Most of us pay via debit and credit cards the majority of the time. Cash is rarely seen, as evidenced in a recent report from Microbilt, which says that check usage has dropped by eight percent in the past year, and it will continue to decline- dropping another 57 % from nine billion consumer-to-business payments in 2009 to just four billion by 2020.

Near Field Communication Technology & the Global Consumer

Near Field Communication (NFC) technology makes transactions easier and more convenient for global consumers by delivering secure connectivity– moving devices and consumer behavior into a new paradigm shift when it comes to exchanging digital content and performing secure retail transactions. NFC is taking the daily-life shopping process to a new level, one where banking services, ATM’s and even credit cards become less relevant.

Google Wallet, Isis Mobile Wallet, Visa, PayPal and even Starbucks (Their m-payments app hit 42 million transactions this week), are a few of the several hundred companies already using NFC in the mobile wallet space. Many are working hard to create partnerships that leverage NFC, and Google is one. Sprint, one of Google Wallet’s launch partners, is releasing a number of NFC-enabled phones in the remaining days of April, and we’ll see a total of 12 NFC-enabled phones from them in 2012.

The real push for mobile wallet adoption in the US will come this summer, when Apple releases the iPhone 5, which is rumored to have NFC as an embedded feature. We all know Apple drives consumer culture and behavior and I’m sure they won’t let Google, Microsoft or RIM drive consumer behavior in the mobile wallet space.

Migrating to Smart-Device Swiping

The main challenge in terms of e-wallet adoption will be market adoption among retailers and the ability of e-wallet to support the consumer’s in-store behavior. Many logistics need to be in place, such as retailer product level support, security and institutional bank adoption, all of which must complement the consumer buying behavior. In addition, it will take a bit of time for consumers to upgrade to Smartphones, tablets, watches and bracelets with this technology feature. In the end, consumer demand and younger generations will drive eWallet technology into the mainstream of culture.

In a recent study, the Pew Internet & American Life Project painted the shift in how consumers pay for goods and services:

Sixty five percent of those polled believe that “by 2020, most people will have embraced and fully adopted the use of smart-device swiping for purchases they make, nearly eliminating the need for cash or credit cards.” But a full one third agreed that “people will not trust the use of near-field communications (NFC) devices and there will not be major conversion of money to an all-digital-all-the-time format.”

What do you think? Give us your thoughts in the quick poll below.

Jodie McDermott explained that the primary objectives of 3MS are to:

• Lend consistency to current metrics and measurement, and to
• Simplify the overall process of planning and buying digital media.

Another important 3MS objective is to create a governing system around new standards, in an effort to manage the constant change in today’s increasingly dynamic media landscape.

One of my main takeaways from this presentation is that “hover-time” and “ad viewability” are more strongly associated with conversions than are click-through rates. Hover-time refers to the amount of time a user ‘hovers’ over an ad with their mouse. Ad viewability refers to the position of the ad on the page.

What interested me most about the 3MS initiative is the move to the vGRP, or viewable gross impressions. The ANA reports that the currently counted “served impression” (a unified number of viewers) is not accurate in measuring true digital views. Often an ad will render an impression through a reporting service such as Google Analytics; however, the user may not have been exposed to the ad at all (For example, the ad may be placed at the bottom of the page, or may not have loaded). This results in an over-counting of impressions and great inaccuracy in digital reporting. In utilizing vGRP, marketers can better understand how users interact with an advertisement, and ultimately more fully optimize their online display strategy.

The future of digital media is highly dependent on the ability to report on metrics and compare data statistics generated from digital media with that of traditional media campaigns. This new standard of digital reporting will allow for consistency across all channels.

Traditionally, clicks or total gross impressions were thought to determine ad effectiveness. comScore challenges this idea with more meaningful metrics of measurement with the vGRP. By utilizing this new metric, comScore was able to identify that gross impressions had a significantly lower correlation with conversions. With this new knowledge and ability to quantify digital media effectiveness, the future of digital advertising and reporting looks bright.

CustomInk, an online t-shirt personalization company, and its “inkers” (their employees) didn’t anticipate the rapid success they would see just from adding Inky, the cartoon octopus and their “head t-shirt ambassador,” into their existing marketing strategy.

At first, Sean Murphy was shocked at what it would cost to develop Inky and add him to the CustomInk logo–$100k. But what got him over the sticker shock were the quick and intense returns they experienced after Inky started showing up.

