Chart of the Day: Utilizing digital to drive consumers into store sees a resurgence with Retailers
Customers are increasingly expecting retailers to give them the convenience of browsing online from where ever they are; in the car, in a bar, from Wichita...you get the idea. This ability to visit a store, find the same products at the same price and take it home at the point of purchase with no waiting or delivery charges, can make or break a consumer's choice to spend their hard earned money. In the last few years, many high street brands are embracing multichannel here in the UK e.g. Argos, Debenhams and Next to name a few but many others aren't.
In this research from RSR Research, we see that while the primary role of digital channels is to sell products,…
Grow your e-commerce sales using RFM analysis - an undervalued online retail marketing technique
We can all agree that conversion rate optimization is one of the most creative and efficient marketing techniques for designing an on-site experience that will amaze customers. Yet even though CRO will help you rectify your approach as you work to align marketing goals with customer’s needs, there is one important aspect to consider: conversion rate optimization is often used in the wrong way.
As a marketer or e-commerce website owner, your main goal shouldn’t be only to improve key metrics such as conversion rate, bounce rate, average order value, revenue, etc. These represent a direct consequence, the effects of how you treat your customers and how you communicate with them.
You should also optimize to create long-term relationships with customers that have chosen your products and services from the crowded e-commerce market. The…
Chart of the Day: Top festive adverts on Youtube since November 1st.
Take a stroll into any retail store and you will instantly know that the festive season is upon us once again. Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away in the US and on this side of the Atlantic the burnt circles remain across the country from bonfire night. Both these events give the green light to marketers across the top retail brands to release their Christmas adverts. These adverts can make or break a brand during the holiday season, whether it is based on humour, humility or emotion the bottom line come January will be - did it increase sales based on last year.
Since November 1st, the six Christmas adverts that have been first to launch include John Lewis, Argos & Burberry. It's been hard to miss the now yearly flurry of social media activity for the latest John Lewis Advert #BusterTheBoxer (67k likes…
Radio isn't dead. Don't make the mistake of writing it off.
The importance of omnichannel marketing is an ever increasing reality for high street retailers to succeed. Online-only retailers are starting to see the benefit of having physical locations to serve their customer in the real world, this year has already seen Amazon opening its own high street bookshops. As consumers across the globe demand more from every retailer big or small, our shopping habits are changing and the internet has opened a new always-on world, where if we want it, we want it and nothing else will do.
Retailers are wising up new customer experiences and implementing real digital transformation change across their business's, to give their customers the choice they desire, to buy online or in-store for home delivery or store pick up, but the marketing departments still have work to do, to prioritise their marketing activities across the whole customer lifecycle.
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76% of adults use multiple devices to access content- only a tiny minority uses desktop only
The results of Comscore's 'Cross-platform future in focus 2016' make for interesting reading. One of the most interesting charts from the report show just how tiny the number of people not using a combination of devices to access content online is. For those aged between 18 and 34 only 3% are only accessing content on a desktop device - if trends continue then the figure for December 2016 will be less than 1%.
But we're not seeing a dramatic shift to pure mobile - instead users are making the most of both mediums and utilising desktop and mobile together in order to suit whatever their needs are at the time. This explains why we are seeing high levels of mobile traffic on ecommerce sites but very low mobile conversion rates. Those people browsing on mobile are converting…
eCommerce can go hand in hand with bricks and mortar, and a bed shop in the Cotswold's proves it!
According to Eurostat, retail footfall in the UK has been down month on month for twenty-three of the past twenty-four months. Bad news. Opening new stores in this climate may seem an odd thing to do, but it is all part of the omnichannel mix.
Beds in the Market Place? Madness.
Back in January, the Sun newspaper published an article about residents of a Cotswold town being up in arms about a branch of Bensons for Beds being opened in their historic market place. The report, culled from reader comments on a local newspaper site and social media, implied that the townspeople thought it was not “upmarket” enough for them.
Had the reporter scratched more than just the surface, he would have discovered the real query was about the practicality of this type of retailer…
Five Rules for integrating a contact centre effectively
Once the preserve of the contact centre, customer experience has become the focus of the modern marketer.
In 2013 a Forrester Report called on brands to ‘Build Seamless Experiences Now’. It argued that, by failing to deliver a seamless dialogue across multiple access points, brands are degrading their value and eroding customer loyalty.
This need to deliver a seamless dialogue has ensured that marketers’ priorities have changed and increasingly they are looking to technology to help; Gartner predicts that by 2017, the CMO will spend more on technology than the CIO.
Yet marketing technology alone will not address the shift to multichannel customer communications.
By rights, the contact centre should be the axis of the customer centric business model. It is the most common two-way touch point customers have with most businesses. Yet, in most organisations it is disjointed with the rest of the business, sitting…
The power of branding in the multi-channel retail world
Victor Hugo once said that “no army can withstand the strength of an idea whose time has come”. In many ways brands can be equally as powerful, inspiring loyalty, love and of course sales! However it’s easy for companies to overlook the power and value of their brands in the frantic search for smarter technology and smarter ways of doing business.
Good branding holds the key to cutting through an increasingly fragmented media landscape to ensure a product is front of mind at the moment a consumer decides it is time to buy.
Outlined below are a few tips on branding in today’s more complex and fast moving world.
Enough with the complexity already!
In Scott Brinkers Marketing Technology Landscape Supergraphic below we see a bewildering array of different marketing technology vendors but what’s striking here is that each of these companies represent a technology…
They say when opposites attract, they create intense chemistry. Remember when Romeo met Juliet, when Harry met Sally, Beauty fell for a Beast, and how Tom and Jerry always went after each other? They are good apart but when they are together, they create magic.
When online stores and services began revolutionizing the way people do business, it is but expected from traditional businesses to sound the alarm. Come to think of it, why would anyone bother to brave traffic just to get a new pair of pants when it can be ordered online and delivered in the comfort of their homes? But as it turned out, tradition and technology should not be on different sides of the spectrum. They are opposites that when meshed together will create new trends and opportunities.
It seems more and more traditional business owners…
Optimising and connecting customer touch points
Marketing expert Dr. Jeffrey Lant, says that in order to penetrate a consumer’s consciousness with your brand, and to make significant penetration in a given market, you have to make contact with the prospect a minimum of seven times. These seven “touch points” don’t have to be dedicated sales outreach, but refer to the different ways consumers interact with your brand: browsing your mobile site, for example is a touch point, as is receiving a flyer or trawling through your social channels.
Although this “Rule of Seven” is not absolute, it gives marketers an idea of the kind of effort and variety it takes to make an impression on a potential customer.
With the dawn of the digital age, the numerous channels and devices available for interaction mean that optimising each consumer touch point is more important than ever. It has…
