'Net Features : ecommerce

Drupal Commerce Sites Go Mobile

Amberly Dressler — Thu, 09 May 2013 15:40:00 GMT

In the next few years, smartphone commerce is expected to represent 9 percent of all e-commerce sales, according to Forrester Research’s U.S. Mobile Retail Forecast, 2012-2017. The need to create a branded mobile shopping experience to reach this growing market is a concern for today – if not yesterday.

With this in mind, Commerce Guys, creators of Drupal Commerce, announced the launch of its Commerce Mobile, which is a native cross-platform mobile app that brings engaging online shopping experiences to consumers on any mobile device. The company touts the native app’s ability to integrate quickly and seamlessly with established Drupal Commerce websites, creating one unified backend to eliminate the need for redundant maintenance.

“The migration to mobile Web browsing and mobile shopping is an undeniable facet of modern e-commerce, and consumers increasingly expect a great experience across platforms,” said Mike O’Connor, Commerce Guys founder and president, North America. “With Commerce Mobile we bring all of the functionality of established Drupal Commerce stores to mobile shoppers with full, ongoing support to ensure engagement and flexible functionality is not sacrificed on mobile platforms.”

The way it works is that Commerce Mobile connects the app’s functionality with existing e-commerce sites. Content from the site automatically adapts to suit the screen of mobile shoppers’ phones or tablets. The new app also connects user accounts so a customer’s cart and order history is synchronized between the two channels.

Other features of Commerce Mobile include:

Product browsing through taxonomy catalog or faceted search
Product displays with full attribute support
Shopping cart management and simple wish list to synchronize shopping carts
Login/account management and viewed products and search history browsing
Front-page dashboard with image slider for promoting deals, content or products
Forum-based support for the app

Terapeak Brings Sales Analytics to Magento Merchants

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 12:00:00 GMT

Analytics platform provider Terapeak has released MySales, an application extension for Ebay's Magento solution.

Terapeak will provide Magento retailer insight into sales across across multiple channels in unified view, showing merchants just how well sales and merchandise are competing in popular marketplaces - including Ebay.

“We want our customers to have access to information and tools that will enable them to achieve greater visibility into their own sales performance," said Kevin North, President and CEO of Terapeak. "By having the ability to compare their activity across multiple channels, our customers can determine how and where they can diversify their business. MySales is a natural extension of the market intelligence that Terapeak currently provides to online merchants.”

The official launch of MySales will be at the Magento Imagine Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada from April 8 to April 11, 2013. Terapeak currently services more than 1.3 million online retailers.

New Navigation Options Come to CoreCommerce

Allison Howen — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 18:00:00 GMT

A new software update from e-commerce platform CoreCommerce includes a combination of new features and integrations to help meet the growing needs of current customers.

Among the updates are two new types of navigation options, a drop down and mega menu, which can be accessed in the merchant’s admin area. The menu options allow them to customize how their navigation appears on their storefronts, which assists them in creating a more user-friendly environment. The mega menu option, for example, gives users the ability to use and organize images, code and text in addition to links, which can make it easier for consumers to find exactly what they are searching for on the site.

Moreover, CoreCommerce released updates to payment processors PayPal and Braintree. The new PayPal feature allows merchants who have multiple currencies enabled to choose which currency to send to PayPal, while the Braintree Blue and Orange integrations have been upgraded to give merchants the choice to process payments with authorize and capture or authorize only within their store’s admin area.

“Our community of fantastic merchants play a big role in deciding which features are most beneficial to add. We are dedicated to continually striving to make our software the very best in order to benefit our customers,” said CEO Matt DeLong.

It is also important to note that the Nivo Slider gallery has been updated to identify photo dimensions, as well as offers merchants the ability to add a background color to the slider. Additionally, CoreCommerce stores can create a custom message for purchases made with money orders, which will appear on a printer-friendly customer order receipt.

Lastly, CoreCommerce merchants using the QuickBooks integration should know that a purchase order column has been added to the account order history, which can be searched by using the purchase order number.

Consumers Will Buy From Email

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 17:30:00 GMT

Mobile email is playing an important role in the success of e-commerce retailers’ marketing initiatives and new research from email marketing service Blue Hornet, a division of Digital River, shows just how much.

The 2013 Consumer Views of Email Marketing report from Blue Hornet reveals that 63 percent of consumers say they “may” buy from an email read on a mobile device. It’s not all good news however. The number who may unsubscribe due to poor mobile display exceeds 30 percent (see graph below) and it’s only increasing.

