You may have heard the term “API” once or twice.  An acronym for “Application Programming Interface,” it’s really a fancy way of saying “data access,” and more and more data-laden companies are opening their hard drives to the public.  Although APIs are typically written for programmers and developers, it isn’t difficult to learn how to work with this type of information.   APIs rely on standardized web technologies, and are fairly consistent in the way that information is requested and delivered.  There are some restrictions placed on what can be accessed and sometimes what can be done with that information.  But generally, an open API is a way that data can be freely shared, transformed and presented in a completely new light.  In a sense, it is a socket that allows programmers to plug in and create their own interface and functionalities.  Multiple APIs can be combined to create an entirely new experience, commonly referred to as a “mashup.”  This practice swept the internet in ’05, lending mainstream credence to the concept of Web 2.0.

Perhaps the most common example of an open API is Google Maps.  When you see a map, inside a non-Google website, particularly when there is associated information, such as ‘dog friendly hotels, restaurants, shopping, atms, etc’, specific to that site, you are seeing an example of an API-driven mashup.  Government datasets, traditionally behind closed doors or relegated to hard copy documentation, are becoming increasingly available.  In the UK, the Guardian recently published a Content API that will allow over one million articles to be published anywhere on the web.  Their PoliticsAPI gives the developers a free shot at presenting 2010 election data as they see fit, providing more opportunities for the general public to view, interpret and interact with the information.  In San Francisco, perhaps the coding capital of the world, the local government has opened several APIs including transportation and utilities.  As a result, a person can open an app on their phone and view the location of the nearest train station or bus stop, and the time of the next arrival.  Using a combination of APIs busses can even be tracked in real time.  No more cutting that last email or presentation short in order to make the bus, only to stand in the cold and wait an extra fifteen minutes. 

The open sharing of data has become increasingly important to businesses as they struggle to meet growing consumer expectations and stay ahead of the competition.  Mastercard recently announced that desktop and mobile developers will have access to their API by the end of 2010.  By opening its technology MasterCard hopes to compete with bigger and more advance rivals, Visa and Paypal.  Putting the opportunity for their company’s expansion into the creative hands of developers is not only cost effective, but it allows experts from large institutions to niche services to take advantage of making online payment services.  It’s a ‘win-win’ for both the business offering customers the opportunity to pay online or by mobile phone and for MasterCard.  Other businesses poised to take advantage of the rapidly expanding technology are NPR and Blurb.  NPR plans to leverage its archive of over 250,000 stories while Blurb, the popular online book publishing platform, will give developers the ability to create software that will programmatically publish to the platform. 

For many businesses the opportunities provided in OpenAPI are astounding.  For example, what if car manufacturers opened the doors on their datasets?  Can you imagine using your mobile phone to purchase an upgrade to your car that would remap the fuel and ignition and give you more power?  Or how about being able to monitor all of your driving behaviors and comparing them against yourself and any other drivers of that same vehicle?  How about being able to take a picture of another car at a stoplight and hearing what they’re listening to on their radio, and then downloading the song or instantly being able to retrieve specification, pricing and the nearest dealer?  Ok, a bit scary, but very possible.  In more practical application, an API provides a mean for companies to bridge the gap between the latest in technology, the current level of user expectation and the online channel, all for the purpose of generating revenue.  It also provides a sophisticated mean of crowd-sourcing, or listening to the demands of your consumers and reciprocating in venue suitable to their specific needs.  And while the planning and setup will take some work, the opportunity to reap the benefits are as big as the web itself.

A 220% Increase in Returning Visitors—That’s a Lot of Cabbage!
Souplantation & Sweet Tomatoes Restaurants is an all-you-care-to-eat dining experience where you can enjoy the freshest ingredients and a meal that is your own creation. Red Door Interactive built an entirely new site for them from the ground up and the site visitors keep coming back for more. We formulated strategies and recommendations of our own, but we wanted to hear directly from their most dedicated fans—over 1,300,000 members of the Souplantation & Sweet Tomatoes Club Veg, their advisory board—the Kitchen Cabinet, and users of the site. With their loyal following and passion for the brand, we wanted to build a site for them—by them. We sent out surveys and incorporated those results. So in the end, it allowed us to validate our entire process from discovery and strategy through design and implementation.

