Cover Story: 50 Best Tips of 2011

Affiliate Marketing
1. Translate your brand message and product benefits into compelling resources and materials that will be useful for affiliates, including a completed and persuasive sales page, banners, graphics, email copy, AdWords text and keywords. By offering these materials, you’ll already have an advantage in attracting affiliates because you’re making their jobs much easier.
Brad Wiskirchen, 
Keynetics
“Optimize Your Affiliate Relationships by Finding a Niche,” April 19, ROI Report

B-to-B
2. With today’s high level of connectivity, customers are more interested in talking with other customers than talking to sales reps. People buy from those they know and trust. Individuals desire 
customer-centered relationships. Build your community with case studies, testimonials, and audio or video snippets that illustrate results from other customers. Ensure your customers become selling avatars.
Drew Stevens, 
Stevens Consulting Group
“Tactics to Help B-to-B Sales Reps Shine,” Feb. 17, ROI Report

3. Dump cold calling. It’s extremely discouraging to see how many people believe this methodology still works. Cold calling is a disruption. It wastes time and people are too busy. Very few are successful at it, and very little product is sold. Retailers’ financial resources are better spent increasing visibility and investing in customer-centric relationships.
Drew Stevens, 
Stevens Consulting Group
“Tactics to Help B-to-B Sales Reps Shine,” Feb. 17, ROI Report

Catalog Marketing
4. Don’t use an early expiration date of a promotion to pull sales forward. Testing has shown that while you can pull some sales forward from customers wanting to use a promotion, you’ll also lose sales that you would have normally gotten. The net effect of an early expiration of a promotional offer will be fewer sales than if the promotion ended at the close of a catalog’s normal order curve.
Jim Coogan, 
Catalog Marketing Economics
“What to Consider Before Finalizing Your 2011 Catalog Circulation Plan,” Jan. 6, ROI Report

Channel Integration
5. To succeed in cross-channel marketing, it’s imperative you adopt a centralized view of your customers’ behavior across all channels. You need to be aware of how customers choose to engage with your brand. In order to have a centralized view of your brand from a marketing and creative standpoint, you need a single leader from marketing who can drive, optimize and create synergy between all channels, vehicles and new technologies.
Wanda Gierhart, 
The Neiman Marcus Group
“The Top Women in Cross-Channel Retailing,” April, Retail 
Online Integration

6. Cross-channel retailers need to remember the qualitative and quantitative advantages of being a multichannel retailer vs. what pure-play online retailers lack. Multichannel retailers have the advantage of providing opportunities for customers to interact with products, information and services at various points of intersection that ultimately help them make smarter purchasing decisions. Being present and available at all times to assist wherever a consumer is in his/her shopping journey allows them to view cross-channel retailers as more than just a place to buy product — we help them build confidence and satisfaction in their purchasing decisions.
Julie Krueger, 
OfficeMax
“The Top Women in Cross-Channel Retailing,” April, Retail 
Online Integration

7. Compare website traffic to brick-and-mortar store traffic. By comparing online to offline traffic, you can begin to understand the dynamics of web-to-store behavior. For example, if spikes in online traffic precede spikes in brick-and-mortar traffic, understanding the timing and volume of these movements could help you provide a better, more seamless web-to-store experience and fewer lost sales.
Mark Ryski, 
HeadCount Corporation
“Tips for Converting Website-Driven Traffic In-Store,” Aug. 1, ROI Report

Creative & Copywriting
8. Do some of the work yourself. You want your copywriter spending time writing sales copy, not doing legwork. Business owners can cut their copywriting costs in areas such as research by providing spec sheets for product descriptions, providing previous sales letters, gathering their own testimonials, among other tasks.
Denise McGill, 
McGill Copywriting
“Get the Most for Your Copywriting Dollar,” April 29, ROI Report