Mobile email design is obviously taking center stage, but what is really driving e-commerce activity? According to the survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers, nearly 84 percent of consumers report discounts as the most important reasons for signing up to receive emails. Mobile devices are clearly becoming an integral part of the consumer e-commerce experience as 74.2 percent will redeem discounts by showing their mobile device to a cashier according to the research.

E-Commerce Sales Taxes in Focus

Allison Howen — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 19:30:00 GMT

There are a few reasons why consumers prefer shopping online rather than in-stores: 1) there are no lines or crowds when shopping online 2) it is cheaper and easier to comparison shop online 3) there is no sales tax when shopping online – or is there?

Over the past few years there has been legislation proposed in regard to online sales tax. While lawmakers claim that enforcing online sales tax could help balance state budgets and fund police, teachers or other needed programs, brick-and-mortar retailers have complained that the lack of sales tax on the ’Net has given online merchants an unfair advantage in the marketplace. However, with the Marketplace Fairness Act looming, merchants may have no choice but to charge sales tax and pay it back to the states soon…

What is Nexus?

Online retailers are currently required to collect sales tax from customers in their own states; however, Nexus, which is defined as having a significant physical presence in a state, determines whether an online retailer is also required to collect sales tax from out-of-state customers. According to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Quill vs. North Dakota, online retailers must collect sales tax from out-of-state customers only if the retailer has a physical presence within that customer’s state, which includes a temporary or permanent presence of property or people working in that state.

That being said, the definition of Nexus is often times inconsistent between states, which leaves many e-commerce retailers assuming that they don’t need to collect sales tax from out-of-state customers. However, this assumption may be wrong if a business employs anyone within a state or someone who physically enters a state to conduct business, if the business leases or owns any property in the state, or if the business participates in any trade shows that promote its products or service in the state.

Determining Sales Tax

If Nexus determines that your business must add on a sales tax charge for transactions in certain states, the next step is to establish which rate to charge, this is where things can get tricky, because the U.S. has more than 7,500 tax jurisdictions that each have their own exemptions and rules. This makes it very difficult for e-commerce merchants to keep up with sales tax rates on their own, which is why it is recommended that online retailers leverage shopping cart solutions that are programmed to automatically calculate sales tax rates, such as Accurate Tax, Avalara or Exactor, to name a few. That being said, the proposed Marketplace Fairness Act is aiming to simplify state sales tax laws, which will make it much easier for merchants to determine rates.

What is the Marketplace Fairness Act?

The proposed Marketplace Fairness Act will require online retailers, regardless of where they are located, to collect local tax on retail sales. It is important to note that this law actually aims to simplify the state tax codes in order to make compliance easier for remote (e-commerce) retailers, and has even been supported by e-commerce juggernaut Amazon, among many others. The reason why states must simplify their laws is that two Supreme Court rulings, including the aforementioned Quill vs. North Dakota, mention concern that collecting sales tax for multiple states is too difficult for remote retailers.

According to marketplacefairness.org, states that are seeking collection authority have two options for simplifying their sales tax laws:

1) The state can join 24 states that have already adopted the simplification measures of the Streamlined Sales Tax and Use Tax Agreement (SSUTA), which has been developed over an 11-year period by 44 states and more than 85 businesses.

2) The state can comply with five simplification mandates that are listed in the Marketplace Fairness Act bill. Directives include notifying retailers in advance of rate changes within a state, designating a single state organization to handle sales tax registrations, filing and audits, establishing a uniform sales tax base for the entire state, using destination sourcing to determine sales tax rates for out-of-state purchases and providing free software for managing sales tax compliance.

Online retailers will be required to collect sales tax on all sales shipped to the 22 states that are SSUTA members starting on the first day of the calendar quarter that is at least 90 days after the date of the enactment of the Marketplace Fairness Act. That said, small online retailers will not be required to participate in this tax program.

The Silver Lining for Small Businesses

The Small Seller Exception within the Marketplace Fairness Act states that an online retailer who made less than $1,000,000 in total remote sales in the U.S. within the preceding calendar year will be exempt from tax collecting requirements. It is important to note that remote sales are defined as sales to customers in states where the retailer does not have a physical presence (Nexus).

From Facebook Comments to E-Commerce Transactions with Soldsie

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 18:20:00 GMT

Social commerce has been dragging its virtual feet.

Sure, American Express and Twitter certainly have super high aspirations in this regard, but all those F-commerce solutions so highly touted a few years ago just aren't capturing the attention of Internet retailers like they used to (or maybe should).

The reason could be obvious - that social network users aren't in a buying frame of mind when they spend time there. Or it could be something else - like that existing solutions just don't make it easy enough for consumers to actually purchase on the network from the retail brands they follow. That seems to be the opportunity recognized by Soldsie, a startup launched last year that could be one to watch in the future for retailers.

