As much as I enjoyed seeing the Forrester analysts dissect the functionality of sites for several luxury brands (including Burberry, Dolce&Gabbana, Gucci, Hermes, and Louis Vuitton), I found their evaluation criteria to be even more interesting. Allow me to share a few basic concepts with you. Then I suggest you to take a look at your own site (and those of your competitors) to see how things stack up.

Navigation: Are the products easy to find through site navigation? Can you comparison shop onsite? Can you narrow the categories to access product information easily?

Search: Can you easily find the search box, and is it available on all pages? Do you have autosuggestion of search terms? Do results include the price of the item? Are recent searched displayed in a comprehensive manner?

Merchandising: Is there a clear path to purchase? Do you offer suggestions (“You may also like”) for consideration of other items? Do you use video and/or image zoom features? Do you cross-sell items with “add to the bag” suggestions? Do you show your in-stock inventory?

Blended Channels: Can you return online purchases to a bricks-and-mortar location? Do you clearly qualify “online only” or “in-store only” items? Do you offer ship-to-store and/or in-store pickup?

Community: Can users “tag” products, share them with friends via social media or email, and easily access ratings and reviews?

Purchase Process: Is the link to the shopping cart in global navigation? Is the total cost of purchase (including all fees and taxes) shown in the link to the cart? Do you offer extra savings (share the friends etc.) and are discounts shown in the cart? Can they save their address and customer information for later transactions?

Customer Service: How available is your customer support (telephone, FAQs, email, chat, click-to-call, etc.)? Can they easily access policies on the site for shipping, returns/exchanges, opt-in/opt-out, etc.?

What Forrester did not mention is the fact that all this customer behavioral data is extremely valuable for marketers. Does your customer data go into a profile-centric platform for use by marketing for more relevant messaging to each customer? Of course, you’d have to have a platform that can bring the multiple consumer touchpoints (including clicks, purchases, searches and more) into a unified profile-based environment. Once your data is all in one place in the right system, it’s easy to more efficiently segment and market specifically to the individual with more relevance and reach.

For instance, you see that Susie is really interested in that new purse with the bright red flower. She came back to the site and bought it. With Knotice, the next time Susie visits your site, you can serve up a “hero image” of the wallet and scarf that match her recent purchase. After all, image is everything – and onsite targeting is just one way to power your website images for better conversions and results.

So, I’m standing in Toys R Us staring at my phone while being bumped out of the way by other shoppers, who were quite annoyed I was on my phone (you know, you’ve been there) and I’m waiting, rather impatiently while Toys R Us’s website loads. And waiting…. You mean to tell me they don’t have a mobile-friendly website? I have to stand here while their entire website loads? I don’t have time for that, and neither does the guy standing behind me.

So, I look for an app. No app either. What’s a frantic shopper to do? I seek out a competitor that did have a mobile-friendly site.

As I left the store, I got to wondering how many others have done the same. And how much revenue quietly slipped away.

Mobile sites for retailers are almost essential at this point. It’s just good customer service, especially during the holidays. A mobile site and/or an app, saves me (your customer) time and it saves me (your customer) from visiting your competitor instead.

When I’m out and about, my phone is my link to the outside world. My phone is with me everywhere I go. It is my personal assistant. It is my most trusted friend. It is my first screen in the morning and my last screen before bed.

It’s no secret that smart phone adoption is on the rise. It is predicted that by the end of 2011, smart phones will surpass feature phones in usage. ( Nielsen). By 2013, mobile internet usage will likely surpass desktop Internet usage. (Morgan Stanley).

The time to hesitate has passed. Mobile websites are essential. Mobile users demand them. Your customers demand them. Hear me now, Toys R Us. Remember me later.

1. Mobile Marketing Programs for Retailers: Mobile was a very hot topic in 2010. Marketers implemented a variety of mobile programs, researched technology and tactics, and launched some forward-thinking initiatives. In this post, Bryce outlines three ways retailers can take advantage of the mobile channel to create an exceptional shopping experience and boost sales.

2. Why Outsourcing Email Makes Sense: Many companies struggle with the idea of creating their own in-house email solution or outsourcing it to a trusted partner. This post provides four crucial reasons why marketers should outsource their email marketing.

3.iPad and Direct Digital Marketing: What would a yearly recap be without mentioning the iPad? In this post, Dutch speculates on how the iPad will impact the direct digital marketing industry, and how marketers can reach consumers that are always “on the go.

