Peapod is Taking the Country by Storm...

Imagine a country where going to the grocery store is a thing of the past and all groceries are ordered online and delivered to your doorstep. The internet is changing our everyday lives faster than we even realize. I finally tested the online grocery store out for myself this weekend. And my experience? I'll never step foot in a brick and mortar grocery store again! (Unless I forget something in my online order.) Here are 10 reasons why:

1.) Peapod was so easy and quick to use. I ordered $150 worth of groceries in about 15 minutes.
2.) Prices were comparable to local grocery store prices.
3.) The running total on the persistent shopping cart helps you control your spending because you know what you are spending as you shop.
4.) A landing page of all products with products flagged by sale price helps you easily select the most inexpensive products.
5.) The produce I purchased was better than the hand selected pieces I find at my local grocery store.
6.) Manufacturer coupons are excepted.
7.) Groceries are not only delivered to your doorstep, they bring them into your kitchen for you!
8.) My total service fee was about $6 plus a $1.50 gas surcharge.
9.) If you forget to add something to your order, you can modify your order until 7 pm the day you placed your order.
10.) Text messages are sent with updates on the status of delivery. They provide a two hour delivery window and groceries were delivered promptly within that window.

What Should I Be Testing on My Website?

Not sure exactly where to start testing content on your website? Below are typically the heaviest in traffic so you'll want to start your focus here. Start small and tie your strategy back to your KPIs. Use tools like Google Analytics, Coremetrics, WebSphere Commerce, and ExactTarget for email to measure your results. Most importantly - Have fun with it and get creative!

1.) Shopping Cart page
2.) Home page
3.) Product page
4.) Landing pages from search (if you are using Google Adwords) and email
5.) Taxonomy across site - this one is so important! You can use web analytics to determine if users are finding what they are looking for and easily modify your categories over time so that products are easier to find.
6.) The search box - what are people searching for? Use guided search and constantly add new keyword relationships to help people find what they need.

2011's Most Popular eBusiness Challenge...will you be able to conquer it?

A recent "After the Storm" benchmark report from Retail Systems Research, a retail research company, identified a major shift in e-Business social marketing challenges for 2011. In 2010, it was all about connecting with your customers to find out what they want. 2011 is all about helping customers connect to other customers to become of the "facilitator" of the social network.

Simply observe what the customers are saying to each other and allow them to recommend your products for you. This trend is even trickling into the B2B space. In fact, today I'll be working on forums for one of our clients that will enable their 87 different dealerships to speak directly to each other to discuss parts available for sale at various locations.

Experiment with New Ways to Use Blogging to Your Advantage

Many companies have almost forced themselves into the blogging and social media marketing world because they don't want to be the last ones left. But unfortunately, if you aren't really listening to your customers or taking the time to be actively involved in what you've created, all you are really doing is burning up cash and time.

One great way to get fresh and meaningful content onto your site is to rotate who's doing the posting each day. Many companies find this to be a great way to get all of your SMEs (subject matter experts) posting and they don't feel like it's taking up too much of their time. I would take it a step further and challenge all bloggers to actively commit themselves to reviewing and researching what their customers are saying about their products and services each week and actively respond to or commit to making positive change in the organization as a result of what they are finding out on other blogs and social media sites.

A weekly 15 minute or 30 minute meeting is a great way to circle back with your cohorts and share what people are saying about your organization. In this meeting, decide on strategies for how you are going to react. You'd be amazed at the level of customer service you'd be providing back to your customers especially by responding to them online. Don't be afraid to apologize online! Customers just want to know you care. Go on, give them a little bit of Valentine's Day love today! Happy Valentine's Day everyone.

Tools to Measure Social Marketing ROI

In IBM's Social Business Jam discussion, I found a link with some great tools for measuring ROI for social marketing - http://oneforty.com/blog/tools-to-measure-social-media-roi-in-2011. Enjoy!

Don't Miss IBM's Social Business Jam Starting Today and All Week Long!

IBM's Social Business Jam begins today! @ 10 am EST. If you've already signed up for it, you can log in here using the username/password combination you signed up w/ - https://www.collaborationjam.com/minijam3/socialbusiness/.

You can still sign up by going here - http://ibm.co/joinsbjam. Many CEOs and Executives of large corporations will be included in panel discussions providing an opportunity to craft your skill sets in marketing, operations, IT, and more.

So get jamming!

Google Analytics Monday

I think we need all the help we can get on a Monday morning after the Super Bowl. So, I wanted to post a few good reference links I found related to using Google Analytics. If you haven't seen these two already, they are great comprehensive lists for what custom reports you can set up. Every custom report can have one or more dimensions and metrics associated so enjoy!

Tracking dimensions (text based data) - http://www.google.com/support/googleanalytics/bin/answer.py?answer=99021

Tracking metrics (number based data) - http://www.google.com/support/googleanalytics/bin/answer.py?answer=99118

Also, found an interesting post comparing the differences between Google Analytics, Omniture SiteCatalyst, and Yahoo Web Analytics - http://www.webanablog.com/2010/01/07/omniture-google-yahoo-analytics-comparison/