What should retail marketers be doing online?

“More than two thirds of people are now happily shopping online. AOL’s ecommerce study (Jan 2008) clearly shows that the old walls to e-shopping have come down with more than half of respondents happy to purchase from a store they’ve never heard of and 91% purchasing online before trying an item on. 9 out of 10 people mentioned the following as major factors in their online shopping: stock availability, ease of returning an item and good quality images of the products. Don’t forget the human touch too. 94% of respondents wanted an easy way to contact the retailer just in case something goes wrong. Consumers are clearly at ease with this channel, it’s down to retailers to make their buying journey as pleasurable as possible, from ‘transaction’ to ‘leisure activity’”. - Sarah Perry - Category Sales Director, Platform-A UK

• 5 tips for online retailers from LBi
• Five Measurement and analytics tips from Google
• Tips for good online/offline retail integration: a perspective from Forward Ltd
• The do’s and don’t’s of multi-channel shopping, by GT
• How can online advertising drive offline sales by Sharon Jaffe
• Tips for those marketers that can and cannot undertake ecommerce from foxkalomaski.co.uk
• The 5 factors that might make the first time customer trust their hard earned cash on your site, outlined by Jenni Lloyd
• Tips for what makes a good shopping basket experience by Five by Five
• The empty basket…Why? by Kieron Matthews
• Top ten ecommerce recommendations, according to Coast Digital
• The importance of always-on optimization, from Benoit Cacheux
• Achieving the best results with a retail display advertising campaign, by Kieron Matthews
• Meeting the challenges facing retail paid search campaigns from I Spy Search
• 5 ways in which PPC can work with your other marketing communications from Tug
• Turning engagement into purchase, why instructional online videos can work for your brand, by Marketiers4dc and www.howto.tv

5 tips for online retailers from Jeremy Garner, Creative Director at LBi:

1. When it comes to setting out your range, let the visuals do as much of the talking as possible. Don’t get bogged down with trying to over explain things, as too many words will just make your pages appear cluttered.

2. Wherever possible, use interactive functionality such as flash to allow customers to zoom in and examine product detail. Try to provide enough viewpoints of the product to close the sale there and then - i.e. include the front, back and any important details.

3. Keep it fresh and ‘new’. As with real high street shopping, customers expect to walk into the store and see the very latest items. Don’t bury new releases in sub-level pages - find a way of showcasing them on the homepage or, better still, throughout the site at relevant points.

4. Ensure the check-out process is as streamlined as possible. This is a great and opportune moment to recommend relevant items to customers. Relevancy is the real key here - base your recommendations on other customers’ shopping data. Furthermore, don’t forget to allow customers to be able to add products to the basket at every opportunity.

5. At all times keep in mind that the success of the site will be governed on whether or not customers will tell their friends about it. The whole experience not only has to be seamless, but actually enjoyable. Not nearly as many people would be addicted to shopping in the real world if the experience itself was frustrating or mundane - the same goes for online retail. Make it the kind of experience where people think they will be doing a favor by recommending it to friends.

Five Measurement and analytics tips from Google:

1. It’s important to use the accountability of the web.

2. Identify your goals, track them and improve the ROI of your marketing investment. For example trial different messaging and page formats.

3. Perform small surveys to learn more about your customers. Constant testing and refinement should be everyone’s mantra.

4. Bounce rate is important as it tells you if you are sending traffic from your PPC campaign to the right type of page (are you meeting the user’s expectation)

5. Gain more insights here

Tips for good online/offline retail integration: a perspective from Forward Ltd.

The following tips are based on learning’s from Tesco Baby & Toddler Club, developed for Tesco by Forward. Tesco Baby & Toddler Club includes a website, mailed magazine programme and newsletters.

• Build a recognizable presence. Adapt the offline brand guidelinesand color usage for the website and share imagery on and offline.

• Repurpose key offline content - e.g. magazines for online use. This provides customers with two ways to access information according to their needs, but also reflects online requirements. For example,60% of Tesco Baby and Toddler Club’s website content is adapted from the offline magazine. The other 40% is interactive, communitybased content, which adds extra value to the Club online and provides more incentives to visit.