Soldsie is rather unique in that it is a platform and application that lets shoppers buy something directly from a brand's Facebook page by simply typing in the word "sold" into the comments section. Once they do that, Soldsie then sends an email invoice of their order and they can checkout. Glam Grab Accessory Auction's Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/glamgrab) is using Soldsie now. In a March 3rd update, it looks like the company generated two "sold" responses from its 20,000-plus following on a post which garned over 350 likes and 12 shares - not bad, not bad at all.

The Soldsie service is free for the first $700 in transactions; but merchants will need to pay a three percent transaction fee after that. Soldsie apparently just received a cool $1 million in seed funding from institutional investors including 500 Startups, e.ventures, and FundersClub, so at least the venture capitalists see the value.

But as an Internet retailer, is Soldsie something you'd consider?

Ecommerce Shipping Simplified with 3dCart/Endicia App

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 17:47:00 GMT

In the world of e-commerce, shipping is one of those essential elements to Web success. The more seamless you make order management and delivery for online shoppers, as well as for you as an Internet retailer, the better off everyone will be. Fortunately, there is no shortage of opportunities at the ready.

Case in point, ecommerce software provider 3dcart has announced an integration with postage technology solution Endicia, which empowers 3dcart's 16,000 customers to print USPS labels with prepaid postage directly from the administrative interface. Merchants will be able to customize logos, text, images and other brand elements using the solution.

“With the addition of Endicia Label Server integration, 3dcart gains a competitive advantage by being the only ecommerce solution to allow online retailers to print USPS, UPS, FEDEX and TNT shipping labels directly from the admin interface,” said 3dcart CTO Jimmy Rodriguez. “Shipping can be one of the most difficult tasks in ecommerce, especially for small stores with small staffs. Over the last few years, we’ve worked to take the heavy-lifting out of the process—and the Endicia integration is a huge step in the right direction.”

The Endicia Label Server app will cost $15.95/mo but 3dcart is offering a 60-day free trial for existing and new 3dcart merchants.

The Retailer with the Highest Showrooming Risk Is…

Allison Howen — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 18:55:00 GMT

The momentum of mobile has made showrooming a growing threat to brick-and-mortar retailers. A new study, however, reveals that some retailers are at higher risk than others.

The Aisle to Amazon study from location analytics company Placed unsurprisingly identified Best Buy and Target as high-risk retailers when it comes to consumers viewing products offline and then making purchases online. That being said, Best Buy and Target are actually not the most at risk when it comes to showrooming. In fact, Bed Bath & Beyond, PetSmart and Toys ‘R’ Us all face greater risk, with Amazon shoppers being 27 percent more likely to visit Bed Bath & Beyond, 25 percent more likely to visit PetSmart and 21 percent more likely to visit Toys ‘R’ Us before making a purchase online.

“Amazon was the clear winner in e-commerce 1.0, and unless brick-and-mortar retailers shift from reactive to proactive, Amazon will win e-commerce 2.0 on the backs of offline retailers,” said David Shim, Founder and CEO at Placed. "All the attention to date has been on Target and Best Buy as the early victims of showrooming, but significantly more retailers are at risk. Retailers need to know that it’s not a question of if or when showrooming will impact their business, as an aisle to Amazon is already in their store.”

In an attempt to combat showrooming, both Best Buy and Target recently announced Amazon price-matching policies, but this isn’t the only way that brick-and-mortar retailers can combat Amazon shoppers. Other strategies include:

1. Selling exclusive products – retailers can take Amazon out of the equation by selling customizable products or products that are exclusive to their brand or a brick-and-mortar location.

2. Integrating online features offline – If consumers are already shopping in-stores with their mobile phones, why not make the process easier? One way merchants can do this is by posting QR codes next to items that will take consumers to product reviews when scanned. Moreover, merchants can launch location-based promotions on platforms like Foursquare, such as a coupon for 25 percent off an in-store purchase when someone checks-in. This allows consumers to participate with mobile, while also giving them an incentive to make an immediate purchase.

3. Maintaining great service – One of the biggest advantages brick-and-mortar merchants have over online retailers is their ability to provide excellent service to any customer that walks through the door. This is why merchants should make sure that every member on their staff has a good attitude and is educated about the products and services that are being sold.

5 Video Strategies for Merchants

Allison Howen — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 20:40:00 GMT

A strong video strategy can provide merchants with many benefits – from an increase in engagement and conversion rates to better placement within the SERPs.

