eMarketer: The Next Step in User-Generated Content

According to Paul Verna, senior analyst at eMarketer:

With so much user-generated media populating the Web and mobile channels, content aggregation will become more important than ever in 2009. In the coming year, expect to see real-time aggregation tools that combine algorithmic approaches with human input—like a cross between Techmeme and FriendFeed.

Techmeme is an aggregation tool that uses algorithms to scan the Web for tech-related news stories. FriendFeed is also an aggregator, but it lets users set up custom feeds to pool content from other social sites.

These aggregation tools will develop from the ground up, much like the content itself. They could make it easier for consumers to find video and other content.

Furthermore, in a climate in which advertising is the main (some say the only) means of monetizing user-generated content, aggregators stand to earn more per visitor than the sites that actually carry the user-created content.

Source: eMarketer.com

Tool to Shrink PPT and DOC files

I just saw this tip from Techknowl.com, a German firm Balesio offers a software called PPTminimizer that can shrink PPT (Micosoft Power Point ) and DOC ( Microsoft word 2003 ) documents to about 98% of their original size in the native extension (not zipped or archived). The quality of the converted file is almost same as the original file.

This seems to be a handy tool to compress very large presentations for web viewing, and for downloading to mobile phones and USB drives. Techknowl.com readers can get a free download from the site, subscription to Techknowl.com is free, check it out!

Full article: http://www.techknowl.com/2008/12/shrink-ppt-and-doc-files-to-98-without.html
Free download for PC Advisor users: http://www.balesio.com/campaign/licensing/index.aspx?CID=pcadvisor

Top Online Purchase Categories During Financial Crisis

During the tough economic times, people tend to stay home more instead of going out, and naturally the Web use increase. According to comScore World Metrix, visits to financial news and research sites grew 10% to 8.8 million visitors in September, during the height of the financial crisis, from the previous month.

People wants to save money, get more for their dollars, so they would use the web to do more researches. So what are people buying online? According to Nielsen study released in November, top transaction sites are for Travel and Entertainment related sites are number 1 (Online travel), 6 (Hotel reservation), and 8 (Event tickets).

Credit card account management and home banking were the second- and third-most-popular transaction types for 2008.

Number 4 is clothing/shoes/accessories. Think Lipsticks. One of the top sellers at the Malls are Lipsticks during recessions, people need a pick-me-up, small purchases to make be happier.

Sources:
eMarketer: Online Banking During a Financial Crisis (12/8/2008)
New York Times: Hard Times, but Your Lips Look Great - Lipstick May Ben an Economy Indicator (5/1/2008)

Blogger Tip: How to add "Email Subscription Form"

Looking for a way to collect emails from blogger site visitors? Here are some good source I found:

• Feedblitz.com: This is a free (ad supported) service that enables publishers to collect subscribers and send emails for free.
  
• Feedburner.com (now part of Google): Primarily used to send new articles with a very light 'delivered by' footer, ability to export subscriber email addresses.
  

Here are a couple of nice posts on this subject: "how to add Email Subscription Form using Feedburner" and "Add RSS/Email subscription in Blogger".

Separately, Google added the "Subscribe to" feature which is different, it currently only supports 3 RSS readers: Google, Bloglinks, and Netvibes, and there is no email support.

eMarketer: 54% of Retailer still do not test email subject line

Personally, I am now getting about 2 emails a week from Amazon, more than one per week from Costco and Target. This is probably two to three times the normal frequency, it's probably the combination or final holiday push and desperation during tough economic condition. They are definitely trying harder, unfortunately, I don't think many of them are hitting the sweet spots yet, at least for me. What about for you?

Obviously, the sender's FROM address (both email and display name parts) is crucial in determining the open and response rates. Recipients needs to trust and feel they have a relationship to even consider opening the email.

After that, the subject line is the key. Much more important than time of day or day of week in most of the emails I have tried. Changing a couple of key words can have huge impact on open rate AND response rate. Subject lines set the expectation of what's inside the email. You can have a very provocative subject line to get people open the email, but if people feel they are cheated or if the email did not meet people's expectation, the click-to-open ratio could be much worse. This would hurt the long term relationship with the user.

Different subject lines can have huge swing in different age groups and achieve plus/minus 50% in overall response. Is it too much work for 54% of the retailers to do?

Sources:
eMarketer: E-Mail Marketers Get in the Spirit (11/26/2008)

eMarketer: Pitching Cars Online in Tough Times

The economic is getting tough very quickly and broadly. Everyone is cutting but and focus on efficiency. Email finally being recognized again as an effective and efficient channel. Even the dying Car makers/car dealers are still expecting grow their ad spending online.

Sources:
eMarketer: Pitching Cars Online in Tough Times (11/21/2008)

eMarketer: Top online markting channels

According to eMarketer, Online retailers worldwide surveyed in July and August 2008 by E-Consultancy and R.O.EYE said that e-mail was second only to paid search when it came to driving high volume. The sample size was relatively small, at 241 online retailers. However, the results are in line with similar surveys. Nearly four out of 10 search engine advertisers worldwide surveyed in January 2008 by Radar Research for the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) said e-mail marketing yielded the best ROI of any tactic.


Lower Email Open Rates

MailerMailer said that some industries had higher open rates for their marketing e-mail, with banking/finance, religious/spiritual, government and telecommunications having more success than other verticals.

Tip: Shorter subject lines Perform Better

According to eMarketer, shorter subject lines performed better than longer ones. Subject lines of less than 35 characters yielded an average open rate of 19.6% and a 3.1% average click rate. E-mails with subject lines of 35 or more characters drew average open rates of 14.8% and average click rates of 1.9%.

Source: eMarketing: Consumers Opening Fewer E-Mails