AOR Newsletter :: 09/11/09

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Okay, that's probably not a news flash for you, but with today's fast-paced, "turn it around now" workload, it's easy to forget what a difference a well-thought-out call to action can make. Case in point: In an A/B test of two home page designs, the only difference was the call to action. Early on, the company used "Free Trial" or "Sign up for Free Trial" and got decent results. Then they tested the phrase "See Plans and Pricing" and saw a 200% increase in sign-ups.

The theory is that people may have assumed they'd automatically get signed up for something by clicking a link that says "free trial." But letting them explore the plans and pricing on their own kept them in charge of the experience and encouraged them to learn about the trial offer. Bottom line: "Free" isn't always the magic word for improving your offer or call to action. Experiment and test to see what works best with your customers.

Back in August, Facebook bought out Friendfeed, which not only benefits Facebook in terms of competing with Twitter, but could also mean great news for companies savvy enough to use social media as a research tool. On FriendFeed, users can aggregate updates from 58 services including their Facebook, Twitter, Digg, SlideShare, Pandora and Amazon. Those users can follow each other across the range of those services to get all of their updates in one place, breeding a rich environment for networking through common ideas and interests.

More important for marketers: FriendFeed was designed to allow you to search every FriendFeed user's updates from the site's home page. If Facebook's acquisition means that they'll be integrating Friendfeed features, this will be a great way to get a taste of what Facebook's 54 million consumers are talking about—whether they're posting to Twitter, Facebook, Digg, etc.

Check out the full article in Ad Age: http://tinyurl.com/m3xzpp to see how companies like the New York Times and The Travel Channel are using FriendFeed.

You know that Baby Boomers are the largest population wave ever to hit the market, and now they're beginning to retire with larger nest eggs than any generation prior. And they're redefining retirement—it's not the last chapter of life when things slow down. Oh no, now it's "a time of growth when identity is broadened, expressed, and completed through consumption." In other words, they're going to buy stuff to show who and what they are.

MarketingProfs published an article on how marketers can best communicate to this ready-to-buy group:

Click here for a whole treasure trove of free spooky-themed fonts, art and backgrounds for Halloween. You will even find a Sarah Palin mask! Now that's spooky.

http://tinyurl.com/nr4dh7

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