The next step was to set up automated e-mails that went out at various stages during the typical customer life cycle.

Twitter, and recent studies show that some people spend more than an hour per day using them. It was therefore only a matter of time before

Even in this age of rampant online engagement, peer recommendation and reviews, the way the vast majority of people find the things they need online is by typing a phrase into that little

your e-mail software has an option to test how well your message will fare with spam filters, use it, and change anything that it flags as potentially suspect. You should also make sure that all of your e-mail can be traced back to a valid IP address from a reputable host. If you do that, there’s no real reason for your e-mails to be blocked.

Likewise, as ever-increasing numbers of web users develop a ‘feel’ for where they need to go to find the things that they want online, or access branded content directly on the move through dedicated smartphone applications, they are likely to rely less on search for certain things.

This form of tracking has become very much in vogue with the rising popularity of the ‘software as a service’ (SaaS) concept, and has been fuelled by the introduction of free, powerful and highly configurable analytics services like Statcounter (www.statcounter.com) and the very popular Google Analytics (www.google.com/analytics). Once the code is

blogged an open letter to Michael Dell suggesting his company read blogs, write blogs, ask customers for guidance, and ‘join the conversation your customers are having without you’.

Back in 2007, Google started to roll out the personalization of search results for users who were signed in with a Google account.

Kraft’s iFood Assistant carries recipes and how-to videos, and not only does it generate revenue for the company (it costs $0.99), but it is also responsible for a sizeable mailing list, with 90 per cent of app users registering at Kraftfoods.com.