iGoDigital

The 2012 IRWD conference covered many different topics ranging from site design to e-commerce personalization. Here are some of the highlights and key takeways from presentations made by some of the leading minds in the online retail industry. There were so many that we're dividing our IRWD recap into two parts! In this blog, we'll discuss customer experience analytics and branding. In Part 2, we'll look at what presenters had to say about customers' first experience and post-purchase experiences.

• 2011 holiday retail sales rose a total of 4.1% over 2010
• Ecommerce experienced ten $1 Billion days – far exceeding the 2010 results
• 40% of shoppers purchased 23% of all their online purchases at Amazon. 

The most interesting findings included why customers purchase online and why they pay full price. Customers buy online today for three glaring reasons – The price is perceived to be less expensive, consumers can get their products quickly (1 to 2 days), and the convenience can't be beat. Shoppers pay full price if the product is hard to find or if the item they are researching never goes on sale. However, many customers will rarely or never pay full price for any items online.

1. Consistently remind customers what website they are shopping on during their sessions. After they have left the site, send personalized emails to remind them of the products they have viewed. 
2. Understand and demonstrate what makes your brand unique. Start by internally understanding what makes your website / product unique, and then display that story throughout the website experience.
3. Display your story and culture. Can the customer relate to your core values? If you are able to connect with a customer emotionally, that customer is more likely to return, be loyal and drive referrals. It's okay if everyone does not match your culture. If they don't, they may not be the right customer.
4. Build a community. Tom Ryan, president of Threadless.com, talked about how his community members are the most engaged and profitable customers. He has created a community that allows shoppers to interact with his brand, create new products and vote on new items. Engagement means more revenue. A community provides an opportunity for a customer to interact with your brand in a different forum. Community creates engagement, word of mouth advertising and loyal repeat customers. 

1. Consumers now expect free shipping. Fifty-five percent of consumers expect free shipping on all orders. Also, shipping clubs such as Amazon Prime and ShopRunner are growing. 
   
   2. Mobile is making marketers’ jobs a lot harder. Mobile shopping is definitely growing, and retailers are investing and planning in the channel, but it’s clear that direct sales are only part of the picture - retailers are still trying to "crack this code."
   
   3. Leverage the cross-channel. Cross-channel is having a greater impact than originally perceived. Retailers need to ensure they have a consistent message across the board while still understanding the "nuance" of each shopping channel and how customers interact with it.  People are using their mobile devices to do a lot more than just buy – they’re checking store hours, locating nearby stores, using special mobile shopping apps, but a majority of sales are still being made.
   
   4. Social commerce is not quite living up to what retailers expected. In fact, social networks are pretty negligible as a source of measured sales, but have worked great for customer service and some special deals or customer loyalty rewards. But many retailers still have prioritized social networks for 2012...

1. In 2012, web retailers will account for 20% of holiday spending in the US. Deep discounts, deals and free shipping will just be a cost of doing business.
   
   2. Email and search will continue to grow.
   
   3. Retailers need to focus on mobile and tablet optimization.

• Mobile – The New Medium: 9.73 percent of consumers used a mobile device to make a purchase or visit retailers’ sites during the first hours of Black Friday shopping (4 am EST – 12 pm EST).
• When a mobile solution was added in Q4, web traffic doubled and the number of products purchased doubled. This shows that people were using their mobile devices to research products more often than they were purchasing directly from them, but when they decided to purchase they were checking out with more items in their cart than on the web.
  

• Consumer Spending Increases: Average order size doubled from August 2011 to December 2011.
• Seasonal is “In”: Seasonal electronics retailers saw the number of products added to the cart increase on average 1,000 percent from November 2010 to November 2011.

• Apparel Sales Down From 2010: Sales of apparel goods were down as much as 22 percent from the 2010 holiday shopping season, but were up on Black Friday and up 300 percent the week between Christmas and New Year’s.
• Cyber Monday Peek: Web traffic, number of purchases, average order value (AOV) and revenue per sessions (RPS) peaked on Cyber Monday (November 28), and had a steady decline going into Christmas. Sales were nearly 500 percent higher the week of Cyber Monday than the week of Christmas.
• RPS was down as much as 70 percent.
  
  

• Consumer Spending Increases: Online revenues were up an average of 9 percent over 2010.
• Cyber Monday Peek: Saw a peek in orders on Cyber Monday which was double that of Black Friday.  
• Post-Christmas Burst: Revenue growth outpaced traffic growth after the Christmas holiday leading to better RPS numbers heading into the New Year with some up 200 percent over the Christmas week.

• Marketing is Key: Traffic increased by 1,000 percent when a national advertising campaign was run.
• When shoppers found the brand on their own or interacted with a targeted email campaign, the conversion rate increased on average by 9 percent.

