Monetate EQ4 2014

Ecommerce Quarterly

EQ4 2014:The Gift of Personalization

4

a publication from

About the EQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

The Gift of Personalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Bounce Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Add-to-Cart Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Cart-Abandonment Rate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Conversion Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Benchmarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

About Monetate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

EQ4 2014

About the EQAs ecommerce companies look for ways to increase customer

engagement and sales in a highly competitive online environment, they’re

faced with challenges centered on massive amounts of data. This big data

conundrum goes beyond the collection and storage of information about

customers and prospects.

Using a combination of historical and real-time data allows ecommerce

marketers to glean meaningful insights that result in more relevant

shopping experiences that drive loyal customers who share their

experiences with others. Ecommerce businesses that tackle big data head-

on focus their attention on different customer segments that continue to

be explored in every release of the Ecommerce Quarterly (EQ):

• Predefined: New versus returning; referring traffic sources; technographics; geography.

• Custom or Proprietary: Demographics; proximity to location.

• On-Site Behavior: Shopping cart activity; brand or category affinity.

• Behaviors Across the Web: Browsing and purchase patterns demonstrated on third-party websites.

The EQ also includes Takeaways, ideas and best practices used by leading

ecommerce websites, based on insights gained from the more than

seven billion online shopping sessions that contribute to the analysis and

benchmark reports found in every release.

EQ4 2014

a monetate publication | 2

The Gift of PersonalizationAh, the holidays.

No other stretch of an ecommerce company’s calendar is as filled with

elevated expectations, the pressure to meet them and the stress of

determining how to do so. If you’re able to beat all three, you might even be

willing to call that five or so weeks between Thanksgiving and New Years

the “most wonderful time of the year.”

Luckily, for many of those in ecommerce, the 2014 Holiday season allowed

for just that.

While retailers battled through declining Thanksgiving-weekend sales

numbers and a disappointing December before posting a 4% year-over-

year growth margin, ecommerce saw no signs of sluggishness. The industry

experienced year-over-year growth of 7.7%, according to the National Retail

Federation.

Though these types of numbers tell a promising story and can help you

benchmark yourself against others in the industry, they don’t tell the

whole story.

Which is why, for this EQ, we analyzed data from more than 175 of our

customers to find out who helped lead online retailers to more than $51

billion in revenue—and how they did it.

The “how” behind those growth numbers can be attributed to one thing:

personalization.

Those companies who differentiated online experiences for their customers

based on attributes such as real-time behavior, historical purchase data,

referring traffic sources and geography were consistently top performers

when it came to key metrics. Inside, we’ll look at how they outperformed the

average in four areas:

• Bounce Rate

• Add-to-Cart Rate

• Cart Abandonment Rate

• Conversion Rate

Monetate customers were responsible for more than one-third of all

ecommerce dollars spent online during Holiday 2014, meaning this EQ offers

a comprehensive look at the what drove this year’s success.


EQ4 2014

Bounce RateThe Holiday season may rightly be associated with inflated add-to-cart

and conversion rates when compared to the remainder of the year, but

that doesn’t mean online retailers don’t still face the challenge of meeting

a customer’s immediate expectations.

This year during the fourth quarter, for instance, retailers were hardly able

to stem what has become a slow creep in bounce rate.

Year over year, bounce rates have increased from an average of 29.45

percent in Q4 2013 to an average of 30.2 percent in Q4 2014 (with a

five-quarter high coming in Q3 2014 at 30.94 percent). And with initial

impressions being the most important to keeping a customer on your site,

it’s a metric marketers need to know—and know how to improve.

Q4 2014: Bounce Rate Top Performers vs. Industry Average

• Top Performers: 19.94%• Industry Average: 30.2%

A Closer Look at... Beating Bounce RateOf those ecommerce companies who outperformed the industry average, two stood out for keeping customers on their site.

• A consumer telecommunications brand not only targeted returning visitors with message-to-site consistency through homepage banners and other tactics (for both direct and email-driven traffic), it also targeted new visitors who made it to the site through a specific search ad. The campaigns, which focused on making sure a visitor’s expressed interest was reflected on their landing page, had bounce rates as low as 4 percent.

• An apparel and home goods catalog company whose fans and followers have added many of its products and images to Pinterest found a way to overcome the normally high bounce rates (upwards of 60 percent) that come with the traffic being referred by the social scrapbooking site. Its solution? A banner promoting a one-time offer of 10 percent off the Pinterest visitor’s purchase. The campaign dropped bounce rates from Pinterest to 29 percent.

