The document summarizes a presentation by Heap Analytics on how direct-to-consumer retail brands can use data to build relationships with consumers. It discusses how these brands employ tactics like simplification, curation, education and experimentation to personalize the customer experience. It also covers how they measure consumer behavior through conversion rate optimization, identifying moments of opportunity, acquisition channel analysis and A/B testing measurement to form a continuous customer feedback loop using data instead of personal interactions. The presentation provides examples from successful D2C brands like Allbirds, Thirdlove and Casper that employ these techniques.

1. The 2019 Direct to Consumer
Omnichannel Growth Summit

2. 9 - 9:45 am PT
12 - 12:45 pm PT
HEAP PRESENTS:
Direct to Consumer Retail:
Using Data to Build Relationships
with Consumers
10 - 10:45 am PT
11 - 11:45 am PT
ELITE SEM PRESENTS:
The Breakdown of a Breakout Brand's
Marketing Flywheel
TRUSTPILOT PRESENTS:
Cutting Through The Noise:
Using Trust & Credibility to Stand Out
in a Crowded Marketing
Today’s Timeline
CPC STRATEGY PRESENTS:
The Direct to Consumer Amazon
Approach

3. Today’s Logistics
● Session Recording & Slides Will Be Sent Out
● Submit Questions to Our Panelists
● Resources Available as Handouts
● Join in the Poll Questions!
Analicia Santaella
Partner Coordinator

4. The 2019 Direct to Consumer
Omnichannel Growth Summit
Please hold for our next presentation starting at 12pm PT / 3pm ET
HEAP ANALYTICS PRESENTS:
Direct to Consumer Retail:
Using Data to Build Relationships
with Consumers

5. Direct to Consumer Retail:
Using data to build relationships with consumers

6. Topics
1) Introductions
2) The common thread among successful D2C brands
3) The consumer feedback loop
a) Personalization
i) Examples
b) Measurement
i) Examples

7. Introduction - Speaker
➔ Kevin Moyer
➔ Sales Engineer at Heap
➔ Formerly Sales Engineer at
Salesforce Marketing Cloud
➔ Background in retail analytics,
marketing automation, and
customer data

8. Introduction - Heap
➔ Heap is a customer data company that
automates away the painful parts of
understanding customer behavior
➔ Heap collects all customer behavior on
web, mobile, and a variety of other
moments in the customer journey
➔ Our customers use our data to learn about
their customers, and create a
personalized, optimized brand experience
➔ Digitally-native, direct-to-consumer
brands are some of Heap’s most
successful customers

9. Building Relationships
One of the core challenges with D2C is
building relationships with your
consumers.
For many companies, the goal is
replicating the intimate in-store, traditional
retail experience through the use of data
and technology.

10. The customer feedback loop for D2C brands is cyclical, and
managed with data, not personal conversations.
Personalize the
Experience
Measure Consumer
Behavior

11. Digitally-native, direct-to-consumer brands have set the standard
for successful online D2C businesses.

12. There are a handful of tactics that these brands employ to
personalize the experience and measure customer behavior.

13. Personalize the Experience
Tactics
● Simplification
● Curation
● Education
● Experimentation
The goal of these tactics is to mimic
the experience of a personal
interaction at scale with data.

14. Simplification
● Narrowing the list of options is a first
step that many brands use in
personalization
● Having an highly-organized, lean
catalog is a strategy used by brands
like Allbirds
● This approach makes personalization
a natural byproduct
“The insight that kicked this whole journey off was, ‘Could
you make a very, very simple sneaker that wasn’t adorned
with branding?’ It felt like it was very, very hard to find.” -
Tim Brown, Allbirds Founder

15. Simplification: The Science Behind It
● Social Psychologists used to believe that
choice was associated with control,
satisfaction, and positivity.
● In recent years, Sheena Iyengar from Columbia
University’s Business School has debunked
some misconceptions about choice.
● The results of her studies tell us that limiting of
consumer choice actually has a positive effect
on consumer decision making.
Iyengar, S. S., & Lepper, M. R. (n.d.). When Choice Is Demotivating: Can One Desire Too Much of a
Good Thing? The Construction of Preference, 300-322. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511618031.017

16. Curation
● Product recommendations have
evolved from personal to “you may
also like” to truly curated
suggestions.
● A strong product recommendation
comes from asking questions of your
consumers.
● Brands like Thirdlove have built an
entire business on strong product
personalization

17. Curation: Example
● Men’s Wearhouse has a module
called “Guided Shopping”
● Through a series of prompts and
questions, they curate an entire look
for the shopper.
● This is not only personalization, but is
the next evolution of consumer
choice.

18. Education
● Education and consultation is a key
strategy for some brands
● Brands in competitive or complex
landscapes can especially benefit
from an educational focus
● A strong educational focus can help
brands establish themselves as a
trusted thought leader in an industry

19. Education: Example
● Patagonia uses educational content
to equip consumers with information
● The content is mostly educational,
but also gently pushes shoppers
toward their products
● “Expert Advice”

20. Experimentation
● Before rolling out these tactics, many
brands with test the effect they have
on conversion, retention, and LTV
● Experimentation is at the heart of
brand and site development for
digitally-native D2C companies.
● Measuring the effectiveness of A/B
tests can be an advanced and
nuanced analysis

21. Measure Consumer Behavior
Tactics
● Conversion Rate
Optimization
● Identifying Moments of
Opportunity
● Acquisition Channel Analysis
● A/B Testing Measurement
The feedback loop is 2-sided. As
brands build this personalized
experience, how do they know what is
working?
Deep, contextual customer data is the
modern replacement for personal
relationships.

22. Conversion Rate
Optimization (CRO)
● CRO is one way brands leverage
behavioral data for quick wins
● Understanding customer
interactions at a deep level can
surface up moments of friction
that would have otherwise led to
conversions.
● These quick wins can be a great
start to moving the conversion
rate needle.

24. Identifying Moments of
Opportunity
● Having a deep understanding of
onsite shopper behavior doesn’t
just surface moments of friction
● Shoppers implicitly tell you the
moments of opportunity where
they need a nudge
● Identifying and capitalizing on
these moments of opportunity
is a strategy used by companies
like Casper

25. Acquisition Channel
Analysis
● A key area of analysis for online D2C brands
is marketing attribution
● It is relatively easy to see which channels
drive traffic
● The true challenge comes with not only
understanding quantity of traffic, but the
quality of it

27. A/B Testing Measurement
● Experimentation is a key part of
optimization and personalization
● “Goals” of experiments can
often be one piece of a larger
story
● An A/B test variant correlating
highly with a pre-set goal does
not always mean it is successful

28. 17.89%
Landing Page A/B Test

29. Successful D2C brands maintain customer relationships through a
data-driven feedback loop.
Personalize the
Experience
Measure Consumer
Behavior

30. Thank you!
If you’re interested in automating the hardest parts of measuring customer behavior reach out to
sales@heapanalytics.com!