James Gurd

Background in marketing & business development, working in both IT services & consumer retail. Expertise is in developing & implementing eCommerce strategies for SME's within retail - Robert Dyas & Betterware.

Following nearly 2 years as an Ecommerce Consultant at EIBDigital, a UK ecommerce agency, I now run Digital Juggler, an ecommerce and digital marketing consultancy. I specialise in planning, implementing and managing commercially sustainable ecommerce programmes. I am also experienced in people management, both teams I have directly managed and business partners/agencies.

I am a guest blogger for Econsultancy and Postcode Anywhere and Expert Editor for Smart Insights. I'm also the co-host of #ecomchat - a weekly industry Twitter chat for ecommerce professionals that takes place every Monday.

How to get your web analytics implementation right

Analytics is the cornerstone of online optimisation, right? So why is that so many retailers I’ve spoken to have a limited understanding of what their analytics tools are doing and can do for them?

On the surface it would seem that indifference rules the roost and analytics is just another tick box on the requirements list.

However, on closer inspection, the criticism of apathy can often be harsh. More often than not, data obscurity lies in a lack of education amongst stakeholders uncertain as to what analytics really means and what it should do for them.

by James Gurd 12 January 2010 13:44pm 6 comments

Will Google Wave be the stand-out collaboration success of 2010?

Hot on the heels of my previous post on knowledge management, I thought it would be interesting to take a more detailed look at Google Wave. Of all the announcements in the social media/collaboration space that I’ve had chance to digest this year, Wave has the greatest resonance.

Here I’ll tell you why and hopefully it will encourage a debate from those who are better placed than me to voice an opinion...

by James Gurd 04 January 2010 13:58pm 19 comments

Stop, collaborate and listen: knowledge management has a brand new adventure

Business has always faced the challenge of managing knowledge so that it can add value and support internal teams as well as collaboration, both internally and between different organisations. How you create, share and manage knowledge plays a vital role in the efficiency of your business and therefore can impact profitability.

Whilst there has been a lot of focus on how emerging technology can be used to drive e-commerce and customer engagement, less is written about how it is transforming internal business process and knowledge management.

by James Gurd 21 December 2009 09:49am 14 comments

Are tech retailers missing a trick with customer reviews?

You should all know the rationale for retailers putting customer reviews on their websites. What is less explored is how customer ratings & reviews can be integrated with content from independent experts, respected industry voices whose opinions influence the masses.

Media sites are great at providing expert reviews and news content but retailers rarely look at the potential for content syndication in supporting website and conversion optimisation.

by James Gurd 10 December 2009 09:34am 11 comments

Why testing online should not be optional

This week I'm writing for the SME audience on Econsultancy, a sweet homage to the much debated yet scarcely implemented topic of website testing, something which should be an integral part of your strategy, the testing plan being the culmination of analysis of web data and voice-of-customer.

If you are not yet testing and are spending money on marketing/advertising, then read this post and do something about it. Testing is not the preserve of major brands with big budgets, it’s the mental gap you need to cross not the financial one.

by James Gurd 23 November 2009 09:53am 14 comments

Email marketing: six steps to improving customer engagement in 2010

Despite the naysayers claiming email marketing is on the way out thanks to the snowballing impact of social networking and new forms of communication, the facts are very different. Email continues to play a vital role in both business and customer communication.

According to Epsilon, email is used more regularly than social networking for personal communication, while 30% of organisations in Econsultancy’s Email Marketing Industry Census claimed an ROI from email in excess of 500%.

by James Gurd 12 November 2009 09:30am 12 comments

Charles Nicholls of SeeWhy on driving your web conversion with retargeting

Reach for your ecommerce buzzword bingo card and you'll see 'website optimisation' and 'conversion analysis' bang in the middle. Behind the industry buzz there is a genuine commercial challenge:how do you turn your visitors into customers and increase the profitability of your web channel? Retargeting is one technique to help deliver results.

Retargeting is the process by which a website owner contacts a customer who has abandoned their conversion (whatever that conversion might be) in order to continue the communication and encourage that customer to take further action. Retargeting is more popular in the US than the UK. However, UK companies are starting to wake up to the commercial value that retargeting via email can play in their website optimisation.

Having had the opportunity to work with and learn from the brains behind SeeWhy, I asked founder and conversion optimisation blogger Charles Nicholls to share his expertise on the value of retargeting for UK web owners.

by James Gurd 27 October 2009 10:43am 4 comments

Do speakers need to weave social media into their presentations?

Earlier this year I attended an event at which one speaker used Twitter to gather audience questions and then answer key themes at the end. He did not allow this to interrupt the presentation but it was made clear that questions would not be a 'hands up' affair. More and more speakers are now aware of and monitoring their presentation 'backchannel' (a new marketing buzz word for the bingo card).

Yesterday, I read an interesting article from Jeremiah Owyang outlining how speakers should integrate social into their presentation. Whilst I don’t agree with all of Jeremiah’s points (I will elaborate), I think speakers need to be aware that the penetration of social apps on mobile devices is making real-time commentary increasingly relevant.

by James Gurd 19 October 2009 10:49am 12 comments

Five ways to drive interest in your tweeting

James Gurd eCommerce Consultant

Advice for using Twitter to build an army of engaged followers is prevalent. Less is suggested for the ways to drive awareness of your Twitter presence using other communication channels.

If you apply the basic logic of acquisition and retention, you can use Twitter innovatively to engage your current followers but if you do nothing to tell others, how do you grow this channel?

This blog looks at six practical steps to pushing your Twitter presence. It's not rocket science but good ideas shouldn’t be complicated...

by James Gurd 01 October 2009 13:02pm 2 comments

Does social media kill communication skills?

I can understand why fear pervades the social space. Some psychologists have argued that social networking will contribute to the death of emotional intelligence. I don’t share this paranoia. Email didn't kill the conversation, so why should social networking?

In my opinion, the medium through which you communicate does not destroy your inter-personal skills, it merely reflects and amplifies them. Here's my take on why social media can have a positive effect on our communication skills.

by James Gurd 18 September 2009 10:52am 14 comments