How Wayfair Makes the Most of SEO

“A zillion things home” is the tagline for the Boston-based online retailer Wayfair.  Co-owners Steve Conine and Niraj Shah started the fast growing private company in 2002 by selling furniture and audio video products from their online store RacksAndStands.com.  

During their first year in business, Conine and Shah, whose company was known as CSN, made $450,000 in revenue with 1,667 customers.  As they added more product categories to their offerings, the company sprouted, and by 2012, revenue had grown to $600 million with more than 6.4 million customers (Wayfair History, 2014).

Today the company sells more than 4.5 million items in 25 categories with products ranging from birdhouses and beanbag chairs to porch swings and gun safes (Wehrum, 2012). In 2013, Wayfair reported revenue at $915 million making it “one of the few online-only retailers, other than Amazon, [...] to reach annual sales in the range of $1 billion” (Alspach, 2014, para. 2).

Promoting the Website

“Being really good at search is a critical piece of Wayfair's success” (Frick, 2013, para. 6). For many years, instead of selling items on one central website, Conine and Shah purchased multiple domain names with individual product names and sold niche products through those websites.  

By using website names that matched up with keywords used in internet product searches, CSN was easily able to appear in first page on Google.  If someone searched for hot plates, for example, it was likely that CSN’s HotPlates.com would appear in the top 10 search results.  However, as CSN’s niche websites grew to nearly 300 and Google diminished the importance of keywords in URLs, CSN decided to combine their niche websites into one e-commerce marketplace: Wayfair. (Haden, 2012).

Since Wayfair has an unusually large selection of most of the products they offer, it has made their website [search engine optimization, or SEO] friendly (Lynley, 2012).  There are now large teams of staff who focus on writing search friendly content for the website.  

The company also aggressively participates in paid search advertising on Google, Yahoo, Bing, and other online retail venues, but Google still controls a lot of their inbound traffic (Lynley, 2012).  

In 2012, to help grow the Wayfair brand, the company started ramping up the development of custom products under the Castleton Homes name and launched their first television advertising campaign (Giammona, 2013).

Website Data and Analytics

According to the Wayfair’s website privacy policy (2014), the company uses the IP addresses of their visitors to identify users and their shopping carts, gather general demographics, and diagnose problems with their server.  By collecting cookies from visitors, Wayfair can enhance their online display advertising and personalize the shopping experience.

In addition to capturing the typical visitor metrics, Wayfair uses BloomReach software to deliver automatic thematic product pages for onsite searches.  Therefore, if someone searches for baby blankets, BloomReach software will create a Baby Blankets themed search results page.  There is always a chance that customers will search for keyword terms that a company has not anticipated, but “Bloomreach notices those unpredictable searches and responds to them with content” (Haden, 2012, para. 9).

Wayfair also uses voice of customer (VoC) software to capture additional visitor information.  Feedback collected through ForeSee’s customer experience analytics program allows Wayfair to “[measure] several key drivers, or elements, of the customer experience” in order to drive shopping satisfaction (Freed & Feinberg, 2013, p. 41).  Wayfair is able to combine their website analytics with the VoC analytics to make the adjustments to their forms, presentation, customer service, and other website elements that may negatively affect a shopper’s onsite experience.

The data collected is also used to promote advertising opportunities for businesses interested in reaching the types of customers that shop Wayfair.com. According to Wayfair Media Solutions (2014), Wayfair’s shoppers skew female by 40 percent, are in their mid-thirties, make more than $100,000 per year, and are well-educated.  Wayfair offers advertising opportunities to national and global audiences, and even allows bricks-and-mortar retailers to target customers living near their stores with Wayfair’s Get It Near Me software.

Data Collection Recommendation

Wayfair’s competitors, such as Amazon and Williams and Sonoma, have a recognizable brand and top the charts when it comes to online retail sales. Since Wayfair changed their name and their business model less than three years ago, they have put forth their best effort to brand their online retail business as the best place for people to shop for home goods.  

