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Archive for February, 2008

eCommerce Marketers: How does your social media measure up?

February 28th, 2008 by Kelly Rusk

The internet is ablaze with the latest ‘here’s what’ and ‘how-to’ articles on social media. The whole concept is glamorous–A new way to communicate with people on the online. Everyone’s on Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, MySpace, [Insert social network of the day here]. They are all talking through blogs, Twitter, social apps, etc., and you (your brand) could be missing out!

And since eCommerce marketers really, truly WANT people to interact with their sites, it seems like a natural fit–in many ways it is–but before getting caught up in the excitement, you need to consider two different ways to launch a social media program:

The wrong way
Jump right in. Hire an expensive consultant/agency to take care of everything(Update: here’s why…). Don’t let employees get involved. Back out once at the first sight of criticism or negative feedback. I won’t name names, but sadly there are already a few good case studies of social media gone horribly wrong…

The right way
Understand your audience. Build goals and objectives. Take the time to understand the medium and the two-way dialogue social media creates. Understand that you may get negative feedback and learn how to deal with it appropriately (hint: Jeremiah Owyang has some great advice for this) Build a sense of community for your customers and get employees involved too.

Sure this may seem obvious, but good brands & marketers have been blinded by the hype…

Measurement is key
Engaging a social media strategy may be a lot cheaper than a television commercial or outdoor advertising campaign. But if it’s not producing meaningful results, it’s just a waste of money and/or resources. Social media is far from tried and trued, but for eCommerce marketers, assuming you have the right audience (which I’m sure you would know) there’s a few techniques you can test run before diving into a whole strategy.

User Generated Reviews- you may already have some sort of testimonials on your site, but the user-generated review is even more powerful. (PowerReviews is a leader in this space)
Share/Bookmarking widgets–I’m sure we all agree Word of mouth marketing is the most coveted and valuable form of marketing–and fortunately social media makes it easy for your customers to share products they are interested in with their friends. (AddThis is a cool one which covers many popular bookmarking tools)

These are low risk tactics to explore before working on a greater strategy, so testing and measurement are key. For reviews, you can split test so that some users see them, while others do not, and compare to measure effectiveness. For sharing and bookmarking widgets, you can see how much traffic those tools are generating, and how much of that traffic converts. Once you see success with these tactics, it’s time to start thinking bigger picture…

Posted in Kelly Rusk, Social Media, eCommerce | 1 Comment »

Personas and Segments and Engagement oh my…

February 27th, 2008 by Jim Cain

A little background on today’s post. There are many smart people in our space who are starting to answer the “What” and “Why” questions of eCommerce. I therefore spend a lot of time wrapping my head around questions that start with the word “How”. Three specific instances in the last two weeks have had me asking a lot of “How” questions about the concept of Personas.

Jim Sterne gave a fantastic presentation with the WAA in
Ottawa two weeks ago and spent some time talking about the concept of personas. In order to have a truly relevant website, he feels that you need to understand who the primary personas of your target market are, and ensure that each page of your site has something for each of them. I asked a question to a subsequent speaker regarding the difference between personas and segments. For more details check out this great Bryan Eisenberg article called “Getting the most out of your Personas”
I spent all of Monday evening skipping back and forth between the NHL trade deadline and an insightful article by Theo Papadakis on Occam’s Razor about engagement profiling and metrics. He states that while visitor engagement is important for marketers, web analytics can only provide relative degrees of engagement (and even those can’t be proven to be positive or negative). This post created a ton of great comments, and blog crossover to a post by Joseph Carrabis on Web Analytics Demystified about Engagement….I could barely concentrate on my hockey following that thread around…
I am working with a Sitebrand customer right now to build programs to optimize the overall conversion of high level segments. We are going to be using our product to create an ongoing dialogue with certain types of site visitors through every step in the conversion funnel. So I have spent a few weeks talking about nothing but segments and personas and engagement…

A lot to chew on huh? To break all the above into one sentence: The age of actionable analytics is upon us. Clicks and pageviews and basic reports are now on the shelf beside my betamax player and Commodore 64. All of the thought leaders in the analytics space are focused on using data to support marketing initiatives like persona and engagement optimization, as opposed to doing marketing to fix/resolve issues found in data.

