'Net Features : BigCommerce

Simple Steps to Engaging Webinars

Administrator — Tue, 07 May 2013 18:23:00 GMT

:: By Heidi Wong, Bigcommerce ::

Webinars can be part of the marketing arsenal for even the most early-stage businesses, because it can build brand awareness, email lists and more. Software and delivery technology has changed, putting Web-based seminars within reach of a wider group of users. Despite these changes, though, one thing remains the same: Knowing your customers and what keeps them engaged.

Webinars can be incredibly painful to the audiences they are intended to serve. Reactions are polarized, ranging from “Oh no, are you kidding?” to “Oh, that's great!”

Getting to “Oh, that’s great!” is easier than you think, as long as you understand that Webinars are not about you; they’re about how your customers benefit from working with you. If your current or prospective clients are willing to give you 20-30 minutes of their time, they have to know they can walk away with something practical they can apply to their business or their world.

Whether you are a first-time Webinar host or a seasoned veteran, here are seven simple strategies that will keep your clients interested in hearing from you, and coming back for more.

1. The Webinar doesn't have to be about your product. The most common error many hosts make is designing the content of their Webinar in the service of the company rather than the customer.

In fact, a Webinar may be of greatest use to your audience when it speaks to the lifestyle in which your product is used. For example, I am a fairly new parent. Consequently, I find myself directly in the crosshairs of the “mommy marketing machine.” This group of vendors has Webinars down to a science. One store that sells baby goods in my hometown of Boston recently ran a Webinar on “how to deal with a disruptive toddler.”

What's interesting about this approach is the company is not talking about the products it sells, or any of the benefits related to those products. Instead, they are talking about where those products are used, and how they can be used to manage situations that are of particular interest to their target audience.

This cuts across all marketplaces. With that important shift in focus, attendees learn practical information. More importantly, they start to understand that your company has an expertise on which they can rely.

2. Make sure to host your Webinar at a time when your participants would like to attend. Take the restaurant market, for example. I’ve known Webinar hosts who wanted to make their presentations at two o’clock in the afternoon. For many restaurants, that is either the end of a high-demand lunch rush or planning and prep time before the earliest dinner crowds. It's unlikely that any of their targets would be available at that time.

In that case, an early morning session — say 9 a.m. on a Monday — may be the right choice. In a B2B environment, though, Monday morning wouldn’t be optimal. Friday afternoon, likewise, is probably a bad idea. People are either wrapping up the week or getting ramped up after the weekend.

You have to understand the market you're trying to reach and plan around their down times, when business or important planning is unlikely to be done. In my previous example of the baby goods store, Webinars can run as late as eight o’clock on any given evening. The hosts understand that by that time the baby is (hopefully) asleep, and the parents will be able to participate.

3. Webinars don’t have to be live. Consider the possibility of a video-on-demand feed. Again, know your customers, what they actually care about and when they can spend time with the material. Being able to access Webinars on their own schedule improves the chances of reaching the largest group of clients or prospects.

4. Remember your time zones. The point here again is to find a time that is convenient for your participants. That does not mean, unfortunately, that it may be best for you. Depending on which coast you're on, you may find that you’re getting up much earlier than you'd like or staying in the office much later than you'd prefer.

For a typical corporate environment, a Webinar that begins at one or two o’clock Eastern time is often a good bet. It gives the broadest swath of businesses across all US time zones an opportunity to work the Webinar into their lunch schedule, so that they can multitask and eat lunch while taking in the information.

And while we’re on the subject:

5. Understand that people will be multitasking during your Webinar. Participants are unlikely to be giving you 100 percent of their attention. There should be some mechanism by which participants can, for example, download a PowerPoint presentation or other slide deck after the Webinar to ensure they don't miss any important information. Making the Webinar available in a video-on-demand format can also be helpful here.

