Netflix data shows "binge watching" is up. How do we create content marketing to encourage a binge?
Creating Binge Worthy Content for Ecommerce sites helps master the New SEO, but the process is different than for B2B because:
* B2C ecom content needs more UGC (User Generated Content).
* Ecom content needs to tell great stories fast so VIDEO. * UGC needs engagement support so gamification. * Tribal key for ecommerce, so needs to be highly social. * Don't like to pull attention away from HERO, so selectively visual. * Need to curate more "binge worthy content" from UGC and social.
That last bullet demonstrates the core difference. B2C ecommerce is an act of curation as much as creation. Customers trust each other often MORE than the websites they visit. The more UGC an ecom website has the richer it is.
UGC can take many forms on an ecommerce site such as:
* Reviews.
* Profiles (MyAccount).
* Comments.
* Response to contests and games.
* Review the reviewer (was this review helpful?).
* Social shares.
* Blog or social commentary (use only with permission as you will have to rake into your website with an Online Reputation Management tool).
Stories and content are no less important to an ecommerce website, but there are distinct difference in the type of content that will help and not hurt conversions.
Scale Is The Game & Amazon is WINNING
The web game is different than bricks and mortar. On the Internet scale is what matters. Doubt that? Look at Amazon's amazingly quick catch-up on social media marketing. From laggards to Kings:
* 22M Facebook Likes.
* 1M Twitter Followers. * Traffic Rank #5 (US where lower is better). * 1M inbound links.
* 38M pages in Google.
Amazon doesn't care if it makes money on a particular product because they know scale creates money. Soon they will make more money from their web services than from selling goods.
Amazon had to build a vast network of warehouses and servers. Once that network was built it presented a new revenue opportunity - Amazon web services. Amazon knows they don't find that new pot of gold without their aggressive actions on merchandising and creation of their partner network.
Amazon also knows the people who make the real money in a gold rush are the merchants supplying the shovels and tools. The shovel and tool business is always good as long as merchants are smart enough to know when one thing is almost over in order to move on to the next.
Unfortunately for all Amazon, largely thanks to the Wall Street roots, seems adroit at knowing when to pivot, twist and what dance will be next. Bezos' Wall Street thinking where everything is an arbitrage and you diversify your portfolio, act fast and think long term has helped the company to rule the web.
Marty (@ScentTrail) Note
As a former Director of Ecommerce I know what trends will be a "must respond" while others are "nice to haves" if time allows. Here is my rating for the 5 Ecommerce Trends outlined by FourthSource:
Wearable Tech - Nice To Have
Sure I would blog about wearable tech and I would make sure whatever I was doing had a large PHONE and PAD component, but turning the battle ship to face the wind on "wearable tech" feels way to premature. Give it a year to let the gems emerge and then MAYBE wearable tech becomes a "must have".
Automation - Must Have
Yeah automation of front and back end processes is critical to ecommerce health. The "ship the same day" banner being thrown down by ebay and Amazon means some merchants may need to look HARD at their 80/20 rule (80% of most websites volume comes from 20% of their products) and create faster delivery options for the 20% especially to their VIPs.
The other "automation" trend I see in 2014 but not mentioned here is front end dyanmic presentation based on predictive modeling. We can't keep batching and blasting the same content to every one. Use of personas and segments combined with dynamic zones, zones you fill based on what you know about the visitor either from their "new" or "returning' status, a cookie you previously planted or their behavior. Websites must act more like email with relevant information getting to the right group faster.
Tablets and Mobile - Must Have
The discussion of tablets and mobile misses the mark a tad for me. Biggest issue is how we ARCHITECT information now. Content needs to become a series of highly visual "rich snippets" held together by a flexible map of tags, interconnection, glue and chewing gum (lol). Mobile is a revolution not a thing, so think Mobile First in 2014.
Oliver Jäger's rap at the end is essential:
"In a day and age where information and connectivity have become an indispensable part of a modern lifestyle, it’s not just bricks-and-mortar retailers that need a new strategy. Online retailers are increasingly also having to adapt to the new multichannel, information-rich reality.
What this means is that in 2014 we’ll continue to see more and more retailers moving into the content space. Modern consumers are much more demanding and sophisticated, expecting their shopping experience to be a holistic and comprehensive one. "
Right on Oliver!
Not sure why ComScore expected strong online sales late in the season. With shipping concerns, weather and other December issues the holidays begin to shut down online around 1.15 and sales become very quiet by 1.20.
