Jason Kessler

1. 1
Jason S. Kessler | Predictive Analytics World, May 17, 2017
@jasonkessler
Discovering Persuasive
Language through Observing
Customer Behavior

2. 2
A car dealership’s home page
Reviews that are
• five star,
• recent
But: 1,508 reviews!
• Lots that fit both
categories.
Which reviews should you feature on your home page?
@jasonkessler

3. 3
A car dealership’s home pageCDK Data Science:
• Predict how customers
will respond to
language
Help customers:
• Pick influential reviews
• Write more effective
email responses
• Etc.
Which reviews should you feature on your home page?
@jasonkessler

4. 4
Measuring how well a review converts users
…I was very skeptical giving
up my truck and buying an
"Economy Car." I'm 6' 215lbs,
but my new career has me
driving a personal vehicle to
make sales calls…
Review Appearing on a Car Enthusiast Website
Car Reviewed: Chevy Cruze
@jasonkessler

5. 5
Measuring how well a review converts users
…I was very skeptical giving
up my truck and buying an
"Economy Car." I'm 6' 215lbs,
but my new career has me
driving a personal vehicle to
make sales calls…
Review Appearing on a Car Enthusiast Website
Car Reviewed: Chevy Cruze
# users reading
review 20
15
# of those who
went to a Chevy
dealer’s website
@jasonkessler

6. 6
Measuring how well a review converts users
…I was very skeptical giving
up my truck and buying an
"Economy Car." I'm 6' 215lbs,
but my new career has me
driving a personal vehicle to
make sales calls…
Review Appearing on a Car Enthusiast Website
Car Reviewed: Chevy Cruze
# users reading
review 20
15
# of those who
went to a Chevy
dealer’s website
15/20=75%
Review conversion rate:
@jasonkessler

7. 7
Measuring how well a review converts users
…I was very skeptical giving
up my truck and buying an
"Economy Car." I'm 6' 215lbs,
but my new career has me
driving a personal vehicle to
make sales calls…
Review Appearing on a Car Enthusiast Website
Car Reviewed: Chevy Cruze
# users reading
review 20
15
# of those who
went to a Chevy
dealer’s website
15/20=75%
Review conversion rate:
22%
Median conversion rate:
@jasonkessler

8. 8
Not all
positive
reviews
encourage
conversion!
Conversionrate
Review Star Rating @jasonkessler

9. 9
CAVEAT
The subsequent suggestions
have evidence to support them, but
are based on limited data.
Use them to form hypotheses for
later testing. @jasonkessler

10. 10
Finding Words that Sell Cars (SUV-specific)
5 star review words
Love
Comfortable
Features
Solid
Amazing
<3 star review words
Transmission
Problem
Issue
Dealership
Times
How did we find these associated
terms?
• L2-penalized logistic regression
• Each review is an instance
• Set-of-words features
• Class label: 5 star or <3 star
• Ranked by coefficients
• Lots of ways to do this:
• pip install scattertext
• https://github.com/JasonKessler/scattertext
@jasonkessler

11. 11
CDK Global: Finding Words that Sell Cars (SUV-specific)
5 star review words High conversion words
Love Comfortable
Comfortable Front [Seats]
Features Acceleration
Solid Free [Car Wash, Oil Change]
Amazing Quiet
<3 star review words
Transmission
Problem
Issue
Dealership
Times
@jasonkessler

12. 12
CDK Global: Finding Words that Sell Cars (SUV-specific)
5 star review words High conversion words
Love Comfortable
Comfortable Front [Seats]
Features Acceleration
Solid Free [Car Wash, Oil Change]
Amazing Quiet
<3 star review words Low conversion words
Transmission Money [spend my, save]
Problem Features
Issue Dealership
Dealership Amazing
Times Build Quality [typically positive]
@jasonkessler

