Category Archives: Google

Onwards and Upwards

Posted on by Rosie Freshwater

And just like that January was over, we’re all eating pancakes and love is in the air!

It’s safe to say that it’s been a bit doom and gloom in the world of retail last month. Looking back at 2017 in a haze as many retailers (but not all!) report a disappointing end to the year.

 

It’s now February so let’s not let all that news bring us down! There’s also a great deal to look forward to as we continue to march into 2018 with arms wide open and prove that retail can overcome the many obstacles it faced in 2017.

Here’s what we’re excited about:

Artificial Intelligence for the marketeer

Proper Sci fi geekery alert! Yes we’re at that point in time, artificial intelligence is now becoming the norm and something retailers are going to have to open their minds to if they want to be competitive.

It’s a bit mind blowing really, there’s now too much data for the human brain to handle on a daily basis which means we’ve needed to bring in the big guns and ask for a little help from the robots.
Using technology such as machine learning and deep learning methods can be hugely beneficial to brands, it’s basically adding brain power to your business that doesn’t sleep.

Machine learning and deep learning methods can assist data analysts to help recommend optimisations to content to improve organic search as well as detecting patterns in real-time to give marketeers an advantage at understanding customers, competitors, or market changes – turning insights into action!

If you want to read more about AI we recommend the following:

“artificial-intelligence-and-machine-learning-what-are-the-opportunities-for-search-marketers”– Search Engine Watch
“innovation-how-can-brands-keep-up-with-unpredictable-audiences” – The Drum

Understanding the customer even MORE

It’s no secret that retailers, especially if they haven’t already, need to get to grips with their customer data to stay ahead of the curve. Many retailers out there still don’t understand their customer’s behavioural patterns, needs and desires and this needs to change.

It’s time to dig deep into the data and updates in Google Analytics are allowing marketer’s to do this on a daily basis. The standard report function now enables more insight into user-level behaviour within sessions, User Explorer has been re-vamped to include lifetime metrics and dimensions for individual users, marketers can create audiences and publish them for analysis within the platform which enables comparison between different audiences over a period of time and finally conversion probability – Google can now identify recent site visitors with the highest probability of a future conversion by analysing historical data and automatically identifying the patterns between variables within sets of high-value customer. We’re in analytics heaven!

#BFF

We read a great article from Econsultancy last month explaining how the ‘working backwards method is key to superior customer experience’. We’ve been thinking this for a long time now and working with our clients to better understand their customer profiles before implementing any kind of digital strategy. Addressing their customers’ needs/desires and problems using the insight provided by the data.

In 2018 brands should be able to predict their customer’s behaviour even before they can, getting to know them inside and out, essentially becoming their #BFF.

GDPR

Ok…this one isn’t as exciting BUT very important and ties in nicely with the necessity of customer data. It’s the talk of the town and we all need to get prepared for 25th May 2018.

The regulation is there to protect EU citizens from privacy and data breaches in an increasingly data-driven world. It isn’t new but it’s the latest evolution of regulations on data privacy and protection so if your business is already compliant with the Data Protection Act you should be most of the way there.

We will be dedicating one of our next posts to GDPR, so watch this space……

Let’s not put our heads in the sand after a tricky year, let’s keep them high and rise to the challenges that 2018 will bring.

Remember, the customer is always right!

Google updates product feed specification

Posted on by Rosie Freshwater

As you may have noticed, there have been some changes happening across Google Shopping over the last couple of months. Google has announced several updates to the Google Shopping Feed Specification and Google product taxonomy. The goal being to create a richer experience for customers searching for products online and to simplify the process of providing information in your feed. Some of the updates require changes to your current product data.

Key dates to note:

  • Changes need to be implemented by 15th September 2015
  • Enforcement for shipping costs will start a little later, in February 2016
  • Non-compliant items will be disapproved and removed from Google Shopping starting 15th September 2015

Here’s a rundown of the changes that Google is making:

GTIN (Global Trade Item Numbers)

Probably the most significant change we will see and potentially the biggest cause of disapproval risks, is regarding the GTIN population. All products where the ‘brand’ is a designated brand and the ‘condition’ is ‘new’ must submit a valid GTIN.

