New York, NY—March 20, 2024— Retailers have a key opportunity as they face soaring costs on ecommerce’s most critical acquisition channels, Meta and Google, which have driven up costs per visit by 12.4%–above average by 3%-according to Contentsquare’s new 2024 Retail Digital Experience Benchmark Report. The report highlights influential data and actionable insights retailers can take to meet their customers where they are. Although retailers are hit the hardest, they also have a massive opportunity when considering traffic and revenue trends, especially on mobile, which has become the leading source for ecommerce traffic globally (77%) and accounting for 56% of revenues. With investments in digital customer experience, data shows retailers can experience massive gains in customer retention, conversion, and loyalty.   

“Consumers are strongly voicing their preferences, but data shows brands still have room to meet their expectations. How does that translate to business impact? What brands are losing by not improving customer experience is material, and business leaders need to ask themselves how they can capitalize on understanding customer preferences in order to deliver value,” said Jean-Christophe Pitié, Chief Marketing and Partnerships Officer, Contentsquare. “The data demonstrates a missed opportunity for brands on mobile. It’s clear that they need to evolve the way they think about mobile and optimize the entire mobile journey, not simply the pages or formatting, so it’s imperative to create more seamless experiences.”

Key Data and Takeaways for Brands:

• Despite the growth in mobile traffic share, conversion rates fell 5.8% as shoppers tend to make shorter, micro-visits while using mobile devices, and spend 60% less time per session viewing fewer pages than on desktop.
• Easy-to-remedy frustrations, including slow page loads and poor visitor responses, reduced revenue by $0.56 per visit.
  • Retailers can combat frustration by combining audience insights with proactive monitoring to consistently deliver experiences that delight their customers.
• “Growth at all costs” is outdated.
  • Instead of focusing simply on driving traffic, retailers need to shift their focus to improving the overall customer experience in order to drive profitability.  
• Conversions are 77% higher on desktop than on mobile
• Retail traffic is increasingly dependent on paid, as opposed to organic, sources, with paid driving 42.6% of visits and nearly half (47.8%) of all new visits to ecommerce sites.
  • Instead of chasing higher traffic volume, retailers’ best acquisition strategy may be a retention strategy. Knowing what constitutes an engaging, satisfying experience which encourages customers to stay, convert, and return is key.
• Apps provide a unique opportunity for retailers and they provide a critical role in delivering the returning customer experience, attracting nearly 4X the share of returning visitors compared with mobile web, according to Contentsquare’s 2024 Digital Experience Benchmark Report.
  • Although apps are typically positioned as a means to foster strong relationships with existing customers, brands were able to expand the breadth of their audience using apps last year – new visitors accounted for 15% of all app visits, up from 10% the prior year.

Download the full report here. 

# # #

Methodology

The Retail Digital Experience Benchmark is a set of aggregated and anonymized insights of digital performance. Strict aggregation measures are employed to ensure anonymity. These measures include requirements on analysis set size, diversity, and consistency, in order to present credible and reliable information that is insulated from concentration risk.

To qualify for inclusion in the year-over-year analysis, each site must have operated throughout the entire analysis period, in this case October 2022 through December 2023. Frustration analyses are calculated for October 2023. All year-over-year analyses are Q4 2023 / Q4 2022. All other analyses represent Q4 2023. Additional data hygiene factors are applied to ensure accurate metric calculation. Additional data hygiene factors are applied to ensure accurate metric calculation.

This edition of the Retail Digital Experience Benchmark analyzed more than 25 billion sessions and 130 billion page views across 1,673 websites. 

About Contentsquare

Contentsquare delivers the power to make the digital world more human. Its AI-powered platform provides rich and contextual insight into customer behaviors, feelings and intent — at every touchpoint in their journey — enabling businesses to build empathy and create lasting impact. The global leader in digital experience analytics, Contentsquare helps brands everywhere transform the way they do business, allowing them to take action at enterprise scale and build customer trust with security, privacy, and accessibility. More than 1,000 leading brands use Contentsquare to grow their business, deliver more customer happiness and move with greater agility in a constantly changing world. Its insights power the customer experience on over 1 million websites worldwide. For more information, visit www.contentsquare.com

Media Contact:

Erica Ashner

Erica.Ashner@Contentsquare.com

The post Retail Sees Shift to Mobile Driving More than Half of Revenue and Nearly 80% of Traffic, According to New Report appeared first on Contentsquare.

New York, NY—February 14, 2024 —Digital ad spend is set to surpass $740 billion in 2024, yet website traffic, consumption and conversion were all down last year, according to the Contentsquare 2024 Digital Experience Benchmark Report. In fact, 55% of all sites saw lower traffic, 58% saw session consumption fall, and conversion decreased by 5.5% according to the report. Contentsquare, a global leader in digital experience analytics, also found that 40% of all online visits included avoidable friction, including technical website errors, slow page loads and rage clicks. 

“With a dip in global web traffic this year and the cost per visit rising almost 10%, making every visit count is business critical,” said Jean-Christophe Pitié, Chief Marketing and Partnerships Officer, Contentsquare. “We know from our previous consumer research that shoppers are leaving sites as a result of frustrations that could be easily resolved, such as slow page loads and rage clicks.”

While fixing frustration remains an utmost priority across industries, efforts to optimize mobile app performance are paying off, with apps recording steady customer engagement in 2023 (14 pages viewed per online visit up from 13.8 the previous year) and a conversion rate of 5.6% — 3x the conversion rate of mobile web traffic. Furthermore, app users spend 64% more time in-app than visitors spend on mobile sites.

