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Commerce Maturity Model

The LYONSCG Commerce Authority Score is designed to help businesses assess the health of their commerce strategy, and uncover opportunities to improve it. The assessment is conducted through a survey covering four areas:

  • Business Strategy
  • Customer  Journey
  • Digital Marketing
  • Technology

Your assigned consultant will review your Commerce Authority score with you, highlighting the items that could inform your businesses road map, and the action items that accompany those areas of opportunity.


Benchmarks

  • Result
Business Strategy 12 / 25
Customer Journey 17 / 59
Digital Marketing 11 / 25
Technology 7 / 29
Avg. Retailer Best in Class

Survey Results

  • Business Strategy
  • 1. We have a strong understanding of our competitors and the competitive landscape

    You Scored 1/2

    !Your Digital Marketing team and/or agency could take this a step further and create a bi-yearly rubric of your competitors features, functions, and value propositions. This will give you a clear understanding of where you outperform and underperform relative to your industry, and where you have opportunities within your sales channels.

  • 2. We have a strong understanding of who our customers are

    You Scored 1/3

    Both psychographic and demographic knowledge is important. Utilizing this information to segment throughout databases and marketing tactics is a great next step towards success.

  • 3. We have a cohesive strategy around customer messaging across business channels

    You Scored 2/3

    You are doing a good job of understanding your customer segments and driving cohesive branding throughout your customer messaging. To move forward, test messaging strategies that touch customers across multiple channels, and develop a good understanding of which customer segments are receiving multiple messages during which days of the week.

  • 4. We have a strategic roadmap

    You Scored 1/3

    Multiple road-maps are good for tactical approaches to projects but there should be a single company roadmap that defines the importance of projects, timelines, and resources for those projects, and if those projects touch one or more business channels.

  • 5. Our organization makes data-driven decisions

    You Scored 1/2

    Are there are any hurdles (depth, accuracy, etc.) that are keeping you from using this data more frequently? Address these concerns first. Then review the business questions that your brand faces most often, and map them to metrics that could help inform on their behavior (e.g. you want to assess the impact of merchandising elements - so items per order and overall revenue per sessions exposed to those merchandising elements would be helpful). Since your organization sometimes looks at this data, you'll likely need to leverage segments or tests to uncover new insights. These deeper findings are often the most impactful.

  • 6. We have a yearly budgeting process

    You Scored 1/2

    An annual budget is great, but most brands and retailers need to implement budget changes throughout the year. Business can change both positively and negatively, and these changes should be forecast at the mid-point of your year.

  • 7. We budget marketing expenses as a percentage of overall revenue

    You Scored 1/3

    It is good that you have allocated monies to marketing but to be the most effective you need to allocate dollars based on channel performance. Decisions around digital, traditional and other should lay this out within the budgeting process.

  • 8. Our organizational structure prioritizes the overall customer experience through all business channels

    You Scored 1/2

    This is how most multi-channel retailers are organized. We see many retailers combining their marketing and merchandising teams for more cohesiveness within the marketing calendar and to bring optimal decision around assortment and inventory.

  • 9. We have a customer data repository

    You Scored 1/2

    Capturing data and feeding the date to a single repository is good. Being able to manipulate the data and create segments to push back out via optimal marketing channels is best.

  • 10. We create a bottom-up inventory forecast for each business channel

    You Scored 2/3

    This is how most multi-channel retailers create inventory plans. It is important to add testing and merchandising initiatives into those plans to grow out the assortment and or reduce assortment if sell-through is low.

  • Customer Journey
  • 11. We tailor our content to various audiences and segments

    You Scored 2/4

    Knowing your visitors' location, or the search terms they used to get to your site, and tailoring the content experience based on that is a smart move. Continue to focus on buyer behaviors and optimize your experience for these.

  • 12. We apply consumer research and usability testing to optimize navigation

    You Scored 2/4

    Great, how recently was this conducted and what were the findings? Have you tested your navigation for distinct consumer types and journeys?

  • 13. We apply consumer research and usability testing to optimize key pages

    You Scored 0/4

    Even small, periodic research projects can provide significant insights and opportunities. What is keeping you from performing research? Can you elaborate on your position about consumer research so we can recommend a few ideas?

  • 14. We present enhanced content and creative experiences

    You Scored 1/4

    Is this content searchable on your site? How often is this content updated? Do you have an editorial calendar in place or is content just added as it becomes available?