Unique product identifiers (UPIs) are already required, but Google is being increasingly strict around UPI accuracy. Items with missing or incorrect unique product identifier values will be rejected.

  • Requirements regarding GTINs (Global Trade Item Numbers) have been refined. These GTINs also include EAN (Europe, 13 numeric digits) and UPC (US, 12 numeric digits)
  • Submission rules around ID attributes have been tightened to prevent use of invalid characters or sequences. A product ID is required for all items in the data feed
  • Shipping requirements will expand to more countries: Switzerland, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, and Japan

Previously, merchants could choose to submit two of the following three identifiers for their products: ‘brand’, ‘gtin’ and ‘mpn’. Now, for products sold in ‘new’ condition from a designated list of brands, merchants are required to specifically submit both ‘brand’ and ‘gtin.’

The guiding principles and requirements were refined around GTINs because GTINs uniquely and completely identify a product in the global marketplace. When you submit these identifiers, you make your ads richer, and you also make it easier for users to find the product that you’re selling.

Validation and Canonicalisation of Item ID

Google will disapprove IDs with invalid characters or sequences which are difficult to use in a user interface, e.g. trailing whitespaces or control characters.

Google product category IDs

ID: Currently you are required to provide the full Google product category path in a text format based upon the Google product taxonomy. This change sees retailers able to utilise numeric IDs instead.

Google product Taxonomy updates

Google Shoping feed specification updates

Values that you submit for the ‘Google product category’ attribute can be any taxonomy value that Google has published since August 2011. While it’s not required, Google recommend that you update your values for the ‘Google product category’ attribute to use the latest taxonomy values. If you are using the ‘category’ product attribute in your Shopping campaigns, some of your products might get assigned a different bid because they are categorised differently. Some categories have been retooled significantly, including Arts & Crafts, Decor, Hardware, Sporting Goods and Motor Vehicle Parts & Accessories.

Apparel and variant information

Variant attributes will now be grouped and known as “detailed product attributes”. Google already recommends providing these attributes if they are relevant so this is just a naming change rather than a functional amendment. “Detailed product attributes” include: ‘colour’, ‘size’, ‘pattern’, ‘material’, ‘age group’, ‘gender’, ‘size type’ and ‘size system’.

Units and quantity

The feed will support US units as well as metric units. Volume (floz, pt, qt, gal), weight (oz, only lb), length (in, ft, yd) and area (sqft) can all now be included within the feed.

 

Although there are no real game changers here, there are changes which mean action on your feed is likely to be required. Make sure you review your Google merchant centre dashboard regularly to check for product warnings, suspensions or optimisation opportunities – the earlier you carry out the changes, the less effect the update will have on your shopping feed.

The latest from Google: Panda 4.2, Alphabet and Google Local

Posted on by Suzanne Taylor

Over the past couple of months, Google has made a number of changes and announcements. With the big G maintaining dominance in search, it’s important that brands are aware of the changes in order to stay ahead.

Below is a short summary of some of the latest Google updates affecting natural search to help keep up-to-date and ensure your strategies are robust.

Panda 4.2

On July 18th Google began a Panda refresh which aims to devalue pages with thin or low quality content. Unlike past Panda updates, this is a long slow roll-out so sites are unlikely to see any immediate impact.

Google wants to index and reward useful pages that provide good quality, unique content that is highly relevant to a users’ search. If you are concerned you may have been affected by Panda previously, and you have addressed your on-site content, you could see your natural visibility improve over the coming months. On the flip side, if you are still not integrating quality content into your pages, you could see the opposite effect.

A lot of eCommerce sites still seem hesitant to add content to important category/sub category pages for fear that it will detract from the products. There of course needs to be a balance, but your on-site content should help guide, inform and support users when making a purchase so a lack of content will be detrimental from both a visibility and conversion perspective.

