The company is Kapta Systems and I met them at last week’s Boulder Beta networking event as part of Boulder’s StartUp Week. I had just been discussing with my boss how our growing company needs more transparency and accountability in how we manage our employees. But HR is usually the last thing that gets focused on by a small, fast-growing company. Instead, it’s management by results. Produce results and you are therefore doing a good job. No time to stop and set goals, monitor, and measure.

Kapta seems to have a great solution for small business. Every worker gets their own webpage with their goals and management can easily log-in to monitor, set meetings, measure, and document the whole process.  And, it’s free technology for up to 20 users!

Check it out…

BTW, this Denver start-up was also at the event: RideoRama. Great concept for community ride-sharing to/from the DIA airport. The car owner offers up seats and a requested price and the rider tells them what they are willing to pay. It’s another application of the digital marketplace concept (eBay) that is sorely needed.

Here’s the one that has gotten me more excited than anything in the last 6 months: UserTesting.com.

If you want to know how to make any website perform better, no matter what position you are in (designer, web analyst, strategy, IT, ops, QA, project management, etc.) you gotta check this out.

Why? I spent months searching for a quick, easy, and cost-effective way to get shoppers to provide good feedback on mobile websites built by my company for retailers. I considered posting to Facebook to get friends to come to our office and get videotaped and interviewed using the mobile websites. There were would be pizza and beer and maybe an iPad giveaway. Harder to do than you think.

I also tried recruiting users from the local university, but was limited to lots of 20-year olds who are still using their parents’ credit cards and aren’t the most representative sample (we sell to 25-55 year olds, mostly women.) I asked  some professors that I knew to post the opportunity, again with the lure of pizza and (non-)alcoholic drinks, and the turnout was very low.

Enter UserTesting.com, which I found from being signed up with one of those deal of the week sites exclusively for businesses (GroupPrice.com).

Not only did they have a panel of website users that they could send my usability tasks to, but they had a panel of MOBILE USERS. Wow. And they devised a system where this group all had a web cam so that I could actually see their fingers using their phone (essential for good mobile user testing).

I created an account and entered exactly who I wanted to provide the feedback (you can be as specific as you want – I said 25-44 who had shopped via phone in last 6 months). Then I entered the 3-5 specific tasks I wanted them to do on various mobile websites.

They were instructed to talk out loud as they performed these tasks, which their mics would pick up along with their video-recorded actions. I then gave them 4 questions they had to answer in writing when they were done. I would get at least 15 minutes of audio/video per person.

The Beauty of This #1: I received 5 videos, 5 audio recordings, and 5 filled out answers in just 45 minutes! I knew the age, gender, and web activity of each person. I could see their ratings and rate them myself. I had links to web-hosted videos and I could make notes on, create clips of, and even easily share with co-workers.

The Beauty of This #2: I then played these videos on the big screen for my CEO, head of  IT, head of customer support, Creative Director and Art Director. A bug emerged and my CEO and Engineer both cringed. One user could not find a link and then kept mis-tapping another link. My designer actually started to leave the room she felt so uncomfortable watching it. I forced her to stay and experience the user’s visual and verbal frustration.

The Beauty of This #3: The cost was just $30 each.

Amazing insights from just 5 tests.  Focus groups aren’t supposed to be the end-all-be-all for market research. They are supposed to identify major issues and directions to explore further, but they should be supported with analytic data and more statistically significant methods.  They should be conducted with as many users as is needed until the insights become fairly consistent.

In our case, all 5 people experienced very similar challenges finding items and adding them to their cart. Checkout was surprisingly not a real challenge, which is where we thought the problem would be in mobile.

Possible uses:

• Which home page converts better?
• Which offer is easier to understand?
• Which video best explains what you offer?
• Which Facebook page layout is preferred?
• Which sign-up form is less scary to fill out?
• (The list goes on and on and on!)

It popped up on a site called Quantcast that I frequent a lot for business. This site provides website traffic insights for thousands of web properties and is an amazing way to evaluate potential clients.

After a few seconds on the site, a pop-up appeared from the bottom-right corner and asked me the questions you see in the image. They claim that it takes just two little minutes to add a piece of code to a website to produce this pop-up.

What I liked is how simple it was:

• Only two questions
• Both questions use very simple language, easy to follow
• Easy user interface

I filled it out. Was too easy not to. And I hope Quantcast uses the findings to change the information and tools that they present to their site users. There is nothing worse than collecting data just to produce pretty pie charts to show in meetings.

Hopefully KISS will overlay this qualitative data on top of their Google Analytics quantitative data to get a clearer understanding of their users and make more informed marketing decisions.

