Webinar preview: meeting the search marketing challenge

October 29, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Most merchants know that search engines are a top driver of shopping traffic. Search engine marketing topped the list of acquisition tactics in 2011, according to industry researcher Forrester, with 90% of online merchants saying it was effective, while 44% said organic search optimization specifically was a driver of new business. The Search Engine Marketing Professionals’ Organization estimates that the search industry as a whole will reach a value of $23 billion by year’s end – up 19% from 2011.

With popularity come challenges, however. The maturity of search engine marketing means that competition for page-one status in “natural” search results is steep, and prices for top paid search terms are soaring: more than a third of companies reported spending at least 20% more for keywords in 2011 than in the prior year, according to SEMPO.

In addition, the migration of search onto mobile devices and the influence of social media on search visibility add new levels of complexity to search engine marketing. Merchants operating with tight marketing budgets and limited staff resources can be hard pressed to prioritize their search engine marketing spend.

How to negotiate this challenging landscape will be the focus of tomorrow’s Webinar, the sixth in our series on business optimization.  The Webinar will outline how merchants can focus on “quality, not quantity” —  maximizing visibility to the right audience and boosting effectiveness of their efforts. Topics include:

  • The series of algorithm updates affecting “natural” or organic search results to reward deep, authentic content — and penalize “webspam”
  • The importance of quality inbound links, and how merchants can build a network that boost their rankings
  • How social media factors into natural search rankings
  • Mobile paid search, and whether it’s worth a separate investment
  • How to deploy retargeting to effectively recapture shopper interest

Register now for the Webinar, which is slated for tomorrow, Tuesday, October 30 at 10 a.m. Pacific. We look forward to hearing your questions!

Filed under Search Engine Marketing Tagged with Business Optimization

A quick fix to boost holiday mobile engagement

October 23, 2012 by Leave a Comment

One of the surprising results of the 2012 MarketLive Consumer Shopping Survey was the strong showing forecast for mobile in the holiday season to come. By now, heavy mobile researching is to be expected, but the survey revealed that a large percentage of consumers plan to go beyond browsing to use their devices to transact purchases. Specifically:

  • One in five survey participants plan to make purchases on their mobile devices during the holiday season
  • 43% said they would use their mobile devices to redeem coupons in-store
  • 82% said they would use retail apps to make purchases

With such potential for direct contribution to the bottom line, mobile offerings deserve prominent promotion. But often, the only mention of mobile on the flagship eCommerce site is a small link in the footer — or, worse, there’s none at all. With the holiday season right around the corner, merchants should act immediately to highlight whatever mobile offerings they have — using all the touchpoints to cross-promote their services. Specifically, merchants should:

Go big with details on the eCommerce site. On the flagship eCommerce site designed for viewing on desktops or browsers, devote a page or more to mobile offerings, detailing what’s available through text-message alerts, the mobile Web and on custom apps. Toys R Us features a page detailing its three mobile apps, with links to download each, along with its mobile Web site. With the heading “Buy and browse from anywhere!” the page emphasizes convenience, calling out the ability to scan item barcodes for registries and research and to access “quick on-the-go shopping”. The left-hand column invites browsers to sign up for text-message alerts by emphasizing “the hottest deals and savings” and allows subscribers to select which categories of alerts they’d like to receive.

Mobile promotion example by Toys R Us

Additionally, merchants should consider linking to mobile information from a promotion on the home page and/or in the global header, as MarketLive merchant Perricone MD did when launching its new iPhone app. The home page promotion promises “instant access” to health advice.

Mobile promotion example from Perricone MD

Alert email subscribers to new ways to shop. Email subscribers are already familiar with the brand and may already even be customers — but that doesn’t mean they don’t have any interest in shopping via mobile device as well as on the traditional Web site. Message them with a promotional offer exclusive to mobile shoppers, as MarketLive merchant Armani Exchange did with this message promising $20 off mobile orders of $100 or more. After the campaign, the mobile site saw a three-fold increase in conversions.

