Kelly Mooney's blog about the online shopping experience from the customer's point of view -- MooneyThinks.com

Countdown to iCitizen

We're burning the midnight oil here at Resource Interactive with less than 2 weeks until iCitizen, an intimate, invitation-only symposium for Resource clients.

Since our first gathering on this topic in 2006, we've continued to investigate the new consumer we refer to as an iCitizen--consumers empowered by the social web, personal brands who create, share and influence others using the digital tools of the web. And we have an amazing list of keynotes, panels and iTalks to inspire ideas and discussion that will help us understand how to reach and leverage iCitizens today and in the future.

• Supporting this year's theme of The OPEN Imperative, I'll be leading an iTalk about the implications of OPEN as a macro trend.
• Joseph Jaffe, author of Join the Conversation will share insights about how marketers need to adapt so they can stay relevant to consumers who are texting, Friending and Twittering their days away.
• Duncan Watts from Yahoo! Research will talk to us about the power of interacting with networks of people versus the elite few.
• Doc Searls, co-author of The Cluetrain Manifesto, will talk about the changes that have to take place in order for all these exciting ideas to come to life.
• And, of course, much, much more!

While the symposium itself will be limited attendance, with the help of my colleagues at Resource we'll be blogging and documenting thoughts, questions and ideas throughout the experience, so you can be in the loop. More on that soon!

Launching The OPEN Brand

What a whirlwind of a week! I just left Las Vegas, where I had the opportunity to share and discuss more ideas from my new book The Open Brand in my keynote address at Shop.org's Annual Summit. What a great event--and some nice coverage from the blog Variable Markup, and an article and video from WebProNews.

And while the Shop.org presentation marks the beginning of a busy season on the road, the writing,editing and tweaking of the book itself ended this week. See the picture below of the book in layout!  Plus, we've just launched a great Open Brand microsite and wiki. Please come check them out--you can download a sneak peek of the book and learn about the O.P.E.N. Experience Framework. But most importantly, please engage in the dialog and share some of your own thoughts!

O.P.E.N. at ATG Insights Live

I've just returned from Charleston where I had the honor of delivering the opening keynote address at ATG's Insight Live. What a great conference--hundreds of smart, passionate people talking about next-generation ecommerce, which spanned conversations around demanding customers, emerging technologies, the social web and more. Chris Anderson was also there with his Long Tail presentation and a moderated discussion with some ecommerce experts.

In my address I shared excerpts from my forthcoming book The Open Brand: When Push Comes to Pull in a Web-Made World, including the book's cover or covers. Over the past few months, we have explored dozens of cover designs and even mocked them up and placed them in a Barnes & Noble store to evaluate the shelf appeal. We then concluded that these covers were 2 of our favorites. So, in the spirit of The Open Brand -- we decided to let conference attendees text their vote in while I spoke. At the conclusion of the presentation,I revealed the winner. Which do you think won? Which would you choose?

The winner....white. By a wide margin.

Also, it was fun to reveal our "prototype of the future" using the Nike brand as our test bed. Always the innovator, always pushing the web to the next level, we felt Nike was one of the boldest brands capable of embracing many of the principles of The Open Brand. We showcased how a brand like Nike could become less push, more pull. Less about the super athlete, more about the everyday athlete. Less about one shop, and more about thousands of shops.  We named it NikeYou. Maybe someday we'll be lucky enough to bring it to life and you can see for yourself.

McDonald's Buys Into Mobile Commerce

If you can buy a Big Mac with your cell phone, does that mean mobile commerce has hit the mainstream? Granted, that's a Big Mac in Japan, but a Big Mac nonetheless.

Mobile marketing is quickly seeping into the fringes of consumerism here in the U.S. Want to know why? Here's one reason: 81% of teens have or have ready access to a mobile phone. In research we conducted on this group, the Digital Millennials, we learned that their phone is their lifeline. So it's not surprising that companies across the globe--especially in Europe and Japan--are trying to get to this valuable audience through their phones.

At Shop.org this fall, we revealed our own vision for mobile marketing and mobile commerce, that communications at the product shelf level could inspire a self-initiated text for a special discount code or to download an application that leverages the social web--letting you connect and share with friends and get their ideas and opinions while shopping.

And not only do Digital Millennials rely on their phones as their connection to the world for social reasons, they're a group that rarely carries cash and has trouble accessing their parents' credit cards. So payment by phone via Paypal and others will become in time, the norm, a necessity--even if they don't want fries with that.

iCitizen -- A Gathering of Sharp Minds & Innovative Ideas

Exciting...smart...fun...thoughtful...intimate...I can think of a hundred adjectives to describe last week's iCitizen symposium, where we brought together so much focused brain power from people who get it (our clients, staff and friends of the business) -- around a single topic, the changing face of marketing as we know it from brand management to engagement.

