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8/12/2019 Whitepaper Streams Retail Webtrends
1/13
ENGAGING ONLINE SHOPPERS WITH
CUSTOM, INTHEMOMENT EXPERIENCES
by Rick Weithas | Senior Solutions Marketing ManagerDIGITAL
MEASUREMENTWHITE P
FEB 2013 2013 WEBTRENDS, INC. WWW.WEBTRENDS.COM.
8/12/2019 Whitepaper Streams Retail Webtrends
2/13
Rick Weithas, Senior Solutions Marketing Manager
As Senior Solutions Marketing Manager, Rick drives the development of new
and emerging Webtrends product and software solutions. He is a key part of the
Solutions Marketing team that delivers customer value and leads critical Early
Adopter customer programs as well as the Customer Advisory Board for Webtrends.
ENGAGING ONLINE SHOPPERS WITH
CUSTOM, INTHEMOMENT EXPERIENCES
As-it-happens digital intelligence helps retailers gain an edge
with customers, bringing personalized offers and relevant
products to their attention while on site.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
TREND
As online shopping soarsprojected to be half of all sales in the U.S. by
2016competition among retailers is at an all time high. Customers now
have an infinite number of shopping choices at their fingertips. Mobile
devices have also altered the retail landscape, with more and more
people using their smartphones and tablets to search for products andmake purchases.
PROBLEM
While shopping is now faster and more convenient, and has given consumers
unlimited purchasing options, it has failed to capture the most important
aspect of the shopping journeythe one-on-one personalized experience
made invaluable by brick-and-mortar stores. Relevancy is just as important
to the digital landscape, but the technology to support a moment-of-truth
interaction with shoppers while they are on a retail site has been elusive.
SOLUTION
Newly developed, in-the-moment digital intelligencethe power to respond
while a visitor is on your site and then impact the result before they
leaveis giving retailers the ability to create a more personalized shopping
experience for each customer. By combining rich historical data with as-it-
happens insights, online retailers will gain greater conversions, revenue and
customer loyalty.
AUTHOR BIO
WEBTRENDS STREAMS WHITE PAPER. 2013 Webtrends, Inc. 2
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THE RAPIDLY GROWING PREFERENCE
FOR ONLINE SHOPPING
You didnt need to be an expert in the retail industr y to notice
that 2012 was a year of unprecedented growth for e-commerce.
If you happened to miss the headlines, take a look at the most
recent statistics:
Online retail is booming, with a year-over-year growth rate
of 28%.
By 2016, it is estimated that the Web will influence more
than half of the dollars spent in U.S. retail.
Mobile channels are influencing retailers, with mobile
purchases reaching 5% of total online sales in the U.S.
Cyber Monday online sales climbed to $1.46 billion,
according to comScore. This is followed closely by Black
Friday online sale totals, which surpassed $1 billion for the
first time ever ($1.04 billion).1
During the third quarter of 2012, $4,423 was transacted per
second via PayPal.
During the third quarter of 2012, U.S. retail e-commerce grew
to $57 billionan increase of 17.3% from the same period a
year ago, according to the Census Bureau of the Department
of Commerce.
Yet, with all the marketplace momentum for online shopping, there
still are a lot of pitfalls facing e-commerce retailers. Competition
is fierce, and the course can be especially tough for those going
up against online retailing superpowers like Amazon and Walmart.
Retailers must also find ways to engage with shoppers that
support an enjoyable and personalized customer experience,
replicating the relationships built by brick-and-mortar retailers.
