Hellooooo? Anyone out there? Just want to wish a happy Fourth of July to all our American friends.

If you’re carving time out of your long weekend celebrations to read Get Elastic, we thank you! And here are some links you may also enjoy:

• If you are puzzled on how to track offline conversions, read and bookmark 7 best practices for tracking offline conversions. I’m continually impressed with the quality of free information Avinash gives away on his blog, and I look forward to July 17th when Avinash joins us for a live webinar called 3 Things to Die For: Web Analytics Unleashed. Sign up for your chance to win one of 5 copies of Kaushik’s book Web Analytics: An Hour a Day.

• The name says it all: Tips for Selling High-Ticket Items via Paid Search in Today’s Tough Economy, from the Rimm-Kaufman Blog.

• While we’re talkin’ PPC, Justin Palmer has 25 PPC survival tips you should check out. 3 Customer Confidence Builders is also an excellent read.

• Can you trust machines to handle your keyword research? George Michie says “Don’t let machines write your keyword lists!”

• Considering comparison engines as a marketing channel? Chip Arndt from EtailDtail explains why online retailers should use comparison shopping engines, including 7 steps to success. You can also find an impressive roundup of the most popular shopping engines courtesy of Merchant Advantage.

• Good newsflash if you use Flash to deliver rich media experiences, Google’s working hard to improve Flash indexing including text and links without any effort on your part.

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ICanHasCheezburger is a photoblog where users can submit funny cat pictures with captions. Users are encouraged to “Lolspeak” which has evolved into common buzzwords like “oh hai,” “ur doing it wrong,” “srsly” and “kthxbai.” A lot of people surf ICHC while they’re supposed to be working.

Ecommerce websites upload product pictures and descriptions. Etailers speak gibberish like “average conversion rate,” “landing page optimization” and “Geo-IP targeting.” A lot people shop online when they’re supposed to be working.

Today’s post is a tribute to online retailers and cat lovers everywhere. For each ecommerce topic, there is a Cheezburger pic and a link to a related article (most on Get Elastic, a few from our blogger frendz). Hope u likez. (If you’re on Sphinn or Mixx you can also Sphinn it or Mixx it).

Search Engine Marketing

SEO Myths

Jill Whalen’s Top 10 SEO Organic Myths
Lee Odden’s 5 Myths About SEO
Tadeusz Szewczyk’s Top 10 SEO Myths V2

Improving Click Through Rates

Short URLs Attract 250% Higher Click-Through in Organic Search
An Example of Excellent Search Result Marketing
PPC Advertising: Are You Selling Yourself in Your Ads?

Analytics

Marketing Pilgrim Guest Post: 8 Stupid Things Webmasters Do To Mess Up Their Analytics
Problogger Guest Post: Almost 7 Ways to Re-Optimize Your Blog Posts
All of our posts tagged analytics

Product Pages

Product Descriptions

Improve Product Descriptions Using Customer Reviews
Janet Meiners’ What Customers Want: More Detailed Product Descriptions

Show Products in Context

Can Product Images Improve Conversion?

Calls-to-Action / Cart Buttons

107 Add to Cart Buttons of Top Online Retailers
Call to Action Buttons: Does Size Matter?

Image Zoom

How Top Retailers Show Product Images

Increasing Average Order Value

Merchandising

Webinar: Effective Online Merchandising, What Sells?
Crazy Ecommerce Video: Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought…
Check out all merchandising posts

Up-selling / Cross-Selling

Cross-Selling Tips for Online Retailers
User Generated Cross-Sells, Why Isn’t Anyone Doing It?
Read all cross-selling posts

Product Subscriptions

Amazon’s Novel Way to Increase Customer Loyalty
Asking Customers to Go Steady: Tips for Repeat Orders

Design and Usability

Site Navigation

See all posts about site navigation

Alternative Navigation

Office Max Reinvents Navigation

Site Search

Why You Should Turn On Google Site Search Today
Optimizing Site Search for Non-Product Information
Crazy Ecommerce Video: Zero Results Found
See all site-search articles

