Celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day with a Lot More than Just Beer – gb

Saint Patrick’s Day is a holiday known for indulging and sharing alcohol among friends. Knowing this, we set out to capture what the age of the internet meant for Americans celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day this year, and how digital experiences would be influenced by it. Our assumption was that online shoppers would be purchasing a lot more than just beer and Irish whiskey. The actual analysis did not disappoint. Here are the nuggets of data we found:

Curious to see who are making these purchases and for who? Check out these data-packed charts below!

Men vs Women:

Men are 38% more likely to make an intoxicated online purchase this year than women.

Age Group Breakdown

Millennials (21-34) are more likely to make an online drunk purchase this Saint Patrick’s Day.

Who will people shop for in this Saint Patrick’s Day?

People are most likely to shop for themselves during Saint Patrick’s Day.

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

ContentSquare Raises $42 Million Series B Led by U.S. VC Canaan and Highland Europe

France-Based SaaS Digital Experience Insights Platform Secures Funding to Continue its Rapid Growth in Americas and Europe

PARIS (Jan. 29, 2018) — ContentSquare, a SaaS digital experience insights platform, has raised a $42 million Series B funding round led by Canaan, a U.S. VC firm that has previously invested in LendingClub, Ebates and Match.com. Highland Europe, a global investor in companies including Matchesfashion.com, WeTransfer and Photobox and a previous investor in the company also participated in the round, as did Eurazeo and H14. The funding will be used to continue to grow ContentSquare’s business in the U.S. and globally.

 

ContentSquare computes billions of touch and mouse movements every day in 191 countries, and transforms this knowledge into profitable actions that increase engagement, reduce operational costs and maximize conversion rates. Used by content, eCommerce, analytics, acquisition, IT and UX teams, ContentSquare’s roadmap positions it to become the first fully automated, Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven digital experience platform.

 

“Since our founding, we have been dedicated to understanding how and why consumers interact with their favorite brands’ website, mobile and apps – and to use that data to improve our customers’ digital experiences, measure content efficiency and, ultimately, increase sales,” said ContentSquare’s CEO Jonathan Cherki, who is based in NYC. “By improving and automating digital experience analytics, our innovative technology has become a secret weapon for some of the best brands all around the world. This round is a testament to the value we bring to our customers, and we’re very excited about our growth ahead.”

 

ContentSquare believes in people transformation more than digital transformation — changing the way digital teams work by empowering them to measure their impact and pinpoint the best ways to increase their revenue.

 

The company previously raised a $20 million Series A fundraising closed in the fall of 2016 led by Highland Europe and supported by business angels from Seed4soft. Since then the company has expanded globally, with offices in Paris, Munich, London and New York, and has grown to over 200 employees. In that time, ContentSquare also saw more than 150 percent revenue growth and added 120 customers worldwide, including Orange, Rakuten, Carrefour, Walmart, Tiffany’s, Clarks, Goldman Sachs, Abbott, SNCF, AccorHotels, L’Occitane and more.

 

Since the launch of the company, ContentSquare has rolled out a series of innovations and groundbreaking technology. Recent developments include the creation of an AI engine to analyze behavioral data and offer automatic insights, as well as its Auto-Zone feature launched earlier this month. Auto-Zone redefines online data collection by replacing content tagging and tag configuration with automatic element identification and revenue attribution for each area and element of a website.

 

“The ability for any brand to sell any good and deliver it to the consumer quickly means that the key differentiator for brand loyalty is customer experience,” said Michael Gilroy, Principal at Canaan, who spearheaded the firm’s investment and has joined the ContentSquare board. “This is where ContentSquare’s digital experience insights come into play – they help enterprises really understand their users and create the ultimate experience.”

 

“We are proud to participate in another rounding of funding for ContentSquare,” said Tony Zappala, Partner at Highland Europe. “The talented team, led by Jonathan Cherki, has a strong vision with ambitious goals in a huge market. As an early investor, it’s exciting to see they ContentSquare continue to innovate and grow.”

 

For more information about ContentSquare, please visit: contentsquare.com

 

About ContentSquare:

ContentSquare is a digital experience insights platform that helps businesses understand how and why users are interacting with their app, mobile and web sites. The company computes billions of touch and mouse movements, and transforms this knowledge into profitable actions that increase engagement, reduce operational costs and maximize conversion rates. Using behavioral data, artificial intelligence and big data to provide automatic recommendations, ContentSquare empowers every member of the digital team to easily measure the impact of their actions, and make fast and productive data-driven decisions to optimize the customer journey. Learn more at contentsquare.com.

 

About Canaan:
Canaan is an early stage venture capital firm that invests in entrepreneurs with visionary ideas. With $5 billion under management, a diversified fund and 190 exits to date, Canaan has invested in some of the world’s leading technology and health care companies over the past 30 years. Canaan’s focus areas include fintech, enterprise/SaaS, marketplace, e-commerce, biopharma, digital health and medtech. To learn more about our people and our portfolio, please visit canaan.com.

