'Net Features : e-commerce merchant

Chat Increases Conversions But It's Not That Simple

MaureenA — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:00:00 GMT

Bold Software, which produces Bold Chat, released its Live Chat Performance Benchmarks report this week and it provides valuable insight into the relationship between online chat and website visitors. The biggest takeaway from the report is that online visitors who participate in chat are four times more likely to convert. But the challenge is getting them to chat since the median of those who actually participate is 1.8 percent.

Bold Software took it a step further and looked at reactive versus proactive chat. Reactive chat is defined by the company as being initiated by the online visitor whereas proactive chat is when a visitor accepts an invitation to chat. The median of those who accept proactive invitations is 6 percent, however this number can be improved by button placement and timing of invitation.

By placing more chat buttons throughout the site, merchants can increase the acceptance rate – 47 percent on or after the second page. And by timing when to provide the invitation, you can positively or negatively affect the response rate. Seventy-nine percent accept after being on a site for two to three minutes.

In August, Website Magazine reported on a survey by Harris Interactive and IMShopping that found 77 percent of respondents wanted assistance making an online purchase. And by not getting the assistance they want, 52 percent said it could prevent them from buying.

So online consumers want assistance, but providing that assistance proves to be a science. Working with your chat provider can help you meet the needs of online consumers and increase your conversions.

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Twitter is Important for Businesses; Need Convincing?

MaureenA — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Google and Bing announced big news last week that they are going to start indexing Tweets in search results. If you didn't think Twitter was important before, it definitely is now. It is now another way to command more real estate on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Though we're not sure how Google and Bing are going to do this, we do know it's going to happen.

If you need more convincing that Twitter is growing in importance then check out the results from a new eMarketer report (“Social Commerce on Facebook, Twitter and Retail Sites”). eMarketer finds that more e-commerce merchants are dabbling in social sites because there are so many consumers using them. However, it also claims that while some e-commerce merchants are experimenting with these sites, most merchants are still ignoring them.

So if you're not on social sites, your competitors might be. Add that to the recent developments from Google and Bing and you could be missing out on brand visibility, customers and ultimately dollars.

In August, we looked at how e-commerce merchants were blogging, so now let’s look at how they approach Twitter.

Amazon
Amazon doesn’t have one account dedicated to its Twitter followers but rather many Twitter accounts. Followers can choose which Amazon niche to follow on Twitter – be it MP3, deals, Kindle news, games and more. Each account provides information about its respective niche. For example, the MP3 handle tweets information about music, deals on music at Amazon, and directs users to its site. The deals handle on the other hand only lists deals. It doesn't interact with consumers or provide any other information besides Amazon deals. The Kindle handle also has little interaction with customers and instead pushes information about the Kindle.

Walmart
Walmart also doesn’t have one account dedicated to its Twitter followers but rather many Twitter accounts. By visiting walmartstores.com/twitter, the company provides a list of users that tweet on behalf of the company. These include those in Walmart’s corporate communications department, a profile for specials, music, outreach and more. Each account provides information to followers specific to that handle. The Twitter accounts for those in the company's communications department interact with users, answer questions and share information about the company. However, the other handles provide information about their respective niches (deals, music, etc.) and don't provide much interaction with followers.

Dell
Dell has four accounts on Twitter – Direct2Dell, Outlet, Home Offers and Small Biz Offers. The first account is everything PC related as well as Dell’s philanthropy. The Outlet profile interacts with users, answers questions and lists deals on Outlet products. Home Offers and Small Biz Offers operate their Twitter handles the same way as the Outlet handle, but directed at consumers and business owners respectively. The Direct2Dell profile doesn't interact with followers, but it does provide a personal contact in its bio for users to follow. This personal contact interacts and communicates with Dell users.

Sears
Unlike the others listed above, Sears has one dedicated Twitter account. This account interacts with users, answers questions, lists deals, features, and outreach. It takes the approach of the other e-commerce merchants listed above and puts it into one account.

eBags
Like Sears, eBags also only uses one Twitter account. It provides information on bags, interacts with followers, offers promotions, and more. The personality of the person behind this Twitter account comes through with excitement and commentary.

Though some of these use multiple accounts to manage different areas of their businesses, and others only one account, it's important that you explain to your customers how you operate on Twitter. Make it clear how many accounts you have and what kind of information those accounts provide. This increases customer happiness, loyalty and provides them with the information they want and need. They are following you for a reason - they want up-to-the-minute information on your company and products. Don't ruin it by confusing them.

Do you already leverage Twitter or are you convinced to start?

