Last year, Amazon quietly invested $175 million in LivingSocial. This year, the Groupon Gorilla is facing its worst nightmare – Amazon Local. In the battle of the intercontinental jungle, there will be blood. And, unsurprisingly, some great ideas to steal for eCommerce. So if you’re looking for ways to boost sales, begin by:
TARGET YOUR EXISTING CUSTOMERS
Amazon’s great strength lies not in the 85 million users that visit the site each month, but the ones that return. As Ariana Polyviou points out her blog post, If it works for Amazon, why wouldn’t it work for your site?, they treat their regular users very, very well.
You may not have 85 million users (yet), but you should start identifying what your existing customers will want to see in sales initiatives:
- Conduct focus groups
- Send out surveys (with a random prize draw for entering)
- Solicit feedback at in-person events
Learn what kind of deals and features they want – not the ones you think they want.
SLICE AND DICE YOUR DATA
Groupon and Amazon Local segment their customers by zip code, interests, shopping history, gender, age – you name it, they have data on it.
You need to do the same. Even if you only have 1000 customers, they will have different trigger points and desires. If you don’t have data:
- Find it through research
- Ask for it from your customers
- Track user behaviors
Like the scene in Moneyball, you can either be the scout who’s rabbiting on about why ugly girlfriends make for bad ball players or you can be Brad Pitt. Be Brad Pitt.
USE THE MEDIA THEY PREFER
Some of your customers might love text messages; some might not know what a Smartphone is. Some are attached to weekly email deals; some get their Black Friday kicks through Twitter.
- Test your messages through multiple channels
- Discover which customer segments like what
- Look also for when they open messages (time of day, time of week)
And, of course, make your message easy to share.
MAKE THE DEAL TIMELY AND COMPELLING
No one wants ice cream in January or snow blowers in July. Be smart about which deals you’re offering:
- Analyze your sales records – when do people buy which items?
- Tap into current trends - has Kim Kardashian been seen wielding a noiseless snow blower?
LIMIT THE OFFER
Groupon and Amazon Local’s success can be summed up in three phrases:
- 1 deal, 1 chance, limited time
Good things never last forever; neither should your offers. Let people know that the clock is ticking.
WRITE LIKE THERE’S NO TOMORROW
Yes, believe it or not, the words matter. Like a good joke, a good deal needs to jolt their brains out of a regular pattern. Give them that surge with writing that tickles their fancy.
IN NEED OF ASSISTANCE?
Speaking of which, if you’re in need of a witty writer – or just a creative mind to help brainstorm strategy – I can help. Contact me for a free marketing consultation.
Posted on November 11, 2011
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