Over the past year, we've had the privilege of working with LOTS of wonderful clients on their email marketing programs. And though email marketing strategy is about much more than design, we love the process of developing and executing great design systems for email. For us, the challenge of creating something eye-catching and compelling within a notoriously restrictive system is hard to beat. Scroll on for a gallery of email templates we created this year.
In many cases, less is definitely more for email design. We've found that simple and consistent emails using native HTML render perfectly on all clients and convert well.
👍 Pros of simple templates:
We use highly branded emails to leverage well-established and recognizable brand systems. These often require a bit more pre-production work, as they typically require lots of custom assets to make an impact.
👍 Pros of branded templates:
This year, we've also designed some great templates that use a mix of native HTML and custom assets. In our opinion, this is a great approach, as it allows us to showcase strong brand systems without losing the flexibility afforded by HTML.
If you’d told us last year that we would be spending another holiday season amidst a pandemic and global supply chain nightmare…well, we won’t go there. But, if the last two years have taught us anything, it’s that there is always good news to be found. We have a vaccine! The economy is recovering! Ted Lasso got renewed for a third season! Despite shipping and supply chain turmoil, online holiday shopping is predicted to break records this year.
As we head into the holiday season, we’re sharing our best advice for taking advantage of another highly digital holiday season. Rest assured: There is plenty of opportunity ahead.
Get a jump on your email campaigns and promotions now! “Mega-sale day” shoppers (think Black Friday) are 73% more likely to be high spenders, but this year, you can assume that spending will be spread over a longer period of time. Create your own sale days and share them with your audience early and often.
In case you live under a rock, shipping delays will continue to be a concern for businesses and shoppers this year. Help combat any confusion by being very clear about your deadlines for shipping for the winter holidays.
Consumers expect their shopping experience to be fast, seamless, and hassle-free. So review your website performance and accessibility and make the improvements necessary to guarantee that experience. Additionally, if you haven't either rolled shipping costs into your sales price or started using free shipping as leverage to boost order values, consider this your hot tip. According to Shopify, 50% of abandoned carts are due to taxes and shipping costs. Don’t let that be you.
Social advertising is key for e-commerce prospecting and retargeting, but the space is very crowded during the holidays so competition for clicks is stiff. It's more important than ever that your ad creative be unique, eye-catching, and include movement and video whenever possible to grab a users attention.
Now is a great time to invest in both branded and non-branded terms on paid search channels like Google. A solid paid search strategy will ensure that your business is easily discoverable by people shopping for presents online, whether they are already brand loyalists or they’re just searching for specific products.
This is a big one, so we’ll bullet it out for you:
Surprisingly, Baby Boomers have been adopting mobile online shopping at a faster rate than any other group—that’s right, faster than skeptical Millennials or Gen Z! However, reaching Boomers will require a broader approach to targeting.
We suggest taking advantage of both Facebook and Google Ads’ advanced targeting options and segment messaging to different age groups. Older users tend to prefer more information up front, such as assurance a product is in stock, as well as a clear understanding of delivery options before clicking through to purchase.
Shoppers are jumping on the “buy now, pay later” bandwagon this year. According to Adobe Analytics data, online revenue from buy now pay later programs (such as Affirm) in 2021 has been 10% higher than 2020 and 45% higher than 2019. But don’t forget the basics! Adding options like Apple Pay and Google Pay can help increase conversion rates.
Now is also a great time to launch a loyalty and referral program, which will give your holiday-season customers (and their networks) great reasons to buy again. Though Q1 is historically snubbed by the economy, a great rewards program will help keep customers in your sales pipeline in early 2022. We’re big fans of Smile.io: It’s simple, intuitive, and seamlessly integrates with shopify.
2021 has continued to bring a heap of challenges, so a strong 4th quarter will be essential for many businesses. Luckily, people seem ready to celebrate this year—it’s all about getting your product in front of your customers.
If you need help getting set up for success, give us a holler. We are here to make your holiday season merry and bright.
Whether it’s a beautiful coffee table book, a well-loved novel, or some moody poetry, books make EXCELLENT gifts. Here are the books Good & Gold recommends adding to your giving list this holiday season!
For your friend who accumulated so many house plants over quarantine, you can barely fit in their house anymore...
BOTANICUM: Welcome to the Museum
by Kathy Willis, illustrated by Katie Scott
For your friend who needs some inspiration to get out bed and start making shit again...
THE WRONG WAY TO SAVE YOUR LIFE
by Megan Stielstra
For new parents whom you suspect are in for a rude awakening…
by Adam Mansbach, illustrated by Ricardo Cortes
(Or snag the box set, which includes “You Have to F*cking Eat” and “F*ck, Now There Are Two of You”)
For the badass feminist in your life…
by Roxane Gay
For your friend who needs some help slowing down and ditching grind culture…
by Jenny Odell
For your nature friend who notices all the cool mushrooms when you go on hikes together...
