1. Statbrain - Using several sources, Statbrain’s algorithm computes the number of visitors to a website based on offsite factors like backlinks, Alexa Rank etc. Statbrain does not have access to log files or any hit-counter information. Use this as a rough relative benchmark of your traffic to theirs. First run your website and compare the results given by StatBrain to your actual results to get a sense of its accuracy in your category. Figure out what the multiplier is and then try it on a competitor.

2. AideRSS - Find out which of your competitors’ blog posts and topics are engaging people. This should provide you with a list of topics you should be covering. Engagement doesn’t necessarily mean your competitor’s opinion is right or even agreed with — but it does mean the engaged people are interested in the topic and therefore why not your opinion on the topic.

3. FeedCompare - If you use Feedburner to track your rss subscribers you can compare the size of your feed to others. Just like in #1 above, figure out your own multiplier and then compare it to the competition.

4. Xinu Returns - Xinu Runs a report from multiple sites to tell you how well a site is doing in popular search engines, social bookmarking sites and other technical details. How well are you stacking up against your 5 biggest competitors?

5. Google Trends For Websites - Enter up to five topics and see how often those topics been searched on Google over time. Google Trends also shows how frequently your topics have appeared in Google News stories, and in which geographic regions people have searched for them most. You can learn more on how to use this from our friend, Avinash Kaushik.

6. Google Insights for Search - With Google Insights for Search, you can compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, and time frames. Again, Avinash explains how to use this well.

7. Microsoft’s Keyword Forecast tool - This tool forecasts the impression count and predicts demographic distributions of keywords.

8. Microsoft’s Search Funnels - Customers often perform searches by typing related keywords in specific sequences. This tool helps in visualizing and analyzing the customers’ search sequences. Search Engine guru Mike Grehan explains the value of these query chains.

9. WayBackMachine - Go back in web history to see how your competitors’ site has changed through the years. Look for the things that have stayed consistent, because those might have been the most successful. In the same vein, what have you changed on your own site during that time? It’s easy to lose track, particularly of your own work, and to think of your current site as “how it’s always been”.

10. Web Page Speed Analyzer - Compare the download speed of your pages with those of your competitors to see which are loading quicker. Quicker loading pages tend to have an advantage at converting visitors. This analyzer provides a detail analysis of the page elements. For a rough comparison of two pages side by side try WebSlug. And, WebWait is great when you want to get accurate speed results from the visitors perspective because WebWait pulls down the entire website into your browser, so it takes into account Ajax/Javascript processing and image loading which other tools ignore.

11. Web Page Readability - By comparing the readability score of web pages you can optimize your writing and make sure that you aren’t creating overly complex sentences and paragraphs for your audience.

12. Attention Meter - Attentionmeter gives you a quick snapshot comparing any websites you want (traffic) using Alexa, Compete, and Quancast.

13. Websitegrader - Website Grader is a free tool that measures the marketing effectiveness of a website. It provides a score that incorporates things like website traffic, SEO, social popularity and other technical factors. It also provides some basic advice on how the website can be improved from a marketing perspective. Also worth checking out Twittergrader to check on your competitors’ twitter accounts.

14. Google Alerts - set up searches for your competitors, key employees, and keywords to monitor their activity.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it: Try some (or all) of the above techniques and report back on your intriguing espionage! This tape will self-destruct in 10 clicks.

Shhhhh… care to share your spying secrets? What tools or techniques do you use?

Remember a few weeks back, when I wrote about the perceived marketing strategy for the Jenny Craig weight loss centers? At the time, I ruminated over the possibility that the marketing and advertising execs at Jenny Craig were either consciously or unconsciously using personas to drive the success of their celebrity spokespeople campaigns. (To read the original post, traverse over here)

I noted the distinct differences between Kirstie Alley (Spontaneous), Valerie Bertinelli (Methodical), and Queen Latifah (Humanistic), and applauded Jenny Craig for being savvy enough to create different marketing “languages” for each celebrity’s ads – language that resonated with the segment of the female market that was targeted. At the time, I wrote:

“It will be interesting to see if the next celebrity spokesperson for Jenny Craig completes the persona cycle by using a Competitive type. Hmmmm. I wonder who it will be. Who would you like to see in the spotlight?”

Guess what? Jenny’s new spokesperson is a Competitive.

It’s also a man.

