2008 July | Persuasive e-Marketing

Archive for July, 2008

Are marketers breaking the sales funnel?

July 30th, 2008 by Carolyn Gardner

For those of you who read DM News, you’ll know they publish a variety of opinion editorial pieces. In this week’s batch, there’s one I wrote and the topic relates to something I want you to weigh in on - it’s called “Keep sales funnel top-of-mind“. And it all ties into the Shop.org’s State of Retailing Online report for 2008 where it reports that online retailers allocate 53% of their marketing dollars to online customer acquisition - driving traffic to a web site or landing page. But when it comes to online customer retention, the marketing spend drops to 21%. This makes one wonder if any effort to engage and convert customers must come out of the remaining 26% of budget??? If that’s the case, we’ve got a big problem in my opinion.

Read the piece and share your comments and thoughts. Is this disproportionate spend and lack of respect for the sales funnel alarmingly short-sighted or is it acceptable?

PS - Speaking of shop.org, Sitebrand will be exhibiting at the Shop.org Annual Summit in Las Vegas. It’s happening Sept 15-17 and we’ll be at booth 335. If you’re planning to go, let me know as it’s always a pleasure to meet people face-to-face!

Posted in Carolyn Gardner, Conversion, Customer Experience, Optimization, Personalization, Sitebrand, Web Analytics, eCommerce | 2 Comments »

If I can’t be a customer, should I be treated like a prospect?

July 29th, 2008 by Jim Cain

A little over a year ago Clare (my better half) was getting ready to buy a new car. I went to a few of the dealerships with her, and at the first place we went to salespeople assumed that because we were a couple and I was the man, I was the one making the decision. Suffice it to say they did not get a deal, and this is an example of bad segmentation that I will tackle another time…

The second place we went to, we got a good salesperson. He lead by asking who was making the decision, asked about budget, and sat down to work his deal. Clare met all the criteria of someone he can sell to. She was in the market for a new car, she had the money to make a purchase, and she was sitting in front of him talking about the Honda Fit (a wicked car btw).

Now I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that the sales director at Ottawa Honda doesn’t sit down once a month and calculate his closed sales metrics based on:
• The population of Ottawa
• Visitors to every Honda dealership in North America
• People who have gone past the dealership on bikes

He looks at his sales metrics based on:
• People who came into the store
• People for whom a car purchase was financially feasible
• People who engaged a Salesperson.

Seems pretty obvious right? Sales 101.

So why do the vast majority of websites calculate their conversion rates against all visitors to their site? Why isn’t conversion a function of the close ratio of people who could be closed at all?

Example: Many eCommerce websites in the United States don’t ship outside the continental United States, and the ones who do tend to make it so complicated it amounts to the same thing. Why do they not calculate their conversion rate against the traffic that originates in either the 50 US States, or the lower 48 that they build their business around?

I spend a lot of time in other people’s data, and I put this thought to the test through a number of analytics accounts in the last week. The changes in conversion rates are profound when you look at the percentage of prospective customers who convert instead of the percentage of all visitors who convert.

Separating the wheat from the chaff will not only provide clarity into your actual close rate, but will allow you to see opportunity. After you have segmented out the US, you might see that the UK generates 20,000 visits a month but has very low conversion. Perhaps it is time to build a cost-effective and easy UK shipping plan.

It’s not your fault as a marketer if you don’t close any visitors from Ulaanbataar, Mongolia. You don’t ship there. Clean up your conversion reports, and you won’t only make your numbers better (and more transparent), you might find your next major market opportunity.

If enough Ulanbataarians show up, maybe “Spend over $200 and get Free Shipping to Mongolia!” isn’t such a bad idea.

Cheers,

Jim

Posted in Conversion, Customer Experience, Jim Cain, Optimization, Personalization, Web Analytics, eCommerce | No Comments »

Confessions from the front line.

July 28th, 2008 by Dan Auns

Before I get started with a regular by-weekly post …..a quick introductory/positioning statement.

As a Senior Account Executive here at Sitebrand for over 2 years, I have had the pleasure of meeting thousands of interesting people in all sorts of interesting roles. The common thread, the internet is a fundamental piece of their business strategy. From fellow vendors, to thought leaders, VP’s, C level exec’s, business owners and more - there are no shortage of interesting conversations in this space to be had, if you make it a priority to get out there and have them.

Fundamentally my role here is to meet people, and learn. As a vendor/solution provider, it is impossible for me to provide an option, if I am unaware of the ailment. Imagine going to a doctor, and getting a new miracle drug prescription at the reception desk with out ever speaking to the doctor? Analysis is imperative.

I find it fascinating that there are some universal themes, or undercurrents in many of my conversations that seem to impact everyone.