The Challenge: Build a State-of-the-Art Site Incorporating Social Media and More
Souplantation & Sweet Tomatoes’ online community was growing strong since Red Door Interactive had launched their Facebook and Twitter properties early in 2009. Facebook fans grew to over 48,000 fans and Twitter had over 13,000 followers. We needed to unify that loyal following and grow it within the new site as well as cross promote contests and monthly menu promotions. When coming to the new site, we wanted users to see Souplantation & Sweet Tomatoes as the fresh, wholesome dining choice – where food goes straight from ‘Farm-to-Fork’. It needed to tell the story of how they hand-pick their growers for the highest quality ingredients and use those to create made-from-scratch salads, soups and baked goods. The content needed to be playful and ever changing. The site needed to allow the users to make it their own, just like in-store where you create your own unique meal and experience. With the opportunity to plan, design, develop and implement a completely new site from the ground up, it allowed us to create a completely customized experience for users and ultimately do what we do best at Red Door Interactive, Internet Presence Management.

The Goals

• Keep it fresh: Contemporize the site, make it relevant, exciting, interactive and delicious, and give the users a reason to keep coming back.
• Engage the audience: Implement a blog that allows guests to get inspired, share, communicate and engage in fresh content. Include a section with fun activities for kids.
• Personalize: Allow users to make this site their own just like the in-store experience.
• Grow Club Veg: Increase customer loyalty and grow memberships through initiatives such as refer-a-friend campaigns
• Grow the community:  Create an environment for the active social community to engage on the site via live Facebook and Twitter feeds.
• Make shopping easy: Develop a complex shopping cart for their online gift card purchases that allows users to ship to multiple addresses.
• Improve technology: Develop the site in the latest .NET platform for increased security, stability and sustainability.
• Increase store traffic: Boost in-store sales via an easy to use fundraising-booking tool.
• Localize: Allow users to select their home store which gets memorized and allows users to receive localized content and special promotions each visit.
• Searchability: Make the site SEO friendly to maximize organic rankings, traffic and conversions.
• Optimize: Research, plan, select and install an enterprise-class web analytics tool.

The Solution

Overall Site
This is the fun part. This is why we all come to work everyday! It’s why we love what we do and where we begin to see all of our efforts come to life. But it’s not just about the beautiful food photography or the fun playful approach—this new site packs a punch in functionality to boot.

Souplantation.com is a completely customizable experience. Users can select their favorite background (mine is the penne pasta as you see above) and home store. Immediately they are served with promotions for their local restaurant such as a brunch call-out and it remembers their choices each return visit.

For the home page animation, we used one simple word—indulge—to tell 7 unique stories about Souplantation & Sweet Tomatoes Restaurants. There is a surprise and story behind every letter. The letter ‘u’ tells the story of how they hand-pick their farmers. The letter ‘e’ highlights their made-from-scratch menu items. The letter ‘n’ showcases the salad bar—55 feet of farm fresh fare. You’ll have to discover the rest on your own. Indulge!

Fresh Ideas Blog
The blog encourages visitors to communicate and discover fresh content. You can comment on blogs, tweet them or share them to any social community such as Digg, StumbleUpon, Twitter, Facebook or MySpace. We also included a Facebook Fan Box and a Twitter Stream with live feeds. Users can share what their favorite menu item is or even go as far as recommending a new one! The robust search allows you to find any blog topic, or you can just browse by category or popular tag cloud. Easy peas-y.

For Sprouts Only
This is the action packed section of the site for hours of activity. Here you can play an interactive arcade game called ‘Spud-man’ with classic music and all. Downloads in this section include coloring sheets, activity sheets and a ‘Travel with Sweetie’ picture. Animated screen savers and fresh desktop screens are also available. Join in the fun!

Gift Card Shopping Cart
We completely rebuilt the entire cart adding functionality and ease of use. Cha-ching.