Quarter Bounce Rate

Q4 2013 29.45%

Q1 2014 29.83%

Q2 2014 30.28%

Q3 2014 30.94%

Q4 2014 30.20%

EQ4 2014


Add-to-Cart RateAdd-to-Cart rates were higher in Q4 2014 than any other quarter in this

EQ’s look-back period.

At 8.35 percent, those rates far outpaced every other quarter, including

Q4 2013, which posted an add-to-cart rate of 7.99 percent. The increase

was a 5 percent lift — a significant increase, considering the more than 2.3

billion sessions analyzed for the EQ.

Q4 2014: Add-to-Cart Rate Top Performers vs. Industry Average


If the industry average is that good, you’re probably asking, how much

better could the top 10 percent be?

The answer: A lot.

Those brands that aced the add-to-cart process had an average add-to-

cart rate of 20.36 percent. They made the act of getting a customer to

add an item to their cart look easy by targeting their customers based

on proprietary segments, customer databased information, and devices

being used, along with other data.

Quarter Add-to-Cart Rate

Q4 2013 7.99%

Q1 2014 7.53%

Q2 2014 7.10%

Q3 2014 7.06%

Q4 2014 8.35%


EQ4 2014

A Closer Look at... Acing Add-to-Cart Rate

While top performers were consistent in their approach to targeting their customers, their tactics were varied. Here are two that truly stuck out:

• A lifestyle apparel brand reengaged “dormant” shoppers on the final two days leading up to the Christmas shipping deadline by serving them lightboxes with free shipping codes. The brand used Monetate’s time-on-site counter to measure each customer’s length of stay and triggered the lightbox at a specific time. The result was a 68 percent add-to-cart rate.

• A women’s apparel company used a tiered promotional strategy on its product detail pages to offer discounts to certain shoppers. Run across multiple campaigns, the approach allowed the retailer to not offer the deals to every shopper (something that helped protect its brand), gain additional data on which promotional rate was most effective at converting customers, and drive conversions. All three aspects were big wins, with an average add-to-cart rate of 27 percent.

EQ4 2014


Cart-Abandonment RateEven after getting a customer to stick around a site and even after getting

a customer to add something to their cart, marketers still need to crack a

final code: the abandoned cart.

During the holiday season, of course, it’s a little easier than at other points

during the year. But it’s still an uphill battle.

Though abandoned cart rates drop fairly significantly during the holiday

season, the majority of customers still don’t actually complete a purchase.

In fact, in Q4 2014, abandoned cart rates were at their lowest rate (65.98

percent) in the last five quarters. That’s still pretty high. Especially when

compared with the top performers Monetate identified in its data.

Q4 2014: Cart-Abandonment Rate Top Performers vs. Industry Average


Those brands that cracked the cart-abandonment code had an average

cart-abandonment rate of 43.65 percent. What got them there wasn’t just

promos and free shipping reminders, though that certainly helped.

Quarter Cart-Abandonment Rate

Q4 2013 66.01%

Q1 2014 69.80%

Q2 2014 68.90%

Q3 2014 69.23%

Q4 2014 65.98%


EQ4 2014

Those brands that excelled at getting customers to make their purchase, instead of just dream about it, used a mix of on-page refinements, user-experience improvements and device-specific checkout pages. Here are some of our favorites:

• After refining its checkout page with estimated delivery dates and free shipping messaging, and implementing one-page checkout for repeat customers, a men’s clothing company also saved deals by promoting an expedited shipping discount to customers who didn’t live near one of its brick-and-mortar stores and who were outside the standard Christmas delivery deadline. The combined efforts gave the brand a 48.84 percent cart abandonment rate.

• Having previously learned that its tablet customers behaved differently on checkout than desktop customers, a sporting goods retailer targeted those customers using tablets to finalize their purchases and served them a less distracting checkout page. Among those items the retailer eliminated were the footer, online chat, and social media links. The checkout page changes led to a 23.3 percent cart abandonment rate.

A Closer Look at... Cracking the Codeon Cart-Abandonment Rate

EQ4 2014


Conversion RateThe end game here, of course, is the conversion.

And for the ecommerce world, the end game was strong in Q4 2014.

Conversion rates were 2.84 percent—again, the highest in the last five

quarters analyzed. But, again, the top performers for the metric far

outpaced the average.

