ON TREND Ecommerce trends to take you to number one in 2021
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Contents Issue 1 LoyaltyLion – The inside story: owning your narrative Shopify Plus – How brands will leverage technology ecosystems Klaviyo – A balancing act between in-store and online shopping ReCharge – Non-traditional subscription models
Issue 2 Nosto – Personalization becomes communalization Zaius – The year to unlock growth by turning to predictions Skubana – Be direct-to-everywhere Justuno – You don’t have to manualize
Issue 3 REVIEWS.io – It’s time for more authenticity
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Rewind – The Data Protection Boom 2021
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Attentive – Prepare for the move to m-commerce
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Shoelace – Why creatives will define your advertising strategy
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ON YOUR WATCH It’s time for more authenticity, reviews alone are not enough
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Let’s get really personal We all know how important reviews are for building trust, improving customer service and growing brand reputation. But what’s become apparent is that on their own, they no longer hold the same sway over consumer opinion. Whilst they’re still important, an overabundance of text reviews has taken the edge off their power. Going forward in 2021, when the ecommerce space will be more competitive than ever, brands need to focus on authenticity. But what does that actually mean? Essentially, it means more. It’s no longer about who’s got the highest star rating or review count. It’s about a wider brand experience. You need to strike the balance of a review strategy that gives a complete and transparent picture, provides a personal touch to all too often impersonal interactions, and makes use of unique, engaging content that brings your brand to life. To achieve that, let’s start with something you may not have considered.
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Embrace negative reviews – they’re not the enemy
There’s a common myth that negative reviews are bad for business, when in fact, they play a crucial role in creating an authentic brand reputation. Why? Because consumers are wary of implied perfection. In a recent study we conducted that compared the profiles of ten ecommerce companies of varying sizes – and with differing review counts – customers were five times more likely to filter for one-star reviews than five-star ones. What they’re after its validity, proof that your reviews are genuine, and reassurance on how you deal with negative experiences. So how do you build authenticity from a one-star review?
It’s how you respond that counts – never shy away from criticism and don’t take it personally. See negative reviews as a chance to show exceptional customer service
Use it to build greater trust – by responding to negative feedback, you increase consumer confidence in a way 10,000 positive reviews could never achieve
Make a human connection – with little to no contact information available, too many ecommerce brands appear distant and unobtainable. Public response to a negative review that references further contact shows you’re engaged on a personal level
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Collect UGC at the most appropriate time User-generated video content has exploded over the past few years – just look at the launch of Instagram’s IGTV and the phenomenal success of TikTok if you want evidence. But despite its popularity, it’s not easy for brands to get hold of. Thankfully, it’s a trend that’s entered the review space. It provides the opportunity to generate unique, authentic content with a well-timed request. Brands collecting video reviews aren’t seeing scripted pieces to camera. They’re getting a glimpse into a customer’s life and seeing first hand how their products fit into it. This kind of content is priceless. It gives insight into the customer experience that you can use to inform product development. And for your target market, it shows how your brand works in action. Having products positively portrayed, through video content by actual customers, is the single most effective way to boost authenticity and trust with your customers. Combine these with text and photo reviews and you’ll have an engaging body of social proof to leverage brand trust across all your marketing channels.
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Yappy, a pet store for personalized dog gifts, has a unique approach to personal customer reviews, as you write a review on behalf of your trusting companion.
Socially conscious operations REVIEWS.io has seen a huge uptake in the use of tools like Klaviyo, with brands creating unique flows built around personalization. Not just for review requests, but also for incorporating UGC in both pre and post-purchase communication. Loyalty programs are another way to add a personal touch and generate more authentic reviews. Judas Sinned has built a community of brand advocates by offering exclusive deals perks for being loyal customers. These advocates then leave more social proof and reviews that get new customers to covert. One final trend to look out for in terms of personalization is reviewer attributes. These are the finer details that offer greater product insight. By collecting feedback on things like fit, comfort and quality, your reviews become far less generic and more geared around a personal shopping experience.