• Deliver a consistent and simple shopping experience for the customer by ensuring that the online promotions reflect the in-store promotional periods and offers. Allowing shoppers to click through to the online store from offers on the website or banner advertising encourages immediate purchase.

• Cross-promotion, in which offline communications promote the online service and vice versa, generates free advertising and encourages broader customer participation.

• Ensure that both the offline and online teams work closely together,so that changes to the website and offline mailings can be both proactive and reactive

• Enable customers to request offline magazines or communications online, so they no longer have to wait for their mailing.

• Offering advertising to suppliers on and offline ensures that clubs areheavily supported, and drives retail sales.

• Evidence that integration works: membership for the integrated off and online Club has risen by 30% since www.tesco.com/babyclub launched in September 2007, and has directly driven £1.5million in Tesco.com sales.

The do’s and don’t’s of multi-channel shopping, by GT:

Multi-channel shopping presents customers with the ultimate in shopping freedom. It gives them the ability to choose and move seamlessly between each of the different available shopping channels, irrespective of the type of products being purchased, while choosing the most convenient process by which to receive their goods.

Do - make sure data is available both on and offline so call centres and stores can check all orders. Nothing is more frustrating to customers than data not being available when checking with staff or stores.

Do - make sure the brand experience and feel is the same online and offline. All brand credit will be lost if the online experience does not match the promise of offline and vice versa.

Do - make sure the call to action “buy now” is prominent and easily findable on every page.

Do - make sure your customer service information is clearly accessible so people know what the returns policy is.

Do - include ‘recently viewed’ navigation (e.g. www.johnlewis.com) so customers can easily navigate back to and buy what they have already looked at.

Don’t - add additional items to the basket as a lame attempt at crossselling. Think carefully about doing this judiciously, or in a way that fits the brand and site (e.g. ASOS - get the look).

Don’t - dispatch things at different times or charge the customer until you have sent the goods. Make it clear on the site that you won’t do this.

Don’t - have an inconsistent shopping basket across site sections, even if you source the products from third parties and your front end is skinned.

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How can online advertising drive offline sales by Sharon Jaffe, Digital Marketing Consultant and blogger at blog.jaffeblend.com:

1. The messaging in online advertising is key, not just focusing on brand awareness and favourability, but message association and purchase intent. Banners should be clear about the product offering and entice, through emotional branding or through an offer.

2. A call to action is a key driver of sales. This call to action can be to drive people to an online “clicks and mortar” store or to a physical “bricks and mortar” store. With the latter, clicks are less important as the objective is to drive store traffic and sales.

3. Please substitute this text: “Display advertising does not have to be clicked on to drive sales. In this way it functions the same way as traditional advertising – driving awareness, interest, desire and action (to go to and purchase!).

4. Digital media brings an added dimension to the media mix for the retail sector. A banner can drive users to a microsite where its possible to a) provide greater product information b) entice a visitor to participate in a game or competition (thereby increasing engagement and allowing the collection of CRM data) and c) offer some form of value added content or engagement (showing the visitor how the brand genuinely brings relevance to their lives and associating the brand with appropriate values) e.g. a Heineken Music events guide, Visa Love EveryDay shopping guide or Coke Happiness Factory game.

5. There needs to be a clear distinction between direct call-to-action activities (often with online conversion) and brand activities influencing purchase intent (often with offline in-store conversion).

Tips for those marketers that can and cannot undertake ecommerce from our friends at foxkalomaski.co.uk:

1. If you cannot undertake ecommerce then you need a ‘traditional’ marketing programme to:

• Drive awareness of the stores.
• Offer promotions (including text line details) from point of advertising consumption to drive e-mail sign up.
• Offer in-store promotions which drive email sign-up.

2. If you can undertake ecommerce then you need to:

• Develop your search campaign to integrate price and differential elements (increases click-through-rates and relevant traffic).
• Build your database communicate and promote to them on a regular basis.
• Keep adjusting your site flow to optimise conversions.

The 5 factors that might make the first time customer trust their hard earned cash on your site, outlined by Jenni Lloyd, Experience Designer at NixonMcInnes:

1. It helps if the customer’s product-related googling has landed them on a page dedicated to the relevant product – with a clear price, delivery cost, security notice and returns policy.

