Exercise: Mod Cloth

One of my most frequently visited sites is Modcloth.com. I visit just about every day and compile a favorites list based on the 'new arrivals,' and sometimes (actually quite rarely) my efforts result in a purchase such as this one:

[My dear husband bought this lovely dress for me for my birthday last week :) I haven't had the opportunity to wear it yet...saving it for a special occasion]

As a customer and appreciator of Modcloth, I have noticed ways in which the company is actively involved in utilizing all kinds of social networking tools. In fact, further research has revealed to me even more ways in which they are involved than I originally thought.

Here's an example of how Modcloth interacts with negative reviews to their products through the website. (I love these shoes!)
View the reviews at the bottom; the first of the two reviews mentions a problem with shipping, and Modcloth responded directly. Instead of ignoring the issue, letting the customer deal with the damaged product through the routine return process, or messaging them privately, Modcloth made their apology about the issue public so that other shoppers would see it and have positive feelings about the company's customer service despite there being a complaint about the product.

In addition to responding to customers on their well-developed site, Modcloth proactively interacts through a blog, a twitter account, and a facebook account. Their blog is very extensive and contains postings about all kinds of things including contests, products, fashion trends, employees and interns, and fashion bloggers and companies. Their twitter account has similar content but in short spurts for those on-the-go. The facebook account combines all of these topics by offering just about everything a fan would want to know about the company and the fashion world.

I used Backtype to analyze their twitter trends for the past few months. They have had a total of 32,323 tweets and are ranked as 3,644 as compared to all other twitter account holders. I believe these numbers to be solid considering the company's recent start and the fact that their presence is only known in e-commerce and not in physical stores. The tweets are overwhelmingly positive usually linking to a piece of clothing the tweeter likes.

When I searched Google with keyword 'modcloth,' the first two pages were links to sites related to the company as well as some business articles discussing their success as a business. The response to their business model and brand is overwhelmingly positive; I struggled to find even one negative response or anything they would need to deal with in order to maintain their reputation. The Modcloth browser and shopper knows how expensive their merchandise is but somehow fans seem to understand that they are paying the price for desirable and quality-built clothes and accessories.

Overall, I find Modcloth to be doing a fantastic job at maintaining their reputation and making themselves known in every popular social networking venue out there today. Good job, guys!