Local SERP tidy up

Google’s local products have evolved quite a bit over the years. From ‘Places’ to ‘Local’ to ‘My Business’– it’s fair to say that this hasn’t been one of their most streamlined offerings!

For too long, there has been confusion around how to connect your historic ‘Places’ or ‘Local’ pages with Google+ brand pages and Google Map listings. Google was not quick to solve this issue which led to an over-saturation of inactive, unpopulated or duplicate map listings, not to mention some frustrated webmasters!

So when Google announced that they would be closing down inactive or unresponsive Google+ My Business pages on July 28th, this wasn’t an unwelcomed move.

Google has also decided to reduce the local ‘7 pack’ of results to a ‘3 pack’, with business addresses and phone numbers being removed altogether. This will improve mobile user experience but also further refines local search results.

I don’t see this as a bad thing for retailers. This is more like ‘house-keeping’ on Google’s part. There’s no denying that having an optimised Google+ My Business page remains a significant part of any local strategy, but the changes do highlight the importance of ensuring your pages are well optimised, that local information is accurate and that your page is correctly linked to your map listing. (If you still haven’t linked your Google+ accounts, here’s how.)

I then think Google will start placing more emphasis on retailers that are actively engaging with their audience through their My Business page. This is where I think brands still have work to do. Your listing is not just a location marker. Make the most of this additional natural exposure and post content, encourage reviews and communicate with your local audience.

LF_GPLUS_BlueThe future of Google+

Alongside the local changes, Google has finally announced its plans for Google+. Part of the plans include the popular decision to no longer force users to sign up to a Google+ account in order to use services such as YouTube and Gmail. It is also separating out other elements such as fully migrating Google+ photos onto a separate stream called Google Photos.

The problem with Google+ was that it never quite found its niche. It failed to compete with Facebook which retains dominance as the ‘socialising’ platform of choice. Google+ also failed to gain ground in other areas, with niche newbies like Instagram ploughing ahead in terms of visual networking and content sharing.

However a lot was invested in Google+ so they are not going to let years of development go to waste; they just need to give Google+ a focus. Many of the thoughts in this article reinforce that its longer-term value will be as a platform to share, engage and discuss interests and topics.

A feature released in May, Google+ Collections, enables users to create, contribute to and discuss various topics. Since launch, users have demonstrated high engagement with Collections, with many stating that this could give positive direction to the platform.

Could Collections pave the way for Google+ to (dare I say it) succeed? Only time will tell. I might even log in myself sometime soon.

 

Alphabet_Inc_Logo_2015.svg Google becomes Alphabet

Finally, let’s end with Alphabet. Google’s most recent announcement on 10th August detailed plans to restructure into new holding company called Alphabet. The new company will head up a collection of companies, the largest of which will be Google.

Google’s co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin announced (a surprise) shake-up of the company’s structure and management. In the announcement, they will be handing control of the Google search engine to Sundar Pichai who will replace Larry Page and become CEO of Google.

 

What does this mean for brands? Well not much right now. It will be interesting to see where Google steers itself in the future but for the short term, its business as usual.

Image credits

Google Logo
Alphabet logo 

Five digital marketing must-haves for retailers

Posted on by Rosie Freshwater

As consumer expectations continue to rise, there are a wealth of digital marketing tactics that were once a “nice to have” which have fast become “must-haves” in order to win and retain customers.

In this blog post, we have picked out the top five digital marketing must haves that all retailers selling online should have as part of their digital marketing mix.

 

1. Customer Personas

How can you market effectively to your customers if you don’t have a clear picture of who they actually are? There is a wealth of information that you should know about your customers that I have covered in many previous posts. No matter how much information or data you have about the people who buy from you, your marketing team must use that knowledge to formulate a set of customer personas.

A customer persona is a succinct profile of each type of customer that purchases from you. It should contain demographic information (e.g. age, gender, family, salary, location, education) as well as emotional intelligence such as their personal values, aspirations, shopping behaviours, buying drivers, media consumption, hobbies and lifestyle.

