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Alok Ahuja
October 8, 2008 by Alok Ahuja
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’
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September 10, 2008 by Alok Ahuja
Web personalization is all about creating a unique experience for online shoppers, being able to speak to a customer on a personal level based on what their looking for and where their coming from. There are several bloggers out there talking about how it’s important to geo target customers and recognize their location, and how it is important to help them when their lost with relevant messaging based on their depth of visit. All are important aspects of communication with your online shopper, but I believe that in most cases we are overlooking one essential customer trait….do they even speak english?? With a saturated market in North American, retailers are turning towards a more global market to help increase revenues making language barriers a prominent issue for online shoppers.
Even though most people compare online and in store prices, most web retailers overlook basic language barriers. Whether I’m shopping in Mexico City, Monaco, New York City, or Honk Kong each city will have their own personal unique welcome in their native tongue as you enter their store. The moment you reply with a North American ‘Hello’ they recognize that they have a foreign shopper on their hands. In most cases online business retailers are not able to appreciate or recognize this hurdle…..well by most I mean the ones who aren’t two steps ahead of the game because of Sitebrand.
Recently I have had the opportunity to employ this concept with one of my accounts to set up personalized welcome messages based on ‘language’. Within the Sitebrand Segment&Serve platform our customers have the ability to setup campaigns based on the language that has been set by that online shoppers web browser. This one particular account has traffic coming from all over the world and based on their analytical data, we were able to determine that foreign customers were a major portion of their overall traffic. Using Sitebrand’s technology they have been able to welcome each visitor based on their specific language from Dutch, Italian, Spanish and even Japanese with a personalized message in that shoppers native tongue. After running these campaigns for several months we have been able to re-visit the analytical data and enjoy the positive increase in conversion rates for language specific browsers.
E-retailers today try so hard to increase their conversion rates through discounts and promotional offers through emails and pop-ups, when sometimes all it really takes is a simple ‘Hello’.
Alok Ahuja
‘The Road Less Travelled’
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No Comments | Posted in Alok Ahuja, Customer Experience, Personalization, Segment&Serve, Sitebrand
August 26, 2008 by Carolyn Gardner
As holiday selling strategies are in full swing, conversations around e-coupons surface. Coupons - whether they are online (via email or a website) or traditional (like those in the Sunday paper which are also referred to as free-standing inserts or FSIs) - are a great sales incentive, margins permitting of course. In reviewing MarketingSherpa’s 2008 Email Marketing Benchmark Guide, I came across some interesting numbers in terms of average redemption rates. I suppose it shouldn’t come as any huge surprise that traditional coupons account for 84% of all coupons used by US shoppers. But the average redemption rate is just 1.2%. I know for a fact that I’ll occasionally put these types of coupons in my purse…only to have them sit past the date of expiry because I forget to use them. You see there’s a gap of time between the time you get the coupon and the time it takes to get to the store to purchase.
On the flip side, you’ve got online coupons that have reported average redemption rates of 5-20%. And I think the rationale is simple. When we’re online - either on a website or reading email - we’re just a few clicks away from making a potential purchase. There’s no major gap in time like the previous scenario with traditional coupons. Therefore the e-coupon sets the shopper up for immediate savings and gratification.
According to Sherpa, most agree that online coupons have a higher redemption rate than traditional coupons because online coupons are directly sought out by consumers and not received passively in the Sunday paper.
But for e-commerce marketers who take targeting and personalization seriously, these online consumers don’t have to be sourcing online coupons on their own. They can also be served or presented with very specificly targeted online coupons. Why wait for them to find your incentive when you can serve it to them on a silver platter?
At Sitebrand, we have several clients using our personalization platform to recognize and respond to various shopping segments. For the segment that might be searching for bargains, an online coupon / 10% discount type campaign makes a ton of sense. But other segments that might be looking for things like “what’s new”, perhaps you don’t want or need to offer an online coupon. Instead it probably makes more sense to present a campaign that features “See our new fall line-up…” or “Check out these top-rated products”. You get my point. Just because you can offer an e-coupon with special savings doesn’t mean you should. Understanding your buyers. This is what it all comes back to. Using web personalization technology to help you create the online dialog. This is a competitive advantage.
To see some innovative uses of web personalization - discount coupons included - check out the full line-up of Sitebrand case studies…
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August 15, 2008 by Alok Ahuja
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.
‘The Road Less Traveled’
Alok Ahuja
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August 11, 2008 by Carolyn Gardner
This is the theme of our
August 21 webinar and it’s a nice spin on our usual format. That’s right, you’re not just signing up for the perspectives of two presenters this month. Oh no. This time you’ll be treated to the perspectives of four presenters! And even though each presenter wears a Sitebrand hat, there will be guaranteed controversy thanks to old school versus new school perspectives. This on top of four distinct personality types…if you know what I mean.
I know we’re in the thick of summer holidays, but don’t let that stop you. Sign up anyhow and watch for a post webinar email that will include a link to view it online at your leisure.
Joining me for this roundtable panel will be 3 more of Sitebrand’s own. We’ve got Darryl Praill, VP Marketing - he always makes discussions interesting thanks to his highly, shall I say, opinionated thoughts on all things marketing. We would be the “over 40″ side of the equation so our world hasn’t always been about the web.
And then to round things out, we’ve got the ”under 40″ pair of this panel who I daresay have almost always lived in world with the web. These would be Mr. Jim Cain, a Senior Analyst here who is very plugged in to all things analytics…especially as it relates to actioning those analytics which is a big part of why web personalization should matter to you. And then there’s Alok Ahuja, one of our senior account managers and possibly one of the most adored this side of the moon. His clients love him and I think it’s because Alok is always testing the boundaries…not just geo-boundaries, but boundaries in general!!!
So the essence of our webinar will revolve around the mixed messaging on the meaning of web personalization. We’ll talk about what it’s NOT - ie.
- A/B testing
- Recommendation engines
- User registration and personalized greetings
- Analytics
- ‘One-to-one’ emails mentioning first names
And we’ll talk about why it matters - ie. how it really does present an opportunity to dramatically increase revenue and conversion with segment and serve functionality that creates highly relevant online experiences.
So what’s holding you back? We typically hear comments like:
- I’m already using Google analytics, isn’t that enough?
- I’ve already optimized my content.
- My marketing dollars are limited and already committed.
In just 29 minutes, Sitebrand promises to break myths, educate, inform and convince you that personalization should be your #1 priority…and that it doesn’t have to cost a thing if you do it right.
So go ahead and register today…unless of course you’re happy doing the same old, same old.
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