Establishing user engagement for an application can be a difficult problem to solve. There are a variety of ways to tackle this issue, from up-front marketing to help tips to social features. What I will address today is how to use messaging to establish strong user engagement, helping bridge the gap between the moment an application is installed to the moment the user has experienced the full value of your product and usage becomes routine.

The best approach to continued communication with the user is to apply common sense, but you need to be sensitive at the same time. Proper messaging will facilitate a relationship, improper messaging will destroy one. Here are four common sense tips to consider when communicating with users to increase engagement:

1. Message at the Right Moment: Look for events when communicating to a user is appropriate. For example, many advertisers who work with us will message the user after the install of an application; a simply stated value message that is only shown once is a great way to let the user know that the application is here, ready to provide the user value.
2. Know when not to Message: As important as it is to understand when to message, it is just as crucial to understand when not to message. These are where sensitivity lines are drawn – messaging a user too much or when an event hasn’t sparked good reason for a message – could cause users to uninstall your application.
3. Value, Relevance and Action: The content within your message needs to hit on three points: what value does your application provide, why is this relevant to the user (even better, if you provide content with your app, why not suggest relevant content to consume), and what action they should take next. Tell the user what they need to do!
4. Be Concise and Consistent: Your product may have a ton of brilliant features! But hold yourself back; your message needs to be just that, a message – don’t inundate your user with information. Make it concise – the message shouldn’t take up the whole screen. And be consistent; brand the message box and give it a design consistent with your product. Don’t create a disjointed messaging experience.

Follow these simple guidelines to properly use messaging to establish strong user engagement. If you have any questions or tips of your own, share them with me by leaving a comment or contact W3i. Also, look forward to more posts from me on tips and tactics to improve communication, engagement, relevance and value for your users.

Eric Montag, Product Manager, W3i Holdings, LLC
Eric uses his experience in graphic design, mobile, and internet marketing to lead the charge in product research, planning, and execution, from both a consumer and business standpoint.

Whether you’re an e-commerce site or an online coupon provider, your consumers want to be engaged with deals and specials the moment they occur.  The spark that initiates consumer engagement can come from various sources: a display ad, a text ad, or even an email.  The problem with these is that they are passive and often overlooked – they don’t inspire a strong sense of urgency or action.  In other words, their spark doesn’t often lead to a fire. 

So imagine engaging a consumer the moment you launch a special on shipping, the moment a brand new gadget arrives, or the moment the price drops from $50 to $40 on a product that a consumer has been drooling over.  VibeFire can reach your consumers and ignite a spark with more power than passive advertising.  By delivering a post from a feed you control, VibeFire displays your message on the user’s desktop. This message links directly back to your site where immediate action can be taken.

As display ad revenues take a dive in 2009, stronger connections to your consumers are needed to sustain your revenue flow.  W3i’s VibeFire is your answer to extending your reach beyond the web browser and into the forefront of your consumers’ minds – on the desktop.  Contact W3i today to learn how VibeFire can help you maximize consumer engagement and spark immediate action.

Eric Montag, Product Manager, W3i Holdings, LLC
Eric uses his experience in graphic design, mobile, and internet marketing to lead the charge in product research, planning, and execution, from both a consumer and business standpoint.

So you’ve got a blog.  Great.  You have readers.  Even better.  And you’ve slapped the obligatory contextual ads in strategic spots around your blog, looking to turn your little gems of postings into, well, real gems… aka money.  Just like the California Gold Rush of the 1850’s, where many regular folk turned to gold prospecting in hopes of becoming rich; today, many regular folk became passionate bloggers, looking to mine the internet for gold.  Whether your gold is a loyal reader base or a steady flow of income, or both, everyone wants to strike it rich, but not everyone becomes rich.  Let me explain how VibeFire can turn your luck around and grow your little hamlet of a blog into a boomtown, by monetizing your content, engaging your readers, and expanding your reach.