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Google Seller Ratings are only going to get more relevant It’s a common trend that evolves year on year, and the latest updates around
Google Seller
Ratings are all about promoting authenticity. It means no more incentives for company reviews, a requirement that both positive and negative reviews are shown on a public profile and stricter moderation policies. At the end of the day, this all comes down to ensuring transparency. There are lot of boxes to tick, but your Google Seller Rating is your key to more sales. Stars in both organic search and Ads give you more clout, increasing online visibility, attracting attention, and boosting click-through rates. A strong Seller Rating also reduces your cost per click. Hot tub company Wave Spas has seen a huge decrease in ad spend since driving its review strategy forward, lowering CPC whilst simultaneously boosting conversions. It’s a win-win. And because Google enforces such strict regulations, there’s no questioning that your online reputation is anything but authentic.
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Putting it all into practice If your review strategy for 2021 revolves solely around collection and publication, you’re missing out on a great opportunity. Focusing on true authenticity is the best way to connect with today's savvy audience, drive engagement, and stay competitive. Here’s a recap:
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Make negative reviews a positive asset Request video reviews for greater product insight Keep personalization front and center Share a combination of content for social proof throughout the buyer journey And don’t forget to keep Google happy
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About the author Richard Ball Marketing Manager, REVIEWS.io Rich is the Marketing Manager and UX Developer at REVIEWS.io. He writes to help boost consumer trust and develops to optimize a user experience with the brand or products.
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About REVIEWS.io REVIEWS.io sources genuine reviews to help its customers make a positive impact on their business by providing the tools to invite, publish and manage review content. With features such as Video Reviews, Influencer and Social Proof Editor, REVIEWS.io users have everything they need to share and respond to feedback to increase trust.
ON GUARD The data protection boom of 2021
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On the up The early results are in for Black Friday/Cyber Monday 2020. And it looks really good. According to Shopify, their merchants sold $5.1 billion in the four-day stretch. That’s a 76% increase over 2019. In a challenging few months, the continued success of ecommerce has been a bright spot for many business owners. At Rewind HQ there was a flurry of activity as well. We protect over 33 billion pieces of data and it was incredible to watch through our view of the ecommerce landscape.
Here is a sneak peek Without getting too technical, a webhook is a log of events or actions performed by an ecommerce store using Rewind. This could be a change to a product description, an edit to a theme, or a sale. Rewind records all of it. Every change is saved and stored. What the graph shows is that during Black Friday, the number of changes or events recorded doubled. Cyber Monday was no different. Here’s why we think that’s important. Ecommerce will not slow down in 2021. Sales will continue to grow, the competition will increase, and small businesses that haven’t embraced online channels will need to adapt or risk getting left behind. This means that more and more data will be created. This means more data that can be lost in a heartbeat.
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If you’re online, your data is at risk There is a common misconception where people think, “but doesn’t XYZ ecommerce platform save everything?” Well, not really. These platforms do store the last change that was made, but it’s not guaranteed the data will be there next time you log in. It all boils down to something called the “Shared Responsibility Model,” a common term in cloud computing but not well known in ecommerce circles.
Here’s what this model looks like The diagram shows sections of an ecommerce store that each party is responsible for protecting. It’s a framework used by most software-as-a-service tools. In addition to Shopify and BigCommerce, other online software tools like QuickBooks Online or Trello follow the same framework. Users are on the hook for understanding how to protect their own data. It’s also a challenge of logistics. All those data sets that Rewind protects up are spread across 70,000 users. But Shopify, BigCommmerce and Quickbooks have millions and millions of users. If you do the math, that’s an unimaginable amount of data. Because of how their software is built, all your data is lumped in with everyone else. So trying to isolate it would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack, in a field of haystacks.
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The impact of ecommerce downtime Every store is different but our 2020 Ecommerce Data Protection survey found that:
91% of merchants spent significant time and money rebuilding their sites 89% said they lost sales with some losing upwards of $5000 per day
In 2015, GymShark, the billion-dollar clothing retailer, lived this nightmare right in the middle of BFCM. Their website went down for eight hours, costing them an estimated $143,000 USD in lost sales. Whisker Seeker, the top cat-fishing manufacturer in North America, had every SKU in their store accidentally deleted days before Black Friday. They spent the next 72 hours redoing all the product images and descriptions. They got the store up and running, but they were behind operationally for the rest of the holiday season. Even this past BFCM we had one customer restore their entire product line, over 23,000 SKUs, at 12:37 AM EST on Black Friday. Imagine the chaos which would have ensued if they had to fix all that manually. Best case scenario you are up and running in a few days. Worst case scenario, one we have heard happen, is you call it a day for your ecommerce store. Merchants have worked too hard and too long to let these worst-case scenarios happen. Luckily there are things you can do heading into 2021 to help protect your business from a data disaster.