Pop-Ups

Design Vs. Art Blog: Pop-ups Are Bad for Usability

Slow Loading Pages

Alan Rimm-Kaufman shares tips for speeding up your site’s load time
Crazy Ecommerce Video: Banana-rama-rama-rama…

Registration Usability

Registration Usability: 87 Registration Forms Tested
Registration Usability - Permission Email Dos and Donts

Landing Page Optimization

Creating Compelling Copy

Browse all posts tagged Copywriting

Personalization / IP Targeting

Using Geo-IP To Tailor Content Delivery
Webinar Recap: Love, Faith & Hope: Conversion Meets Customer Behavior
Full replay of webinar: click here

Cart Abandonment

The Ecommerce Checkout Report

Trust-Building

Podcast: Building Trust with Hackersafe
Guest Post: Losing Customers at the Register: 12 Checkout Blunders

Dealing With FUDDs

Cart Abandonment: Nipping FUDDs in the Bud

Privacy Policies

Privacy Policy Usability Tips

Marketing Campaigns

Email Marketing

Make Emails Look Good With Images Off
Tips for Writing Welcome Emails
Do Your Email Subject Lines Deliver?
Check out all our email marketing posts.

Unwanted Email

Consumers Believe Spam Means Unwanted, Not Unsolicited Email

Product Guides / Tutorial Marketing

Copyblogger: The Return of Tutorial Marketing?

Holiday and Event Marketing

Webinar: 7 Simple Ways to Boost Your Holiday Conversion Rate
Webinar: 12 Things Retailers Must Learn from Christmas ‘07
View all posts tagged holiday marketing

Value-Added Incentives

Giving Gift Givers More Options

Customer Service

Live Chat

GrokDotCom: Make Your Live Chat Persuasive
Internet Retailer: 10 Tips for Employing Live Chat Profitably

Responding to Emails

Justin Palmer’s 25 Ways to Improve Customer Service
View all entries tagged customer service

Return Policies

Dodging Dishonest Customer Chargebacks

Free Return Shipping

Good Customer Service Still the Best Word-of-Mouth Strategy

Building Community / Social Media

Ratings and Reviews

How to Attract Customer Reviews
How to Ask for Customer Reviews, Nicely
Webinar: User Reviews: The Power of Social Commerce
All customer reviews articles

User Submitted Photos

Do Customer Submitted Photos Add Value?

Community Moderation

Fake Customer Reviews, Bad Product Reviews - What to Do?

Reputation Management

Invesp Guest Post: Common Reputation Management Issues and How to Address Them

Turning a Reputation Crisis into an Opportunity

Earlier this week we discussed why enlarged images, alternate product views and showing products in context can help conversion.

But what about “user generated images” (or the friendlier term “customer submitted photos”)? Are they just social media / Web 2.0 hype or do they really improve customer experience?

Customer images may be used to help sell product (like customer reviews complement product descriptions) or just build community (if the retailer has a community section). Either way, customer submitted photos have their challenges:

• Image quality can vary from submission to submission. Dark or fuzzy images really don’t add value and can hurt the consistency and professionalism of your site.

• Attracting images can be a challenge - only a small percentage of customers will take the time to create a picture and send it to you.
• Moderating images for appropriateness and relevance takes extra time.

Let’s look at some examples of how online retailers are using customer submitted photos:

Product Pages

You may have noticed that Amazon shows customer images along with its own product images:

You can roll over the thumbnails to view larger versions and even read notes that users have left on them:

This is helpful as a customer review - the color on the web is not the color in the box.

Customer Reviews

Power Reviews allows photo attachments to reviews, as spotted on Uncommon Goods:

(Sometimes customers pick useless tags…)

What I like about this approach is it’s seamless. Good review content is not separated into text vs. image reviews. On Amazon, a very helpful tip like the color is actually more mint than neon green could be missed unless you read reviews AND view pictures. Plus, it’s less programming work when your reviews product has image upload already available.

Customer Testimonials

Modern Line Furniture has a testimonials page with customer images linked to from the home page (though the call-to-action gets a bit lost in the home page clutter).

