Top-of-Funnel Analysis - Net New Names, Inactive Leads, and Reactivated Interest

Analyzing marketing actions at the top of the funnel has some interesting nuances. This is a direct result of the fact that having a contact’s name within your marketing database does not in any way imply interest. You may have a name in your database that is from many years ago and has not shown interest in recent years, there may be names that were input as part of a list purchase, and have never shown interest. In looking at the top of the funnel, it is critical to be able to carve out these “inactive names” from the rest. Without that, the measurement of campaigns targeted at the top of the funnel, and also your overall funnel conversion metrics will be challenged.

The best way to account for this, is to have a rigorous process of eliminating inactive names from an “Interested” stage at the top of the funnel. If a lead, interested at one point, has made no inquiries, and taken no actions in a period of time, say 3 months, then that lead is placed back in the inactive lead pool.

Campaigns targeted at the top of the funnel then, can have three main effects:

- Generate Net New Names via Inquiries; a campaign that generates buzz in the market may generate net new names for your database that come in as active inquiries. For example, if a whitepaper is offered as the call to action for a campaign, and an individual who was not originally in the database downloads it, they are both a net new name and are now part of the “Interested” stage of the funnel

- Reactivate Inactive Names; a campaign may target Inactive Names in your marketing database, and by doing so cause some of them to re-engage. This is a very valuable transition as those are names that were otherwise not showing any interest in your organization.

- Acquire Inactive Names; A campaign that involves a list purchase or other name acquiring techniques may add names to your database, however these are not people who are showing any interest, and therefore must be deemed to be part of the Inactive Name pool until a campaign succeeds in interesting them

In measuring the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns at the top of the funnel, it’s crucial to separate these transitions. If not, highly successful campaigns that re-engage large portions of your existing, but inactive, marketing database will appear to be minimally successful due to not creating many net new names. Similarly, campaigns that involve an element of list purchase may appear more successful than they truly were as they create many net new names, even though only a small percentage of these individuals will engage with your communications. Read More...

Hardware virtualization check in WINDOWS – How to

Today at my work, I want to install VPC for Windows server 2008 64-bit. I don’t have any idea on how to install WS 2008 on VPC, because VPC by itself won’t support. It need Hyper-V installed on the server. So, googled and found some good free tools or utilities to check the hardware compatibility for the virtualization. Below are the tools used to find them out in simple way.

1. SecureAble: It is a simple tool which is really very light weight and shows us the system bit version, Hardware D.E.P support and hardware virtualization support. Download it here.

2. Cpu-z [CPUID]: which gives you complete hardware details. Download it here.

Check them to test your hardware.

I think, now you got to know how to check hardware compatibility for virtualization.

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How to check what updates are installed on my machine?

This is a general question for administrators and windows users. We have two ways to test it. One is through GUI and another is through command prompt.

• If your windows installed in full installation mode, then you can directly go to Start –> Windows Update –> View Update History. In that window you can check all the list of updates installed in your machine.
• If your windows installed in core installation then open command prompt –> type the below command in it and hit enter.

wmic qfe list

Now, in the list it will shows all the list of updates installed in the server. Tested in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.

Is this post helpful to you?

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My first try...

All I had to say last night was FREAKIN' A. ..  I'M KNITTING.

John laughed and laughed.

I'm pretty proud of myself...can you tell?



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Fever...

Baby girl's first fever...103.2 taken under her arm (which you raise one degree to be closer to accurate....)  She's had it almost a full day...we go see the doctor today.  I don't like my little girl being sick, but you know...she still is giggly and smiles and plays...even if she's a little droopy. 

Poor little girl.  :( Read More...

How to drag and drop entities from server explorer to EDMX file Entity Framework?

I know for adding the tables/entities to the EDMX file from database, everyone should do this. You will open server explorer, connect to database, expand to tables and select tables you want to add and tried to drag and drop them to EDMX file. But you never succeeded… Am I right? So, Everyone thinks like this by default because we are well used the LINQ files these days. We have the drag and drop support in it. But in Entity framework we don’t have that option as far as I know. Then how to add new database objects to the edmx file? There are two ways one is manual and another is tool.

