InteractNow! Online CRM & Ecommerce Solutions

The Golden Age of Marketing

john — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 03:52:08 +0000

One of the reasons that sustainability is such a big issue for all of us is the way the marketplace has shaped up in the last few years. A telltale sign is the initial public offering market. The once-vibrant activity of bringing new companies to the stock markets has shriveled up, and with it you have a graphic description of a relative lack of innovation in the economy.

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The Golden Age of Marketing

Transforming Financial CRM From Retention Mode to Growth Mode

john — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 05:08:48 +0000

As financial institutions gear up for 2010, many companies are still on the long road to recovery after facing some of the most difficult challenges in years. Mortgage defaults and foreclosures, new regulations on credit card and bank fees, and the constant barrage of related news stories sent customer call volumes through the roof in 2009.

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Transforming Financial CRM From Retention Mode to Growth Mode

Bridging the Ecommerce Technology and Marketing Divide

john — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 03:49:47 +0000

The stereotypical IT/Marketing feud has the visionary, revenue focused CMO barking orders at the process-oriented, cost conscious CIO. Perhaps you’ve heard horror stories of the CIO hijacking the marketing plan, refusing to implement it or worse, the entire IT staff quitting in revolt. Hopefully it’s not that bad in your organization. The majority of eBusinesses do struggle with the IT/marketing relationship to some degree. 71% of eBusiness leaders surveyed by independent firm Forrester Research, Inc. report low to average levels of support for their business coming from IT. Many prefer to outsource key technology needs in part to avoid working with internal IT staff. Only 9% believe they are well supported by IT. 69% of eBusiness and channel strategy professionals report that they outsource their IT, development and infrastructure: Source: Improving The eBusiness And IT Relationship, Brian K. Walker, Forrester Research, Inc., October 6, 2009. (Email subscribers: please enable images to view the diagrams from Forrester) Common complaints from eBusiness teams are that IT is too slow, not reliable and doesn’t see things from the customer perspective. IT complains that marketing doesn’t give enough detail on requirements and doesn’t understand the work required to “make it so” in light of existing systems and platforms. It doesn’t help the situation that Marketing and IT are held to different measures of success. Marketers and online store managers are responsible for growing sales and making customers merry. IT is typically concerned with keeping costs under control and minimizing risk. These competing objectives are the heart of the problem. How can the Marketing and IT relationship be improved? Join us on January 26th for our next webinar: Bridging the Technology and Marketing Divide for Ecommerce Success . Our guest speakers will be Smart Destinations’ CMO, Rob Schmults and CTO, Matt Higgins. Learn about how bridging the technology vs. marketing divide has gotten easier as the technology landscape has changed, yet these changes have not been sufficient to completely close the gap. Our speakers will share views on the way changes in enabling technology combined with better organizational collaboration can make your ecommerce business faster, better, and cheaper. Sign up today . Webinar Takeaways: • How web services, WYSIWUG, and GUI’s offer the allure of cutting IT out of the picture entirely • Why marketers have to understand the importance of articulating solid requirements—and why change orders are beautiful things • Why technologists cannot be passive order takers despite the safety such a pose offers—and how they can help marketers focus on what matters • These lessons are applicable to SMB or enterprises with internal or external resources You may also like these similar posts: Persistent Shopping Carts vs. Perpetual Shopping Carts When Web Developers Don’t Consider Usability Cart Abandonment: The Case for Christmas Cookies Why Victorias Secret Lost A $350 Sale Convert First Time Visitors With Coupons

Hello E-Billpay, Good Riddance Paper Checks

john — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 15:10:15 +0000

CRMBuyer.com offers another interesting angle to consider as ecommerce style financial transactions find another avenue to supplant traditional paper ones:

It’s been nine months since I’ve written a check. That’s not to say I’m on some 12-step program to resist shopping. My credit card bills would suggest otherwise. Rather, when I opened a new bank account in March, I challenged myself to see how much I could use my bank’s online bill-payment service to stretch the 10 starter checks I got for free.