The testimonials page links through to the product pages for items featured in the room. Yay! There’s hope for a transaction!

Community / Resource Section

Some retailers actually have a community component to their e-stores, like David’s Bridal. Customers can upload pictures from their weddings, and brides-to-be can surf them to get inspiration for dress styles and color schemes.

While this is a good idea, the community section is kind of a dead end — there is no link back to products or tools that facilitate a purchase decision like shop-by-color.

Alternative Energy Store has a similar community gallery, but without links to products or buying guides, it’s not very helpful.

With links to products, the gallery could be a social tool for product discovery. I just haven’t come across a retailer who’s doing that well (community gallery that aids shopping). Have you? Please share your find in the comments.

According to a Future Now client, images can lift conversion rates by 147% by showing products “in context.”

Yesterday we looked at examples of image zoom and alternate views, which can help customers experience the product better than one small view. A good photographer plus AJAX or Flash technology like Scene 7 or Magic Zoom can achieve this.

But online retailers can go a step further and use photos that show products in use, or “in context.”

This can reduce a shopper’s fears, uncertainties and doubts about a purchase like “how does this look on a person?” or “how large is this in real life?.” Images can also “sell” by triggering an emotion, showing the quality or versatility of an item or illustrating a products features and benefits.

Here are some effective and creative ways online retailers are showing products in context:

Show Items in Use

Delia’s shows this hoodie lying flat and on a model. Showing clothing on people gives the customer a better idea of the style of the garment. Is a hoodie fitted like yoga wear or loose like a track suit? Is it a cropped style or long? Seeing an item on a person will also resonate with a certain kind of customer (like “humanstic” shoppers). Showing the flat alternative makes it easy to show different colors without having to dress the model each time.

You could argue that model shots may be less effective than showing the garment in isolation - the model’s face, the other clothing she wears or the background might detract from the product itself. Using a white mannequin, you can show the way the item looks on while keeping the focus on the item only.

Using a plus-size mannequin is very effective for plus-size clothing, as Fashion Bug does on the right.

An interesting conversion test would be to compare white-background against outdoor images, especially for clothing and brands associated with sporty/outdoor lifestyle like Cabelas:

American Apparel uses an outdoor, lifestyle shot here. The description says the pants are great for lounging, working out and sleeping. Showing the model walking a dog and sitting by the pool in the images communicates even more uses. Plus, it’s raw and more true-to-life than a polished studio shot. The pants are being worn by “a person like me.”

This example from American Apparel connects on an emotional level while showing off the garment on kids of different ages, ethnic backgrounds and wearing different colors.

Ease Suitability Fears

HerRoom.com is a lingerie shop that developed its “Try it Under” feature in house. Customers can overlay virtual shirt styles like v-necks over top of the product image to make sure straps and things don’t show through.

ArtSelect.com lets you preview your print with your paint.

You can even email the image in an e-card - great for interior decorators who need approval from clients.

Ease Sizing Fears

ArtSelect lets you eyeball how large the piece is compared to a 5′4 woman.

BabyCenter shows the relative size of a diaper bag, and throws in a very happy mommy with baby to appeal to the humanistic shopper.

Again, mannequins do the trick also:

Coach uses a bag sizer tool. Choose your height and see the bag on the shoulder and in hand.

Prevent Disappointment, Build Trust & Minimize Returns

These are some pretty radical earrings, they’re not for everyone. A simple photo of the earrings alone could be deceiving - the customer could assume they are much smaller than they really are. If you offer free return shipping, well…

Blue Nile uses a ruler:

Read more on how to reduce size and color fears.

Illustrate Benefits

Spanx uses before and after shots to prove its product is indispensable.

Apple shows its laptop case with laptop inside - plus all the other stuff you can cram in there.

BabyCenter brags how versatile its stool is - both mommy and little one can make good use of it.

Product information is also “in-context.” 40 GB and 80 GB means nothing to me, but I can understand the difference between 20,000 and 40,000 songs.

