In this free whitepaper from Web Trends (registration required) you will learn about some processes that apply when migrating from a transactional business model to a relationship driven model.

I am not really a fan of Web Trends whitepapers as they usually skirt around the core topic of the paper and focus instead on fitting a solution around their product base, which certainly isn't bad for customers but really isn't delivering thought leadership.

The paper misses a few ingredients to relationship marketing best practice (such as channel neutral planning or trigger marketing) but provides some good grounders on some of the mistakes and assumptions that may apply. For example, the paper suggests that

"Economies of scale—which provided benefits in the past to large companies running mass media marketing campaigns—no longer apply in the world of relationship marketing."

So whilst this is true from a 100 mile high view of a customer, it fails to drill down into competencies of digital marketing like the aforementioned trigger marketing

[example: customer buys product 'x' leading you to x-sell product 'y', deliver trigger message 'g' and offer promotion z].

In this paper Web Trends offer a simple 4 step process to successful relationship marketing (which is really a reiteration of the process you would apply to most web analytics projects..):

• Step 1: Understanding the Visitors Behind the Visits
  
• Step 2: Segmenting Customers by Behavior
• Step 3: Creating Specific Content to meet Your Customers Needs
• Step 4: Measuring your Success

Following this process, the paper explains how you will increase - customer response, brand engagement and customer loyalty - providing examples of how this would be demonstrated in each example.

Download the white paper here

This free white paper from In-Stat aims to answer the question:

"Will cellular phones that can play music files cut into the market for portable music players?"

In-Stat's belief, briefly, is "not yet and probably not soon.", their white paper includes the following:

• Survey Data that Indicates Users Want Phones to be Primary Music Players and How the Portable Media Market Will be Affected by This Desire
• Analysis of Camera Phone Users As a Gauge
• Why Camera-Equipped Phones have not Significantly Eroded the Market for Digital Cameras
1. Execution/Quality
2. Ease-of-Use
3. Ecosystem Integration
• Evaluation of Music Playing Mobile Phones Regarding Execution/Quality, Ease-of-Use and Ecosystem Integration
• Data and Figures from a Recent In-Stat Consumer Survey Concerning the Following
1. MP3 Player Ownership and Purchase Intentions Within the Next Year
2. Intentions of MP3-Capable Phone and MP3 Player Purchasers
3. Potential Replacement of MP3 Players by MP3-Capable Phones
4. Satisfaction with Experience of MP3-capable Mobile Phone

Omniture have just published a new whitepaper titled "7 Steps to Increase Conversion"

The whitepaper summarises a seven step approach to measuring conversion as follows:

• 7 Steps to Increase Conversion
• Engagement - Applying Relevancy
• Identify Conversion Goals & KPIs
• Define & Acquire Target Profiles – Apply 40/40/20 Rule
• Organize and Optimize Site Structure
• Develop a Compelling Message
• Place Effective Calls to Action
• Enhance Shopping Cart / Lead Capture Process
• Test, Measure, and Refine

Rethinking web analytics strategy in a world where the concept of a web page no longer exists.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In the fast paced, ever changing face of digital marketing we now have to realize the impact of dealing with web analytics in an asynchronous, asynchronous experience. This white paper takes a look at some of the issues and provides strategic guidance and recommendations on addressing these challenges.

INTRODUCTION
The Internet is changing faster than ever; media is fragmenting and becoming increasingly digitised. As businesses increase their web presence, they are changing the way content, applications and services are presented to visitors. We have all heard a great deal about Web 2.0 and the advances new technologies will enable increased site usability, speed and conversion – typically though articles tend to address the hype about new business models forming around Web 2.0.
This white paper is intended to allow businesses considering creating web content that uses Web 2.0 ‘technology’ to think about processes required to track, measure and optimize the user journey and to take key ROI measures away.

Download "Measuring the Asynchronous Web"  here