4.Making a Case for Mobile Marketing: Despite the surge of interest in the mobile channel this year, some marketers are reluctant to embrace the channel because of doubts surrounding its ROI. If you’re struggling to build a quantitative case for mobile, check out this post for some simple tips.

5.The Changing Role of Mass Marketing: This post examines the changing role of mass marketing, and how direct digital marketing plays an important role. How do you see mass marketing changing in the next five years?

6.Marketers, Get Better at Reaching Moms: Moms can be your biggest advocate when you take the time to get to know them. In this post, Amy outlines tips for successfully engaging moms and what not to do when marketing to them.

7.Getting Started with Direct Digital Marketing: Learn more about the value of a complete direct digital marketing strategy and tips for getting started, in this post.

So, what topics on direct digital marketing would top your list in 2011? Let us know in the comments. We’d love to hear from you. And Happy New Year from all of us at Knotice!

And there were many other sessions and ideas worth sharing.

One of my favorites was a breakout session on shopping via the iPad. The session featured a panel with executives from eBay, WetSeal and Wine.com. Here are a few interesting points to highlight:

Consumers always have a mobile device handy, and they use that device for a variety of things – from checking email and the weather, to making purchases or finding purchase information.

Han Yuan (Director of Engineering, Platform Solutions and Mobile at eBay) noted that many eBay users take advantage of the company’s iPad and iPhone apps to check the status on items, and make purchases. In fact, Yuan stated that 30 percent of the company’s projected $1.5 billion in mobile revenue comes from mobile Web purchases and via purchases made using the iPad and iPhone apps.

Yuan also shared that the iPad app has a 50 percent conversion rate, while the iPhone app sees a 20 percent conversion rate.

“Customers are transacting in places where they previously couldn’t,” Yuan said. “Our iPad app is easier to use than our website.”

Because the iPad is another “go-everywhere, gotta-have-it” device with incredible play by the media, it gives direct digital marketers more opportunities to reach their target audience with robust, relevant, mobile and email experiences and interactions well beyond the confines of the mobile device.

As our own Dutch Hollis mentioned in his iPad post earlier in the year, marketers now have an audience that is always connected to a fast Internet, through a device that will present their message beautifully, at a size larger than 4-inches on a side.

While eBay launched an iPad app to help customers make purchases on the go, WetSeal launched an iPad app to enhance the in-store shopping experience for customers.

Jon Kubo (Chief Information Officer of WetSeal) noted that retailers are looking at ways to put devices like an iPad, iPod Touch or kiosk in-store that can help them assist the consumer.

Another great way to provide information and assistance to consumers in store is through the use of 2D bar codes.

Although the session focused on using the iPad in a retail setting, it is important to keep in mind that, before jumping into the process of app creation, marketers should have tactical game plan in place.

Executives on the panel gave additional advice in regards to the above statement, including:

• Be sure your any app is part of an overall comprehensive mobile marketing strategy;
• There is no reason to add an app if you do not have a mobile optimized website already in place, and;
• Apps cannot provide additional value for consumers if your website doesn’t provide a targeted, relevant experience for consumers.

Here are a few interesting points from Senk’s keynote:

Because the consumer is interacting with a brand across multiple channels, Senk stressed the importance of having a singular view of the consumer. This particular point resonated with me. As a marketer, I know the value of having a central location for every marketing data point.

Having all customer data in a central location makes it easy to create a seamless shopping experience, whether a customer made a purchase via their mobile device, clicked on an email, or ordered something online.

Another interesting point was Senk’s emphasis on connecting shopping experiences via mobile. He noted that the key to making the connection will be allowing customers to scan a tag on an item and instantly receive consumer reviews and information and make a purchase all via the mobile device and all without having to have a store associate nearby. (Similar to the in-store mobile program Canon recently launched.)

As Senk and his team have studied the mobile opportunity, they have come to the conclusion that mobile devices may impact the in-store experience more than they actually impact the online experience.

“Gone will be the cash registers,” he said.

Bringing this trend to life, Senk estimates that Urban Outfitters will have some sort of mobile technology in its brick-and-mortar stores by the end of the year.

When formulating any kind of mobile strategy, it is important that marketers avoid the urge to attack the channel in a piecemeal fashion, and instead create a holistic mobile strategy that focuses on the consumer.

Here are some mobile resources that may be helpful:

Mobile Marketing Experts Agree on the Fundamentals

3 Keys to a Successful Mobile Strategy

Indentifying a Good Mobile Strategist

If you’re attending Shop.org, what did you most enjoy about the first day of the show?