To get the conversation started, one of these predominant topics: Change.

Regardless of your business (Or thoughts on Web/eCommerce 2.0) doing business online implies change. Businesses are no longer wondering if online is viable, they focus on increasing conversion. The internet is not going away, this thing works.

A lot like how electrification was the catalyst for the (North American) Second Industrial Revolution. The parallels today to what electricity did for business back then, and to what the internet has done over the past 20 years - are hard to overlook. It is easy to pick out the players who embrace change, and those on the outside looking for answers.

Today, companies winning online seem to be better able to adapt and react to change. Be it planned (i.e. a platform migration), or otherwise (i.e. Google tweaking their algorithms). Change is also about thinking ahead, taking calculated risks, and sticking your neck out from time to time. The reward for status quo, is status quo.

I have had much more meaningful conversations with those who are effective at managing change.

I look forward to your feedback. Better yet, I look forward to many more meaningful conversations.

Cheers.

Posted in Dan Auns, Sitebrand, eCommerce | 1 Comment »

Creating an in-store experience — online

July 25th, 2008 by Carolyn Gardner

Sitebrand recently published another customer case study and it’s featuring Wholesale Tool - a multichannel retailer headquartered in Michigan. Like the name implies, Wholesale Tool provides a full supply of name brands and quality import tools for consumers and industry.Before launching their website in 1999, they based their business on 7 retail stores strategically located across the US. As well, they generated sales via an impressive mail catalog with over 50,000 items.

In order to better optimize the web site potential, Wholesale Tool turned to Sitebrand. In addition to the goal of increasing conversion online, Wholesale Tool was also very interested in driving traffic to their seven physical store locations. In addition to finding success using personalization for first time visitor segments, lost shoppers and cart abandonment to name a few, Wholesale Tool takes advantage of geo-segmentation opportunities. Before I get into that, let me show you a screen shot of a Sitebrand powered first time visitor experience. The first time messaging is populating a pre-determined smart content area of the web site - just under the main top banner, under search and in bright yellow…

Wholesale Tool First Time Visitor

By recognizing visitors and meeting expectations that relate to the ones we’ve all come to expect through the classic in-store experience, let’s look at what Wholesale Tool has done with geo-targeting. Using “city as a triggering rule (i.e. the seven cities with brick and mortar stores), Sitebrand is able to populate this smart content space using geo-specific messaging like below:

Charlotte Geo

Prior to serving these campaigns, Wholesale Tool was getting lots of comments (on the website) from people saying they didn’t know there was a store near them. After implementing these geo-campaigns, they immediately saw these types of comments drop…

Being the voice to help and guide the online customer to some level of engagement and conversion…that’s what web personalization is all about.

For all the scoop, read the full Wholesale Tool case study which is part of Sitebrand’s ever-expanding library of case studies. DMNews picked this story up as well = check it out!

Posted in Carolyn Gardner, Conversion, Customer Experience, Optimization, Personalization, Uncategorized, Web Analytics, eCommerce | 2 Comments »

Part 2: Marketing to Canadians - Special Report from MarketingSherpa…

July 17th, 2008 by Carolyn Gardner

Just a real quick post to let you know that further to last Friday’s post referencing part 1 of Marketing to Canadians (a Special Report from MarketingSherpa), we’ve now got a link for you to view part 2 of the report …which is is equally informative. Part 2 includes creative samples of Canadian-specific online banner ads that Kiyonna (a Sitebrand client) has used to geotarget Canadian visitors…

Posted in Carolyn Gardner, Conversion, Customer Experience, Email marketing, Optimization, Personalization, Social Media, Viral Marketing, Web Analytics, eCommerce | No Comments »

A long term engagement: Is engagement marketing valuable or is it bunk?

July 16th, 2008 by Jim Cain

I had a good chat this morning with my colleague Larry (Manager, Corporate Training) about a term he has been bumping into in the last few weeks called ‘Social Conversion’. It all seems to stem from a nice blog-post that was written last month by Justin Talerico, CEO of ion Interactive, about the importance of monitoring, understanding and optimizing the micro-conversions associated to social media marketing.

Loved the blog, agreed with the concepts, but not sure we need to coin any new terms. Social Conversion is just another way of saying conversion. According to the WAA Standards Committee, Conversion is “The number of times a desired outcome was accomplished.” So let’s try and really nail down the basic definitions before we throw them out the window and come up with new ones. (Still, it’s a great piece, specifically the landing page and whitepaper examples)

Wondering what my intro has to do with the title yet? Here we go.

Just as the term ‘social conversion’ has been doing the rounds in the last few weeks regarding its relevance and veracity (or truthiness), the concept of engagement in digital marketing has done the rounds for almost two years, and has been the subject of heated debate and scrutiny.