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iPerceptions E-Commerce Report: Why Buyers Aren't Buying

MaureenA — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:50:00 GMT

iPerceptions released its E-Commerce Industry Report Q2 2009 this week and the results provide some insight into the reason for the large gap between researching and buying among online shoppers. According to the results, 38 percent of shoppers were on-site to research about products or services, whereas only 17 percent were at the buying stage.

The iPerceptions report breaks down the reasons why visitors didn’t purchase. For e-commerce merchants, this can help you understand how to better meet the needs of your potential customers. The no. 1 reason for lack of purchase was the consumer couldn’t find what they were looking (34 percent of online visitors). Price and navigation/usability barriers were tied for second in reasons visitors leave without buying (13 percent).

iPerceptions points out that a 1 percent increase in task completion could translate into 1.6 percent increase in annual sales. This amount may seem miniscule but put into perspective, a $50 million business could be missing out on $800,000.

So what can you do about it? For one, make sure you’re ranking correctly for your products and not appearing in search results pages for products you don’t sell. And two, take a closer look at navigation and usability of your site. There are many programs and services available to provide you insight into how easy or complicated your navigation is. Take proactive measures so you’re not leaving money on the table.

Do you have other tips for turning potential customers into buyers? Comment below.

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Social Media Drives Traffic to E-Commerce Sites

MaureenA — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:00:00 GMT

Oneupweb released a new study to determine if social media affects how people shop online. The new report called “The 2009 Holiday Special Report: E-Commerce Jingles All The Way to the Bank,” found that social sites are creating much more online traffic to e-commerce sites reinforcing the need for e-commerce merchants to get on the social media playing field.

Oneupweb found that online retailers have an opportunity to be successful this holiday season, minimizing the effects of the economy. Consumers are more engaged with brands online – and expect the involvement of retailers online. In addition, consumers are much more likely to search information about products and companies, and read about reviews and ratings before making a purchase.

Are you an e-commerce merchant that’s leveraging social media to drive traffic to your site and ultimately increase engagement with your brand? The holiday season is just around the corner.

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Fulfillment Solutions for E-Commerce

MaureenA — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:30:00 GMT

For e-commerce business owners, product and marketing are typically core competencies while managing inventory and shipping solutions often are not. But not focusing on these parts of a business can often result in a poor consumer experience. This is where fulfillment companies step in as partners with expertise to allow merchants time to focus on their bigger business goals.

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E-Retailers Plan to Increase Use of Social Networks

MaureenA — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:00:00 GMT

e-tailing and PowerReviews surveyed U.S. e-retailers on their social media usage and the results as reported by eMarketer highlight that three-quarters of the respondents plan to increase their use of social media in the future.

The most interesting from the report was that 86 percent of retailers already use Facebook fan pages today with 10 percent planning to launch a fan page within the next 12 months. Twitter followed second in the most used social media with 65 percent – and 19 percent planning to use it within a year. That’s an astonishing 96 percent using Facebook and 84 percent using Twitter within the year. On the other end of the scale was the usage of community forums (27 percent) and product suggestion boxes (19 percent).

According to eMarketers’ report, e-commerce merchants understand their customers want their retailers to interact with them – merchants find that more socially engaged sites are more competition than those that don’t engage the consumer.

Are you a part of this consensus? Do you feel more competition with e-retailers that use social networking vs. those that don't?

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Leverage Facebook with SortPrice Merchant Store

MaureenA — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 09:00:00 GMT

According to the 2010 Media Planning Intelligence Study more than 50 percent of advertisers and agencies will plan social media into their media plans next year, as reported by MediaPost. So it is no surprise that SortPrice’s Merchant Store application for Facebook is growing with more than 700 online merchants using the platform – including PETCO.

SortPrice is a shopping search engine and its Merchant Store application allows users to add product listings to their Facebook pages, increasing marketing and consumer interaction. Facebook friends can add products to their wish lists, “like” the product or click on the product which takes them to the product page on the e-commerce merchant’s site.

The Merchant Store application has only been around for about a year, but within that year PETCO has gained more than 5,000 friends and increased its interaction with customers and potential customers.

How are you leveraging social networks for your e-commerce platform? Comment below.

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Adgregate, UBL Provide SMBs with E-Commerce

MaureenA — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 09:00:00 GMT

Adgregate Markets and UniversalBusinessListing.org announced a partnership which will provide small business owners the opportunity to provide e-commerce solutions on their websites. Adgregate Markets is known for allowing Web professionals easier transformation of banner ads into ShopAds – widgets that assist consumers with purchasing products on websites.

This announcement provides UBL clients with an additional feature beyond SEO and online management which UBL already offers. UBL assists businesses with getting listed in online directories.

