In order to better assist its customers with finding what they are really looking for, The Knot started using Baynote technology to provide recommendations and social search technology for its e-commerce sites The Knot Wedding Shop and The Nest Baby Shop.
The media company has already witnessed the benefits of Baynote’s “crowd wisdom” technology. “What’s great about it is it’s dynamic,” said Kristin Savilia, VP of e-commerce for The Knot.
Baynote takes the power of the community—of people and their shopping habits—and applies it in a way so that when someone new comes to the site, it shows them the most appropriate information, Savilia said.
For so long, stores have been shelved by store owners, said Jack Jia, Baynote CEO. “The problem with that is that with more complexity and more products, it’s harder and harder for store owners to understand their customer needs.”
Baynote recently launched its new Collective Intelligence Platform on June 17. The platform allows companies to use visitor-driven recommendations, social search and other services across multiple channels like e-mail, mobile and search marketing. Another new feature allows businesses to use A/B/n (split) or directed testing.
When The Knot first started using Baynote, it discovered that a number of its customers had been searching for something called an “Adirondack tealight chair” and getting no search results. “We knew what they meant, but we were calling it something they would never imagine they would call it,” Savilia said. Within minutes, The Knot identified and fixed the problem, she said.
In the past, The Knot’s IT department would have had to be contacted and eventually someone would have gotten around to correcting the problem, Savilia said. “By then you’ve lost a week or two of valuable conversions on items.”
The Knot has other plans to use Baynote’s technology on its editorial pages. It’s also been utilizing the A/B testing feature, Savilia said. “I am seeing a much stronger average order value when Baynote [technology] is turned on versus when it is turned off,” Savilia said.
