Disruption Tour --- Run To Survive

Enlisting Insultants

excerpts fromThe  Breakthrough Company by Keith McFarland

It turns out that when a company botches strategy or misses out on the industries next big thing, the executive team probably fell victim to one of two common human afflictions -- at least that is what reseachers from MIT Sloan Business School believe. . The researchers call these two ubiquitous management traps "myopia" and "inertia".  Myopia or short-sightedness refers to the company's inability to see the forest from the tree. . Myopic executives tend to focus on fighting fires and tackling projects close to home, and foget to watch the tectonic changes reshaping the industry.

Simmilarly executives suffering from inertia fail to take advantage of new opportunties , choosing instead to stand pat in familiar markets, finding comfort in doing business the way they have always done so.

Why Company's need Insultants?

David Romer a University of California researcher studyestablished that NFL Coaches would actually win more games if they went for touchdowns and first downs instead of punting or attempting a field goal.  Bill belichick of the NE Patriots started winning Championships by applying Romers principles.

Breakthrough Companies not only are they open to people questioning  the fundamentals assumptions of the business, they encourage people to buck the system.

Another reason a Company needs Insultants is like animals people take safety in numbers (herding), The avoidance of being first or going it alone or being safe avoids the rebuke of your boss, Wall Street even if the Company's performance suffers. It is only after there is a success will the herd roll quickly behind the idea.  (sure sounds a lot like ShoppeSimple.com)

Some people are better than others

by Seth Godin

By 'better', of course I mean better customers, better prospects, better sneezers, better at spreading the word.

Here are two interesting lessons from the book industry:

1. Kindle readers buy two or three times as many books as book readers. Why? I don't think it's necessarily because using a Kindle leads someone to read more books. I think it's because the kind of person who buys a lot of books is the most likely person to pony up and buy a Kindle. I know that sounds obvious, but once you see it this way, you understand why book publishers should be killing themselves to appeal to this group. After all, the group voted with their dollars to show that they're better.
2. Walmart and other mass marketers are now offering top bestsellers for $9 or less each, about $5 less than their cost. Why? Why not offer toasters or socks as a loss leader to get people in the store? I think the answer is pretty clear: people who buy hardcover books buy other stuff too. A hardcover book is a luxury item, it's new and it's buzzable. This sort of person is exactly who you want in your store.

The challenge, then is to look for cues that people give you that they are better, and then cater to them. Every industry has people who are worth more, buzz more, care more and buy more than other people. Don't treat people the same, find the ones that matter more to you, and hug them.

Behavior Modification - Make it Fun

Good ideas usually have an entertainment component.

http://www.evolvingexcellence.com/blog/2009/10/behavior-modification-make-it-fun.html

Why Apple & Google Win - and Your Company Doesn't

The Social Media Marketing Blog

It's all about usability.

Ten Great Ecommerce Ideas

From practicalecommerce.com

Practical eCommerce asks industry insiders each month to share a great, innovative idea that could help an ecommerce company. Here’s what ten of them had to say for the October 2009 installment.

The Power of Product Reviews

"Use the power of product reviews and motivate your team to do their best work. Instruct your employees to route satisfied customers to the most important online sites for leaving feedback, and give your people a bonus if a referred customer writes a review about your company there."

Alex Mulin
Director of Sales
X-Cart

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Only Ask For Information You Absolutely Need

"Ask your customers only for the information you absolutely need. If you are selling digital products, do you need the customer's full address? What about the phone number? Most customers dislike giving their precious personal information away until they get to know your company better."

Roy Andre Tollefsen
Managing Director and Lead Designer
Silverthemes.com

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Grab Your Market Share Now

"A recession is no time to reduce your marketing and advertising budgets. Manage expenses according to ROI, but this is a good time to grab additional market share."

Brad Yeager
Certified Business Intermediary
Ecommerce Exit Strategies

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Improve Rankings With Press Releases

"Press releases provide an opportunity to provide high-quality content within your press-related pages. Many merchants disassociate the importance of marketing activity from their websites. But each press release allows the opportunity to increase your keyword density and improve your rankings."

Anthony Vitro
Account Manager
Sage Tree LLC

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Deploy Decision-making Widgets

"When selling big ticket items or products that require research, deploy merchandising widgets to aid in the decision-making process. Customers who interact with online merchandising widgets will generally view more products per session and are more likely to add a product to their shopping cart, increasing conversions, repeat visits and customer satisfaction."

Carl Prindle
President and Chief Operating Officer
Blueport Commerce

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Add Unique Content to Improve Product Descriptions

"Improve your product descriptions by adding informative and unique content. The more descriptive and unique you are in your product descriptions, the better the chance that someone will buy from you. Figure out a way to make your product descriptions unique to differentiate you from the competition."