ONLINE SHOPPERS BY
THE NUMBERS
Online shoppers in the UnitedStates will spend $226 billion
in 2012, up from $202 billion
in 2011.*
Average spending by 2016 is
projected to be $1,738 per
online shopper, up 44% from
$1,207 in 2012.*
Analysts estimate that
e-commerce represents
roughly 12% of retail sales
overall, and that figure could
double in the next 10 years.*
Sources: * Forrester Research Inc. ** Aaron
Kessler, Raymond James Financial Advisors
+28%online retail
year-to-year
growth rate
ECOMMERCE REPRESENTS
12% OF RETAIL SALES
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THE ERA OF THE OMNICHANNEL
EXPERIENCE
For online retailers looking to break through in 2013, the mantra that
many are trumpeting is customer experience. How users interact with
brandsin various channels and on various deviceswill need to be
seamless, connected and near perfect in order to be a player in thisnow highly competitive landscape. Industry experts call this the
omni-channel experiencethat is, the abilit y to provide a uniform
experience for shoppers, regardless of the channel.2
SO HOW DO YOU CREATE THE OMNICHANNEL
EXPERIENCE?
According to Chris Raymond, a retail expert who writes for
Success.com, consumers expect to be empowered with tools
that make life easier.
They want relevant offers, time-saving apps, and a seamless and
effortless shopping experience, said Raymond. They want to browse
late at night while nestled in bed, shop for groceries in the train
station, and refil l prescriptions in 20 seconds or less.
THE TRANSITION FROM BRICK TO CLICK
As we become more digital and embrace online everything,
communicating effectively with customers and understanding their
needs isnt as easy as it once was when retailers were almost
exclusively brick-and-mortar. Back then, business owners engaged withtheir customers directlyunderstood their tastes, how they shopped
and what they needed. However, these one-on-one relationships began
to disappear as chain stores grew to dominate the retail landscape.
Yet that the one-on-one relationship with customers enabled store
proprietors, sales people, customer service agents and businesses
to understand shoppers needs through face-to- face communication.
This interaction made it possible to provide personalized, immediate
solutions. It remains a cornerstone of customer satisfaction and loyalty.
GLOBALIZATION VS. PERSONALIZATION
Online digital commerce changed the customer and company
relationship. E-commerce enabled retailers to reach customers across
the globe, expanding their reach and revenue potential while providing
a greater breadth of choice and lower prices. However, the valuable
one-on-one retail relationship suffered a setback in this mass-market
growth period.
The omni-channel
experience is the ability
to provide a uniformexperience for shoppers,
regardless of the
channel.
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STRIKING A BALANCE WITH DIGITAL
PERSONALIZATION
Fortunately, the digital online retail marketer has never had better
access to customer information and insight, enabling them to
make more compelling offers. They are closer than ever to being
able to deliver that one-to-one shopping experience that results ingreater customer satisfaction and loyalty through responsive and
relevant offers. There is really no excuse for a generic, mass-market
approach any longer.
One example of a retailer that found a way to successfully strike
the balance between global reach and personalization is Amazon
the 15th biggest retailer in America by revenue and by far the
largest Internet retailer. According to Greg Girard, an analyst for IDC
Retail Insights, Amazons greatest strength is that its customer
relationships are inherently one-to-one, more akin to what banks and
telecommunication companies have with their customers.
BEEFING UP INVESTMENTS
A number of other high profile retailers are also picking up on
the personalization trend. Macys and Nordstrom are investing
hundreds of millions of dollars over the next few years to beef up
their e -commerce operations and integrate their in-store and online
inventoriesfor quicker ship times and free in-store pick-up options.
And these effor ts are already paying dividends: In 2011, Macys
online sales jumped 40 percent.
3
The key to success is to ensure that once customers arrive on your
online store, they dont leave. The customer has already made
the commitment to shop on your site and check out what you
have, which is one of the most costly and difficult parts of digital
marketing. However, more often than not, the reason they leave is
due to the retailer not providing relevant offers and products.
Unfortunately, most companies waste this customer opportunity
by delivering a generic message, offer or products that have no
relevance. This generally results in the customer leaving your site
and you lose that sale entirely. This drives up acquisition costs and
stunts revenue growth.
However, recent advances in digital intelligence can help online
retailers to create a relevant customer experience while the
customer is shopping your site.
