Posted by Cris Rominger on Fri, May 29, 2009
If you’re looking for practical, best-practices marketing advice on what works and what doesn’t, you can’t beat MarketingSherpa’s research. Nothing but tried-and-true findings straight from the trenches. The recently released 2009 Ecommerce Benchmark Report is full of new information to help drive sales. Here’s why I’m a fan…
We’re loyal followers and avid readers of their products – and also affiliates. That means you can purchase new reports at a discount from our site. Very cool.
Zero in on what matters to you
I especially like how MarketingSherpa acknowledges that not all organizations are created equal and what works in one industry doesn’t necessary work in another. That’s why they’ve separated out lessons to be learned from “High Knowledge” organizations that are making use of advanced web analytics and automation. And why they’ve broken out data for B2B vs B2C products and B2B vs B2C services.
That means, as a B2B marketer, I can look at products or services data and zero in on:
- Trends, benchmarks, and challenges
- Metrics for cart abandonment, tools and promotions, and shopping cart tests
- Free and paid media tactics and tests
- Email, offline, search, and social media tactics
- Conversion rates
Think beyond pricing
Knowing we’re all coping with lean economic times, the report also highlights tactics and tools that can increase revenues without further chipping away at slim margins, such as:
- Limited time/inventory promotions
- Loyalty programs
- Customer reviews/ratings
- Product videos
Find answers to top questions
Most importantly, the report answers questions that are top of mind for many ecommerce marketers, such as:
- How can I lower shopping cart abandons?
- What percentage of repeat customers should I expect?
- What motivates online shoppers to buy?
- What marketing tactics bring the best ROI?
- What’s the average ecommerce search click conversion?
- How does my site’s search presence stack up against our competitors’ visibility?
We’re conducting a shopping cart audit next week. As an e-retailer, it’s too easy to lose touch with your customer’s experience. Having an objective third party test the waters can help ground you in the user’s perspective and answer questions such as:
- Is it working the way we expect?
- Where are the leaks?
- What is causing friction?
- How can we make it easier?
Help a marketer out
Here’s where you can do your part for the greater good. We’ve likely all had a bad online shopping experience. If there was one thing – or two or three – that you’d change to make a process easier, what would you suggest?
My pet peeves are 1) being asked to enter my shipping address, even if it is the same as my billing address. Couldn’t you just give me a checkbox: “Use billing address as shipping address”; 2) wiping out all my data if I try to submit without filling in a required field; 3) not letting me change the quantity ordered once I’m hit with the grand total.
What are some of your online shopping rants?
Posted by Rebekah Donaldson on Fri, Feb 13, 2009
By Rebekah E. Donaldson
If a prospect clicks your ad, does that mean “your advertising works”?
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What's wrong with this Adwords ad?
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Is a click that takes a prospect from a paid ad to the advertiser’s website a case of advertising working?
Google Adwords says yes. I say heck no. So I’ve posted an illustration of how I think we differ at our site, in “What’s Wrong with this Google Adwords Ad?“.
What do you think?
Posted by Rebekah Donaldson on Wed, Feb 11, 2009
Today we rolled out fixed-price marketing services packages — and have been asked by a number of colleagues why in the world we’d show our hand this way. Here’s my two cents.
Value is a ratio – it’s not just about benefits
Doesn’t providing entry-level packages with clear pricing attract the wrong sort of prospects?
No. The best prospects know that value is a ratio… a ratio of benefits received to investment made.
To make good decisions about value, they need to know about both.
Paradox of success
And, paradoxically, the better we’ve become at earning status symbols like valuable inbound links, speaking engagements, top Google rank, and the like, the more anxious our best prospects become about whether they can afford our expertise.
Anxious is bad. So our new packages are designed to provide an anxiety-free context in which to think about going to first base with us.
No fear
For marketing consultants, price is the elephant in the room. Marketing Directors and small business CEOs need to know fees in order to make good decisions.
So we’re calling it out. We provide killer value, so we try to have a “no fear” approach to information sharing.
This is the first published guide I know of re Sacramento marketing services. Am I missing something else out there? Please weigh in.
Posted by Rebekah Donaldson on Fri, Feb 06, 2009
To engage decision makers, B2B companies need to prove their value through a strong business case, build sites and other communications vehicles in a way that fosters trust, and pull in prospects rather than chase them. Helping companies get that done requires special skills.
B2B marketing consultant must-have qualities
If you’re a Marketing Director at a company that sells products or services to other companies, I think you need a team that:
- Focuses on B2B marketing. Because buying committees expect a powerfully built business case.
- Has a systematic approach. Because that’s the only sane, reliable way to project and get marketing results.
- Covers all major marketing disciplines. Because you need the right tool for each job.
- Excels in internet marketing. Because 92% of B2B buyers use online resources when looking for products and services.*
- Tests and reports. Because you need help to show others and steadily improve your marketing ROI.
Profile of an even stronger B2B marketing partner
There are other important traits. For example:
- Your B2B marketing consultant should be a trainer, because you need to build capacity.
- They should be able to bury you in proof of performance, because you need consultants to back up their fabulous claims.
These qualities are not on the list of ‘musts’ because building capacity is not job one, and you always vet potential hires. It’s hard enough to find companies that fit the profile outlined in the bullets above. Let’s not make this mission impossible.
We argue in a forthcoming e-book called “The New Rules of Outsourcing B2B Marketing” why these qualities are must-haves. I hope to post it in the coming week. (Yes! David Meerman Scott’s ”New Rules of PR” e-book inspired our book’s title…thank you DMS.)