Pay for your Starbucks on your Blackberry
Coffee giant Starbucks today announced the launch of its Blackberry app that enables you to pay for your coffee via your device. This follows the launch of its iPhone app nearly a year ago, with the Android version probably to follow shortly. All this is interesting for the rest of us as it illustrates the journey that major brands are making towards mobile.
If you were to ask me what Starbucks is good at I probably wouldn’t say ‘coffee’. What Starbucks is brilliant at is loyalty. I’ve had better and cheaper coffee than I’ve had at Starbucks, yet I continue to gravitate towards their outlets because I enjoy the experience. The coffee business as a whole has realised that loyalty is critical to it survival. Starbucks are the leaders in this space and their mobile apps offer a lesson to us in other businesses.
Starbucks have already leveraged location-based technologies to improve the findability of their stores. They have transferred their plastic loyalty cards to mobile and now they are making payments seamless. Log on to your Starbucks app on your phone, it produces a bar-code which is scanned at the cash desk; your account is deducted with the relevant amount and your loyalty points are for your next free coffee. totted
Starbucks understand their customers deeply and as a result can create innovative Internet-based solutions that make the purchase process better (easier and quicker) while maximising loyalty. A very smooth transition from ‘bricks and mortar’ to ‘bricks and taps’.
(Note that the apps are not yet available in Ireland.)
Understanding Internet Consumers
I published a survey here last week seeking to understand how the Internet has influenced consumer behaviours. I’ve had just under one hundred responses so I’m going to leave the survey open for a while longer in order to increase the validity of the results. That being said, the results so far are rather interesting:
100% of respondents either completely agree or somewhat agree that as consumers today they are more informed in their purchase and media consumption decisions. At the other end of the spectrum, just over half of respondents say that the Internet has made them less loyal to fewer big brands.
These are the actual statements that were presented:
The survey remains open for a few more days so please take a minute to complete it:
Changing Consumer Trends in the UK
Ireland-based social media agency Simply Zesty released some stats recently which were picked up by Mashable on how social networking is growing in the UK. Check out their video below. I picked up on a few nuggets from the release that will be of particular interest to people seeking to understand how the Internet is changing consumer purchasing behaviours:
- Majority are Researching Purchases Online – 85% of the UK is now online, with 78% of UK Internet users look online for information about goods and services before they purchase. That’s 40.7 million people searching for products and services online.
- Most Trusted Source of Information is Other Individuals - 33% of people trust online banner ads, whereas 70% trust online recommendations from strangers (Wow!) and 90% trust the recommendations from people the know.
- Best Source of Leads is Social Recommendations - Social media is the number one pastime in the UK with 49% of the population having visited a social network site at least once in the past month. A person coming from a social media site is 10 times more likely to make a purchase than an average visitor.
Lessons? Your customers are online researching your products and services before they buy. They are largely ignoring your advertisements and are relying on the collective wisdom of the crowd and of their friends. They are connecting with others online via social networking sites; primarily Facebook. Your customers and your employees are your best advocates. They are active online. Get them working for you!
Understanding Connected Consumers – 60 Second Survey
The Internet has dramatically changed our world. We are now constantly connected to information, to organisations and to each other.
You are a connected consumer – you buy products online and you consume media online. Tell us how the Internet has changed your consumption behaviours. Are you more informed than ever before? Have you less time on your hands? Has your attention span shortened? Are you looking for more choice.
Take this 60 second survey and tell us how the Internet has influenced how you purchase products and consume media. All responses are anonymous and the results of the survey will be shared with everyone.
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Thanks a mil. If you are interested in the impact the Internet is having on us check out this thought-provoking article and discussion on the Guardian website on how the Internet is changing the way we think.
Sell More Online
I have moved on from the social network to spend time on a personal project that has been on the long finger for some time.
The past decade, of helping businesses devise and implement e-commerce strategies that enable them to compete online, has been a constant learning about:
- how customers use the Internet to solve their problems;
- how to create products and compelling online sales processes that maximise conversions;
- how to engage with customers in meaningful ways using the ever-expanding and changing range of social application;
- how to implement e-commerce systems cost-effectively;
- how to structure organisations and their processes to ensure that they operate efficiently in an Internet economy and
- how to measure and improve the return on investment that those organisations have made in e-commerce.
There exists a collective wisdom about how to succeed at doing business online and yet I struggle to find a single place where the insights that have been learned by all of us working in e-commerce have been collated. With that in mind, I am kick-starting a project to distill all of the insights I have gained over the years into a coherent framework that will hopefully be useful for others.
