MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonCon#MonCon
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonCon#MonCon
A to Z of CSE Marketing
Presented by Michael Lambert
CTO-FounderMerchantAdvantage
@caseycarey
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonCon#MonCon
today’s
AGENDA
� CSE Overview
� Selecting Channels & Products
� Building Data Feeds
� Tips for Achieving Higher Exposure
� Q & A
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonConCSE Overview
* Reflects generally accepted statistics averaged from various resources as:
CPC Strategy, Forrester Research, Internet Retailer, MerchantAdvantage, and
Practical eCommerce
� ~50% of online shopping decisions influenced by “shopping destination sites/marketing channels”
� ~80% of eCommerce marketing campaigns that drive sales come from SEO/SEM; Marketplaces; and PPC Product Advertising
� ~5% of eCommerce marketing is now driven by mobile commerce (“mCommerce”)
What do We Know Today? - Some Statistics*
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonConCSE Overview
Online Shopping Channels, Affiliates, and Other eCommerce Sites Reach Millions of Shoppers Everyday
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonConCSE Overview
There are 100+ eCommerce Channels from which to choose
Each channel varies in their offerings by click costs, target demographic, product categories and other parameters. Selecting the correct channel to add or remove is vital and should be based on your marketing strategies.
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonConCSE Overview
Online Shopping Channels Expand Reach and Expose Brand
There are 3 main categories of shopping channels:
Free…
Pay Per Action (PPA)/Marketplace…
Pay Per Click (PPC)...
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonConCSE Overview
� Price - 94% of online shoppers invest time to find the best price for products
� Access - 100% of products you want can be found online, instantly
� Compare - 65% of online shoppers spend 15+ minutes comparison shopping for products on Marketing Channels before making a purchase; 36% spend 30+ minutes
� Trust - 54% of online shoppers visit 4+ Websites before finalizing purchase
� Fun - finding the product you want - at the price you want - is a ‘game’
Conclusion: Marketing Channels ‘greatly’ influence an online shopper’s experience and purchase decisions
Why Do Shoppers Use Marketing Channels?*
* Reflects generally accepted historical data averaged from various 2010/2011 resources as: CPC Strategy, E-
tailing Group Study, Forrester Research, Internet Retailer, MerchantAdvantage, and Practical eCommerce
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonConCSE Overview
� Revenues - access to millions of shoppers who spend money to buy products online
� Profitability – monetize Return on Ad Spend/ROI and customer acquisition cost
� Customer Quality - ~20% of USA online shoppers use Marketing Channels to purchase products and spend ~25% more than the average online shopper*
� Customer Acquisition - customer can be marketed to in the future, repeat business
� Customer Awareness - visibility of brand/products on ‘other’ shopping-based URLs
� SEO Relevancy - search engines access merchant product listings with frequency
Conclusion: Marketing Channels are an essential to part of an effective, cost-effective, and comprehensive online marketing strategy to sell products online to grow revenues and acquire new customers
Why Do eCommerce Merchants Use Marketing Channels?
* Forrester Research
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonConCSE Overview
� Resources & Time - no time to manage multi-channel product campaigns without assistance & tool
� Choice/Access - finding “the right” channels to sell products among 200+ is complicated
� Support - access to direct help from channel account managers when you need it is limited
� Technical Requirements - each channel has their own product data feed specifications/guidelines
� Cost Management - pay-per-click channels require daily monitoring/updating of campaigns
� Data Updating - lack automated processes to create/manage data feeds to ensure performance
� Data Quality - options to optimize and map all product details in data feed are numerous/confusing
� ROI/Conversion Management - lack proper tools to track and respond to product marketing campaigns performance within and across channels, in real time, to ensure profits
Conclusion: Layers of complexity to work with Marketing Channels scares off many merchants … BUT ‘complexity’ can be a competitive ADVANTAGE when you have the right team and marketing platform behind you!
Why Is It Difficult For eCommerce Merchants To Use Marketing Channels?
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonCon#MonCon
today’s
AGENDA
� CSE Overview
� Selecting Channels & Products
� Building Data Feeds
� Tips for Achieving Higher Exposure
� Q & A
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonConSelecting Channels & Products
Question: Where should you start?
Start using the free sites which will allow a less expensive learning curve and require less research to choose.
On a free site it makes sense to simply select all products from yourCatalog making it easy to choose products.
Answer: Free and Easy?
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonConSelecting Channels & Products
How should you select Marketing Channels?
� Break down Marketing Channel landscape into 5 categories for ease of understanding
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonConSelecting Channels & Products
� Research each perspective channel
� Request any performance statistics available from the channel
� Request target demographics and strong categories
� Review Cost and any special offerings
� Look for competitors on the channel
Review your own statistics when available for future involvement
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonConSelecting Channels & Products
Product & Site Matching
In order to make these channels as profitable as possible, online retailers need to analyze the performance of each product on the various channels, and market only the products with the best performance, removing the products that aren’t converting and only wasting click costs.