The ongoing dialog (or should I say blogalog? Yet another new term) has revolved around two primary questions:

Is engagement an important concept?
If it is important, how can it be quantified.

To learn more about the topic, here are a number of great posts on the subject. I specifically recommend checking out the recent flamewar between Omniture and Eric Peterson, both industry heavyweights with very differing opinions.

I myself blogged on the issue back in February, and my take is that being able to understand and manage visitor engagement to/from/within a given web property is the first major step towards ‘analytics 2.0’. Standardizing what metrics are used however is much more difficult.

If you work with a company like ion Interactive, engagement will have a strong landing page/social media focus. If you are a multi-channel marketer, engagement might have strong online/offline ties.

Having helped some of Sitebrand’s customers directly identify engagement related KPI’s in their business for the purposes of Optimization, I know it works. As for the ‘philosopher’s stone’ of engagement equations that work for every site, the jury is out.

In a fairly new industry like internet marketing, new terms will be coined at the speed of….internet. But some terms stick and have a profound impact on our discipline.

Engagement is one of these important terms.

Do some homework and form an opinion. If you think it’s bunk so be it. But if you think engagement monitoring and management could be a core aspect of your job in the coming years, start applying some of the concepts now so you don’t miss the boat.

Cheers,

Jim

PS. Larry heard I was referencing him in the blog today and wanted to make sure all our customers knew that he is available for all training requests/questions at training AT Sitebrand.com. Go team go!

Posted in Conversion, Customer Experience, Jim Cain, Optimization, Personalization, Social Media, Uncategorized, Web Analytics, eCommerce | 3 Comments »

Have I got a viral ooh la la shopping moment for you!

July 16th, 2008 by Carolyn Gardner

It’s called Rue La La and it’s creating a shopping revolution that has to be one of the most brilliant online retail ideas I’ve seen in a while! It’s got designer brands, exclusivity, urgency, community and incentive…and that’s just the beginning. Here’s the gist of Rue La La…

First of all, you have to be a member. And to be a member, it’s invitation only via email so you have to be connected to someone hip and in the know. In my case, that would be fellow Sitebrander Dan Auns = thanks Dan! In your case, it’s now me, lol - I’m serious, if you’re interested I can send you an invite. It’s totally worth the discovery. Hmm, can you see the huge viral potential here too!?! Especially since when you send an invite to someone, Rue La La will give you a $10 shopping credit when any of your invitees make their first purchase. So bottom line - no membership, no access.

But once you’re a member (which is free), Rue La La is a destination that’s always changing. Any time you visit, you’ll have different and exciting offerings. No more of that same old, same old. And they love feedback because they want to be responsive to what members want most.

Now for the really cool part. Each private sale boutique is only open for 2-3 days!! Talk about creating a sense of urgency! When they say don’t delay, they mean it! And when you check out the featured boutique, there’s a days, hours and minute countdown ticking away. Now of course, they’re not foolish. In addition to seeing “Today’s Boutique”, you’re also teased with a mini list of the “Next Boutiques”. In this listing, you’ll see the upcoming days and hours of operation.

I love it because this concept is totally maximizing so many of the things you need to do to be successful online. On top of it all, the entire concept is awesomely framed around building that sense of community through social marketing. With this post alone, I’m clearly feeding right into it!

Who are the brains behind Rue La La you ask? I wish it was me but it’s actually part of an exciting new division of Retail Convergence, Inc., featuring ”a portfolio of e-commerce companies leveraging a common technology platform, customer database, and management team to revolutionize online shopping”. In addition to owning the Rue La La brand, Retail Convervence also owns SmartBargains.com which just happens to be #100 on the IR500 list.

They are a self-proclaimed group of people who love shopping. They’ve built the connections required to negotiate private sale prices on some of the most sought after brands in fashion and home. And they have the exacting standards required to present only the best-edited collections. I should mention that Rue La La is not about trashy stuff that’s going to rip, tear and break. I’m talking about high-end designer brands that just happen to be selling at fabulous prices. Right now they are featuring Joseph Abboud. But only till 11 am EST. As of 11 am today and for only 2 days, they’re opening a boutique for vineyard vines. Then 2 days later it’s PUMA, and so on…

So there you have it! If you want to get a taste of the ooh la la shopping experience at Rue La La, let me know and I’ll send you an invite. Just send an email to cgardner(at)sitebrand(dot)com

Happy Shopping!