Mobile, in particular, is the new competitive battlefield. We’ve seen gains in terms of engagement for apps this year, but mobile optimization as a whole is not as mature as it could be given the intelligence we have today on customer behaviors and preferences.

Jean-Christophe Pitié, Chief Marketing and Partnerships Officer, Contentsquare

Contentsquare’s latest Benchmark Report further revealed:

Mobile Visits Are Micro-Visits 

Despite mobile driving 70% of website traffic in Q4 2023, browsing time on mobile web is 60% shorter than on desktop. These “micro-visits” contribute to a decline in conversion rates, highlighting the gap between consumer expectations and current mobile web optimization practices.

A Shift to Paid Sources, With Search Driving 4x Conversion of Paid Social

Paid sources drove one-third of all traffic to websites this year, and 36% of new visits. For mobile web, paid sources account for 40% of traffic — twice as much as for desktop. While overall traffic is down, paid social is one of the few channels that saw traffic growth in 2023. However, social traffic struggles to convert compared to paid search, which still drives 4x the conversion rate of paid social. The report indicated that visits from social are less intentional, with a 41% higher bounce rate than paid search. Visitors from social may have inadvertently tapped through to a website because of a compelling story or influencer without the intention embodied by visitors coming from paid search.

The High Cost of Frustration

Frustrating visitors is a surefire way to waste visits. Sites that are slow to load (those taking more than three seconds) and perform poorly in responding to visitor interactions combine to reduce the engagement by 15%.

Rage clicks (clicking at least three times in less than two seconds) continue to frustrate visitors, and were found in 5.5% of all online visits. 

To learn more, download the full Benchmark report here.

# # #

Methodology

This edition of the Digital Experience Benchmark analyzed more than 43 billion sessions and 200 billion page views across 3,590 websites.

The 10 industries analyzed include: 

• Consumer Packaged goods
• Energy, Utilities, & Construction
• Financial Services
• Manufacturing
• Media
• Retail
• Services
• Software
• Travel & Hospitality
• Telecommunications

The Digital Experience Benchmark is a set of aggregated and anonymized insights into digital performance. Strict aggregation measures are employed to ensure anonymity. These measures include requirements on analysis set size, diversity, and consistency, to present credible and reliable information that is insulated from concentration risk. 

To qualify for inclusion in the year-over-year analysis, each site must have operated throughout the entire analysis period, in this case, October 2022 through December 2023. For current period analysis, the analysis period is Q4 2023. Additional hygiene factors are applied to ensure accurate metric calculation.

About Contentsquare

Contentsquare is a leading digital experience analytics platform that empowers businesses to understand and optimize the user experience across web, mobile, and app platforms. Its AI-powered platform provides rich and contextual insight into customer behaviors, feelings and intent — at every touchpoint in their journey — enabling businesses to build empathy and create lasting impact. More than 1,300 leading brands use Contentsquare to grow their business, deliver more customer happiness and move with greater agility in a constantly changing world. Its insights are used to optimize the experience on over 1.3 million websites worldwide. Founded in Paris and with offices around the world, Contentsquare is backed by leading high quality investors, including funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Bpifrance, Canaan, Eurazeo, Highland Europe, KKR, LionTree, Sixth Street and SoftBank Vision Fund 2. For more information, visit www.contentsquare.com.

Media Contact:

Contentsquare

Erica Ashner

erica.ashner@contentsquare.com 

The post Nearly Sixty Percent of Brands See Drop in Online Traffic and Consumption in 2023, According to New Report appeared first on Contentsquare.

Customer experience is increasingly defining brands and becoming a factor that can soar a brand to new heights or sink its ship. It’s shaping the future of online engagement between brand and audience and becoming the battleground on which market leaders (and losers) will be determined. During COVID-19, brands invested in their online presence, and we’re only now beginning to fully understand if and how those efforts paid off. 

How CX is shaping the future of digital will be explored at Contentsquare’s 2021 CX Circle event. This event brings together heavy hitters from various industries to discuss trends shaping digital experience, and share expertise and best practices for how to create, deliver and leverage CX that’s meaningful to audiences and valuable to businesses. Whether it be to connect, to learn, or to buy, our digital lives have been reimagined, our behaviors changed, all due to the efforts brands have put into redefining CX as a part of their identity. 

As Contentsquare’s CMO, I find myself having daily conversations with brands about the changing landscape of digital marketing and how it’s become more challenging to anticipate and meet the changing needs of consumers. This industry is moving at lightning speed, and the need to focus on customers, combined with the pressure to deliver valuable experiences with a lens for privacy, presents a unique challenge. We have designed this event to provide marketers, product leaders, UX/UI experts, digital and analytics professionals and ecommerce pros with expertise, insights and connections that will both inspire and offer practical advice. 

CX Circle attendees will leave the event with the critical elements they need to stay competitive, push boundaries and win customers with their CX. We’ll learn from leaders at Nespresso, Microsoft, Sonos, Dell, Walmart, Contentsquare and others, about: 

• How digital investments are a brand differentiator 
• Best practices to leverage data for customer-centric innovation
• How to maximize app performance to drive conversion and ROI
• Building a digital marketing strategy that bridges the gap between digital and brick-and-mortar
• Important steps to take to deliver experiences that are accessible by all
• Testing your way to success

I’ll be hosting a fireside chat with Zoom’s CMO Janine Pelosi, which will touch on the importance of using experiences to delight customers. In an age where enterprises have gone digital for communication and collaboration, we’ll talk about what Zoom learned during a year of explosive growth, and how customer happiness is a driving force behind innovation.

Join us for this half-day virtual event that will challenge the way brands approach digital experiences and drive us to think beyond the norm, by bringing together some of the most influential minds in digital marketing. Register for CX Circle here. 