1. M34tp1ez&
2. 8Ks2*@nq
3. unicorn notebook suggest alright

1. M34tp1ez& -- (worst) 3 days (best) 200,000 years
2. 8Ks2*@nq -- (best and worst) 200,000 years
3. unicorn notebook suggest alright -- (worst) 500 years (best) trillions and trillions

In this iGoDigital blog we'll discuss the cart page. On one hand, you want your customers to move quickly and easily through this page. One the other hand, retailers know exactly what a shopper is interested in at that given point and have an opportunity to increase the Average Order Value. There must be a balance, but what is that balance?

From one standpoint, you want to get out of the consumer's way and let them make a purchase. The other standpoint is screaming, "Up-sell them on related and beneficial products." If you’re just getting out of the way and letting a shopper complete the order without trying to introduce relevant up-sell merchandise, YOU ARE LOSING REVENUE, plain and simple.

So again, we will remain focused on balance. We'll show you how you can provide an experience that is not only beneficial to the end-user based on behavioral targeting, but also the top line.  Luckily, if you are providing an experience that introduces the appropriate cross-sell and up-sell products, it will drive bottom line revenue increases.

Let's look at a consumer behavior buying technique that keeps the process simple and relevant and is PROVEN to drive extra dollars.

Personalized Up-sell Recommendations:

When making these personalized product recommendations, there are two critical pieces of data to consider. The first is the merchandise in the cart and the second is that individual’s preferences. Here are three key questions you should consider:

Q: What merchandise would complement the item being purchased?

Display products that will add value or help the customer enjoy that product more.  As an example, if that customer is purchasing a blue ray player, recommend items such as HDMI cables or blue ray movies.

Q: How close are they to your free shipping threshold?

Dynamically inject products that will get that customer to that free shipping level, increasing the overall experience of the site. Now we know they are purchasing a blue ray player and they are $70 away from free shipping, let’s recommend newly released blue rays (higher priced items than older discount movies) and high end HDMI cables – which will get that customer to that free shipping tier.

Q: What does that customer prefer and how can we add value to the experience?

Observe shopping behavior and use the data collected to show the most relevant products based on expressed actions. Now we can understand preferences such as comedy and action films, allowing us to recommend newly released comedy and action films, complimented with an HDMI cable.

While this is an anecdotal example, by answering those three questions in real time, personalized cart recommendations can instantly create more revenue. The key is not to distract the customer with similar products, but to display products that are supplemental and beneficial for the item and individual.

Now that we are putting the right products in front of the new customer, how do we make the process simple for research and adding products to the cart? Here are a few ideas to help accomplish that balance:

1. Add ratings and reviews – Quick research tool and credibility
2. Add a scroller – Easy browse functionality introduces a wide array of merchandise
3. Add an "add to cart" button – One step button to add items to cart (Not Shown)
4. Add a quick view button -  Allows for product research without leaving the page, plus simple add to cart functionality including size, amount and color

Follow me on Twitter (@jmdeines) and leave some feedback below. 

1. Consistently remind customers what website they are shopping on during their sessions. After they have left the site, send personalized emails to remind them of the products they have viewed. 
    
2. Understand and demonstrate what makes your brand unique. Start by internally understanding what makes your website / product unique, and then display that story throughout the website experience.
    
3. Display your story and culture. Can the customer relate to your core values? If you are able to connect with a customer emotionally, that customer is more likely to return, be loyal and drive referrals. Its okay if everyone does not match your culture.If they don't, they may not be the right customer.
    
4. Build a community. The site Threadless.com has built a business model around it. According to its president, community members are the site's most engaged and profitable customers.The site allows shoppers to interact with the brand, create new products and vote on new items. Engagement means more revenue. A community provides an opportunity for a customer to interact with your brand in a different forum. Community creates engagement, word of mouth advertising and a loyal repeat customers.

• They tend to not be mission critical
• They tend to have little to no test coverage
• They tend to be modified with a 'quick and dirty' mindset

data_chunks.each |chunk|
  chunk_array = get_you_some_more_data
  chunk_array.map!{|x| format_for_client(x)}
  chunk_array.map!{|x| maybe_more_formatting(x)} if client.extra_work?
  chunk_array.each do |item|
    maybe_write_or_whatever(item)
  end
end

class Evens < Stage
  def process
    value = 0
    loop do
      output value
      value += 2
    end
  end
end

Evens.new | Map.new{|x| x * 2} # outputs 0 4 8 12 ...
Evens.new | Select.new{|x| x % 2 == 0} # outputs 0 4 8 12 ...

