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Someone sent us an email stating that they were "FERMÀT Curious" which got us thinking... Most of you are likely FERMÀT Curious. In this episode Rabah and Alex talk through the changes that are happening in ecommerce and how FERMÀT will future proof your brand from those changes.
The Website is Being Abstracted to a System of Record
Rabah introduces the idea that websites should primarily focus on brand equity and returning customer revenue. Rather than being an all-encompassing platform trying to appeal to everyone, a website should serve as a robust system of record. It should excel in organic presence, direct search, and other critical functions while avoiding unnecessary complexity that can hinder user experience.
For other consumer journeys that don't directly impact brand equity or returning revenue, unique strategies should be developed. This could involve creating specific landing pages, tailored campaigns, and diverse touchpoints that cater to distinct customer needs and preferences. By abstracting the website's role and focusing on targeted strategies, businesses can optimize their overall marketing efforts more effectively. We call this approach a hub and spoke marketing method.
The Hub and Spoke Marketing Model
One of the main topics of this episode was the Hub and Spoke model. Traditional funnel models in marketing, which move potential customers through stages of awareness, consideration, and conversion, often fall short in today's multifaceted consumer journey. Rabah highlighted the limitations of these archaic funnel models, especially when transactions and interactions occur across various platforms.
The Hub and Spoke model offers a more adaptable and efficient framework for managing acquisition and retention. Rather than forcing all interactions into a linear funnel, this model envisions a central hub (the core brand presence) with various spokes (individualized strategies and touchpoints) extending outwards. This approach allows for more personalized and effective engagement with different consumer segments and value propositions.
You are are able to create an experience that matches the customer's intention at the ad level all the way to conversion, and repeat the process as many times as you like.
Experimentation and Testing are Not the Same
When using the hub and spoke model you are able to make bigger bets across the entire funnel. Building out experiments that focus on changing how you interact with a distinct customer group rather than making smaller optimizations with testing. While A/B testing and small tweaks can yield incremental improvements, substantial growth often comes from bold, innovative experiments.
Experimentation should be approached systematically, with a focus on learning and adapting quickly. This involves testing various hypotheses, analyzing results, and integrating insights into future strategies. By fostering a culture of experimentation, you can find new markets, new value props, and new customer segments to sell to instead of finding small improvements in specific areas of the funnel.
FERMÀT Brings it All Together
With FERMÀT instead of sending all of your ads to the same conversion point (the traditional funnel) you are able to point any ad to a fully customized funnel. A funnel that allows you to line up: language, visuals, merchandising, offers, and more to give each customer entry point a tailored experience. Each of these funnels eventually points the customer back to a central hub (your site) to transact the purchase and store the data.
With this approach you are able to keep every experience focused on the target customer and target outcome. Each spoke you create is separated from the others so that you can try radical ideas without having to expose it to all customers on the main site. No risk of brand degradation or app conflicts. A clean slate for you to experiment and adopt the winningest strategies.