Why responsive landing pages are a lot like Santa

When I was a little kid I always wondered how Santa managed to make his way down all those chimneys. Everyone knows that on that one special night of the year this jolly and rather round man manages to fit down every chimney so that he can leave gifts for all of those who are on his “nice” list. Even at such a young age I was able to recognize that this didn’t seem feasible. Looking at him in all pictures and movies, and even having sat on his lap myself at the mall, I was able to recognize that Santa was not a little man and chimneys are not very spacious…so how does he do it?

Well, now that I’m much older and much wiser the answer is rather clear. Santa is very good at reproportioning himself. In an instant he’s able to thin out and elongate himself so that he can easily fit into all of those narrow chimneys. It’s really quite impressive.

This scenario reminds me a lot of responsive landing pages. Rather than delivering inflexible landing page to all visitors, regardless of which kind of device they’re using, and relying on them to resize, pan, and scroll so that they can easily see and engage with the page, a responsive landing page provides an optimal viewing experience for everyone. You see, a responsive landing page resizes and reconfigures itself to fit easily onto every screen screen – whether that is a computer, tablet, or mobile phone. It’s one page that satisfies everyone!

With the massive growth of mobile and tablet usage it is becoming increasingly important to reach these users in the most efficient and usable way possible. And that, my friend, is through responsive landing pages.

The Takeaway?

Santa is not the only one who can impress us with his magical re-proportioning skills; you too can impress all your visitors with your magical, but completely achievable, responsive landing pages!

Want to learn more about responsive design? Check out our Responsive Design for Landing Pages white paper.

Why responsive landing pages are a lot like Santa

User segmentation: the gift that keeps on giving

All I want for Christmas is a gift just for me. Not one that I have to share, or one that was made for someone else. I want it to be in exactly my size, flattering to my shape, and in a shade that makes my eyes sparkle. I believe that this is a perfectly reasonable Christmas wish. I also happen to believe that this desire for something made “just for me” in all aspects of life is not entirely unreasonable.

But alas, I too believe that giving is indeed better than receiving and because of this I also want to make sure that what I give to others is wholly just for them. So this brings me to my point, re-gifting is not acceptable. Not for holiday’s and not for landing pages. You have to make it just for them, in just their size, and if it makes their eyes sparkle, that’s even better.

The easiest, and also the most effective way in many cases to do this is through segmentation experiences. This is especially true if you don’t know the visitor very well. It’s kind of like picking the name of the guy at the office that you only see when getting coffee for your secret Santa exchange. You want to get him something great, but who the heck is he?

The joy of a segmentation experience is that you don’t really have to know the person at all; you just have to know a few basic ways that he may identify himself. You might, for instance, drop by the water cooler and talk about your golf game one day, the latest box office hit the next, or a concert you’re going to on Friday. Eventually, he’s going to show some interest and presto! You’ve got the perfect gift idea.

The same is true of landing pages, if you show a visitor options that they can relate to, one of these choices is going to resonate with them enough to make them want more of what you’re offering. These options can be a million different things, depending on what you’re pitching, but they should always be supported by specific content.

The worst thing you can do at this point is segment your audience and then send them to the same interior page as any other segment.  That’s not giving them what they want at all, but rather using that information just to meet your own marketing needs. That’s like getting your best friend tickets to your favorite band’s concert because you know she’ll take you. Not ok.

So this year, be a good gift giver. Give them what they want, and make it just for them; even if you have to ask them what their perfect gift is. 

User segmentation: the gift that keeps on giving

Deck the Halls with App-Like Games

‘Tis the season to be online shopping. Gadgets, winter boots or ugly Christmas sweaters, whatever it is you fancy, it’s sure to be found somewhere on the web. For some, the task of online shopping can be an irritating and tiresome feat. But if you’re anything like me, you get a thrill out of finding the best deals and getting the biggest bang for your buck! However, the process of online deal hunting is not always an enjoyable one. That is why whenever I come across a page that finds a way to make my online shopping fun and entertaining, I take notice!

While waiting for valet to bring my car around after work (this process has been known to take up to 20 minutes sometimes!), my mind wanders to my holiday to-do list. My younger cousin, Samantha, is next on my gift list. Unsure what to get her; I start checking out different mobile shopping apps such as Victoria Secret’s junior apparel line, PINK Nation. Next thing I know, I had spent several minutes playing games, such as PINK-O, all while racking up points to put towards different items and prizes!

PINK takes their visitors on a short, but effective, conversion-focused journey. They engage their mobile visitors at a higher level, which as a result, gains them more online leads.