This year that trend was accelerated by the calendar with Christmas in the middle of the week. As we discussed in our Ecommies piece for Curatti (Is Ecommerce Stuck In The Mud http://curatti.com/is-ecommerce-stuck-in-the-mud/ ) ecommerce wasn't very inspiring this year.
Ecommerce merchants are caught in tectonic shifts in the mobile/social web. Online merchants are slowly realizing social marketing is more than one way communication. Social marketing is a conversation, but few online merchants treat social media marketing like an active two way conversation.
The mobile revolution is about much more than smart phones too, yet few online e-retailers are organized around a "mobile first" idea. Battles continue on free shipping, battles that should be all but over as leaders have adopted free shipping out and back (i.e. for returns too) especially in December.
Free shipping out and back is now a meme, a meme that will take over by 2015 (if not before) since it is easier to understand than using coupons or trigger points. If ecommerce is going to dig itself out of the mud embracing social/mobile will be a good first step.
Letting go of print catalog and bricks and mortar behavior online would be a great second step (though much harder to realize).
1.Compile an In-depth Keyword Research Report Centering around your business products, services, brand, industry and demographics of your targeted customers, you’ll have to pick specific long ta (10 Effective Tips on Ways to Use Search Engine Optimization...
Martin (Marty) Smith:
1. Compile an In-depth Keyword Research Report Agree, always a good idea and go as far as 1,000 keys layered from single words to phrases and rated in some way for value to you.
2. Check your Site’s Structure. Make sure it is Easy to Use
More than "easy" it damn well better be FAST and not have any spider traps (so flat and simple is good).
3. On-Site SEO is Crucial
Agree and that is titles, alt text, body copy and supporting social shares.
4. Create and utilize an e-Commerce Site Blog Often
Yeah, blog daily at least. Unique URLs mean you can push content several times a day and it can still find enough social shares to earn full faith and credit from Google.
5. Integrate Social Media for Services and Product Sharing
YES, no shares = no SEO value so focus on shares and know the difference between sharing YOU and YOUR CONTENT (about page, home page = examples of sharing you, posts = sharing content).
6. Customer Satisfaction and Reputation Management
Yes, use ORM (Online Reputation Management) tools remember he who owns the conversation owns the traffic.
7. Make your Site Mobile Friendly Yes, responsive code SEOs better, but keep in mind mobile revolution isn't about the phone it is about the appification of everything.
8. Catchy Content Marketing Yes, you need awesome content as the price of the poker we all play now. Why I like to create a LOT of content since statistical chances for greatness go up and there is more data to help shape and react to success. 9. Acquire Authority Backlinks Only Yes, don't get spam links and disavow if you have too.
10. Form Relevant Social Media Channels for Increased Visibility
You are a publisher, TV programmer, magazine editor and journalist now.
Look at someone like Red Bull for how to be a multi-channel publishing genius.
Sending all traffic to a generic landing page can be a mistake for ecommerce owners. Remember that shoppers who found your store via paid search are different from those who ...
Martin (Marty) Smith:
Landing pages are mostly thought of as B2B capture pages, places relationship SaaS sellers gather names to convert later. A product page is another name for a B2C landing page and tools on this list can help B2C or B2B teams create better (i.e. higher converting) landing pages.
North Carolina Museum Of Art and Art of Internet Marketing
Kudos to whoever is managing the digital marketing team at the North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA). I got a nice tweeted thank you for my Wall Street, Texans and a Thief story about the Porsche By Design exhibit (http://sco.lt/6mfIMD ).
I visited Porsche By Design yesterday as I attempt to wander my way through the CrowdFunde business plan, but that is another story. NCMA's web team included a Win A Porsche raffle (so a viral contest) and some of the most amazing pictures of cars I've ever seen. KUDOS!
The didn't include the picture above, but I wanted to take a moment and share Internet marketing image tips learned during my 7 year Director of Ecommerce tenure. The picture above makes a great HERO (largest images on webpage are called 'heroes") because:
* High contrast (white car with red car in immediate background).
* Action since the photographer is focusing and people are milling.
* People milling create interest. Note how none of the "milling people" are looking AT the camera so they don't distract since we would follow their eye sight lines if they were looking at the camera).
* The milling crowd moves out and then back into the white car because of the way the RED CAR is pointed (brilliant again).
* The car becomes a huge POINTER, so putting a CTA (Call-To-Action) under it would get lots of clicks.
* The photographer becomes a pointer too since many would click anything immediately below him. * Gaze follows the photographer’s camera and the sight lines of people in the picture (note the guy LOOKING at the photographer who is focusing on the car = BRILLIANT).
