More Time is Needed; Google Delays Cookie Withdraw

More Time is Needed; Google Delays Cookie Withdraw

by | Jul 2, 2021 | Announcements and Events, eCommerce, Technology

For those unaware, in January 2020, Google first announced a plan to stop support for third-party cookies, which advertisers use to track users and target them with ads. The company said the plan, which originally had a “two-year” deadline, was to replace third-party cookies with more privacy-conscious technologies.

On Thursday, June 24, 2021 however, Google announced it was pushing back its original timeline of the Privacy Sandbox initiative to kill third-party tracking cookies in Chrome from 2022 to 2023. This will give users, publishers, and digital advertisers more time to plan for more privacy-conscious targeted ads and workarounds. 

The delay comes after Google pledged to give oversight of the cookie changes to the UK’s antitrust watchdog.

In his latest blog post, Vinay Goel, Engineer Director of Google Privacy said, “while there’s considerable progress with this initiative, it’s become clear that more time is needed across the ecosystem to get this right.”

Despite this extension, other browsers such as Safari and Firefox have already implemented some default blocking against third-party tracking cookies. This emphasizes that it’s never too early to start your plan of action for when third-party cookies are removed from Chrome.

End of Third Party Cookies Updated Timeline

Google has now set out an extended timeline for the forthcoming changes. These changes will occur over a three-month period by the end of 2023.

  • Stage one is expected to start in late 2022 and last for a duration of nine months giving publishers, advertisers, and ad tech vendors time to migrate their services to work with new cookieless technologies.
  • The next stage marks the beginning of the end for third-party cookies, expected to start in mid-2023 and finish later that year.

“We must take time to evaluate the new technologies, gather feedback and iterate to ensure they meet our goals for both privacy and performance and give all developers time to follow the best path for privacy,” Goel concluded.

Google and other online ad industry players have been experimenting with new application programming interfaces (APIs), designed to prevent the tracking of individual users while still allowing advertisers to target clusters of people by their interests and measure the effectiveness of their campaigns.

Along the way, Google has promised to partake in transparent discussions and incorporate feedback from external parties including web developers, advertisers, publishers, and regulators. Competition watchdogs have also made it clear to Google that they want to be briefed on the changes. Google responded and offered to give the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority oversight of its plans to roll out technologies from the Privacy Sandbox, including offering the watchdog a 60-day “standstill period” before it introduces any changes.

Reactions from the industry

Google’s initiative to kill third-party cookies in Chrome has been met by resistance from the tech industry, especially from marketers and advertising agencies who are worried that the blanket stop to third-party cookies will hurt the internet economy and start-ups. 

Early during the week of June 24th, the European Union opened an antitrust probe into Google’s advertising practices, including the company’s plans to phase out cookies in Chrome.

Simon Andrews, founder of the mobile marketing consultancy Addictive, said while a large portion of online ad businesses mistrusts Google, the industry needs to reach a consensus around building new privacy-focused solutions that are usable for all the players across the sector.

Have questions about whether or not your cookie game is up to date? Contact the pros at InteractOne to learn more.

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Stuck with a Supply Shortage? How to Keep Customers Happy During Disruptions

Stuck with a Supply Shortage? How to Keep Customers Happy During Disruptions

by | Jun 28, 2021 | Digital Marketing, eCommerce, Technology

“Disruption” is a painful and ugly word anywhere in business, but particularly if you are in the world of eCommerce. Often, customers turn to eCommerce brands  because of the perceived convenience factor that comes with shopping online. But as an eCommerce merchant, what position are you in if supply chain trouble is beyond your control and is affecting your ability to fulfill orders?

COVID repercussions, the Colonial pipeline ransomware attack and even an immense cargo ship becoming wedged in the Suez Canal are all recent examples of a world experiencing uncertainty and delays as it seeks to get back to the normal we used to know. The threat of a disruptive crisis won’t ever go away, but there are smart precautions you can take to protect your customer from the worst impacts of the unexpected.

In this blog, we’ll offer tips for you that can keep disruption to your business from unraveling to the point of chaos.

It’s Still True: Forewarned is Forearmed

Most disruptive events usually have some lag time before they reach a supply chain. Being able to take advantage of even a little lead time can be a saving grace for your eCommerce operations.

