Xerox boosts web site traffic 600% with free cards sent to U.S. soldiers

Videos and other online content contributed by consumers are helping to drive traffic to e-commerce sites, comScore Media Metrix reports. Xerox led July-to-August traffic increases with a 628% spike after it invited consumers to sign greeting cards online and have them mailed for free to overseas U.S. military personnel.

The Xerox campaign lets visitors to LetsSayThanks.com choose from several online versions of post cards created by school children, electronically sign their names on them, then click a button to have them sent free of charge to members of the U.S. Armed Forces. The post card site is directly linked to Xerox.com, where visitors can buy products online directly from Xerox or from its retail partners. Traffic to Xerox sites increased to 5.64 million in August, up 628% from 775,000 in July, comScore says.

Xerox is among several sites with sharp increases in traffic related to consumer-generated content, comScore says. It notes that traffic at video-sharing site YouTube.com grew 19% from July to August, reaching 19 million and making it the 32nd most-visited web property in the U.S.

Coca-Cola Co., by inviting visitors to post videos online, boosted its web traffic by 30% in August to 4.17 million from 3.2 million in July, comScore says.

"As user-generated content increases in popularity, sites like YouTube.com will continue to become a destination of choice for people wanting to share their video, ideas, photos, and the like with friends and family," said Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix, which is a unit of comScore Networks Inc. "We`re seeing consumer products companies like Coca-Cola, which was one of the top-ten gaining properties in August, follow suit by inviting consumers to post their videos online. This type of marketing creates a forum for consumers to interact with the product and solidify a relationship with the brand."

The top 10 web site categories by July-August traffic growth rates, according to ComScore:

Training and education, 20%
Religion, 17%
Education – information, 15%
Retail – food, 13%
Consumer goods, 12%
Comparison shopping, 11%
Online trading, 10%
Reference, 9%
Jewelry/luxury goods/accessories, 8%
Ground/cruise, 8%