Meet Kyle Allison, the Exchange’s Vice President of Omnichannel Marketing
Kyle Allison joined the Exchange eight months ago and is headed into his first holiday season as vice president of omnichannel marketing.
The Exchange Post spoke with Allison about his professional background and goals going into the fourth quarter and beyond.
Exchange Post: Tell us a little about yourself and your professional background.
Kyle Allison: I’ve been working in eCommerce for over a decade. I started in merchandising at Best Buy, followed by Dick’s Sporting Goods and Tiger Direct. I came to the Exchange from Dickies.com – the apparel brand, not the barbeque.
I was in buying and planning for a long time, then moved into analytics, and finally digital marketing.
I have a doctorate in Business Administration from California Intercontinental University and teach online as an adjunct professor for Southern New Hampshire University.
On a more personal note, I have three kids (two stepsons and a daughter) with my best friend, the love of my life and wife of eight years. We recently got a second dog, a schnauzer puppy, which is so much fun!
I’m really just a family guy on the weekends and evenings—I enjoy going to the movies and concerts every now and then, but that’s about it.
EP: What life experiences do you bring to the table that help you develop and lead the Exchange’s Customer Experience team?
Allison: Because I have worked in both merchandising and marketing, I think I can better see both sides of that coin. I try to find ways to work with our merchandising partners to ensure that we address their pain points while also addressing eCommerce pain points, and working on mutual strategies to elevate the online shopping experience for our customers.
As an adjunct professor, I have also learned how to adapt to different learning styles.
I think of our customers as learners—we have to teach them about our brand and the experience to expect from the Exchange and ShopMyExchange.com, and I think my time in the classroom has prepared me for that challenge.
“My job is to make sure our shoppers have a great experience online at ShopMyExchange.com.”
-Kyle Allison
EP: How do you challenge yourself to innovate the online shopping experience for Exchange shoppers?
Allison: I challenge myself to keep in perspective what matters most when developing a marketing message or campaign: what the customer thinks and how they respond and/or engage.
My goal is to leverage the analytics tools we have—and work with the Customer Relationship Management team—to be more data-driven in our decision-making and strategizing to make that online shopping experience better for our shoppers.
Challenging myself also means learning from others. I don’t always have the answers, so I focus on being agile and listening to my team.
I challenge myself every day to walk in with an open mind and listen.
EP: What do you want to see happen in the next year on ShopMyExchange.com?
Allison: My primary focus is personalization. We’ve been working with the Customer Relationship Management team to understand the customer at a personal level—not just whether they prefer email to social or vice versa, but what message and imagery resonates, what deals speak to them.
An example would be seasonal differences based on what region the customer lives in. It is still fairly cold in March in the northern states, so focusing on outerwear would make sense.
During the same time period, however, the southern states will be past outerwear season, so it would make more sense to focus on outdoor living or getting ready for summer.
The next area of focus is optimizing our mobile experience. On average, 55 percent or more of our website traffic comes from mobile, and that is only going to continue to grow for our website and industry.
Understanding the customer experience through analytics, customer survey and insights will help us understand how to increase conversion of these shoppers.
With promotional SMS texting, mobile app generation and other key strategic initiatives, optimizing the Exchange’s mobile channel is key for 2019.
I would also like to do more A-B testing on the website. This means creating and implementing two experiences simultaneously and measuring which is more successful in generating a reaction and converting to sales.
A-B testing provides you with more information on how to market as well as how to make the website a better shopping experience overall.
We are already conducting some A-B testing with our emails, and I would like to see that explored on the ShopMyExchange.com in the next year.
EP: The Veterans online shopping benefit launched about a year ago – what do you see as your top priority in addressing Veterans’ online shopping experience?
Allison: Throughout the Exchange, we share one goal: finding new ways to reach Veterans. From a Customer Experience perspective, we want to ensure that the process of registering online is a seamless as possible.
We have a few challenges—Veterans not knowing about the benefit, or running into obstacles while trying to register—but I think we have made good strides in addressing those.
We need to continue to partner on all marketing fronts to find the best outreach methods and optimize them. We also need think beyond registration—we must continue to engage with Veterans and execute customer retention strategies that keep them coming back as repeat shoppers.
“Word of mouth” is critical to the success of the Veterans online shopping benefit, so ensuring our current Veteran shoppers have a good experience online will also lead to more opportunities for acquisition.
EP: For someone who shops in Exchange stores but is unfamiliar with ShopMyExchange.com, what would you tell them?
Allison: First, I’d let them know that ShopMyExchange.com has a depth of assortment that just isn’t available in the brick-and-mortar stores.
Second, I would emphasize that ShopMyExchange.com is accessible anywhere—24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Third, I would remind our customers that shopping with the Exchange supports vital Quality-of-Life programs for the military community.
Finally, I would highlight online-only promotions and brands that are available in addition to the basic benefits of shopping with the Exchange.
EP: Do you have any final remarks or observations that you would like to pass along?
Allison: My job is to make sure our shoppers have a great experience online at ShopMyExchange.com. I work with teams throughout the Exchange, such as CRM and Corporate Communication, to market the website and drive awareness to all the products and services and deals we have to offer.
The unique thing about working for the Exchange is that it isn’t all about profit—here, we are also giving back to the best customers in the world through Quality-of-Life programs that serve the military community.
This is essential to what the Exchange is, and a big reason we do what we do every day and was one of the top reasons that attracted me to work here.
I love working in eCommerce and look forward to growing ShopMyExchange.com with some of the most amazing professionals I have had the chance to work with so far in my career.
As we move forward in our collective marketing efforts, one quote lives with me. It is my favorite motto: “A limit is a myth created by those who are not willing to try new things.” We need to test our limits, be innovative, think two steps ahead and be agile in the process.