If you can’t make it, we understand. We will be sharing a lot of content post-event, so you and your colleagues don’t miss out. Just register and we’ll ensure you receive those as they become available. Who knows, you might win a Peloton, too!  

I look forward to seeing you there!  

-Niki

The post INVITATION: Defining CX’s role in the digital world of tomorrow appeared first on Contentsquare.

1. Show only a few reviews at a time

You should provide your users with helpful information at a glance but, at the same time, you don’t want to overwhelm them. Therefore, display a minimum of 6 reviews by default, but show no more than 15 reviews by default for desktop. For mobile, show no more than 10 reviews by default.

Implement a CTA that allows users to load more or see all reviews. This ensures that users are not endlessly scrolling down the page, and also ensures that the user can still reach any content below the review section at ease.

On Target’s mobile site, The user sees 8 reviews in the section when they first scroll to it, and can click on the load CTA to load 8 more reviews.

On Sephora, six reviews are shown on the page by default. Too few reviews may require too much effort from users, having them click on the button to load more, while too many reviews can overwhelm the user.

2. Provide only relevant details about reviewers

Avoid asking and displaying unnecessary information; only provide details of the reviewer that are most needed and relevant. Also, show this information in a digestible format that is easy to skim.

Relevant information about the reviewer, such as eye color, hair color, and skin type, is listed on the right-hand side of Sephora’s review listing.

3. Product reviews: include additional features to increase reliability

Reliability is key for a good review section. Indicate which reviews come from verified purchases to further inform the readers that these reviews are trustworthy. Clearly label on the review that it is a ‘verified purchase’ or from a ‘verified buyer,’ and make the label easily identifiable with a distinct color or a checkmark.

Additionally, implement a system that can allow users to vote reviews as ‘helpful’ or ‘not helpful.’ Allow users to see the total number of ‘helpful’ and ‘unhelpful’ votes. With this, users can then see which reviews have helped other users, and decide on which reviews to trust.

Sephora informs the user of a verified purchase by writing a green “Verified Purchase” label with the review. Users can also vote the helpfulness of a review by clicking on the up and down arrows. The total counts for each upvote and downvote are shown in parentheses next to each arrow.

4. Explore different formats and layouts

There are different formats and layouts outside of vertical lists you can explore when implementing a reviews section. Consider using a popover to display reviews. This avoids extending the height of the page, and allows the user to easily exit when they are done.

Displaying reviews in a horizontal format also works very well. Allow users to view these in a carousel or navigate through them page-by-page. This conserves space on the page, and avoids having users scroll through. Again, make sure to show only a few reviews at a time. Use a ‘load more’ button or ‘see all reviews’ buttons below this section to see more reviews. 

Everlane shows their reviews in a horizontal format, which conserves space on the page. Although it does show fewer than 6 reviews at a time, clicking on the carousel arrow shows an entirely new set of reviews rather than showing them one-by-one. When clicking on the ‘View All Reviews’ button, the user can view a popover to scroll through more reviews

5. Respond to negative product reviews

If you get any negative reviews, don’t ignore them, but write a response to ensure that other users understand you care about any problems with a product. Make sure to address the specific problem at hand, communicate the actionable steps that will be taken with the provided feedback, and contact the reviewer or leave contact information.

More than half of consumers expect businesses to reply to negative reviews within a week (ReviewTrackers, 2018). It is important to respond to any negative reviews to avoid having it affect the way other readers will view the product and even the business itself.

The Summer Fridays team has left a response to the one-star review by addressing the specific problem, communicating what’s been done with the feedback, and the steps they will take afterwards.

6. Include a section for Q&A

By including a Q&A section you ensure that users can easily find answers to any questions they may have or ask their own. Consider also having a quick link for this next to the star ratings at the top of the page so that users can navigate to this section quickly.

The brand has a tab for Q&A, where users can read and also answer any questions. This section only shows two questions by default, and has two CTAs at the bottom to view all questions and also ask a question.

Conclusion

In summary, reviews are a huge driving factor in a consumer’s purchasing decisions. Make sure to show only a few product reviews at a time, provide only reviewer information that is absolutely necessary, include additional information in reviews to increase credibility, respond to negative reviews, and also have a Q&A section.

The post Product reviews: 6 tips on creating the best review section for your product page appeared first on Contentsquare.

This year will be Emilie’s fifth peak season at Clarins and during that time she’s learned plenty about what does and doesn’t work in the world of eCommerce. “I think sometimes you learn more from your failures than your successes,” she muses, so here are Emilie’s top 10 learnings from the past five years.

Lesson 1: Start early

“It’s never too early to start preparing for peak,” she says. “Optimization for SEO takes time, it’s not an overnight success. So the sooner you start optimizing your pages for gifting terms and Black Friday terms – well, good for you!”. 

Emilie recommends kickstarting your peak season prep over the summer, like Clarins do, and nailing down your SEO strategy by September at the latest. This gives you enough time to launch your optimizations early, giving them the best possible chance of success when peak season hits in October.

You’ll also want to spend time A/B testing your UX solutions in advance. “You’ll want these learnings before peak season, so when the traffic comes you’re directing customers to the winning solution,” she says.

Lesson 2: Align your teams internally

According to Emilie, the key thing to remember is that peak season is a much wider project than just your eCommerce team. You’ll need to consider and align with your CRM, IT, Media, and Customer Service teams, plus your supply chain, for the best chances of success.

It’s important to ensure each team is ready to cope with the increase in demand and is fully briefed on what’s coming up. “To me, alignment between these teams is the key success driver of a proper peak season.”

