This session was presented at the Online Marketing Summit in Miami, Florida on August 5th, 2010. Related presentations on SlideShare will be tagged with #OMSMIA, as will related conversations on Twitter. Ecommerce optimization can seem like Alice's hallway: the more you try to get there, the more the goal eludes you. But putting customers first -- going beyond best practices and using empathy to optimize user experience -- can narrow the gap, resulting in few cart abandons, higher conversion rates, and even customer loyalty in a marketplace fraught with discount shoppers. Using real-world examples and data-driven insights, this session will address the seeming contradiction of achieving greater profits and higher conversion rates while delighting customers and creating a brand worth talking about.

1. Online Marketing Summit Miami | August 5, 2010 Empathy in Ecommerce: Achieving Breakthrough Conversion Rates (and Profit!) by Caring about Customer Experience Kate O’NeillCEO & Founding Partner[meta]marketer @kateo / @metamarketer 1

2. What company can possibly achieve profit by caring about the customer? 7/30/10 2

3. 7/30/10 3

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6. Brand, especially in B2B, can (and should) appeal to consumers’ rational andemotional sides. 7/30/10 6 Emotion is not the Enemy of Reason

7. 7/30/10 7 Customer Experience yields Loyalty 83% of customers say they will remain loyal as long as they're satisfied with their most recent service experience. Source: Convergys 2010 Consumer Scorecard Survey

8. 7/30/10 8 Source: McKinsey Quarterly June 2009

9. Optimizing online customer experience is largely about increasing relevance Why bother being relevant? Respect for visitor’s time Value your own marketing dollars enough to spend them on people who may care 7/30/10 9

10. E-retailers using site personalization software average conversion rate increases of 10% within six weeks of implementation 7/30/10 10 Relevance yields Gains Source: 7 Billion People CEO Mark Nagaitis in Internet Retailer.

11. 7/30/10 11

12. Relevance is Key Part 2: The SEO Edition SEO is only profitable and sustainable when your site provides a meaningful answer to a question people are already asking. 7/30/10 12

13. 7/30/10 13 Subtle difference between…

14. 7/30/10 14 Bigger difference between…

15. So how do you get to relevance? 7/30/10 15

16. 7/30/10 16 This is where empathy is often overlooked.

17. Step 1. Use empathy, intuition, and data to develop hypothesesabout what visitors want. 7/30/10 17

18. 7/30/10 18

19. Step 2. Identify testable characteristics and actions that would validate or dispute your hypothesis. 7/30/10 19

20. Which of the following landing pages will cost you half your leads? 7/30/10 20

21. Original Landing Page 7/30/10 21

22. Redesigned Landing Page 7/30/10 22

23. So? Which one? 7/30/10 23

24. Of course, it’s a trick question… more later. 7/30/10 24

25. Step 3. Empathize with the human beings represented by the numbers to find the story behind the story. 7/30/10 25

26. 7/30/10 26 Why does the home page on many websites attract the most entrances and the most exits? Because it isn’t relevant enough. Targeting is key.

27. Step 4. Develop relevant messaging, navigation, and actions and target to meaningful visitor segments. 7/30/10 27

28. Think through the expectations from awareness to loyalty Use navigational cues as well as demographic and referrer data Include actionable segments 7/30/10 28 Targeting: B2C

29. Think through the likely steps in a committee-based sales cycle Err on the side of organizational & behavioral data more than demographic data Include actionable segments 7/30/10 29 Targeting: B2B

30. Step 5. Bring it back to top: use data, instinct, and experience to refine the business and marketing strategies overall. 7/30/10 30

31. 7/30/10 31

32. Hypothesize > Test > Evaluate > Target > Re-Strategize 7/30/10 32

34. 615-852-META

35. @kateo / @metamarketer

36. LinkedIn: kateoneill33 Thank You

37. 34 Thank You Visit www.onlinemarketingsummit.com for more information Follow us @OMSummit