Top tips to drive purchases

Kristina: What role will mobile play in driving spending this holiday season?

Evan Schwartz, CEO, ActionX: Consumers are more frequently using mobile to research potential purchases just before they buy an item. For these major shopping holidays, retailers should anticipate a spike in sales driven directly by their mobile apps and mobile sites.

Kristina: What tips do you have for marketers who want to drive mobile engagement?

Evan: Personalization is key when developing a successful mobile campaign that drives transactions. Marketers have a wealth of data at their disposal to help create personalized dynamic advertising that is relevant and influential to consumers on their path to purchase. Location data, purchase history, brand preferences and demographic information can all be impactful when creating mobile ads to drive sales. Retailers who have invested in building and promoting robust apps are at an advantage because they have an additional level of data that can be used for better targeting and personalizing ads. App consumers tend to be among the highest value and from what we have seen, they convert at a higher rate than mobile web.

Kristina: How is ApplePay impacting the holiday season?

Evan: Conversion rates are higher for consumers who have chosen to store their credit or debit card information through ApplePay.This is most important for first time purchasers who do not have billing and shipping info tied to an existing account. With ApplePay, the on the go mobile consumer has been given a seamless transaction method that is simple and instantaneous. As the technology matures and increases in adoption, this will be a huge driver of sales for retailers.

Kristina: Will in-app browsing impact retailers?

Evan: In app advertising and browsing can have a huge effect on in-store sales. Many omni-channel retailers are now including an "in-store" mode in their apps to help guide consumers to relevant products and offers inside of a store. Apps deliver marketers one of the most thorough mechanisms to chart a consumers path purchase, allowing them to create highly targeted, and more successful marketing that works.

Kristina: What are top tips to help brands drive spending?

Evan: Marketers should strive to create a single view of their customer based on data from every touchpoint. They should then use that data to predict intent and develop relevant and personalized creative delivered at the most opportune time. For example, CRM data can be used to deliver different types of coupons to different consumer segments. Personalized merchandising inside of a banner can also drive click through rates up as much as 50%.

Tags: 2014 holiday shopping, ActionX, ecommerce, ecommerce tips, m:Commerce