The Volleyball Shop Final Project PDF

Preview

Summary

Analysing Google Analytics data for The Volleyball Shop.
Final group project....

Description

THE VOLLEYBALL SHOP A Guide to Success by ACES Marketing

Mark3085 Group Project In this report, ACES MARKETING will evaluate the performance and explain the steps The Volleyball Shop can take to improve their sales by 25% in 2022.

Table of Contents 1. Introduction.................................................................................................................................... 2 2. Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................... 2 3. Plan .................................................................................................................................................. 4 General Audience Insights from Google Analytics ..................................................................... 5 4. Reach ............................................................................................................................................... 6 Current Performance ...................................................................................................................... 6 Social Media Campaigns ............................................................................................................... 6 Budget allocation and schedule .................................................................................................... 8 Measuring success ......................................................................................................................... 8 5. Act .................................................................................................................................................... 9 Website Improvements for More Efficient Customer Journey .................................................. 9 Recommendation 1: Home Page and Checkout ........................................................................ 9 Recommendation 2: Website Navigation and Filters. ................................................................ 9 Optimised landing pages to maximise conversion to lead ...................................................... 10 Content marketing to serve relevant content ............................................................................ 11 6. Convert .......................................................................................................................................... 13 Identified conversion paths to purchase .................................................................................... 13 Web personalisation ..................................................................................................................... 14 Mobile experience improvement ................................................................................................. 15 7. Engage .......................................................................................................................................... 16 Customer support ...................................................................................................................... 16 Loyalty program ......................................................................................................................... 17 Recommendation engine ......................................................................................................... 17 Email marketing ......................................................................................................................... 18 Post purchase experience ....................................................................................................... 18 8. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 18 9. References ................................................................................................................................... 19

1|Page

1. Introduction ACES Marketing has thoroughly analysed the performance and external factors that will impact The Volleyball Shop (TVS) and its growth. This report details our plan towards reaching KPI targets and the main goal of a 25% increase in revenue. A RACE model was utilised as a guide and model for TVS to propel their growth and market share. After analysing our current performance, we have created a target market and budgeted campaigns accordingly to achieve an optimal level of expansion. Our reach will be measured through unique visitors, search channels and social media growth. In addition, we suggest that TVS makes improvements to its website for a more efficient customer journey and optimise landing pages to maximise conversion leads. To convert users into buyers the shop must be able to personalise their site to fulfil the desires of many diverse individuals. Also, with the rapid pace of technological increase and availability, TVS must adapt and fix their mobile version which is clustered and has a poor design. Lastly, to increase customer lifetime value, TVS must ensure that it has strategies such as strong customer support, personalised recommendation engine, a loyalty program and email marketing that will encourage repeat business.

2. Executive Summary The objective of the report is to grow the revenue of the Volleyball Shop (TVS) by 25% in 2021. This will be achieved by increasing the digital marketing efforts and capturing a larger audience. The digital marketing activities are based on the RACE framework, which will help develop a strategic plan to implement them. Four stages of the RACE framework, Reach, Act, Convert, and Engage, will aim to build relationships, increase customer satisfaction and loyalty at each stage of the customer life cycle. The planning phase consisted of conducting a SWOT analysis of the VBS, analysis of the competitor activities, and defining goals and objectives. Key performance indicators were devised to reach the goal of a 25% increase in revenue for next year. These KPIs included increasing leads via paid search, measuring growth, increasing social media engagement, increasing the number of sales and average order value, increasing issues resolved metric, and increase revenue through up-selling and cross-selling. Next customer personas were identified to help understand our target audiences to cater to them. The personas included beginners, social players and professional players. In Reach phase of the RACE framework, Instagram was decided as a key social media platform to be used to reach customers as it correlated with TVS's most frequent buyers' demographics. Moreover, attracting customers with high purchasing intent would generate increased sales and build a loyal customer base. Furthermore, it was recognised to use short clips on TikTok and posts on Instagram and testimonials on Facebook to attract the 'Social Players' customer persona. 'Beginners' would be attracted by offering club and bulk discounts. Professional players would be attracted by using ads by reputable brands and giveaways. The budget allocation to execute the optimisation was split into two plans including budget for sales months (between November to January) and regular months (non-sales months). Success was 2|Page