Conversion Rate Top Performers vs. Industry Average• Top Performers: 6.44%• Industry Average: 2.84%

While some of the top performers for conversion rates are, predictably,

the same as those who cracked the code on cart-abandonment, many are

not. And much like the brands are different, the tactics are different, too.

Quarter Conversion Rate

Q4 2013 2.72%

Q1 2014 2.27%

Q2 2014 2.21%

Q3 2014 2.17%

Q4 2014 2.84%

A Closer Look at... Optimizing Conversion Rates

• A luxury clothing brand opted to boost conversion rates during the fourth quarter by turning to friendly faces. Using email, the brand drove existing customers to its site with a “VIP” message and promotion, then carried over that message to the site. And it didn’t just do that on the landing page. It used a promotional banner to remind the visitor of the VIP promotion on every page the person visited. The result? A 6.67 percent conversion rate.

• One of the country’s largest direct-to-consumer stationery sites used a roughly two-month long campaign to capitalize on the impending new year and the fandom of some of the NFL’s most frenzied cities. In its effort to sell more NFL-related calendars and merchandise, the site targeted customers in specific media markets who had searched for a NFL-related term and served them products related to their hometown team. The campaign was a complete win, with an average conversion rate of 13.1 percent. (The highest converting market, if you’re wondering, was Denver.)


