It’s that time of year again when we’re all finishing off our last pieces of work and heading for Christmas drinks in celebration of our two weeks off. Unfortunately though your website won’t be getting any rest this Christmas as it will be relied upon to provide great customer service while you’re enjoying your turkey and stuffing.

Providing excellent customer service online is essential and as you know, creating satisfied customers is they key to succeeding in any business. It is equally, if not more important to keep your customers satisfied when dealing with them online as it is when dealing with them in person.

So, how can you make sure your website delivers great customer service for you?

- Make sure you provide your customers with clear instructions

Customers do not like websites that are confusing and difficult when they’re trying to buy from you. Your website should provide clear instructions enabling your customers to shop easily. Make sure you give your customers concise details about the product, how to pay for their orders, how the product will be shipped and how the customer can track their order. If your website is providing a service, make sure you show your customers how to use your service and what it entails.

- Pay attention to customer’s questions and concerns

It is important for customers to know that they can contact you if they need to. Make sure you always provide a clear email address or telephone number your customers can use to get in touch. For times when you can’t personally respond to an enquiry, it is beneficial for you to provide a frequently asked questions page. This is an efficient way for you to provide answers to any questions your customers may have. The more efficient you are in responding to customer’s questions, the greater your customer satisfaction will be.

- Always ask for customer feedback

Asking customers their opinions on how they can be better served allows your business to improve your customer service. By taking customers suggestions into consideration you will be able to make necessary improvements. You will also provide your customers with the satisfaction of knowing that they are being listened to.

- Pay attention to returning customers

The more you know about your customers, the better level of service you can offer them. By paying attention to customer details you will be able to connect with customers on a more personal level. Give your customers the option of receiving email notices or send them personalised emails every now and then. By sending updates and special occasion offers, as well as notices regarding new products that may interest customers, you will make your customers feel important. Customers who are satisfied before, during and after the sale are customers that will return to your website.

It gives me great pride to announce that last night, Bryan Adams, Managing Director was awarded Young Entrepreneur of The Year at the DLIB Livercool Awards.   

As I’m sure you’ll agree, this award was greatly deserved by Bryan - a true business leader that has made great waves in the creative industry and grown his vision into the huge success that today, is Ph.Creative. 

Ph.Creative would like to express sincere thanks to everyone who voted, and supported us, and say that we are proud to have established long-term relationships with all of our clients and associates. 

I’d like to express my congratulations to both the Ph.Creative team, and to Bryan – a creative genius, an inspirational leader, and a great friend. 

May our dream continue…

At a recent presentation entitled “Getting the best out of your website” the speaker mentioned how it doesn’t matter how your website looks as long as you can get their contact details easily.  I disagree.
How many times have you clicked onto a website and clicked off it almost immediately because it’s just a bunch of text, text and more text?  In this consumer focused environment looks ARE everything!
Look at these two websites ↓↓↓

www.therenewableenergycentre.co.uk

www.eco-environments.co.uk

Both websites provide information on renewable energy and the benefits from using all the various sources. However, which website would entice you? Personally, Eco Environments looks slick, fun and professional whereas the renewable energy centre, whilst it’s oozing with information, is an immediate turn off due to the sheer amount of block text.
Influencing your clients through your website is relatively easy; all you need to show is your creative side to wow your audience. Five key areas that I always encourage anyone trying to improve their website include:

1. Make it impressive- using your Company colours ties your Brand and website together.
2. Easy to Navigate- don’t bombard your potential customers with hundreds of pages, all full corporate info. Keep your titles focused so everyone can find what they need easily.
3. Quality Content. Your website should be informative but NOT boring. Remember it’s about enticing your potential clients not killing them with dull, uninspiring jargon.
4. Keep it up-to-date! Let your public know what you’ve been up to. Which clients you’re working with, who’s written a testimonial about your company etc. You’re proud of your company so why not shout about it.
5. Finally, (and arguably the most important) Contact Information. Have your telephone number, email address, Blackberry Pin, Linked In Address, whatever it is, on show!
“There’s nothing worse than scrapping around a website trying to find a phone number... Usually I’ll get frustrated and try another site” (Victoria Wareham-) DONT LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU! 

I hope this has been helpful, and remember the greatest thing about a website is that it's accessible to an enormous volume of people from almost any location. Therefore why not make it as read-able and polished as possible to persuade your potential clients.

What everyone asks first is, how many visitors did we get to our website? 