Below are some of the best to check out, especially if you’re thinking of launching a mobile shopping site. You’ll see that the opportunity is large and very attractive:

• IBM’s Benchmark Shopping Reports for Black Friday and Cyber Monday
• “Mobile Commerce played its part on Cyber Monday” – Internet Retailer Magazine
• “Apple, Amazon lead big tech Black Friday” – CNN.com
• “Big sales jump for Cyber Monday” – CNN.com
• “Get on board with mobile shopping – or get left behind” – Denver Business Journal

Other recent stats about the growth in mobile shopping

• “M-commerce sales shoot up as more consumer buy via mobile” – eMarketer
• “Why your business needs a mobile website right now” – Mashable
• “More consumer turning to their mobile devices for this year’s holiday shopping” – BizCloudNetwork
• “Consumers poised to make purchases with their mobile devices this holiday season” – Mobile Marketing Association

If you have attended one, you surely know how they work. And there are lots of providers out there.

One I can recommend is GoToMeeting. They allow you to create a webinar sign-up form with a limited amount of custom copy and images. Then, they make it easy to log on and see how many people signed-up.

You can automate a whole bunch of emails to help communicate with your registrants, including immediate thank you emails and reminder emails that can be sent out days (or even hours) before the session. People are spacey when it comes to remembering things they signed up for, so definitely use this feature.

Other cool features of GoToMeeting:

• You can also automate the follow-up emails to people who attended and even those that missed it
• You can record the webinar and save it as a file or link, to send out to attendees or others
• You can easily give the Presenter ability to anyone on the call, so you can see their screen. You can even give yourself control of their screen! (spooky)
• You can set it up to mute certain people or allow everyone to chime in
• You can use their IM feature to field questions at the end of the webinar, and even save these comments for later

Sure, you have heard of the consumer-facing Daily Deal sites such as Groupon and Living Social (on the big scale) and WeeklyPlus and DealPepper (on the Denver scale).  But there is also a burgeoning B2B scene. The one that impressed me the most was BizDeals.com.

Check ‘em out if you have a B2B product or service to offer and your marketing plan has a focus on new customer acquisition. You might have to give up more than you want (in terms of a percentage of your sale) in exchange for the impressions and sales you receive. But hey, you’re getting exposure to a large list of small business owners that are more tech-savvy than most and are clearly looking for a deal.

Plus, BizDeals is a newer site and will definitely  go out of its way to promote your deal on their site (it’s in their best interest, after all, since they are basically performance marketers.)

For example, my client received great exposure via their website (of course), but also in a PRNewswire release, their weekly email, and on their FB and Twitter pages.  The online mentions and inbound links definitely aided my client’s SEO. Not bad.

You upload your release online and go through a series of questions about who you want to see your release. This includes selecting the geography (international, US regions, cities), the industries (ex: retail, consumer goods, IT, wireless), and other targeting choices such as investment-focused audiences, in case you are looking to get attention from possible acquirers.

They charge a la carte, so you see what you’re paying after you make each selection. Then, they give you a ring and discuss the release and make some suggestions. They send you a final draft to review, and then you’re off and running (whole process can take 1-2 hours, that’s all).

I used PRNewswire for a recent release and within hours I saw 500+ pick-ups on Google. Amazing. I waited a few days and checked my Google Analytics and saw a nice bump from the traffic. And several good Goal Conversions (aka leads). Then, the journlists began contacting my client, asking to write a story. Perfect.

Then, the LinkedIn requests came in from a wide variety of companies interested in my client. One was even in the business of acquiring companies. As a digital marketing specialist, I have been skeptical about the power of press releases on other digital channels. But this tactic definitely works.

mShopper’s press release is here, if you’re interested.

Now, you’re gonna have to pay for this service (>$1000). But if you integrate this tactic into your other digital/offline marketing efforts, you should  see a nice, trackable bump in traffic and leads. If you’re more strapped for cash, then a free service like Free-Press-Release.com works, but won’t get you anywhere near the distrbution you’ll get from a paid service.

Good luck!     -Ken

First, their methodology:

• When: September 2010
• Who: 1800 mobile phone owners initially, then 30 heavy users and high-potential users for more qualitative research
• Assignment:
1. Download and use 5 mobile shopping apps  (note: the subjects did not use any mobile shopping sites…just apps. Wonder why?)
2. Purchase an expensive item such as a washing machine or TV from your phone
3. Purchase exclusively from your phone for one day

Now, their recommendations…

The 10 Most Important Things Retailers Must Do To Connect With Mobile Shoppers

 1) Retailers Need to Provide Shoppers With Total Access—Because the consumers’ path-to-purchase has become non-linear, retailers need to provide multiple points of access to information. Consumers need to be able to access information when they want it and where they want it, and retailers need to have mechanisms in place to interact with consumers at any point during this process to influence purchasing decisions. Product information needs to be made available to shoppers in meaningful ways that bring relevance to the experience. Retailers should not assume how and when shoppers are going to interact with mobile apps and websites.