Lesson 3: Don’t leave anything to chance

One thing Emilie believes brands don’t prepare for enough is over succeeding their targets.

“Sometimes you plan a big gift and promotion,” she explains, “But then it’s gone before you even reach Black Friday. So what do you do?”

Emilie leans on her own experience with this one, having spent the first year at Clarins faced with this problem unexpectedly. It may have taken Clarins a few years to nail down the solution, but she’s learned to prepare backup plans to avoid customer disappointment. This includes having backup products, visuals, and comms ready in case your hero product sells out quickly.

“Basically, it’s making sure you prepare for success. And if you over-deliver, then you’re ready for that too.”

Responsibility and accountability are also a top priority for Emilie. “It’s important everyone knows who to call if something goes wrong, and who is doing what on what particular day,” she says. With multiple website changes needed during the Black Friday to the New Year sale period, everyone’s role and responsibility must be watertight – especially with many people taking annual leave during this period.

Lesson 4: Be clever with media investment

“No surprise, it’s the most expensive time to invest in media!” says Emilie. “So you need to ask yourself the question: is it worth it?” And sometimes, media investments aren’t the answer.

Emilie made the decision a few years ago to stay away from media investments during the Black Friday period for Clarins. In her experience, the period is too competitive and ROI is virtually non-existent. So it’s worth asking yourself whether your budget may be better spent elsewhere.

Lesson 5: Storytelling is key

“Everyone is talking about big offers and great deals on Black Friday, so how are you going to get the customer’s pocket share? Why are they going to choose your brand over another brand?” 

For Emilie, it’s all about telling a consistent story and making sure you engage your audience. It’s not just about offering them good deals and offers, it’s about bringing them along on your brand journey, appealing to their emotions, and making them feel valued and respected.

Your story needs to be evident and consistent across your website, social media, blog, PPC ads, and more. Take your customers on a coherent journey and they’ll build trust with your brand, which will make them more likely to shop with you over competitors. 

The marketplace is crowded, so don’t launch a great offer and expect that to be enough.

Lesson 6: Timing is everything

Emilie believes a strategy behind your timings during this period is key. “When are you going to start your Christmas campaign? When should you begin talking about Black Friday? Are you doing an entire month or just the weekend? Make sure you nail this down early on,” she says.

But for real success, you can take this one step further. Think about your customer and put yourself in their shoes. “Do you want to be the first email when she wakes up? Do you want to be the first email on her lunch break? Or when she’s put the kids to bed?”. Get inside the mind of your customers and then strategize your timings.

“Prepare early,” Emilie advises. “Decide what works best for your brand in terms of timings, then plan accordingly. And remember, sometimes less is more.”

Lesson 7: Appreciate the full team effort

While it may be your eCommerce and digital teams who prepare your site in the run-up to Black Friday, the group effort doesn’t stop there. There’ll be warehouse teams and delivery teams, too (affectionately called the ‘Make It Happen Crew’ at Clarins).

At Clarins, this means working together as closely as possible with other teams.

“We need to let these guys know we have their backs and that we’re in this together.”

“Over the past few years, I’ve insisted that my team goes to the warehouse to help pack and ship orders, plus be available to help on the customer service desk. It gives everyone a really good feeling of team spirit.”

Lesson 8: Align your in-store and online teams

Emilie has learned from experience that eCommerce is often seen as ‘stealing’ in-store sales, but this isn’t the case. “It’s complementary. If customers want to shop in-store, they’ll go to the store. If they want to shop online, they’ll find us online. Don’t worry, we’re not stealing anything!” 

But breaking down these barriers requires communication. So Clarins eCommerce team makes sure to educate the in-store teams on what they’re looking to do online and how they’re looking to do it. Following the event, they’ll share learnings, revenue numbers, and NPS scores, plus the positive ‘halo’ affect the online experience had for the brand during peak season. “Communication between teams is key,” she concludes.

Lesson 9: Be thankful when it’s over and make sure to celebrate together

For Clarins, it’s important to celebrate success together. Instead of fluffy promises of drinks when the peak season is over, Emilie suggests organizing official team events in advance for when the hard work is done. 

“Planning a celebration in advance helps take the pressure off,” says Emilie.

“I know my team is going to do a great job, so I’d rather plan to celebrate with them in advance. It’s a subtle difference, but I believe it’s worth it.” 

What’s more, as peak season is so busy, teams often find themselves working late nights and on weekends to get things done. “I’ve learned that you can’t just expect this from them though,” she says.  “Instead, last year when we planned out the days everyone was working, we ensured in advance that they’d be given time off in lieu to make up for their extra hours. It helped take the pressure off everyone.” It’s something she’ll be doing this year, too.

Lesson 10: Have a post-peak plan

“So you’ve acquired so many new names in your database, but what are you going to do with them? Are you just going to wait until next year? I think that’s a waste,” says Emilie. “You need to have a plan in place. If you don’t touch base with those newly acquired customers soon enough, they’re just going to drop off.” 

So before you start peak season, make sure you have a strategy for your new customers when the season is over. How are you going to make them loyal customers for next year? Make sure you nail it down to keep new customers engaged.

12 days of CX

We know sale season can be a drag, but it doesn’t have to be! We’re here to support you with in-depth CX insights, expert advice, tools, and tips that will help you survive and thrive during the biggest time of the year. Sign up for our 12 days of CX mailing list and let’s get stuck in, together.

The post 10 lessons learned from past peak seasons with Clarins  appeared first on Contentsquare.

1. Tell us about your background and your current role at Cosnova.

A bit about me – while I was studying psychology at university I became interested in machine interfaces, which eventually led me to my first real job at Audi as a UX consultant. 