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A data protection strategy for everyone We see three common causes of data loss and here are the steps you can take to mitigate them all.
Keeping out cyber criminals Cyber attacks are happening to businesses of all sizes these days. Cybercrime has been on the rise for years and 2020 was no different. Interpol and the FBI saw an increasing number of attacks; specifically in ransomware and phishing. And if criminals get a hold of your data or worse, wipe it clean, it could cost around $200,000 to recover. Your best line of defense is to create complex passwords, use a password manager like 1Password to stay organized, and only provide online access to the employees or contractors who need it. Retail stores often have “keyholders� who are entrusted with access to certain parts of the business. You should bring the same level of accountability for your ecommerce operations.
Audit third-party applications All the additional software and tools you integrate into an ecommerce store can make life so much easier, Yet they can also wreak havoc. Many of them have access to a significant amount of data. Furthermore, if you read the terms and conditions thoroughly, many have the ability to make changes or delete data. We have seen it happen with our customers and it always comes as a shock. We recommend doing a deep dive into all the tools that are connected to your online store every year. Make a list of all the ways they can manipulate and revise your data and decide whether keeping them is worth the risk.
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Put a backup strategy in place If you have one, odds are you are doing it manually. There is nothing wrong with this approach, but it’s time-consuming. Repopulating a store, even for the most organized of teams, can take days, sometimes weeks. And keep in mind, every time you make a change to your store, you need to manually update all associated files. The other option is to use backup software that automatically restores any lost data. There are two approaches to this. The first is to hire a software developer to build you a customized solution, which can be a very expensive proposition. The other solution is to source an off-the-shelf solution that integrates with your online store. But, make sure you do your homework. As we noted before, not all apps play nice with your store environment or lack a high-quality product.
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On your toes These three strategies are very straightforward and ones you could start implementing today. The growth of online shopping won’t be stopping anytime soon, which means more and more vital data to protect. Having a data protection strategy in place will secure your business well into 2021 and for years to come.
About the author Mike Potter CEO, Rewind Mike is the co-founder and CEO of Rewind, the leading cloud data backup provider. Rewind is trusted by over 70,000 businesses to protect their data on a growing list of platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, QuickBooks, Trello, and Github. He earned his MBA from the University of Ottawa and his B.Eng in Mechanical Engineering from McMaster University. Mike currently resides in Ottawa, Canada.
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About Rewind Since 2015,
Rewind has been on a mission to help
businesses protect their SaaS and cloud data. Today, over 70,000 customers in more than 100 countries use Rewind's top-reviewed apps and support to ensure their software-as-a-service applications run uninterrupted. The Rewind platform enables companies to back up, restore and copy the critical data that drives their business.
ON THE GO Prepare for the move to m-commerce with personalized text message marketing
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On the way up The pivot from brick-and-mortar stores to online retail was well underway before COVID-19, but the pandemic
quickened ecommerce growth by approximately five years, according to IBM’s
U.S. Retail Index. It also solidified the shift to mobile shopping. Data from Business Insider shows that mobile shopping – or m-commerce – accounted for more than 25% of all ecommerce in 2019. Some experts anticipate that number to nearly
triple in 2021.
For brands, the challenge now is bridging the gap between a shopper’s smartphone screen and your checkout page. Text message marketing empowers ecommerce brands to thrive in an increasingly mobile-first world. According to Attentive research, over 90% of consumers are ready to sign up to receive text messages from businesses. By delivering the personalized, 1:1 interactions consumers crave on their preferred channel, your business can boost sales and build long-term loyalty in 2021 and beyond.
