IMC Stockholm was organized by Lars Nordstrom, Lennart Svanberg and Lars Johansson. It took place over three days, May 26-28. Day 1 was Affiliate Day and was conducted entirely in Swedish so I didn’t attend (lest I offend people with my horrible Swedish Chef impression). Day 2 consisted of a single track conference, and Day 3 was devoted to special workshops for attendees. Below is a recap of Day 2’s sessions.

Combining the Best of the Web: Maria Ziv and Tommy Sollén from VisitSweden

Their goal: to build Sweden’s brand to other countries in order to increase the country’s attractiveness. A country is like a brand; if there’s an affinity for the brand, people will use it (or in this case, travel to it).

What they did:

• Defined some core values that are specific to Sweden as part of their brand platform
• Worked on improving their interactive communication
• Analyzed the site’s current needs and new trends and established a new vision for the website
• Wanted more efficient use of resources, interactive communication, modern navigation and SEO friendliness

Result:

• New site has more images, maps, better interactivity (can plan a trip, watch videos, book hotels, etc.)
• Was awarded Sweden’s Best Website by Internetworld in 2008
• Set up the CommunityofSweden.com blog to be transparent with their readers and let them know what they were doing with the site and to ask for feedback. It was a great way to build an initial group of users and attract page views and buzz.
• Won the Best Online Social Community Episerver Award in 2009
• They utilize Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and "Add This" buttons to share/spread content and engage with their fans and community members

Making Social Media Profitable: Susan-Rice London from Master the New Net and Patrick Schwerdtfeger from Tactical Execution

Biggest takeaways:

• Social media is not just a set of tools, it’s a community. It’s not just observation, it’s relationships, connections, sharing, collaboration, and creation.
• Social media isn’t a new idea; it’s simply a variation of one of the oldest human activities: communication.
• The biggest hurdle to overcome with social media marketing is getting over the "I’m not social!" hump. Companies need to find their own humanity, and it’s important to identify and capture your corporation/person. Share your essence and figure out an appropriate corporate voice, and dare to make mistakes.

Top 12 SEO Tips for 2009/Keynote: Mitch Joel, Twist Image

Some other guy was supposed to do the Top 12 SEO Tips panel but he was a no-show (how rude!), so Mitch Joel took over the panel at the last minute (and even hastily prepared a slide deck for the session). He also gave a very entertaining keynote that incorporated Journey videos, so I of course was an instant fan. (Interesting aside: the keynote was given after lunch, which I think is a good idea because if it’s boring then everyone will just sit in a post-lunch sleepy coma anyway, and if it’s a good keynote then everyone will perk up and have a good time. Either way, it’s better than subjecting three panelists to the dreaded Post-Lunch Slot.)

How to Use the 6 Conversion Rate Factors to Lift Your ROI: Chris Goward, WiderFunnel

Chris gave my favorite presentation. He specializes in conversion rate optimization and had a really awesome presentation full of case studies and great examples. He also hosted a conversion rate workshop that was very well attended. I’ll likely interview him for our blog in the coming weeks, so check back to learn more about Chris and his business.

The Conversion Rate LIFT Model:

• Value proposition
• Relevance
• Clarity
• Anxiety
• Distraction
• Urgency

Lift Model Analysis Examples:

Clarity:

• The tagline doesn’t include a benefit
• "Learn More" is more prominent than "Join Now"
• Subheaders contain no features or benefits
• The "Join Now" button is below the fold
• It takes many clicks to get to individual products
• Uneven images disturbs eye flow
• Inconsistent mix of link treatment adds to confusion

Relevance:

• Headlines don’t match search keywords

Distraction:

• Animation reduces user control (generally, flash animation will depress conversions, so remove any flash animation that hasn’t been test and proven to work)
• Many links redirect attention
• The screenshots aren’t tied to the benefits
• The feature image is unclickable

Value proposition:

• The headline contains no value proposition
• The page is missing reasons why you should shop here

Anxiety:

• Users are worried about giving up personal information with no explanation or assurance of what it’s being used for

Urgency:

• Page is missing/under-emphasizing urgent keywords/phrasing (e.g., "Join Now!")

Conversion rate optimization tips:

• Don’t automatically believe best practices. Be sure to test for yourself to see what works for you. For example, one of Chris’s clients found that having the McAfee secure shopping logo in his shopping cart somehow decreased conversion rates by 1.1%. 
• Start with A/B/n testing before multivariate.
• Get the process right–follow it and be rigorous about changes. You may have to tweak your conversion rate process several times in order to get results, but be diligent instead of focusing too much on initial results.

