Website Magazine Sept 2014 by Website Magazine

4 Ideas to Spark Creativity in the Enterprise, Page 10

Scan to read this issue online.

THE MAGAZINE FOR WEBSITE SUCCESS SEPTEMBER 2014

Follow the

MOBILE Leader INSIDE THIS ISSUE...

User Experience Metrics to Know D.A.T. Email Segmentation In Focus Quiz: Are You a Data Geek?

50 TOP

Analytics Software & BI Solutions

WEBSITEMAGAZINE.COM

Follow the

MOBILE Leader

To make mobile work, strategies must be put in place that acknowledge the restrictions and capabilities of the channel and address the development, promotion and analysis of this unique digital experience - anything less will come up short.

THIS MONTH IN WEBSITE MAGAZINE

30 Active vs. Passive Monitoring

38 Behavioral Data on Social

Obtain a more detailed and accurate picture of your website’s overall performance by using active and passive monitoring.

Brands must utilize social media data to interpret customer buying behaviors and engage with socially savvy consumers.

32 User Scenarios In Focus

39 Surveys: A Go-To Data Source Creating, distributing and analyzing online surveys is incredibly easy and eﬀective with these best practices.

By walking in visitors’ shoes, website owners can inform website optimization processes and improve digital design.

34 D.A.T. Email Segmentation

Explore Website Magazine’s

Demographic, activity and transactional-based (DAT) segmentation is a conventional approach to getting more out of your email eﬀorts.

36 Why Aﬃliate Programs Stall

Access to better data and smarter use of that data can help brands optimize and energize their aﬃliate marketing programs.

37 Analytics for Content Marketers The key “success” indicators for information publishers have always been diﬃcult to identify – but that’s starting to change.

DEPARTMENTS 10

Enterprise Ready: Creativity in the Enterprise

12 13

Small Business Lab: Everyday Blogging Tools

Quiz Time: Are You a Data Geek?

50 Top: Analytics & BI Solutions

E-Commerce Express: Retailers Winning at Mobile

GET THE DIGITAL SCOOP

Technical SEO Considerations

Check out Website Magazine’s email newsletters covering e-commerce, search, SoLoMo, design and more at wsm.co/webscoop.

.com

Mastering Search:

SEPT EMB ER 2014

Design & Development: User Experience Analytics

Web Commentary: Making Phones Smart Again

From the

EDITOR The Magazine for Website Success

Playing Follow the Mobile Leader

CONNECT ON YOUR MOBILE Access the September 2014 issue online at

wsm.co/wmsept14 or by scanning the QR code below.

WEBMAG.CO Check out Website Magazine’s new virtual pinboard highlighting infographics, videos, events and more.

The rules of the mobile Web are dramatically changing, yet some enterprises haven’t even started to play the game. The brands that are in the second, third, fourth (or in some cases more) iterations of their mobile strategies are those excelling – leveraging the many best practices and capabilities available to make their experiences as friendly, natural and useful as possible to consumers accessing their brands on small screens. There is a disconnect, however, between brands that are successful on the mobile Web and those that think they are. Eighty percent of marketers using mobile believe their efforts on the channel do or will provide a return on investment (ExactTarget), but mobile Web users know many website experiences leave a lot to be desired. The same report indicates that few marketers are actually using some of mobile’s most-promising capabilities like location-based functionality and mobile push notifications – despite the fact that consumers want to receive messages and promotions on their phones. This month’s feature, “Follow the Mobile Leader” details what strategies must be in place to address mobile’s unique opportunities and the development, promotion and analysis of the mobile Web. Readers will also discover several mobile Web strategies that are providing rewards to today’s most successful enterprises. The September issue of Website Magazine features a variety of other mobile-related articles to get brands’ strategies off the ground, including Associate Editor Allison Howen’s, “3 Merchants Winning at Mobile” as well as contributor Chris Casale’s “Analytics for the User Experience,” which introduces various metrics for companies to measure across devices. Analytics are also given some attention in this month’s Top 50 list of analytics and business intelligence software solutions and in our Insights on Analytics column, which provides content marketers with the key performance indicators they need in order to measure success. This issue is filled with advice, best practices and insights from some of the top minds in Web business, so be sure to read it from cover to cover and then visit us on the ‘Net at www.WebsiteMagazine.com to continue your path toward digital success.

999 E. Touhy Ave. Des Plaines, IL 60018 Toll Free: 1.800.817.1518 International: 1.773.628.2779 Fax: 1.773.272.0920

GENERAL MANAGER:

David Ruiz druiz@websitemagazine.com

PUBLISHER:

Susan Whitehurst EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:

Peter Prestipino peter@websitemagazine.com MANAGING EDITOR:

Amberly Dressler adressler@websitemagazine.com ASSOCIATE EDITORS:

Allison Howen ahowen@websitemagazine.com Derek Schou dschou@websitemagazine.com *CONTRIBUTORS:

Chris Casale Mehdi Daoudi Brian Lewis Jim Robinson Roz Lemieux

GRAPHIC DESIGNER:

Shannon Rickson shannon@websitemagazine.com ADVERTISING:

Kelly Springer kspringer@websitemagazine.com Brian Wallace brian@websitemagazine.com Barry Cohen bcohen@websitemagazine.com SUBSCRIPTIONS:

Best Web Wishes,

Sandra Woods sandra@websitemagazine.com

Peter@WebsiteMagazine.com

Abdul Umer a.umer@websitemagazine.com

MARKETING:

Find Website Magazine at these Internet industry tradeshows.

Reaching the largest audience of Web professionals of any Internet industry publication

ERA D2C Convention Sept. 16-18 Las Vegas, NV

Mobile Shopping Oct. 6-8 Phoenix, AZ

Shop.org Convention Sept. 29-Oct. 1 Seattle, WA

Pubcon Oct. 6-9 Las Vegas, NV

.com

Luxury Interactive Oct. 13-15 New York, NY

Website Magazine, Volume 9, Issue 12, September 2014, (ISSN# 1942-0633) is published 12 times a year, January through December by Website Services, Inc., 999 E. Touhy Ave., Des Plaines, IL 60018. Periodicals Postage Paid at Des Plaines, IL and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Website Magazine, 999 E. Touhy Ave., Des Plaines, IL 60018. Canada Post: Please send undeliverable items to: 2835 Kew Drive, Windsor ON, N8T 3B7 Copyright 2014 by Website Magazine. All rights reserved. Materials may not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission. For reprints of any article, contact the editor. *The opinions expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of Website Magazine.

www.WebsiteMagazine.com SEPT EMB ER 2014

Net

BRIEFS Social Commerce Watch

PLAs Get Rated

Product Listing Ads (PLAs) are becoming even more inﬂu-

ential, as Google has added product ratings to the ad format. This new feature means that U.S. consumers will start seeing ratings in the form of stars and review counts on PLAs

in the paid search results. Google will show product ratings

for PLAs where it has product review data available through Oct. 2014. After that, merchants must choose to share their

Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest are all making headlines when it comes to one thing – social commerce. Facebook is reportedly testing a “Buy” call-to-action button on ads and in Page posts, while Twitter recently acquired payments infrastructure company CardSpring to help the social network with its future commerce initiatives. Additionally, a new study from Piqora proves that merchants are directly proﬁting from Pinterest, with the data revealing e-commerce revenue from Pinterest referral traﬃc grew an average of 67 percent from Jan. to June 2014.

reviews with Google in order to leverage the feature.

Get Those Appointments Squared Away Square is helping small businesses keep their days on schedule, thanks to the software and payments company’s new Square Appointments service. Through the platform, sellers can manage their appointments and offer a simple booking experience to consumers. In early testing, not only did the Web-based solution help 72 percent of the sellers generate additional revenue, but 62 percent of them also saved more than 30 minutes per day. Similarly, 54 percent of the early testers obtained 10 percent more appointments per week.

.com

SEPT EMB ER 2014

Simplifies the Checkout Visa is helping online merchants simplify the online checkout process with the launch of a new PayPal-like service called Visa Checkout, which integrates into retailers’ existing payment processes. Consumers simply need to sign up for a free account and connect it to a debit or credit card. Then, they can use the account to complete purchases (with no fees) without having to re-enter payment or shipping information anywhere Visa Checkout is available (like Petco, Ticketmaster, Pizza Hut, etc.), from both desktops and mobile devices.

Net

BRIEFS MOBILE APP WATCH

Is Snapchat Ready for Ads? A new feature from Snapchat has many wondering if the popular ephemeral messaging app is about to begin actively monetizing its platform. The new geo-filter feature, which is currently only available for special locations in Los Angeles and New York, enables users to include unique, location-based image filters to their snaps. A broader rollout could eventually turn into an advertisement opportunity for brands. One of the examples within Snapchat’s announcement video shows a filter for Disneyland Resorts.

LinkedIn Connected LinkedIn is bolstering its mobile app portfolio – which already includes the LinkedIn, Job Search, Pulse, SlideShare and Recruiter apps – with the addition of the LinkedIn Connected app. The new iOS app aims to help professionals build better relationships by providing relevant and timely reasons for users to reach out to their connections, such as congratulating a connection on their work anniversary or new job.

Foursquare

Unsubscribing Has Never Been Easier It now just takes a click for end-users to unsubscribe from your email list, thanks to a new feature from Gmail that automatically surfaces an “unsubscribe” link next to the sender address within an email. The feature appears when senders include an unsubscribe link in their emails, and is only displayed on messages within the promotions, social or forums tabs. The feature should prove to be a win for subscribers and senders alike, as it offers a hassle-free way for consumers to unsubscribe and will likely reduce the number of spam complaints senders receive over time.

Foursquare’s updated discovery app was ofﬁcially launched in Aug. 2014. The app no longer features check-in functionality (which has been moved to its Swarm app), but now delivers a more tailored experience as it learns from each user’s “tastes,” social connections and preferences over time. With this data, Foursquare is able to deliver personalized recommendations to users based on their speciﬁc locations.

Amazon Seller List items for sale on Amazon and respond to customer messages while on the go by downloading the Amazon Seller app for iOS. The app also enables merchants to manage inventory, update product pricing and estimate the proﬁtability of items before putting them up for sale. Merchants can even leverage the app to contact Seller Support and obtain secure access to their accounts.