Mobile promotion example from Armani Exchange

Reach mobile-primed shoppers via social networks. Fully 80% of smartphone owners visit social networking sites, and more than half of them do so daily, according to . Merchants should engage this audience of mobile enthusiasts by promoting their offerings on social outposts, emphasizing the ability to access exclusive and up-to-the-minute content. Victoria’s Secret promotes its apps and mobile alerts service on a “Get Connected” page linked prominently from its main Facebook Timeline.

Mobile promotion example from Victoria's Secret

How are you promoting your mobile services across touchpoints?

Filed under Client Innovations, Connected Commerce, Mobile Commerce, Seasonal Selling Tagged with 2012 Holidays

Webinar recap: Offer value to win holiday sales

October 17, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Our head’s still spinning from all the great information delivered during last week’s webinar on the 2012 MarketLive Consumer Shopping Survey. The survey covered a bevy of topics, from how shoppers plan to use mobile devices during the holidays to top discounting strategies for winning sales.

One key standout was the impact of Amazon.com. While most merchants are well aware of the online behemoth’s presence, it was eye-opening to see the numbers in black and white:  more than half of consumers planned to make at least a quarter of their purchases on Amazon — a 62% increase compared with last year — while nearly one in three plan to use the site for more than half of their holiday gifting.

Data from the MarketLive Consumer Survey 2012

Luckily, the webinar also offered an array of solid strategies for merchants to convince shoppers to purchase on their sites instead. The key? Communicating value — a concept that goes beyond prices to include service, brand reputation and uniqueness of products. Value topped the list of product and price factors that influence purchases, with 87% of survey participants saying it’s important — just ahead of product price alone, which 85% of participants said was a priority. Merchants who make the most of that value advantage will thrive, said presenter Lauren Freeman of the E-Tailing Group. Just a few of the tactics the survey identified for communicating brand value:

Reliability. Merchants whose products are in-stock and guaranteed for holiday delivery win points, the survey found, with 82% and 74% of shoppers saying they’re important, respectively. Delivery and shipping cutoff dates also scored high, with 66% of consumers saying they’re important. In addition to communicating in-stock status on the product page, merchants can easily build brand value by creating a clear guide to holiday shipping deadlines and promoting it prominently throughout the site, as  Sundance Catalog did last year with a home-page callout of delivery cutoff dates.

Holiday example from Sundance

Customer service. Unlike Amazon, small and mid-sized merchants can deliver exceptional personalized service — and according to the survey, consumers acknowledge the importance of customer assistance. The availability of a variety of contact options is key, from an 800 number to “click-to-chat” functionality, as is 24/7 access, which was rated important by 65% of participants.

Data from the 2012 MarketLive Consumer Shopping Survey

While not every merchant can offer assistance in every form around the clock, it’s crucial to prominently feature the customer service options that are available — not only on the “contact us” page, but in the global header and on individual product pages, as housewares merchant Cuddledown does with an “Ask an Expert” tab that details contact information and hours.
Customer service example from Cuddledown

Expertly-curated gifts. Nearly half of survey participants, 45%, said the availability of recommendations or reviews was a reason they shopped online — up significantly from 2011, when just over a third of shoppers rated the information important. To create brand value, merchants can go beyond offering customer reviews and feature individual picks from staff members or resident experts in their gift guides. Not only does the brand’s credibility receive a boost by giving shoppers a glimpse of the knowledgeable people who work behind the scenes; a well-crafted gift guide serves as a reminder of the brand’s authoritative good taste and selection of relevant products — a different experience than Amazon’s mega-store mentality.

The Container Store spotlighted its on-staff experts in an email campaign last year with the Subject: line “Trust our employees to pick great gifts.” The message content touted “what our employees would buy” and linked to a selection of gift picks for each featured staff member.

Example of staff picks from the Container Store

There’s more survey data to share in upcoming posts — but meantime, what are you doing to communicate the value of your brand during the holiday season?

