Archive for month: October, 2016
Halloween Brings Out the Ghoulish Side of Tech
With Halloween just around the corner, now is a great time to check out all the hi-tech gadgets to lighten up the trick or treating evening.
Here are some of the must-haves tech gadgets for a ghoulish Halloween:
- Every Halloween Party needs a shaking skeleton In body bag
- The little ones can play a Halloween-themed mobile game
- Spook up your porch with a screaming doormat
- And to keep the Trick or Treaters safe with a LED light shoe clip
Let us know what your spooky tricks are.
AT&T and Warner Plan to Disrupt Traditional Model with On-Line Video Bundles
AT&T is set to purchase Time Warner for around $85 Billion, a move that would create a media and communications company that would include TBS, CNN, HBO and the Warner Bros. film and TV Studios.
Analysts and industry observers see the move being initiated by the need to replace flagging wireless revenues and to compete with Netflix or YouTube as potential ‘points of entry’ for media consumers.
The deal still has to pass under the regulatory microscope, given the advantage this would give AT&T.
The speed of the deal has surprised many, driven by trends in the AT&T’s revenues. In the latest three-month period, AT&T lost 268,000 wireless subscribers, as well as 3,000 video subscribers.
What are your thoughts on the deal?
PipelineDeals Email Campaign Study Unveils the Do’s and Don’ts to Increase Sales Conversion Rates
New research outlines the three best practices for sales teams to better start, build and grow business relationships through effective email campaigns
SEATTLE – October 20, 2016 – PipelineDeals, the sales and account management CRM provider for SMBs, today announced the three key elements SMBs can implement to increase conversion rates and overall business success of their email sales campaigns.
According to a recent study, the overall open rate for email campaigns across all industries is less than 22 percent. To address this issue, PipelineDeals conducted analysis of more than 30,000 campaigns from SMBs that took place over the last seven months. Research findings concluded that businesses can gain a significant sales advantage by adjusting the timing of their email campaigns, rethinking their email campaign template strategy, and using subject heading tactics that are proven to garner results. Addressing these three areas can assist SMBs in combating that conversion number problem, while growing business relationships.
Right time of day leads to better play: The time of day an email is sent has a considerable impact on success rates. However, there is not a “one-size-fits-all” approach that works for everyone. The timing window varies depending on the target market of the email campaign. Data suggests email campaigns aimed at software companies do worse when sent in the mornings. In contrast, those focused on the marketing and advertising communities should be sent first thing in the morning, or early afternoon. In the financial services industry, open rates peak mid-afternoon.
Tired templates can spell failure: Email templates are a great convenience, but an over-reliance on this tool shows an adverse effect on campaign success. Emails sent using a template perform approximately 30 percent worse than those that aren’t based on a generic structure. Templates fair best in mid-sized campaigns for SMBs, which typically have between 10 and 100 recipients. Data also confirms that working from a current and timely template is essential, as sales campaigns that are rarely updated perform worst of all.
Size matters with subject lines: The fewer characters in a subject line, the better. The best performing email campaigns are those with subject lines with less than 40 characters. Even those with less than 10 characters were strong performers. Those between 40 and 70 characters resulted in a strong decline in success rates. Interestingly, subject lines between 70 and 120 characters often show improved open rates. While not proven, this is potentially due to personal, attention-grabbing headlines. Anything beyond 120 characters result in a decline in open rates.
“A core objective at PipelineDeals is to aid SMBs in making the best use of their time and efforts in starting, building and growing relationships,” said JP Werlin, CEO and founder of PipelineDeals. “When used correctly, email is an essential tool in a salesperson’s arsenal to build these bonds that drive business growth. Our research, combined with a system built from the ground up to help SMBs succeed, makes this all possible.”
