With nearly 600 exhibitors and more than 10,000 attendees, IRCE 2017 took Chicago by storm this June. The springbots exhibited for their first time, operating a prime booth spot, as well as joining forces with AdRoll to host a happy hour for prospective customers and partners.
A variety of sessions focused on different areas of growth for eCommerce, from marketplaces to the role of social in online selling. Here are the springbots’ 5 key takeaways from this year’s Internet Retailer Conference + Exhibition:
Relevancy is key.
A huge area of focus at IRCE 2017 was segmentation – specifically, building marketing and nurture campaigns around customer personas. Presenters walked through key examples of how stats like email open rates and paid social engagement skyrocketed when segmentation was used to connect the right audience with the right message.
Email is still king, with a lot of buzz around triggered emails – structured drip campaigns are becoming increasingly popular to funnel shoppers into series based on their on-site engagement and past purchase behavior.
Marketing channels shouldn’t be siloed.
Think your organic influencer content should just live on social? You’re missing out on a huge opportunity to capture engagement through other channels where your customers are shopping.
A real-life example was presented by founder Griffin Thall of Pura Vida Bracelets, a jewelry lifestyle brand with over 850k followers on Instagram. They send out weekly email recaps of their top social posts, bridging the gap between fun, millennial-oriented content and selling. They’ve seen high engagement from Instagram followers who might not yet be shoppers, converting fans into customers through the power of email marketing.
Shipping costs really do matter.
Marketplaces (most notably Amazon) were heavily discussed at this year’s IRCE, especially in relation to shipping. Amazon has established a consumer expectation of free shipping on online purchases, putting pressure on small retailers to conform.
Shipping costs are at the forefront of customer concern – according to IRCE surveys, nearly 3 in 5 consumers are likely to abandon their shopping cart if they discover shipping charges at the time of purchase. In addition, 35% of shoppers say that free shipping is the most important factor in their purchase decision.
Shoppers are savvier than we thought.
Consumers are consistently getting smarter when it comes to digital media – seeing an average of over 5,000 pieces of advertising per day has both de-sensitized shoppers, as well as made them more critical of online media and ads in general.
You already know the basics (ie, ad content should match your chosen landing page) – but shoppers are looking for something beyond the logistics of where an ad takes them on your site. They’re looking for “thumb-stopping creative” and a digital experience that supersedes what they could find in a brick & mortar retail store or with another retailer.
Mary Beth Laughton, Senior Vice President of Digital at Sephora, was a keynote speaker at this year’s IRCE. Laughton spoke about the brands’ mobile exclusives that keep shoppers constantly coming back for fresh content that they can’t get anywhere else. They’ve also created mobile experiences to make an in-person experience come alive through email, sending a shopper a list of products to purchase that she used during an in-store makeover.
Bring marketing back to the basics.
Marketers are easily bogged down by the hundreds of tasks they might have to complete in a day – but every marketing related activity should all drill down to one question. Does this interaction make sense to, as well as surprise and delight, my end user?
Keeping segmentation and relevancy in mind, create meaningful touch points with your customer that keep them coming back as loyal shoppers for a lifetime.
Want more of our recap from IRCE + news from the springbots? Follow us on Twitter at @springbot.
About the Author
Nichole Wolf is a Customer Relationship Specialist at Springbot and is responsible for coaching our awesome customers, making sure they get the most out of our latest product offerings and features.
