New research: Cross-Channel Marketing Survey now live
In partnership with Responsys, Econsultancy has launched some new research for 2012, the Cross-Channel Marketing Survey, which looks at the cross-section of different online and offline channels, including integration with email, display advertising, mobile, plus much more.
The research aims to benchmark trends within the market, and the launch of this brand-new survey reflects the growing necessity for companies to take an integrated approach to marketing and remove the organisational barriers that are holding them back.
E-commerce growth is plateauing: how do you stay competitive?
Recent figures published by BRC-KPMG give the UK retail industry another grim reality check.
According to the report, there was only a small 2.3% rise in total UK retail sales numbers during February 2012, a significant slowdown when compared to January (where sales grew 11.3%) and 2011 (where overall growth was 18.5%).
Managing your brand abroad: a guide to multilingual branding
We’re nothing if not resourceful in the UK. While high street sales may be dropping, a number of UK-based retailers are marketing themselves abroad, yet keeping the business (and product fulfilment) on UK shores.
Scottish brand Lyle & Scott, for example, has expanding markets in France, Germany and Sweden through e-commerce sites designed for those markets, while managing the business from its home in Selkirk.
Seven tips for global e-commerce
As retailers begin to ramp up their online presence overseas, two weeks ago at a conference in San Francisco I was asked to examine the benefits – and challenges – of international e-commerce.
Entitled: The Global Push, I took the audience through a statistics rich presentation that should be an aid to any brand considering global e-commerce expansion.
For those of you who weren't there, Fiona Gandy, Key Account Manager at 7thingsmedia, will cover a rundown of the session, summed up in seven takeaway tips.
Making the most of mobile commerce opportunities in 2012
Mobile is booming. Chances are that, if you’re shopping online in 2012, increasingly you’ll be carrying out part of the transaction on a mobile device.
The majority of smartphone users are now using a mobile device to browse and shop online while, in the UK, 5m tablet owners are expected to purchase a second device in 2012.
IHS screen digest recently released research predicting that in-app purchases will hit £3.6 billion in 2015, accounting for as much as 64% of mobile app market revenues.
So one thing is clear: if optimising your mobile channel isn’t high on your list of priorities in 2012, it really should be.
How to improve mobile app user ratings
As discussed in a previous blog post, customer experience needs to be at the heart of your mobile strategy in 2012.
With online forums, comment boxes online and the growing number of brands with a social media presence, a customer has more ways than ever before to vent their frustrations following a poor online customer experience.
What’s more, a customer who has a poor experience online using a mobile device can use the very same device to log on to Facebook or Twitter and tell their entire network of friends and family about the poor mobile online experience they encountered.
Bridging the gap between online and the call centre: Part one
Just how important is your customer contact centre to you?
For some companies, call centres are seen as a last resort for extremely frustrated customers who have struggled online or in store and need assistance completing their transaction.
In reality, the customer contact centre is at the forefront of customer experience and can often be the only ‘human’ interaction a customer has with a brand.
Mobile email: Six tips for building a campaign that works
Mobile email is big, and getting bigger. By 2015, more US internet users will access the web
through mobile devices than through PCs.
The mobile email numbers are even more indicative of a seismic shift in web behavior. comScore found that while web-based email declined significantly throughout 2010, mobile email surged 36% from the prior year.
As consumers are increasingly browsing, shopping, and interacting with brands on the go, mobile commerce presents a powerful opportunity.
Choosing the right online payment system for foreign markets
The one area of international e-commerce for which there's not a great deal of free tools available is the issue of preferred online payment systems for foreign markets.
What do customers experience online? It pays to find out
Perhaps ignorance is bliss, but it’s certainly not in the recipe for commercial success. To eliminate the things that cause their customers to struggle online, organisations must first gain insight into the experience they provide.
They must identify the site issues that are most impactful to their bottom lines and remedy them quickly to minimise the number of customers affected by the problems.
