SALESmanago: How to Create Amazing Shopping Experience with Marketing Automation

How to Create
Amazing Shopping
Experience with
Marketing Automation
Practical Guide for e-commerce

CONTENTS
THE AGE OF CUSTOMER. HOW E-COMMERCE EVOLVED
For whom is that ebook?
20 years of e-commerce
New customer
Main rules of communication with new customer
HOW TO CREATE A SHOPPING EXPERIENCE?
The concept of experience
What deﬁnes an excellent experience?
Negative shopping experience
CREATE AN AMAZING SHOPPING EXPERIENCE WITH MARKETING AUTOMATION. BEST PRACTICES
6 Tips from e-commerce Gurus
Why Do You Need Marketing Automation
Before the purchase
During the purchase
After the Purchase
REFERENCES
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Practical Guide for e-commerce 2

The Age of Customer.
How e-commerce evolved
20 years of e-commerce
New customer
Main rules of communication with new customer

Do you work in e-commerce?
We wrote that ebook for ecommerce owners and marketers
operating within that field. The size of your business doesn’t matter
– tips and best practices discussed below apply to SMB as well as
to large companies.
All you need is a strong conviction that customer experience is a
crucial element of your entrepreneurship, not a trivial additive or cool
buzzword.
Shopping experience as a final test
CEOs detached from customers
80% of CEOs claim that their company delivers the best
shopping experience, while only 8% of customers share such
enthusiasm. Shortly, CEO assess themselves much better that they
are judged by actual customers. A big mistake.
Shopping experience and act of shopping itself verifies your
business model. No matter how much do you spend on marketing
and advertising, how much traffic do you get, this is the final test.
It can also endanger all the other actions. The best marketing
campaign won’t do any good if your purchase procedure is
unintuitive. Your profits depend on shopping experience.
In this ebook we apply broad definition of shopping experience,
because we believe that perspective on communication with
customer should be as large as possible. Taking into consideration
wider spectrum will enable us to cover also less often discussed
but still vital aspects of the problem and show you how to
integrate all the elements into organic whole.
Broad definition

In 1994 two important things happened:
20 Years of e-commerce
Press started to cover a new trend –
shopping in the internet. Articles
describing the problem appeared in
„Money”, „New York Times” and
„Computerworld”,
Jeff Bezos established Amazon (a year
later he sold the first book).
Maybe you will find it hard to believe, but e-commerce celebrates its 20 birthday.
How did it begin, how will it develop?
The beginnings of e-commerce
Customer needed to be educated on
what modem is and how internet works,
Experts predicted that shopping will
become more convenient and that
prices will drop.
1994
Nobody advertised here,
Finding an online store was hard,
Some companies provided their
catalogues on CDs, so it was easier for
customers to find products and order
them,
E-shopping was compared to
teleshopping,
Buying in the internet in distant 1994 looked
completely different.
E-commerce featured New York Times’
„In&Out” and was called hot, next to
Marlboro Man,
5

New Customer
The customer of your e-commerce doesn’t remind the lost and shy
consumers from 1994. Connected, aware and ads -resistant, modern
consumer requires different treatment.
To oversee all ads (e.g. banner blindness),
Not to trust any marketing communication.
Matt Webb, CEO BERG Cloud
Experience oriented
Aware
The new customer above all is well-informed and knows his rights,
what raises his/ her expectations high. Knows that strong
competition beneﬁts them in the end of the day.
Prosument
Thanks to easy and mobile access to information due to the internet,
customer is well educated and becomes an expert in the area. He studies
forums and blogs, compares various options, so when he meets a
salesperson he wants a partner to discussion, who will appreciate his/her
knowledge and answer advanced questions, not just mechanically deliver
desired commodity.
Independent
After years of being bombarded with irrelevant, aggressive ads, customer
learnt:
Today’s customer doesn’t look at the product in isolation, but is
interested in experience as a whole, from the features and
usability of a product, to brand philosophy, to shopping process,
to customer service to package.
He cares not only about objective qualities and advantages of the
product, but also for emotional aura surrounding the experience.
The Age of Customer
That’s why contemporary market is sometimes called „The
Age of Customer”. It denotes a consumer-centred
paradigm and entails the highest possible standard of
service. The shop should be simple, clear, intuitive and
deliver complex experience.
Therefore customers try to gather valuable information on
their own instead of letting salespeople talk. They can be even
80% complete with the decision-making process before
reaching out to salespeople. In the store they just want
conﬁrmation of the fact already decided and an expert advice
if needed.