  • 15. We leverage dynamic content

    You Scored 0/2

    Dynamic content (showing multiple image variations based upon data attributes) or predictive content is a great way to boost your email campaigns. If you're just starting out with selecting and leveraging a dynamic content vendor - take a "Crawl, Walk, Run" approach. Start with something small, such as dynamically populated product recommendations, in monthly email campaigns. As you begin to adopt and measure performance, you can integrate these capabilities into main body content of your email, and factor in dynamic variables like weather, location, and profile attributes.

  • 16. We use loyalty segments to target content both on-site as well as through multiple marketing programs

    You Scored 1/2

    Many brands leverage a "Crawl, Walk, Run" approach to using Loyalty data to personalize their site experience. If you are already using your loyalty data in this way, you are on the right path. To move forward without having a heavy investment in asset production for each segment, consider adding areas of dynamic messaging that update based upon loyalty status. For example, customized shipping messages based upon a customer's tier, reminders that a customer qualifies for certain benefits, or threshold messaging when a customer is X points away from the next loyalty tier.

  • 17. We segment our loyalty customers based upon tiers of engagement

    You Scored 1/2

    Having loyalty tiers based on customer spend is a standard practice. Many best-in-class retailers structure programs this way - e.g Nordstrom. However, by just looking at spend you may not be nurturing loyal customers at initial lower thresholds that could evolve with you over time. Consider adding points mechanisms for Reviews, user-generated content, and brand advocacy. This content can be extremely valuable in driving traffic to the site.

  • 18. We create and manage content such as product descriptions, blog posts, category descriptions, or ‘how to’ articles

    You Scored 1/2

    A content gap analysis can be a smart way to identify opportunities for adding highly relevant content on-site and capture additional relevant traffic in phases of the customer journey that are less established. A search presence audit can give you a high-level understanding of how content performs against competitors and search trends, and how enhancements to SEO elements on-page have impacted page performance. Good content comes from smart planning: creating an actionable plan for consistent content creation will allow you to capitalize on these opportunities. This means that you should regularly monitor page performance after publishing optimizations or new content, using insights to drive additional activities or shifts in strategy.

  • 19. We optimize our customer experience for mobile users

    You Scored 1/4

    Responsive sites provide basic mobile presentation benefits, however, optimizing your mobile experience is critical for gaining a competitive advantage. Can you elaborate on your mobile strategy?

  • 20. We apply a tiered optimization strategy for mobile page load

    You Scored 1/4

    You've taken a positive first step. Next, consider image size and content rendering optimizations to significantly shorten load times.

  • 21. We leverage Endless Aisle/Mobile Point-of-Sale solutions

    You Scored 1/4

    Great. Focus on tracking and reporting this program, and align incentives for store associates to drive them to offer this option to your customers

  • 22. We offer Buy Online, Pickup In Store (BOPIS) functionality to shoppers

    You Scored 2/5

    Continue to measure and refine this program. Establish SLAs for store fulfillment. Use text messaging to notify customers when their orders are ready to be picked up. This will drive additional in-store purchases. Also, allowing the customer to designate another individual to pick up their order on their behalf is a great way to boost loyalty.

  • 23. Our customers can return online purchases to a retail store

    You Scored 2/5

    Cross-channel customer service is a differentiator for retailers. Giving your store associates the appropriate tools to not only see online transactions, but process refunds/returns with the original payment tender used online is a great step in the right direction. POS integration is not always necessary, but to take the next step, you'll need to consider extending your eCommerce platform's customer service tools into the in-store environment.

  • 24. We fulfill online Ship From Store orders

    You Scored 0/4

    For most multi-channel retailers, there are tremendous opportunities to increase conversion rates, shorten transit times, and drive improved financial performance by leveraging your retail stores as regional fulfillment locations. Furthermore, this can be a lower-risk starting point for store-based fulfillment in order to assess your stores' ability to execute BOPIS strategies. LYONSCG can help with technology assessment, integration, and business process consulting.

  • 25. We provide customers with full visibility into both online and in-store inventory

    You Scored 0/4

    Supply chain visibility is core to delivering a seamless customer experience. Where is your inventory data located, and how can you bring this online? Luckily, you may not have to replace your ERP and/or POS systems to solve this. Consider integrating your existing silos of inventory data to a cloud-based OMS with robust "Available To Promise" functionality.

  • 26. We offer standard pricing and promotions across stores and channels

    You Scored 2/5

    You've taken a solid first step. Can you elaborate on the factors preventing omnichannel offer redemption? Technology issues? Franchisee issues?