Mapping this information around a visual representation of the customer with a name will allow you to really bring your customers to life. This means you can start to engage with them on an increasingly emotional level, which in turn allows you to create far more engaging and focused marketing tactics. In fact, user personas have been found to make websites 2-5 more effective and easier to use by targeted users.

Customer personas in marketing have been around forever, but we are constantly surprised to find digital marketing teams who don’t have access to this type of insight on their customers, therefore missing a huge opportunity to focus their marketing more effectively. Having this insight is absolutely crucial as engaging content is becoming increasingly important as part of the digital marketing mix.

Customer Personas

2. Segmented email campaigns

Up until recently, a segmented or automated email program was deemed a “nice to have” for many retailers with the complex email strategies left to the larger retailers. Today, with the high level of personalisation expected by consumers, those retailers who are not carrying out any segmentation or personalisation of their emails will be losing a large amount of retained revenue and market share. According to HubSpot, personalised emails improve click-through rates by 14% and conversion rates by 10%.

Make sure you have some form of welcome program for those who are signing up to receive email communication from you. Gather as much information as you can when they register to allow you to tailor your communications to them – even if it is only sending different emails to men and women.

Once the consumer has made a purchase, use the information you have about their purchases to personalise future communication with them. You could send them curated products they might like, inspirational content related to the category they have bought from, or sneak previews of new products within that category. The increase in conversion rates from a tailored email communications are huge, so make sure you are looking at how you can start segmentation as soon as possible.

Here is a great example of targeted email that I received recently from Missguided which led straight to a purchase.

Missguided-email

3. A well-structured content plan

It is no longer enough to have different teams or individual people within your business producing content for your customers independently. A brand that delivers engaging content across all digital touchpoints can create a seamless experience for their customers that will aid both acquisition and retention. This cannot be achieved if there is not one central content plan for all teams adhere to.

A well-structured and successful content plan will contain the following:

  • Identified customer personas to engage with
  • A set of natural search terms to be woven into content
  • A central theme of content relevant to the customer and the brand
  • Channel by channel content creation around the central theme
  • Channel by channel content seeding and amplification
  • 3rd party content engagement elements (influencers, bloggers)
  • Week by week delivery and resource planning
  • A full set of financial and activity focussed KPIs

And most importantly – delegate a member of staff to own the plan and ensure everyone delivers their elements on time!

4. Google Shopping

If you sell products online and you do not have a Google Shopping feed or Product Listing Ads, then shame on you! Accordingly to research encompassing large-volume retailers, last year product listing ads drove 56% of non-brand clicks and 30% of overall Google search ad clicks.

Google Shopping results feature at the top of search results and are a key way to drive customers who are searching for particular products straight through to your product pages. 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual and images are processed 60,000 times faster than text, therefore if consumers process ads before anything else on the search results page, then you could be missing out on a high proportion of clicks if you do not have your products there.

Google Shopping

5. Rich Pins

Rich Pins are a very simple digital marketing tactic you can utilise in order to make the most of the fast growing Pinterest platform. Although product information on Pins has been around for a while now, the amount that retailers can do on this platform to generate commercial results has been growing rapidly in recent months.

By placing a small amount of code on your website means that any product that is pinned can be shown alongside relevant information such as stock availability and price. Pinners may also get notifications when prices drop by more than 10%.

Rich PinsThe increase of product information can lead to a much higher proportion of Pinterest users clicking through and purchasing. A recent study co-sponsored by the platform found that pins actually influence purchasing decisions. Over half the active Pinterest users surveyed said that the site helped them find items to buy. In addition, 32% said they purchased something in-store after viewing content on Pinterest.

Your competitors are probably doing it already! What are you waiting for?

The tactics above are by no means the only “must haves” within digital marketing, but are some of the most common tactics that we come across which are not being implemented by retailers.

Make time today to start just one!

How to amplify your content & updates from Twitter, Google and Facebook

Posted on by Rosie Freshwater

Here’s our round-up of need-to-know social media & content news from the last few months and what it means for your digital marketing.