“A special product for a special
consumer”.
Main Rules of Communication with New Consumer
prepare yourself for communication with
a custimer who has done his research and
can ask you about origins of the materials,
your ecology standards, privacy politics.
Educate your staff in that ﬁeld so they can
answer all questions.
your communication should deliver value for
that speciﬁc customer, matching his interest
and needs. It concerns not only offers but also
educational materials.
instant is the new black. Real Time
personalization and communication creates
foundations of good shopping experience.
React in Real Time:
Send relevant messages:
Quality over quantity is today’s customer
mantra. He wants to believe that you offer
a unique, high quality and one of his kind
product. He will expect details on
materials and procedure and clear
distinction: how are you different from
other, from your competitors? Each
moment of the experience should shout:
„It’s not a mass production”!
Transparency:
personalize your communication in every
area possible (dynamic emails and banners,
tailored offer and recommended products,
copy, using customer’s name).
Deliver quality:
1
2
3
4
Treat customers personally:5
To meet high expectations of
new customer, you will need
Marketing Automation
Platform.
More on that in Part III
It can be broken down to 5 rules.
That effect you should try to achieve when
designing a customer experience in general.

How to Create a Shopping
Experience?

3 Uniqueness: when we get from a
purchase more than a product, but also
emotional benefits as sense of being
treated in an individual way and served as a
VIP. Contemporary customer is allergic to
bulk messages and searches individual
contact and dedicated service.
4 Values: brand philosophy is being
reflected in every, even the tiny details and
that’s why customers – sometimes even
unknowingly to themselves – are so sensi-
tive to any incongruences. Colors, design,
usability, copy, solutions like a wishlist –
they all carry a message about brand’s
Shopping experience is 70% subjective: it
consists of individual’s feelings and impres-
sions on how s/he is being treated. It’s about
emotions that shopping brings: excitement,
boredom, surprise, misunderstanding.
What more does your customer get?
Experience is more
than a purchase
1 Community: sense of belonging,
2 Knowledge: when brand helps us
understand the problem, we perceive it as
an expert with educational mission, caring
for more than just selling their product. It
builds trust and loyalty.
Subjectivity trouble
Buying at your store is always
an experience – even if you don’t
manage it deliberately. But it can
be a negative or bland. Your point is
to create shopping experience skillfully
and planning all its elements so its
provides positive and memorable
sentiment.
According to Defaqto
EXPERIENCE PURCHASE
“To 2020 experience will become
the most important factor defining
the brand and customers’
relationship with it. Experience will
matter more that product itself or its price.”
/Walker/
55%
of customers will pay more
for better shopping experience.
What does it mean exactly?

What is most important to the customers?
Qualities of Perfect shopping experience:
Memorable,
Cohesive with brand communication,
Smooth, flowing, uninterrupted,
Charged with strong positive emotions,
Encouraging loyalty.
1
2
3
4
5
Synergy
Customer service,
Procedures (terms, privacy policy,
returns).
As you see, creating amazing shopping
experience requires coordinating many small
elements and effective cooperation between
various departments of your company. There-
fore you must ensure good communication
within the firm, existence of common ground.
It can be provided by CRM and/or Marketing
Automation Platform, and tools like Buyer
Persona and Buyer’s Journey.
Human factor
Personal contact plays a huge role in building customer – brand relationship. It includes not
only personal, face-to-face contact, but also chat, call centre or email correspondence.
78%od customers declare that a competent member of the staff is responsible for the
experience.
We perceive brands as if they were real people, we associate them with human features. We
also perceive employees like brand incarnated, so contact with them is a test of brand person-
ality and our relationship with it. Encounter verifies our assumptions. For example: if brand
describes itself as very customer-friendly and suddenly you meet a brusque assistant, it belies
your faith in brand’s credibility, in its values. You feel frisked.
The lesson? Invest in your team!
Factors shaping the experience:
How to create it?
Website design,
Usability,
Rules of automation implemented,
Content and images,