DEVOTIONS: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver
by Mary Oliver
For your astrology friend who is also your activist friend...
YOU WERE BORN FOR THIS: Astrology for Radical Self-Acceptance
by Chani Nicholas
For your horror friend whose movie nights always give you nightmares...
by Jac Jemc
For your trend-setting tiktok chef friend...
SON OF A SOUTHERN CHEF: Cook with Soul
by Lazarus Lynch
For your drug dealer...
THE REBEL’S APOTHECARY: A Practical Guide to the Healing Magic of Cannabis, CBD, and Mushrooms
by Jenny Sansouci
For your friend who is ready for a better way to shape community…
by bell hooks
And finally, for your slightly drunk friend...
by Alyson Brown
As digital marketers, we navigate technology changes all the time. For example, now that Apple has released new privacy features in iOS 15 and Mac OS Monterey like Mail Privacy Protection, we know it's essential to understand how those features will impact email marketing holistically.
Will Apple’s update make tracking harder? Sure. Will it make your emails any less great? Nope. Since we recently answered your SEM questions, let’s explore Apple Mail Privacy Protection and ways to prepare for it.
If you're unfamiliar with Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection update, it's basically a privacy feature that hides your IP address to block a sender from tracking your location, what you do online, and seeing if you've opened their email. It also prevents a sender from seeing the device you use to open their emails.
While this sounds like a metrics nightmare for email marketers, privacy updates like these are generally positive in the long run, making it important to adapt.
Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection features only affect Apple Mail users, and those who’ve toggled the feature within the Mail app. So, for now, you can still track anyone using the Gmail app or others outside of the Apple ecosystem.
Depending on how many of your subscribers exercise their privacy, the impact may vary. This update will, however, cause metrics like open rates, clicks per unique open rate, geolocation, device usage, or anything else captured by IP address to become less reliable or inflated.
Beyond reporting, Apple’s privacy update could change how you manage segments, resends, A/B tests and automations. For example, automations or resends triggered by non-openers will be a no-go for people using Mail Privacy Protection. Similarly, A/B tests based on open rates like subject lines will become slightly skewed for these users. But remember: open rates aren’t going away. They’re just becoming a little more mysterious or inflated. Metrics like clicks—not clicks per unique visitor—continue to be reliable.
The best place to start is taking a look to see how many of your subscribers use Apple Mail. If you’re unfamiliar with how to do that, here’s how in Mailchimp, and here’s a reporting refresher for Klaviyo.
Once you have a good sense of how many subscribers are impacted, it’s time to do a little platform housekeeping to anticipate shifty metrics. At Good & Gold, we took Mailchimp’s advice to:
As daunting as this sounds (or reads), we’re approaching this as an opportunity to continue doing what we do best: create highly engaging emails that generate revenue.
It’s been a while (we won’t say how long) since anyone at Good & Gold headed “back to school,” but we still pick up on those vibes every year as September rolls around. Check out this collection of throw-back reads from our own school “daze.”
Moody moors, haunted hallways, and English estates… not to mention the brooding Mr. Rochester and fierce first-person narrator, Miss Jane Eyre herself. A teenage Anna Louise couldn’t get enough of this gothic tome, especially the version illustrated by the quirky Dame Darcy.
This hard-hitting, prize-winning novel (which Toni Morrison herself said she wrote to remind readers how hurtful racism is) still packs a punch and resonates deeply. If you haven’t re-read this since your own school days, we recommend revisiting, especially through the lens of the BLM movement.
Dark, strange, perfectly crafted. The short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” was Katie’s first intro to sardonic Queen of Southern Gothic, Flannery O’Conner, and it may or may not haunt her still…
Not all of us got to study decadent French poet Charles Baudelaire at school, but Lucie sure did! Still a favorite poem of hers, L’albatros took Baudelaire over 10 years to complete (but it definitely won’t take you that long to read).
Not all of us were big readers from birth, but we all sure came around. When 17-year-old Carrie first read “The Old Man and the Sea,” she was blown away by how a book can transport you to another place completely. And now she’s obsessed with reading, so you know this is a good one to revisit!
No list of school favorites would be complete without “To Kill a Mockingbird”. For Rachel, nothing quite compares to the sweetness, the innocence, the loss of innocence, the family relationships, the eloquent tackling of seriously heavy stuff. And, of course, Atticus.