Savvy content marketers adopt a multi-channel approach to amplification

Content marketing has and always will be about creating useful, relevant content and targeting it at a carefully researched demographic. So far this year, I’ve noticed brands jumping on board with social media with gusto… unfortunately, there’s a heck of a lot of them jumping on board with zero strategy in place. With so much noise from brands and individuals, savvy content marketers need to be more strategic than ever if they’re going to get their content noticed.

Having a dual approach is crucial, blending highly useful, shareable onsite content to attract inbound links and mentions, while driving more relevant website traffic, with an outbound approach to get the attention of major publications and influencers. One often overlooked tactic to do this and a highly cost effective one, is the use of social PPC advertising to alert industry influencers and journalists about your content.

Whatever your brand, next time you have a piece of content you want to shout about, stop scraping the barrel for journalist contacts and put the news right in front of them. A great way to do this is to create Twitter lists of highly influential people and then target a Twitter ads campaign to appear directly in their newsfeeds. You’ll then have a measurable metric for the success of your content (clicks, retweets etc.) and furthermore, increase your chances of it being picked up and published.

Tied in content marketing, using a blend of promotional devices – and in this case focusing on the power of social PPC – instead of relying solely on more traditional journalist approaches (email, phone) to get your content featured, is my top tip for your next big campaign.

Google and Twitter partner up again

Google and Twitter reached an agreement for Google to start indexing tweets again after granting access to its Firehose. Firehose pings out over 9,000 tweets a second, meaning Google will always have access to the most up to date Twitter conversations to make Google searches even more relevant and the information thrown back to searchers, hyper-relevant and real-time.

If you were in any doubt as to the efficacy of Twitter as a marketing tool, this partnership – and with it the ability to get your tweets in front of both Twitter users and non-users – should convince you to step up your efforts on the platform and find your audience both in search and social.

Storytelling and tapping into emotion – the sure fire way to generate campaign engagement

Whether it’s marketers shaping the story, or the customer directly, storytelling in campaigns continue to be a strong tool for capturing your target audience’s attention.

Last month, we ran a campaign for our client, RocketSki, who – as the name suggests – provide fabulous ski holidays for corporates, groups and families.

The campaign – #TalesFromTheSlopes – asked RocketSki’s Facebook followers and lovers of skiing across Facebook (through Facebook advertising) to share their most breath-taking, funny or scary moments from the slopes and a picture of them in their best ski pose.

In collaboration with influential ski and snowboarding bloggers, the storytelling element of creative brought the campaign to life, as people flocked to the contest page to tell their #TalesFromTheSlopes. The winner, Claire Lomas, had an incredible story to tell. In 2007, Claire had a freak accident while competing at Osberton Horse Trials. This didn’t stop her though, as she turned her attention to mono skiing – essentially flying down the slopes in a specially crafted seat on skis. Her #TalesFromTheSlopes story attracted nearly 400 votes, making her the clear winner and a testament to the power of such an emotional journey – a story that captured the attention of all involved in the contest.

The campaign achieved great results for the client, including reengaging previous website visitors and converting new users into paying customers. Storytelling can be the catalyst not only for brand awareness and social media engagement, but as a genuine tool for driving sales and tangible return on investment.

Facebook continues to repress brand published organic content – less eyes on brand content

At time of writing – the last update from Facebook being on April 21st 2015 – titled ‘Balancing Content from Friends and Pages’ appears to lend itself to the following: “Dear brands, ‘If you were in any doubt, it’s time to use Facebook PPC to promote your brand message”.

Facebook is of course laser-focused on optimising content so that users’ eyeballs land on content that is relevant and interesting to them, so while organic posts are likely to see a further dip, it is still important for brands and the media to publish a rich variety of content. Whether it be videos, quizzes, thought provoking or humourous imagery, through to creative contests that reward followers for their support, brand pages will still play an important role in getting a return from social media efforts. Just don’t ignore the not so inconspicuous ‘paid social elephant in the room’… it’s time to up your social paid advertising budget if you really want to get your content seen.

