IRCE 2008 Session Descriptions

Listed below is the individual session description. To view a speakers' bio simply click the links inside the session description.

Day Three—June 11, 2008
Track D: Web Marketing Techniques that Convert Shoppers To Buyers

As online shopping becomes mainstream, consumers will expect and respond to marketing and merchandising that follows conventions. These sessions will tell retailers where marketing and merchandising are going, when to follow the rules and when to break them.

1:45 - 2:15 p.m.

Using personas to pinpoint a shopper's needs

Adam Heneghan, President, Elevation Inc.

Jim McLaughlin, Director of Business Development, H2O Plus

One of the great promises of the Internet is the ability to target product presentations to individuals. Unlike in stores, where all who walk through the door see the same merchandise in the same displays, online stores can present products to groups of shoppers based on personas. Personas are created on inferences of likes and dislikes that shoppers communicate either through their behavior or by filling out questionnaires. When shoppers return to the site, they see different products, groupings, cross-sells and upsells based on their persona. This session will walk retailers through the benefits that personas bring to online selling, how to identify the different groups that your customers belong to and then how to create effective personas, how to make sure personas remain relevant, how to make sure you're creating enough personas to reflect your customer base but not so many that personas become irrelevant, and how to relate a persona program to marketing.