Analytics: How Does The World's Largest Online Shoe Retailer Win?

Case Study

Zappos

Company profile

Zappos.com is an online service company that sells shoes, clothing, and more. The brand is currently housed in Las Vegas, NV. The company offers over 150,000 products and is breaking into the fashion market, offering the same service and convenience it does with shoes. Between April and July of 2013, Zappos generated a revenue of over $700 million (Lewis, 2013).

§ Founded in 1999, the company was acquired by Amazon in 2009

§  Zappos products and services consist of shoes, clothing, and accessories

§ Shoe sales account for 80% of revenue

§ Clothing, handbags, watches, and eyewear account for 20% of revenue

Goal

To track and monitor e-commerce traffic, sales, and consumer behavior to analyze the collected data, resulting in appropriated actions to achieve overall success of the company.

Situation

It is important to note that since its founding in 1999, Zappos has never taken a traditional approach in marketing and promotions; rather, the company has relied on experimentation to achieve success. Zappos focused on making consumer shopping on the site a positive experience to turn consumers into loyal customers resulting in return customers. Zappos cautiously monitors the behavior of its visitors to understand if any changes are needed to make the site more user-friendly. Since its founding, Zappos has gone on to become the world’s largest online shoe retailer and as a result, the company has set analytic tools in place to monitor traffic. It is vital that the brand is conscious about creating resources to analyze important information and data that the company can use to measure and continue its success.

 

Since Zappos.com is one of the largest online retailers on the web, it is very beneficial for the company to use analytic tools to monitor visitor traffic and customers. The company thrives off of its online community, blog sites, social media pages and more. To monitor e-commerce business, Zappos is using a combination of Google Analytics and in-house software analytics to monitor visitor traffic and customers. According to the Zappos.com website, the brand’s analytic data is analyzed by members of its marketing team. “Through Google Analytics Zappos is able to track customer interactions by analyzing which articles customers are visiting most frequently, bounce rates, time on site, visitor loyalty and outcomes. Outcomes can really be whatever Zappos has determined to be a valuable goal for their business, but from an analyst’s point of view it would appear to be a blog subscription or a purchase at the very minimum” (Johnson, 2013).

 

On the main e-commerce site, Zappos monitors consumer engagement, consumer behavior, traffic, keyword searches, and conversions. Monitoring the data collected revealed that over 75% of Zappos’ business comes from repeat customers (Quesenberry, 2010). Monitoring this data can assist Zappos in determining any problems or issues that the site may be having or is causing them to lose sales and can also assist in implementing forms of action to fix the items in a timely manner.

 

Goal Achievement

Zappos uses Google Analytics to track and monitor traffic and sales generated by each keyword, letting them know which terms are working and which need to be changed. Zappos can use Google Analytics in addition to their in-house analytics to compare analytic data to show any trends worth pursuing and choosing what data needs to be a priority in order to improve search engine optimization. 

According to the Director of Direct and Online Marketing for the company, Darren Shamo, Zappos monitors data collected on what customers are looking at while on the e-commerce site, and uses the collected information to create customized advertising that the company believes the customer will deem useful. Shamo states that in order for the brand to avoid being viewed as “creepy” an ad will never feature the exact product a customer was viewing on the site (Demery, 2012). Instead, it will take the analytics data it collects on what customers view the Zappos.com website and “dumb it down” through its product recommendation engine to pitch ads for a range of merchandise a consumer is likely to purchase. “A shopper who showed a clear preference for a pair of Nike “Free Run+ 3” running shoes in gray and red trim, for instance, may see a retargeted ad for several similar products in multiple brands and styles—but not the exact same Nike shoe she had checked out on Zappos—while later visiting another web site” (Demery, 2012).

“Showing people exactly what they had seen, and producing more targeted ad content always converts better... [b]ut we back away from the revenue opportunity for the sole purpose of improving the customer experience. We feel that, long term, we’ll get more customers and more sales” (Demery, 2012).