We've recently been fielding questions from current and prospective clients struggling with navigating YOY e-commerce numbers as the "in-person" world opens up again. If your business was one of those lucky enough to have navigated the pandemic and not only hold on to your sales revenue but grow during this strange time, you may be finding yourself having lots of conversations about how to maintain those numbers moving forward. (The old sales conundrum: any win becomes the new baseline).
So this month, we're diving into consumer trends related to e-commerce, what you can do to grow your YOY online revenue, and how to view your revenue through a new, post-(ish)-pandemic lens.
Real talk: If you’re like me then owning a business, raising kids, and trying to grab social connections when you can, all while balancing personal wellness, managing a predictable schedule feels nearly impossible these days.
I’m a home cook; I love going grocery shopping. Picking out my fresh produce and spending time creating a meal plan with seasonal ingredients is my happy place. However, recently I've had to trade in my love of in-person grocery shopping for a more efficient, online, approach to balance time with my family.
I think this is a common conundrum with many people looking for balance. Even as we exit the pandemic, as we attempt to downshift from the culture of overextension and the Immediacy Era we’ve found ourselves in, people will likely continue to adopt more efficient buying habits. This doesn't mean I will never grocery shop again (because, let’s face it, Instacart never grabs the good produce), but it does mean that I will make trade-offs between what I used to always do in-person and what I now sometimes do online. I may no longer browse in-store for a friend's birthday gift so that I can make my weekly farmers' market trip.
We're all figuring out the art of convenience versus sacrifice. The digital era may be taking more of our time, but it also allows us to streamline ongoing lifestyle needs. According to McKinsey & Company, during the pandemic era 75% of US consumers have tried a new shopping behavior.
So...back to the original question: What can you do to continue to convert more online business?
YES! Always bundle shipping into your prices! These days, shoppers get irritated when they feel they are paying for shipping—90% of consumers say they would shop online more if guaranteed a free shipping option. This is not shady; this is business. Do you publicize your manufacturing fees along with your final sales price? No, it’s business and you don't always need to show how the sausage is made!
There’s no need to include every product and sub-group in your navigation. Think of your navigation as a little guidepost. Broaden the focus; Men’s, Women’s, Home Goods, and then create your funnel or filter from there. Everyone hates being lost, make it easy for people to get to where they want to be.
They say content is king for a reason; it can pull a consumer in and close the gap on the sale. People shopping online need to know the material and size of what they are buying so they feel solid about the purchase. More information around your products will deepen any trust or loyalty between the brand and the consumer. It’s also great for SEO!
We all understand that occasionally a bad review will happen, and customers will let it go in a sea of good reviews. (Alternatively, if you're receiving several bad reviews, it's time to take a close look at your product or service.)
E-commerce can be scary; especially with environmental considerations top of mind, shoppers want to avoid the hassle of returns; they want to know what they are buying is smart and aligns with their needs. So share those reviews!
I’m a big fan of the sidebar checkout in Shopify. I love knowing what I have in my cart and what my running total is at all times (and it can tally any sale items which could mean my transaction opportunity is higher).
Additionally, I LOVE Shopify's Shop Pay...maybe a little too much, just ask my wife. It makes checking out a breeze by remembering my contact/shipping/billing details so I can quickly and efficiently navigate through the process.
Online shopping's kryptonite is an abandoned cart—if you can address those carts, then you're well on your way to capturing a big chunk of additional revenue.
Scenario: you have items in your cart, and your phone rings, baby cries, your oven timer goes off, and you completely forget what you were doing, or that shopping window has vanished. Fear not! Through SMS, the retailer can send you a quick and delightful nudge to finish up your purchase.
No, this is not annoying or overkill; it's actually helpful and nice to have a reminder and potentially save a little bit of cash. Plus, it makes me feel like I don't need to shop around.
I hope my musings on the future of e-commerce and how to leverage opportunities have helped—or at least offer some comfort. If you'd like to talk further, please reach out. Or, find me in your neighborhood produce aisle!
What a PRIDE MONTH it’s been! In honor of the queer folx at Good & Gold and ALL OVER THE WORLD this month (and beyond, forever and ever), we’ve highlighted our favorite LGBTQ+ authors and queer characters. Featuring classic comments from the G&G staff.
GIDEON THE NINTH by Tamsyn Muir
The cover quote says it all: Lesbian necromancers explore a haunted gothic palace in space
💀 - Katie
A LITTLE LIFE by Hanya Yanagihara
Like the Atlantic said when this book first came out, “the Great Gay Novel” might finally be here
“So good, so brutal.” - Rachel
HOW TO WRITE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOVEL: Essays by Alexander Chee
A mesmerizing memoir by the author of an excellent novel (The Queen of the Night), it’s possible you actually won’t be able to put this down once you’ve picked it up
“I would rather buy friends their own copy than lend this to them, because if they failed to return it, we might not be friends anymore…” - Kaitlin
BASTARD OUT OF CAROLINA by Dorothy Allison
Banned book love! Controversial, semi-autobiographical, and gritty to its core.
