Tips for Fall 2007 NEMOA Conference

The gathering of catalogers and service providers at the Fall 2007 NEMOA Conference was productive and educational, as usual. Catalogers with and without retail stores provided an open exchange of their present marketing and operational activities, a Q&A session was led by Amy Africa of Eight by Eight, and presentations were given by Appleseed's Claire Spofford and Bill LaPierre of Millard Group, among others.

Among the many take-home pointers shared by speakers include:
*  Focus on incremental Web sales. Agressively upsell and cross sell on your site. Amy Africa says upselling and cross selling should be 15 to 30% of your business.
*  Imbed hyperlinks in product copy. Few companies do this, but Amy Africa says this is a must-do on your top 100 products.
*  Micro sites were encouraged. Amy Africa and her panel discussed in more detail. "Everyone should have micro sites to eliminate text search on key product categories," said Africa. On a micro site "eliminate everything that is not about the product."
*  Use cart starters: "click here for a free (something)." Africa said this is a great way to obtain emails.
*  Work to convert 50% of abandoned carts. One way is to examine and enhance your outbound email campaigns.
*  A perennial comment made by Africa: "Use 'Buy Now!' Buttons!" This should be on every page and make them BIG! It tells your visitors/customers that you want their order.
* Claire Spofford of Appleseed's urged attendees to consider "5 Factors of Fitness." This included, "Know your core customers. Know their hearts and minds. Survey them. Put your customers in front of yoru merchants."
*  Listen to the words your customers use during telemarketing calls, or invite them to tour your operation and hear first hand what they think. Incorporate those words into your text search, emails and other communications.
*  Over lunch, Bill LaPierre told delegates that "customers are bored/" "You are boring your customers to death," he exclaimed. "Don't be afraid to sell."

The NEMOA conferences are by far the best value. Not only were the sessions filled with great information and take-home tips, but the delegates--merchants and suppliers alike--have ample time to be in conversation. Companies that supply services to multi-channel merchants strictly adhere to the NEMOA policy of a non-selling atmosphere, which benefits catalogers and vendor alike.

The Spring 2008 NEMOA Conference will be held March 12-14. Mark your calendars!
 
Here's some Web sites that may be of interest from the conference:
www.nemoa.org
www.eightbyeight.com
www.millard.com
www.appleseeds.com