It looks like the project will initially take the shape of a manual that would offer a framework for managers to transform their business or ideas into a successful online operation. Given the ever changing nature of this arena however, any static manual would be quickly dated so I will also be working on a platform that would enable the framework to continually evolve. The working title for the project is “Sell More Online” – alluding to the fact that while most businesses have a website that generates some sales, very many are struggling to understand how to really make their investment in the web deliver significant returns.
Over the coming weeks (and months) I’ll be elaborating concepts from framework here on this blog. Hopefully this will help me gain some early validation, so please share your thoughts on these with me.
Also, I have identified a number of business owners and managers that are eager to participate by working through the framework in their business. If you are in the process of investing in your e-commerce strategy and would like to participate in this project please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Generating Leads from Social Media
As someone with responsibility for sales within your organisation you are probably wondering whether to divert some of your time and resources into social media. Is it a passing fad or can it deliver qualified sales leads?
- Increasing your findability online
Recent research by marketing agency HubSpot, among over one thousand small and medium-sized companies, indicated that there is a direct correlation between the number of keywords a company ranks for in Google and the number of leads generated each month. Creating a blog can be a very effective way of increasing the number of keywords your company ranks for in Google. - Helping to build relationships with customers and establish your expertise
Social media can help to build relationships with existing and prospective customers and establish your expertise in your field. Twitter has proven to be a particularly effective tool for achieving this and in enabling businesses to remain in consumers’ consciousness. Because of the succinct nature of Twitter messages, or “tweets”, many people are finding Twitter to be a very easy means of engaging with lots of people on a regular basis. - Providing a platform for managing your reputation online
Many organisations are wary of engaging with social media applications, concerned that it will open the floodgates of negative feedback in a very public way. The corollary to this is that the conversations customers are having about your products and your brand are taking place anyway and that you are better off being involved in those conversations. Not only will you demonstrate your responsiveness to your customers’ frustrations, but you will also be in a position to correct any damaging inaccuracies being perpetuated. - Supporting your word of mouth referral activities
All sales people are familiar with the power of word of mouth in developing highly qualified leads, and it is useful to consider social media projects as an extension of the activity of generating word of mouth referrals for your brand. By providing your followers with interesting, valuable or entertaining content that they can easily share, you maximise the potential that many others, outside of your direct sphere of influence, will discover it.
This is an extract from an article published recently in the Sales Institute‘s magazine to their members. Click here to download the complete article.
Top Facebook Pages Ireland – 2010
Ireland loves music, booze and Ryanair!
The most popular Irish Facebook pages include musicians, alcohol brands and Ryanair
A visitor to this blog asked where she could find out which Irish corporates had the most popular Facebook pages. The answer wasn’t immediately clear to me and a after a little digging I discovered that this information isn’t readily available.
Here is my best stab at the most popular Irish brands on Facebook ranked by the number of people that “like” their page. I’ve only included the pages that are managed by Irish brands. The data has been pulled from a number of sources but principally from a search of Facebook’s pages directory.
- U2
http://www.facebook.com/u2
3,364,402 - Baileys
http://www.facebook.com/Baileys
850,305 - Westlife
http://www.facebook.com/Westlife
410,063 - Guinness GB
http://www.facebook.com/Guinnessgb
289,963 - Guinness Ireland
http://www.facebook.com/GuinnessIreland
129,026 - Oxegen
http://www.facebook.com/oxegen
102,714 - Jameson Whiskey
http://www.facebook.com/jamesonwhiskey
90,171 - Captain Morgan
http://www.facebook.com/CaptainMorganIreland
59,918 - Ryanair
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ryanair/24694184960
46,454 - The Saw Doctors
http://www.facebook.com/sawdoctors
47,321 - Hostel World
http://www.facebook.com/hostelworldcom
42,937 - Electric Picnic
http://www.facebook.com/ElectricPicnic
41,278 - Munster Rugby
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Limerick-Ireland/Munster-rugby-club-fan-page/36613502000
30,733 - Smirnoff Ireland
http://www.facebook.com/SmirnoffIreland
28,346 - Pogues
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pogues/
25,910 - Spin 1038
http://www.facebook.com/spin1038
24,543 - Guinness Rugby Supporters Ireland
