The Container Store – A Review of On-Page SEO Tactics

The Container Store is the leading storage and organization products retailer in the United States. Since opening the first store in 1978, the company has grown to 79 retail locations. The Container Store’s mission is to help customers be “more productive, relaxed and happier by selling customized, completed solutions (The Container Store Investor Relations, 2016).  The Container Store has more than 11,000 products and has been on Fortune magazines 100 Best Companies To Work For® list for 17 consecutive years (The Container Store Investor Relations, 2016).  Internet Retailer estimates $71.9 million in FY 2015 sales for The Container Store’s e-commerce site. That’s an 11% increase from the previous year (Linder, 2016). The company credits part of this increase in online sales to the following FY2015 objectives:

• ·      Enhancing the company’s website;
• ·      Strategic improvements to targeting and organic search programs;
• ·      Introducing free shipping for purchases over $75; and
• ·      Introducing the ContainerStories® lifestyle blog (The Container Store Investor Relations, 2016).

Exploring the website

            The Container Store’s homepage features promotions above the fold and product categories within those promotions below the fold. When the screenshots below were created, the current promotions were a sale on all items related to travel and free installation of elfa® shelving systems. The free shipping offer appears on the homepage three times, beside the logo at the top of the page and twice on the product categories below the fold, reminding site visitors of the free shipping offer no matter which part of the screen is currently in view.  The bottom of the homepage includes a link to the loyalty program and invites visitors to share photos of their organization projects or to browse photos for inspiration and encourages sharing photos using the hashtag #containyourself.

Screenshots of The Container Store homepage. 

Source: www.containerstore.com

Product categories are clearly listed across the top of the page, and when selecting a category (e.g., storage) the top of the page has links to related videos, organizational tips and blog stories. Using the left-hand links, visitors can sort further by category (e.g., bins & baskets, trays, and drawers), by price range, by color, by customer ratings and by smaller categories (e.g., sale items, green items, and in stock/ready to ship items).

Screenshot of The Container Store Storage webpage. 

Source: www.containerstore.com/s/storage/1

SEO Tools and Techniques

The Container Store’s SEO department began in 2014. According to Cade Burk, the company’s first SEO manager, the priority was to complete a site-wide evaluation of the website and to improve the user experience on smartphones. The company started a lifestyle blog, added written and video tips and projects to their website and social media channels and refreshed product content to increase page performance. The Container Store began working with BrightEdge ContentPerformance Marketing to analyze keyword performance and to use advanced analytics to better understand consumers search needs (BrightEdge, 2015). The Container Store focused their SEO efforts on organic search traffic, creating page groups, determining the best performing keywords, mapping backlinks and targeting new sources for backlinks. In the first 7 months of this new on-page SEO focus, The Container Store saw a 30% increase in top-ranked keywords. Organic traffic increased by 93%. Organic traffic conversion increased 68% and organic traffic revenue increased by 96% (BrightEdge, n.d.).

The Container Store’s job description for SEO manager includes the following priorities among the position’s duties:

• Recommending text elements, page titles, meta descriptions and meta tags:
• Conducting keyword analysis and determining which keywords are too competitive and which fit product niches; and
• Analyze webpages for content, keyword density, word counts, meta descriptions and meta tags (Source: https://containerstore.ats.hrsmart.com/cgi-bin/a/highlightjob.cgi?jobid=601).

I selected these duties in particular (out of many listed in the description) because according to Michael H. Fleischner’s SEO Made Simple, The Container Store is not utilizing all the on-page SEO techniques they should. To illustrate areas where The Container Store could improve on-page SEO, let’s look at the SERPs and analyze the webpage.

            The Container Store was the top organic search result when searching by browser window and by private browser window. (I also searched in a private browser window, since I am a customer.) The Container Store was also the top paid result on both browsers. In the screen shots below, the second company listed in the organic search is Organize-It. To examine the on-page SEO techniques, let’s compare The Container Store with Organize-It, the top competitor in organic search results.

