Retailers heading to iPhone apps
Internet Retailer shares that Best Buy has launched an iPhone app to share their specials and deals.
The mobile app, available through Apple Inc.’s App Store, enables iPhone and iPod Touch users to view weekly deals and mobile-only specials and find the nearest Best Buy store. However, like the Best Buy m-commerce site, located at m.BestBuy.com, it is not yet transactional. Mobile shoppers must phone Best Buy to place an order.
iTunes link to the “Best Buy Weekly Deals” app here. Looks like it’s a good start for them… but with a quick search of iTunes I found another app called the “Best Buy – Gamer’s Club” which seems to the same thing focused on gaming deals and news. Not sure why there is two.
The “Weekly Deals” app seems pretty useful, even using the GPS on my phone to find my nearest physical locations, give phone numbers and connect to my Maps application for driving directions. You can’t search for deals in the app, and the settings are a little odd to operate, but it seems like a pretty good app to start off with.
Best Buy is also promoting another app-focused site/blog in the promotional materials called Best Buy Apps. I can’t quite tell what the point is, but it also links to other apps/sites they seem to have built.
Overall, it’s a great step to see a company promote specials and give some extra service to their customers… would sure like to see if it can drive any sales. 8-)
Is there an iPhone app that can help your company work with it’s customers better?
BTW: The easiest way to get links directly to the iTunes store is via this page from Apple.
(Disclosure: I work with a company building iPhone apps now, Common Sense LLC, at GetCS.com)
Sharing the Wheat: Trust, Guidelines, Analytics & Search Tips
A few good links I’ve seen over the past few days:
10 Tips to Build Trust with Social Media
An excellent and super-simple list of tips to build trust and be authentic in corporate social media. We all know how to not be “that guy” that crosses the line at the company party (well most of us do), but we could all use the reminder of how to keep in touch online, especially when we are representatives of our companies in social media.
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Enterprise: List of 40 Social Media Staff Guidelines
A great list of links from large companies and a few interesting info graphics from the US Air Force on setting internal guidelines on social media participation. This is a great resource to bookmark or use as a research guide for setting up your own corporate guidelines.
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The Rise of the C-Tweet: Points to Consider for Twitter-Friendly CEOs and CMOs
The article helps us consider some good questions like
“And herein lies the greatest challenge of the C-Tweet: Where does the voice of the brand end and the voice of the individual begin?”
and gives a few good guidelines for leaders to consider before jumping off into a twitter account. But it doesn’t really go much into one of the best reasons for company leaders to engage with Twitter and social media: “To get better in touch with their customers and their needs.” It’s a mantra of so many business books and successful companies, maybe it’s just obvious. If you don’t have an AdAge account you can see the article here.
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Yahoo Search Marketing Blog has a good post (refresher) on choosing keywords. Good overview of choosing general/broad AND specific/narrow keywords. Example: “toyota” is general, “toyota camry” and “camry hatchback” are more specific. Make sure to have both.
There are lots of good posts on Yahoo’s Search Blog, make sure to read more.
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Social Media in Pharma and Medical fields
Here’s a great list of leaders in the pharma and medical device fields that blog and/or twitter. Some of my medical clients have been very cautious with social media because of the regulatory issues that could come up. Clearly you can engage with peers and customers as this great list shows. Good to see my pal Greg Rust on the list!
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Email and Analytics
Bronto Blog has a good post, although pretty technical, on setting up Google Analytics to measure your email campaigns. Google Analytics has a great tool called URL builder that you can compose to measure the source of the click, label different mediums and campaigns to give you full insight into where clicks are coming from. If you set up all your email links with these, you can A/B test different email or promotion versions, see trends in clicks/purchases over time or start to get insights into your customer segments and improve targeting.
Have a GREAT week!
Getting better insights from your analytics
Via a quick post on the SuperWebAnalyist Blog from Ed Wu of the Web Analytics Association and Dell’s Consumer Online team come a great post on “numbers that lie” or at least don’t really offer any insights about online behavior.