So here are my list of “How” questions, which my customers and I are starting to answer together with the Sitebrand tool (shameless plug):

How does a typical eMarketing team cost justify the bandwidth required to build personas?
How can engagement be used (and optimized) as a tactical element of every emarketing initiative?
How can a properly executed segmentation initiative feed into (and out of) persona building and engagement mapping?

Generic questions for sure. But once we can start mapping actionable and tactical best practices to these “how” questions, we can earn the right with our internal budget holders to ask more questions down the line. As always feedback is appreciated, specifically on the ways you have asked and dealt with “how” questions in your organization.

Posted in Optimization, Jim Cain, Web Analytics, Personalization | No Comments »

Attitudes About Online Shopping: By Household Income

February 27th, 2008 by Carolyn Gardner

Like everything in life, online shopping has it “upsides” and its “downsides”. Let’s look at these and then map them over to household incomes. In terms of the attitudinal impact, you might be surprised (even alarmed) by what you see…

Just to be clear, the typical upsides of online shopping include:

* Convenience - you can shop anytime, anywhere
* Efficiency - it’s fast and you never fight for a parking spot
* Selection - you’ll often find items on the web that you can’t find at the mall

And the typical downsides include:

* Privacy fears - especially when sharing credit card info and personal info online
* Concerns about not seeing before buying - on the web, there’s no touchy feel time
* Perceived complexity - bad check-outs poison the punch for many consumers

People are people, but when we directly map these online shopping attitudes over to income, things get a little wacky.

You see, the general trends indicate the higher the household income level, the higher the passion for online shopping. Yay because it also means these households tend to have higher disposable incomes which means bigger spends and more revenue for you - oh wonderful e-retailer.

On top of that, the higher the household income, the more important “convenience” fits into the equation. In fact, about 4 out of 10 high income households see ”convenience” as a major upside. I believe this relates to the fact that higher income households have busier schedules (between professional obligations, social obligations, family obligations and all the other obligations). And by virture of the busy factor, ”free time” is precious so anything that can make free time happen is awesome….and online shopping has proven to be one source of ”awesomeness”. All in all, high income households see the online shopping “upsides” outweighing the online shopping “downsides”.

On the flip side, only about 2 out of 10 lower income households appreciate the convenience of online shopping. Not sure how anyone (regardless of income) doesn’t agree that online shopping is convenient, but opinions are opinions (right?). Lower income households also don’t see online shopping as a time-saver. Again, I don’t know how anyone can disagree that online shopping doesn’t save time, but hey, to each their own (right?).

So if we look at this study, the “upsides” aren’t so “up” for our lower income households. But is it only because of their income? I’ll share my thoughts on that momentarily.

First I want you to scroll back up and zoom into the “Attitudes about Online Shopping” chart again (Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project Survey, September 2007). Pay attention to the huge attitudinal differences between household incomes when you specifically look at the “downside” areas of online shopping. At first blush, I find these numbers a little wild.

For example, when you look at concerns related to using a credit card or giving personal information online, almost half of the low income families strongly agree this is an issue. Yet only a quarter of the high income households see it as an issue? What’s with that? Considering high income households typically have more at stake (in terms of potential risk due to higher credit levels and greater fraud losses), one would think they would be more concerned in this area. But apparently they are not, so what do these stats really mean?

In my opinion, these stats measure attitudes that go way beyond household income levels. Sure income matters, but on top of income lies so much more - i.e. education, training, access to computers, etc.

For example…

1. If you’re a low income household with minimal exposure to computers and/or computer training, how can you find online shopping anything but complicated? Pretty hard to fill up an online shopping cart if you’re not comfortable on a computer to start with.

2. Or if you’re a low income household who isn’t online and/or doesn’t own a computer, how can online shopping be convenient? For people without access to a computer in their home, shopping online means going to the public library or a friend’s home. May as well go to the mall, don’t you think?

