Digital Merchandising

Places where digital merchandising occurs

- e-commerce website

- mobile applications

- mobile website

- responsive design

- social media

- marketplaces

retail basics that are critically important to convert e-com sales/ drive conversion

1. assortment

2. pricing

3. fulfillment speed

Assortment

1. depth> the number of different products offered within the product line such as many different types of basketball sneakers for Nike.

2. breadth> the different categories of products in which the brand or company offers products. Football cleats, basketball sneakers, running shoes

e-commerce revenue equation

e-commerce= traffic X conversion X average order value (AOV)

most common page types

1. homepage

2. super category page

3. category page

4. brand pages

5. sale/event pages

6. list page

7. search results page

8. comparison pages

9. product detail pages

10. cart

elements of digital merchandising

- conversion rate optimization

- shopping cart abandonment

- dynamic personalization

- user-generated content

- A/B & multi variate testing

- item detail page

- site search & navigation

- faceted navigation

- voice of customer

- web analytics

awareness in digital path to pruchase

typical locations on website:

- homepages

- brand

- category

- holiday/event/sale pages

- website banner

- weekly ad

- website search

- menu/navigation

- blog

what is CRO

- comprehensive process that sprawls across a multitude of stages

- CRO effort uses in depth data to analyze results, run multiple tests, tweak content to make it more relevant, draw necessary conclusions on digital shopping experience enhancements

-throughout the journey of a CRO process, a digital merchant will encounter many elements which can be optimized

landing page optimization elements

1. headlines/product title

2. images

3. body copy

4. calls to action CTA

5. lead generation forms

elements of headline/product title

1. brand name

2. product name

3. keywords

4. variant

5. package count

6. package size

elements of a product detail page

1 .product title

2. images

3. video

4. bullets and product descriptions

5. A+ content

images

1. white background pack shot

2. out of the box

3. in-use

4. lifestyle

5. additional detail

6. show scale

video

1. show, don't tell

2. unboxing and product assembly

3. how to/in-use content

4. storytelling

5. production line or product origin

6. environmentally friendly practices

7. customer testimonials

bullets & product descriptions

1. brand story

2. product instructions

3. product features

A + content

1. vivid imagery

2. brand banner

3. promote lifestyle

4. in-use images

5. highlight features

6. comparison matrix

7. tell brand story

personalization: General VS Dynamic

goals: both aim to enhance user experience by providing more relevant and targeted content

Use of data: both rely on data to tailor experiences

engagement and conversion: both increase when used effectively

challenges: both face challenges such as data privacy concerns

General Personalization

- broader segments/categories of users

- ex. users from specific region all see one content

- primarily historical data used

- previously stated preference

- broad brush

- larger groups of similar users

- longer timeframes

- days weeks or longer implementation speed

- complexity is simple

dynamic personalization

- real-time adjustments based on immediate actions

- ex. changing content based on how a user is interacting with a site during a single visit

- real time data

- current sessions actions

- high level of granularity

- instantaneously implementation speed

- real-time

- complex, uses sophisticated algorithms to adapt real-time

business challenge

shopping cart abandonment across industries

reasons for shopping cart abandonment

- extra costs too high like shipping or fees

-site asked to create account

- delivery too slow

- don't trust giving credit card

- design and flow of webpage

- check out process

strategies to improve shopping cart experiment

1. make it easy for customers to research products (product info)

2. improve checkout user experience

3. provide relevant on-site messaging

4. re-engage shoppers with cart abandonment emails

5. shipping, returns, and payment options

- speed, cost, easy returns

6. abandonment surveys

the anatomy of effective site search

- search box design

- search algorithms

- search results page

- advanced search features

top 10 search features and functionalities

1. spell check

2. synonyms

3. stemming

4. hyphenation

5. type-ahead

6. searchable categories

7. searchable descriptions

8. product code test

9. offensive language test

10. query response time

What is user-generated content (UGC)?

- product rating and reviews

- user-submitted images or audio clips about a product or service

- user-submitted Q&A about products/services

what is voice of customer VOC

- component of customer experience that focuses on customer needs, wants, expectations and preferences

- its the process of collecting and analyzing customer feedback to improve the CX and overall business performance

collecting VOC data

- survey

- product reviews

- net promoter score

- live chat

- social media

- Q&A

- focus groups

- customer interceptions

- phone calls

- customer facing employees

- customer advisory board

- mystery shopping programs

key web analytics terminologies

- sessions

- users

- pageviews

- pages per session

- bounce rate

- exit rate

- conversion rate

- AOV

- cart abandonment rate

average session duration

- events

- goals

sessions

group of interactions that take place on a website within a given timeframe

users

individuals who have had at least one session

page views

total number of pages viewed during a single session by a user on a website

bounce rate

average number of visitors who leave the website after viewing only one page

exit rate

Represents the percentage of visitors on a site that leave a website from a specific page, and may have visited other pages on the site. The lower the percentage the better.

