Commentary on Nielsen//Netratings or Time to Work Some Magic cuz it's Showtime:
At first glance, this article #reply-11652370 seems out of place on this thread, but reading between the lines, it contains a very important message. That message being, e-commerce isn't just a website backed by banners and bulk email any more, but rather e-commerce has become a science.
Once you start tracking cyber-surfers in order to quantify their behavior, you have empirical science on your hands. Presently, the State of the Art is about twice as good as a random click-shot; ie, those who practice the science convert 7.9% to 8.3% of the time whereas those who don't get conversion rates of 3.5% and 3.4%. This is why deals with companies like Personify #reply-11629639 are important albeit they go unnoticed.
Once you begin to practice the science, the next step is to charge more for your services -- kind'a like economies of scale but more an efficiency thing if you know what I mean. Anyway, it all goes back to that gross revenue thing I discussed yesterday #reply-11641692 which BTW is one of the more revealing posts on this thread.
In summary, it will take more than just a bulk email company to dominate the "electronic messaging" industry (there's another word for it but it doesn't come to mind, not portal, but another category like portal), and all that preoccupation with other email companies you sometimes see is just that -- preoccupation. I want to say investors, but I doubt that class of person reads this, but I'll humor myself and use it anyway... The successful "investors" in this industry will be those who look past the facade and into the science the company stands on. If you do this, and find their is no science, then... one-two, you know what to do. |