6. Consider something other than a “lecture” environment. To improve the participant involvement, I am a proponent of a more informal roundtable or workshop approach. I will often un-mute attendees and have them share stories. People enjoy talking about themselves and sharing relevant information. They feel safer asking questions in that setting. They can relate to other attendees, and get the benefit of hearing other people's questions rather than just getting a product sales pitch. It's more about sharing information in an online environment.

My most successful Webinars have been when I was doing the least amount of talking. I’ve seen the best satisfaction responses, best conversion rates and best reviews when panels of customers talk about their experiences. Of course, not everyone is comfortable doing that, but it’s often true that your best reactions may come when you speak the least.

7. Make content relatable — tell a story. This takes us all the way back to our first point: the Webinar doesn’t have to be about your product or your company. This takes practice. You have to become a good storyteller.

Interestingly, some of the best people I've hired and trained to do this kind of work have been standup comedians. I honestly believe that the best Webinars are more of a cross between a talk radio show and a performance than a lecture. It’s “edu-tainment.” You have to entertain your participants to keep them involved.

Again, people are usually multi-tasking during a Webinar. They are checking their Twitter feed. They are answering emails. They're on Facebook looking at pictures from the weekend. You have to give them a reason to stay and pay attention.

Webinars are about more than just content. The content has to be relevant to their world. You can talk very pie-in-the-sky, but ultimately you have to offer real-life applications that make sense to attendees. Provide ideas that participants can emulate and apply to their world. That's the only way that people will leave your Webinar thinking, “Oh, that’s great! That was actually worth my time.”

Heidi Wong is Senior Manager of Distance Learning for Bigcommerce. She can be reached at heidi.wong@bigcommerce.com

Bigcommerce Grows Momtrepreneur’s Site, Know-How

Amberly Dressler — Mon, 06 May 2013 16:10:00 GMT

Balancing business and baby is tough. And while there is no secret to how moms do it, getting support from qualified sources is a key ingredient to success, just ask "Momtrepreneur” Nicole Ropp (pictured).

After Ropp’s baby was born with very sensitive skin, she created a natural skincare line that was safe and effective. Tender Leaf Natural Products was born and Ropp needed an efficient and easy way to market her product and drive business growth, which is where Bigcommerce came in. With zero online merchandising experience, Ropp needed her e-commerce platform provider to offer comprehensive customer support, which allowed her to grow her business while also being able to focus on being a mom.

“I started researching ecommerce platforms online and checked out all of the major vendors,” said Ropp. “What has impressed me most about Bigcommerce is their customer service. It’s rare to find a company these days that truly values the client like Bigcommerce.”

Bigcommerce got Tender Leaf Natural Products running in one day. The site clearly utilizes many e-commerce best practices including strong calls-to-action, free shipping on orders more than $50, reviews, social media integration, coupon codes, email sign-ups for promotions, FAQs and the list goes on.

Ropp attributes the learning of best practices to Bigcommerce’s success squad (their professional services team), because of ongoing sessions with her rep who educated her on how to build her store and brand.

“They taught me how to develop a marketing strategy, how to use SEO tools to get my store ranked highly on Google, how to use social media (Twitter and Facebook) for selling and marketing, how to integrate applications like email marketing and how to identify and measure my key business metrics like traffic and sales,” said Ropp.

Ropp is also learning the value of testing. The site prominently displays an “Instant Coupon” feature, which Ropp uses to collect email addresses. The recipients get a monthly coupon or additional coupon codes, which are rotated for different customers.

“Repeat customers seem to love it and they definitely come back,” said Ropp. “Although it’s hard to tell if it's garnering any new business, but I'm working on social sharing options (Facebook and Twitter) for the coupons which should help collect new business.”

See how other moms are making an impact on the Web, here.

The Top 15 Apps E-Commerce Websites Can’t Do Without

Administrator — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 19:50:00 GMT

:: By Mitchell Harper and Eddie Machaalani,Co-founders and Co-CEOs, Bigcommerce ::

Statistics show that online shopping is growing rapidly — a trend that presents both opportunities and challenges for entrepreneurs selling via websites.

