It’s been well documented that luxury brands are late getting into the ecommerce game. It wasn’t until after the recession hit in 2008 and many high-end designers found their products relegated to discount bins in well-known upscale department stores, that they started getting serious about the online space.

The problem isn’t that they’re late to the ecommerce world, the problem is they are bringing their glossy magazine mindset to their websites, and in doing so, they are building sites based on how they want their sites to function, without considering how users want to shop.

Flash heavy sites, light on usability

Most luxury brands break many, if not all, usability rules. They create sites that look and feel like look-books, not ecommerce sites.

These sites are largely flash driven, with big glossy images, pages that load slow, often have their own “unique” brand specific navigation and are anything but easy to use. Once a user figures out how to get to the product level (no easy feat on many of these luxury sites), the information provided is so basic it’s almost not useful at all.

Don’t believe me? Compare the experience of looking at Stuart Weitzman shoes on Zappos.com, versus on StuartWeitzman.com.  On Zappos.com, we have easy filtering of products, fast page loads, navigation that matches the mental models we expect from ecommerce sites, and detailed product descriptions and reviews. All of this is accomplished without “cheapening” the brand at all.

On the company site, we are subjected to big, bold flash pages that are utterly useless to a user. The user has to go 4 clicks in (clicking “shop the site”) two different times on different pages, just to get to shop a “default” style of shoe. The default is set to pumps. If we want to shop flats, or something else, we need to click again. Web sites aren’t the same as brick and mortar stores, and users don’t have the same expectation or attention span when shopping online. In a flash (no pun intended) users can find the same brands and products elsewhere.

Site Usability is only one part of the problem. In Part 2 – we’ll go over why even those brands that have usable sites are still missing out on sales.

 ”The app is split into three sections; each features four scenes to interact with. It’s a good showcase but not a useful shopping tool.”

The free app is designed to showcase the new 2011 spring collection in a fun, interactive manner. The problem is it does nothing to entice the shopper to buy and  will unlikely be any sort of revenue driver.

“It feels like a showcase, though, rather than a genuinely useful shopping tool. Tap on the shop button, and you’re simply sent to the RLX section of Ralph Lauren’s website, rather than the  specific item of clothing that you’ve been looking at.”

Small usability problems like this negatively affect sales. If a potential customer sees something they like, they should be able to get to that outfit easily so they can buy it. Sadly, these are the types of features that we see many companies focusing their time and limited resources on, since they are visually stimulating and “fun” to implement. These apps and new technologies are so new, that companies are exploring the boundaries and testing the waters.

But, do these fun gimmicks really make a difference to the bottom line? Probably not. People will not keep coming back to your site and be a lifelong customer just because you have a clever game on your site that incorporates some of your products. Of course, Ralph Lauren will be fine shoveling out the money that went into building this little app. But, what about the small to mid-sized companies that want to keep up with the times? We see these companies spending thousands (or tens-of-thousands) on nifty virtual try-ons,  24 hour video streaming, and flash  introductions which bring no additional sales to the website, and in some cases can actually hurt business by taking focus off of making the sale.

Be aware of what is entertaining and fun for you vs. what is actually going to set you apart from your competitors in the e-Commerce world. Websites need proper SEO and SEM implementation to bring in qualified customers. Customers need simple ways to shop via correct website/app. usability practices. And,  businesses need to bring in the sales. Make sure these fancy new devices and exciting technologies don’t drive business down. Simplifying is sometimes the best way to stand out. 

See the Full Article Here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/appsblog/2011/feb/28/ralph-lauren-app-review

Here are some quick tips to help make sure you squeeze everything possible out of this moment. http://www.imerex.com/prepare_your_website_for_upcoming_product_mention_on_tv_show.php

Don’t let an opportunity  pass without make sure your website is ready!

Today, we examine one last misconception related to the use of your ad space and a final mistaken belief for the whole existence of pay-per-click.
 
Misconception#4: A company should include their name in the ad so people know who they are.

A pay-per-click ad allows for 25 characters in the headline and two lines consisting of 35 characters each. That’s not a lot of room to get your message across to qualified prospects while using your budget wisely. People often waste their characters repeating information.

For example, an ad will read “Great discounts at shoes.com” and the last line is the URL www.shoes.com

What I’ve learned: Every word counts in the pay-per-click ad space. Don’t waste your characters.

Google allows you to insert your website at the bottom of each ad, yet people still find it necessary to include it in the body.  With such limited space, the body of a ppc ad must be used as efficiently as possible. Convey your message well and interest in your website will follow.
 
That’s right. I said convey your message to generate interest in your website. This brings us to my final misconception.

Misconception #5: Pay-per-click ads should be designed to sell the product.

People often fall into the belief that they need to sell their product with their ppc ads similar to the way they would with traditional advertising.
 
What I’ve learned: Sell your website and the product sales will follow.

Pay-per-click ads offer such limited space to convey a message which makes it very difficult to truly sell your product or service. Use your ad to create interest in your website and then set your website up to convert the people who come in via your ppc ads.
 
Overall, generating success with ppc advertising campaigns is a process that is built one component at a time. A successful campaign must be built on a deep understanding of your customer, well-researched keywords, a well-managed budget and thoughtful messaging. I hope that you walk away having learned something new about this subject. After all, I got to learn these lessons the hard way. Here’s hoping you don’t have to stumble through these same mistakes.
 
My next series will tackle usability practices and the common misconceptions about how people use websites. You’ll be surprised how common assumptions result in big losses of consumer traffic.

This blog series is all about Search Engine Marketing

The purpose of this series on Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is to reveal the truths behind the misconceptions and to clear up some of the confusion regarding digital marketing and its practices.
 
So let’s define search engine marketing…

Search engine marketing, or SEM, is a form of Internet marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility in search engine result pages (SERPs) through the use of paid placement, contextual advertising, search engine optimization and paid inclusion.

It is important to know that SEM is the larger umbrella under which many elements of digital marketing are placed, but is also the term most commonly used when referring to the pay-per-click ads found at the top and right hand side of SERPs.

For the sake of this blog series, SEM will refer to pay-per-click ads or paid search listings.

Users can access pay-per-click services, such as Google AdWords, Yahoo Search Marketing and Bing Search to create, manage and distribute paid search campaigns. Armed with the overall definition of SEM and free tools, can’t we simply move on and begin creating paid search ads? Stay tuned for the answer in my next blog.