– BlueBolt April 2020

21st of April — 2020

How Small Adjustments Can Make a Big Impact on Digital Stores During COVID-19

Chris Risner

R Recently, I came across a really helpful blog post from Shopify Plus that focuses on short-term digital marketing strategies for online retailers during COVID-19.

It includes great tips for optimizing short-term messaging, reviewing short-term digital marketing budgets, and creating more specific audiences for digital campaigns – all valuable insights to help retailers get through this unprecedented time. After reading the post, I thought there might be a few more short-term tactics digital retailers could consider as they adjust their current digital strategies.

Examine Website Performance

While historical data may have helped shape the view of your customer in the past, things are a lot different now. Since the new normal is anything but normal, you should reexamine how customers are interacting with your eCommerce website. Look at certain website performance metrics to see how new shopping patterns may be affecting your shopping experience.

How small website adjustments can lead to big improvements — Back view of IT developer team programming code on computer screen and brainstorming for new project at modern office.

For instance, as people have more time to spend online, your site may begin to garner attention from sources you’re not used to. Looking at new and unique visitor traffic can help determine what your “new normal” customer base looks like and help you consider what changes you may want to make to your site or in your processes to better serve their needs and keep them as customers in the future.

Take Time to Focus on Content

Delivering the right content on your site enables you to create a customer experience that’s engaging, valuable, and develops a more meaningful connection with your customers. Businesses that don’t take advantage of content strategies miss the opportunity to build experiences to meet increasingly high customer expectations.

However, developing great content can take a lot of time and effort. If you’re working with a small marketing team, this may be a great time to review your content marketing and see what’s working and what’s not (as mentioned above, you can gather such insights by examining website metrics). As certain business initiatives begin to slow down during this time, refocusing resources and time on creating and managing better content will help your customer experience not only now, but in the long run.

How small website adjustments can lead to big improvements 2 — Portrait of handsome bearded businessman standing by desk discussing work project with contemporary young developer coding at his computer in office

Especially in times like these, your content can differentiate and humanize your brand. Consumers want to spend money with the brands they know, trust, and love. Establishing such a relationship with your customers begins with the human side of your brand rather than focusing on conversion rates. By sharing personal stories and talking about shared experiences, consumers might feel more connected to you in this time of uncertainty. Make sure you bring value to your target audience by creating genuine connections, aligning with their needs and wants, and offering support and service when needed.

Reward Customer Loyalty

In these uncertain times, as people change their spending patterns, your business may not be able to rely on the customer base that has historically driven your revenue numbers. Remaining close to high-value and loyal customers through communications and special offers is a must. By making these customers feel appreciated, they’ll be more open and willing to spend with you, even now. Furthermore, building a referral marketing program can turn customer advocacy from these loyal customers into more business for you by potentially gaining multiple new customers for every loyal one.

Remember, while we’re living through a time of changes and uncertainties, there is one thing we can count on: this too shall pass. Making powerful changes to your digital strategies today will bring you opportunity and success in the future. If we can help you increase engagement and conversions, please contact us.

7th of April — 2020

Customer Journey Mapping: Don’t Just Meet Your Customers’ Expectations, Exceed Them

Chris Risner

E Ever since the late 20th century, when access to the Internet became more widely available, technology has fueled democratization of information. Through websites, apps, phones, streaming services, media, and other advancements, the everyday consumer now has open access to more information than ever before!

A consumer can go online to read reviews, price shop, or decide to do business with you based on any number of other interactions that are readily available to them – whether they’re initiated by you or not. This has led to heightened customer expectations and the necessity of organizations, no matter what industry they’re in, to adopt a customer-centric focus in order to remain relevant.

Meeting Expectations = Satisfied Customers. Exceeding Expectations = Loyal Customers.

However, just meeting customer expectations is not enough. Having satisfactory customers is not enough. In order to be successful, companies must instead focus on delighting, connecting, and having more meaningful interactions with customers. The more cohesive and significant your interactions are, the more likely you are to generate loyal customers and repeat business.

Map Your Customer Journey

Just as you may use a map to guide yourself on a road trip, having a map of your customer journey can enable you to understand what route to take when interacting with customers and how to exceed their expectations. But remember, like a road trip, it’s not just about getting from Point A to Point B – there are a lot of other factors involved. You have to remember to look at the journey holistically – where can I stop to get gas, where will I spend the night, how much do I need for tolls? Similarly, you must think of your customer journey map realistically and realize the many touchpoints and interactions you have throughout a sale and beyond. While you may think you know your customer, only by shifting your perspective to an outside-in approach and stepping into your customers’ shoes will you really be able to understand their journey and deliver on it with more meaningful connections.

Where to Start:

Every company is different, but no matter what approach you take, mapping out your customer journey will be futile unless you first establish a goal. You need to know where you’re going before you start. Goals can include anything from generating more sales, launching new products, or upselling current customers. Once you have established this goal, you should focus on the following to get started with your Customer Journey Map:

Define Customer Personas

This first step can be overwhelming, especially if you have many different products or services that are targeted to a variety of customer types. However, understanding your customers through personas is crucial. Instead of worrying about all your different customer scenarios, first focus on a straightforward journey that can be used as a baseline for future maps. Think of who is most likely to spend time with and buy from your brand. Step into their role. What information do they need in order to buy, either now or later? What about their background may affect their purchasing decision? By defining personas, you can better design your processes to meet the customer where and how they want. And remember, don’t discount real life experiences when thinking about your customers; they’re humans too!