MORE ‘NET NEWS

•

In a Twitter rut? Check out six everyday Twitter tips at wsm.co/everydaytwitter

•

Most consumers take some sort of action after reading a positive review. Discover what kinds at wsm.co/laststage

•

Facebook helps users save content for later viewing. Find out more at wsm.co/fbnownlater .com

SEPT EMB ER 2014

Bolt Instagram aims to take a bite out of rival Snapchat’s user base with the release of its spin-off app Bolt. Instagram’s latest foray into the mobile market allows users to send pictures and videos with overlaid text to any member of their contact list by touching an overlaid circular photo of a contact for a picture or holding for a video.

Stat

WATCH

Mobile Madness Few trends have ever been as hot as mobile is today; consumers just cannot get their eyes off their portable devices. With consumers so enamored by their smartphones, brands have an incredible opportunity to reach current and potential consumers nearly 24/7. In a report published by Nielsen, 87 percent of smartphone and tablet owners are using their mobile devices for shopping-related activities. This means that in addition to actually purchasing products on their mobile devices, consumers are price checking, conducting product research, and reading and writing reviews. While tackling the mobile market may be intimidating for many businesses, the risk is worth the reward. According to a case study published through Google’s “Think with Google” resource, Savings.com saw that by converting to a mobilefirst model and launching all marketing campaigns with a responsive mobile counterpart, it received a 200 percent higher click-through rate (CTR) on mobile devices than on desktops, as well as a 1,000 percent increase in year-over-year revenue from mobile devices. To have any hope at succeeding in the mobile ecommerce market (see this month’s E-Commerce Express column for three examples of companies succeeding on the mobile Web) brands must have a mobile optimized site that not only works flawlessly but is also aesthetically pleasing. In fact, research from WebDAM, a provider of digital asset management software, reveals that 57 percent of users will not recommend companies with poorperforming mobile websites. Change is never easy but it is inevitable. Mobile is poised to become one of the main revenue generating channels by 2018. In order for companies to cash in on the mobile market, they must start preparing now before the competition leaves them in the digital dust.

6 seconds

The average person looks at their phones 110 times a day as well as up to every 6 seconds in the evening.

7.7 billion

(Daily Mail, Oct. 2013)

This year, the number of mobile devices in circulation (expected to be 7.7 billion) will outnumber the total world population of 7.1 billion. (PennyStockslab, Apr. 2014)

$8.4 billion

Apple’s total mobile e-commerce sales from 2013 amounted to $8.4 billion in the U.S. (E-consultancy, Jan. 2014)

58%

Mobile has hit its tipping point as 58 percent of Americans now own a smartphone and 42 percent own a tablet. (Pew Research, Jan. 2014)

30%

Nearly one-third of all eBay purchases in the world include some type of interaction from a mobile device at some point in the transaction. (Econsultancy, Jan. 2014)

$626 billion In 2018, Goldman Sachs estimates that $626 billion in online sales will come from mobile devices. (The Atlantic, Mar. 2014) SE P T E M B E R 2014

.com

Enterprise

READY

4 Recipes for ENTERPRISE

Creativity By Allison Howen, Associate Editor

Creativity is a fickle thing – it can strike at any moment, and just as fast as it comes it can disappear. This inconsistency poses a challenge for enterprises, as creativity is an essential ingredient for innovation and everyday tasks like blogging and social media. Even though enterprises can’t manufacture creativity, they can produce an atmosphere and culture that is conducive to it. Check out three recipes for workplace creativity that can motivate even the most mundane workplaces.

Cooking up a Creative Environment

To create an environment that inspires, enterprises should start by getting rid of white walls and cubicles in favor of bright colors and open work spaces. Luis Salazar, co-founder and CEO at Jobaline and a former executive at Yahoo and Microsoft, notes that a unique environment can have a positive impact on creativity inside an office.

“I am a firm believer in open spaces at work and mixing diverse functions in common work areas,” said Salazar. “This has worked very well in the past and in the present time at Jobaline.com. We even have large screens, all with cameras where we can start a video conference at any given point, including our team members in NY, Argentina or Uruguay.” Salazar also notes that Jobaline has whiteboards everywhere, and the company even provides desks that have glass tops so employees can quickly jot down ideas at any workspace. (Offering employee access to mind-mapping solutions like Mindjet, Coggle, MindNode and others may work to encourage and improve this brainstorming process.) Even though brainstorming is an effective strategy when done individually, it can sometimes be more effective when done as a team.

Catering to Camaraderie

Bringing together a mix of employees is essential for most projects, as a variety of skills and talents (from design to marketing) are usually required to get a new project off the ground. This is why team-building activities should not be overlooked. Like many tech companies, one of the ways mobile website solution Duda gets employees to work together is by hosting a hackathon, where, in this case, teams have two days to come up with an idea to improve the company’s offering and build out at least a rough version to show that it could work. “Some of the best features we have in our product today came out of previous hackathons,” said Duda CEO Itai Sadan. “Giving employees the ability to be creative with some guidelines can lead to amazing results.” In addition to holding events to foster creativity, enterprises can also hold gatherings for employees to celebrate creative success. TouchCommerce, for example, recently held an ice-shaving social. According to Director of Product Marketing Marina Kalika, this event allowed the team to “cool off” after a successful product launch. Team-building can definitely impact workplace creativity, however, so can competitiveness.

Stirring up Healthy Competition

There are a variety of ways enterprises can produce competition in their offices, from launching a serious sales contest to hosting an easy-going challenge, like a trivia game. Duda opted for the easy-going recipe when the company decided to launch a sneaker design competition (see image). The competition asked employees to

The winning sneakers from Duda’s design competition. 10

.com

SEPT EMB ER 2014

MASTER AFFILIATE MARKETING Affiliate 360: Fundamentals of Performance Marketing provides a foundation for understanding the challenges and opportunities in affiliate marketing, so you can shorten your road to Web success. use a DIY tool from Converse to create a sneaker that phasis on employee health and happiness. included the company colors and logo. Then, employAccording to TouchCommerce CMO George Affiliate 360,design. published by Website ees voted on the winning Skaff, the company offers free gym memberships to all “Every employee got a pair of the winning sneak- employees, provides a gym inside the company and Magazine, is an action plan for achieving ers. Some might have expected that the winning de- hosts employee volleyball games each week. sign would come from our graphicmarketer. designers or You’ll “At TouchCommerce we put the health of success as one anofaffiliate find marketers, yet the winner actually belonged to one of the employees first,” said Skoff. “We believe yourself andwith earmarking our developers,” saidhighlighting Sadan. “This coincides one that healthy employees are a good thing for of my beliefs that creativity can come from any person both tools the employees and for the company, the pages, as you discover practical within the company and should not be the task of a which will lead to fostering creativity.” effective in Skoff notes that employee specificand individual or group.”strategies from top minds In addition, When competitions, team-building exercises and volleyball games are a great way to get people performance marketing. modern workspaces aren’t fostering creativity, enter- from different departments to meet and work prises may want to look for ways to improve individual together – ignoring departmental divides. employee happiness.

The Secret Ingredients

To learn more, visit

Keeping Chefs at Their Best

At the end of the day, there are thousands of WebsiteMagazine.com/Affiliate360 Sometimes creativity can only be encouraged when em- ways enterprises can boost employee creativity. ployees are satisfied in their own lives. TouchCommerce The challenge, however, is finding what clicks recognizes this, which is why the enterprise puts an em- with your employees.

3 Creative Offices to Envy Check out three other companies boosting employee creativity in innovative ways at

wsm.co/3creative

THE MAGAZINE FOR WEBSITE SUCCESS WEBSITEMAGAZINE.COM

Website Magazine delivers cost-efficient leads while building your brand. Generate leads from a targeted audience with interest in your product or service as they learn, research and make purchasing decisions. Reach Web professionals active in key strategies and tactics that all work together to make websites successful. • Design & Development

• Online Advertising

• Mobile Apps

• Search Engine Optimization

• Email Marketing

• Software

• Search Marketing

• Social Media

• Domains & Hosting

• E-Commerce

• Analytics

• Tools & Trends, etc

NEWSLETTER ITEM

MAGAZINE AD

E-BLAST

BANNER AD

DIRECTORY AD

Call now 773-628-2779 or email info@websitemagazine.com for more details

SE P T E M B E R 2014

.com

| 11

Small

BUSINESS LAB Harness

the Power of Blogs By Derek Schou, Associate Editor

Blogging is one of the most eﬀective ways for businesses, especially smaller ones, to communicate with existing and prospective customers. Among other benefits, blogging allows a company to communicate its brand messaging and share valuable information to the digital public at large - while increasing visibility on the search engines and establishing authority within a niche. Blogging, however, can quickly cost companies a lot of time and money, so in order to get the most of their efforts, businesses should turn to some proven tools that can improve processes and amplify reach.

Simplify Collaboration and Workflow Problems

Using Kontera, website owners can quickly analyze what kind of content audiences are reading and searching for to create blog posts that will be popular from the start. 12

The days in which blogs were just supplementary content on websites are long gone. Today, blogs are a valuable part of a website that educate and persuade visitors at every stage of the sales journey. Unfortunately, many small businesses do not have the means to hire extra employees to develop and promote these digital assets. Instead, they have to rely on their existing team members whose responsibilities are likely already pushing them to the limits, which can cause several workflow-related issues, including employees working on the same topics. Luckily, there are many content production and development tools available to remedy this problem. DivvyHQ, for example, is a comprehensive content planning and production tool that aims to quell .com

SEPT EMB ER 2014

the problems that arise with collaborative blogs. With DivvyHQ, small businesses can organize their content production processes by storing yet-to-be written post ideas as well as creating different categories for every stage of the process. Another similar content production tool is Kontera. This tool allows small businesses to discover valuable insights on what is trending, which allows them to produce more relevant posts as well as publish posts to multiple platforms. One of the more interesting features of Kontera is its content discovery functionality (see images), which allows publishers to understand what content is currently popular, as well as surface and rank relevant articles, social updates and images to create blog posts that will resonate with their audiences. Other noteworthy content development tools include Kapost, Curata and InboundWriter. See how these tools compare at wsm.co/3compare.

