As a retailer or brand, you desire every online customer experience to match the experience in-store or over the phone with your subject matter experts. You know that when engaged by knowledgeable salespeople or customer service representatives, consumers are more likely to find products or services that best meet their needs and desires. Predictive Intelligence capabilities from ExactTarget Marketing Cloud can take these in-person interactions with your customer and create the same experience in the digital world. After reviewing the best practices discussed on this webinar, your brand will be ready to create Guided Selling tools across your digital channels that lead to more engaged and satisfied customers.

1. Best Practices for Obtaining a
Better Customer Experience
Through Guided Selling
Personalizing the customer experience is as
easy as having a conversation.

2. Agenda
• Guided Selling 101
• Background of Guided Selling
• How Guided Selling Solves Business Challenges
o Customer Experience
o Data Gathering
o Preferences
• More than just a conversion tool – Unique uses for Guided Selling
• Best Practices for Guided Selling:
• Section 1: Setup and Traffic Drivers
• Section 2: Tool Mechanics
• Section 3: The Questions
• Section 4:The Results
• Q&A

3. Guided Selling 101

7. How Guided Selling From ExactTarget Marketing
Cloud is Built

8. Overall Goals of Guided Selling
• Engage your customers and lead them to the right products and content. Ask key
questions to understand their needs and interests, and make recommendations
based on their answers.
• Educate your customers by providing them with relevant information at each step of
their research process, so they can make informed decisions.
• Enrich the experience for your customers by gathering explicit customer data.
Combine this data with behavioral insights and build holistic profiles of your
customers’ preferences to influence cross-channel personalization.

9. How Guided Selling Solves Business Challenges
Flexibility
Scalability
Powerful Results and Customer Insights

10. More than just a Traditional Conversion Tool
• Real-time Market Research
• Brand Push to Retail Partners - where to buy or store locator
• Educate Consumers
• In-Store Sales Staff Tool
• Customer Service Tool
• Lead Generator
• Brand Awareness - new product or line launch

11. Best Practices

12. Best Practices for Guided Selling – Broken Into Four
Sections:

13. Best Practices
Section 1: Setup and Traffic Drivers

14. Setup and Traffic Drivers
• Think about the finish line FIRST
• Start with the results page in mind when setting up your tool.
• Ask yourself, what products or services do you want to showcase?
• Work backwards to create a tool that best describes the reasons why your customer
should purchase and the products and features that differentiates your brand.
• Knowing what information is most important will help you to pick questions that
directly relate and guide your users to the results they want to see most.

15. Setup and Traffic Drivers
• Location, Location, Location
• Once your tool is set up and live, you will need to put it in a noticeable location on
your website so users can find it and use it.
The global navigation of
your site The category landing page or
the product detail page.Or, within your product
recommendations

16. Setup and Traffic Drivers
• Promote your Guided Selling tool on
social media outlets and in email
campaigns. Tell your customers and
potential customers all about your
awesome Guided Selling tool and how
they could benefit from it by sharing the
tool on your company Facebook or
Twitter page, email campaign, or on a
company blog.
• The sky’s the limit,
but without any
doubt, get chatty
with it!
Get Chatty with it

17. Best Practices
Section 2: Tool Mechanics

18. Tool Mechanics
• Report on the Progress
• Tell users where they are in the tool by including a
simple and easy-to-follow progress bar in the design.
• You can also make the progress bar function as tool
navigation by allowing the user to click on different
points on the progress bar within it to move back and
forth through the questions.

19. Tool Mechanics
• Offer Tips and Tricks
• Tips can range from product details and definitions to
question clarifications.
• Include social media share buttons allowing users to
share their results from their experience with the tool as
well as promote your website to their followers.
• Allow users to email or print their results to take it to the
store (if applicable) or to shop later online.

20. Limit the Number of Questions
• Less is more
• The fewer number of clicks (and
questions), the better.
• Create an experience that is two and a
half minutes or less
• Three and seven questions

21. Best Practices
Section 3: The Questions

22. Concise, Clear Question Writing
• Make it cut and dry.
• Don’t allow users to answer questions with “I
don’t know” or “I am unsure.” This won’t help you
gather insight about their buying habits and could
waste their time.
• Only ask questions that allow you to optimize the
user’s end recommendations.
• Ask standalone questions and not those with
conditionals (i.e. if this, then show this).

23. Think Consultative
• Instead of asking a directly what they
are looking for, ask lifestyle or usage
based question.
• Think of your guided selling tool as your
own digital consultant - ask the types of
questions that an experienced sales
person would ask instead of information
a user could find using advanced
filtration.
• When trying to help a user determine
the size of TV she might need ask her:
• “How far away are you going to sit from
the TV?”
• “Can you control the lighting in the
room?”
• Instead of asking a user if they are
looking for a 32” or 50” TV.

24. Best Practices
Section 4: The Results

25. Give them Options
• Make sure your tool results page has
clear calls to action like “buy now,” “find
a store,” or “sign up today.” Let your
users take action from their results.
Likewise, offer a print option, email
function, or share.

26. Layout to Encourage Call-to-Action
• The layout and content of your results
page should always reflect
how your products are merchandized.
• If you market a product with
a three step-process or with a kit, make
sure the results page is designed with
that in mind.
• You likely won’t just offer one part of the
process—you would offer all three. So
be sure to design it that way.

27. Give them a little something extra
• If you partner with a ratings and review
provider, you can also include the
review stars with each product
recommended to help drive conversion.
• Integrate with your Buy Now or Add-to-
Cart functions
• Integrate with your Product Detail Pop-
Ups or Quick View pages

28. Resources:
Guided Selling Best Practices Guide
White Paper
Link to Download:
http://www.exacttarget.com/guided-
selling-best-practices
Guided Selling Data Sheet
Link to Download:
https://apps.gosavo.com/ExactTarget/LinkDo
wnload?asset-id=95b3a4ea-7a17-41aa-a380-
9e7710804abc

29. Get Social in June
Webinars
http://www.exacttarget.com/resource-center/webinarsRegister:
June 12th @ 2:00 pm EDT
Bringing You Closer to Your Social Customers
June 26th @ 2:00 pm EDT
Social in Action: Streamline Your Social Content
Marketing

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