NBA star Baron Davis of the Los Angeles Clippers is the newest face of Jenny Craig. Talk about competitive – a star athlete who has the drive to win at all costs. The story is that he is trying Jenny Craig as a way to “stay in shape during the off season.” There are no TV ads yet, but check out this copy taken directly from the Jenny Craig website:

“As a powerful professional point guard, Baron Davis never stops improving his game. And as a professional athlete, he knows that a balance of height and weight is crucial to a player’s performance. So when Baron wanted to drop weight in the off season to get into his best game shape, he went one-on-one with Jenny Craig and lost 19 pounds!*

As a busy guy on the go, Baron enjoys the convenience of Jenny Direct®, the at-home program where consultations are done over the phone and food is delivered right to your door!”

This is a Competitive type’s dream copy – talk of improving your game, striving for ultimate performance, and the convenience of the at-home program. It speaks directly to the heart of the potential customer.

Having a man complete the cycle isn’t bad at all; Competitive types in particular are drawn to achievers no matter what the gender. It will definitely bring in more male clients to Jenny, and Competitive women will see that weight loss can mean more than looking good in the mirror. It’s all about performance.

Kudos to Jenny Craig for some of the smartest marketing around – they are quickly becoming my new “poster child” for brilliant marketing to women.

If you haven’t already watched the short film I blogged about recently, watch that first!  You’ll get more out of this post, I won’t spoil the ending for you, and the video will leave you feeling proud to be a copywriter.

*******************************************************
OK, having watched the video you know now that the “ad guy” changes the old man’s sign from:

“Have compassion, I am blind”

to

“Today is a beautiful day, and I can not see it.”

So let’s talk about the ad guy’s copy transformation.  In my mind he did 3 things perfectly:

1. He surprised readers with an unexpected reality hook

It was indeed a beautiful day, but it was also an unexpected observation to read on a panhandlers sign.  One normally expects a request or offer like, “Will work for food” or “Please help a disabled vet” or some such.  “Today is a beautiful” day is surprising, capturing the reader’s attention, causing him to wonder where this is heading.

2) He used his reality hook to create an advantageous emotional response.

Whether they wanted to or not, passers-by took at least half a second to confirm the truth of that statement – to mentally assent that, yes, today was indeed beautiful.  Think about how different that thought is from 99% of the pedestrian concerns most of us walk down the street with; how liberating - even for a half-second - to stop worrying about the next meeting or deadline and look up to see what a beautiful day it really is.

This is a crucial step, too, because, as discussed in the book Made to Stick, shifting people into an empathic or emotional state of mind is crucial to the success of charitable requests.  Psychological research shows that if you prime people to think analytically, they’ll give far less than if you primed them to think emotionally.  The “Today is a beautiful day” opening primed people to think emotionally.

3) He forced reader participation by requiring them to connect the dots.

Nowhere did the new sign actually say, “I’m blind.”   Readers had to draw that conclusion for themselves by reading “and I can’t see it” while connecting that with the context clues offered by the old man and his pan-handling.  This bit of reader engagement means that readers “see” the reality of the man’s blindness for themselves, without the typical internal push-back or cynicism generated when a marketing claim is shoved at a person.  This is an incredibly powerful writing technique explained by this Monday Morning Memo from Roy Williams.

Also note that the new sign avoided a hard sell by implying the request.  The ad man let the collection plate, combined with the reader’s realization of the man’s blindness, be the call to action.

Now, applying this to the web, I’d say there are 2 more, extremely important points to make:

4) Eliminating conversion flaws and increasing usability can only take you so far.

The ad guy didn’t try to make the collection plate bigger or more prominent.  Nor did he set up a card-swiping machine so people could donate via debit card.  Usability wasn’t the issue; persuasion was.  If your website optimization strategy only addresses usability flaws or general best-practice issues, you’re never going to achieve breakthrough performance for your website.  You have to address persuasive gaps as well.

5) It’s worth the money to pay a good copywriter what he’s worth.

The dramatic improvement in conversion caused by the new copy may have been fictional for the film, but it’s a recurrent reality on the web – at least for those companies who understand the value of persuasive copy.

Unfortunately, too many companies are willing to spend thousands to tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars on a website redesign while balking at paying decent money for a top-notch copywriter.  Don’t be one of those companies.

At a time when filling the gas tank can seem like a spending spree for many consumers before they even set foot in a store, the prospect of having an item delivered to their homes free of charge holds considerable sway. Free shipping offers now abound online, and experts forecast that, as the calendar moves closer to the all-important holiday selling season, websites that don’t provide free shipping (even if it comes with a minimum-spend prerequisite) will be at a competitive disadvantage…

…Studying the list of online shoppers’ favorite retailers yields some interesting findings. Four retailers specialize in large-size apparel; considering this is a niche market, that’s an impressive showing. It’s likely that many large-size shoppers – still an underserved group despite growing numbers of people buying apparel in these size ranges – feel more relaxed purchasing online, as it provides anonymity and the chance to try clothing on at home.