 

Benefits

Utilizing analytic tools allow Zappos to view all metrics that are relevant to the online store and all web traffic generated. A few examples of the metrics that are measured are:

·         Ecommerce Conversions to check conversion rates for each product

·         Engaged Visitors to understand why visitors are on the Zappos site

·         Readers to configure the amount of users that are visiting more than one page

·         Calls to Action to determine how many calls to action Zappos shoppers complete

·         Bounce Rate to determine how many viewers are visiting the site without taking time to view more than one page

 

Zappos collects the information from Google Analytics and its in-house web analytics tools to ensure that the data collected is accurate, timely, and precise. Using several analytics tools to gain insight increases the company’s probability of interpreting the data correctly to make the appropriate decisions. For instance, if Google Analytics reported that the company’s sales increased by 20%, Kissmetrics reported sales increased by 25% and Clicky reported sales increased by 30% then the company can ensure that sales have increased by an amount greater than 20%.

Technical Skills

Zappos is not shy about what it looks for in its employees. The company publicly lists the desired skills potential employees should have in order to perform analytic job functions successfully. Zappos states Marketing Analytics should “... serve as a support function to all marketing channels to validate and certify all data sources. We also like to get our hands dirty by running complex analysis and set channel targets required to balance the media mix. Desired skills: analytics, Microsoft Excel, SAS, R, SQL” (Zappos, n.d.).

 

Results

Zappos has delicately created a balance to provide customer satisfaction without compromising sales and merchandise. Zappos’ mission to deliver WOW service is productive as a result of carefully monitoring its analytics and using the information to make positive changes that will continue to attract and appeal to the brand’s customers and create a loyal, returning customer base.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

 

Demery, Paul. (2012). How Zappos balances privacy and targeted ads. Retrieved on February 23, 2014 from http://www.internetretailer.com/2012/10/19/how-zappos-balances-privacy-and-targeted-ads

 

Johnson, E. (2013, December 9). Zappos uses web analytics to fuel the marketing engine. Retrieved from http://analyticsinsight.blogspot.com/2013/12/zappos-uses-web-analytics-to-fuel.html

Lewis, S. (2013, August 20). Can zappos bulldoze the brick-and-mortar shopping model? Retrieved from http://www.retailsolutionsonline.com/doc/can-zappos-bulldoze-the-brick-and-mortar-shopping-model-0001

 

Quesenberry, Keith A. (2010). Walk a mile in zappos’ new media shoes. Retrieved from http://addingtonoise.wordpress.com/2010/03/23/walk-a-mile-in-zappos-new-media-shoes/

 

Zappos. (n.d.). Zappos marketing analytics. Retrieved 2014, November 12 from https://jobs.zappos.com/careers/marketing

 

 

Is Google Watching You?

 

 

 

 

According to our lesson this week, Google owns...

·         The top-ranked search portal

·         A wildly popular e-mail service

·         A widely-used customizable home page

·         A leading feed reader

·         The top-ranked feed management system

·         The top-ranked analytics product

·         The largest distributed ad network

·         The most widely-distributed traffic monitoring toolbar

·         The largest video content hosting site (Reed College of Media, 2014).

How do you feel about the fact that Google collects data from millions of its accounts every day? Should a user have any concerns about this or is it just the price we have to pay to reap the benefits of Google's many (mostly free) services? Research Google in the news with regards to topics related to ethics, privacy and security and share your findings along with your perspectives.