If your sales strategy involves campaigns or specials, that is particularly dangerous terrain if it becomes clear that outside events are going to impact your ability to deliver. Promoting a product heading into a shortage is just throwing the door wide open to creating dissatisfied customers. When it comes to sales strategy, you need to make sure all decision-makers are on the alert for disruptive events. It would also be wise to establish a process, if you don’t already have one, for sharing red-alert information appropriately across all segments of your operation if a sudden supply issue is forming for your near-future. Market giants like Amazon are digging in hard to adapt to this mode . There’s a very good chance your eCommerce operation needs to be considering the same factors.

Be Ready with Alternatives

It’s a slippery slope if a popular mainstay product suddenly comes into short supply because of an outside event. Well-established eCommerce sites can speak from experience that customers expecting a product delivery don’t have much patience for any excuse, no matter how valid the reason may truly be. However, you can minimize this kind of trouble by being the best kind of manager for your site.

If you’ve ever been in a brick-and-mortar hardware store and come in seeking a solution to an urgent problem at home, you may have left that store holding it in even higher regard if a knowledgeable employee took the time to listen to you and then was able to recommend an even more effective alternative you were unaware of that addressed your problem. This mindset applies to digital storefronts as well. If you have developed a flexible and responsive eCommerce platform to operate from, you should have the ability to create messaging to let customers know when they encounter a popular out-of-stock item what alternative options you do have in stock that could work as a substitute. The customer may be unaware of that item or not thinking of it in terms as being a suitable alternative – if you unexpectedly fill that role for them, like the hardware store example above, you have a chance to strengthen that customer’s loyalty to your brand.

Embrace Their Problem By Helping to Own It

If no other product but the one that has been impacted by supply problems will do, strive not to just leave the customer out in the cold. If you have an expectation on when a product is likely to be back in stock, be conservative in how you deliver that information, but also if your site has the flexibility to do so, let the customer know the time frame of when you expect to have the product back in inventory. Out-of-stock events happen even in normal times and it’s estimated that when they do, it costs retailers across all channels up to $1 trillion in lost sales per year.

Even better, if your platform has the capacity on a permanent basis to capture individual customer information and preferences, investigate whether or not you have the capability to set up an alert system for the product. Promise the customer if they leave necessary information such as their name and email address, you will notify them promptly as soon as the product does become available.

The customer wins by feeling like they have at least taken one positive step towards securing a product they have a strong need for, and you win by gaining the information that not only does this customer purchase this item, but that it is a high-priority item for them. You could even turn it into a goodwill opportunity in the future, at a time when the product is back in regular supply, to offer it back to the customer at a discount as a special, acknowledging their previous painful experience. Finally, don’t forget to recognize the universality of the problem – once the supply issue starts to clear up, there will be untold number of potential customers who were missing the product for every one that you know about and can contact. Promote a restoration of product supply on your site and in your email/social media efforts. P % Co. has a great example of this. 

Not All Supply Chain Issues are Created the Same

Once you have your whole operation on alert about the acute issues caused by supply disruptions, you need continued vigilance throughout the operation as to opportunities to mitigate the problem.

Although both are likely based on logistics and transportation, an inbound supply problem can have a different solution than an outbound supply problem. Make sure your back office is looking for opportunities to clear up supply issues through all means possible. Optimally, you would rather not have to dig down into the dirt to alleviate such detail-related issues, but being unable to supply a popular item is not an optimal situation. Other companies already understand they need to do this. If you have your staff on alert for potential work-around solutions and it pays off, you’ve got a chance again to please a customer through demonstrating extraordinary effort.

Shortages for Retailers Can Be Opportunities for Etailers

A final key point is to not lose sight when a widespread product supply issue develops:you  have natural advantages by being engaged in eCommerce. Short-supply products almost always have some availability somewhere. The impacts of the pandemic over the last year have already shifted buying habits in a favorable direction for eCommerce in many sectors.

As an eCommerce brand, you aren’t tied to an operation in a fixed location. Look for opportunities to exploit that edge, and when they are solidified, don’t be shy about promoting that information on your eCommerce platform.

Conclusion

You can’t stop supply-chain disruptions from cropping up. But you can be better prepared for them. Proper planning, dexterity throughout your operations and knowing how to best utilize the flexibility built into your eCommerce platform to help customers navigate these episodes are all important solutions to be aware of as you look to keep your site’s reputation as stellar as possible for your valued customers.