Join Club Veg Form
We optimized the form and functionality to include localization and kept it short and sweet. Sign me up!

The Results

• 220% increase in returning visitors
• 17% increase in visits
• 20% increase in Gift Card Sales

(All data is compared year over year – March 2010 vs. March 2009)

Social Media Promotions

• 400 percent increase in Facebook fans as a result of the April “Pucker Up” contest

Online Fundraiser Tool

• Over 200 Fundraisers booked within the first month of launch providing over 100% ROI in less than thirty days

Club Veg Members

• 70,000 new members subscribed on Souplantation.com in the month of January resulting in over 1.3 Million members to date

Press

• Within one month of launching Souplantation.com, it was mentioned in an article on onextrapixel.com as a ‘mouth-watering’, successful food focused Web site design. The article can be viewed here ‘Eating into Restaurant & Recipe Web Design: 50+ Mouth Watering Websites’.
• Souplantation.com was a featured article on allaboutroimag.com ‘How Souplantation & Sweet Tomatoes Found Success With Its Email and Social Media Campaigns’.
• Souplantation.com was a featured article on qsrmagazine.com ‘A Fresh Look for Fresh Food Options’.
• Souplantation.com was featured in an article on clickz.com ‘E-mail Marketing’s Future in a Twitter World’.

Fresh Ideas Blog

• Over 4,000 comments were received within one week in response to a St. Patrick’s Day contest called ‘Eat Your Greens’. Prizes included two sets of 10 complimentary meal passes for blog readers and additional prizes for Facebook and Twitter participants.

Client satisfaction
We presented our client with three unique and thoughtful creative directions to choose from. We also created branded ‘indulge’ aprons for the team as a leave behind for an added touch.

@gingeranderson sent a tweet shortly after our creative presentation: ‘Can I shout from the rooftops how much I love Red Door? Once again, they blew our socks off. Awesome work.’

“We couldn’t be more pleased with our new Souplantation/Sweet Tomatoes site. Its fresh look and playful creative are completely in sync with our brand. With the inclusion of a blog, an online fundraiser tool and the “Sprouts Only” kids page, our engagement with our guests has dramatically increased. Our guests can really spend time on the site and feel more connected.” Jill Trecker, Manager of Guest Loyalty, Souplantation & Sweet Tomatoes Restaurants

The First 100 Days of Souplantation.com have been an amazing success. We always knew the fans were loyal to the brand, and we couldn’t wait for the opportunity to provide them with a new site. The new souplantation.com gives them a reason to return for seconds, and even thirds!

Take a moment and imagine what your customers are doing online – right now. Like you, they are engaged in digital experiences performing everyday tasks such as checking email, managing finances, booking flights, downloading music or connecting with friends.  These digital experiences are always more engaging than passive messages. They create emotional imprints that can either elevate brands or remove equity from them.

Brands that deliver engaging digital experiences build and sustain long-term competitive advantages; therefore, getting the experience right must be a priority. At Red Door, we’ve learned that engaging experiences all have the following characteristics. Consider them when evaluating how well your organization is serving its customers online:

• Engaging experiences create value – Whether through efficiencies that help us get more done in a busy day, stay connected with friends and family, provide entertainment or solve problems good experiences keep us coming back for more. They encourage us to take action and give us something back in return.
• Engaging experiences don’t make us work too hard – A helpful experience is one that guides us towards a solution. Simple inputs produce remarkable results that can’t be replicated anywhere else. These kinds of experiences make our lives easier. They instill a sense of accomplishment, empowerment and satisfaction leaving us feeling energized, not depleted.
• Engaging experiences touch our emotions – Usability and utility are fundamental to a good experience; however, those attributes alone won’t differentiate brands from one another. An emotional component must also be considered. Dull experiences will always be swapped with ones that have likable personalities.
• Engaging experiences are always available – Experiences that create value are needed at home and on the go. We expect them to be with us anywhere and available all the time.  Mobile compatibility and portability to desktops and social profiles ensure that when we need an experience it will be ready and waiting for us.
• Engaging experiences are easy to share – When we discover a valuable experience it’s increasingly important that we’re able to share it with others. Experiences that prevent us from sharing products of interest or engaging in dialogue around compelling messages detach us from the people we value most.

