Mark Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com, is widely known for his rivalry with Larry Ellison, but above all he is known for his controversial statement “Software is Dead.” While this might be incredibly zealous, there is some truth to it, but I would like to rephrase this statement: Software as we know it is dead. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions provide great benefits like automatic updates, low maintenance, and increased mobility. However, SaaS begins to really shine when it is served as a platform. The old model of selling packaged applications is being turned upside down.

Web Applications like Baynote Social Search are excellent at solving a specific problem across many different types of businesses. However, the power of Social Search is only possible because of the SaaS platform that drives it, the Collective Intelligence Platform(CIP). SaaS platforms drive powerful applications that can be custom fit or designed specifically for a designated use through the API. A robust platform will provide access to relevant data which in turn can be used to develop valuable applications. As companies continue to differentiate their product offerings, custom software solutions become increasingly necessary while making it difficult to create “one-size-fits-all” web applications. Today data is the most valuable commodity and SaaS platforms, like the Baynote CIP, provide companies with the tools necessary to build applications with highly relevant data.

Sphere: Related Content

Digg This!

Were you just asking yourself about where you can find out about the most effective online merchandising techniques? Well what do you know? Mike was just talking about exactly that last week with Jason Billingsley, Co-founder and VP of Innovation at Elastic Path. Mike and Jason’s webinar is available here if you’d like to listen, but while you’re there you also might want to check out the EP Blog if you like keeping up on all the latest eCommerce technology and trends without all the work. They recently just posted an interesting discussion about how men shop online- which apparently isn’t much different than how they shop in stores: quickly and without trying anything on.

Sphere: Related Content

Digg This!

CIO Insight recently posted the results of a pretty interesting survey a few weeks back. As you can see the hottest category on the survey is collective intelligence, or as explained: “technologies that gather and present ‘wisdom of the crowds.’” One of the interesting things about the survey is the demographic of those that voted. These IT executives are the decision makers that will help decide the fate of the technologies of tomorrow. IT adoption is possibly the most relevant factor in determining what will be the most important technological developments in the years to come. This, I believe, is a poll that should not be taken lightly. After attending the Crowd Sourcing event a few months ago, it was quite clear this trend was moving in the upwards direction.

Capturing the expended energy of users on the web and using it to drive content delivery is a logical step in the evolution of the web. It seems IT directors have acknowledged this opportunity to leverage the users of their sites and will likely continue to adopt these technologies to enhance the user experience and cut costs by eliminating more expensive processes previously utilized.

Sphere: Related Content

Digg This!

Have you ever wondered how an entire colony of ants can find their way to a food source? Or how internet marketers apply the same principle to make contextual recommendations? Or how merchants automatically promote certain products to super specific customer segments? If you haven’t already then I bet you do now! You can find out here at iMedia Connection’s featured article written by our very own Mike Svatek.

Sphere: Related Content

Digg This!

This week was a big first for us here at Baynote with the debut of our premier webinar, Bond vs. Barbie: The Dynamic Positioning Imperative with Stanford consulting professor, Tom Kosnik. In the webinar, Tom discusses the shift in branding strategy from the concept of durability and the never-changing “spy-chic” persona of James Bond to the dynamic positioning of Mattel’s multi-cultural, multi-profession Barbie. All in all, the webinar was a hands-down success and much thanks goes out to Tom for his time and expertise. If you might have missed the live broadcast but would still like to know how you can dynamically position your company brand, download the webinar in its entirety here.

Sphere: Related Content

Digg This!

Several privacy groups are calling for a “Do not Track List” to limit behavioral profiling techniques similar to “Do Not Call Lists” that keep those pesky telemarketers from tying up our phone lines. As an employee at Baynote, I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t love the idea of recommendations driven by user behaviors. As an online consumer of content and products, the same still holds true. There is simply too much content on the web for purely organic search results and menu navigation. Still, the idea that my entire purchase history and geographic location is tied to me along with other personally identifiable information is pretty eerie.

Fortunately, Baynote Recommendations uses the wisdom of the crowd in such a way that does not rely on this kind of information for intent driven recommendations. Our secret sauce doesn’t require users’ location or personally identifiable information as an ingredient to power our recommendations. Check out how it works here.

Sphere: Related Content

Digg This!

If you are ever doing any research around SEO, a principle that you will soon not forget is “content is king.” This phrase must reside on every SEO related article/website known to mankind. In its defense, the phrase is absolutely correct. Having good content on your website is more important than anything else. Craigslist may not have the most beautiful website design, but it certainly has no shortage of useful content for its users.

With that said, the next main focus on getting users these days is advertising.
Here is one recipe for a cluttered inbox in minutes.

1 cup Google Adwords
2 cups Behavioral Targeted Advertising
1/2 cup Facebook advertising
2 tablespoons MySpace Advertising
and 3 cups Water (can substitute w/Milk)
Mix into Google Alerts
Leave out for 5-10 minuets.