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The impact of COVID-19 on m-commerce and buyer behavior According to Adobe’s May 2020 Digital Economy Index, ecommerce shopping levels from April to May of 2020
outpaced the 2019 holiday shopping season from November to December.
Online sales driven by smartphones increased alongside this surge in ecommerce activity, with the share of products purchased via smartphone growing 10% in May 2020 when compared to January 2020. Businesses took notice. A survey from CommerceNext revealed that while retailers were reducing their overall marketing spend in 2020, investment in text-based marketing was on the rise. In June 2020, retailers said they expected their spending on text-based communications to increase by more than 50% over the year. This trend was on full display during last year’s holiday season when brands and consumers alike doubled down on m-commerce. Holiday spending broke records – last year’s Cyber Monday became the biggest US ecommerce day in history – and 37% of these sales were made on mobile devices.
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On the verge Attentive’s 2020 Retail & E-Commerce Holiday Marketing Report found that
78% of retailers
planned to send more text messages than average each week throughout November and December, with nearly half of those surveyed planning to use their text messaging channel to treat subscribers like VIPs by sending them SMS-exclusive promotions.
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Our research also illustrated how comfortable shoppers had become with text message marketing heading into 2021. Not only are the vast majority of consumers open to signing up to receive text messages from businesses, 55% already have. And approximately half of consumers say they became more interested in signing up to receive text messages from businesses over 2020.
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When compared to emails, text messages provide nearly 3x more revenue per message for Skatie. Within ten months, text messages were driving 29.8% of the brand’s total revenue.
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Opportunities to drive revenue in 2021 and beyond Just as consumers expect to be able to connect with businesses on social media today, they’re increasingly demanding the opportunity to communicate with their favorite brands via text messaging. However, not all brands have adopted a mobile-first mindset. While the majority of consumers already use text messaging to connect with businesses, many brands are failing to use this channel to its full potential, from sharing promotional offers and other marketing updates to providing customer service. In 2021, ecommerce businesses that leverage text message marketing across the entire customer lifecycle – from acquisition to retention – will outperform their competitors. The key to doing so is treating SMS as a two-way conversation channel instead of a broadcast-only platform. One example is sustainable fashion brand Skatie, which has moved from engaging fans primarily on social media to
building customer relationships over text message.
The brand is careful to ensure every message sounds like it’s talking directly to the recipient. When subscribers reply, it feels like a personal conversation between friends rather than a business transaction. This has helped Skatie differentiate their brand from larger, corporate competitors while significantly increasing incremental revenue.
On it This channel also improves overall customer experiences to support long-term loyalty. For instance, home goods retailer
Big Blanket Co integrated its text message marketing
solution with its helpdesk software to enable direct responses to customer communications sent via text message. All text messages received from a customer are automatically forwarded to the brand’s customer support team queue so they can quickly assist the customer on their preferred channel and keep two-way conversations going. Along with personalized messages promoting specific products, interactions such as these helped Big Blanket Co drive 18% of total revenue from text messaging within only four months.
Strategies for successful text message marketing Ecommerce brands are navigating a transformative moment in digital marketing. Consumers not only expect businesses to connect with them on their channel of choice, but to do so in a way that’s tailored to their unique wants and needs. Personalized customer experiences have evolved from a tool for targeted offers to table stakes across the whole buyer journey. Still, 60% of consumers feel like brands are
failing to deliver truly personalized experiences.
The opportunity for ecommerce brands to separate themselves from the competition remains huge.
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On the to do list Keep the customer lifecycle in mind: Concentrate on using personalized text messages to build brand affinity at every stage of the buyer journey, from first interaction with your brand to customer service inquiries to post-purchase communications.
Stay relevant: Personalize text messages so communications are specifically tailored to subscribers. Use segmentation to customize messaging based on when a subscriber joined your list, what they’ve clicked on, which products they’ve purchased, where they’re located, and more.
Refine targeting: Leverage time zone-based sending and geographic data to ensure messages are delivered at appropriate times for subscribers and don’t contain copy that is irrelevant to subscribers located in specific regions.
