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April 22nd, 2008 by Carolyn Gardner

I’m impressed by all the buzz about Earth Day - TV, radio, newspaper, Google. And it made me wonder how eTailers are responding…

Turns out the Home Depot is all over it. Smack dab on their home page is this:

Earth Day

Then when you click-through, they’ve got plenty of ways we can shop (online or in-store) and feel good about doing our part for the environment. Apparently Home Depot has over 3,300 products to help you save money and energy while reducing environmental stress at the same time. That’s damn impressive. And if you visit the Home Depot today, you can participate in the free tote giveaway, which will reduce 136,411,024 pounds of CO2 per year. That’s equal to taking 13,451 cars off the road permanently! Of course, to do this right, you need to walk or bike to the Home Depot nearest you. Otherwise - gasp - you are not respecting the environment.

It will be interesting to find out the revenue / traffic impact of this Earth Day blitz at Home Depot. I really see all this environmental awareness being such a positive thing for eTailers large and small. On top of fears around a recession and sky-rocketing gas prices, the appeal of shopping online continues to grow. It simply makes a ton of sense.

BTW - thanks to a recent co-presentation I did with Simon Rodrigue at the eMetrics Summit in Toronto, I should be able to track down some numbers for you. Simon just happens to be Senior Manager of eCommerce, Interactive Marketing, at Home Depot (Canada). Stay tuned!

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

Scratch ‘n Smell | Peel ‘n Taste | Click ‘n hmmm

April 1st, 2008 by Carolyn Gardner

The human body has five major senses - smelling, tasting, seeing, hearing, and touching - which team together to gather from the world around us. And marketers are getting very innovative in the ways they tap into these senses to make lots of cents!

Senses

Smelling…

For some products - like perfume - it makes sense to go the “scratch ‘n smell” route. But perhaps one of the more innovative ”scratch ‘n smell” ads I’ve seen is one from Canadian Tire. It was in a recent issue of some house and home type magazine saying that summer is just around the corner….is it time to think about a new lawn mower? Anyhow, to remind us of summer, this ”scratch ‘n small” ad featured the smell of freshly cut grass. Rather genious I thought. And I’ve told a lot of people about it. So it was effective.

Tasting…

As for “peel ‘n taste”, I’ve never actually experienced this one. However I did read a story called “Making Sense of Sensory Marketing” on retailtouchpoints.com. In this article is a lickable ad campaign released by Welch’s. Yup, in a Feb issue of People magazine, readers were told: “For a tasty fact, remove & lick”. And then with the one lickable strip, willing enthusiasts got a quick taste of the grape-flavored beverage. Since you can’t easily attach bottles to a magazine, this lickable strip appears to be an excellent alternative. I think it’s got a lot of potential and I’m sure we’ll see lots more of these in the future.

Touching…

For marketers using the sense of touch to sell things, I really think of offline stores where you can reach inside the packaging through strategic little punch-outs and touch/feel the softness…Scotties is one brand that really leverages ’softness’ as a selling point. They do a good job really.

Seeing and Hearing…

This is where the “click ‘n hmmm” stuff comes in - click and watch, click and listen, etc. The internet is doing a fab job with video and sound and people are totally loving it! Just look at the success of youtube!

But what’s around the corner? Will the internet go beyond sight and sound? I bet it will. What do you think? And what’s the smell coming from your computer?

Posted in Customer Experience, Carolyn Gardner, Uncategorized | 2 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 »

New Year’s Resolution #3: Ameliorate in ‘08

December 19th, 2007 by Jim Cain

I have been challenged by my fellow Sitebrand bloggers to include a post on the end of year theme, which is entitled “-ate in ‘08”.

Like I think most people would, I opened up a dictionary in one window and Wikipedia in the other, on a quest to find the coolest word that ends in -ate.

That word is defenestrate. A bit of a stretch from a thematic perspective. (Throw your ideas about personalization out the window…..yikes)

I then limited my search to words that apply to the specific slant of my current blog postings, ideally one that would set the stage for the tone of next years posts. Three red bulls later the right word was found.

a·mel·io·rate [uh-meel-yuh-reyt] - to make or become better, more bearable, or more satisfactory; improve; meliorate.

There’s a winner. The purpose of my posts over the last few months, to be continued over the course of ‘08, is to share our take on the emerging discipline of eCommerce. As a firm that has a positive, but disruptive (in a good way) business impact on the companies we work with, Sitebrand plays a key role in changing the way marketers approach their websites.

My new years blogging resolution is to ensure that each post references a new (read low adoption), accessible (meaning any marketer can do it), and profitable (kind of a given) concept that can be used to increase visitor engagement and grow conversions on any web property.

