Live from IRCE: Key insights from the MarketingSherpa E-commerce Benchmark Study

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Live from IRCEKey insights from the MarketingSherpa E-commerce Benchmark Study


Ask questions and tell us what you learned on Twitter!

#SherpaWebinar


Speakers

Black & White Headshot

Ben PressleyHead of Worldwide Sales

Magento@BRPressley

Daniel BursteinDirector of Editorial Content

MECLABS @DanielBurstein

Pete PrestipinoWebsite Magazine Editor-in-Chief,

Digital Marketing StrategistWebsite Magazine@peteprestipino

https://twitter.com/brpressley

https://twitter.com/danielburstein

https://twitter.com/peteprestipino


Related resources

• MarketingSherpa E-commerce Benchmark Study — Made possible by a research grant from Magento

• Marketing Research Chart: Tactics that are seeing a budget increase (and decrease)

• SMB Marketing in 2013: 68% of small businesses to increase marketing budget

• 8 Challenges Undermining Your Marketing Team

• MarketingSherpa.com/IRCE

http://www.marketingsherpa.com/offers/2014-ecommerce-marketing/overview.php?utm_source=MShChartofWeek&utm_medium=052714BarrierstoGrowth&utm_campaign=EcommerceBMS

http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/chart/tactics-budget-2014-investment

http://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/marketing/2013-smb-marketing/

http://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/marketing/marketing-team-challenges/

MarketingSherpa.com/IRCE



• Visit MarketingSherpa.com/IRCE to watch interviews

Join us in the media center! MarketingSherpa.com/IRCE


Challenge: Conversion rate optimizationHow can e-commerce companies increase conversion rates?


Most conversion rates fall below 5%.


Case Study: Test snapshot

Background: Home delivery subscription has multiple delivery options

Goal: To determine if reordering the delivery options would have an effect on the subscription mix and revenue

Research Question: Which order of subscription options will yield the most revenue?

Test Design: A/B/C split test


High to Low

Low to High

Popularity


20% increase in revenue per visit Treatment 1 increased revenue per visit by 20%.

Results

Design Revenue per Visit

Price - high to low 0.4

Price - low to high 0.5

Popularity 0.4

Relative Difference 20%


Challenge: TestingDoes testing marketing campaigns impact conversion?


The e-commerce companies that

implemented a testing strategy had higher

conversion rates.


Case Study: Whirlpool

Thomas Mender

Senior Manager, Database Marketing

Whirlpool

Why One Test Triggered A 180°Turn in How All Whirlpool Brands Direct Market To Consumers


Previous process

Agency builds creative

Marketing team approves

Creatives are published


Building customer profile

Data collection

Test is launched

Current process

Marketing team approves creatives

Creating test ideas -collaborate

Agency builds creatives


Challenge: Traffic sourcesWhich channels drive the most traffic?


Biggest driver of traffic for higher-revenue companies is email.


Case Study: Whirlpool

Thomas Mender

Senior Manager, Database Marketing

Whirlpool

Background: Applying what was learned about minimizing CTAs in email sends at Email Summit 2013

Objective: To achieve a higher clickthrough rate

Primary Research Question: Will having a single CTA be more effective than multiple CTAs?

Test Design: Single variable A/B split test


Testing: Calls-to-action

Treatment

CTAs CTA

Control


Results: Testing calls-to-action

Calls-to-Action TestedHand-raisers

Purchasers(≤ 5 years)

Purchasers(> 5 years)

Current Ice Owners

Avg.

Control 1.23% 0.35% 0.40% 2.77% 1.19%

Treatment 1.55% 0.54% 0.57% 4.34% 1.75%

Relative Difference +26% +53% +43% +57% +42%

42% Increase in clickthrough rateThe treatment increased CTR for each of the segments below.


Biggest driver of traffic for lower-revenue

companies is organic search.


Case Study: One Call Now

Jacob Baldwin

Digital Marketing Manager

One Call Now

Background: Text-based communication subscription company

Objective: To rank higher in search results.