These best practices can be seamlessly integrated into the sales workflow with PipelineDeals. The company provides a cloud-based, sales and account management CRM built from the ground up for small-to-medium-sized B2B companies. Beyond just sales, PipelineDeals helps customers start with the right relationships, build new and existing relationships, and continuously grow those relationships to quickly achieve their goals. Unlike other solutions, requiring a combination of several applications for email enablement and automation, PipelineDeals provides these features native within the software. The impact is a complete sales solution for teams looking to manage their customers from lead to account management.
To access the study in its entirety and learn more about PipelineDeals, visit: http://www.pipelinedeals.com/blog/email-trends-2016.
About PipelineDeals
Founded in 2006, PipelineDeals (www.pipelinedeals.com) provides small- to medium-sized businesses with the only sales and account management platform capable of delivering certainty in every action necessary to start, develop and grow customer relationships. With a focus on service, PipelineDeals grows revenues by changing the way businesses manage their sales pipeline. PipelineDeals boasts more than 4,000 customers in more than 60 countries and has garnered numerous awards for its work. It was recently named an Inc. 5000 fastest growing company, awarded a top customer satisfaction award by G2 Crowd and selected as one of Washington’s Best Places to Work by the Puget Sound Business Journal.
Digital Content Market in Greece Continues to Surge
With an impressive mobile phone penetration of 154 percent, while only 11 percent of the population has access to a credit card, the Greek carrier billing market is expected to soar in the upcoming years.
To track how digital content owners can explore this market, DIMOCO, a leading payment institute for carrier billing, has recently released its market report detailing the leading mobile companies in the country, as well as the key categories that will drive the digital content consumption:
- ePublishing will be the largest digital content producer in Grece by 2020.
- eGames is expected to generate 96.3 million euros in 2020
You can find more information about the Greek market report here.
DIMOCO Releases New Report on Carrier Billing in Greece
DIMOCO http://www.dimoco.eu, a leading payment institute for carrier billing, today published its new carrier billing special report covering the Greek market. The study shows Greece’s mobile handset penetration at 16.68 million, and that the country’s consumption of digital content in the areas of ePublishing, eGames, home videos and music is developing at a considerable rate. The report findings point to enormous profits for digital content merchants who integrate carrier billing into their checkout process.
DIMOCO’s “Carrier Billing Market Special Greece” is the company’s eighth-market analysis study and shows the following user trends:
- 16.68 million handsets (including 42.6 percent of smartphones) are available on the Greek market.
- Cosmote (with a market share of 43.05 percent), Vodafone (30.6 percent) and Wind (26.35 percent) are the three primary brands operating in the country’s mobile network. Overall, there is a total of 17.16 million mobile subscribers.
- Mobile handset penetration is an impressive 154.7 percent, while credit cards penetration rate is 11.6 percent.
“Greece is one of the top five carrier billing markets,” said Gerald Tauchner, DIMOCO president & CEO. “Our local presence combined with our know-how and support gives digital content providers the chance to successfully expand their businesses to the Greek market.”
Greek digital content market expectations:
The report cited Price Waterhouse Coopers’ “Entertainment and Media Outlook 2016-2020” on the future of the four main digital content segments in Greece, indicating strong growth across the board. Currently, eGames is the strongest segment in the market with 2015 revenues of 68.4 million euros. This sector will experience a growth rate of 1.6-times current numbers to reach 96.3 million euros in 2020, according to the report.
ePublishing is projected to be the largest digital content producer in Greece by 2020. In 2015, it generated 40.8 million euros in revenue. However, that segment, which includes e-books, e-magazines and e-newspapers, is expected to rise to 108 million euros in the next five years.
Home videos will enjoy the strongest growth, posting a 2.8-times increase in revenues from 9 million euros in in 2015 to 21.6 million in 2020. Digital music is looking to have a 1.8-times uptick in this period from 11.7 million euros to 18.9 euros.
All regional DIMOCO Carrier Billing Market Reports (Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain, as well as its broader European report) can be accessed at http://www.dimoco.eu/publications.html.