I was a bit surprised to find Google on the list of retailers. Why do you think they made it?

Who is your favorite retailer? How come?

If you are a retailer, will you be offering free shipping this holiday season? What is the reasoning behind your decision?

Great video, great message.  Now imagine that the guy in the suit worked for a corporation, and his boss asked him to come up with the words for the beggar’s sign. 
 His sentence would have been made into a paragraph by Corporate, watered down by Legal, and politically corrected by Human Resources.  I’m thinking it would be a completely different message by then. 
 Uh oh, I think my cynicism is showing again. [emphasis mine]

Yup.  Nothing like the mental image of some tone-deaf suits destroying the impact and emotional nuances in one’s copy to spark a good, hearty rant.  I’m right there with you, Susan.  But believe it or not, this is a problem that personas can go a long way toward solving.  Seriously.

You see, absent a well defined and imaginable audience, most people tend to do one of three things:

1. Market to themselves.  We all naturally tend to fall back on what WE like and what WE find motivating.  Great if we’re selling to people just like us; not so great otherwise.
2. Market to Stereotypes.  As in, “hey, let’s target our advertising towards soccer moms!”  People are funny like that: they know when they’re being talked down to.
3. Market on Price. Not that you’ll immediately advertise a sale, but it’s easier to talk about features than real benefits when you’re not clear about the prospect’s emotional itch.  And that’s a game of emphasizing features vs. price.

Most clueless revisions and edits fall into these three categories.  A lawyer might Latinize your copy because it sounds more like the formal language he’s around all day.   He’s making your copy sound like the language he respects and that “speaks” to him.  He’s marketing to himself.

Same thing with executives.  As a group executives naturally skew towards a Competitive temperament.  Plus, Executives with non-competitive temperaments often find themselves operating in that mode due to the professional demands of their jobs.  So they tend to re-write copy to better speak to them:

• Put the bottom-line up front
• Bullet out the important points
• Get rid of the fluffy crap and don’t get dragged down into the weeds
• Etc.

And that’s great for Competitive temperaments, but it can leave everyone else cold.  Unfortunately, Competitives only make up 15% of the population.  So now you’re potentially leaving 75 85% of your audience unconvinced.  Yikes!

Unfortunately, telling a client or boss that they are marketing to themselves never goes well.  Never try this one at home, kids, ‘cause that conversation aint going to stay about the copy.  Same thing with pointing out stereotype-based copy.  There is simply no neutral way to say these things; they’re always interpreted as an accusation.

Fortunately, personas can say things you can’t

Instead of telling the VP of marketing that he’s re-written your copy based solely on what appeals to him, imagine being able to pull out the persona you’ve been tasked to write to and having a discussion about how well the VP’s copy would or would not connect emotionally with that persona.

Now you can put your objections to his edits in terms of what the personas – and therefore the customers – do and do not like, rather than what you or your editors do and don’t like. Telling a VP that his version of the copy fails to address the emotional concerns of Sally is far less threatening and far more persuasive than telling him his edits have sucked the life out of your copy.

And this works for everything:

• for explaining that Sally doesn’t understand the jargon-filled features your editors are trying to cram into the copy
• for arguing the more appropriate connotations of one word over another, for example, “normal” rather than “average”
• for explaining that Johnny really DOES want to know the details and methodology
• etc.

In short, personas give you a vastly more objective basis for discussing the emotional nuances of your copy as well as the tone-deaf edits that might be threatened upon same.  With personas, these conversations DO stay about the copy and they usually do end up going well.

So while I admit that ranting about bad edits can provide a nice break to the day, I’ll also tell you that successfully defending your copy is infinitely more satisfying – and that personas are an excellent tool for achieving that goal.

9:00 am - 9:20 am

Seth Godin on how to get your ideas to spread:

9:30 am - 10:00 am

Avinash Kaushik on how to create a data driven culture:

10:00 am - 10:10 am

Mike Grehan on the future of Search.

10:11 am - 10:15 am

CommonCraft on social media in plain english.

10:15am - 10:30 am

Please take a 15 minute networking break. Find some great people on twitter or friend some fine people on Facebook. On twitter you can follow me @TheGrok or on FaceBook @Bryan Eisenberg.

10:30 am - 11:10 am

Doug Mack, Carrie Johnson, David Daniels on Web 2.0 and what it means for retail from Shop.org.

