What Are Private Label Right Articles And What Can You Do With Them?

PLR stands for Private Label Rights.So, PLR articles are those articles which we get with private label rights.That means, we have the right to publish them as it is or by changing it's content a little bit.The best thing about PLR articles is that, we are saving a lot of our precious time when using the PLR articles.

PLR articles are not just crap.Do you know why?It is because, these articles are written by someone researching a lot on the internet or from wherever it be.Thus, these articles contain the important facts about a particular niche.And if we are doing research over the internet ourselves to find the facts and points regarding a particular topic to write upon on our own, it may take as a day or two for just researching about the topic.

Even then it is not guaranteed that we get to know everything about that particular topic about which we have researched spending days.On the other hand, if we are using the PLR articles, we are getting the important facts and content related to that particular niche about which we are searching for without having to spend days and nights.

After reading the content of the PLR article about a particular niche, we can re-write it on our own.Don't think that people will get to know that it's a re-written one.Tell me how would they know it whether it's a unique one or re-written one.Just because it contains the same points doesn't mean that we have re-written it using others content.All we have to do is to write the things in our own style.

If you are a blog owner, the daily readers of your blog will know your writing style for sure.And they will find out the same second if they come to know that if an article is a copied one or not.You know why?It's because the writing style of yours and the one in the copied content won't be the same.It's because the other article is not written by you - you have just copied it from somewhere and pasted it in your blog.

And thus it is pretty easy for your readers to find out that its a copied content.But, what if, you write on your own - and at the same time, use the points and facts about a particular topic from the PLR articles?All you have to do is - read the PLR article about a particular niche completely once or twice.After that close that PLR article.You must grasp all the important points from the first two readings itself - and don't think of opening that PLR article in the middle of your writing.Okay, now you have with you some points and facts about a particular niche to write upon.The next step is to re-write it in your style.

Now, tell me whether it's a unique content or a copied content?Off course it's a unique content since we have presented everything in our own style - we haven't even looked at the PLR article once when we were preparing the article.And what about the time spend in this case?Did we take less time than we usually take for writing unique content on our own or more time than we usually take?The time taken here is just for reading the PLR article once or twice.It won't take more than 10 minutes to read it twice.Then we started writing the article on our own including in it some of the points and facts that we got from the PLR article.

About the Author

If you would like to buy Premier PLR Products at a great low monthly price then visit the authors site here http://premierplrmonthly.

com

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5 Reasons to Avoid Twitter, and Why You Should Not

If you are not familiar with Twitter then you are probably not up to speed on social networking.But if you have not decided to create a Twitter account, you are definitely not alone.Many internet marketers are wary of using Twitter for a number of reasons.Here are the top 5.

1.Useless Information.It is true that many Twitter users update their Twitters with completely useless information.Do you really need to know that someone just finished their second cup of coffee or is leaving the office early for a pedicure?The good news is that if you find that you do not particularly enjoy a person s tweets, you do not have to continue following them.But do not eliminate this option altogether.One of the most important aspects of Web 2.0 is engaging people in all aspects of their lives, even the mundane stuff.Share yourself, welcome the opportunity to let others share themselves with you, and you will go a long way toward building a loyal customer base.People are much more willing to do business with you if they think you have a vested interest in their needs and thoughts.

2.It is a Waste of My Time.This is probably the most valid reason of all.But the truth is that many marketers generate traffic and leads when potential customers find them through Twitter.When the content you share is relevant and high-quality, you can drive visitors to your website to learn more.Twitter is simply another tool for online marketing, so do not write it off until you have given it a shot to see what it can do for you.Do some of your own research to discover the multitude of business uses for Twitter and you might just be convinced that It is not a total waste of time after all.

3.It is Time-Consuming.Like any online endeavor, you can blow a lot of valuable time following your streams and entering your own tweets.But you can salvage some of your time by using RSS feeds to follow relevant conversations.Visit search.twitter.com and click on the link to Feed for this query.You can then follow the conversations that are most important and relevant to you and your business.If that is not optimal for you, simply discipline yourself to check only once or twice per day.