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How to Recover Baskets of Money from Shopping Cart Abandonment

How to Recover Baskets of Money from Shopping Cart Abandonment

by | Jun 22, 2021 | eCommerce, Site Development

No matter how smart and hard retailers work to bring customers to their website and lead them throughout the shopping process, only three out of ten shopping carts will generate an order. That is a significant amount of lost revenue. It hurts double if the sale winds up going to your competition.

While all retailers find shopping cart abandonment a big issue, some see it as an opportunity to gain an advantage against the competition. In this blog, we’ll reveal why those issues emerge and how to address them.

Before diving into some solutions for cart abandonment, it is imperative to first know your brand’s cart abandonment rate.

How to calculate your shopping cart abandonment rate

Although the average cart abandonment rate in eCommerce varies based on the industry you are in, it usually is somewhere in the ballpark of 70%, (Baymard, 2019). Ecommerce sites with longer decision-making cycles such as travel can experience rates as high as 80%.

So, how do you determine the average cart abandonment for your brand? You can calculate it by using the formula below from Tidio:

The higher the cart abandonment rate, the greater the financial loss for the company. Unless you stop customers from leaving with solid solutions to either stay or come back and complete the order. 

Here are the top cart recovery solutions you should consider:

Authenticate Your Brand with Social Proof

Consumers want to see more than just what you are selling. According to Stackla data, over 86% of digital consumers decide to support brands based on how authentic they are perceived to be. Additionally, 60% of these consumers believe that publishing user-generated content is the best way to show authenticity – insert blog content or social images that depict more than just your product. Given this data, one of the best shopping cart abandonment solutions to implement actually has nothing to do with the checkout process and has everything to do with you and how you present your brand.

You can take strides toward getting shoppers to trust your brand by offering real customer reviews and trust badges. Highlight these on your product pages and within your cart abandonment workflow. Another avenue is to use your social media accounts to encourage customers to share their experiences with your brand, both positive and negative. These two simple and low-cost strategies will go a long way in helping to reduce cart abandonment.

Retargeting ads using PPC

Retargeting/remarketing ads allow you to stay in front of interested individuals who may be close to converting.​ When a customer visits and leaves your website, a remarketing campaign displays your banner or text ad on other sites they visit, including social websites and apps. Remarketing campaigns drive prospective and previous customers back to your site, reducing shopping cart abandonment and providing better audience segmentation while building brand awareness. Delivering a specific message to your customer based on where they are in the buying cycle – in this case the Shopping Cart, though remarketing can be used earlier in the buying cycle as well -, and selecting imagery based on what pages they visited while on your site is key to delivering the highest possible ROI for your remarketing budget.

To optimize your remarketing efforts, it is also important to segment your customers in detail. You need to consider things such as; the item(s) they were purchasing before they left the site, the value of the item they abandoned, and whether they were a first-time customer or not. This can help you re-engage shoppers long after they’ve abandoned your site with the proper segmentation messaging that will likely increase your clicks and conversions. It can also help you increase profits and overall customer satisfaction.

To learn additional steps and strategies to help you get started with all forms of Search Engine Advertising, read our blogs 5 Ways an Integrated SEO PPC Strategy Will Benefit Your eCommerce Business and SEO and PPC: It’s Easy as 1,2,3.

Strike While the Iron is Hot with Automation

When using email automation workflows for cart recovery, timing is critical so you need to be sure you strike while the iron is hot; which is usually within one hour of abandonment. After the initial email has been sent, you can set up two or more to improve your chances of recapture – though it is important to remember here  is not to overdo it.

With the right software or agency support/assistance, certain actions (or inactions) can trigger pre-crafted messages to send automatically to customers soon after they leave their carts behind.

Whether you decide to work with an agency or use software – your email automation should be able to do:

  • Send automatic welcome emails when someone subscribes to your newsletter or creates an account on your site
  • Allow for a behavioral trigger, like abandoning a cart or browsing a certain product category
  • Engage your customer post-purchase with the order confirmation and shipping notifications
  • Send automatic timed responses based on birthdays to nurture your customer relationship
  • Create timed-based triggers to re-engage inactive customers

Key Concepts to Include in Your Automated Emails

Bringing in additional strategies into the mix will make your email campaign even more powerful and continue to decrease your cart abandonment rate. Some of these strategies include:

Feature the abandoned product in the email: remind your customer what they are missing out on by providing exact details; the image, size, color, and price of the item within your initial email. For subsequent emails, including recommendations for similar products might improve chances of conversion, as well. Worx has a great follow-up email that reminds customers what they left behind with additional item suggestions:

Use high converting subject lines: a catchy subject line like Perigold’s grabs your customer’s attention and helps increase open and click rates.

