Americans - Don't You Just Love 'Em?

A setting designed for US customers could be reducing your new signups by up to 50%.

George Bernard Shaw once said, "England and America are two countries separated by a common language."

Despite similarities, Americans can be very different to us. Or should that be "very different than us"?

Most companies that supply software systems for sending email marketing campaigns are American.

But Americans react very differently to (than) Brits when it comes to how they react to unwanted emails.

Their systems often have a default setting called "double opt-in" that isn't necessary in the UK. And that setting could be losing you up to half of your new signups.

To find out how to stop US systems from ruining your UK marketing, grab a Twinkie and a root beer and watch the 3-minute video below. It explains what double opt-in is, and why you probably don't need it in the UK.

You could double your volumes of new signups in the process.

Everyone knows that Christmas is the busiest time for retailers both online and off - but when is the busiest day for online retailers?

Although each of likes to believe that we are individual and unique, human beings are basically herd animals, and in large numbers our behaviour is extremely predictable. For the last few years, the busiest day for online sales has been the same. It's the day on which UK shoppers spend a million pounds a minute on the Internet.

Surprisingly, whilst offline retailers are usually busier at the weekend, the busiest online shopping day is on a Monday. It has become known in the e-commerce world as "Manic Monday" or "Cyber Monday". So when is Cyber Monday? And why is it so predictable that more people will shop online on that day than on any other?

Cyber Monday occurs when it does because it is the first Monday after the last payday of the year - so it's simply the week when people are feeling most flush as they fritter away their disposable income on gifts for others. People want to shop as soon as possible so that gifts arrive in time to be wrapped and, in some cases, posted in time for Christmas.

Since online retailing began, every year has broken the previous year's records for online sales. PayPal have predicted this year that online sales will soar by up to 60%, with the peak being expected on Cyber Monday - last year's was the busiest ever.

This year's Cyber Monday is 28th November. Online retailers would be wise to organise promotions and special deals around this date, and promote them to their customers using well-planned email marketing and social media campaigns, in order to grab their share of the massive amount of money that will be changing hands in just a few weeks time.  

Online retailers have had another record Christmas. While High Street retailers suffered in the snow, online sales were up by 25% over 2009. By contrast, offline sales were up by just 2% on the previous year.

However, despite these high levels of growth, experts predict that in 2011 online sales will continue to see double-digit growth.

This time last year, online sales were predicted to grow over the full year by 13%, but actually increased by 18%. This level of growth is expected to continue throughout 2011 despite continuing uncertainty about the UK economy, which is expected to hit consumer demand. Retailers who are not already online could do well by expanding onto the internet.

UK shoppers spent £6.8bn online in December alone (source:IMRG). Boxing Day was the busiest online shopping day of the year, with sales of over £300m, and even Christmas Day saw sales of over £150m.

The highest growth this Christmas was seen in clothing, which grew by 40% as everyone bought more clothes to combat the harsh weather, and alcohol at 36% as we all got properly stuck in to the party season.

Nothing like a new coat and a few tipples to take the edge of the winter chill!

If you have customers or clients who book appointments, a simple but often overlooked way to increase your business is to enable them to book online.

An online booking system can increase orders by up to 40%. With more business being done online, buying decisions are often made instantly. Give your customers the ability to book on the spot, and you could see a huge upsurge in your business

If your competitors don't use online booking, you could be the first in your market to offer this service. For example:-

• Restaurants can take table bookings online
• Beauty salons, dentists and physiotherapists can let customers book specific treatments with named professionals
• Garages can allow customers to book services and MOTs at a time to suit them
• Theatres and music venues can take bookings for performances

Combine online booking with a well-targetted email marketing system aimed at past customers, and you'll have a fully automated system to generate repeat business for you!

The days when online booking systems were expensive and complicated are long gone. With today's modern methods, it's easy to add a booking system to most websites. With a bit of training, anyone with basic PC skills can manage the system using a simple web-based interface.

Online booking systems cost much less than you may think, and you don't have to redesign your website to use one.

To find out more, go to www.belmont.uk.com/online-booking.

Whilst High Street sales continue to suffer with low single digit growth, online sales hit a new record this July, with UK consumers spending an incredible £4.2bn on the Internet, according to recent figures from the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG).

Almost 1 in 15 of us made a purchase online during the month, and all the signs are that this trend will continue. While the first six months of 2009 were static for High Street sales, online retailers clocked up £23bn in sales.

Year-on-year growth in July in online sales was an incredible 16.8%. Where else in the UK economy can you find that sort of growth in today's climate?

There can be no doubt that online shopping is here to stay, and retailers are gearing up for the biggest ever online Christmas

This is good news for UK business as a whole, as online sales lead the economy out of recession.