 Screenshot of search for “home organization products”

Screenshot of private browser window search for “home organization products”

     Organize-It is primarily an online retailer with only one store location in Shelby Township, Michigan. Organize-It began in 1997 as a custom closet design and installation company, but soon expanded to offer other organization products, launching its e-commerce site in 1999. Organize-It offers more than 10,000 products (Organize-It, n.d). The products and services are similar to those offered by The Container Store.

The Organize-It home page is busier than The Container Store. Instead of focusing on product categories, the home page features individual products and prices.

Screenshot of Organize-It homepage. 

Source: http://www.organizeit.com/

Comparing the homepages of these two companies reveals that Organize-It is taking advantage of some of the on-page SEO techniques that The Container Store is missing. Internet Marketing Ninjas Side-by-Side SEO Comparison Tool (http://www.internetmarketingninjas.com/seo-tools/seo-compare/) shows us the differences between the two companies.

The Container Store uses the company name and tagline in the title field and does not use the meta description or meta keyword fields. Organize-It packs all three of these fields with keywords.

The Container Store doesn’t use H1 or H2 heading text, and Organize-It uses keywords in the H1 field. The Container Store does have more keywords on the homepage, but Organize-It has greater keyword density with “organization” and “storage”.

Both companies use internal links to other pages within the websites and The Container Store includes subdomain links to information about their company and their commitment to customer service. Both companies use external links to their social media channels. Organize-It includes product names and prices on the home page and The Container Store uses more navigation and company information, listing product categories, but not actual products.

Uses for collected data

            The Container Store collects data from visitors to the website and uses it for retargeting. For example, the first screenshot below shows products I have searched for on the right side of the screen and that area is blank in the screenshot from the private browser window.

Screenshot with product suggestions from my search history.

Screenshot from private browser window with same product with no search history on the right side of the screen.

The Container Store also uses search history for email marketing to customers, featuring products that customer has searched for on a previous visit to the website.

Suggestions

            The Container Store had an estimated $71.9 million in online sales for FY2015, a double-digit increase over 2014 e-commerce sales (Linder, 2016). The company also appears first in both organic and paid search results for home and closet organization products searches, so the company is successfully navigating their on-page SEO strategy. However, based on the techniques outlined by Michael Fleischner, The Container Store could incorporate more keywords in the following fields: page titles, meta descriptions, meta keywords and headings fields. As part of the ongoing review of the website, The Container Store should add different meta tags using keywords to the website pages. Submitting a sitemap via Google’s Webmaster Tools can help Google find more URLs within the website, which can lead to more visibility. Adding alt tags incorporating keywords to graphics can increase the keyword density on a page. The company should continue to look for opportunities for backlinks and promote their video tips, blog and social media channels to maximize the search results.

Sources:

BrightEdge. (2015, Aug. 24). Implementing SEO as a major brand with Cade Burk at Share15. BrightIdeas, The BrightEdge Blog. Retrieved from http://www.brightedge.com/blog/implementing-seo-as-a-major-brand-with-cade-burk-at-share15/

BrightEdge. (n.d.). The Container Store Case Study. BrightEdge Resources. Retrieved from http://www.brightedge.com/resources/case-studies/the-container-store

Linder, M. (2016, May 9). An online exec moves up to chief marketer at The Container Store. Internet Retailer. Retrieved from https://www.internetretailer.com/2016/05/09/online-exec-moves-chief-marketer-container-store

Organize-It. (n.d.). Organize-It About Us. Retrieved from http://www.organizeit.com/about-us-information.asp

The Container Store Investor Relations. (2016, April 25). The Container Store Group, Inc. announces fourth quarter and full fiscal year 2015 financial results. Press Release. Retrieved from http://investor.containerstore.com/press-releases/press-release-details/2016/The-Container-Store-GroupInc-Announces-Fourth-Quarter-and-Full-Fiscal-Year-2015-Financial-Results/default.aspx

Natural Language Generation Brings the Power of Data Analysis and Marketing Strategy to Your Business

            Natural Language Generation (NLG) is the part of artificial intelligence that analyzes data sets and converts information from data into text that appears to have been written by a person. We’re all familiar with NLG on some level, even if we don't realize it. One of the most common examples are the text and audible weather reports on The Weather Channel and automatic language translation software that analyzes text for both meaning and grammar before generating a translation.