Just in Day 1 we had speakers, dialogue and ideas around:

• the shift from the blockbuster era to one that is fragmented, revealing the diversity of ideas, interests, talent and influential voices (of one) thanks to Wired editor Chris Anderson and his Long Tail theory. He reminded us that brands have become a proxy for information. WOW. Many brand managers aren't prepared for that.
• how young people are hungry for and digesting increasing narrative complexity with TV shows like "24" and "Lost" versus the narrative simplicity of shows like "Dallas" in the 1980s, as described by Steven Berlin Johnson
• the growth of digital populism and how social networking sites are giving a platform to people and ideas that might not have had them. If this is a new topic to you, visit Beautydish.com to get inspired by an Avon Lady or Gather.com to join an author's discussion group, or take a minute to create your own avatar on Second Life to discover what's happening in this virtual underground.
• the web as conversational media, from performance artist Ze Frank, who gave a wacky and hilarious presentation -- checkout his daily show if you haven't already
• capturing and harnessing that conversation on your web site through peer reviews and other consumer-generated content from folks at P&G, Shaw Floors and BazaarVoice -- captured by DM News in this article
• the pressure coming from digital millennials (often referred to as Gen Y) and other iCitizens for brands to think about how they can begin to open to consumers (my own debut on this topic we're referring to as Open Branding), which DM News highlighted in an article
• and, lastly, we learned an unexpected and unfortunate lesson from Ad Age's Bob Garfield about preparedness and relevancy. Simply put, he bombed...however, to his credit, admitted it in his column the next day. What happened? He failed to recognize the intellect of the group, he read from his script, and, worse, showed a pornographic interpretation of an iPod TV ad -- a tasteless attempt to communicate how consumers can hijack a brand. We get it. Clearly, he didn't.

Day 2 took us from inspiration to application, when about 100 folks joined us back at our headquarters for a day of workshops where they could discuss, debate and detail thoughts around how the Long Tail theory applies to their company, how to think about their web site as a form of and forum for conversation, and what it might mean for their brand to become more open.

We've had AMAZING feedback! Stay tuned for where we take iCitizen in the future.

Introducing...The Power of One. Billion.

Lately it's been an absolute whirlwind here--exciting new engagements, flattering recognition and, in just two days, our first client symposium, iCitizen. We'll spend two days discussing this new breed of consumers who publish their own voice on the web and review others, who form not just communities but tight-knit tribes, and who expect not just to talk to companies but to impact and influence them.

While this is an invitation-only symposium, I want to make sure you know about the stars of the show. They've got books or online venues of their own where you can follow their stories.

Editor-in-Chief of Wired magazine Chris Anderson gets us started with a keynote address on his recent book, The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More.

Steven Berlin Johnson, author of Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today's Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter will take the second keynote addressing the question of how marketers keep up with the iCitizen's demand for what's next.

The late-morning panel on Digital Populism features Avon Lady Birdie Jaworski, Giff Constable of Electric Sheep, Derek Lomas, and David Cooperstein of Gather.com.

Performance artist and renowned blogger Ze Frank will keep our brains working over lunch as he discusses the behaviors and attitudes of the iCitizen's social revolution that marketers need to care about.

Next I'll embark on one of the first public discussions about Open Branding, the topic of our upcoming book about consumers' elevated expectations for being involved in companies' products and brands.

We'll conclude the day (at least the academic part!) with a panel about Customer-Brand Co-Creation, hearing from some of our clients and our friend and founder and CEO of Bazaarvoice Brett Hurt.

And that's just Day 1!

Day 2 resumes at our headquarters as we move from inspiration to application, and join a larger group of Resource associates to talk about how to bring the ideas and learnings back home. Stay tuned...I'll share some of the highlights.

Credit Where Credit is Due

Given the nature of the things I write about -- online brand experiences and ecommerce -- you might be tempted to think that this title is referring to a method of payment. In this instance, it's not. Rather, it's my way of recognizing that there were several stellar organizations whose data played a formative role in the Digital Millennials presentation that I shared at Shop.org last week (and mentioned in my previous post). Specifically, we not only relied upon but sourced in every instance, quantitative data from JupiterResearch, Forrester, and Harris Interactive specifically. Our research, while in-depth,  was qualitative and built upon facts and conclusions that they worked hard to uncover as well.