Sean Murphy attributes much of the company’s success to their superior customer-service practices, and believes Inky is an extension of that. The company understands the emotional connection people have with personalized t-shirts and the problems an incomplete or delayed order can cause. CustomInk doesn’t want its customers to be the ones at the family reunion without matching t-shirts and goes out of the way to be sure that doesn’t happen.

As their customers are so integral to the company’s success, CustomInk felt the new logo had to encompass the reasons people love t-shirts, the company’s stellar reputation for customer service, and project a friendly and inviting image onto the brand. (Most CustomInk customers describe their experience as “Wow!”) And Inky was born.

Since “the octopus with the dashing smile” was added to the CustomInk logo, the brand has gained personality and CustomInk’s passion for delivering and manufacturing great t-shirts has been reignited. During his presentation, Sean Murphy showed the sales growth of the company before the logo change and after Inky made his mark. The differences were tremendous.

Sean Murphy also explained that company morale improved immensely with the introduction of Inky—ultimately helping operations run more smoothly, with an increased confidence in the new brand and company identity.

Customers may see Inky on the inside of a CustomInk t-shirt but his presence is not limited to fabric. He also comes in sticker form, attaching himself to laptops, water bottles, car bumpers and even people’s foreheads! As CustomInk continues to grow, we can expect to see more and more of Inky, even in the most unexpected of places.

You may not initially realize the value of a re-branding strategy, especially one with a price tag of $100,000. But Sean Murphy’s visually engaging presentation gave the audience insight into investing in their own brand—the often overlooked but integral part of every company’s foundation.

DotNetNuke stores these custom profile properties and their values, in a simple table architecture within the database.

When custom profile properties are created, a record is stored in the ProfilePropertyDefinition table.  The UserProfile table acts as the linking table between the Users table and the ProfilePropertyDefinition table and holds the actual value of a custom profile property. This table structure allows the addition of profile properties to be completely dynamic.  DNN handles the new profile property by allowing the superuser to choose whether or not to collect it when a user registers for an account and is displayed in the User Profile module.  This structure doesn’t become a problem until you have to perform any type of query against these profile properties.

Enter PIVOT. A SQL PIVOT statement adds a strong tool to the SQL arsenal.  The pivot statement allows data to be queried as a column by pivoting the row data to columns. Check out the example below.

We start by querying out the superuser’s profile data with the related profile property name.

<code>

SELECT  ProfileID ,

UserID ,

dbo.UserProfile.PropertyDefinitionID ,

PropertyName ,

PropertyValue

FROM dbo.UserProfile

JOIN dbo.ProfilePropertyDefinition

ON dbo.UserProfile.PropertyDefinitionID = dbo.ProfilePropertyDefinition.PropertyDefinitionID

WHERE UserID = 1

</code>

Which results in the following:

If we take the above query and select only the relevant columns, we can wrap the resulting data table in a common table expression and join it back to the Users table.  Now, by using a PIVOT, we can select each PropertyName row as a column with its respective value.

<code>

WITH ProfileProperties (_uid, PropertyName, PropertyValue)

AS

(

SELECT up.UserID as _uid, PropertyName, up.PropertyValue

FROM dbo.UserProfile up INNER JOIN dbo.ProfilePropertyDefinition ppd ON up.PropertyDefinitionID = ppd.PropertyDefinitionID

)

SELECT X.*, am.CreateDate

FROM dbo.Users u INNER JOIN ProfileProperties pp ON u.UserID = pp._uid

PIVOT (MAX(PropertyValue) FOR pp.PropertyName IN (

[Unit],

[Street],

[City],

[Region],

[Country],

[PostalCode],

[Telephone],

[Cell],

[TimeZone],

[PreferredLocale],

[PreferredTimeZone],

[Photo],

[ICNumber]

)) X INNER JOIN dbo.aspnet_Users au ON X.Username = au.Username

INNER JOIN dbo.aspnet_Membership am ON au.UserID = am.UserID

WHERE X.UserID = 1

</code>

Now the result set looks like this:

From this point, you can take the unfiltered PIVOT statement and create a view that will contain all of the custom profile properties as columns which makes filtering on the custom properties as simple as adding a WHERE clause.

Happy Coding! Questions? Contact me @rkamin1 or at info@r2integrated.com.

1. Your Website on a Mobile Phone: the site renders ‘as is’ on a smartphone or tablet.
2. Mobile Friendly Website:  the web site/content renders appropriately (for the most part) on a mobile device.
3. Mobile Optimized Website: a new site with a mobile-specific interface, architecture and content.  It’s important to keep this mobile solution simple, easy to use and relevant.
4. Branded Mobile or Custom Native App: Unique functionality that requires a download and offers something useful to users.