“Dark but deep and beautiful.” - Anna Louise
MILK FED by Melissa Broder
A truly unique novel (just like her previous one, The Pisces); dark, hilarious, sexy, emotional AF.
“Rachel is a fascinating character to get to know.” - Carrie
Given the vast landscape of platforms, strategies, and ad types that it encompasses, Search Engine Marketing is one of the toughest parts of the ever-changing digital marketing universe. Need some help navigating it? We’ve got you covered.
We are OBSESSED with house plants here at Good & Gold and are always working toward our life goal of living inside an indoor jungle. Gynelle’s book is a must-have for this!
Ooohhh boy, if you loved this TV show, you’re gonna love the book even more. Intoxicating, complex, and almost like reading your own thoughts.
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After like a year-and-a-half of not being able to go out to eat, we’ve all gotten really good at making the same five things over and over again. This decadent new cookbook will help you shake up your post-quarantine meal plan with delicious recipes from all over the globe.
This new small-press comic series is experimenting with not-for-profit publishing. Issue #1 of Goes rethinks gender norms (imagine a club where men just stand around hugging and comforting each other!!) and, according to the Ignatz-nominated author himself, is “full of metaphors.”
Introspective and profound, this memoir looks at death, illness, marriage, children, and memory. An emotional read that you won’t be able to put down—but definitely bring the tissues; a journey like Didion’s, however magical, is not without its moments of deep sorrow.
If you’re one of the 1 million plus businesses currently using Shopify, you already know that the platform handles much of the heavy lifting of e-commerce for you. With Shopify, the details that can make e-commerce a real headache to manage—shipping, fulfillment, payment processing, discounts, point of sale, integrations—are all built into the platform, so that you have access to everything you need from your dashboard. (Read our thoughts on the platform here.)
Despite those powerful, baked-in capabilities, we often see store owners miss important opportunities to optimize their websites and leverage those essential features. We’ve compiled a list of our simple tips and tricks to make sure you’re not missing out on the benefits of Shopify.
Our strong belief at Good & Gold is that if you sell products on your website, you should create easy access to those products on your homepage. Yes, it's important to use prime real estate on your homepage to establish your brand’s mission, values, and differentiators—but it’s also important to let the people shop. Whether you include a particular popular product, products within a featured collection, or a selection of primary product collections, create an easy, appealing entry point for those visitors that are ready to purchase.
Dynamic checkout buttons display on product pages as an alternative to “add to cart” buttons for single products. These buttons allow customers to skip the cart and go directly to checkout, giving them the option to speed up the checkout process if they’ve already made their purchase decision. What’s more, depending on your payment settings and the customer’s browser and device, the dynamic checkout button will show the logos for third-party “accelerated” checkout methods, like Shop Pay, Apple Pay, PayPal, etc.
The reason it’s so important to toggle on this feature is twofold: 1) Customers appreciate a quick checkout when they already know what they want, and dynamic checkout makes that possible. 2) It’s quite common for shoppers to leave products in their cart, get distracted, and forget to check out. Dynamic checkout helps to mitigate the “abandoned cart” phenomenon by skipping the cart altogether, and guiding customers swiftly from product page to checkout.
Most Shopify themes give you the option to show similar products below your individual product details on product pages. Do it! These sections are extremely effective at generating interest and encouraging further exploration. They also create a helpful tool for recapturing interest if the specific product viewed isn’t quite right for a particular customer—rather than allowing them to move on and search elsewhere, show them some additional options that might be just right.
Customer reviews build “social proof,” which is a powerful force in the world of e-commerce. We highly recommend amplifying the voices of your customers, turning them into an army of brand advocates however and whenever you can. If you’re not up for spending money to enable product reviews on your website, you can opt for Shopify’s free Product Reviews app, which is extremely simple and easy to manage. For more advanced features like review request emails, photos, and a customizable onsite widget, we recommend the Yotpo Product Reviews & Photos app.
This one is simple, but easily missed, because checkout settings for Shopify are configured in a different area than settings for other pages. To avoid a default, off-brand checkout flow, be sure to visit your checkout settings under “Theme settings,” add your logo, and customize the typography and colors of your checkout flow to match the rest of your website. A checkout sequence that doesn’t match your brand will diminish trust in your website, and likely lead to frequent abandoned checkouts.
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Of course, these five tips are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the available features in Shopify, and our thoughts about how to best optimize your store. If you’re seeing a low conversion rate on your Shopify site, or wondering why your store isn’t performing the way you think it should, we'd love to help out with conversion analysis and UX audit.
