As companies turn to social media giants like Facebook and Twitter to drive traffic and gain new customers, there is a growing risk that the website -- one of the most powerful sales and marketing tools -- will be overlooked.
It is important for every consumer-facing enterprise to seek out new prospects and drive additional traffic via all available social media channels. Yet too many companies still neglect some basic strategies that could maximize conversion rates for the traffic they already have. The following strategies -- when implemented correctly -- will not only lead to an increase in conversion rates and revenue from mobile and social media channels but will also help drive companies toward an important cultural transformation, one that can elevate them above competitors and help them stay there.
Some Perspective
Commerce is becoming less about channels and more about touch points. Marketing is moving beyond multichannel to become "multipoint," and coping with this shift is a serious challenge for businesses of all kinds.
Fortunately, the website remains a place where many customer conversations are initiated, and a growing percentage of transactions are completed, even if they begin elsewhere. A strong yet nimble website -- one that can efficiently leverage customer data -- will put brands in a better position to effectively respond to the emerging demands of multipoint marketing. Without such a site, they will continue to lose out on potential revenue and lose ground to more agile competitors.
1. Understand Your Customer
By tracking anonymous consumer behavior on the website, companies can display campaigns, content, offers and experiences tailored to an individual’s browsing habits. Watch what they search for and what they look at, not just what they buy.
For example, you might display the latest Air Jordans to consumers who have a history of browsing Nike sneakers. In my experience, retailers who target promotions based on brand preferences see a double digit increase in average order value.
2. Make Webpages Relevant
Websites should adjust marketing content in real time to reflect current events or other sales-related factors, such as customer location. Content that is tailored to different key segments (for example, notifying overseas consumers of discounted international shipping or letting customers from Florida know there's no sales tax) can help persuade them to purchase.
Relevance includes adjusting site content to reflect where a consumer comes from. For example, were they directed from Facebook or an email newsletter? Make sure the messaging that brought them to the site is reflected in the site experience and inform that site experience with what analytics show about that traffic segment. For example, data may indicate that the buying habits of customers from Facebook are different from those who land on your site via email.
3. Use Offline Learning to Inform Online Action
Many multichannel retailers have accumulated a lot of knowledge about their customers. For example, managers of brick and mortar stores know that there are local brand preferences. Headquarters may track brand preference by region or state. So use that data to geo-target online traffic.
If Texas shoppers prefer Wranglers to Levis, highlight Wranglers to online traffic from Texas. The results will be improved conversion rates and higher average order values.
4. Consistency Is Key
Traffic that comes from outside channels like social media will convert better if consistent messaging is maintained throughout the sales cycle. A promotion that initially drives traffic to a website (such as “Twitter followers receive 20% off”) should be reflected not just on the landing page but also on each page that the visitor sees until they check out.
This doesn't mean a site makeover. Instead, the message simply needs to echo the messaging that caught the consumer's attention in the first place.
5. Test, Test, Test
To know if a site is truly compelling, brands must constantly test it to ensure that content is presented in a manner that resonates with consumers to produce optimum results. Businesses should test for sticking points and optimize the choice of messaging, design of buttons, layout of forms and display of positive reinforcements like trust seals and privacy assurances. Even a small improvement at each stage of the process will pay big dividends.
Smart marketers will establish a culture of testing. By making the use of A/B and multivariate testing tools, brands can increase creativity, experimentation and revenue. A culture of testing in which decisions are data-driven is the best posture from which to meet marketing challenges.
Looking Forward
I would love to be able to wrap up by saying "do the above and you're done." But that's not how commerce works today. The rapidly evolving world of multipoint marketing means that brands must constantly tweak the experience that their website delivers to each visitor segment based on everything they know about that segment. That knowledge includes data drawn from all channels -- something a website can provide if the proper technology is in place to tap it.