It’s been awhile since my last blog post, and that’s not due to my lack of inspiration but more due to the fact that it’s been quite busy over here at Sitebrand.  With new customers coming on board weekly, the support team and myself have been swamped getting customers live and ready to conquer the world of personalization!  Working with new customers is always rewarding because it allows us to tackle new problems and trigger segments that we don’t normally deal with on a day-to-day basis.  Definitely one of my favorite parts of the job……

Email has traditionally been one of the largest marketing initiatives with any online retailer, and there is nothing wrong with that.  In fact, it’s encouraging to see retailers reaching out to their shoppers with upcoming promotions and seasonal sales.  I’m definitely guilty of subscribing to over a 100 different email newsletters, and this isn’t just because their our clients!  I do enjoy getting the latest deals, but I also like to see how retailers are approaching their shoppers and what type of message they’re trying to portray.  Only recently I received a large number of ‘Mother’s Day’ inspired email newsletters from a number of different retailers, which reminded me that it’s about that time of the year.  I enjoyed reading through all the witty one-liners and clicking on the different promotions that were being offered, but when I clicked through the newsletter I was sadly disappointed in the post-click marketing efforts these sites were making. 

When I get a ‘Mother’s Day’ email newsletter promoting a 10% of coupon, it gets me interested and entices me to click through to the site but once I get there……where did my promotion go?  Retailers are making the cardinal mistake of leaving the promotion or message in the email and not following through bringing the consumer to the actual site. 

With Sitebrand’s Segment&Serve, retailers are able to use our URL Parameter rule to target and recognize email newsletter readers and help create the same message from the email newsletter to the site.  By using a Sitebrand content space with the same message that was being displayed in the email newsletter, Sitebrand empowers retailers to create a seamless transition from the inbox to the site.  By having this piece of content locked in for the duration of that email readers visit, Sitebrand is able to help reinforce the urgency of the email promotion and remind the shopper of the coupon code once they enter the cart process.  This type of continuity will help the shopper forget that they even left their inbox to chase that ‘Mother’s Day’ promotion, and ultimately help convert yet another shopper. 

We have a growing number of clients using this new method of post-click marketing personalization with astounding success. This Sitebrand functionality is definitely one that online retailers will want to consider for today’s ever changing marketplace.  

A perfect example of how to target your shoppers once they click through from an email newsletter.

 

Alok Ahuja
‘The Road Less Travelled’

I would first like to say thank you to all of those I had the pleasure of meeting while attending the Shop.org Annual Summit in Las Vegas. It was a great show with plenty of vendors, learning seminars and certain people claiming to do exactly what Sitebrand does! It’s always entertaining and enlightening to visit certain booths and listen to the unexperienced pitch man claim; “We can do that”. So you mean to tell me that you can help convert my SEO spends and engage my customers throughout their visit all in real time?….”Of course, and we’ll even take your kids to daycare for you”. It never ceases to amaze…just where do they find these people, and more importantly how do they manage to keep a straight face while making their pitch to me? Nevertheless, it was a great show.

I would like to share a simple concept within Sitebrand’s new Segment&Serve tool that has many of our customers “double taking” their analytic reports. This ‘concept’ that I’m going to discuss is being employed by Sitebrand customers with the efforts of helping to increase their conversion on three simple letters known as ‘S.E.O’.

It’s no secret that SEO is used with the aim of achieving a higher organic search listing and thus increasing volume of targeted traffic from search engines. This is all peachy, but after spending time and money on increasing your SEO you finally have the attention of online shoppers and slowly but surely they all begin to visit your site based on exactly what their looking for. I’m sure your boss is quite happy with all the great work you’ve done, now that you’ve increased your site traffic and shoppers are coming in on specific keywords. One question;”Why are your bounce rates so high and your conversion rate based on these specific keywords is so low?” Looks like the boss isn’t too pleased anymore!

I had the pleasure of having this exact conversation with a valued Sitebrand customer, and after understanding what goals they were trying to achieve, we were able to deploy a simple campaign based on ‘Natural Keyword Search’. Sitebrand’s Segment&Serve tool allows online vendors to build campaigns based on the ‘natural keywords’ that are being used by online shoppers to find, enter and shop on their site. Working concurrently with their SEO efforts, this Sitebrand campaign was able to present a relevant message based on the shoppers keyword search. In this case the shopper was entering the site on a specific product word, which the Sitebrand campaign recognized. Sitebrand was then able to display a campaign on that exact product page offering the customer a discount on that specific product as well as a small message about the history of that site. The result was a satisfied customer who was able to find the website of their desired product but also get validation on that sites reputation and score a deal. This is just one of the many segmentation rules that is available to Sitebrand customers, helping once again to present relevant messaging and help convert customers through discount messaging and reassurance.

Relevant messaging is always important, but I think I can speak on behalf of most online shoppers when I ask; “Who can say no to a good deal?”.

Alok Ahuja

‘The Road Less Travelled’

Before I get into this ongoing trend of keeping you all up to date on the most effective method of using web personalization I would just like to quickly introduce myself. As a Senior Account Manager here at Sitebrand for over 2 years I’ve had the opportunity to deal with several IR500 accounts. Being able to interact with these accounts has allowed me to expand my skills as a marketer and adviser within’ the field of analytics and overall optimization strategies. Throughout this experience I have had the opportunity to meet some very outgoing customers who like to think outside the box and have helped take Sitebrand to the next level……and to be quite honest , isn’t that what it’s all about?

When seasons change or a certain holiday begins to approach, customers usually come to me looking for a new optimization cycle. This normally gets me quite intrigued until I hear; “So what do you think we should do?” Instead of running for dear life when I hear the flood gates open, I like to stand right in the middle with a big smile on my face because this is when you get a chance to really think outside the box and take your new optimizations cycle to the next level.

One piece of advice I always like to pass along to my customers is to stay current and have some fun with your messaging. It’s important to realize that your shoppers aren’t all 60 year old librarians, they are normal people just like you and I!! Which is why it begins to get real boring when you continue to encounter the same messaging over and over….”Welcome Texas Visitor. Click here to save.” I don’t reside from Texas but I do know that messaging like that definitely won’t spark interest from any shopper loyal or not. Instead of using generic messages try to keep it fresh with something like; “Howdy to all Texans!! The only thing bigger than Texas is our massive selection. Click here to catch a glimpse!!” Your message should connect to your shoppers and getting them to crack a smile can’t hurt. Be creative, but more importantly have fun with it because your enthusiasm will be passed along to your shoppers and lighten their mood making for a more enjoyable shopping experience. There’s a lot to be said for increasing your customers ‘happiness conversion rate’.

One customer, Kiyonna Clothing, took this advice and really impressed me with one of their recent campaigns. We were looking for a new message to present to all California shoppers who came to the site. We began brainstorming trying to figure out what Californian’s are into, and some of the local news that’s been affecting them when we came up with this;

There was a new law in California that people could not talk on their cell phones while driving, unless they had a hands free phone. The issue was that paparazzi was snapping shots all day long of celebrities driving around L.A. and other areas while talking on their cell phones, and the police were using these pictures to hand out tickets to the unsuspecting stars. With this campaign Kiyonna was able to relate to California shoppers and take a small jab at Hollywood celebrities, but more importantly it helped increase their conversion rate for this under performing segment.

Thinking outside the box and speaking to the people will always pay dividends.