In today’s digital age, where cloud integration and seamless connectivity are the norm, creating a mobile app with a standalone CRM system from the 1990s presents a unique challenge. However, at Spritz, we thrive on embracing challenges head-on. Our team of experts specializes in analyzing and understanding the limitations and possibilities of legacy CRM systems. With careful analysis and innovative thinking, we create bridges connecting these outdated systems with modern APIs, enabling seamless integration with mobile applications on iOS and Android platforms.

Understanding the Challenge:

We tackled this challenge with Bayside Pet Resort, a leading pet hotel with multiple locations in Florida. The resort recognized the need to modernize their operations and cater to the evolving demands of their tech-savvy clientele and asked Spritz to create a solution—how would we develop a mobile fix that would streamline their processes and enhance client connectivity, replacing traditional phone calls and in-person visits.

Crafting the Solution:

Our team delved deep into the intricacies of Bayside Pet Resort’s legacy CRM system, carefully analyzing its code, structure, and functionalities. Leveraging our extensive experience, we designed a robust architecture bridging the gap between the outdated CRM system and modern mobile apps. The key objective was to provide a seamless user experience for the pet owners and the resort staff.

Integrating with Modern APIs:

Spritz developed a mobile app that seamlessly integrated with various software applications and APIs. By leveraging the power of modern technology, we enabled clients to manage reservations, book services, and communicate with the resort directly from their smartphones. This shift to a mobile platform provided convenience and flexibility for the pet owners and reduced the stress on the front desk and call center, leading to improved overall efficiency.

Results and Impact:

With the Spritz solution, Bayside Pet Resort witnessed a significant increase in client reservations. The seamless integration of the mobile app with the legacy CRM system empowered pet owners to access the resort’s services at their convenience, enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty. The streamlined operations also benefited the resort’s staff, who experienced a reduced administrative workload and improved efficiency.

Conclusion:

Creating a mobile app with a standalone CRM system from the ’90s, lacking cloud integration capabilities, may seem insurmountable. However, at Spritz, we thrive on turning challenges into opportunities. Through careful analysis, innovative thinking, and the creation of bridge software, we enable businesses to modernize their operations and provide enhanced user experiences. The success story of Bayside Pet Resort stands as a testament to our expertise in overcoming obstacles and delivering tailored solutions that drive growth and efficiency.

The post Bridging the Digital Gap: Building a Mobile App appeared first on SpritzSF.

Something important in the world of search engine optimization (SEO) happened in 2019. Google called it Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers, which few people can understand — so it’s BERT, for short. And it’s still a bit complicated. 

At its core, it’s all about Natural Language Processing (NLP), which means that Google has learned to anticipate the questions people ask. And in turn, this impacts keywords and SEO. You can see Google’s search engine machine learning at work when you start typing in a topic and several related options appear as phrases, suggested in anticipation of your question.   

Observers have said Google’s algorithm updates guarantee the end of key words as we once knew them.

Google experts said it was “the biggest leap forward in the past five years and one of the biggest leaps forward in the history of Search.” Both statements are true. 

There was a time not long ago when many content producers believed that keywords and phrases used repeatedly would assist Google Search and move a piece of content to a higher ranking. In fact, this practice is known as keyword stuffing, a spammy practice that it is penalized by Google and will actually harm a page’s ranking.

With more than 200 ranking factors, Google has sophisticated ways to evaluate, measure, and rank a site. These include metrics such as recency, relevancy, reputation, and more. In all cases, Google also looks for authenticity and this is reflected via human speech patterns with the natural use of keywords and key phrases that are never forced.   

Due to algorithm enhancements, Google now recognizes keywords and phrases that don’t read as natural speech, including when they’re placed in a list in an effort to increase the count. 

There are appropriate places for keywords to appear in a natural context:

• Page title
• Heading(s)
• Paragraph text only where it makes sense
• Title tag
• Meta description tag
• URL
• Website copy

Your objective: Avoid Google’s wrath! Don’t get dinged by Google for out-of-date website copy and content management practices. We can fix it for you. Just add Spritz to your website refresh plans and watch the Search results improve.     

The post Did Google Kill Key Words? appeared first on SpritzSF.

This means an explosion in the widespread use of digital tools and platforms. 

Aside from the giant impact of Zoom and its several lookalike cousins. One of the mild surprises of daily life has been the subtle but unquestionably strong rise of email. It’s not as though email ever went out of fashion. People have been using emails for so long that they have almost forgotten. That it’s actually a digital platform and an important marketing channel. 

The numbers are extraordinary and continually rising. In 2020, roughly 306.4 billion emails were sent and received each day, which’s equal to about 39 emails per person per day considering the world’s population of 7.8 billion people. That comparison includes non-users of course. So, for those of us actually using email all day, every day, the actual numbers are much, much higher. 

Despite the growth in messaging and chat apps, and putting aside personal communications, emails have remained a simple, less expensive, and effective marketing tool for essential B2B and B2C connections. 

With the flood of emails in the digital space, getting noticed by the customer is the single most important requirement for your email marketing campaign to be successful. After all, we all know that “delete” is only a quick tap away, right?