9. Some catalog products work best when shot as a group (e.g., jacket, skirt, blouse, belt, shoes). Most websites require just one SKU per page, however. When shooting, ask yourself if your group shot can be cropped several ways to show each product individually. If not, sometimes a simple camera angle change or product rearrangement will make the photo work for both channels. Taking another shot with one of the products removed (e.g., jacket off of the blouse) is another option to give you all the images you need for 
all channels.
Susan J. McIntyre, 
McIntyre Direct
“Leveraging Your Catalog Assests Across Channels,” April, Retail 
Online Integration

Customer Service
10. Focus on customer retention. It costs anywhere from six times to 30 times more to get a new customer than it does to keep one you already have — and keep them happy. Let’s say it costs you $500 in sales and marketing costs to acquire a new customer. How long will it take you to break even on the cost of acquisition? On average, it takes 18 months to 24 months before you generate enough revenue from the customer to break even. If you lose the customer before a third year, you’ve lost money on the proposition. Start by doing the math to get a firm understanding of what customers are costing you to acquire and retain. Then take a look at your existing romance process. Don’t have one? Create one.
JoAnna Brandi, 
JoAnna Brandi & Co.
“A Little Customer Romance Goes a Long Way,” Feb. 15, Creating Positive Customer Experiences blog

11. Take a look at your company’s warranty. Is it clear, simple and to the point? If not, simplify it. Make it so easy even a child can understand it. Why? The internet, particularly social media, is the great equalizer. Simple things like upsetting a customer with a hard-to-understand guarantee will end up being tweeted, yelped and status updated.
Jim Gilbert, 
Gilbert Direct Marketing
“Warranties, Guarantees: Reducing the Barriers to Purchasing (the Good and the Bad),” March 1, Return on Intelligence blog

Database Marketing
12. Leverage point-of-sale interactions to collect customer information. Customers purchasing from you are already a fan of your brand. They’re more likely to opt in to your mobile efforts. When customers check out at a Steve Madden store, they’re asked to opt in to the company’s mobile campaign, where they’ll receive exclusive offers and a chance to win a $100 gift card. All the customer has to provide is basic information such as name, birthday, gender and, most importantly, what information they’d like to receive from us. This information, including the customer’s interests (chosen from future promotions, new products, online and in-store deals, and events) is used to build a profile, which is then put into 
a database.
Andrew Koven, 
Steve Madden
“From the NRF BIG Show: How Steve Madden Leveraged Mobile to Build its Brand,” Jan. 14, ROI Report

13. Use your statistics IQ when interpreting data. Interpreting data requires basic statistical knowledge. For example, when looking at average spend for teen shoppers on a hip retail clothing website for December 2010, and comparing it to average spend for their over-65 counterparts, you must understand that averages can be skewed by an unrepresentative subgroup of visitors. A better metric would be median spend value to compare the two markets. Understanding basic statistical concepts goes a long way towards enhancing site visitor data.
Sri Raghavan, 
Coradiant
“5 Best Practices to Optimize E-Commerce Sales,” Feb. 16, ROI Report

E-Commerce
14. Don’t wait for Cyber Monday. More than half of Christmas sales should be finished by Thanksgiving. Those merchants who opt to hold out for Cyber Monday miss the window. Make it clear to consumers that special Christmas deals are only available while supplies last. Offer free or heavily discounted shipping on multiple-item orders before Thanksgiving and through Cyber Monday, then switch to discounts on select single-item, expedited purchases through the last possible shipping day. Evolve messaging throughout the month of December and stay in front of consumers with fresh content.
Brian Horakh, 
Zoovy
“Changing Trends in Holiday E-Commerce: A List of Dos and Don’ts for 2011,” Jan. 7, ROI Report

15. Test user-contributed merchandising. End-user comments make your site a destination, a place that folks would want to visit regularly. It’s also a low-cost way to get great content and helps improve conversion rates because this kind of content is searchable through SEO.
Bob Myers, 
Sheplers
“From the NRF BIG Show: 8 Innovations in E-Commerce, Part 1,” Jan. 12, ROI Report

16. Never, ever let shoppers be surprised by shipping charges once they reach the checkout page. Explicitly state shipping costs before consumers push the final checkout button. Surprise shipping charges are the No. 1 reason for abandoned shopping carts.
Volusion
“10 Tips to Boost E-Commerce Sales,” May 9, ROI Report

