But are we not already at saturation point where subscribers are receiving way more content than they can digest, often in formats that are brash and almost rude? Does it not seem that email marketing has lost all the quality with business just looking for a quick return for no effort?

When did it become OK as a business to bombard users with messages they really are not interested in? Surely as digital marketers we must realise that when a user opts into your program, it is the start of a relationship where the customer wants you to provide them with value.

I think its important to remember the relationship that the customer has allowed your business to have with them. Its personal and its not to be taken for granted. So quite simply, don’t abuse the good faith of your subscribers by bombarding them with material just because they initially opted in to your program. A subscription does not guarantee an open, much less a conversion!

But then they simply setup a Facebook and Twitter account, whack some social media share buttons on their websites and think they are done.

Why is it that organisations in this country think that this is enough?

Social media is resource intensive and requires a clearly thought out strategy and approach to really make it work for your brand. Its also much more than just a few posts here or there.

When first approaching social for your business, think about the following, if you truly want to succeed?

• What are we trying to achieve?
• What social networks do our clients actually use? (Do we really need to use Pinterest if our customer isn’t there?)
• How are we going to get our customers to connect with us?
• Once we get the users there, what then? Giving away prizes is not enough, what about some value in the conversation?
• What is the true business outcomes we want from our social media efforts? (Is it better data for your CRM program?)

If you can ask yourself these important questions, you are well on your way to success. Remember to plan well ahead and put yourself in your customers shoes and really prove that your business has a place at the social media party.

Standard responsive design currently tackles 4 major screen sizes, with them being in very simple terms, desktop,  horizontal tablet, vertical table and mobile. But the reality is, how many users really fit within the 2 tablet sizes and how much does all this extra design work, really benefit the experience?

With the largest size usually featured in responsive websites being that of around 1000px wide, wouldn’t it be better to shift your attention to the users that are on today’s reasonably priced, oversize screens? What about looking at replacing the horizontal tablet screen size with a 1300px to 1400px wide resolution, or alternatively just adding in a 5th size.

With all businesses that I have worked across, analytics clearly show that the biggest percentage of users, have a screen size well over the standard 1024 x 768 resolution, so wouldn’t focusing a bit of attention on these users, help maximise eCommerce returns and really change the user experience for those people still shopping from their desktop? While the shift towards mobile is well and truly here, lets not forget the fact that standard screen size resolution is on the rise and its important to find a balance between optimising the mobile and desktop experience. There seems no reason to me why businesses can’t have the best of both worlds.

As with any argument, there is always at least 2 sides to come at it with, so lets have a quick look at what might come up within your business:

1. Australian retailers must offer free shipping to compete with our overseas competitors

This is a pretty standard argument really. It also has quite a bit of credibility. With the likes of ASOS offering everyday free shipping to across the world, and delivery time frames from the UK to Australia of a week, its no wonder they announced at this years eRetailer Expo in Sydney that they are currently making $1 million of sales into Australia each week.

How are we to compete with this offer as a local retailer? Surely we have to come to the party, offer our loyal customers the same deal and start to bring those sales dollars back into our country. The argument is almost one of a business necessity, with customers now expecting such service, rather than being part of customer service / a product offering that goes above and beyond.

2. Use free shipping as a sales tool to engineer a lift

It amazes me time and time again, how offering free shipping for a limited time can engineer a sales lift from your week in week out sales.

How important is it as a business to have this ability to turn on this promotion to your database when you really need to kick sales along a bit? Sure you are going to take a slight hit to your margins, but for that limited time, the increased sales from the offer are surely worth it.

This argument also seems to hold some credibility from a promotional strategy point of view, and its certainly one that I have heard regularly, but the bit that I always seem to come back and question is what damage is this strategy doing to your checkout conversion funnel? How many people are wanting to buy, going to all the effort to put an item in their cart and then running for the hills once they see your shipping prices. What is that potential lost business worth to you each year?

3. Never offer free shipping

Occasionally you might also get someone just say that you should never offer free shipping. Sure you have an expense that is incurred to your business, so shouldn’t you just pass that directly onto the customer?

While these arguments sometimes seem to incur, next time someone suggests this strategy, why don’t you ask them to add in electricity, the flooring and fit out costs of your retail store and the rent paid to the landlord as separate charges on top of the item costs onto the customers receipt and see how many sales you complete in store then.

You may also want to walk away to avoid having to ask them how they still have a job in this digital era and being forced to slap them around a few times to knock some sense into them.

(note: I don’t actually condone violence, but it is amazing how you sometimes want to slap someone round a little until they wake up)

So what is the right answer to the whole debate? It is really dependent on your business. Can you afford to absorb the added cost of the free shipping? What is it going to do to your margins one you take out all the costs? Are you shipping bulky goods to the middle to the country with freight bills of $70 on a $20 purchase? All of these are obviously going to come into the argument, but as a business, my experience is that offering free shipping is a BIG WIN! Even if you have to put a threshold sale value where it becomes valid over that price range. It always seems to become clear that you will loose less people through your checkout sales funnel.

As far as the promotional plan goes, find another way to engineer that sales lift. Category or specific product discounts are always great. You may even like to look at engineering product specifically with more margin in it to drive more traffic and sales through your site. You may also be amazed at the multi purchases that happen with customers picking up other full price items.