Critical Success Factors for Personalisation Introduction To best optimise engagement and revenue, online and multichannel retailers need to personalise the brand and shopping experience for each customer. Since today s consumer engages across a variety of touchpoints, an omnichannel personalisation solution is needed to effectively capture a complete view of an individual and deliver the most relevant customer experience for conversion. The Resonance Personalisation Platform encapsulates the critical success factors needed to optimize results in today s dynamic retail market. Key Concepts Revenue Optimisation is more than just raising top line sales it s operating in a way that is both profi table and sustainable for the long term. Increasingly, online and omnichannel retailers are turning to personalisation to optimise revenue through an improved customer experience. To fully realise the benefi ts of Personalisation, retailers must use a Platform that addresses critical success factors and has real-time capability to deliver in and learn from multiple channels. The Resonance Personalisation Platform is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution from Certona that delivers real-time personalisation and automated revenue. optimization to online and multi-channel businesses. Intended For: Merchandisers ecommerce Professionals C-Level Executives IT Decision Makers You Will Learn How To: Address the Critical Success Factors for Revenue Optimisation Select a Personalisation Platform Use real-time Personalisation to increase engagement, conversions, and revenue Integrate a Personalised experience throughout your customer touchpoints. 1
About the Resonance Personalisation Platform Resonance is a real-time, omnichannel personalisation and revenue optimisation platform. Resonance SaaS solutions automate a retailer s ability to provide real-time, relevant, individualised product recommendations, promotions and content across all customer touchpoints. Resonance turns hit-or-miss shopping interactions into highly personal and engaging experiences by tailoring visits to the individual. However you interact with customers, Resonance profi les shopper behaviour in real-time and automatically delivers highly relevant recommendations. Resonance serves your omnichannel needs with applications for web, mobile, email, contact center, point-of-sale, social networks and beyond. Certona Recommendations TM real-time personalisation for ecommerce websites. Certona Mobile TM real-time personalisation for mcommerce, applications and tablets. Certona Email TM personalisation of transactional emails and marketing campaigns. Certona Remarketing TM timely follow up emails to cart & browser abandoners. Certona Contact Center TM real-time personalised recommendations in the contact center. About Certona Certona is the creator of Resonance, the market-leading personalisation and revenue optimisation platform for omnichannel retailers. Trusted by more than 400 top ecommerce sites throughout the world, Resonance increases average order value and revenue per visit by delivering individualised real-time product recommendations across all customer touchpoints, including mobile, web, email, contact center, point-of-sale, and more. Combined with a fl exible business rules engine, merchandisers can harness the power of real-time behavioural profi ling while maintaining control over their product recommendation and personalisation strategies. Contact Certona Today to Discover How Resonance Can Work For You. +44.845.121.5155 info@certona.co.uk www.certona.com CERTONA 12 Burleigh Street Covent Garden London WC2E7PX United Kingdom certona.com 12
Business Optimisation Applications Real-time Profi t Margin Optimisation Additional rules on top of the automated personalisation engine to promote merchandise with higher margins. Inventory Optimisation Based on pre-defi ned availability rules from the merchandising team. Price Optimisation Personalised Display of Product Reviews Dynamic Mapping of Content and Product Behaviour Dynamically changing the price for each product/item based on a variety of triggers or conditions defi ned by the retailer. Optimise the product review listing to show product reviews to each visitor from other visitors that are most like them in terms of their personal profi les. Dynamically show the right product offers based on the content the visitor is interested in and show the right content such as reviews, videos, how-to guides, based on the type of products the visitor shows interest in. Site Integration and Reporting Applications Turnkey Recommendations Web Services Let Resonance serve recommendations directly to the visitor s browser, including advanced functionality such as add-to-cart and quick view actions, scrolling recommendations and alert sign-up. 100% Web services implementation for maximum control of the content, rules and fi lters served up on your site (In addition to having your content boxes served up by Resonance directly). Built-in A/B Testing Detailed performance tracking (down to the item level) to track and measure the incremental lift directly attributed to personalised targeting (not taking credit for purchases that were ultimately replacements or cannibalistic to the overall cart value). Track all the pertinent performance metrics in great detail for both the A & B segments. 11