This photograph is GEINUS since it creates excitement, provides amazing pointers that would direct visitor eyes to Calls-To-Action and its basic color, high contrast would work well within any web design.
My question is are you thinking about your hero images this deeply? If not you are NUTS since serendipity is not a scalable Internet marketing strategy (lol). Quick tips for Heroes:
* Remember to look for pointers that will direct your visitors’ gaze.
* We look at PEOPLE more than things.
* We also look WHERE people are looking.
* We really LOOK at babies, but same rules apply (we look where they look).
* The direct gaze at the camera is welcoming and creates engagement. * Two people talking heads turned away is a disaster (excludes visitors).
* Don't over use the direct gaze idea.
* Crowds can work, as they do here, but be aware that visitors will follow their sight lines too.
* When people's sight lines aren't available we look for and find other directional clues.
This last bullet is the real RUB of using images on your website. THINK about how any image moves visitors to the next step. Images (and video) can help or hurt your website's goals. Follow these simple tips and images will HELP move visitors to subscribers, contributors, advocates and buyers.
Loved this post from a Swedish game company with the 5 Pillars of video game design:
* Story Is Everything.
* World - Creating A World, Take It Seriously.
* Player Is In Charge.
* Trust Players.
* Allow Themes To Emerge From Play.
Now just put "customer" where "player" is and you have the RX for a successful content marketing B2B or ecommmerce B2C website.
Target's not alone in this relatively new attitude about the phenomenon known as showrooming. Shoppers are busy looking for the best deal and more and more are using their smartphones and tablets for showrooming.
Martin (Marty) Smith:
Why We Don't Learn Until The TRUCK Hits Us
Retailers have been funny birds about showrooming. Target removed iPads from their store as if that would solve their "showrooming: problem. Showrooming, using a physical store to test look and feel and then BUY online and not necessarily from that store, is here to stay.
Finally there is post that tells retailers what every Internet marketer already knows - when a trend is inevitable surf it don't fight it.
If, like me, you're old enough to remember the original Pets.com, then this funding story will make you smile. Folklore has it that the online retailer, which..
Martin (Marty) Smith:
Interesting wasn't aware there was a "U.S. Style E-Commerce" We could export to Mexico.
Is E-commerce Stuck In The Mud? After our first Holiday Ecommies Review of 30+ top online retailers (@Ecommies is a new ecommerce ratings, review and award site coming soon). It’s clear e-retailers are stuck in the mud.
Martin (Marty) Smith:
Fun writing this post for @ janlgordon new Editors of Chaos http://www.curatti.com. Conclusion after our first Ecommie Awards for Holiday 2013 is YES e-commerce is stuck in mud of its own making.
Online retailers seem stuck fighting battles that are all but over such as the adoption of free shipping out and back, deal-of-the-day and Buy More, Save More. The ocean runs red as competitors face off with each other with little regard to the unique characteristics of selling online.
There were bright spots in the more than 30 top e-retailers reviewed including REI.com and Williams-Sonoma, but even well established brands such as L. L. Bean seem to struggle this holiday selling season.
Not hard to see WHY ecom is in a rut. Mobile is changing everything though few seem to realize the magnititude or sweep of the change. In addition to the Ecommies Report card we created a Social Media Analysis showing most e-retailers follow less than 1% of their followers.
Clearly the conversational nature of the new web is as perplexing to retailers as mobile. The combination of these two big misses, mobile and social, made holiday 2013 lackluster and stuck in the mud. This Curatti.com post shares ideas for how to fix not least of which would be embracing social media marketing and joining a mobile marketing revolution that has little to do with phones.
Ecommies - Identifying ecommerce trends, rate and review ecom tools and hold annual awards.
Holiday 2013 Awards
First Ecommies Holiday ratings are in. William-Sonoma & REI.com top the list in November and December. L. L. Bean gets "most improved" award from November to December and several trends emerge:
* Free Shipping out and back is trending especially in December.
* Free shipping all orders is trending. * Hiding free shipping behind either codes or triggers is declining. * Deal of the Day is trending with majors like REI.com adding DOD. * Standard credit card based loyalty programs prevalent. * Still many catalog and retail merchandising tactics such as "door busters".
Ratings report card on Google docs: http://bit.ly/1bPhwz3
Holiday ecommerce merchandising wasn't very inspired this year. December ratings went DOWN from November. Based on this year's performance ecommerce is clearly in a rut.