And by the way, these 2 points above could apply to ANY income level. How about that! I daresay this final point could render this whole study moot. But it doesn’t. Rather it stresses the importances of not taking every report literally. Instead, question what you read and dig a little deeper. This is especially true when you’re talking about the ever-complicated, yet always adored customer.

Posted in Conversion, Carolyn Gardner, eCommerce | No Comments »

What does “loyalty” mean to you?

February 25th, 2008 by Carolyn Gardner

The Retail Council of Canada is having its annual national conference called STORE 2008 this coming June 2 & 3. And the theme is a great one ~ “Loyalty Matters”.

But “loyalty” is one of those interesting words since it means so many things to so many people. Is loyalty all about brand attachment? Or is it about how much a customer spends on the brand? Is loyalty about the entire customer experience throughout their entire lifecycle? Or is it something else?

Well now is your chance to say what you think loyalty is and by doing so, you might just win an all-expense paid trip to STORE 2008… or loads of other great prizes.

Get creative! Ask your friends, talk to your colleagues, and get your business partners involved. Put your thoughts into words, a picture, video or audio - whatever makes you happy - and send them to events@retailcouncil.org by April 16. And of course, share your thoughts here on the blog too! I can’t offer fabulous prizes but I am sincerely interested in your opinions.

Posted in Optimization, Carolyn Gardner, eCommerce | No Comments »

Jon Stewart or Oprah — What’s your online store’s personality?

February 19th, 2008 by Kelly Rusk

–Sitebrand Webinar, coming up March 6, 2 - 2:30 pm EST —

Your website talks to people with words, images, offers, features and design - but is it the language your customers understand?

Join us for this celebrity-inspired webinar and learn:
- the 4 types of people browsing your site
- how to adjust your design to speak to each type appropriately
- what type of messaging and incentives optimize conversion
- what features will trigger action for each type
- creative ways retailers speak their language

Guest Presenter: Jason Billingsley, VP Innovation, Elastic Path Software

REGISTER NOW…

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.3.9 (Panther®) or newer

Posted in Kelly Rusk, eCommerce, Personalization | No Comments »

I guess this is still selling…

February 15th, 2008 by Jim Cain

It has been a while since my last blog post…and the reason is pretty good. For the brief time I have had this forum available to talk about eCommerce, it has always been (at least to me) a chance to vent about what a salesperson sees in the market, and provide a unique perspective as well as some education on the ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ of conversion optimization.

I forgot people internally would read the posts…

Flash forward to January, where I was approached by management to take charge of growing out and continuing to productize our business support program, the Blueprint to Success.

I was more than interested, but having been been in sales for 9 years, it still felt like the scene in Lethal Weapon where I was asked to give up my gun and badge. “Cain, you’re being suspended from sales. Leave your phone and forecast on the desk!”

Then I realized the truth of what this job really entails. I am being given the chance to perform the ultimate solution sale: getting an entire industry to “sign on the dotted line” on changing the way they market within their respective websites.

Now that sounds like fun.

In my new role as Senior Analyst, I have three goals:

1)Take all the great knowledge from within Sitebrand and our customers, and continue to build out a truly productized go to market program so all of our new customers can quickly get into the process (and the results) of conversion optimization

2) Work for ‘Eureka’ moments with all of our customers: There tend to be specific moments in working with Sitebrand where a customer says “Wait, you mean I can do X? Without help from a developer? And I can prove it worked?” A big part of this job will be helping people have, and then replicate, insightful and profitable
Eureka moments.

3) Create a closer dialog with the market at large about the concepts of Conversion Optimization, Personalization and Actionable Analysis.

The moral of this story is that while I may have given up a quarterly revenue quota, I took on a new one in regards to selling success into our customers, and selling the industry on Sitebrand’s take on Actionable Analytics.

Looking forward to working with you.

Cheers,

Jim

Posted in Optimization, Jim Cain, Web Analytics, Personalization | No Comments »

Optimization or Conversion?

February 14th, 2008 by Darryl Praill

So what is it?!

