Podcasting at ETail 2007 in Palm Desert

In just a couple of weeks, I’ll be packing up the podcast gear and heading to Palm Desert with EP’s VP of Marketing Jason Billingsley for Etail 2007. Despite the unfortunate scheduling during St. Valentine’s Day, (sure it is a “made-up” holiday but still …), I am looking forward to continuing my interview series for the Get Elastic podcast.

Podcasts at the Station

At etail mmidmarket in San Francisco I conducted a batch of “on-the-fly” interviews with an interesting smattering of ecommerce vendors and pundits. This time around, we may set up a podcast ’station’ and book interviews with a variety retailers with interesting stories to tell.

So … If you are “interesting online retailer with a story to tell” and you are attending eTail Palm Desert, please drop a comment below and we’ll schedule a time to chat on the record.

What kind of story?

Well, ecommerce-related things like:

• What we learned from holiday promotions and what we’ll do better next year.
• How we used A/B testing to increase click-throughs.
• Everything we know about making Landing Pages that work.
• How we used email (or search or blogs or affiliates or …) marketing to increase sales.
• What we’ve figured out about using search engines to attract shoppers ready-to-buy.
• What we did to solve shopping cart abandonment.
• Using reviews and tagging strategies to increase conversions.
• Great ideas we’ve used to start affiliate/advertising programs.

Yup, “straight from the trenches” kind of stuff - frank, candid and authentic is what we seek. Of course we are askiing you to reveal trade secrets (though you may if you want) nor are we seeking your sales pitch (though I am sure it is excellent), rather we seek your valuable insight into the workings of a growing industry.

We see this podcast is a vehicle to generate buzz for your professional efforts while sharing best practices with others in the industry whether they be co-conspirators, partners, friends or (gasp) competitors. At EP, we think establishing open communications is key to fostering industry thought leadership resulting in better customers experiences for our mutual benefit. Yup, we think the etail pie is indeed big enough for all of us.

What do you have to say? Let’s chat.

Listen to the podcast back catalog to gauge the flavor and certainly chime in with any questions.

More about Etail 2007

WBR’s eTail 2007 is their 16th annual retail conference and features an impressive list of sponsors and speakers. Their top 3 Reasons “Why eTail is the Must-Attend event in the retail industry” are:

1. As the web channel is leading the way in shaping expectations about a relevant shopping experience, hear from leading innovators from the top brand executives in the industry so you can learn how to market yourself to meet the needs of the newly empowered consumer and grow your business for 2008 and beyond
2. Consumers are rapidly adopting digital media technology, and are focused on a retail experience where they help determine their brand experience. Gain actionable techniques from industry visionaries to putting your brand into your customer’s hands
3. Forget pushing out your marketing messages. Master becoming a lifestyle brand by attending our turn-key executive panels and presentations. Take advantage of this opportunity, no matter the category or product, to fully integrate yourself into your customer’s lives.

Don’t fret, it ain’t all work … there is a 80’s themed party and reception on the 13th and an “island hopping” themed event for the 14th along with a search day, email marketing day, retailer-only roundtable and various card swaps and think tanks.