bionews | medical marketing  Sep 29, 2020

Is your Website Passing Greenhouse Gases?

Do you ever wonder what the carbon footprint of your website might be? Picture those climate-controlled server farms. Now think about how your laptop computer heats up your knees when you’re sitting at the coffee shop. It’s easy to understand how the internet can have an even larger carbon footprint than the airline industry. Digital tech contributes 3.7% of all global greenhouse gas emissions.

When you’re surfing the ‘ net, each pageview on the average website produces about 1.76 grams of CO2. And audio and video streaming are making up an ever-growing portion as more of us get our entertainment through the internet. Netflix and Spotify, anyone?

So, what can we do to alleviate some of that GSG?

First, install a browser extension to help monitor the energy output of your browsing. And close some of those browser windows you've had open for days! You'll not only use less energy but will lengthen battery life, enabling you to stay untethered for more extended periods of time.

If you’re a developer (or paying one to build to market your patient services or medical devices), there are many ways to make your website more efficient. For example, make sure your developer is writing clean code and optimizing images. Here’s a list of more tips to help make your website both greener and more efficient.

If you'd like to see your current website's carbon footprint, check out the website carbon calculator. And if you'd like us to help you build a green website or landing page for your eye care practice, medical device manufacturing company, or other projects, drop us a line.

scratch

The future of email is interactive

New interactive elements are coming to the mainstream, and they're worth paying attention to because they can amp up email engagement and click-thru rates. What you do with these elements is up to the imagination.

In the classic communication loop, one person talks. The other listens and then responds, and the loop repeats. Email interactivity is similar. We make a request, the computer processes it and responds, for example, by sending us to a new web page, or using a complex algorithm to understand a search request and match it with the best information. The interactivity we’re discussing here is much simpler, and the tech is available to everyone.

So, what can you do with interactivity?

Let’s start with the lowly underappreciated animated gif. Use it to signal the content you consider most important, like a call to action button. Use it to cycle multiple images to compact information to improve the user experience, especially on mobile.

Other devices, like click down boxes, hide text until the user clicks on it. So, instead of sending your prospects to far-flung websites to fill out a form, have them do it within an email.

As we like to say, less scrolling and more clicking. Plus, it’s fun.

Here’s the rub. Most of these features run on the top email clients, for example, iOS mail, Gmail, Outlook, Chrome, and Mozilla’s Thunderbird, but earlier versions of the same program may not.

The best coping advice we have is:

  • Make sure your developer does cross-browser testing
  • Use a platform like Litmus to view what your email will look like on various platforms
  • Create a graceful fallback solution for browsers that don’t support your interactive elements.

Overall, we look at interactivity as a way to drive email ROI, differentiate your emails from the competition, and have some fun. We hope to start pushing your animated buttons soon.

Read more of our articles on email marketing.

scratch

Who are you ticking off when you leave a voicemail?

Does even the thought of checking your voicemail (or having to leave one) make you roll your eyes? You're not alone. In this day of instant messaging (and instant gratification), no one wants to take the time to listen to or leave a voicemail when texting or reaching out on social media is so much quicker and simpler. And in our current "I want it now" culture, no one has time to leave or retrieve a voicemail.

When I asked a recent contact if they’d received a voicemail I'd left for them, he (okay, it was my younger brother) responded: "Why are you leaving me voicemails? You know I don't listen to them. If it's important, I know you'd text." He also reported that he has an untold number of unopened voicemails in his inbox, so I guess I don't feel too slighted.

The one place where the voicemail is still chugging along is in the workplace. Especially places like doctor's offices who might not have the personnel to field phone calls 24 hours a day. If you want to make an appointment with your ophthalmologist, you may have to bite the bullet and leave a voicemail.

Eventually, technology will bury voicemail next to cassette tapes and DVDs, but in the meantime, you may still have to wait for the beep.

scratch

A Stroll Around Our Hometown

Hometowns are a good thing. Whether you've called a place home for generations or are a recent transplant to your community, your hometown gives you a sense of place. We call Greater Cincinnati home, though our medical marketing clients and some of our staff hail from around the globe.

Watch this space for more about the Queen City

In this space, we’re going to feature a few images of places that make Cincinnati special. Drop us a line with reasons why you love your own hometown and send pics!
scratch