• Manual: Open the edmx file in the xml editor to see the code and edit the changes as you needed. Which is complex and won’t yield good results.
• Tool: We have an option from the diagram file edmx designer to update the model through designer. Which is very simple and we can add/remove objects as we need.

Note: For entity framework there is a special explorer in visual studio 2008 which helps us to see only entity framework related objects which is called "Model Browser". Which is really very simple to use and helps a lot if your DB is big.

How to add entities/database objects to EDMX file?

• Open the EDMX file in design mode.
• Right click on the designer surface. You have lot of options and among them choose the option "Update Model from Database.." as shown below.
• 
• Now, you will see the usual screen which has all the database objects in new window which you have seen while creating EDMX file.
• 
• That's it!!! This way you can add/remove/edit database objects in an EDMX file. Usually the drag and drop is the good user experience as it in is in Linq to SQL file. Hope Microsoft include this option in upcoming releases.

I think, you knew about how to add or update db objects in EDMX file now. Love to hear comments.

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Unable to update the EntitySet Table because it has a DefiningQuery and no InsertFunction element exists in the ModificationFunctionMapping element to support the current operation

ASP.NET MVC is the technology released from Microsoft long time back. But I didn’t get time to dig into it and research on it. Now, I need to learn it as my next project is in ASP.NET MVC. So, I thought to give a try and want to show all records in a table and insert a new record in a table. On the way, The above is the exception which blocked me to go proceed. I didn’t do any mistake and always the above exception come into picture when I try to create a new record in table.
So, frustrated and started research on the error and debugging. After a long research found the issue in the Entity framework. The whole thing is only because I forgot to add primary key to the table in the database. Once I added the primary key and reconstructed the edmx file with new changes, All works fine and record added to table in database. So, what is happening inside is, entity framework is looking for a key in each and every table [Primary key]. So, don’t forget to add a primary key to each and every table which you want to use in entity framework file [.edmx]. Otherwise you always see this exception when you try to insert or update a record.
"Unable to update the EntitySet 'Table' because it has a DefiningQuery and no <InsertFunction> element exists in the <ModificationFunctionMapping> element to support the current operation."
Is this helpful? Follow me if you want to learn ASP.NET MVC framework. I started learning and will place all my experiences and problems I face in my blog. So, keep an eye on my blog for more updates. Read More...

Service Economics in a "Something Failed to Go Right" World

I don’t think I’ve been to a conference lately that didn’t have a mention of Twitter and its effect on service teams everywhere. Frank Eliason from Comcast, Tony Hsieh from Zappos, and their teams, as well as a number of other great examples are shown as the “new way” of providing customer service. I don’t disagree, but the challenge here is that this must cause a massive shake-up of budgets and the way that organizations are structured if it is to succeed – and that is not a topic that is discussed in any significance.

What I mean is, the idea that Twitter and social media can, and should, be used to enhance our service offerings will almost certainly fail if we just think of it as a service team challenge.

Let’s look at the math.

If you look at an average service team, let’s say a call center, they receive calls that generally meet three criteria:

- Definable: a discrete problem that can be identified, discussed, and either resolved or not resolved

- Significant: enough of a problem that a person saw fit to pick up the phone, wait in a call queue, and bring it to your attention

- Solvable: a problem for which one can generally visualize a defined, near-term solution

If the problem is outside of that criteria set, we will likely not bother phoning support as they will not be able to help us.

Given these criteria, which I would call the “something went wrong” set of problems, we staff our support centers. Rarely do the teams in these support centers find themselves lacking work, and they are often very strapped for resources, as we manage the budgets for the call centers to maximize utilization and minimize costs.

Then, however, if you look at the set of problems that might surface in social media you see that these three criteria are not met.

- Definable: a complaint can surface without being discrete, or naturally resolvable. General dissatisfaction with airline flight delays, as an example.

- Significant: a negative Tweet about a company or its products requires less effort than calling a service center, so the bar of significance is much lower

- Solvable: many problems that are discussed in social media are not inherently easy to solve, and success may mean guidance, coaching, or training, as much as technical support

I’m not in any way suggesting that these are not important problems, just that they are a much bigger universe of problems than the problems that make their way to today’s call centers. This is the “something failed to go right” set of problems.

