August eCommerce Updates from Trellis Partners

Welcome to our comprehensive August roundup of the latest and most significant updates across the eCommerce industry. Let’s take a moment to reflect on the flurry of activity and innovation brought to us by our valued partners including PayPal, Yotpo, Stamped, Rebuy, Okendo, Shopify, Klaviyo, Bloomreach, and Intelligems.

Last month was a testament to the strength of collaboration and the continuous pursuit of enhancing eCommerce platforms. Each update from our partners has not only introduced new functionalities but also fine-tuned the existing capabilities that empower businesses to stay ahead in a competitive digital environment.

Let’s dive into the main industry news from last month and all the major updates from our partners:

• PayPal
• Yotpo
• Stamped
• Rebuy
• Okendo
• Klaviyo
• Bloomreach
• Intelligems

Industry News

Mobile Shopping’s Remarkable Growth

Mobile commerce has soared to new heights with $280.4 billion in sales, demonstrating a robust 10.2% growth compared to the previous year. This trend highlights the increasing consumer preference for shopping via mobile devices, signaling a shift that retailers cannot afford to ignore. Read the full report by Adobe Analytics.

Shopify’s Strategic Expansion with YouTube

Shopify has teamed up with YouTube to offer its Shopify Plus and Advanced merchants in the US an exciting opportunity to increase their reach. By joining YouTube Shopping’s affiliate program, brands can now feature their products in shopping content across YouTube, broadening their audience and enhancing potential sales. Learn more about this partnership.

Copyright Controversy in Fast Fashion

The fast fashion giant Shein has filed a lawsuit against Temu, accusing it of promoting the sale of counterfeit products. This legal battle underscores the ongoing issues of copyright infringement within the industry, with Shein alleging that Temu encourages and benefits from sellers who infringe on designs. Read details of the case.

Each of these news items illustrates the dynamic nature of the eCommerce sector, from technological advancements driving sales to legal disputes reflecting the complexities of market competition. Staying updated on these trends is essential for businesses aiming to navigate the rapidly changing landscape effectively.

August eCommerce Updates from BigCommerce & PayPal

BigCommerce has recently launched the PayPal Fastlane integration, a new feature designed to streamline the checkout process for guest users. Mirroring the efficiency of Shop Pay, PayPal Fastlane utilizes a text message confirmation system to quickly complete transactions. This innovative approach is especially advantageous for online stores that experience a high volume of guest checkouts, such as those specializing in furniture or other high-value items.

The introduction of PayPal Fastlane offers substantial benefits to merchants. By simplifying the checkout process, it not only enhances the user experience but also significantly reduces the time it takes for customers to complete their purchases. For businesses, this means potentially higher conversion rates and a smoother path to sale, especially for customers who do not wish to create an account but want a quick and secure transaction. This feature is a strategic enhancement for retailers looking to improve their e-commerce efficiency and customer satisfaction.

August eCommerce Updates from Yotpo

Yotpo has recently unveiled several updates across its platform that aim to elevate both the security and efficacy of e-commerce operations. These updates span across various aspects of Yotpo’s offerings, including account security, customer retention, and innovative subscription models.

Enhanced Security and Insightful Analytics

Yotpo has introduced Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for all its user accounts, providing an additional layer of security that helps protect sensitive brand data and minimize the risk of data breaches. This feature is essential in today’s digital environment, where security is a paramount concern for businesses of all sizes.

In addition, Yotpo’s updated Retention Dashboard now offers brands direct insights into their customer retention metrics. This tool allows merchants to benchmark their performance against similar stores in their industry, offering valuable data on repeat customer rates and sales from returning customers. These analytics help brands understand their market position and strategize effectively to enhance customer loyalty.

Revolutionizing Subscriptions and Customer Engagement

Yotpo Subscriptions has been enriched with several new features that aim to reduce customer churn and enhance the subscription experience. The new Cancellation Offers & Analytics feature allows brands to analyze cancellation reasons and implement tailored retention strategies. This could include offering discounts, rescheduling deliveries, or substituting products, which can help maintain customer relationships even when a cancellation is initiated.

Moreover, Yotpo is testing a ‘Variety Box’ subscription model, which allows brands to surprise subscribers with different products in each delivery. This feature not only helps in managing inventory but also keeps the customer experience fresh and engaging.

Yotpo has also introduced ‘Retention Flows’ in beta, which include surprise gifts or discounts on specific orders to delight customers and encourage loyalty. Additionally, the platform is testing ‘Partial Delivery’ options for out-of-stock products, giving brands flexibility in how they fulfill orders during inventory shortages.

Enhanced Review and Communication Tools

Yotpo Reviews has received upgrades with faster, more responsive widgets that offer new functionalities not available in previous versions. These enhancements ensure that on-site interactions are quicker and more user-friendly. The platform also supports better accessibility compliance and allows users to filter reviews by country, providing a more personalized shopping experience.

Furthermore, Yotpo has expanded its SMS and email marketing capabilities, now supporting MMS in Australia and allowing merchants to collect customized data via pop-ups. This enhancement is particularly significant for capturing zero-party data directly from customers, which can be pivotal in crafting personalized marketing strategies.

