Just returned from the Internet Summit held November 17 & 18 in downtown Raleigh. See their website at http://www.internetsummit.com
I thought I'd share a few quotes from the show:
"This is the most literate generation in the history of mankind." Bob Young, Founder & CEO of Lulu.com
"Data is the new currency of the Internet." - I heard this from 4 different speakers in 4 different sessions. Basic meaning: get all the data you can on your customers, create segments and target their experiences. You must become more intimate with your customer through every stage of the buying process.
"Content is still king." Retailers will have to fulfill the role of content providers for their product lines. This is everything from blogs, reviews and better pictures to how-to videos, merchandised pages and accessory recommendations.
http://www.theconversationprism.com/ - where the conversations are happening - this is a daunting image. The experts recommend you create 1 or 2 home bases in this space that match your customer interests and go from there.
"More people have a PayPal account than have an American Express card." - Lauren Freedman, President e-Tailing group.
"The consumer wants a seamless experience with your brand. This means all media, online and offline." - Vikram Sharma, CEO, ShopLocal.com
"50%-70% of shoppers switch channels while shopping. Of those, 50% switch retailers." - Vikram Sharma, CEO, ShopLocal.com
"Every $1 spent online has influenced $5.77 spent in the store." quoted by Sharma from the CEO of Macys.
"National average on cart abandonment: 59%" From Timothy Seward via Forrester Research.
"Best Google Product of 2010: Remarketing" from Timothy Seward, President, ROI Revolution. Remarketing is the "following" of your customer after they have visited your site and did not complete a desired action. This is really good for large consumer brands, but may have some value for small business as it is still a pay for performance plan.
"Beware the fallacy of averages when looking at your Google Analytics." - Jim Hazen, Metrics & Analytics Director, Capstrat. This means that you should look beyond the averages for a better understanding of your site and consumer.
"You MUST estalish clear objectives in your Google Analytics." - Hazen
"Google Link Preview is a big deal. It improves the user experience and it REDUCES costs to the seller. The user can see if the page is a place they want to go versus clicking to find out. This improves the sellers CPA (cost-per-acquisition)." - Emma Battle, Director of Online Marketing at Red Hat.
GREAT presentation from Patrick Bultema from CodeBaby.com on the structure of the decision process starting from primal, to emotion to reasoning. His belief is that you MUST make an emotional connection with your user in the right context of the user's current interaction with you. He had several book recommendations that I'll be digging into over the next few months.
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Here are the ones that made it to my reading/listening queue:
"Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy" by Martin Lindstrom (available at audible.com)
"Neuro Web Design: What Makes Them Click" by Susan Weinschenk
"How We Decide" by Jonah Lehrer (available at audible.com)
"Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason and the Human Brain" by Antonio Damasio
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The top 5 topics at this conference in my opinion: SEM/PPC Marketing; Ecommerce; Social Media; Mobile; and Usability/Accessibility.
Until next time!