'Net Features : wmecommerce

Brands on Knotice for Complete Customer Profiles

Amberly Dressler — Fri, 17 May 2013 18:15:00 GMT

Creating coordinated brand experiences that extend across digital channels and device types can help companies better engage customers through consistency, helpfulness and value, according to Patti Renner, director of marketing at Knotice whose company recently announced an expanded relationship with Fender Musical Instruments.

Fender is using the Knotice platform to unite its campaign data and customer information. This relationship will allow Fender to inform highly tailored content across email, mobile, display, SMS and on their website. They will also be able to have a complete view of the customer across device types. Below, Renner offers an in-depth explanation of why this is important for all brands and the challenges that businesses face when creating complete customer profiles on their own.

How can unifying data and getting a complete customer profile help in a brand’s marketing efforts?

Patti Renner: Today’s customers are always connected, always looking for information and messages on whatever screen is handy at the moment. They could be browsing your site on an iPad, looking up information about your product on their mobile device or making a purchase on their PC. It doesn’t matter where they are or what device they’re using – they simply expect a consistent, relevant, enjoyable experience across channels. Connecting the channels across device types requires data management where the customer preferences and activity is stored within individual data profiles that can be automatically updated and appended as things happen.

Unfortunately, some marketers don’t think in terms of providing a cohesive consumer experience regardless of devices they use. They view each consumer by channel, focusing on their email audience as separate from their website visitors, separate from their online display views.

Having all their data unified within a universal profile management system, brands have the ability to connect the digital dots with each consumer, allowing them to provide a truly useful, relevant experience to each person as individuals. Here’s how a profile-based data management works. Let’s use Joe as an example. With proper data management, the brand knows Joe has opened their last 3 emails on a tablet, searched for the address of their nearest retail location on his iPhone, saw 4 ads for a blue sweater, then clicked on the sweater section of their website from his PC. Now, that brand can send Joe tablet-optimized emails, let him know when his favorite sweaters go on sale, and serve him with the content that interests him. The ability to cater to the interests of the custom based on available first-party data makes the brand experience better for Joe since he gets what he wants faster, and it also provides increase efficiency and a higher likelihood of conversion for the brand. Unifying your data makes this possible. Instead of pushing random offers to Joe, they’re now able to serve him with the information and products that best suit his needs.

What challenges are there for a company to try and do this on its own?

In most organizations, customer data lives siloed in separate systems or it’s difficult to access due to internal departmental hurdles. Trying to integrate customer data into a single system with just your IT team can be a real challenge as important data can fall through the cracks (or not integrate properly) when attempting to combine into a single system. If a company is able to get all its data into one place, it then faces the challenge of being able to create those unique customer profiles to wrap all that data around, with automation in place so the data profiles update and append as new information is received. On top of this is usability and actionability of the data so you can use it to inform content going out (so Joe sees sweaters and Mary sees the item she left in the shopping cart last week). You also want to be able to inform advanced analytics, so you send and spend smarter. There also is the issue of having a storage environment large enough for you to collect and quickly access all the information you’re taking it.

Working with a data management partner takes the stress of the organization by seamlessly uniting all that data, storing it safely in a powerful Big Data profile-based environment, which can then be easily used to inform messaging, content and analytics. For instance, our system has email, website, SMS and display options already built into the platform seamlessly. Everything can be simultaneously fueled by the same data environment, which makes response and relevance faster and simpler compared to pieced-together DIY integrations. We also offer analytics dashboards so you can better monitor what’s going on and make adjustments to help shorten the sales cycle. While you might be able to integrate a few points on your own, your time and money may be better spent working with a professional data management platform provider to get there faster.

For more information, visit www.knotice.com.

A Lack of Social Media Cohesion

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 19:50:00 GMT

New research from eCommerce and digital marketing company Acquity Group reveals that more than 75 percent of brands lacked a cohesive social media presence across the major platforms.

Results from the agency’s 2012 Brand eCommerce Audit, which evaluated Interbrand’s 2012 Best Retail Brands on customer engagement across major digital channels, indicated that while every brand on the list (except one) had a Facebook page, and 45 out of 50 are on Twitter, only 12 of the brands had a cohesive presence across all five of the major social networks that were analyzed ( Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube.

Twitter had the largest gap between usage and interaction according to the study. Less than 27 percent of brands analyzed actively participated in Twitter conversations with consumers, even though 90 percent of those brands had a presence.

Other highlights from the Acquity study include:

- 80 percent of the brands analyzed leveraged YouTube with an impressive 85 percent engagement rate.
- 56 percent of brands do not yet utilize Instagram, but there is a high level of interaction at 79 percent.
- 60 percent of the brands had adopted Pinterest and interaction rates on the social pin-board were 70 percent.

Acquity Group also profiled 10 brands that scored best overall in social interaction including Target, Home Depot, RadioShack, Bath and Body Works, Nordstrom, Gap, eBay, Coach, American Eagle Outfitters and Banana Republic (in the order of their ranking).

"Although most brands are signed up for the major social networks, many struggle to understand how they fit into their overarching business strategy. As a result, our audit revealed several critical areas of improvement when it comes to actually connecting with consumers across social channels," said Jay Dettling, Executive Vice President at Acquity Group.