17. A no-brainer strategy among retailers every holiday season is to make it easier for shoppers and customers to find great presents through their gift selector features. The secret to making a gift selector strategy work wonders is relevance. Merely offering up a fixed set of products that aren’t aligned with a consumer’s tastes won’t get you far.
Bill Hustad, 
Baynote
“3 E-Commerce Mistakes to Avoid This Holiday Season,” Sept. 23, 
ROI Report

Email
18. Never offer a one-click unsubscribe. This refers to a situation where the opt-out link in an email is clicked and the reader is immediately unsubscribed. In many cases, the recipient may have been looking for a way to modify their preferences. Instead, direct them to your preference center. You still want to make it easy to opt out, but don’t throw away the chance to save a relationship.
Reggie Brady, Reggie Brady Marketing Solutions
“How to Implement an Email Preference Center,” January, Retail Online Integration

19. It’s one thing to send automated remarketing messaging with the item that was left in the cart, but consider offering additional content recommendations (i.e., related personalized product recommendations). For example, if the shopper leaves an Indianapolis Colts T-shirt in the cart, not only include that specific T-shirt in a remarketing message, but also a Colts hat, shorts, etc. Remarketing messages present a prime opportunity to cross-sell and upsell other products within the body of the message.
Eric Tobias, iGoDigital
“5 Tips to Recapture Cart Abandonment,” April 20, ROI Report

20. Seed your list. Set up five mailboxes to 10 mailboxes at Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL and anywhere else you can. Don’t open the seed emails (i.e., the ones you send to yourself). This tactic will give you a good indication as to where your emails are being delivered — inbox, spam folder or trash. Do this in-house; don’t ask your provider to do it for you.
Amy Africa, 
Eight by Eight
“An E-Commerce Holiday Checklist, Part 2,” September, Retail 
Online Integration

General Marketing Issues
21. An excellent way to normalize media and product revenue is to make profit per shopper a key performance metric, essentially dividing the net revenue from both sources by the total number of visitors to the online store. A successful e-commerce media program should significantly increase profit per shopper over time by adding new media revenue while also contributing to the growth of product sales.
Jonathan Opdyke, 
HookLogic
“What’s E-Commerce Media, and Why Do I Need a Strategy?,” Jan. 20, ROI Report

22. Think carefully before working with group buying sites. No one can deny the success and popularity of daily-deal sites such as Groupon and LivingSocial, but there are potential drawbacks to using these services. For starters, many businesses that have worked with Groupon report that customers don’t return to purchase again after they use their coupon. What’s more, there’s the possibility that the wrong customers — e.g., existing customers who’d likely purchase merchandise in your store anyway — may be getting the deals. This could have a huge effect on margins, devalue brands and cannibalize sales to existing customers.
Bill Bass, 
Charming Shoppes
“INNOVATE: 8 Best Practices for Cross-Channel Retailers, Part 1,” March 10, ROI Report

23. Remember the creepy factor when using retargeting. Retargeting, which involves tracking consumers’ key interactions (e.g., uncompleted product purchases) and then serving relevant ads to them based on those interactions, is becoming common practice on the web thanks to technology advancements. As expected, marketers love the concept. But remember that, in general, consumers think this tactic is creepy. I’ve seen retargeting where a consumer adds items to a checkout basket and the merchandise in that basket appears in another checkout basket on another website. Yes, it’s cool, but kind of creepy. Be careful not to turn off customers.
Bill Bass, 
Charming Shoppes
“INNOVATE: 8 Best Practices for Cross-Channel Retailers, Part 1,” March 10, ROI Report

Global Retailing
24. China’s economy, while changing rapidly, is inherently local. The supplier that will be the best partner in Beijing is unlikely to be the one most successful in Chengdu, and vice versa. Because relationships are everything, the concept of a strong national firm is, at most, an emerging one. Thus finding partners is a task that must be implemented on a local basis, many times over, in order to reach all of China’s markets. This doesn’t mean that each prospective partner won’t argue for a national, exclusive relationship. They’ll want that. But they’re unlikely to be able to deliver successes beyond the local markets in which they’re strongly positioned in terms of relationships.
George F. Brown, Blue Canyon Partners; David G. Hartman, Blue Canyon Partners
“The Value of Building Your Brand in China,” Jan. 25, ROI Report