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Hello E-Billpay, Good Riddance Paper Checks

The Next Big, Green Thing in CRM

john — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:02:07 +0000

From CRMBuyer.com

News that the economy shed an additional 85,000 jobs in December is enough to put a damper on any New Year’s celebration, and it was a sobering reminder as we trudged back to work in January that we are only in the early stages of a recovery. Just to review, we know that employment is a lagging indicator and that nothing moves in a straight line.

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The Next Big, Green Thing in CRM

Business Sustainability: Closing the Loop

john — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 15:52:05 +0000

A new year! Blank screen! OK, let's talk! I think sustainability will be a big theme for me from this year onward. If your idea of sustainability is mostly about rain forest preservation and similar topics, I hope you will read on and think new. I have given a lot of thought to the concept and done a fair amount of reading, and the thing that keeps coming back to me is that sustainability is only partly about the rain forests. It's also about understanding that, for the moment at least, economic growth might look a bit different than it did in the last decade.

Wrapping Up 2009: The Best of Get Elastic

john — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:40:51 +0000

It’s the end of another year, and I want to personally thank you for being apart of Get Elastic by subscribing, Tweeting, Stumbling, sharing posts with friends and co-workers, commenting and sending us your emails! We’re looking forward to bringing you more ecommerce tips, tricks and trends in 2010 (and we’ll have a big surprise for you very soon). Get Elastic will be taking the January 1 holiday, and will return January 4th. Until then, we wish you and yours a very happy New Year, and here’s our picks for the Best of Get Elastic for the last 12 months: January Thinking positively about negative reviews February Tracking Twitter Links: Twitter Analytics Tools & More March Personalization: What Sort-By Reveals About a Customer April Looks Can Kill Your Design Effectiveness May Checkout Inspiration From Top Converting Sites June Is Free Shipping More Attractive Than A Dollar Discount? July Merchandising Usability: Better Ways to Display Product Recommendations August

Gauging CRM’s Effect on the Profit Meter

john — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 22:26:18 +0000

In a bittersweet twist of irony, a CRM technology solution can save a company or kill it. If wielded effectively, obstacles disappear and profits materialize. Used wrongly, your investment and customers are lost — often permanently. It’s crucial to know your company’s CRM strengths and, more importantly, what’s holding it back.

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Gauging CRM’s Effect on the Profit Meter

Augmented Reality: An Ecommerce Innovation To Watch

john — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 03:27:59 +0000

Econsultancy recently announced the winners of its 2009 Innovation Awards . You have to “see” the winner in the ecommerce category – Glassesdirect.co.uk Glasses Direct wins for its use of augmented reality tool that allows you to “try on” glasses virtually, and I have to say it looks pretty good, check it out: (email and RSS subscribers, if you can’t see the video, click here ). Not only do augmented reality tools help customers make a more confident decision (and improve conversion rates), they also reduce returned merchandise by reducing the risk of ordering something that won’t look good in real life. Rich Relevance has a similar product for apparel called “Fashionista” which it demonstrated at the Shop.org Summit in Las Vegas. There’s no doubt Fashionista is an amazing technology and many of the younger female set will find this fun. But superimposing a 2-Dimensional outfit is not the same as trying on a garment — I don’t think augmented reality for apparel will have the same impact on conversion and return rates. Augmented reality tools are one more stop in the never-ending quest to make online shopping more like offline, and offline shopping more like online . You may also like these similar posts: Optimizing Ecommerce Usability – Product Comparison Matrix Wishlists May Reduce Cart Abandonment Web 2.0 and Ecommerce Marketing – Shop.org Session Highlights Reducing Size and Color Uncertainty in Product Photos Will Wall of Frame Make Social Commerce Hall of Fame?

New Pearls in a CRM Classic

john — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:37:11 +0000

Finally, Paul Greenberg’s new edition of CRM at the Speed of Light hit the streets last week, and with it, my description of him as our Walt Whitman remains intact. To promote the continuing franchise, the fourth edition’s cover has the same design as the third edition but with a different color scheme. But that’s about the only similarity between editions.

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New Pearls in a CRM Classic