Hopefully next year we will see an ongoing amelioration in marketer owned website initiatives.

Final New Year’s Resolution: Celebrate in ‘08

Posted in Social Media, Web Analytics, eCommerce, Personalization, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Leverage ad technology for good instead of evil

December 18th, 2007 by Jim Cain

I like to read my news on the Internet (never at work of course). Rather than reading yesterday’s events today in a paper edition, I have become accustomed to reading news as it happens. This value however is greatly diminished by how totally obnoxious ad-serving technology is. If I want to read about my favorite hockey team, or the new Radiohead album, I would prefer to not have to close a dancing Bacardi bottle floating on my screen, or read around a div layer requesting that I do a survey.

I have never, ever, clicked on a disruptive piece of advertising.

Conversely, I am a big fan of the old Microsoft Office Paperclip character. For all the knowledge I have about leveraging technology, I often need some gentle nudging when it comes to learning how to use it. Many of the things I do now as part of my day came from that Paperclip popping up on my screen saying “Are you trying to…?”, or “Did you know…?”

Don’t get me wrong, after a certain point the Paperclip drove me up the wall and I turned it off. But during that initial period it added a ton of value. In fact, if there was a Paperclip module to help me to get my Blackberry to integrate properly into my email, I would pull out the credit card.

So attention eMarketers: You are currently sitting on a great deal of ad-serving technology that could be used for good (read - visitor value and message relevance) instead of evil (read – disruptive, bounce rate inducing annoyance).

I have a new customer whose online brand identity is tied into a cartoon character, who currently exists primarily in their logo. They are going to be using that character to manage visitor behavior, and leveraging adserving media technologies to do so. First time visitors to the site will see a floating representation of this character, welcoming them to the store and explaining their value proposition. Lost shoppers will see rich media with the character informing them of specials and customer service options. An online catalog becomes an interactive visitor experience, using technologies that are normally used for garish billboarding.

The ability to serve creative outside of the traditional webpage real estate presents some very neat opportunities for visitor interaction. Take a look at how your favorite media properties are launching advanced but disruptive advertising, and re purpose them to add real value to your visitors.

Posted in Social Media, Web Analytics, eCommerce, Personalization, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Helping analysts get across the optimization finish line.

December 7th, 2007 by Jim Cain

Email has been flying furiously in the sales department all year regarding industry articles that sound a great deal like the first three quarters of our sales pitch.

Examples abound, but please find a quote below from an Eric Peterson penned document which is available on his fantastic Web Analytics Demystified website.

“Running tests is the final step in the process of doing web analytics, the point at which you provethat you’ve generated solid analysis against a well-implemented and well-validated data set. The proof is observed improvement as measured by your critical site key performance indicators, improvement that can be translated into incremental revenue or operational savings, a financial benefit that can be directly tied to your investment in web analytics.”

from “The Web Analytics Business Process”

Or how about this one from Shane Atchison (also a great writer) in an article from ClickZ.

“Improvement is continuous. As Japanese car manufacturers have demonstrated over the past several decades, continuous improvement makes products endlessly better. As perfect as you might believe your site to be, you know it can be just a bit better. Do that, and repeat. This is the beauty of optimization and why you should allocate budget for this upfront.” (from Think Your Web Site’s Perfect? Think again )

I could go on ad nauseum, but the moral of the story is that at least twice a week someone sends around a great article about the importance of understanding your traffic, and optimizing conversions accordingly. AND NEVER ONCE HAVE THEY SAID HOW

It’s dumbfounding that no one is offering proper best practices on how to actually make your analytics actionable. As referenced in an earlier post, most marketers don’t feel empowered or supported to make the most out of what analytics tells them. A strong ‘next step’ series of practices would help provide some of that incentive.

Obviously this is a self serving statement, as I happen to sell a tool that allows marketers the agility to be testing and optimizing conversion in an ongoing fashion. But I will fire the first shot in the war of transparency and give every marketer an under-performing traffic segment that you can be speaking to with a little bit of work.

First Time Visitors: They are expensive (read: keyword buys and SEO spend), they convert lower than your overall site average, and they probably make up over half your traffic in a given month. If you came up with a few different calls to action, targeted them specifically to first time visitors, and then tested their impact against the conversion rate of that segment, you will add thousands of dollars to your bottom line.

This week’s Call To Action: I encourage any readers to comment with things that they have done to take what they have learned in their analytics, and then action on it. This ‘open source’ approach to conversion optimization will help marketers and vendors both in maximizing the results of their hard work.

Posted in Web Analytics, eCommerce, Personalization, Uncategorized | No Comments »