Customer Acquisition

5 Questions You Need to Ask to Impact the Path to Purchase
January 8, 2018 at 10:38 am

Technology has created an omnichannel world that's bringing together physical and digital shopping experiences and offering a proliferation of touchpoints that influence consumers’ brand opinions and buying behaviors. Marketers are scrambling with how to deal with this new reality, and often there's a lack of insight on how the paths to purchase are influencing sales…

Stand Out in a Global Economy by Understanding the Customer Journey
January 5, 2018 at 12:04 pm

Many major e-commerce players such as Amazon.com, Taobao, Tmall and JD.com have already gone global, and they’re erasing customer borders for other retailers. Now, merchants in countries like China can access consumers in the U.S. and vice versa. While reaching new customers worldwide has its benefits (Chinese customers account for about half of e-commerce purchases,…

Why Customer Assumptions Are Ruining Your Customer Experience
January 4, 2018 at 8:53 am

You know what they say about making assumptions, right? Well it’s true in life and in customer support. For years, marketers and customer experience leaders have leaned on traditional assumptions of customer needs and preferences when identifying when and how to engage with consumers. The problem is that these types of assumptions oversimplify who the…

Analyst Predicts Amazon Will Buy Target This Year
January 2, 2018 at 1:24 pm

Amazon.com's recent acquisitions have redefined the retail landscape. However, according to a well-known industry analyst, its largest acquisition could happen in 2018. Loup Venture Co-Founder Gene Munster believes Amazon will acquire Target this year. “Target is the ideal offline partner for Amazon for two reasons, shared demographic and manageable but comprehensive store count,” Munster wrote in…

Avoiding the Gremlins in the Customer Journey This Holiday Season
December 13, 2017 at 10:33 am

Fans of the 80’s cult-classic movie "Gremlins" will remember that it takes place around the holidays, as the cute little mogwai “Gizmo” is given as a gift. However, the exotic mogwai comes with three important rules: Don’t expose the mogwai to light (or it will die), don’t get it wet, and definitely don’t feed it…

Putting — and Keeping — the Customer in the Center, Part 2
December 6, 2017 at 5:25 pm

Successful businesses must be customer-centric. Retail marketers know it’s important, but they’re confused about how to make it happen. This is understandable, considering some of the challenges they face. Retailers still have a myopic view of customers, and thus they're lacking answers to basic questions such as the following: Where is most revenue coming from? What are the challenges associated with generating repeat purchases from loyal customers? Where do we need improvements to our customer marketing, channels, products and services?

Why Merchants Need to Understand Market Elasticity to Master Paid Search
November 17, 2017 at 11:39 am

Recently, I sat in a meeting with a retail marketing manager who was presenting on the performance of his paid search campaigns. With a wide grin, he proclaimed that in the last month his team had delivered a 20 percent increase in sales conversions while still remaining within the targeted CPA (cost per acquisition), which…

Small Retailers Must Evolve From Customer Satisfaction to Customer Obsession
November 14, 2017 at 11:14 am

Today more than ever, retailers are being forced to take their focus on customer satisfaction to extraordinary levels. The standard for customer satisfaction is being driven higher by companies like Amazon.com and its large retail competitors as these companies move from a focus on “customer satisfaction” to “customer obsession.” This obsession has made factors such…

Putting — and Keeping — Retail Customers in the Center, Part 1
November 8, 2017 at 5:38 pm

The heat is on retailers to become customer-centric. Customers have higher expectations than ever before, and competitors that reliably meet those expectations seize a reliable edge. The key is to put the customer at the center with cohesive data and purpose, starting at the top.

Is Your Brand Ready for the Black Friday Rush?
November 6, 2017 at 10:07 am

Black Friday is poised to be strong for U.S. retailers this year, according to findings from a recent study conducted by Periscope® By McKinsey, which was designed to determine consumer sentiment towards the shopping event as well as the categories consumers will shop in and how they will shop. Almost half (44 percent) of U.S.…