Remembering your recent
shopping selections,
making purchasesuggestions and
bundling items are just
a few examples of the
ways in which Amazon
personalizes customers
shopping experiences
DIGITAL SHOPPING APPS
Online shoppers now have easier
methods for price shopping.
Sites such as P riceGrabber and
Bizrate make online comparison
shopp ing a quick exerci se.
There are also a number of apps,
including Amazons Price Check,that does comparison shopping,
and alerts you if a better deal on
the same purchase can be found
elsewhere online.
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FROM MARKETING INSIGHT TO ACTION
In the Webtrends white paper,Staying Relevant Through In-the-
Moment Digital Intelligence,4key concepts illustrate how marketers
can view customer behavior to enable more effective insight
and action.
Marketers need to look at customer behavior from dif ferent
perspectives and understand behavior both in the past as well as
in the present to drive positive results in the future. Understanding
the historical, recent and as- it-happens customer data helps the
marketer to create relevant and truly compelling offers that drive
conversion in the moment. In other words, dont give customers a
reason to leave the site.
THE FOUR RS OF DATA RELEVANCE
Understanding the differences between historical, recent and as-
it-happens customer data is critical in order for retailers to moveforward from gathering insights to taking meaningful action on
those insights.
The Four Rs become important to the online retailer as they adopt
digital intelligence to drive results.
1. DATA RECENCY
How current is the data from the time of the event and how
important is it to know what is happening immediately?
2. DATA RETENTION
How far back does the data set go and how critical is it to know
what the history of the data provides?
3. DATA RICHNESS
How much information about the visitor profile is available and
how does this help the decision-making process?
4. DATA REALIZATION
How will the data be used or consumed? Will it be used to
develop reports, dashboard or drive marketing programs?
Will it be consumed through APIs, or extracted for used in a
data warehouse?
RECENCY
RETENTION
RICHNESS
REALIZATION
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THE VIRTUAL RETAIL SALESPERSON
COMES TO LIFE
Online retailers rely heavily on historical customer information and
its deep and rich data set, built up over a long period of time, to
power their marketing programs. Information about order history,
location, buying preferences, demographics and geographicallocation are all contained in a database that can be leveraged to
create a more tailored customer experience each time the customer
enters the site. This data provides valuable insight that allows semi-
customization of sites at an individual level.
For example, one online travel retailer had accumulated data on
the purchasing habits of customers, and its analysis indicated that
Apple device users had greater preference for more expensive hotel
rooms. When serving hotel room offers, this retailer displayed the
options it believed its Apple device customers wanted to see first,
saving them time and frustration.
This level of segmentation and targeting, even at a relatively basic
level, can have a positive impact on customer experience. Never
underestimate the power of saving someones time or improving the
shopping experience by catering to a customers preferences.
REMEMBERING YOUR LAST VISIT TO THE STORE
Another good example of how improved targeting can help the
shopping experience is to think about the last time you were
shopping online. With historical data, your favorite online retailerknows that the last time you were on the site you placed a jacket in
the shopping car t but didnt buy it. On your next site visit, they can
market that same coat plus similar coats.
Additionally, if they knew that you were a valuable customer (a
frequent shopper), they could of fer an incentive to get you to
purchase, such as free shipping or a coupon. This improves the
customer shopping experience by eliminating time-consuming steps
in the purchasing process and creating customer loyalty.
Historical data is a major advantage of online shopping compared totraditional brick-and-mor tar shopping. The online retailer has deep
insight into the buyer and their behavior that allows them to market
to them to more effectively. Only in rare situations now does a big
box sales clerk have any historical background on a customer
shopping in the store.
Segmentation and targeting,
even at a basic level, can
have a positive impact oncustomer experience.
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POWER OF CUSTOMER OBSERVATION
One of the key advantages of a traditional retail store, however, is
that a store clerk can observe the actions of a customer as they
shop, and then intervene at the right time to answer key questions
and help the customer find what they need to facilitate a sale.