First off, what is VibeFire?  Simple.  VibeFire is a downloadable service that allows users to stay connected to your content by receiving desktop updates every time you make a post.  The user can click on the update to be brought to your blog.  (Pssst… go to www.vibefire.com and give it a shot).It’s not easy to turn your blog into a mountain of gold.  Squeezing money out of display ads is tough; it’s conventional and perhaps a little stale.  In fact, with the downturn economy, display advertising is expected to take a nose dive to the tune of 30%-80% estimated drops in revenue over the next three months.  VibeFire does something unique by leveraging a different way to monetize.  It turns your blog into “downloadable content”.  By including your blog’s feed with VibeFire, we leverage our InstallIQ platform that displays bundled software recommendations prior to the install of VibeFire.  You get paid every time one of your users downloads VibeFire with your feed pre-installed.   It’s as simple as that.But wait; don’t get rid of those display ads just yet.  VibeFire aids in your rush to riches by increasing reader engagement.  As I said before, every VibeFire update a reader receives links back to your site.  Instead of visiting a few times a week, get your readers visiting multiple times per day.   With click through rates averaging 5%, and as high as 10%, you’re sure to get more traffic back to your blog.  Not only is VibeFire helping to increase reader loyalty, but you’ve now increased your ad impression, which, in turn, increases ad revenues. Lastly, every good prospector knows that panning for gold in streams will heed meager results; you need to get industrious and go large-scale to cure gold fever.  You’ve got the same problem:  how do you get your content in front of the most people to increase the chances of attracting new readers?  VibeFire has the solution.  VibeFire extends your reach by allowing access to your content across the entire VibeFire user base.  So even if you didn’t source the user, they have access to your content via our Feed List.  In our beta phase alone, thousands of feeds have already been added by users.Eureka!  You’ve found it:  VibeFire.  I know what challenges you face as a blogger; I know that in unconventional times, you need to leverage new and exciting ways to reach and monetize your user base.  VibeFire can help to turn your blog into a cascade of shimmering yellow rocks, whether it be money, readers, or both.

Eric Montag, Product Manager, W3i Holdings, LLC
Eric uses his experience in graphic design, mobile, and internet marketing to lead the charge in product research, planning, and execution, from both a consumer and business standpoint. 

There are several noteworthy examples of successful desktop and browser widgets created and distributed by loyalty marketers to increase customer retention.

My wife and I have been using Upromise’s TurboSaver browser widget for about a year now and have generated $276.67 and counting towards our daughter’s future college education. Through this desktop widget, Upromise’s merchants have become our first stop for all of our online purchases. And it’s not just us. According to Upromise, who is owned by Sallie Mae, Inc., “Members who install TurboSaver (formerly the Upromise Toolbar) save an average of five times more than members who don’t. Five Times!” This kind of online loyalty program is called a “coalition loyalty program.” Other coalition loyalty programs, like MyPoints, have had similar success with browser toolbars. The Upromise TurboSaver widget has been significantly more successful than the typical online mall concept used by most loyalty marketers in the finance, travel, and retail e-commerce categories today.  

One travel company who has taken advantage of the power of a having a widely distributed desktop widget is Southwest Airlines. Southwest introduced their DING desktop widget in 2005. Now, whenever discount fares are offered, their program emits the familiar ringing sound of the in-flight seatbelt. These discounts are only accessible via this application. Within the first two years, about 2 million consumers had downloaded DING, and it generated more than $150 million in ticket sales. Industry sources estimate that 45% of DING users come back to book again compared to a 27% repeat rate.

There are also several examples of desktop and browser widgets used not to just earn more for the customers, but to also donate more. Examples include browser toolbars from FreeCause, GoodSearch, and others.

Rob Weber, Vice President of Business Development and Co-Founder, W3i, LLC
Rob is an Internet marketing pioneer with over eight, profitable years evolving W3i (owner of Freeze.com) in the Integrated Interactive Media industry.