Email Marketing a Top Priority

Those companies that are seeing the current downturn as a chance to expand and that are planning to spend more on their online efforts this year, say that they will focus their investments on search (80%), email (65%), and social marketing (60%). According to this report, these businesses see email as one of the most important means to communicate with their customers and most plan to use it to inform customers of new product launches, promotions, and to get customer feedback. 90% of all respondents listed a focus on email marketing as a top priority.

Companies Won't Scale Back Social Media Campaigns

Interestingly, the study also found that those companies that are growing faster than expected during this downturn are also more likely to embrace social media. Even those companies that are planning to scale back their online operations this year still plan to experiment with social media campaigns.

Imaged used courtesy of Flickr user jakerome.

These problems were only compounded during the last year, as eBay also lost a lot of its casual sellers to Craigslist (which saw its traffic rise 40% over the past year).

As Compete's Matt Pace rightly points out, eBay's strategy of emphasizing fixed-price transactions only muddled the waters and blurred eBay's distinction from other online retailers, including eBay's own shopping.com. Also, users clearly prefer to buy from a trusted source like Amazon, and the average order value on eBay has remained stable at around $28 for the last year.

That doesn't mean that eBay's focus on "Buy-It-Now" transactions was a total failure, though. The number of these transactions grew steadily over the last year (up 20% from last year), but this was not enough to make up for the simultaneous decline in eBay's auction business. According to Compete, 1.5 million fewer users actually placed bids on eBay in February 2009 than a year ago.

How does it work? The first step for users is to enter your zip code (U.S. only) to view and select pre-screened providers in your area. You can then click on names to view profiles, insurance information and ratings. The next step is to describe your project (using photos if you like), set your schedule and name your price. You have to upload sufficient funds into your "ServiceLive Wallet", but the website assures us that "you maintain control of your funds until the project is completed to your satisfaction." The providers you select can then "compete for your business" - they may also respond with a counter offer for a different time or price.

The main site is focused on the same consumer market that largely drives Sears' offline retail business, but ServiceLive also features a special section for 'commercial' customers - such as companies and Property Owners/Managers.

For service providers, ServiceLive is free. The business model for Sears is that the customer pays 10 percent of every completed service order amount. There is a rating system for the service providers - and only customers who have hired providers through ServiceLive are allowed to post ratings and comments. In a way ServiceLive is similar to websites like Angie's List, which provides consumer reviews of tradespeople and other service providers. But ServiceLive takes it a step further, by allowing users to order services online using the auction system.

In our initial tests, we managed to find 6 local plumbers in the Portland zip code. All were unrated, but we assume that Sears will get more ratings into the system once they market the site to its huge retail customer base. As with all 'web 2.0' apps that rely on user-generated content (in this case ratings and comments), it requires a large user base to get decent ratings data. But Sears is in a much better position than startups to get that data, given that ServiceLive is very complementary to its core retail business. Imagine for example getting a flyer with each home improvement product purchase in Sears or KMart, promoting ServiceLive. This could very quickly ramp up.

ServiceLive began in 2007 and is a subsidiary of Sears Holdings, parent company of Kmart and Sears. Currently there are more than 20,000 "ServiceLive-Approved providers" available to hire through the online marketplace. The $10.00 posting fee for users to place an order on ServiceLive has been waived for the rest of February, as an initial promotion. But we obviously think that Sears can find other much more effective ways to promote the service in its Sears and KMart stores.

Sears says that it is the leading home appliance retailer, so ServiceLive.com is a natural online complement to its core offline retail business. This is definitely worth watching to see how quickly it grows, as it's potentially a very useful service for both homeowners and tradespeople.

Yet they're hardly alone when it comes to big businesses that are missing out on leveraging this new mobile platform. Several companies that should have apps, don't. Why is that?

Listen Up: We Want Apps!

