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Retailers must switch on to the discovery channel

It’s an empowering time for online retailers. Thanks to sites like Pinterest and Curisma, retailers know more about what their consumers are demanding than ever before. 

Two thousand years ago, Romans would make a shopping list by scratching the name of items they needed into a thin layer of wax on a wooden tablet.

Today, it’s a new generation of tablets that are playing an increasingly vital role in the retail journey, reviving a retail pattern that has long dominated the offline shopping experience: discovery shopping! 

How to make the most of video on mobile

This article is about; well you guessed it, video. I’m a massive fan of multimedia, and any form of combining text, audio, still images, animation, interactive content forms and most importantly, video.

The Chairman of the Newspaper Association of America stated “as newspaper penetration falls… the culture itself moves from textual to visual literacy”.

Wikipedia will tell you that “video recorders were sold for $50,000 in 1956, and videotapes cost $300 per one-hour reel”. That’s a barrier to entry right there.

It’s no surprise that advances in technology have eliminated (nearly) all barriers and allowed, practically anyone, to capture, store, edit and transmit video clips from multiple devices to each and everyone.

Combining the lowered cost of production with the rise and availability of multiple platforms and channels, it’s clear that video is ripe with possibilities. 

52% of agencies now offer a ‘full range of digital marketing services’

To be successful in the new multichannel and digital age businesses have to adopt an integrated approach to marketing.

And as companies seek to join up what have often been siloed activities, agencies are moving towards a fuller service offering to cater for the increased demand.

Data included in our new UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report 2013 shows that more than half of agencies (52%) now offer a ‘full range of digital marketing services’, and increase from 45% in 2012 and 42% in 2011.

How welcome emails vary among 16 fashion retailers, and who didn’t send one

Yesterday I wrote a blog looking at the different ways in which fashion retailers handled the process of capturing customer data when they signup to email alerts.

It turns out that the procedure varies quite drastically between sites, with some businesses requiring just your email while others need to know a great deal of personal information.

A day later and the welcome emails have arrived, however not all of the brands could be bothered to roll out the red carpet.

Though I signed up to 16 email newsletters only 11 welcome emails arrived, with ASOS, Schuh, Miss Selfridge, Boohoo and Office failing to get in touch.

How to keep making content…forever

Blast it. I can’t write. I’ve been sat at my desk all morning pontificating. Trying to get something down on paper and it’s just not happening.

In the age of content marketing, writer’s block is a big problem. And frankly it’s not the first time I’ve had this problem. So how do I keep those web impressions a-rolling?

Turns out the answers fairly straightforward: I take a leaf out of the Coen Brothers book, and I write a post about not being able to write a post…

Making websites accessible without sacrificing aesthetics

Fifteen years after the Web Accessibility Initiative was launched, which aimed to improve web usability for those with disabilities, online accessibility is still widely ignored.

Far too often there is a belief that a compromise must be made between accessibility and an attractive design.

As a result, a myriad of misconceptions have emerged, often preventing people from making a determined effort to integrate accessibility into their websites. 

10 awesome digital marketing campaigns from Nike

Following on from Andrew Warren-Payne’s post looking at various digital marketing campaigns from McDonald’s, I thought it would be interesting to take a similar look at one of the world’s biggest sport brands. Nike has achieved a great deal of brand exposure from its excellent digital campaigns, particularly through social, and here are 10 of […]

51% of agencies say Google+ has no impact on search campaigns: report

Every now and then a report is published that suggests people are slowly coming round to the idea of using Google+, however the reality is that it is still a long, long way behind Facebook in terms of active users and average time spent on the site.

Also, I recently looked at how major retailers use Google+ and it’s clear that they don’t have a very high opinion of the network.

But there’s still a nagging sense that businesses can’t afford to totally ignore G+, as there’s a chance that in the long term it will have an increasing influence on search rankings.

Given this discussion, the use of G+ was explored in the new Econsultancy/NetBooster UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report 2013. It revealed some striking differences between client-side and agency responses over the perceived impact of G+.

Email sign up forms: a look at how 16 fashion retailers collect customer data

Email is a consistently effective method of driving sales, so having a large database of customer addresses is a powerful tool for ecommerce businesses.

In fact our Email Census 2013 found that more than half of responding companies achieve 10% of their sales directly from email marketing.

All ecommerce businesses have a sign up form somewhere on their homepage, though the precise method of subscribing varies between each site.

To find out the most effective way of collecting customer information, I signed up to email newsletters from 16 major online fashion retailers.

17 useful examples of EU Cookie Law compliance

The EU e-Privacy Directive was introduced last year as a way of forcing websites to be more open about the type of cookies they used to track visitors.

Initially there was quite a lot of apprehension as site owners were concerned that they’d be forced to add intrusive pop-ups and force visitors to opt-in before they could begin using the site.

Thankfully the Information Commissioners Office (ICIO) took a lenient approach to enforcement and allowed sites to use an ‘implied consent’ measure, which means that they can get away with simply making their cookie policy more prominent rather than explicitly asking for users to accept cookies.

Even brands that do explicitly inform users that the site uses cookies generally don’t give an option to opt-out, but instead direct people to change the settings in their browser.

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