Life In Internet

In advertising, you’re limited to the number of people you’ve paid to reach. That is, unless you’ve laid the groundwork for word of mouth to support it.

Think of it like this: You pay for X impressions. But if you can get 20% more people to see the ad through word of mouth, you get 20% better response (for free).

You’re doing all this great work — but what you’re missing is the WOM bump. So here’s the quick version of everything you wanted to know about word of mouth marketing but were afraid to ask.

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With Shop.org’s Online Merchandising Workshop less than a week away, we decided to focus our Talking With… attention on one of the keynotes that seems to be getting the most interest: “21 Secrets of Top Converting Websites”. So we reached out to online marketing pioneer Bryan Eisenberg, author of the best-selling Waiting for Your Cat to Bark? and managing partner at Eisenberg Holdings LLC, who discusses which online retailers have mastered web optimization, outlines the biggest mistakes retailers make with email marketing, and shares what attendees at his anticipated session will walk away with on July 13.

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Research shows that consumers rely on product video in making online purchase decisions. Online retailers are moving fast to add video to the purchase path in order to increase conversion.  With this goal in mind, here are some best practices we’ve adopted in the course of working with our Internet 500 retailer clients at Invodo.

1) Make the Product the Star

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The full results of the first State of Retailing Online (SORO) 2010 survey were released today. Shop.org Members can download the findings now, which cover interactive marketing, social media and mobile. We were able to break out results by company type (multichannel vs. pureplay), size (annual Web revenue), and Web selling tenure, as well as by category for apparel, accessories & footwear; beauty & personal care; general merchandisers; home; and sporting goods & accessories.

A few highlights:

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We are just a couple weeks away from the start of my favorite event of the year – the Shop.org Online Merchandising Workshop. For those of you attending, I wanted to provide a quick update of some content we have just added in the last few days.

1. Speaker and industry expert moderated roundtables
To wrap up the first full day of content at the event on Tuesday July 13th – all event attendees are able to join interactive, small group discussions on a merchandising topic of their choice. This year, we have 12 topic tables moderated by many of our event speakers as well as a handful of other industry experts that plan to share best practices, tips for success and additional insights on numerous topics. A perfect mix of networking and learning for those that want to dive into the hottest topics in online merchandising.

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While much of the country is focused on the impact on the financial industry of the financial overhaul bill that was passed early this morning, Shop.org was focused on a little known but important part of the bill that would give the FTC significant new powers that could be used to increase federal regulation in areas such as privacy and marketing.

The FTC succeeded in having these new powers included in a House version of the financial overhaul bill. And, in a cliffhanger Conference Committee that lasted until 5:00 am this morning, Chairman Waxman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee attempted three times to force the Senate to accept the expanded FTC authorities that Shop.org has consistently opposed.  Thankfully, all of our lobbying efforts paid off and the Senate Democrats held firm in opposition to the measure.  Therefore, the FTC will not be getting the powers that they asked for.  Both the House and Senate are set to pass the finalized bill next week.

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The word of digital and multichannel retail changes incredibly quickly, and we all face new, complex challenges every day.  Many great solutions can be found within the Shop.org community of retailers and vendors, but we lack a common center of excellence that can debate various solutions and produce a solid point-of-view.

Until now.

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Privacy is a hot topic in Washington these days.  You might remember that the FTC published “Self-regulatory Principles” for Online behavioral advertising practices in early 2009. 

Now Congressman Rick Boucher, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet, is circulating draft legislation that adopts many of the concepts of the self-regulatory principles, but broadens their scope far beyond behavioral targeting, to cover any and all collection of consumer data, both online and off. 

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Greetings

I wanted to thank all of our members who helped make our first annual May is Marketing Month a success!  Whether you attended one of our regional dinners, participated in a webinar, watched a webinar playback, viewed a Marketing Month Video Tip of the Day, or downloaded a white paper, we want to thank you for your participation.    We had nearly 500 people attend one of our 11 regional dinners, nearly 300 webinar attendees and that number is growing due to our playbacks, and nearly 1,500 views of our Video Tips of the Day. 

As many of you know we developed Marketing Month to help replace our Online Marketing Workshop.  While nothing can take the place of an in-person event we hope that the networking and content sparked at least one idea for our participating members to help them achieve their business goals.  If you did attend a dinner or a webinar, please fill out a quick five minute survey so we can receive your feedback. 

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If you believe in Shop.org’s vision to be the world’s leading membership community for digital retail, please mark Friday, June 18, on your calendar.  This is the day when applications are due for the 2010 Shop.org Board of Director election.

This year, six retail and five non-retail seats will be contested.  It’s a competitive process, but one that consistently yields amazing leaders for the Shop.org community.  If you would like to help shape the strategic direction of Shop.org or you know someone that you think should, please consider being a part of the election process this year.

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