http://www.facebook.com/GuinnessRugbyIreland
24,118 - Irish Cancer Society
http://www.facebook.com/IrishCancerSociety
23,812 - Tourism Ireland
http://www.facebook.com/Ireland
23,452 - Leinster Rugby
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dublin-Ireland/Leinster-Rugby/25793755239
21,533 - Discover Ireland GB
http://www.facebook.com/DiscoverIrelandGB
19,409 - Starbucks Ireland
http://www.facebook.com/starbucksireland
19,232 - Allhorse
http://www.facebook.com/Allhorse
18,735 - Jagermeister Ireland
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jagermeister-Ireland/184728954003
18,020 - Ireland Deserves Sun
http://www.facebook.com/IrelandDeservesSun
17,967 - Barry’s Tea
http://www.facebook.com/BarrysTea
17,220 - Mr Tayto
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mr-Tayto/6763632581
15,690 - Irish Blood Transfusion Service
http://www.facebook.com/giveblood
15,669 - Special Olympics Ireland
http://www.facebook.com/SpecialOlympicsIreland
15,181 - IRISH RUGBY TEAM
http://www.facebook.com/pages/IRISH-RUGBY-TEAM/50621768957
14,907 - Amnesty International Ireland
http://www.facebook.com/amnestyinternationalireland
13,736 - Meteor
http://www.facebook.com/meteor
13,557 - Topflight Holidays
http://www.facebook.com/topflight
12,438 - 98FM
http://www.facebook.com/pages/98FM/70730467584
12,433 - Champion Sports
http://www.facebook.com/championsportsireland
11,736 - Pigsback
http://www.facebook.com/pigsback
11,460 - Ben & Jerry’s Ireland
http://www.facebook.com/BenandJerrysIreland
10,470
I’m bound to have missed plenty, so if you know of some that I’ve omitted please leave a comment below and I’ll update the list.
Are you indespensable? Are you a social media linchpin?
A linchpin is an indispensable metal clip that slots into the axel of a trailer to hold a wheel in place.
In Seth Godin‘s new book, Linchpin, he identifies that there are linchpins in every organisation who are the people that are indispensable to that organisation. They are not necessarily the people at the top, but they are people without whom things would not work quite right. They are never the people who turn up just to get the paycheck, but the people who are emotionally involved, who try new things, and don’t always abide by the rules because they know that sometimes those rules aren’t in the best interests of the organisation. Linchpins are people who are not afraid of raising their head above the parapet or being ridiculed for doing so.
Hugh McCleod, talking about Seth’s new book, summarizes it as follows: “In his best-known book, Purple Cow, Seth’s message was, “Everyone’s a marketer now.” In All Marketers Are Liars, his message was, “Everyone’s a storyteller now.” In Tribes, his message was, “Everyone’s a leader now.” And from Linchpin? “Everyone’s an artist now.” By Seth’s definition, an artist is not just some person who messes around with paint and brushes, an artist is somebody who does (and I LOVE this term) “emotional work.” Work that you put your heart and soul into. Work that matters.”
It strikes me that in the social media stratosphere there are also Linchpins. These are not just the people for whom the number of followers or their influence score are what matters. These are people who contribute greatly and make a real difference to the lives of others. In return they are getting real value out of their social networking, and I don’t mean just making money from it.
Seth summed it up back in April 2009 when he suggested that “the real relationships” people have online are what matter:
How many “real relationships” do you have online? How many linchpins are you really connected with? How many of them could you count on to help you out if you needed them? Are YOU a social media linchpin or a social media chameleon?
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To promote his new book Seth has activated a brand new feature on Meetup.com, called Meetup Everywhere which enables people to set a global meetup that individuals can then organise locally. The Seth meet-up called The Linchpins are everywhere (raise the flag) is taking place this Monday 14th June and yes there is one in Dublin in the Temple Bar Hotel. Find out more here and join some other Seth fans on Monday.
Amplifying Word of Mouth with Weedle
Anyone involved in promoting their service understands the power of word of mouth in developing highly qualified leads. On the flip side, when we need a skilled professional (such as an accountant, physiotherapist or professional photographer) we prefer to ask our friends, family and contacts to recommend someone to us.
Even the little ones are getting excited about Weedle
Increasingly, social media tools are being used by everyone to connect skilled professionals with the people who need them. Business owners and managers are creating Facebook pages to seek to spread the word through the largest global social network. When informing our purchase decisions we increasingly tap into our online networks, such as Twitter, to ask our contacts there what products or services they recommend.
Currently there is no single large-scale way of harnessing the power of word of mouth referrals for people offering skilled services. This is one of the big ideas behind Weedle and one of the main the reasons I joined the company last February.