Filed under Acquire, Convert & Retain, Client Innovations, Seasonal Selling Tagged with 2012 Holidays

Webinar preview: Maximizing holiday sales success

October 9, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The National Retail Federation’s Shop.org has released its holiday forecast, predicting that online sales will grow 12.6% year over year. That estimate is lower than the earlier forecast from eMarketer, which predicted growth of nearly 17%, and also lower than last year’s sales growth of 15%, as measured by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

While it’s impossible to know whose crystal-ball prognostications will be more accurate, the lower figure squares with the new data collected for the 2012 MarketLive Consumer Shopping Survey, which polled more than 1,000 U.S. shoppers about their plans for holiday spending. The majority of participants, 54%, said they plan to spend about the same amount as last year — down from 56% last year; the percentage of respondents who said they plan to spend more more than doubled, but remains small at 16%, while fewer than 1 in 3 participants said they planned to spend less.

MarketLive 2012 Consumer Shopping Survey data

The data confirms that while the prospects are good for holiday success, merchants will have to work harder than ever to convince shoppers to spend more. The proposition is even more difficult for small-to-medium-sized merchants, who may not be able to compete on price alone with mega-players such as Amazon and Wal-Mart.

But there are plenty of ways merchants can thrive this holiday season despite the challenges. As we’ll reveal in a comprehensive review of survey results tomorrow, October 10, the key to success is to provide value — which doesn’t always equate to bargain-basement pricing. Among other topics, the webinar will explore:

  • What gifting features are most popular for merchants to offer
  • The promotions most likely to motivate purchasing
  • How Amazon impacts holiday shopping behavior
  • Whether shoppers plan to buy — not just research — via their mobile devices
  • How social media can help merchants drive holiday sales

In addition, the webinar will feature a bevy of examples and tactics merchants can apply immediately to boost the success of their holiday campaigns. Register for the webinar now – and stay tuned to the blog for holiday tips throughout the season.

Filed under Acquire, Convert & Retain, Mobile Commerce, Seasonal Selling Tagged with 2012 Holidays

Three more reasons to use video

October 3, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Most merchants recognize that there’s a compelling case for developing video content. According to Internet Retailer’s compilations, 72% of the Top 500 merchants have at least one video and 44% of the Second 500 feature video on their sites.

In-depth product demonstrations can satisfy shoppers’ need for information and motivate the add-to-cart, with merchants such as Zappos reporting sales increases of 6-30% on pages featuring video. Video reviews give buyers a new way to weigh in on products, and lifestyle videos provide a compelling demonstration of how brands align with shoppers’ priorities.

But video’s utility extends far beyond these basics — and its importance is only likely to grow with the continued expansion of new shopping formats and networks. To justify expanded investment in video, consider:

Video gives email a boost. Using the word “video” in the Subject: line can boost open rates up to 20%, and video in email can produce a two-fold to three-fold increase in click-through rates, according to the Email Experience Council. The latest wave of email clients, those that support HTML5, enable inclusion of video playback within the body of an email message; animated .gifs or still images that link to videos can also be effective in motivating email engagement, as in this email from American Eagle Outfitters, which has three animated .gifs for lifestyle videos embedded in it.

Video usage example from AE

(Image from the Retail Email Blog)

Video is a preferred format for tablet users. The expanded horizontal layout of the email above is ideal for tablet consumption — no coincidence, given tablet users’ propensity for watching video. More than half of tablet owners report watching video at least once in the past month and nearly 1 in 10 watch video daily, according to measurement firm comScore. With tablet commerce generating , merchants should provide as much content for this new format as possible — with video front at center. Saks has developed an iPad app that puts video front and center with a “video gallery” featuring interviews and how-to fashion advice.

Video example from Saks

Video is catchy for social media beyond YouTube. Merchants can easily syndicate video across social networks, making for compelling content for brand followers. Facebook is the number two video site after YouTube, according to comScore, while eMarketer reports that video is the most popular content type on Google+; and 9% of links posted to Twitter are video clips, eMarketer found. Merchants can extend the life of existing video content — and should also take the opportunity to create custom social video, such as this clip from luxury retailer Burberry welcoming viewers to its Google+ site. Google+ offers the additional possibility of creating video events with its “hangouts” feature — worth exploring as a way to connect loyal followers with brand insiders.

Video example from Burberry

How are you making the most of your investment in video?

Filed under Acquire, Convert & Retain, Connected Commerce, Email Marketing, Mobile Commerce, Social Commerce Tagged with Video

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