"The important take away for brands is to avoid haphazard or sporadic use of social media. When a new social media channel is introduced, brands need to take the time to analyze the potential impact and return, and develop a solid strategy from there."

Optimize the E-Commerce Experience Now

Administrator — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 18:30:00 GMT

E-commerce merchants have the greatest incentive among Web workers to optimize their sites and individual pages for the highest performance possible, because usability directly impacts their business’s bottom line.

Read 10 Ways to Optimize the E-Commerce Experience

Ecommerce: Internet Retail Challenges & Opportunities for 2013

Administrator — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 17:39:00 GMT

Internet retailers are finally now able to celebrate the holiday shopping season, but the savviest are already positioning themselves for success in 2013.

Here are a few key market trends, challenges and opportunities to be aware of to help ecommerce enterprises and Web merchants compete in the coming year:

- Online retailers will expand internationally in 2013
There are some significant barriers for retailers to surmount in 2013 as it relates to expanding their digital business but none is likely more important than localizing their efforts internationally. China, Germany and the UK are top of mind with US merchants (and vice versa) and there are many more emerging markets where retailers can compete. Of course, for many merchants, that will likely start with a focus on translation as well as more fully investing in marketing locally in a global marketplace.

- Cloud technology will continue leading to decreased costs
The cost of running applications and Web services in the cloud is decreasing. The more these services are used by the broader Web business community, the lower the associated technology costs in general and the better margins retailers will have on their products - and the more revenue they’ll have. Remember, it’s not what you make, it’s what you keep.

- Customer "experience" will be the retail mantra
2013 is the year of customer experience. How users interact with brands – in various channels and on various devices – will need to be seamless, connected and near perfect in order to be a player in this now highly competitive landscape. The use of CRM and marketing automation platforms will likely dramatically increase in use in the coming years.

- Tax and privacy legislation will remain significant
Put aside your fiscal cliff worries away for a moment and start focusing on the how tax legislation could impact your Internet retailer business. Should the so called Internet tax become reality, having an effective tax plan in effect will serve you well. New global privacy laws (i.e. the UK cookie law) will also force retailers to invest in solutions to protect their enterprises.

- Amazon & Google will continue to dominate, but innovation is everywhere
If merchants plan on competing in 2013, their relationship with the big boys (Amazon and Google) will for various reasons need to be on good terms. From the introduction of Google's product listing ads to Amazon's continued control of all things ecommerce related, these two companies dominate the digital retail market - yet their aren't the only ones. Innovation is everywhere (e.g. Pinterest) so expect interested developments in marketing and distributing information and products in 2013.

In-Store Shopping Motivates Digital Interactions

Allison Howen — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 00:12:00 GMT

More mobile phones are making their way into brick and mortar stores to aid consumers in making decisions during their shopping experiences.

In fact, according to Empathica’s Consumer Insights Panel survey, at least half of consumers who own a smartphone use the device to look up product reviews while shopping in-stores, while the same is true for 10 percent of consumers who don’t even own a smartphone.

This data shows business owners that their mobile and social experience strategies are more important than ever, especially because consumers are using these channels to make decisions – even while inside retail stores and restaurants.

According to the survey results, price comparisons are the most frequent in-store mobile action with 55 percent of smartphone owners reporting that they have used their devices to check prices while shopping, while other popular mobile actions include scanning a QR code (34%) and writing a review (9%).

“Today’s consumers routinely perform a variety of in-store activities on smartphones and mobile devices,” says Dr. Gary Edwards, chief customer officer, Empathica. “Whether it’s comparing prices or scanning a QR code for a discount, brands that ignore the use of mobile technology in customer and guest experiences will miss key opportunities to connect with a large pool of potential brand advocates.”

However, mobile isn't the only channel that is being leveraged for making purchasing decisions, because consumers are also relying on social media as an important decision-making tool. According to the study, almost three-quarters of consumers use Facebook to make retail or restaurant decisions, while half of consumers have tried a new brand due to a social media recommendation.

But this shouldn't deter retailers and restaurant owners from posting all user-generated content online in fear that consumers won’t forgive negative reviews, because the survey results show that negative reviews don’t necessarily discourage consumers from trying a brand – especially if the business has a generally positive online presence. In fact, only 26 percent of consumers claimed that they would avoid shopping at a store if they first read a negative online review.

“One of the key takeaways from our latest research is that brands need to proactively engage with their customers transparently through mobile and social channels – and even encourage negative reviews to be made public,” says Edwards. “The credibility brands gain from publishing all reviews far exceeds the amount of damage that can be inflicted by the occasional negative comment. Negative user reviews is not necessarily a brand destroyer.”

Additional data reveals further insights into the complex online relationships consumers have with retail and restaurant brands. For example, 82 percent of consumers are willing to engage retail and restaurant brands in online conversations if they believe it will improve future experiences, but only 62 percent believe that brands monitor online conversations and just 30 percent think that brands act on customer feedback.

“Clearly, if brands go through the trouble of asking for their customers’ opinions and feedback, it’s incumbent on retailers to make those results transparent. Publically disclosing that feedback shows brands’ efforts to go above and beyond their customers’ needs,” added Edwards.