CASE STUDY jellybelly.com Business Problem Searches performed poorly and unreliably; needed better understanding of customer preferences Solution SLI Systems’ suite of site search, SEO and A/B testing products improved site search relevance and the overall user experience > 33% increase in site conversions > 10% increase in average order value > 85% better open rate for email alerts “We’ve used the system to learn how to organize our content and better present it to customers. Where we’ve really seen this show up is in a lift in our average order value – this tells us that we are putting in front of the customers what they want to see.” Products Learning Search Site Champion Conversion Optimizer Cool Features Customized landing pages Rich Auto Complete Brandon Finch director of e-business at Jelly Belly Site Search prompts 33% increase in conversions, 10% increase in average order size Jelly Belly selected Learning Search, Site Champion and Conversion Optimizer from SLI Systems, a provider of intelligent, on-demand search services for e-commerce sites. Since implementing SLI’s site search, conversions have grown nearly one-third, average orders have increased 10 percent, and Jelly Belly has boosted its visibility on major search engines – a combination that helps the candy retailer’s bottom line. Jelly Belly Jelly Belly Candy Company has been delighting candy lovers with its gourmet jelly beans and candies for more than 140 years. Since 2008, Jelly Belly’s website has been an important sales channel for the company, which makes over 75 flavors of jelly beans and over 100 other candies such as gummies, licorice, chocolates and holiday sweets. Jelly Belly’s previous e-commerce platform lacked the search relevance and personalization the company needed for its site to grow. Adding advanced site search in 2008 was one of the first improvements the company made. sli-systems.com A/B Testing Illuminates Best eCommerce Practices Since then, they’ve seen consistent growth in conversion rates and web search visibility. In continuing to adapt and better serve their customers, they refocused on improving site features and overall usability of their site, said Brandon Finch, director of e-business for Jelly Belly. Conversion Optimizer, SLI Systems’ A/B and multivariate testing tool, was used to conduct a series of experiments to determine which layouts and features provided the best conversions or minimized bounce rates. “SLI’s Conversion Optimizer is an amazing tool that allows us to quickly set up A/B tests, let them run and then implement a winning strategy with a high level of confidence,” said Finch. The results were surprising. While they hypothesized that having a merchandising banner at the top of every page would urge customers to buy, the opposite was actually true – having no banner on a page actually resulted in an 18% better conversion rate. “Without it we would have rolled out what we thought was a cool feature – but found out it didn’t resonate with customers,” he said. SLI features enable new marketing opportunities Jelly Belly has used data from Learning Search to make product decisions based on search requests from site visitors. They previously offered only a 10-pound bulk case of Champagne Bubbles candy. But using information from Learning Search, they discovered that Champagne Bubbles candy had become the third most-requested search. They decided to offer a one pound container - and it’s now one of the biggest sellers with wedding planners. Reports such as “Top Keywords” are also used to aid their SEO efforts across marketing and public relations campaigns. The appropriate top-searched keywords are incorporated in press releases, advertising and marketing materials. Jelly Belly also uses SLI’s merchandising console to tune results to create landing pages for customized product groupings. For a Cinco de Mayo promotion, Jelly Belly grouped various beans together to create “recipes” for tres leches cake and Mexican hot chocolate. The URLs of those dedicated landing pages are used for display advertising, retargeting and email campaigns. “It has been very successful,” Finch said. “We’re also able to drop a banner tool onto that page – we can tie in the promotional assets from the email or banner ad to the landing page so it all makes sense.” Customer Service Underpinning all of SLI’s product offerings is excellent, full-service customer support, which Finch said was crucial to their ability to test and adopt new strategies for the business. “SLI’s personalized service is extremely valuable – I have a number of people I can reach anytime I have a question or problem, and the ability to bounce strategies and ideas off a capable team is very helpful,” he said. “Having a responsive partner is what you want and what you need, and that is a strength of SLI.” About SLI SYSTEMS SLI Systems’ learning platform provides customized site search, navigation, merchandising, SEO and analytics solutions that improve usability and conversions on your eCommerce site.To learn more visit sli-systems.com or email [email protected] © 2013 SLI SYSTEMS