25. Companies can be “too global” in their attempt to reach international markets. It’s important to realize that every market is local to someone. The most successful global companies do thorough research and take the time to understand the local landscape before unveiling new products or websites. Update the old adage, “Will it play in Peoria?” with emerging global cities like Shanghai, Mumbai or Santiago.
Apala Lahiri Chavan, 
Human Factors International
“Understanding Global Customers: User Experiences at Home and Abroad,” July 8, ROI Report

26. Taxes and pricing are two areas where retailers need to do their research before entering an international market. Pixmania reports paying 90 
country-specific taxes for its network of e-commerce sites, ranging from environmental to product copyright taxes. Factor local taxes into your product margins when setting prices.
Ulric Jerome, 
Pixmania.com
“Strategies for Expanding Your E-Commerce Business Into Europe,” Sept. 15, ROI Report

Inventory Management
27. Adopt a process to analyze SKU profitability relative to inventory ownership. A common metric for this is gross margin return on investment (GMROI). GMROI is calculated by taking the aggregate gross margin achieved for a SKU and dividing it by its average inventory cost.
Joe Palzkill, 
Direct Tech
“Inventory Management Best Practices for Online Retailers,” Jan. 4, Return on Inventory blog

28. Be maniacal about preventing out of stocks. Don’t let a consumer out of your store empty-handed. If you do, they’re likely to never come back. Have a disaster plan in place for when a product isn’t available. This includes delivering products to a customer’s home when the product comes back in stock, as Dave’s Soda & Pet City has frequently done in the past.
Dave Ratner, 
Dave’s Soda & Pet City
“From the NRF BIG Show: 10 Tips for Small Brick-and-Mortar Retailers to Increase Sales,” Jan. 13, 
ROI Report

Management Issues
29. Attendance by itself isn’t the only factor to look at when evaluating a warehouse employee’s performance. In fact, don’t even view it as a top five consideration. You would much rather have an employee who’s occasionally late but can box 100 orders per hour over an employee who’s consistently on time but boxes only 60 orders per hour.
Timothy Holody, 
Seta/Palm Beach Jewelry
“15 Tips to a More Effective Distribution Center,” April 11, 
ROI Report

30. Make your individual salespeople hit a notable sales metric before providing them with business cards. Also, train them to never give out their card without requesting the consumer’s information first. Instill in your staff the responsibility of making the call; otherwise you’re just breeding clerks.
Jason VanderPal, 
retail consultant
“How to Make Rock n’ Roll Retail Employees,” May 3, ROI Report

31. If an organization continuously hires individuals from the same background again and again, the executive ranks become diluted versions of one another — much like the results of inbreeding. Bold thinking and an openness to learn new things is part of the solution. You’re not surprised that your customer buys shoes at Neiman Marcus but goes to Target to buy bathing suits. Why can’t you be that open when hiring new employees?”
Kate Benson, 
Martens & Heads!
“The Key to Expanding Your Brand’s Potential,” July 29, ROI Report

Merchandising
32. Retailers stand to enhance how products reach their customers. With past buying data and behavior available to them, retailers can break down their customers into segments and prioritize them accordingly. Merchandise can then be selected specifically by store and placed in the right assortment and displayed in the most effective layout.
Kevin Quinn, 
Information Builders
“10 Retail Resolutions for the New Year,” Jan. 17, ROI Report

Mobile
33. Look at what devices your customers are using. There’s a big difference between a Droid, BlackBerry and iPhone. You need to know what your customers favor. This is a critical point that a lot of folks underestimate. More than one B-to-B company has spent a boatload on an iPhone app only to find out a couple months later that the majority of its customers have BlackBerries or vice versa.
Amy Africa, 
Eight by Eight
“Creating a Mobile Strategy for Your Customers,” March, Retail 
Online Integration