  • Digital Marketing
  • 27. We track the success of our SEO program

    You Scored 0/2

    An SEO audit will help clarify the numerous opportunities you have to improve organic channel performance through strategic and technical optimizations. Information gleaned from audit should drive activities that will positively impact search engine visibility, crawlability and indexation, user experience, and website performance.

    Establish a baseline of channel performance for top KPIs prior to implementing recommendations or kicking off your SEO program. Monitor fluctuations in organic search rankings for targeted keywords in order to track and understand the impacts of site changes. This data then can drive additional actions and define short-term and long-term goals for your SEO program.

  • 28. When we do sample keyword searches in Google …

    You Scored 1/2

    Create a tracked keyword universe of terms associated with top category, sub-category, product, content, and branded terms. Monitor ranking trends prior to making any on-site changes to establish a baseline of search presence.

    Look for opportunities to optimize on-page SEO elements, considering page level optimizations, as well as how the page relates to other similar pages that could be competing for the same targeted keywords. Make adjustments to begin seeing changes in search presence, and update pages based on this insight.

  • 29. We feel comfortable and up-to-date on Google’s most recent algorithm changes and the impact they have on our website

    You Scored 1/2

    Follow SEO trends from experts for ideas on ways to further optimize for organic search, and to keep up with updates from Google about new releases, algorithm updates, and more. Make updates to site as needed.

  • 30. We have an active paid media program

    You Scored 1/2

    A robust media program is vital for brands looking to acquire new customers and retain existing customers. Paid channels should be driving significant percentages of traffic and revenue. If they are not, prioritize areas for potential expansion, and track results to determine what to do next.

  • 31. Our paid media channels are meeting ROI goals

    You Scored 1/2

    Identify where the pain points are, prioritize them, and begin addressing these issues. Often, the budget has been misallocated, and there are missed opportunities around new traffic acquisition or current customer retention that can quickly boost program performance.

  • 32. We are currently targeting new customers through display or non-brand search

    You Scored 1/2

    Generic search terms can be extremely expensive, so focusing on long-tail and product-level queries, following best practices, and identifying top segments within acquisition targets can help improve ROI and reduce cost. Tracking new users and attributing value to these acquisition programs is also critical to expanding beyond brand traffic.

  • 33. We are using an attribution model to properly credit all media channels

    You Scored 1/2

    With any program addition or budget reallocation, it is important to reassess your attribution modeling to ensure you are giving programs their due credit for driving value. At a minimum, the attribution model should be revisited yearly as performance is analyzed and budgets are discussed.

  • 34. We utilize remarketing tactics and tools, including CRM or email data, to target users through media channels

    You Scored 1/2

    Using lists is a good first step, but there is more work to be done. Segment users by visit frequency and on-site behavior. Users who abandoned a cart or viewed multiple products in the last week should be of higher focus than those who visited your homepage, say, 30 days ago. Working with a dynamic ad partner to serve highly relevant ads to each user is another great step to take.

  • 35. We currently have an affiliate program

    You Scored 2/3

    An active affiliate program is a great source of traffic and revenue, but consider taking the program to the next level by driving new and high-quality customers to your website via influencer outreach. By continuously engaging these influencer affiliates, you can create a faster-growing and sustainable affiliate program!

  • 36. Our email platform is integrated into mulitple systems

    You Scored 1/2

    You have a view of your customer consolidated in your ESP, and likely have a good foundation of attributes to segment upon. As a next step, you should focus on behavioral or predictive data to round out your customer profiles. There are a large number of vendors that specialize in building out customer data profiles. If you leverage SFMC, collect tags should be implemented to gather on-site behavioral data.

  • 37. We email to defined segments

    You Scored 0/2

    Emailing to your entire list, without segmentation, can lead to a decrease in email engagement KPIs, and most importantly, issues with inbox placement. If you have been blanket blasting your list for a while, your first step is to do an audit of your deliverability. Are you making it into the inbox? If you are, what % of your emails are ending up in the spam folder? Once you know how your total program is affected by your history of blanket blasting your list, you need to develop a testing plan for moving towards segmentation. To start testing, most retailers begin with RFM (Recency, Frequency, Monetary) for splitting their list. Your highest tier from this modeling should get your daily sends, and less engaged subscribers only get your best offers. Test and compare.