The biggest challenge with video, however, is creating content that will engage consumers and entice them to hit the play button. While many merchants implement video on their sites, often times their video strategies are limited to product videos and demonstrations for specific items. Although these types of videos are definitely helpful, they aren’t very engaging and are rarely available for every product on an e-commerce website.

In order to harness the true power of video, merchants need to create a more robust and innovative strategy that not only showcases their products, but is also interactive and makes consumers want to hit play. Luckily, Website Magazine has compiled a list of five tactics that can help merchants revamp their current video strategy to get better results, check them out below:

Go Live

Brands that want to stay a step ahead of the competition should consider implementing a live video strategy. One way this can be done is with the Your BrandLive platform, which is a video communication software that uses live video and chat to create a unique customer to brand experience. In fact, brands can use the service to broadcast live video from any location and participate in real-time interactions with customers. Moreover, merchants can sell products during video sessions by uploading items into the Brandlive dashboard. By doing this, products are displayed across the bottom of the live video with titles, descriptions, images, prices and a call-to-action button for making a purchase.

That being said, merchants can also go live on Google+ with Google Hangouts. This feature can be used to video conference with up to ten people at a time, as well as live-stream a broadcast publicly onto Google+, YouTube and websites. This could come in handy when revealing a highly-anticipated product for the first time.

Start Advertising

According to comScore, U.S. consumers watched 11.3 billion online videos in December 2012, which proves that video advertising is a big business. Furthermore, video ads tend to be successful because consumers typically either have to choose to hit play in order to view the advertisement or have already decided to watch a video (meaning they are alert) when the advertisement is shown. Merchants can launch video advertisements through Google, as well as on video ad networks like BrightRoll, Live Rail or Adap.TV. Additionally, LinkedIn recently announced video ads on its self-serve platform, which could be a good place for B2B merchants to display their advertisements.

Promote User-Generated Reviews

Most merchants know how influential consumer reviews can be, so why not feature them in a unique way? Yes, we are talking about video reviews. In fact, there are a variety of platforms available that allow merchants to include user-generated video content on their site, including Bravo, Authntk and EXPO TV. These videos could even prove to be more valuable than written reviews, because it is easier to tell someone’s sentiment when you can watch them speak, which makes this type of user-generated content more personable, relatable and believable.

Get Social

It is important to use a multi-channel approach when implementing a video strategy. By maintaining a YouTube channel and cross-promoting that content on other social sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest, merchants have the ability to show their products to a wider audience. Moreover, merchants can use their social videos to create a variety of content outside of tutorials and demonstrations, such as entertaining spoofs or a behind the scenes look at a company.

Videos for Every Item

Just because you have updated your current video strategy to include some of the aforementioned tactics, doesn’t mean you should neglect adding or updating product videos/demonstrations on your site. After all, product videos are helpful to consumers who are on the verge of making a purchasing decision, which means having a video on every product page could potentially have a dramatic influence on conversion rates. That being said, creating videos is time consuming, which is why platforms like Treepodia can be very helpful to merchants. This is because Treepodia can be used to turn entire product catalogs into product videos. The platform does this with Image Reviving Technology, which brings still photos to life. Moreover, the videos are always kept up-to-date as the platform automatically generates new video versions to reflect changes in inventory and all videos are based on existing product images, descriptions, prices, user reviews and merchandising rules.

Start Promoting: Holiday Guide for Merchants

Allison Howen — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 21:20:00 GMT

The term “holiday” is defined as a day of festivity or recreation when no work is done. For merchants, however, holidays tend to increase the workload and (hopefully) sales, because holidays typically give consumers more free time (and a reason) to shop for themselves, for others and for festive products, in general.

In order to receive the benefits that holidays can bring in, merchants must first spend time creating a marketing plan for each special day. For example, popular holidays, such as Thanksgiving or Independence Day, require months of planning and robust marketing, including search advertisements, an email campaign and a social strategy. On the other hand, merchants may decide that email and social are suitable channels for promoting smaller holidays, like Grandparents’ Day or Groundhog Day.

To prepare the appropriate type of campaign for each holiday, merchants must first choose which special dates to acknowledge. Luckily, Website Magazine has compiled a list of holidays, complete with some strategic tips, to help merchants plan out their marketing initiatives. Check out the month-by-month breakdown of important dates below:

(Note: the dates are based on the 2013 calendar)

January

Merchants should use January not only to recuperate from last year’s busiest shopping season, but also as a time to start preparing for next year’s holiday shopping season. This is because December’s holiday campaigns are still top-of-mind, and should provide merchants with insights into what worked and what didn’t work. That being said, January also has some pretty important holidays that merchants can use to promote sales, such as New Year’s Day and Martin Luther King Day.