Image source: (Glascott, 2015) http://resources.narrativescience.com/h/i/124944227-what-is-natural-language-generation

CITO Research described the different levels of NLG:

“The simplest level of NLG takes a few data points and turns them into sentences. A simple weather report example is a sentence like this: “the high today will be 72 degrees.” The next level of NLG takes a template paragraph and generates language based on the changing data. Sports scores often can be handled this way. For certain types of template reports, this works. The analytics performed by such systems isn’t very sophisticated (it’s generally driven by business rules framed as if/then statements). Advanced NLG transforms data into a narrative with a beginning, middle, and end. This narrative, or story, is based on an in-depth analysis of the data. (Glascott, 2015)”

            The wealth of website data available through Google Analytics (GA) can take hours or days to review and interpret, depending on the complexity of the website. Advanced NLG applied to GA data eliminates many hours spent reviewing and interpreting raw data. NLG can find patterns and trends in the data that may require specified knowledge for data analysts to discern.  Several companies offer advanced NLG platforms that analyze GA data and produce a text report to explain the results of the reporting available in GA. Narrative Science  and Automated Insights are two Google Analytics Technology Partners offering NLG add-on solutions.

Narrative Science

Quill Engage video 

            Narrative Science offers Quill Engage. Quill is the result of a research project by two computer science students at Northwestern University who designed software to automatically generate summaries of baseball games based on the statistical data from the games. That software project grew into today’s Quill Engage (Narrative Science, n.d.). This NLG platform can be integrated with a GA account and can be used for free for up to 10 different websites.  Quill Engage provides a document with detailed analysis of traffic and KPIs, analyzes data and provides suggested actions and changes based on the GA data. With optional monthly subscription updates, Quill Engage users can incorporate company branding and customized reports in their GA analysis.

Quill Engage Sample Report

Link to sample report: https://s3.amazonaws.com/qe-static-resources/sample+reports/Quill+Engage+Sample+Report.pdf

Image source: https://www.quillengage.com/

           

Automated Insights

            Since 2007, Automated Insights, Inc., has offered the Wordsmith platform. Wordsmith is software designed to use NLG to write stories based on a data set. One of Automated Insights largest customers is the Associated Press (AP).

            The AP began using the Wordsmith platform to assist reporters with some of their more mundane tasks, specifically summarizing quarterly earnings reports for public companies. Each quarter, reporters read through the earnings reports, compiled figures and wrote articles. This method was time consuming and only allowed for review of a small number of earnings reports. AP used Wordsmith to analyze the earnings reports and automatically create stories. The reporters could then edit the stories, adding more information about the companies where they thought it was needed. Using Wordsmith to create the earnings report stories increased production from around 300 stories per quarter when written by reporters to nearly 3,700 earnings stories per quarter written by Wordsmith. In addition to the increase in the number of stories, AP estimates Wordsmith essentially gave reporters 20% more time to work on other stories (Automated Insights, n.d.).

Sample AP story using Wordsmith

Image source: https://automatedinsights.com/solutions/#marketing-agencies

Wordsmith Explained video

            In 2013, Automated Insights became a GA Technology Partner with the release of Wordsmith for Marketing. While available for any type of business, Wordsmith for Marketing is targeted toward marketing agencies who analyze GA accounts for multiple clients. Wordsmith for Marketing creates white-label reports analyzing SEO, advertising, social media and content marketing, translating GA data into easily understood texts and charts (Google Analytics, n.d.). The agency can edit any part of the report and can incorporate data from sources other than GA. (Quill cannot incorporate other data sources at this time.)

