Lessons From a Tommy Bahama Shopper

Recently, I did a bit of Von Maur shopping, my go-to shop whenever I need to purchase something nice to wear for a wedding. Because I loathe shopping for clothes, I consider Von Maur to be an oasis. It’s always well-organized, tidy, a bit up-scale, and yet reasonably priced. I shop, buy, and high-tail-it out of there as quickly as I can. I’m rarely disappointed, which is why I return, time and time again. 
 
As I was descending the escalator to leave the store, I observed a casually dressed man wearing beach-like huaraches searching through a rack of Tommy Bahama tee shirts. Allow me to describe the scene through the analytics lens of a Pinterest Marketing Specialist, won’t you? Mr. Huarache can teach us all a thing or two about Cold and Warm Audiences, Engagements, and Out-bound Clicks. 
 

  • Cold and Warm Audiences: A Cold Audience is defined as customers who have never heard of your product. Conversely, Mr. Huarache and I are examples of Warm Audiences in that we both were familiar with the products we’re searching for. I sought and found something wedding-appropriate in a place I have developed a customer relationship with (That’s about as warm of an audience as you can ever get.). He appeared to be looking for something to compliment his groovy sandals.

  • Engagements: With Pinterest, Engagement rates are calculated by any time your audience interacts with your pins by either clicking on them, saving them, or viewing the sequencing of a carousel or Idea Pin. Mr. Huarache dramatized this concept by actively engaging with the appealing merchandise, sorting through the tee shirts hanging on the rack, lingering over a few that seemed to catch his eye.

  • Out-bound Clicks: The term Out-bound Clicks refers to the number of times your audience clicks-through a pin to land on a destination off of the Pinterest platform. Be it an author’s website, YouTube channel, or some kind of email-collecting opt-in, an Out-bound Click is interpreted as a message that your audience wants to know more. If Mr. Huarache removed a shirt from that well-organized rack for further inspection, Von Maur had done all it could to sell the item. The store, like one’s Pinterest platform, did its job to attract a potential buyer. In the end it’s up to Tommy Bahama, or one’s website, to bring the sale home.