January 1 – New Year’s Day

January 20 – Inauguration Day (Once every four years after the presidential election)

January 21 – Martin Luther King Day (third Monday in January)

February

February hosts both popular holidays that require strong marketing, such as Valentine’s Day, as well as some quirky holidays, like Groundhog Day and Mardi Gras, that can be promoted with a strategic email and social campaign. Additionally, Leap Day occurs in February about every four years, which presents merchants with a unique opportunity to offer some exclusive sales. Lent also provides some clever marketing tactics, as those who observe Lent typically give up a personal vice during this time (from Feb. 13 through March 30). Perhaps you can encourage them through their journey by offering replacements.

February 2 – Groundhog Day

February 10 – Chinese New Year (The first day of the Chinese calendar)

February 12 – Lincoln’s Birthday

February 12 – Mardi Gras (The last day before Lent)

February 14 – Valentine’s Day

February 18 – Presidents’ Day (third Monday in February)

February 29 (2016) – Leap Day (typically every four years)

March

The most popular holiday in March is typically St. Patrick’s Day, however, in 2013, Easter also falls in this month, which means that merchants should plan their campaigns accordingly. Furthermore, March 20 is the first day of spring, which merchants can use as a way to promote new spring/summer items.

March 17 – St. Patrick’s Day

March 20 – First Day of Spring (Spring Equinox)

March 25 – Passover Begins (starts on the 15th day of the Jewish month of Nissan)

March 31 – Easter (first Sunday after or on the first full moon, after the Spring Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere)

April

April might start out as a joke, but merchants should take marketing campaigns during this month seriously. This is because Tax Day is April 15, which means that a good majority of consumers are going to have some extra spending money.

April 1 – April Fool's Day

April 2 – Passover Ends

April 15 – Tax Day

April 22 – Earth Day

May

Before the flowers begin to bloom in May, merchants should have their Mother’s Day campaigns running in full force – as this is one of the busiest shopping times of the season.

May 5 – Cinco de Mayo

May 12 – Mother’s Day (second Sunday of May)

May 27 – Memorial Day (last Monday in May)

June

With summer on everyone's mind, June is a great time to launch some “hot” Father’s Day deals.

June 16 – Father’s Day (third Sunday of June)

June 21 – First Day of Summer (Summer Solstice)

July

Independence Day is summer’s biggest holiday, which means that merchants should start launching their marketing campaigns for Fourth of July shortly after Father’s Day in order to receive the best results.

July 4 – Independence Day

August

Although August may be lacking big-name holidays, merchants should use this month to promote end-of-summer and back-to-school sales.

August 21 – Senior Citizens Day

September

Back-to-school sales typically run through the end of September, but there are a few notable holidays in this month that merchants can use within promotions, such as Labor Day and Patriot Day.

September 2 – Labor Day (first Monday in September)

September 8 – National Grandparents’ Day (first Sunday after Labor Day)

September 11 – Patriot Day

September 22 – First Day of Fall (Fall Equinox)

October

October is a time when merchants can launch spooky sales to capitalize on Halloween. They should also use this time to start preparing for the busiest shopping season of the year, which is right around the corner.

October 6 – Boss's Day

October 14 – Columbus Day (second Monday in October)

October 31 – Halloween

November

The busiest shopping season of the year officially kicks off on Thanksgiving every year, which means that merchants should start launching holiday-related search advertisements at the beginning of this month in order to see sales skyrocket on Black Friday and Small Business Saturday.

November 11 – Veterans’ Day

November 28 – Thanksgiving Day (fourth Thursday in November)

November 28 – First Day of Hanukkah (25th day of Kislev, according to the Hebrew calendar)

November 29 – Black Friday (first Friday after Thanksgiving)

November 30 – Small Business Saturday (first Saturday after Thanksgiving)

December

Holiday sales should be in full force by December 1, but merchants should continue their holiday marketing initiatives through Christmas, before switching to year-end sale campaigns.

December 2 – Cyber Monday (first Monday after Thanksgiving)

December 5 – Last Day of Hanukkah (Eight days after the start of Hanukkah)

December 7 – Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

December 21 – First Day of Winter (Winter Solstice)

December 24 – Christmas Eve

December 25 – Christmas

December 26 – Kwanzaa (until January 1st)

December 31 (New Year’s Eve)

Other Important Dates

While this list has more than 40 important dates on it, there are undoubtedly many other holidays that merchants can create marketing campaigns around – like National Hug Day (January 21), National Pancake Day (February 28) and Sweetest Day (the third Saturday in October). Moreover, merchants can create sales and promotions around dates that are special to their company, like an anniversary or founder’s birthday. By creating sales around specific dates, merchants can help increase traffic and conversions as it provides consumers with a sense of urgency. That being said, it is also important to not overdo or promote holidays too close together, because consumers won't pay attention to a "special holiday sale" if it occurs too frequently.

