David Moth

Six things to consider when writing product descriptions

A great product description is one of the most important features needed for an effective product page alongside user reviews, images, bold calls-to-action and delivery information.

The benefits of writing unique product descriptions are obvious – firstly you avoid getting penalised by Google for having duplicate content on your site, and secondly it’s a great sales opportunity.

There are few areas where sites can really differentiate themselves from their competitors and copywriting is one of them.

It’s a chance to entice the customer, upsell your products and inject a bit of excitement and personality into your site.

by David Moth 13 May 2013 10:37am 2 comments

ASOS launches new virtual fitting tool in bid to reduce returns

Product returns are a major problem for online retailers as each unwanted order obviously incurs a cost, which then raises the dilemma of who is to pay for postage.

Passing the cost onto customers is certain to put people off ordering again in future, but absorbing the cost might not be feasible for all businesses.

Ideally retailers should try and reduce the need to return items in the first place, and we’ve previously written about a shoe fitting app that reduced fit-related returns by 23%.

Now ASOS has launched a new tool, Virtusize, that has the potential to achieve an even greater rate of success, as it has already proven to reduce fit-related returns by up to 50% on other ecommerce sites.

by David Moth 13 May 2013 09:31am 4 comments

10 interesting digital marketing stats we've seen this week

Here are some of the most interesting digital marketing stats we've seen this week.

Stats include UK adspend, barriers to optimization, the digital jobs market, social logins in ecommerce, mobile adspend and the increasing amount of time spent online by US consumers.

For more digital marketing stats, check out our Internet Statistics Compendium.

by David Moth 10 May 2013 11:31am 2 comments

This week's finest digital marketing infographic

Taobao is China’s largest online shopping platform and today is its 10th birthday, so what better way to commemorate the occasion than an infographic?

According to the stats, in 2013 the Chinese are expected to spend more than £177 billion shopping online making it the world’s largest ecommerce market.

And despite the fact that internet penetration is just 40% in China, the country’s online population is still 242 million people.

For more information on this topic check out our Digital Market Landscape Report which focuses on the emerging market in China, or read our interview with Net Media Planet on how European businesses should approach paid search in the country.

by David Moth 10 May 2013 14:50pm 3 comments

Content management systems are failing to deliver on brand expectations: report

Just 38% of businesses believe that their content management system (CMS) helps to deliver a brand-enhancing digital presence, according to the latest Econsultancy/Adobe Quarterly Digital Intelligence Briefing.

The report also shows that nearly all (87%) respondents stated that a CMS should help them to improve user and customer engagement, while 78% said it should help to build the brand though positive experiences.

But despite a widespread grasp of the fundamental role played by a CMS in delivering great experiences, the reality is that all too often the technology is actually the problem rather than the solution.

The report, entitled ‘From Content Management to Customer Experience Management’, is based on a web content management survey of more than 1,000 business professionals spanning marketing, web development and other business departments, carried out in March 2013.

by David Moth 10 May 2013 10:28am 0 comments

Six examples of B2B companies that shine on Twitter

I recently blogged about consumer brands that had come up with successful Twitter strategies, highlighting ASOS and Nike among others as companies that knew what they were doing with social.

Many commenters mentioned that it would be useful to see a similar post focusing on B2B examples and I was obviously happy to oblige.

Twitter is a difficult medium for B2B companies as it’s all too easy to simply view the platform as a broadcast medium and churn out dull corporate messages.

But here are six examples of businesses that have managed to buck the trend and create interesting or useful Twitter feeds...

by David Moth 09 May 2013 11:18am 6 comments

Six case studies and infographics on the optimal time to send emails

Email has the potential to deliver a strong ROI for marketers, though the precise response rates depend on a number of factors including the subject line, type of offers and the time of day the email is sent.

Obviously the only way of accurately finding the optimal time of day to send your emails is to run tests, and you also need to take into account fluctuations around pay day and annual events such as Christmas and bank holidays.

There is even a way of running tests using Google Analytics, which we blogged a few years ago.

According to the Econsultancy/Adestra Email Marketing Industry Census 2013 only half of businesses (49%) are currently testing the time and day of their email messages, so either the other 51% already know the optimum time or they're working off a hunch.

by David Moth 09 May 2013 09:25am 2 comments

How General Electric uses Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+

B2B companies can often struggle to make social work as people don’t tend to use Facebook and Pinterest for professional reasons.

There’s always Linkedin of course, but that presents an entirely different challenge from the four main consumer networks.

General Electric has managed to buck the trend and achieve a strong social presence, though it’s true that the company blurs the lines between B2B and B2C.

In an interview with Digiday last year, GE’s executive director of global digital marketing Linda Boff said that social platforms have allowed the company to get closer to its customers and tell stories about the human impact of what it does.

by David Moth 08 May 2013 14:55pm 1 comment

Budget and lack of resources are biggest barriers to optimization: report

The perennial business problems of budget and resource availability are the main barriers to adopting or improving testing processes, according to a new survey by Adobe.

Just under half of respondents said that budget (45%) and lack of resources (42%) were “very challenging” problems when it came to testing, while “knowing how to test effectively” is the third most challenging area (37%).

But these results are unsurprising when compared with the report’s broader findings.

The data shows that a majority of companies (53%) spend less than 5% of their total marketing budgets on optimization activities, while a further 49% of respondents stated that testing is not a priority at their company.

by David Moth 07 May 2013 13:00pm 0 comments

How Evans Cycles uses QR codes in-store to deliver product details and reviews

The high street’s struggles with ecommerce and the digital age have been well publicised in the past 12 months as a number of previously dominant brands have gone to the wall.

And in general the brands that have thrived are those that were quick to adapt and integrate digital technologies in-store, such as John Lewis and House of Fraser.

In our report How The Internet Can Save The High Street we detailed some of the new tactics and strategies that retailers should be trying to take advantage of, such as click-and-collect, mobile search, apps and QR codes.

QR codes are a much-maligned technology - particularly by us – however they can be used in-store to allow customers to access additional product information and reviews.

by David Moth 07 May 2013 11:50am 4 comments