Aside from organic search, paid search, television advertising, and repeat customers, Wayfair is heavily involved in social engagement on multiple platforms. The company’s Facebook fan page has more than 1 million likes and the content they post is quite visual with photos of home spaces inspired by products from Wayfair’s website.  Each post also includes a link to a landing page where products can be purchased.  The Wayfair Pinterest board has multiple boards for home decorating, do-it-yourself projects, and recipes.  Many of the pinned items in the inspiration boards are from Wayfair’s website or from the boards of the brands they carry.  

Twitter is used to post simple design ideas and tips with links to product pages.  Their YouTube channel contains their television commercials and a special video blog section with a host who talks about projects that can be done around the home. The Wayfair blog incorporates posts by guest bloggers who are known for their home decorating advice and do-it-yourself projects. Finally, Wayfair’s Google+ page is updated to reflect many of the posts seen on Facebook and the company blog.

With such a robust and active social media effort, Wayfair should consider tracking their social media analytics.  By integrating a competitive analytics tool such as Moz, Wayfair can isolate search engine crawl issues, pinpoint keyword targeting, see how their social media efforts rank with their biggest competitors, as well as compare social media trends to their competitors’ and monitor the quality and quantity of Wayfair’s brand mentions online.

The analysis will help Wayfair determine which inbound marketing efforts may be falling short, and they will be able to focus their efforts on the social media content and activities that are working best for them.  They will also be able to test other activities that their competitors are successful at implementing to see if it could also work for Wayfair.

References

References

Alspach, K. (2014, January 31). Wayfair sales surged to $913 million in 2013. Boston Business Journal. Retrieved from http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/blog/techflash/2014/01/wayfair-sales-reached-915m-in-2013.html 

Freid, L., and Feinberg, E. (2013). The ForeSee experience index (EXI): 2013 U.S. retail edition [White paper]. Retrieved from http://www.foresee.com/research-white-papers/downloads/foresee-experience-index-2013-us-retail-edition.pdf 

Frick, W. (2013, February 4). Why Wayfair works when most e-commerce fails. BostInno. Retrieved from http://bostinno.streetwise.co/2013/02/04/why-wayfair-works-when-most-e-commerce-fails/

Giammona, C. (2013, July 18). Wayfair.com wants you to say its name. CNN.com. Retrieved from http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2013/07/18/wayfair-com-wants-you-to-say-its-name/ 

Haden, R. (2012, April 11). Lessons from Wayfair.com. Haden Interactive. Retrieved from 

http://www.hadeninteractive.com/lessons-from-wayfair-com/ 

Lynley, M. (2012, January 10). This guy’s under-the-radar-startup brought in $500 million last year, and now it’s breaking free from Google. Business Insider. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/this-guys-company-brought-in-500-million-last-year- and-now-its-breaking-free-from-google-2012-1 

Media solutions from wayfair.com. (2014). Wayfair.com. Accessed February 23, 2014 from http://advertising.wayfair.com/index.php 

Privacy policy. (2014). Wayfair.com. Accessed February 22, 2014 from http://www.wayfair.com/customerservice/general_info.php#privacy  

Wayfair history. (2014). Wayfair.com. Accessed February 22, 2014 from http://www.wayfair.com/about/history.php

Wehrum, K. (2012, April 3). Special report: Wayfair’s road to $1 billion. Inc. Retrieved from  

http://www.inc.com/magazine/201204/kasey-wehrum/the-road-to-1-billion-growth- special-report.html

Online Privacy and Security: What Strangers Might Know About You

Anyone that uses the internet risks the chance of their personally identifiable information getting into the hands of marketers, law enforcement officials, and a multitude of criminals who may use the information to do harm, which could range from identity theft to cyberstalking.  

Internet privacy is a big concern for many users. “A lot of people think about privacy but don’t really care until something happens to them personally,” said Beth Givens, director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (as cited in Sullivan, 2005, para. 18).

According to a Pew Research report, 68 percent of internet users believe current laws are not good enough in protecting people’s privacy online and 50 percent of internet users are worried about the amount of personal information about them that is online (Rainie, Kiesler, Kang, & Madden, 2013).