Games are an entertaining way to engage and convert prospects. From the look and feel to the overall messaging, PINK’s mobile app and landing experiences are perfectly tailored to appeal to their target audience.

Thanks to my stellar gaming skills and my exquisite fashion sense, my cousin’s gift was all squared away with time to spare — all before my car arrived. Now, that’s what I like to call savvy shopping!

Deck the Halls with App-Like Games

Best of 2013: Responsive design, content marketing, conversion paths & more

2013. Google called it "a year of transformation." Mashable declared it "the year of responsive web design." And then there was Google Enhanced Campaigns, which was mandated across all AdWords campaigns back in July. If you weren't ready for mobile, well, it didn't matter, because it happened.

With smartphone sales expected to reach 1.81 billion...and double by 2015...compelling, intelligent, and integrated digital campaigns, and thus experiences, will be mandatory.

Not optional.

We've been preaching brilliant post-click marketing since 2007. But this year, highly relevant, smart, user-centered creative really took a front seat that will carry through 2014 and beyond.

So, to wrap up the year with a nice bow, we wanted to share our "Best of 2013" — a collection of blog posts designed to inspire better digital experiences and help you provide more value (and conversions) in the new year.

Cheers!

Jessica 

9 Best Practices for Designing Responsive Landing Pages

Nine of our favorite best practices for designing stellar responsive landing pages. You can use these with or without a platform to ensure you are building landing pages that not only respond, but convert! Learn how to put the right content in the right place on the page for every user.

How to use conversion paths for a better digital experience

Humans click your ads and land on your pages. Seems obvious, but in our haste to put up an experience with the perfect layout, content & offer, we often forget to think about the human behind the click. Learn how to use user segmentation (aka conversion paths) for a better digital experience.

9 Ways to Drive More Leads From Your Content Marketing

Sure, you've used landing pages to 'gate' high value content such as white papers or ebooks, but there more creative ways to up-sell and cross-sell content to convert your audience's attention into business results. Discover nine ideas for innovative ways to drive more leads from your content marketing.

Three awesome [infographics]

Content marketing, landing pages and testing...these are three of our favorite things! Download these infographics.

Happy Holidays from ion!

Read our 2013 holiday blog post series — ionians cover best practices for testing, responsive design, user segmentation, marketing apps & more! Read the series.

Best of 2013: Responsive design, content marketing, conversion paths & more

Mobile Marketing: The Week in Review

In case you missed it, here are some of the top stories in mobile marketing and advertising we’ve been following this week.

• Lackluster In-House Expertise Impedes Mobile Marketing Success

The mass migration to mobile is turning every company into a mobile marketer (or a prospective one). But challenges abound. In addition to the difficulties inherent in developing any advertising campaign or strategy, there’s also a dearth of expertise in most firms.

• Publishing Giant Taps New Mobile Marketing, Advertising Expertise

On Wednesday, MMW was briefed at length by representatives for a new powerhouse partnership that will ramp up digital advertising on some of the nation’s leading and most recognizable publications.

• iBeacons to Break Big Records within 5 Years

ABI Research‘s latest report “BLE Tags and the Location of Things” puts forward a bold prediction with regard to “iBeacon” technology. iBeacon, if you’re not familiar, is the indoor positioning system described by Apple as a “new class of low-powered, low-cost transmitters” that enables push notifications to be sent to iOS devices in close proximity, has found a new advocate.

• This Mobile World of Ours is Growing More Mobile

If you think mobile devices are ubiquitous now, just wait. Worldwide combined shipments of devices (PCs, tablets, ultramobiles and mobile phones) are projected to reach 2.4 billion units this year, a 4.2 percent increase from 2013.

• The $30 Billion Advertising Gorilla is in Mobile

There’s an oft-used American expression that talks of “the 800 pound gorilla in the room.” This reference to an organization, a person, or an idea so powerful it can’t be ignored might now be apt to describe mobile advertising.

Want to get the latest MMW news and insight delivered straight to you inbox every morning? Click here to sign up for our free newsletter.

Mobile Marketing: The Week in Review

Study: Patents hurt tech and startups, help pharmaceuticals

Image Credit: Flickr user opensourceway

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A new study adds some empirical firepower to the idea that poor patent laws are crushing innovation in the technology industry. Researchers from the London School of Economics studied citations from patents that were invalidated by U.S. judges and found that invalidation increased the number of subsequent innovations in technology, but not in pharmaceuticals.