4.Twitter Does not Cater to My Customers.Before you decide that your customers are not on Twitter, look for yourself.Go to Search(dot)Twitter(dot)com.Search for the name of your company, the name of your product, and keywords relevant to your business.If you are afraid that your market may be too niche-y for Twitter, remember that your job as a marketer is to find people where they are.If there are a few folks on Twitter within your niche, put yourself there as well.

5.It Could Lead to Bad Press.Whether you are on Twitter or not, people are still talking about you, and you need to know about it.Even if there is poor feedback on Twitter, you need the opportunity to let folks know that you are aware and that you are going to do something about whatever it is that has disappointed them.If you respond quickly to the concerns of your detractors, you will go a long way towards putting out potentially damaging fires.Thoughtful responses make a huge difference in customer attitudes.Remember that if a critical mass of bloggers pick up on negative press and write about it themselves, things can get out of hand very quickly.On the other hand, you can make a great name for yourself if you address customer concerns promptly and tactfully.

There you have it.No more excuses for avoiding Twitter.Even if you think It is the most ridiculous tool ever invented, you still need to check it out for yourself.Give it some time and see what it can do for you.Explore different applications of this valuable tool and let it help you grow your business.

About the Author

Seomul Evans is a SEO expert with a leading SEO company specializing in Internet Search Engines and a contributor of Social Media articles

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Drive Traffic Using the Tell-A-Friend Script

A lot more and more website owners have the most notable dilemma, which is how to increase the amount of traffic flow to their websites.Through out the past few years a number of methods have been created to rectify this situation.Whilst number of them will work there are a lot that are likely not to even make the smallest impact.One of the techniques that have been the origin of lots of success stories in sending traffic to websites is viral marketing.Viral marketing is designed to use the tendency of a visitor to share information they may find informative, entertaining or amazing.

Loads of companies count on this method to help spread their products and grow the popularity of their business or their website.Viral marketing utilising a number of mediums that try to bring out this type of behaviour, it may be in the form of a thought provoking story, an addictive flash game, or an amusing video and load of others that may possibly catch a person's fancy.

This special form of marketing is usually very cost effective and is a great tool for any business to use.The advantages normally out weigh the cost and the efforts to initialize this marketing system.All websites will immensely benefit from some type of viral marketing.

Tell A Friend Script One of the simplest techniques in viral marketing is to use a tell a friend script.This is a straight forward programming script which you can add to the programming of your website.Basically, a tell a friend script is installed in the webpage's with a media placed next to it so that a person may simply send the media to a list of his friends or his family members.The fundamental concept of a tell a friend script is a script where people can their name and, e-mail address, then the recipient's e-mail address and then send the media to the intended recipient much like an e-mail with an attachment.When the recipient gets the e-mail he wouldn't view the email as spam mail because he will notice the sender's details as a person he or she knows or is familiar with.

Tell a friend script gets rid of greatly the ability of being blocked as it uses the information that has been added by the sender.This will result in a wider spreading of this marketing method.It might seem quite underhanded but it is a very effective method.When the e-mail is sent and opened the sent media will be read, viewed or played.Together with the mail there would be a good brief description of the business or website that is sponsoring the media that has been sent.This gives invitation for the introduction of either the website, business name or its products.And don't forget to add to that another tell a friend script.

Yep!You guessed it, then the whole process repeats it's self again.When more people begin to use the tell-a-friend script, that will mean that more and more prospects will know of the existence of the sponsoring business or website.Prospects that read the ads within the mail and liked what they saw would go on to click on the link and visit the website (i.e.your website!).This will increase traffic to you website resulting in a higher number of possible customers.

Tell A Friend Script Availability A tell a friend script is a very easy to use and doesn't need a complex method of programming.Actually, you can just copy and paste a script and easily add it onto the intended page.And finding one is even easier.All you need to do is go to a search engine and write into the search box "tell a friend script" then just hit enter or click go.

