TechBytes with Zephrin Lasker, VP, E-Commerce, Rakuten Viber

Zephrin Lasker
VP, E-Commerce, Rakuten Viber

Rakuten Viber has been at the leading edge of the mobile commerce wave. We talked to Viber, which is accountable for the messaging app’s native shopping keyboard that enables users to search and share items. Viber’s shopping keyboard feature consists of a series of items such as clothing, electronics and home products. My group is responsible for all elements of the eCommerce company and strategy, as well as handling and optimizing the user experience including navigation, partner portals, content advancement, sharing features and the checkout funnel.How are messaging apps changing customer engagement and marketing tactics?For sellers, messaging apps are quickly transforming client engagement and marketing strategies for many reasons. The amount of time people spend on has actually considerably increased in the last 5 years, plus the amount of time they spend in messaging apps is much higher than in any other platform, consisting of social media. Second, messaging offers a natural and authentic touchpoint for people to share, talk about and recommend things they like and desire– and shopping is at the top of that list.For merchants, messaging apps offer a distinct chance to transform the brand-customer relationship, build trust and create lifelong commitment. Through direct and genuine connections with consumers, merchants can produce highly-personalized experiences that leave a strong impression. In addition, today’s buyers are most affected by their buddies when making acquiring choices. With Viber’s native shopping keyboard, the user flow is seamless, allowing them to share items they have an interest in with friends easily and naturally. Our users enjoy that they do not have to go back and forth in between apps to copy links and share info– they can do everything straight from Viber.Why must security be a top concern for brands and tech companies? How do you make sure these at Viber?Just one look back

at the current Cambridge Analytica scandal shows why information security should be a leading priority for brands and tech suppliers. It wasn’t simply information on user behaviors and interests that was shared; it was likewise their personal interactions with services. At Viber, we take privacy seriously and have actually carried out technology that makes it difficult for us to read chats or share individual info. All chats are totally end-to-end encrypted by default, suggesting that consumers can feel confident that their messages are entirely safe and secure and can just read by the individual (or individuals )in the chat.How do you utilize automation, AI, and huge information analytics at Viber for much better item innovations?We constantly begin by focusing on exactly what our consumers desire. We curate a list of brand names that our users have shown interest in and constantly redefine what that algorithm appears like.We want to make sure consumers are seeing brand names that are most relevant to them with brand names we believe they wish to see. While we aren’t tracking exactly what users are saying in chats, we are getting continuous feedback from our users to assist us develop our shopping service to better align with their needs. The outcome is an item that is constantly growing with customers as they use it. We’ve seen the usage of our shopping keyboard skyrocket based upon this optimization of shopping options by the consumer’s taste, area and the season in addition to other variables.For mobile-only platforms, how do you arrange your stack for Audience data, Consumer Data and Intent Data? How are these streams various from each other?For our platform, we use all 3 streams at different points within the user journey. When you first open the experience, we use audience and consumer data to help us customize the specific brand names and products showed. We can likewise look at intent data from comparable users to appear deeper insights. As users continue to engage with the application, we can extract additional intent to constantly optimize our feed, ensuring users have the finest experience possible.In a mobile world, speed is a critical factor– especially since interactions are often a series of quick bursts. And that’s much more true with messaging apps. To be really effective, we must provide the best material to our users as quickly as possible utilizing as many inputs as possible while still making privacy a main factor to consider in all our actions.How do these information streams impact customer journeys on mobile-only e-commerce? Shopping is an extremely personal activity and we built our experience to focus on the science of sharing, as it’s the biggest mobile commerce feature for our users. Shoppers take the important things they want to purchase and share them straight in a chat, enabling them to crowdsource outfits and accessories for daily needs or for essential events like senior prom or a wedding. When users share products on the app, we’re finding that it results in an increase in completed purchases. The more distinct ways we discover for users to share products, the more they are making it through the funnel to buying products. As using the shopping keyboard boosts, we’re seeing a growth in consumer loyalty and repeat purchases.How do you see patterns in Data Management influencing the adoption of Client Experience platforms for mobile commerce?Right now, the industry is still in the early phases of consumer analytics and information management. As this grows, we’ll see richer relationships with suppliers and partners that drive increased client presence. Eventually, this will lead to greater adoption rates of Consumer Experience Platforms– and these platforms will end up being more dependent on information and information from messagingand social apps. This is because e-mail and phone calls are the last places that most clients(particularly more youthful ones)rely on when they wish to

get fast info or assistance from a brand name or company. The client service dynamic is rapidly moving towards messaging apps and chatbots that enable live chats about any client problems, and we’ll continue to see this trend grow in the foreseeable future.What are your predictions on Mobile Commerce for 2018-2020? We’ve learned a lot about mobile commerce with the launch of the shopping keyboard on Viber. There is so much room for growth in mobile commerce and the speed of development is quicker than ever. With that stated, app tiredness will be a big difficulty brand names deal with and they will have to discover chances to reach clients beyond their native app. The truth is that individuals do not desire a wide range of apps on their smartphone; they wish to simplify their daily mobile activities and cut down on the number of apps they utilize. We can expect to see a shakeout on dedicated brand apps, with messaging and social platforms coming out on top.Brands will invest a great deal of time, loan and resources to improve their apps to attempt to engage consumers. Somewill, of course, win consumer attention, but many will question exactly what

they can do in a different way to make their app strategy work. They’ll require to concentrate on striking a balance between apps, mobile sites and mobile combinations to develop advanced and integrated experiences. Mobile will only end up being a more crucial channel for brands and they will require to establish a strong method to remain pertinent. This will need explore whatever from AI to voice innovation to see what functions resonate best with their customers.Thanks for chatting with us, Zephrin.Stay tuned for more insights on marketing innovations. To take part in our Tech Bytes program, email us at [email protected]!.?.!The post TechBytes with Zephrin Lasker, VP, E-Commerce, Rakuten Viber appeared first on MarTechSeries.

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