After a while, I wanted to focus more on research. When I joined Cosnova I started by focusing on qualitative research – like UX studies and surveys – but as time went on I started to work as an analytics experience partner for other team members.

As a psychologist, you work with lots of data (something I feel very comfortable with) and since bringing on Contentsquare they started to realize I like numbers and data, so this has become a big part of my job.

Cosnova’s culture is very unique. We’re about 80% female employees, which is unusual for Germany (and the world, I think!). And we’re very communicative and open-minded in a way that I haven’t seen before. My team happens to be mostly male, but the culture is still the same.

2. What does ‘open’ management mean, and what are the benefits?

Open management means every opinion counts; not only for your work but also as a person.

When the management is very open, you’re more comfortable speaking your mind. It doesn’t even have to be problems you’re addressing. When you speak to management you should feel like you’re speaking to just another colleague, without that strong sense of hierarchy.

It makes you feel motivated. If someone is hearing you, taking you seriously, it makes you want to go further and further for the business.

It’s also good for the company. There’s a lot of room for fruitful discussion and when you’re not afraid to address problems head-on, the company has the opportunity to resolve them quickly.

3. Why is it important that companies hear lots of opinions, and how can they remain efficient while doing it?

Efficiency is always a big topic.

This is the downside to communicative culture: you’re talking to everyone all the time. You’re used to quick exchanges where you can ask your colleagues this or that. I think now we are making much more use of tools which can limit the number of meetings we have. 

Surveys and polls are a great way for companies to be open to more opinions without taking up time. For example, we have these regular department meetings where they’re asking, “what are you interested in hearing? Can we change the structure of this meeting to speak to about the issues you care about?”. I think this is very effective.

4. Are there any interesting strategies for sharing knowledge at Cosnova?

There are a few. Not everyone understands our department at Cosnova, so as a team, we’ve developed a few strategies to increase the awareness of what we do and why it’s important.

One initiative we have is the Digital Knowledge Club, where every second month, someone will introduce themselves and their job to the company to explain what they’re working on. And there’s the Digital Touchpoint meeting, with the owners and the management where we do the same to senior stakeholders. It never feels like you have to justify what you’ve been doing, it’s more to showcase your work. Plus, at Cosnova you also have the option to go and work in any department for up to a week.

I think the main benefit is transparency. On the one hand, you feel very informed, and on the other you get a better understanding of other departments.

At other companies, I’ve experienced the negative effects of not doing this. When you don’t understand what your other colleagues do, you don’t understand why they act the way they do, it’s easy to become frustrated with them over their requests or their behavior.

And finally, I haven’t mentioned The Contentsquare Dojo. It actually started because we noticed that not everyone was used to working with data and analytics, so we wanted to give everyone a feeling of what we can answer with Contentsquare. People bring their hypotheses and questions you’re interested in answering and we will look at Contentsquare together to answer those questions.

The post The Benefits of an Open and Inclusive Business, with Katharina Stock appeared first on Contentsquare.

How are today’s brands becoming more data-driven? They’re adopting new tools and incrementally making changes based on their data and analysis.

As the eCommerce landscape continues to get more and more competitive, now is a great time for brands to start building a data-centric culture and implement the tools they need to succeed in a crowded marketplace. This can help them make data-driven decisions about the customer journey analytics and, ultimately, improve customer satisfaction.

We talked to data guru Mathieu Staat, who is a Digital & Customer Marketing Director EME at Sephora, a leading beauty brand that has been becoming more and more data-driven over the last few years and depended heavily on data to roll out its beloved Beauty Insider customer loyalty program. 

First-party data, privacy, the customer experience, and more – we asked Staat to share his views on how data can impact companies and their customers, as well as how Sephora is using data to engage its fans: 

How does data contribute to creating better customer experiences in the cosmetics industry?

Yes, quite clearly. Data supports six different cornerstones at Sephora. First of all, there is its contribution to advertising. We can now optimize everything by using data: targeting specific audience segments, excluding certain users, finding new customer segments, implementing the right incentives, and identifying the right triggers at the right time to retain customers.

Then, there’s also online and offline touchpoint optimization. Data acts as an icebreaker in the customer journey and allows us to personalize the relationship regardless of whatever channel the customer uses to come in contact with the brand. Data means we can be much more relevant with our content and the things we offer to our customers in-store, just like online.

As for customer service, data has helped us make a huge amount of progress and become much more efficient. Our tools mean we can respond immediately through automatic interactions, cutting out the need to contact customer service with dynamic FAQs and chatbots, for example. There are limits, of course, and some requests still go to customer service if necessary.

What is your approach to privacy and security?

Of course, everything has to comply with GDPR. Data is secure and our stance is obviously “privacy first”. Access to data is controlled and secure; for example, a customer’s bank details are inaccessible and highly protected. As we look to innovate further, particularly with biometric payment, this means thinking hard about the security aspects of this type of payment and conforming to PSD2.

I think that leaves us three more cornerstones to discuss?

Exactly! And they aren’t insignificant. Data also helps with pricing, supply, and logistics – particularly in terms of forecasts. Our algorithm can predict order quantities on the basis of data related to current and future campaigns, seasonality, and new products, for example. There is obviously a limit. We can’t predict everything, including external factors. We’ve especially seen this with the health crisis this year. It is, and will always be, necessary to make human adjustments.

Lastly, our sixth cornerstone is benchmarking analysis reports. Is my strategy working? How is conversion changing? 

Data’s growing role within businesses inevitably leads to organizational changes. How’s that going at Sephora?