It's worth pointing out because after recouping from a week of travel and PDA usage (haven't seen my full screen in days!), I'm finally thoroughly reading the press that was generated from our work. One thing is clear, is that OUR sources were often not picked up by various journalists. Whether they didn't hear or see the presentation or whether they picked up the story from another content provider, I'm not sure. Regardless, thanks to JupiterResearch, Forrester, and HarrisInteractive for their work, which makes the work of ours -- from thought leadership to online strategy to design and application development, easier to do with greater certainty. So, kudos to them.

Millennials Emerge as Co-Purchasers

After more than 4 months of immersive study on the Digital Millennials -- often referred to as Gen Y -- I shared our research findings, insights and innovation prototypes with a record crowd of more than 2,000 folks at Shop.org's Annual Summit in NYC. In order to supplement reams of quantitative data from third parties, we solicited the participation of 72 Millennials between the ages of 14 and 24 to better understand the role technology plays in their lives and how their generational mindset of "collectiveness" and "connectiveness" shape who they are, what they expect from brands, and how they shop. We provided  web cams to participants so they could submit digital diaries in response to our texted questions. We also performed eye-tracking, had them interact with one another via online focus groups and interviewed them 1:1, which also gave us the unique opportunity to hear their worldview--not to mention a short presentation of their personal web pages from MySpace, Facebook, etc.

So, what'd we learn? A ton. We learned that while they're self-expressive, confident and optimistic, they are also assimilative, risk averse and rarely make a purchase decision without consulting their peer networks. Just like Boomers, they have strong opinions, but more so than Boomers, they feel compelled to share their opinions with their massive peer networks. We also learned that they place high value on authenticity, brands that let them participate and make their mark, and experiences that give them control and instant gratification. Their cell phone is their lifeline and they want to use it to share and to shop so it's only a matter of time before a host of third parties emerge to enable their mobile lifestyle, complete with an online allowance deposited from parents, more user-initiated promotions and opportunities to co-create with the brands they love and trust. You can gather the highlights from a variety of places:

- Our site, www.resource.com, has an overview, and will offer a white paper in about 2 weeks -- sign up for our email newsletter, Limelight, if you don't want to keep checking back.

- MySpace.com/RuReady4us has some of the videos and the key appeals of Millennials, in their words

- USA Today ran an article, as did ZDNet, Multichannel Retailer, and MarketWatch.

Check it out!

 

The Gender Agenda

A team of consumer researchers, strategists, and user experience experts  from our organization spent the summer delving into the question, "Does gender matter online?" This was prompted by the most common question posed by the audience each time we shared our findings from another proprietary study, What Women Want (online) -- "What do MEN want?"

The simplest segmentation
We pondered....do they want the same thing? Are there nuances between gender preferences, appeals, and behaviors or are there significant differences? Are women seekers and men surfers when it comes to shopping -- which has been the common and oft written about truism. So, we set out to discover the answers, and I revealed our findings and insights for the first time at Shop.org's Annual Summit, attended by more than 1500 e-retailers and industry experts.

Up close and in depth
To tackle this problem, we engaged 50 men and women from 2 markets. We developed 3 qualitative research methodologies to probe unconscious feelings about shopping offline and online, to examine first impressions and memory recall, and shopping styles and patterns. We also partnered with comScore Networks for a quantitative survey to more than 1000 consumers, and tapped into a subset of their behavioral panel, which tracks more than 3 million consumers online.

Top-line insights
Highlights from our study can be found on our site, and in the next couple of weeks, we'll be issuing a white paper summarizing the detailed findings. If you're interested in the white paper, let us know and we'll add you to our email list. In the mean time, I'll unfold some of the key findings right here....and in subsequent days.

He clicks, she clicks
To begin with, did you know that according to Pew Internet American Life Project, 2004, women now account for 52% of the online population -- up from just 35% in 1997? And that while women account for  83% of offline spending, they account for 58% of online spending. Some forecasts expect this number to stay flat while other forecasts expect women to account for more online spending in the next few years – mirroring the trend of their offline purchasing lead. Most notably to us, the opportunity to win MEN SHOULD NOT BE OVERLOOKED. Through our in depth examination and cognitive maps, we found that men's inner shopper (who knew they had one?!) has been awakened online. They actually ENJOY shopping online – this is in sharp contrast to their feelings for offline shopping where their overarching feeling is "angst-ridden." Check out the cognitive maps that compare men's feelings and attitudes about shopping offline and online.

Both Men and Women Enjoy Williams-Sonoma's Story

In a recent entry I referred to The Gender Agenda, a presentation I gave last week at The Annual Shop.org Summit in Las Vegas. In the research we did this summer for the study, we found many fascinating differences between how men and women shop online. But, of course, very few sites really care about only one gender, so the obvious question is: how do I create a site that appeals to both?

You can go about it a few different ways, from sending men and women separate ways from your front door, to more subtle tactics. And finding out what approach is right for you will mean considering lots of variables.

