Richard Maven

Richard Maven helps run the E-consultancy blog as well as contributing to our Buyer’s Guides and other reports. He’s 29 and has several years’ experience in the telecoms/media/ecommerce space, both in the UK and the Middle East. You can contact him at richard@e-consultancy.com.

TameBay's Chris Dawson on eBay UK

Chris Dawson is the co-founder of eBay-related blog TameBay and a consultant on how to sell via online marketplaces.

We asked him a few things about how eBay is developing as an e-commerce channel for businesses in the UK.

by Richard Maven 03 April 2008 16:28pm 4 comments

Nike to kick the Flash habit?

Running the online business of a company like Nike can have its advantages, as we heard at ChannelAdvisor’s Catalyst event this week.

by Richard Maven 02 April 2008 20:40pm 0 comments

Filming online interviews – tips and pitfalls

More and more companies are looking for juicy SEO payback by persuading execs or clients to go in front of the camera and posting the results up on the web.

But although video interviews can be a quick win, getting them right can be more difficult than you would think. We asked for a few pointers from James Smart, who makes corporate videos for ChannelAdvisor, Honda Racing and KPMG, among others.

by Richard Maven 08 April 2008 08:30am 3 comments

Can eBay’s new regime tackle its credibility gap?

This week saw new eBay CEO John Donahoe taking the helm and ushering in a new era at the online auctioning behemoth.

So how will eBay’s approach change under its new management? Will it become less community focused? And can the new team remove hurdles that have prevented many big brands from investing in eBay sales programmes?

We’re at ChannelAdvisor’s Catalyst event in the US and asked its outspoken CEO Scot Wingo for some of his thoughts...

by Richard Maven 02 April 2008 11:42am 1 comment

Channel 4 invests in School of Everything

Late last year, Channel 4 Education announced a complete rethink of its TV-heavy commissioning strategy and said it was devoting its entire 2008 budget to cross-platform projects.

But it seems the broadcaster is not just keen to acquire new digital content – it also wants to invest in companies that support it.

According to commissioning editor Matt Locke, it is one of a number of firms that has just ploughed “a six figure sum” into School of Everything, a UK-based start-up that aims to encourage informal learning via the web.

by Richard Maven 30 March 2008 23:37pm 0 comments

Q&A: Channel 4’s Matt Locke on cross-platform commissioning

Last year, Channel 4 Education announced it was ditching much of its TV output and devoting its £6m budget to “high risk” cross-platform projects that could more effectively engage youngsters.

With more and more teenagers spurning traditional media, we asked the broadcaster’s commissioning editor Matt Locke about how it is planning to reach them through digital services.

He tells us if production houses are ready to fulfill its objectives and how Channel 4 is rethinking its focus towards metrics and measurement. Amen to that.

by Richard Maven 15 April 2008 11:31am 2 comments

Efficient Frontier CEO James Beriker on Search

James Beriker is the president and CEO of search technology and marketing group Efficient Frontier.

In a turbulent few weeks for the industry, we asked him about Google’s recent share dive, the prospective Microsoft-Yahoo merger and the agency’s plans to expand into new areas like display advertising, localised search and emerging economies.

by Richard Maven 26 March 2008 14:15pm 0 comments

Firms still ignoring customers' emails

Transversal has come out with another report showing the dire performance of many UK firms when responding to customers’ emails.

In its third annual Multi-channel Customer Service Study, released this week, the company tested 100 leading organisations by sending them routine questions by email.

Less than half (46%) answered those questions “adequately” and the average time they took to respond was almost two days (46 hours).

by Richard Maven 18 March 2008 08:20am 1 comment

Avinash Kaushik on visitor experience optimisation

Here, we talk to web analytics expert Avinash Kaushik about the future of web measurement, online surveys and 'visitor experience optimisation' - something he predicts will be a life or death thing for websites to adopt in the next couple of years.

by Richard Maven 01 April 2008 12:37pm 1 comment

EDF Energy's Rob Merrington on advertising

EDF Energy recently scored a YouTube hit with its ‘recycled film footage’ ads – the first integrated campaign the firm had created.

One of its clips reached the site’s list of Top 20 most clicked on videos in its category, attracting more than 40,000 views. But although it helped generate awareness and feedback, it did not drive many referrals.

Here, head of brand advertising Rob Merrington tells us about what EDF learned from the campaign and the role digital will play as in the run up to its Olympics sponsorship in 2012.