Your Eyes Don’t Lie–What Works and What Doesn’t In Advertising: Mihkel Jaatma, Realeyes

Mihkel gave an overview of eye tracking and how it works. When conducting eye tracking, it’s important to have a sufficient sample size (reliable results start with samples of 30-50 people). He shared some test results with us that were really interesting. It seemed that of the following sites’ ads, Ebay’s were the "catchiest" to visitors. He also shared some banner ad variations and showed us which ones performed better based on eye tracking results. It was a neat presentation that gave a nice drill down of eye tracking and page layout.

Truly Understanding Visitor Behavior: Ewald Hoppen, wehkamp.nl

Ewald took us through some visitor behavior examples. I don’t have many notes from his presentation, so I apologize for that (maybe you can bug him for his slide deck if you’re super duper interested).

Tom and I immediately hit it off over our mutual love of movies and general snarkiness. He owns a web conversion company in southern England. Below are highlights from his presentation:

• A lot of companies still believe in acquiring traffic ahead of improving their website. They overload their websites with too much data and information, resulting in information overload and not knowing what to look for.
• He focused a lot of his presentation on basket and checkout abandonment and highlighted some great examples:
  • Busy landing page
  • Hard to read/find the shopping cart
  • Lacking a clear call to action
  • Key information was hidden
  • Missing a clear/easily readable phone number
  • Basket is too low on the page
  • Security information is hidden
  • Weak call to action
  • Limited payment options
  • No progress indicator
• Customer concerns to keep in mind:
  • When will it arrive?
  • What if I want to return it?
  • Is it secure?
  • What are your credentials?
  • Have I ordered the right item?
  • What payment options do you offer?
  • Can I speak to someone about my order?
  • Who else has bought from you?
  • Do I need to register?
• Key points of basket completion:
  • Will it work in every browser?
  • Is the product information clear/easily labeled?
  • Make error messages readable and human-sounding
  • Offer assurances (e.g., "Shop with Confidence," "Safe and Easy Shopping")
  • Keep selling even throughout basket completion (there are still customers who will need a bit of persuasion)
• Be careful in how you handle coupons. Display them carefully, because a lot of people may think they can get a product cheaper elsewhere and will leave to find out.
• Be aware of the cons of one page checkouts (you can’t see who’s abandoned without additional development or software)
• Don’t force anyone to register (low registration rates)

I was on a panel about Cost Effective Marketing Strategies. My fellow panelists were nice and very knowledgeable, but I wish we had operated under a different format. It didn’t feel as interactive as I’d have hoped, but hopefully the audience still derived some value from the panels. I was able to redeem myself the next day when I ran the SEO workshop (the no-show guy was originally supposed to run it but I stepped in when he seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth). Since I didn’t have a presentation or anything prepared, I ran the workshop as a site audit class and went through each attendee’s website and gave some SEO tips and suggestions.

Overall, I had a really nice time at IMC Stockholm. It’s a small but fun conference series, and I met a lot of great people from the US, Canada and Europe. There’s an IMC Vancouver coming up in the fall, so hopefully you’ll be able to make it out to that one (and I may be speaking, so come out and support your favorite mozzer).

Networking at IMC Stockholm

Lennart the Hospitable Swede

After the conference was over, later that week after inadvertently crashing a yacht club party (totally true–we got free burgers but had to sit through an hour-long slideshow presentation about Swedish boat races), Lennart invited me, Manstery Guest and Patrick to his house for a homemade Thai lunch courtesy of his wife, Sandra. Not one to pass up an opportunity to eat, I graciously accepted.

Lennart’s wife and daughter, Sonja, at the yacht club party (1/2 Swedish + 1/2 Thai = 100% adorable)

We had a ridiculously lavish and delicious meal that I’ve documented below to make you all jealous:

Thai soup that contained prawns and some sort of magically delicious broth

Chicken curry

Ridiculously tasty omelet thingies that were filled with spicy-sweet pork and other fixins

Dessert #1: Chocolates and Liqueur

Dessert #2: A concoction of Willy Wonka proportions

We got stuffed so full of Thai food and alcohol that I feared we were getting plumped up for some cruel Swedish version of foi gras. Patrick threw in the towel and succumbed to his food coma:

Dreaming of ABBA, no doubt

I had a fantastic time with Lennart and his family. Huge thanks to them for being gracious and wonderful hosts. And thanks to the IMC organizers, especially Lars Johansson, for inviting me to speak at IMC Stockholm. It was a fabulous experience and I really appreciate the opportunity. Hopefully I can bring you more IMC conference coverage in the future!

Lennart, me with a statue sprouting from my head, and Manstery Guest