When customer feels like a number: think of email
subject reading: „Order no. 89803859470373 has
been shipped”. Snippy, mechanic-sounding
language puts user off - both in direct
communication and on the website. Nobody wants
to be another order for some anonymous, abstract
selling – machine.
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Problems with finding the product: Browsing
products in vain can bring frustration about. That’s
why you should care not only for clarity and organi-
zation of your items, but also for linking. Be sure
that your banner with specific products links to the
place where it can be found. And please stop
linking to your homepage.
Only 1 in 27 dissatisfied customers will communicate
their discontent to the brand, The rest simply thinks
„No big deal, I won’t buy there again”. Have that
number in mind when feeling too optimistic about
your customers’ happiness.
What would scare them off?
Knowing what customers love, let’s take a look at the dark side.
Insecurity: It can be caused by insufficient informa-
tion, ambiguities, difficulties in finding contact data,
confusing terms.
Feeling lost: When users finds himself in a place
where he doesn’t know what to do next, he’ll
simply hit the „x” button. Map your user journey so
you learn how he navigates to reduce the risk of
such situations.
Customers don’t complain (to you)
Customers complain to others
Handling failure
54% of customers share their negative
shopping experiences with more than 5 people, while
only 33%share positive experiences with the
same amount of people.
Remember: failures occur.
32% of customers encounter a problem with
purchased product; it’s natural and can happen.
What you do afterwards matter.
70% of consumers declare that they would
still buy from the provider who would deal with the
issue quickly. That’s why you need to pay special
attention to your problem solving procedures and
terms of returns. Are they reasonable and friendly?
Blessing of failure
Returning a product or act of
complaining might turn into positive
experience, because they offer an
opportunity for a brand to show its
human, caring face. If you can respond
to the crisis with being open, friendly
and kindhearted, you can actually make
customer more attached.
Ensure also some space to handle
issues for your employyes at the first
frontier, so the problems can be dealt
with as quickly as possible. Empowered
employees will be more efficient.
11

Create an amazing shopping
experience with
Marketing Automation.
Best practices
6 Tips from e-commerce Gurus
Why Do You Need Marketing Automation
Before the purchase
During the purchase
After the Purchase

Understanding. Designing shopping
experience makes sense only when
based on deep understanding of
customer behavior. It takes a lot of
work with deciphering users’ Digital
Body Language, surveys, interviews
and analytics.
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6 Tips from eCommerce Gurus
Devil is in the detail. Excellent shopping
experience comes from paying attention to
details: from shape, color and location of
every button to terms of shipping and
package design.
1
Cohesion. Shopping experience can tie us
to the brand and grow loyalty because it
consistently communicates coherent
message and values, so they stick. If each
element serves that purpose, the
communication is clear and smooth,
hence brand ideas affect us deeply.
2
Simplicity. Take heart from the imperative:
„Don’t make me think”. If you can reduce a
crossroad in buyer’s journey, a situation
when s/he needs to choose, reduce.
3
Personalize. Individual approach
distinguishes an experience from just a
purchase. Using customer’s name,
preferences remembered, relevant
recommendations, dynamic content –
apply as many tools as possible to make
shopping personal.
4
5
Test. Optimization can’t be
achieved purely on conceptual level
– you must see how actual users
react to these. Use A/B testing on
regular basis: don’t assume that
you know what your recipients
need. Ask them!
6
Amazon
Zappos
Nike
Apple
Walmart
Best players
They offer the best shopping
experience – get inspired:

Marketing Automation is about being
a good listener. It delivers tools for
responding to customer behavior, so more
of your actions are actually reactions to
user behavior. You communicate, engage
in a dialogue, not conduct a monologue.
That’s exactly what new customer needs:
somebody he can talk to, who listens, not
just overwhelms him with chaotic bulk
messages. By responding to customer’s
action, not imposing your own, you respect
his autonomy.
Why Do You Need Marketing Automation?
To create amazing shopping experience
Marketing Automation Platform is vital.
Why?
Most advanced analytics. It will help you
understand your customers better –
individuals as well as the whole group.
Solutions for education. Who said that
Lead Nurturing is only for B2B? More and
more e-stores involve their customers in
education programs, so they know more
about the value of product before the
purchase. Learning about impact of
ecological food on health or quality or
materials or fair trade makes customers
more aware. When they know exactly what
they’re paying for, they’re more willing to
Working tools for personalization.
Personalization is a big word, but how do
you actually deliver it in e-commerce? You
need a dedicated software. Marketing
Automation means real 1-to-1
communication, based on interest and
behavior of speciﬁc user. No other tool can
compare to individual approach MAP
provides.
CRM. Marketing Automation Platform
gathers all information about your contacts
and integrates it in one place, so all your
departments can share knowledge and
have quick access to data needed in a
moment (e.g. when frustrated customers
calls, information on his behavior,
preferences and purchase history could
help spot a problem or choose the most
suitable compensation).
Ensures coherency and completeness
of experience at every stage. Marketing
Automation will make your experience
smooth because it treats relationship with
customer as a process – collected data on
individual user enables you to build
cohesive experience.
1
2
3
4
5
6

When user browses your products, take care for offer personalization and dynamic recommendations, so he can ﬁnd interesting items as quickly
as possible. Product presentation also matters.
Before the Purchase
Good practice: When you enter brick
and mortar store, salesperson says „Hi”,
calling you with your name maybe. Find
space in your e-store to mimic that
practice, both on the website (maybe
put „Hi, <name>!” on user login bar?)
and in e-mails.
Say „Hello”
Why it works: Because it makes customer
feel noticed and announces personal
contact. Yet beware of false personaliza-
tion: when one overuses customers name
and data or phrases like „Only for you”,
but it doesn’t entail real value and tailored
offer and content. If you follow
pseudo-personal copy with bulk message,
it just makes you look fake.
Good practice: Instead of traditional,
boring photo use video or 360 degrees
view to present the product. You can
also involve user generated photos or
virtual ﬁtting rooms. Include music.
While being creative remember to give
all the data needed to make a decision.
More than image
Why it works: Because it allows to visualize
the product better, offers advantages of brick
and mortar shop (so it shortens the process,
while user might consider checking the
product in reality), is more engaging and
applies to more senses.
Fitting rooms – out of the box
Good practice: If you want to order
eyewear at Warby Parker, they will
send you by courier a box with no
more than 6 pairs for you to try. You
can decide whether you want to buy
one of them or not. You have time to
make your decision.
Why it works: Customers want to be sure
that they spend money well. Then they
can buy with pleasure, without sense of
guilt. The need of trying an item grows
proportially to product’s price: the more
expensive item, the less likely customer
are to take risk. So put yourself in
customer shoes and don’t expect them
to buy when not having enough data!

