Forrester analyzed date from Consumer Technographics and looked at examples of the online experience in the travel industry.  The resulting paper that was published is entitled Humanizing the Digital Travel Experience.

Conclusions

1.  More and more users are going online to gather travel-related information and transact online.

2.  But, fewer travelers are satisifed using digital channels than those using human agents:  83 million online leisure travelers don’t find the web easy to use to plan and buy their trips.

3.  To improve, the industry must humanize the digital travel experience — putting human benefits ahead of technology.

Steps to get started in creating a humanized digital travel experience:

Align organizations to be customer-centric

Get better customer insight – and use it

Adopt an outside-in, emotional point of view, rather than an inside-out, clinical approach

The key is to take information available to all and make it meaningful to one traveler, and tap into the traveler's emotions. Information needs to be presented in an empathetic, empowering, and engaging way.

These guidelines for travel-related websites also apply to all clients interested in improving the online experience for customers.

Lynn Moss
Def 6 Client Manager

In January of this year, Google rolled out the "ten pack" at the top of the search results:  a list of ten companies with addresses, reviews, star ratings and a local map.  This is the most privileged position on the Internet.

Besides dramatically raising a website's visibility in search engines, research has consistently shown that customer reviews are sought out and trusted when making a buying decision.  Consumers want real-life opinions about local businesses and services.

A subtle way of asking customers to write about you is to prominently post your reviews in your store -- near the front door or on the counter.  You should post them at your website, too.

Businesses spend a lot of money advertising on search engines to reach potential customers - $1.7B in 2008, estimated to grow to $2.2B in 2009.  You should build on that investment with customer reviews -- they spread the word in a way ads can't.

USA TODAY's article entitled Businesses turn to online reviews to grow clientele can be read at:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/services/2008-05-20-online-reviews_N.htm

One of my clients gathers comments from guests after a spa visit.  We're developing an online guestbook so that the spa managers can post those comments at the website.  We'll invite online visitors to comment, too, when they come to the website.

Definition 6 can help you incorporate customer reviews into your website.

Lynn Moss
Def 6 Client Manger

The needs of a user searching on a mobile device are different than one searching from a PC.

Today, a search on Google from a PC generates a massive Web “crawl” and returns pages and pages of search results with rankings based on number of daily hits a website gets or paid advertisement placement.  These rankings have little to do with the quality of the product or service.

In the mobile environment, such thoroughness can be the digital equivalent of using a shotgun to take out a housefly — way too much firepower for the task at hand.  Mobile consumers are typically on the run and have little patience for pages of search results and no patience for ads.  They want highly relevant and useful information.


By 2010, a growing segment will use wireless services to access the Internet 95% of the time.


Today about 1 billion people have PCs; about 3 billion have mobile phones and that number is expected to grow to 4 billion by 2010.

Search engines are trying to replicate a 20-inch experience on a 2-inch screen, and that's leaving them, inevitably, about 90% short.

Search engines that don't change could wind up following in AOL's famous footsteps. AOL in the '90s was an online juggernaut with a gold-plated brand name and more than 30 million subscribers. Today, it's a free service with a dwindling base of about 8.7 million customers.

Google is making a few accommodations.  Instead of giving wireless users pages of search results, for example, it only offers "snippets" — Google-speak for the first few search results that appear at the top of the page.  It's also limiting the number of ads to one or two per search.

They are also pushing the development of an open wireless operating system — dubbed Android — that would make it easier for consumers to use Google's mobile services.  Android-loaded devices are expected to hit the market later this year.


Bottom  line:  Unless traditional search engines adapt, they will be come dinosaurs.

A lengthy article appeared in USA TODAY:  http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/services/2008-06-09-mobile-search_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

Definition 6 helps clients with mobile marketing campaigns and can help you understand Web 2.0 and 3.0 trends.

Lynn Moss
Def 6 Client Manager

CAN-SPAM is the US Federal Anti-Spam Law in effect since Jan 2004.  There are four new rules which went into effect on July 7, 2008, which may require changes to your email campaigns or the unsubscribe process at your website.

FTC New Rule Provisions:

1.  Email recipient cannot be required to log in to unsubscribe.

2.  All 'senders' of the email are responsible for compliance.  When we do affiliate marketing for clients [for example: advertise in emails sent out by Website Magazine], the sender in From Line is the primary sender and is responsible for complying with CAN SPAM; but, if they do not...then, all advertisers are liable.

3.  If you offer a reward for recipients to follow to a colleague or friend, then all CAN-SPAM rules apply to the forwarded email.  Therefore, the recommendation is "DON'T offer an incentive to subscribers to forward emails."  In addition, the content that is contained within the forwarded email must be able to controlled by the subscriber.  You have to let them see what the email is going to say and give them the option of editing the content.

To read the entire article and keep up with legislation that affects emails, click here:  http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2008/05/canspam.shtm 

Definition 6 helps clients with email campaigns by crafting email strategies, composing targeted messaging, creating email templates, incorporating dynamic content, deploying emails, reporting on the results, and continuous testing to optimize email campaigns.

Lynn Moss
Def 6 Client Manager

It's hard to convey a true sense of customer service at a website.  Videos can achieve this.  Here are specific ways to use video to be most effective.

How can videos be used at your website?

1.  A Video FAQ is a dynamic and engaging way to help educate customers and shorten the sales cycle.

2.  Interactive Sales People can guide users through your website while educating them about your products.

3.  Product Demos effectively showcase products through motion, audio, multiple real-time angles and help potential customers visualize themselves using it.

4.  Customer Testimonials and Case Studies convey a much higher sense of sincerity than text alone.

A final note:  Don't force users to view videos.  New visitors may require more information and benefit from them while repeat visitors may want to go directly to your product catalog or ordering application.
 
This information comes from Online Video Fundamentals for eCommerce, recently published in one of my absolute favorite interactive marketing magazines Website Magazine.  To read the entire article or to get a free subscription, click here:

http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2008/08/01/Online-Video-Fundamentals-for-ECommerce.aspx

Definition 6 can help you incorporate video into your website; and, of course, we can help with all of your marketing needs.

Lynn Moss
Def 6 Client Manager

A blog can accomplish a variety of interactive marketing goals, such as:

a.  Personalize your sales team by having them blog on case studies
b.  Validate your tech team with highly technical blogs about product development
c.  Turn an internal expert into an industry thought leader
d.  Expand your corporate image with executive blogs
e.  Become a resource by collecting relevant articles

Whatever your goal, here are tips that will make it a dynamic read:

1.  Include genuine, heartfelt content that is useful; be brief and informal
2.  Regular updates are needed to be active and successful.
3.  Your viewpoint must have an innovative focus

I hope this helps you decide how to jump into blogging and what is called 'conversational marketing.'

If you want to read the full article entitled Craft your Blog for Maximum Impact:  3 absolutes to make it a must-read, here's the link to MarketingSherpa, a resource that I use often:
www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=30805&pop=no

And, of course, Definition 6 can help you maximize your blogging efforts!

Lynn Moss
Def 6 Client Manager