So, if we are to staff our service teams to proactively reach out and deal with the “something failed to go right” set of problems, rather than reactively deal with juse inbound “something went wrong” problems, we are dealing with many more problems. Whereas there may be some mild efficiency gains from connecting in an online environment, I would guess that these gains are far outweighed by the increase in size of the problem set.

Where will this budget come from? My suggestion is Marketing. I have long believed that social media is forcing marketers to think of their overall brand experience, including product and service realities, rather than just the visuals like logos, when they are considering brand. Rather than set your service team up with Twitter handles and send them an article on Frank Eliason and the Comcast Cares team, proactive marketing organizations should realize that this new approach to service opens up a much broader universe of problems that must be addressed. Doing so will have a significant positive impact on your company’s brand, but may require a significant investment in service people.

Next time you allocate marketing budget to “brand”, think about whether the best investment in brand that your marketing team can to is to hire an extra few people for the services team and start tackling more of the “something failed to go right” problems. Read More...

Twighlight Zone...."The floating baby"

Oh...what is daddy going to do?

Just getting ready to toss her up in the air...

Up in the air she goes...

Aaaaaah...she didn't come down!

Do do do do do do do do....freaaaaaakkkkkyyyyy.....

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Recent Press

Just wanted to share some of our recent press for Bella Bridesmaid. I apologize for my poor scanning and cropping skills!

The first was an article in the October issue of KC Magazine

This second article was in last week's Ink and highlighted many of the shops on our little strip.

Check out the January issue of KC Weddings for more on Bella Bridesmaid!

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Day in the Life...

Some of my favorite people are those that I've never met in person.  I've never spoken to on the phone and I've only seen a few photos of via online methods...and yet I feel like I know them better than those that I see every day. 

Recently my online friends and I decided to do a day in the life (DITL) to become better acquainted with what real life consists of.  I chose October 21st as my DITL.  I had a lot of fun documenting my moves throughout the day and while last Wednesday was just an ordinary day...I thought I'd post it out here for those of you who might be curious...

Welcome to a day in the life of ...

Good morning!

John took the clock picture when the alarm went off...I was hiding under the covers...he always gets up and gets ready first so I get at least another 20 minutes of sleep before he leaves for his Army PT (Physical Training) - When he's done getting ready he sneaks this next photo as he kisses me goodbye. This is how I know its time for me to wake up. If I don't get up before the girls wake up I don't get a chance to shower until after 9AM!

At 7AM on the dot Maddie wakes up and Bella starts to stir. Its amazing how regular their body cycles are... good morning from Maddie! She is sitting on one of the "loaner" beds that we are still using.  I'm glad the Army lets us borrow them for so long...we should be getting her real furniture, toys, books and clothes in just a week or two!

Bella starts hollering so I sneak in to take her morning picture - Good morning!

We all head downstairs after getting dressed so I can make some breakfast. Maddie unloads the dishwasher for me every morning as a standard chore.

I give Bella some cheese while she waits for breakfast to be made...she's so hungry in the mornings that if I don't give her something to eat immediately she gets really upset.

John comes home from PT just in time to eat some breakfast with the girls and I finish making Maddie's lunch so she can leave for school as soon as she's done. I like to make different pictures on her bag every day and a note inside to help her to remember to have a good day. With Halloween so close her bag tends to be spook oriented.

8:10AM - Maddie leaves for school

And John leaves for work...

Bella goes into the living room that doubles as her play area for the last 15 minutes of sesame street. She loves the puppets...

and that gives me a chance to eat my breakfast. Peaches today. YUMMY...with just a touch of cinnamon.

Bella is playing quietly by herself so I use that as my chance to fix my hair...rollers today.

Rollers take so little time that within 5 minutes I'm done!

Bella and I spent the next 30 minutes playing in the living room. She was all about tongues this morning...see her staring at my mouth waiting for me to stick out my tonugue again?