Spread Your Message to the World While having quality content should be the number one focus of any blog, it is also important that small businesses plan how they are going to share their messages. PaperShare is a content distribution tool that enables its users to simultaneously publish their posts on many platforms including websites and social media. PaperShare also collects analytics on who is accessing content through social media login features and how they are interacting with that content. Businesses can even respond and engage with customers through the tool, helping to build stronger customer relationships. Similar to PaperShare is Percolate. This tool provides a range of useful features to its users with some of the most actionable being its publishing features. Through Percolate, businesses can publish content in a variety of ways including through social media and email, as well as track how their posts are performing and engage those who are interacting with their posts. Similar content distribution tools include Zemanta, Outbrain and SimpleReach. Check out Website Magazine’s BIG LIST of content distribution tools at wsm.co/cdistribute.

Laborious But Rewarding The truth is, running a successful blog is difficult – even for traditional information publishers. Through powerful distribution and workflow tools, however, small businesses can maximize the potential of their blogs and increase the likeliness they’ll become staples in their customers’ online routines.

Quiz

TIME

What percent of marketers feel pressure to become more data-driven? a. 10 percent b. 91 percent c. 54 percent d. 35 percent e. 78 percent

What new social metric did Vine introduce in 2014? a. Loop Counts b. Engaged Second Meter (ESM) c. Inﬂuencer Grade

Are You a

DATA GEEK? In the tech world, it is an honor to be labeled a “Geek,” and the ‘Net’s interest in big data has given them more status than ever. Today, data scientists (and data geeks) are an elite class of digital professionals that are in high demand by enterprises across the globe. In fact, Gartner predicts that by 2015, there will be 4.4 million global IT jobs created to support big data, with only one-third of those jobs being filled. Even though many of us don’t spend our entire days mining for meaningful insights like data scientists do, most professionals do spend a significant amount time looking at a variety of performance analytics throughout the typical workweek. To find out if your knowledge of digital numbers makes you a data geek, take this month’s Quiz Time.

Find the answers to Website Magazine’s “Data Geek” quiz on the ‘Net at wsm.co/qtsept14 or by scanning the QR code on the left.

d. Replay Total e. Partial Watch Sum (PWS)

What is the top reason small businesses conduct market research? a. To keep up with competitors b. To optimize social media initiatives c. To gather data about ideal customers d. To monitor trends e. To discover the best pricing for new products or services

How many retailers, who are active analytics users, actually leverage their data to a great extent? a. 77 percent b. 40 percent c. 13 percent d. 25 percent e. 52 percent

On average, how much data does Google process each hour? a. 58 Megabytes b. 1 Petabyte c. 3 Yottabytes d. 20 Terabytes e. 18 Zettabytes SE P T E M B E R 2014

.com

| 13

Top

Analytics Software & BI Solutions Measuring, managing and analyzing performance metrics allows digital enterprises to be more eﬃcient and ultimately improve their return on investments. It has never been more at the forefront of our professional lives than it is today. The Moz 2014 Industry Survey (which examined changes in the online marketing industry and how those changes impact jobs, clients and tactics) revealed that of the top five marketing activities, “analytics” topped the list – for both in-house teams and agencies. Despite the well-documented benefits (read “5 Benefits of Better Analytics” at wsm.co/5analytics) most still fail to maximize the time and money spent on analytics initiatives and that may be what’s holding their enterprises back from achieving their digital objectives. The problem for most is the range and depth of data available to enterprises, which can at times seem overwhelming. Moz’s industry survey revealed that of the 12 metrics it listed, 10 were rated as “important” or “extremely important” by more than half of respondents. Fortunately, there are solutions available that can easily reveal these key insights and put an enterprise on a path to immense digital success. In this month’s Website Magazine Top 50, readers will find 50 popular analytics software and business intelligence (BI) solutions. While the majority of the digital population of ‘Net professionals use Google or Adobe’s solutions, there are many other perfectly viable, and incredibly powerful, offerings to set your enterprise on a course to better business performance. Check out Website Magazine’s Analytics Insider channel on the Web at wsm.co/netanalytics or explore these companies (and many others) in greater detail in the Digital Resource Directory at WebMag.co. 14

.com

SEPT EMB ER 2014

– Cloudera is 10 expanding its partnership with Caggemini, offering customers the Enterprise Data Hub Accelerator service, which is basically a big data deployment roadmap for enterprise customers, and also its Data Science-as-a-Service feature, which offers big data support. – Yahoo acquired 18 mobile analytics and advertising company Flurry and has plans to provide it with increased financial backing and technological support so Flurry can continue to develop and nurture new and existing relationships with developers. – BI platform 40 Chartio has added cloud communication vendor Twilio as a data source. Twilio customers will now be able to manipulate and interact with phone, VoIP and messaging data in addition to other business data from Google Analytics, MySQL and Oracle.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50.

Google.com Adobe.com TableauSoftware.com AppAnnie.com StatCounter.com Mixpanel.com Appcelerator.com Piwik.org CrazyEgg.com Cloudera.com KISSmetrics.com comScore.com StatsCrop.com Teradata.com Informatica.com Pentaho.com Tibco.com Flurry.com SiteMeter.com Sysomos.com WebTrends.com Autonomy.com SimplyMeasured.com OpenTracker.net Distimo.com Clicky.com HaveaMint.com Actuate.com GoStats.com W3Counter.com Parsely.com Gaug.es HeapAnalytics.com Adjust.com MarkLogic.com LucidWorks.com Chartbeat.com RJMetrics.com GoSquared.com Chartio.com OpenWebAnalytics.com Clicktale.com Actian.com Alteryx.com Panorama.com Woopra.com Bottlenose.com Cyfe.com Localytics.com WebStat.com

E-Commerce

EXPRESS 3 Merchants

Winning with Mobile By Allison Howen, Associate Editor

In just four years, the mobile commerce industry grew at a dramatic rate – from a $2.2 billion industry in 2010 to a $42.8 billion industry in 2013 – and it shows no signs of slowing down.

customers’ needs and deliver consistent experiences across screens. Discover some effective techniques from three well-known digital merchants that are winning in mobile today:

What’s more, the market is predicted to reach $50 billion in sales by the end of this year. To get their share of this revenue, merchants across the globe are competing to deliver the best mobile experience possible. Internet retailers whose mobile presence scores points with consumers are those that satisfy their

Assist the Customer Experience Even though mobile users spend significantly more time interacting with apps than they do with the mobile Web, MarketLive’s Founder and CEO Ken Burke advises that the vast majority of retailers should not spend resources on creating native apps. That is, unless there is a demand for them – as is the case with Walgreens. While the U.S. drugstore chain offers a mobile site that enables users to complete a variety of common tasks (in addition to actually shopping), the retailer’s branded app is the real star of its mobile presence. The Walgreens app, for example, offers a plethora of features that assist shoppers with recurring tasks, like refilling their prescriptions, collecting coupons and printing photos. For instance, a Walgreens shopper can refill his or her prescription by simply scanning the label’s barcode with a phone’s camera (Image A). That same shopper can then view weekly ads and virtually “clip” coupons and save them to his or her loyalty card. The Walgreens app also enables a user to print images from a phone’s photo library or from Facebook and Instagram accounts. Once the photos have been selected to print, the photos are available for pick-up in about an hour.

Walgreens’ app helps users complete recurring tasks like reﬁlling prescriptions and collecting coupons.

.com

SEPT EMB ER 2014

Walgreens

Party City

Aim for Frictionless Navigation Despite its expansive inventory (ranging from Halloween costumes to wedding supplies), Party City offers a mobile website that any shopper can navigate with ease. The site greets shoppers with a menu bar that offers a sign-in option, a location finder, access to the shopping cart and a more detailed sliding menu. The sliding menu is definitely the strength of this retailer’s site, as shoppers can use it to filter Party City’s massive inventory to find specific products. For example, if a visitor selects the “Halloween” category, he or she is directed to choose a subcategory like “Boys’ Costumes,” “Girls’ Costumes,” or “Women’s Costumes.” Once a category like “Women’s Costumes” has been selected, visitors can further filter their searches with options like “Unique Costumes” or “Exclusive Looks.” Although this may seem like a lot of steps, the filters are intuitive and provide shoppers with a limited set of results, which is a much better experience than delivering hundreds of listings on a small screen – and may also lead to greater in-app engagement (Read: “Image Overload – Consumers with Too Many Choices Buy Nothing” at wsm.co/imgoverload). It is also worth noting that Party City makes it simple for shoppers to add items to their shopping carts. The retailer uses “-” and “+” icons (Image C) instead of the traditional “quantity” field, which typically offers a dropdown that can be difficult for shoppers to interact with on small screens.

Skinny Ties

Be An Early Adopter Although responsive design is Google’s recommended approach to mobile, many retailers are still either not designing for mobile at all or opting for a separate mobile website entirely. In fact, Forrester reports that just 3 percent of retail sites have adopted responsive design. One merchant that took heed of Google’s recommendation, however, is Skinny Ties (Image D). The retailer is a veteran of providing a user-friendly experience on small screens, initially unveiling its respon-

D Skinny Ties offers a responsive website, providing a consistent experience across devices.

Party City’s mobile website gives shoppers the ability to add items to their shopping carts easily on small screens.

sive site (designed by Gravity Department) back in 2012. Immediately after implementation the retailer saw improvements in conversions, including a 71.9 percent conversion rate increase for iPhones. By offering a responsive site, Skinny Ties is able to deliver a website that automatically adapts to any device size, making it a consistent experience across channels and future-proofing the site for new screen sizes entering the market. Responsive design isn’t the cure for all retailers’ mobile woes, however, for further reading check out the feature in this month’s issue on page 24.