Insert Wordsmith for Marketing video

Like Quill, Wordsmith users can log into the platform by logging into their GA account. Wordsmith does have a free trial period, but the monthly subscription is higher than Quill’s monthly rates. The more robust reporting features may justify the increased price. The integration with Google AdWords adds even more insight into search and display campaigns, ad groups and keywords performance.  When announcing the addition of AdWords compatibility, Advanced Insight’s CEO Robbie Allen stated:

“By connecting a client’s Google Analytics account to Wordsmith for Marketing, agencies automatically get in-depth, plain English reports on SEO, social media, and content marketing. Now, marketers can offload their AdWords reporting burden as well. (PRWeb, 2015).”

Impact on Marketing

            These advanced NLG add-ons to Google Analytics can have a tremendous impact on marketers and marketing. You no longer have to be a data analyst or marketing strategist to glean insights from your web metrics. Wordsmith or Quill take the place of a data analyst or marketing strategist by translating GA data into text descriptions of overall performance, engagement trends, and even suggestions for improvement of your online marketing campaigns. This information can be a game-changer, especially for small businesses without a consultant or someone on staff to interpret the raw data and reporting functions of GA.

            Analyzing data and writing client reports can be time-consuming. Wordsmith for Marketing can save hours of time spent analyzing raw data and can assist in developing customized strategy for individual clients. Agencies can customize and brand Wordsmith’s white-label reports so they are compatible with other agency collateral. For smaller agencies and consultants, NLA Google Analytics add-ons can take their business intelligence reporting to a new level of service without the investment in additional staff or third-party vendors.

            The volume of metrics available through GA can be overwhelming. I think the power of NLG add-ons like Wordsmith and Quill are that the software platforms can analyze web metrics and translate that data in to easy-to-understand documents for people who are intimidated by the data. Digital marketing analyst and Wordsmith client Ben Hopper summed up the benefits of NLG Google Analytics add-ons:

“Wordsmith for Marketing is a clean, easy-to-use tool that provides deep insights on my client’s backend site metrics and paid search campaigns. These insights would take hours to pull together were I doing them myself (PRWeb, 2015).”

Businesses of any size could benefit by trying one of these NLG analytics platforms. Quill would be a good choice for small business since much of it’s reporting capability is available for free. I think many businesses of all sizes should consider incorporating the power of Quill or Wordsmith for Marketing to analyze and interpret Google Analytics data.

Sources:

Automated Insights. (2016, Jan. 18). Wordsmith explainer video. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziizj6u1f6M

Automated Insights. (2015, May 4). Introducing Wordsmith for Marketing. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hx1SMxgxKnc

Automated Insights. (n.d.). The Associated Press leaps forward. Case Study. Retrieved from https://automatedinsights.com/associated-press-leaps-forward/

De Leon, K. (2014, March 16). Quill Engage by Narrative Science. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYydQRXmhTA

Faloon, C. (2015, Nov. 4). Wordsmith for Marketing: Using the Reporting API to automate agency client reports. Google Analytics Solutions Blog. Retrieved from https://analytics.googleblog.com/2015/11/wordsmith-for-marketing-using-reporting.html

Glascott, M.G. (2015, Aug. 19). What is Natural Language Generation? In The Loop Blog. Narrative Science. Retrieved from http://resources.narrativescience.com/h/i/124944227-what-is-natural-language-generation

Google Analytics. (n.d.). Wordsmith for Marketing. Google Analytics Partners. Retrieved from https://www.google.com/analytics/partners/company/5089120976109568/gadp/5629499534213120/app/5707702298738688/listing/5639274879778816

Narrative Science. (n.d.) About Us. Company website. Retrieved from https://www.narrativescience.com/about-us

PRWeb. (2015, April 30). Marketing agencies automate PPC reporting. PRWeb. Retrieved from http://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/05/prweb12689273.htm

A Customer-Based Real-Time Option to Google Analytics

In the past few weeks we’ve been exploring the capabilities of Google Analytics (GA). GA offers a tremendous amount of insight to help improve the form and function of a website. There are some shortcomings to GA. We’ve discussed several in this class, including bounce rates, the refresh rate of GA real-time statistics, and the complexity of learning GA. GA may be one of the most popular analytics tools, but it’s not the only option.

