“Consumers who viewed this product, also bought that product…” Amazon’s been doing it for years, and for them and other ecommerce pros who are getting it right, product recommendations are a very effective way to beef up shopping cart sizes and pull in more revenue per customer. This specific form of online targeting, however, hasn’t always been so easy for marketers to achieve. The good news is that with new automated solutions in play, they can now easily execute similar types of cross-sell and up-sell campaigns on their site.
As they venture into what may very well be new territory (despite being relatively commonplace), marketers should avoid making the following five common mistakes that plague product recommendation campaigns:
Mistake #1: You try to manually set all the recommendations rules
Until now, teal-time targeting and recommendations have been considered too difficult for marketers to implement because only rules-based models/technology existed. And let’s face it: we’re only human. It’s nearly impossible to predict all possible behavior combinations and rules necessary to target and tailor to shoppers needs and wants. Think about the number of products you hold. Now, multiply that number by the number sold per month (or even per day) and the amount of... Read more
Archive for June, 2011
Five Common Mistakes of Product Recommendations Campaigns
Don't try this at home
You know it's summer when you can wear dresses at night, find delicious corn on the cob and...the FDA decides to focus on sunscreen? No, sunscreens with an SPF lower than 14 won't be getting death-style cancer pictures a la cigarettes, but changes are being made.
One of these was made up by me...
In homage to summer and the sunburns it inevitably brings, I present to you this PSA from the Canadian Dermatology Association (and agency McMillan). Keep your friends close, and your sunscreen closer.
The Myth of Digital Measurement.
Every time that some new aspect of digital media/marketing gets hot, the measurement crew rolls onto the scene and tells us how they’re going to make order of the whole thing. Lately my Twitter feed and inbox have been bulging with stories about “last click attribution” and “media mix modeling” and next generation brand research. But like Big Foot, Nessie or bi-partisanship, it’s time for us to see digital measurement for what it is: a myth. But before you rush off to find kindling to begin burning me at the stake for heresy, let’s look at the facts:
Fact One: Digital is Permanently Dynamic. Not only do digital capabilities constantly evolve, but the pace of that evolution is constantly accelerating. Which leads us to…
Fact Two: “Measurement” Can Never Keep Up. All of the models we discuss seem rooted in recreating some form of measurement from the stable marketplaces of the past. As long as we’re trying “update” or “reinvent” the GRP, market mix modeling, attribution and the like, we will fail. And these will never be truly compelling because…
Fact Three: We’re Always Onto the Next Thing. At the exact moment something in our world becomes stable enough to be measured in... Read more