Quite honestly, very well. As soon as you can offer accuracy and precision, everyone is happy. That said, you have to bear in mind that data can’t do everything on its own. You have to find a balance somewhere between manual and automatic. You always need the human touch! 

What is the greatest benefit a data-driven policy can offer?

I may be stating the obvious, but data is a huge gold mine! It helps us understand our customers, adapt, anticipate, and stand out from the crowd. It’s thanks to this 360° data that our loyalty programs perform so well.

How can we measure the impact of data?

Aggregating information is useless if you don’t learn lessons from it or if your approach isn’t easy to put into action. Data not only means we can identify pain points, but also points of delight. From there, we can prioritize optimizations and analyze the impact of the investments we’ve made, both for the company (conversion) and for the customers (satisfaction). 

This can come across on marketing budgets too. By optimizing actions, we can reduce some of their costs. But above all else, we measure data’s impact by measuring its impact on customer satisfaction. We’ve seen a huge uptick in customer satisfaction thanks to improved journeys both online and in-store.

How do you measure customer satisfaction?

We use journey analysis tools such as Contentsquare and we do a lot of A/B testing. We have carried out plenty of qualitative and quantitative studies. It is important to monitor NPS and to maintain a customer satisfaction panel. Panels are particularly vital for quickly understanding obstacles or how to accelerate omnichannel conversions. Monitoring customer satisfaction is crucial, especially for cracking the code to increasing customer conversion.

What advice would you give to brands who want to become more data-driven?

You have to be careful not to collect data just for data’s sake. You can easily get lost in investigating your numbers and leave without any interesting insights to show for it. It’s important to set targets and act on the data you have. You should aim to use data to improve your business KPIs and customer satisfaction while quantifying your efforts along the way. 

What do you think of digitally native brands taking more ownership of their first-party data?

First-party data is certainly being discussed more and more by brands. We’re coming at it from a different angle. At Sephora, we’re trying to reduce our dependence on third parties. With our ad server, for example, we have this data directly in-hand. But, this raises the question of data storage and how to deal with a multitude of storage locations. 

In the past, this data could be atomized, but getting it back together and accessing it could be complex. We now host a very large proportion of our data in Europe on the Google Cloud Platform. Our customer data is not shared with third parties for commercial purposes. Like many brands, we want to be in charge of our data within an evolving, centralized ecosystem that can be used effectively, according to our needs. 

What will the demise of cookies change for eCommerce companies?

At the end of the day, I’m not sure it will change very much. Human creativity is limitless. There will be other solutions! 

We’re going to move from precision marketing to prediction marketing, with first-party data becoming increasingly important. We will adapt. There will be new models that put more meaning into data collection for consumers. For example, in Germany, Sephora has launched a new loyalty program, “Sephora Unlimited,” in which data sharing is rewarded by points. Data collection is evolving towards a win-win situation. We are rewarding data-sharing by offering customers something in return for engaging with our brand.

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But the pandemic hasn’t been all bad for the luxury industry. It’s pushed brands to experiment and find new ways to reach customers, with many investing more in their influencer strategies. But, there’s an art to using influencer marketing for luxury brands, says Marine Perrot, E-Retail & Digital Manager for L’Oréal Luxe.

Joël Gaudeul, Chief Marketing Officer at micro-influencer marketing and customer advocacy company, Hivency, sat down with Marine Perrot to learn more about how the leading luxury cosmetics retailer is approaching its influencer strategy differently this year and what advice she has for other companies looking to explore influencer marketing for luxury brands.

Here’s what she had to share on how L’Oréal Luxe is leveraging influencer marketing for luxury brands: 

Joël Gaudeul: What impact do you think social networks have on luxury shopping?

Marine Perrot: Even though it’s not the biggest way of selling luxury products just yet, social media is becoming an increasingly significant traffic driver. The digital acceleration over the last few months is encouraging many brands to move toward integrating an influencer strategy into the core of their online approach. We used to be happy enough with a basic level of influence, but today’s brands are reinventing themselves to find influence mechanisms that sell. In addition to thinking about ways to improve their retail store, luxury brands need to think about new and shifting playing fields, like affiliates and influencer partners such as Lucette by Hivency that can help them design their strategies. Don’t be afraid to act quickly. Always test new things – you must always be learning!

JG: Nano-influencers are gaining ground in the luxury sector. How can brands incorporate it into their existing strategies?

MP: Brands should look at influence as a pyramid, with every level just as important as the next. A luxury brand needs to keep working with top influencers because they help boost its image. Nano, or even micro-influence, compliment this strategy while also localizing a brand’s message and even adding a layer of extra authenticity. Brand-influencer relationships are also symbiotic. They often become stronger because a brand can help influencers’ reputation and vice-versa. It’s a balancing act and no one should be overlooked. 

JG: What are your marketing concerns when it comes to consumer reviews?

MP: A product page without reviews doesn’t inspire customer confidence. It’s important to be authentic and mindful of your brand image by being sincere. Lucette by Hivency is ground-breaking because it lets us connect with a community of beauty lovers who share audio and video cosmetic reviews. It’s a super innovative solution that allows us to increase the number of quality and genuine product reviews on our site. What could be better than an audio or video review: a tester who talks to you like a friend?

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With expertise both in marketing and sales, Cécile Robin began her career in supermarket distribution at French retail company Carrefour, before turning to luxury. With 15 years of experience, including eight years in eCommerce at Sephora, Cécile is now the Head of eCommerce at Shiseido. She is in charge of business development for the group’s eCommerce sites across EMEA and works on eCommerce acceleration for the Shiseido Group.

