One of the things that I like to shop for online is apparel (like blouses, shoes, accessories, etc.). From the comfort of my couch, I sift through countless pairs of pants, high heels, or dresses and visualize how they’d integrate into my wardrobe. I rely heavily on customer reviews when making online purchases, and can recall a recent shopping experience when customer reviews strongly influenced my buying decision. Let me explain.

Jeans in Question

I’m not a fan of buying jeans, but when I decide to buy a pair I try on style after style, brand after brand, and fit after fit. One brand that I’ve had success with is Banana Republic, so I went to their site one night knowing that I was looking for a pair of dark skinny jeans. After browsing through their selection, a pair caught my eye; it had everything that I was looking for — dark wash, allegedly long length, and my size. After reading the customer reviews, however, I learned that these pants ran about 6 inches shorter than the advertised inseam length! So, when I ordered the pants online, I made sure to order my size in a longer length so that they’d fit me the way I wanted. In the end, I loved the pants and ended up keeping them!

A few months later, wanting to buy another similar pair of pants, I went back to the BR website because I knew I’d get honest, helpful feedback on the denim. The pants that I liked and wanted to buy had received terrible reviews, though! In looking at these reviews critically, I particularly liked how these reviews include information about the product specifically (the cut, rise, etc.) and how many other shoppers found the information in the review helpful, as well. Instead of purchasing the pants in my normal size, and being disappointed when they arrived in the mail, I will either order them in a larger size based on the feedback given in the consumer reviews or simply go into one of their stores to try the pants on there.

Banana Republic Sample Product Review

Here are some main takeaways from shopping for BR denim online:

1. Negative reviews are not a bad thing. When we’re working with our ecommerce clients, and the topic of product reviews come up, most of them are scared to do reviews because they’re fearful of having negative comments about their products on the site. Constructive criticism from your clients can be a good thing; it helps your other shoppers make more informed buying decisions and also gives you insight into how to improve your products.
2. The feedback given created a positive buying experience for me. The reviews told me about the perceived product downfalls, and this insight guided me to make adjustments in my normal shopping behavior. The BR brand is still great in my mind, and I will continue to look to them for future denim purchases.

Think about how many times you’ve waited expectantly for that perfect purchase to arrive in the mail, only to be sadly disappointed for whatever reason (e.g. the color wasn’t what you expected, the fit wasn’t accurate with the online description, etc.). Not only does having product reviews make the online shopping experience more positive for the consumer, but from a business process perspective how much time and money could be saved by having to process fewer returns from purchases made online? If shoppers are able to make more educated shopping decisions based off of consumer-provided reviews, there would theoretically be more satisfied consumers and fewer returns.

One of the first things you’ll notice about their profile is that it opens on the News/Promos tab which features simple things for fans to do.  This is important for a couple reasons.  The first is that most companies seem to have success on Facebook if they give their fans something to do.  Dunkin’ Donuts has a callout for people to dunk themselves in chocolate and another for people to enter a contest (located off Facebook as you now must pay to host a contest within Facebook).  The second is that they didn’t over-complicate it.  You’re decorating a donut and dipping yourself in chocolate – both very much on brand as well as easy and fun.

If you go a little deeper into their profile, you’ll notice that their profile picture is a “Fan of the Week”.  This is a really great approach to having their fans do the marketing for them.  Each week they pick a new photo and the person who is selected will most likely brag on their own profile about being the lucky choice.  This accomplishes two things:

1. They’ve reaffirmed their relationship with that customer.
2. That customer’s friends are most likely going to become their fan because they want a crack at the “Fan of the Week”.

It’s a perfect domino effect.

I think the biggest takeaway I had from the presentation was to not over-complicate anything when it comes to Facebook.  It doesn’t need to be elaborate or overly processed.  It can be super grass roots and organic.  After all, that’s why people are on Facebook.  They don’t want marketers throwing things at them but they do want the opportunity to interact with their favorite brands.

I think it’s time for me to go dunk myself in chocolate. Care to join me?

Yes, you do need to optimize your website for mobile devices.

Year after year, mobile usage is growing and it is expanding to include new formats (Apple iPad, HP Slate and the much rumored Google Tablet). The way we interact with these devices will mature as the technologies and devices develop. For now, there a few simple things to keep in mind.

First, if you have a website, then you should absolutely invest in establishing the mobile version of that site. The key to creating an effective mobile site is in the strategy. A good mobile site isn’t just a tiny version of your existing site. A good mobile site needs to focus on addressing your core marketing objectives in a way that is in keeping with the brand experience of your website but is also optimized for mobile screens.

There are two rules of thumb that we try to use as a guide in our mobile website strategy here at eROI. Both focus on the intended audience and the general tendency of most mobile users today. What we have found is that most mobile users typically fall into these two camps:

• I need information quickly. Directions to that meeting, recommendations on a nearby restaurants, where the closest bus/subway stop is, the phone number of that business, etc. These people need information quickly that’s easy to find that’s only a click away, if that. If the information is too difficult to find or executed poorly, they will move onto the next option (a.k.a. your competitor). Don’t lose your chance to grab their business.

• I have some time to waste. I am waiting for my plane, for my appointment, at my bus stop, for my friends to show up, for my meeting/class to start, at the checkout line, etc. These people want light reading that gives them the general idea, not in-depth reading. They want a series of images to look through or  maybe even a light quiz or opportunity to interact with your site. Keep the content relevant, interesting, and engaging.

These basic camps also apply to online marketing campaigns. If you have a marketing campaign in your future, keep in mind that mobile users present you with an opportunity that you don’t get with your typical web audience. Mobile users typically have ‘in-between’ time. They aren’t at home or sitting at their desk tuned into the task at hand having to manage the usual distractions. They want a little distraction and they want opportunities to pick-up new information quickly in an engaging way. These people want to click so don’t leave them out of your next campaign strategy.

Okay, here are the final takeaways for you skimmers:

1. Mobile usage is rapidly growing (in case you’ve been under a rock)
2. A mobile site isn’t a tiny version of a website
3. Mobile sites optimize for a  mobile screen experience
4. Make use of a mobile users’ ‘in-between time’ – include them in your strategy

Want more info? Have a look at our mobile whitepaper to get a little more insight.

While change is good, there is something to be said to having a purpose behind each change. We are consumers by nature and always want that new best thing, but why not first take a look at the tools you already have at your disposal and assess if you are indeed using them to their full potential.

Here are some questions to ask when considering whether or not to invest in the next latest and greatest marketing tactic. These might help you figure out if your money is best spent on what’s new or if it’d be better spent fine-tuning what you’re already utilizing.

• When was the last time you logged into your websites analytics account and closely reviewed the stats? Do you know what page has the greatest drop off? If you do, don’t you think making adjustments to this page would be good place to invest some funds instead of PPC ads that your uncle Jimmy told you about?
• What about your email marketing statistics? Do you look at your “read” and “click through” stats after each campaign and assess what worked and what didn’t, and then make adjustments accordingly?
• What about your email preference center? Do you ask your subscribers to choose the info they want to read and segment your lists and content accordingly? If not you should. After all, why invest in an email marketing tool that you are not utilizing to it’s full potential?
• What about your website’s blog? When was the last time you published a new post? If your content is not fresh the loyalty in your readership will decrease and you’ll let yet another viable tool go to waste.

What I’m saying is that before you rush out to skin a Twitter account and set up a Facebook page because everyone is doing it first take a look in your cupboard and spend some quality time assessing the tools you’ve already invested in. By doing so, you might find that you have outgrown some of them and are indeed in need of some changes (glitter in lotion was never a good idea). Or, you might rediscover what you liked so much about them in the first place and that they are truly working (hello anti-aging). For those of you who are already monitoring and tweaking your current marketing efforts, taking the initiative to skin a Twitter page or migrate to Facebook could be a solid next step; doing this prematurely might be a waste of your time and resources.

Above all, remember there should be a purpose behind every product or tool that you invest in, so if what you’re doing isn’t working for you toss it in the trash and make more time and room for those that do.

The key word here is constant. Anyone at anytime could go to a candidates website and learn their views on the issues and how they plan to deal with them. They were taking advantage of higher bandwidths to show video and audio clips of rallies, speeches and even supporters’ home videos.

They were also taking full advantage of the e-commerce aspects of the web by not only offering sections to donate to the campaigns but also pages to buy t-shirts, buttons, coffee mugs and signs. The Obama-Biden site even has selected products for sale directly on the home page.

A major difference in their e-commerce sections was the user experience. Once in the McCain-Palin store each section takes you to a different looking third party e-com site that doesn’t even attempt to carry over any design or feel from the home site. This is in stark contrast to the Obama-Biden store experience that was fluid and consistent with no disconnect as the store carries every aspect of the design into their e-commerce interface.

Obama’s Store Page               Mccain’s Store Page

E-commerce was going to be an obvious method employed by both campaigns but there is a lot more the web has to offer. Both campaigns tried their hand at social networking, creating sites for supporters (and non-supporters) to join, interact, discuss, share and create efforts locally to debate, raise funds and raise awareness.

The McCain-Palin ticket actually took two cracks at it, the first attempt being highly scrutinized.  Adam Ostrow, writer for Mashable, an online publication, wrote, “The first version of the site, which launched early this year, is virtually impossible to use and appearing largely abandoned, which it was.”

When referring to the second attempt he wrote, “The new site is extremely easy to use, and includes a lot of social networking best practices like allowing users to sort videos by most viewed, highest rated, and most recent.” I personally went on the McCain-Palin social networking site community.mccainspace.com (since taken down) when it first came up and the first thing I noticed was the drop down menu went behind the Flash content rendering it useless. This was an issue isolated to the home page but it was like this for over a week.

However, overall this was a monumental improvement from the first attempt. This new site was done in KickApps, a white-label social networking site which has been a valuable partner to us here at eROI, and their platform supported a multitude of ways for McCain-Palin supporters to discuss topics and issues. They also took full advantage of the group capabilities of KickApps to form specific smaller communities within the the whole community. An example was a group dedicated to Hillary supporters that were now supporting McCain.

On the other hand the Obama-Biden Social Networking site My.BarackObama.com has been a success from the start even offering a simple, cohesive instructional video clearly laying out how to start an account and use your dashboard. Their attempt was clearly driven to get people in local communities to come together and spread the word through grass-roots efforts including organizing door-to-door campaigns.

Although missing some of the bells and whistles of the McCain-Palin Social site (KickApps’ widget features in particular) the Obama-Biden Social site was easy to use and powerful in its ability to bring people together to collaborate and organize.

Both campaign home pages are similar in layout and design with Obama’s looking more polished with time spent on detail and McCain’s looking more like an ad-driven template site. Both offer an “En Español” link to serve the site in Spanish which will be expanded to even more languages in the next election. Both had very similar content links and pages.

Obama’s Home Page               McCain’s Home Page

Both had a link to the issues with Obama having twenty-five issues to McCain’s nineteen to discuss. However McCain has three seperate blogs to Obamas one. Interestingly though, Obama has decided to not only have a page dedicated to the blog but also have the latest feeds right on the home page creating a somewhat long scrolling page.

In the end I would argue that Obama’s campaign has the edge through consistency and design while McCain’s web campaign seemed to be in a constant state of playing catch-up. Although willing to adapt and constantly work hard to have a stronger web presence the McCain web efforts were no match for a better funded, better thought out Obama-Biden web campaign.