therefore predictable. Mobile is an email marketing game changer. Mobile makes curating email easy, fast and painless. We’ve had email marketing customers say lists are larger but open rates are down – something we attribute to mobile curation. Email marketing has to earn its way through the mobile gatekeeping to buyers’ pads, laptops and desktops (where most purchases continue to be made).

    Every ecommerce team knows their email subscriber list is critical to successful diversified Internet marketing. Diversified Internet marketing is important because channels can go south fast. If all of your eggs are in PPC and performance suffers your profits suffer. If your Internet marketing is diversified, much like a stock portfolio, profits are spread across channels. Sales should come from email marketing, cause marketing, content and social marketing, video marketing, contests and gamificaiton and traditional market making (print, tv). By diversifying across as many channels as possible Internet marketers hedge their investments and assure growth even if profits from a single channel dive.

    Email marketing is one of the most profitable Internet marketing channels and marketing teams don’t need to pay Google to mail their list. At this time of year we were mailing daily. We stopped “batching and blasting” or sending the same message to everyone on our list because it felt like spam. Email lists and message creative should be organized into personas and segments. Personas and segments are CSFs (Critical Success Factors) to successful “life cycle email marketing”.

    Life cycle email marketing knows what offers “new to file” customers should receive and how those offers are different from strong LTV (Lifetime Value) sale shoppers. Emailing daily needs relevant messages. Personas are customer archetypes that group customers by behavior, psychographics and demographics. Personas are key to creating relevant email marketing.

    Segments are your financial overlay. Your sales history may show your “Mary Overwhelmed Mother” persona is highly profitable but LTV is low so money to the bank isn’t as good as “Dan Deal Shopper” whose purchases are margin challenged but dollars to the bank are better because Dan buys more often and in response to specific stimulus.

    Profits are important but not the only email marketing metric an ecommerce team must create, know and use.

    Rocketbolt Creates Email Marketing Groups

    “New to file” customers need different offers, content and email marketing schedules than a “sale only empty nester” persona or a “overwhelmed working moms” persona or a “retired businessman / father” persona. Creating different “popunder conversations” to appeal to different segments is one of RocketBolt’s strengths.

    Thundershirt can create offers for little dogs or big dogs, puppies or older dogs and family dogs or dogs who are alone until their pack leader makes it home from work. RocketBolt’s assist in creating personas and segments is powerful since you know a lot about “new to file” customers based on Rocketbolt offers accepted or passed.

    Best book I’ve read about creating personas and segments is Managing Content Marketing by Robert Rose.


    Rocket Bolt Email Marketing Popunder Tool on Atlantic BT blogRocketbolt’s “conversational Quid pro quo popunder” helps tag and profile customers.     Thundershirt customers who click on the “small dog” offer are immediately closer to their next conversion since customers who clicked on the offer go into the “small dog” segment. Thundershirt can make “small dog” content more prominent on emails to this group. We never eliminate other content since small dog homes may have family or friends with big dogs. By making “small dog content’ more immediate Thundershirt.com strengthens connection with customers who responded to their small dog offer. Email marketing feels more relevant and personalized.

    Rocketbolt’s conversational popunder is a cool way to create “sophisticated ad serving” even if getting deep into the data might require an Adzerk-like approach.

    By changing the nature of the conversation from the single goal, “We want your email” to a “giving conversation” where Rocketbolt helps Thundershirt offer something of value in exchange for something of value Rocketbolt’s tool creates a better “Quid pro quo” than  J Crew’s empty promise of seeing style news “before everyone else” and every Rocketbolt offer produces a world of data.

    We like Robcketbolt’s Quid pro quo conversational popunder where customers share email to get a specific reward. Rocketbolt helps build a file of people who’ve responded to an offer. At lunch with Andy Roth from Rocketbolt I predicted they will see Lifetime Value (LTV) is higher for people added with Rocketbolt’s conversational Quid pro quo popunder. I base that assumption on three things:

    • Syncapse pegs value of a Facebook like at $174, up 28%.
    • Multi-channel supporters are typically worth more.
    • Even if wrong Rocketbolt’s costs are so low its moot.

    Rocketbolt needs a partner like J. Crew, a partner who could easily test existing popunder performance vs. Rocketbolt’s “conversational Quid pro quo popunders”. In the meantime, Rocketbolt’s fees are so low I would have added their “conversational popunder” into rotation. As a Director of Ecommerce running a website with over $6M in annual sales when a tool looked beneficial and the cost was so low any benefit pays for the tool adding it into rotation was a no brainer.

    Our ecommerce website code would be in “lockdown” starting right after Halloween and lasting until January, but Rocketbolt’s single line of Javascript shouldn’t be highly disruptive or hard to implement once code came out of holiday lockdown in January. If your IT team is anything like my old IT gatekeepers they don’t like adding more JavaScript into your websites “head”. Most sites already have three to ten different JavaScript “widgets” firing out of the code in their “head”.

    Every line of Javascript (JS) can potentially create collisions with JS already firing, so be sure to test. Test across every page that includes a JS widget. If you have a widget firing in your “terms” page, for example, check the terms page after you add Rocketbolt. JS conflicts are so conditional they can be hard to “see” in a testing sandbox. Sometimes we flipped the switch and all the lights went out. Other times we flipped the switch and everything looked fine until just the right sequence caused a crash. Test and then test some more.

    If LTV from Rocketbolt’s conversational popunder proves more profitable then I would eliminate existing popunders in favor of Rocketbolt’s conversational approach. That may seem radical, but the popunder wars are waging. I preferred our website to lead not follow. Popunders work, but popunder efficacy is under attack due to their success.

    I would add Rocketbolt in the rotation to see how powerful the tool’s ability to profile and segment can become. Add a little sophisticated ad serving along with well tested email life cycle marketing and I bet you get more highly qualified leads into your email marketing from  Rocketbolt’s “conversational popunders” faster than blasting the same popunder offer to everyone.

    B2B websites don’t use popunders as much as B2C, but email marketing is no less important. We like Rocketbolt’s conversational Quid pro quo popunder for B2B. B2B is about the quality of your conversation and the relevance of your content. If someone visits your “gamificaiton” content using Rocketbolt to popunder an offer for a free white paper feels more helpful than intrusive. AND talk about knowing something as a “new to file” customer comes into your list! If you are spending $30K or more on an inbound marketing tool and/or CRM adding Rocketbolt is a no brainer.