EQ4 2014

Benchmark Reports

Website Visits by Device Q4 2013 Q1 2014 Q2 2014 Q3 2014 Q4 2014

Traditional 72.19% 71.29% 68.73% 66.67% 64.58%

Tablet 15.12% 15.52% 14.29% 14.94% 15.79%

Smartphone 12.40% 12.81% 16.58% 17.90% 18.91%

Traditional 71.83% 71.56% 69.75% 67.74% 65.22%

Tablet 15.16% 15.34% 13.99% 14.74% 15.75%

Smartphone 12.69% 12.69% 15.80% 16.99% 18.20%

Traditional 58.12% 52.03% 47.19% 45.30% 47.44%

Tablet 24.48% 25.55% 24.93% 25.42% 30.57%

Smartphone 17.18% 22.14% 27.58% 28.92% 24.95%

US

GLO

BAL

GB

EQ4 2014


GLO

BAL

Website Visits by Platform Q4 2013 Q1 2014 Q2 2014 Q3 2014 Q4 2014

Android 6.51% 7.15% 8.51% 9.52% 10.41%

Chrome OS 0.24% 0.30% 0.32% 0.38% 0.49%

Linux 0.80% 0.94% 0.90% 1.16% 1.36%

Macintosh 13.44% 13.58% 12.73% 12.96% 12.39%

Windows 57.86% 56.61% 54.90% 52.41% 50.66%

Windows Phone 0.17% 0.19% 0.22% 0.24% 0.24%

iOS 20.67% 20.85% 22.04% 23.02% 24.01%

GLO

BAL


EQ4 2014

Conversion Rates by Device Q4 2013 Q1 2014 Q2 2014 Q3 2014 Q4 2014

Traditional 3.03% 2.54% 2.54% 2.56% 3.41%

Tablet 2.59% 2.13% 2.28% 2.20% 2.86%

Smartphone 1.06% 0.98% 0.77% 0.70% 0.92%

Traditional 3.34% 2.77% 2.80% 2.82% 3.78%

Tablet 2.79% 2.28% 2.50% 2.40% 3.11%

Smartphone 1.14% 1.05% 0.86% 0.77% 1.00%

Traditional 2.73% 2.57% 2.49% 2.40% 2.88%

Tablet 2.62% 2.42% 2.33% 2.21% 2.74%

Smartphone 0.92% 0.98% 0.74% 0.75% 1.06%

US

GLO

BAL

GB

GLO

BAL

Conversion Rates Q4 2013 Q1 2014 Q2 2014 Q3 2014 Q4 2014

Global 2.72% 2.27% 2.21% 2.17% 2.84%

US 2.97% 2.47% 2.45% 2.40% 3.15%

GB 2.39% 2.18% 1.97% 1.87% 2.39%

EQ4 2014


Conversion Rates by Platform Q4 2013 Q1 2014 Q2 2014 Q3 2014 Q4 2014

Android 1.10% 1.03% 0.87% 0.90% 1.21%

Chrome OS 2.39% 1.99% 1.62% 2.03% 2.54%

Linux 0.78% 0.62% 0.57% 0.47% 0.52%

Macintosh 3.21% 2.70% 2.92% 2.86% 3.95%

Windows 2.14% 1.43% 1.38% 1.33% 2.43%

Windows Phone 0.73% 0.76% 0.59% 0.55% 0.66%

iOS 2.17% 1.82% 1.71% 1.59% 2.07%

GLO

BAL


EQ4 2014

Add to Cart Rates by Device Q4 2013 Q1 2014 Q2 2014 Q3 2014 Q4 2014

Traditional 8.35% 7.83% 7.54% 7.69% 9.26%

Tablet 8.43% 7.89% 8.06% 7.90% 9.05%

Smartphone 5.41% 5.47% 4.45% 4.01% 4.72%

Traditional 8.86% 8.32% 8.02% 8.19% 9.93%

Tablet 8.84% 8.36% 8.58% 8.33% 9.59%

Smartphone 5.63% 5.80% 4.79% 4.15% 4.89%

Traditional 6.51% 6.05% 6.13% 6.02% 6.74%

Tablet 6.69% 6.04% 6.25% 6.31% 7.01%

Smartphone 3.01% 2.86% 2.50% 2.92% 3.56%

OV

ERA

LL

Add to Cart Rates Q4 2013 Q1 2014 Q2 2014 Q3 2014 Q4 2014

Global 7.17% 8.82% 8.48% 8.13% 7.86%

US 8.44% 8.00% 7.58% 7.51% 8.93%

GB 5.95% 5.34% 5.16% 5.20% 6.02%

US

GLO

BAL

GB

EQ4 2014


Add to Cart Rates by Platform Q4 2013 Q1 2014 Q2 2014 Q3 2014 Q4 2014

Android 5.14% 5.17% 4.41% 4.31% 5.30%

Chrome OS 8.03% 7.86% 7.22% 7.75% 8.58%

Linux 6.97% 6.20% 4.96% 3.06% 2.37%

Macintosh 9.29% 8.87% 9.12% 9.19% 11.37%

Windows 5.78% 4.31% 4.02% 3.91% 5.89%

Windows Phone 3.63% 3.83% 3.11% 3.20% 3.87%

iOS 7.73% 7.39% 6.81% 6.42% 7.32%

GLO

BAL


EQ4 2014

Average Page Views Q4 2013 Q1 2014 Q2 2014 Q3 2014 Q4 2014

Global 8.29 8.14 8.21 8.38 9.44

US 8.21 8.06 8.23 8.48 9.54

GB 8.46 9.10 9.15 8.64 9.42

Average Page Views by Device Q4 2013 Q1 2014 Q2 2014 Q3 2014 Q4 2014

Traditional 8.88 8.66 8.88 9.11 10.12

Tablet 8.46 8.52 9.02 9.33 10.04

Smartphone 4.60 4.81 4.71 4.87 6.71

Traditional 8.82 8.59 8.91 9.20 10.29

Tablet 8.32 8.30 8.84 9.28 10.04

Smartphone 4.66 4.80 4.69 4.90 6.49

Traditional 9.28 9.77 10.07 9.50 9.68

Tablet 9.56 10.82 11.19 10.45 11.02

Smartphone 4.11 5.54 5.72 5.67 7.17

US

GLO

BAL

GB

EQ4 2014


Average Page Views by Platform Q4 2013 Q1 2014 Q2 2014 Q3 2014 Q4 2014

Android 5.79 6.04 5.80 6.20 7.89

Chrome OS 8.90 9.18 9.34 9.82 7.89

Linux 4.65 4.33 4.83 5.37 4.17

Macintosh 9.04 9.00 9.55 9.75 11.21

Windows 6.32 4.90 4.88 4.77 6.60

Windows Phone 5.40 5.51 5.30 5.36 6.66

iOS 7.03 7.13 7.07 7.20 8.38

GLO

BAL


EQ4 2014