In the search results pages there will be many listings that will send you to a number of websites where you may access a tell-a-friend script.After this it is just a simple case of looking and searching for the right script and then copying it into your intended web pages.Using a tell-a-friend script and this viral marketing technique you can send traffic to your website that wills possibly meaning great profits.This is a straight forward and non harmful script that presents great advantages for low cost mixed with great creativity and foresight.

It is important that you take your time when using a tell-a-friend script.If your media that you choose doesn't get the exposure that you expect of it, it might take a bit of time before it starts taking viral effect.But eventually loads of people will see your ads and there is huge probability that they should visit your website increasing the traffic to your website.

About the Author

Uchenna Ani-Okoye is an internet marketing advisor and co founder of Top Affiliate Programs

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Easy Money for Teens: Or Is It?

How would you approach starting your own internet business from scratch if you had absolutely no money?This is a vital question that generally pops up on the message boards of many affiliate marketing sites.It's usually a result of newcomers trying to figure out what methods work best and fast.The typical response from experienced Internet Marketers is always "Create your own money making blog empire".

So, why is setting up a blog empire an excellent way to make money online?

1.Blogs are essentially easy to setup and to manage:

Maintaining your own personal blog doesn't require any special skills whether that is programming or web design.

All that is required is a simple registration with a free blogging service like Wordpress, and you can begin to post messages to it immediately.

2.There are literally no set up costs:

Blogging services like WordPress are totally free.

No money is required for both hosting and setting up of domain names.If you run anywhere from 50-100 niche blog sites and pay for each and every one of the domains, costs can be fairly huge.If you choose to run anywhere from 50-100 blogs using a free blogging service (WordPress), it won't cost you a thing.

3.Your blogs will be indexed by the major search engines within a matter of days:

One of the main issues that webmasters have to overcome is getting their website into the major search engines.

Looking at it from the Google perspective, it can be an increasingly long process when you consider other factors, like the infamous "Google Sandbox".In spite of this, blogs tend to get indexed much faster, usually within only a few days, this is due primarily to RSS feeds.

4.Utilising blogs is the most effective way to promote affiliate products:

This is primarily due to the inherit nature of blogs.

Blogs are made up mainly of highly opinionated posts written by everyday people.It is a proven well known fact, that the best way to sell an affiliate product on a blog is to write a positive and sincere review on it.The experienced internet marketers utilise this method to rake in literally thousands of dollars per month."Word of Mouth" advertising is still one of the most effective methods of getting a consumer to purchase.A well written and concise blog post can achieve this.

5.Blogs can be monetised easily by utilising Google AdSense:

Contextual advertising is an easy and highly effective way of making money.

When using blogs the process is still the same.All that is required is the simple implementation of code into your pages source and you're done.Then wait for your viewers to click on one of your ads.Even if you have no prior knowledge of HTML, you can benefit quite easily from text ads.Blogger specifically offers you the ability to implement AdSense ads into your blog template; this can be done quickly from the Blogger menu, so there's no need to bother with HTML.It also gives you the ability to coordinate the colour of your ads with the colour of your blogs template.This process is called "blending" and it's very effective in increasing your ads click through rate.

So what's the secret method to creating a money making blog empire fast?

Method 1:

The first method is to create blogs that are fixated on specific problems people may have.

In your blog posts, first you should identify a problem then offer a solution to rectify the problem.The solution should be an affiliate product or service that you're trying to promote.Most internet surfers use the internet to find solutions to problems that they may have.A prime example of that would be; debt, acne problems, car rentals, holidays, anti-virus software and internet spam.This is where you can write about these issues then recommend an affiliate product that will solve the problem.

If you create up to 5 blogs per day, then you will have around 150 blogs by the end of your first month.Imagine the amount of money that could potentially be earned from this method within just your first month.This method appears rather simple and obvious, but most Internet Marketers get this method all wrong.There is a new and highly effective method of implementing this strategy created by Rob Benwell.I'll provide additional information on this method later.

Method 2:

This method isn't as popular as the first.