 

About Highland Europe:
Highland Europe is exclusively focused on Growth Stage internet, mobile and software businesses. Launched in 2012 and with over €580m ($640m) in capital raised across two funds, the firm’s origins were as the European operations of Highland Capital Partners, a US venture capital firm. Highland Europe is based in London and Geneva and its current portfolio includes MatchesFashion.com, GetYourGuide, WeTransfer, Nexthink, and Malwarebytes among many others.

www.highlandeurope.com

 

Media Contact:

Austin Rotter

ContentSquare@5wpr.com

Move Over Millennials, There’s a New Kid in Town: Generation Z

Born between 1996 and 2010, some are calling the new wave of consumers the Last Generation, others the Homeland Generation, but we at ContentSquare call them something else: Born to shop. And we’ve created a new eBook to teach you step by step how to connect with them.

This is the first generation of digital natives, raised on technology and understanding intuitively concepts and processes the rest of us had to learn through trial and error. 40% of Generation Z already self-identify as digital addicts. Furthermore, this new wave of internet citizens already commands 44 billion annually in the US alone— just from their allowance!

While this new era is just at the tip of the iceberg of their buying power, they’re already savvier and more discerning on the web than their predecessors. User experience is the language of Generation Z, with mobile and web interfaces their natural habitats.

Download our free eBook on how to attract and engage the new generation of consumers

On the one hand, they’re unforgiving when it comes to clunky or error-filled platforms, with 60% saying they won’t use an app or website that is too slow to load, and 62% saying they won’t use an app if it’s difficult to navigate.

On the other hand, they’re hungry for original, engaging digital experiences, and visit 62% more pages in a session than the rest of the population. Generation Z wants you to woo them, they want you to create a personal, immersive digital world for them to play— and shop— in.

This generation has been largely underestimated or dismissed by the media, but that is a mistake— and a costly one! This choosy, demanding new era already converts twice as much online as the rest of us.

gen z data strip for blog

To help you speak the language of Generation Z and capitalize on their buying power by offering a superior online shopping experience, we’ve created an eBook, Generation Z: The Coming of (Shopping Age), your A to Z guide on courting the new generation of consumers. The data is based on an analysis of  over 8 million user sessions from ContentSquare data in 2017 across 7 countries: The US, Belgium, Netherlands, the UK, Germany, France and Spain, across a number of industries.

We offer, in this report, all the steps you need to take to attract and engage Generation Z, with checklists of concrete actions you can implement right now. Forbes already praised our emphasis on telling your brand’s story through user experience— are you ready to roll out the red carpet for your new era of shoppers? They are more than ready for you.

gen z for blog end CTA

4 CX Mistakes During Checkout International Retailers Should Avoid

Selling your products to customers around the world has never been so easy and e-commerce allows customers to buy your products at all hours of the day.

However, with so much competition online, are you paying attention to the little details or applying a one-size-fits-all approach to international e-commerce? We outlined the four missteps that international retailers should avoid below.

1. Thinking the only difference is language

Creating international adaptations go beyond translating your website into different languages.

When we conducted an analysis for Promod, we noticed the differences between French and German users when it came to the general terms and conditions. One compelling finding was that German users were more likely to read the Terms and Conditions (Kauf Auf Rechnung) than the French users.

CX promod

This allowed the retailer to accommodate their German users by making the terms and conditions more accessible by adding it to the reassurance bar.

Tip: Do you customers care more about gifts and samples or promo codes? Are they clicking on text that does not link to anything? Retailers use behavioral analytics, such as heatmaps and clickthrough rates, to see which content piques the user’s interest.

2. All forms are created equal

Addresses, phone numbers, even titles and honorifics all vary across different borders.

The order in which users input their information (whether in the identification or the billing section) has a high probability of drop off due to the time and effort it requires from the users.

cx asos

Retailers can keep a close eye on these crucial steps of the checkout process by tracking erroneous entries and time spent filling out each field.

ASOS lets me know that by opting to give information about myself will result in a personalized experience through recommendations.

Tip: Guide the user and validate their responses. Give examples beneath the form typically in grey or italicized font to help elicit the right response. Users are more likely to fill out the fields as long as they know how it’s being used and how they will benefit from it.

3. Shipping and delivery

When it comes to shipping options, retailers need to hit that Goldilocks sweet spot. Too many options and your customers will be overwhelmed. Too little options, and you fail to anticipate customer needs.

When we conducted an audit of skincare retailer, we noticed that users in Russia were hesitating longer on the shipping page. A long list of shipping options made it confusing to buyers and they were more likely to leave the page.

CX ru

They resolved this by reducing duplicate options and adding logos to facilitate the selection.

Tip: User hesitation and hovering over a field suggests ambiguity and cause users to leave the page. Make sure when you offer options to users that it is clear and easy to read.

4. Payment preferences

This step of the checkout process is often where customers drop out the most.

From a UX standpoint, maybe this phase of your checkout operates flawlessly–an enclosed checkout free from distractions, auto-fill form fields, and delightful copy to guide them to completing the order.

 

via Expert Market via Expert Market

 

It is important to know if your customers are comfortable paying with credit cards, bank transfer, cash-on-delivery, or if they need other alternatives.

Recently, Airbnb updated their payment structure in Brazil for the upcoming Rio Olympics to allow national credit cards and increase accessibility for Brazilian hosts.

Tip: Conducting a thorough, behavioral analysis can give you another look into cultural norms. Be open to adapting your policies (à la Uber) to reduce friction during the payment process.

Conclusion

Retailers need more than translations and currency converters to accommodate their international users.

Understanding customer expectations and delivering an effortless customer experience starts with the right data matched with actionable insights.

To read more about international e-commerce, check out our infographic.

 

Photo by Daria Nepriakhina