In our own marketing, we try to speak simply and without hyperbole. Our prospects and customers know the difference between smoke and fire, and so do we.
MEDIA 7: What inspired you to build a career in marketing?
JIM NOCHOLS: My answer today is different than it was, say, 10 years ago. Or I should say, broader than it was. Marketing to me has and always will be about applied creativity. That will never change. But the advent and growth of martech means that the ways that we reach, communicate, and measure customer interactions is constantly changing.
With all that change, we’ve enhanced our ability to speak individually to customers and find the sweet spot between brand and customer needs. That’s unbelievably cool. When I started in marketing, something like 95% of the money went into mass communications. Now, more and more dollars are going to 1-2-1 communications and solutions. How great is that!
M7: What are some of the features offered by RevLifter that help your clients personalize their e-commerce networks that generate revenue?
JN: At RevLifter, our focus is on delivering 1-2-1 deals and incentives to every customer throughout their eCommerce journey. We help more than 100 leading and innovative retailers, including four of the world’s top 25 merchants and telecom providers. We came into being because of a persistent problem online: we all know that every customer is different, but they all see exactly the same deals and offers. Everyone is exposed to the same discounts, coupon codes, and incentives. regardless of their motivations, interests, or current stage in the customer journey. RevLifter analyzes hundreds of behavioral and contextual signals for each customer in real time before architecting a stream of subtle deals and offers to that individual before, during, and after their site visit. We can even adjust offers based on environmental signals like the weather or UV levels.
We offer hyper-personalized deals and offers pages for every customer, a myriad of options for in-line and overlay offers, and post-visit notifications to bring customers back for future purchases. Every deal has to meet the client’s objectives. These personalized communications deliver better results than expensive blanket deals and promotions and our clients see an average increase of 30% in their conversion rates, and a 20% boost in average order values (AOV).
Our data collection does not require complex integration – it sits on top of what a merchant is already doing and collecting.
M7: Partnerize is the new integrated partner for RevLifter. What would this integration offer new to the table?
JN: We work with Partnerize and many other marketing platforms and networks to help partnership marketers implement 1-2-1 hyper-personalized deals quicker and easier than ever before. Right from the beginning, RevLifter has been a tech platform designed to integrate with the tools and technologies companies are already using, from back-end commerce platforms to the various layers of tech that are now part of virtually every digital store. By integrating with companies like Partnerize, we enable retailers to deliver true 1-2-1 incentives and content without changing their existing infrastructure, reporting and measurement tools, or BI packages.
M7: What are some of the strategies through which RevLifter helps their clients improve their conversion rates and profits?
JN: There’s no cookie-cutter formula. It’s all specific to the goals of the client. The process begins by understanding the specific KPIs the brand wishes to drive. That can be conversion rates, AOV, acquisition, reducing cart abandonment, or any other measurable goal. Then we work to understand what sorts of deals and incentives will drive shopper behaviors that achieve those goals. Our data collection does not require complex integration – it sits on top of what a merchant is already doing and collecting. We formulate the offer rules, build the creative, and launch, usually within 1-3 weeks.
Some of our most popular tactics include dynamic, real-time “stretch-and-save” incentives that start with the specific value of goods already in the customer’s cart, and then add N% to create an offer for a higher basket value. We also deploy timed discounts, cross-selling, escalating offers, true 1-2-1 product recommendations, and gift card offers for future purchases. The specific bundle is based on retailer needs. For example, we work with some “high/low” retailers that are heavy users of all kinds of deals and promotions, but we also work with luxury brands that cannot or will not discount their products. We simply find a bespoke approach for the retailer that enables it to deliver bespoke communications to every customer. Our objective-based focus and flexibility have allowed us to land several of the world’s top 25 brands as clients, as well as many other giants, large, and medium-sized merchants, all by creating a program that works for their specific situation.
We came into being because of a persistent problem online: we all know that every customer is different, but they all see exactly the same deals and offers.
M7: How do you approach branding for RevLifter, your products and services?
JN: Fundamentally, we are about simple and elegant solutions that are worthy of the brands and sites we serve. From a shopper standpoint, RevLifter branding is invisible, which is as it should be. We are very proud to create truly native experiences for retailers that look and feel like they are from the brand. Because they are. In our own marketing, we try to speak simply and without hyperbole. Our prospects and customers know the difference between smoke and fire, and so do we. For example, we usually talk about average lift from programs, because the averages are more indicative of what a prospective will see. Our clients see an average increase of 30% in conversion rates, and in AOV. That’s more useful than showing a 9,000% lift for one extremely successful client. We offer a platform and specific products, connected with the Rev+ brand name structure. Our hyper-personalized deals pages offering is called RevPage. Our on-site CRO and AOV-focused offering is called RevConvert.
M7: According to you, what do you see as the biggest challenges in the industry today?
JN: Speaking from the perspective of my home in the US, the commerce industry has followed a vicious cycle of increasing the number and frequency of margin-busting blanket discounts available to everyone. Here’s what I mean. Two years ago, perhaps a specific retailer’s deal cycle was five times per year, at 15% off. Then last year, perhaps competitor offers ratcheted up, so the deals go to six times a year and 20%. The year after that, maybe it’s seven times a year and 25%. The ultimate result is the laundry list of retail closings and bankruptcies we are all too familiar with. We have to find ways to protect the business by pleasing customers without going bankrupt ourselves. At RevLifter, we think the answer to this is through the personalization of every element of a customer experience, starting with the deals and incentives that are a primary driver of transactions.