It's the process of using your blogs for online courses or tutorials.Find a topic that interests you, and then write a series of posts structured in lessons, on it.Your first post would typically be lesson 1, then second one lesson 2, and so on.Imbed affiliate links into your blog posts.You can also use these blogs to make money via Google's AdSense program.Try to keep the number of lessons from 10 to 20.If you don't like writing articles or are not learned in the subject area, then go to free article directories.Pick anywhere from 10 to 20 articles in the subject area of choice and convert the content into a series of lessons.

So what are you waiting for?Start your blogging today and within a short period of time you could be earning a decent amount from your blog empire.

About the Author

Uchenna Ani-Okoye runs Insightempire.

com, a site for Internet Marketing Enthusiasts.

For more information on the earlier mentioned innovative way of creating blog empires visit: Blogging To The Bank

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Starting An Online Business? Here Are 3 Choices

There are tons of ways to start businesses online.There are web businesses that you can start with no money whatsoever, there are web business models that will require minimum start up capital, and there are web business that could cost thousands of dollars to start.

You need to know what type of business models an online business can encompass to be able to decide on one.For many people, learning how to start a home based online business becomes a job in and of itself.To help you have a quick overview of the best business models for an Online business, here are some of the best models.Affiliate marketing, Membership Sites and Virtual Real Estate are three of the top Internet businesses.

Affiliate Marketing
If you want to know how to create an online business, affiliate marketing is not only a free way to get started in an Internet business, it will also give you an extremely solid understanding of how marketers make money on the web.
You have the option of using an affiliate marketplace like Clickbank offers, to find products and just promote them for commissions, or finding websites that you yourself have an interest in and joining their affiliate programs to make commissions from helping them sell their products.

You can use free platforms like Blogger blogs and Wordpress blogs to write interesting articles about these sites and then write some additional articles to submit to article directories, which you can use to link back to your own blog, giving the reader extra information and your affiliate link through which to buy the product, thus earning you a commission.

Membership Sites
Memberships sites are one of the best ways to learn about how to create an online business.
Membership sites can be sites that offer fresh new content every month for marketers, or they can be new recipes for stay at home moms looking for quick meals.Depending on the market you're targeting, membership sites can cost anywhere from $5.00 a month for a membership, up to $800.00 a month.

Virtual Real Estate
Finally, Virtual Real Estate.
An amazing business model that is similar to the real estate boom of the late 90's.Virtual real estate consists of some amazing techniques to make fast money on the Internet.Domain name flipping is buying a domain name and selling the domain name.As the 'long tail keyword' phenomenon progresses, more and more new and extremely keyword rich domain names become available.You don't even need a site.If you find a hot new topic that people are doing a lot of searching for, like some new diet pill that's getting rave reviews, if you can snatch up a domain name for about $10.00 you can turn around and sell that domain name for $50.00.

Some other techniques for domain name flipping are to buy expired or about to expire domains.If it's an expired domain with a good audience factor, you stand to make a few bucks selling it.Another facet of Virtual Real Estate is website flipping.This similar to domain name flipping where buying the domain or an 'aged' domain is concerned, but you need an actual site.If you hold on to it for about 3 months and then sell it, you can show how much money it made and sell it for 1-2 times its annual income.

There are many variations of these three types of online businesses.

About the Author

Free report How to Start a Home Based Business: 27 Ways to Earn Money Online Dee Power is the author of several nonfiction books and the novel Over Time.

Dee's blog Earn Money Online You can Earn Money Online

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Your Key to Success in Business - Internet Marketing For Small Business

Talking about Internet marketing for small business is all the rage.The airwaves are full of advertisements directed toward small business owners as well.

It seems each conversation I hear, every ad I see, and every article I read is talking about small business differently than I think of small business.Those that seem to be the target of Internet marketing strategies and information more closely resemble what I refer to as start-up businesses.

There are indeed millions of them - businesses with 5 of fewer people, companies that have been around for five years or less.I assume their sheer numbers is what encourages the marketers of Internet products and services to go after them.

What about the those small businesses that are well established, having been successfully doing business for a dozen years, two or more decades, or even longer?These mainstream companies with from 25-500 employees - companies and down Main Street in every country around the world.Companies who employee seventy-five percent of the people on he planet.Real people manufacturing, selling, and distributing real products and services.