Encourage two-way interactions: Take advantage of sharing an inbox with your subscribers' close family and friends by engaging the same way we all do with text: in two-way conversations. Responding to shoppers' text messages as quickly as possible – whether to resolve an outstanding issue or obtain valuable feedback – helps you drive brand loyalty by building relationships with subscribers and improving the customer experience.
Never stop optimizing: Conduct A/B testing to continually optimize your strategy – analyzing copy, imagery, and call to action variations to determine what performs best for your target audiences. Consistently evaluate the performance of your text messages across segments and keep an eye on opt-out rates. Significant variations in subscriber engagement with your text message marketing program may indicate a need for adjustment – whether that means scaling up or down personalized content.
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On message By recognizing text message marketing for what it is – a way to have personalized, 1:1 interactions with consumers across the customer lifecycle on their preferred channel – ecommerce businesses can position themselves to increase revenue and deepen customer connections in 2021 and beyond.
About the author Allison Kelly
Head of Growth Strategy, Attentive Allison leads Attentive’s technology partnerships, helping our customers further adopt the Attentive platform alongside other technologies in the space. Spending the last eight years in the marketing technology industry working with companies like Digital River, BounceX and Cordial, her industry experience brings incredible value to both Attentive customers and technology partners alike. Allison holds a dual BA in History and Marketing from the University of West Georgia.
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About Attentive Attentive is a personalized mobile messaging platform for innovative brands and organizations that can quickly become a top three revenue channel. Using real-time behavioral data, Attentive automatically sends engaging text messages to each subscriber at every step of the customer lifecycle. Over 2,000 leading businesses rely on Attentive and are seeing strong performance, like 30%+ click-through rates and 25x+ ROI.
ON THE EDGE Why creatives will define your advertising strategy in 2021
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On a journey When Shoelace was in its infancy, we found our footing by spearheading a new definition of advertising we dubbed Customer Journey Advertising. At the time, it was an innovative concept: in an era where merchants pushed generic display ads over-and-over again, we believed in carefully thought out ad experiences that provided unique value to audiences based on where they were in the funnel. This turned out to be the first of many shifts towards the democratization of high-brow ad experiences, even for merchants without the comforts of venture funding. As new ad platforms opened, technology got smarter with integrations, and machine learning allowed merchants to advertise without the need for an expensive performance marketer; successful advertising became possible for just about anyone who had access to a laptop and a cup of coffee. The result is an ad environment that has vastly shifted in terms of what competencies allow marketers to successfully compete, dictating the rise of Creative-First advertising. Let’s look at the macro trends that are driving these shifts
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1. CPMs have recovered to pre-COVID levels and will continue to rise After a brief fall as bearish advertisers pulled out of paid advertising during the beginning of the COVID pandemic, CPMs have recovered and exceeded their 2019 levels. There are a host of causes for this, particularly the influx of online merchants as people chose to stay at home, driving up competition for ad spots. For the average brand, this means that it is more important than ever before to get the most from your ad dollar.
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2. Facebook’s algorithm optimizes nearly as well as the best performance marketers While there was once a time that highly-skilled performance marketers could push the needle on a Prospecting campaign, developments in Facebook’s algorithm and the introduction of Broad Targeting has essentially eliminated much of the technical heavy-lifting associated with paid advertising. As a result, the best media buyers are no longer just effective technical targeters, but have an intimate understanding of creatives and how they can be used drive differentiation in a crowded ad market. We dove into tens of thousands of dollars in monthly ad spend across three industries to see how each prospecting targeting types (Broad, Interest, and Lookalike) stacked up against one other. The results showed that performance was generally consistent whether it was targeted by Facebook’s algorithm (Broad) or through media buyers (Interest and Lookalike). It goes without saying that Interest and Lookalike audiences are still an important method to tap into new markets. That said, our results indicate that – with Facebook doing much of the heavy lifting from the targeting perspective – an increasingly important source of success comes from making apt creative decisions that algorithms are not capable of. At Shoelace, this has fundamentally shifted the way that our team manages media buying towards a Creative-First future.
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Creative-first advertising is 2021’s biggest growth lever With CPMs at an all-high and Facebook’s targeting algorithm leveling the playing-field among advertisers, it is more important than ever for brands to find new ways to distinguish their advertising from other merchants. For paid advertising, our experience has shown that this unequivocally comes from developing creatives that resonate uniquely with audiences.