The Weekly Shop (19th – 23rd Jan)

Posted on by Anna Taylor

Welcome to this week’s edition of The Weekly Shop. This week we have an article from our commercial director, Ben, on how 2015 should be the year of the customer, six questions you should be asking your customers and why constantly discounting might hurt your brand.

Make 2015 the year of the customer

To kick things off this week, we have an article from our commercial director on how 2015 should be the year of the customer. Head over to Econsultancy to find out why Ben believes 2015 should be the year where every decision is made on the basis of what customers actually want rather than what the retailer thinks they want.

Why sales & discounts hurt your ecommerce brand

Our next article explores how constantly discounting your products can actually hurt your ecommerce brand. This is because lower prices rarely lead to brand loyalty, and instead they attract smart shoppers who jump at the opportunity. Obviously sales and discounts still have their place in any pricing strategy, but retailers should focus efforts on sales that complement long-term strategies.

Six questions to get actionable feedback from customers

This next article provides six questions you can easily ask your customers to get the most actionable and useful feedback.

4 ways SEO and UX experts can work together to improve web development

In this article, Search Engine Land explore how improved collaboration between your SEO and UX teams can result in positive impact on the outcomes of the Web projects.

Sustainable SEO Strategies for 2015

To finish off an article from Clickz which explores how your SEO strategy in 2015 should rely more on boosting the customer experience instead of focusing on search engine algorithms.

Thanks for reading!

The Weekly Shop (10th – 14th Nov)

Posted on by Anna Taylor

In our Weekly Shop this week, we look at Christmas planning, retail tech trends, how Google judges quality content and two case studies from Selfridges and Liberty.

Small and medium-sized retailers to start Christmas promotions earlier this year

A study by Royal Mail has found that the UK’s small and medium sized online retailers are planning to start Christmas promotions this week – which is one week later than last year. The study also found that price promotion was the most common tactic set to be deployed in the battle to win sales this Christmas followed by free delivery and returns.

Retail tech trends for the 2014 holiday season

While on the topic of Christmas,  Econsultancy have rounded up a selection of retail tech trends for the 2014 holiday season to help you end 2014 strong.

New study: this year’s Black Friday set to be the busiest yet

Another new study this week has suggested that this year’s Black Friday on 28 November could be the busiest and most successful yet. The study found that more retailers are looking to invest in the discount day than last year and shoppers are actively anticipating the day to start their Christmas shopping.

How Selfridges uses digital to create extraordinary multichannel experiences

According to Selfridges, a multichannel retailer dealing in the luxury end of the market, they have to offer customers’ connected and extraordinary experiences’ across its digital and physical properties. In light of this, our next article this week summarises some of the tactics Selfridges uses as part of its multichannel strategy.

Liberty launches Instagram-based loyalty app

Luxury London department store, Liberty, is the first retailer to trial an iPhone app that will reward customers in the store with the use of iBeacons. As customers enter Liberty, iBeacons will trigger the app – named Tapestry – to unlock vouchers to be used in store. The app will use the users Instagram data to curate the vouchers available to the a customer and create a bespoke reward system.

How does Google judge quality content?

In our last article this week, Econsultancy identify five key factors that you should focus on if you want to produce content that search engines will recognise as high quality.

Thanks for reading!

The Weekly Shop (3rd – 7th Nov)

Posted on by Anna Taylor

In the Weekly Shop this week – how maximise your online sales this Christmas, why Christmas begins early for online retailers and how the UK is among the most desirable retail markets.

It’s not too late to maximise online sales this Christmas

Christmas is a key time for many retailers and brands. Therefore, it is important to ensure your website is up to scratch in order to maximise sales. In light of this, our website optimisation manager, Suze, has provided some recommendations to help you maximise your online sales this Christmas.

Why Christmas begins early for online retailers

Next up is an article from Econsultancy which explores why Christmas begins early for online retailers following research that has shown that the festive season is the best time to acquire top-end customers, not just one-off seasonal purchasers.

Average UK high street to get £1.3m boost this Christmas due to Click & Collect

Research by eBay and retail analysts Conlumino have predicted a boost of £1m for British high streets this Christmas due to shoppers making three additional shopping trips each to collect parcels bought via Click & Collect.

