Telling brand stories and personalizing the customer experience are vital parts of e-Commerce success, but neither will be effective if a retailer’s site isn’t up to speed. When NYDJ, a California-based women’s denim and apparel brand, sought to deliver the perfect fit for its customers by relaunching its e-Commerce site, the retailer saw:
- An 11% increase in organic traffic;
- A 33% boost in year-over-year organic revenue;
- Total conversion rates climbing 22%; and
- A mobile conversion rate boost of 31%.
On top of the traffic, revenue and conversion increases, NYDJ now can incorporate more campaign content throughout the entire e-Commerce site. For example, the company recently launched its Fall 2018 Power of Fit campaign, featuring five inspiring women leading change within their respective fields. With the Salesforce Commerce Cloud and Marketing Cloud, the retailer can showcase the campaign content (including video, images and spokeswoman profiles) on its home page, product listing pages and product detail pages.
The site experience prior to implementing Commerce Cloud was basic, offered limited functionality and was difficult to update, according to Julie Ting, VP Direct to Consumer of NYDJ.
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“Every time we wanted to make a change to the site, even the smallest font updates, we required help from a developer (and a three plus-day lead time),” said Ting in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. “In addition, many of the daily processes were excruciatingly manual. Automation and personalization were out of the question for our old site. Also, the site had poor mobile and tablet experiences. We knew that our site was antiquated and needed not only a front-end design update but a complete redo on the back end.”
Product Recommendations, Strategic Email Marketing Drive New Site Experience
As part of the retailer’s personalization improvement efforts, NYDJ modified its product recommendation capabilities based on customer behavior and preferred shopping channel. Personalization is a big selling point for the retailer, particularly since its campaigns revolve around the slogan, “Fit is Everything.” NYDJ already uses fit technology for its denim products and offers an inclusive size range.
The retailer leverages the Salesforce Einstein AI platform to automatically deliver product recommendations at multiple touch points throughout the site’s home page, content pages and cart.
“Prior to implementation, we only had one small area to offer product recommendations and those recommendations had to be manually updated by a member of our team,” Ting said. “Personalization is very important to us. We believe that the individual consumer needs an experience tailored to her, specifically around fit and size. While we offer 66 different sizes across regular, petite, tall, plus and maternity, we need to be able to speak to her around her specific size group and needs.”
The product recommendations extend to marketing and transactional emails. Prior to the change, email marketing strategies were an afterthought, according to Ting. Originally, the retailer had a collection of fragmented customer data and was not able to personalize its shopping journeys.
“We weren’t sure about what we were trying to accomplish or about how we should measure ourselves and our email performance,” Ting said. “We turned this on its head. Now, we have a very strong email marketing strategy focused on engagement, acquisition and conversion. We have several Salesforce Marketing Cloud consumer journeys in place, from a robust welcome series to abandonment and post-transaction journeys. We have incorporated personalized product recommendations in transaction and marketing sends and are constantly finding new ways to add personalization to our consumer communications.”
LYONSCG Accelerates Web Site Upgrade
LYONSCG, part of the Capgemini Group, provided digital marketing, design, consulting and support services via its Unified Retail Accelerator functionality, to help implement the Commerce Cloud and improve the site experience. Features included in this integration, like the Unified Profile Center and Responsive Transactional Emails, are key value drivers for NYDJ’s digital experience.
“The LYONSCG team guided us through the entire re-platforming process, not only from an implementation perspective but also from a business process perspective,” said Ting. “Having been on the same platform for seven years, we desperately needed guidance. They walked us through best practices in workflows, operational processes and team structure. It was a collaborative yet handholding process.”
