On January 11-13, 2026, retail and brand professionals, tech vendors, industry experts and media gathered at the Javits Center in NYC for the biggest industry conference of the year – NRF Retail’s Big Show.
Not surprisingly, from the main stage to the exhibit floor, the conference was abuzz with all things AI, LLMs, GEO and Agentic Commerce. Despite ongoing concerns about the economy, consumer confidence and the geopolitical climate, there’s an energetic excitement and anticipation about where the industry is heading.
For the second year in a row, Taggstar sponsored a Big Ideas session, moderated by industry expert Ken Pilot. Addressing the crowded room, Ken welcomed Kacey Sharrett, a former Taggstar customer at GoPro and the newly appointed CDO at Hanna Andersson, and Bob Yarbrough, SVP eCommerce at Knitwell Group.
The session kicked off with a challenge that nearly every retailer is facing right now: traffic is harder and more expensive to acquire, and as a result, conversion matters more than ever. The conversation focused on how brands are using social proof, urgency, and confidence-building messaging at key moments in the shopping journey, especially on the product detail page (PDP), to drive measurable and durable impact.
You can view the full session here.
Below are some key lessons from the session.
The PDP is the new front door
One of the strongest themes from the panel discussion was how eCommerce entry points have shifted. Shoppers are increasingly landing directly on PDPs from paid media, social, and email, often on mobile, and spending just seconds deciding whether to stay or leave a retailer’s site.
With only seconds to capture shoppers’ attention, the PDP has become the real estate to establish trust, relevance, and interest. The panel highlighted how adding clear, contextual signals, such as popularity, urgency, or community validation, can significantly improve the customer experience.
Social Proof drives confidence, not just clicks
The session made it clear that social proof works best when it reinforces and promotes confidence in shoppers’ purchase decisions rather than pushing them aggressively.
“As consumers, we like affirmation of our decisions,” shared Casey, Chief Digital Officer at Hanna Andersson. “Social proof shows customers that a community of people has already made the same choice they’re considering.”
When implemented thoughtfully, these messages don’t compromise brand integrity or push discount behavior. Instead, they help shoppers move from consideration to checkout. For Knitwell brands, including Talbots, Chicos, and Soma, this translated into higher conversions, stronger checkout start rates, and improved full-price sell-through.
Bold testing delivered the strongest results
Internal hesitation around “disruptive” messaging was another topic the panel addressed candidly. While brand and creative teams often prefer subtlety, the strongest performance came from testing more prominent placements.
“I had a heck of a time convincing folks to put these messages in a prominent position,” Yarbrough said. “But we went bold—and we saw big results.”
Rather than letting internal opinion dictate design decisions, the team let customer behavior lead. An important takeaway is to test boldly, measure objectively, and calibrate based on what shoppers respond to, not what feels safest.
Proving durability with 10% holdout groups
The durable impact of social proof is proven through disciplined measurement.
Knitwell Group maintains 10% holdout groups to ensure results are real, incremental, and sustained over time.
“We expected a big newness factor that didn’t pan out,” Yarbrough noted. “This has a real, durable impact on customers—even loyal ones.”
This approach revealed that social proof was not a short-term novelty. It continued to perform even with loyal, repeat shoppers. The uplift’s durability gave both the finance and leadership teams confidence that the investment would deliver ongoing value.
Easy implementation accelerates time to value
Despite operating across multiple platforms, implementation of Taggstar’s Conversion Messaging platform was described as fast and low-lift. Both panelists emphasized that the technology itself was straightforward to deploy. A tag-based approach and turnkey prototyping minimized IT burden and allowed teams to focus on strategy and optimization rather than heavy engineering work. The more challenging work was internal alignment.
“At GoPro, the hardest part wasn’t the implementation,” Casey shared. “It was sitting with the brand team and deciding what messages truly reflect who we are.”
Maintaining brand integrity across multi-brand portfolios
The ability to tailor messaging, tone, and visual treatment ensures each brand within Knitwell Group’s portfolio, Chico’s, Talbots, and Soma, maintains its distinct identity while leveraging the same underlying capabilities, proving that conversion optimization does not require a one-size-fits-all experience.
Why the right technology partner matters
Both speakers stressed that outcomes were driven not just by the platform, but by the partnership behind it.
“Some of my best partners are the ones willing to entertain the crazy and say, ‘I’m along for the ride,’” Casey said.
The most effective partners, like Taggstar, bring proactive ideas, roadmap innovation, design expertise, and a willingness to co-create and test new approaches together.
This strategic collaboration accelerates learning, reduces internal friction, and unlocks stronger results faster.
The takeaway from the session
The message from the panel was clear – in an environment where every site visit counts, confidence is a powerful conversion driver. Retailers that invest in confidence-building experiences, supported by bold testing, disciplined measurement, and strong partnerships, see meaningful, lasting impact.
As Yarbrough summed it up during the session:
“It’s not a matter of if it works—it’s how well you show it.”
You can view the full session here.
Want to learn more how brands and retailers like GoPro, Knitwell Group, Steve Madden, Bloomingdale’s and many more accelerate growth with AI-powered Conversion Messaging?