conversion rate

percentage of consumers who buy a product after viewing it

AOV

Average order value (sales rev/# of orders)

cart abandonment

percentage of users who add products to their cart but don't complete the purchase

average session duration

average amount of time a user spends on a website in a single session

events

interactions with a webpage that can be tracked separately from a webpage load.

goals

specific user interactions you want to track, which signify a successful outcome ex. completing a sign-up process

traffic sources

indicate where website visitor comes from

direct traffic

accessed site directly

- typically by typing the websites URL into their browser or bookmark

organic search

visitors who arrive at the website as a result of unpaid search results in engines like google bing

paid search

users who clicked on a paid advertisement in search engine results

display

visitors who arrived at the site by clicking on display ads on other websites

social

traffic that comes from social media platforms

email

via website links from emails or newsletters

affiliates

from affiliated sites or partners

referral

traffic that comes from other websites that aren't search engines

video

if you have campaigns running, this source indicates users arriving from those videos

whats so indifferent about services

- intangibility

- simultaneous production and consumption (create and delivered as customer consumes it)

- perishability (cant be saved, stored, resold)

- inconsistency (due to performance of ppl no two services the same)

Differentiation

high competition with what appears similar to customers (Quality and customer experience drive differentation)

word of mouth marketing

relied on as a marketing tool

customer retention

more cost effective to retain than to acquire new customers

value creation

adds value to the purchase and even compensates for higher prices due to perceived quality or better experience

feedback loop

feedback drives innovation and also critical to continuous improvement

social proof

online reviews and social media can make or break a service business

brand equity

over time consistent service quality and positive customer feedback builds brand equity

key differences between products and services

- intangibility

- customization of services V standardization of products

- pricing complexity in services

- relationship building and personal selling

- service delivery and customer participation

similarities in products and services

- brand image

- focus on customer journey

- conversion rate optimization including A/B and multi - varient testing

- dynamic personalization

- user generated content

- service level detail

- site search and navigation

- faceted navigation

- voice of customer

- web analytics

examples of service catgeories

1. professional services

- legal/consulting

- accounting

eg. credit karma

2. Health and wellness

- telemedicine

- fitness eg. orange theory

3. educational services

- tutoring

- online courses

4. hospitality and tourism

- hotel/airbnb

-vacation planning

-virtual tours eg. southwest, airbnb

cont. service categories

5. entertainment

- streaming eg. netflix

-events tickets

6. home and maintenance services

- cleaning and landscaping

- repair and renovation

7. food services

- restaurants and dining

-booking and reservations

8. subscription services

- software as a service

- monthly subscription boxes

understanding project management

- waterfall development

- agile development

waterfall development

(requirements>design>implementation>testing>maintenance)

- linear and sequential process

- pros: clear structure, well defines stages, easy to manage timelines

- cons: less flexible, high risk of late project failure, not ideal for projects requiring frequent changes

agile development

(backing, analyze, define, design, test, deplay)

- iterative and incremental approach

- collab with customer feedback

-common frameworks Scrum and Kanban

- pros: flexibility to change, faster response to market trends, more client focused

-cons: less predictability, requires more customer involvement

collab with agile tech teams

- key roles: product owner, scrum master, development team

- digital merchant role: defining product vision, backlog prioritization, providing feedback

-agile ceremonies: sprints, daily stand-ups, retrospectives

- effective communication: regular updates, transparency, collab

7 specific career roles

- digital merchandiser

- SEO specialist

- e-comm product manager

- website operations manager

- UX researcher

- content strategist

- ecomm analyst

digital merchandiser

- role in product curation and online display strategies

-skills in trend analysis and customer preferences

SEO specialist

- optimizing website content for better visibility

-understanding search algorithms and SEO tools

ecomm product manager

- managing online product life cycle from intro to sales

- coordination with procurement, marketing, web design teams

website operations manager

- ensuring seamless operation and functionality of ecomm sites

- skills in web development server management and troubleshooting

user experience researcher

- studying user interactions and improve website navi.

- conducting usability testing and user feedback analysis

content strategist

- creating and managing online content aligned w brand and sales goals

- skills in content planning, creation, performance management

e comm analyst

- analyzing sales data, customer behavior, market trends

- utilizing analytics tools for data-driven decision making

growth pathways in e comm

- entry-level positions and skill requirements

- opportunities for advancement and specialization

- importance of up skilling and staying current with e comm

go over these guest speakers

- jeff campbell aicommerce

- adam welch jayne coll lowes

- curtis hite concious capitalism

- Dave Dorf amazon