As an e-commerce agency we focus on helping a lot of B2C and B2B clients move beyond the basics of an e-commerce website to transform their e-commerce systems to really help move the business in a positive direction. That means more than just having simple bells and whistles in a product catalog and shopping cart. E-commerce conversion rates are only 1-2% for a reason…consumers have a lot of choice and they are only one click away from your competitors so that’s why there’s such a huge focus now on data-driven experiences that can increase the chances of the customer converting and purchasing.

This is the first in a series of insights about how we work with merchants to achieve truly data-driven e-commerce experiences, with a focus on the basics. For experienced e-commerce merchants this is a check list. But let’s first provide a definition of what data-driven e-commerce really is because it’s important for merchants and their teams to understand the concept without putting it off as a “black box” of algorithms.

Data-driven e-commerce uses anonymous and general user behavior data to control and / or optimize user experiences to promote the chances of a user behaving in a particular way.

With this definition in mind let’s look at the basics of data-driven e-commerce and the “must-haves” for achieving higher levels of UX control and optimization that will lead to higher conversion. Some of these may have people thinking, “that’s really not a data-driven or machine learning thing” but in fact all of these are. The trick is for merchants to not only install these basic data-driven UX features but to actually pay attention to them, adjust them as needed and harvest the uptick in repeat traffic and conversion that can come from them.

1. Abandonment Messaging

“Abandoned Cart Messaging / Abandon Browse Messaging”

This allows you to send messages to site visitors that have abandoned a shopping cart, or in the case of “abandon browse” messaging send a custom message to visitors that have viewed certain pages or content.

Recovery of cart abandonment is almost an industry in of itself. If merchants can recover even a tiny percentage of their abandoned cart value, their bottom line increases are likely to be significant, compared to the work it takes to implement these abandoned cart messaging.

What Data/How Does it Work?

You need to know that they’ve added items to a cart and / or viewed specific pages. You also need a target email or phone number so you can send them a message. Most people reading this have experienced abandoned cart messages as consumers; the more sophisticated shoppers have probably tried ‘gaming’ abandoned cart messages to get offers out of a merchant. Email Service Provider (ESP) platforms like Klaviyo, Mailchimp and Salesforce Pardot (and any other worth their salt) make setting up this type of messaging relatively easy in that you can use a web-based interface to set up the flows and “if-then” requirements of your messaging. Some e-commerce platforms, like Shopify, have abandoned cart notifications built in to their core platform.

For example, a typical abandoned cart “flow” within the popular e-commerce ESP Klaviyo allows a merchant to

a. Send a message with contents of the cart 1 hour after abandonment of checkout (assumes they left an email before abandoning or they are an existing customer)

b. Send a series of messages (text or email) N days after the first message. The same type of “flow” can be set up for “abandon browse” to target and message site visitors that look at specific pages or products – this of course will only work if you have their email or phone number (assuming your ESP like Klaviyo has a text messaging option)

These types of messages only work as well as the strategy that supports them. Optimizing the message for your business means considering the focus of the message (product, contents of cart, offer) the timing and the frequency. Larger e-commerce merchants have teams of personnel dedic...