But right now I want to start at a high level by just showing you the site that was the most appealing to both men and women (when looking at the homepage with the company logo removed) . Williams-Sonoma.

This isn't the actual homepage we tested, but it was very much the same--a montage of photos including a prepared dish.

When we asked both men and women what they saw and what they liked, many told us a story about preparing a meal.

In reality, there is no written story; merely some products in context. But by taking an appetizing end product (Look what you could cook if you bought our products!) and stepping back and showing site visitors other products (in context) that could be used to get to that glorious meal, people see a story. It's engaging, it's memorable and it's gendered marketing, which Williams-Sonoma seems to have mastered.

At its core, the homepage hooks women with lifestyle and context (supported by product ideas), and men with specific products and shiny objects (supported by lifestyle and context).

We found in our interviews that women were attracted first to lifestyle, then products, and the reverse was true for men. Williams-Sonoma managed to deliver this important nuance--appealing to both genders equally--in our study.

Of course, men and women got different things out of other items on the page--the navigation and the products or services below the main feature--but from the get-go it appealed to both.

PS. On a side note, I want to point out that Williams-Sonoma is doing a great job (again) of integrating channels, with this little promo at the bottom touting their appearance on The Early Show and sending consumers to the store for a free DVD copy of it.

Live from New York: 2nd Annual Cosmeceuticals Conference

A great article in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal (link accessible through 6/9) drives home the point that Procter & Gamble (and its chief executive, A.G. Lafley) is committed to understanding and delivering what women want. With women controlling 83 percent of spending, yes, it only makes sense for the consumer packaged goods behemoth to focus on this audience, but what's great is that they're going about it the right way...going out and actually listening to real women and also considering the role of women in their own organization.

I send this to you from New York, at a conference where women are very much the center of attention. I'm sharing women's digital desires (developed from insights from our "What Women Want" study) at the Strategic Research Institute's Annual Cosmeceuticals Conference. Science and beauty are converging in a way that's setting off fireworks (and scads of opportunities) for folks on both sides of the aisle. I just want to make sure that women are always in the middle.

My Topic at AD:TECH: Persona Development

Persona Development? You've probably heard this term buzzing around – recently popularized by Forrester's Harley Manning.  It's about putting a human face on the reams and reams of customer data. It's about personifying a composite that represents one or more of a company's primary target audiences. It puts an end to the dreaded generic creative brief that's weighed down by loads of demographics, with few psychographic or lifestyle insights. Personas paint a picture. And, probably most important, focus and inspire creative teams.

At Resource Interactive, we've done persona development for many clients over the last 10 years but most recently for Restoration Hardware and Bath and Body Works. I'll share the details behind RI's Ten Steps to Persona Development on Monday morning at AD:TECH. In the meantime, here's a starting point for creating personas that will help you capture your target, inspire your creative team, and as a result, create an online experience that works harder for your brand:

1. Rally your assets – know everything you have to work with, even if it isn't a segmentation study.
2. Synchronize – bring it all together in one place, something I refer to as a "customer showroom".
3. Admit intuition – intuitive leaps and hypotheses are not only welcome, but required.
4. Create an A list – delve into your database to find customers with criteria that meet the hypotheses.
5. Invite intimacy – engage the A-list with journals, cameras, assignments, or pre-interview conversation.
6. Spend face time – sit face-to-face in his/her home, a coffee shop, or other comfortable environment.
7. Spot common threads – begin identifying what is common among each of the interviews, what's different.
8. Do the line up – show a synthesized composite of each persona to internal stakeholders -- do you recognize them?
9. Visualize – express the personality and lifestyle through words, photography, and graphics.
10. Feed the company – share the personas, evangelize with internal early adopters, apply, test, learn, and evolve.

Gap Leverages Media Attention to Create Demand

I know. I know.

I totally dissed Gap -- and not even a week ago! But the thing with them...they keep finding ways to make up. Check out this email I just received minutes ago....it builds on a recommendation I made to 1000 online retailers last fall in a keynote speech: LEVERAGE MEDIA ATTENTION TO CREATE DEMAND.

Looks like their email marketing folks put this insight to the test! See, it's great that every retailer is letting us know what they've got for spring, but how smart of Gap to deliver it in a way that's just a bit different. They grabbed me at the subject line! ("As Seen In Your Favorite Magazines: The Safari Tote")

They understand that I don't just care about what they think is hot for spring, I care what other fashion mavens, In Style for example, think about what's hot for spring.

It's just a shame that while they they list 5 major publications that "fell tote-ally in love" with the bag, the quotes they feature on the email are all from Gap folks. The endorsement of their PR folks alone rings a little hollow.