UpSellit believes that every shopper has unique motivations, tendencies, and intentions that they reveal in how they browse, what products they select, and other behaviors. The company also believes that every visitor who comes to your site has the potential to become a customer; you just have to get inside their heads a little bit to flip the switch. UpSellit believes that so strongly that they offer their on-site conversion optimization tools on a performance basis. UpSellit customizes solutions to each enterprise and then uses behavioral data to create personalized conversion optimization solutions that increase sales, order values, and customer retention.
Impact’s Richa Dani, Director of Strategic Partnerships, sat down with UpSellit’s Director of Marketing Anthony Villegas to explore the company’s data-driven approach.
Richa: I love that you distill your expertise down to “understanding the causes and cures of site abandonment.” You have clearly identified unexpected shipping costs as a big driver of abandonment right now, but what are some of the other causes online retailers should be aware of?
UpSellit: One of the largest trends to shake up ecommerce in the last decade is the dominance of mobile browsing. Mobile only made up 7% of traffic in 2011, but now accounts for over 60%. But optimizing your site to display well on mobile is only the tip of the iceberg.
Mobile browsing has changed the way that people shop. Instead of visiting a site with the explicit intention of purchasing, mobile has enabled consumers to browse freely at any time without commitment. On the positive side, that means more traffic. Unfortunately, many mobile shoppers are low-intent browsers and contribute to abandonment rates of 95%+. That’s why enabling an integrated omni-channel experience has become so vital. UpSellit’s technology is optimized to not only engage users on-site, but to collect new-to-file leads from mobile shoppers and to create remarketing opportunities.
Richa: You seem to have a unique way to apply AI to the CRO experience. Can you tell us about how you use AI to increase AOV for a seller without necessarily offering perks or incentives to the shopper?
UpSellit: UpSellit’s Product Recommendation Engine uses AI to create dynamic product profiles by monitoring visitor behavior and session data. The recommendation algorithm is a constantly evolving mechanism that gets smarter over time as it collects more data, adapting to buying trends and product associations.
As a result, UpSellit’s recommendation engine offers industry-leading accuracy, and serves as an excellent tool for increasing AOV and online revenue.
In addition to cross-selling, UpSellit’s AI can leverage purchase patterns to dynamically suggest compelling upsells that get shoppers to buy more and increase profit per visit.
Richa: UpSellit’s founder was one of the first to develop a realistic live chat simulation engine, and I understand chatbots and virtual assistants are having a bit of a renaissance right now. What role does automated chat play in your current portfolio of solutions, and why the revival?
UpSellit: Research has shown that customers expect a website to be “open” 24/7. However, it’s not practical for all sites to have a round-the-clock customer service staff, especially at off-hours. That’s one of the reasons that AI-integrated chat can act as such a powerful tool, both as a customer support tool and a virtual sales assistant.
In 2005 our founder and CEO, Chris Wampler, invented one of the first live chat simulations to meet consumer and business needs. Automated chats are the foundation that UpSellit’s technology was built on our chat logs provided the unique insight we needed to inspire the suite of solutions we offer today.
We have since expanded our business to provide a suite of award-winning technologies. In addition to our highly personalized on-site strategies, we offer our advanced Email Remarketing platform, PreCapture, Cart Rebuilder technology, advanced SMS / MMS capabilities, and Lead Capture among others. In short, we have a technology and capability to meet the needs of any type of business.
Richa: Your business isn’t intuitively partnership-driven, but you work with marketers very much as an affiliate publisher would and on a performance basis. Can you explain how your partner relationships function and what role they play in your business model?
UpSellit: Although UpSellit is a technology partner, the flexibility of our performance-model allows us to function similarly to a traditional publisher. Our business is highly referral driven, so a mutually beneficial relationship with both our clients and our affiliate partners is vital to our success.
We’re proud to operate on a performance model. Our success has always depended on the success we can provide our clients, and our performance model allows us to demonstrate our commitment to the clients we serve.
Richa: How do you work with Impact to build partner relationships, and what do you think are the biggest benefits you get from the platform?
UpSellit: We work with Impact’s Strategic Partnerships Team and Client Success Team to open up lines of communication with their clients/advertisers that we can provide value for. Impact also reaches out proactively to us when they believe that an introduction to UpSellit would be advantageous to a client.
There are many benefits we get from Impact’s Partnership Cloud. Here are a few of the most important:
- Impact’s advertiser marketplace allows us to locate advertisers/brands we don’t yet have a relationship with. The platform’s advanced search tools create an easy way for us to reach out to the brand to initiate communication.
- When UpSellit works with an advertiser on the Partnership Cloud, advanced crediting logic gives advertisers options for crediting UpSellit with a sale. Since UpSellit offers a suite of on- and off-site strategies, this kind of flexibility fosters a mutually beneficial relationship for everyone involved.
- Impact gives UpSellit flexibility on how we’re compensated based on client preference. In addition, Impact’s IO system makes it simple for advertisers to contract with UpSellit and all media partners, even providing the ability to have documented negotiations happen through the IO.
- Impact’s tracking and real-time reporting improves UpSellit’s ability to monitor and optimize campaign performance.
Richa: I’ve read about your expansion beyond on-site lead recovery and into dynamic and reactive one-to-one email campaigns for remarketing. Can you tell us what sets your email solution apart from others that are out there?
UpSellit: For us, the differentiator is personalization. UpSellit’s Email Remarketing platform allows merchants to send marketing messages that are tailored to specific shopper segments.
We can also leverage our proprietary PreCapture technology to dynamically collect new-to-file lead information the instant it’s typed and recover the sales through remarketing.
We prioritize cross-device optimization with our Cart Rebuilder technology, which saves a user’s cart contents and allows them to return the exact place they left off on their preferred device. Our Post-Click Site Personalization ensures their on-site experience aligns with the email messaging they received.
In addition we can leverage remarketing campaigns in a multitude of other ways, such as with price drop alerts, booking reminders for hotels, and even back-in-stock alerts. The true success lies in determining what shoppers respond to most through testing and optimization.
Richa: Measurement is so important in the optimization space. You have an interesting method for establishing benchmarks and incremental value in your Control Group segments. Can you tell us in layman’s terms how they work?
UpSellit: We take a scientific, data-driven approach to measuring performance. Our control groups are random segments of traffic that are not eligible for UpSellit’s solutions. By comparing the conversion rates, AOV, and customer lifetime value of these segments, we can prove the effectiveness of our solutions with real-time reporting. In addition to UpSellit’s reporting engine, we can also integrate with virtually any third-party analytics software, meaning results are trustworthy, reliable, and verifiable in whatever platform is preferred by our partners.
Richa: Your assessment and analysis of 2020 ecommerce trends and corresponding tips is sensational. Is there anything beyond that list but on your radar in the world of customer experience?
UpSellit: As marketers, we always want to reach people where they are. As mobile devices have been integrated into daily life, SMS has become an increasingly valuable communication tool for brands and consumers. Mobile messaging provides open rates of 90%+ and an average response time of just a few minutes. We’re continually finding ways to utilize SMS for time sensitive information that needs to be seen right away, such as in the case of flash sales, limited time offers, and important updates.
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