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You can take big, decadent bites out of this memoir. Nourishment and empowerment for the feminist soul (or any soul, really).
A reevaluation of what craft means outside of the definition established by white male writers and their cultural values. Recreate the workshop, revisit the syllabi, remake a culture.
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Science Fiction geopolitical space opera, please stand up! Like a more inclusive Star Wars fused with a less sexually violent Game of Thrones, this Hugo Award-winning tome (just under five-hundo pages) examines power, colonization, and what it means to love a place that’s hurt you before.
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Speaking of Star Wars… We’re actually listening to this one! Read by the late, great Carrie Fisher herself and her daughter Billie Lourd, this grammy-winning audiobook has us cracking up AND tearing up all at the same time.
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Most of us are really bad at seeing how great we are. This book won’t put up with that shit anymore— YOU ARE A BADASS and now it’s time to start acting like it, y’all!
When figuring out how to market your business, it’s easy to get carried away with what’s new: new products, an upcoming sale, what’s trending, what your competitors are doing, that new social media platform you’re not sure whether or not you should be on...
And while some new things are important, it takes significant time and ongoing effort to keep up with all of the things, all of the time.
Here’s the thing: your customers aren’t worried about which product or service is the newest. They care about what meets their needs in the moment.
That’s why email automations—when correctly planned and customized—are the unsung hero in your marketing toolbox. They’re still sent out to address customer needs in real time, keeping you relevant and timely. But you can plan them in advance.
There’s still no guarantee every email will be opened (spoiler: they won’t). And this is not about creating emails you can “set and forget.” Even the best automations need a periodic refresh.
But if you flip your assumptions about automated emails on their head and look for what is needed in key moments for your customers, instead of what’s new for your business, you’ll unearth new opportunities to win customers over.
Here are four of Good and Gold’s favorite opportunities for email automations that don’t sound like a robot sent them.
No one knows your customers better than you do! And we’re willing to bet you’ve already thought about what will help them make a purchase decision at key moments. So whether they just made their first purchase, subscribed to your list, or browsed a category on your e-commerce site, think about what would be most helpful to them next.
Then send it straight to their inbox! (If you make them go search for answers, they might find your competitor instead.)
Automations to consider: Onboarding or getting started guides, abandoned cart reminders, related products or accessories
Just like any other relationship, it’s important to not only tell your customer about yourself, but also remind them why they’re important to you.
If you have a loyalty program, it’s simple to set up automations that congratulate customers on accomplishments, such as reaching a new tier or reward level, or remind them of rewards they can use. You can also celebrate their birthday or customer anniversary with special discounts or promotions.
Automations to consider: Reminders and opportunities for loyalty program members, birthdays and anniversaries, a personal message from you or your team
For your new customer, the most exciting moment isn’t when they click “purchase.” It’s when your product arrives! Lean into that moment and use your automations to demonstrate you’re still thinking about them and interested in what they have to say.
Automations to consider: Use or product care instructions, check in after their purchase arrives, request they leave a review or share a picture on your website or social media
Do you produce a lot of informational content on your website or social media channels? Chances are your customers aren’t seeing every single thing. Help make sure your subscribers never miss helpful content by sending it straight to their inbox, too. You can automate sending your latest blog post, or even repurposing evergreen content like FAQs into a standalone series.
Automations to consider: Regular news or blog posts, new customer onboarding flows, evergreen FAQ content, best-selling product highlights
When set up correctly as part of your overall email marketing strategy, these automated emails aren’t simply transactional. They address customer needs in real time, are personalized based on your relationship and each customer’s actions, and keep your company top of mind—and top of inbox—with minimal extra effort.
Hear ye, hear ye! In a perfectly awkward virtual ceremony in February, Good & Gold picked up three honors from the American Marketing Association's MAX Awards. Here's a closer look at the awards, and the work that earned them.
In the Email Category, we earned a prize for our work on Oak & Oscar's automated email series. The overview: Through thorough discovery and research, we developed an email automation program designed to deliver thoughtful content to discerning customers at just the right time for independent watch company Oak & Oscar. SEE THE CASE STUDY >
In the Website Category, we won for our redesign and migration of the Infinity Images website. The overview: Though Infinity Images produces world-class, innovative work, the brand’s website felt dated, cluttered, and unprofessional. With our website redesign and migration, we aimed to more successfully communicate the brand’s identity—and most importantly, its capabilities—while also exuding a high level of sophistication and polish. SEE THE CASE STUDY >
Finally, we won Best In Show, a category we did not know existed, but sure makes us feel like an overly proud show dog!