This is the key missing link of online retail.
Actionable information has been limited to historical information
and doesnt consider what the customer is doing right now. An
online retailer has not had access to the same type of meaningful
information during the time the customer is shopping on the digital
store. They may be shopping for something entirely different than
the last t ime they were onsite, such as shoes, but are sti ll presented
with images and offers of coats they looked at during the previous
shopping experience. This leads to customer frustration, wasted
time and a missed opportunity by the retailer to more quickly get the
customer what they want.
ONLINE SHOPPING
REVOLUTIONIZED
New and emerging as-it-happens technology is changing the
customer experience game for online retailers. It helps them to
not only market to customers based on historical information, but
also based on customers actions while on the site. With as-it-
happens capabilities, online retailers can create an experience that
approaches that of a salesperson working with you to make sureyour expectations are metwith the added benefit of a rich data
history of that individual.
As-it-happens technology gives marketers the ability to develop
systems that identify and segment customers as they come on the
site, and then analyze their behavior while they shop. Action systems
can be created ahead of time to serve offers and specific messages
to customers, based on certain shopping behaviors or interest in
specific items. Realizing the full value of this new technology, and
having intelligent systems respond to every action individually may
be in the future, but key expected actions can be predicted now.
Being able to intervene
at the right time to help
a customer as they shophas been the missing link
in online retailing.
As-it-happens technologycreates a customer
experience much like that
of a salesperson working
to make sure shopping
expectations are met.
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For example, a high value customer that has placed the same
product in the shopping cart more than once, and then leaves the
shopping cart each time, could immediately be served a special
coupon or offer to help close the sale. It could be based on the
types of offers the customer has been most l ikely to use in the
past. This makes the of fer both relevant and in the moment,
dramatically improving the likelihood of conversion. It simulates howa salesperson would work with a customer to find the right product
at the right price at the right time.
ONLINE SHOPPING GOES SOCIAL
For retailers in par ticular, who are masters of the conversion funnel,
the value of social media is a black box.
Brands are rightly frustrated with the difficulty of tying tangible value
to their social media efforts. All marketing efforts should lead back
to the bottom line, right? But tracing the long and looping path of the
social landscape back to revenue can seem impossible. The path iscomplex because there are so many disparate data variables.
In marketing, relevance is king. And in the social world, data about
prospects and customers is everywhere. By applying lessons from
analytics data, you can slice and serve content to user segments
that is more relevant and more successful than ever before.
INSTANT SHOPPING WITH FRIENDS
At one time, the key fashion pastime for young people was shopping
at the mall with friends, trying on the latest styles and getting your
friends best advice on f it, value and overall hip factor. Although this
is still prevalent today, it is not what it once was.
An emerging trend is taking its place, becoming the new best friend
in the shopping sense. Social sites such as Facebook and Pinterest
are driving fashion. You shop on your own and post an outfit you like.
Your friends can instantly see it and post feedback. The retailers
website link is in the post as well, so all your friends can shop for the
very same item.
One very hip fashion retailer indicated that almost half of their
Facebook social traffic comes directly from Pinterest, attributed tosocial sharing of fashion. By blending historical information about
the customers and their previous orders and trends with as- it-
happens information on where they are coming from and what they
are searching for gives retailers actionable insights. They can offer
special pricing, treat these social followers with unique messaging to
drive conversion, or create a fast follow-up social campaign, such as
a tweet or blog.
TYING SOCIAL TO THE BOTTOM L
59% of retailers say the return
on their social marketing
strategies are u nclear.
50% of retailers say the primar
ROI from social marketing is
listening and better understan
customers.