Gather Data from Across the Organization

Even if you don’t have the technology or tools to properly gather data to analyze your customer journey, you probably have more actionable insights at your fingertips than you think. Post-purchase surveys, Net Promoter Scores, in-person interactions, and digital marketing channels can all provide important insights into how your customers like to work with you. And while your role may focus on a particular business unit, other units within your organization may have access to different insights that you have never considered; it’s worth examining data available to you from other internal sources as well. Don’t worry if the data you have is not perfect or scientific at first – by implementing a journey map, you’ll start gathering more factual data throughout the process. The most important thing is to accept the data you do have as valuable and act on it appropriately.

Look at the Bigger Picture with Touchpoints

Touchpoints are any point of interaction between a brand or customer. So again, although you may have different business units across your organization, if you’re all working with the same customers, it’s important to look at customer interactions more wholly. You shouldn’t consider looking at the customer journey from just a channel level, but instead at a touch point level, and be consistent. If a customer loves going into your stores to interact with your knowledgeable and friendly sales associates but has a horrible experience with wait times when calling customer service, you could lose the interest of the customer because you’re not meeting their needs throughout their journey.

Relationships Matter

In the end, having a great customer experience is dependent on having great relationships. These relationships emerge over time through meaningful and consistent interactions, that meet the customer needs at the right place and time. Successful companies use customer journey mapping to not only identify opportunities for growth, but also to address gaps in their customer relationships. Engaging customers consistently on a deeper level across all touchpoints, whether they be digital or in-person, establishes trust and reliability. Most importantly, businesses need to be just as committed to serving their customer needs as they are their own – only then will they truly be customer-centric.

If our team can help you increase engagement and conversions, please connect with us.

1st of April — 2020

Bluebolt Earns Gold-Level Partnership With Optimizely

Jason Lichon

T o earn this distinction, BlueBolt has satisfied high sales, training, certification and specialization requirements with Optimizely.

[CHICAGO, IL] April 1, 2020 – BlueBolt, Inc., a commerce-focused Digital Agency that enables retailers, manufacturers and distributors to support their customers & sales teams through innovative digital solutions, today announced it has been certified as a Gold Partner of Optimizely, formerly Episerver.

BlueBolt completed a thorough certification process, including Optimizely Education training, certifying seven Optimizely Developers, and achieving the Optimizely CMS & Commerce Specializations, to earn Gold Partner status in Optimizely’s Partner Success Program and to join as a qualified, value-add seller of Optimizely Customer-Centric Digital Experience Platform™. As a Gold Partner, BlueBolt brings proven competency, documented delivery expertise, established product expertise, and certified resources and specializations to mutual customers. BlueBolt extends the value of the Optimizely platform to organizations across North America by focusing on delivering best-in-class global digital commerce experiences to manufacturers, distributors, and retailers for both B2C & B2B transactions.

Optimizely Customer-Centric Digital Experience Platform is a Leader in Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Experience Platforms. Optimizely boasts an independently proven 443 percent return on investment in three years and a payback period of less than six months. Along with low total cost of ownership, Optimizely reduces time spent on content and product management updates, offers savings over on-premise solutions, increases revenue through AI-based personalization, and improves customer satisfaction scores due to more contextual experiences.

“Our team is committed to empowering our clients to take charge of their digital transformation goals and create beautiful, one-of-a-kind commerce experiences that excite and please their customers,” says David Risner, CEO at BlueBolt. “As a Gold Partner of Optimizely, we can better deliver value and innovation to our clients, and we take great pride in that.”

With a network of more than 900 partner companies in 30 countries, Optimizely seeks to connect with qualified partners whose firm possesses a wealth of experience, team members with a creative outlook, global reach, and a collective eye toward future opportunities to ensure mutual customers are successful in the short and long term.

“Both BlueBolt and Optimizely are experiencing incredible growth by helping customers get closer to their customer, grow their brand and uncover new revenue opportunities,” said Dominic Citino, VP of worldwide partnerships at Optimizely. “BlueBolt is accelerating the pace at which businesses are able to provide customer-centric digital experiences and their Gold-level status is a testament to that commitment.”

About BlueBolt, Inc.

BlueBolt, Inc. is a full-service digital commerce, content, and enterprise search agency, focused on delivering exceptional B2B & B2C online experiences for leading manufacturers, distributors, and retailers. By combining our deep expertise in Digital Strategy, User Experience Design, Enterprise Search, Development, and Managed Support, we partner with our clients to ensure successful outcomes that drive user adoption and increase revenue.

Since 2005, BlueBolt has had the privilege of working with some truly amazing clients including: SRAM, Restek, Indian Motorcycle, DISH Network, and many others. We partner with industry leaders like Optimizely to implement the right technology solutions that drive innovation and make our customers’ digital goals a reality. Learn more at www.blueboltsolutions.com.