Humanizing E-Commerce with a Conversation Engine from Loopit

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 19:15:00 GMT

Social shopping was all the rage several years ago. The digital dream was that like-minded consumers (shoppers) would organize themselves, discover products and shop online together, engaging with each other in the context of the merchant’s brand and exposing its products to an infinitely larger audience in the process.

While it definitely had its appeal for both merchants and consumers, the available technologies were pretty weak at the time and it never really worked as imagined. As a result, the industry somewhat lost their collective interest over time. Or did they? Merchants still want users to have an positive experience and so do shoppers (nothing really new there). But virtual change is afoot - some vendors are actually aiming to relive the social shopping dream (at least in part) by putting a greater emphasis on enabling consumers to engage in conversations more seamlessly.

RedStart Ventures (a venture foundry) last week launched LoopIt, a platform that enables users to poll specific members of their email address book or by posting their queries to Facebook in the hopes that their friends will join the conversation and lead them to better buying decisions. LoopIt essentially hopes to restore the human element to online shopping. Whether users are interested in publicizing their purchase considerations remains the big question.

One of the first retailers to deploy LoopIt is popular high-end fashion rental site Rent the Runway, which now offers the LoopIt conversation button for items available on its site, allowing members to poll their friends or fellow Rent the Runway style enthusiasts.

"LoopIt is the perfect resource for Rent the Runway members who have already organically formed a community that seeks outfit and styling tips from one another," said Jenn Hyman, CEO & Co-Founder of Rent The Runway. "With LoopIt, they will have an extended group of virtual stylists, including their own friends, as well as other fashion-forward members who also love to experiment with designer fashion. As a company that puts customer experience first, it is monumentally important for us to offer our members tools that will help create the most seamless and enjoyable experience possible."

10 Platforms for Obtaining Customer Feedback

Allison Howen — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 21:35:00 GMT

To keep an e-commerce store running at peak-performance, merchants need to pay attention not only to analytics, but also to customer feedback.

While analytics are a good starting point for figuring out which site elements need to be revamped or tested, customer feedback gets straight to the point by telling merchants exactly what a site visitor liked or disliked about their shopping experience. This type of insight can be used to quickly implement adjustments to a Web store in order to optimize the user experience.

There are many ways that merchants can obtain feedback from their customers, from social media to surveys and forums, which is why Website Magazine has compiled a list of platforms that merchants can leverage to gain insights into their customers’ shopping experiences.

Get Satisfaction

Merchants can use the Get Satisfaction platform to implement a more social shopping experience into their Web stores. This is because the platform can be used to obtain and respond to customer feedback regarding questions, problems, ideas and praise. Get Satisfaction can also be integrated directly into product pages with the E-Commerce Communities solution, which can help answer common customer questions and reduce shopping cart abandonment rates.

SuggestionBox

SuggestionBox enables merchants to put a virtual suggestion box on their website. Merchants simply need to add a few lines of code to their site in order to start capturing feedback in real-time. The platform offers the ability to organize feedback as well as group similar suggestions together so that one response can reach multiple customers. It is also important to note that merchants have the ability to choose which suggestions stay private or become public.

OpinionLab

This popular Voice of the Customer (VoC) platform is leveraged by more than half of the Fortune 50. It allows merchants to gain real-time feedback for a variety of channels, including websites, mobile sites, products and even brick-and-mortar stores. The platform’s opt-in, page-specific model helps capture feedback from consumers who are already engaged with a brand, which can help organizations pinpoint issues in real-time and take action quickly.

Kampyle

Merchants can use the Kampyle platform to learn which areas of their website customers are likely to run into trouble. This is because site visitors can submit feedback on a variety of issues – from broken links to reporting competitive prices seen on other websites. Additionally, the platform's feedback forms automatically prompt visitors to include their contact details and also provide a newsletter opt-in area, which enables visitors to easily subscribe to a merchant's email campaign.

UserVoice

Merchants can leverage the UserVoice Feedback solution to collect and manage their customers' input. The solution provides merchants with a forum where customer can both submit and vote on feedback and allows people to submit feedback without signing up for an account. Moreover, UserVoice’s search-as-you type functionality ensures that customers are able to find similar feedback to vote on instead of creating a duplicate entry on the same topic. The solution moderates content so that forums aren’t littered with spam or profanity, however, merchants also have the ability to turn on manual moderation in order to have complete control of content.