In one of my new favorite blogs to read, analytics pro Avinash Kaushik shows how Averages, Percentages, Ratios and Compound Metrics (aka Calculated Metrics) don’t show much real insight, and can often be misleading.
As an example to combat the “fluff” of averages, you should identify your most important / interesting segments for your business and report those along with the overall averages. Distributions of tiers of activity also help wade through the numbers and get to real actionable insights.
See the rest of his very good recommendations here, including how to make use of the “Better Google Analytics” Firefox plugin that offers several advantages and updates Google Analytics.
Another great post is on his recommendations on establishing strong KPI’s or Key Performance Indicators for your website. (Not sure why there are 6 recommendations but 8 rules, but hey, who’s counting? 8-) What’s a KPI?
Measures that help you understand how you are doing against your objectives.
Although to some it’s obvious, unlike several of my past clients (sorry), you do need to set objectives for your web marketing efforts (some thing a little more specific and measurable than “have a cool website” and “make more money”) and then set measures to track your efforts in attaining them. How else do you prioritize your efforts?
Some of his recommendations are pretty standard, but his explanation of WHY they are good is worth a read. I’ve overviewed them here:
- Conversion Rate, (pretty obvious) measures towards objectives
- Average Order Value cross and up-sell measures (Yes, with segmentation and distributions!)
- Days & Visits To “Purchase”, especially with relationship customers and products that are considered purchases
- Visitor Loyalty & Visitor Recency, aiding in segmenting & targeting most valuable customers
- Task Completion Rate, goes hand in making sites usable and fine tuning good content
- Share of Search to better measure against competitors. Compete.com seems like an interesting tool to help
Follow Avinash on Twitter.
Are you actively managing your site’s analytics? What are you missing in your optimization of your sites efficacy and customer experience? Are you really capturing your share of market?
Door64 Tech Fair – Matt Genovese of Door64.com
I shot some short video interviews with some of the software and service folks that attended the Door64.com Tech Fair yesterday, you’ll see several of them before this post. It was a packed event with over 900 people set up by Matt Genovese, founder of Door64, a community of over 5,000 high tech professionals. Thanks Matt!
Here’s a great AAStatesman article covering the event.
Matt has grown Door64.com’s community so quickly from the ground up, it’s a great example of how social media, personal networks and executing well to fill a need.
I had a great time chatting with so many people doing great things. I hope you enjoy the videos too.
I didn’t get video time with Nik of Turn2Live.com, Bridget or Travis of Werkadoo.com, Cari of ExSquared.com, Cesar of Common Sense or Lisa of SmartBear.com. Guys, if you’d like to send me a link or have lunch and make a 30-second video to share, I’d love to share it. They all looked like they have a great things happening, check them out.
Larry Warnock, Phurnace.com – Door64 Tech Fair
One of the highlights of the Door64 Tech Fair me was chatting with Larry Warnock, President and CEO of Phurnace Software. They offer software to accelerate enterprise Java application deployment and they have a very cool name. 8-)
I’ve been a fan of Larry Warnock since his Vignette CMO days and hearing his excellent talk to the Acton MBA program via their podcasts.
Leah Chaney, OtherInbox.com – Door64 Tech Fair
Leah Chaney of OtherInbox.com shares an overview of the Other Inbox service. Basically it helps you manage both the email you want and the email you don’t want. I’ve been using it for a while and it’s really a time and inbox clutter saver, it helps keep me focused on what’s important. OIB founder Joshua Baer is a really smart entrepreneur that has a great track record of success, I’m sure this will be a great addition to it.
Brian Massey, MarketForMeBook.com – Door64 Tech Fair
Brian Massey has a great presentation and book about marketing yourself for a new job or business development in general through a cultivated “lifetime career” network. Check out MarketForMeBook.com for the overview and a free book deal in partnership with CardboardResume.com. They offer a CRM-type site for job searchers.
Brian also shares insights at The Conversion Scientist, very good info.
