Regina Brady discusses different types of triggered email and pinpoints 2 emails in particular that have immediate payback: Abandoned Cart and Order Confirmation. Think about how often you leave something in a cart and walk away from the site. Evidently more than half of shopping carts are abandoned. These are shoppers that are interested, had product in hand, set it down and walked away from the cart. This the closest you can come to a qualified buyer. It’s a shame to lose that revenue. Additionally, the confirmation email is a good chance to have another interaction with the customer. As long as the email is crafted to convey primarily the transactional message (the confirmation), it is perfectly ok to put some advertising on the page (as long as the ad is lesser in importance on the page). Read Full Article

As a shopper at Petco.com clicks on pages showing cat food, the pet supplies retailer can make an educated guess about which cross-selloffers to feature. But there would be less guesswork if Petco knew that the same customer had visited a Petco store in Syracuse, N.Y., last week and purchased a self-cleaning CatGenie Cat Box for $300.

For that customer, an accessory like the CatGenie Washable Granules might be just the thing. And, knowing that the same customer has bought dog food at that Syracuse store for years, the site could also feature the spring closeout offer on fleece dog vests. That’s the level of personalization Petco Animal Supplies Inc. hopes to offer on its site this year. It’s the product of an initiative that combines in a single customer database not only what a customer has purchased in stores and online, but also information about what products she viewed on the web site and which e-mails she responded to.

Complete Article HERE

The state of the Web, 2007: Check out the results of I/R’s 07 survey. Web retailers are feeling pretty bullish about their financial situation these days. But having made the transition from start-up operation to established business, web merchants are also keeping a close eye on their expenses and growing organically using their own resources rather than take on a big acquisition or too much outside financing, according to InternetRetailer’s latest monthly survey.
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Thom Disch, head of multi-channel ramp retailer Handiramp.com and Internet Engine LLC, an Internet marketing company, has worked both sides of the online video fence. His e-commerce site uses demonstration videos for ramp products and is being redesigned to add more.

outline here
list of file types used here

To paraphrase:
1. Understand your client
2. Create segments
3. Provide timely info
4. Define events broadly
5. automate
ARTICLE HERE
PDF of print article here

Regina Brady discusses triggered email with Target Marketing

Article here

PDF here

I receive quite a bit of trigger e-mail these days. I’m fully aware that it comes from a bot, or macro. However, that doesn’t reduce it’s effectiveness. It’s comforting to know that a product has shipped, or a date has been confirmed, or product is now in stock. Other triggers that I receive are rain alerts, traffic alerts, low balance alerts, payment due alerts, payment posted alerts. Now that I think of it, a fair amount of the email that I receive is trigger email. The weird thing is, as much as I enjoy the convenience of receiving such correspondence, I shy away from creating the same type of messages. Maybe it’s time…

I think e-mail is here to stay. But then so are newspapers and books. It’s not a bad thing that different media compete. I believe that e-mail will continue to be king in business. But when it comes to group conversations outside the workplace, social media is just a better experience. One can tweak program settings so that SMS updates are sent for those individuals you want to hear from instantaneously. Other postings are seen when logging into the application, perhaps once a day or more often, depending on one’s proximity to a computing device. If you tire of a user’s constant posting of the minutiae of their life, it is easy to hide or even block them. Each user is in control of the connections they make and the way that information is posted to their wall or news feed. Facebook, for instance will allow you to block a particular application. You might want to see posts from your friend, but not all the ZOO postings that he or she makes. You can block just ‘ZOO’ but not your friend. I’m curious, does anyone know if the other user sees your block?

With the advent of the ipad I believe social media will take off even more.

Tim Ash chases the elusive ‘perfect’ registration page in this very timely post.
Article Here
PDF HERE

Do you know what a SERP is? No, it’s not one of those guys that carries some of your gear up Everest. Check out this glossary from Search Engine Strategies magazine. There are some TLAs (that’s a three-letter acronym) and terms that are must-know if you’re contemplating getting your feet wet with search-engine marketing.

ARTICLE HERE

When you read studies showing average e-mail open and click-through rates, do you compare your own results to these statistics with glee or chagrin? In either case, you have the opportunity to improve your reaults if you put a laser-like focus on your audience members. Give them content and offers they want, and you have a better chance of engaging them

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