Weedle enables you to create a personal web page where you can showcase any skill, expertise or talent that you have. You can add text and rich media such as images, video, presentations, documents and many other file formats. You can then promote your skill page to your family, friends and contacts. This means that in the first instance they will be more likely to use you in future. But it also means that they will be more likely to recommend you to their friends.
The next time someone searches for your skill on Weedle they will immediately see in how many ways they are connected with you; for example if you both grew up together, attended the same college or university, worked together or have a friend in common. We all prefer to do business with people we know. Furthermore, anyone who views your skill page will immediately see the recommendations for you from people whose knowledge and opinions they respect. We are more likely to trust what people we know say before the ratings or reviews of anonymous strangers.
This is the thinking behind Weedle and already people from over fifty countries around the world have started showcasing their skills, expertise and talents there.
One of the early benefits of creating a social platform such as Weedle, where skills are the focal point, is that Google returns Weedle web pages quite high in the rankings when someone searches for a skill that happens to be listed there. In the same way as other social platforms optimise for your name (search for your name on Google and there’s a good chance one of your social network profiles will appear on the first page) Weedle optimizes for your skill. People who know you by name will search that way, but people who don’t know you but who need your skill, will search for your skill title. This is Weedle’s initial SEO (search engine optimisation) benefit.
You can connect with me on Weedle on my personal page weedle.com/brendan.hughes – anyone who joins early can claim their personal web address before it is gone. I would love to hear your thoughts on the concept behind Weedle and on how we have implemented the platform to date. Join Weedle today to see how it works and please, please send us your feedback.
Turn Your Funnel into a Megaphone
The social web can help transform your traditional approach to conversion funnels. Social media tools enable you to turn your customers into megaphones for your brand.
Traditional approaches to online sales seek to draw as many customers as possible into the top of your funnel and then focus on optimising the sales funnel to maximize the numbers coming out the other end. Strategies to pile the volumes into the top of the funnel typically rely on expensive marketing approaches that are focused on critical mass. Since the funnel can only be optimised so much, the imperative is to push as many into the top as possible. But isn’t there something terribly frustrating with losing ninety-nine out of every one hundred customers that come to you?
The traditional conversion funnel, with volumes driven by expensive marketing.
An alternative approach is now made possible by the social web and the social media tools that are readily available to new marketers. Stop spending effort and cash on the large volumes, but focus instead on the one happy customer. Each individual’s sphere of influence has grown exponentially thanks to the social web. Your task now is to harness the power of this and enable and support your fans to spread the word to their networks. Optimise your megaphone:
The megaphone approach; enable and reward your fans to share
This approach doesn’t cost you marketing bucks. One happy customer will readily share their satisfaction if you provide the right conditions:
Hot Sharing – Forget hot leads and focus on hot sharing. At the point when your customer is happiest with you, provide them with easy to use tools enabling them to share their positivity towards you with their friends. Only you will know what a happy customer looks like for your business. Leverage all of the social tools that exist to enable them to tell the world about you. This type of word of mouth endorsement will be far more effective than all of the advertising that you might pay expensive agencies to create for you.
Reward Positivity – If you want to encourage positivity and sharing, reward it. Your happy customers will do it anyway but by showing them that you appreciate it, more of your happy customers will be likely to do it. Find appropriate rewards that suit your product. Give them discounts. Give them increased profile. Or maybe just say “Thanks”.
Engage with Your Biggest Critics – Believe it or not, your biggest critics can often become your biggest fans. Vocal critics online can have a damaging effect on your reputation. Often these are happy customers that have been turned by something in your processes into frustrated unhappy customers. Where they have legitimate reason to be annoyed, engage with them and show them that you are listening and attempting to fix the problem. There are so few businesses doing this in an authentic manner, that you might be surprised at the positive response you get. Where they are being unreasonable, your reasonableness will become very obvious to everyone else who is watching the conversation.
Stop spending a fortune dragging those thousands or millions of customer into fundamentally inefficient funnels. Spend time making it easy and interesting for your happy customers to become megaphones for your business.
—— YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN: ——-
TechCrunch Disrupt NYC – Attend for Free as a Guest of Weedle
I am attending, on behalf of Weedle, the TechCrunch Disrupt event which is taking place in New York between Monday 24th to Wednesday 26th of May. If you are also attending drop me a line and I’d love to hook up for a chat. We have a second ticket for the event that we would like to give to readers of our Weedle blog. All you have to do is tell us why you’d like to attend and the ticket goes to the first name out of a hat this Thursday. – B
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