PS: Notice the call to action buttons match the available colors? This is also a nice example of side-by-side upselling - it’s clear for only $100 more you get double the storage.

Going the Extra Mile

Video “product tours” can be great for some items. MLB.com lets you watch a video of its dancing mascots and sample its music.

Other products lend themselves to try-before-you-buy, such as free carpet, blind and cloth samples so the customer can see the exact color and texture.

You can make your product images sell for you by thinking through the best ways to show how your products are incredible or solve a customer’s problems. It’s not just your product description’s job! Maximize both product descriptions and images and you’ll up the persuasion factor and conversion rates too.

We’ve all heard Confucius’ famed quote “a picture is worth 1,000 words” at least 1,000 times.

Online, pictures are worth more than words, they’re worth dollars. But how many dollars depends on how effectively product images *speak* to customers. We’re talkin’ details. Just like textual product descriptions describe a product in detail, enlarged images and alternate views better describe your products. And many products cannot be fully described with words.

According to a 2007 survey of online shoppers by the E-Tailing Group:

• 77% are “very to somewhat” influenced by the quality of content (descriptions, copy, images and tools) when deciding to purchase from an online retailer

• 79% “rarely or never” purchase a product without complete product information
• 76% believe content is insufficient to complete research or purchase online “always,” “most often” or “some of the time”
• When faced with incomplete information, 72% go to a competitor or research further

Future Now did its own customer experience study and found 24% of online shops do not allow customers to enlarge images, and 63% don’t offer multiple image views. I decided to do some research myself, cruising the Internet Retailer 500 List looking for examples of how online retailers are showing off their goods:

Images in Action

A simple way to enlarge images is to have a link “click to enlarge” that opens up a pop-up with the thumbnail image blown up. The next level up is to offer alternative images in the pop-up with the ability to change the image with a click or mouseover.

A bit more advanced is using a Javascript or Flash tool like Magic Toolbox
or Adobe’s Scene 7. Magic Toolbox’ Magic Zoom lets you hover over any area of a product image without a pop-up or click (stay on the product page). There may be other products that also do this, but I’m only aware of this one.

This example from Danskin shows how you can view the front or back of this product in any of its 4 colors:

Scene 7 is typically launched in a popup window with the option to click a plus or minus button to enlarge, then click and drag the image around the window to look at specific detail. Or, use the magnifier to blow up one portion:

I found Scene 7 was fussy to use, and on some sites would load a blank window. Not to mention the time to load. I do prefer the Magic Toolbox product, as a web user.

Sliders

Altrec uses a slider for image zoom which you can control by clicking and dragging left and right from the enlarge pop-up. You can then click and drag the big image to move it around within the window.

The Adidas Store does the same thing right on the product page (no pop-up. less clicking required).

OnlineShoes.com is like Adidas, but includes alternate views which really help describe the product. You can view them all without pop-ups.

I’m not sure the magnifying glass is a good icon here - that’s more associated with a search box than image magnification.

Quick Look

A handful of retailers like Gap’s brands use a Quick Look preview from the category page, with full product information. If you want an even larger view you can click to a popup with color switching and view switching.

Huge Category Zoom

Bidz.com explodes images on the category page with a rollover - the biggest previews I’ve ever seen.

Large Default Images on Product Pages

Moosejaw uses a large image on its product pages with detailed information in tabs. Just rollover alternative views for instant enlargement.

TiesNecktie.com uses large product images too. Ties are one type of product that really only need one view, so this is usable, effective and inexpensive.

Retailer Creativity

By showing front and back views on one image, Causal Male saves clicking between 2 images on the product page, and also gives more product information from one thumbnail on the category page. This is great for shoppers in “competitive” buying mode who want information fast, fast, fast. Plus, it never covers up the call-to-action.

Uncommon Goods’ approach is uncommon, but good (I know it’s cheesy but I couldn’t resist). For certain products, the image is shown in a landscape banner with zoom and move controls right there on the page.

Neiman Marcus and Venus Swimwear use floating images in the sidebar that follow you down as you scroll down the page.

