One of my colleagues here at Datadial talked about the peculiar QR code and its uses previously on this blog. Fast forward to now and it seems to have evolved (or caught up with Japan who created them, since technically we live in the stone ages in comparison).

eBay are getting in on the act…

Image Source

A post from the good folks at Econsultancy informs us of a new-age phenomenon set up by eBay, that will see customers sent online to buy goods only after scanning their bar codes with QR compatible devices.

After reading it,  I started thinking about the future of shopping as a whole, with Google taking over the virtual world and taking on everyone from Apple (with Google Music) to Facebook (with Google+) are we living in a world where soon instead of buying food in-store we will be asked to produce our phones first, to then scan a code, pay online and wait for said food to be delivered? Could it become as outrageous as to be used in convenience stores for quick snacks like a chocolate bar or a packet of crisps?

If this is the present already, what does the future hold…?

Both funny and annoyingly true right? …and that’s just online shopping. If we are entering into a world of offline/online mergers what else could happen? I mean sure, in theory there are many problems it could solve:

• Store space would no longer be an issue (just like it no longer was for Cassette’s, CD’s and vinyl after iTunes was born)
• No heavy bags to carry home
• Lesser feelings of guilt because money becomes virtual too; if we can’t see it disappear from our purses then we might forget what we spent
• Scheduling goods to arrive at a time that works best for us

However, what if the downfalls included…

• The wrong item turning up at the door
• The annoyance of having to exchange an item and there being no store front to take it to (or in-store employee to blame for the journey)
• No bag to carry (everybody enjoys a little logo-bragging from time to time)
• That silly little “sorry, you were out when we called” card that the postman surely writes before he even knocks the door in anticipation of you taking longer than he’d like to walk down the stairs & answer it…

To conclude, I agree that this pop-up store (due to launch near Oxford Street, London on Dec 1st) is a great PR stunt for eBay, but is there any real use for the QR code if most people are happy just Googling a URL? – Or perhaps it’s just me that really dislikes the matrix-esque appearance of those ugly squares being forced on the nation…

We conducted an A/B test on Dowce.com website to find out which version would increase number of downloads. Both versions were similar, but in the version B (treatment) we improved the following:

• removed the call to action from the header in order to focus visitors on our main call to action in the body
• improved the headline
• added bullets points with improved value proposition
• improved the call to action (bigger and more visible)
• improved the layout, by dividing the sections so it is easier to scan the page

A: Control                                                             B: Treatment – 24.8% improvement

Conclusion:
This A/B test showed that conversion rate optimisation is very effective marketing method with measurable results, which allows you to increase your revenue and conversion from your current traffic.

To see, what difference a change in conversion rate by 20% or more can make to your business download our conversion improvement calculator.

If you are looking to improve your website conversion rate or would like to learn how we can help request your free consultation at info@datadial.net or call 0208 6000 500.

It took no time at all for fellow tour operators to see this as a great way to generate business. ‘EasyJet’, ‘Fly Thomas Cook’ and ‘Sunwings’ were but some of a few who cottoned onto this and broke a fundamental rule – bidding on a brand-name term that isn’t your own.

Nevertheless, a search query using the term “Goldtrail” or “Goldtrail holidays” returned adverts for cheap holidays abroad and the like. Of course Google would have had to allow this, and probably didn’t act on it because at that point, technically, Goldtrail was no longer an actual legal entity.

The recent Earthquake disaster in Japan, hitting 8.9 on the Richter-scale and sparking off several Tsunamis’, is all over the news and the internet today. It isn’t a brand name, but could this idea be adapted and used as a possible gateway for business? For example, charities pushing sponsorship in the third-world for instance, might post adverts asking for financial help in countries where natural disasters are common by using the words “Japan disaster” “Japan” “Tsunami” “Japan earthquake” “Japan Tsunami” etc, as a broad match – or any keywords that are relevant to this recent tragic disaster.

Click the thumbnails below to see some search terms that are fairly popular at the moment due to current events, and have little competition:

If ads are tactically written so that technically they are not breaching any rules or regulations – like the Goldtrail example above – and instead are tugging at peoples heart strings, this might work.

It seems fine until you consider how this could be misused, for example by charities who take most of what is donated to them and use it to pay “administration fees” and “business costs” before any of it makes it overseas to those in actual need.

You never know…

If you are coming in for a meeting and are cycling distance, please feel free to bring your bike and park it here, there’s plenty of room

We have designed the user interface to be as intuitive as possible, with an emphasis on speed of use and productivity, while at the same time a feature-rich interface gives in-depth data about the source of mentions and enables you to tag, comment or share mentions for further action.