This is a strategy that can translate across all of your marketing strategies. Once you’ve come up with a catchy subject line, it is important to test them with sample audiences to find out what’s working and what’s not before you make a campaign live. 

Our blog posts Subject Line Tactics and Email Best Practices dive deeper into testing subject lines and offer some tips and tools you can use to help increase your open rates.

Offer support: customers might abandon their cart because they had questions (i.e. return policy, sizing) or were having technical issues. Allow them to ask questions if they have them whether on your actual site or in your first email touchpoint. Saatchi Art does a good job in their follow-up email of highlighting where a customer can go for help should they have questions before they order:

Offer incentives: regardless of the industry you are in, any good eCommerce or digital marketer knows that building a great email list is often done with some kind of incentive to sign up, like a discount or free shipping similar to the offer Saatchi Art provides in their follow-up email below. When you offer an incentive, either in a timed or an exit-intent pop-up, the welcome email will likely be opened immediately.

Have a clear CTA: put a bold, easy-to-see, contrasting CTA right below the product image that the customer left behind pushing them towards the action you want them to take; purchase the product. Specialized entices customers the item they left behind is worth a second look with their clear CTA:

Let’s break it all down with an example

As mentioned above, a catchy subject line or incentive will grab your customer to come back. Let’s look at the good and bad of the follow-up email below from Public Rec to help inspire your email automation campaign.

What is good about this automated email?

The subject line positively defines the abandoned product as worth another look for the shopper.

  • While there is no discount, the verbiage used can be powerful enough to create a conversion.
  • A distinct CTA is provided making it clear and obvious where to click and what action you want them to take.
  • There is mention of FREE shipping costs. The cost of shipping is a top reason for abandoned carts and including that here could be powerful enough to create conversion.
  • There is mention of FREE returns. Consumers want to feel confident in their order, especially first-time customers. Reinforcing whether or not you offer a return policy can make completing their purchase seem like a no-brainer.

What is bad about this automated email?

The subject line positively defines the abandoned product as worth another look for the shopper.

  • There is NO customer service information. A link to a help page, live chat, or general phone number is not represented and could be useful to a customer.
  • There are NO other product recommendations included in the email.

Bringing it all together

We understand that cart abandonment is a complex issue for all eCommerce businesses and there is no single solution that works across brands and industries. Overall, retailers need to understand the reasons behind why a shopper abandons their cart.

Do they simply need a reminder or do you need to offer a discount? Maybe it is the return policy that is the hurdle to overcome. Or maybe you need to provide product recommendations to increase their shopping cart to qualify for free shipping.

Creating an email strategy can help your customers overcome those concerns and bring shoppers back while also recovering baskets of money in revenue.

Are you ready to reduce your cart abandonment rate, boost conversions, and take your business closer to its maximum revenue potential? Connect with one of our experts today to discuss your eCommerce needs!

Get in Touch

Connect with one of our experts today to discuss your eCommerce needs!

Contact Us
June 2021 Orange Report

June 2021 Orange Report

by | Jun 15, 2021 | Adobe/Magento, Past Newsletters, Technology

June 2021 ORANGE REPORT

The June 2021 Orange Report features our best & most recent blogs and guides on Magento, Big Commerce, eCommerce, and Digital Marketing.

Introductory Emails for Connecting with New Customers

Sending introductory emails yields around 51% more revenue. Here’s how to capitalize on this new-subscriber momentum.

READ MORE

7 Simple A/B Tests to Improve Your eCommerce Site

A/B Testing is vital to the improvement of your eCommerce site and your business. But what elements should you A/B test? Find out right here.

READ MORE

How Brands Can Build Better Online Customer Relationships

This blog was a hit with our Apparel and Accessories audience but it has some excellent research and takeaways that extend to other industries too. Check it out. 

READ MORE

How to Ensure your Web Store is ADA Compliant

98.1% of eCommerce home pages failed to comply with ADA guidelines. Here’s how to fix your site and avoid potential penalties.