How can you make the right “mobile” decision for your company and make it it easy for mobile users to find your mobile property? R2i is the exclusive Learning Partner for AMADC and, earlier this week, we gave a presentation on this very topic to a group of marketing professionals in the DC area. Our discussion focused on best practices for structuring mobile sites for optimal search and visibility. Click here to view the Mobile Marketing, SEO & Visibility presentation.

Many of the same basic tactics of desktop SEO, search and visibility apply to mobile (see the Marketing Sherpa graph below) — keywords, content, titles, descriptions, etc. — but the focus is on different user behaviors, screen views and character limitations. Think tweeting for Meta data, as you’re basically abridging your SEO efforts and adhering to a slightly different set of guidelines.

Mobile user search behavior can be different than the behavior used for desktop searches. The average mobile search is 15 characters or less. Your keywords need to reflect these variances:

• Research your terms to gauge query volume (i.e. how often the term/phrase is searched)
• Use broad categories with a local focus
• Focus on short tail; keep queries to about two words if you can

THINK LOCAL for visibility! It’s important, not only for your keywords but for use with external properties as well. Where will your customers look for you? Take advantage of your location through opportunities like Google Places, Google Merchant Center, Yelp, TripAdvisor and Open Table.  The properties you choose should be determined by your industry and what comes up when you test your chosen keywords.

How else can you drive traffic to your mobile site?  Think marketing with a mobile focus:

• Ensure your email campaigns render appropriately on a mobile device
• Have your company contact information easy to access. This means your phone number shouldn’t render within an image, which impedes click to call functionality.
  • Consider using banners and rich media, SMS and location targeting and in-app/in-game advertising
  • Leverage your offline campaigns with QR codes that direct users to mobile optimized landing pages
  • Consider mobile targeted PPC

Similar to the dynamics of online advertising evolution, search and display are emerging as the dominant mobile ad formats. Within the display category, rich media and video are seeing the fastest growth as marketers seek to translate the desktop’s engaging brand experiences to smartphones and tablets.

Your mobile SEO, search & visibility strategy needs to provide value to a user just as much, if not more than, the strategy for your desktop. Mobile searchers are on-the-go and want to simply and quickly find what they’re looking for. Be sure you help them find it.

How is your mobile strategy developing? Fill me in…@SEO_girl.

To address the issue of cross platform mobile support, many organizations are using HTML5 to build mobile apps. A new technology standard, HTML5 supports native phone features such as geo-location and video within a browser environment. With HTML5 and development methodologies such as Responsive Design, organizations can build a mobile experience or app once and scale across a myriad of mobile devices.

HTML5 is still in its early years of adoption and today, Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari do not equally support all the new features (or in some cases, at all). HTML5 is not the Holy Grail for mobile apps…yet, but it is making significant inroads for newer devices coming to the market.

HTML5 offers a number of benefits to developers and mobile app users, including:

1. Improved end user experience: Transitions, graphics, motion & support for media all help make the app experience intuitive and rich. In many instances, the mobile app replicates the native app experience.
2. Device Side Processing: Data caching mechanism allows applications to run even when the Internet connection is lost, so media, data and other typical interactions are not lost.
3. Decreased cost/increased efficiency: Allows for centralization to a single standardized platform that is associated with rapid deployment ability. For example, using HTML5, apps developed for iPhone can be easily deployed to Android and Windows phone platforms. Changes do not require approval processes in order to be distributed, and as a result, content can change on the fly.
4. Organic search optimization: Leverages organic search optimization elements such as Meta tags, content positioning, etc. Since the app is web based, it’s indexed by search engines, which means it will show up in a web search.
5. Analytics: Support for visitors and more importantly, for behavior tracking, can be included in the app, which allows for granular level analysis. You can look at things like:  what is working, what isn’t, what part of an app is most popular versus what’s being ignored and where users are spending the greatest amount of time.
6. Increased flexibility: Supports a variety of technologies, including geolocation, device orientation, touch events, CSS3 animation, SVG and WebGI
7. Faster page loading: Uses less code than its native counterparts. This skinnier code allows for lighter applications and faster page loading.

Compatibility with Open Source: CMS platforms architected in a multi-tiered method such as DotNetNuke, Ektron, WordPress and Drupal can distribute content from a single repository in a responsive web design that support a full scale of devices ranging from desktops and smartphones to tablets.