Posted in Carolyn Gardner, Customer Experience, Email marketing, Social Media, Viral Marketing, eCommerce | 3 Comments »

Marketing to Canadians - Special Report from MarketingSherpa Praises Canadian Personalization

July 14th, 2008 by Carolyn Gardner

A couple of months ago, I had the pleasure of speaking with Natalie Myers, a reporter from MarketingSherpa. She called me because she was curious to understand more about the Canadian online shopper. Since I’m a Canadian living, working and shopping in Canada, I was happy to step up and share my views with Natalie. And in the end, so did several others - hence why it’s been in the works for several months!

The result of all this input is outstanding. It’s part one of a Special Report called Marketing to Canadians: How to Deal with Language, Cultural, Location and Regulation Differences.

So for anyone looking to maximize conversion opportunities in Canada, this report is jammed with great strategies and tactics you can’t ignore. Here’s a hint of what you’ll learn…

As Canadians, we want to know a few things right up front. Perhaps one of the top things is do you ship to Canada? Letting this be known right up front in a visit is key. At Sitebrand, we have many US ecommerce sites reinforcing this type of messaging through geotargeting and it’s highly successful in terms of lifting conversion. In fact, this Sherpa report references Kiyonna, a Sitebrand customer who does a great job recognizing and responding to Canadian visitors in a creative, fun way. It’s referenced with some graphic examples of how they personalize the experience for Canadian visitors, so check that out. For more on geo-targeting and how it can improve convesion, you can also browse Sitebrand’s library of case studies.

Another nice touch is Canadian pricing and if you can have it via a Canadian site, even better! One site that impresses me is Proactiv Solution. This is a US site that does an amazing job recognizing international visitors - including Canadians via a Canadian site that clearly states Canadian pricing in red font (when you think of the red maple leaf in our flag, this is colour of font is very appropriate).

By the way, notice how I spelled “colour”, that’s the Canadian way of spelling colour. And this is another point made in this special report. To really appeal to Canadians, use Canadian English. It’s subtle, but we notice - i.e color is colour, pay by check is pay by cheque, behaviour is behavior etc.

Anyhow, back to Proactiv Solution, they’ve purchased all the right domains and they’ve set it all up to work like a charm. I bet they have huge success around the world and give kudos to the extra steps they take online. Even when you proceed through the Proactiv Solution checkout, it’s smart enough to prepopulate the country datafield to be “Canada”. And it asks for postal code which is the Canadian equiv of a US zip code. Love it! Nothing more frustrating than being forced to put a zip code in when you don’t have one! Trust me, it will contribute to lost sales in a big way.

Getting back to the importance of shipping - if you can make shipping affordable to the Canadian visitor, this is a definite advantage. Simply offering great pricing isn’t going to make us buy. Shipping has to be reasonable or we’re out.

I could go on and on, but I think you should just read the report. And after you do, post a comment and let’s get start some chatter. For example, are you doing anything special to encourage Canadians to buy online? If yes, what? If no, why?

Posted in Carolyn Gardner, Conversion, Customer Experience, Optimization, Personalization, Web Analytics, eCommerce | 1 Comment »

3 Things to Die For: Web Analytics Unleashed…

July 11th, 2008 by Carolyn Gardner

I absolutely love the title of this webinar!! And with Avinash Kaushik, Analytics Author & Evangelist from Google teaming up with Jason Billingsley, VP Innovation at Elastic Path Software teaming up…this is sure to be a good investment of your time. And you might even win 1 of 5 signed copies of Avinash’s top-rated book “Web Analytics: An Hour a Day”.

The “3 Things to Die For: Web Analytics Unleashed” webinar is happening this Thursday, July 17 at 12 pm EST / 9 am PST. Register here…

It will be a great primer for the Danskin webinar Sitebrand’s is hosting the Wed after…Wed, July 30 to be precise! Don’t forget to register for “Danskin: Can It Repeat Its Cyber Monday Success?” so you can get inspired for Cyber Monday and beyond!

PS - be first to hear it all - follow “Sitebrand” on Twitter…

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

Free eCommerce Webinar | Making Cyber Monday a Mega Success…and can Danskin do it again?

July 10th, 2008 by Carolyn Gardner

There’s already lots of buzz about Cyber Monday. So if it’s something you’re ramping up for (and it should be), this is one webinar you don’t want to miss. For a realistic discussion on what’s achievable - even for the typical resource-crunched online team - join Jessica Koster, Danskin’s Director of e-Commerce Marketing, and myself on Wednesday, July 30 for a 29-minute webinar that will reveal how to:

- plan ahead for Cyber Monday and other seasonal highs
- optimize the power and customer reviews
- create persuasive offers based on more than free shipping
- implement web personalization in time for the holidays

Posted in Carolyn Gardner, Conversion, Customer Experience, Optimization, Personalization, Uncategorized, eCommerce | 2 Comments »

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