If you’ve ever felt like a brand “listened” to you by serving recommendations for products or services during the online transaction process, you recognize how important this facet of ecommerce can be for successful businesses.
Personalizing those moments of transactions can level up the shopping experience for customers and increase the bottom line for brands.
A major player in this space has lessons to share with brands seeking those deep relationships, and we spoke to NYC-based, Australia-founded Rokt, a Bold Commerce partner, to impart those insights and offer a 360-view of optimizing campaigns.
Rokt’s solutions—used by more than 3,000 brands—allow ecommerce businesses to unlock additional revenue by applying AI and machine learning technology to data to identify highly relevant offers for each customer in the final stages of an online transaction.
Recently, Elizabeth Buchanan, Rokt's Chief Commercial Officer appeared on Bold's Own Your Commerce podcast to discuss strategies for brands looking to seize the transaction experience to unlock more revenue. Here's a preview of the conversation:
Personalization in the checkout
If a customer is at the checkout stage of a clothing retailer, an upsell alert could let them know about a sale on belts and clutches, or a third-party brand could share/show an offer for a free 30-day trial of a new streaming service.
At that Transaction Moment, as Rokt’s CCO, Elizabeth Buchanan describes it, “shoppers’ interest, buying intention and engagement are all at their peak and they are highly receptive to offers that are personally relevant to them. Rokt enables brands to maximize the value of each transaction by cross-selling and upselling goods and services, serving individuals with personalized messages that have a high likelihood of leading to an additional purchase, a sign-up, an app download or other desired action.”
Next-gen technology to empower active listening
A Forbes report notes how leveraging data science strategies can benefit ecommerce brands aiming to cement a closer bond with their customers. “Commerce giants that implement AI are better equipped at focusing on enriching their retail engagement with customers while allowing the technical experts to focus on the training of machine learning models with real-time customer data to achieve truly personalized experiences.”
Also, a 2020 Forrester report found that 85% of customers would reward sellers who provide relevant personalization with increased lifetime value.
Maximizing those Transaction Moments can greatly benefit brands that make the most out of them. Buchanan notes that Rokt’s technology drives average click-through rates as high as 4.8% (compared to the typical 1%–3%).
Buchanan cites the case study of one of their clients, Fanatics, a global leader in licensed sports merchandise. When the company sought to optimize its confirmation page, it leveraged Rokt solutions to drive a 100% increase in incremental revenue on the page, resulting in a 470% increase in annual revenue, she says.
Imagine how your brand can achieve that same kind of success by focusing on an ecommerce approach built on a foundation of customization and personalization.
Connect customers to experiences that matter
Winning in this space takes strategic planning and innovative implementation. Also, tailoring the data science framework shouldn’t be ignored, as a Rokt blog post writes. The questions brands should ask themselves at this stage include: “What’s relevant to each customer? What messages, offers, or products would best fit their needs? It is important to be able to prioritize customer preferences in real time using machine learning to leverage their data without compromising the customer’s privacy and still providing a personalized experience.”
Rokt began when CEO Bruce Buchanan was running Jetstar, the leading low-fare airline in Asia, and he soon began to recognize how taking a consumer on a purchase journey with a personally relevant checkout experience offered a significant opportunity for businesses to boost their profitability. When Buchanan surveyed the tech space, he found no technology solution available to personalize that transaction experience—so he decided to create one. He left Jetstar and co-founded Rokt in 2012, and has since powered Rokt to become valued at $450 million in 2021. Rokt is also integrated with leading ecommerce platforms: Shopify, BigCommerce and WooCommerce.
What Rokt’s meteoric rise should teach brands is simple: Ensure your online store boasts enough features and innovative technology to connect customers to offers that matter to them, which will then drive profitability and engagement when those shoppers are at the peak of their buying mindset.
It’s a win-win that is hard to overlook.
To learn more about Rokt and how you can capitalize on every transaction, listen to the full episode below:
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