I firmly believe that we will look back at Christmas 2010 as the moment mobile went from a really interesting topic to a serious tactic within all retailers' marketing mix, and what better way to assist retailers in the build up to Christmas than to put together a mobile wish list. Now what a present that is! Ok, maybe a bit of an exaggeration but below are my top 10 tips and considerations for mobile: 1. Don't think for too long! Mobile is still heavily in the planning stage and everyone seems to be talking about theories rather than proven conclusions. This has lead to many retailers waiting to see what happens with mobile before taking the plunge themselves. Read the rest of this entry...

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Following Stefan's blog post on grading retailers for search visibility last month, I wanted to go into a bit more detail about the validity of click through rate data for positions on the first page of Google.  Over the past 4 years the statistics that have been referenced, when talking about the amount of clicks a certain position receives, come from an AOL data leak in 2006: Position 1 – 42% Position 2 – 12% Position 3 – 9% Position 4 – 6% Position 5 – 5% These statistics are a bit outdated and do not give a true reflection of the current search behaviour of someone using Google on their search journey. This is because the search results page and user behaviour has changed a lot over the past 4 years, with the brand new Google Instant showing results as you type and universal search incorporating an array of results including maps, news, images, videos and many more.  Most of the available statistics on CTRs also do not take into account the impact of paid...

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The past few days Google have been teasing us with various new animated logos and claiming that something big is coming, leaving the search industry waiting with bated breath. Would it really be something original and big, or rather would it be another Google Wave style failure? Yesterday they finally revealed Google Instant which immediately caused quite a stir. In their own words... "Google Instant is a new search enhancement that shows results as you type. We are pushing the limits of our technology and infrastructure to help you get better search results, faster. Our key technical insight was that people type slowly, but read quickly, typically taking 300 milliseconds between keystrokes, but only 30 milliseconds (a tenth of the time!) to glance at another part of the page. This means that you can scan a results page while you type." Read the rest of this entry...

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It’s coming to the end of the academic year and I’ve got results on my mind, so when a colleague forwarded to me a copy of Conductor’s report on Natural Search Trends of the Internet Retailer 500 Q2/2010 (full of statistics and grades) I immediately got excited. You can get your copy of the report here. It’s well worth picking up and certainly contains some food for thought (and much that I agree with) but parts of it left me baffled, particularly its grading system. Read the rest of this entry...

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For years now, the success of online traffic sources has relied solely on the principle that the ‘last click wins’. This has been a major flaw in web analytics as customer journeys are often a lot more drawn out and complex that just one visit. In fact, leading web analytics company DC Storm, found that 70% of all sales consist of more than one traffic source. Their research in December 2008 also revealed that there’s an average of 3.36 visits per sale. When creating reports and performing analysis, the winning emphasis is often solely with those last clicks, and so the remaining 70% are effectively ignored. But in reality, that 70% play a vital role in the customer journey and that ever important final conversion event. Read the rest of this entry...

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