No matter how long you’ve had your website, your analytics tool, who you are or what you do! This is always the first question, your natural instinct.  So let’s look at a couple of variations: 

Visits 

Also be known as ‘total visitors’.  Simply put how many people visited your website in a given timeframe.   But, in this metric the same person could visit you website 5 times in a day and it would be counted five times.  This leads me onto... 

Unique Visits 

This is basically home many ‘unique’ people have visited your website in a given timeframe.  So, it doesn’t take into account repeat visit, well it does but it won’t include users who visit your website, say 5 times in a day. 

For example: I visit the BBC website 5 times in a day (to keep on top of the sport of course!). This would show as: 

• Visits:     5
• Unique Visits:    1 

I do this for a week: 

• Visits:    35
• Unique Visits:    1 

Why should you care and what you need to care about? 

They provide the foundation of the activity coming to your website.  I personally consider ‘unique visitors’ as more important of the two, as this in ‘new’ people coming to you shop, business.  How do they react, what actions do they take, how quickly do they leave, and a host other insights can be gained. However loyalty and ‘recency’ are also really important in building relationships and selling more – but we’ll be talking about this in the next week or two. 

So, pretty straightforward but you’d be amazed how people can get confused, so let’s all get on the ‘same page’ and I’ll define some more basics over the next week or so and then we can get down to some real conversion busting tips. 

Google Dave 

PS...Remember post your comments; let me know what you’d like to know.   

Saturday the 31st October and I wake up rather excited.  This Saturday, wasn’t going to be any ordinary day. This day would be the day I abseil 120ft down the world famous Liver building. I peer out the window, no sign of rain and not too windy, it’s a good start. I dig out my trainers (not seen them in a while!) put on some comfy clothes and suddenly started to feel a twinge of nerves. I drag my boyfriend away from his PS3 (for moral support of course!) and off we head to meet my fellow ph dare devil buddies. As fate would have it, we meet in a bar around the corner – needless to say, the temptation for a drink is high but sadly prohibited. I guess if anyone’s going to jump off one of the UK’s tallest buildings, they may as well have a clear head!  Feeling pretty calm now initial nervs have gone away, Helen seems confident too, as for Steve, I’ve got the suspicion he’d rather be elsewhere!  

At registration we’re given a rather fetching black t-shirt to wear and some sweets. These soften the blow that we’ve got a 2 hour delay! The two hour wait allows for plenty of time to really realise what we’ve got ourselves into and watch the other participants. No one appears to be falling to their death, so all look’s good to me. There’s a large crowd of people watching, a DJ playing and a generally nice ambience to the day. Before we know it Group 2 at 2pm - aka team ph is up.

Once at the top of the building (but still inside) we’re fitted out in a harness, a helmet and some ridiculously big gardening style gloves!? After the long wait, I’m very eager to get it over with, I’m feeling decidedly confident about the whole thing. Helen, Steve and myself are lead outside on the top of the building to wait out turn. Helen goes first and I watch her disappear to begin her decent, I’m eager to have my turn. Steve lets me go next, he’s looking a bit a peaky and I wonder if he’s going to bail? Just then a fully grown, super tough looking man comes barging past us close to tears ‘Sod that’ he says! Uh oh, is it really that scary?

It’s finally my turn, a skinny little guy sucking a lolly attaches me to my ropes and instructs me to back my heels up the edge…it is the most unnatural thing to back up to the edge of a 120ft building! But once I’m over the edge, I’m loving it! It’s amazing to be that high up. I take in the views as I go down but it’s over in minutes, gutted. I want to do it again! I see Helen once I’m back on the ground and am glad to see Steve made it too! We’ve all done it!!

We all agree it was a brilliant experience a fantastic opportunity to raise money for The Stroke Association.

For our next challenge we’re thinking bigger and better….a sky dive? Watch this space…

Over recent weeks, Ph HQ has seen its fair share of ailments.  From Swine Flu, seasonal migraines to severe tonsillitis – which turned out to be just a sore throat (OK, yes, that was me, but it felt a lot worse at the time.) 

With flu season looming, it’s only natural that at the first sign of an niggling headache or prickly throat, that our defence mechanism kicks in and we suffer a 20 second panic that we too have succumbed to the office exposed virus.  Call in: Dr. Google.  Today, one in seven people search the web for information on illnesses. As a self-confessed Hypochondriac, this is the perfect solution for busy professionals – no time taken out of the office, waiting days for an appointment or sitting around in a waiting room full of spluttering OAP’s. We do our shopping, book holidays and even socialise on the web, so it’s common sense that we use the web to monitor our health.  And we are now never more than a few clicks away from that panic relieving diagnosis.  But are search engine health checks actually making us worse? 