Bounce Rates

If a user only visits one page of a website, GA counts that visit as a bounce. GA can’t measure the time spent on one page or what a visitor responds to on that page unless the visitor takes another action, for example loading another page or clicking a link on the landing page. In GA, if I spend 15 seconds on one web page or 15 minutes on that web page without completing another action on that site, my visit is counted as a bounce. If time visitors spend on one page is important to your business, you may want an analytics tool that can distinguish between a long visit to a single page (a good bounce) and a short visit to a single page (a bad bounce) (Melaugh, 2014b).

Real-Time Results

GA does have a real-time statistics feature (https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/reporting/realtime/v3/), but it’s not part of the standard reports and can be complex to set up. Once the feature is installed, GA doesn’t have many options to drill down into details of the current visitors. GA can show you how many people are on your site, but it functions more like a counter than a tool to reveal insights of your real-time visitor’s behavior on the site. GA has a delay between showing the real-time visitors and showing the demographics on those visitors (Blankenspoor, 2014).

Complexity

For the web analytics novice, like me, GA can be overwhelming. The training videos are easy to follow and are very helpful, but I think I could spend hours reviewing these training videos and still have many questions. If an analytics tool is too complex, will all the departments in a business who should be using website analytics actually use them? Probably not, unless there is an analytics guru in each department.

Alternative Analytics Tools

There are many alternative analytics tools to fill GA’s gaps in reporting and user experience. When researching analytics tools this
week, I searched for tools that offered real-time results, could 

match visitors with customer profiles, had the ability to distinguish a 

good bounce from a bad bounce, and allowed easy tracking of 

conversion goals. The level of complexity varies based on the user’s 

experience level, so although I’m interested in how easy (or difficult) it is 

to use the alternative analytics tools, it wasn’t my chief concern. The 

analytics tool that I’ve chosen to review is Woopra (www.woopra.com).

            I’m a visual learner, so the clever incorporation of the infinity symbol to represent the double O in the Woopra logo was what first caught my interest. Woopra was first introduced in 2008 with the goal of being the analytics tool for every part of a business – marketing, sales, customer support and products. In 2013, the company introduced the new logo shown above to symbolize the continuous customer lifecycle (Khoury, 2013).

            Woopra is a real-time customer analytics tool. It shows who is on your website right now and allows you to track the individual users. As with other real-time analytics options, Woopra provides the following functions:

• ·      Funnel reports – the ability to track multiple steps to conversion and review drop rates at each step;
• ·      Queries and segmentation – the ability to track a customer through specific actions;
• ·      Individual user profiles – the ability to see what visitors are actually doing rather than just getting a count of pageviews; and
• ·      Retention analysis – the ability to track the effects of changes on your website to changes in customer behavior (Melaugh, 2014a).

Woopra allows users to sync customer data with web analytics to build detailed customer profiles tracking web, mobile app, email, and support interactions between individual customers an your business.

Example of Woopra customer profile

                      Image source: https://www.woopra.com/platform/#customer-profiles

The detailed customer profiles allow you to segment your customers based on exact interactions and to adapt those segments as customer behaviors change throughout the customer lifecycle.

Example of Woopra customer segment

Image source: https://www.woopra.com/platform/#customer-profiles

The segmentation feature allows Woopra clients to easily specify and change the actions, time frames or members of customer segments.

