How to sell more without costing the earth

Event insights

In November 2022, we gathered together for an event called ‘How to sell more without costing the earth’ – exploring how we can encourage strong eCommerce sales during an economic downturn without compromising budget or business ethics.

We opened with an introduction from Tess Coughlan-Allen, outlining the core themes for the event and welcoming each of our speakers to share their insights.

Our speakers covered

The first talk from the main event came from Timothy Willis, one of the brains behind the eCommerce Brains of Bristol Meetup, the reason we were all together in the first place!

Customer loyalty has to be a priority

Winning customer spend is harder than ever, particularly with the cost of living and the energy crises. Research from September 2022 by Retail X & Adobe found that:

• 72% of consumers stick to the same retailers
• 24% shop elsewhere if prices rise
• More than half of consumers are tempted to try a new retailer if there is a promotional incentive, so retailers need to work hard, just like brands do.

Engaging existing customers and building brand value is still a solid strategy for increasing revenue.

Personalisation makes customers feel special

Provide a great digital experience for customers through personalisation, which makes them feel special and improves loyalty.

• 50% customers want retailers to know them and personalise offers
• 65% expect retailers to handle data security
• Half of customers are happy to share their data with retailers
• Only 54% of customers say retailers help them find the best products (digital experience is important!)

A first-party-led data strategy was encouraged. Collecting data in a way that is compliant and with full consent through your website helps your advertising work effectively.

Create an end-to-end experience that consumers love

The customer journey doesn’t end with a sale, there is an ongoing digital and consumer experience that needs to be nurtured.

• Just under half of consumers thought their favourite retailers’ websites were memorable. More should be done to create an experience that consumers love.
• Retailers need to get more creative with follow-up emails, because ¾ consumers say their inboxes get clogged with promotional spam
• Only 4% of consumers look forward to (and open) all the newsletters they receive, whereas 12% don’t open any of the weekly newsletters they receive
• A successful retail interaction should stop at the transaction. From first impression to follow up emails.

How consumer values and decision making are changing

• The way consumers make decisions about how they spend their money is changing, with brand ethics continuing to become more important.
• Half of consumers are price-driven
• 18% of consumer are values-driven, closely following behind 20% of consumers that care about the speed of a site
• A whopping 58% will stop using a brand if they go against their values

Tip for the future: Keep investing

Many brands will be slowing down as they see the amount people spending fall, but history tells us that the best thing you can do is continue investing in your eCommerce site and marketing.

Download the slides

Ryan Webb spoke next, taking to the stage to explain why conversion optimisation and sustainable business practice are often seen as contradictions — but sharing advice on how using powerful CRO methods are as relevant for sustainable organisations as any.

He included tips on how to influence website visitors to take the online actions you want.

If we’re manipulating users, is conversion optimisation bad?

Conversion optimisation is the practice of increasing the percentage of users who perform a desired action on a website. This could be buying something, adding a product to basket, signing up for a service, subscribing to a newsletter, and the list goes on.

In theory, conversion optimisation shouldn’t be manipulation, but influencing positively.

We can improve conversions with a strong foundation of trust, demonstrating authentic voices from your brand and from real customers through:

• Testimonials
• Reviews
• Transparency
• Being contactable

How can we optimise conversions?

1. Dig around in the data to observe what’s happening on your site
2. When you find a weakness, undertake qualitative research through the likes of surveys to gain a deeper understanding of why this is happening
3. Make alterations on the site in an attempt to change the behaviours you’ve identified
4. Measure the results

Recommended reading

• The LIFT Model® for analyzing web and mobile experiences and developing A/B test hypotheses – Framework by Chris Goward
• You Should Test That: Conversion Optimization for More Leads, Sales and Profit Or The Art and Science of Optimized Marketing – Book by Chris Goward

Don’t forget the basics!

Clearly show delivery timeframes and costs on your eCommerce site, plus information about refunds and returns.

Where do sustainability and ethics come into it?

Lots of brands and businesses have signed up to pledges to be better and more sustainable, but selling more stuff isn’t sustainable in general.

Greenwashing and dark UX patterns are tactics some brands use to gain more customers, but tricks and inauthenticity will lose you more customers further down the line.

Some consumers might think about sustainability in specific terms, others will have an overall feeling about whether a retailer is good.

The perfect scenario – to personalise your sustainability messaging to reflect what each customer thinks is most meaningful – is unrealistic. Instead, flip it and focus on what your brand cares about and the messages you want to get across. This keeps things authentic.