Today, there are numerous companies that could and should have iPhone applications or, at the very least, an iPhone-ready mobile web site, do not. Another that comes to mind immediately is My Coke Rewards. Coke Rewards are the points you can collect from the bottle caps and 12-packs of Coca-Cola beverages. You enter them in on the company's dedicated web site or via SMS in order to receive free prizes and discount coupons. Yet, there's no iPhone app for this. In fact, the entire site runs entirely in Flash, so there's no way to browse to the site using the iPhone at all. It's a terrible mobile experience from one of the world's biggest retailers.

Other companies missing the boat are those in the travel industry - companies like Priceline for example. Although Priceline operates a mobile site at www.priceline.mobi, there's no app available in the iTunes store. Imagine the missed opportunities! Who doesn't want to get a cheap flight or hotel? However, one of their competitors already has an app up-and-running: Travelocity. The Travelocity app offers several travel tools and a one-touch button for booking tickets. But where are the other big players in travel? Orbitz? Expedia? No apps from you?

While still on the subject of tickets, the giant ticket brokerage Ticketmaster is also sorely missing from iTunes. Instead, the lesser known Tickets Direct is getting all the iPhone owners' business as their app lets you search and purchase tickets for thousands or concerts, sports, and theater events.

Then there is Apple's partner, Starbucks. Given the integration between the two companies when it comes to music, it's hard to believe there isn't an iPhone app for ordering your latte by now. Although a lot of iPhone owners desperately want this, we do understand that building a system to handle mobile orders would take time. (Still, we hope this is something that they're working on.)

For that matter, we hope all the restaurant chains and pizza places are working on mobile ordering systems. Many chains have mobile web sites, but this isn't enough for us anymore. We want one-touch access from our homescreens. Especially for those restaurants who already provide curbside-to-go services. Why not have an app for this? It just makes sense.

Other businesses that should be leveraging the iTunes platform are the shipping companies like UPS and FedEx. There are several different mobile shipping trackers available now, but all are third-party applications. None come from the actual shipping companies themselves. Without their own apps, these companies are missing out on an opportunity to establish a brand presence on a platform that is increasingly being used in the workplace, thanks in part to the iPhone's ability to receive Microsoft Exchange email...not to mention the CEOs who are now demanding that I.T. support the device.

Also missing from the App Store are apps for major retailers. Where's our Best Buy app? Circuit City? What about our favorite clothing store? Grocery store? Car dealership? Although there are price comparisons apps aplenty and Amazon's app of course, several brick-and-mortar operations are still missing from the store. And while Jaguar's iPhone-only magazine launched in 2007 was clever, we want more. We want real apps.

Finally, why haven't local papers thought to use the iPhone platform to save their dying businesses? Most papers of any decent size already have developers on staff who work at maintaining the paper's web site - why not ask them to build an app instead? Some larger news organizations have already done this including AP News, USA Today, and the New York Times (Disclosure: RWW is syndicated by NYT). But where are the smaller, local news organizations? This could be how they could save themselves. Who wouldn't want to read the local paper on their iPhone? Add in mobile coupons and ads from local businesses to the app and you could breathe new life into the industry.

Who's Getting it Right

Surprisingly, some of the companies getting the iTunes experience right are the ones that don't immediately spring to mind when you think about companies needing an iPhone presence. For example, you may be surprised to find that retailers like Nike and Kraft have recently launched iTunes applications. Kraft's iFood Assistant helps customers create shopping lists and find the nearest grocery store, all while maximizing exposure for their product line through the 7,000 searchable recipes it contains.

Nike also recently launched an iPhone app to promote their sponsorship of Italian soccer. Called Nike Goal, the app is an extension of the Nikefootball.com web site.

Major retailer Target not only gets points for knowing to advertise within Pandora's mobile app, but they have their own iPhone application, too. The app is a gift finder app that lets you search for gifts by price and gender. Clearly, the app was launched just the for holiday shopping season as it came out in November, 2008. However, this app could be so much more that what it is today. We could use our iPhones to add items to our Target gift registries, collect mobile coupons, or check out the latest sales. So Target, you only get half credit for this one.

According to AdAge (link behind paywall), apps will be the new way to engage and advertise to your customers, but frankly, we're not seeing many big companies with apps just yet. We hope in 2009 we'll begin to see more. It's certainly time.