Click here to view this presentation.

11:10 am - 12:00pm

Mitch Joel & Carrie Johnson on Social Shopping: How to Learn to Stop Worrying and Love Customer Control

Click here to view this presentation.

12:00pm - 1:00pm

Enjoy your lunch break.

1:00pm - 1:20pm

Ze Frank on …

1:30pm - 1:45pm

Gary Vaynerchuk on building personal brand within the social media landscape

1:45pm - 2:00pm

Rand Fishkin on SEO for branding and blogging for higher rankings.

SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday-SEO for Branding from Scott Willoughby on Vimeo.

——————————-

SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday-Blogging for Higher Rankings from Scott Willoughby on Vimeo.

2:00pm - 2:05pm

Chris Anderson on Free! why $0.00 is the future of business.

2:05pm - 2:50pm

Bill Tancer on Click: What Millions of People Are Doing Online and Why It Matters.

2:50pm - 3:00pm

Chris Brogan on new media’s necessary evolution for progress. Rated R for language.

3:00pm - 3:30pm
Please take a break and speak to some real people

3:30pm - 3:35pm

Andy Beal on how to monitor your competitors.

3:35pm - 4:30pm

Adaptive Path staff on customer experience and how it integrates with marketing efforts.

4:35pm - 4:45pm

Chip Heath on making ideas stick.

There were several topics we wanted to include but didn’t make it in because either;  there we no presentations of it online, we weren’t thrilled with the content available, or Iweran out of time in trying to keep this virtual conference to one day.

Some of the important topics we wanted to cover:

1. the importance of good copywriting online
2. comparing search, display, ppc, cpm, cpa, etc.
3. creating efficiencies in your marketing
4. marketing in a recession
5. Integrated Brands & Interaction: connecting your online to your offline channel
6. preparing your organization for social media
7. why organization must adopt a continuous improvement process for their marketing efforts

What topics would you like to have seen?

P.S. We made the decision to leave any of our presentations/interviews out of the agenda to eliminate any bias, but if you want to watch some of our presentations, here you go:

1. How to get your organization to start testing

2. How to use personas to increase sales

3. Using Persuasion Architecture to improve your online results

But what about the methodicals - those who want their questions answered BEFORE they jump in and take action?

I found two different online dating sites with these two different approaches to getting visitors to interact with and sign up with their sites.

Match.com - Their home page is pure spontaneous - one image (is it just me or does that girl look like she’s 13?) and one action you can take  - ”start searching now, it’s easy” -  plus one special offer “Guarantee - find someone special in 6 months or we’ll give you 6 months free.”   The whole home page is designed for someone in spontaneous mode who just wants to start looking, no questions asked.

Compare that to Plentyoffish.com - Their home page is mostly methodical.   New visitors see a list of four points (numbered, which the methodicals loved) answering questions that those methodicals want answered BEFORE they take even one action on your site.   (They’re not going to waste their time looking around until they determine it’s worth their while to spend time on this site.) Here’s the text from the home page:

1. We banish anyone who is extremely rude, has anger management issues, uploads fake pictures or is otherwise unfit to date.

2. Unlike traditional Dating sites we don’t put a pay wall between you and everyone you try and contact.

3. Social Dating is all about giving you tools you need to help YOU find someone. Traditional Paid Dating sites care about the exact opposite, raising prices and trying to keep you around longer. If paid dating sites gave you what you wanted they’d go bankrupt.

4. We delete and banish scammers, it’s easy to do. Traditional Paid Dating sites have little interest in deleting fake profiles because they could convince you to pay for the service.

The only image in the active window is actually an ad for a different dating site.    Other than signing in, the only action you can take is almost below the fold where they do actually show you some profiles you can start browsing.

I did notice that when you return to plentyoffish.com, you see a different page that is now designed for the more spontaneous with profiles for you to browse in the active window on the home page.

So - which approach is more effective?    That probably depends on if you are more spontaneous or more methodical.    When it comes to love, I think Woody Allen put it best….

“To love is to suffer. To avoid suffering one must not love. But then one suffers from not loving. Therefore to love is to suffer, not to love is to suffer. To suffer is to suffer. To be happy is to love. To be happy then is to suffer. But suffering makes one unhappy. Therefore, to be unhappy one must love, or love to suffer, or suffer from too much happiness. I hope you’re getting this down.”
- Woody Allen,

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson should have attended our course.   According to many analysts, he’s doing a terrible job of selling the bailout package to the American people.

MSN Money blogger Charley Blaine talks about the problem, and how he thinks, of all people, Jim Cramer has it right on how to put the bailout plan into plain English and terms people actually care about and can relate to.