Mobile Best Practices for Retailers From guest checkout to PayPal integrations, see what makes up a winning mobile retail strategy at

wsm.co/yourmobilegoto

Don’t Foul Out

When adding techniques to your mobile playbook, it is important to keep your customers and their experience top of mind. In doing so, your mobile presence will be in position to attract more customers, score more conversions and win when it matters the most. SE P T E M B E R 2014

.com

| 17

Mastering

SEARCH Technical

SEO & the SPEED Issue By Peter Prestipino, Editor-In-Chief

The technical health of your website is as important to your brand’s search engine optimization success as its content development, link acquisition and marketing distribution eﬀorts. Few digital enterprises, however, spend much time on what may ultimately matter most – the technical issues that can often prevent an optimal interaction from occurring for the search engines and the users they refer. Fortunately, surmounting the most common barriers is easy when you know what you’re looking for – and in this edition of Website Magazine’s Mastering Search, one of the most important technical SEO matters - SPEED – is the focus. If your site suffers from low (or no) rankings, commit to finding ways to accelerate page rendering and your brand will likely be on the fast track to digital success. Google – which accounts for upward of 70 percent of all referred search engine traffic - has long been a proponent of fast-loading websites (just like conversion optimization and user experience specialists are) as the experience that results for website visitors is simply far better than the alternative (60 percent of respondents in Limelight’s recent State of the User Experience report were not willing to wait more than 5 seconds for a Web page to load). So what is responsible for slowing down your website? While there are many opportunities for optimization in this regard, it often starts with the number of requests that are made between the user and the server. MINIMIZE THE NUMBER OF HTTP REQUESTS: Most end-user response time occurs on the front-end, downloading images, scripts, etc. If you can reduce the number of these HTTP requests, the resulting experience will be faster. To do that, consider combining files (a single stylesheet for example), avoiding plugins when possible, and/or using CSS Sprites (which combine background 18

.com

SEPT EMB ER 2014

images into a single image and use the CSS backgroundimage and background-position properties to display the appropriate image segment). ADD AN EXPIRES, or CACHE-CONTROL HEADER: First-time visitors to a Web page are forced to make several HTTP requests, but by using the Expires header, those components become cacheable, which avoids making unnecessary requests on any page views that follow. Expires headers can be used on any component including images, scripts and stylesheets. SEOs with an eye on user experience could implement a “never expire” policy for static components, and for dynamic components, use an appropriate CacheControl header to help with conditional requests. GZIP WEBSITE COMPONENTS: Many variables come into play in relation to total site speed, but compression is a powerful method to reduce response times as it reduces the actual size of the HTTP response. Gzip is arguably the most popular method and it can reduce response size dramatically (often between 70 and 90 percent). The aforementioned issues are far from the only ones likely slowing down your website and negatively influencing the user experience and your brand’s search result positions (discover what else might be preventing your digital brand from achieving a faster loading website at wsm.co/cdnblame). Address these issues first however and your enterprise will likely see notable gains in position and provide a better experience for users along the way.

Search Security in Focus Speed, of course, is far from the only variable in your website’s technical success. Most recently, the importance of security has taken center stage as Google indicated that sites using SSL would receive a rankings boost. Read more at wsm.co/searchsecurity

Design &

DEVELOPMENT Analytics for the

Digital User Experience By Chris Casale

Digital enterprises face the challenge of staying relevant and familiar in a constantly evolving world – just think about today’s Facebook becoming yesterday’s Myspace. Companies unable to change with their users face the risk of being left behind. Developers could see an increase in return usage by including a small icon that reminds users about the app’s existence.

The good news is it’s a challenge that can be met. Traditionally, analytics have been utilized by organizations to influence marketing and sales strategy. It’s not enough anymore. Companies need to analyze and test their entire business model and the most logical place to start is the digital user experience – and designers can play an integral role in this process.

Getting Started

User data can be captured through a collection of tools or usability testing. Organizations that employ both of these methods will have a larger and more balanced data set to help influence their decisions. Data collection tools come in all shapes and sizes, so businesses will have to experiment to find the one that’s right for them. Free resources such as Google Analytics and Flurry (recently acquired by Yahoo - wsm.co/yﬂurry) are relatively straightforward to implement and provide a wealth of reports. Premium services such as HubSpot and Adobe Analytics also provide detailed reporting, as well as options for testing and customizing the user experience. 20

.com

SEPT EMB ER 2014

Usability testing is the act of putting an application in front of users and monitoring their interactions to see how easy (or difficult) it is to use. This type of testing can be performed in-house or by employing third parties such as UserTesting.com, ClickTale, Five Second Test and others (for more, check out “Big List of Usability Resources” at wsm.co/usability14). Some implementations can be more cost intensive than others, but designers should insist on usability testing being a part of the analysis process. Watching users interact with a product or service can provide valuable information that can shape the future direction of a user interface. Once data analytics have been integrated, the next step is to sort through the reports and find the information that is most valuable.

Metrics

It’s easy to get inundated with the number of metrics available today. Unique visitors/uses, time-on-site/task, bounce rate, new versus returning – where does one begin? For starters, organizations need to avoid vanity metrics - anything that can be easily manipulated and does not generally correlate to the data that really matters. To analyze the user experience, enterprises need to look at engagement. Simply put, engagement is the quality of the user experience. Do customers use the application, and in the manner it was intended, to successfully complete their tasks? Engagement will look different across various applications and services. Here are some metrics organizations can use to analyze their engagement:

Visitors / Unique Visitors This may also appear as new versus returning visitors or sessions/users in tools like Google Analytics. The goal

with this metric is to try and determine whether or not customers return to use the product or service. Visitors should be analyzed as a trend rather than a simple count. This becomes especially important to track as changes are made to the user experience. Designers need to know, are changes increasing the return rate or having a negative impact?

Length of Session The length of a user’s session will need to be measured for each application’s particular goal (only that company can define what that goal is) – depending on how fast or slow a site owner wants to move a user through his or her site. If the intention of the application is for the user to watch videos, play a game or something similar, for example, a longer session length is indicator of better engagement. If, however, the application is a search engine and the intention is to help the user find something quickly, success will be in the form of shorter session length. Regardless of the goal, the length of a session should be analyzed as both an average and an individual count. Trends in the average session length may show the direction a company is headed, but a significant split in longer usage versus shorter usage may also indicate a problem. Organizations won’t notice those discrepancies until they start segmenting the data.

Session Interval

The length of a session measures how long a user is actively using the application, while the session interval measures how long between uses. Clash of Clans, a freemium mobile video game developed by Supercell, for example, uses a reminder icon when certain game actions are complete to persuade the user to return to the game (see image on previous page). A very simple email or push notification may make a big difference in return usage, but organizations need to know the average session interval before improvements can be made.

Bounce Rate or Exit Rate

The goal of measuring bounce or exit rate is to find out where in the process users are exiting. Are they viewing one page and “bouncing” off the site? Are they leaving halfway through the checkout process? Pages or screens with a particularly high exit rate may indicate a problem. These areas may also be great targets for user testing.

Compare Session Length By Device The analytics tool Flurry allows developers to compare session length between devices (iOS and Android) as well as across diﬀerent categories. This can help ﬁnd problems with user experience across devices as well as help identify the category where the longest engagement occurs.

These are just some of the many metrics designers and organizations alike can use to track engagement. Once data analysis has started, it’s time to coordinate a plan.

It’s About the User

In the end, it always comes back to the customer. Usability testing and data analytics can help organizations determine if their application is being used the way it was intended. They can also help enterprises decide where to make changes to improve the user experience. As a designer, you should be involved in the analysis and decision-making process from the very beginning. It’s imperative that any decisions made are based on actual evidence about how the product or service is being used and not based on personal opinion. Creativity is a vital part of the design process and, when influenced by user-data, designers can craft a truly great experience for users. That’s a win for everyone.

Chris Casale is a software engineer with more than 18 years’ experience architecting websites and applications. He is a regular contributor to the blog at www.araxam.com. SE P T E M B E R 2014

.com

| 21

Follow the

MOBILE Leader By Amberly Dressler, Managing Editor

The mobile channel is redefining digital initiatives. In fact, 80 percent of marketers using mobile believe their eﬀorts on the channel do or will provide a return on investment, according to the 2014 State of Marketing report from ExactTarget, a Salesforce company.

mobile Web strategies for years – designing, analyzing and optimizing for smaller screens. Just like in the children’s game Follow the Leader, savvy marketers, designers and business owners are mimicking these leaders’ actions. Brands not following in-line or adding to the mobile industry can quickly find themselves out of the game.

Despite marketers’ optimism, the same report indicates that less than a third of marketers are actually using some of mobile’s most-promising capabilities like location-based functionality. Far fewer are utilizing mobile push notifications – failing to capitalize on 48 percent of U.S. shoppers who would be receptive to receiving messages and promotions to their phones based on their in-store browsing behavior, according to data from Usablenet. To make mobile work, strategies must be put in place that address mobile’s unique possibilities and the development, promotion and analysis of the mobile Web – anything less will come up short. In this month’s feature article, discover several mobile Web strategies that are providing rewards to today’s most successful enterprises.

If there were ever a time for companies – retail businesses in particular – to think about their mobile design, it’s now. Mobile site traffic accounted for 38.2 percent of website visits in March 2014; more than double that of March 2012. As a result, in its 2014 U.S. Online Retail Holiday Readiness Report, IBM predicts mobile will account for 20-plus percent of site sales and more than 43 percent of site traffic in Nov. 2014 – the official start of the holiday shopping season. Knowing this, IBM advises retailers to pay attention to both device type and operating system, to better focus their mobile app and analytics investments, while ensuring a flawless customer experience between devices and operating systems. Easy enough, right?

HEAD OF THE LINE

The Three Amigos: Optimized, Responsive and Adaptive When designing a mobile experience, some popular advice is to focus on the user, not the device. That said, a user’s experience is affected by the type of device he or she is using – requiring attention be given to the device that is in his or her hands.

The mobile Web is hyper-competitive. When looking at the application market alone, of the world’s 19 million software developers, 8.7 million are now writing apps for mobile devices (read more at wsm.co/mobileminded). Many of the enterprises who have already gotten to the front of the digital line, per say, are those who have been working on their 24

.com

SEPT EMB ER 2014

Design & Reliability

This has, of course, given responsive Web design (RWD) digital legs, as the approach allows Web pages to adapt to a device’s screen without compromising functionality or aesthetics (read: “Responsive Web Design Simplified” at wsm.co/simplerwd ). To add to its benefits (see 10 plus reasons to go responsive at wsm.co/10rwdreasons), RWD is strongly recommended by Google as the search engine can crawl one URL rather than multiple. (For example Nordstrom.com also has an m.nordstrom.com URL for its mobile users.) Experts like Joelle Kaufman, head of marketing and partnerships for BloomReach, and Carin van Vuuren, chief marketing officer at Usablenet, warn that businesses need to understand that responsive design isn’t going to answer all of their mobile issues. What responsive Web design often lacks is a focus on creating an experience that is based on the goals of users per each device. For example, through its data, a company could see a large portion of its mobile traffic converting (whether that’s phone calls or directions) and customizing its mobile experience based on particular goals would be much more complex with responsive design. The reason is because RWD minimizes many Web page elements and doesn’t necessarily “optimize” them. The same could be said of tablets. While mobile phones are often used to research products and for on-the-go searches with local intent, tablets are primarily used when connected to an at-home Wi-Fi network (earning the couch-computing label). In fact, in a 2014 whitepaper on the subject, Usablenet indicated that 72 percent of consumers use their tablets primarily at home, either while watching TV or in bed at night. It should be obvious by now that at-home users require a different experience than on-the-go ones.

