In the world of ecommerce, data drives decisions. Ecommerce leaders have mastered the art of tracking and optimising performance at every stage of the customer journey, leveraging data to enhance every touchpoint. 

Brands like Amazon and Booking.com set the standard many years ago by relentlessly focusing on incremental gains through tactics like performance analysis, customer data strategy, personalised content, and rigorous conversion rate optimisation (CRO). A standard which has become the de facto state for leaders across the ecommerce industry.

Yet, decades on since these pioneering brands and techniques became widely publicised and understood, the vast majority of non-traditional ecommerce brands fail to grasp the opportunity in taking an ecommerce mindset to digital experience design and optimisation. 

Digital leaders in non-retail industries, such as retail banking, healthcare, professional services, B2B industries and many others can adopt a similarly data-driven approach to optimise their digital operations and customer interactions to drive incremental gains that transform business performance.

Understanding ecommerce Metrics and Methodologies 

Ecommerce journey optimisation, exemplified by giants like Amazon, involves meticulous tracking and enhancement at every stage of the customer journey. These brands religiously measure performance at each of these stages and have designed organisation-wide processes and collaboration to develop hypotheses and experiments to prove or disprove them. Key activities include:

• Stage Analysis and Conversion Tracking: ecommerce platforms meticulously analyse each stage of the customer journey, from initial visit to repeat purchase advocacy, optimising the paths that lead to conversions.
• Personalised Content and Recommendations: Utilising AI driven algorithms of well established personalisation platforms, ecommerce sites deliver highly personalised content and product recommendations that resonate with individual user preferences, significantly boosting engagement and conversion rates.
• Continuous CRO: ecommerce sites constantly test and tweak website elements, from button colours to page layouts, to improve user experience and increase sales.

The cumulative impact of incremental gains on 100’s of layers of experimentation and optimisation across the experience have been proven to deliver transformational results. 

Not only does the ecommerce mindset drive digital performance, but leading organisations such as Booking.com have seen increased employee engagement and report experimentation focused optimisation as a catalyst in developing a culture of innovation. 

Applying ecommerce Thinking to Non-Retail Sectors 

While the products and services may differ, the principles of ecommerce optimisation can be universally applied to enhance performance across various industries.

In the case of retail banking, similarly to browsing a product category, customers exploring different banking services (e.g. current or savings accounts, loans or credit cards) display intent signals and could benefit from a clearly defined pathway that guides them to the appropriate service when they return to the site days later from search or outbound email.

In B2B or professional service industries, where clients persist through much longer, complex sales and service cycles, ambitious organisations must monitor and optimise Lead Conversion. 

Most modern digital experience platforms can track how potential clients move through a service funnel, and provide tooling to enable digital teams to optimise content, layouts and conversion features at each stage to improve lead conversion rates similar to how ecommerce tracks cart conversions.

Leveraging user behaviour data to understand where in the lifecycle a customer may be, professional companies can deliver personalised content that addresses specific business needs, mirroring the ecommerce strategy of targeted product recommendations or add retention and loyalty offerings similar to Amazon’s subscribe rewards feature- for repeat customers.

Integrating Key ecommerce Strategies 

For digital leaders in non-retail environments, integrating key ecommerce strategies can profoundly impact business outcomes. Focus on these essential service areas:

• Data Analytics & Performance Metrics: Implement tools to measure key performance indicators across all stages of the customer journey, from initial engagement through to conversion and beyond. 
• Customer Data & Engagement Strategy: Use data to understand customer behaviours and preferences, enabling more effective segmentation and targeted marketing strategies.
• Personalisation and Marketing Automation: Automate personalised customer interactions that increase engagement and drive conversions, applying tested techniques from ecommerce to other digital platforms.
• Conversion Rate Optimisation: Continuously test and optimise the user experience and interface to increase the effectiveness of each touchpoint within the customer journey.

By adopting an "ecommerce mindset," digital leaders in non-retail sectors can revolutionise their approach to digital marketing, customer acquisition and service. The obsessive focus on data and incremental improvements that characterises successful ecommerce can be a blueprint for any industry looking to enhance digital effectiveness and drive business growth.

Consider how your organisation can incorporate these ecommerce principles to refine your digital strategies. 

Contact UNRVLD to engage with our experts in Data Analytics, Customer Engagement, Personalisation, and CRO to transform your business's digital journey.