The State of Retailing Online 2011: Marke
Social and Mobile Forrester Research
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SHORT SHELF LIFE OF SOCIAL CAMPAIGNS
Social campaigns only last hours and in the fashion world it can
be even shorter. Its likely that a customers friends have all seen
the latest Pinterest favorite within a matter of secondsor minutes
if they have to wait until class is over to check Facebook. Thats
why as-it-happens information, coupled with historical customer
data and insight, is vital to online retailers. It enables the shopping
experience to travel at the speed of social.
There is high value in engaging with customers and being able to
share news about new products and interests. Retailers are seeing
the increasing importance of blogs and customer feedback to drive
online purchasing. The ability to track traffic from these social sites
and remarket based on interest and success of conversion is key to
accelerating social campaigns.
DIALING IN ON THE IMPACT OF MOBILE
Consumers can interact with brands more immediately and
intimately than ever before. Anywhere, anytime, through the touch of
a button, customers relationships with brands are swayed by digital
and mobile interactions. The experiences with brands on tablets and
smartphones, as with other online retail, all drive toward one of two
things: purchase or abandonment.
Imagine you are a typical shopper. Youre sprawled on a couch, TV
in the background, perusing Facebook on your smar tphone, and a
commercial comes on for a new kind of board game. You love board
games. On your smartphone, you initially go to the website of the
company promoting the game, but after a little clicking around, you
find a dif ferent retailer thats offering free, two-day shipping for
the game.
Even though youre eager to buy right then, that retailers shopping
cart button isnt clicking correctly, so you quickly go to another site
and complete the purchase there. The site you ultimately purchase
from has everything to do with your experience.
If a company is losing selling opportunities because of less than
satisfactory mobile experiences, its only going to get worseand
more costly.
If a company is losing selling
opportunities because of
less than satisfactory mobile
experiences, its only going to
get worseand more costly.
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MOBILE PURCHASERS SOARING
Consider this: On Cyber Monday 2012, mobile devices accounted
for 18% of visits to retailer websites and 13% of sales. That was up
70% and 96%, respectively, compared with the same day in 2011.5
According to Forrester Research, more than 75 million mobile users
accessed the mobile Internet in 2011, and that number will grow to
nearly 117 million by 2015. More than 30% of smartphone owners
are using their devices for product research at some time during
the sales cycle, and 13% are using their smar tphones to purchase.
Consider how mobile is an enabler of social media, and the
consumer touch points driven by mobile grow exponentially.
THE HOLY GRAIL OF RETAIL:CUSTOMIZING OFFERSINTHEMOMENTAs digital marketers, we always talk about the Holy Grail in-session
conversion optimization. That is, the ability to af fect a customers
actions while theyre still on your site.
Historically, marketers have only been able to respond to visitor
behavior and events by optimizing and improving their next visit.
While real-time analytics enables more timely insights, it is not
always possible to impact the current visit. Additionally, it lacks
the depth of information about the visitor that allows the marketer
to take immediate meaningful action. This is important, because
there is a risk that the visitor may leave the site and not come back,
perhaps purchasing a particular item or reading a certain article on
other sites.
IMPACTING THE IMMEDIATE ONLINE EXPERIENCE
What if it were possible to respond while the visitor was on your
site and impact the result before they leave? Its the same as a
highly knowledgeable salesperson in a store who monitors what the
customer is browsing for, viewing or reading, and then intervening
to help that customer find exactly what they needleading to a
purchase during that visit. As-it-happens data intelligence enables
this type of intervention to drive customer conversion. It is truly
revolutionary compared to the after-the-fact reporting approaches of
historical and real-time analytics.
As-it-happens digital
intelligence has the power t
engage the customer at the
moment of truth, the very
instant when the shopper
discovers a need that takesan online experience from
expected to exceptional.
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For both historical and real-time analytics, humans read data
reports and dashboards. However, in order to take immediate action
on in-the-moment analytics, the data has to be read by a marketing
application. Thats because being able to react instantly requires
pushing digital intelligence into content management systems,
dynamic ad-serving engines, and the marketing ecosystem as
a whole. Customers are moving quickly and if the system is not ableto push digital intelligence into the ecosystem eff iciently, valuable
opportunities will be missed.
