Friday, November 30, 2012

holiday discounts are a dangerous drug

Compelling reminders about holiday promotions in HBR blog by Marco Bertini
His best tips:

  1. skip the pure discount shoppers: be sure to attract the customers you want long-term with a targeted promotion
  2. make offers contingent: e.g. spend a threshold to get a discount
  3. drive conversion: pick your goal and incentivize that activity

Thursday, November 29, 2012

carol's daughter blows it

I'm confused.  It looks like they're offering me a discount.  And Free Shipping.  But what's it all worth?
Remember:

  1. Shoppers hate math. Give them a $ dollar off, not a % percent. Don't make them do the calculation... or in this case, three calculations: 15%, 20%, 25%. I'm exhausted.
  2. Is this actually special? It says Cyber Monday and also Last Day.  So have they been offering this tiered discount for several days or weeks and it's about to end? Is Cyber Monday not actually that special? I want to think I'm getting something special. I'm confused.
  3. What's with the Did You Know? If I become a member of the website or some club, or maybe something on Facebook (who knows?) then I can get free shipping all the time. But every website offers free shipping. Big deal.  Shouldn't this email be about selling products during a huge holiday blowout, not collecting email addresses? I'm frustrated.


Lessons:
1. Determine your audience and select the single promotion that will drive your desired result
2. Communicate the single promotion to your audience
3. Don't add any other noise

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Effective email is essential during the holidays. Here's a summary of a great article by Jason Gervias:

  1. Clearly & quickly state the benefit.  You can’t be too concise because people scan email.
  2. Always segment your list, e.g. by geography, purchase behavior, or industry.
  3. Stick to a single call to action.
  4. Frequency: biweekly messages are the most the majority of contacts will tolerate.
  5. Start with a great subject line, e.g. ask a question, offer value, create urgency.
Based on the above criteria, Moosejaw (again) gets this one right:

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

mobile trends data from eMarketer


Great new info from eMarketer summarizing Chitika & Net Marketshare reports

Two best tidbits:
1. Mobile spending is growing at 14 times the rate of desktop spending -- they could reach parity in less than 3 years
2. Mobile’s share of global browsing traffic at 10.3%;  28% in North America

check out the article

cyber monday's a hit for mobile

Mobile traffic was up 20% on Cyber Monday;
Mobile transactions were up almost 200%

Check out my website for loads of facts and links about Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the explosion of tablet and phone e-commerce activity.



Monday, November 26, 2012

cyber monday home run

king arthur flour nails it:

  1. the deal is specific and measurable
  2. they disount low-dollar items like tags & labels: pull us in on fun items that don't impact the company's bottom line a great deal -- once we're there, we'll (hopefully) spend more on a higher margin product
  3. this email requires immediate action

mobile shopping's the story this holiday

24% of online shopping was mobile on Black Friday.
iPad and iPhone dominated that mobile shopping: 88% used iPads.
Compared to 2011, mobile shopping was up 17% on Black Friday.
AOS was $181, and online shopping peaked just before noon.

Here's a breakdown:


Check out the complete details & more infographics published by CNET 11/25 here.