• This service should be seen as part of any effective online marketing strategy.
• You will be able to track and measure what is being said.
• Armed with this information you will be able to see the effectiveness of your campaigns, gain customer insight, learn how your brand, products and services are being perceived and also join in the conversation and, if necessary, react to any adverse publicity.
• The results will help you with planning for future campaigns, enabling fine-tuning and therefore saving you money.

At this point the software is still at a beta stage, so we are inviting as much user feedback and suggestions as possible on design and functionality. Signup to track one phrase is free, so please go here to signup for an account.

A little about me: originally hailing from Australia, I can’t get enough of the great outdoors and playing sport (but no, not cricket!) I also enjoy exploring the UK countryside and have a notable fondness for chocolate, mulled wine and Christmas time.

I’ll be involved in SEO, search marketing, social media and development with Datadial and I’m looking forward to meeting and building a long (and very happy) relationship with my clients!

If you’re on Twitter, feel free to add me to keep in touch! My username is LindyHolman

]]> http://www.datadial.net/blog/index.php/2009/11/30/a-new-arrival/feed/ 1 http://www.datadial.net/blog/index.php/2009/09/29/the-differences-of-helvetica-and-arial/ http://www.datadial.net/blog/index.php/2009/09/29/the-differences-of-helvetica-and-arial/#comments Tue, 29 Sep 2009 09:20:20 +0000 Rachel http://www.datadial.net/blog/?p=446

Thank you to Steff for passing on this lovely graphic illustrating the differences between Helvetica and Arial.

In the meantime I really wanted to post a video that Ciaran Norris from Altogether Digital showed during his session – “Old Or New – The Future Of Media” Slideshare here

Certainly the most thought-provoking session of the day for me, the original version of this was made in 2005, and it’s scary to think how close to reality many of the events and prediction in the short actually are, and how many aren’t too far from reality.

The pleasure was all the greater given that no PR effort had been made to get a write up.

“Wine merchant Yapp Brothers is celebrating its 40th year in the business with a suitably swish revamp of it’s online home. The fresh design combines a stylish layout with a pleasantly personal tone, and offers several useful new features. These include an ‘easy wine selector’, which makes selections based on the colour, style, grape and price of your choice, and a food-and-wine matching facility that tells you which tipple goes best with specific meals.

Yapp Brothers specialises in wines from the Rhone, Loire, and Provence regions, many of which you won’t find anywhere else, and sells a great deal more besides”

Not sure what we had to do to get 5 stars

Quick links to the Yapp website
Food and wine matcher
Easy Wine Search

We took a dogs dinner of an old website and transformed it into a work of art that converts users to buyers. As always the project was delivered on time and on budget.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Design

Yapp Wine Merchants website now has a fresh, modern design, packed with tools to help you find the wine you need.  It is unfrightening and designed to cater to Yapps broad user base.  We’ve made searching for wine fun and easy whilst retaining Yapp’s connoiseur edge.

Usability
Everyone has their own ways of looking for wine so we implemented 4 ways to navigate the site:

• The Easy Wine selector uses dynamic searching
  Watch your search results change dynamically with easy to use search sliders. Have a play.  The great advantage of this is that it all happens on one page with no hopping backwards and forwards to and from search results.
• The Food and Wine selector allows you to search for wine by Food Type by clicking on images of different food types.  This is not rocket science but is dis-armingly useful.
• Advanced Search - for those who really know what they are after.
  Search by Regional maps
• “You recently looked at”
  Isn’t it annoying when you look at lots of different items and then have to re-find them by re-doing the searches.  Well we eliminated this problem with the “You recently looked at section” so you dont have to re-do previous searches.
• Tell a friend / Bookmark tools
  Not strictly a navigation tool but so simple and effective.  How else can you let your loved one know what you want for Christmas?  Simply post your choices to your Facebook page and invite others to have a look.

Search engine friendly

As always with Datadial, the site is built to be search engine friendly
All pages from the old site have been redirected to the relevant new pages.
The site uses Friendly URLs so http://www.yapp.co.uk/Wine-List/Rhone-South/Chateauneuf-du-Pape/ instead of

http://www.yapp.co.uk/?catid=6/?type=3/desc?=12/

Technology

Integrated stock control – the site is integrated to draw stock levels from Sage accounts.
The site is fully content managed, giving Yapp control over all aspects of the site including creating offers, mixed case offers and product information.
The site is also integrated with Datadial’s email marketing system.