CCT356

=Annotated Bibliography=

Source: .Net magazine - [] Keywords: Google analytics, web design, customer behaviour, digital marketing, visitors, engagement, data
 * Five essential Google Analytics tips for web designers – Iain Harper **

This article offers web designers 5 important insights how to use Google Analytics to understand online customer behaviour to create effective websites.

Firstly, initial impressions are crucial. Websites should be promisingly easy and enjoyable the longer a viewer stays. The “Bounce rate” metric in Google Analytics is useful for gauging first impressions by showing how many people left without clicking on another link. Some elements such as the header, main navigation have the most impact and designed well, should trigger positive engagement.

Secondly, subpages and landing pages should be just as engaging as the homepage. Less than 40% of visitors enter a website at the home page, therefore landing pages must be just effective at attracting traffic. Google Analytics allows for designers to compare volume of visits, time on site, and bounce rate to identify what pages work.

Thirdly, commercial performance is just as important as conversion. The customer journey from landing to conversion must be streamlined, intuitive and enjoyable. Whatever a website’s goals are, it’s possible to track where customers cut their engagement and when they follow through with a transaction. Often with design, less is more.

Fourthly, websites are increasingly accessed from mobile devices. Comparing average bounce rate, time on site and pages viewed per visit with the data for mobile visitors provides insight on behaviour on different devices.

Lastly, a web designer can make comparisons between different kinds of visitors. Segregating types of visitors guides creativity. Google Analytics’ “Custom Segments” allow for visitors to be sorted by organic searches, referrals, new and returning

Create Amazing Newsletters
Source: .Net magazine - [] Keywords: email, newsletters, digital design, creativity, projects, planning, successful

Email newsletters are not new, but effective in spreading messages, promoting products and getting visitors. Done correctly, it can be the key to successful projects but doing them wrong can turn off potential customers. This article is a guide of successful email marketing from the idea to coding.

Objectives and target audience must be identified. Consistency is important for both content and theme. Email newsletters don’t have to follow old formats and typical designs, pushing the boundaries and making email interesting creates a lasting impression. Relevance is also important, because no one wants to be spammed. Simple touches to animations, buttons and outward links can make a site look polished without going over the top. Little details complement a conservative table layout. Testing is done across multiple platforms to ensure performance.

Five helpful tips on email newsletters:
 * Files should be clean and tidy
 * Emails look the same
 * Give text plenty of room
 * One or two animations
 * Think of design in horizontal strips

=Online Ad Design=

 Coming up with designs for this advertising campaign was a bit more difficult than I thought. The first thing I had to do was think about what product, service, or cause I’d like to create awareness for and also the target audience it would appeal to. I chose to focus my advertising campaign towards college students because I felt it would be easier to appeal to people within my own age group. After deciding I wanted to appeal to college students, I chose to create a mock sandwich shop that would attract students. I tried to take a spin on the normal sandwich shop by having their selling point (bigger than average subs for low price) evident in the name “Giga-Sub.” I retained Subway’s green and yellow colour-way but created my own backgrounds and logos. All of the pictures used were photos taken by me, and I was happy to finally have gotten a chance to show off my random culinary creations.

 In order to build brand awareness I had to maintain a level of uniformity. I was tempted to create different coloured backgrounds like the checker-print one I used in my adverts, but I decided not to because I felt it may disrupt the cohesion between all the adverts. I decided to keep the company logo simple to its name, and used big bold fonts to emphasize it. I designed a sandwich with a star on it to bring attention to the current deal I wished to promote.

 One of the ways I wanted to drive consumer demand was to showcase the food, and use catch-phrases that would make a student hopefully laugh then possibly hungry after. I also wanted to interpolate the would-be viewer by addressing them directly in the adverts as “you.” I did this because trying to use the third person voice in my catch-phrases didn’t work; the direct appeal was more effective (ie. College students are hungry vs. You are hungry). One thing I wish I had taken the time to do was make the food come to life by animating toppings falling or having the subs assemble themselves in the ad. Visually, I think static banners do their job, but having some animation is especially memorable, aslong as it’s not overdone. I feel my adverts could have been improved if I also adapted a college student’s point of view, using the same food shots but imagining them on a table mat with textbooks, empty bottles, and other college remnants.