We hear time and time again that experience is the message. As consumers shift more of their attention online it becomes increasingly important for brands to deliver engaging digital experiences. Luckily, a common sense approach is often all it takes. Matching the goals of customers with business objectives is the winning combination.

The Maritime Museum’s research credentials and educational programs are second to none. Nautical books, seafaring music, and fine maritime art can be found in the Museum Store. Local residents and international tourists alike find visiting the museum to be an engaging day of discovery and learning. But the old Web site wasn’t communicating the experience well. This is a place where history and technology still live – not some manufactured presentation asking us to imagine how things once were. We wanted the new site to let visitors feel wind and salt spray. It needed to give a sense of the motion and power inherent in these ships that helped build California and the West.

Our discovery interviews revealed a diverse and growing organization with a broad range of needs. The old site was at least flexible, and was updated frequently by museum staff. There was a huge array of valuable content, but the museum was not being shown to its fullest potential. It was difficult for potential visitors to easily discover the variety of unique experiences available, from classes in celestial navigation to multi-day sailing adventures aboard tall ships. The new site retains the flexibility, while showing the excitement of directly experiencing a variety of historic vessels.

The site has more audiences than just museum visitors. Hundreds of dedicated volunteers and supporters keep the museum afloat. Literally. There are no buildings. The entire museum, even the offices, is aboard its collection of ships. The new Web site had to enable museum staff to communicate with their crews, the media, donors, other maritime museums, and historians. Now it can vividly convey the sense of pride and belonging these volunteers and supporters feel for their museum.

We’re very proud and happy to have been entrusted with this opportunity to help the Maritime Museum of San Diego communicate its world-class status, and we look forward to watching the museum’s continued development and success, supported by the new www.sdmaritime.org site.

So you think trendy online social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are great ways to make connections, keep up with the latest gossip and generally pass the time away?

Reid Carr sees them as opportunities for companies to build their income and bottom line. And, he can prove it with creative campaigns his team has developed for clients that include Cricket Wireless, Sempra Energy, the restaurants Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes, and others.

Red Door’s mission is to help established companies leverage their brand on-line, build additional revenue, add business and retain customers. “Every company is on their own path toward e-business,” Reid believes. “We are here to facilitate that process.”

READ THE INTERVIEW IN IT’S ENTIRETY HERE

Do you crack jokes that include the words “fail whale?” Find yourself spending Sunday nights tweeting away about the latest episode of #trueblood? It might be a bit embarrassing to admit it to your significant other, or explain it to your CEO, but used correctly, Twitter has some pretty serious benefits for businesses and individuals alike.

Twitter is a powerful communications tool that every business can leverage and is becoming a core component of many brand’s overall promotional strategy. Businesses are successfully using twitter to build community, better connect with customers, and participate in brand conversations online. These insights help a smart business glean valuable information to inform future strategy.

We invite you to join us and the San Diego Ad Club on Friday September 25! Our social media strategist Crosby Noricks will teach you how to develop a Twitter-specific social media strategy from concept, to execution to measurement. Learn how companies, including several here in San Diego, are successfully using Twitter to meet their online business objectives.

You will learn:
• Key questions to ask when developing a Twitter strategy
• The different between a Twitter strategy and a Twitter campaign strategy – and why you need both
• Recommended management, monitoring and measurement tools
• How to integrate Twitter into an overall social media or online promotional strategy

When: Friday, September 25, 2009 8:00 AM – 10:00 AM

Where:
Courtyard by Marriott
595 Hotel Circle South
San Diego, California 92108

Presented by: Charles Wiedenhoft – Director of Business Planning & Optimization

DATE: August 25, 2009
TIME: 11:20am PST / 12:20pm MST

REGISTER NOW!!