Horny Toad lets you select size scaling on the category page:

ACLens offers a .pdf print-out of the actual size of its frames:

J.Crew allows enlargement and multiple color / angle views for cross-sells as well:

full cross-sell set and enlarge them and color switch them on the same page

What do you think about the call to action? Too long? Cute the first time but annoying when used on every product?

So these are some examples of providing slick product views in usable and creative ways. But how can you up the persuasion factor and tell a story with your product images? Tune in tomorrow for tips and examples on how to show products “in context.”

A few action items for you before we digg into the links for the week:

Future Now is teaming up with the Google Website Optimizer team for a series of webinars dubbed “Always Be Testing“. Don’t miss the first installment: “Landing Pages: Confidence & Trust Building Elements” on July 9th at 12:00pm EST.

You can also catch Sitebrand’s webinar replay of Email Marketing: That was then. This is now. in Sitebrand’s Webinar Archive.

Jason B took the plunge into the Twittersphere, follow Jason and Linda on Twitter if you tweet.

• The lovely Jennifer Osborne from Search Engine People explains how to plan a website transition with search engines consequences in mind.

• One of my favorite blogs just underwent its own transition from Retailemail.blogspot.com to RetailEmailBlog.com. This blog points out the best of breed (and sometimes worst) email campaigns of top retailers and is worth the subscribe. Here’s an example: HP is using animation in its email which is really innovative and slick:

• Do you blog with Wordpress? Find out how to squash duplicate content on Wordpress blogs.

• Does “free shipping” attract more females than males? Interesting article from GrokDotCom’s Holly Buchanan.

• Hmm, Robert Gorell either read my mind or peeked at my blog drafts. His post on how product images are so critical to conversion optimization should whet your appetite for next week’s series on product images here at Get Elastic. The article includes a video with conversion guru Bryan Eisenberg and Web marketing legend Ralph Wilson, plus links to related posts on GrokDotCom about product images.

• Great link bait idea from SEOmoz: Exploring how Google collects user data. It’s not really ecommerce related but quite remarkable and of interest to anyone who uses Google to search, send mail, advertise, watch videos etc. etc.

Yesterday we posted a Q&A session with Sally Lowery of Bronto Software on trigger email campaigns. Today we have 2 real-world examples from Amazon. These emails followed up the purchase of a camcorder:

• Amazon doesn’t wait for you to come back to the site to push recommendations at you. 10 days post-purchase,

• Notice the low price point relative to the camcorder (about 10% of purchase price)
• Notice the 2 star customer rating - not too persuasive, eh?
• It would be more persuasive to auto-recommend the highest rated relevant accessory, with a snippet from and direct link to the most helpful positive review
• The link to “improve your recommendations” is a good idea, especially if it was just a gift. Adjusting preferences now means more relevant suggestions next time you log into Amazon.com

• 15 days post-purchase, Amazon sends another plea to buy more

• Gone are the star ratings
• Amazon’s pushing categories, not specific products - there are 3 product links without descriptions, and links to category
• Mix of price points, software can be 3x the price of the purchased product
• Includes service plans
• Includes opt-out: “We hope you found this message to be useful. However, if you’d rather not receive future e-mails of this sort from Amazon.com, please opt-out here.”

Now, I understand these are automated recommendations and crafting 1-to-1 cross-sell emails is not efficient. But this email could be a lot more persuasive if it explained more about how these would enhance the ownership experience of the purchased product - and from a fellow customer’s mouth, not the retailer. For the tripod featured in both emails, there’s a video review that 46/47 people found helpful.

Wouldn’t that make for a killer trigger email?

I recently caught up with Bronto Software’s Online Marketing Manager Sally Lowery to chat about trigger-based email campaigns. Think sending welcome emails, reminders to repurchase or hey, “you haven’t been interacting with us for a while and we’d like to win you back” emails.

Q: Can you explain trigger-based email messaging?

A: A real-time message, or triggered message, is one that is generated based on a meaningful change or event in a customer behavior or profile. Trigger-based messages can create a truly relevant email campaign to customers that yields a greater ROI, because it is a customer-facilitated exchange that triggers the campaign.