These small business owners want Internet marketing explained to them.Internet marketing for small business - at least from the point of view of these successful business owners is about doing a better more profitable job of doing what they are already doing successfully.

These companies, the majority at least - market their products and services for the most part within 100 miles of their principle business location.That's the distance, historically at least, that their trucks could deliver or service their customers, driving there and back during a business day.Beyond that, before the Internet, there were additional fixed costs to consider.

The Internet however has meant the death of distance.Everywhere you look ads are trumpeting that fact.Small business Internet marketing for Main Street is about how to market, sell, and deliver their products beyond the one hundred lime limit.Imaging what it would mean to your business if you could extend your traditional marketing radius by an additional fifty miles in every direction using your small business Internet marketing strategy.

Small business Internet marketing also means using online resources to carry products and services that support those they already sell.Those that were not available to them or that they could sell at a profit using traditional sourcing methods.This will allow then to increase the "share of customer" meaning that they want to be the sole source provider of products in their category that their clients and customers use.

The hardest sale is the first sale to a new customer.Why not strive to get all the business in your category that's possible to get from every customer, from the oldest to the newest.Now, small business Internet marketing allows you to sell a product that you could not offer at a profit before now - perhaps as a door opener on your way to introducing your entire line?Needless to say, when you strive make each customer a "Key Account" your profits per customer or client will soar.

If there is one thing that Main St.small business Internet marketing can do - that every single business owner wants, it is to help generate revenues and/or save money with online sales and service.These businesses are not able to be open, in the traditional sense, twenty-four hours a day like their big business competitors.However, using small business Internet marketing they can open the doors of at least some elements of their organization 24/7/365.

Internet marketing for small business will help these companies - the backbone of our nation, every nation - grow their bottom line with easier automated customer acquisition, increased productivity, reduced costs, and higher a sales volume.

Small business Internet marketing explained will help you attract more new customers than ever before, sell more of what you are already selling to your existing customers, sell previously unprofitable products and services, because of their price points or accessibility, and get your existing customers to come back more often, with less effort - no matter what products or services you sell.

About the Author

Successful business owners understand that small business Internet marketing is the most cost effective method for connecting with potential customers locally & globally.

Learn more about Internet marketing for small business, visit Internet marketing explained for small businesses wanting to leverage the current success online.Join the discussion.

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Niche Marketing-Giving Them Exactly What They Want

Niche Marketing is the art of giving people exactly what they want.After you find a potential niche using tools such as Google and WordTracker, you still have to test that market to see exactly what type of product offer will solve their current problems.

If you don't provide the "right" offer to this potential market, the niche will not be profitable for you, regardless of its potential.

Therefore, you have to determine exactly what problems this niche market is facing, what solutions are already out there, what is good about these current solutions, and what is lacking in those solutions that need to be present in your offer so that it will be perceived as a better offer for their problems.

To find out the answers to these questions, you have to conduct some research on that niche market.There are several ways to go about doing this.

One way is to ask people already in that industry or market what problems they are looking to solve and what features and benefits the current solutions already out on the market are lacking.This way, you can tailor your offer to include those features and benefits that the current solutions don't have.

You should also determine what the market does like in those current solutions so you can make sure your offer also has those beneficial features and benefits.

You can also go to established websites in that market to see for ourselves what type of offers they are offering.You can check out what types of products they offer (ebook, MP3, audio, video, etc.,) what bonuses they include with them, what prices they are selling them for, how their websites look, and any testimonials they post related to their products and service as a way to gain helpful insight on who your competitors are and how you can differentiate your offer from theirs.

A really easy way of determining what will satisfy the niche market is to hang out in forums dedicated to your niche market.In today's world, there is at least one online forum for virtually every niche market out there.

See what they are talking about at those forums, including what problems they are having, what offers they are using to solve their current problems, how well those solutions are solving their current problems, and what features and benefits they are still looking for in future offers.This way, you can determine from prospective customers what problems they are still facing and what features and benefits they'd like to see in future product offers.