Check out seven simple and effective recommendations to make sure your email meets two primary objectives: a) It is opened and b) It is worth the recipient’s time to read: 

1. Clean up your list and segment it regularly

   Do your subscribers still want to hear from you? You probably know that it’s important to send emails regularly to keep your subscribers engaged. Well, that may not be true if you have a stale email list with inactive subscribers. People change email accounts, switch jobs, and especially now during the pandemic, many people have been either furloughed or laid off. So, frequent clean up of your list is crucial. Subscribers who haven’t opened your email in the past six months should be considered inactive. However, before you remove them, you may want to consider a “win-back offer” or “we miss you” email.

   Are you experiencing lower open rates and higher unsubscribes?

   Segmentation of an email list is very important to target the right customers. For instance, an existing customer should not be hearing about a first-time user offer. And a flash sale for tomorrow should not be sent to out-of-state customers.

2. Timetable your emails

   Timing is everything — The cliché holds true for email communications, too. Sending an email during off-hours and weekends may not garner the same attention as it may during business hours. And depending on the nature of the business, the opposite could be true. Email marketing platforms allow send-time optimization so that users in different time zones will receive the email at the right time, not the same time. For instance, if you schedule the deployment of an email at 11 a.m., it will reach the user’s inbox at 11 a.m. local time for each individual.

   How frequently are you sending emails? Ask yourself whether you’re overly aggressive or underutilizing this powerful channel. The answer lies within your own analytics, so listen to your customers.

   Analytics and metrics, patterns, and trends are revealed for open rates, unsubscribes, call-to-action, sources, and more to develop a balanced, well-planned email marketing strategy.

3. Avoid spam filters

   Despite sophisticated spam filter enhancements, they’re not flawless. Even the best email filters will dump your email into the spam folder if a hiccup is detected. It’s recommended to:

   • Avoid deceptive subject lines
   • Ensure your subscribers are not from a purchased list
   • Use a reputable email marketing company that pre-screens for IP addresses, verified domains, and authentic email addresses
   • Avoid using excessive spam trigger keywords i.e discount, free, buy, etc.
   • Don’t “scream” headlines in all capital letters and crazy punctuation
   • Allow subscribers to easily opt-out of your emails

4. Craft your subject line and preview message carefully

   Your first impression is everything, and as they say, you only get one opportunity to make it.You can’t tell your story if you can’t get the email opened. Given the number of promotional emails in the subscriber’s inbox, it’s very important to have a subject line that develops curiosity and interest.Pay close attention to the preview preheader text as well. Similar to search engine results which are driven by the meta descriptions, this preview text in the preheader helps the subscriber to determine what the email is about and quickly decide to open your email. If you are not given this preview text option by your provider, ask about it.

5. Balance content, KISS (Keep it short and simple)

   In recent times, customer experience (CX) or user experience (UX) has become a widely recognized world of study within the field of digital marketing. For email marketing, this covers everything from personalization to privacy. A customer’s perception of your brand and the emotion it reflects on them are among the most important factors of CX. Always remember to write with your audience in mind. Nobody wants to read a long email lacking structure…and they won’t. Just like a good story with a beginning, middle, and an end, content needs a compelling title, short paragraphs, and a call-to-action closing. Strategic placement of click-through actions (CTA) such as “learn more,” “book now,” or “save money,” and a sprinkling of appropriate images and compelling video content are the keys for long-lasting customer engagement and loyalty.

6. Personalize your tone of voice

   Simply put, don’t be boring. To capture an authentic tone of voice, read your email aloud and imagine you’re talking to a friend. If it sounds stilted, try again. The right touch of humor, emoji, or GIFs is welcome but tread lightly and carefully depending on what is appropriate for your product or service.

7. Leverage A/B testing

   Before you click send, test and test again. The re-arrangement of just one or two words in an email subject line can make a big difference in the open rate. Rather than sending the same email to everyone and hoping for the best, use a strategic approach and try different subject lines, images vs. animations, schedule different delivery times, and track the analytics to help understand your recipients more intimately. This exercise is key to identify your most effective email marketing strategy for the best ROI.

Go through the link for more information: https://spritzsf.com/spritzbits/dont-just-spray-pray-email-marketing-is-here-to-stay/

Clearly, email and email marketing are here to stay. Simply put, our job is to make sure you are using this powerful tool in all the right ways to ensure your business is also here to stay. Let us know how we can help because it’s always a good idea to “Just Add Spritz.” 

The post Pandemic Fact: Email Marketing Is More Important Than Ever appeared first on SpritzSF.

In May 1978, marketing manager Gary Thuerk hit ‘send’ on the first unsolicited email ever. It signalled the birth of junk mail, received by 400 customers as an ad for a presentation by Digital Equipment Corporation, an early vendor of computer systems. People hated it.

Fast Forward

It wasn’t until two decades later that mainstream America started setting up personal email addresses.

However, the prehistoric dial-up landscape of the World Wide Web in the 20th century still looked like Jurassic Park.

Surprise, surprise…email has survived and thrived. Who would have thought that the oldest technological form of mass communication could still be the cool kid in 2020?

