Ecommerce quick reads on Google Analytics, Social Media and Persuasive Copy-writing from the CxFocus Facebook Page

Do you struggle to keep up to date? I spend at least half my working hours trying to keep my eye on the latest developments in ecommerce. When I come across something interesting I usually mention it on Twitter. You can see my Twitter feed in the right column of the CxFocus blog.

But 140 characters can be just a bit too short for me. So I’m also experimenting with posting items on the CxFocus Facebook Page, because that allows a bit more space and includes different media. It’s also great for discussion of course!

Below is a summary of what I posted last week. The main themes were: the language of persuasion (or the opposite!), social marketing and Google Analytics.

This post is worth reading for the comment from someone working at Nokia — if you’re using Facebook well and have the right kind of approach you don’t need to get involved with offering prizes or fussing with terms and conditions. Good content rules, yet again — and that applies when the content is from visitors too.

What attracts consumers to take part in social media campaigns?
econsultancy.com
I’ve been asked a few times recently how social media users behave over different channels, and I thought it was worth jotting down some notes on what to expect if you’re running a campaign that includes user-generated content.

Make your instructions clear and your help helpful with these great tips

Micro copy (those instructions and pop-ups on forms) and error messages are one of the things which can make a site easy to use or a complete pain. This article contains lots of great examples. And it’s fun to read too. How rare is that in our working lives? As a bonus, here’s a link to a Flickr Group devoted to the same subject full of screenshots of good and bad examples:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/microcopy/

24 ways: The Construction of Instruction
?24ways.org
The advent calendar for web geeks. Each day throughout December we publish a daily dose of web design and development goodness to bring you all a little Christmas cheer.

Sell more with more persuasive language – tips from a top copy-writer

Find out how you can improve the sales from your site with just a few quick changes to the wording of key pages.

Copywriting tips from Mel Henson > Smart Insights Digital Marketing
www.smartinsights.com
I met Mel Henson at last year’s ECMOD conference where we discussed the pleasure and pain of book writing. She was hard at work on a new book on copywriting

How not to do it: example of wordy overlay on landing page

This overlay appeared after I had clicked through from an advert on Facebook. “VIP Specials!” sounds good, but there’s way too much text.

Screen Grabs
CxFocus There’s a video showing what happened here:
http://www.cxfocus.com/index.php/ecommerce-usability/click-multichannel-reporting-incentive-click/

Learn GA Best-practice with external Google Analytics audits from L3

Any retailer who wants a quick insight into the kind of thing they could and should be doing with Google Analytics should follow this series of audit reports from L3 Analytics. In fact, I think they’ll do one on your site for free if you ask!

Whistles GA Flash Audit | Web analytics consultancy and expert Google analytics | L3 Analytics
www.l3analytics.com
by Peter O’Neill on May 10, 2011 in GA Flash Audit
CxFocus I’ve just realise that it would be better to give a link to the list of all the audits. It also includes an introduction: http://www.l3analytics.com/category/ga-flash-audit/