The EU cookie law conundrum in numbers [Infographic]
With the deadline for compliance with the EU e-Privacy Directive just two days away, we've rounded up some of the key stats in an infographic.
This embeddable infographic looks at marketers' and consumers' views of the EU cookie law, and our five-step plan for compliance.
This is a topic we've covered in detail, so I've also rounded up some of our recent articles and other resources on the EU cookie law.
The Mirror's response to EU cookie law compliance
With just a few days left before the ICO begins to enforce the EU e-Privacy Directive, we are starting to see a few sites unveiling their approaches to compliance.
Two such sites are FT.com and Mirror Online, which are both using pop-ups to alert visitors to the sites' use of cookies.
As well as taking a look at the two news sites' responses to the EU directive, I've been asking Malcolm Coles, Product Director, digital at Trinity Mirror Group, about the Mirror's approach.
Building a multi-billion pound business online
The recent valuation of Facebook at $104bn, the purchase of Instagram (by Facebook) for a billion dollars, and even Rakuten’s investment in social network Pinterest shows that there is serious money to be made in online business.
We ask all our merchants to join the Rakuten University to help them maximise their online sales, but some of the principles taught here can be applied to any online business, however they sell.
Here are some invaluable tips for online business and retailers that we’ve learnt over the years...
Music and marketing: five tips for being heard in a noisy space
The other day I eavesdropped as a pretty girl faced the teenage boy seated across from her and sang, “Tonight / We are young / So let’s set the world on fire”.
Frustrated by his blank stare, she said, “Don’t you know the song? It’s from that Chevy commercial”.
If that example doesn’t convince you of the power of music and marketing, nothing will.
Marketing is becoming the new R&D
Google’s Chief Economist Hal Varian coined the phrase “marketing is the new finance”.
Varian foresaw great advances in ways to satisfy people’s needs, better matches between buyers and sellers, and a more robust advertising environment due to the availability of vast quantifies of rich, real-time, highly available “big data.” His predictions today ring truer than ever.
Now, the information-rich environment enabled by the net is transforming marketing into something more. Specifically, marketing is becoming the new research and development (R&D).
Marketers now have immediate access to consumer behaviors and reactions across multiple channels and media. This empowers them to take a leadership role in determining consumer preferences, meeting customer needs, and helping match supply with demand. In other words, driving the business.
What happens when you can't meet customer demand?
When a team can't meet customer demand, that demand starts to go underground.
This can have unintended side effects...
Content trends: six things everyone’s talking about
We're nearly halfway through 2012 and there are some clear content trends emerging.
Here are the top six hot issues we’re discussing with content owners…
Your tablet loves Mad Men: new report explores the multi-screen reality
Econsultancy has just finished a new report, The Multi-Screen Marketer, written on behalf of the Interactive Advertising Bureau and based on a survey to over 1,800 consumers.
The goal was to find out how they use a second screen while watching television and to help us understand the impact of these behaviors on advertising and marketing.
There's no shortage of research on the topic, so we focused on areas that believe to be the least examined (and most useful), including how different types of content correlate with multi-tasking, how the distraction of the second screen affects advertiser awareness and what consumers expect from their TV experience in the future.
Handling online returns: 14 best practice tips
Returns are an issue for every retailer, and some sectors more than others.
They could be viewed as bothersome, but the returns process does offer an opportunity to showcase your excellent customer service and can have a positive impact of future retention rates, if done well.
There is much you can do to reduce returns rates, providing better imagery and information on product pages, but even the best site will experience returns.
So then it comes down to how you handle the returns process, and the better you handle this, the better your retention rates.
Here are 14 tips to help you to avoid annoying your customers...
How will the new “cookie” tracking regulations affect email?
The new e-Privacy Directive which came into force last May has spurred some exciting dialogue in the online marketing world. The Directive has been called many things (some not so polite) but one of the few certainties about it, is its confusing and unclear language.
The ICO, in an attempt to turn it into something people can work with, has produced a number of guidance documents to help online marketers. This has mostly (and unsurprisingly) been written with websites in mind, although it has become clear that the Directive could affect other types of online activity as well.
Email marketing is one of those “other types” and plays a key part in the marketing efforts of most online marketers and e-commerce businesses. The questions most online marketers are now asking; how will email be affected and how can we work towards complying with the regulations?
