Massey’s Professional Outfitters says conversion rates are at least double on its site that uses MyBuys technology to personalize product recommendations, compared to the retailer’s other two web sites that do not have that technology. On the site with MyBuys, the conversion rate typically is in the 3% to 4% range, while the other two sites average 1.5%, says Mike Massey, owner of the outdoor gear retailer.
MyBuys tracks items browsed and searched for to come up with the recommendations. “It’s not a canned basket of goods: if someone looks at this, show them that,” Massey says. “It changes every time someone shops on the site. It’s that almost spooky feeling you get when you’re shopping that there’s something saying, ‘this is something you’d really like.’”
While not as easy to quantify as conversion rate, Massey says the customer feedback from the site with MyBuys has been very positive. “People are saying, ‘Yeah, I really like this.’ That was our goal from the beginning. It wasn’t a conversion decision, we did it to provide better customer service,” Massey says.
Another indication of the impact of the recommendations is that the average order on the MyBuys site includes close to two items, while on the other two Massey’s sites the average is barely above one item. That is good news for MyBuys as well as Massey’s, as MyBuys only gets paid when a consumer purchases a recommended item. Massey says he pays MyBuys a commission in the range of 7% to 8% on those sales. He has used the MyBuys recommendation technology since last spring.
Massey’s is a family-owned business in New Orleans that operates three stores and is about to open a fourth. The company does not report its online sales.
Privately held MyBuys Inc. is based in Redwood City, CA.
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