Palm Desert

Offer great customer service, make sure your messaging is personalized, and have a single view of the customer are some of the best ways to create brand loyalists. These were a few of the key takeaways from a panel discussion on customer retention that took place at the eTail West conference last week in Palm Desert, Calif.

As it usually does, the eTail West conference in Palm Desert, Calif., from which I've just returned, didn't disappoint.  While a bunch of themes emerged from the show — big data, analytics, social media personalization, customer engagement, conversion and mobile apps, to name a few — two stuck out that I'd like to discuss here

Focusing on the omnichannel customer, mobile apps vs. mobile sites, and the real return on investment of social media were just a few of the many topics discussed at eTail West, which took place in Palm Desert, Calif. this week. Here's a look at a few key takeaways — and fun perspectives — via tweets sent during the conference:

I’m writing this Editor’s Note from the eTail West conference in sunny Palm Desert, Calif., and I’m dizzy with excitement over all of the new and fun things I’m hearing about in the cross-channel retail industry

Online product reviews can create opportunities around one of the oldest direct marketing tools: customer testimonials. Such reviews and ratings can drive conversions on your Web site. Take Petco.com, for instance. Visitors that browse the top-rated product pages on Petco.com convert 49 percent more often and spend 63 percent more than browsers using other categories, according to the pet supplies marketer’s vice president of e-commerce John Lazarchic. He revealed these facts and a number of tips at a session at the eTail conference, held earlier this month in Palm Desert, Calif. 1. Solicit initial reviews through promotions. “When we first launched the program, we promoted

One of the biggest Web phenomena in the last few years has been the explosion of Web logs, or blogs. While initially nothing more than online diaries, blogs have emerged as opportunities for merchants to spread awareness about brands and products. Pinny Gniwisch, vice president and co-founder of online jewelry merchant Ice.com, shared how his company has leveraged blogs to increase search traffic to his Web site at an impromptu question-and-answer session at last month’s eTail conference in Palm Desert, Calif. Q: Did you have any specific objectives or metrics in mind when you started the blogs? Pinny Gniwisch: When we first were thinking