[Jim Cramer says] The Bush administration — especially Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke — are doing a terrible job selling the plan, he says. And he’s right. They’re explaining it in terms only Wall Street bankers, analysts and economists can understand.

How would Cramer do it?

The plan, he said Wednesday, “is about keeping people in their homes. It’s about making sure banks have money to lend “so your kid can go to college.”

Indeed, he said, Paulson should be selling the plan as “Invest in America.”

Paulson talks about “unfreezing the mortgage market,” Cramer said. As an explanation, it’s out of touch with the reality that most of us deal with.

“The next time you hear Hank Paulson or any of the plan’s defenders talking about the plan freeing up commercial paper,” Cramer said, “just insert ‘Being able to buy a new car with a loan.’”

The administration should stop talking about “making banks whole from their own mortgage mistakes.” Rather, he said, “they should start talking about making sure there will be cash in the ATM when you need money next week.”

I say ” touché ” Mr. Cramer (even though you do yell too much for my taste).   Whether you’re a website copywriter or the Treasury Secretary of the United States - if you want to persuade people, you have to avoid the techno-jargon and speak to your customers in their language about what they care about.

Even if you can’t be there today, register to know immediately when the replay is made available.

99 bottles of beer on the wall,
99 bottles of beer!
Take one down, pass it around
98 bottles of beer on the wall
98 bottles of beer…

I don’t really remember why I was thinking about this song, but it reminded me of how optimization is oftentimes a lot like singing “99 Bottles of Beer.”

Repetition

Online marketing optimization isn’t sexy; often, it’s downright homely.

It’s not like “Mad Men,” where some Madison Avenue suit is sipping scotch and brainstorming glam ideas a mile a minute. Much of it is tedious and repetitive. Some of the best in the conversion business do many of the same things every day, over and over. We:

• Analyze reports.
• Try to identify areas of improvement.
• Plan how we can make those improvements (oftentimes fighting resistance in the organization).

Over and over the continuous improvement cycle goes. It’s very much like trying to lose weight.

Gotta Know Where You’re Going

If you come in halfway during a recitation of 99 bottles, you only need to hear a few verses to know exactly where the song is going. The song is part of an overall plan that will get you down to zero bottles of beer on the wall. Just picking any old random beer bottle in any random order breaks the song and confuses the singer.

Same with optimization. You need a high-level plan that starts at your macro-conversion. So if your goal is to get more leads, you must devise a plan.

Start by brainstorming everything you can think of that will get more leads. Then sort your list based on effort, resources, and ability to impact conversion. You can then divide up the work into phases. Then you prepare to drill down into creating specific optimization tasks and tests. If you’re struggling with the order, use the hierarchy of optimization.

Often, most folks start with the tasks while overlooking the need for an overall strategy. Start with conversion optimization, then move on to persuasion scenario planning. There’s a big difference.

No Fun Singing Alone

If you’re optimizing online, you aren’t doing it alone. Even if you’re the lone person analyzing the metrics and constructing the test, you likely aren’t the person doing the design, or developing the code, or writing the creative. Optimization works better when everyone is working together toward a specific goal.

To do this, use a dashboard that you can share with everyone on your team. I also recommend that your marketing dashboards show a tie to revenue. Too many marketers don’t know the financial impact they’re making (or not making) because they neglect to fill out something simple like the dollar value of a conversion in their analytics software.

Numbers Matter

Someone must pay attention to the details. I remember singing this song as a kid and there was always one person who had an ear on the numbers. Inevitably, we would lose our place in the song, and that detail-oriented kid would get us back on track.

Who watches the numbers for your marketing optimization? Would someone notice if you were on a downtrend in lead conversion? What are you tracking and focused on improving on?

Numbers are wonderful little beasts, they keep us all accountable.

99-Plus Items on the Optimization List

The list of things you must optimize on your site can be menacing.

When you take down the first beer off the wall it seems like the song will never end. But eventually, when you whittle down the list, you’ll see light and, more importantly, better conversion.

So yes, like the song, online optimization can be repetitious, but it can also be rewarding as you start moving your needle.

And lastly, when you’re doing it right, you never run out of things to optimize. The same can’t be said about beers on the wall.

If you need help with any of those beers or optimizing your marketing to get better results contact us.

*Cross posted on ClickZ

Editors Note: Don’t forget to register for our Always Be Testing webinar on how to improve your design and layout for your landing page.

According to a New York Times article, the opposite is happening - gender gaps are widening.

