Thoughts on Wisdom of the Crowds

I know it’s been a few days since I last posted, but it’s been a busy week at CleverSet. First of all, we’re thrilled to announce that CleverSet has been chosen as a finalist in the “most innovative company” category for the American Business Association Stevies Awards. We were one of just a few hundred finalists chosen from over 2,000 applicants across the U.S.in all sectors. We think that’s a great validation of the innovative technology at the core of CleverSet’s online personalization technology for retailers. But even more gratifying is seeing how CleverSet is helping online retailers boost sales and increase customer satisfaction in ways they never before thought possible. Take Wine Enthusiast. The company – the leading source for wine accessories, storage, information and events – recently implemented CleverSet on wineenthusiast.com to offer customers personalized product recommendations, boosting revenue-per-visit by 23% in a matter of days. And that revenue lift has continued unabated for over two months. So whether CleverSet wins a Stevies Award in June or not, we already feel like we’ve won in the game of helping online retailers.

We continue to focus our attention on the real issues that surround the e-commerce industry, and we’ve just published a whitepaper on how what we think is the next step in online retail: one-to-one marketing. In the paper, we discuss a popular concept – the wisdom of crowds – and how retailers have used it to sell more products. By tapping the wisdom of crowds, retailers can find out which of their products are popular among a large group. That serves a purpose, but it misses the true promise of the Internet: a one-to-one experience. If retailers could tap the “power of one”, selling each individual the products and services that fit his or her individual needs, the retail world would never be the same – and profits would explode. We hope retailers will harness the power of one-to-one marketing, because we are convinced it’s the future of the Internet. If you’re interested in seeing a copy of the white paper, drop me a line todd at cleverset dotcom.