At 9:45AM we head out the door to go to story time at the library. Its soooo cold outside. I bundled up Bella in her winter coat and mittens and a big fleece blanket.

Bella is the youngest participant in Story time so we stay in the back and she mostly crawls around and looks at the books on the shelves. The librarians just adore her...she's got full reign of the library and they let her go wherever she wants. Today our librarian Andrea is reading a story called Library Mouse. Its a super cute story.

At 11AM we head back home and take the "long way" so we can walk by our favorite spots. One is our mushroom forest. Almost all of the mushrooms were kicked over ...I only found one that was still in good enough shape to take a photo.

We also made sure we could crunch through the autumn leaves as we walked back home.

We're home! Ours is the one with the flag out front. You gotta love Army row housing.

Even though its way past her normal naptime - I feed Bella lunch first so she'll sleep well. She has sweet potatoes and I have leftover spaghetti from dinner last night and a carrot with some ranch dressing.

When we're done I head upstairs and put Bella down for her nap. She is OUT in about 3 seconds.

John and his coworker/our friend - Ed - surprise me by coming to our house for lunch. I wasn't expecting them so I feed them leftover spaghetti too...we sit and chat until 1:00. Back to work they go and I sit down to type up the morning of my DITL.

Within a few minutes of finishing the morning post Bella woke up from her nap. I could hear her through the monitor making splurbert sounds so I went upstairs and peeked in her door...unfortunately my stealth moves weren't great and she heard me and gave me this great smile...

We played down in the living room rolling balls around the floor and at 2:35 Maddie arrived at home...I could tell immediately it hadn't been a stellar day at school...can you?

Sure enough...she's gotten in trouble for being chatty, but nothing major. I gave the girls their afternoon snack - Maddie wanted carrots and goldfish and Bella had some pears and goldfish.

Normally I have the car on Wednesdays, but John needed it to take Ed back to work (he had knee surgery recently) so he arrived home while the girls were snacking to drop off the car so we could go to Amberg and shop for a b-day this saturday. Amberg is only about 20-25 minutes away and is a fairly big town.

As we were driving we passed the actual city of Vilseck so I snapped an "out the window while driving" photo.

We ended up at ROFU a kinder store that one of the librarians had recommended to me.

They were stacking the shelves so there wasn't a whole lot there that I was impressed with. We ended up finding Bella's new winter hat, a pair of great winter stockings with a puppy bum (she loves puppies) for the little birthday girl and a squeaker toy. We also found some halloween stuff in this store...it was a tiny section that I'm sure was put together just for the Americans that shop there...but it finished all our halloween shopping so I was happy about it!

We headed home at 5PM and traffic was so bad that we didn't make it home until 6PM! Most of it was while we were in the city of Amberg.

Once we hit the backroads we decided we just had to stop and get a picture of the sunset...it was beautiful tonight!

When we got home John (who had promised me he'd handle dinner so we could shop ) had gotten sidetracked with his Mafia Wars game on Facebook and didn't have anything ready... In his defense he did have sushi rice cooking and some veggies cut up so I guess we could say he was overzealous for dinner and because his selection of dinner was going to take another hour to complete, our typical DITL became not so typical and we went fast food for the second time since moving here in May. I hate fast food...but it worked for tonight as we were all starving. Thus...dinner a la Burger King.

Then DITL went typical again as I am a clutz and I spill on something I'm wearing every day. I was lucky that today it was at the end of the day.

After dinner, Maddie decided to create some drama herself and got in trouble from her dad and was sent to bed early...right after dinner at 6:45PM. She was NOT happy about it...

I stuck Bella in the bathtub for a quick scrubdown and some intense splash time. She was so darn cute.

After bathtub time we played blubber tummy. It makes her laugh so hard. Its one of our favorite games.

When she was all ready for bed, we read a story and then I snuggled her a little bit before heading up to her room to put her in her crib.

Ahhhhh....my day is mostly done. Just a few dishes to clean up (nothing too much since it was BK for dinner) and the living room to straighten and I'm headed upstairs to read my book for an hour...right after I post the last of these pictures... Thanks for sharing my day with me!

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