'Net Features : trends

Studying the Business of Ecommerce

Michael Garrity — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 03:30:00 GMT

While it may not be the most optimistic news for brick-and-mortar stores, ecommerce companies and businesses with an ecommerce solution are, on average, doing very well. But in an industry pretty much dominated by a single company (guess who?), while also presenting a seemingly endless number of potential competitors, it can be hard to get started and find immediate success.

It can be easier, though, if you look at some of the most accomplished ecommerce brands and study their secrets. What have we learned so far?

Product Pages Take Precedent
I hope you didn’t spend a lot of time fretting over your home page, because studying ecommerce site analytics shows that the truth is that many visitors, even paying customers, will never see it.

The biggest reason is that Google and other search engines have become especially adept at finding the products most relevant to a user’s query. Consequently, users will usually just click on a result that leads them directly to a product page, where they will make their decision to purchase (or not). The site’s home page is never a factor.

Because of this, the design of product pages is significant. Consider including important information on these pages (and shopping cart pages) that would otherwise only appear on the home page, such as promotions/deals, company info, support, navigation, alternative product options and anything else you feel is valuable.

Button Design and Placement
When running an ecommerce site, one important but oft-overlooked key to success is the “Add to Cart” button and surrounding space. This little guy can make or break a sale, although the customer may not even realize it.

And unfortunately, there’s only one way to know just how effective your “Add to Cart” button actually is; by testing, testing and testing. Look at Amazon, whose buttons have been radically altered over the years as the company tries to determine what options drive the most conversions. Over the years, the Amazon button has evolved from a single button to a pair (for some time now, it has included a one-click shopping option, the bane of my bank account) and changed its position on the product page numerous times.

The changes are a result of rigorous testing to determine the button’s best location for visibility and ease-of-use for customers. Successful companies such as Amazon realize that even the most subtle differences such as “Add to Cart” button placement and design can have a huge impact on an ecommerce site’s effectiveness.

Everything is Social
Social is transforming the Web, and that goes for ecommerce as well. The newest trend is a combination of the two known as social commerce. This is kind of an all-encompassing term, covering both the idea of sharing reviews, ratings and general opinions about a brand, product or service on social media sites and the actual act of shopping on these social networks as in f-commerce (the buying and selling of goods through Facebook).

However, actually using social networks as a platform for transactions isn’t anywhere near fully conceived yet, and most social commerce still focuses on using the medium to monitor a brand’s online reputation and interact with consumers to help shape it. Studies have shown that many consumers (74 percent) rely on social networks to help them make purchasing decisions, and that products with higher ratings are 55 percent more likely to be purchased. Clearly, consumers put a lot of stock in the opinions of social media users when it comes to making shopping decisions, so the most successful ecommerce companies will be leveraging various social platforms.

The Importance of Retention
In the world of ecommerce, where a customer can switch “stores” with literally the click of a button, customer service and providing an exceptional experience are crucial to running a successful business. In this day and age, especially with the significance that consumers place on social media reviews and opinions, finding customers is a difficult job, so once you do get someone on board with your products or services, you need to work very hard to keep them. After all, the marketing cost required to find one new customer is six to seven times more than retaining a customer.

Customer retention is as easy as providing a great product/service, excellent customer experiences and helpful, relevant customer support. Ecommerce businesses who have retained as few as five percent of their customers have seen profit increases as high as 95 percent; probably because 61 percent of Americans have said that quality customer service is important to them in today’s economic environment, and they’ll spend up to nine percent more on companies that have provided them with such service.

Using advanced customer service solutions, such as a live chat feature, are great ways to provide such support and maintain a satisfied customer base. Brands can also take to social media, like Twitter, to hear customer issues and deal with them in an effective, timely manner.

A Globalized Industry
We live on a big planet, but thanks to the Internet, it’s getting a little smaller every day. Ecommerce, possibly more than any other e-industry, has seen and will see the most dramatic changes thanks to this newfound globalization.

Success in ecommerce will soon mean being able to reach and work with an audience that spans the world, which isn’t an easy feat. Among the many problems a company might have to deal with are the ability to provide a product/service internationally, language/currency barriers and customer support issues, specifically returns and refunds. This, of course, is just the tip of the iceberg.

Globalizing an entire business is obviously more than an overnight project; it will take years, at best, for even an enterprise-level ecommerce company to be truly global. That being said, trends show an increasingly globalized economy in the near future, spurred largely by the growth of the Internet, and ecommerce will definitely play a major part.

adCenter Gets Trendy with Analytics

Michael Garrity — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 23:30:00 GMT

If you’re using Microsoft adCenter and think that it can be a bit difficult to understand exactly how your campaigns are performing, you’re not alone.