"Local businesses tend to underestimate the value of online marketing and ecommerce because of its cost and complexity," UBL President, Chris Travers said in the release. "UBL and Adgregate are changing that mindset altogether with Adgregate's turnkey, simple-to-use ShopAds platform. We're closing the technology gap between small and large businesses."

Does easy integration of e-commerce widgets encourage your involvement in the e-commerce industry?

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Criminal? Half of Electronic Sites Break EU Laws

MaureenA — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:47:00 GMT

The BBC reported on a recent European Union investigation that highlighted more than half of websites selling electronics break European laws. The EU investigated 369 websites in 28 countries in May due to high levels of complaints on those websites by consumers as well as being large e-commerce websites.

The biggest offender among e-commerce merchants was the lack of explanation to consumers on their rights to refunds. Consumer laws in the European Union allow consumers to return product within seven days with full refund, and two years for repair or replacement.

The next biggest offenders among e-commerce merchants were explaining delivery charges and providing merchant contact information. If the merchants don’t correct these errors they face fines and possible prosecution.

In the U.S. the Federal Trade Commission regulates deceptive practices and consumer protection. E-commerce merchants should be aware and understand Section 5 of the Trade Act to guarantee they are meeting guidelines and not infringing on consumers. “We have a lot of information on consumer and business best practices. And any merchant – offline or online – should follow good practices,” says Betsy Lordan, Office of Public Affairs with the FTC.

The FTC has not done a full-scale investigation like the one by the EU however, it does provide investigation into deceptive practices if need be.

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e.l.f., Bold Software Partner to Offer Chat

MaureenA — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:00:00 GMT

Makeup e-commerce merchant e.l.f. takes another step in its online tools for customers by partnering with Bold Software to offer chat to online customers. e.l.f. is a large makeup merchant that has a very comprehensive online presence: Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, blogs, newsletters, viral marketing, affiliate marketing, and much more.

e.l.f. has established a website that facilitates a lot of needs so customers get all the information they need at eyeslipsface.com as well as encouraging them to come back in the future. Products are broken into category for quick searching; users can create their own beauty profiles so all their makeup information is stored for them; users can even get a virtual makeover. With the new chat functionality, customers can talk with a makeup artist which can definitely enhance conversions.

“We’re always looking for ways to engage with our customers and live chat meshed perfectly with our customer service strategy. Almost immediately after launching BoldChat, we began hearing from our customers that they really liked the live chat feature,” said e.l.f. CEO and co-founder Joseph Shamah in the news release.

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E-Commerce Merchant Blogs: Product, News, Philanthropy

MaureenA — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:50:00 GMT

For an e-commerce merchant, publishing a blog can present various opportunities such as building a community for your customers to publishing new product information. E-commerce merchants that do operate blogs, do so for many different reasons. However, while doing research for this article, it quickly became clear the large amount of e-commerce merchants that don't publish blogs, but do operate Facebook pages and Twitter profiles. It appears some have bypassed blogging altogether and moved to the social networking arena.

Despite those who have decided blogging wasn't for them, there are still some big names in the industry with active blogs. Website Magazine looked at five e-commerce merchants that do blog and what they are doing with their blogs.

Amazon
Amazon’s blog does a good job of addressing news and relating it to their products without hard selling the reader. For example, a recent post about DJ AM addresses his history and talent with links throughout the post to DJ AM products that Amazon sells. Amazon never misses an opportunity to link to a product they sell that relates to the content.

Walmart
Walmart approaches its blog slightly differently than Amazon. While the company pushes product as Amazon does, Walmart is very direct about its promotions, sales and discounts of certain products. For example, its most recent post talks all about a new deal for the Toshiba L355 17 in. screen size laptop for $348. In addition, Walmart uses its blog to promote corporate strategies and goals.

Dell
Dell addresses products in its blog, but spends a good amount of content on its philanthropy, community outreach and the company. It also takes every opportunity to use images and screen shots to make each post more aesthetically pleasing and interesting.

Sears
Sears focuses on the community of its customers with its blog. Found in the MySears section of its website, the blog talks about customer suggestions, community polls, club cards, promotions and deals. In addition, the blog includes images of coupons that customers can print out.

eBags
eBags blog addresses problems and solutions on its blog. For example, the football season just kicked off so you might be in need of a bag that has your favorite team on it. That’s exactly what the most recent post is about. Other posts help moms find diaper bags that aren’t boring, or those in need of a hydration pack. Every post includes product images and links to products.

If you’re an e-commerce merchant, comment below on how you operate your blog. Or if you know of other e-commerce merchant blogs that operate differently, please add your thoughts on those below.

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