How creatives push the needle where targeting can’t We recently saw the impact of Creative-First advertising with a brand we were working with. After a new campaign failed to generate differentiated results, we tried multiple interest-based targeting strategies to reach additional audiences who may be more receptive to the brand’s product set. In spite of our attempts, the new targeting failed to move the needle as we had anticipated. We went back to the drawing board and worked with the brand to develop creatives that honed in deeper to the interest and aesthetic preferences of the brand’s target market. The results were stunning – in spite of the fact that we were targeting the same audience as before, results were now two times higher with the new creatives.
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Doubling your performance with creative-first media buying Leveraging creatives as the primary tool in your advertising arsenal can unlock an unlimited number of doors for creating experiences that will resonate with your audience. Oftentimes, this comes by translating tangible insights into creative direction.
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One brand we recently worked with had an interesting problem: While general ad performance was exceptional, a conversion-lift test revealed that female audiences in the 55 to 64-year-old age range dropped out of the funnel at disproportionate rates after adding products to their carts. Using the Creative-First approach, we realized that the best way to target these audiences would be to leverage creatives that better appealed to senior target markets. With that in mind, we tweaked our images to prioritize images of young children over images of parents and kids, and the copy to promote the idea of purchasing for grandchildren. Additionally, we introduced review ads as social proof to overcome apprehension among older populations towards shopping online. These changes doubled ad performance among senior audiences and helped the brand secure a stronger hold on this unique market.
Developing a creative-first growth strategy that will stick
You’d be forgiven if you’ve read online articles extolling the “best ad types” or “hottest ad trends” – they’re everywhere. However, these pieces take a short-sighted approach to a creative-first approach. For example, while user-generated content (UGC) has become a pillar of ad strategies, we see ebbs and flows in performance as merchants adopt and saturate the ad markets with different styles of creatives in an attempt to stick out. In actuality, different styles of creatives vary in performance based on several factors
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Stage of the funnel Our testing has revealed that formats like UGC performs best as a social proof device later in the funnel, and has mixed results compared to native-type ads in earlier stages
The nature of the brand Brands who have a more playful persona can shed studio formats in favor of UGC; while brands who are meant to be taken more seriously perform better with native-type ads
Trends in the ad market As a format becomes well adopted, it saturates ad spaces and consumers become less receptive to it
While UGC is just one example, we've learned to be wary of one-size-fits-all creative trends. By the time you are reading it, it may already be reaching saturation or it just might not be right for your brand. Trends ebb and flow and instead of hopping on the next bandwagon, your goals should be to find a true creative partner that understands your brand and has the experience to test the right creatives at the right time.
On and off As a creative partner, we like to monitor creative performance along the funnel based on a few tags such as “creative format”, “type of product”, and “ad type”. By collecting results over time and sharing them to help guide the creative process, we help redefine our role as media buyers for merchants to a role that is more strategic as a creative partner. Following this approach helped us develop key strategic insights for one of our favorite boutique brands, Ruthie Grace.
Learnings Winning ads perform at 25x losing ads Instant expereience ads perform best Punctuation & stand-out emojis ideal Models with neutral outfits resonate more
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About the author Elliott Brand
Marketing Lead, Shoelace As the Marketing Lead at Shoelace, Elliott works alongside a team of talented Ad Strategists to translate tangible insights into a common vision of what tomorrow’s brand-first advertising experience will look like.
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About Shoelace Shoelace leverages cutting edge technology, advertising data from 1000s of merchants, and a large team of trained media buyers to provide powerful brand-first advertising experiences to merchants such as Siete Foods, ZOX, and Mythical.
This ebook was brought to you by LoyaltyLion LoyaltyLion is a data-driven loyalty and engagement platform that powers ecommerce growth. Proven to increase retention and spend, LoyaltyLion is trusted by thousands of fast-growth ecommerce merchants worldwide. > Want to see how LoyaltyLion will accelerate your brand’s growth in 2021? Book a time to talk to a member of our team. Want a reminder of the trends shaping 2021? Access the on-demand recordings of the live Ask Me Anything sessions.