First, some numbers. According to Forrester Research, online shoppers in the United States will spend $327 billion in 2016, up 62 percent from $202 billion in 2011. By 2016, Forrester adds, e-retail will account for 9 percent of total retail sales. Growth in the number of online consumers will climb 15 percent, up to 192 million in the U.S. from 167 million last year. And each buyer will spend more on average — up 44 percent to $1,738 from $1,207 in 2012.

Good news and Bad News

On one hand, this rapid growth presents a lucrative market of potential prospects. On the other hand, the proliferation of online shopping outlets means that small- and medium-sized businesses have more competition than ever before. A good inventory and well-built website will only get you halfway to success in this competitive market — if that.

Online retailers have several obstacles to overcome on their way to success. Among those is conversion — that is, converting visitors to customers. By some estimates, the average conversion rate in Internet retail is only 3 percent.

Another obstacle is shopping cart abandonment — when prospects add products to a cart but leave without checking out. Baymard Institute compared 18 separate studies on shopping cart abandonment, concluding that 67 percent of e-commerce transactions are abandoned on average.

Internet retail success demands that entrepreneurs learn how to keep their sites “sticky” — offering expert customer service, a robust shopping cart experience, customer-written product reviews, and any other means at their disposal to keep a prospective customer on their site hitting the “buy now” button (instead of wavering or going elsewhere for more information and a better deal).

Fortunately, there is now a wide array of applications designed specifically to overcome obstacles to Internet retail success for small- and medium-sized businesses. Software for email marketing, lead generation, customer service and support (including live chat), and streamlining accounts payable/receivable are all available — as are applications for revenue monitoring and inventory management, drop-shipping, order processing, retargeting and even buyer incentive and referral programs.

The Must-Have Applications for Internet Success

Let’s take a quick look at the software and services no fledgling Internet entrepreneur can live without.

HubSpot. When it comes to automated customer segmentation, this is the app. Users can sync their store data to one of the world’s leading marketing automation platforms, making email marketing and lead nurturing much easier.

MailChimp. Customer data seamlessly syncs with MailChimp for easy email marketing, newsletters, list management and measurement.

Zendesk. The leading cloud-based customer service software can pull in relevant customer data and display it right on the support tickets a company uses to track issues — leading to quicker support resolution and happier customers.

Webgility eCC. A powerful solution for connecting a store to any version of QuickBooks, as well as shipping processors and payment gateways — all streamlined and automated to save time and prevent errors.

Ordoro. This comprehensive shipping platform improves shipping times, reduces labor, decreases costs and gives them access to powerful drop-shipping capabilities.

Stitch Labs. Merchants today sell in a wide variety of ways, and StitchLabs pulls all those together into one order management tool. Whether orders are taken online, via phone or fax, or at events and trade shows, inventory is automatically synced across channels.

ShipStation. Merchants can integrate their stores with ShipStation’s sophisticated, easy to use solution to save time and money on shipping through automated order processing and batch shipping label creation.

Lexity Retargeting. Retargeting — once a weapon in the arsenal of only major companies— comes to small businesses with this Lexity app. By retargeting shoppers with professional, personalized display ads on other sites, this dynamic piece of software helps bring back some of the 98 percent of shoppers who don’t buy on their first visit.

Olark. Live chat and support have long been the linchpins for success among major players like Zappos and Apple. Olark gives merchants of almost any size the benefits of talking directly to their customers, including the ability to view cart contents for each visitor and offer upsells and special offers based on what they’re buying.

71lbs. Late UPS and FedEx shipments account for nearly 6 percent of all shipments. And what most merchants don’t know is that they are owed a full refund on orders that arrive late. When a merchant uses 71lbs, all their shipments are monitored for late orders, and refunds are automatically claimed and credited back to them.

SumAll. This is an incredibly powerful analytics tool that retailers can use to monitor all their revenue data in real time, including sales and discounts, allowing them to see which products and marketing efforts are worth investing in.

Yotpo. Internet retailers who install Yotpo on their stores get access to an easy-to-use, fully customizable review platform that allows customers to review products and share those reviews on social media, driving traffic and engagement.