Never fear, however, as Microsoft has heard your concerns and decided to include a new multi-metric trend chart on the Home and Campaign tabs in your Web interface to provide “a rich visual snapshot of your campaign performance.”

And these aren’t just any old trend charts; they were designed to provide you with control and access to metrics most important to you. The charts will present up to five performance metrics (out of a possible eight) at once to allow users to compare their most important metrics simultaneously. Finally, you’ll be able to get actual visible data through adCenter so you can tell just how effective your advertising efforts have been in areas like impressions, clicks, CPA, etc.

While this is very good news for adCenter users, one has to wonder what took so long.

Here's an example of what an adCenter mutli-metric trend chart will look like:

Online Employment Trends to Expect in 2011

Linc Wonham — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 13:49:00 GMT

Elance, the leading platform for online employment, has released its 2010 Year in Review as well as a preview of the online work trends to expect in 2011.

The past year broke records for online work adoption as Elance posted more than 375,000 jobs during a period when traditional onsite employment was stagnant. Several key categories in online work proved to be virtually recession-proof, and technology and marketing skills were among the highest demand. Below are the areas that made the biggest impact in 2010:

• Mobile development: With a 98-percent increase for mobile development jobs posted on Elance in 2010, touchscreen tablets and smartphones were clearly the number one priority. In 2011, it will be absolutely key for businesses, startups and entrepreneurs looking to construct new websites or revamp existing ones to design with mobile in mind. Expect to see simpler, cleaner, more straightforward Web designs and a shift in design philosophy that puts mobile first and desktop second.

• Content creation: Keyword-rich content for search engine optimization (SEO) was king in 2010, but that simply won’t cut it next year and beyond. Search engines are finding new ways to differentiate quality original content by tracking social media buzz through sites like Facebook and Twitter, and businesses won’t be hiring content creators for quantity anymore – 2011 will be all about quality.

• Viral marketing: Businesses signaled a shift in investments for freelance talent that has gone from traditional marketing techniques like direct mail, telemarketing and other forms to more cutting edge forms of promotion and customer acquisition, like SEO, search engine marketing (SEM) and social media marketing (SMM). Traditional marketing will become even more obsolete in 2011 as businesses will be drawn toward viral and social marketing methods.

• HTML5 vs. Flash: The reports about the death of Flash have been greatly exaggerated, according to businesses working on Elance. While demand for HTML5 programmers continues to grow at an exceptional pace, Flash maintains its position as one of the leading platforms for rich media content due to the rising popularity of casual gaming on the Web and the loosening of Apple’s App Store restrictions.

And here are Elance’s online employment predictions for 2011:

• More businesses hire in the cloud: Businesses both large and small will adopt more robust online tools such as shared digital workrooms, real-time collaboration, telepresence, and online employment platforms to hire the people they need to get the job done. Online work won’t be just a buzzword in 2011 – it will be the way to do business, period.

• Digital profiles overtake resumes: Digital portfolios provide businesses and employers far more context and insight into a potential hire than any traditional resume ever could. In 2011, expect referencing of verified work history, digital portfolios, online test scores, online reviews, social graph and social media footprint to become the standard for hiring short or long-term employees.

• Business goes social: Social buying quickly went from a cool trend to an economic force, while demand for social media skills by businesses has grown significantly throughout the course of 2010. Shopping will not be the only industry to leverage the social graph in 2011, as recruiting and hiring will also undergo a socially inspired transformation.

Inside Source: E-Commerce Research Done For You

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:45:00 GMT

If I told you that I knew exactly what 89 million people were searching for, buying and selling you would be interested, right? Of course you would - so listen up.

Ebay today launched a digital magazine today dubbed the The Inside Source will offers insights, analysis and opinion on a variety of lifestyle topics, including fashion, technology, automotive, home and garden, pop culture and sustainability. If you're a trendspotter, this one's for you.

“Imagine that every day, every person in the United States tells eBay what they want,” said Alan Marks, Senior Vice President of Global Communications for eBay. “That’s the power of how many searches occur on eBay every day. Now add insights gleaned from almost 200 million live product listings, the stories of more than 25 million sellers and the several million purchases people make each day on eBay, and you get The Inside Source – a perspective on shopping trends, pop culture obsessions and the stuff people love, that only eBay can offer.”

If you're a member of the Ebay Partner Network, I strongly suggest you subscribe to the RSS feed available on the site. You never know, you just might find some great research-driven suggestions on what to promote on your own site.

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