While winning awards is nice, what's really great is being forced to step back and recognize our team's tireless hard work, and the success that it's brought to our clients—brands we wholeheartedly support and believe in. In a year without much reason to celebrate, little nods like this feel especially nice. Hats off, Team Good & Gold!
Right now, economists predict that the GDP will likely be on the rise through 2025, which offers a glint of hope as we begin to emerge from a historically disruptive pandemic. And with a $1.9 trillion aid package on the way, plus many small businesses receiving additional Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans over the next few months, we expect to see continued signs of economic stimulation and consumer spending this spring.
So, what does this mean for your business? It means it’s the perfect time to generate buzz around your business and products, growing customer interest as we head into a season of increased spending. Forward-looking consumer confidence is up, suggesting that that we’re likely to see more consumers are shopping, marking, flagging, and planning in the months ahead. Given that activity, we’re believers that “Brand Awareness,” or the familiarity of consumers with a particular product or service, is the most important stage within your marketing funnel right now.
To that end, the Good & Gold team gathered and brainstormed ideas for building awareness and interest as we move into a more optimistic season. Here’s what we came up with:
All in all, we know it’s been a tough year. And we know that your business probably doesn’t look much like it did this time last year. But we firmly believe that brighter days are ahead, and that as we emerge from this challenging period, we’ll enter a new season of innovation, creativity, connection, and financial growth. If you need our assistance preparing for those brighter days, we’re always here to help.
As we step into Black History Month, more brands than ever will be voicing their support for the Black community—but unless that support is followed by consistent, meaningful action, it’s more about marketing than making an impact. We’ve gathered some of our favorite local and national organizations working to make racial justice an everyday effort, and you can support them all year-round in different ways!
Created by Aurora James, Founder and Creative Director of Brother Vellies, the 15 Percent Pledge is calling on major retailers to commit at least 15% of their shelf space to Black-owned businesses — a critical step toward economic equality. Support the movement by taking the pledge yourself!
Immediate action brings immediate impact. Cameron Whitten and Salomé Chimuku started the Black Resilience Fund as a way to bring financial relief and resources directly to Black Portlanders, helping families and individuals cover expenses and maintain stability during tough times.
In the past year, this Minneapolis grassroots initiative has earned tons of well-deserved recognition. Now, they’re using their platform to lift up other local non-profits who share their mission to make streets safe for the BIPOC community.
The rate of violence against Black transgender and gender-nonconforming people is unacceptable, and it’s well past time to do something about it. You can make a difference in so many ways — check out BTLM’s list of queer-focused organizations that deserve your support.
Did you know annual sales for Black women business owners are five times smaller than the average for all women-owned businesses? Before you make your next purchase, explore BFBW’s business directory (or click here if you belong on the list!).
So, how will you and your business commit to change long-term? Share your ideas with us on Linkedin or Twitter and help inspire others to do the same.
In the five years since 2020 began, we've navigated a rollercoaster of emotions—most of them on the spectrum between challenging and devastating. Rather than take you on a tour of those dark journeys, we thought we'd share some of the bright spots of 2020—the stuff that got us through, made us laugh, or provided just the distraction we needed.
(We've also collected our most-played music for our annual Spotify playlist, and we've compiled our poems of the month...which provide a strange and fascinating window into the collective consciousness of our small team.)
Without further ado...the silver linings:
Copywriting with SEO in mind can feel like speaking two languages at once. You’re trying to successfully communicate with readers, which often requires being friendly, helpful, and entirely approachable. At the same time, you’re aiming to satisfy ever-changing search algorithms, which can be overwhelmingly technical and—in this marketer’s opinion—a little stiff. So, how do you write great copy that follows SEO best practices and appeals to readers?
Search engines are designed to show people the most helpful, relevant information available. With the very same goal in mind, strong website copy is clear, concise, and easy to read. It delivers valuable information with a hint of your brand’s personality. Write with the reader in mind and your keywords will fall into place naturally. Resist the temptation to stuff each sentence with search terms.
Create a list of keywords and phrases people might search to find your website or content. Not sure where to start? Answer the Public and Google Trends can help guide you in the right direction. The trick is to think like a customer; what would you search if you were looking for your own product or service?
Your list should include keywords and phrases with a mix of search intent, meaning the purpose of someone’s search. Are they looking for information? Are they ready to make a transaction? Are they looking for a specific type of page, such as a blog or a clearance section?
Complete your list by looking for possible combinations and alternatives. This will help ensure that you have plenty of options to choose from while writing, so you can find what flows best without wondering whether you’re on the right track.
In both short-form and long-form copy, place your main topic or keyword toward the beginning of the sentence, paragraph, or title. This helps search engines easily recognize what your web page is about. It also ensures that any snippets shown in search results will include your primary subject, sending a clear message to users and helping them spot your helpful content.
