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Customer Experience Strategy
August 24, 2016
Leveraging Intent Data to Drive Conversions
Leveraging intent data--data that indicates customer likelihood to purchase or be more engaged with your brand--is an important method for driving conversions, but it is often overlooked. The good news is that you most likely have access to plenty of intent data and can use it creatively to build more relevant marketing campaigns.
One of the classic ways of determining that an online shopper is interested in buying is whether s/he has a wish list and what is in it. Adding an item to a wish list brings a shopper one step closer to buying, so use that to your advantage. (And if you're an Oracle Commerce Cloud customer, you get wish lists out of the box!)
Some simple tactics to implement:
- Promote wish lists to shoppers to encourage them to find and browse, and engage with your site and brand, even if they aren’t yet ready to buy. This also gives you key data about what they are interested in.
- Target marketing campaigns specifically to shoppers who have wish lists.
- Send wish list email service reminders and test them with and without incentives.
- Personalize shoppers' experience based on top categories and products in their wish list.
- Especially at holiday or other gift-giving times, encourage shoppers to create and share their wish lists.
Other clues that indicate intent to purchase include:
- Searching for similar search terms or searching multiple times within the same category
- Time spent on a page
- Reading or browsing reviews for similar products or within the same category
- Multiple visits to the same page (in one session or across multiple)
- Adding to cart without checking out
- Saving a cart
- Clicking on different products or searching in the same category
- Comparing products
- Watching a product video
- Social sharing, pinning, posting a picture, and/or discussing a product
Any of these data points or behaviors can be used to trigger email, product recommendations, or online merchandising campaigns that are more relevant and likely to convert.
Intent data isn’t just about capturing the initial conversion. There’s intent data that happens post-sale as well, that indicate a customer wants to be more engaged with your brand. Some examples of post-purchase intent clues include:
- Reviewing or rating one or multiple products
- Sharing on a social network after a purchase
- Answering community product Q&As
- Regular engagement with your brand’s social channels
These customers are good targets for loyalty campaigns and other marketing that encourages community, retention, and repeat purchases.
Many of you have access to much of this intent data already—you just need to start utilizing it. Start small, by creating one-off “micro-campaigns” and using these as a testing ground for broader efforts!
For another method to drive conversions, check out our article on using Intuitive Product Grouping to Increase Visibility and Drive E-Commerce Sales.