RANCHO MIRAGE, CA ? A Tilly?s executive at the Mobile Shopping Summit 2015 said that the surf-and-skate brand focuses on audience segmentation, mobile search and personalized content to drive user engagement and conversions from different types of customers. 

During the ?Customer Journey Panel: What Does It Mean To Be Customer-First?? session, the executive discussed Tilly?s commitment to market to different types of customers with relevant content. Understanding purchase behavior is also key to optimizing the mobile experience, meaning the apparel marketer must study how users navigate and interact with its site and application.

?We?re looking at [mobile] from personalized content all the way through our customer experience,? said Michael Angioletti, ecommerce director at Tilly?s, Irvine, CA.  ?We have a lot of different types of customers.

?Especially with the mobile experience, we?re trying to get content and products that are relevant to them.?

Tracking purchase behavior
Executives from Newegg and Beachbody also affirmed that tracking purchase behavior is imperative in understanding consumers? desires and preferences. Marketers must realize what their app and site visitors? goals are, and subsequently offer the tools and resources needed to fulfill those needs.

Tilly?s measures consumers? frequency of visiting the mobile site, as well as engagement with emails and the app. Mr. Angioletti confirmed that getting content in front of customers is easier on desktop, meaning that the brand must effectively segment mobile users to offer the utmost personalization and also spike interest in products.

?Doing segmentation based on browser behavior or purchase behavior has been a win for us,? Mr. Angioletti said. ?A large percentage of our shoppers have converted to mobile.?

Focusing on the lifetime value of the consumer should also be at the forefront of brands? minds when considering new marketing efforts.

?It?s about the lifetime value of the customer, not the amount of transactions I can do with you,? said Gail Ennis, chief marketing officer and chief strategy officer of Follow Analytics.

Meanwhile, Newegg personalizes content by undertaking an omnichannel approach. If consumers log in on a desktop and input items into their shopping cart, those same products will appear in the cart if they switch to a tablet or mobile device at a later time.

This ensures that the experience is seamless no matter which device a customer opt to use.

The brand also re-targets shoppers that have not visited the site in a long time, but have conducted previous purchases.

Spotlight on mobile search
Listening to customers via a plethora of means, including social media channels and feedback gleaned from call centers, helps in creating cohesive campaigns and strategies. Metrics also aid in deducing what customers are doing when they visit a branded site.

However, tools such as enhanced mobile search and product recommendations still reign supreme with consumers.

A Tilly?s executive at eTail West 2014 said that implementing mobile features such as autosuggest and product recommendations increased conversion rates on the channel as well as time spent on the site (see story).

Additionally, Tilly?s has found that mobile site search has been beneficial in driving engagement. Consumers appreciate having the ability to search for the exact product they are interested in, while the brand is able to share frequent searches with its buyers.

Final Take
Alex Samuely, staff writer on Mobile Marketer, New York