            Woopra’s customizable funnel analytics reports, allow clients to determine if there are roadblocks that are causing customers to abandon their exploration of the website and allows for easy changes to test the effects of revisions to any roadblocks to customer experience. The funnel analytics also allow marketers to see conversion rates by marketing channel, using real-time data. Woopra allows marketers to easily customize the funnel reports. On the sample funnel analysis by channel below, we see that 75 customers who found the site via search completed a purchase compared to 157 completed purchases through direct marketing (www.woopra.com).

Sample Woopra funnel report

Image source: https://www.woopra.com/platform/funnel-analytics/

            Another key feature of Woopra is its integration with third-party apps like LiveChat, SurveyMonkey, Adwords, etc., through a feature called AppConnect. Using AppConnect, Woopra users can connect with third-party apps with only a few clicks. There is no need to add programming code to the website. For example, Woopra users can set up actions that will trigger a LiveChat invitation based on the pages a customer is viewing in real-time. Below is a sample of third-party apps available through AppConnect. Note: Some are only available through the premium pricing package.

AppConnect third-party apps that integrate with Woopra

Image source: https://www.woopra.com/appconnect/

Market Share

Google Analytics has a much larger market share than Woopra. According to Datanyze Universe’s report dated June 12, 2016, GA is at the top of the list and Woopra is 35^th in the analytics category based on the number of websites using each analytics tool. Woopra runs on approximately 20,300 websites compared to GA’s 13.5 million websites (Datanyze, 2016).

Pricing

Woopra is available for free for websites with up to 30,000 actions per month, but can get expensive for busy websites. Pricing begins at approximately $80 per month for websites with 400,000 actions per month and goes up to approximately $1,200 per month for websites with up to 10 million actions per month (www.woopra.com/pricing/).  

Training

Similar to GA, Woopra has a Documentation page (www.woopra.com/docs/) on the website where users can find instruction manuals as well as instructional videos. The introductory video says a new user can learn to use Woopra in about 15 minutes. After watching several of the instructional videos, Woopra seems easy to set up and use.

IM Impact’s Shane Melaugh has examined and reviewed many GA alternatives and in his opinion, Woopra’s strengths are its easy-to-use interface and its AppConnect feature. Melaugh’s biggest concern is that Woopra can be expensive for busy websites. There is no “one best tool” for every business. In his review of real-time analytics tools, Melaugh recommends that businesses follow Avinash Kaushik’s 10/90 rule  – “for every $10 you spend on an analytics tool, you should be spending $90 on a very smart person to make use of the tool (Melaugh, 2014a).” Kaushik recommends businesses start with GA, and move to a subscription-based analytics tool when the level of knowledge in the business outgrows the information available from Google Analytics (Kaushik, 2006). I think if your website qualifies for the free Woopra account, the additional customer insights and real-time results would be worth the change from GA.

Sources:

Blankenspoor, J. (2014, Feb. 24). 5 great Google Analytics alternatives. SitePoint. Retrieved from https://www.sitepoint.com/5-great-google-analytics-alternatives/

Datanyze. (2016, June 12). Woopra vs. Google Analytics. Datanyze Universe. Retrieved from https://www.datanyze.com/market-share/analytics/woopra-vs-google-analytics/

Kaushik, A. (2006, May 19). The 10/90 rule for magnificent web analytics success. Occam’s Razor. Retrieved from http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/the-10-90-rule-for-magnificient-web-analytics-success/

Khoury, E. (2013, March 2013). Woopra turns 5 and unveils brand new logo! Woopra Blog. Retrieved from https://www.woopra.com/blog/2013/03/06/woopra-turns-5-and-unveils-brand-new-logo/

Melaugh, S. (2014a, Nov. 12). Advanced customer analytics: Roundup review. IM Impact Blog. Retrieved from http://imimpact.com/advanced-customer-analytics/

Melaugh, S. (2014b, Nov. 12). Web stats: Alternatives to Google Analytics. IM Impact Blog. Retrieved from http://imimpact.com/web-stats-alternatives-to-google-analytics/