UK among the most desirable retail markets as more consumers buy internationally

Another study this week has shown how almost 40% of shoppers have now bought from an ecommerce retailer in another country and that the UK is one of the most desirable places from which to buy, alongside the US and Germany.

Six Reasons To Fire Your SEO Agency

We finish off this week with an article from Search Engine Land that distinguishes a good search optimisation agency from a not-so-good one.

Thanks for reading!

The Weekly Shop (27th – 30th Oct)

Posted on by Anna Taylor

In this week’s Weekly Shop, we feature a report on the importance of integrating branded content  into the customer journey, how fashion and luxury brands can gain insight into what their customers care about and what’s hot and happening in premium retail this month.

Content + commerce = retail winner: study

A new report this week has shown how the ability to bring content and commerce together “may be what separates retail winners from losers.” The report found that more than three quarters (78%) of consumers now browse online before buying in-store highlighting an opportunity for brands to win the sale before shoppers go instore through branded content. The study points to tactics used by successful brands, which include integrating blogs onto the main site experience, putting links to product pages into article, and promoting blog content on the homepage.

How can fashion and luxury brands develop an understanding of what their customers truly care about and reflect this in their digital strategy?

Head over to the new ‘Ask the Experts’ section of the Masterclassing website to read our commercial director, thoughts on the question above.

The Hype: what’s hot and happening in premium retail this month?

Alexander Wang x H&M, Selfridges new £40m website, Jimmy Choo’s online personalisation service and accessible luxury are just some of the developments in premium retail that have got our Premium Panel excited this month. Head over to ‘The Hype’ on our blog to find out what other products, trends and innovations have been catching their eye in October.

Seven customer experience case studies that generated loyalty and ROI

This article from Econsultancy looks at seven customer experience case studies from the likes of Triumph, Cadbury and Homebase which have optimised experiences to increase satisfaction and loyalty.

5 Ways behaviour has changed in the last 10 years

This last article this week takes a look at five ways in which search behaviour has changed in the last 10 years following Mediative’s excellent eye-tracking study of Google search results.

That’s it for this week. Happy Halloween!

 

The Weekly Shop (20th – 24th October)

Posted on by Anna Taylor

In The Weekly Shop this week – three keys to omni-channel success, the launch of a new biometric contactless payment card and our Premium Panelists tell on how delivery contributes to a good customer experience.

Content, convenience and customer service: three keys to omni-channel success

According to Drazena Ivicic from Intershop there are three areas that are key to omni-channel success: convenience, content, and customer service. In her opinion, getting these three Cs right is key to successfully engaging with the customer and driving sales.

Amazon launches same day collection service

Following the news last week that Amazon were opening their first physical store – the etailer has just announced they are launching a same day collection service in the UK. Customers can order up until 11.45am to collect from 4pm until the closing time of their chosen pick-up point which include newsagents and convenience stores. Definitely set to be a game changer this Christmas.

Delivering Customer Happiness

When asked about what makes a good retail experience, in many cases your customers will mention delivery as a key factor. In light of this, we asked we asked our Premium Panel their thoughts on how delivery contributes to a good customer experience which you can read over on our blog. If you want to join the Premium Panel, you can do so here, you might even win a £50 Selfridges voucher if you join before the 30th October.

MasterCard and Zwipe unveil biometric contactless payment card

This week, MasterCard and Zwipe announced the launch of a biometric contactless payment card with integrated fingerprint sensor, which they say will improve security and consumer convenience.

Heresy: Google and SEO Don’t Actually Change that Much

In this next article, Rand Fishkin, CEO of Moz shares his views on how Google and SEO Don’t Actually Change that Much. Brilliantly put and worth a read.

A thoroughly entertaining beginner’s guide to data and analytics

To finish this week, a useful glossary from Econsultancy around data and analytics which aims to simplify some of the complicated words, terms and phrases that you’re likely to come up against.

Thanks for reading!