2) Retailers Need to Think Broadly About Product Categories—Smartphones are changing how people shop for products—from high-end luxury products to basic everyday purchases. Retailers need to rethink how mobile technology is being used and provide information across a broad range of product categories.

 3) Not All Mobile Shoppers Are Created Equal—Mobile shopping revolves around the connection the technology provides and the shopping experience. Users of mobile technology tend to split into two specific groups: heavy users or light users—and the gap between these two groups is enormous.

4) Light Mobile Shoppers Are the Future—Arc’s research has revealed that light and heavy users share several things in common that retailers and applications developers should pay special attention to. While heavy mobile users have driven most of the growth in mobile shopping, most of the growth in the future will come from light mobile users. As mobile shopping becomes more mainstream, retailers need to address the needs of light mobile shoppers to gain their trust and make it easier for this group to engage with their mobile applications.

Trust is a big factor that tends to inhibit light mobile phone users from adopting their phone as a shopping tool. Sixty-two percent of light mobile users have found that it is easier for them to shop online using a computer rather than using a mobile phone.

Within the light mobile group there is a sub-group of users (approximately 40%) that have a higher potential to be converted to heavy users of mobile technology. This sub-group of users shares many of the same characteristics of heavy users. However, there are several factors that are holding them back from connecting their love for shopping and their love for mobile into a seamless mobile shopping experience. For example, many people within this group have limited awareness regarding the advanced capabilities their phone can provide them in regard to shopping. They understand the basics, such as searching for a store location, but their knowledge of shopping apps is limited. Many people are not aware that a large number of their favorite retailers already provide mobile shopping apps that can extend their online experience to their mobile devices.

Another issue for consumers is that there is a fair amount of confusion in the mobile marketplace because of the high number of apps currently available for multiple mobile platforms. As an example, there are more than 300,000 apps in Apple’s iTunes Store. These apps are organized into many categories—and shopping isn’t one of them—so mobile users need to be highly motivated to do the research and find these applications. As a result many retailers are losing out on potential sales opportunities.

 5) Mobile Shopping Is Not One Activity—In order to understand how mobile technologies are being used, retailers need to separate traditional shopping behavior from newly developing mobile behavior. There are many factors that come into play—and each has influence on the other.

Shopping applications also need to appeal to advanced users. Advanced mobile shoppers often use their phones to do on-the-spot price comparisons. If a proprietary app does not have this functionality built in, then a retailer runs the risk of having a more advanced user jumping into another app such as RedLaser or Milo and possibly losing a potential sale to another lower-priced competitor. Retailers that build price comparison functions into their shopping apps along with additional product information and features can mitigate this possibility.

6) Mobile Shopping Behavior Changes Depending on the Product Category—Every product category has a unique mobile shopping profile. The Arc study examined more than 10 different mobile shopping activities and applied each to specific verticals that include Apparel, Appliances, Consumer Product Goods (CPG), and Restaurants. The study revealed that some activities are core to specific categories while others were not. For example, price comparisons, ratings and reviews, or searching for mobile coupons are relevant to specific shopping categories. Some mobile shopping behavior remained consistent regardless of product category, such as product research, looking for sales notifications, or searching for mobile coupons.

Behavior that is relevant to one category may not always apply to another. Within the appliance category, checking for product availability, product research and making price comparisons are all core mobile shopping activities. These behaviors change dramatically when the study looked at CPG’s or Restaurants, where ratings and reviews are the dominant activity.

 7) Satisfaction Levels Vary Depending on Mobile User Experience— Mobile users love the freedom that mobile devices provide, they like to be able to access information from anywhere; however, satisfaction levels varied greatly depending on the user’s experience level and the quality and relevance of the information.

Light mobile shoppers had a lower satisfaction level across all categories. The satisfaction levels for heavy users varied significantly depending on the product category. Mobile banking, downloading books, restaurant reviews, and purchasing events with a mobile device tended to have a higher level of satisfaction. In contrast, shopping for CPGs, apparel, or appliances tended to rank lower with most users. The difference between each of these categories has a lot to do with the direct experience each requires to complete a transaction. In the case of apparel, most people need to touch the item to see the material. Restaurant reviews and ratings had a much high level of satisfaction because these services are highly dependent on social reviews through services such as OpenTable, Urbanspoon, and Yelp. Retailers can improve satisfaction levels regardless of product category by increasing the amount of relevant information they offer and by adding features that deepen the experience for mobile shoppers.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are several experiences that frustrated mobile users that retailers should try to avoid. These include bouncing a mobile app user into a browser without alerting the user beforehand, forcing a user to “opt-in” too early in the transaction process, creating information overload, not meeting an end user’s reward expectations, and slow download times due to network failures or mobile applications that are not properly optimized.

