For
such a large organization with the increased complexity of two e-commerce sites,
it only makes sense to have some sort of web analytics software to track the performance
of both sites. REI has been on the forefront of web analytics. The following
takes look at the evolution of REI’s use of web analytics tools.
Embarking on Web Analytics
REI has
been tracking its website performance going on at least 14 years. In 2000, the
company had noticed its web traffic increasing and online sales starting to
taking off. The company shifted its marketing to focus on the web and decided
not to do a major print catalog in the spring of 2000. The shift did not have
the impact the company was looking for; not only did phone and in-store retail
sales drop, but web sales dropped as well (MarketingSherpa, 2003).
At the
time, web analytics were fairly basic. More advanced web analytics can help a
company build customer profiles and better understand the sales funnel. That
said, even today it is challenging to track offline/print marketing and
advertising to online sales.
Getting Smarter with Its Web
Analytics
In 2005,
REI switched to a more robust web analytics offering from Coremetrics.
Coremetrics offers the ability to track and analyze online customer and visitor
behavior; its web analytics provides companies with insightful customer
knowledge and analysis companies can use to optimize online business
performance (Coremetrics, 2005). At the time, Joan Broughton, vice president of
multi-channel programs for REI noted:
"REI is dedicated to providing a unique and rewarding
shopping experience both online and in our stores. We know our customers shop
in all channels, so it is very important to understand how they interact with
REI both online and offline. Using detailed Web site analysis from Coremetrics,
we can create an optimal online shopping experience because we understand how
our customers interact with our Web site." (2005)
By implementing
Coremetrics REI really took steps to gather detailed information about its web performance.
Advancing Its Web Analytics
Further
From
2009 to 2010, REI conducted a major overhaul of its website. The company
conducted the overhaul in two phases: (1) improving the backend of the website
and (2) revitalizing the customer-facing part of the website. To help gain a
more in-depth view of its website performance, REI changed its web analytics
from Coremetrics to a more advanced solution from Omniture.
Once
REI got a more advanced website infrastructure and backend, it was able to
focus on changing the customer-facing part. Two specific tools that enabled REI
to glean web data for the change were Omniture’s Test & Target multivariate
testing tool and Omniture’s Recommendations (Brohan, 2010).
The
Omniture Test & Target multivariate tool creates analytical reports that helped
REI know which products were “most viewed” and “top sellers.” Using the
information in these reports, REI could develop product recommendations.
Omniture’s Recommendations generates product suggestions based on Omniture website
analytics data and the Test & Target multivariate tool. In this instance, the
technology then used algorithms that Omniture customized for REI so REI’s
website could display the most relevant recommendations to customers in the
right places on the site to drive the highest conversion (Brohan, 2010).
The
Omniture web analytics software in general and these two tools specifically helped
REI create a customer-centric website. REI wanted a website the delivered a
more personalized and individualized visitor experience, which is a complex
task. Omniture helped the company accomplish that (Brohan, 2010).
For
truly advanced, in-depth website and online analysis, companies need supplementary
tools and services. In addition to implementing Omniture, REI began using
customer comments and analysis software from OpinionLab Inc. to glean an
understanding of customer opinions. Also, REI began community-building tools
from Awareness Inc. to help the company track and monitor a social media
(Brohan, 2010).
Together
these tools enable REI to gather broader information about its website’s
performance and what is happening in its social channels.
Getting Even More Intelligent about
Web Analytics
REI
seems very committed to web analytics and intelligence. It continues to use the
most advanced tools. In 2013, REI added Cloudmeter (now part of Splunk) to its
arsenal of web and online analytics. Cloudmeter mines data streams from web
applications and delivers them to clients for real-time customer intelligence.
REI was using this tool to make decisions based on the sequence of logical
events taking place on the site. For example, REI would be able to tell whether
positioning a discounted product next to a full-priced one increased or
decreased the clicks on the discounted product (Schultz, 2013).
Finding Other Areas to Track
& Tools to Use
In
addition to the powerful web analytics tools REI uses to monitor and track its
website and online performance, there are a couple others the company should
consider. REI does a lot of direct emailing as part of its marketing mix. It
would provide valuable insight for the company to utilize an email tracking
tool. Software like MailerLite provides reports and data on a company’s email
marketing campaign. MailerLite is just an example; there are more powerful
email tracking tools on the market. It is tools like these that can supply REI
with the email open rates and the click-through path customers take from emails
(Nachum, 2011).
REI could
also look at setting up specific tools and reports for the checkout process.
One glaring omission from the REI website is payment icons. Note Figure 1,
which shows the beginning of the checkout process: there are no payment icons.
According to web design and developer expert Ann Davlin, one of the must-haves
for any e-commerce or online retail site are payment icons (2012).
Figure 1. REI checkout page (REI, 2014b).
It
would be good for REI to see what the exit rate is at the screen-shot in Figure
1 and throughout the checkout process. Do customers get frustrated and leave? It
takes many clicks to finally get to the page that displays the payments icons. It
would leave a customer very irked to get through multiple pages in the checkout
process only to find REI does not take their preferred method of payment (e.g.,
REI does not accept PayPal). REI could answer other questions as well. For
example, are customers leaving product pages because payment options are not
clear? This is definitely an area in which REI’s website could improve.
Overall,
REI.com is an easy-to-navigate, highly functional website. It is clear that the
ease of use and strong performance of the website are important to the company.
References
Brohan, M. (2010, January 27).
REI outfits its e-commerce site with more personalization features. Internet Retailer. Retrieved from http://www.internetretailer.com/2010/01/27/rei-outfits-its-e-commerce-site-with-more-personalization-featur
Coremetrics. (2005, February
15). REI Implements Hosted Web Analytics from Coremetrics. Retrieved from:
http://www.internetretailer.com/mobile/2005/02/17/rei-implements-hosted-web-analytics-from-coremetrics
Davlin, A. (April 6, 2012). 10 peculiarities of successful internet retail website
designs. One Extra Pixel. Retrieved from http://www.onextrapixel.com/2012/04/06/10-peculiarities-of-successful-internet-retail-website-designs/
Nachum, M. (2011, September 22).
Easy-to-use and no-frills email marketing solution – Review of MailerLite. GetApp. Retrieved from http://www.getapp.com/blog/mailerlite-email-marketing-review/
MarketingSherpa. (2003,
September 23). 4 tactics REI uses to drive web surfers to brick-and-mortar retail
stores. Retrieved from http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/how-to/4-tactics-rei-uses-to
REI.
(2014a, January 23). REI honors top vendor partner of the year. Retrieved from http://www.rei.com/about-rei/newsroom/2014/rei-honors-top-vendor-partners-of-the-year.html
REI. (2014b, February 21). REI checkout
page. Retrieved from https://www.rei.com/CheckoutLoginView?storeId=8000
Schultz, B. (2013, April 24).
Customer intelligence gets Skinit in the game. All Analytics. Retrieved from http://www.allanalytics.com/author.asp?section_id=1411&doc_id=262529
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