In the same report, Usablenet advised that, “It is a mistake to treat the tablet as a large smartphone or a small desktop computer; the tablet environment must be understood and exploited on its own merits.” Creating device-specific experiences can quickly cost a company – in both time and money – but the path toward Web supremacy is likely including a bit of both responsive and adaptive design based on a company and its users’ goals and experiences. For the unfamiliar, when Econsultancy approached the subject, Stuart McMillan, deputy head of e-commerce at Schuh, defined adaptive Web design like so, “In many ways, adaptive is not dissimilar to a mobile specific site, in that the server delivers different content to different devices. Where it differs is in the logic used to determine which devices get which content.” Perhaps, only when more companies realize the benefits of using both responsive and adaptive approaches will users stop switching from device to device because of userexperience shortcomings. “Can retailers have their cake and eat it? They absolutely can,” said van Vuuren. “They should approach responsive as they see fit but remember to build with flexibility in mind. Bring adaptive pages into their sites and go for the tools that enable marketers to do what marketers do – changing content as many times as they need to.” J. Crew is a good example of a retailer that offers the best of both worlds. Its mobile site is 100 percent designed for mobile users. They do not use a responsive solution, but they do offer responsive checkout. What does this mean for the end-user? It means mobile users can have an experience that is uniquely optimized for their devices – everything from navigation to calls-to-action to store locator – but if they get interrupted and aren’t able to complete their

The Need for Speed? The mobile Web needs to be faster. According to Google, all above-the-fold content should render in less than 1 second; anything more will result in a poor user experience. Despite this, some of the most well-known brands take much, much longer to render completely. Keynote’s Mobile Commerce Performance Index shows Sears’ mobile site loading in 2.33 seconds, Walgreens in 4.95 seconds, Walmart in 10.9 seconds and so on. Since Google and your users may not be as forgiving with your site, check out, “5 Ways to Speed Up the Mobile Web” at wsm.co/speedup5.

SE P T E M B E R 2014

.com

| 25

purchases, then the checkout experience on their desktops (when they log on later) will be consistent with what they encountered in their earlier shopping experience. This is because even though the website itself is optimized for the particular device being used, the checkout is responsive and the handoff between the two is made very easily, according to van Vuuren. Whether a business chooses optimized, responsive or adaptive Web design (or a combination), the important thing is to make a decision. Companies not offering any sort of mobile Web experience will lose out on significant revenue. Want to know how much? Check out the SkavaOne Calculator which lets users input data to calculate how much revenue a bad (or non-existent) mobile site is costing them at wsm.co/mrevenue. Not Sophisticated - Just Smart Part of offering a smart design is ensuring the mobile Web experience is as natural as browsing in-store with a sales representative. This, according to Kaufman of BloomReach, means businesses should make personalized suggestions and navigation intuitive as opposed to having a bunch of rarely used bells and whistles – focusing on smart mobile experiences, not sophisticated ones. Neiman Marcus provides the second example of a mobile leader whose mobile Web development, promotion and analysis is one to mirror because it identifies users across platforms and is able to tailor an experience for each shopper – meaning, even if a shopper follows the typical cross-device purchase path (research on mobile or tablet and purchase on desktop), Neiman Marcus will provide a seamless and consistent experience from start to finish – even if he or she isn’t signed in. Using BloomReach Search, Navigation and Personalization (SNAP) service, the luxury retailer is able to identify a user across platforms Use tools like Browserby algorithmically analyzing and matching with Stack, Browsershots or statistical certainty behavioral patterns, geo-data, CrossBrowserTesting to make sure even custime of day, products viewed and other factors. tomers using unpopular (Other companies offering predictive analysis indevices are getting the clude Custora, SAP, etc.) best experiences. For example, say a consumer is a semi-regular online shopper of BloomReach customer Neiman

Test the Best Experience

.com

SEPT EMB ER 2014

As a signed-in user switches from mobile to desktop, his shopping bag follows him, and he is presented with a responsive check out despite J.Crew’s website being optimized for mobile speciﬁcally.

Marcus - often shopping for men’s shoes and ties. He was browsing on his phone one evening on the Neiman Marcus mobile site for men’s Gucci loafers. Often gravitating toward black-colored size 10 shoes, he clicks the “More Like This” and sometimes clicks other product pages. Then, that week he continues the experience on his desktop, visiting similar pages. BloomReach SNAP would recognize this user and begin coupling the experience across devices to further “test.” This would result in personalized navigation and filters, product suggestions and ranking, etc., specific to that consumer. If the coupled experience indicated that the users were unlikely to be the same (which is a low probability), the experience would be decoupled, according to Kaufman of BloomReach. J. Crew and Neiman Marcus are two solid examples of how a smart and reliable mobile design can help with an organization’s acquisition and retention efforts, as, according to Paige O’Neill, chief marketing officer at SDL, it is vital for organizations to ensure channels are

so connected that they become irrelevant, placing the focus on delivering true omnichannel engagement. (Read more about SDL’s report, “5 Truths for Future Marketers” at wsm.co/5truths2014.)

Acquisition & Retention Internet professionals don’t even need to look far to know the influence that mobile has on everyday users – they just need to look for their own smartphones, which are likely within arm’s reach. An International Data Corporation (IDC) research report (sponsored by Facebook) found that 79 percent of smartphone users have their phones on or near them for all but up to two hours of their waking day – that’s in stores, at work, in the car and so on. There may never have been a greater time to be in the acquisition and retention business than now, because mobile phones are a near-constant connection to end-users, for those Web-based businesses willing to try. Beacons to the Rescue As previously mentioned, mobile Web users are more than willing to get notifications from businesses if it means more personalized experiences or discounts on items they are already considering purchasing. For the first time, according to van Vuuren of Usablenet, retailers are embracing mobile in store. Last year around this time, merchants were scared of showrooming – the act of consumers researching an item in-store and buying at a discounted price online – but now they are understanding it’s something to embrace not run from, because the practice can improve both acquisition and retention efforts. Serving up an irresistible offer that feels personalized will be a big conversion mover this holiday shopping season, predicts van Vuuren, and that may start with beacons at physical store locations - complemented by mobile Web technology. Swirl is a leader in the beacon space and the way beacons work for its clients is a simple process. Swirl’s mobile client SDK can be added to existing mobile apps and then in-store indoor positioning beacons (some look like ordinary Take a brief refresher rectangle boxes while others look like smoke deon best practices for tectors) are set up in any store location. The Swirl designing and serving platform leverages Bluetooth Smart and Apple’s mobile ads at iBeacon technology to deliver targeted conwsm.co/adrefresh tent and offers to consumers based on

their specific in-store locations or in-store behaviors (like a person is spending a lot of time in the dress department or standing in front of a store display and using his smartphone to browse the Web – see image for more detail). Powered by Swirl, Hudson’s Bay and Lord & Taylor became the first major department store chains to roll out beacon technology in North America. Just in time for the holidays, the two retailers will automatically deliver branded content and personalized offers to in-store shoppers through an array of company-owned and thirdparty mobile apps. Feeling App-Y Perhaps with the exception of Target’s Cartwheel app (read more about it at wsm.co/tcartwheel ) a lot of retailers haven’t hit it out of the park with experiential apps, but that doesn’t keep many companies from trying as Flurry reports that apps command 86 percent of the average U.S. mobile con-

Mobile Ads: The Same But Different

.com

SEPT EMB ER 2014

With Swirl, retailers like Lord & Taylor, Alex and Ani and others are delivering more relevant and personalized mobile experiences based on shoppers’ exact locations – like entering stores or standing in front of in-store displays.

sumer’s time, or 2 hours and 19 minutes – leaving just 14 percent of a consumer’s time spent on the mobile Web. Van Vuuren of Usablenet says that as mobile sites become more complex with more functionality, there are fewer reasons why a company needs a branded app. There are some compelling use cases for apps when users want to come back and experience something again and again like, for example, Hard Rock’s app which focuses on its Hard Rock Rewards program. Retailers see higher conversions when they specifically detail the use case that they will deliver – knowing what they are asking customers to do on their mobile sites versus what they are asking them to do in their apps. An alternative is to create a presence on already-established apps, like TheFind, for example. TheFind delivers a comprehensive shopping experience, putting 500 million products from 500,000 stores at a user’s fingertips – they call that the entire shoppable Web and users can easily access it whether they are on their desktop computers, mobile phones or tablet devices. For retailers, TheFind is one of the largest independent shopping traffic sources available. In June 2014, TheFind launched its retailer advertising program, which provides merchants with options to improve search rankings as well as increase and diversify qualified shopping search traffic. The new program enables retailers to increase conversions and visibility for promoted products and supports both cost-per-click and revenue share-based models. Additionally, as part of its search algorithm and relevance-based ranking, TheFind shows shoppers trending products that are prioritized based on Facebook likes or by analyzing its traffic patterns. TheFind is just one of many companies realizing that mobile is intrinsically social, as mobile users are spending most of their time in social apps – opening up many opportunities for companies to acquire and retain via both mobile and social. Take PagePart as an example. When it was launched by Constant Contact Founder Randy Parker, PagePart solely focused on building mobile sites for small businesses by pulling information directly from their Facebook pages, which 30 million already have (according to the social network). Today, PagePart has turned a big part of its attention toward helping that same audience run targeted Facebook ads – while still helping small businesses look good on mobile – to increase the chances of them being found on the world’s most popular social network. In short, PagePart is

working with Facebook to simplify social advertising for small businesses so they can reach local, mobile users.