Each.new('foo'){|x| x.chars} # 'f' 'o' 'o'
Each.new(['foo', 'bar']) | Each.new{|x| x.chars} # 'f' 'o' 'o' 'b' 'a' 'r'

The Product Detail Page is arguably the most important page during the shopping experience. It’s the point where a shopper gathers information on a product, begins deliberating a purchase and ultimately moves from a shopper to a customer. However, if that shopper does not feel comfortable with that particular product, how do you keep that customer from leaving and purchasing from a competitor?

Just like a seasoned sales associate in a boutique would, we must introduce relevant products with behavioral targeting that will match the true needs of the customer. By understanding why that customer is shopping your site, your website can create a one-to-one message that makes the experience more enjoyable and simple (while also increasing conversion rates).  

So, how do you create a custom ecommerce solution? Let’s lay out four strategies, including one that can be done by an internal merchandising team (if you have the time and manpower). We’ll also lay out three strong, best and next practices for ecommerce personalization on your product detail page.

Manually Merchandised Product Recommendations:

The technique can be completed internally with a committed resource. By using basic internal purchasing patterns, internet merchandisers can plug in top sellers. This is a great start for online retailers wanting to begin introducing similar products. While the products will be stagnant and hard coded into the site, it will provide basic product recommendations that will create a small lift in conversion rates - and every little bit helps.

Strong Practice: Single, Personalized Cross Sell Application

This is where we make the leap from stagnant, hard coded recommendations to real-time personalization injected in the site experience based on that individual's preferences. As a shopper begins making clicks on your site, the recommendation engine develops a profile based on a number of different data collection points.

For the example below, Lids.com is recognizing two different shoppers, one being a customer that shops by style and the other being a customer that shops by team affinity. While a shopper may be looking at the exact same SKU, the product recommendations dynamically adjust based on his/her profile.

Best Practice: Multiple Scenarios

Part of developing a strong personalization strategy that is going to dramatically move the needle comes from understanding the true needs of an online shopper. For fashion, it starts with understanding that shopper’s size. Ever found a shirt or shoes that you couldn't live without but they didn’t have it in your size? The lesson here is to understand that shopper’s size and only recommend products that are going to fit his or her needs.

Shoes, like any online fashion, can be difficult to shop for online because customers can’t touch, feel and try on the products. It is important to begin collecting and understanding all these different fashion attributes such as size, color and fit. Then, take that information and make products available to the shopper that are going to engage, interest, and entice that customer to move further down that conversion funnel.

One tip is to provide that shopper with multiple options in two different scenarios. This will allow you to show very similar products, but also relevant products that are more long-tail and unique. It just may be that long-tail product that catches that consumer’s eye.

In the example below, the horizontal recommendation scenario is displaying those long-tail items, more unique options for that individual consumer. They are different brands than the featured item, with a slightly different look and feel – but still a boot that will provide the basic fundamental needs of that consumer. The vertical scenario (PEOPLE WHO VIEWED DR MARTENS DIEGO 7 TIE LACE TO TOE BOOT ALSO VIEWED) is displaying other Dr. Martens boots, as they have expressed a keen interest in this brand and style.

Both are being displayed based on how that individual has shopped the site, but also combine the product attributes of the featured product to create an experience that engages that user to make a purchase during that particular session.

Next Practice: Interactive Product Recommendations

Shoppers want their voice to be heard – just think about how many reviews are written with no incentive. We believe that providing shoppers the option to provide feedback on our product recommendations makes the experience more engaging, but also more accurate. Reverting back to an in-store experience, if a shopper can tell an associate that she doesn't like this product (or that she already owns it), that associate is not going to recommend that product again. The same concept applies for your online shoppers.

Below is an example of how a customer can provide instant feedback on a product. By simply expressing whether they love it, own or hate it (or whatever you would prefer this language to be), a customer provides our personalization engine with immediate feedback, making the personalized product recommendations much more accurate and effective. - not to mention more profitable.

It is important to give your customer a voice, no matter which channel they are shopping through. Whether it be your online store or your brick-and-mortar locations, customers want their opinions to be heard so that the experience is catered to them, not the masses.

 To sum up the article, why personalize your Product Detail Page:

• One-to-One vs. One-to-Many
• Make the experience enjoyable
• Help the consumer find the product they desire
• Guide the customer to additional up-sell products
• Increase conversion rates

 Follow me on Twitter @jmdeines and check out the hash tag #ecominnovation. 

• Behavioral Targeting in Marketing Emails
• Personalized Triggered Emails (ie Abandon Shopping Cart Triggers) 
• Creating a personalized website & mobile experience
• Guided Selling Tools
• And Much More

• Go out on a limb and provide a unique browsing experience. The days of boring filters are over. Guide consumers toward the right products through interactive tools like Pitney Bowe's Solution Finder or Dell's TV Finder.