August eCommerce Updates from Stamped

Stamped, renowned for its customer loyalty solutions, has recently merged with Repeat, a platform specializing in optimizing repurchase behaviors. This merger integrates personalized product recommendations across communication channels like email, SMS, and shopping carts, aiming to enhance the shopping experience. Repeat’s advanced technology tailors these recommendations to individual consumer preferences and buying patterns, thereby simplifying the product selection process and fostering a more intuitive shopping journey.

For merchants, this merger offers significant advantages. By leveraging tailored product recommendations, businesses can improve customer retention and increase the frequency of repeat purchases. The seamless integration of Repeat’s technology with Stamped’s loyalty platforms allows for a more engaging customer experience, directly influencing customer satisfaction and loyalty. Moreover, the automated nature of these personalized interactions not only enhances efficiency but also provides a strategic edge in today’s competitive e-commerce landscape, where personalization is key to capturing and retaining customers.

August eCommerce Updates from Rebuy

Rebuy has updated its Smart Search technology by incorporating metafields filtering, significantly enhancing the search capabilities on e-commerce sites. This new feature allows merchants to customize search experiences more finely, enabling shoppers to filter results based on specific product attributes. By improving the relevance of search results, Rebuy’s enhancement aims to streamline the shopping process, making it faster and more intuitive for customers to find exactly what they need.

The benefits of Rebuy’s enhanced Smart Search are manifold for merchants. First, by facilitating a more tailored search experience, businesses can significantly improve customer satisfaction and reduce the frustration often associated with finding specific products. This precision in search functionality is likely to lead to higher conversion rates as customers can quickly locate the products that meet their criteria. Additionally, the ability to filter by metafields helps merchants showcase more relevant product assortments to each customer, further personalizing the shopping experience and boosting the likelihood of purchase.

August eCommerce Updates from Okendo

Loyalty Programs

Okendo’s new Loyalty Insights Page offers eCommerce businesses a powerful tool to enhance their loyalty program strategies. This innovative feature provides in-depth analytics that allow merchants to drill down into key performance metrics of their loyalty programs. By leveraging these insights, businesses can gain a better understanding of customer behaviors, program engagement levels, and overall effectiveness. This targeted analysis helps in identifying successful elements and areas that may require adjustments, enabling a more data-driven approach to loyalty management.

The benefits of the Loyalty Insights Page for merchants are significant. With access to comprehensive data on how customers interact with loyalty programs, businesses can make informed decisions to tailor their offerings more effectively. This might include optimizing reward structures, enhancing promotional strategies, or even redesigning aspects of the loyalty program to better meet customer needs. Ultimately, this leads to improved customer retention rates and increased ROI from loyalty initiatives. These insights not only help in maintaining a competitive edge but also foster a deeper connection with customers by delivering more personalized and relevant rewards.

For further details on how to utilize the Loyalty Insights Page, you can visit Okendo’s support article.

Custom Earn Rules

Okendo has introduced Custom Earn Rules to its loyalty program framework, providing a versatile tool for eCommerce businesses to drive specific customer actions and enhance engagement. This feature allows merchants to set up unique conditions under which loyalty points can be earned, tailoring the loyalty experience to fit the specific dynamics of their store and customer base. By defining custom rules, businesses can incentivize actions that align with their marketing objectives, such as encouraging reviews, social media interactions, or repeat purchases.

The implementation of Custom Earn Rules can significantly increase the effectiveness of loyalty programs. For merchants, this means the ability to strategically motivate customer behaviors that contribute to long-term business goals. Whether it’s increasing user-generated content, boosting social media presence, or encouraging frequent shopping, Custom Earn Rules provide the flexibility to craft a loyalty program that actively supports broader marketing strategies. Moreover, by rewarding customers in a way that feels personalized and directly relevant to their interactions with the brand, businesses can foster a stronger connection and loyalty, potentially leading to higher customer lifetime value.

For a detailed guide on how to set up and use Custom Earn Rules effectively within your loyalty program, visit Okendo’s support article on Custom Earn Rules.

Full-Screen Quiz Mode

Okendo has rolled out a new full-screen mode for its quizzes, designed to captivate users and improve both quiz completion and conversion rates. This enhancement allows quizzes to be displayed in a modal, or full-screen overlay, which focuses the user’s attention by eliminating distractions from the main website. This immersive experience is particularly effective in keeping customers engaged from the start of the quiz to the submission of their answers, thereby increasing the likelihood of quiz completion.

The full-screen mode not only enhances user engagement but also plays a crucial role in improving conversion rates. By providing a distraction-free environment, customers are more likely to complete quizzes, which in turn enables merchants to gather valuable insights and preferences about their customer base. These insights can be used to personalize marketing efforts and product recommendations, ultimately leading to increased sales. Additionally, the full-screen mode adds a sleek, modern look to the quizzes, aligning with professional website aesthetics and improving overall user experience.

For instructions on how to implement and optimize the full-screen quiz mode to enhance customer interaction and conversion on your site, check out the detailed guide provided by Okendo here.