 8) Retailers Need to Provide a Fluid Experience Across Mobile Websites and Apps—Mobile shopping behavior is new and will be in transition for some time to come. Retailers need to accommodate all levels of user experience and provide the broadest range of access possible or shoppers will simply go elsewhere. The user experience needs to be consistent, providing the same quality and quantity of information on mobile Websites and apps. Mobile users may not always make a clear distinction between each and may access both at anytime.

9) Retailers and Manufacturers Need To Work Together—Mobile shoppers are looking for a balance of information between retailers and manufacturer’s information. Shoppers use manufacturer’s Websites for research and specialized support as they shop and then turn to retailers Websites to complete the transaction. Retailers can streamline the shopping process by providing manufacturer’s information more directly through the mobile Websites and apps and increase the probability of closing a sale.

Winning in this market is not about competing technologies. It’s not about Android versus Apple. Winning the mobile shopping challenge will come down to understanding consumer behavior and leveraging the technology to help consumers access information when they want it and how they want it, and build customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Have you wondered how many of these recipients are trying to open your email on their phone and getting frustrated as your image-heavy email just won’t load? Or, how many of these mobile users get overwhelmed because there is way too much crammed into their small screen? Or finally, they do click a link but again get frustrated when they try to navigate your huge, non-mobile-optimized website?

Comscore released some great mobile email usage data recently showing that consumers are checking less of their email on computers and more from their phones. In fact, for certain age groups, the switch to mobile is dramatic (18-44 are the ones that index highest for increased mobile email usage).

What to do? A quick solution:

1. Build a mobile version of your website. Then, get your hands on a piece of mobile redirect code and add it to the HTML code of your regular site (ask me how to do this). When mobile users click an email link to your regular site, this piece of code will realize they are mobile and serve up your easier-to-use, more conversion-focused mobile site.
2. Realize that email is not the best for mobile users. Start (now) collecting mobile phone numbers everywhere you can, along with user permission to contact these guys with ‘special deals’ or something exclusive – this is the key to mobile communication, since it’s so personal. Then, find a local company that makes it easy to create targeted text messages and send them to your new mobile shopper database (ask me how to do this, too). Your shoppers will open these messages at much higher rates than that of email, and the link in the message will open up the mobile website you created in Step 1 above! Brilliant!

Just created a campaign on Google’s Mobile Banner Ad network, AdMob, for a Groupon-esque client and would like to show you the level of targeting I was able to achieve. I am only showing my ads to people:

• who use a smart phone that runs operating systems from Apple, Android, or Windows 7 (this ensures that when they click the ad their phone will nicely render my client’s mobile website)
• who live in 7 metro areas in California
• who are both male and female
• Who are between the ages of 18 and 64

Next, like Google’s AdWords platform, I chose these options:

• $30 maximum daily budget for a 30-day campaign
• Image ads in multiple sizes (300×50, 320×48) – had my designer mock these up
• Text ads (35 characters) running alongside my image ads, as a control group
• Cost-per-click bids of 17 cents for my image ads and 6 cents for my text ads
• Created 7 separate ad groups, so that each city-specific image would be delivered only to that CA metro area

What I’ve learned so far:

• I have already received 24,000 impressions in 3 days with my targeting options. So, it’s not as widespread as an online buy, but that’s not shabby.
• A 17-cent cost-per-click also isn’t that shabby for the targeting I achieved. These used to be under 5 cents a few years back, and of course will continue to rise as the demand for mobile ad campaigns rises
• My average click rate so far is 0.7%, about 7 times that of a generic online banner ad.
• My image ads are outperforming my text ads by 20%, but they cost 300% as much. But, the impressions served for these ads are incredibly small…so I need to keep my Image ad buys.
• I plan to rotate 7 new image ads into the mix with more impactful copy, and see what that does
• My landing page conversion rate is 2.6%. I want to at least double this, so I am working with a talented local designer to add animated images to this page that better explain the reason to sign-up (oh yeah, the campaign goal is to get people to sign up to receive text alerts for deals in their city)
• Admob makes it really easy to analyze campaign performance – I exported all my data to excel and quickly calculated the numbers I provided above. Haven’t figured out how to connect Google Analytics with my campaign yet, but that is probably in there.