Peak Season Updates: From Discounts to Bundles – Profitable Promotions 101 with Rosie Bailey, Nibble (episode 169)
by April Buencamino-dyRosie Bailey is the CEO at Nibble, THE award-winning eCommerce AI negotiation bot. Which means she’s ALL about helping eCommerce brands and retailers to increase conversion at the same time as saving margin – thus ultimately increasing profits!
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Dive in:
[05:15] Academic research shows negotiation costs: time, face.
[08:43] Customer lifetime value key to profit.
[10:56] Different customers require different channels of sales.
[17:35] Marketing message: big percentage vs. discounting
[27:02] Optimise by looking at competitors and tools.
[30:12] Ways to improve promotions and increase profitability.
Getting Into the World of Negotiations
Rosie’s journey into negotiation evolved from her initial 20-year career in finance. She highlights the significance of how communication accounts for about 80% of negotiation and only 20% being the actual content.
For Rosie, what’s important in negotiation is practice and experience. Though she was hesitant about it at first, she’s grown in confidence and getting more comfortable as she continues to learn about effective negotiation strategies.
Profitability in Q4 Promotions
There are different perspectives on prioritizing profits during Q4 promotional activities.
For small brands where key decisions are often made by the owner, there’s a strong focus on profitability. However, in larger businesses, it can be challenging to align everyone towards a profitability goal. Some businesses may prioritize other metrics over profit, and profitability data may also not be readily available to everyone.
Value of Bundling and Chatbots
Crafting promotions can be complex, especially if you’re going to align profitability with brand values. Rosie says it’s important to maintain on-brand promotions and different customer segments can be targeted with different approaches.
One approach is through chatbot-assisted bundle creation. This process engages customers in a conversation while assembling a bundle. Chatbots guide customers in bundle selection, providing a personalized experience. Customers who engage in this way often ask for bigger discounts. However, this approach can increase customer engagement and satisfaction.
Getting customers involved in promotions is crucial. Engagement helps customers remember a brand’s values, which makes them more likely to connect with and buy from the brand.
Mindset-Based Segmentation
Segmentation based on customer behavior is important in promotional strategies. Understanding customer preferences through conversations and interactions is key to effective segmentation. While traditional RFM segmentation can be useful, it might not capture the dynamic and evolving mindset of customers.
Focus instead on mindset-based segmentation. This involves reverse engineering the customer’s mindset at the time of purchase. It’s challenging to use past behaviors to predict current intentions, but emerging AI tools can provide insights into customers’ present needs and desires. Brands need to prioritize understanding customer motivations at the moment to improve their promotions effectively.
Fair and Transparent Promotions
Rosie suggests that promotions should be fair, transparent, and aligned with brand values.
Customers are aware of tactical marketing approaches, and businesses should focus on building loyalty through transparent and valuable promotions. Transparency and fairness are key to success in Q4 promotional strategies.
Insider Tips
If we’ve inspired someone to take their first step with eCommerce – what do they need to know to give themselves the best chance of success?
Avoid getting overwhelmed by the noise and advice from others. Focus on your own brand and its unique attributes. Identify what sets your brand apart and align your promotion with your brand’s identity and values.
Once you’ve started of course you’ve got to ‘keep optimising’! So what’s your favourite way to improve eCommerce performance?
The key to improvement is to look for relevant tools that can help you. Explore AI add-ons that are available for different platforms, which can enhance your promotional strategies. The fourth quarter offers an ideal opportunity to experiment with these tools and gather valuable data to inform your strategies for the following year.
If someone listening wants to learn more about eCommerce is there one cheap/free resource you’d recommend?
Rosie recommends following her on LinkedIn. She has introduced negotiation office hours, where she offers 15 minutes of her time to assist with challenging negotiations, which for her is a skill anyone can always improve.
Crystal ball time – what’s coming up in the next 6-12 months that we should be getting ready for in eCommerce?
Rosie predicts two significant developments. Firstly, she expects a strong emphasis on profitability due to the resolution of supply chain and inventory challenges that have occurred. Secondly, Rosie foresees a rise in the resale market’s importance. She notes a growing trend where, even when purchasing new items, consumers are considering their potential resale value.
Interview Links
- Check out Nibble Technology
- Listen to Rosie and other experts talk about AI in episode 451 of the eCommerce MasterPlan
- Check out Episode 419 of the eCommerce MasterPlan for Chloë’s Top 3 Marketing Tools to improve your sales in 2023
Rosie on Social media:
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