Paid keyword placements enhance call center sales for a mattress retailer

A mattress retailer learns how keyword placement affects call center sales

Twenty percent of web-influenced call center sales come from paid keyword placements

The challenge

A mattress retailer began a strategic program to purchase paid search listings for all major search engines. The retailer initially measured the effectiveness of these keywords based purely on the level of website sales generated. However, the company soon realized that online-only measurement failed to capture the full impact of this marketing investment. Given the high consideration nature of their product, they suspected that many people were leaving the site and contacting the call center to complete a transaction. Therefore, they wanted to measure the full multichannel impact of keyword buys and optimize those placements for maximum effectiveness.

The solution

The retailer deployed a dynamic toll-free number system for their web environment. Their website pages displayed different toll-free numbers depending on the keyword responsible for driving the site visit. Using a unique toll-free number for each keyword enabled the retailer to tie call center activity to specific marketing programs.

The retailer then worked with IBM® Coremetrics® retail analysts to develop a unique multichannel report that combined online sales, offline sales and marketing cost data at a keyword level into a single view. In addition to breaking out online clickthroughs, orders, visits and sales for each individual keyword, the report also lists the number of calls and inquiries generated in the call center by each keyword group. All relevant data is seamlessly imported nightly into the IBM Coremetrics LIVE Profile platform, and the report auto-generates each day with zero manual intervention.

With cost data listed for each keyword purchase, the report enabled the retailer to perform detailed online, offline and multichannel return on marketing investment (ROMI) analysis. Now, using a single report, the retailer can quickly locate all critical information at the click of a button for any date range in question.

Results of the study

Leveraging the analytical skills of their Coremetrics retail analyst, the retailer discovered several significant insights:
● Keyword buys generated a good return based on web sales, but when the full multichannel impact of those keywords was incorporated, it increased the original return 2.5 times (web sales plus phone sales that are tied to keywords).
● Web-influenced call center sales represented 18 percent more revenue than pure web transactions.
● Twenty percent of web-influenced call center sales came from keyword activity.
● Average order value for web-influenced call center transactions was 39.8 percent higher than pure web orders due to effective cross-sell training in the call center.
● More than half of the total sales driven by each of the three engines came through the call center.

Because of these insights, the retailer reduced spending on poorly performing keywords, increased investment in high performing search terms and presented the overall impact and value of keyword-specific online marketing to executive management.
Solution components
Software
● IBM® Digital Analytics
Services
● IBM Coremetrics retail analysts

For more information
To learn more about IBM Coremetrics solutions please contact your IBM representative or IBM Business Partner, or visit the following website: ibm.com/software/marketing-solutions