Omnichannel Applications Omnichannel Personalisation and Demand Optimisation Leveraging the purchase history across all channels including store, web and catalog to maximise relevance and product affi nity modeling. Contact Center Integration Leveraging the consumer s web behavioural and purchase profi le, catalog, contact center and in-store transactional history when available, for optimal product recommendations by the contact center associates. In-store Integration In-Store coupons and offers are personalised based on the consumers most-recent omnichannel behaviour. Mobile Integration Personalised recommendations and offers served up to consumers on mobile commerce websites, mobile applications, SMS texts and emails. Search Applications Personalised Search Results Integrated with site search tools to return the optimal results best suited for conversion, based on each visitor s unique profi le. Personalised Keyword Landing Pages Targeted product recommendations and content for landing pages based on the referring source, such as Google or Yahoo, and the search phrase the visitor typed to get to a site. For return visitors coming from a search engine results page, Resonance looks at their existing individualised profi les as well as the referring URL and search keywords that drove them to the site. Personalised Ad Delivery Adjust ad campaigns to serve personalised creative that optimises click-through rates, purchase conversion and ad impression effectiveness. 10
Resonance Services Resonance supports multiple channels with applications, integration and reporting services to provide consistent results for a variety of use cases: web store, marketing campaigns, mobile, contact center, omnichannel integration, search, business optimisation, integration and reporting. Web Store Applications Web Recommendations Resonance profi les user preferences from click stream data and transparently targets the consumer with the product recommendations and selections. Use for product pages, search results, shopping carts and any page of your site. Recommendations can be placed in multiple sections of an individual page. Personalized Home Pages Based on a returning visitor s previous behavioural or transactional profi le, referring URL, search engine keywords, merchandising rules or any combination of these attributes. Dynamic Segmentation Resonance allows visitors to be grouped together for predictive purposes. In this case, Resonance suggests items for which it predicts the highest satisfaction for the entire segment rather than for just a single visitor. Marketing Applications Personalised Email Marketing Dynamic and personalised product recommendations in both transactional and marketing emails. Optionally serves fresh content ever time the email is opened based on the recipients most recent behavioural/transactional profi le and product availability in the catalog. Personalised Remarketing Recover lost sales after visitors abandon shopping carts and browsed pages by providing timely follow up remarketing emails to stay engaged and incentivise them to convert. 9
Automated Personalisation Automation allows retailers to spend fewer resources to drive more revenue. Resonance uses behavioural data and catalog interactions to serve the best recommendations and content without manual effort. The Resonance service works 24 x 7 to keep customer and shopper profi les current with new business rules and data. Automation also extends to the self-optimising algorithms in Resonance, which maximises personalisation performance. The platform supports multiple recommendation algorithms such as for best sellers, most popular items, or new arrivals and dynamically chooses among them in real time to optimise the experience for each shopper. Merchandisers are experts of their products and catalogues. But with large and dynamic catalogs, broad user bases, and 24 x 7 inventory changes, there is a trade-off between powerful, large-scale personalisation and the cost of manual management. Manual personalisation and recommendations will be incomplete and, in most cases, out of date. This creates a generic, one-size-fi ts-all experience that undermines relevance and results. Resonance automation optimises personalisation selections and keeps them up-to-date no matter how big the catalog. With Resonance, merchandisers are fi nally able to automate operations based on fresh data and strategic business rules. Resonance Delivers Revenue Optimisation The Resonance Personalisation Platform is fully automated and addresses business, marketing and merchandising factors. Resonance does this with real-time capability to deliver and optimise the omnichannel experience. Resonance automates a retailer s ability to use real-time, relevant, individualised product recommendations, promotions and content. From the web to the contact center, email marketing and all customer touchpoints, retailers use Resonance to optimise revenue and create a profi table and sustainable business. 8
