Guide to Online Retail Marketing Strategy

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2 Welcome to our latest guide this one focuses on marketing strategies and advice for Online Retail Marketers. In this guide marketing expert and trainer Maria Khoury will take you through three of the most successful strategies that you can implement, without trouble, to improve your marketing activities. Implementing a welcome programme Managing expectations So many great online retailers fall down on their marketing by not managing their recipient s expectations correctly from the moment they hand over their details. It is vital that a recipient feels that they are experiencing a seamless brand process from the web sign up to the welcome as this will form the basis of their belief in you from now on. I mean you wouldn t employ someone who didn t match up to their CV and you wouldn t date someone who claimed that they were god s gift yet were actually pretty useless and unreliable. Not just a welcome message Your welcome programme is not just a welcome message it s the first impressions that a potential buyer will have of how you deal with your communications and in turn, them. It s a reflection of your brand and everything it stands for you meet your other halves parent s for the first time and you don t wear joggers and smell like the great unwashed. Your welcome programme shouldn t either. Almost perfect I ll take you through an example of an online retailer getting so close to a good experience but just falling short. Figleaves have a great site and their sign up is nice and prominent on their homepage which is perfect. The sign up page is great very clear, on brand and tells me exactly what I ll be getting by handing over my address. It has a clear call to action and doesn t ask me for lots of details. Page 2 of 8 Pure360.com

3 And then I receive a very bland and text heavy welcome . No sign of the fresh website here no personalisation, just a lot of dull information that has no human element of connection to it. There are no clear calls to action just a lot of links. This is such a shame after setting my expectations so high. Potential welcome programmes Now we ll run through a couple of welcome programmes that you could implement yourselves (keeping those expectations fulfilled of course). The product specific programme Why? To capture people in the process of researching potential products The sign up: The sign up for this programme should feature wherever you have product information on your site. Keep it relevant If they click on a delivery page then would they like to receive information on delivery times for their area? If it is a specific product page then would they like to be kept up to date with availability or price changes? If they are on a page with an out of stock product, would they like info on alternatives? Keep it simple and just ask for an address you can always ask for more information later. Page 3 of 8 Pure360.com

4 The welcome s: 1 Time is of the essence with this first and make sure that if your product areas differ in looks dependent on their category, you reflect which category they signed up from with their design. At the very least make sure that the general look of the site is used, you d be amazed how many brands fail to do this. Reinforce why they are receiving the 2 After the initial , the next one must be providing them with exactly the information that they asked for no more and no less, you want to build this relationship by trust. 3 The third can dig a little further by telling them that you d love to offer them a % discount off their next purchase once they ve answered some simple questions such as name, products of interest, shopping habits. Try to limit this to just 5 questions or you could even offer 2% per question answered and see how far that gets you. 4 In the fourth ask them if they d like to join your club and become members this leads on nicely to the next programme which should take you through to sale... The membership programme Why? You want to keep potential buyers engaged with your brand and products until they purchase The sign up: Offer members special promotions, previews of the latest products, access only areas of content such as fashion tips for a fashion retailer or recipes for a food & drink retailer. Make them feel like they d be part of an exclusive group by registering their details (and most importantly always deliver on your promises). This page needs to reflect the exclusivity and added value, so show them an example of what they would be receiving in their inbox and offer them a sneak preview of the content they could receive. The welcome s: 1 It is vital that the first is immediate and continues to reflect the exclusive nature of the membership. Reinforce what they can expect to receive as part of this membership and personalise the to them with a first name. 2 At this point you can introduce a preference centre to continue with the all about you theme and ask them what products or areas they re interested in. How frequently would they like to receive their information? 3 A week later send them their first promotional discount code and here you can ask them some more questions about their shopping habits, so you start to build a very personal profile about them and their buying behaviour before they ve even purchased a product. 4 The next week send an offering two content subjects and ask their opinion on which they d prefer to hear about on the website this makes them feel that their opinion is valued and better connected with your brand in return you ll have greater insight into the popularity of topics. Page 4 of 8 Pure360.com

5 5 Finally in the fourth week you can send them a product related which is totally tailored to their own preferences and you know it s relevant to them as they ve told you over the past few weeks. NB. Don t forget to find out about significant dates to them and don t just stick to their birthday if they re a Mrs or Mr when is their anniversary? Got kids when are their birthdays/graduations? Building a profile of your customers/potential customers Getting to know you We ve actually covered in the welcome programme section how you can start to collect information about your recipients. As marketers you know the importance of this kind of insight and how it can make your activities more targeted and connected to your end audience, so I won t wax lyrical about it. Another way you can collect this data is by using online surveys and polls, they re simple to set up and easy for gathering little titbits of personal data that could be otherwise a bit tricky to gather. Online survey vs polls An online survey is asking more than one question which means a larger investment of time from the user. You will also find that users today are slightly more cynical as to what their answers will be used for so it s imperative that you have their trust already or can convincingly gain it. On the upside you can ask as many questions as you like and start to build a fuller picture of them than when using polls. You can also offer them a copy of the completed survey when the information has been collated so they feel they re getting a bigger value in return for their efforts. Polls are great to gather opinion-based information for a more targeted area such as opinions on perceived quality between two product brands or whether they d go for price or quality when purchasing a product. You can dig down to some gritty detail with a poll as users aren t as suspecting as to what will happen to their answer as it s just the one question they can also see immediately how their response stacked up against the masses, which is appealing to their self esteem. Survey & Poll Tips 1. Make sure it s easy to access the survey/poll, use your other marketing touch-points such as signatures, website homepage, thank you pages for sign up forms and welcome messages to link to it. 2. Make it social link to the survey/poll from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and make sure once someone has filled it in, they are offered the chance to share it themselves amongst their social networks. 3. Incentivise your survey/poll this could be from a free copy of the completed survey report to the latest gadget or money off a next purchase. You could use a prize draw but the prize would need to be very appealing as they know their chances are reduced. Instant gratification is always the most attractive. 4. Test the number of questions every brand will hold a different level of trust with their users so some would be happy to answer 5 questions whereas some would only get away with a Page 5 of 8 Pure360.com

