6 Spectacular Social, Mobile and E-commerce Insights: E-commerce Link Digest

Another week, another great Link Digest for you, Big Thinkers, this one rounding-up 6 spectacular social, mobile and e-commerce insights for you. So, while you’re settling in on this fine fall weekend, take a few minutes to read through the whole set. Enjoy:

1. TechCrunch reports on Amazon filing suit against individuals offering fake product reviews on Fiverr.com, which is kind of a big deal. Managing your ratings and reviews remains the single most effective way to improve your brand’s digital marketing and it helps no one — not consumers, not brands, not anyone — to undermine the trust that rating and review sites engender among consumers. While gaming these sites may also be illegal in some jurisdictions, violating false advertising laws, we should all be glad Amazon has gone after the bad guys here. I’ll have a bunch more to say about this topic in the next few days, but for now, let’s give credit where due.
2. On a highly related note, Convince and Conversion explains why customer experience is the ultimate marketing tool, a point I wholeheartedly agree with. With that in mind, you’ll want to read this eMarketer explanation, “How to Win at Customer Service: Keep It Simple.” Really good stuff.
3. Meanwhile, in the world of mobile payments, a topic we’ve covered around here a time or two (or three. Or four), Quartz reports that Sweden is on its way to becoming the first cashless society on Earth, while TechCrunch asks, “Where Does Apple Pay Stand On Its First Birthday?” Mobile Commerce Daily thinks it knows the answer and explains why Apple Pay’s second year will be harder than its first, takes a look at finding the best payment solution for the retailer and also offers great coverage of digitizing stored value: apps and wallets, wallets and apps, and PSFK shows how wearable technology is powering seamless payments. Really, really good stuff all around.
4. Speaking of Mobile Commerce Daily, you’ll really want to check out their tips to increase conversion by removing friction in mobile user experience design. See what I did there? I tied the user experience topic addressed in our second item with the mobile stuff we were just talking about. Which is kind of the point. All of this stuff really fits together seamlessly. Or, it does when you make it fit together seamlessly for your customers.
5. On the social front, Mark Schaefer outlines five unbelievable social media mistakes you may be making right now, Marketing Charts gives a social media update: adoption trends, by demographic, Business Insider reveals Facebook’s e-commerce updates, and Thinks (that’s us), asks two important questions: “Should Facebook Take the Place of Your Brand’s Website?” and “Google, Apple or Facebook: Who’ll Win the Mobile Web?”
6. And I can think of no better way to round out this week’s round-up than with this quote from Chris Dixon on Twitter:
   

   "We need to rethink our strategy of hoping the Internet will just go away." pic.twitter.com/JU2WZ3XCeq

   — Chris Dixon (@cdixon) May 10, 2014

   Damn straight.

Hope you have a big weekend, Big Thinkers and a great week ahead!

If you’re interested in learning more about making the social, mobile web work for your customers, be sure to check out these “6 Must-See Mobile Commerce Messages for You,” these “8 Excellent Autumn E-commerce and Digital Marketing Posts,” this set of “9 Digital Marketing Must-Reads for You This Weekend” and other entries from our E-commerce Link Digest series, plus these “7 Special E-Commerce and Digital Marketing Trending Topics: The Top Posts of September, 2015.”

And if you want learn even more about how your customers’ changing behavior shapes e-commerce and marketing, be sure and register to receive a special report I’ve produced in conjunction with hotel marketing firm Vizergy, “Digital Hotel Marketing in a Multiscreen World.” While it’s targeted specifically at hotel and resort marketers, the lessons apply to just about any business. You can get your free copy of the report here.

You can also check out these slides and video from my recent webinar, “Digital Marketing Directions: Three Key Trends Driving Your Marketing Next Year”:

And, finally, you might want to take a look at some of our past coverage of the e-commerce, mobile commerce, and digital marketing overall, including:

• 10 Key Posts about Millennials and Mobile: E-commerce Link Digest
• The Secrets Behind “It’s All E-commerce” for 2014
• The Zen of Digital Marketing Strategy
• 7 Steps to E-Commerce Heaven
• Today and Tomorrow: Mobile and The Changing Customer Journey
• Mobile Makes E-commerce Even More “Frictionless”
• Your 2014 Internet Marketing New Year’s Resolutions – Thinks Out Loud Episode 56