It is important right now, with the rapid development and deployment of myriad mobile marketing strategies, to keep in mind that consumers are still very much multi-channel. That is, they routinely interact with the primary direct digital marketing channels on an equal basis. As a result, direct digital marketing software upgrades must drive improvements in every channel, because the consumer will see the difference.

For example, retailers make heavy use of promotions and coupons. But retail marketers sometimes struggle with coordinating the substantial bit of data that must be cleaned, uploaded, and properly organized to ensure every consumer’s experience with a promotion or offer is a smooth one when making a purchase.

The direct digital marketing software feature that addresses that challenge for marketers must first enable the easy upload of massive amounts of retail information. Important bits of data include discounts, offers, offer name, description, disclaimer, terms and conditions, start date, expiration date, offer code… and the list grows longer and longer.

Getting data in to the direct digital marketing software with an easy upload of a .csv file enables fast deployment of email, Web, and mobile promotions for every offer. This is a huge win for marketers because the time from the conception of a promotional idea to execution is now much shorter. While retail marketing does have its tried and true ebbs and flows (e.g. Back to School, Holiday shopping, etc.), retailers lose money in the “off-season” not because of lousy promotions but because of the time it takes to get a promotion in market. The software, or the data upload and organization, should never be the primary reason a promotion is delayed to market. The more time is spent trying to get the data setup for content deployment, the less time is spent emphasizing the content and making it great.

It should be simple for online retailers to upload a list of unique redemption codes, then use them to personalize email, Web, and mobile content per customer.

Great conversion reporting is also an important function of direct digital marketing software. But the upfront benefits of great data organization and speed to market are big time wins in the ever-evolving world of online retail. The right direct digital marketing software helps retailers by making the complex world of promotions and offers simple, and gets them in market quickly to maximize impact.

Brassington notes two issues, the first of which is a lack of sophisticated backend infrastructure. I firmly believe this is already getting resolved by vendors, thanks to “The Cloud.” The second issue is more fundamental, as Brassington cites an Aberdeen statistic decrying the scant 24 percent of retailers that currently leverage cross-channel loyalty platforms. There is no doubt that retailers are working to leverage the mobile channel as a means to better focus on the customer regardless of channel. There are mobile marketing vendors, and even some specific programs, that are excellent examples of this. (More details on this in a later post here.)

The point is that it has become clear to marketers that mobile is the glue between the online and offline shopping worlds. Vendors and marketers alike are working to this end, and progress is slow but steady.

Perez contributes more specifics regarding mobile couponing’s adoption lag. The first challenge she cites is the “noise” in the market regarding coupon apps. This is 100 percent true, and retailers should work to take greater control over their own couponing despite the temptation of social coupons through apps.

The disconnect some users experience when trying to use a mobile coupon at retail can easily be addressed with a well-trained staff and a straightforward couponing message out of the gate. Some retailers, like Crocs, have had a great deal of success in going to market with a simple call to action, in-store signage, and effort put into training the staff on how to help customers redeem the coupon. In a few weeks time Crocs saw 94,000 coupons fly through the stores.

The final hurdle Perez mentions is the improvements necessary to geo-targeting. This is the one area where privacy law and skeptical consumers will slow adoption. Geo-targeting must be eased into the marketplace as consumers become more comfortable with other mobile couponing options. It will happen, and some great geo-targeting programs are in market and effective right now, but the overall spread will be slow.

Do you use mobile coupons? If so, what challenges have you encountered, and how have you overcome them?

A couple of weeks ago RSR published a recap of a roundtable discussion with six CIOs at leading companies in the retail sector. I won’t recap the discussion here, because I encourage everyone to read it on their own. Before you click away, however, I’d like to offer a couple of insights based on bits of the discussion.

Those involved in the discussion generally stated their belief that apps were disposable, and that the mobile Web may win out in the long run. I tend to agree on this point, enthusiastically. Apps, especially branded apps, lack the all-important stickiness. Consider the apps on your own phone for a moment. The apps I use on a daily basis – aside from the Star Wars app my three-year old loves – deliver valuable information to me in a timely way (I am a news junkie) or generally enhance the features of my phone (like a spell checker, for example.). Those apps plug into my personal lifestyle very well and are woven into my daily experience. Those essentials for an app to be a part of my life are very difficult to penetrate for a branded app. A branded mobile Web page, however, is equal parts useful and disposable. I will use it when I need it. But, it IS necessary.