Utilizing this information from these different sources, you can develop or find a product offer with the features and benefits the market is looking for.However, to make sure that this offer will satisfy the market's demands, you should again TEST the market to see if it will respond to your offer like you think it will.The following methods can help you test the market after you have developed or obtained your product offer.

You can provide complimentary copies (if you are legally able to do so,) to people in that niche market in return for their honest feedback on your offer.This way, you can find out what they like about it and what they feel needs to be improved in order to satisfy the needs of the market.

Another way to determine whether your offer will satisfy the niche market is to set up a simple webpage with a subscription form that asks a few questions about your offer.In return, you provide them with a valuable reward, such as a short report, another of your products, or a coupon code that gives them a discount on your offer.

You should use a pay-per-click search engine in order to drive targeted traffic to that page, as targeted traffic is needed in order to provide the best feedback about that niche market and the best feedback on whether your current offer will satisfy the desires of that market.

Even after you have found a potentially profitable niche market, you still will likely need to test and tweak your offer in order to be able to satisfy the demands of the niche market you are serving.

It's important to remember that just because you've found a potentially profitable niche, you still have to have a strong demand for your offer in order to profit from it, and in order to find out what the niche market is looking for, that will take some research.

Even after developing or obtaining an offer that will seemingly meet their needs, you need to continue your research to make sure the offer is as good as can be.If it isn't, you need to tweak and improve the offer as much as you can based on the feedback you receive in order to profit the most from that niche market and to be considered as the person who can best satisfy their desires in the future.

About the Author

I invite you to acquire more information on how to start, build and manage your online business.

You can get instant access to future updates on all the tips, tools and advice by simply visiting NetBiz Handbook

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The Right Way to Measure Your Customer Experience

Attempting to measure the customer experience with a single metric such as customer satisfaction or customer advocacy is overly simplistic and risky.Instead, companies should dig deeper and establish a portfolio of measures that can determine how each touch point contributes to the overall experience.

The Total Customer Experience is Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts

The customer experience is a complex process that can consist of multiple touch points; a process that can be broad, long-running, span multiple channels, and can be influenced by any combination of internal and external factors.

Effectively measuring the total customer experience requires a more acute understanding of its individual parts.

The customer experience process does not begin and end at a store, sales representatives, web site or call center.It extends from the moment the customer becomes aware of your company and is comprised of multiple independent interactions, transactions, and contacts along the way.

Each customer experience is made up of any number of touch points and customer encounters, each of which should be measured independently to determine their contribution to the overall experience.An issue encountered at any one of these points can dramatically influence the overall experience.

For example, the quality of an automobile is an aggregate measurement of the quality of the individual parts combined with the integrity of the overall design and assembly process.If any one part fails to perform properly, the overall perception of quality is diminished.Likewise, even if every part is perfectly manufactured but isn't arranged or assembled in a useable manner - the perception of quality will suffer.Only when quality manufacturing is guided by quality design will the experience truly be maximized.

Although overarching metrics such as customer satisfaction and customer advocacy are quickly becoming standard metrics in today's companies, attempting to measure the customer experience with a single metric can be overly simplistic and risky.Effectively managing the customer experience requires effective measurement and management of a portfolio of metrics that will provide insights into what is - or is not - working.

Identify Your Touch Points

The customer experience is a collection of touch points encountered by the customer that includes the attraction, interaction, and cultivation of customer relationships.

Touch points may include advertisements or promotions, online and in-store shopping experiences, transaction and bill processing, and post-purchase delivery, usage, and support.

The total number of touch points that the customer encounters goes well beyond the point of sale.Establishing an accurate inventory of all of your company's touch points - both intentional and unintentional - can mean the difference between success and failure.

Defining when and where the customer experience begins and ends is perhaps the most difficult task facing any business.Too often, companies define the lifecycle and customer touch points too narrowly, leaving critical elements of the customer experience to chance.

A touch point is defined as any customer interaction or encounter that can influence the customer's perception of your product, service, or brand.A touch point can be intentional (an advertisement) or unintentional (an unsolicited customer referral).In this era of broad customer skepticism, the unintentional touch points often matter the most.Which would you trust more: a company's ad pitch or your best friend's personal referral for a product?Both are touch points, but one carries much more value than the other.