2. If you have a recognisable brand name - and the site is in keeping with familiar branding - then so much the better.

3. Depending on the product in question, most customers will visit many different sites and compare the prices on offer. So – unless you can offer a price guarantee your site will have to work hard to capture custom. Maybe you can offer in-store pick up of goods ordered online (like Argos) or free delivery or free returns. This requires your on and offline operations to be unified.

4. The user experience of your site will be the deciding factor. If you can take away any possible barriers to purchase – such as questions over delivery charges, transaction security etc as high up in the sales cycle as possible, customers will find it easier to place an order with you. Coupled with usability basics such as clear navigation and easy to read layout this should be part of the recipe for success.

5. Social features can also improve conversion rates. Most shoppers are used to reading online reviews of products before they buy them – and sites which allow customers to add reviews are reporting improved search optimization, improved conversion rates and improved customer retention / loyalty. And the reviews don’t have to all be positive – in fact shoppers are suspicious of overwhelmingly positive reviews, which can be detrimental to conversion.

Tips for what makes a good shopping basket experience by Five by Five:

Shopping basket drop-off can be avoided by learning from the benchmark leaders: Amazon, Carphone Warehouse and Figleaves. What they do is simply make it easy for you to buy, change your mind, save it for later and come back, and compile wish lists which others can buy for you. What makes a good shopping basket experience?

1. Clear product descriptions and price information so users are reassured that what they wanted to buy has magically found its way to their basket.

2. Images to re-enforce the product description because people think visually too, especially when it comes to color choices.

3. Easy removal, amendment or addition of items because they’re allowed to change their minds.

4. Clear navigation to proceed to purchase or back to similar products, back to home, or a new search as these are users’ typical next steps.

5. Clear labeling of the basket during the entire shopping experience so the user can see what’s in it at any time.

6. Ability to save and return so the user doesn’t have to re-do it all again later.

The empty basket…Why? by Kieron Matthews, Marketing Director, IAB

• Poor usability
• Hidden charges
• Simply changed your mind and have just enjoyed the online shopping experience (the teasers!)
• Beaten on price
• Error

Top ten ecommerce recommendations, according to Coast Digital:

1. Site map on all pages - Search engines index site more readily; alternative user navigation; allows user to orient themselves quickly without the need to understand the whole site.

2. Site/product search - Allows user to rapidly find products; facilitates different types & levels of user, and delivers better search experience.

3. Ability to shop by brand - Another method of attractive product presentation, great for brand enthusiasts who make purchases based on brand synergies & connotations.

4. Breadcrumb trails - Great for user orientation & moving back & forth within a website. Search engine friendly.

5. Bestsellers list - Brilliant way to engage users by showing them what’s hot now. Also useful for increasing sales volume.

6. Recently viewed items - Assists user navigation, helps users to quickly return to products they are interested in. A key opportunity to make sales.

7. Recommend other products - Increases potential for cross-selling opportunities and promotions.

8. Display products by category - Helps the user to make quick comparisons between products of a similar type.

9. FAQ and help pages - A clear opportunity to assist & support the user on their journey through the website.

10. Store finder - Assists users browsing and researching, who may choose to purchase offline. Supports multi-channel activity.

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The importance of always-on optimization, from Benoit Cacheux, Client Services Director, Publicis Modem:

Online conversion rates have reached a peak, they have even started to decrease recently as your competitors have improved their online presence, how do you turn this around? The answer is “always-on optimisation”.

• When looking at your campaigns, you need to think about how to optimise the whole journey from the first contact to the actual purchase. So, at this stage, it’s important to step back and start formulating the process around your audience, the place where any successful marketing usually starts.

• It’s time to set up an “online lab environment” where you can make changes and test them in real time and on a scale which provides this robust statistical evidence.

• These “online lab environments” can be created through the implementation of a number of software solutions provided by companies such as Interwoven (Optimost) or Omniture (Test and Target).

• Their solutions will allow you to test site variables (e.g. size of buttons, length of copy, mention of customer support, etc.) in a multivariate testing environment.

