Joan Treistman

BrainTrust Query: Key Item Marketing - Innovation Needed ASAP!

January 5, 2010

FROM RETAILWIRE:
Key items are the core of powerful assortments. Unfortunately, economic realities and changes in consumer behavior are combining to create measurable erosion in the lift and ROI. How do you rate the potential for using video programming as a key item marketing method on e-commerce sites?      [more...]

Website content is rarely evaluated on the basis of its ability to attract attention and generate involvement. Hence, videos are often a throw away and overlooked by visitors. It would seem that marketers concentrate their investments on search engine optimization, i.e. "build it and they will come."

Our website studies show great hesitancy on the part of visitors to click onto videos. There are some obvious reasons. There is often no indication of how long the video is and visitors don't want to commit excessive time. And typically there is little to suggest what content is about to unfold. In turn, the visitors' eyes move elsewhere.

If the category is very important to the consumer, such as the baby seat shown in the query or the application of a knee brace, the shopper will take the time to look and see. However, for many video subjects, there is a bigger challenge for engagement which goes unheeded.

Like many aspects of website design videos are a hotbed of personal indulgence, while parameters of effectiveness for such site components are ignored.