READ MORE
The Future Is Electric – What the Electric Car Revolution Means for Automotive Aftermarket Websites

The Future Is Electric – What the Electric Car Revolution Means for Automotive Aftermarket Websites

by | May 28, 2021 | Automotive eCommerce, Technology

Edgy analysts have been heralding the death of the internal combustion engine for decades, yet gasoline cars keep chugging along with ever more efficiency. Nevertheless, all good rides must come to an end, and it seems like the conventional internal combustion car is finally being overtaken on the highway by the almighty electric vehicle (EV).

Millions of electric cars are already on the road, and sales are predicted to surpass 220 million by 2030. The good news for automotive ecommerce stores is that EVs still burn through a lot of consumable components, and they accept many of the same aftermarket upgrades that your store probably already sells to so-called petrol heads. All you have to do is shake up your inventory and marketing strategies a bit to cater to EV drivers.

Maintenance Parts: Say Goodbye to Engine Oil and Ignition Coils

Oil changes are undoubtedly the most common car maintenance procedure. As such, engine oil and oil filters are among the best sellers for a lot of aftermarket shops. Unfortunately, electric cars require neither of those consumables.

In fact, electric cars run without a lot of the maintenance items that you’re probably used to selling. Air intake filters, spark plugs and ignition components, transmission and differential fluids, manifold gaskets, catalytic converters…powering a vehicle with electricity makes all of those components obsolete.

While EVs may drive differently than internal combustion engines they still need to stop. EVs do require brake maintenance components like pads, rotors, and brake fluid, though maintenance will be less frequent than their gasoline counterparts due to regenerative braking technology. Tires, cabin air filters, and car cleaning accessories will all still be fair game also.

As for the powertrain – electric motors and batteries require very little maintenance unless they’re damaged or worn out from extremely high mileage. When either of those things happen, the cost and complexity of the repairs generally necessitate a specialized technician.

In other words, driveway mechanics purchasing maintenance parts to install at home will be a much smaller demographic.

Powertrain Upgrades: Out with Hardware, In with Software

Unfortunately, pretty much all of the traditional aftermarket engine upgrades are off the table as well. Cold-air intakes, performance exhaust systems, turbo system components…any upgrade that bolts onto the engine will be incompatible with electric powertrains.

Some new potential mods are entering the market though in the form of software packages. Tesla already offers different software tunes to suit different performance targets, including their famous “Ludicrous” mode that temporarily amps up the Model S’s power output for straight-line sprints and drag races. Aftermarket tuners are already getting in the game too, such as Genovation with their custom electric power train swaps and tuning products. Less extensive software modifications are also possible, such as artificial engine notes that play through the car’s audio system as the driver accelerates.

No matter how complex electric cars and their computer systems become, there will always be an aftermarket engineer somewhere finding ways to squeeze more power and sportiness out of them. Whether they do so using a wrench or keyboard, you’ll still have a performance product to add to your digital shelves.

Electric Cars Can Still Dance with Handling Upgrades

Automotive technology may continuously evolve, but physics stays the same. If you want to modify a car to go around a turn faster, you lower the center of gravity, stiffen the chassis and suspension, then wrap the wheels in sticky tires. Electric motors don’t prohibit any of those upgrades.

Performance driving enthusiasts and weekend racers will still be in the market for mods that improve driving dynamics and handling. In fact, the market for chassis and suspension upgrades may even grow as enthusiasts have less options to inject performance and personality into their engines and transmissions.

Good Looks Never Go Away

When it comes to aftermarket suspension upgrades, handling improvements are only half the story. There are just as many enthusiasts who purchase performance lowering springs and shocks simply for the low-profile stance of the upgraded suspension. 

Aftermarket wheel sets go hand in hand with lowered suspension setups. From there, the sky’s the limit when it comes to aftermarket aesthetic modifications. Sporty bumpers and ground effects, custom hoods and headlights, along with the increasingly-popular trend of custom vinyl graphics and full exterior vinyl wraps are what enthusiasts will use to make their electric cars scream rather than a set of unmuffled exhaust pipes.

Hot-Rodding Is Forever

People have been modifying their rides since the invention of the wheel. Speed addicts in the 19th century were figuring out ways to cram more heat into their steam engines, wealthy ancient Egyptians and Europeans rode around in tricked-out chariots – it’s absurd to think that driving enthusiasts will suddenly lose the itch to tinker with their cars once they’re powered by electrons instead of gasoline.

Conclusion

The challenge is simply keeping yourself and your automotive store up to date with the aftermarket trends that will lead the way into the future of electric hot-rodding. For assistance with keeping your auto webstore tuned to the changing marketplace, please feel free to reach out to us.