Have you ever sat back and wondered exactly how much data Google collects every day? How does this affect you? In 2012, Google replaced more than 60 privacy guidelines that governed its products and services with one single policy; it also consolidated the personal data it collects. “The company creates as much data in two days — roughly 5 exabytes — as the world produced from the dawn of humanity until 2003... [according to] Eric Schmidt, the company’s chairman” (Harbour, 2012). Google uses a massive amount of information that it collects from its search engine to assist companies in placing advertising on the web and providing free search engine services to the public. However, the benefits of Google have come with a wide range of privacy issues that are still in effect today. Here’s a few concerns about Google and privacy:

Google using unsecured Wi-Fi networks, Wiretapping, and a string of lawsuits

Google began using Street View cars to assist Google Maps in providing accurate pictures and information for Google users. Google Street View is featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides panoramic views from positions along many city and rural streets around the world. It was first launched in 2007 in several cities in the United States, and has since expanded. Most of the captured photography is done by Google Street View cars. The issue with this feature is Google obtained information from unsecured WIFI networks that included information such as personal emails, passwords, URLs, personal data, and more. In 2013, the company dealt with a lawsuit filed by 38 states that suggested Google violated people’s privacy during the capturing of street views. In agreeing to settle a case brought by 38 states involving the project, the search company for the first time is required to aggressively police its own employees on privacy issues and to explicitly tell the public how to fend off privacy violations like this one. David Streitfeld of the New York Times wrote in 2013:

While the settlement also included a tiny — for Google — fine of $7 million,   privacy advocates and Google critics characterized the overall agreement  as a breakthrough for a company they say has become a serial violator of privacy. Complaints have led to multiple enforcement actions in recent    years and a spate of worldwide investigations into the way the mapping  project also collected the personal data of private computer users.

 

The settlement paved the way for a string of privacy battles that the company would have within the next year; one being over Google Glass, the heavily promoted computer that is considered wearable in the form of glasses. “If you use Google Glass to record a couple whispering to each other in Starbucks, have you violated their privacy?...Well, 38 states just said they have a problem with the unauthorized collection of people’s data” (Streitfeld, 2013).

Since Google’s lawsuit, the company’s data collection methods continue to raise privacy concerns. The company collects user data through its search engine, social network, Google+, Gmail, and Android software for mobile devices. Google was recently under fire for violation of a wiretap law, claiming to have a loophole in its privacy policies that allowed the company to read and share email contents without legal consequence. Google has also recently caught a string of class-action lawsuits claiming the company stores and reads emails from more than 400 million Gmail users.

“Google said its Wi-Fi tapping is legal because it doesn’t collect “auditory broadcasts,” or radio transmissions, and only uses publicly accessible connections. Because they’re not password-protected, Google said “the information transmitted across the network may be acquired by the public...the appeals court said that’s only partly true, in its decision. Getting private data like emails and documents over an open Wi-Fi connection has some degree of difficulty and “requires sophisticated hardware and software” (Williams, 2014).

Ethically speaking, it is difficult to determine if users should be concerned about privacy violations or if users should accept that the powerful company collects data while providing free services. For instance, the public could argue that the data collected from the Street View cars violated privacy and was unethically correct. Though this is true, Google can argue that the company ceased the collection of data once the issue was brought to its attention and that Google wasn't intentionally collecting unsecured data, but it was a mishap due to the method the program was written. The company can also argue that it has not used any of the data and the information collected was deleted.

Users can also argue that Google is now much more than a simple search engine; it's also Gmail, Google Docs, Google Maps, Google Earth, and even has influence in services such as YouTube and Blogger. The many Google products are able to store data on all users. For instance, users on YouTube receive a list of personalized recommendations after watching several videos. Google has to track what users are watching to craft video suggestions. The company also has access to documents created under Google Docs and Gmail, making it easy to create an entire portfolio of data on one single user. IP addresses are also collected. Google could counteract this unethical violation by explaining that targeted services on sites such as YouTube are convenient for users and are valued. Also, there is no hard evidence that Google collects and stores information against each user. Users also have the choice whether or not to sign in to YouTube so Google is not always able to track or provide targeted services.