RetailTower. With RetailTower, businesses can automatically submit their products into 15 shopping comparison engines, including Google Shopping, Amazon, Bing, SortPrice and more. Submission to these popular channels increases reach and drives sales.

Lexity Live. This app lets merchants track visitors on their site in real time, seeing which pages they view, which products they add to cart, and where they drop off. Lexity Live users can also chat with shoppers to close sales and get actionable marketing insights.

ReferralCandy. By using ReferralCandy, merchants can incentivize buyers to refer friends to their store by emailing them a shareable coupon after purchase.

As Internet sales continue to boom, it will take sophisticated tools and analytics to rise above the noise. Even the newest Internet entrepreneurs can enhance their websites — and their revenue figures — by taking advantage of applications and analytical capabilities previously reserved for only the largest, most popular online brands.

About the Authors

Mitchell Harper and Eddie Machaalani are the co-founders and co-CEOs of Bigcommerce, the world's fastest-growing SaaS e-commerce platform that helps power over 30,000 small businesses online. Contact Mitchell mitchell.harper@bigcommerce.com, Twitter handle @mitchellharper. Contact Eddie at eddie.machaalani@bigcommerce.com, Twitter handle @eddiemachaalani.

Bigcommerce Gets Funded, Adds Apps

Michael Garrity — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:34:00 GMT

The e-commerce software provider Bigcommerce recently announced the results of a $2 million integration fund it launched for developers in early 2012.

A plethora of developers came out to utilize the Bigcommerce API to build a variety of new integrations and applications for the e-commerce platform, which are now available in the Bigcommerce app directory. In fact, 500-plus developers originally applied to receive part of the fund, and of those applications that the company decided to endow with capital, the majority focused on providing marketing services; this is largely because Bigcommerce realized that this is the area that most of its small businesses clients had the hardest time with.

“We know that our clients want more than just a pretty online store,” said Co-CEO Eddie Machaalani. “They want traffic, orders and repeat customers. The range of apps built as a result of our integration fund not only extend on our 25 built-in marketing tools, but make it even easier for our clients to drive a stampede of targeted traffic to their Bigcommerce stores.”

Overall, 577 developers applied for funding and 31 different apps ended up being funded. The monetary funding range for individual apps started at $1,250 and went all the way to a whopping $20,000. And, following the influx of new applications as a result of the integration funding, the Bicommerce app store now has 105 total apps.

“The applications we selected are truly best-of-breed integrations that meet significant needs for our clients,” explains the other CEO, Mitchell Harper. “Using our extensive API, market-leading apps like HubSpot, MailChimp and Zendesk, as well as up-and-coming developers like Stitch Labs, are building on top of our platform and generating serious revenue.”

He adds that this is “a win-win situation for Bigcommerce, developers and, most importantly, our clients, who get to extend the functionality of their Bigcommerce stores in a nearly unlimited number of ways.”

Even though integration funding is over, the company is still encouraging developers to submit their app applications at developer.bigcommerce.com.

Bigcommerce to Enhance Its Relationships with New Partner Program

Michael Garrity — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 19:15:00 GMT

SMB e-commerce platform Bigcommerce is set to announce the launch of a new global partner program aimed at helping Web professionals, designers, affiliate marketers and resellers get the most out of their Bigcommerce experience.

Currently, partners help Bigcommerce manage more than 30,000 online stores, and now, the company wants to give back to those partners that have helped to grow its brand with a selection of new business development tools. The offerings include co-marketing materials and promotional opportunities, updated commission options, joint social media and public relations initiatives and an assigned executive to work one-on-one with a Bigcommerce partner to provide onboarding, product training and ongoing support beyond that.

“We realize the tremendous value our partners bring to Bigcommerce and are committed to providing them with a fully encompassing program that supports their efforts and contributes to their ultimate success,” said the Director of Channels at Bigcommerce, Simon Clarkson.