Content or Conversion
Ecommerce (B2C) merchants are narrowing the "content marketing" gap with their B2B cousins, but the old left/right brain problem remains. Ecommerce requires a strange synergy between right brain creativity (design, merchandising, visualization) and left-brain science (analytics, metrics, KPIs).
If you asked me the greatest challenge from my 7 year Ecommerce Director tenure it would be finding ways to win on both sides of the content - conversion Rubicon.
When we thought we had the content dial just right it would tank our conversion metrics. Each time we thought we had conversion set up perfect our "content" metrics like pages viewed, time on site and bounce rates would disintegrate.
Finding the tiny balance beam between CONTENT's heuristic benefits (more time on site, better engagement, more Lifetime Value, better quality User Generated Content and more of it) and conversion's MONEY was hellish.
Scoop.it To The Rescue
If you run a multi-million dollars ecommerce website and aren't using Scoop.it you’re nuts. There is NO faster content feedback tool than Scoop.it (period, full stop).
Here are ways I would be using this magic wand of a tool if I was still responsible for more than $6M in online sales yearly:
* Test contest and game ideas.
* Test Q&A content (most shared WINS a page).
* Find and empower brand advocates (buzz team). * Watch competitors like a HAWK (with keyword tool). * Watch my key brands like a HAWK (also with keyword tool).
* Ask for help (amazing talent in Scoop.it community).
* Reward previous helpers with Scoop.it profiles and long thank you notes).
* Copy Scoop.it's brilliant soft gamification and leader boards. * Crack the API and find ways to build curation as a "channel" with a P&L, a budget and distinct goals.
* Partner with the Scoop.it team to find common points and tap their community for "testing before you test" ideas. * Look to create an uncapped incentive plan with Scoop.it team to weigh, measure and value traffic and conversions from the channel and PAY THEM a % of the action they create.
This last bullet is worth MILLIONS . Instead of simply thinking about the very cool curation tool I would set up "content curation" as a marketing channel with a budget. Next I would call Guillaume and Marc and ask to meet in SF.
At that meeting I would pitch a mutually beneficial partnership. Instead of approaching the partnership in a static way I would pitch the Scoop.it team on a more flexible and uncapped arrangement. If the "commons" we create together produced millions projected then Scoop.it gets a sizable "affiliate-like" commission.
If I were running LLBean.com, Target.com or especially B&N.com I would be all over Scoop.it in 2014. RedEnvelope.com is an even better example. When I created FoundObjects.com in the late 1990s (now gone sadly) RedEnvelope was the cool kid on the block.
Now RedEnvelope.com is being destroyed.
They can't compete against the User Generated Content of Estsy.com or the scale of Amazon. They are in the middle where NO ONE SURVIVES.
Crack the top of that website and reinvent it with the help of a cool tool like Scoop.it or RedEnvelope.com will reach the point of diminishing return where every order costs more to ship than it makes (ouch).
If you are developing your ecommerce plan for 2014 and you aren't thinking about Scoop.it LOOK OUT.
The 2013 holiday season (Thanksgiving to Christmas) is the shortest since 2002. Analysts had predicted slower sales than in recent years over the post
Martin (Marty) Smith:
Fascinating infographic showing how Americans ae spending their money and time online this holiday season.
Why Etsy.com Is Crowdfunded Gamification
When I saw the staggering difference between Etsy.com's pagespread (pages in Google) vs. Red Envelope, one of my favorite gift sites from back in the day, something very DIFFERENT was going on.
Etsy.com 19,000,000 pages in Google.
RedEnvelope 31,000 pages in Google.
At first I thought the power of Etsty.com was in its User Generated Platform approach. Some of the power is in the framework, but another key driver is the soft gamification they employ to focus spotlights on some artists and product categories.
Etsy.com requires email marketing since 19,000,000 pages means finding anything without curation is nearly impossible. Instead of straight curation based on a known competitive rule set Etsy.com gamifies much like a Vegas slot machine.
Vegas slot machines use serendipitous condition. We pattern creating humans believe we create a pattern when we pull the single arm of these "bandits", but there is not Stimulus-Reward response.
Randomizing "winning" means addiction is easy, quick and complete. Etsy.com randomizes their curation so each artist is sure their moment in the sun is around the next corner. One more pull of the single arm will surely produce a winning response.
The risk of this gamification is the algorithm doesn't find content fast enough to put off an artist's desire to stop game play. The good news is Etsy.com's engine is the ONLY reinforcement.