Here’s what she has to share about how luxury brands can bring their history of exceptional customer experience online:

The Shiseido Group launched its European eCommerce site in October 2019. How did the launch go?

We launched six Shiseido-branded eCommerce sites in late 2019 (France, UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Benelux).

The crisis we’ve been going through since the beginning of the year has been a major accelerator for eCommerce. In April, we outperformed the sales figures for the entire first quarter! As with any site launch, we keep it in an “incubator” to analyze our customer journey, spot potential friction points, and find out about performance. So, we accelerated the process and developments, and now it’s a success story that we are closely monitoring because, in these unprecedented times, the rules are changing every day.

What was the aim?

Shiseido is the group’s eponymous brand! So, it was only natural that we wanted a premium, distinctive communication channel with our customers. It was a vital cornerstone in our regional eCommerce strategy. We have a clear desire to increase our digital footprint, and with this in mind, we don’t see our sites as a simple sales channel but as a window display for the brand. We aim to showcase our products, with as wide a range as possible and exclusive products, to promote our brand DNA and, of course, to offer distinctive, quality content.

So, it’s like a flagship store, but online?

Exactly. That’s our eCommerce sites’ mission. We have our products on show, but much more on top of that: previews, services, and very specific offers.

What’s changing online in luxury this year?

It is the development of decision support tools, without a doubt. This technology isn’t that new, but the crisis has accelerated its rise. With the situation we’re going through now, we can’t just try out a lipstick or foundation tester like we used to. How can brands help with this? How can we support our customers and reassure them that they’re making the right choices?

We can see an apparent increase in the use and development of decision support tools by luxury brands. Take the virtual try-on tool, for example, which is very quickly becoming more and more widely used. 

What tools do you have to teach customers more about your products?

We’ve prioritized many developments to meet our customers’ expectations of our different brands: the virtual try-on I mentioned is one of them; we have our solution, but we’re also working on online skincare diagnosis and virtual beauty consultations. You can now book a beauty appointment via Zoom. Through this online consultation tool, advisers can help our customers find the product best suited to their beauty needs. The fundamental issue is how to remain close to our clients (while still physically distanced from them), how to listen to them, and how to surprise them, wherever they may be. 

Taking that support we offer in-store and reproducing it online is crucial for the luxury industry.

Is exceptional customer service the key to luxury brands offering a unique experience?

Of course, that’s undoubtedly one of the critical points. To offer exceptional customer service that helps us stand out, we need to provide a frictionless experience throughout the journey, minimizing any frustration or obstacles. Our service has to run smoothly from the first contact right through to home delivery (if the aim is to encourage a purchase). It’s also important to support customers in their decisions (e.g., access to information, finding products, and testing) and to anticipate their questions (through FAQ pages or proactive emails about delivery, for example). Customer service must be premium too, in line with our brands’ values, but it also has to be state-of-the-art, by offering interaction via chatbot or virtual agents, for example.

How do you see the luxury market in Europe changing?

I think we’re on our way to becoming much more socially responsible. This is a requirement we’ve identified from our consumers, who are increasingly considering brands’ environmental impact. One of the prominent examples is what we use in our packaging: tissue paper, stickers, colorful high-quality packaging, etc. 

Brands are going to have to rethink their products and everything associated with them. I think there’s a great story to be told here.

Have you already launched any new initiatives on this front?

Yes, that is central to the group’s priorities and is reflected at every level: for example, we have days when employees spend their time working for charities. This approach goes far beyond the products themselves.

As far as eCommerce is concerned, if we take a look at packaging again, we’ve stopped adding printouts to our parcels, so customers no longer receive a paper invoice or returns slip, for example. The challenge is to get our consumers to accept these changes, as our value proposition is still a unique experience. Similarly, while price remains by far the most important consideration for product delivery, the top three criteria also include speed and meeting delivery times. So, communication is critical if we want to take longer with delivery for less environmental impact.

Shiseido has historically been well-established in physical stores. Has digital transformation taken priority?

The digital maturity of the Group’s brands varies from one country to another, but digital in all its forms has become a priority throughout the value chain. From expertise to investment and throughout the whole organization, every area is embracing the digital revolution. That’s what will make a difference! Being part of an international group with a presence in several countries is an incredible learning and sharing source. We have regular discussions between the different regions and brands. We have access to a vast pool of knowledge. And then, of course, we can localize and adapt. It’s a fantastic asset.

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At a time when the boundaries between online and offline are no longer so clear-cut, what omnichannel strategies should you put in place to speed up your digital transformation? We sat down with Kuider Akani, Global Chief Digital & eCommerce Officer at Yves Rocher, a worldwide botanical-based cosmetics and beauty brand, to hear his perspective on what role eCommerce should play in brands’ omnichannel strategy.

About Kuider Akani

Kuider Akani is a digital and marketing expert with over 25 years of experience. Having worked for B2C brands in various sectors including retail banking (Société Générale), direct banking (ING Direct), online betting (PMU.fr), fashion retail marketplaces (Videdressing.com), and cosmetics, Kuider has had several successful digital business launches under his belt in competitive markets.

As Chief Digital & eCommerce Officer for the Yves Rocher brand, he leads the company’s digital transformation with a particular focus on developing eCommerce, improving the mobile-centric customer experience, and advancing media and social media strategies. He coordinates digital business in more than 30 markets across Europe, Asia, and America.

How do you incorporate Yves Rocher’s core values into your eCommerce strategy?

The Yves Rocher Group’s mission is to reconnect people with nature. As pioneers and inventors of botanical-based cosmetics, our role is to give back to nature what it has given to us. 

Historically, the Yves Rocher brand’s other distinguishing features are its knowledge of and proximity to the end-user.