All in all, there is no true answer as to whether or not Google steps out of bounds and into privacy violations based on the amount of sharing users are agreeing to in the Terms and Conditions of each product. We, as users, should understand the amount of sharing we are enabling companies and applications to collect and if we feel it is unethical or goes overboard, it is our right and position to cancel all services we are uncomfortable with. What are your thoughts on Google and the recent privacy concerns that follow the company?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Harbour, P. (2012, December 18). The emperor of all identities. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/19/opinion/why-google-has-too-much-power-over-your-private-life.html

Reed College of Media. (2014). Lesson 6. Retrieved from https://ecampus.wvu.edu

Streitfeld, D. (2013, March 12). Google concedes that drive-by prying violated privacy. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/13/technology/google-pays-fine-over-street-view-privacy-breach.html?pagewanted=all

Williams, L. (2014, April 3). Google wants the supreme court to legalize collecting private data. Retrieved from http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/04/03/3422086/google-wiretapping/

 

Google Analytics vs. Clicky Web Analytics: Who Reigns Supreme?

Clicky is a complete web analytics tool that allows analysts to collect web traffic data. It combines data reporting with real-time website monitoring in a comprehensive way that allows analysts to retrieve data at the drop of a hat. Clicky’s dashboard contains all web traffic information so users do not have to do much researching into the analytics software to find the data they are looking for. Also, Clicky understands analysts are interested in the data generated from today and the reports display this data by default.

Now that we have the basics down let’s move on to the fun stuff: comparing and contrasting against its rival – Google Analytics.

 Clicky has two super cool features that one wouldn’t find on Google Analytics. One, the spy feature allows users to see who is currently on their website. It also allows users to monitor any trends in real-time. Clicky shows users each individual visitor and the actions they take on their site. This allows to understand what visitors from various demographics find appealing on their site. Google Analytics does not have this feature and Clicky beats out the GA software on tracking visitors. Two, Clicky has heat-mapping capabilities, which give users a holistic view of what visitors are doing and shows data such as where visitors are clicking on pages, and can be segmented by goal or visitor sessions. Google Analytics does not have either features.

One feature both software tools have are bounce rate measurements. However, bounce rates are measured differently by Google Analytics and Clicky. GA provides the bounce rate percentage using a formula that tracks visitors who only visits one page of a website and leaves. It does not account for the amount of time that a visitor may have spent browsing that one page. Clicky does. According to Clicky.com, “a visitor will only count as a bounce on Clicky if they only view a single page and they were on your web site for less than 30 seconds. We figure, if someone is there for at least 30 seconds, they were at least mildly engaged and should not count as a bounce” (Clicky, n.d.).

The dwell time should be taken into account when monitoring the bounce rate for a site, specifically because a visitor could have spent 5 full minutes reading and extracting information from one page. According to this infographic, most content websites will have a bounce rate between 40 – 60%. Clicky understands the factors that can affect a site’s bounce rate and has created software that caters to understanding that a visitor’s dwell time should be taken into consideration before creating a bounce rate percentage.

In addition to bounce rate measurement, Google Analytics doesn’t measure the time spend on a site correctly. Instead, Google measures time spent on a site by the next page view. For instance, if a visitor were to only view one page, regardless of how long he/she spent time on that specific page, Google Analytics will classify it as a 0 second visit. Furthermore, “if a user visits Page A and then Page B and then leaves, the entire duration of his time spent on Page B will be written off as 0 seconds too.  This is why Analytics users see so many visitors reported under the “0-10s” time duration” (Grunwerg, 2013). Google does address this and according to Google: “When a page is the last page in a session, there is no way to calculate the time spent on it because there is no subsequent pageview. For this reason, when Page A is the last page in the visitor’s session, its time calculation is not counted for that view. In addition, when that page is the only page viewed in the session, no time on page is calculated” (Google, n.d.b.). Clicky, however, measures a session different. It uses pingback to check if a visitor is still present on a site and reports the time spent on the site to the analytics.

Tyler King of Less Annoying CRM reviewed Clicky’s software and compared against Google Analytics. He stated: “Clicky's user interface could use some work.  Everything is fine from a functional standpoint, but sometimes the data isn't displayed in an intuitive way.  There are also a lot of places where the text isn't context aware.  For example, there were a number of places that reference how my actions might impact other sites on my account, but I only have one site so I was kind of confused” (King, 2010). The interface on Google Analytics is more user-friendly for an in-depth analysis.

