A to Z of Comparison Shopping Engines, by Michael Lambert of MerchantAdvantage

MonCon EAST | May 18–20, 2012

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A to Z of CSE Marketing

Presented by Michael Lambert

CTO-FounderMerchantAdvantage

@caseycarey


#MonCon#MonCon

today’s

AGENDA

� CSE Overview

� Selecting Channels & Products

� Building Data Feeds

� Tips for Achieving Higher Exposure

� Q & A


#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*


#MonConCSE Overview

Online Shopping Channels, Affiliates, and Other eCommerce Sites Reach Millions of Shoppers Everyday


#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.


#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)...


#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


#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


#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?


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today’s

AGENDA

� CSE Overview




� Q & A


#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?



How should you select Marketing Channels?

� Break down Marketing Channel landscape into 5 categories for ease of understanding



� 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



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



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



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#MonCon

today’s

AGENDA

� CSE Overview




� Q & A


#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



� 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



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



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



When saved locally, a feed document might look something like this:


#MonCon#MonCon

today’s

AGENDA

� CSE Overview




� Q & A


#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



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



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



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?...



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

�



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



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



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]



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



Tip #9:

� Manage Your Adspend Budget

� Set Budget

� Manage Bids

� Properly Fund

� Holidays

� Specials & Discounts



Tip #10:

�Monitor Marketing Channel Performance by Category and Individual SKU

� Reports from Marketing Channel

� …and also from…



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&


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Time permitting

Q&A

� CSE Overview




� Q & A


#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!

A to Z of Comparison Shopping Engines, by Michael Lambert of MerchantAdvantage

Technology

Transcript of A to Z of Comparison Shopping Engines, by Michael Lambert of MerchantAdvantage