Lastly, it’s an accessible brand. It has a range of quality products and services at affordable prices for every woman and has a widespread presence, with over 2,500 stores and 23 eCommerce sites worldwide.

Of course, this commitment is reflected in all of our eCommerce sites around the world. 

eCommerce has grown at an unprecedented rate this year. How have you captured this new influx of digital traffic?

Even though this situation was difficult to anticipate, we’ve been working for the past three years to put a fundamental eCommerce strategy in place to enable the brand to expand and to make eCommerce a major future driver of growth.

First, we’ve built one single eCommerce platform for the 23 sites we run worldwide. This means we can significantly improve the digital customer experience and go beyond mere sales efficiency. We can now benefit from a more solid foundation on which to build our future omnichannel experience.

It was also a matter of developing online customer journeys with a mobile-first logic, not only to be more efficient commercially but also to embody the brand DNA that is so inherent to Yves Rocher. Our sites will gradually become richer in content and services to reflect our mission: to reconnect people to nature.

We’ve also focused on our media and social media strategy to ensure it’s giving us a good return on our investment. Our active presence on the major social platforms means we can achieve a good performance level. The brand can now interact with our almost 13 million fans and followers on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

Finally, we created teams of influential digital experts in all the different countries where we operate. These teams all rely on the same best-in-class technological solutions.

All of this groundwork has enabled the brand to be better-equipped than its competitors to take full advantage of this extraordinary time and the high growth of online business. However, we still have a lot of work to do to become the best.

What lessons can you draw from this for the future?

I have learned five major lessons from this time. The first is that consumer behavior has changed: some users have bought products and services online for the first time, and this behavior will, in part, continue. 

The second lesson is that there is enormous potential for eCommerce growth for the Yves Rocher brand.

In particular, this is based on the growth of the online cosmetics market that has continued to increase in significance over the past five years in all the countries where we have a presence. That, combined with the brand’s historic expertise in D2C.

Our websites have received massive increases in traffic, boosting conversion rates 2 or 3 times and growing online sales between 30% and 300%, depending on the country.

On the other hand, brands will have to quickly raise their game when it comes to delivery (e.g., delivery tracking, click & collect, and e-booking) and payment (e.g., wallet and guest checkout) to meet customer demand.

Lastly, the most ambitious eCommerce brands will have to learn to work with increasingly powerful external digital partners (social media platforms, marketplaces, and super apps) who have already preempted between 50% and 80% of the eCommerce market, depending on the region.

Asian platforms use native commerce and US players are starting to use transactional features that show that they’re not willing to give up the fight.

What are the biggest eCommerce challenges facing your brand today?

For the Yves Rocher brand, eCommerce is one of its largest growth levers. The brand currently distributes its range through four channels: eCommerce and social selling through ambassadors, stores, and the old-school channel of mail order.

When it comes to eCommerce, which represented 8% of brand sales in 2019, we think its share will double in 2020, and it has significant growth potential in the future.

To build up eCommerce, despite everything we’ve already done, we still have work to do in some areas of the customer experience. 

Mobile is a crucial aspect. There is a balance to be found between building a smooth customer journey and maintaining lots of features to implement transactional and omnichannel mobile applications in the future.

An enhanced digital customer experience should reflect the brand promise through enriched content.

In-depth work also needs to be done in payment and delivery areas, which are key to hitting the mark.

Lastly, we need to work on better digital integration at our points of sale. We’re currently testing a live stream video service in Sweden, which will enable a customer to connect to a beauty consultant and purchase products remotely. 

A customer video chatting with an Yves Rocher consultant for a remote product demo

In your opinion, what is the optimal digital experience? 

More than anything, the optimal digital experience is a frictionless journey – from product research through to purchase –personalized according to consumer profile and behavior.

That said, the digital experience is constantly evolving! 

So, how will it evolve over the next few years?

Hyper-personalization of content and the journey is also crucial, as well as embodying the brand’s mission: to reconnect people to nature.

Yves Rocher’s three-pronged approach to eCommerce: mobile-centric, omnichannel, and hyper-personalization

We’re going to highlight our expertise in botanicals-based cosmetics by displaying our products’ composition and formulation clearly and openly.  

Digital eco-design (reducing page weight, iterations, a test & learn approach before development, and limiting server calls) will be at the core of our strategy.

What advice would you give other brands looking to accelerate their own digital transformation?

Any eCommerce business must be based on solid cornerstones, which are as follows: a stable and scalable technical platform; a constantly-optimized customer experience enriched with features and content specific to the brand’s DNA; a user acquisition strategy guided by your brand’s value proposition for both new and existing customers; an enriched CRM that goes beyond conventional emails; an active presence on social platforms or marketplaces to reach and capture new audiences; a company culture driven by efficiency, innovation, and solution optimization; and, ongoing research into consumer insights through consolidated omnichannel data.

And looking further ahead?

As we’ve seen this year, the world as we know it can be disrupted at any time. We have to stay agile to be able to grow in extraordinary circumstances. 

We also need to remember that, to some extent, brands are in sole control of their digital customer experiences. 

While many European and American brands are developing their own eCommerce sites, it’s important to note that major eCommerce platforms are making their own rapid progress. For example, social media platforms are gradually adopting features that can lead to transactions and Amazon has already preempted 50% of eCommerce in this area.

In Asia, marketplaces such as Alibaba, Lazada, Shopee, and super apps like Wechat and Line already represent nearly 80% of Asian eCommerce, and they are looking to expand further.

Against this backdrop, brands will have to draw a fine line between a proprietary customer experience they control and a fluid customer experience managed by a third party.

A big challenge!

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