• Very quickly, you’ll be able to test a number of permutations of your homepage (hundreds of versions in some cases) or key landing pages and see in real time which journeys are helping consumers fulfil their needs more effectively. After all, they’re interacting with you so listen to them and learn from their behavior. These solutions, in turn, will optimise their journey and increase overall customer satisfaction.

• Is it time for you to move into this world of “always on optimisation”? You won’t be the first, as Forrester reported back in 2006 that testing is becoming a growing piece of the marketing mix and 76% of marketers researched expected a significant increase in spending for testing.

Achieving the best results with a retail display advertising campaign, by Kieron Matthews, Marketing Director, IAB

1. Stay focused and say what you need to say without being too abstract.

2. Integrate the retail idea, not just the look and feel.

3. Adapt creative according to the response required (awareness vs direct response).

4. Be consistent, not fickle in format choice.

5. Allow adequate time/budget for idea generation and high production values.

Search precedes the majority of purchases:

• 88% of people regularly research products online…

• 61% of people regularly research products online and then purchase these products offline…

(Forrester Research, European Consumer Technographics, Q2 2007)

Meeting the challenges facing retail paid search campaigns from I Spy Search:

• Understanding the consumer search path. Click path analysis is now widely available across all major bid management platforms and provides real insight into the consumer journey and purchase decision process. This kind of data can be used to reinforce the value of costly generic keywords that are typically used at the beginning of the consumer journey and fail to get credit for the conversion due to the traditional ‘last click wins’ model.

• Calculating the lifetime value of a buyer is crucial to be able to assign a realistic CPA so that share of voice can be maximised across the search engines. With CPCs increasing, visibility on the engines will be compromised if budgets are not increased accordingly. Therefore, the lifetime value of the consumer represents the most realistic cost of acquisition by looking at the full picture of the consumer process – not just at one transaction.

• Actual profit generated per product also needs to be calculated and reported correctly within the search results. Only a small percentage of actual revenue generated may be profitable, so this will impact how far a campaign can be grown. It may also go some way to explain how the decision makers may not be as pleased with the results as you are! Profit margins are tight in retail and overall sales do not represent the whole picture.

• On the flip side, search marketing triggers conversions and sales via other forms of media and it is important to recognise this contribution and attribute revenue accordingly. For example, a long consumer search path could result in a final sale over the phone. Where search has played a major role in the consumer decision process and accrued costs, it will not receive any credit for the resulting sale and revenue. However if data is collected intelligently, this no longer has to be the case.

• Keeping up with inventory. Retail product lists and prices are constantly changing and it is imperative that the search team keep keyword lists up to date with new product additions, as well as removing discontinued items. The challenge here is to also structure the campaign smartly so that ad copy can be as relevant as possible and include product names where permitted. This will really strike a chord with the consumer and will increase conversion rates.

5 ways in which PPC can work with your other marketing communications from search engine marketing agency, Tug:

1. If you have a recognised brand, include this prominently in your PPC ad copy. ‘Official Site’ is a strong consumer benefit.

2. Support good PR with ‘As seen IN’ and ‘As seen ON’ ad copy. This traditionally drives higher sales for several days after the release.

3. Brand awareness banner campaigns can greatly increase your PPC brand sales, which are traditionally the cheapest.

4. Support your PPC campaign with a robust SEO strategy for your broader keywords that drive traffic but have a higher conversion cost through PPC.

5. Ultimately PPC should be driving your regular sales, filling in the troughs, made by the peaks from your other bursts of online and offline communications.

Turning engagement into purchase, why instructional online videos can work for your brand, by Russell Goldsmith Marketiers4dc and www.howto.tv:

• Viewers watch needs based videos because they are seeking specific information about the given subject, making them highly engaged and immersed in the experience.

• They then need to know where to find this information or purchase the product, so providing them the ability to click for more information within the video is key – This is not ‘red-button’ technology but an on-demand environment, so when viewers return to the movie, they haven’t missed a second, and can go back to any part at any time.

• It is essential to support any initiative with a communication strategy that aggregates the content to highly indexed third party media owners and end user environments to maximise response.

• Viewers must be able to access content when and where they require it – it would be most useful to watch a video on to ‘How to Pitch a Tent’ when actually arriving at a campsite! Videos therefore need to be available on mobile devices so that your brand can engage with your customer at that specific time of need.

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