Site review: Hiscox.co.uk
Insurance firm Hiscox relaunched its UK website at the beginning of the month, with the aim of simplifying the company's online offering.
As well as providing general information about the firm, the Hiscox UK site allows customers to apply for insurance quotes and buy policies online. Providing complex financial products online can be a challenge, so I've been seeing how Hiscox performs in this area...
Q&A: Hiscox's Mike Beddington on selling financial services online
Insurance firm Hiscox recently relaunched its UK website, as part of a strategy to improve the company's online performance.
I've been talking to Hiscox's head of online and customer experience Mike Beddington, as well as UK web manager Stephen Rumbelow, about the revamped Hiscox site, and the challenges of selling financial products and services online...
Facebook Fan Box and what it means for brands
Facebook has just launched Fan Box, a new widget. This is great news for brands wanting to grow a Facebook fan page. But it's probably going to drive traffic in the wrong direction for most brands.
Is consumer trust online misplaced? Can brands do anything to change this?
We've all done it. In our decision making process to purchase something of fairly high value such as a holiday or fancy gadget; or when we think about a purchase that requires a long term commitment such as a mobile contract or gym membership; we ask trusted friends for their opinions and experiences.
It's human nature. We're doing our best to eliminate any risk, whether this be associated with cost or contract catches, anything really. We're after value for money and want to hear about any experiences, warts 'n' all. Based upon the information we gather from these trusted sources, we make what we feel is the best decision for ourselves.
Your credit score isn't high enough to see this ad
Want to buy a big ticket item like a house or a car? You need one of two things: cold hard cash or good credit.
But it's possible that your credit score may impact more than what you can buy. In the near future, your credit score could be used to dictate what ads you see when you're browsing the web.
3 basic ingredients for an online social community to exist and thrive
It's still happening! Brands are doing their best to manufacture social communities using the social web with varying degrees of success. The majority of 'forced' online communities would appear to be made up of family, friends and those willing to give support...but not really going anywhere.
How many such company-originated Facebook groups have you seen that are genuinely thriving and active? Most don't really go anywhere, but on the rare occasion some really do take off.
I've tried to analyse why and I think there may be a need to go back to basics; your feedback is most welcome on these thoughts.
The beginning, middle and end of brand storytelling
Storytelling is being hailed as the new big idea, but it's not that new. What makes a good story in this viral, user-generated, post advertising world has always made a good story.
From papyrus to pulpit to plasma screen, the attributes of a ripping yarn have remained the same: credibility, digestibility, and most importantly, emotional resonance.
300+ tips for e-commerce professionals
In the past couple of years we have published a lot of tips on this blog to try to provide readers with practical suggestions on how to optimise their businesses.
I thought I’d collate some of the best articles to provide you with a feast of ideas to help you improve your websites, strategies and operations.
Included within these lists are a lot of generic tips for best practice in web strategy, though this is perhaps most relevant to e-commerce professionals...
Can iPhone apps lift your brand value through association?
Brands can get a generous lift when affiliated with high quality products such as the iPhone. But what about the applications in the App Store? Let's look at why Apple should build a sustainable eco-system for technology-based mobile applications, which is the key to product quality and research into the potential of mobile applications that brand marketers can harness.
Q&A: Wonga CEO Errol Damelin
Wonga is an online service which has found a gap in the financial services market, providing short-term loans of up to £1,000 to users, and processing applications quickly.
The company was launched in 2007, backed up by £3m in funding, and came out of beta last year. I've been talking to founder and CEO Errol Damelin about Wonga.
Social media: the best and worst of 2009
Email marketing: six steps to improving customer engagement in 2010
Web 2.0
Graham Charlton
Strategy & Planning