Before the Purchase
Good Practice: Use dynamic 1-to-1
recommendations on the website (e.g. in
form of banners).
Change your approach to banners!
Banners changed weekly? Most users don’t even
notice them. If banner doesn’t concern their
interests and problems, they won’t pay attention
– no matter how pretty it might be.
That’s why you should invest your time to create
complimentary dynamic banners – apart of your
regular ones. Banners tailored to individual user
will not only catch eye, but also be more
memorable
Flexible price shaping
Good Practice: Be flexible when price
shaping and watch carefully how your
customers use the product. Maybe
subscription model would work better?
Take an example of Dollar Shave Club: they
offer razors delivered monthly. You decide
what price and quality are satisfactory for
you and get your razors delivered monthly.
No more sad mornings when you realize
that your razor is dull!
On-site recommendations
Why it works: It simplifies the browsing
process and recreates offline store experi-
ence, where kind assistant who knows us
helps find a needed product. User feels
recognized and his trust in the brand increas-
es.
It’s especially important when you have a
wide array of products to offer. .
Why it works: One, sometimes the clou
is not the product, but delivery or
pricing. Two, customers are getting
more and more empowered, so they
want also to have impact on price
shaping. Be open to their suggestions.
Good Practice: Give customers a
possibility of collecting items they like
but can’t buy right now. It’s useful both
to the user and to you!
Wishlist: use it to personalization
Why it works: Wishlist makes shopping
easier. Searching always consumes time, so
having the products chosen and found before
makes a way to the cart much shorter.
Moreover wishlist provides you a valuable
knowledge on user’s interests and needs.
Use it in communication (offer the commodity
from the list and ones associated with it;
notify user if that item gets discounted,
deliver content concerning that particular
product). Messages offering a product
already watched/ added to wishlist/ added to
cart are the most effective ones, so don’t
neglect dynamic banners and emails.
Consider also option of public wishlists: that
way users can let their friends know what
they want for present. It helps users and
gives natural opportunity for them to talk
about your e-store („If you want to buy me a
present, go to…”). Inspire word of mouth
marketing!

Before the Purchase
Good Practice: Clean and declutter your
catalogue. Is it simple and friendly? Aren’t too
many products associated with one
category? Apart from categories, use also
tags to make it simpler. Put the search box in
the same place on every subpage, so user
will intuitively ﬁnd a place to type if wanting to
change search terms.
Make browsing easy
Why it works: In the e-store there is no
human assistant to help. With broad
offer helpless customer will quickly get
discouraged.
Good Practice: Put a livechat box on the
website, so your user can contact a staff
member.
Livechat
Why it works: There’re plenty of questions
users might want to ask, so deliver them
as many contact options as possible, so
each one can choose the best option for
himself.
Also the presence of livechat box denotes
the presence of real person, what makes
many users feel more secure.

During the Purchase
Good Practice: Don’t make users go back! If
they have loaded they cart full and can’t wait to
give you their money and you interrupt the
process and force them to log in, and to
register before that… is it really necessary?
Purchase Without Account
Why it works: Reducing the steps user has to
do always benefits. If user hasn’t registered,
you can still send an email explaining benefits
of having an account. Later. Now focus on
purchase.
At the stage of purchase, you should have just one
rule in mind: Ockham’s Razor. Do not multiply
entities beyond necessity. Simplify. Reduce. Be
familiar.
Why it works: When paying customer
wants sense of security – in the end, it’s
about his money. It comes from recog-
nizng known, easy to understand
solutions.
Abandoned carts
Good Practice: Emails reminding of
unfinished order or abandoned cart will
surprise you with their efficiency. Auto-
mate them and take care for copy. E.g.
eBay warns: „Don’t miss out! You’ve left
something in your cart”, refering to fear
of missing something important. Make
sure the text matches brand’s character.
Why it works: User probably wanted to
buy that item – simply something inter-
rupted the process. Use his readiness
and conviction to buy the chosen
product instead of overwhelming him
with bulk messages with irrelevant offer.
Familiar carts
Good Practice: Shopping cart is the only place
in your e-store where you shouldn’t experiment
with copy, color or button shape or positions.
Cart should be boring and familiar.
Remember user’s
preferences. If he added
to carts a pair of
trousers, recommend
him a t-shirt in the same
size.
Terms of returns
Good Practice: Liberal terms will benefit
your business. If user gets a warranty or
can return a commodity without
consequences, expose that information,
even if it’s just the requirement of the law,
not your own invention.
Why it works: When user learns about the
possibility of no-consequence return, you
remove one of the most crucial shopping
obstacles („What if I won’t like it?”) and
show that you focus on
customer.
Mobile
Good Practice: Your e-store should not
only be prepared for mobile shopping,
but also offer multichannel experience.
Why it works: M-commerce is now 24%
of e-commerce and it will grow.