In addition to this, the security of online data is often put into question. There are scores of instances where unsuspecting social media sites and email accounts have been hacked into.  Just last week, Kickstarter, a crowd-funding site, was hacked and the “attackers made off with usernames, email addresses, mailing addresses, phone numbers, and encrypted passwords” (CNET, 2014).

Google and Your Data

Google, an internet service and technology behemoth, is no stranger to the media spotlight when it comes to online security, privacy, and ethics. People who use Google’s various products and services, such as Gmail, YouTube, and Google Docs, may or may not realize what the company knows about them.  According to Ghitis, 

Google has every email you ever sent or received on Gmail. It has every search you ever made, the contents of every chat you ever had over Google Talk. It holds a record of every telephone conversation you had using Google Voice, it knows every Google Alert you've set up. It has your Google Calendar with all content going back as far as you've used it, including everything you've done every day since then. It knows your contact list with all the information you may have included about yourself and the people you know. It has your Picasa pictures, your news page configuration, indicating what topics you're most interested in. And so on. (2012, para. 9)

When the facts are outlined in this way, it is a bit frightening to know that one company may know more about you than your closest friends or family.  However, is it so bad that an online company seeking to make a profit has access to this personal data in order to improve their products and to sell ads to make money?  After all, Google offers its online products and services at no financial cost to users.  

How Google Secures Your Data

The most frightening aspect about one company having this much personal information stored on their servers is the opportunity for hackers to gain access.  If there are brilliant people at Google who develop their online services and create intelligent algorithms for better search results, then it is likely that there are people out there who are intelligent enough to figure out a way to breach the security of Google’s data center.  

So what is Google doing to keep their users data secure?  Google has a “multi-layered security strategy that provides controls at multiple levels of data storage, access, and transfer” (Google, 2011, p. 3).   From 24/7 onsite security to extensive background checks on employees, Google goes through a thorough process to continually check the security of the data they collect.

The data collected by Google, including its own, is split up and distributed across multiple computers in different locations with randomized filenames.  The security information staff monitors for suspicious activity in order to remediate security threats if needed.  Staff conduct software security reviews, quality assurance processes, perform external audits, and track down and follow up on vulnerabilities (Google, 2011).  To test the strength of their data security, “Google invites third-party white hat hackers to try to penetrate the data centers from outside on a quarterly basis” (Rowinski, 2011, para. 10). 

Google is also quite strict on sharing user data with law enforcement and governmental agencies.  In most cases, these entities need to provide “a subpoena, court order or search warrant—to force Google to disclose user information” (Google, n.d.).

Aside from the internal controls to protect the data stored on their servers, Google also offers ways for their customers to keep their accounts and information safe and secure as possible.  The Google Safety Center is an online portal with information for families and individuals to keep their Google-related accounts, such as Gmail and YouTube, safe and secure.  

One of the recommended procedures is to implement a two-step verification process in order to log into an account. Therefore, instead of just entering in a username and password, the user may need to enter in their phone number, for example. In a recent acquisition related to this process, Google joined forces with SlickLogin, a security startup company that provides another unique way of logging into accounts.

SlickLogin has “technology that allows websites to generate nearly silent tones through a user's computer speakers as a verification replacement for passwords” (Musil, 2014, para. 5).  This process could potentially replace the password or become part of a two-step authentication “which is intended to reduce user’s vulnerability to online identify theft” and other online scams (Musil, 2014).

Facial Recognition: The Future of Personal Data Use?

While Google goes to great lengths to protect the data collected, there is still concern for how the company uses the information.  Just last month, France’s data protection watchdog fined Google for not complying with local law on tracking and storing user information.

Spain, Britain, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands have also opened similar cases against Google because the U.S.-based web giant's privacy policy introduced in 2012 does not conform with local rules protecting consumers on how their personal data is processed and stored (De Clercq, 2014, para. 8).

As Google’s technology continues to evolve, the concerns over how users’ information is used grows.  With the introduction of Google Glass, facial recognition is now a new worry for many.  The device, which is in beta testing, is worn over the eyes and can record video, take pictures, allow “facetime” calls, and search the internet upon voice command.  