When an artist creates an Etsy.com site they drive social traffic to it and some of that traffic, since it is highly segmented and qualified, will convert creating the first round of reinforcement with no cost to Etsy.com other than the quickly depreciating community code.
The gap between initial acceptance, use of an artist's social net to create their first conversions and the point when an artist stops game play is when Etsy.com's algorithm must rescue the content. With so much game play (19M pages), Etsy.com knows an artist's lifecycle probably within minutes of the change from phase to phase.
So YES Etsy is gamified crowdfunding since the platform makes a tremendous return on the first conversions, those that come from the artist's push to their social net, and cost of new artist acquisition is reduced by scale and existing artist advocacy (something that is also mathematically predictable).
Own The Conversation, Own The Traffic
Just as we shifted from websites to platforms in 2011 so well demonstrated by the difference in Google pages between Etsy.com (19M) and RedEnvelope.com (31,000). Ecommerce and B2B content marketing is changing again.
Consumers are becoming conversation-centric and platform agnostic.
Our social, mobile and increasingly hectic world means we use three to five digital devices (phone, pad, laptop, desktop, game console) to find, curate, publish, share and riff conversations.
This post shares ideas for how to "own" conversations across platforms the way Scoop.it does with their social spidering tool and magazine creation tools.
According to a study from Adobe, in 2012 repeat shoppers made up just 8% of all site visitors in the US yet they accounted for nearly 41% of total online sales.So bearing in mind the fact that it’s also cheaper to keep a customer than it is to attract a new one, businesses need to be working hard to keep shoppers satisfied and give them a reason to return.With this in mind, I’ve rounded up 11 ways in which ecommerce retailers can improve customer retention....
Martin (Marty) Smith:
Easier to make more money from customers already acquired and almost no website pays much aattenton to thst idea.
Here are tips on how to improve your ecommerce website's UI to encourage repeat visits. I would ad DOD (deal of the day) which seems to be gaining momentum and macro categorization for your your personas. At this time of year havig a For Him, For Her, For Kids is good macro categorizaton.
Put 6 thought leaders in the gamification category in one room, and you'll hear quotes like these.
Martin (Marty) Smith:
Wish I could have been at this one.
Step by step, detailed case studies on getting traffic from Neil Patel, Jeff Bullas, Jon Morrow and many more.
Martin (Marty) Smith:
Traffic's Drug
Here is the thing about TRAFFIC. A lot of peple will tell you nonconvertig traffic hurts more than it helps. I'm not so judgementa and it depends on how we GOT the traffic and how expensive it was.
Traffic, by itelf, is a metric of nothing.
Traffic plus conversion (money) plus source, plus content = cool let's do it again realizations. Each of these experts have great ideas, ideas where I like some more than others. Will try to remember to circle back around and pick my favorite 10 GET TRAFFIC IDEAS and why I like them over others.
Marty
There is a case to be made that soon; online experiences will be replaced entirely by mobile experiences. Utilizing Artificial Intelligence can grow mobile commerce through discovery and personalization.
Marty Note
This is an important post since it points out how ecommerce is ahead and behind the game:
"...we have concepts but no real, new, immersive experience in our present online shops."
We learn the same hard lesson over and over. Taking ecommerce websites and putting them on to mobile devices is like taking the motor out of a roller coaster. You can push the cars, but the thrill is gone.
"So, what does it take to really change shopping? One key is to bring the best of the offline world to the online world, and this can be summed up in the seamless way we "discover" in physical environments and the way we "learn" about new products."
"Virtual assistants are, in effect, highly intelligent recommendation systems. These recommendations systems for the future will drive sales by gathering knowledge from the organization, information and data to create intelligent solutions that differentiate businesses."
"Two other transformative ways Artificial Intelligence can grow mobile commerce are bringing the long tail to life through discovery and personalization."
###
I like recommendation engines too, but think the mobile engine that emerges is going to be more social and communal than this article projects. Regardless this is an important post with solid ideas on what the "new ecommerce: will look, feel and act like on our phones and pads.
More "Mobile First" thoughts on GPlus:
https://plus.google.com/102639884404823294558/posts/LQFqeEowKPT
I'm not sure what to blame such a poor showing on basic holiday ecommerce design on, but this year's November crop is flat, uninspiring and junky.
L. L. Bean usually sets the holiday standard. This year their November offering is marred by an obnoxious animated image that includes their great Free Shipping Offer. I HATE putting such a great free shipping offer on a roll because it is easy to miss in the 5 to 9 seconds most visitors give a webpage before moving on (granted this is BEAN so maybe 15 seconds).