 

Clicky seems to be more fitting for businesses that are serious about tracking their online presence. The analytics tool also has Video and Twitter Analytics. For businesses that are using videos to attract viewers, Clicky has a feature that tracks how long viewers watch a video, when a viewer pauses a video and more. A benefit of this feature is it gives businesses an idea of where viewers are pausing or skipping certain content in a video; resulting in giving an idea of if viewers are uninterested in the content or if there is a blip in the video. Clicky also monitors Twitter mentions, meaning a business can monitor what Twitter users are tweeting about a brand or product and have a clear idea of how it is affecting social media presence. This feature is helpful for businesses utilize Twitter to create dialogue with users or use the social platform to respond to questions or complaints.

There are many benefits of using Google Analytics and Clicky Analytics. However, it depends on the needs of your business or user preferences that determines which analytic tool is right for you. Which tool do you prefer to use and why?

References

Clicky. (n.d.a.). Clicky website information. Retrieved 2014, November 24 from http://clicky.com/

Google. (n.d.b.). Google website information. Retrieved 2014, November 24 from http://www.google.com/analytics/

Grunwerg, A. (2013, May 22). Clicky vs analytics – why google analytics reporting is flawed. Retrieved from http://www.searchable.co.uk/clicky-vs-analytics-why-google-analytics-reporting-is-flawed/

King, T. (2010, May 14). Clicky web analytics review. Retrieved from https://www.lessannoyingcrm.com/blog/2010/05/81/Clicky+Web+Analytics+Review

 

Social Media and Marketing: Which Platform is Right for You?

 

 

 

With all the social media sites available to the marketer today, it can be hard to figure which ones to leverage. For large companies, one may decide to utilize all the popular platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest. For small businesses, it would be time-consuming and expensive to keep up with every single outlet.

So, which social media platform would you pick?

The answer isn’t as simple as one would think. Marketers have to choose the platforms that best fit their demographic target audience(s) and determine which platform best fits the company. Let’s break it down using Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Twitter and LinkedIn are great platforms for marketers of publications and B2B businesses. Lead generation is a top priority for marketers and also poses a challenge for influencing consumer behavior. “Twitter users who see Tweets from B2B tech brands are more likely to visit the sites of these brands. [A] study found that Twitter users visit B2B tech brand sites at a higher rate (59%) compared to average Internet users (40%), illustrating the strong presence of a B2B audience on Twitter” (Saito, 2013). LinkedIn is a platform that B2B service providers can use to attract consumers. For instance, recruiting companies looking for potential candidates for employment would find this to be a useful outlet. LinkedIn also gives marketers a change to generate leads and influence the sharing of content with Twitter users. Both sites are desirable for marketers that are interested in increasing traffic and brand consideration.

Facebook is as social media platform that has many different uses. According to a study on Social Bakers, businesses with visually driven products would find this site helpful as photos and images account for 93% of the most engaging posts on Facebook. Only 2% of the most engaging content on Facebook is generated by links, another 2% by videos, and 3% by status updates (Social Baker, 2013). For instance, a company like Nikon would find Facebook to be beneficial since the brand attracts consumers by the quality of their cameras and the best way to attract potential customers is by posting photographs taken by their product line. B2C marketers would also find Facebook a great platform to display coupons and discounts since 92 % of B2C marketers use Facebook and find it easy to tailor content by profiling users through demographic, personalize preferences, and more (Lyle, 2013)

 

With so many social media platforms available, it is easy to choose one that does not fit the demographic marketers are trying to reach. For instance, say you wanted to market to men between the ages of 18 – 35 and the product is deodorant. “Pinterest shoppers are spending significantly more per checkout averaging between $140-$180 per order compared with consistent $80 and $60 orders for Facebook and Twitter shoppers, respectively” (Abramovich, 2013). However, Pinterest would be the least effective platform as Pinterest hosts a demographic majority of women. “80% of Pinterest users are female and female users are far more active than male users with 92% of all pins created by women. In fact male use of Pinterest has been consistently declining since July 2011. 13% of pins in July 2011 were made by men, currently that percentage stands at 6%. Conversely, the total activity of female users has grown from 87% to 94% over the past three years” (Ratcliff, 2013). As a result, Pinterest would not be the platform to allocate Axe’s marketing efforts as the social media site would be better suited for brands whose target audience is moms.