Q: What are some things to consider when implementing a trigger-based email program?

A: To be successful with a trigger-based automated email program, consider the following:

Define Business Rules. A well defined trigger-based program can create a significant return. Be certain to recognize where it’s appropriate to create trigger-based campaigns and where there may be little benefit. Creating a business rule that sends a transactional message that includes an up-sell opportunity only makes sense if the product that is promoted matches the customer’s interest.

Set Frequency Limits. Don’t oversend. After you have established your business rules, review your plan and determine instances where a customer may be sent too high a frequency. If your email service provider enables a frequency limit, take advantage. You don’t want to send three trigger-based campaigns to a customer in one day…or possibly even one week.

Remember Recency. When was the last time the customer or prospect received something from you? If you are able, create business rules around when your prospect or customer was last sent a message.

Think customer first. What frequency of trigger-based campaigns will not bombard your customer or prospect leaving them fatigued from over-sending? What promotional opportunities make sense: cross-sell, up-sell, discounts, free shipping? The possibilities are limitless for how you will use trigger-based email campaigns, but always be cognizant of the impact on the customer. You want it to be a positive experience that reinforces trust.

Keep it simple. Your automated plan should mirror your brand. Once you’ve done the tricky part of configuring your trigger-based message, you’ll be able to learn and test on the fly, so pepper in new business rules and continue to polish messages.

Q: Can you give some examples of trigger-based email campaigns?

A: Trigger-based email programs can include transactional, recurring, and threshold triggers. The most commonly used are transactional and threshold.

Transactional triggers: Messages that are based on a direct transaction with a customer target such as a purchase, profile update, opt-in, or conversion are an underutilized tool in the world of email marketing. Think brand reinforcement, promotional opportunities, and trust recognition.

Recurring triggers: These messages are based on the customer’s profile. It could be a simple birthday trigger or a more complex product re-order message. For recurring triggers, the opportunities are limitless, but be cautious as these are easily the most recognized place for over-mailing.

Q: How will these trigger-based email campaigns help e-commerce clients?

A: E-commerce can easily integrate and have a successful return with a trigger-based email program. There are several places where a trigger-based campaign can be integrated with their customer behavior.

Welcome Programs. Incorporate trigger-based email messages into your welcome messages. Create a welcome message when one of the following actions is completed: download, purchase, sales inquiry, or registration.

Cross-Sell/Up-Sell Programs. You can create effective cross-sell and up-sell email campaigns using trigger-based actions based on your customers purchase profiles.
Abandonment Programs. When a customer abandons their shopping cart, trigger a message regarding their abandoned items and offer an incentive to complete the purchase.

Win-Back Programs. If you haven’t had a customer return to your site or make a purchase in six months or more, integrate a win-back email that entices the customer to return.

Q: Do you have any rules of thumb to offer after a client’s transition?

A:

1. Plan for your content and promotions. Remember, that despite the fact that these are transactional campaigns, the message that you communicate to your customers and prospects should align with your business objectives.

2. Use HTML. Enhance your messages with html. Incorporating your brand, as well as look and feel of your other marketing touches, can add to your transactional messages. Many companies spend very little time on their transactional messages, despite their significantly higher open rate.

3. Customize. Relevancy means customizing your messages to the individual recipient. To create an ongoing dialog with customers, consider dynamic content in your campaigns. Your customers are far more likely to respond to messages that include information that relates to their preferences, behaviors, or past purchases.

4. Measure. Just like any other email marketing campaign, don’t leave it on its own. Test and review and find ways to optimize your trigger-based email program to increase your ROI.

Thanks again to Sally and the Bronto team for sharing these tips with Get Elastic. If you’re interested in more information about trigger-based email campaigns, you can check out Sally’s white paper The Need for Ease.

Ed Whiting from Travel Remark put together this eye-opening video about Facebook travel applications. Just for fun, take a guess how many travel-related Facebook applications there are before you click play (the grand total will be revealed at the end).

And this is just one category of commercial applications, folks.