Analytics & Optimization

Mobile’s Top Movers & Shakers

It’s too easy to drown in all the data points that seem relevant and important to a company’s mobile Web strategy. Turns out, often companies have a mobile data problem, not a design problem. This is why Kaufman of BloomReach says From design and relithat companies should focus on incorporating ability to analytics and data that can collectively and individually analyze optimization, see 50 and constantly improve the user experience. companies that can Kaufman continues that mobile sites propel your mobile should be optimized for experience, not just for strategy at conversion. Almost every company can see wsm.co/50movers the dramatic increase in traffic to their mobile sites. For example, after hiring California-based IdeaWork Studios to rebrand its site, Southern California Builder Allen Construction saw 30 percent of its traffic coming from mobile (which it likely wouldn’t have tracked before). It needed to educate its potential customers coming from all devices, so IdeaWork Studios chose a responsive strategy, allowing all user subsets (desktop/tablet/ mobile) to utilize the same website, but track the customized resulting for each. Companies need to optimize for what customers want to do on their websites from their different devices, but what metrics are available to make these crucial business decisions? From clicks and conversions to swipes and time on site, learn how to create a mobile Web strategy based on the data that is already available at wsm.co/datatobuildon.

THIS WAY TO THE TOP The gap between where marketers and the companies that pay them think their mobile strategies are and where consumers think they are is wide – and perhaps even widening. According to Kenshoo, 82 percent of consumers are disappointed when they reach a site not optimized for the mobile experience, yet marketers think they are currently providing a rich mobile optimized Web experience across smartphones (50 percent) and tablets (47 percent). To make mobile truly work, companies must address mobile’s unique capabilities and the development, promotion and analysis of the mobile Web – and many of today’s top companies are providing the perfect paths to follow. SE P T E M B E R 2014

.com

| 29

Hosting

PANEL

Active Versus Passive Monitoring: Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the Right Approach?

By Mehdi Daoudi, Co-Founder and CEO of Catchpoint Systems

While just understanding the value of website performance monitoring is an asset in and of itself, there remains confusion within the IT world as to the benefits and drawbacks that result from active and passive monitoring strategies. Despite what many believe, the issue is not whether Web professionals should be utilizing either approach, but rather how the two can be used in congruence to provide an efficient and accurate look at a sitesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; performance. So, whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the difference between active and passive monitoring? In order to understand how these very different approaches to monitoring work together, it is first necessary to understand exactly what they are and what they cover. Active (or synthetic) monitoring takes a proactive approach to ensuring a site is working at optimum ef30

.com

SEPT EMB ER 2014

ficiency (e.g. availability, download speed) from specific geographies and Internet service providers (ISPs). Maintaining an active monitoring strategy requires software-based agents (backbone, last mile, wireless and private nodes) distributed throughout the world in a controlled setting to simulate the user experience. This method measures and validates key business procedures and functions in a website (shopping carts, customer relationship management record retrieval, Web lead registrations, conversion goals, etc.). Since active monitoring happens continuously and on a fixed schedule, site owners can create a controlled baseline for performance, which allows for alerts to let them know about availability and performance at the first sign of trouble, even when no users are on the site. This enables them to diagnose and troubleshoot problems before they affect the end-user experience, minimizing the negative impact on their

“

When it comes to active and passive monitoring, electing to utilize one or the other is going to result in an incomplete picture of a site’s overall performance.

enterprises’ bottom line. all of the pages as experienced by real end-users, giv In addition to early warnings, synthetic traffic ing businesses a picture of user experience across all generated from backbone ISPs eliminates the effect of geographies and devices. variables outside of one’s control, such as browser ex- Whereas active monitoring lacks insight into tensions, badly configured home connections, etc. This the business metrics of a site, JavaScript-based RUM allows active monitoring to also be used for service-level is also able to gauge the amount of time and/or agreement (SLA) management and verification, as money that users spend there, an undeniably well as benchmarking a site’s performance against important indicator of success for any sites that rely the competition. on e-commerce or advertising revenue. In doing so, Performance data collected is impacted not only passive monitoring accounts for many aspects by an infrastructure, third parties and content deliv- that active monitoring is unable to cover, though it ery networks (CDNs), but also determines if code clearly cannot handle everything a company needs to changes or architectural/infrastructure changes had optimize its website. Passive can’t detect or measure the desired effects, or if they caused errors and/or per- downtime where it occurred. In fact, if an enterprise formance degradations. This helps a company identify relies only on passive monitoring it may not know and optimize for these variables, which allows work- when its site is down at all. Passive monitoring also ers to test changes before rolling out any to misses opportunities to optimize end-users. slow-performing sites, because These advantages are all well and many visitors won’t stick around for a site owner to measure the good, of course, but that doesn’t mean full download time of pages. In that active monitoring is without drawaddition, passive monitoring can’t backs. Most notably, while it can simulate user experience, that’s not a perfect substibenchmark a site’s performance Check out news and against competition; it’s unable to tution for the real thing because ultimately tips in Website Magaprovide filmstrips, screenshots, the end-users can experience something zine’s Web Hosting ping or trace route monitoring; and different (and perhaps worse) due to exPanel on the ‘Net at ternal variables. wsm.co/wmhosting it can miss performance problems during light- or no-traffic time pe Additionally, since active monitoring riods. relies on node infrastructure around the world to create those simulated experiences, it’s lim- When it comes to active and passive monitoring, ited by geography and ISP locations. Utilizing that electing to utilize one or the other is going to result in infrastructure to monitor every page and navigation an incomplete picture of a site’s overall performance. path can also become costly. This forces one to choose If a company focuses exclusively on active, then it what pages he or she wants to focus on (generally the will be left in the dark with regard to certain external most heavily trafficked ones), which could mean factors which lie beyond its control, but ultimately missed performance problems for less visited pages still drastically affect how the site performs in the real or not understanding and optimizing for true click- world. Yet, companies that take a decidedly passive through paths, or the best representations of true end- approach with RUM, will likely find themselves reuser behavior on a site. acting to problems as they happen rather than getting For this reason, passive monitoring (done pre- out ahead of them. dominantly through Real User Measurement or That’s why organizations around the world RUM) comes into play as it picks up where active are continually realizing that this is not a matter of monitoring leaves off. RUM comes in two types: “active versus passive,” but rather “active plus pasby devices installed in the data center, or by JavaS- sive.” The tools are now available to get a complete cript embedded on the page. As the name suggests, look at your site’s performance, and to optimize it as JavaScript-based RUM measures the performance of much as possible.

Hosting Got You Down?

SE P T E M B E R 2014

.com

| 31

Conversion

CORNER

Optimizing Conversions

with Common User Scenarios By Brian Lewis

If you’ve ever run a marathon, you’re familiar with the term “hit the wall.” This is a point right around mile 20 where the body’s store of glycogen (energy) is depleted, leaving you exhausted and challenging your will to finish what you started. Web visitors have a similar wall, but it’s based on cognitive exhaustion rather than physical. When visitors go to a website that requires them to work too hard to accomplish their tasks, they hit a wall, unable to finish what they started. In Web terms, they abandon. People go to websites to accomplish something, and if their tasks involve any amount of research or new learning, some cognitive load will naturally be required. Websites cause unnecessary and unexpected additional mental processing when they don’t clearly and immediately address a visitor’s query. Users hit their mental wall when they have to expend time and energy trying to figure out how to accomplish their tasks.

Being Contextually Perceptive One of the ways to avoid overloading visitors is by being contextually perceptive. A website that is contextually perceptive is one that seems tuned in to the state of mind of its visitors, understanding the circumstances surrounding their visit – not just from a task perspective but also the sequence of events that led to this moment. Being contextually perceptive means understanding visitors’ biases, their knowledge level, their anxieties and their expectations. When you are contextually perceptive and understand your visitors’ roles, sites can be designed to enable visitors to do what they want to do, not force them to do what you want them to. 32

.com

SEPT EMB ER 2014

Enter the User Scenario User scenarios are the means to creating a contextually perceptive site. They are the roadmap not just for the design of homepages, but also for key usability and design elements such as the information architecture, the overall page layout, how information is prioritized on each page, and even what colors and design elements to use. User scenarios differ from personas in that they place equal importance on both the visitor’s role and his or her task. Scenarios look not just at what a visitor is trying to accomplish, but also at their motivations, abilities, desires and fears. This is key, because a particular task will be approached differently by different people, depending on the personal context the visitor brings to a visit.

Roles and Goals User scenarios are comprised of two elements; the specific role that the visitor is playing and their intent (or goal). Roles generally describe the type of visitor (for example, in a B2B environment that might be experts, influencers and researchers) as well as the defining characteristics of the visitor. Characteristics might include level of knowledge, where they are in the buying cycle, how price conscious they are, their motivation for completing the task and their urgency. Goals are intents – things people are trying to accomplish when they come to a site. A helpful way to think about goals and visitor intentions is to think about the four stages a person goes through when researching and ultimately buying something: attention, interest, desire and action (see sidebar). Within each

of these stages, visitors will likely have different intents, for example collecting research, comparing similar products, evaluating prices or making purchases.

Creating Your User Scenarios Before constructing user scenarios, an internal team must first be assembled. Include people from sales, customer service, tech support and anyone else who has contact with prospective customers. Distribute different color sticky notes to team members according to the functional area they represent. Ask everyone to use the sticky notes to write about a common type of customer or visitor that they’ve been in contact with. Each sticky note will be the framework for a user scenario, and should include a summary statement (short phrase that identifies who the person is and what they are trying to achieve), the task and intent (which provides more detail than what is addressed in the summary, including what stage of the buying cycle the visitor is in), the context (describing the visitor’s emotions and motivations instead of logic) and subtasks (which are often more logic-based). Once the team has completed its assignment, organize the sticky notes on a whiteboard according to buying stage, remembering that the different colors represent different functional departments in the organization. Condense similar, overlapping user scenarios and get rid of those that are not truly “common.” After the team’s ideas about common user scenarios have been received, start looking at the data. Run different Web analytics reports that show visitor paths segmented by keyword data, referral source category, entry page and device. You can also create visitor surveys, look at social conversations and survey people at different trigger points on the site (exit pages, repeat views of the same page and so on). Try to get an understanding of not only who is converting, but also who isn’t — and why. Then, visit competitors’ sites to see what visitors are experiencing when they attempt to complete the same task elsewhere. Add all of this data to those sticky notes to come up with a complete picture of the most common user scenarios. When complete, try to have no more than five user scenarios. Remember, for the purpose of optimizing a site, the goal is to understand the most common users, not to exhaustively profile every individual user.