Average Order Value by Traffic Source Q4 2013 Q1 2014 Q2 2014 Q3 2014 Q4 2014

Email $134.25 $181.69 $177.12 $204.22 $172.99

Null (direct navigation) $146.72 $143.56 $148.72 $142.87 $123.84

Search $135.48 $137.29 $138.65 $137.50 $114.84

Social $115.49 $114.71 $117.11 $118.04 $100.97

Unknown $112.08 $87.07 $94.62 $124.83 $156.44

Average Order Value by Device Q4 2013 Q1 2014 Q2 2014 Q3 2014 Q4 2014

Traditional $143.44 $144.10 $149.31 $146.37 $126.26

Tablet $140.21 $131.55 $133.48 $125.79 $94.80

Smartphone $137.57 $149.74 $140.38 $138.18 $112.37

Traditional $142.45 $142.26 $149.43 $145.14 $127.28

Tablet $120.96 $112.36 $113.94 $99.95 $80.69

Smartphone $139.73 $126.38 $131.47 $120.00 $113.10

Traditional $167.93 $242.53 $210.41 $257.64 $155.03

Tablet $515.49 $658.46 $524.70 $658.08 $345.92

Smartphone $142.73 $194.15 $164.16 $201.03 $118.06

US

GLO

BAL

SOU

RCE

GB

EQ4 2014


Average Order Value by Platform Q4 2013 Q1 2014 Q2 2014 Q3 2014 Q4 2014

Android $124.22 $122.96 $117.15 $108.99 $85.91

Chrome OS $126.25 $121.48 $121.95 $121.19 $102.15

Linux $131.63 $128.39 $149.01 $142.03 $94.03

Macintosh $157.97 $152.22 $159.65 $155.31 $136.99

Windows $94.35 $90.95 $95.30 $118.16 $79.90

Windows Phone $137.14 $138.75 $125.63 $140.89 $93.24

iOS $142.04 $139.07 $139.05 $133.96 $113.23

GLO

BAL


EQ4 2014

Average Order Value by US State Q4 2014

Armed Forces - America $120.09

Armed Forces - Europe $162.38

Alaska $148.09

Alabama $111.44

Armed Forces - Pacific $155.00

Arkansas $116.03

Arizona $116.25

California $128.46

Colorado $123.70

Connecticut $122.36

District of Columbia $135.70

Delaware $132.62

Florida $123.04

Georgia $121.16

Hawaii $132.68

Iowa $115.85

Idaho $119.26

Illinois $121.49

Indiana $110.00

Kansas $114.60

Kentucky $112.44

Louisiana $118.68

Massachusetts $125.37

Maryland $119.11

Maine $107.81

Michigan $117.87

Minnesota $128.04

Average Order Value by US State Q4 2014

Missouri $112.86

Mississippi $110.88

Montana $117.75

North Carolina $113.75

North Dakota $135.71

Nebraska $117.01

New Hampshire $122.71

New Jersey $127.76

New Mexico $120.08

Nevada $125.21

New York $135.64

Ohio $114.34

Oklahoma $121.40

Oregon $126.37

Pennsylvania $107.57

Rhode Island $116.58

South Carolina $111.98

South Dakota $117.51

Tennessee $112.05

Texas $131.37

Utah $126.42

Virginia $116.87

Vermont $111.68

Washington $125.85

Wisconsin $119.31

West Virginia $106.76

Wyoming $120.77

EQ4 2014


Browser Market Share Q4 2013 Q1 2014 Q2 2014 Q3 2014 Q4 2014

Chrome 29.51% 28.54% 27.49% 25.37% 22.89%

Firefox 24.98% 25.84% 26.94% 28.64% 31.19%

IE 12.53% 11.61% 11.50% 10.99% 10.98%

Safari 31.02% 32.18% 32.52% 33.13% 32.90%

GLO

BAL

US

UK


EQ4 2014

About MonetateMonetate is the global leader in multichannel personalization for the

world’s best brands. The Monetate platform is built for speed. It features

an easy-to-use interface that allows marketers to create, test, and deploy

customized real-time experiences across web, email, and mobile.

With Monetate, marketing is transformed from a world of discrete one-

size-fits-all campaigns to one of always-on, personalized experiences that

optimize the lifetime value of each customer.

Founded in 2008, Monetate influences billions of dollars in annual revenue

for world-class brands like Macy’s, QVC, Office Depot, Patagonia, Sur la

Table, and The North Face. During Cyber Week 2014, Monetate influenced

a third of all US e-commerce sales. Monetate is the industry leader, with

more clients in the IR 500 than any other company.

EQ4 2014


For all media inquiries, questions, and feedback regarding the information in this report, or to obtain copies of previous releases of the EQ, contact:

Matt Helmke Sr. Director of Branding & Buzz

(215) 987-4441 [email protected]


EQ4 2014

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