When Facebook applications were launched last year, first movers in ecommerce included Blue Nile’s Wish List and Backcountry’s Steep and Cheap. I give credit to these retailers for giving it a shot. Unfortunately, almost a year later you can count the number of daily users for these apps on one hand.

Other social shopping applications like StyleFeeder and Polyvore get a few thousand daily users - not bad, but they are definitely the exception.

Challenges in Social Shopping Facebook Application Marketing

1. Application Aggro - Requests to add applications from friends are no longer trusted. Much worse, in fact - it has turned friends into perceived spammers and prompted many Facebook statuses along the lines of “stop sending me [radio edit] applications!

2. Saturation - At this stage in the game, there are so many applications that to get popular, you have to be remarkable. You have to provide so much value that people will add your application and risk losing friends to evangelize your app with invites.

3. Commercialization - Judging by daily average users, it’s clear that Facebookers would rather buy and sell each other than buy real products.

4. App ADD - Even if someone adds your application, that person has to be really motivated to use it on a regular basis. Otherwise it will inevitably be removed.

5. Co-dependency - Many apps depend on a sufficient number of your friends’ participation for there to be any practical value (Facebook being a social network, after all). If a user doesn’t have mutual friends with the application, he can get no utility out of it.

Given these conditions, I don’t think there’s a future for e-tailers to win at this game. What do you think?

Chris Brucia recently contacted me to let me know about some of Amazon.com’s niche blogs that had slipped under my radar for our roundup of 75+ e-Tailer blogs. The blogs are Omnivoracious (books), Aldente (food/kitchen) and Carlust (cars).

I fired back with some questions regarding Amazon’s blog strategy (thought it would make an interesting blog post, of course) and Chris sent through some thoughtful replies. Happy reading:

Linda: What are your primary goals for the blog? (perhaps put in order of importance or list your own) Customer conversation?
Branding?
Thought leadership?
Search engine optimization?
Sales?
Subscribers?
Comments?

Chris: Our primary goal for the blogs is to create a place where our editors can share their passions and interests with our customers and the larger community. Our editorial teams have a lot of collected experience and knowledge, and they love talking about it - which also becomes a great resource for our customers.

Linda: How do you measure blog success?

Chris: Unfortunately, I can’t speak to our success measurement process, however we are very excited about the feedback we have received from our customers and are always looking for new and interesting things to talk about and ways we can innovate our blog.

Linda: Do you have a social media strategy (promotion through RSS aggregators, involvement in niche communities, participation in blog carnivals, submitting to Digg/Reddit/StumbleUpon etc)? Do you “seed” campaigns or let the readers spread your content organically?

Chris: We have tried to make it easy for readers to share interesting content via Digg, Reddit, and StumbleUpon, and we’ve certainly seen some success from it. We realize the importance these types of social media to the web content community and will continue add more sharing features.

Linda: I notice your blogs link out to many other sites from the blogroll and within blog posts. Do you have a blogger relations strategy? Are your authors engaging with topical bloggers through other networks like MyBlogLog, Facebook, StumbleUpon etc?

Chris: We’re in the beginning stages of getting to know the people who run other blogs that we like. Our editors are also trying to get out into the online communities and networks.

Linda: Do you have a corporate blogging policy in place? A comment policy?

Chris: We are not able to discuss our internal policies.

Linda: What are the biggest challenges with maintaining these blogs?

Chris: The challenges are probably the same as with anyone who commits to trying to make a high quality blog. Creating a space that customers will want to visit regularly means first and foremost that the content is very, very good. Keeping the bar high on content and making sure we tackle the issues that matter to our customers are the things we’re focused on.

Linda: Are there plans for more blogs in the future? (Wine, Music, Gaming, Fashion etc?)

Chris: We just launched 3 new blogs at the end of April: Chordstrike (Music): www.chordstrike.com End User (Electronics): www.enduserblog.com Armchair Commentary (Movies & TV): www.armchaircommentary.com

That gives us 6 blogs. We’ll continue to monitor further opportunities in other categories.