Here is an example user scenario of someone shopping for after-market wheels for his car. • Summary: Shopper is new to the auto aftermarket, wants to learn about options for custom wheels for his car. • Task & Intent: He’s early in the decision-making process. Wants to learn about what features are important. • Context: He doesn’t know what wheel sizes fit his 2013 BMW 335i. He likes the look of a wider tire. • Specific Subtasks: He wants to understand why certain features matter. He wants to explore which wheel options are available to fit wider tires on his car. He needs to see if there are qualified installers in his area.

Putting User Scenarios to Work Now that the most common users and what they are trying to accomplish is understood, it’s time to evaluate your site through their eyes. Become each of these defined users and try to accomplish a task from their perspective. As you play the role of each scenario and encounter conversion roadblocks that users are experiencing every day, document the journey through screen grabs, noting unmet expectations, elapsed time and feelings (frustration, impatience, aggravation, surprise). Once you have walked in your visitors’ shoes, use the findings to inform an optimization process. If you’re ready to take on a full-site redesign, user scenarios will help create a contextually perceptive site that effortlessly meets the needs of your most common visitors. If you are conducting testing, your user scenarios will provide lots of ideas for how to clear conversion roadblocks. And if you are constantly being asked to incorporate new bells and whistles, user scenarios will be a valuable reminder of what’s important to a site’s most common users.

Brian Lewis is director of optimization at SiteTuners, where he works with clients to diagnose conversion barriers, streamline conversion paths and support test-planning efforts.

SE P T E M B E R 2014

4 Stages of Conversion

Discover effective ways big-name brands address the attention, interest, desire and action of each online consumer at wsm.co/4cstages

.com

| 33

EXPERIENCE

D D.A.T. SEGMENTATION A Highly Conventional Approach to Email Segmentation By Peter Prestipino, Editor-In-Chief

Chances are good that the traﬃc you receive through the email channel is a major contributor to top-line digital marketing metrics (unique visitors and page views) and pure, bottom-line sales performance indicators (leads and conversions).

Did You Know? 86 percent of U.S. digital marketers use email marketing regularly (Source: Gigaom, 2014)

Today’s digital marketers must appreciate how influential the interactions are that result from the email experience and treat recipients in a manner that respects the value of this interaction to the business. While the trend toward digital personalization (the technologies used to deliver messaging in accordance with users’ tastes, preferences and behavior) is increasing dramatically, only a small percentage of senders currently segment their lists. MarketingSherpa’s 2014 Email Benchmarks Report revealed, in fact, that just 32 percent of the 1,000 organizations surveyed indicated “customer segmentation” as one of their main goals within the next year. Despite the slow pace of adoption among digital marketers, the benefits of segmentation are clear (and many). Senders that engage in the practice of email segmentation, specifically, regularly experience higher open and click-rate rates, better conversion rates and even decreased unsubscribe rates. On the whole, marketers that segment their lists simply have more engaged prospects (and greater profits). To start more effectively utilizing your database of customer information, you must realize that each of your customers has particular needs and is at his or her own special point in the customer experience. Instead of sending the same batch-and-blast email to everyone on your list, why not send custom communication based on a type of audience segment? Below are three such audience breakdowns to get you started: .com

SEPT EMB ER 2014

emographic Segmentation

Perhaps the most conventional method to segment an email list is to do so by some of the more obvious demographic traits of your recipients. For example, geography, age and gender are practical approaches, as are the industry, the job function of the recipient as well as his or her seniority level. Another, albeit slightly more sophisticated approach, is to forgo demographics and segment using psychographics, the attitudes and aspirations of users. To segment a list using demographics or psychographics, however, it’s necessary to have information available about recipients – something that should be done within the acquisition phase. Learn how to create an effective email form at wsm.co/gotoemailform.

ctivity Segmentation

Another powerful way to segment an email list is to do so by the recipient’s activity level (as well as the value of their activity). It has been very common in the past to segment by RFM metrics (recency, frequency, monetary) and past purchases undeniably provide as good a starting point as any – but for most senders a more elementary approach is needed. Many email service providers (ESPs) offer functionality within their platforms that reveal which users are most active. MailChimp, for example, offers a 5-star Member Rating (based on open and click activity, bounce history, etc.) that is recalculated for every send. Segmenting based on activity enables senders to test a variety of techniques to determine the optimal subject lines, different calls-toaction for each activity level, and what’s more, sending emails that align with user activity will result in better deliverability over time and a better sender reputation for your enterprise.

ransactional Segmentation

Arguably the most valuable way to segment is to do so based on purchase history. Frequent buyers, one-time buyers and irregular buyers each require a different style of communication so the more targeted senders can make their segmented list, the better chance they will have of delivering the right message at the right time to the right recipients. Senders using transaction-based segmentation will be able to promote new products and features to the most frequent buyers, offer incentives or discounts to irregular buyers and encourage those that haven’t yet bought to do so.

Afﬁliate

INSIDER Programs, Publishers & Products

3 REASONS YOUR AFFILIATE PROGRAM IS STALLED By Jim Robinson

It can happen to any major online advertiser with a mature aﬃliate program.

Who Gets Credit for What? Get a rundown of how to track value attribution data at

wsm.co/creditisdue

What once seemed to coast, climb and generate sales on autopilot eventually plateaus and even begins to stall. A common response from your affiliate network is to ‘raise commissions.’ However, smart marketers are now leveraging robust reporting technology and sophisticated optimization tools to align their affiliate programs to their margins, not those of their publishers. Affiliate marketing is a large and growing segment with major online advertisers pouring billions into the channel. Forrester expects affiliate spend in the U.S. to reach $4.5 billion per annum by 2016, and the IAB regularly reports that performance-based models continue to dominate online ad spend. A lack of transparency into program performance, however, coupled with outdated affiliate strategies and models, can cause stagnation for even the most seasoned advertisers. There are several areas of possible transformation in the affiliate space that can contribute to a brand’s affiliate program stalling. Fortunately, better access to data and smarter use of that data can enable brands to optimize and energize their programs and scale for the future as the channel continues to evolve.

Program Management Other channels have rapidly transformed to incorporate and leverage big data (think search and display exchanges) to drive the online advertising marketplace. Meanwhile, traditional affiliate marketing still relies primarily on static historical performance to determine commissions as the core program driver - and this can inhibit program growth. The good news is that technology is transforming the affiliate landscape. Advertisers that use data to optimize their affiliate spend need to migrate away from reactive data processed in spreadsheets, to proactive, real-time data that allows them to escape from crunching numbers and return their focus on advertising. .com

SEPT EMB ER 2014

Publisher Base To date, the affiliate channel has been dominated by the network model, which focused on mining the long tail of publishers to drive incremental sales. In reality, however, the affiliate publisher base continues to consolidate. For many large advertisers, the attempt to “scale the tail” is contributing to the plateau of their affiliate programs, exacerbated by the proliferation of poor performers and bad practices. Advertisers need to focus on compliance, as well as move from flawed attribution models. Value attribution data can allow advertisers to identify publishers that drive the bulk of their highest value sales - and reward those publishers accordingly.

Product/Oﬀers In the past, there has been an over-reliance on offers, promotions and exclusive placements, controlled and driven heavily by the publishers. This model is based on increasing sales through increased commissions but isn’t scalable for large advertisers once their affiliate program matures. Advertisers across different sectors from retail to travel to credit card companies each have their own target consumer, publisher base and compliance issues to consider. High-end retailers, for example, may place a higher priority on brand equity than blasting promos. Advertisers need to shift from the one-sizefits-all approach of increased commissions and refocus on their own internal marketing and product margin objectives as the determining factor for their mix of offers and promotions.

Quit Stalling Technology and data will continue to transform the affiliate landscape. By examining their program management, publisher base and product/offer mix, enterprise-level advertisers will be in a position to more precisely market to consumers at the bottom of the sales funnel with their own priorities in play. Publishers, likewise, will also be positioned to leverage a deeper understanding of the tendencies and behaviors of their user base to optimize their own site performance. Ultimately, the advertisers that understand the current shifts happening in the affiliate channel will be able to take their mature affiliate program to a new level and dramatically increase their performance. Jim Robinson is VP, North American Sales for Performance Horizon Group and previously was head of sales and operations for the Google Afﬁliate Network.

Insights on

ANALYTICS

Analytics, Metrics & KPIs for Content Marketers and Blog Publishers By Peter Prestipino, Editor-In-Chief

Content marketing changed the approach many enterprises take to attract and retain customers in the digital world, but many are struggling to understand how the tactic is actually benefiting their brands’ bottom lines and that’s creating a virtual headache for digital media managers. The key “success” indicators for information publishers (independent bloggers, as well as more formal content marketing teams at larger enterprises, agencies and traditional media outlets) have always been difficult (if not impossible) to identify. Fortunately, that’s starting to change. First, realize that most enterprises have no idea at all if they are effectively tracking content utilization metrics (so you’re not alone). Only 27 percent of B2B marketers (according to Kapost) believe they are on the right track, but since there are so many different possible data points to measure, where should you begin? Which metrics should today’s digital brands use to gather the insights required to generate more revenue and improve the user experience over the long term? There are, of course, a range of options, but production, engagement, traffic and effect are quickly becoming the standards:

PRODUCTION :: Measuring performance by production (including the number of content assets produced, the types of content produced and the volume of content produced by each author) is useful, but more from a personnel perspective (you know who’s working and who’s not). More is not always better, of course, so to achieve success with the content marketing and the more informal “blogging,” you need to make a sufficient amount available. It’s no secret that regular publishing improves the likelihood of brand discovery, but finding the balance can be a challenge. With the right tools in place of course, using “production” as a key performance indicator (KPI) becomes very attractive. Discover tools to help your enterprise manage and measure content at wsm.co/measuremanage.

