10 Take Home Points From The Swipe Summit
You might have noticed that Twitter was abuzz with the hashtag ‘Swipe Summit’ on Thursday 4th of February. That’s because Ireland’s marketers congregated together to witness the industry heavy hitters offering up some insight and advice.
Did you miss out? Don’t worry, Emarkable were exhibiting at Swipe Summit, mining all the information we could, and we have pulled together someone of the most valuable take home points worth noting.
1. What is the definition of a ‘Good Website’
Barry Adams gave an excellent talk on what makes a good website (we’re paraphrasing the title, as it was [delightfully] sweary). We often look at website and label it as ‘Good’ if it looks nice; wide span, mobile optimised, nice colours, pretty graphics. These things are all well and good, however they are not what defines a good website. According to Barry Adams, a good website simply has a clear purpose, and fulfills that purpose in a simple and precise fashion. If there is something on your website that ultimately doesn’t serve the purpose, it needs to go.
2. Websites are ruined by Hippos
Yes, you read that correctly. Again, a bit of sage, experienced advice from Mr Adams; Websites are often ruined by the highest paid person’s opinion. Oftentimes, the highest paid person within a company isn’t necessarily the best person to decide what works best on website; perhaps their ideas are outdated, maybe they don’t understand the dynamics of a website. Web developers and marketers should assert their knowhow and expertise in the early stages.
3. SEO should come before the build
Many websites are built before SEO is implemented, however Barry Adams (yes, the man knows his stuff), very wisely suggests that this habit needs to end. SEO, and email capture, for that matter should be planned and implemented prior to the web build. This will ensure that the correct elements are in place, and it will make ranking less of an endless slog in the long run.
4. It’s all about the Microconversions
One word that came up in many talks was ‘microconversions’. Sometimes it can be easy to focus on the main goal, 
however it’s important that businesses look at the bigger picture, the microconversions; in other words, the small actions that lead to the main conversion.
Say, for example, the main purpose of your website is to get someone to email or call to make an enquiry about the service you offer. Rarely will this occur the first time someone visits your website. This is where the principles of inbound marketing come in; reading blogs, downloading ebooks, social media engagement are all considered microconversions which occur along a the buyer’s path before they become a customer.
These steps need to be planned for and managed carefully, or else you could risk losing the interest of a potential customer.
5. Peripherals first
Louis Grenier gave an incredibly insightful talk on the psychology of conversions. Right off the bat, he told the congregation that we rarely see what’s directly on front of us first. It’s in our nature to notice what’s in our peripherals. For this reason, websites should be designed with this in mind. Calls to action along the side, search bar in the top right hand corner and so on.
6. Real photos of real people
We can tell subconsciously when a photo on a website is a stock photograph; the cheesy grins, the forced body language. It can be a lot more obvious than you might imagine at first.
Taking photos of real team members, real customers and real scenarios will make your website feel much more approachable, and much more authentic.
7. Repeat, Repeat, Repeat
More advice from Louis is to repeat your message over, and over. According to him, we forget 80% of what we learn within 7 days. Therefore, in order to remain in the mind of prospective customers, the message needs to be repeated, on site, in email marketing, on social media; this is why remarketing can be incredibly effective on Social Media.
8. Give something that doesn’t have personality, personality
Personality is a word our clients hear from us all the time, so it was great to hear our point being reinforced by enterprising, creative marketer, Séan Earley. He is passionate about creative marketing and very much believes that you can infiltrate the media, and target people’s passion points with reactive, emotional content.
9. The right time is when the user needs it
Sharon Tighe of EUMom spoke articulately about timing content to the most effective moments. “The right time is when the user needs it” she stated, invaluable advice for businesses. Many Irish businesses struggle to embrace the concept that the market is consumer controlled. No longer can we tell customers what they need; we need to respond to their needs.
Marketing Automation is a fantastic way to trigger content that is relevant to a user at the right time.
10. Snapchat is, apparently, the future
As personality is king, Snapchat is the future of marketing. It’s a quick method of conveying your brands personalityto audience that responds to spurts of information and human. The keys to running an impactful Snapchat campaign? Authenticity, timeliness and humour.
If you feel inspired by these insightful take home points from the Swipe Summit and want to improve the effectiveness of your online strategy, click the button below to get in touch with our team. We can help you generate revenue through the implementation of an effective overall strategy that is tailored to your audience.