When men and women take personality tests, some of the old Mars-Venus stereotypes keep reappearing. On average, women are more cooperative, nurturing, cautious and emotionally responsive. Men tend to be more competitive, assertive, reckless and emotionally flat. Clear differences appear in early childhood and never disappear.

To test these hypotheses, a series of research teams have repeatedly analyzed personality tests taken by men and women in more than 60 countries around the world. For evolutionary psychologists, the bad news is that the size of the gender gap in personality varies among cultures. For social-role psychologists, the bad news is that the variation is going in the wrong direction. It looks as if personality differences between men and women are smaller in traditional cultures like India’s or Zimbabwe’s than in the Netherlands or the United States.

Wow - what’s going on here?   I would have thought with so many women in more progressive countries breaking out of traditional roles, women would take on more traditionally male traits.    But the report has a different theory:

The biggest changes recorded by the researchers involve the personalities of men, not women. Men in traditional agricultural societies and poorer countries seem more cautious and anxious, less assertive and less competitive than men in the most progressive and rich countries of Europe and North America.

There are lots of other theories floating around, as well as challenges to the results.   But it brings up an important point for marketers.  You’re still going to have to be aware of male vs. female communication styles.   Even if outward appearances might suggest the two genders are coming closer together, the truth may be that they’re actually still far apart.

Copywriters worry about nuances, mental images, and word associations because the emotions behind your words matter.  Never let anyone tell you different.

*Hat tip to Jim Anderson for sending me the video link.

P.S. If you like this post, be sure to read my follow-up analysis.

Your customers’ eyes and your wallet thank you for taking the 3 minutes to read that page.

Techcrunch sums it up:

Blogging is a volume game. The more you post, the more chances there are that someone else will link to one of your posts. (Technorati rank is based on the number of recent links to your blog). The majority of the Top 100 blogs tracked by Technorati post five or more times per day, and a full 43 percent post more than 10 times per day. Meanwhile, 64 percent of the 5,000 blogs ranked lower than 600 post two to four times a day, which is still a serious commitment.

The linking stats may be true, but what do readers think about it?

Do you prefer blogs that post 1 or 2 relevant posts a day, a few times a week or ones that publish more frequently? Which blogs are you most likely to remember?

Jenny Nicholl disappeared on 30th June 2005. A linguistic analysis showed that text messages sent from her phone were unlikely to have been written by her but, rather, were more likely to have been written by her ex-lover, David Hodgson. A number of stylistic points identified within texts known to have been written by Jenny Nicholl were not present in the suspect messages. Instead, these were stylistically close to the undisputed messages of David Hodgson.

I have to tell you - the mere thought of a term like “forensic linguistics” makes my brain buzz.    I’m just enough of a geek to think that would be one cool job.

What we say, and how we say it, write it, or text it says volumes about who we are.

Why is this important to you if you’re a marketer and not a prosecuting attorney?   People respond when you speak “their language.”  Even subtle differences in wording or phrasing can make a huge difference in conversion.

I was working with a financial client recently, and we found the word “legacy” had different meanings for different people.   For some, it was positive.  For others, it sounded egotistical.

Ahh…the power of words.   Thanks to Jeff Sexton for sending me the forensic linguistic article.   I love Jeff’s writing and always find it insightful, even if he does use “thesaurus words.” 

Click here to listen to Bryan Eisenberg chat with Mayer Gniwisch

(To download the interview for use on your ipod, etc., right-click here and “save as”.)

In case you missed it, our first podcast in the series is with Bernardo de Albergaria, VP & GM of eCommerce, Citrix Online and our second podcast was with Avinash Kaushik, Analytics Evangelist for Google. We’ve also recorded two “Always Be Testing” monthly webinars so far, the archived versions are now available.

Have you picked your copy of Always Be Testing? Our publisher says the first printing is already sold out and they are rushing to print a second run.

Check out the video.

Editors Note: While we are talking viral videos, have you seen possibly one of the best “experiential” ads online?

It was recently Labor Day and here in Utah that means one thing: Labor Day Ski Sales! It signifies the death of summer and starts to build anticipation for what everyone hopes will be a great winter. So what does this have to do with good online marketing?

During the holiday break I was online doing product research on some winter products for my family and I saw a banner ad for a cell phone that immediately grabbed my attention. The ad was simple: It contained a picture of a new phone, listed a couple of the phone’s features and contained (the part that really caught my eye) a big pink button that said in a clear font “I Want It”.