  • 38. We clean and manage our customer records

    You Scored 1/2

    You are on the right path to improving inbox placement and deliverability metrics. However, if you only run this program occasionally, you may still have many un-engaged records in your lists that will drive down your performance metrics. Make sure that your hygiene program takes into consideration both duplicates and aged, unengaged files in addition to just looking at invalid addresses.

  • Technology
  • 39. We are utilizing the latest version of our eCommerce platform and its associated functionality

    You Scored 0/2

    Understanding what platform version you are currently utilizing, and comparing its feature set against the latest version of the platform, may spark some interest in new features or an upgrade. This analysis can also help your site generate more revenue by taking advantage of the latest and new features.

  • 40. We currently have an eCommerce website post-launch support model

    You Scored 0/3

    You should look to evolve your post-launch support model from a reactive one to proactive one by way of heartbeat monitoring, feed alerts, and regular maintenance to ensure information is flowing.

  • 41. We use a management workflow tool to help streamline online business operations

    You Scored 0/2

    A system of record is needed, like a JIRA, which helps streamline the release management process and serves as a workflow/ticket management tool. A tool like JIRA is also considered a Gold Standard. We highly recommend you utilize a JIRA instance for workflow management of your online objectives. It also gives you a first-hand look at the status of all of your tickets and your existing backlog.

  • 42. We manage site code with an agile and repeatable release management process

    You Scored 0/2

    It is important to establish a best practice, Agile-based, repeatable, and reliable release management process. Without this, statuses are lost, expectations are mispresented, requirements are confirmed prior to commencement, and tickets are not estimated, resulting in budget overruns. Do you have a process already in place? If not, what are the major hurdles you've faced in implementing one? We can help establish one, train you on it, and execute it.

  • 43. We perform quality assurance testing on all of our site code before we release it to Production

    You Scored 0/4

    There are many forms of testing out there, including automated testing, custom test plan creation/execution, regression testing, load testing, to name a few. A goal would be to come up with a comprehensive testing matrix, leveraging some of these testing mechanisms.

  • 44. Our site is ADA compliant

    You Scored 1/2

    ADA compliance can consist of a vast universe of compliance measures. Ensuring that the identified remediations are in alignment with ADA standards that pertain to you to avoid fines is a must.

  • 45. We have PCI-based security processes in place

    You Scored 2/5

    You should review your current standards as they pertain to tokenization, offsite checkout, and 3rd party service providers, and identify any stopgap measures or additional measures that may need to be taken as it relates to any new custom website components developed since your last audit.

  • 46. We have a dedicated analytics platform with customized tracking specific to our online goals

    You Scored 1/2

    Without any customized tracking, it's likely there are major questions around how customers interact with your digital experiences. Start with these major questions, and figure out what kind of tracking needs to be added via custom dimensions, metrics, or events to uncover the answers you need.

  • 47. Our analytics program is completely integrated with our customer and marketing data

    You Scored 1/2

    Transitioning from a moderate to mature understanding of attribution across marketing, device, and offline behavior can be difficult. Depending on your business, this could require an attribution platform or specific attribution study. Before exploring these initiatives, determine how attribution insights will shape your business. This ensures that the attribution technology is worth the cost, delivering value and helping to shape the requirements of your analysis approach.

  • 48. Our optimization testing program enables us to trial and validate both simple and robust user experience changes

    You Scored 1/2

    Since you run basic A/B tests, you likely have enough evidence to justify more robust testing initiatives. Have past tests revealed ways to strengthen your digital experience or have otherwise helped your business? If not, ensure that you are running enough tests, and then evaluate future tests' focus against known friction points or pathing arteries to ensure you're capitalizing on high-value areas of the customer journey.

  • 49. We test our site with browser/platform/device matrices tied to our user base

    You Scored 0/1

    A testing matrix is a good idea that includes tests against tour prominent user base and ensures that many test scenarios are accounted for. The matrix can also be tailored o match your user base via analytical data.

  • 50. We utilize a tag manager to deploy tags, and our team is comfortable deploying or editing these tags

    You Scored 1/2

    If only a few of your companies tags are hardcoded, it's likely okay to leave them as they are until those tags require some kind of update. At this point, it makes sense to move them to the tag manager: just make sure to document that these tags exist in case a page is updated and a developer assumes that only the tag manager needs to be supported to transition all tags. Centralize all tagging requests through a single party so they can ensure that all tags are supported through a clean and consistent process, that any dataLayer requests are not redundant, and that tags are properly QAed.

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