Chris Raymond, the digital retailing expert, says technology can
break down the barriers between consumers and merchants, and
restore some of that rarefied one-on-one attention. It has the
power to engage the customer at the moment of truth, the very
instant when that shopper discovers a need that takes a shopping
experience from expected to exceptional. Thats exactly what
in-the-moment digital intelligence can do for online customers
and retailers.
THE WAYS IMMEDIATE ONLINE CUSTOMER
INTERVENTIONS CAN BE VALUABLE
An online retailer or online media outlet could enable content
curators to change the featured products and articles on the
fly, based on interest or preference. As-it-happens data would
provide immediate insight into the impacts that those changes
made. Pricing and position on new items can be changed with
immediate feedback to test elasticity, a key value for launchingnew products and content.
An online media company would be able to take advantage
of historical behaviors combined with in-session visitor
information about the content being viewed. This rich
information could be served into an ad network or to their own
advertising program to increase the likelihood of conversion,
resulting in higher advertising revenue.
A travel site would be able to leverage both historical and as-it-
happens information to provide offers and recommendations to
their visitors based on their past trip history and current search
profile. Providing relevant travel offers that are consistent with
past purchase history as visitors are searching or moving to the
next page dramatically increases the likelihood of conversion.
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CALL OR EMAIL US WITH YOUR QUESTIONS
North America
1.888.932.8736
Europe, Middle East, Africa
+44 (0) 1784 415 700
Australia, Asia
+61 (0) 3 9935 2939
For offices worldwide, visit:
www.Webtrends.com
CONTACT
ABOUT WEBTRENDS INC.
Inspiration drives us.
Digital intelligence guides us.
Innovation remains our goal as we help
brands re-imagine digital marketing.
Webtrends dramatically improves digital
marketing results for many of the worlds
most admired and innovative companies. Our
solutions have set a gold standard for innovation,
performance and value since we helped
establish the web analytics industry in 1993.
Our diverse portfolio includes customer
intelligence and behavioral segmentation,
targeting + scoring, optimization + testing, mobile
and social apps creation and Facebook Page
management, professional consulting services,
real-time web analytics, unified digital analytics
across mobile, social and web and general digital
marketing wizardry.
2013 Webtrends, Inc.
THE POWER TO DRIVE ENGAGEMENT AND CONVERSION
Staying relevant with customers and delivering compelling offers and content
at the right time to drive conversion is the ultimate goal of all marketers.
The transition from brick to click to modern online retailing created endless
possibilities for marketers to reach customers across the globe. This transition
also empowered customers with easy access to price comparisons and product
offers, driving up competition for a share of the vir tual wallet. Successful
companies will be those that engage with customers throughout the shopping
experience, leveraging new, in-the-moment insights to drive engagement and
ultimately conversion.
References
1. Black Friday Billion: Kick-Off to Brick-and-Mort ar Shopping Season Surges Past $1 Billion in E-Commerce Spendingfor the First Time. comScore. November 25, 2012. http://bit.ly/10T0SGf
2. 13 E-Commerce Trends for 2013. Website Magazine. January 2, 2013. http://bit.ly/THInS1 http://www.
websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2013/01/02/13-e-commerce-trends-for-2013.aspx
3. Brick vs. Click. Success.com. http://www.succes s.com/art icles/1912--- brick-vs--click
4. From Insight to Action: Staying Relevant Through In-the-Moment Digital Intelligence. Webtrends, 2012. http://
webtrends.com/files/whitepaper/Whitepaper-StreamingMarketingRelevance-Webtrends.pdf
5. Cyber Monday 2012: The Results. PFS Web. November 30, 2012. http://www.pfsweb.com/bl og/cyber-monday-
2012-the-results/