Google published its earnings last month, reporting its search result sites generated revenues of $3.40 billion in the first quarter of 2008.

Meanwhile, an iProspect study showed that 60.5 per cent of Google, Yahoo, MSN and AOL users selected a natural (unpaid) search result over paid search result as the most relevant on a sample query. Additionally, 60.8% of Yahoo and 72.3% of Google search engine users chose a natural search result as the most relevant.

The conclusion: appearing on natural rankings is most valuable to businesses. Natural search results are more trusted by online users and attract more clicks.

Despite the pressure to become a profit center, most organizations’ customer service and contact centers continue to miss the mark on becoming a strategic business partner and are not considered part of the corporate revenue strategy, noted Forrester Research’s Natalie L. Petouhoff.

However, the research firm added new Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations and data are making decisions about positioning customer service for success more relevant than ever before.

“This presents an opportunity for customer service professionals to accomplish goals they may have previously lacked the data to justify,” suggested Petouhoff, adding the transformation of customer service from a “cost center” model to a “profit center” paradigm entails a commitment to change from all levels within an organization — from C-level executives to call center agents.

Customer service leaders can serve their companies well by helping executives decide if customer service is a financial priority, advancing their own leadership and business case development skills, and demonstrating to agents why and how customer service is key to a company’s brand and bottom line.

Web content is not about you. It’s about your prospect or customer.

This is critical to making web content successful. However, based on frequent discussions with business clients and students alike, it’s a concept that’s often not recognized and appreciated.

The digital world has sped things up. Television and billboards have much less impact and ability to influence the masses. There are more choices, more noise. Less time, less patience. As a result, consumers are now exceptionally proficient at ignoring marketing messages.

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China’s government reported the country has surpassed the U.S. as the online population leader with more than 221 million Internet users.

The figure, reported this week by the Xinhua News Agency, reflects China’s explosive growth in Internet use. It was a 61% increase over the 137 million Internet users reported at the start of 2007.

Nielsen Online estimates the U.S. online population with home or work access at 221 million. By contrast, one-third of Chinese Internet users surf through cybercafes.

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A Forrester survey revealed what’s really no surprise: almost one-quarter of online shoppers leave websites without registering or purchasing when they are required to register.

The research firm suggests the missed conversions and lost revenues can be minimized by making registration optional, and clearly explaining the benefits customers will get if they do sign up.

“The right incentives can also be helpful — online shoppers are most likely to hand over personal data in exchange for discounts,” suggested Forrester’s Megan Burns.

Additionally, Webcopyplus has found an effective way to achieve registration is to introduce it late in a process, once online visitors have invested time in a task. However, even at a late stage, if too much information is required, it can still lead to both frustration and abandonment.

Webcopyplus is involved with a Yale study and would appreciate your participation in a survey that takes less than 10 minutes to complete. There are 20 questions, and you could win a $20 Amazon gift certificate.

Just click on Soe City Survey.

— Thanks!

Author and marketing guru Seth Godin posted a sharp entry in his blog about the inbound phone call being a hugely valuable marketing event for a business.

He noted: “The goal of every single interaction should be to upgrade the brand’s value in the eye of the caller and to learn something about how to do better, not to get the caller to just go away.”

That seems to be the prevailing objective: do away with the nuisance, rather than learn something from the prospect or customer.

Also, almost every consumer would wholeheartedly agree with Godin’s statement:

“Your call is very important to us,” does not jibe with, “Due to unusually heavy call volume.”

Read his post: Who answers the phone. Or view a case study on how not to deliver
‘customer service’.

The key to successful conversion rates is getting information to the right people at the right time.

Internet technology provides businesses the ability to pin-point markets at precise moments. However, if you’re not delivering the right information, the entire effort, investment and process is severely flawed.

The Web is a fantastic medium to determine what web writing works and what doesn’t. Recent A/B split tests targeting US and European audiences helped Webcopyplus establish how web writing approaches and styles influence online consumers’ behavior.

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While there are numerous elements to successful web pages, three are absolute musts and are straightforward:

• Begin every web page with a unique, accurate and explanatory headline.
• Your conclusion must follow. To deliver effective web writing, your web page’s summary, description or key message should be at the beginning of your main copy.
• Use several subheadings or kickers. They should be descriptive, just like headlines, to help your visitors zone in on information relevant to their needs.

Here’s a Rogers customer service case study on how not to conduct business. It’s no wonder so many consumers are turning to the superior services of Skype, Vonage and Shaw.

With my business phone and mobile with Rogers, I decided to bunch everything together and switch my home phone to Rogers as well. Here’s a breakdown of the events that spanned more than one year:

• After talking to two Rogers call centres for more than an hour in total, a switchover was scheduled for the morning of March 13, 2007.
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