Delete is Sweet

Since the objective in email marketing is not to have people hate it, best practices matter more than ever. The high volume received on a daily basis by the average user can make the delete button extremely attractive.

Number of emails sent and received per day worldwide (in billions) 2017-2023, Source: ©Statista 2020

Even worse for marketers, one or two email campaigns poorly written or badly deployed can have customers deciding to make the breakup permanent by hitting ‘unsubscribe.’

“The level of detail and personalization that can be integrated
into it is high, but there are also a significant number of pitfalls
of which senior marketers need to be wary.” – CMO by Adobe

What Not to Do

Before addressing the proper etiquette “do’s,” let’s visit these cringe-worthy “don’ts” in email marketing for business:

1. Don’t purchase lists or add to your database without permission.
2. Don’t neglect the unsubscribe button; that’s illegal.
3. Don’t make the unsubscribe functionality slow as molasses.
4. Don’t mark mass emails as urgent.
5. Don’t shout by using all caps. EVER!!!
6. Don’t overuse exclamation marks and emoji.
7. Don’t start with “Dear ___, I hope this finds you well…”
8. Don’t make spelling mistakes and grammatical errors.
9. Don’t write long blocks of text that resemble a book chapter.
10. Finally, don’t use email when you should pick up the phone.

Best Practices

Customer experience for your brand is a journey—and it begins at the inbox. Take it from the pros at Adobe who say, “Don’t send more, send better.”

1. Do personalize email greetings.
2. Do write email subject lines that prompt opens.
3. Do optimize preview text and taglines.
4. Do use A/B testing to continually refine results.
5. Do send the email to yourself to review it carefully.
6. Do use one or two typefaces at a maximum.
7. Do include an email signature.
8. Do clean your mailing list regularly.
9. Do place the message and call-to-action above the fold.
10. Finally, do measure and analyze results.

The Big Picture

Importantly, email marketing is not a standalone product. It’s both a key element for brand communications and a critical, early touchstone in customer experience. Sure, you can use an email marketing service provider for templates, deployment, and tracking. However, automated platforms cannot think.

The teams at Spritz keep clients a step or two ahead of the email marketing game by integrating brand strategy with a content strategy for the win. Let us know if we can lend a hand?

The post Don’t Just ‘Spray & Pray,’ eMail Marketing is Here to Stay appeared first on SpritzSF.

If only 2020 meant that all digital marketers would have perfect vision. Without a crystal ball, we can at least improve our vision by popping on some eyeglasses to take a closer look at digital marketing trends at the start of the new decade. Importantly, let’s look at a few tips about getting ahead of each trend as well.

Educated guesses? Yes. But one thing is for sure, more digital investment is overwhelmingly where budgets are headed.

What else is trending among the popular predictions for digital marketers in 2020:

1. Expect the use of voice-activated search to soar. As Google, Alexa, Siri and the rest become more and more savvy to natural human speech patterns, an action we can all take now is to continue building out long-tail keyword phrases.
2. Phones are being used less and less for telephone calls. Sophisticated chatbots are coming and they’ll soon be everywhere they are not already found. Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning allows for more personalization and better conversational marketing, giving rise to the power of chat messaging apps.
3. Video, video, video. Although Facebook was caught messing about with the metrics, it remains a fact that video is an engine that will not stop gaining speed. Due to Periscope, Snapchat, Tik Tok, and Stories, digital marketers have learned that effective video storytelling does not require a massive budget—but it does require a great story.
4. Content isn’t going down in volume and attention spans aren’t getting any longer. So, getting noticed requires an ability to surprise, delight, humor, or otherwise provoke an emotional response. Remember this when creating stories that won’t be overlooked.
5. Re-shaping the changing funnel. Social commerce, also known as shoppable posts, will be standard. Think of them as cutting in line or a shortcut into the sales funnel. Instagram and Facebook are already increasing used this way and in 2020 these posts will be enhanced with AR/VR, 360-degree videos, quizzes, and shareable polls that increase awareness and distribution and awareness.
6. Micro-influencers with authenticity and authority among targeted audience segments will continue to gain while celebrities and influencers with huge follower numbers will lose traction. Instagram wants it that way and they’ve killed “likes” as a result.
7. Website management used to be about mobile responsiveness and speed on opening. In 2020, website accessibility that’s free of barriers for users with a disability will be assessed and ranked by newly updated Google algorithms. Even the Supreme Court has weighed in on this in refusing to hear the defense by Domino’s Pizza, so everyone needs to pay attention.
8. Consumer privacy is exceedingly critical in 2020 and beyond. The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California’s Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) reaffirm the need for businesses to focus on privacy when managing data. Watch for more states to follow California’s lead.
9. Google Ads Smart Bidding uses machine learning to set bids at auction time. Read more from Google here.
10. The internet of things will take off. In 2020, 5G-compatible devices will enter the market in volume gaining 74% of mobile contracts by the close of 2025. In turn, this change enables new technology such as self-driving cars.
11. Blockchain…it’s anybody’s guess.
12. Let us know how Spritz Marketing can help you get up-to-date in 2020 and to say…

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