Suggestion-Allow at least 1 week for major product decisionsAllow at least 3 months for major channel decisions
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonConSelecting Channels & Products
Analyze Performance
Review performance statistics using Chanalytics(sm) and any other available tools to indicate what changes, if any, should be done within the product selection or product optimization phases (tips in this presentation).
Remove
Change Category
Price Check
Check UPC Info
Verify Model #
Verify Link
ChanalyticsReportersm
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonConSelecting Channels & Products
Simply feeding products and catalogs to channels has a low value proposition. Feeding to channels is a process, and deceptively difficult to do well.
How Do Merchants Monetize Marketing Channel Strategies?
Adapt MarketingStrategy
Optimize Raw Product Data
Product & Site Matching,
Categorization
Analyze Performance
eCommerce
Marketing
Essential Steps
2. 25-30% of products given to
marketing channel are
miscategorized, or not listed, due
to mapping issues
3. It is essential to track
clicks/purchases ratios to ensure
positive Return on Ad Spend
(““““ROAS””””)
4. Modifying marketing
strategies weekly maximizes
affect of marketing channels
DRAMATICALLY and keeps
you ahead of the competition
1. Each marketing channel has
their own unique requirements to
receive product catalog data
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonCon#MonCon
today’s
AGENDA
� CSE Overview
� Selecting Channels & Products
� Building Data Feeds
� Tips for Achieving Higher Exposure
� Q & A
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonConBuilding Data Feeds
� Proper Tools To Format / Manipulate Data:
� Microsoft Excel or MS Access
� Relational Database
� Marketing Software Suite
� Optimization Knowledge:
� Know The Feed Specifications
� Work on Channel Category Values
� Utilize Analytics:
� Free Analytics (i.e.: Google)
� Analytics Packages (i.e.: Omniture, CoreMetrics)
� Marketing Software (i.e.: Chanalytics)
“With the addition of MerchantAdvantage, submission of our CommerceV3 product catalog to online shopping sites has become easy and reliable. Sales have increased 30% from the optimized shopping feeds generated by the MerchantAdvantage platform.” - DentalDepot.com, Commerce V3 Customer
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonConBuilding Data Feeds
� File Flexibility – Merchants need the ability to build any type of file format so that Marketing controls the channel selection, not technology
� Merchants need powerful data manipulation tools that allow marketers to optimize content and create custom campaigns
� Analytics – Merchants need custom analytical tools that give analytics down to the SKU level for intelligent performance measurement and feed optimization strategies
Three keys for success in CSE efforts
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonConBuilding Data Feeds
File Formats Transport Protocols
� Comma Separated Files (.CSV)
� Tab Delimited Files (.txt)
� Other Character Delimited Files
� MS Excel Files
� XML Files (.xml)
� FTP (immediate or scheduled)
� SFTP (immediate or scheduled)
� HTTP (immediate or scheduled)
� Local file upload (immediate only)
**Additionally, MerchantAdvantage provides every merchant with an ftp/http storage area
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonConBuilding Data Feeds
Type
Tab Delimited Example
Separate each sub-attribute with a colon and each delivery attribute group with a comma. Do not enclose sub-attribute values within quotations. All colons, even for blank values, are required, i.e. three colons are required.US:::6.49 USDUS:024*:Ground:6.49 USD,US:MA:Express:13.12 USD
Name Requirement Description Examples
Country Required The ISO 3166 country code. The default is your feeds target country
US
Region Optional Geographical region – in US the two letter abbreviation, zip or * wildcard
MA
Service Optional The service class or delivery speed Ground
price Required Fixed deliver price (including VAT) 6.49 USD
An example of one field in a specifications document
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonConBuilding Data Feeds
When saved locally, a feed document might look something like this:
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonCon#MonCon
today’s
AGENDA
� CSE Overview
� Selecting Channels & Products
� Building Data Feeds
� Tips for Achieving Higher Exposure
� Q & A
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonConTips for Higher Exposure
Tip #1:
�Be Sure Every Product Has an Image
� The image should be clear
� Don’t upload placeholders or generic image
� If you don’t have an image, GET ONE!
Bad Image Good Image
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonConTips for Higher Exposure
Tip #2:
�Upload Your Store Logo
� Logos build trust
� Logos catch people’s attention, increasing CTR
� Make sure logo is clear, readable, configured so it appears ‘crisp’whatever size it appears
� Size your logo appropriately!