 

Another thing to consider when choosing platforms for a business: content vs. conversation. “Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action” (CMI, n.d.). When it comes down to it, content without conversation is just advertising. The message is broadcasted to the viewer and the information does not go beyond that point. If a marketer or brand is lucky, the viewer may react to the information that was given. Conversation, on the other hand, is what gives the message its meaning. Let’s use Johnson & Johnson as an example, again. If the company were to post on Facebook:

“A single solution to sensitive skin (link to J&J website here)”  

This post would expose Facebook fans to the new product, but it does not give consumers a reason to embed the message in their conscious, respond, “like”, or share the post with others. However, if Johnson & Johnson were to take the same product and use a post such as:

Have you tried our new Johnson & Johnson sensitive baby bath? Take a look here (insert embedded link) and tell us what you think!

This post stirs up the fun. It gives users a chance to respond with their own stories and experiences, exposes potential customers to the new product, and creates dialogue and community with the brand’s following.  

Before creating content companies should evaluate their marketing plans to understand their goals and target demographics. Any information posted on social media platforms should be engaging and keep users coming back to company pages. Content posted by marketers should stand out from competitors and cater to the consumer. It is important to have a strategy in place to create strong content that will draw the attention of social media users and keep them interested until a brand connection can be established. Quality content is critical for any marketing campaign, and can spark conversation when done correctly. Here are some tips from Carrie Swain on utilizing content:

·         Keep it simple and don’t over think it

·         High quality content is content that others find interesting, engaging, educational or funny.

·         Don’t stop creating, create a content schedule

·         Include SEO from the beginning. Integrating good SEO into your content is a must

·         Engage fans and your audience

·         Create awareness

·         Think outside the box and don’t be afraid to stand out (Swain, 2013).

 

Regardless of how small or large a brand is, it is important to utilize more than one social media outlet to establish the brand on different platforms. It is equally important to choose the correct social media platforms that will attract the target market desired and create a sense of community with the brand and its followers. Content and conversation are also key factors in any marketing effort that utilizes social media sites.

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Abramovich, G. (2013, May 4). 15 stats retailers should know about pinterest. Retrieved from http://digiday.com/brands/15-stats-retailers-should-know-about-pinterest/

CMI. (n.d.). What is content marketing. Retrieved 2014, November 9 from http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/what-is-content-marketing/

Lyle, C. (2013, July 12). 8 stats every b2c content marketer should know. Retrieved from http://bostinno.streetwise.co/channels/8-stats-every-b2c-content-marketer-should-know/

Ratcliff, C. (2014, May 12). 84% of female pinterest users are still active in their fourth year. Retrieved from https://econsultancy.com/blog/64821-84-of-female-pinterest-users-are-still-active-in-their-fourth-year-stats#i.ns63m0f5hf9zu0

Saito, C. (2013, March 8). Twitter and compete study: how tweets influence b2b tech audiences. Retrieved from https://blog.twitter.com/2013/twitter-and-compete-study-how-tweets-influence-b2b-tech-audiences  

Social Baker. (2013). Photos make up 93 of the most engaging posts on facebook. Retrieved from http://www.socialbakers.com/blog/1749-photos-make-up-93-of-the-most-engaging-posts-on-facebook

Swain, C. (2013, February 3). Content vs conversation in social media. Retrieved from http://www.carrienagy.net/content-vs-conversation-in-social-media/