You can break down authentic, purpose-driven messaging into bite size pieces and position these at relevant points in the purchase funnel.

Download the slides

Next up was Jaye Cowle, who walked us through the first steps on her journey towards conscious media buying.

If every click, impression, video view and interaction has a carbon impact, shouldn’t we be planning our media buying with the planet in mind?

Without claiming to have all the answers, Jaye shared the ambitions she has for her agency – so, together, we can learn from one another and collectively have a more positive impact.

We’re not saving the planet by using the cloud

Believe it or not, the cloud isn’t actually a cloud… Everything we do online has an impact on the environment. It’s important we realise this so we can start to make positive changes.

• Data centres are real things that use up carbon
• There is a carbon footprint for our online interactions
• The internet’s impact on the environment is as bad as the airline industry

Data centres are problematic because of:

1. Electricity consumption
2. Water consumption
3. Lifetime of equipment

What can we do about it?

The world is missing a set of digital standards for sustainability, but what can we do about it?

We can start with our own websites. First by investigating the carbon of each website using free tools, then comparing these to a set of ‘standards’ we want to meet.

We can’t do it alone. By having these discussions together and bringing the conversation outside into our networks, for example when talking to tech giants like Google or with our clients, we can show and encourage the wider appetite for these changes.

Doing this in parallel with other like-minded organisations reduces the commercial risk for us all.

Download the slides

Next we welcomed our final speakers to the stage! Together, Hugo and Lorenzo covered why digital marketing will thrive in the recession (and how to seize the opportunity).

The world has changed in the last 13 years – and so should your approach

Here’s a step back in time to remember what 2009 looked like:

• Devices we used to search for information with have changed dramatically
• There comparatively very little use of social media and fewer platforms
• Facebook turned 4 years old
• Only 32% of people in the US had used a cell phone or smartphone to access the internet for emailing, instant messaging or information seeking

Today things look a bit different:

• The average mobile screen time in the UK is 3 hours and 23 minutes a day
• We have constant opportunities to buy anything in the world
• We spend about 2.5 hours a day on social media (seeing highly targeted ads!)

Advertising has changed significantly over the years:

• In the 1970s, people saw 1,600 ads per day, this year it is up to 10,000 a day. It’s difficult to find brands organically in this huge amount of ads being bombarded at consumers.
• During the economic downturn between 1981-1982 there were around 600 companies in 16 industries. Those who continued with marketing managed to reap massive awards with 250% higher sales that counterparts who pulled back on marketing spend.
• In the 2008 recession, companies that didn’t drop advertising budgets had 3.5% more visibility than those who pulled back.

Thrive, don’t survive

eBay’s “Stronger as one” with McCann London encourages consumers to buy products from small businesses through co-created ads with their vendors. This campaign tells the stories of each business – a masterful way to change the tone but continue advertising.

How to run campaigns over next couple years – the smart way:

• Machine learning
• Performance max campaign, a new goal-based campaign type that allows advertisers to access Google Ads from a single campaign
• Cross-channel reporting, using GA4 data-driven attribution modelling. This will assign conversion value to a channel based on how important that interactive was in driving a conversion.

What does the future look like? Top social trends:

1. Digital diligence – Online is the next frontier for sustainability. We can’t all be perfect straight away, but you can put yourself ahead of the competition by showing that you’re trying.
2. Social commerce – Instacart integrates with TikTok to enable users to purchase cooking ingredients from a cooking video.
3. Thinking outside the box – MAC’s AI solution means lipsticks can be virtually tested and purchased through Snapchat, and L’Oréal’s partnership with period tracking app, Clue, aims to advance scientific knowledge on the relationship between skin health and menstrual cycles.

Download the slides

One by one, our speakers dug into the data and looked bravely at the challenges in front of us, from economic downturn to climate emergency and everything in between.

Our shared goal was to help more businesses weather the storm, without costing the earth.

We closed the event with a notable mention of the pink suitcase theory. You want to discover which of your products drive sales, even if these products aren’t best sellers themselves.

Your pink suitcases represent the products that capture attention and create an entry point to your online store, driving other sales.

Reach out directly to any of the speakers to talk more about tried-and-tested eCommerce tactics, ethical marketing strategies, and how we can begin to tackle shared problems by working together.

• Tess Coughlan-Allen from Atomic Smash
• Timothy Willis from PushON
• Ryan Webb from Ryan Webb Consultancy
• Jaye Cowle from Launch
• Hugo Wilson from Noble
• Lorenzo Campbell from Noble