Although Google considers facial recognition a privacy nightmare and is against its use, non-Google developers have created apps for Google Glass which would utilize the “creepy” technology (Greenberg, 2013).  For example, NameTag will allow users to get a stranger’s name, photos, dating website profiles, and perhaps sex offender data by just looking at them through the Google Glass device.

According to Senator Al Franken, “This is apparently done without that person’s knowledge or consent, which crosses a bright line for privacy and personal safety” (as cited in Hill, 2014, para. 3).

As unethical as face recognition apps may sound, it is apparently not illegal since no specific federal laws currently govern these types of companies, but Senator Franken does urge NameTag to at least make its service opt-in (Hill, 2014).

What Are the Options?

As technology evolves, there are more opportunities for security breaches and privacy concerns.  Unfortunately, the only way for individuals to protect their information from being hacked or used for internet-based technology such as Google Glass is to not be online at all.  But, even that is a difficult feat because some public records are accessible online even if a person does not use the internet.  My mother is an example.  She does not even know how to use a computer, but an online search for her results in her full name, age, and the multiple places she has lived in the U.S.   If Google offered a paid subscription to use their services with the agreement that personal data would not be stored, used, or shared, then it would likely be a popular option for many who are concerned with their online privacy.  However, even then, credit card and personal information would be recorded in order to purchase the subscription. In today’s world, there is never a promise that an online transaction will be secure.  Use the internet at your own risk.

References

CNET. (2014, February 15). Kickstarter hacked, user data stolen. Retrieved from http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57618976-83/kickstarter-hacked-user-data-stolen/ 

De Clercq, G. (2014, January 8). France fines Google over data privacy. Retrieved from http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/08/us-france-google-fine-idUSBREA0719U20140108 

Ghitis, F. (2012, February 9). Google knows too much about you. CNN. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/09/opinion/ghitis-google-privacy/ 

Google. (2011). Security whitepaper: Google Apps messaging and collaboration products. Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5Y-fwYJF2hLOTVmMzQ1MjAtMDFmNS00YjFhLWI3MmUtZjI5MDQ5Mzc3NmMz/edit 

Google. (n.d.). Transparency report. Retrieved February 16, 2014 from http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/userdatarequests/legalprocess/ 

Greenberg, A. (2013, December 18). Google Glass face recognition app coming this month whether Google likes it or not. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/12/18/google-glass-face-recognition-app-coming-this-month-whether-google-likes-it-or-not/

Hill, K. (2014, February 5). Google Glass facial recognition app draws Senator Franken’s ire. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2014/02/05/google-glass-facial-recognition-app-draws-senator-frankens-ire/ 

Musil, S. (2014, February 16). Google acquires password sounds startup SlickLogin. CNET. Retrieved from http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57618984-93/google-acquires-password-sounds-startup-slicklogin/ 

Rainie, L., Kiesler, S., Kang, R., and Madden, M. (2013, September 5). Anonymity, privacy, and security online. Pew Research. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/09/05/anonymity-privacy-and-security-online/

Rowinski, D. (2011, July 22). How does Google protect your data in the cloud? ReadWrite. Retrieved from http://readwrite.com/2011/07/22/how_does_google_protect_your_data_in_the_cloud#awesm=~ow9Lz8IJD3nyrA

Sullivan, B. (2013, December 6). Online privacy fears are real. NBC News. Retrieved from http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3078835/#.UwJAEihyzS8 

Google Analytics vs. Clicky

Website reporting and analysis can be a complicated task for businesses that do not have the tools or the human resources in place.  There are a variety of web metrics tools available; however, businesses should determine their needs first before implementing a particular tool.

Kaushik outlines three questions a business should ask itself before seeking a vendor or metrics tool for their website: 

1. Do I want reporting or analysis?
2. Do I have IT strength, business strength, or both?
3. Am I solving just for Clickstream or for Web Analytics 2.0?

Reports give business leaders data they can process whereas analytics gives leaders what action to take.  A company that has IT strength may be able to develop web applications in-house, but a company with only business strength may need the assistance of an external consultant or organization to analyze data.  Finally, determining whether clickstreams are important to the company will also help in the search for a web metrics tool. “Clickstream tracking is ideal for e-commerce websites and websites that depend on ad clicks.”  Clickstream tracking is also important for businesses that plan to use the data with A/B or multivariate testing.