Last week, throat gripped with pain and sipping despondently on a Lemsip (thanks Charlie), I found myself compelled to check out my illness for myself.  Tapping in ‘sore throat’ to a search engine, from the results that flood the screen, I have a sudden panic that Halls Soothers aren’t my answer… Throat Cancer, Swine Flu and Dengue Fever are listed on the first page.  

As a nation, we are becoming increasingly shocked by the search engine results found when searching for our self-diagnosis.  Though there may well be actually nothing wrong we opt for thinking the worst, as we trust that these sites are accurate in their findings.  Introducing… Cyberchondria.  

On further research I found that a recent study by Microsoft showed that search engine diagnosis leads us to believe that despite simply having a mild headache or a bout of sniffles, we are actually at death’s door.  In a search for ‘Headache’, rather than highlighting common causes such as tiredness or caffeine overload, 25% of results point to…Brain Tumours.   

The problem here is that search engines have no ‘probability’ filter, so serious conditions will continue to come up as often as simple complaints.  So, if we believe all we read from our online GP, headaches tell us we have brain tumours, back pain is a sign of osteoporosis and swollen glands suggest the cancer, Lymphoma.

Microsoft are planning to create a smarter search engine, which will spot a medical query and direct it to the right site. 

In the meantime (it may take a while!), for all the Cyberchondriacs out there, my advice is to stick to sites with credentials, that have been recently updated and don’t steer you with one-sided advice.  And watch out for websites sponsored by companies trying to flog you their ‘miracle products’. If you do have a brain tumour, it will take more than a £50 miracle cream, a magnetic heat pack or ‘free shipping’ herbal remedies to fix it.

You may have noticed at the bottom right hand corner of our blog we have our 'Office Music', which is an rss feed pulled in from my own last.fm account.

I’ve mostly been using Spotify to stream music while at the same time scrobbling (automatic track logging) to my last.fm account, so last.fm would saves all my stats of what artists and tracks we’ve been listening to in the office!

I’m one of the lucky users that joined Spotify as a free member, before they stopped allowing you to join for free unless you have an invite from a full premium member.

I recently logged into my last.fm account only to find I’d tallied up over 25,000 plays!

I was also surprised to see the number of tracks for each artist especially my favourites...

What does your office do for music entertainment? Radio, Personal iPod , or do you sit in silence?

I've recently been working on a site for a brand new skincare product and have had numerous conversations about models. Not only is it important to use the right faces for the product, but also the positioning of them can play a big part in website usability. By using faces that capture the user's attention, we can guide them to key content on the site and encourage them to take certain action, leading to an increase in conversion.

When looking at people images on a website we tend to focus on their faces and eyes. This gives us a good technique for attracting attention. Studies from UsableWorld show that we actually look in the same direction that the face is looking in.

Take a look at the following image where the baby is looking directly towards the user. Using eye-tracking, a heat map shows where 106 people focused their eyes. The redder the spot, the more time people looked at it. Notice that there is a lot of focus on the baby's face and little on the text.

Now take a look at this second image where the baby is looking at the content. Notice the increase in people looking at the text as opposed to the baby.

A face looking directly out towards the user will simply result in the user looking back at them. Using an image where the model is looking towards key content will draw the user's attention towards it.

Look out for the new Dr Larhrib site coming soon to see how I've applied this technique!

Last week, I proudly introduced the miracle that is our very own Phuse Marketing Manager. Relieving the stress of the mail merge, and providing the solution to the heart-aching speculation of whether that laboured email actually landed in the inbox of anyone who was moderately interested.   Sadly, in all it’s brilliance, the Phuse Marketing Manager doesn’t have the ability to write your email for you (we’re working on it folks!)  and sadly, this week I have been subjected to further reams of dreary email marketing waffle.  Come on folks – engage brains…  

It’s Not What You Say, But How You Say It…

Whilst you’re busy chewing over which key points you need to cram into your mail, are you actually thinking about the words you’re using?

Spam filters are infatuated with keywords that scream ‘sales’ and will weed your mail out straight into the Junk Box.  In contrast, Gatekeeper PA’s are allergic to sales-rich keywords and on browsing your email, any sign of sales lingo sparks a finger-click reflex towards the Recycle Bin.The word ‘contract’ reeks of legally binding documents – which ironically require legal support to get out of!  Consider opting for an ‘agreement’ or “strategy”. But don’t get trigger happy with the thesaurus – you won’t gain any points for a ‘legitimately long-term transaction’.  

Mail Merge Mistakes

If you’re going to ask for their business, at least get their name right.Yes, we all know it’s very clever to insert a your contacts name half way through your subject, well done.  But at least check that it’s relevant and makes sense.  An email starting with "Hi firstname" is equally as cringe worthy as “A Special Offer Just For You name!” 