34. Mobile must work to ensure a brand is creating O.P.E.N. (on-demand, personal, engaging, networked) experiences with and for consumers. Don’t rush off on a tactical mission to launch a mobile site or app without first looking at how it plays in your customers’ lives, with your other channels and how it mirrors the measure of your brand. Have a strategy that brings mobile into the fold of your other channels (e.g., destination site, in-store, social, etc.) rather than treating it as a stand-alone or orbiting channel.
Stephen Burke, 
Resource Interactive
“5 Strategies for Mobilizing Your Brand,” April 21, ROI Report

35. Beyond targeting promotions tied to one or more payment products, retailers should begin to experiment with mobile delivery of incentives and marketing messages in order to understand the receptiveness of their client base to real-time personalized offers and coupons.
Ed Kountz, 
First Data Advisors
“Profitability Strategies for the New American Consumer,” Sept. 22, 
ROI Report

Operations & Fulfillment
36. Make training a continuous process. Evaluate the need for training in your warehouse every three months. Tenure with the company shouldn’t be a factor. In fact, some of your more experienced staff might need a refresher course on how to use the technology available to them to its full capacity. Regular systems training is vital to being as efficient and productive as possible.
Susan Rider, 
Rider & Associates
“5 Tips to Make Your Warehouse More Efficient,” April 5, ROI Report

37. Provide your warehouse staff a daily tracking of their efforts. Folks want a scoreboard when they come to work every day. Young Living’s warehouse staff is measured on number of items picked, accuracy of their picks, among other factors. Those results are then compared against pre-established benchmarks. Production at or above 100 percent qualifies an employee for incentive pay.
Steve Johnson, Johnson Stephens Consulting
“How Young Living Essential Oils Has Saved Money Via a Labor Management System,” April 6, 
ROI Report

38. Don’t tell your packaging vendor exactly what size box you need. If you do, the vendor will create custom boxes for you that are more expensive than buying standard-size boxes. Just choose the standard-size box closest in size to the one that you need.
Timothy Holody, 
Seta/Palm Beach Jewelry
“15 Tips to a More Effective Distribution Center,” April 11, 
ROI Report

Prospecting
39. Target brand-loyal consumers. Many consumers are looking for a specific brand or item, regardless of retail outlet. Retailers can target these consumers by offering brand-specific deals or coupons. Including the brand name in the coupon code allows consumers to find the deal faster, especially when working with coupon and deal websites. This works beyond just brand names. A well-designed coupon focusing on one particular product or service can generate a short-term boost in traffic.
Cotter Cunningham, 
Whale Shark Media
“Coupons Benefit More Than the Consumer: How Retailers Can Maximize Returns,” April 4, 
ROI Report

40. To acquire better customers, start by segmenting and profiling your best current customers. What characteristics define them, and which are actionable and targetable? What are your top acquisition sources for best customers, from direct mail lists to referring websites to top search terms? Use profiles of “best” customers to target look-a-likes. Few companies have customer valuation methodologies — e.g., profitability analysis, lifetime value measures, risk profiles, etc. — to segment and treat customers based on their value to the enterprise. Do the analytics and concentrate your resources on high-potential and high-value customers. Job No. 1 is acquiring the right customers.
Jeff Haggin, 
SolutionSet
“How to Get Uncommonly Loyal Customers,” June, Retail 
Online Integration

Search
41. How can scalable, successful link building be done properly? It’s cliché to say, but it requires building quality content and syndicating it — easier said than done. Here are tips to help make this goal a reality:

• Optimize press releases. Widely distributed, this content can be picked up by reputable sites.
• Integrate links with product providers in the retail space. Brand advertisers tend to have highly regarded sites; build out key connectivity to product suppliers.
• Integrate user-generated content (e.g., ratings and reviews) into landing pages. Search engines are using UGC to reindex content, which improves the “freshness” factor on a site and drives improved ranking.
• Create content that includes infographics, videos, games, web-based tools, unique contests, breaking news, top 10 lists, how-tos, alternative viewpoints, shortcuts, etc.