Once a company has identified what they want to do with their web metrics, they will be better prepared to review and select a tool that will meet their business needs.  The available tools range from custom pricing which can be upwards of $150,000 or more per year or free software tools which also offer premium versions for a price.  

Two web metrics tools in particular are Google Analytics and Clicky.  Both other a free and premium version.  “If your site generates 10 million or fewer hits per month, then Google Analytics is free."  The premium Google Analytics version comes with a flat rate of $150,000 per year.  The free version of Clicky is available for websites that have total daily page views of 3,000 or less.  Additional versions of Clicky include Pro, Pro Plus, Pro Platinum, and Custom.  The monthly pricing starts at $9.99 per month and can cost up to $159.99 per year excluding the custom version, where prices may vary based on the company’s needs.  

In comparing standard features of Google Analytics and Clicky, a few standout similarities exist.  Both free versions offer a customizable dashboard and the ability to analyze search terms, traffic sources and referrers, bounce rate, geographic location, device type, basic segmentation, and real-time reporting.  In addition, both free tools allow reports to be exported, downloaded, or saved as a PDF.  Unfortunately, that is the extent of the similarities in the free versions.  

Where Clicky lacks in standard benefits, Google Analytics makes up by a large proportion. Many of the Clicky’s premium, advanced features are standard in the free version of Google Analytics.  Therefore, in addition to the basic similarities, the free version of Google Analytics also offers in-page analytics (or map overlay), goals and event tracking, comparison reports, filtered data, traffic flow visualization, ability to track downloads and outbound links, custom reports, social media reports, custom URL tracking codes, and e-commerce tracking.  It also allows businesses to track multiple websites at no additional charge, and the data history is unlimited.  The free version of Clicky only keeps track of 30 days worth of visitor history and data.

Google Analytics does not, however, offer technical support to businesses using the free version of the tool.  Users are directed to the online discussion forum or encouraged to take the Google Analytics certification course to learn more about the product.  Clicky also has an online discussion forum, but customers may also email a support request directly to the company.

Clicky has other positive features that are unique to its platform. In Google Analytics, a filter must be set up in order to separate internal traffic sources and data on a company’s website, but with Clicky, internal traffic is ignored by default.  This is useful for reporting information such as the links and searches.

Clicky’s links report shows not only the third-party websites referring traffic but also “the actual page on the third party site where [the company’s] link is located, rather than just the domain.” Just like with Google Analytics, the search report in Clicky shows the referring keyword traffic from search engines.  Clicky takes this report one step further by also providing a general percentage of how well that particular company ranks among others in a Google keyword search.

Finally, Clicky offers companies the ability to “see every visitor and every action they take on [the website]” which allows for individual analysis of each visitor and their visiting history on the site.

Other differences between Google Analytics and Clicky are in the way each tool calculates certain metrics.  Google Analytics allows companies to track unique visitors over a period of time.  Currently, Clicky calculates unique visitors on a daily basis only, so any analysis of unique visitors over a period of time may be inaccurate.  Also, most web analytics tools, including Google Analytics, considers a one-page visit to be a bounce.  According to Clicky, if a visitor spends more than 30 seconds on a page, they will not be considered a bounce because the assumption is that the visitor must have been at least mildly engaged.  This is an interesting way to measure bounces and could be beneficial to companies who manage website pages that provide content without trackable actions.  It may also be useful “for blog-style sites where the goal is not necessarily to get every visitor deeper into a sales-funnel".  

In a basic Internet search, there are more articles, case studies, and in-depth analysis about Google Analytics over Clicky.  However, both tools offer benefits and unique approaches to capturing data.  For any business interested in understanding their website visitors, the best way to find the right tool is to first determine the purpose for tracking and analyzing data.  Google Analytics is free, and Clicky offers a free trial of their top premium tool; therefore, if time permits, companies may want to try out both products for a few weeks to see which tool works best for their needs before committing to either one.