 One major challenge I faced was incorporating all the elements of my brand in each advert. I wanted to incorporate the company logo, the sandwiches/salads/snacks text to indicate what’s being sold, and the $8 sub deal sticker. Because of the limited size dimensions, I wasn’t able to incorporate all three for all the ads without it looking overcrowded.

 Overall, this marketing campaign taught me a lot about how much planning actually goes into making display ads. Looking back, I wish I had adapted the college student’s point of view visually for these adverts instead of creating general adverts, and taken the time to animate them aswell. I feel my catch-phrases were the strongest elements on these ads, and I should have made them more prominent in order to draw attention. I learned that all of these elements needed to be implemented strategically, and not just collaged together.

=Online Ad Critique=

Campaign #1: **Karmaloop**

Karmaloop.com uses banner ads to create traffic within their boutiques and programs, leading the visitor to learn more about the company, gain discounts and rewards, and most importantly give them a chance to share that brand as a member of a ‘street team.’ The limited advertising on the website itself indicates a sponsorship payment model, since the ads only direct customers within the site or to their network. The adverts target young-adults and adults (age 18-25) with an urban lifestyle, or an interest in urban fashion and culture. The adverts also usually pertain to seasonal holidays which would appeal to the casual shopper looking for gifts. The use of the same models for their ads and product feeds creates a homogeneity that builds awareness for their brand. Their ads also appeal to their current customers by presenting new products and current sales.

The adverts are created in an attempt to drive action on the Karmaloop website and its affiliate boutiques, brands, and membership programs. Following the adverts leads the customer to understanding the large scale of the company and also get better insider deals and rewards by signing up. (Figure 1) There’s Plndr.com for discount Karmaloop clothing and limited time sales, and their Monark Karmaloop Elite membership program where a customer pays for a monthly exclusive, limited edition gift to their door. Karmaloop’s success is greatly due to its word of mouth marketing, and the spread of its rep team (Figure 1). The rep team ingeniously employs social media as a means of marketing while as an affinity program rewards its community of karmaloop shoppers with discounts and points. Karmaloop also employs an affiliate marketing program as part of the Linkshare Affiliate Network. Advertisers receive compensation when their visitors make a purchase on karmaloop.

This campaign occurred to me when a friend told me you could buy Karmaloop clothes for lower prices on Plndr.com. The savings were a lot greater compared to buying off the home site, and customers are inclined to return to see frequently new sales. I believe the marketing campaign was effective because the ads allowed opportunities for the visitor to engage with the brand itself. A visitor is invited to join memberships that would give discounts and special rewards, and not only buy the brand but represent it through grassroots social media such as lookbook accounts and public galleries.

Campaign #2: **Pixdaus**



This is a banner advert for pixdaus.com, a photostream website for nature photography where users vote on the best photos which give them more exposure.

This advert appear to be geared towards creative individuals looking for inspiration or photographers looking to share their work. It could also appeal to visitors to the website environmentalgraffiti.com who are just looking to look at images quickly rather than read through blog posts.

Through this advert pixdaus tries to advance traffic to its website, and potentially have visitors subscribe to share and vote on photographs.

This ad was seen on environmentalgraffiti.com, one of the largest environmental online magazines. Environmental graffiti features user-created stories and content, and pixdaus features a live photofeed using RSS.

The advert uses no rich media but presents visually attractive images. Its simplicity as an advert can be argued to be too plain in today’s digital age, but it is effective in keeping true to the site’s purpose as a photography sharing platform. The style of the pixdaus logo is homologous to environmental graffiti’s logo, which creates a unified identity for its visitors to recognize.

[] []