RevZilla reaches out to motorcycle riders with personalization

RevZilla Motorsports LLC, a retailer that sells sport motorcycle gear, parts and accessories, can launch marketing campaigns up to three times as quickly since implementing personalization marketing technology from Monetate Inc., says RevZilla co-founder Anthony Bucci..

The technology enables the retailer, which operates RevZilla.com, to determine via a consumer’s IP address where that shopper is located. RevZilla, in turn, can offer greetings in local languages—say, French for a consumer from Quebec—and give the consumer information about shipping and currency. That is important for more than just simple customer service, as RevZilla cannot ship to certain countries because the retailer lacks the proper licensing, Bucci says. And some of the brands sold on the site restrict shipping outside the United States.

The Monetate technology also enables the retailer to personalize or better target returning customers with marketing messages tailored to preferences and past purchases, Bucci says. “Motorcycle riders fall into macro- and micro-segments based on riding style, locale, brand of bike and so on,” he says. “To be able to connect in a more meaningful way with new or returning customers bolsters our chance of further connecting with them and potentially converting them. It’s all about showing the most relevant message at the most opportune time.”

Monetate personalization also enables retailers to determine how a consumer arrived at the e-commerce site. It can see whether consumers came to the site via e-mail links, paid search ads or natural search results, says David Brussin, Monetate’s CEO, president and founder. “And it’s not just knowing where someone is in the world,” he adds. “We also know if someone is less than five miles from the closest bricks-and-mortar stores operated by the retailer, how close they are to the warehouse, and whether they need to be charged sales tax.”

He says the data collected, which the retailer can access and track, is stripped of details that would enable a programmer or marketing executive to learn the identity of the consumer.

Implementing the software-as-a-service technology, which Monetate hosts on the Internet, requires a single line of JavaScript that, once copied and pasted into the template of a retailer’s site, connects the site to the Monetate system. Monetate also collects data about pricing, merchandising and other factors by crawling the retailer’s web site.

“I was pleasantly surprised at the speed and ease in which we were able to implement their platform,” Bucci says. “I would consider it among the easiest integrations we have performed at RevZilla.com.”