Keyword Maps: Optimized Elements

Meta descriptions



“Meeting”

“Appointment”

“Conference”

Use of strong tags to highlight keywords in the body copy



Page Title“Protect, Inform, Engage Students, Parents and Staff”


Keyword Maps: Optimized elements

Alt: “One Call Now’s Safe School Helpline is an anti-bullying tip line students can use to anonymously report bullying. Click to learn more”

Image Alt Tags



Alt=“One Call Now’s Safe School Helpline is an anti-bullying tip line students can use to anonymously report bullying. Click to learn more”

Use of H1 Tags




URL Structure




Keyword Density




48% increase in paid search traffic

32.3% increase in organic search


Challenge: Barriers to growthWhat barriers to growth are e-commerce companies facing?



Case Study: IHS

Byron O’Dell

Senior Director, Demand Management

IHS

Key challenges in transforming from “batch and blast” to persona-driven email marketing

Marketing Automation


Before: Batch and Blast

• Lots of website traffic, no conversion

• Lots of contacts, no insight

• Unqualified leads


Tip: Ask for the persona

37

What is your current role?


Persona-specific messaging

Inbound source customization

Inbound source customization

Persona-based customization


Progressive profiling

Asking for more persona information


Results

Asking for more persona information

Program integration resulted in nearly 1,000 updated profiles that included additional segmentation fields such

as buyer persona and areas of interest


Challenge: BudgetAre successful companies increasing marketing budgets?


More successful companies are increasing their

marketing budget.


Challenge: Traffic sourceHow do customers get to e-commerce sites?


Organic search was the most frequently

reported source of significant traffic at all

success levels.


Case Study: Electric Fireplaces Canada

Background: Canadian website selling electric fireplaces loses its once-desirable slot in SEO with penalties following a change in Google’s algorithm.


Case Study: Electric Fireplaces CanadaPenalty Chart: Position in search


Campaign

1. Request removal of unnatural links to outside parties

2. Implement a guest posting effort

3. Consistent communication across the department and agency

4. Submit a formal request to Google to reconsider penalty


Results

EFC

Dimplex fireplaces

Dimplex Canada

Dimplex fireplace

Dimplex electric fireplace

Electric fireplace inserts

8-Oct

5

2

5

2

9

15- Oct

5

2

5

2

5

Penalty Reversed

Avg. 5 Avg. 4


Challenge: Customer responsiveness What’s the correlation between customer response and success?


The more responsive companies are to

customers, the more successful they’re likely

to be.


Case Study: Jamaica Inn

Background: After the 2008 recession, this tourism website struggled to generate interest with its direct-to-customer campaigns.

Campaign: Develop a marketing program that was engaging for guests to build stronger relationships and loyalty.


Customer Responsiveness: Reputation

Blog Posts Social Media


Customer Responsiveness: Reputation

52% increase in revenue


Challenge: MobileHow are departmental roles changing as mobile evolves?


IT shrinks as the channel becomes more prevalent.


Case Study: Ritz-Carlton Destination Club

Alex Corzo

Manager of Digital Communications & CRM

Marriot Vacations Worldwide

How the Ritz-Carlton Destination Club enhanced the effectiveness of mobile email marketing campaigns

Optimizing the Evolving Landscape of Mobile Email Marketing


Pilot: Standard landing page2


Pilot: IPhone landing page

• Company logo

• One sentence of copy

• Online form fields, arranged vertically

• Button to send


Enhanced mobile campaign

59


Mobile traffic driven by email marketing

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

2.8%

5.5%

9.6%


Mobile traffic driven by email marketing

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

2.8%

9.6%

5.5%

243% Increase


Challenge: The cost of customer acquisitionWhat’s the trend in the cost of acquiring customers?



Live from IRCEKey insights from the MarketingSherpa E-commerce Benchmark Study

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Live from IRCE: Key insights from the MarketingSherpa E-commerce Benchmark Study