Stories keep people engaged. As Yoast explains, “Storytelling is good for SEO because it will make your post nice to read. And, creating content that people like is exactly what Google wants.” Plus, the benefits go beyond pleasing readers. “If people like your content, you’ll also have a higher chance that people will remain on your website. Your time on page increases and your bounce rate will decrease. These factors will help tremendously with the ranking of your post.”
This may feel silly at first, but it works! Reading your copy out loud is easily the best way to identify phrases and sentences that feel forced, jargony, dry, or inhuman. It’s also a great way to understand whether you’ve stuffed too many keywords in one place: if it sounds like overkill to you, a customer will probably feel the same way. On the other hand, if you find yourself reading aloud and wondering “Wait, what am I talking about?” then it’s time to use more keywords from your list.
Today marks five years since we’ve been in 2020...amirite? Oof, what a year! At Good & Gold, it’s hard not to look at the year through the lens of digital marketing, and what it’s meant for our clients and the larger online landscape. There’s plenty to chew on, and we are constantly having conversations with both clients and colleagues about the e-commerce landscape and its surprising trends, twists, and turns.
As we step into November, we thought we’d compile some interesting facts as well as our best advice for taking advantage of what will no doubt be the most digital holiday season ever. Spoiler alert: There is plenty of opportunity ahead.
Let’s face it: Most households will be staying put this holiday season to keep themselves and their loved-ones safe. This is bad news for families hoping to gather with their nearest and dearest, but good news for retailers—that’s quite a bit of household budget freed up for online spending.
In a survey from the National Retail Federation, 78% of respondents indicated they would be shopping earlier than usual this year. Meanwhile major brands are pushing their holiday sales to earlier and earlier start dates. In other words, expect the floodgates of digital sales and promotions to open by mid-November.
Indeed, one in three U.S. consumers reported shopping online at least daily (34%) and one in five (19%) said they shop online multiple times per day, according to Vertebrae’s consumer survey. For e-commerce brands, this dramatic shift online presents huge opportunities to build and maintain market share.
Holiday Retail Sales Numbers (Source: Deloitte)
2017: $948 billion / 2018: $971 billion / 2019: $1007 billion / 2020: $1150 billion
67% of shoppers said they plan to confirm online that an item is in stock before going to buy it, which underscores the importance of accurate inventory information. Plus, searches for “available near me” have grown globally by more than 100% since last year (Source: Think With Google)
It won’t just be your traditional online shopping pros taking advantage of e-commerce this year—9% of all online holiday shoppers will be brand-new online shoppers. (Source: Adobe)
Recent studies have shown the following: A one-second delay in a site’s load time can have a negative 20% impact on conversion rates. Slow-loading sites cost businesses up to $1.4 trillion annually. And 21% of people abandon their shopping cart because checkout took too long. (Source: Facebook)
How to prepare for the approaching onslaught of digital holiday shoppers? We have no shortage of ideas…
Get a jump on your email campaigns and promotions now! “Mega-sale day” shoppers (think Black Friday) are 73% more likely to be high spenders, but this year, you can assume that spending will be spread over a longer period of time. Create your own mega-sales days and share them with your audience.
Consumers expect their shopping experience to be fast, seamless, and hassle-free. So review your website performance and accessibility and make the improvements necessary to guarantee that experience. Additionally, if you haven't either rolled shipping costs into your sales price or started using free shipping as leverage to boost order values, consider this your hot tip. According to Shopify, 50% of abandoned carts are due to taxes and shipping costs. Don’t let that be you.
According to Adobe, 42% of all online sales in 2020 were made on mobile devices—a 55% increase from 2019. While traffic, average order value, and total sales from mobile are rising, e-commerce conversion rates on mobile are still about half what they are on desktop. Making sure your site is mobile-friendly, with a streamlined checkout process, is an excellent way to give yourself a competitive advantage over your competitors.
Now is a great time to invest in both branded and non-branded terms on paid search channels like Google. A solid paid search strategy will ensure that your business is easily discoverable by people shopping for presents online, whether they are already brand loyalists or they’re just searching for specific products.
This is a big one, so we’re bulleting it out for you:
Surprisingly, Baby Boomers have been adopting mobile online shopping at a faster rate than any other group—that’s right, faster than skeptical Millennials or Gen Z! However, reaching Boomers will require a broader approach to targeting.
We suggest taking advantage of both Facebook and Google Ads’ advanced targeting options and segment messaging to different age groups. Older users tend to prefer more information up front, such as assurance a product is in stock, as well as a clear understanding of delivery options before clicking through to purchase.