Now sit back and watch your creation grow to the max capacity of your inbox.

To be fair, advertising is a great way to grab your customers. This I will not deny. However, Navigation deserves more attention than it gets. It may not be as easy as simply increasing your Adwords spend from $80 to $120, but the impact could be more profound. A mainstream example of navigation at its best can be found in the hypePhone iPhone. Trying to trace the source of all the hype for the iPhone is tough, so I won’t even attempt to do it, but the navigation is what really sets it apart from the competition. It was certainly not the advertising or the 2 megapixel camera.

The same can be said for a good website. Getting information to your users easily and quickly is every bit as important as advertising. In The Web Developer’s Journal navigation is listed as “one of the most critical aspects of Web site design - arguably the most important.” This information may seem shockingly obvious, but when the checkbook comes out often the easiest problems to solve are fixed first, i.e. increase ad spend.

Additionally, what’s better advertising than word of mouth from satisfied customers? I’m not sure what the exact conversion rate is for WOM marketing(I’ll have to check with Baynote’s mad scientist, Scott Brave), but its high, and its free. Check out this post for specific information on how improving the user experience can improve your site’s performance.

OK, Now What?

There are many different ways to address navigation issues. Landing Page Optimization is one, and our recommendation services is another. Navigation is hot and there will be more to come. Stay tuned.

Sphere: Related Content

Digg This!

Like Baynote, other companies have found ways to use the wisdom of the crowd to fill various holes in the market. Tomorrow night in Palo Alto, go check out this event sponsored by the MIT Club of Northern California.

Here’s a quick description:

In this talk we will explore, how startups have applied the wisdom of crowds to create unique business opportunities and how they are building monetizable business models. Hear from founders of Baynote, Jigsaw, 8020 Publishing and Satisfaction, who are using their communities’ wisdom or knowhow to drive their companies’ business models.

Find more details on the event here.

Sphere: Related Content

Digg This!

For the last two weeks I couldn’t help but notice my inbox being bombarded with reports that behavioral targeting is better than contextual targeting from the blogosphere. Despite my skepticism of the study’s results, I took a closer look. After reading a few different editorials covering this recent Jupiter Research Study(spear-headed by behavioral targeting firm, Revenue Science), I had only one question. Why? Why must Behavioral and Contextual targeting duke it out for the Marketing Methodology Heavyweight Championship? Because of man’s killer gene. Check out this great clip from internet rock star Guy Kawasaki explaining the gene inside men (according to Guy, women don’t have this nasty little gene) responsible for our overly aggressive nature.

Lets step back and imagine a world where Behavioral Targeting services and Contextual Targeting services lay down their arsenals and rejoice in consumer targeting brotherhood. That day is here. Check out Jack Jia’s interview over at Behavioral Insider where he discusses the power of combining behavioral and contextual targeting techniques to bring balance to the force. After all, two heads are better than one.

Sphere: Related Content

Digg This!

I’ve just returned from the Shop.org Annual Summit in

Las Vegas. Despite it being in Vegas and having mild distractions lurking around every corner, I managed to see a good deal of the conference content and not miss any of the sessions I was supposed to lead or participate in.

Many continue to ask whether eCommerce growth has peaked. With countless consecutive quarters of double-digit growth, one has to ask these kinds of questions. Well, the data suggests it has not peaked. According to Forrester analyst Sucharita Mulpuru, ecommerce will continue to grow at a rate of 25% annually for the next many years. The reason? Online retailers not tackling the basics.

As the holiday season approaches, and since it’s football season (thankfully), it’s only appropriate that we talk a bit about blocking and tackling fundamentals. Forrester and other pay mention to the following:

 

1) Completing the Transaction

Amazingly, some leading eCommerce websites are seeing transaction failures as high as 12-14%. For comparison purposes, the airline industry which is hardly the gold-standard in service sees has delayed/cancelled flight rates of about 6%. There are $ millions left on the virtual table as consumers are driven to alternative channels to make their purchase.

2) User Experience

Snazzy front ends that are engaging and interesting may draw some attention, but don’t forget the basics of making it easy to browse, search, add to cart, and purchase. ‘Pretty’ is good, but usable is better.

… and finally…

3) Product Recommendations

The only technology that Forrester recommended were recommendation engines.  Recommendation engines help retailers dynamically up-sell / cross-sell / merchandize their products.   With thousands of products and millions of visitors to an online retailer’s website and automated solution to this is a necessity, but measure the impact so you can truly understand the hard-dollar impact it’s making.

So make sure to do your homework and invest in the basics of selling, merchandizing, and completing transactions.Also, I wanted to give some credit to Jason Billingsly over at Elastic Path. He presented an eye-opening and incredibly engaging session on leveraging social media for eCommerce. If you have a chance, check out his session at Online Market World in

San Francisco in early October, you won’t be disappointed.

 

Sphere: Related Content

Digg This!