“Patent invalidation has a significant impact on cumulative innovation only in the fields of computers and communications, electronics, and medical instruments (including biotechnology). We find no effect for drugs, chemicals, or mechanical technologies.”

The effect is greatest in the electronics industry. For instance, Linkedin VP of Engineering Alex Vauthey recently explained why much of the company’s software is open source. In essence, it’s better when the entire Internet community can help build an application. “LinkedIn really embraces open-sourcing,” he said. “We’re actually leveraging the community of software developers that help with that. With traction, the software gets more secure, more reliable. At the end of the day you use better software to build applications.”

Additionally, open source software also helps out their employees, no matter where they end up next. “We want our employees to leave LinkedIn as much better professionals than when they arrive. By being able to contribute to an open-source project, you have the opportunity to get the code that you’re writing looked at by a lot of people.”

The wide variety of contributors makes open innovation much more effective, as opposed to granting a monopoly to one firm in the form a of patent.

But in pharmaceuticals, there isn’t the same community of innovators, and a single drug can take billions of dollars to manufacture. In this industry, the researchers found, patents do not harm innovation.

Interestingly, the researchers also controlled for so-called “patent trolls,” entities that exist solely to sue others for patent breaches. “We find that only 12 patent cases in our sample involve a troll. When we drop these observations and re-estimate the model, we obtain estimates that are essentially identical.” In other words, patent trolls aren’t the only reason bad intellectual property policy harms the tech industry.

Indeed, startups seem especially vulnerable to bad patent policy, because they do not have the legal or economic negotiating power to deal with big business. “The results show that bargaining breakdown occurs when it involves large patentees,” the researchers write. “Small firms are less able to resolve disputes ‘cooperatively’ without resorting to the courts.”

Congress is making some movement to reform patent policies for software, but we’re unlikely to see much happen until after the 2014 election.

You can view the full report here [PDF].

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Study: Patents hurt tech and startups, help pharmaceuticals

Satya Nadella's Big Bid to Reshape Microsoft

Five months into his new role as CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella is ready to shake things up

In a 3,300 word memo sent to employees and the press Thursday, Nadella laid out the most clear vision yet for how he sees the future of Microsoft. There's a lot to unpack in the memo, but dissecting it and reading through the lines, a few central themes come into shape.

See also: 5 Things You Should Know About Microsoft's New CEO

First, Nadella is very clearly differentiating his vision for Microsoft from the vision put forth by former CEO Steve Ballmer. That starts with a new mission statement. Read more...

A new mission: productivity

More about Microsoft, Opinion, Xbox, Tech, and Apps Software
Satya Nadella's Big Bid to Reshape Microsoft

5 Can't-Miss Apps: Athla Velocity and More

With the last few matches of the World Cup wrapping up, and the final game right around the corner, you may have overlooked some of this week's best new apps.

Luckily, Mashable creates a roundup each weekend of our favorite new and updated apps, so you won't miss out.

See also: These 11 Apps Will Supercharge Your Personal Life

This week's list includes a new spin on a classic game, a personalized shopping assistant and a speed radar app for athletes.

Check out the gallery, above, to see all the apps that made our list of top picks. And if you're looking for more, check out last week's roundup of can't-miss apps. Read more...

More about Android, Tech, Android Apps, Ios, and Ios Apps
5 Can't-Miss Apps: Athla Velocity and More

Why Do Men Dislike Erotica For Women So Much?

Men write most of the commentary about the disastrous effects of romance novels on women and the public despite the fact that women from all regions and educational backgrounds compose the vast majority of the genre’s writers and readers.
Why Do Men Dislike Erotica For Women So Much?

Walmart's New System Will Buy Media for Retailer -- And Its Suppliers

Now that digital and social media are reaching what Walmart U.S. Chief Marketing Officer Stephen Quinn calls "critical mass," the retail giant is reshaping its marketing team and changing how it works with suppliers including buying media for them.

WMX is Walmart's play to apply "big data" to marketing, Ms. Young. So it involves using Walmart's own trove of data from Walmart.com to store sales to social-media platforms and third-party data. The retailer wants to fill in one of the gaps in that data with its Savings Catcher program designed to get shoppers to input their offline store receipts into their Walmart app, which will generate a database the retailer hopes will rival those of other retailers' loyalty programs.

"On top of that," Ms. Young said, "we will build all of the other data populations you can use to create customer segments. And then, yes, we will use that in partnership to go out and buy media on behalf of our suppliers."

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Walmart's New System Will Buy Media for Retailer -- And Its Suppliers