Ag Marketing

Harvesting Digital Marketing Potential; Agribusiness Website Design

Gate 39 Media Staff
5m

Gate 39 Media’s Lunch & Learn Webinar Series continued November 3rd with a 45-minute session called Harvesting Digital Marketing Potential: Cultivating a Customer-First E-Commerce Experience Through Agribusiness Website Design, Data, and Security.

With competition among agribusinesses at an all-time high, delivering a satisfying, safe, and streamlined digital e-commerce experience to customers is essential. This often means taking action to update, redesign, or revamp a business’s digital presence is necessary.

Presented by Gate 39 Media, the session was moderated by Digital Marketing Specialist, Jalyssa Woodall, and featured key discussions by Lead Designer, Nick Landsberger; Keller Hawthorne, VP of Marketing Technology; and Ag Marketing Strategist, Kaitlin Vrsek.

Our presenters review the key reasons why agribusiness website design, e-commerce, CRM, and security all converge together to create great digital user experiences, particularly for agribusinesses. While we highlight takeaways from this session here, we invite you to watch the recorded webinar.

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UI/UX Design – User Interface Design + User Experience Design

A discussion with Nick Landsberger, Lead Designer at Gate 39 Media

This section of the webinar covered website design aspects that many businesses may not be aware of, including defining the differences between User Interface Design (UI) and User Experience Design (UX) and how each design approach influences website search engine optimization (SEO).

Nick discusses how UI and UX are about bringing the information to the user in a way that will encourage interaction, stickiness, and conversion. A good user experience is focused on bringing the user what they want – and not what you are trying to sell them.

FREE DOWNLOAD: Financial Website Design Guide

A streamlined UX of an agribusiness website design includes things such as load time, how content is written with the inclusion of keywords and natural language, how the site is structured, and if the site is responsive can all influence SEO.

Nick explains the importance of understanding the difference between UI and UX and knowing that the marriage of these two concepts is what creates a successful overall design that caters to users and, in turn, positively influences SEO (or how search engines grade your website).

Visit the Gate 39 Media Website Design Portfolio for examples of our UI / UX design work.

E-Commerce & Subscription-Based Services with HubSpot

A discussion with Keller Hawthorne, VP of Marketing Technology at Gate 39 Media

In this discussion, Keller begins by defining the difference between e-commerce and customer relationship management software (CRM), likening e-commerce as the store and the CRM as what keeps visitors coming back. For a business, a CRM is focused on building relationships and nurturing leads to become customers.

Examining the connection that enables e-commerce tools like Shopify or WooCommerce to speak with one another, integrating e-commerce with HubSpot was set forth as an example. While e-commerce manages the order process, the CRM manages the people who interact with the e-commerce products.

A Definitive Guide to Understanding HubSpot for Marketing

HubSpot provides an intuitive approach to nurturing leads and customers and tracking their buying lifecycle, but why Integrate e-commerce and CRM?

E-commerce platforms are not ideal CRM’s. Want to know where a potential buyer ended their journey? Or what content/product is creating the most draw? Use a CRM like HubSpot to track current and potential customers as they move through your site.

One of the most obvious reasons is cart abandonment. 75% of sales are lost to cart abandonment. Statistically, around half of these visitors would complete their purchase if they were simply asked to do so. So, if an email follow-up occurs following a cart abandonment, a higher conversion rate is set to occur.

A shopping cart abandonment nurture function from a CRM tool like HubSpot is easy to set up; Workflows can be built for prospects, such as drip emails that help prospects get to know your products, as well as re-engagement efforts, and cart abandonment follow up efforts.

Keller covered several workflow tips and examples for e-commerce efforts using HubSpot, including incentivizing, the need to follow up with a lead within 24 hours while their need to purchase is fresh, and other sales automation insights.

Have questions about HubSpot?
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Tracking e-commerce reporting and performance in HubSpot and sales funnel processes and lists were also covered in this section with an array of reporting snapshot screens.

Finally, integrating CRM and e-commerce functions through HubSpot include and addresses key consent laws, including CAN-SPAM Act, GDPR, and California’s Privacy Laws. Businesses must be compliant with these laws and tools like HubSpot support these regulations through single click settings.

Privacy & Security – Its Impact on Your Firm

A discussion with Kaitlin Vrsek, Ag Marketing Strategist at Gate 39 Media

Bringing the previous discussions together within the framework of privacy and security, Kaitlin covered digital privacy policy law, customer data use, and our touched upon our responsibility as marketers to adhere to privacy and data laws or face potential consequences.

Citing recent cybersecurity attacks in the agribusiness community, many marketing sites continue to put themselves at risk by not properly managing PII – which can result in lost revenue and reputation damage.

In the new era of ransomware attacks on the ag industry, Kaitlin reviews key steps you can take to prevent this threat from happening to your organization, to protect customer’s data, business data, and digital company assets.

Kaitlin reviews key questions a business should ask when vetting hosting and support vendor that meets the industry standard for privacy and security.

FREE DOWNLOAD: Business Website Cybersecurity Essentials Checklist

At the conclusion of the webinar, the audience asked the hosts questions about marketing and sales emails, ransomware attack mitigation, and if User Interface Design without User Experience Design is possible.

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In summation, an agribusiness that needs a website redesign to securely integrate with custom applications may find the path ahead overwhelming and daunting, but it doesn’t need to be if specialized experts are on hand to help.

Book time to chat with our team at Anthem Ag, the agricultural services division of Gate 39 Media, and let’s talk about your needs in creating a custom agribusiness website design and an amazing digital e-commerce experience for your customers.

And check out our previous webinar: Transforming HubSpot Marketing Data into Actionable Sales Insights

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