Now is also a great time to launch a loyalty and referral program, which will give your holiday-season customers (and their networks) great reasons to buy again. Though Q1 is historically snubbed by the economy, a great rewards program will help keep customers in your sales pipeline in early 2021.
While many businesses have been lucky enough to weather the financial storm of 2020, a strong 4th quarter is essential. Luckily, many of the factors making life feel downright difficult right now are also the ones encouraging online shopping, especially over the holidays. And you can rest assured that the giants of online retail (Google, Facebook, Shopify, Amazon, etc.) are doing everything they can to connect you with your customers this season.
If you need help executing on any of the ideas up above, give us a shout. We are here to make your holiday season merry and bright.
Google’s algorithms change all the time, but the basics remain the same. A strong structural foundation, a sense of trustworthiness of a site, and solid, compelling content are always core elements of an SEO strategy. Some websites need help with the fundamentals ,while others have been in spaces for years where winning can and will happen at the edges of advanced SEO tactics. We aim to always be flexible, but also disciplined enough, to serve those purposes and any in between.
At the top of our mind whenever we take on a new SEO project technical soundness. To that end, we always begin with an audit to identify and fix anything that may be suppressing search results, including:
We’re also continuing to monitor for these sorts of technical issues on a regular basis.
We’ve dedicated ourselves to taking a fully customized, strategic approach to search engine optimization. A client selling coffee nationally online is likely to have different needs than a winemaker with a strong local presence. Our approach to SEO strategy development reflects that and aims to:
Ultimately, it’s the same as everything we do: drive traffic and revenue to your website. But in many ways, organic traffic is your most valuable traffic—the users who are most urgently seeking your brand and products are generally arriving through organic search. Furthermore, SEO provides and gains uplift for and from all of your other marketing efforts. For instance, customers who learn about your brand on social media often come back through organic search to purchase, while customers who find you via organic search can be added to retargeting lists for your other advertising efforts. At the end of the day, SEO sits at the very center of all your marketing efforts, and we want to make sure its working for your business.
Retargeting is the common practice of placing ads in front of someone who has previously shown interest in your brand. Depending on who you speak to and what platform you’re running ads on, retargeting can also be called remarketing, but it’s all mostly the same process of defining a category of users based on website activity or engagement on social media, and reintroducing your brand to those users with targeted advertising.
Would you prefer to market to someone you know has previously interacted with your brand, or someone who might be interested in your brand? Your answer should highlight the value of retargeting. It’s fairly easy to understand why people who engage with your brand on social media or view products on your website are more likely to be interested in your advertising—they have already demonstrated their interest, and they just need some final motivation to cross the finish line. In fact, retargeted users are found to be 70% more likely to convert.
Retargeting is also incredibly useful in keeping users in your purchase cycle. Regardless of how users are getting to your website, they are unlikely to be ready to make a purchase. Only around 4% of people visiting a website for the first time, on average, are ready to make a purchase. Without leveraging retargeting, any traffic that comes to your site becomes, essentially, a gamble. They might purchase, or they might leave. And if they leave without purchasing anything, or without providing their email address, they’re ultimately a lost user—all you can do is hope that they decide to come back some day. With retargeting campaigns, those users remain in your orbit, and you can continue to nurture them until they’re ready to make that purchase.
With proper tracking and data collection, there are plenty of options for retargeting your consumers in just the right way at the right time. Instagram and Facebook in particular have powerful options, allowing you to retarget users who have…
While there are plenty of platforms that allow for retargeting ads, including Google Display, Pinterest, and Facebook, we’ve seen particularly impressive performance with retargeting ads on Instagram in particular. Instagram allows you to take advantage of the well-defined and powerful Facebook Pixel to keep your brand top of mind, announce promotions, and showcase products to cart abandoners. However, its ability to effectively target users on mobile devices is what truly sets it apart, particularly important given that today 67% of consumers partake in “digital window shopping,” and by 2021 we expect 54% of all online sales to come from mobile devices.
On Instagram, Carousel, Shopping, and Collection ads are excellent ways to promote specific products, while Stories, Photo, and Explore ad units can help effectively keep your brand top of mind. (Read about all of the placements and formats available on Facebook and Instagram here.)
Just like any other advertising campaign, tailoring your advertising to your audience is imperative. For example, presenting users that have viewed specific products with retargeting ads featuring those specific products will have a great impact on your ad conversion rates. Likewise, advertising new or supplemental products to past purchasers will be much more effective than advertising the same products you showcase when introducing new customers to your brand.
All too often, we see companies invest in paid media and SEO without taking full advantage of non-converting visitors to their site. Given that showing ads of products that users have previously researched means they are 60% more likely to even notice your ads, this is the lowest hanging fruit in the digital marketing forest, and often the first place we focus when building a successful strategy.