We’re in the midst of Summer, but online retailers who were able to secure budget for major site enhancements have preparations for the holiday shopping season well underway. Those merchants who are operating under budgeting and staff reductions aren’t as fortunate because cutbacks in consumer spending have put many large-scale projects on hold. Stagnant to moderate revenue growth through the holiday season could be a best case scenario; however, new research indicates that even modest gains are at risk.

A recent PayPal survey revealed that nearly half (45%) of online shoppers abandoned their carts multiple times in the first three weeks of June 2009 due to high shipping costs, security concerns and lack of convenience. Another report by Coremetrics shows shopping cart abandonment hovering at 66% in March 2009 with lower conversion percentages predicted through the remainder of the year. That’s an alarming prospect for retailers hoping to weather another tough holiday season.

This webinar will provide retailers tactics for reducing shopping cart and checkout abandonment with minimal investment in time and resources. We’ll also present recommendations on emerging tactics that should be prioritized for 2010 budget consideration.

Topics will include:

* Shopping cart and checkout abandonment trends
* Top reasons why shoppers don’t convert
* Top methods of reducing shopping cart abandonment
* Influencing conversion before the cart
* Analytics and research methods

REGISTER NOW!!

If you have any questions, please contact Morgan Witt at mwitt@reddoor.biz

Newspaper readership has dwindled and a sad few have closed their doors completely. Subscriptions were down, but worse, the 2008 ad spend dropped nearly 30% in some categories.¹ Reach and performance metrics acted as the harbinger in this dive, but the industry should not discount psychographic factors from both sides of the advertising fence.

“The explosion in Consumer Generated Media over the last couple of years means consumers’ reliance on word of mouth in the decision-making process, either from people they know or online consumers they don’t, has increased significantly,” said Jonathan Carson, President of Online, International, for the Nielsen Company. Nielsen recently published some staggering numbers along with the assertion that “consumers trust real friends and virtual strangers the most”. Another statement made in this release urges advertisers to “be encouraged by the fact that brand websites are trusted at that same 70 percent level as online consumer opinions,”² placing a thin veil over the curious demon that is tormenting both brands and their agencies: that online consumer opinion currently carries the same weight as brand websites.

Nielsen: Consumers Trust (April 2009)

Interestingly, there appear to be few correlations between the Nielsen data and 2008 ad spend reported by AdAge, below,³ but there are some that could be drawn. The reality is that consumer-generated media is such uncharted territory for some, that the numbers are not being presented alongside traditional spend. The source for the AdAge data reports that Internet data reflects “display ads only.”⁴

AdAge: Breakdown of the 2008 Advertising Dollar (LNA 100)

Reflecting on 2008 ad spend, we can envision multi-channel integrated campaigns where frequency still reigns supreme, but there are several key indicators of shift in message and delivery.

During the recent Cannes ad festival, the awards were dominated by PR and Integrated campaigns, which AdAge editor Laurel Wentz described as “a clear admission that the age of interruption is over.” Wentz goes on to say, “This is a (winners) list dominated by attempts to engage consumers and deeply involve them in brands.”

David Lubars, Chairman/CCO of BBDO North America has another take, “The way the world is heading is voluntary engagement … The work has to be a magnet.”⁵

What does this mean to an agency being approached with the question of social media?

Rather than engage the insights and experience of established interactive agencies, some traditional agencies are forging the road ahead, attempting to develop expertise in-house, and finding the task to be formidable. In a recent interview, Alex Bogusky, Chairman of Crispin Porter + Bogusky said, “we’ll see a lot of longstanding big agencies struggling.” Traditional media seems to be, he said, “freaking out.”⁶ CP+B has been venturing into the realm of social media recently, and have even put forth a beta site that leans heavily on consumer-generated content.

Agencies looking to develop social media strategies internally are finding that some foundational marketing concepts must change. Of course, a successful social media campaign would first set out to identify groups in which the target demographic is active, yet base the overall strategy not on sites, but on goals. To participate effectively in this space means the abandonment of push messaging in favor of a more dynamic, conversational style. The message would be developed around a core set of questions that the target market would be expected to have curiosity around, and achieve frequency with timely delivery of on-message keyword phrases. Trust and credibility must fostered and developed by engaging the audience with as much transparency as possible. Listening is one of the most critical aspects, both conversationally and analytically, but it’s all too often missed.