Stephen Enfield
Vice President
POS Supply Solutions

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Hire Interns With Advanced Skills

"Utilize local high school and college student’s talent for jobs whenever possible, including paid internships. You will be amazed at the talent you can find, such as advanced skills in programming, photography, blogging etc. And the interns can gain necessary experience in a practical environment."

Elizabeth Bighorse
CEO
Moodswings Inc. 


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Step Up Security Accreditation

"Go one step further than SSL or 'McAfee Hacker Safe' certifications on your site. Try to get industry-endorsed accreditations such as the 'Good Web Shopping Guide' or 'Governed by the Internet Shopping Code of Practice.'"

Kate Holroyd
Marketing Manager
Tiger Commerce

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Earn Trust By Keeping Your Promises

"Be honest with your customers and never promise anything that cannot be accomplished. Once you make a promise you must keep it. Earning a customer's trust is the best way to get a lifelong partner."

Anna Semshchikova
Chief Sales Executive
Qualiteam

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Spread the Word on Facebook

"A Facebook page is a great way to promote your online store. Not only does it give you customized presence and branding, it also gives your customers a channel to interact with you. And, it provides great SEO value, too. Set up a Facebook page now and spread the word among your friends and customers."

Navaneeth Krishnan
Founder
Netcarnation

New ShoppeSimple Features

from RSCheck.com

What really separates ShoppeSimple TransactionalRSS (TRSS) from plain old RSS?  One of many compelling answers: Management and Analytics. ShoppeSimple’s SaaS-based TransactionalRSS platform is the only place to get a rich suite of tools that online marketers need to manage and grow the TRSS sales channel.

Case in point:  VP of User  Experience Jake Ingman just announced two new analytics features for the TransactionalRSS management side that should help our clients and peak the interest of many an online merchant:

1. The “Today” Row

This row on the analytics page provides up-to-the-second information about the pageviews, product click-throughs, and order conversions for the current day.

2. Campaign Tracking

ShoppeSimple stats now support Hub traffic source segmentation!  That means you can add a unique identifier to the end of your ShoppeSimple Hub URL, and it will be displayed separately in your detailed statistics report (and soon, in your summary table as well).  Some email campaign programs add variables to the end of your URLs automatically.  If you don’t use a program that adds these variables for you, you can add them manually.

For example, if you wanted to track visitors that came through your email campaign, you could modify your Hub URL like this:

Your generic hub link:

http://hub.shoppesimple.com/for/yourcompany/

Your email-specific hub link:

http://hub.shoppesimple.com/for/yourcompany/via/email/campaign/23/

This would tell the ShoppeSimple statistics program that those visitors came “via: email” and “campaign: 23″.  If you don’t have a campaign id, you can just use the /via variable.

There’s more, of course.  As usual, check out www.shoppesimple.com to see how it looks to the consumer; and have a look at www.shoppesimple.net to get a sneak preview of the next phase — a first of its kind opt-in prospecting portal for online merchants.

Let us know what you think — and if you want to learn more

For more information click on the Contact Us link at the top right of the home at RSSCheck.com

Jump starting your catalog sales with TransactionalRSS -- TRSS

Have you considered using TransactionalRSS (TRSS) starting the week before the drop of the latest catalog drop  through the first few weeks of the catalog mailing to announce your catalog is on the way. The TRSS feeds should focus on on key items from the catalog.  Announcing the catalog mailing and introduction of new collection or products items from the catalog will help jumpstart the book sales.  To learn more check out RSSCheck.com contact us at info@rsscheck.com

iDEAS to BUILD your brand in a continued downturn

Check out this video from http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/24361.asp and then contact ShoppeSimple who can put your New Arrival and New Seasonal Offerings in front of your consumers every day 365 days.

Worried about being to promotional and as a result loosing contribution margin? Then ShoppeSimple can give you a cost affordable way to let your customers know about merchandise you want to show them.

Through ShoppeSimple's TransactionalRSS (TRSS) Content Management System (TCMS) you can now digital merchandise your product line to consumers who have requested to see you merchandise every day

To learn more check out RSSCheck.com and also ShoppeSimple.net for more information email info@RSSCheck.com or phone 612.349.2740

Take a peek at our new online customer acquisition portal at shoppesimple.net

From Federated Media

Boing Boing

Boing Boing attracts more than 5 million unique visitors to its site each month, and has over 600,000 RSS subscribers. This mirrors my experience of email to RSS. The power of TransactionalRSS or TRSS like RSS is not in the collection or growing a massive TRSS subscriber file but in its ability to provide a consumer with promotional or product offerings everyday or multiple product offerings every day 365 days a year.

This is a very different strategic approach then what you tend to do with email subscriber files. thegies

"Never underestimate the profit opportunity that comes with adding ShoppeSimple's TransactionalRSS to your shopping cart. Just add a ShoppeSimple gadget and you will see an increase in product sales and average order value." For more information check out RSSCheck.com for more information or email info@rsscheck.com. Phone 612.349.2740