I know. My question doesn’t make sense. Allow me to explain. We’re in the middle of remessaging Sitebrand. As such, we need to revisit what we do as it relates to those who would be our consumers. When you do this exercise, you force yourself to really understand your current and future clients. Pretty much Marketing 101, right? The toughest part in these exercises is nailing down what you do such that your target market understands, or at least has their interest piqued, such that they want to know more. It’s the beginning of the messaging funnel that draws the prospect in and starts them on their way to a sale. If you’ve ever been through it you’ll understand how this is often the most controversial aspect of remessaging. Rarely does anyone agree and even if you manage some consensus there will always be someone else out there to tell you how you’ve got it wrong. Welcome to Marketing! (remind me again why I like this field so much!)

So that explains the question. For a vendor such as Sitebrand that does dynamic online personalization, persuasion and conversion solutions, the argument around what our prospects would positively react to in that initial messaging was "Optimization or Conversion". What are your thoughts?

Let me tell you what I think. I think it’s Conversion. As a Marketer, I absolutely hate the term Optimization. When I hear that, I think of expensive consultants pouring over my systems trying to do efficiency studies which will result in more consulting engagements to apply the recommendations of the efficiency studies which will then encounter some unanticipated complications as a result of my unique infrastructure and architecture which will require more expensive consultants to analyze my technology framework which will then result in more expensive consultants to implement topographical improvements which will remove the bottlenecks I didn’t know I had which will allow the consultants to upgrade my hardware and software configurations which will then require expensive consultants to train my staff on the changes which will result in a loss of productivity and revenue generation activity which will result in many late nights for me and my team as we desperately try to catch up. But I’ll be ‘optimized’!

Said another way, to me Optimization means tweaking some settings. It doesn’t mean ‘make more money’. And as I’ve said before, that’s how I’m measured. I’m the HIPPO, as Jim Sterne recently alluded to in a session he gave (stands for Highly Paid Person with the Opinion).

Now - talk to me about Conversion and I’m all ears. You’re getting to my end-game. You’re talking results! Measurable results. Career enhancing results! Bloggable results! Tell me more!

Ironically - I shared some of my thoughts with Jim Sterne in a dinner outing the night before his seminar. Guess what? He disagreed. He told me I was biased and that it was all about Optimization.

So I thought about it and I think he’s wrong. After all, I’m the Marketer. I am my own target customer. And I think you know how I feel about Optimization.

So after watching his session, I engaged him again. This time I told him he was biased (he didn’t look too impressed). I said that his bias was as a result of living in the trenches of web analytics and measurement. Being measured by productivity enhancements will create a bias towards Optimization. In reality, Optimization drives Conversion. They’re tied together. And guess what? He agreed. So, Jim and I remain good friends. Whew!

But there you have it, don’t you? It’s all about knowing your customer. I’m the executive - talk to me about Conversion. Maybe you’re the analytics expert. I’ll talk to you about Optimization. In the end we’re all measured by results. And the only results that truly count are financial. At least in the business world.

If you enjoyed this discussion about messaging and understanding your customers, you may want to check out our next webinar where we talk about understanding the personas visiting your website. You need to personalize to optimize their experience and convert them for success. Or something like that.

Posted in Optimization, Conversion, Darryl Praill, Web Analytics, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Jim Sterne Serves Conversion Cocktails…

February 13th, 2008 by Carolyn Gardner

Which drink is your conversion process?

Stirred, shaken, chilled or chased? Where are your customers?

Sorry I’ve been holding back on you…but Jim Sterne was in Ottawa last week and he presented a great session to about 120 very enthusiastic web-starved professionals. Despite being Silicon Valley North, we sure don’t get our fair share of thought leaders in the e-space. But that’s another story.

Anyhow, Jim did a very engaging presentation and perhaps my most favourite slide related to his analogy of the customer life cycle. His analogy served up images of martinis, margaritas, red wine and shooters! And I drank them right up! But more importantly these cocktails really painted a clear picture of the roadblocks and bottlenecks customers encounter. And let’s face it, when a customer faces a roadblock or bottleneck, you do too. “You” being the e-commerce marketing manager responsible for generating conversion.