ENGAGEMENT :: Another (and very popular) method to measure performance today is to analyze engagement – whether or not content that is developed is being commented upon, shared and, well, liked (e.g. on social networks). The quantity of social shares is an excellent indicator as is time on site (which is also useful in determining the quality of content as well). Many of the content marketing tools on the market are very useful in reporting common engagement metrics, but the networks themselves already offer rather robust reporting. Facebook Insights and Twitter Analytics both reveal rather detailed insights into how well marketers are engaging their audiences. Explore the analytics offerings of these two networks at wsm.co/6smtrack. TRAFFIC :: Traditional metrics including unique visits, page views and traffic sources (organic, direct, referral) remain the most meaningful indicators of performance to content marketers and blog publishers. If you’re producing enough content (production) and content that is catching the attention of its audience (engagement), there is no more powerful evidence that your content marketing initiatives are working than traffic as a KPI. EFFECT :: The three approaches listed above are certainly important as they tell us how hard we’re actually working (volume), the quality of our work (engagement), and how content marketing efforts compare to other forms of traffic acquisition and retention efforts. These three approaches to analyzing content marketing are useless of course unless an enterprise can determine the impact on conversion. With the diversity in users’ path toward conversion, that’s not always easy - but that doesn’t mean you should not try, right? The most useful way to determine the value of content marketing and blogging initiatives is to explore how the content assets developed influence the number of conversions and more importantly, the impact on revenue. Essentially, is the content developed effective in producing leads and further, sales? If so, you’re on the right track. SE P T E M B E R 2014

Both An Art & A Science Get tips on how to get creative and analytical minds to work together for greater content marketing success at

wsm.co/cmartscience

.com

| 37

Social Media

MAVENS The Next Generation of

Behavioral Data is Social By Roz Lemieux, CEO and Co-Founder of Attentive.ly

Since the dawn of sales, marketers have faced the challenge of delivering the right message, through the right channel, at the right time in order to inﬂuence purchase. Once social media conversations are added to the marketing picture, the opportunities seem endless when it comes to personalized messaging. Just how does it come together, full circle, to formulate a persona? This new generation of behavioral data consists of the following three key components that businesses must take into account in developing their marketing automation processes: Even more BIG data. In the past, companies primarily had only historical behavior data and click data – both of which left marketers with the task of piecing together a puzzle in order to identify the factors leading to conversion. Now, thanks to decreasing cloud storage and processing costs, companies can readily track an individual customer’s current behavior – including on the social networks where they’re spending an average of three hours per day. At scale, companies have the opportunity to use this behavioral data to now predict future behavior more accurately, and trigger moment-appropriate marketing. What about tracking and responding to the vast majority of mentions that don’t include specific brand (or product) names? That’s where existing email lists come in. By incorporating what is already known about customers with real-time social chatter, the modern marketer now has all of the information needed to provide a personalized response. Real-time response. There’s been a lot of hype around the concept of real-time response. It’s central to the concept of modern marketing, and certainly marketing automation. As a highly valuable

form of information, social data has become easier than ever to collect with the help of “social listening” tools – but is useless if not translated into insight, and particularly direct response, in real-time. When action is taken quickly, companies have the opportunity to reach the level of immediate reaction and deliver custom offerings based off of “behavior personas” compiled from social media conversations. However, the challenge many companies face is that technology has been slow to allow the delivery of a truly real-time response. In order to trigger conversational responses, effective social automation tools must marry big data-fueled listening with marketing automation functionalities. Multichannel engagement. Email isn’t dead yet - and despite what many think, just because someone isn’t opening email anymore, doesn’t mean they’re not interested. There are a number of factors such as “inbox overload,” Gmail tabs, life – that keep customers from opening marketing emails. On the contrary, social media networks do not lend themselves well to “blast” messaging, so companies have been slow to adopt one-on-one engagement and response mechanisms. Now, companies have the ability to use social behavior data to find those customers in their lists that are still potentially interested, and then turn to social channels to push Facebook or Twitter ads, direct messages, Tweets and more to ultimately “win” them back. For example, let’s say your company sells refrigerators and your marketing team is tracking a customer segment that has purchased a refrigerator from you in the last 12 months, and they complain about “my fridge” — you’ll know it’s highly likely it’s the refrigerator you sold them that has the issue. By tracking that complaint in your company’s marketing automation system, you can fire off a warranty reminder via email, or, have your dedicated social media marketing team message that individual directly with an offer of support. Luckily, there’s a new breed of marketing automation and CRM technologies are making it easier and more viable for marketers in any industry to interpret valuable customer data from the freshest source – social media. The need to utilize social media data to interpret customer buying behaviors is further driven by the fact that brands must engage with social savvy consumers today, who are accustomed to personalized messaging, quick responses, custom offerings and immediate gratification.

Software

EVERYWHERE

Online Surveys A Go-To Source for Today’s ‘Net Pros By Amberly Dressler, Managing Editor

When it comes to online surveys, what marketers don’t know can hurt them. Their biases and misconceptions can inﬂuence the questions asked, as well as the business decisions aﬀected. The antidote, according to SurveyGizmo Marketing Specialist Sandy McKee, is to fill in the gaps to help marketers understand best practices, avoid question biases and think about end results. This often means starting backward – questioning the problem that needs to be solved, the kind of data that is required and whether a business decision can be validated. For instance, if a company is preparing to hold a conference but had low registration numbers the previous year, it will want to find out why its event didn’t perform well, what event topics would be more popular and perhaps whether the conference is worth doing at all. Luckily, survey solutions from vendors like Constant Contact, Survey Monkey, Zoho Surveys and SurveyGizmo have made creating, distributing and analyzing this data source incredibly easy and effective - at least when best practices are followed.

Driving Open Rates

Email remains the primary channel in which surveys are distributed, which means marketers are facing a 17 percent average open rate (in the e-commerce industry), according to MailChimp. When asking a favor (e.g. provide feedback), those numbers are likely a lot lower. Clearly, the email subject line becomes very important. McKee and Zoho Evangelist Raju Vegesna both agree that subject lines should be straightforward - telling recipients feedback is being requested. Better yet, SurveyGizmo client The Humane Society knows what its audience is passionate about, so the subject line, “Your Feedback Can Make a Difference” would likely compel animal lovers to open this message. Even the most passionate audiences, however, will want to know how long surveys will take to complete. Marketers should include a survey length indicator (e.g. six questions or two minutes). Additionally, displaying a progress bar is a best practice. So, what is the optimal survey length? Well that depends on an audience, of course.

Encouraging Completions

Just like The Humane Society uses its audiences’ passions to persuade them to open an email, companies can gauge their audiences’ willingness to answer surveys based on what’s important to them. Zoho recently held an event and its staff wanted to know about their attendees’ experience and where they could improve. In the context of the event, Zoho knew recipients were more willing to answer questions about the event’s content (e.g. speakers) and not about the food, for example. After emailing its conference attendees, Zoho proved its case. Recipients were willing to answer an impressive 10-12 questions. In many cases, however, respondents won’t complete a survey, so marketers should put their most important questions near the beginning and all answers should be captured in real-time – meaning as soon as the question is answered, the answer is captured just in case a user doesn’t finish. Zoho Survey, Constant Contact and SurveyGizmo all have partial-save features.

The Rest of the Best

Avoiding redundant questions and using advanced logic may also increase the likeliness of getting completed surveys, as respondents won’t become frustrated with the experience. Advanced logic refers to the practice of when subsequent questions take previous questions’ answers into consideration. Advanced logic can improve the user experience and the survey answers themselves as customers aren’t criticizing the survey for not remembering, for example, that they didn’t attend a certain seminar and so questions about that session shouldn’t be asked. Instead, when advanced logic is used, they may answer questions more thoughtfully.

Making It Count

Getting a steady stream of customer feedback is an essential part of business growth but not the end-goal. “Of course, you have to actually act on the feedback they’re giving you, whether that’s input on how to improve your customer service, ideas for hosting more informative events or ways to improve the navigation on your website,” said Ron Cates, director of digital marketing education at Constant Contact. “You have to demonstrate that you take the feedback seriously.” SE P T E M B E R 2014

MEGA

LIST of Survey Tips Companies struggling to get useful feedback and turning those insights into action, should go to

wsm.co/surveytips14 .com

| 39

Web

COMMENTARY

MAKING PHONES SMART AGAIN By Amberly Dressler, Managing Editor

Today’s obsessive mobile phone usage has given us all a greater sense of urgency. After all, we just might keel over if we don’t check how many people liked our Facebook posts (professional or personal), hit send/receive within our email applications or replied back “k” or “haha” to our latest text messages.

Winding Down the Workweek See why the amount of hours you put in doesn’t really translate to the amount of work you put out at

wsm.co/smartervsharder 40

Most of us are guilty of this. In my own household, my 2-year-old son fetches my iPhone frantically if it’s anywhere else other than in my hands – “Oh no, mama’s phone!” That sounds worse in writing. In the past, urgency was a good thing. Today, we’re seeing urgency without productivity. It’s not the memes, chats or social reinforcement that we interact with/look for when using the mobile Web that will make us better at our jobs, closer to our family and friends or more-educated people on the whole. What mobile does give us is the power to make our lives more convenient, so we can be better colleagues, friends and parents – the kind of people who focus on one thing at a time (and on doing it really well). Luckily, a select few have figured out that mobile shouldn’t be a distraction. It should be a tool – essentially making phones smart again. The 30/30 app is one of them. Users can simply set up task lists, the length of time that should be spent on each task and .com

SEPT EMB ER 2014

the timer will tell them when to move on. It serves as a good reminder of what users are supposed to be working on and how much time they have left. Not sold? Think about the last time you walked into a grocery store without a list. What happened? Chances are you bought a lot more than what you intended to and forgot what you were supposed to bring home. The 30/30 app works in the same way – it keeps users focused on what they need and less distracted by what they don’t. The caveat is if it’s the weekend and personal time spilled into “catch up on emails” time – turn off the timer. Although not for mobile Web browsers yet, Focusbar for Mac users helps prevent multi-tasking. For instance, users type in their tasks and hit start activity. Focusbar shows up on their browsers intermittently, reminding them it’s time to work on what they’ve planned. Additionally, every time they switch to another window, Focusbar will show up – telling users who have started looking at Facebook, for example, that it’s time to get back to work. Who volunteers to create this for mobile phones? If all else fails, turning off our phones, letting the batteries die, enabling Do Not Disturb, shows the people – or the tasks – in front of us that they matter most in that moment. Don’t worry, our colleagues, friends and even the brands we engage with will be able to reach us – when the time is right.