Alibaba have announced the introduction of the enhanced micro-blogging feature, Weitao on their marketplaces including Taobao and Tmall in a bid to continue supporting their brands flex customer retention muscles.
The micro-blogging tool is updating its layout to feature more-personalised experiences for consumers – especially for loyal customers of a brand. The upgrade would help brands leverage content to interact with consumers while improving the shopping experience.
The experience starts with a shopper’s customer-engagement score, displayed prominently in a thermometer graphic, when they visit a brand’s Weitao page, whether through the brand’s flagship store on Tmall or the dedicated Weitao tab on the Taobao homepage.
This scoring system measures the degree of engagement between brands and their consumers based not purely on the transaction, but also interaction, said Miya Duan, the director of Tmall Brand Marketing. The more interactions they have with a brand – from browsing a store and adding items to their shopping carts to leaving a review and making a purchase – the higher their score. A higher score translates into increased perks and benefits for the customer.
“To measure how engaged brands’ fans are, we should look beyond sales,” said Duan, who led the development of the customer-engagement score. She said while some users are willing to buy from a brand, others are devoting their time and attention. “For brands, [both] are equally important,” she said.
Weitao said it will open up the new format to more brands and content creators on the channel in the coming months, the company said. The newly revamped channel will not only offer dedicated sections to promote new products but also allow users to bookmark these soon-to-launch items. Instead of having to set alarm clocks ahead of the sale, the app will send reminders to users when those products hit the shelves.
In addition to the new features, Weitao also said it plans to expand its suite of marketing tools in the second half of the year, including new campaigns designed to help brands drive sales for their new products and reward their fans with special privileges.