So many times button text is uncompelling , boring stuff like “See More” or the classically bland “Click Here.”  But this one was clever enough that I put aside my daydreams of wintery days and clicked on it (even though I’m not in the market for that type of phone) just to see where this company would take those that “wanted” their product.  Turns out someone at this company must know something about good scent.

The page I landed on was a great product landing page:

• it carried on the persuasive momentum the ad started by clearly showing me the phone’s benefits and specifications,
• it contained content persuading me why this phone was so cool, and
• it provided a clear way for me to buy the phone right there on the site.

So the lesson here? Even something as simple as text on a button can help you sell more product online.  The next time you need a button on your site or ad, get creative!  Consider your audience and come up with some great button copy that will convince that person to drop everything and pay attention to you!  Then follow through and provide a good landing page that grabs them and persuades them why the product you have is the greatest thing ever and why they should buy it from you right now.

So go online now, find some great deals on winter gear (whether you need it or not), daydream about a great Utah ski vacation and pay attention to the buttons you see.

Happy Buttoning!

1. ProFlowers 41.50%
2. 1800flowers.com 20.8%
3. Blair.com 20.10%
4. QVC 20.10%
5. LaneBryant Catalog 19.7%
6. LL Bean 19.7%
7. Roamans 18.80%
8. The Sportsman Guide 17.7%
9. Office Depot 17.30%
10. eBay 15.2%

*Source: Nielsen Online / Marketing Charts

What happened to Proflowers.com? 41.50% is just amazing. Interestingly, last month we had all three big florists, but FTD fell off the list. Most important, Children’sPlace was on the last month, but not in the month of August right before back-to-school shopping, is this a sign of early holiday shopping to come?

Additonal June Retail Benchmarks:

Page Views Per Session 11.64
Product Page Views Per Session 3.06
Average Time on Site (in seconds) 479.87
Average Items/Order 6.15
Average Order Value $154.89
Shopping Cart Conversion Rate 32.61%
Shopping Cart Abandonment 67.39%
New Visitor Conversion Rate 1.96%
On-site Search Session 16.22%
On-site Search Conversion Rate 5.85%
On-site Search Average Order Value $178.52

Marketing Summary Benchmarks:

Direct Load:
Traffic % 48.72%
Sales % 73.02%
Conversion Rate 3.19%

Natural Search:
Traffic % 13.59%
Sales % 7.83%
Conversion Rate 2.12%

Referrals:
Traffic % 6.04%
Sales % 1.81%
Referral Conversion Rate 1.77%

* Source: Coremetrics LIVEmark Benchmarks US (PDF) - UK benchmarks PDF available.

Coremetrics LIVEmark leverages aggregate performance data across more than 300 participating brands to deliver over 35 benchmark metrics addressing performance indicators such as campaign and channel effectiveness, site stickiness and conversion rates.

Canada’s Top Internet Retail Sites

1 eBay
2 Apple Inc.
3 Amazon
4 Shopzilla.com
5 Best Buy
6 American Greetings Properties
7 Wal-Mart
8 Sears.ca
9 Bell.ca
10 CanadianTire.caSource: comScore Media Metrix

If you need help increasing your conversion rate, let us know.

So why would I want to read reviews when I could examine the stroller first hand?

Because I was a yet-to-be-first-time parent and I knew that what really separates good from mediocre strollers are the things that only become apparent with longer-term use and/or at least some parenting experience.  I wanted to know things like: does the stroller hold up to continued use; how easy is it to load in the car; are there things that start to come in handy that I might not already know about, like one-handed operation, extra cargo room, tight-turning radius, etc.  In short, I wanted to know the kind of things I’d be more likely to read about in reviews than I’d be likely to see or think about by taking a 5-minute stroll down the Babies”R”Us aisle with no baby in the stroller.

As it turns out the persuasive appeal of long-term thinking isn’t new to the internet age.  In Breakthrough Advertising, Gene Schwartz specifically advises copywriters to “Stretch Out Your Benefits in Time.”  But while product copy can do an adequate job of that, it’s nowhere near as credible as a customer review that mentions a product’s enduring or longer-term benefits.

So it was with an overpowering sense of deja vu that I read Holly Buchanan’s post on gender differences in product reviews.   Seems men are more likely to mention the product’s immediate usefulness and performance while women are more likely to talk about a product’s longer-term ability to fit into her lifestyle, which might explain why the stroller reviews leaned heavily towards long-term benefits.

My question and suggestion is this: what is your company doing to solicit / elicit long-term product reviews from your customers?

Seems like this would be especially important if your product is in the higher-quality, higher-price-point part of the curve.  If your product shines best in long-term performance, what are you doing to ensure those traits and stretched-out-in-time benefits are showing up in your customer reviews?