The program is going to be broken into three different tiers that will each accommodate partners as various levels, and as partners become more and more successful with Bigcommerce, they can move up the tiers to receive additional benefits, including joint-promoted relationships (through co-marketing efforts and social media promotion) and upgraded commission structures.

First is the Reseller tier, which serves as an “entry point” of sorts for those new to Bigcommerce. All Reseller partners are given personal resources and a one-on-one relationship to “get to know” Bigcommerce, as well as exclusive promotional materials. After that is the Partner tier, which is for those partners that have a “solid level of experience” with the Bigcommerce platform, in addition to a good performance record with the platform.

Finally, the highest tier is reserved for Premium Partners that are “hand-selected Bigcommerce experts that have proven success with the platform," according to Clarkson. The factors that Bigcommerce uses to select its Premium Partners include, but are not limited to, the number of e-commerce stores they serve, good customer feedback and their level of engagement with Bigcommerce. At the launch of the partner program, Bigcommerce will already have a “handful” of Premium Partners that have been working with the platform for years.

Tuesday’s release will just be the first stage in this new program, and in the coming months Clarkson said he expects to see a portal for managing the one-on-one relationships between Bigcommerce and its partners, with more announcements to come by the end of the year.

Interested parties can apply to join the Bigcommerce Partner Program at bigcommerce.com/partners.

Product Merchandising and SEO Tools at BigCommerce

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 16:22:00 GMT

The latest release of shopping cart software provider BigCommerce (version 7.1) provides merchants with tools for search engine optimization and product merchandising.

"With this release we’ve introduced advanced URL customization options to improve keyword proximity for our clients looking to outrank their competitors in the SERPs," said Chris Iona, product development manager for BigCommerce. "We’ve also improved functionality around product merchandising, specifically for verticals where options are important such as apparel, computers and health.”

The new features within this release include custom URL formats (for product, category, news and Web pages), and rules for product options (price, weight, and stock) among others. While these tools are not unique among shopping chart software providers, they will certainly be a welcome addition for merchants using the BigCommerce platform.

Big Commerce also released storage and transfer statistics to show merchants how much storage and transfer they are using. Storage reports provide information on total usage, along with usage for database, email, and images. Transfer reports on total usage, incoming HTTP, outgoing HTTP, incoming FTP and outgoing FTP are within the reports.

All stores running BigCommerce 7.0 or above are being automatically upgraded to 7.1 over the coming week.

BigCommerce Platform Highlights Social, Mobile Shopping

Linc Wonham — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 21:00:00 GMT

BigCommerce has launched its latest multi-channel e-commerce software platform designed to help small and mid-sized merchants capitalize on current industry trends such as mobile and social commerce. The enterprise features in BigCommerce 6.0 are available in packages starting at $24.95 per month and will allow merchants to sell on Facebook, eBay, mobile devices and via shopping comparison sites such as Shopping.com, PriceGrabber, Shopzilla and more.

The new release includes major features in the following areas:

•    Mobile Commerce: Customizable mobile store templates, an iPad-specific mobile store and a webkit-based design for iPhone, Palm and Android devices.
•    Social Commerce: Merchants can promote and sell their products on Facebook and eBay, make their own sites more social by adding Like buttons and tools that allow shoppers to share comments and product reviews, and list their products numerous popular shopping comparison sites.
•    E-mail Marketing: Merchants can automate their e-mail list development with the new SmartList technology and set up autoresponders and promotions in MailChimp to follow up with customers and share a coupon code after purchase.
•    Analytics: The new “Customers who viewed this product also viewed…” feature gives merchants valuable product search-related data and keeps shoppers on site longer
•    Shipping: Three-click integration with Shipworks
•    Product Photos: Merchants can edit images directly from the BigCommerce control Panel using Picnik.com.

Just today we wrote about the ATG study which indicated that a high percentage of mid-market e-commerce merchants are not satisfied with their current online storefronts. The new platform from BigCommerce is specifically designed to give those merchants the latest in enterprise-level features on a small or mid-sized budget, or to try them free for a 15-day trial.