measured by accumulation of unique visitors and 50% total increase in traffic, checking which search channels perform well and achievement of 75% social media growth through social media campaigns in 12 months. In the Act Phase, carousel banners for clearer navigation of popular products, sales and packages were recommended to reduce bounce rate. Moreover, clear categorisation of products, removing 'home' button and reducing items offered was recommended. Furthermore, recommendations to optimise landing pages to maximise conversion to lead included optimising google search results and multiple filter application. Additionally, product packages were recommended for each audience profile to reduce customer research time. Paid search was an identified opportunity and budget allocations were made for optimised keywords and CPC. Lastly, a need for blog pages on the website was identified to assist customers to identify their needs in the research phase of the customer journey. In the Convert phase, conversion paths to purchase were identified and included a need to create a lasting impression on new and returning visitors in order to increase sales. Moreover, web personalisation methods included 'welcome back' banners for returning customers, creation of a FAQ page to answer generalised customer queries, testimonials to increase customer confidence, bulk purchasing and multiple purchase encouraging recommendations and as well as time bound sales were recommended. Mobile experience improvement recommendations included tiled sections of offered products to reduce clutter, increase visuals and a swipe function to reduce customer frustration and create easier navigation in order to increase sales. In the Engage phase, recommendations were made to increase customer lifetime value through powerful customer support through chatbots and human agency, recommendations engine to increase cross-selling and up-selling, a loyalty program as well as the use of email marketing.

3|Page

3. Plan SWOT Analysis

Competitor Activity The main competitors for TVS are other sports stores, such as Rebel Sports and JD Sports. The competitive advantage of these stores is that since they are chain stores and have physical locations, customers can easily gain greater brand awareness. Both stores both have exclusive items, accounting for 50% of total revenue for JD Sports in 2018 (Hatch 2018). Therefore, TVS must consider carefully the range of products they offer and identify a niche.

Goals and Objectives All marketing strategies suggested in this report will be catered towards 25% growth in revenue next year. For each section of the RACE framework, we have devised the following Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to reach the overall goal:

Key Performance Indicator (KPIs) R 1. Improve the unique visitor count and improve total traffic by 50%. 2. Measure the growth in search channels and keep up to date with the most used search channel. 3. Improve social media growth by 75%. A 1. Increase the number of leads from paid search by increasing the total number of users by 3% per month. 2. Increase social media engagement through improving owned media and quality of interactions. 1. Increase revenue and profit. C 2. Increase the number of sales. 3. Increase the average order value. E 1. Increase issues resolved metric

4|Page

2. Increase revenue through up-selling and cross-selling from the upgraded recommendation engine.

Customer Personas and Online Value Proposition

General Audience Insights from Google Analytics Most customers are new visitors (81.8%). Through the RACE framework, ACES Marketing aims to convert these into returning customers by building brand awareness and loyalty. Users mainly arrived at the site through organic search (77.26%) and direct search (17.50%) exemplifying potential to expand their presence through social media and referrals.

Most users come from Sydney; however, Brisbane has high potential for growth, generating the second most revenue. This may be attributed to higher beach volleyball sales due to the large number of beaches.

5|Page

4. Reach Current Performance Before TVS can target reach, an overview of their current position within the market must be understood. To evaluate their position, figures from their social media pages can be observed. So far, TVS have established a Facebook page as well as an Instagram page where they keep in touch and connect with their followers. Additionally, if any customers have any queries prior to their purchase or about TVS, their Facebook acts as a platform. Currently, their Instagram has 1308 followers as well as 48 published posts. Facebook has 703 likes, 717 follows and a couple 5-star ratings on their products. Clearly, it is noticed that their Instagram page is more successful in terms of gaining an active following. This pairs well with their Google Analytics which, ACE was able to use to identify a target demographic. From the Google Analytics, the most frequent buyers are aged between 18-24 years old. More specifically, 35% of their customers fit in this age. Marketers have found that Millennials and Generation Z people are generally more active on social media and often use social media such as Instagram to help guide their purchase decisions. Hence Instagram is a better performing platform for TVS. For TVS to utilise the Reach function of the RACE model effectively, they should target the right people at the right places. In addition to a younger age demographic, Google Analytics depicts that 61% of TVS’s audience are males who are more likely to be interested by value shopping, media, and entertainment and activewear. Furthermore, TVS also gains more customers from Sydney than any other city, but it should be noted that collectively Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney are the key areas to find customers for TVS. It is important to notice how these customers are currently being generated as well. This means that their digital channel performance should be evaluated. According to Google Analytics, organic searches of TVS are a major lead in attracting customers, generating 24,725 users between Dec 2020 to the end of July 2021. Organic searches are the unpaid results that appear after a simple google search. It is suspected that TVS has a high organic search value due to the simplicity of their name, so any searches for volleyball items are linked directly to TVS. The second most profitable channel is direct searches generating 5599 users. Social media channel attraction is the third most profitable which could suggest an opportunity to improve TVS’s social media pages. By targeting these individuals through the digital channels, TVS can focus on attracting high intent buyers and ensure they are generating more sales as well building a loyal customer base.