Real-time Personalisation There are many defi nitions of real-time personalisation. While many technology providers can track consumer behavior in real-time and dynamically serve up content in real-time, ask your provider if they can actually do both at the same time. Collaborative fi ltering, segmentation and test/targeting approaches can assist personalising to like-minded groups when little information is available about the individual. However for true dynamic personalisation, historical and, more importantly, current session behaviour are incorporated and rescored all together in real-time for the most accurate understanding of an individual s need or intent. Because real-time personalisation works immediately when and where shoppers connect, Resonance is always up-to-date and prepared to optimise. Once a new shopper engages, Resonance immediately builds a profi le of the shopper based on behavioural, demographic, and transactional data. This profi le is maintained and improved over the long term to increase customer loyalty and revenue over time. Omnichannel Resonance operates in all channels at all times. Instead of isolating data in silos, data is integrated to create a 360-degree view of every new and returning visitor. Resonance updates and processes this data in real-time to deliver the best experience possible at every touch point. Resonance is the only platform that can combine vast amounts of Big Data with current and historical consumer behaviour in real-time to deliver the most individualised experience possible. The result is true one-to-one personalisation that drives engagement and conversions. With Resonance, channels learn from one another. Behavioural profiling in one area is used to personalise the experience in others. For example, website behaviour is immediately applied to strengthen personalisation in channels such as the contact center, email marketing and mobile applications. This omnichannel personalisation builds a retailer s brand, lifts customer satisfaction, and increases engagement and revenue. These benefits combine to win loyal customers and improve retention. Multi-Algorithm Optimisation Resonance not only supports multiple recommendation algorithms, it also optimises among them. Resonance selects the best algorithm as well as the best products and content. Recommendation algorithms include: best sellers, featured products, new products, similar items, complimentary items, matching accessories, top rated, customers ultimately purchase..., people who viewed this also viewed... and many others. Resonance is a fl exible platform. Retailers can limit selections to a specifi c algorithm, set different algorithms for different situations, or let Resonance choose the optimal algorithms automatically. 7
Real-time, Omnichannel Personalisation Platform Resonance combines multiple inputs to provide targeted content for a variety of use cases: Real-time inputs the current shopping interaction. Historical inputs aggregate and individual customer history and demographics. Catalog inputs product and content attributes. Targeted Content Resonance targeted content drives dosens of use cases from web store applications to business optimisation: Web Store Applications Search Applications Marketing Applications Omnichannel Applications Business Optimisation Applications Web Recommendations Personalised Search Results Personalised Emails Omnichannel Personalisation Profi t Margin Personalised Pages Dynamic Segmentation Personalised Keyword Landing Pages Personalised Ad Delivery Personalised Email Alerts Personalised E-mail List Building Demand Optimisation Contact Center Integration In-Store Integration Mobile Integration Inventory Price Personalised Display of Product Reviews Dynamic Mapping of Content and Product Behaviour 6
Resonance Personalisation Platform The Resonance Platform delivers true 1:1 individualised customer experiences in real-time across all touchpoints. This Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution is provided by Certona to enable online and omnichannel businesses to deliver the most relevant message anytime, anywhere. Since today s consumers interact with brands from a mix of touchpoints, a personalisation platform must collect and leverage these data points to effectively optimise revenue. Certona is the only solution that automatically profi les, optimises, and delivers true dynamic personalisation in real-time. The solution includes a fl exible business-rules engine, giving companies the power of real-time behavioural profi ling with full control over personalisation and recommendation strategies. More Conversions and Revenue Certona delivers top-line results: Increase average order value by up to 50% Increase conversions up to 33% Increase items per order up to 50% Certona delivers bottom-line profi ts: Increase margins by promoting the right merchandise Optimise inventory based on availability rules Reduce administration costs with an automated SaaS solution Certona has over eight years of personalisation experience with more than seven years in production on hundreds of the world s leading ecommerce sites. As your personalisation partner, Certona guides your team to implement best practices, set strategies and goals, and continuously measure and optimize performance. Resonance lets you personalise the customer experience across the entire customer lifecycle, from personalised email campaigns and remarketing to targeted landing pages, website recommendations, mobile and in-store applications, and all touchpoints in between. Certona s experience translates into results. Below is a table showing how Certona recommendations have performed on key holidays: 5
