New survey results show 66% of Luxury Interactive conference attendees have an e-commerce website in place. Which is 33% percent higher than the industry average according to Forrester Research.

The survey mainly explored how luxury brands plan to take their integrated on- and offline marketing strategies several steps further.

36% of respondents say they are actively seeking social networks to partner with. They understand how tech-savvy consumers are nowadays and want to communicate with their customers in their ‘language’ of preference. 45% said they want to learn more about using social network visibility as a marketing tool.

At Luxury Interactive, brands including Dolce & Gabbana, Fairmont Raffles, The Starwood Luxury Collection and Lancôme share pioneering experiences on community site marketing efforts (including Second Life, facebook and ASmallWorld).

36% of attendees already invest in online brand protection and brand activity monitoring, and 27% are actively seeking service providers in this regard.

Leading luxury brands understand how valuable Word Of Mouth is, both positive and negative. They believe ‘visibility is power’ and are actively developing brand advocates. Also, if a customer did have a negative experience, brand activity monitoring can give brands an invaluable opportunity to turn customers around.

Therefore, The Ritz-Carlton instituted a service recovery policy empowering employees to spend up to $2,000 to retain a customer.

Another interesting survey result; although 63% of respondents have an email strategy in place, 45% want to learn more about this powerful communication channel.

With email marketing proving to be more cost-effective than other areas of digital marketing, it isn’t surprising companies are investing to go beyond the basic broadcast email. 54% of respondents deploy analytics to measure their marketing efforts online and 72% have a search strategy in place.

Segmentation, personalization and researching the optimal timing of email communications are key to success. Luxury Interactive invited retail guest speakers from Bol.com and Boden alongside Sub-Zero Wolf, Mercedes-Benz and the Luxury Institute to explore optimal personalization and customer communication strategies through analytics.

Luxury brands need to offer unique experiences across all channels and touch points to drive unified, personalised and customised luxury experiences for greater results. Frette, Vertu, Harrods, Hotel Chocolat and Molton Brown all share cross-channel customer loyalty and retention best practices.

Strong leadership and flexibility is required to embrace integrated online and offline marketing strategies to create exceptional customer experiences, retain current customers and reach the next generation of affluents.

123 Luxury Brand Executives to date gather at Luxury Interactive on March 16 -18, 2009 at Le Meridien Piccadilly in London to adapt their marketing models to today’s volatile luxury customers and business circumstances for continued success.