Zoho Discussions

Merchants can create their own customer support community with the Zoho Discussions platform, which offers rebranding tools so that users can customize their support community to stay consistent with a brand’s look and feel. Additionally, the platform enables merchants to set moderation guidelines, export data, use widgets to capture feedback from across the Web and organize discussions.

Usabilla

The Usabilla platform is unique because it not only provides merchants with consumer feedback, but also measures customer emotions. Merchants simply need to add a snippet of code to their site so that the feedback button is visible to visitors. The platform enables consumers to select and rate any item of a Web page by choosing one out of five emotions. Site visitors can also add comments to provide additional feedback if desired. Moreover, the platform provides merchants with a dashboard that includes a visual trendline in order to keep track of collected feedback over time.

Google Moderator

Google has a tool for everything, including obtaining feedback. The Google Moderator tool is free and allows users to create a forum about anything (e.g. site usability) and open it up for people to submit questions, votes, ideas or suggestions. For the best results, merchants should embed their Moderator page to their website.

iPerceptions

Merchants can leverage this platform to gain insights from customers through surveys and comment cards. Users can design their own surveys and control who receives the surveys. iPerceptions collects data such as location, IP address, operating system and browser type for each respondent, which makes it easy for merchants to analyze specific customer segments. Furthermore, the platform has the ability to collect feedback in more than 32 languages.

IdeaScale

IdeaScale enables merchants to foster a community by allowing customers to submit feedback, discuss and vote on ideas. The platform also offers a Facebook App so that the IdeaScale community can be integrated directly onto a merchant’s Facebook Page. Moreover, the platform comes with a profanity filter, a polling tool and a plethora of customizable features, including custom development, CSS and URL, as well as the ability to customize status tabs.

These are just a few of the 'Net's many available platforms for obtaining customer feedback. Let us know what platform or strategies your enterprise leverages in the comment section below.

Key Q4 '12 Insights for Merchants

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 19:55:00 GMT

Data is continually emerging about the performance of online retailers in the final quarter of 2012. Monetate's latest release of its ECommerce Quarterly Report (EQ4 2012) for example, reveals several important trends and includes analysis of key performance indicators including conversion rates and average order value by both device and inbound referrers.

Some of the more noteworthy insights include:

: The Expanding Ecommerce Window :
During the last holiday season, ecommerce conversion rates plummeted after “Free Shipping Day” (Dec. 17) even though retailers continued free shipping promotions beyond the date. Monetate suggests that a consumer “doubt gap” on shipping has emerged, presenting an opportunity for retailers to prove to consumers they can deliver the goods in a shorter window, extending shopping opportunities.

: The Mobile Issue Remains :
On Christmas Day 2012, according to Monetate's data, almost one-third of all ecommerce traffic came from smartphones (16%) and tablets (15.6%). Just a year earlier, less than half of that amount of traffic (14.5%) came from smartphones (6.4%) and tablets (8%). Monetate suggets that online business which do not tailor their web experience for smartphones and tablets run the risk of alienating (or losing) customers.

: Smartphone Conversions Rise :
Conversion rates on smartphone devices remain low (1.2% compared with 4% for tablets), yet smartphone traffic hovered over 10%. These numbers point to consumers using smartphones primarily as “retailer prompted research” tools; this sets the stage for retailers to get more creative in driving the smartphone experience through to conversion.

“One of the most telling insights from the EQ4 2012 is the Christmas Day device data,” said Kurt Heinemann, CMO, Monetate. “On Dec. 25th, 15 percent of all ecommerce traffic came from tablets, whereas the average tablet traffic percentage in December was about 10 percent. This reveals the mobile is increasingly the device of choice. When consumers have leisure time and any device at their disposal, they reach for the tablet or smartphone. Ecommerce had better be paying attention to this trend.”

E-Commerce Retail Breaks Records Again

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 18:15:00 GMT

For the final three months of 2012, comScore is reporting that sales increased 14 percent to $56.8 billion, marking the ninth straight quarter of double-digit growth.

U.S. retail e-commerce sales grew 15 percent to $186 billion for the full year, the strongest annual growth rate since before the recession.

"With e-commerce growth rates consistently in the mid-teens throughout the year, it is clear that the online channel has won over the American consumer and will increasingly be relied upon to deliver on the dimensions of lower price, convenience and selection," said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni.

Also worthy of note from the Comscore report is that the number of buyers rose 6 percent and spending per buyer increased 8 percent for the fourth quarter.

E-Commerce Email: Converting the Customer

Allison Howen — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 20:25:00 GMT

Cart abandonment is among the most frustrating problems that e-commerce merchants face, and unfortunately, it happens way too often.