During the Purchase
Good Practice: Do you have also a traditional
brick-and-mortar store? Ensure good commu-
nication between them: coupons given in
physical store for e-shopping and the other
way round. Also both shops should be
designed in similar way. Use mobile app and
beacon to deliver location-based experience.
Collect data about user’s behavior and
purchase in traditional store and integrate it
with your Marketing Automation Platform.
Online-offline synergy
Why it works: It helps handle online-offline gap
(showrooming, ROPO effect) and delivers more
knowledge about how user migrate between
online and offline stores.
Smart packages
Good Practice: Design a package to make
unboxing intuitive and convenient. And use it in
communication: the space of the package can
be used to deliver tips, interesting facts, a
story. Don’t waste space.
Why it works: Unpacking can resemble
unboxing a present. Try to evoke such
emotions.

After the Purchase
Good Practice: Transactional emails (e.g.
with payment conﬁrmation or
shipping status) don’t have to be boring
and bland. Spring them with useful
information or an offer. Detailed instruction
can be found here.
Transactional emails
Why it works: Transactional emails are
opened 3 times more often compared
to traditional newsletters. Users wait for
them and pay attention.
Hey, your work isn’t over after the purchase!
Now you try to transform a customer into
loyal and happy brand ambassador. Ask
how the product works. Can you be of any
more assistance?
Ask for opinion
Good Practice: Do you realize the power
of customers’ reviews? After purchase
send an email asking for opinion in
exchange for small discount.
Why it works: You show that you care
about what customers think. You
build a valuable base of reviews (users
trust opinions of other users more
than producer’s description). You
establish a community. You engage
user more. Do you need more
reasons?
Educational post-sales emails
Good Practice: After purchase send an
educational email including tips, link to
relevant content on your website, leave
contact data. What could make his
experience better? What beginning user
should know?
Why it works: It improves using experience,
builds positive associations (you show that you
care) and helps.

References
Books:
B. Stone, Jeff Bezos i era Amazona. Sklep, w którym kupisz
wszystko, Warszawa 2014.
J. Blasingame, The Age of the Customer: Prepare for the Moment
of Relevance, Florence 2015
Articles and essays:
http://bain.com/bainweb/pdfs/cms/hotTopics/closingdeliverygap.pdf
http://ez.no/Blog/How-Marketing-Automation-Reunites-Your-Visi-
tors-with-Abandoned-Shopping-Carts
http://time.com/money/3108995/online-shopping-history-anniversary/
https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/openfo-
rum/articles/online-shopping-revolutionary-retailers/
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/09/15/improving-the-on-
line-shopping-experience-part-1-getting-customers-to-your-products/
http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/13/retail-customer-service-en-
trepreneurs-sales-marketing-wharton.html
Reports and statistics:
http://ecommercepolska.pl/ﬁles/3214/2493/6753/raport_mShop-
per_Polacynazakupachmobilnych_luty2015_nowe.pdf
http://www.zendesk.com/resources/customer-service-and-life-
time-customer-value
http://blog.orecx.com/blog/bid/401921/12-Customer-Ser-
vice-Stats-to-Help-you-in-2015
http://www.providesupport.com/blog/20-shocking-customer-ser-
vice-facts-and-statistics/
http://www.youstice.com/en/blog/entry/25-customer-service-sta-
tistics-every-customer-manager-should-read
Raport Customers 2020, http://www.walkerinfo.com/custom-
ers2020/

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How to Create Amazing
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