The first opportunity to see it is at the Direct Marketing Association’s Flagship Event, DMA08 Conference & exhibition - being held October 11 - 16 at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas.

There is even a $150 discount to pass on to you to use for Conference Only registration and higher level registration packages. (Sorry, but the discount cannot be used for Pre/Post-Conference Only sessions, Exhibit Hall Only or Daily Passes).

To register for the conference, visit www.dma08.org. Please use discount code AN302 so you can get your $150 discount.

The second opportunity to see it in NYC on October 14th at the Search Engine Strategies 2008 Training. Sorry, no coupons at this time, but you can register here.

So here you have it, the 7 principles of Gr8t Web 2.0 (read short-form) copy:

1.    Brevity – Twitter = learn to say lots in 140 characters. What must you say in 140 characters?  Can you say it powerfully, as well as quickly?

2.    Acknowledgement – Meaningful acknowledgement is often peer acknowledgement; what point is there to sharing photos on FB or FLICKR except peer acknowledgement?

3.    Participation – For shared platforms, more use = more value.  Always entice people to take the next step, just like facebook gets you to load a photo.

4.    Sharing – Sharing has to start with YOU!  Sharing = participation, acknowledgement, and authenticity.  What real value are you sharing?

5.    Authenticity – Posing kills peer acknowledgment.  Don’t pose for it, show it through transparency.  What can you put on the line to communicate credibility?

6.    Interaction – Can I talk to you, or only just listen?  How long is the lag-time for feedback?  Can I interact with others, or just you / the host?

7.    Speed – Kathy Sierra best explains Web 2.0-style speed.  Participation, sharing and acknowledgment all require speed of interaction & feedback.

This is great practice. As marketers and writers we must learn to say more in fewer words these days. Feel free to take a shot at revising these 7 in the comments below, adding your own, or feel free to tweet them and link back here (http://tinyurl.com/twittercopy).

I clicked the nice, big, obvious “Add to Cart” button to dive headlong into the conversion funnel.  ERROR.  Some gobbledegook that only a developer would understand.  No phone number.  I did what anyone in the mood to buy would do - I clicked the back button and tried again.  ERROR.  I clicked back again, and luckily for this eTailer, the toll free number was prominently displayed in the active window, AND I didn’t have any of their competitor sites top-of-mind.

Rep:  Welcome to [store with error-ridden website], how can I help you?

Me: Well, I’m trying to buy [Item X] on your website, but I can’t, so can you start by checking whether it’s in stock.

Rep: OK, I can help you buy [Item X] no problem.

Now, let me imagine that conversation as it should have been…

Rep: Welcome to [store with error-ridden website], how can I help you?

Me: Well, I’m trying to buy [Item X] on your website, but I can’t, so can you start by checking whether it’s in stock.

Rep: Oh no, I’m so sorry to hear that!  What happened?  Can you describe what you were doing when our website failed you?  Did you get an error message?  What browser were you using?

A little empathy would’ve been effective and memorable…maybe even blog-worthy. Don’t sound matter-of-fact that your website blew up, or I’ll never use your online channel again, and your brand has been damaged.

And I’m sure the technical team behind that website would’ve LOVED to get their hands on the error code that I’d written down and done some tinkering.  And they should’ve, because that website was bleeding money yesterday.

Children as young as 8 years-old are not just using the internet to chat with their friends on AIM or email grandma - they’re shopping online. According to the study:

“Four out of 10 responding young consumers said they used search to learn about products or services after seeing ads. Many said they used search engines to find places to buy, check prices or start researching purchases from scratch.”

What might be even more surprising is what they are looking at and the persuasive power they hold. Furniture, electronics, vacations and vehicles are just a few of the big ticket items that, according to Harris Interactive’s 2007 “Youth Pulse” report, 8-12 year-olds and 14-21 year olds are actually decision makers for large family purchase. This is one of the key dynamics that you must understand when you look at sales complexity and consensus.

However, this is not to say that in order to appeal to children, you must “dumb down” your website or overrun it with childish characteristics. But do consider these younger age-groups when deciding where to use your site’s advertising and marketing budget.

I read their book. It’s a great book. I’m just trying not to read any books that aren’t available for my Kindle. I love my Kindle! You just have to love a device that allows you to travel with an entire library and is even easier on the eyes than ink on paper.

I love my Kindle even more now since the newly revised Call To Action: Secret Formulas To Improve Online Results just became available for the Kindle.  I bought a copy and added the PDF of the index that you can download here. I now have the best version of Call To Action you can own.