March 30, 2001
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ConsumerMarketingBiz formerly eMarketingtoHer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ March 30, 2001 - Vol. II, Issue 5
Please forward *without* cutting!
Free subscriptions http://www.consumermarketingbiz.com
1) NEWS: Viral Quizzes for 20-Somethings; Selling Shovels;
Online Hispanic Advertising Resources
2) INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS: Online Merchandising Tips from Top
Consultant Lauren Freedman of the e-tailing group
3) More Exclusive Headlines
Issue Sponsored By: iMakeNews.com
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NEWS
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* Emode.com Learns Young Women Online Adore Quizzes and Tests
When Emode.com, a site and email service for 20-somethings
launched back in January 2000, the Founders' entire marketing
campaign was to send a single viral email message to about 400
friends in the target demographic. This text-only email asked
recipients to come check out Emode.com's site and take three fun
quizzes:
- What type of flirt are you?
- The celebrity matchmaker
- What's your perfect workout?
Then the Founders sat back and watched what happened. Traffic
began to grow steadily, but here's the interesting thing:
although the original email was sent to a group about 50/50
male/female, the incoming traffic it generated was 30/70%
male/female. As the editors of the Cosmo Quiz have known all
along, young women love taking tests!
Since launching, the only further marketing the Company has done
is to start sending out regular emailed, personalized newsletters
to site members as of January 2001. CEO James Currier says,
"Traffic started going crazy when we implemented the emails.
It's a feedback loop between the site and the emails." Wanna
take a guess at what Emode's 100% virally grown traffic is now?
Three million unique visitors a month, the vast majority of them
female 20-somethings still searching for "their identities,
values and brands." Which might explain why they like quizzes so
much.
http://www.emode.com
* Ace Hardware Drives Store Traffic via Internet Directory
Simon Shapiro, Owner of the Ace Hardware in Cambridge
Massachusetts, has learned it pays to advertise on the Internet
even when you only sell products offline. Early this March
Shapiro had just gotten his store's inventory listed on
Switchboard's Nearbuy site, which helps connect consumers with
local retailers, when a blizzard hit. Next thing he knew, he was
getting calls and walk-in sales from local residents who'd seen
his online directory listing and were glad to know he hadn't sold
out of snow shovels yet. Shapiro told us, "It does work! It's
just barely gone online and it's driving traffic to the store."
Of course, Shapiro's location near both MIT and Harvard means
local residents are more likely to be online than they might be
in other towns.
http://www.switchboardnearbuy.com
* Best Two Online Resources for Researching the Hispanic Market
Interested in targeting the American Hispanic market online? We
heartily recommend two email newsletters (both free) that can
help you learn more.
- HispanicAd.com features news for media buyers and ad agencies
trying to reach the Hispanic market. The site also includes
links to 16 interactive agencies claiming an expertise in the
market. http://www.hispanicad.com
- MasRuido focuses on the Latino youth market, especially
regarding trends entertainment marketers need to track closely.
http://www.masruido.com
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INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
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* Online Merchandising Tips from top consultant Lauren Freedman
of the e-Tailing Group
Lauren Freedman of the e-tailing group has been helping online
merchants improve their site sales since 1994. Freedman came
from a background in traditional retail and catalog
merchandising, so she has some fascinating insights in how online
is different ... and what traditional retailing tactics will
always be successful regardless of the medium they take place in.
BEST QUOTE:
"Women are the predominant online buyers now. You'll continue to
see them prevail, basically because they buy more stuff in
general. The average online shopper is 41, married, with a
$65,000 house income and some college."
* Tactics to Encourage Customer Loyalty
Just like in traditional retailing, loyal online customers are
worth more. On average just 10-15% of visitors are loyal to a
site, visiting almost twice as often and spending 1/3 more than a
casual visitor. Therefore, before spending more money on
generating new traffic, Freedman says it's best to make sure you
have loyalty programs in place to maximize ROI. These can
include:
- Clubs such as the cooking clubs at Cooking.com
- Custom shopping lists that make repeat orders easier such as
the shopping list feature at OfficeDepot.com
- Gift reminder services such as those at RedEnvelope.com
- Personalized shopping recommendations that grow more useful
with time as the site learns more about a customer's buying
habits, such as Amazon's recommendations program
- Exemplary customer service
* How to Make Online Shopping Quick and Easy
According to a cPulse Survey, 79% of holiday shoppers said that
shopping online saved them an average of three hours. This is an
especially critical factor for e-retailers targeting married
women who are the busiest demographic out there. If you can save
women time, they will be less likely to abandon their shopping
carts, and more likely to return to your site repeatedly.
Freedman's recommended methods to save shoppers time include:
- Quick shopping features for customers who've seen a product in
a catalog and wish to purchase it online without all the trouble
of an extensive search. Best example - Crate&Barrel's catalog
quick order feature.
- Live online chat feature with a customer service rep. Freedman
says the customers who use this are the types who impatiently hit
"0" when they get voicemail on a phone system. LandsEnd is a
great example of a site using live chat.
- Unbelievably easy navigation, including easy-to-use smart
search capabilities. BlueCross BlueShield's Doctor & Hospital
Finder is a useful example of smart search.
- Decision-making tools online that provide personalized shopping
help a clerk could provide at an offline store. Good examples of
these are JCPenney.com's sizing guidelines tool and
PetsMart.com's dog food calculator.
* Ease the Transition Between Online and Offline Shopping
Freedman says 23% of online shoppers prefer to research online
and then purchase offline. Critical site features to appeal to
this demographic include:
- The ability to take online returns at brick and mortar stores
- Store location finders on the site
- Prices displayed for all products -- even if orders for those
products cannot be taken online. This is especially important
for offline retailers using their Web site as "brochureware"
rather than an active e-store. Also, online shoppers like to
know if prices vary between online and offline purchases.
* Yes Brand Still Matters
Freedman agrees with other experts who say branding is critical
online. Strong offline brands can make a site more powerful.
This means that:
- Online retailers without an offline arm should feature well-
known brand name products to establish credibility.
- Additional channels strengthen multi-channel retailers as
customers encounter them at every media touchpoint in their
lives. Best example, MarthaStewart.com.
http://www.e-tailing.com
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More MarketingSherpa.com Headlines
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* Top 4 Tips for More Effective Online PR
Fact is most American business reporters rely on email and Web
surfing for news, information and sources these days far more
than printed press releases and meetings at trade shows. So, the
art of online PR has become critical, especially when so many
companies are cutting other budgets. Here's what we learned at
the B-to-B BQ show last week on this topic:
http://www.b2bmarketingbiz.com/sample.cfm?contentID=1554
* Leaders From ConsumerReports.org and Ancestry.com to Speak at
Online Content Sales Seminar
Almost 100 publishers have already put in their no-
obligation, ticket reservations for our Selling Subscriptions to
Online Content Seminar scheduled for May 18th in Washington DC.
To learn more about this event, read this brief article:
http://www.contentbiz.com/sample.cfm?contentID=1543
* Takira.com Lands New Six-Figure Clients With its Monthly Email
Newsletter
Drew Thelen, COO Takira.com, says his company’s monthly email
newsletter has been partially responsible for landing three of
Takira.com’s 20, six-figure, Internet marketing service
accounts. Learn more about how you can apply his tactics to your
own company newsletter in this quick article:
http://www.marketingtowebmarketers.com/sample.cfm?contentID=1552
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MarketingSherpa, Inc.
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