Social Media Campaigns Social media campaigns are useful in reaching the aforementioned target demographic. For TVS to succeed in improving its sales quota by 25% within a year, certain procedures must take place. Firstly, ACES have suggested splitting the target demographics into three different character profiles. These character profiles aim to depict any type of consumer that decides to use TVs. These character profiles are: 1. Social players 2. Beginners 6|Page

3. Professional Players and coaches The first character profile, ‘Social Players’ reflect users who are not exactly familiar with volleyball or have landed on their front page due to a pure interest in learning more about it. To target these individuals, ACES suggests establishing a new social media platform, specifically a TikTok account. ‘Influencer Marketing Hub’ lists TikTok as the “fastest growing social media platform” where users and even companies are finding success in growing a brand. TikTok can be used to share, create, and publish short form videos on any topic. With awareness of 35% of TVS’s customers coming from the younger age bracket, TVS can further capitalise on this audience and make potential conversions. TVS can make content such as short clips of volleyball tournaments, educational content about the sport or even funny relatable material that will attract younger audiences to the volleyball scene. Another strategy that TVS could use to target the social players is through more Instagram posts. As mentioned earlier, younger audiences are looking to social media to guide their financial choices. If TVS keeps connected to the social players through regular posts, they can bring more people towards the sport and entice them to purchase. Posts can be made relating to discounts or sales to attract those users who are interested in value shopping. Furthermore, TVS could also organise giveaways through Instagram, and deliver customer reviews or testimonials through their Facebook and online website. There could also be Instagram stories made to interact with the users, so they keep their minds connected to TVS. We believe through this campaign TVS will reach the 25% increase sales quota by 2022. The second character profile is ‘Beginners’. This profile represents customers who are already aware of the volleyball scene and have maybe played in a game or two casually. Overall, this profile aims at casual and beginner volleyball players. In addition to the numerous strategies to improve social media presence mentioned in the previous profile, there are a few more strategies TVS can use. Firstly, TVS can create bulk and club discounts. For example, if a user is interested in purchasing a volleyball, TVS can provide an extra discount to purchase 2 more alongside making the overall cost cheaper per unit. Club discounts are discounts TVS can arrange with partnering volleyball clubs, where a new player from a club can get a custom discount. Furthermore, TVS can opportunities on ‘back to season sales’ items and promote items at certain times of the year such as before a club season begins. Finally, TVS can direct training videos and tips to beginners to hopefully keep them interested in the sport, whilst promoting TVS’s goods and services. Through a culmination of all these different suggestions, TVS will be able to reach the beginners character profile. Finally, the third character profile ACES have decided on are the professional players or the competitive scene of volleyball. This includes but is not limited to experienced volleyball players, coaches, and staff for volleyball tournaments. For this profile, ACES suggest creating informative, specific ads, using established reputable brands and more interesting giveaways. We also suggest partnering with tournaments across Australia to help reach volleyball aficionados. Through partnering with volleyball leaders or professionals, TVS can get their name out there and attract very high intent buyers. More interesting giveaway ideas could be signed gear from professional volleyball players or special one on one training sessions with them. Google Analytics has also shown that the highest performing items are the Mikasa brand, so by selling these items specifically and bringing this attention to all competitive players, TVS is

7|Page

likely to make capitalise on these sales. Through these suggestions, ACES Marketing believes TVS will reach their sales quota by 2022.

Budget allocation and schedule Despite the previous suggestions, we completely understand that they come at their own costs, so in this section of reach, ACES Marketing will break down the budget allocation. Currently we have placed two suggested plans for expenses. This is broken down into regular months and sales months. In the sales months ACES marketing expects to gather more sales and attention from customers so more money is spent towards social media campaigns and better key word searches to improve organic searching. In the regular months, we place more focus on an overall balanced budget allocation where we split the expenses more evenly. For sales months (Between November to January) we allocate the following budgets: Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø

Social media campaigns ($4000) Paid endorsements ($1500) Paid media – content creation ($500) Website improvements and costs ($500) Keywords paid searches ($3500)

For regular months (months that are not sales months) we allocate the following budgets: Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø

Social media campaigns ($3500) Paid endorsements ($2000) Paid media – content creation ($500) Website improvements and costs ($500) Keywords paid searches ($3500)

These budgets will be explained and examined throughout the next sections of the report.

Measuring success While implementing our reach suggestions, TVS must make sure they are getting returns on these investments. To measure if they are on the right track the following key performance indicators can be evaluated. 1. Unique visitors Using Google Analytics, TVS can find out the number of unique visitor...