Utilizing microsites to create a richer customer experience

NetSphere Strategies and CoreMedia, a NetSphere Strategies partner, wrapped up their three-part webinar series last month with the third installment focusing on how to create microsites without the help of an IT team.

Easy-to-Use Tools
One of the goals for any company involved in eCommerce is to create an immersive experience for shoppers who search the site. With the right tools, technical proficiency isn’t even a prerequisite for improving site search and creating memorable and effective experiences.

To drive conversions, retailers should consider focusing on story-driven microsites. The idea behind this strategy is to blend content and commerce. Doing so in real-time gives shoppers much more than products – they also get blog posts, videos and other product-related content – all in one place.

The IBM Solution
To give shoppers a more engaging experience, clients of IBM’s WebSphere Commerce (WCS) product have access to SEO-friendly URLs, which help drive traffic to their eCommerce site. By working with their IT teams, business users can set up this feature quite easily, and it’s only a one-time task.

Furthermore, Live Context’s tight integration with WCS means that microsites created within the LiveContext environment can fully utilize the URL conventions defined within IBM Management Center. With SEO-friendly URLs, content is highly discoverable, which means there are more opportunities to make a great first impression with shoppers.

Finding Value in Microsites
With immersive content and product-aligned storytelling, shoppers become pulled in to a site. They discover new ways to use a product through videos and learn more about the various aspects of the product, perhaps its green attribute or any other positive detail that can create more of a buzz around a product. The possibilities are quite vast when it comes to product-aligned storytelling.

Marketers are becoming more invested in microsites because of the fact that they can add rich media that further leverages content. Be it video or blogs and anything in between, marketers utilize the power of microsites to go beyond the usual social media experiences. They offer a new method for creating a richer, more meaningful customer experience.

A Larger Focus on Content Creation
Bigger brands are making bigger investments in content. Take Oreo, for example. The parent company is committed to devoting as much as 10 percent of its total marketing spend on digital video. Last year’s report from the Content Marketing Institute backs up the notion that more organizations are committed to content creation: Organizations are putting 25 percent of their marketing budgets aside for content creation. This means that microsites can serve as a new medium to maximize on the content that marketers are diligently putting together.

A recap:

• Content like blogs and videos can be maximized when they are embedded into microsites, giving shoppers more information about your products.
• Microsites can be created by business users and they offer a visually appealing way to blend content and product teasers all in one place.
• The tight integration between IBM and CoreMedia offers a user-friendly way for business users to take control of how search function on their websites and how consumers can interact with a brand.

There are many ways to enhance a customers’ shopping experience, and microsites are just one way to do this. For more information about creating a richer eCommerce experience, contact NetSphere Strategies today.