The essential app metric floating around the still burgeoning mobile marketing space is “seven.” Consumers generally have seven apps they use on a daily basis, and a branded app’s goal must be to penetrate the top seven.

To reach that lofty goal, an app has to deliver real, measurable, and timely value. It must be easy to navigate, first and foremost. But, it must also seamlessly weave together the entire mobile experience, allowing for push messages through an integrated SMS program for alerts and reminders. For an app to sustain success in the top seven, it must become a brand’s mobile hub, a mobile store for the brand that allows access to a great deal of useful information on-demand and full interaction and engagement.

I do not want to come across as completely dismissive of branded apps. They are very useful if done well. When considering the current landscape of consumer adoption, however, the mobile Web is vital – for reasons that go beyond the ease of development.

As with many of the challenges facing modern and sophisticated marketing organizations, the old battle of “who owns what” comes into play when thinking about developing a mobile strategy. Mobile, because it is still new(ish), often gets lost in the fray. Mobile is, arguably, the most direct and personal line of communication a brand has with a consumer. Therefore, a strong case for marketing shouldering the responsibility of the mobile channel can be made. But realigning can be hard.

I recently read about DuPont’s substantial 1921 management shift in Richard Tedlow’s Denial. The then-venerable company was facing a crisis as it added new products that were different from its core competencies. The personnel in the entire organization was aligned functionally, and not around products. As a result, DuPont’s sales for its newest product line – paint – were flagging, and the company was losing money in that division. When DuPont made the long, slow transition to an product centered alignment (which was ideal for that era of business), rather than personnel function, sales for paint improved dramatically – and even survived the Great Depression.

Marketing organizations have a similar decision to make now as mobile is a mandatory marketing channel. Will the direct digital arm of the marketing organization be aligned by channel discipline – email, Web, mobile, etc. – or will it be aligned with a focus on the customer? If customer focus is the mantra, then mobile must be owned by marketing.

If marketing rightfully owns mobile, then a complete plan – including a breakdown of a separate mobile marketing mix – is crucial to sustained success in the channel, and with the consumer.

Take a quick pass at successful retailers, for example, and it is easy to see which organizations have embraced planning for mobile, and which are employing a piecemeal strategy. Macy’s has an excellent mobile strategy that spans the mobile Web, device specific apps, and a smattering of SMS at a more local level.

Of course mobile strategy and success is not limited to the retail sector, either. I have seen cable and telecommunications giant Charter Communications have success by leveraging an entire mobile strategy that spans SMS, the mobile Web, and apps. The hallmark of each tactic is an intense focus on creating convenience for the consumer, which is smart given that mobile is best suited to deliver on that all-important marketing mandate.

Mobile success is possible when a deep understanding of the personal-nature of the channel is diffused throughout the marketing organization, and therefore a major influence on the strategy. Marketing must own mobile, and it must earn the right to retain ownership through smart planning and superb execution.

One outgrowth of a focus on retention is for brands to offer new products and dip into new product categories. Two retailers, J. Crew and Payless, are already toe-dipping by adding new products and categories that they are not normally a go-to source for. J. Crew is getting into the wedding dress business with an entire retail location devoted to bridal products, and Payless is adding a beauty department this Fall. While there are substantial financial gains to be made by entering new markets, each company is also trying to find new ways to engage and retain existing customers.

Aside from entering new product categories, retailers are beginning to research and deploy technology that boosts the effectiveness of online retailing. While the aforementioned personalization is gaining tremendous momentum right now, tools for better targeting content and for testing content are on the upswing as well – and both are most effective when the marketing goal is retention.

As retention becomes a stronger marketing focus, data must be at the center of any strategic discussion. Many of the writers here at The Lunch Pail routinely contribute information on data’s importance for a good reason. The better the data is organized, and the closer it is to the content – in the same software platform – the better any retention marketing program performs. Regardless of which direct digital marketing channel a campaign is running in – email, mobile, or Web – when each are informed by strong data organization, a connected customer experience that promotes loyalty is the result.

The customer experience has gained tremendous attention and support within marketing organizations across myriad companies. Retention marketing is where direct digital marketing – with its inherently customer-centric data organization – shines. As many retailers seek new ways to reach their existing customer base, it is vital to make sure that marketing programs and campaigns are organized to focus on the customer and grow existing business.

Marketers, what direct digital marketing retention programs are currently working for you?