Recently, aspiring adman Byron King “infiltrated” social media, in an attempt to gain favor with CP+B, if not a job. King created a persona as an “Interactive Mole”⁷ with the stated goal of generating the type of buzz that would cause someone within CP+B to reference his work on Twitter. Ironically enough, the inside man that fell for the ruse was none other than Wojtek Szumowski,⁸ CP+B’s in-house sociologist, and posts related to King’s travails then dominated the front page of the CP+B beta site. King earned a LinkedIn recommendation from Alex Bogusky himself,⁹ but not a job.

Are you listening?

———–
1. Source: Newspaper Association of America, “Advertising Expenditures”, Date not cited, http://www.naa.org/TrendsandNumbers/Advertising-Expenditures.aspx
2. Source: Nielsen, “Global Advertising: Consumers Trust Real Friends and Virtual Strangers the Most”, July 7th, 2009 http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/consumer/global-advertising-consumers-trust-real-friends-and-virtual-strangers-the-most/
3. Source: AdAge, “Spending Fell (Only) 2.7% in ‘08. The Real Issue: ‘09″, June 22, 2009 http://adage.com/datacenter/article?article_id=137409
4. Source: TNS Media Intelligence, “TNS Media Intelligence Reports U.S. Advertising Expenditures Declined 14.2 Percent First Quarter 2009″, June 10, 2009 http://www.tns-mi.com/news/06102009.htm
5. Source: AdAge, (subscription) “Cannes Swept by PR, Integrated, Internet Winners”, June 29, 2009 http://adage.com/abstract.php?article_id=137630
6. Source: The Huffington Post, “Embrace For Impact: Alex Bogusky Discusses Social Media and Long Term Changes in the Media Landscape”, July 10, 2009 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeremy-abelson/embrace-for-impact-alex-b_b_229160.html
7. Source: Byron King, “The Mole Project”, July 15, 2009 http://globatron.org/moleproject
8. Source: Twitter, http://twitter.com/wojtek3000/status/2671585116
9. Source: LinkedIn http://tinyurl.com/nzm8f3

Keep these factors in mind when applying your email + social media integrated strategy:

• Understand what motivates your subscribers to share
• Deliver dynamic content that is relevant on the subscriber level as much as possible
• Make calls to action clear and simple
• Know the social networks that are relevant to your subscribers (social technographics)
• Make sharing tools obvious and ask subscribers to take action.
• Always include links to your brands presence in social media (Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, RSS feed, YouTube, etc)
• Use Twitter in addition to email marketing to address customer service issues, product launches, and special offers.
• Use Facebook to post important information and updates for your biggest fans and brand evangelists.
• If you have a customer community on your website, provide links to community content within your emails. (Polls, forums, message boards, ratings, etc.)
• Take advantage of opportunities to allow your subscribers to easily share the content of your email newsletters by adding social sharing tools such as “Share This.”
• Turn your best email newsletter content into working social applications for deeper engagement with consumers (widgets, iPhone application, SMS alerts)

• Number of followers over time
• Number of retweets (RTs) over time
• Number of clicks on tweeted links
• Most popular content (above-average clicks)

The last point is a critical one. Avinash contends that if you determine the number of clicks that an average tweeted link gets on your profile, you can identify and analyze over-performing content that is more popular with your Twitter followers. Of course, you can “learn from your failures” by analyzing under-performering content too. Either way, you have actionable intelligence for creating successful content/campaigns in the future.

While Avinash makes a great point, your tweet popularity only provides half the picture. Click and RT metrics indicate how you can best use 140 characters to effectively promote your content. But once a piece of content becomes popular, you really have to look at site-side metrics to see if the content is helping you achieve your business objectives. You can do this by segmenting Twitter traffic in your analytics tool and measuring conversion/engagement from that specific source (which I’m sure Avinash is already doing as well).