Craig Macdonald, 
Covario
“Google Shuffles the Deck on Natural Search Algorithm; Retailers Should 
be Beneficiaries,” March 15, 
ROI Report

42. When beginning to build your keyword list, start with brand and nonbrand terms. That means all versions of them, including singular and plural variations, typos, misspellings, and even regional dialects. For example, people in Massachusetts tend to add an extra “r” to words, therefore Talbots owns the brand term “Talbots” and “Talborts.”
Courtney Wegner, 
iProspect
“How to Find the Best Keywords for Your Brand,” June 15, ROI Report

43. Obviously a shopper wants to know how much a product costs. It’s important to include all the relevant price data, including regular price, sale price, shipping cost and taxes. Different venues display prices differently. If you include all of the information, the search engine has a better opportunity to display the correct price.
Rob Wright, 
Channel Intelligence
“5 Best Practices for Product Search,” Aug. 4, ROI Report

Shipping
44. Leverage the fact that FedEx and UPS are now multimodal transportation providers. If you use these carriers exclusively for domestic parcel service but have other transportation needs (e.g., less-than-truckload shipping, truckload shipping, international forwarding, ocean transport, etc.), your combined volumes may enhance your overall discounts.
Rob Martinez, 
Shipware
“4 Ways Shippers Can Keep Parcel Costs in Check,” Feb. 1, Shipping Insights blog

45. Consider rail for your transportation needs. This is particularly relevant now with the rising fuel surcharges traditional carriers are charging.
Mike Peel, 
C.H. Robinson Worldwide
“15 Tips to a More Effective Distribution Center,” April 11, ROI Report

Social Media
46. Leverage existing assets for Facebook. Title Nine treated its “We Love Our Fans” giveaway on Facebook as a shrunk-down version of the promotion’s email campaign. Use your entire staff to monitor your company’s social media activities; it doesn’t have to be the sole responsibility of an e-commerce team. Task customer service, finance, warehouse/fulfillment teams and others with keeping tabs on what’s being said about your company.
Kelly Goldsmith, 
Title Nine
“Tips to Drive Brand Engagement, Loyalty and Sales via Social Media,” March 4, ROI Report

47. Share information that takes fans behind the scenes. Your customers are a fan of your page because they want to hear from you. Chances are there’s a lot of information you could share for very little cost. Get to know your customers well and offer content they’ll appreciate. Enthusiasts love it when you share photos from events, backstage videos, insider news, helpful tips, etc.
John Porcaro, 
Metia/Seattle
“5 Tips to a Better Facebook Page,” April 25, ROI Report

48. Sales and marketing experts know that extra clicks and steps create unnecessary barriers in the customer experience. By setting your store page as your default tab, you’re removing the barrier of an additional click on the store tab. This allows visitors to immediately see your store instead of having to go through an extra step, helping your fans convert to shoppers more easily.
Joelle Mustane, 
Payvment
"5 Tips for Selling Products on Facebook,” Sept. 2, ROI Report

Video Marketing
49. Hosting videos on your own website as well as on YouTube is a waste. Just cut and paste YouTube’s video code onto your own site. It’s cheaper and more effective to do it that way. YouTube will track views on your own site — helping improve your organic search rankings — if you use its code; it won’t if you don’t use its code.
Greg Jarboe, 
SEO-PR
“Tips to Help Your Business Monetize YouTube Advertising,” Feb. 22, 
ROI Report

50. Static, low-fi banners are outdated and won’t tempt today’s savvy consumers. Instead, retailers can use online video within traditional display banners to deliver all the things back-to-school shoppers are looking for, from coupons and discounts to product information. Using a primary TV ad as the base of an online in-banner video ad, retailers can include secondary videos about products. Now consumers can access the information and content they need without being directed to another site.
Anupam Gupta, 
Mixpo
“Retailers Check Out Video Advertising for Back to School,” Sept. 12, ROI Report

What’s Your Best Advice?
Do you have any tips you’d like to share? Post them on Twitter using #retailmarketing50 and we’ll publish the best ones in our December issue!