6 few. Test out the different numbers (you could use two different webpages and A/B split test them using two lists) and see what works best for your brand. 5. Bear in mind any legal implications if you re unsure of what T&Cs to use for giveaways then you could always look at what a few other sites use and select elements from each that work for you. 6. State your intentions how are you planning to use the information they re giving you? Make it clear from the start and offer an opt out from receiving future communications from it. You may lose some numbers now but in the future it ll save you from the junk folder or getting reported as spam. 7. Know what you want be clear in your mind what you are trying to achieve from the start, what is the minimum information are you trying to get from them? Don t lose sight of this. 8. Always say thank you and in the thank you message why not ask them if they d like to sign up for your newsletter or add your latest sales promotion. Phrasing your questions 1. Use plain English and avoid jargon and acronyms 2. Try to use short sentences wherever possible. Long questions tend to cause respondents discomfort and they may abandon the survey. 3. Ask one question at a time- avoid confusing the respondent with a question like 'Do you like football and tennis?' 4. Don t influence the answer questions loaded with should can have an influence on this 5. Allow them to answer the question make sure that the answer format used allows the respondent to answer the question being asked, as a last resort you could add a not sure or don t know. 6. Be aware of using yes/no questions these can be good to spot trends but don t work for deeper insightful knowledge 7. KISS Keep it simple stupid! They won t want to spend more than 5 mins completing the survey 8. Softly softly catchy monkey Leave demographic questions until last so you don t scare them off, by then they should be in a good flow. Don t forget the happy ever after Now you ve done the survey or poll you want to make sure that you can analyse it properly and use it to have an impact on your future marketing. Here s a checklist of making the happy every after: Make sure your survey tool has the ability to collect the data you want and can present it in a clear way for you to do your analysis Page 6 of 8 Pure360.com

7 Once you ve collated your responses and done your report then send a copy to the recipients with a thank you note, and make it prompt Make a plan of exactly how you re going to use the data to impact your marketing what campaigns will you do off the back of it? Stick to it! Retarget your existing database Retargeting your existing database is a really easy way to keep your marketing costs down and turning dead contacts into ones that are active. Split your database into the following categories and then send a targeting to each, for example: The opens entice them to click with a special promotion The non opens change up your subject lines and test different days/times to get that click through The clicks you know they re interested but perhaps the price is putting them off or the product isn t quite suitable? We saw you looking at x and thought we d offer you some alternatives or Today only an extra % off x The converted these guys are prime for either post purchase feedback (if you have product reviews on your site then link to that and ask them to leave one) or an upsell with connected product You ve bought a laptop these accessories may be of interest to you. When you re retargeting, think about what information you already hold about them and use it to personalise the subject lines. Even if you don t have their name you can still use information you do know such as the products they were looking at or the last time they responded to an . Re-engaging with your database works especially well when you are more personalised with them and show you know what they want, so make sure you ve armed yourself with insight as we talked about in the previous two sections. Truprint case study In this example one of our customers Truprint wanted to increase the numbers of purchases they had during an Easter promotion. Page 7 of 8 Pure360.com

8 Guide to Online Retail Marketing Strategy They sent an to previous non-purchasers, which was designed to drive them to purchase. They then analysed the results and sent a second to the non-openers or non-clickers offering them a further discount They found that by retargeting their current database they turned a vast number of their non actives into actives who continue to engage with their marketing campaigns. They also saw an increase in their purchases, so much so that they are now looking at new ways to segment and target their distribution list. Want to know more? Author of this guide, Maria Khoury, is one of the many talented and experienced people who make up the team at Pure360. Founded in 2001, Pure360 is one of Europe s top marketing companies. Recently listed as the fastest growing service provider in Europe by GP Bullhound, the multilingual platform PureResponse is used by 2000 marketers in over 50 countries. Pure360 provides brands and agencies, regardless of size, the technology, know-how and support to run effective marketing campaigns that have a measurable and positive impact on their business. With a simple online interface and in-depth reporting tools, the PureResponse platform was created by marketers for marketers to make marketing easy and enjoyable. Brighton-based Pure360 has a portfolio of customers that includes Innocent Drinks, LA Fitness, Rightmove, Seatwave and media giant The FT Group. The platform can also be available as a whitelabel service for agencies. If you d like to talk to one of us then call or us at contact@pure360.co.uk We re also on Twitter (@pure360) or sign up for our newsletter online Page 8 of 8 Pure360.com