• Get shoppers lost in browsing. If you're able to offer such compelling product assortments on the right pages, at the right time, shoppers will inevitably spend more time on your site. Every time they visit your site, a platform for a tailored experience should be in place. Consider the iGoDigital Customer Intelligence Engine.

• Provide a good message at all digital touchpoints. Email must entice users to visit the site. Social Page browsing must gain insight into your shopper. Consider triggered emails or integrated guided selling tools to your social pages.

So what is the Orr Fellowship?

It's Match.com for top recent graduates and high-growth companies in Indianapolis. The mission is to keep the best and brightest graduates of Indiana colleges from darting to Chicago, NY, or the West Coast. iGoDigital has taken part in the program for 2 years now, and has two Orr Fellow-Alumni.

As a supporter of the program, Eric took some time to show us around the SpeakEasy, Indy's newest hot-spot for entrepreneurs who are looking for an exclusive, hip, and a bit quirky spot to be used as a common workplace or frequent work hideout.

Everyone left fired up--about entrepreneurship, about Indianapolis, and about innovation. Here's my stab at what he had to say (I'm paraphrasing and drawing from memory here)...

On The SpeakEasy: People growing a business quickly realize that a common workplace is hard to come by. There's a tipping point where everyone can't simply work at home, roam from coffee shop to coffee shop, and the like. The SpeakEasy gives those folks an option. It also will hopefully attract a diverse crowd of experienced veterans and young go-getters who can work in a cool environment and maybe learn a thing or two from each other.

On Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital: At the end of the day, what I took away from Eric's chat is that starting a business has highs, and it has lows. Stepping back and finding the middle ground is what's hard, but absolutely imperative. The middle ground is where an entrepreneur must live.

On Company Culture: You've seen it all over the iGoDigital blog. We build our desks, we play music over the stereo, have chili cook-offs and baking contests, company meetings where we acknowledge the little things....the list goes on. It's a large piece of what fuels employees to wake up in the morning ready to do great work, and has been a huge part of the iGoDigital success in 2011.

Product Improvement/Innovation: A few folks asked, "How do you know a good idea when you see one?" Eric's focus, as well as that of iGoDigital, is around the customer. Before any idea can be validated, take it to the customer and ask questions. Learn from them. And most importantly, listen to their challenges and opportunities. 

To stay innovative, it can take a lot of effort to detach yourself from a product or service. Always looking for new opportunities and listening to customer feedback will take you from follower to leader.

• Consumer Spending Increases: Online revenues were up an average of 17 percent
• Cyber Monday Traffic, Revenue Increases:Web traffic increased by 12 percent and revenue for the day was up 17 percent
• Apparel Sales Down From 2010:Sales of apparel goods were down from- Cyber Monday 2010 Sales, but apparel was up on Black Friday.

• Consumer Spending Increases: Online revenues were up an average of 30 percent
• Apparel Purchases Strong on Black Friday: Sales for apparel were up by 20 percent on Black Friday, whereas Cyber Monday apparel sales were down.
• Season of Giving: Consumer sales of toys and gifts were up an average of nearly 30 percent.
• Premium Is “In”: Consumer sales of premium items were up 50 percent
• Mobile – The New Medium: 9.73% of consumers used a mobile device to make a purchase or visit retailers sites during the first hours of Black Friday shopping (4am-noon).

“I go to the bus stop in my pajamas” to iGoDigital!

I got the call on a Thursday, “Can you start on Monday?” I went from being a stay-at-home mom, with a home-based business for 13 years to a full-time employee for iGoDigital.  I was looking to “get back out there.” However, when it happened so quickly, I wondered what I had gotten myself into. No more pajamas at the bus stop and no more late morning walks with the dog.

 As I walked into iGoDigital on Monday morning, I was nervous and excited. Within minutes I was putting together my own chair and had begun building my desk.  I had been warned of this “initiation process,” but when I saw the boxes, I thought to myself, I hope I can do this! After completing my desk and chair as well as meeting so many great people, I knew I had chosen the right path.

After completing my first few weeks at iGoDigital, I can see why this is such a fast growing and successful company. I am definitely not a “techie,” but the product recommendations and guided selling is genius! These tools have made my life easier as a mom and small business owner.  So nice to be a part of a company where I can stand 100% behind their service.  

Lastly, the culture and employees of iGoDigital is exactly what they claim to be. Everyone truly values and respects one another. When asked by my fellow stay-at-home moms, how do I like my new job, my answer always is, “I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to work with and a better company to stand behind, absolutely a dream to be a part of iGoDigital" (as corny as that may sound, it's true!).