Klaviyo-Integrated Quiz Recommendations

Okendo has introduced a seamless way for eCommerce businesses to remind quiz takers about recommended products by incorporating recommendation page links in Klaviyo emails. This feature allows merchants to send personalized follow-up emails via Klaviyo, leveraging the data collected from Okendo quizzes. By embedding links to recommended products based on quiz responses, merchants can provide a tailored shopping experience that directly aligns with the customer’s preferences and needs.

This integration not only enriches the customer’s journey by keeping them engaged with highly relevant product suggestions but also drives conversions by making it easier for customers to access and purchase these recommendations. Using Klaviyo’s robust email marketing tools in conjunction with Okendo’s quiz insights allows merchants to craft compelling, personalized messages that resonate with each recipient. This strategic approach can significantly enhance the effectiveness of email campaigns, increasing both click-through and conversion rates by presenting customers with products that are specifically curated based on their interests and responses.

For a step-by-step guide on how to utilize Okendo’s quiz recommendations within Klaviyo email campaigns, and to maximize the impact of your personalized marketing efforts, check out the detailed instructions provided by Okendo here.

August eCommerce Updates from Bloomreach

Bloomreach is thrilled to announce its designation as a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Email Marketing Service Providers for Q3 2024. This recognition highlights Bloomreach’s forefront position in the eCommerce personalization space, driven by its advanced AI capabilities and dynamic real-time interactions. As businesses seek more sophisticated tools to tailor their digital marketing efforts, Bloomreach’s platform stands out for its ability to seamlessly integrate deep learning technologies that enhance the relevance and effectiveness of email marketing campaigns.

This accolade from Forrester is a testament to Bloomreach’s commitment to innovation and excellence in the competitive email marketing industry. By leveraging cutting-edge artificial intelligence, Bloomreach enables eCommerce businesses to deliver highly personalized content that resonates with individual customer preferences and behaviors. This not only helps in improving customer engagement but also significantly boosts conversion rates and customer retention. As the market continues to evolve, Bloomreach’s continued leadership in email marketing services positions it well to help marketers achieve remarkable results through personalized customer interactions.

August eCommerce Updates from Klaviyo

Klaviyo, a leader in email and SMS marketing automation, has recently enhanced its Customer Data Platform (CDP) with several new features aimed at optimizing customer communication strategies. These updates, detailed on their What’s New page, reflect Klaviyo’s commitment to innovation, allowing marketers to leverage advanced data-driven tools for more personalized messaging. The platform’s growth is underscored by its significant increase in customers, particularly those investing heavily in their marketing technology stacks, indicating a robust expansion in its user base and a deepening trust in its capabilities.

Bill Aicher’s summary at the recent State of Klaviyo event highlighted the substantial growth Klaviyo has experienced, with over 150,000 customers now relying on its services. This surge is accompanied by a notable increase in customer spending and an expansion into global markets, signaling Klaviyo’s broadening influence in the digital marketing sphere. The company’s focus on consolidating messaging tools under one roof presents a strategic advantage, offering businesses the chance to streamline their operations and enhance overall efficiency. This consolidation has shown to drive a significant increase in Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) for clients who adopt a unified approach to their messaging strategies.

Moreover, Klaviyo continues to focus on providing strategic guidance and thought leadership, especially in utilizing AI to enhance marketing automation and personalization. This focus is complemented by their resources like the Klaviyo Success Center and comprehensive BFCM guide, which offer valuable insights and strategies for maximizing marketing efficacy during peak sales periods. By pushing for a more integrated approach and fostering deeper data integration, Klaviyo not only enhances its platform’s capabilities but also empowers partners and clients to leverage these advanced tools for significant business growth.

August eCommerce Updates from Intelligems

Intelligems is thrilled to announce the launch of Personalizations, a new feature in its A/B testing suite designed to empower marketing teams to craft highly customized user experiences. This innovative tool is geared towards enabling marketers to fine-tune their websites and campaigns, ensuring that each visitor receives a tailored experience that resonates with their preferences and behaviors. Personalizations aim to streamline the customization process, making it easier and more efficient for teams to implement changes that can significantly impact user engagement and conversion rates.

The release of Personalizations by Intelligems represents a significant advancement in the realm of digital marketing tools, offering a promising avenue for businesses looking to enhance engagement without requiring extensive resources. By facilitating the creation of personalized content and interactions, Intelligems helps businesses not only to attract but also retain customers more effectively. This tool is particularly valuable for marketing departments aiming to increase their bottom line through strategic, data-driven personalizations that resonate deeply with their target audience. This approach is expected to result in better customer experiences, higher engagement levels, and ultimately, substantial growth in revenue.

Conclusion

The updates from August underscored a significant push towards more personalized and efficient customer interactions and streamlined operational processes. As businesses continue to navigate the evolving marketplace, the integrations and enhancements from our partners are pivotal in enabling both growth and innovation. Looking forward, the lessons learned and the technologies embraced last month will serve as a foundation for future developments. We remain committed to bringing you the latest and most effective solutions, ensuring that your business can leverage cutting-edge tools to enhance user engagement and drive success. Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to explore the forefront of eCommerce advancements.

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