With all its benefits, questions arise around the time it will take for complete HTML5 adoption. New web browser releases and devices using those are compatible with many HTML5 capabilities. But many organizations are still using IE6/7 for example, which doesn’t support HTML5. According to the Focus.com infographic below, only 26% of IE8 is HTML5 ready (IE9 supports HTML5); Mozilla is 77% capable, Chrome 86%, Safari 79% and Opera 72%

We believe 2012 will be an explosive year for HTML5. Strategy Analytics is forecasting global HTML5 mobile sales to grow 100% in 2012, making it, they say “one of the industry’s fastest growing sub-categories.”

As a result of this growth, we anticipate a much broader adoption of HTML5, opening a world of possibilities for the future of the web and leading to the development of truly innovative, creative, user friendly cross platform web applications.

Project Glass mixes sci-fi with today’s social reality and is far surpassing any current augmented reality experiences. It brings together the concept of a third dimension, geo-location, personalization and daily life interactions. Like many new, novel and disruptive technical devices, I am blown away by the possibilities. Gone is the need for constant access to your Smartphone or tablet. With your eyes, voice and a nod of your head, you can make dinner plans, check the weather, get directions, and video chat, in real time and completely hands free.  Here’s an example of an activity a wearer might see.

From a professional and strategic standpoint I am curious about integrating with the technology. How does it really work? What are the impediments to implementation? Who makes up the ideal target audience?

Would I be part of that target audience? I don’t know yet if I’d wear them. A video released by Google last week shows a day in the life of the glasses, and a recent New York Times article says they’ll run between $250 and $600, about the price of a Smartphone. Based on what I see and hear, I’m ready to be first in line for a pair. And then I stop.

Would the level of information access be information overload? Would they bring me another step closer to constant accessibility? Then there’s the privacy issue. Would they be an invasion of my privacy (i.e. the possibility of being recorded by someone wearing the glasses, seeing restaurant offers or other Google driven ads as I walk down the street)? I wonder about being distracted. Do I run the risk of hurting myself or others because I’m more interested in what I see in the Glass than what’s going on around me?

What do we call the space these glasses will occupy? Is it “air space?”  If so, who owns it and who controls it? The conversation has just begun and I for one am glad to be part of it.

Google+…the Ghost Town Debate Continues

I don’t keep my feelings about Google Plus to myself. It’s still uncharted territory for most, and right now I’m exploring it as another social content curation tool, but not an intuitive social network. Several weeks ago I likened it to “hopping on a seesaw by yourself.”  The feedback and backlash was not so surprising, and split into two camps:  those who love and those who don’t. I continue to fall in the middle – a more involved and hesitant user, but one willing to engage and encourage adoption.

However, Google+ is an interesting case study in engagement & brand loyalty – when left in the hands of “big corporate” and organically in the hands of the people. Just this morning, eMarketer released a new report that explores just that in the context of the low levels of engagement:  “Google+: Influencing the Integration of Search and Social.”

The “people part”

“Google+ has seen millions of users sign up for the site since its July 2011 launch,” says Kimberly Maul, eMarketer writer/analyst and author of the new report. “However,” she adds “engagement and participation aren’t up to speed with other social networks, and that has become a major obstacle for turning Google+ into a relevant social network.”

Not a shock, considering Google’s own CEO Larry Page was recently quoted saying “Obviously, our mission was organizing the world’s information and making it accessible and useful…I think we probably missed more of the people part than we should have.” Yes Larry…there is a fine line between form and function when laced with the human element.

In the post announcing the report’s release, Google+ was (one again) called a Ghost Town and a social network “struggling for relevance.” The post’s author went on to talk about how “in spite of its fast growth in user numbers, the service has not enjoyed the stickiness of other top social media properties.”

According to comScore, and discussed in the report, those who visit aren’t staying. There has been much debate on this, but the numbers are reported as such- the average time US users spend on G+ was down to 3.3 minutes in January 2012, from 5.1 minutes in November 2011. See the graphic below.

Mobile adoption continues at a frenetic pace, as individuals like me have the need to (almost) always be connected. According to an eMarketer survey released in early April (see the results below), mobile phone usage is expected to increase to over 74% by 2016, from just 27% in 2010. This increase doesn’t consider growing tablet usage. Can you imagine where we’ll be overall by then?

Your next question should be obvious:  What’s your company’s strategy for attracting and keeping mobile customers?

As the exclusive Learning Partner for AMA DC , our CTO Chris Chodnicki talked about this earlier this week with a group of marketing professionals, discussing the ever-evolving mobile landscape and its place as part of a company’s marketing campaign. Click here to view his presentation.