� If you use the wrong size – the result will be stretched or distorted logos
If No Logo Allowed/Present ensure that listing stands out, no www., capitalize, and hyperlink to appropriate URL landing page –
MerchantAdvantage.com
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonConTips for Higher Exposure
Tip #3:
�Categorize Your Product Listings Using Full Channel Taxonomy
� Use ‘full’ categorization options to help target your products
� Gain competitive advantage over those that don’t
� MerchantAdvantage ‘Global Cats’ Tool Automates this process
What Most Merchants Do(goose egg)
What You Should Do
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonConTips for Higher Exposure
Tip #4:
�Expand Product Name/Title Field
� #1: Use entire field to add descriptive words
� If product name is “511 Jeans”, consider using either male/female, sizing info, & type to make it “Men’’’’s 511 Jeans 32W X 32L Black””””
� #2: Use Keywords in Product Name Field
� Be sure to use keywords that are being searched
� Take example a step further and add “Men’s 511 Skinny Jeans 32W X 32L Black” - The term “skinny jeans” is a popular term for this product
� #3: Include Manufacturer/Brand in Product Name when Relevant if the channel doesn’t automatically
� Brands and manufacturers are heavily searched keywords (will vary per industry)
� For example, add “Men’s 511 Skinny Jeans 32W X 32L Black by Levi’’’’s”. This could also be written as “Men’s Levi’’’’s 511 Skinny Jeans 32W X 32L Black”
� So how does this translate to how you see data in your shopping cart technology?...
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonConTips for Higher Exposure
Tip #4 (continued):
Data as imported from Shopping Cart Technology:
Manufacturer Model # Description Condition
SNY XBR757 45” Color TV with surround
sound
new
Convert/Optimize Data From These Fields To:
Data as it SHOULD BE presented to marketing channel:
<<Sony XBR757 45 inch NEW Color TV with Surround Sound>>
Data as imported from Shopping Cart Technology:
Manufacturer Model # Description Condition
LVI 511 32Wx32L
skinny black
jeans, men
new
Convert/Merge/Optimize Data From These Fields To:
Data as it SHOULD BE presented to marketing channel:
<<NEW Men’s Levi’s 511 Skinny Jeans 32W x 32L Black>>
Example 2 :Example 1:
� Convert ‘shopping cart technology’ data to ‘marketing friendly’ data (yellow area above)
� Do NOT use: Special Characters (&, e.g., etc.., +, $, ‘, “); Promotional Text (free shipping, sale); HTML Tags; or Hard Returns when converting data
�
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonConTips for Higher Exposure
Tip #5:
�Use appropriate Keywords in the Description Field
� Determine what the keywords are for the product and include them in description remembering this is NOT shown within your website.
Original Description:
Updated Description
Example:“Wenge finish” may have little meaning to consumers in a larger venue – change it to “dark wood finish” for CSE descriptions
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonConTips for Higher Exposure
Tip #6:
�Be Sure to Fill Out ‘Additional’ and ‘Suggested Fields’
� Shipping info, taxes, sizing, gender, new/used, etc.,,
� Most people only fill out required fields (HUGE MISTAKE)…fill out ALL fields!
� Many engines give “extra love” for completed fields
What Most Merchants Do What You Should Do
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonConTips for Higher Exposure
Tip #7:
� Review Your (and your competitions) Listings on the Various Marketing Channels
� How does the product name look?
� Does your listing stand out?
� Would you click on the listing?
[see how products are showing up across 13
marketing channels, including Amazon,
Buy.com & eBay]
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonConTips for Higher Exposure
Tip #8:
� Review the channels rules in the specifications guide
� Do consumers look for your products by manufacturer, model number or variation (perhaps include in product name field) – this can also avoid multiple products (different by options only) being classified as ONE product
� Is there a maximum character count limit for a field (your product name could look bad or even be unrecognizable if they choose where to cut it off)
ARAI Corsair V RANDY RED MOTORCYCLE HELMET
Randy Red MotorCycle Hel Randy Red Helmet
RANDY RED MOTORCYCLE HELMET
Without Conversion Converted
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonConTips for Higher Exposure
Tip #9:
� Manage Your Adspend Budget
� Set Budget
� Manage Bids
� Properly Fund
� Holidays
� Specials & Discounts
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonConTips for Higher Exposure
Tip #10:
�Monitor Marketing Channel Performance by Category and Individual SKU
� Reports from Marketing Channel
� …and also from…
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonConTips for Higher Exposure
Tip #10 (continued):
�Monitor ALL Marketing Channels’ Performance by Category and Individual SKU
� Reports from 3rd party – MerchantAdvantage/Google/Yahoo …etc…Analytic Packages
Category Analysis SKU Analysis&
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonCon#MonCon
Time permitting
Q&A
� CSE Overview
� Selecting Channels & Products
� Building Data Feeds
� Tips for Achieving Higher Exposure
� Q & A
MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012
#MonCon#MonCon
Michael Lambert
MerchantAdvantage(e) [email protected](p) 305-895-9466merchantadvantage.com
Please visit www.monsooncommerce.com/moncon to download a copy of this presentation, see pictures and videos, and tell us what you think about the conference.
thank you!