In addition, you should be able to fi lter and summarize data by recommendation type and location for example by Category, Product, Search, Shopping Cart pages and other channels such as, Email, Mobile or Contact Center recommendations. Benefits of a Consistent Platform Implementing a single, consistent Personalisation Platform provides a host of performance and administrative benefi ts over using an integration of several different providers. Here are just a few: Modular addition of services when needed Coordinated universal upgrades A constant security model Standardised data integration Omnichannel and cross-application uniformity of personalisation and selections Flexible, unifi ed reporting 4
Choosing A Personalisation Platform To realise the full benefi ts of Personalisation, retailers need more than a recommendation engine. They need an automated platform that can deliver and adapt the omnichannel experience for each customer in real-time. They need a tool that can address business, marketing, and merchandising factors, and translate them into specifi c tactics on a person-by-person basis. Feature Real-Time Self-Optimising Omnichannel Multiple Applications Multiple Algorithms Algorithm Optimization Business Rules Collaborative Filtering Browse Behaviour Purchase Behaviour Customer Attributes Product Attributes Various Content Open Platform Low Technology Impact Reporting & A/B Testing Functionality Visitor profi ling after 3 to 4 clicks Continuous learning using current browse session and history Web, email, contact center, mobile, store Recommendations, promotions, messaging, banners, reviews, search Best sellers, related items, most popular, new arrivals or personalised Automatically chooses the best algorithm for each individual recommendation Any attribute that is part of the catalog feed or customer segment Used when not enough personal information is available Category browsing, product views, site search, review, add to cart Purchase history over time Member information, ratings, reviews, arrival date, inventory Category, price, margin, ratings Products, reviews, videos, content Standards-based interfaces to easily integrate and add channels SaaS with no requirement for website redesign Detailed analytics for each location, touchpoint and application Platform Performance Metrics If you cannot measure performance, then you cannot improve or optimise results. A Personalisation Platform must track ROI and perform ongoing tests to tune the platform as shoppers, business rules, merchandising rules, marketing, and technology change over time. Metrics to compute and compare on an on-going basis: Percent of visitors who respond to Recommendations Conversion Rate of Responders and Non-Responders Average Order Value of Responders and Non-Responders Average Items Per Order from Responders and Non-Responders Revenue Contribution amount and percent for Responders These can be compared between recommendation sources (such as manual selections vs. platform selections) and over time. A/B testing and metrics should be built into the system, making it easy to compare values, rates and trends between scenarios such as no recommendations, prior site recommendations and platform recommendations. 3
The Critical Success Factors of Personalisation Consumers have access to more information than ever before. They can research, engage, and buy through a growing list of channels. They expect a seamless and personalised experience from every brand as they cross mobile sites, emails, contact centers, social networks, and stores. Retailers are challenged to meet the needs of this omnichannel shopper. Only the most relevant experience can maximise engagement and conversions. This requires leveraging data across all channels and personalising the experience in real-time. Below is a set of critical success factors that must be present in any strategy or technology that hopes to optimise revenue with personalisation. Critical Success Factors for Revenue Optimisation Strategic Personalisation across the customer lifecycle (Acquisition, Engagement, Conversion, Retention) Integration of omnichannel data Realistic goals and expectations (revenue lift, resources required) A partner with deep retail experience Automation Automated and self optimizing (SaaS, Rapid Implementation, Minimal Resources) Omnichannel targeting in real-time (<200 ms response) Flexible business rules engine (Revenues, Pricing, Margins, Inventory) Support for dynamic merchandising (control the customer experience, manage exceptions, support promotions) Performance Real-time collection and use of browse, search, review and purchase data Scalability to manage very large & complex product catalogs Ability to leverage vast offl ine purchase and customer data Detailed performance tracking and reporting for continuous optimisation 2