13. 13
CDK Global: Finding Words that Sell Cars (SUV Specific)
5 star review words High conversion words
Love Comfortable
Comfortable Front [Seats]
Features Acceleration
Solid Free [Car Wash, Oil Change]
Amazing Quiet
<3 star review words Low conversion words
Transmission Money [spend my, save]
Problem Features
Issue Dealership
Dealership Amazing
Times Build Quality [typically positive]
The worst thing
you can say about
an SUV may be:
I saved money
and got all these
amazing features!
Tip 1: be specific!
@jasonkessler

14. 14
Two snippets from midsize sedan reviews.
Which will make customers more likely to buy?
“Sporty clean lines,
liquid handling, and
the torque is just
plain fun!!!”
“I do a lot of two
lane passing and it
has never left me
wishing I had more
power.”
or
@jasonkessler

15. 15
Two snippets from midsize sedan reviews.
Which will make customers more likely to buy?
“Sporty clean lines,
liquid handling, and
the torque is just
plain fun!!!”
“I do a lot of two
lane passing and it
has never left me
wishing I had more
power.”
or
@jasonkessler

16. 16
Two snippets from midsize sedan reviews.
Which will make customers more likely to buy?
“Sporty clean lines,
liquid handling, and
the torque is just
plain fun!!!”
“I do a lot of two
lane passing and it
has never left me
wishing I had more
power.”
or
@jasonkessler

17. 17
Two snippets from midsize sedan reviews.
Which will make customers more likely to buy?
“Sporty clean lines,
liquid handling, and
the torque is just
plain fun!!!”
“I do a lot of two
lane passing and it
has never left me
wishing I had more
power.”
or
The word torque is among the 10 best predictors a midsize sedan review will have a
low post-read conversion rate. @jasonkessler

18. 18
Two snippets from midsize sedan reviews.
Which will make customers more likely to buy?
“Sporty clean lines,
liquid handling, and
the torque is just
plain fun!!!”
“I do a lot of two
lane passing and it
has never left me
wishing I had more
power.”
or
The word passing is the best predictor that a midsize sedan review will have a high
post-read conversion rate. @jasonkessler

19. 19
Two snippets from midsize sedan reviews.
Which will make customers more likely to buy?
“Sporty clean lines,
liquid handling, and
the torque is just
plain fun!!!”
“I do a lot of two
lane passing and it
has never left me
wishing I had more
power.”
or
The word passing is the best predictor that a midsize sedan review will have a high
post-read conversion rate.
Tip 2: For non-expert customers: pain
points > jargon
@jasonkessler

20. 20
How should you response to an email lead?
• Email close rate:
– dealership sells to customer who emails them thru website
• 3 months of email close rates across over 1,300 US
dealerships
• One volume or one luxury brand
• Mystery shopped top and bottom 10% of the population
– two new vehicle leads to gather lead responses.
@jasonkessler

21. 21
Our Study Group
High
Group Low Group
Average
Unique
Leads
145 179
Average
Close Rate 10.9% 1.6%
Monthly Internet
Results
@jasonkessler

22. 22
How should you response to an email lead?
High converting Low Conversion
Text
“send me a text”
Cell
“call me on my cell”
Schedule
“Contact me to schedule a test
drive.”
Goal
“out #1 goal is customer
satisfaction”
Life
“free oil changes for the life of
your vehicle”
Personally
“I would personally like to invite you
our to our dealership”
Store Dealership
@jasonkessler

23. 23
High converting Low Conversion
Text
“send me a text”
Cell
“call me on my cell”
Schedule
“Contact me to schedule a test
drive.”
Goal
“out #1 goal is customer
satisfaction”
Life
“free oil changes for the life of
your vehicle”
Personally
“I would personally like to invite you
our to our dealership”
Store Dealership
How should you response to an email lead?
Tip 3: Speak to the customer’s next steps
and desires. Don’t be vacuous.
@jasonkessler

24. 24
Thank you.
@jasonkessler
1. Be specific.
2. For non-expert customers: pain points > jargon.
3. Speak to the customer’s next steps and
desires. Don’t be vacuous.