What’s In It For Me?

Whilst it’s all very nice to read about what you do and your prolific list of clients, what exactly are you doing for your prospects business?  Don’t just tell people what you do, give them the benefits of using your product.  Be a resource – know the market so that you can assist in making good decisions and provide your prospects with the tools to improve their business.  People that trust your opinions will become loyal clients. 

Excite!

Your punchy, power-packed email has it’s recipient captured at their desk. You have them in prime position for closing with the result you want.  Yet, as the end of the email looms, they are faced with nothing but an email signature and a lame ‘give me a call”.  Your powerful email has now become nothing but a good read.  Engage! You have their attention – keep it!  A simple link to your homepage or a call to action button will direct that little cursor towards your site, as opposed to the ‘delete’ button. It goes without saying, always check your links work, are relevant, and professional.  Something IT gurus, Experts Exchange (”expertsexchange.com”) might have wanted to look into. 

Go Fish!

Would you send out invites to a party and not bother to call round to see who’s coming?  Bashing out 300 emails and not bothering to follow them up makes for a poor salesperson and lazy business practice.  The sooner you follow up on your marketing campaign, the more likely it is that you are fresh in their mind, they are available for any dates/deadlines you have specified, and less likely to have taken their fat wallets to the competitor that bothered to call. A tool such as the Phuse Marketing Manager allows you to see who has opened your email, enabling you to plan your follow ups accordingly.  If you require a response, or action, it’s up to you to be tenacious enough to chase it.  Cold leads = no sales. 

If your campaign is simply to create awareness, a quick call in to the right people may just prompt them to pass it on to their own trusty database of contacts. If you don’t ask, you don’t get. 

Wind up your marketing rod, cast it out into your swarming sea of contacts, rein them in. And keep them warm...  There’s never any value in dead fish.

It was interesting, clever, witty, a huge hit with everyone and catapulted me into being a highly respected and much loved blogger…but it was all a dream!

How frustrated I was to realise I couldn’t remember what it was about and had no chance of recreating my dream blog into a reality. I’m now having trouble sleeping for fear of dreaming up my next big blog whilst asleep instead of in real life. So, if you’re having difficulty sleeping over your blogging or like me fear you only have good blog’s in your dreams here are some tips to help you get some sleep...

1. Keep a notebook by the bed.

This is for flashes of inspiration - not for working on new posts when you should be sleeping. Have some discipline!

2. Maintain a sensible schedule.

Work time. Home time. Play time. Blog time. Sleep time. Set aside time for each activity, and don't let things overrun. Stick to your schedule as much as you can.

3. Ban all questions after a certain time.

Does your significant other show an interest in your blog? Great! Just tell them to button it when it's time to sleep. Make sure you button it, too.

4. Pretend you don't have a laptop and wireless Internet.

It's just too convenient to hop into bed, go online... and stay online. It might be fun, but don't do it if you have to get up in the morning. Or if you feel like sleeping anytime soon.

5. Don't go coffee-crazy.

I like a coffee in the morning. Not every morning, but every now and again. I avoid coffee in the evenings though. Too many coffees will keep you up all night. Unless you're immune to the effects of caffeine.

6. Don't hide your ideas under the bed.

Notebook? Sure. Anything else? No! It's fine to jot down an idea to make sure you don't lose it, but don't get carried away and start developing some of your post ideas. And don't go thinking you can hide things in the bed, either. It's not going to be a comfortable night for you if you try that one.

7. Sit in the bath.

I'm not expecting you to use the bath as your bed. Having a bath is a great way to relax. Do keep a notebook fairly close by, but be careful not to drop it in the tub. Whatever you do, don't bring your laptop or mobile phone into the bathroom - leave them outside where they won't electrocute you. Seriously. Be careful!

8. Set a cut-off time for snacking.

Blogging can be hungry work, but eating doesn't usually help you sleep. Separating food from blogging and sleeping can make the difference between getting a good night's sleep, or losing track of time and having to pick the crumbs out of your bed, laptop and clothes.

9. Resist the urge to blog if you wake up early.

Do you have a tendency to wake up in the middle of the night? It's best to try and get back to sleep - don't go and start writing a new post. Of course, if you do have an idea, jot it down... but leave it at that.

10. Don't be too good at it!

Whether you're basking in the glory of blogging, or you've convinced your perfect partner that you really are all that... if you don't want to be up all night, be mediocre! (Maybe staying up late isn't such a bad thing...)