Experts on digital media, shopper marketing and online retail trends
Posted on Thu, Nov 17, 2011
Over the year, Position Matters has featured a series of monthly guest posts offering Expert Insights on topics ranging from digital media innovation to changes in shopper marketing and online retail trends. Sometimes, you just have to leave it to the experts:
John Ersnberger, co-founder and vice president sales, STELLAService, offers advice on how to succeed this holiday season:
Here are five elements of the shopping experience that all Internet retailers - regardless of their size, budget or focus - should consider as they gear up for the holidays:
- Show a globally displayed link to your shipping and return policies.
- Provide a detailed order confirmation page that clearly highlights “bill to” and “shipped to” information as well as the shopper’s email address where the order details were sent.
- Avoid forcing shoppers to leave a voicemail when calling your company.
- Send an email to confirm product shipment with an estimated time of delivery.
- Leverage third party seals (e.g., service and security) to increase your site’s conversion rate. Test a seal’s effectiveness in different key areas on your site (e.g., shopping cart) to maximize success.
Jason Caine, director of client services, Compete, provides insight on how retailers are competing to create the best and most consistent customer experience:
Ship-to-store is one way that retailers are trying to create a convenient experience for shoppers. Best Buy and Walmart have been aggressive in this area. The online experience is terrific – over 40% of Best Buy shoppers use the option. The key is making sure the in-store experience is just as convenient.
Peter Hoyt, CEO and founder of the Path to Purchase Institute, offers a look into the role of digital in shopper marketing:
The Internet has given us a lot more content to deliver. Consumers have gone digital, marketers and retailers have followed, and we've been here to chronicle the evolution. The store has always been a vital piece of the marketing plan, and it will remain so. But the ability to reach consumers through digital channels -- at home, on the road, or even in the store -- is the most dynamic aspect of marketing right now, and understanding how best to do that has become critical for product manufacturers and retailers alike. What's more, the very definition of "the store" has changed, and now reflects any location -- real or virtual -- that facilitates a transaction. So, naturally, digital communication has become a major aspect of our coverage.
Read more from Debi Kleiman, president of the Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange (MITX), on innovation and New England's role:
I think we’ve become a real hotbed for marketing analytics and mobile innovations that are very exciting. We’re lucky to have so much great talent here plus a culture of experimentation and development that comes from being in close proximity to such great schools and universities like MIT. Companies like DataXu who have developed technology to create a model that’s totally disruptive to the online advertising business. Or Innerscope Research, who has taken their MIT Lab experiment to measure physical consumer response to advertising and marketing and commercialized it so that any company can get data on consumers’ subconscious responses through a process that is so much simpler than ever before.
If these stories capture your attention, please download the best of our Expert Insights series from 2011:
