Warren Knight

Google Voice launched a ‘call phones’ feature this month that works within your Gmail account. Not much to say about it, except that it could make Google Apps for Business an even more attractive proposition, as they are offering international call rates (computer to phone) starting at 2 cents a minute to Japan, Britain, Germany and France. Arguably everything required to launch a business from your computer now sits in the cloud of Google Apps… But you’ll still need to file your tax returns.

Here’s last week’s fantastic social commerce webinar/podcast on group buy hosted by Opus research/Internet2Go, featuring Yipit co-founder James Moran, Close.ly CEO Perry Evans and Internet2Go Senior Analyst & Program Director Greg Sterling.

Full of intelligent insights, useful stats and market predictions, it’s the best overview of the social commerce group-buy segment we’ve yet to have seen.

Here’s the link to the webinar (requires registration), but screenshots, audio and top takeouts are below.  Enjoy.

Group Buy Power Briefing (Yipit/Close.ly)

Top Takeouts

• 62% of online adults look for coupons for online stores – 12% never make a purchase without checking for an online coupon first
• Searches on Google for “Printable Coupons” increased 67% year on year
• Digital coupon users have average household income of $96K
• Adults with HH income greater than $100K are twice as likely to have redeemed online coupons than lower income households
• Adults with college degrees are 2x more likely to have used online coupons than those who didn’t graduate from high-school
• After search engines, coupon sites are the most popular online shopping tool (before reviews, retailer emails, price comparison sites, shopping portals and social networks)
• There are now 500+ Group Buy couponing sites; Groupon and LivingSocial are the market leaders (Groupon vital statistics: Valuation $1.35m, 2010 revenues (est.) $350-400M, $170M invested, present in 100+ US cities, expansion through Europe underway)
• Publishers/media co’s are now entering the group-buy arena (Washington Post, San Fransisco Chronicle, CBS)
• Group buy sites are a new generation local advertising channel/local direct marketing channel
• Group buy is form of “live social marketing” (daily deals + email marketing + mobile LBS/checking + Search marketing)
• 90% of group-buy coupons get redeemed
• The group-buy categories generating the most revenue are city tours, hair removal and spas
• The future of group buy is 1) “verticalization” – focusing on specific product/demographic categories 2) media (publishing sites)
• 93% of retailers using group buy sites would use them again
• Customer retention is an issue with group-buy sites – 19% conversion from coupons to regular customers – but apps such as Scoutmob are emerging that offer ‘return perks’ deals for returning coupon users to stimulate loyalty

Warren Knight thanks Paul Marsden

Here’s yesterday’s PBS (WHRV – HearSay with Cathy Lewis) show on Groupon and the associated couponing trend (back on the rise in the US).

PBS Show on Groupon (50min) Download Right-click and save as to download.

The show includes the flurry of usual statistical suspects (below) and runs for nearly an hour, with listeners calling in (mostly to heart Groupon), but it makes good drive-time/commute listening – and demonstrates the appeal of Groupon from a shopper perspective.

• Groupon is the “fasting growing company ever” – growing faster than EBay, Yahoo, Facebook or Google grew – founded November 2008
• Only company to have been valued at more than a billion dollars faster the You Tube
• Groupon has a $1.3bn valuation
• You Tube has yet to turn a profit, but Groupon was in the black in its first 7 months
• On track for $500m revenue this year
• The recent Gap Groupon ($50 value for $25) sold 200,000 group coupons before noon (10/second)
• Groupon is part of revived trend of couponing (50% of Americans use coupons – up from last year)
• Consumers that clip grocery coupons spend more than non-coupon users
• Coupons may be for necessities, Groupons may be used for non-necessities luxuries
• Groupon will be soon be offering more targeted “personalized” offers based on zip codes

And to wrap up, a refresher on Groupon – what it is, how it works.

…And just for completeness, a Fox Business news slot from this week covering Groupon (You Tube link Fox doesn’t do embedding)…

Warren Knight thanks Paul Marsden

Web analytics is perhaps the most important discipline for businesses online. In case you don’t know who and why visits you, buys your products and talks about you, you are blind on the Web.

Web analytics goes beyond simple SEO metrics.

It’s about

• usability
• conversions
• branding

among others.

Additionally, with the huge influence of social media, it’s more important than ever to monitor social media buzz. While some people still assume that there are no social media measurement tools there are already dozens out there.

So check out these 50+ advanced web analytics tools for business use. It’s the updated 2010 edition. Of course I assume that you know by now the industry standard solution Google Analytics.

This list has been first compiled in February, 2009 so I decided to update and republish it 18 months later. I’ve removed, added and changed numerous links.

Make sure not to miss the Social Media analytics solutions at the bottom of the list.

Free and/or Affordable Analytics Solutions

• Woopra
• ChartBeat
• Clicky
• Web-Stat
• Stat24
• Etracker
• Blvd Status

Search Analytics

• HitTail
• WordStream
• Eightfold Logic (formerly Enquisite)
• Raven
• Compete
• SERPanalytics

Heat Maps and Usability Tracking

• Crazy Egg
• Clicktale
• clickdensity
• Clickheat
• Mouse Eye Tracking (MET)

Enterprise Analytics

• Omniture (by Adobe)
• Web Trends
• Yahoo! Web Analytics
• Truviso
• Snoobi
• CoreMetrics
• Unica
• Hitslink
• VisiStat

Hosted/Server Side Solutions

• Piwik
• Mint
• Trace Watch
• AW Stats
• Analog

Twitter & Facebook Analytics

• HootSuite
• bit.ly
• Cligs
• Twittercounter
• TweetStats
• Tweetreach
• Facebook Insights

Social Media Analytics

• Trackur
• PostRank Analytics
• Alterian SM2

Enterprise Social Media Monitoring Tools

• Radian6
• onalytica
• BuzzLogic
• FirstRain
• Ethority
• Brandwatch
• converseon
• CustomScoop
• Attensity

Warren Knight Thanks to the colleagues of SEOptimise @GuavaUK for suggesting CoreMetrics and Unica on Twitter. Also thanks to SEMPlanning.com for providing a huge list of social media buzz tracking tools used while researching.

A new social media study reveals that fashion brands have a significantly stronger social media presence than other UK retailers, by actively embracing various platforms for the benefit of both the customer and the business.

Having measured the fundamental rise of ecommerce over the past decade, eDigitalResearch is now monitoring retailer’s social media as part of its benchmark activity, assessing brand’s presence over several different sites and their efforts to engage in two-way dialogue.

Assessing some 72 UK retail sites by looking at volume of followers alongside active interaction between the brand and consumer, the research found that fashion retailers are encouraging a larger degree of cross-communication through well-established Twitter accounts and Facebook pages. Topshop and River Island claimed the top two spots, recording a large number of followers and higher levels of customer engagement. ASOS came in third, with New Look and Next completing the top five.

Ed Handasyde –Dick, Social Media Manager at eDigitalResearch comments, “It is not surprising that brands aimed at a younger, more dynamic audience came out on top. We are beginning to see more content-driven marketing from many multichannel fashion retailers, such as in-house produced magazines, focusing on subjects that potential customers regularly talk about. It is only natural that consumers are turning to social media platforms to engage and identify with their favourite brands. The next challenge is for companies to utilise all this user generated content and integrate it into within their future marketing and business plans.”

The recent rapid development of mobile technology and the opportunities it provides for retailers is also becoming more apparent, with companies beginning to develop mobile sites and apps for consumers. Sitting just outside the top four, Next and Marks and Spencer’s, have recently launched mobile sites, cementing their commitment to developing their future ecommerce strategies. However, with a slightly older target market, who are less likely to be social media savvy, they both miss out on achieving higher positions as they have lower levels of customer engagement and interaction.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, fashion websites who target an older demographic, and electrical retailers, scored rather low, with many not even having a social media site presence. Most grocery sites also had low scores, with many only having just developed a social media strategy. For these sites, the conflict going forward will be to try and find engaging content that will captivate consumers and their online target market.

Warren Knight thanks The Retail Bulletin