The critical first step to determining the part mobile plays for a company is a review of web analytics for an idea of the portion of web traffic coming from mobile. If mobile accounts for even a small percentage of site visits, you could be losing out if your site doesn’t play well on mobile devices. Chris stressed the need to check the bounce & exit rates associated with mobile visits to your web site, for an idea of your users’ mobile experiences. If your bounce & exit rates are high, maybe you need to reevaluate your use of mobile.

Just as important, he says, is determining what you want users to accomplish on your mobile property. Will they watch a video for more information, complete a survey or lead generation form, or place an order? Whatever the outcome, your users will want a simple, direct path to doing it. To most effectively meet their needs do you need one of the following, or perhaps a combination?

1. Mobile Friendly site – You may already have a mobile friendly site.  This is often the case with sites designed on newer version content management systems.  Basically, your content shrinks to be readable on a mobile device screen. Check out www.Stuytown.com from your mobile device.
2. Mobile Optimized Site – Your mobile site will deliver a mobile user experience unique and different from that of your web site. For a great example of a mobile optimized site, go to www.rechargeyouryard.com from your Smartphone or tablet.
3. Mobile App – This might make sense for you in addition to a mobile optimized website,   if the app will help your user accomplish something more easily than or different from your website.

What will work best for your company? Sticking with a mobile friendly site or moving to an optimized mobile site, a unique application or a hybrid? Chris showed the group a persuasive matrix (see below) to help make the decision.

A recent dotMobi white paper sums up the current mobile landscape really well. “Mobile is not easy,” they say. “It’s a complex landscape not just for developers but also for those whose job it is to formulate strategy. However with the opportunity that mobile web represents and with a good understanding of the technologies available and how they can be applied, it is well worth the effort involved.”

M-commerce revenues in the US are expected to hit $6 billion by the end of 2011, growing to $31 billion by 2016, according to Forrester Research (June 2011). How will your organization take advantage of this opportunity?

It has simply become unpractical to design for the 960-grid since users are increasingly using mobile devices in lieu of traditional desktops.

Thankfully though, with innovations in web design finally starting to evolve more rapidly, we can now address UX issues across many devices, input modes, and browsers using a new layout technique called “Responsive Web Design” (RWD).  RWD is the method of delivering the same website content across various digital platforms, with different user experiences, based off of their respective screen resolutions. Using a combination of fluid CSS & Media Queries, RWD creates flexible solutions that arise when managing different instances of a website. In essence, a site that is responsive senses the size of the display its being accessed from and adjusts the layout accordingly.

Understanding Fixed vs. Fluid

The basis of all responsive layouts begins with a flexible foundation. Um… ok let me back up for a minute. To wrap your head around that concept lets first look at a fixed layout. Fixed layouts are websites that use explicit pixel widths for measurement. In the example below, you’ll notice that when the browser window is resized past the outermost width of the website, a scroll bar appears as the width of the website stays intact.

Now, in order to make this page layout “flexible,” we use CSS to we will convert all explicit pixel widths into equivalent percentages. Percentages values differ from pixel values since they are reliant upon the width of its outer containing element. With percentage values in place, resizing the browser window now creates a fluid layout that scales to the window.

You’ll notice in the above video that as the browser resized, the layout of the elements not only resized, but shifted position. This was accomplished using a CSS property called Media Query.

What are Media Queries?

Think of a Media Query as a break point where a layout change in the fluid design occurs. These break points occur at spots where our designs would be rendered on different viewports. Ideally, each website would have 4 break points; mobile phone view, tablet view, small screen/laptop view, & wide screen view.

Using media queries, you can call upon CSS properties that were created specifically for the users device and screen size. With RWD, you can easily change the location and size of the entire page layout, including image sizes and navigation placement. This is super helpful when I’m trying to navigate through a website on my smartphone using these manly fingers of mine.

The Smashing Magazine website is a good example of using RWD to adjust site layout and navigation, making this website very user friendly.

(Click the image to view the site. Don’t be afraid to drag your browser different sizes!)

It’s a Win-Win Scenario

Aside from covering all screen sizes on desktops, tablets and mobile devices, RWD both degrades gracefully for older versions of Internet browsers and is future proof for any newer ones. Having all these essential characteristics, RWD is beginning to see wide spread adoption, including major outlets such as The Boston Globe and Sony.

So is responsive web design right for everyone? Maybe not yet, but as we continue to use more and more devices with the ability to access the web, one can only hope that responsive web design will become a standard for future websites.