Bean has the tough job of competing with themselves and, in past holiday selling seasons, they define how to create great holiday look and feel. Holiday look and feel can be tough. I like Patagonia's approach - put up snow scenes AND a surfer on a massive wave (hey its Christmas in Hawaii too).
The other faux pas that is unforgivable after all these years is Free Shipping obfuscation. Many leading retailers are going free shipping all orders and some are going the Zappos route and offering free returns too. Of the 37 websites reviewed only 6 earned A ratings on three criteria:
* Free Shipping.
* Holiday Look and Feel.
* Holiday merchandising via categories such as For Him, Her, Kids.
The other big miss is websites who think they are too cool for the holidays (AE.com, Restoration Hardware). Black on black at the holidays is expensively too cool and self absorbed.
If you know smaller websites who know how to do the holidays right please share in comments or email Martin.Smith(at)Atlanticbt.com.
IndyWeek.com Give Guide
The linked post is the "inside baseball" story of how a local free print publication created the first Indy Give Guide (http://give.indyweek.com/ ). The "Give Guide" is way to help local nonprofits raise funds and it is content, social and ECOMMERCE gold.
I am writing almost a bog post a day about the Guide and driving social links to our Story of Cancer Page http://give.indyweek.com/Nonprofits/Health-and-Wellness/Story-of-Cancer-Foundation ). Every Ecom Director's ears just perked up (lol).
Cause marketing done right rocks social maketing and an Ecom merchants register like no other conent marketing. The IndyWeek.com give guide is cause marketing done right because:
* Low cost, Big Reward (traffic, brand awareness, SEO).
* Emotionally resonate especially at this time of year.
* Focused altruism that builds a strong network of contributors for future years.
* Helps first and figures out money later (perfect for our Thank You based economy).
If your band, company or website hasn't figured out how to create something as cool as the IndyWeek.com Give Guide steal the idea and mashup a great and related list of nonprofits in your business vertical.
If you sell HVAC you might create a guide based on your customer's favorite charities. If you are a B2B agency ask your customers who they give to and mashup a guide from those connections.
The IndyWeek.com GiveGuide is a great example of how a little creativity and the right altruistic idea can make a HUGE difference in your Website's authority and SEO AND it helps local charities feed hunger tigers and cure cancer so that is cool too :).
Story of Cancer Foundation page on GiveGuide
http://give.indyweek.com/Nonprofits/Health-and-Wellness/Story-of-Cancer-Foundation
Five Quick Content Marketing Tips For SMBs
SMBs (Small to Medium Sized businesses) are feeling overwhelmed. Instead of saying, "You Must Know Everything." maybe we should start with five quick tips:
SMB Content Marketing Tip 1: There Is No THEM
SMB Content Marketing Tip 2: Email Marketing With Personas
SMB Content Marketing Tip 3: Blog Q&A Content
SMB Content Marketing Tip 4: Conversations Not Lectures
SMB Content Marketing Tip 5: Have Fun and Create Fun
Wanted to find 5 Top Holiday Websites and had to look at 40 websites to find five A grades. Here is critera used to evaluate 37 top ecommerce retailers:
* Free Shipping (easy to find, clearly communicated, easy to use).
* Holiday Look and Feel.
* Holiday categorization.
Here are trends rapidly becoming standard:
Free Shipping All Orders.
Free Returns.
Deal of the Day.
Free Shipping = Half A Merchant's Grade
If Free Shipping was easy to find, clearly stated and didn't require a code then half of this holiday rating was positive. Surprising how many websites are poor about communicating their free shipping or confusing (see Crate and Barrel for one of the hardest free shipping offers to understand).
Another misstep is to tie up free shipping with credit cards or loyalty programs (Amazon's prime means free shipping is not easy to understand at this time of year).
Free Shipping with a $50 or $99 set point was common. Daily deals seem to be wedging its way into many leading ecommere websites.
Foodie Websites Lead In November
Not surprisingly foodie websites led in November since this is their Christmas. The top site with amazing hero photography, a real holiday feel and a lot of offers clearly communicated is Williams-Sonoma.
See all 37 ratings
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AkeG3a8zValDdDNGdGFaRkx1ZGd1cmhPU3BLcXh3eEE&usp=sharing
CrowdFunde knows ecommerce is expensive and a highwire act if there ever was one. Quirky.com and Threadless.com show the power of tapping crowd wisdom for product development but why stop there.
CrowdFunde is a new tool, a tool that helps ecommerce merchants tap crowd wisdom to lower costs and increae profits.
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