Using a case study approach, research an e-commerce retailer
that is of interest to you.
Nissan
“Innovation that Excites”
Nissan’s scale of operations are
scattered in 160 countries around the world, with a net income of 389 billion
yen according to March 2014 financials (Takkar, 2014.) They were named one of
the best global brands in 2014.
Find information about how they use web analytics to monitor
visitor traffic and customers.
a.) What tools/techniques/approaches is the company using?
Nissan has lived up to its motto by
using innovative marketing tactics. Over the years, the company has worked with
several agencies and software providers to improve their marketing efforts in
ways that have been unconventional for its time.
For example, they were one of the
first to use Google Analytics, even though they don’t sell their automobiles
online. Instead of using GA to measure conversions, Nissan uses the e-commerce
tracking functionality in order to collect data on their visitors. They do this
by adding tracking tags to each page to allow for custom reporting (Think With
Google, 2012.)
They set goals to keep growing
their digital media. They used the custom reporting to measure visitors’
personal details, including their preferences in vehicles (model, color, engine
capacity, etc.) After completing a form with this information, visitors landed
on a “thank you” page. Nissan placed e-commerce tags on each of these pages.
They also tracked whenever a visitor submitted a request for a test drive or a
brochure (Takkar, 2014.)
In addition to using Google
Analytics on their website, they also used social media and mobile gaming to
monitor visitor traffic and customers.
They used companies to track their
Facebook engagement. One such company was Zuum. In 2012, Zuum found that Nissan
had the highest consumer engagement percentage on its brand page than any other
automaker (Thomaselli, 2012.)
They also used a mobile game
download to advertise the release of their Juke Nismo. They measured downloads
of the game, and recorded a total of two million people experienced their new brand
before the car even officially hit the market (Moth, 2013.)
How are they using the data they collect?
Nissan used the data they collected
through web analytics and social media measurement in order to better
understand their consumers’ product preferences in regard to car category,
model and color. This allowed Nissan to understand which vehicles were in
demand and in which market, which allowed them to customize their marketing
approaches in specific areas. Customers could even download the localized
version of Nissan’s promotional materials and interact with their closest
Nissan dealer (Think With Google, 2012.)
In addition to the data they
gathered on customer information and preferences, they were also able to gain
three main benefits from using Google Analytics:
1 Easy to assess product popularity globally and by market, providing
a seamless user experience.
2 GA’s custom reports allow for easy viewing of complex
information, reducing the time to summarize reports
3 GA gives Nissan access to timely information to allow for better
decision making
(Ouchi, 2012.)
They also used the information to
implement business changes. For example, they worked with a social analytics
company called Synthesio to create a campaign for the Nissan Leaf. The purpose
was to take some of the guesswork out of marketing by implementing social
listening. The insights gleaned from the measurement encouraged them to make
changes that led to a 60% increase in positive conversations (NMA Staff, 2012.)
The decentralization of company
data within specific markets proved to be very beneficial to Nissan. They used
it to make informed decisions in regard to inventory allocation, which improved
supply chain management within various markets.
This ended up being particularly meaningful because it helped facilitate
a quick recovery for the company in the aftermath of a 2011 earthquake and
tsunami in March 2011. The widespread damage from the natural disaster
disrupted operations in numerous companies in the region, including more than
45 of Nissan’s suppliers, but because Nissan had been compiling data via
predictive analytics, they were able to make moves to keep the company strong
(Tysiac, 2014.)
“Since we’d done our homework… we
were able to move quicker than our competitors. We did not have to search for
data – we had it,” said John Wilenski, who was responsible for the
implementation of web analytics at Nissan. “When used appropriately, predictive
analytics accurately provide insight into the future so an organization can
plan, prepare and take action,” (Tysiac, 2014.)
According to a report by MIT and
PwC, Nissan’s strong risk management and effective countermeasures in this dire
situation helped them end 2011 with a 9.3% increase in production, compared to
a 9% decrease across the industry. They also used the database of visitor
information for predictive analysis and statistical modeling to give insight into
the competition in (Takkar, 2014.)
Navigate the company’s web site and offer your own perspectives
on additional tools, data collection methods and/or metrics they could use to
improve their overall web analytic efforts. (Theoretical improvement ideas are
acceptable with this assignment).
Quite honestly, Nissan appears to
be the gold standard in the industry when it comes to putting analytics data to
good use. They have segmented their audiences beautifully. However, I think new
things are on the horizon for Nissan’s web metrics and SEO marketing efforts. Just
last month, Nissan United, the unit dedicated to Nissan’s advertising, hired
its first chief creative officer – Antonio Navas. (Jardine, 2015.)
When a new leader takes over the
helm, new ways of doing things are sure to follow. A few things I would like to
see from Navas in his new position:
-Beef up their Instagram presence
-Implement tracking to see what
other car companies’ web visitors may be checking out
-Integrate data on physical store
visitors from individual Nissan dealers, as well as phone call data from phone
customers to paint a fuller picture of the audience in specific markets
References:
Jardine, A. (2015.) Navas to head global creative for Nissan,
Grey Latin America hires Zamora and more. Ad
Age. Retrieved Monday, March 2 2015 from http://adage.com/article/creative-movers/navas-head-global-creative-nissan/296938/
Moth, D. (2013.) How Nissan used a mobile game to launch the new
Juke Mismo. E-Consultancy. Retrieved
Sunday, March 1 205 from https://econsultancy.com/blog/61962-how-nissan-used-a-mobile-game-to-launch-the-new-juke-nismo
NMA Staff. (2012.) Nissan: Social analytics help take guess work
out of marketing. E-Consultancy.
Retrieved Monday, March 2 2015 from https://econsultancy.com/nma-archive/58400-nissan-social-analytics-help-take-guess-work-out-of-marketing
Ouchi, N. (2012.) How Nissan uses ecommerce tracking without
directly selling online. Google Analytics
Blog. Retrieved Sunday, March 1 2015 from http://analytics.blogspot.com/2012/05/how-nissan-uses-ecommerce-tracking.html
Takkar, K. (2014.) Nissan Motor Company leverages web analytics
to capture different market operations. Digital Vidya Blog. Retrieved Sunday, March 1, 2015 from http://www.digitalvidya.com/blog/nissan-motor-company-leverage-web-analytics-to-capture-different-market-operations-dmblog-0604/
Thomaselli, R. (2012. ) Nissan looks to Facebook to help launch five new models. Ad Age. Retrieved Sunday, March 1 2015 from http://adage.com/article/digital/nissan-facebook-launch-models/235616/
Tysiac, K. (2014.) Use predictive analytics to thrive and
survive. CGMA Magazine. Retrieved
Sunday March 1, 2015 from http://www.cgma.org/magazine/features/pages/predictive-analytics-20149618.aspx?TestCookiesEnabled=redirect