Now let’s consider these drinks a little closer….too bad we didn’t have some cheese and crackers to go with it, but oh well. Work with me for a minute.

What are the ways sites invest in acquisition? SEM, SEO, email, direct mail, online video, banner ads, print ads etc. Even though more and more dollars get thrown into this bucket, the returns are going down. Competition is fierce. Hmm, what should we do? Gee I have an idea! What about re-directing some money into the next phase of the customer life cycle - the persuasion piece I mean?

What about persuasion? Well this is the bridge to conversion, yet I don’t see a ton of investment landing in this bucket. Sure, web site usability is a big piece of this. Easy navigation helps too. Paying attention to analytics, especially the the drop-off points makes for good boardroom discussions. OK so we all know the good and the bad of our web sites, but what are we doing about it? This is where web personalization can lend a hand. And where e-marketers need to think differently. Start thinking about the persuasion piece more seriously. It’s one thing driving traffic, but clicks aren’t going to get you promoted. Conversions will.

During yesterday’s 29-minute Sitebrand webinar titled ~ Love, Hope and Faith: Conversion Meets Customer Behavior ~ Darryl Praill and I added a little (how we can we say a lot in 29 minutes?) personalization chatter into the equation. How could we not? Personalization is such a huge piece of the persuasion push. To elaborate on the CableOrganizer.com example we referenced, you can read the full case study now.

Oh ya, at the bottom of these glasses, we’ve got conversion…and conversion can be whatever makes you happy:

Purchases
Downloads
Sign-ups
Etc.

And once you’re happy, don’t forget to get a re-fill!

Posted in Carolyn Gardner, Web Analytics, eCommerce, Personalization | 1 Comment »

What does your email look like on the iPhone?

February 13th, 2008 by Kelly Rusk

iphone Sadly, I don’t know since it’s not (widely available) yet in Canada… *sniff*

Lucky for all of us deprived of an iPhone, MarketingSherpa published a special report! If, however, you’re questioning whether it’s that important, consider that during the 2008 Macworld keynote speech, he mentioned that in the iPhone’s first quarter, it managed to snatch up nearly 20% of the smart phone marketshare — second only to RIM’s unstoppable BlackBerry! Not too mention some other great points referenced in the MarketingSherpa article.

If you’re short on time, the bottom line is HTML renders very nicely, however, limitations (like small screen and touch screen) do create some new problems, not to mention the lack of ability to target iphone users separately. So you’re best bet is to go out and get one yourself and test, test, test.

PS-Please send me one!

Photo from Flickr.Uploaded on June 10, 2007
by miss karen

Blackberry Email Hell

Posted in Kelly Rusk, Email marketing | 1 Comment »

Is Web 3.0 all about personalization?

February 11th, 2008 by Kelly Rusk

According to ReadWriteWeb and Guardian UK it is!

It makes perfect sense. First the web is all about putting up information for people to access (btw here’s a crazy site that shows you what some big sites looked like back in the dinosaur age - aka 1996). Then Web 2.0 (which we’re all familiar with by now.. right?) is all about building interactivity online with your users. Now once that’s established as the norm, next comes personalizing the user’s interactive experience.

As a web personalization vendor, we love to hear this! Blatant self-promotion aside, this actually makes a lot of sense. The cool thing about personalization is there’s many ways -both subtle and obvious- it can be implemented, and the end result is you’re providing your users with exactly what they want.

Imagine, every site you visit displays exactly what you want to see! It’s a fantastic idea, but sadly we’re still a long way off… Just this morning it took two of us to find the shipping policy page on a very popular Canadian online shopping site. To me it seems like a given that shipping info is very important to the average shopper, so why isn’t that info available front and center? Before personalization can be effective, usability has to be perfected.

Now I’m off on a side note, but my point is made. As someone fully immersed in personalization - this prediction is already my reality. Now it’s time to sit back and enjoy the ride.

Posted in Kelly Rusk, Personalization | No Comments »

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