In fact, 80 percent of online shoppers have placed an item in a shopping cart and left the site without making a purchase, according to comScore’s Online Shopping Customer Experience Study. These abandoned items represent lost opportunities and leave merchants wondering why a purchase was not completed.

That being said, perhaps the best way for merchants to fight against cart abandonment is with a strong email retargeting strategy. By retargeting customers through email, merchants have the ability to reach the specific visitors who abandon their carts. Not only can a retargeting message remind someone about the products they left behind, but merchants can also offer some type of incentive in order to close the sale, such as free shipping or a discount code.

In the first installment of “E-Commerce Email: Welcoming the Customer,” Website Magazine looked at the welcome messages of 10 online shoe retailers. However, Part 2 is looking at the retargeting strategies of the same retailers. The examples below can be used to provide e-commerce merchants, regardless of industry, with insights into how some companies are guiding consumers through the purchase cycle via email.

DSW

This retargeting message offers a friendly reminder about the items I left in my cart during my last visit to DSW.com. While the content of the message is pretty generic and doesn’t display the specific products left in my cart, it does relay a sense of urgency by stating that items sell out fast. Additionally, the email tries to encourage me to make a purchase with the mention of free shipping at the very top of the message.

Zappos

Not only does Zappos send a reminder about the products I left in my shopping cart, but the company also displays the exact items I abandoned within this retargeting message. Furthermore, Zappos uses a mixture of quirky editorial text and bright call-to-action buttons to persuade me to complete the purchase. It is also important to note that Zappos creates a sense of urgency by letting me know that there is limited availability for one of the items in my cart.

Macy’s

Macy’s was among the first brands to send a welcome email to me after I became a member on the site. However, after abandoning a couple of shoes in my cart on Macys.com last week, I still have not received a retargeting message or any other type of email from the company.

Skechers

I never received a retargeting message from Skechers in regards to the items I abandoned in my shopping cart last week; however, I did receive a different message from the company, which was promoting one of their products.

TOMS

TOMS does a good job at disguising its retargeting message. This is because the company features a pair of shoes that I had abandoned in my cart, while also providing a large call-to-action button that encourages me to shop for new arrivals. Moreover, the email’s message tells customers that it is okay to be “picky” when it comes to making a purchase, and even further reassures customers by outlining the TOMS return policy and mentioning free shipping within the email’s subject line.

ShoeDazzle

ShoeDazzle implements an aggressive retargeting strategy, because I received not only one message encouraging me to come back to my cart, but two. The first message, which was sent out the same day that I abandoned my ShoeDazzle cart, captures attention with its catchy heading – “Your Cart Has Abandonment Issues.” Additionally, the subject line and content of this email is customized to remind me about the exact type of shoe I left behind. Conversely, the second message (sent the day after I abandoned the cart), relays a sense of urgency with the use of phrases like “don’t miss out.” It is also important to note that both messages try to entice consumers to make a purchase by offering free shipping and free return shipping.

JCPenney

After abandoning some shoes in my JCPenney shopping cart a week ago, I still have not received a retargeting email from the company. In fact, the only message I received from JCPenney (aside from the initial welcome email) was one asking me to sign up for text alerts.

Steve Madden

This friendly reminder from Steve Madden not only displays the exact products that I abandoned in my cart last week, but also offers a limited time incentive for free shipping. While this incentive is pointless for my order (since the site already offers free shipping on orders over $75), it would definitely be a good incentive for consumers who don't qualify for free shipping. Furthermore, Steve Madden asks consumers to provide feedback if they decide not to complete their order. This provides the company with insights that can help improve the customer experience.

Overstock

Although Overstock did things a little backward by sending a retargeting message before sending me a welcome message last week, it is safe to say that this company has a robust email strategy. While I eventually received a welcome message from the company (along with a variety of other promotional messages), I also received two retargeting emails within the last week. The first message arrived promptly after I abandoned my cart and displayed Overstock’s checkout page with the exact products I left behind, complete with the purchase total and multiple call-to-action buttons encouraging me to finish the transaction. The second message was sent two days after I abandoned my cart. It featured the products I left behind next to bright call-to-action buttons, as well as contained a section of additional recommended products at the bottom of the message.

JustFab

While I didn’t initially receive a welcome email from JustFab at the time of last week’s Part 1 writing, it is important to note that I eventually received a welcome message from the company along with a variety of other promotional emails. Among those messages, was a retargeting email encouraging me to complete my purchase. While the message isn’t very personalized, it does include bright call-to-action buttons and prominently displays other information persuading consumers to complete their purchase, such as the "free shipping" and "easy exchange" text at the top.