When your business interacts with a customer, it's often easy to overlook what is really going on; you are touching them in many, perhaps subtle, ways.When it comes to customer experience management, the right touch can make all the difference.To do it right, you must first identify all of your potential touch points and then work to measure and optimize each one.

Measure Individual Touch Point Effectiveness

Each customer touch point is typically designed for a specific operational purpose.

An advertising touch point may be designed to build brand awareness or to identify prospects.A point of sale touch point may be designed to execute transactions.A call center touch point is designed to resolve customer issues.Each touch point is unique and contributes to the overall customer experience in different ways.

Effectively measuring each touch point requires a holistic approach to understand the contribution to both operational and customer relationship objectives.For example, the operational side of an advertising touch point may be measured in terms of a conversion rate.The customer relationship side of the same touch point may be intended to influence the customer's perception or awareness of the company's brand.

Measuring the effectiveness of each touch point should balance both operational and customer experience objectives.Operational metrics are typically easily identified, while customer relationship metrics can be elusive.Ideally, timely and recurring customer feedback is collected and compared to operational results to provide a more complete picture.In doing so, companies can obtain a better understanding of how each individual touch point is contributing to the overall experience.

For example, let's say a business establishes a goal to achieve a 5% click-through-rate (CTR) with their pay-per-click campaign.If the actual campaign achieves 100% of that goal, they might consider it a success.However, customer perceptions might not be so rosy if the ad promised a product, promotion, or discount that isn't readily available or is difficult to obtain.As a result of customer confusion and aggravation, the company may achieve only 50% of their revenue goals for the campaign.

Measure the Overall Customer Experience

In order to effectively measure the overall customer experience, companies must accurately measure the contribution of each individual touch point as well as the overall level of customer satisfaction and advocacy.

At times, the results of one touch point may have an unanticipated affect on other aspects of the experience.

Consider how the individual touch points associated with a fictitious product launch might impact the experience at an electronics store:

* Product Innovation: A key manufacturer is developing a leading-edge product that will be innovative in the marketplace.

The media learns of these developments and publishes reports that an amazing new product is coming soon.Consumer excitement and anticipation is driven to extremely high levels, although actual ship dates remain unknown.(Score: 10/10)
* Electronics Store: Employees at the store and call center are inundated with inquiries about the pending new product but are unable to provide any additional information regarding availability nor can they accept pre-orders.
(Score: 3/10)
* Marketing: The product launch date is set and marketing begins to actively promote the new product and its innovative features.
Consumer anticipation is again driven to new highs as the launch date approaches.(Score: 10/10)
* Product Purchase: On launch day, consumers flood the store and web site to get the new product.
Those customers that are fortunate enough to purchase one are extremely satisfied.(Score: 10/10)
* Out of Stock: Initial euphoria quickly turns sour as the store runs out of stock and thousands of customers are turned away without one of the highly coveted and heavily promoted products.
Customers are told to check back again in a few weeks.(Score: 1/10)

For a handful of customers who were able to purchase the product, they are extremely satisfied with their experience and are willing to tell all of their friends about their latest purchase.

Conversely, however, many other customers who were turned away empty-handed are now frustrated and highly dissatisfied with the experience.

Relying solely on customer satisfaction or customer advocacy measures may not illuminate how each touch point contributed to the overall experience.Simplistic customer satisfaction and advocacy scores may mask the underlying factors that either contribute to or detract from an exceptional customer experience.

Evaluating how each individual touch point contributes to the overall experience in this scenario can help to identify specific areas for improvement.While touch points 1, 3 and 4 scored high, touch points 2 and 5 clearly have room for improvement.

Focusing only on an aggregate metric without understanding or managing the contributing factors can yield unpredictable results.Companies seeking to improve their overall customer experience should establish customer experience measures that correlate individual touch point results to overall customer experience measures.

About the Author

Robert Howard is the Founder and Chief Executive of ClearBrick LLC, a leading provider of customer experience solutions, research, and online customer experience advice.

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