internet trade ideas

1. Merchandise Products Both In-Store and
IDEAS FOR INTERNET Online
BASED BUSINESS, or “Retail sites and search engines are consistently
ECOMMERCE (E-TRADE) (*)
the first or second stop in the shopping
continuum, with the end purchase location
being split fairly evenly between the online and
How to Leverage Promotion Codes
offline retail channel. If you buy shelf space,
eye-level kiosks or other brick-and-mortar
“Make sure your promotion codes require
merchandising options and don’t merchandise
customers to buy at least two or more items.
on retail websites, you’re missing almost half of
Then display your cross-sell offerings on the
your potential customers.”
promotions code page. This gives customers
incentive to increase their purchase amount, and
Test Placement of Anxiety-Reducing Content
helps them find additional products with which
to do
“Test placement of anxiety-reducing content,
including security icons, returns policy, and
Offer a Prize to Entice New Subscribers
satisfaction points. It's often best to separate
emotive content from transactional
“Anyone who signs up for our email newsletter is
considerations.”
automatically entered into a monthly drawing for
a chance to win a free toy or gift certificate from
Product Feeds Lead to Success
our website. Drawings are held at the end of
each month, and all active subscribers are
“Proactively sending out product information is
eligible to win. This campaign is currently
a secret to success. Product feeds to locations
featured on our store’s home page, and we've
like Google Base, Shopzilla and Shopping.com
seen a huge increase in the number of
give customers more opportunities to find what
you have to offer. Search engines want to
Streamline Your Shopping Cart
provide relevant information when searchers
look for items you have described in your
“Each new page a shopper has to load to
feeds.”
complete another step in the checkout process is
a chance for them to fall out of the funnel. You
Follow User Paths with Clickstream Tool
can minimize fallout by combining pages, and
“Use Alexa Clickstream to learn from which
Empower Employees to Offer Special Incentives
sites users come to your competitors’ sites, and
where they go afterward. You can also use it to
"Empower your employees to offer incentives to
see where visitors come from and where they
help take online shoppers from simply browsing
to actually purchasing. Arm phone, email and live
Add a Handwritten Note to Shipped Items
chat agents with a cadre of special promotions,
discounts and other inducements only they can
“Empower your packers to add a handwritten
offer. Consider driving communications by
thank you note to the enclosed invoice or
advertising the offers on site, i.e., “Call now for
packing slip. If possible, use the customer’s first
special discounting,” or “Chat now and get free
name, i.e., ‘Dear Helen, Thank you for your
shipping.”
order. We appreciate your business. Regards,
Rob.’ It doesn’t take much effort, but it
1

2. significantly improves how the customer driving sales to your site but is great for SEO
perceives and feels about your company.” [search engine optimization].”
Test Small Before a Full-Site Rollout Mobile: A Critical Ecommerce Channel
“Experiment with new ideas. There are tons of “Mobile is not just another customer
ideas out there to try, from chat to video to communications medium, it is rapidly evolving
social networking. Develop small, quick, cheap into an effective and critical ecommerce
tests to see which are most effective before channel--one that creates a link between
investing in a full site rollout.” existing commerce channels, helping to
converge them. And, consumers aren’t just
Correctly Evaluate Your Conversion Rate using high-end phone browsers, they are using
a wide range of phones to browse the web.
“The conversion rate is the ratio between the When developing mobile websites and
number of visitors who are likely to perform an applications, businesses should focus on
action you desire and the ones that actually do. content delivery across different types of
It's not related to the whole website traffic. devices, as well as ease of navigation, design,
Eliminate from your analysis those visitors who usability and context. For example, small
don’t have the slightest intention to convert, but displays create usability challenges, and
can skew your reports. For instance, when cumbersome processes that can cause
calculating your sales conversion rate, exclude all customers to abandon their purchases.”
visitors who are referred by organic search
keywords that are not related to your offer. Impress Your Customers
You’ll be able to focus conversion optimization
actions on the segments that truly matter to “Impress your customers after their first order
your business goals.” with a shipping upgrade, a special discount or
store credit for future purchases. This
Deep Links Lead to Deeper Value encourages them to come back for more, and
the return on investment can be much higher
“Getting links to your site isn’t a new concept, than traditional advertising.”
but links should point to your most relevant
pages. Home page links aren’t usually relevant Provide Customization and Personalization
for searches. Look to gain links to specific Whenever Possible
category or product pages. This will pass link
value deep into your site and drive rankings for “Online product customization is becoming an
specific long-tail keywords.” increasingly popular feature for merchants
keen to distinguish themselves from their
Mommy Bloggers Love to Do Reviews competition. The magic lies in customers being
able to instantly see the customized products,
“Mommy Bloggers love to write reviews about so they don't have to imagine what the watch,
products. Search for Mommy Bloggers and then for example, looks like with a blue band as
contact them. Tell them how much you like their opposed to a green one, or a silver dial versus a
site, why your product is great, and offer to send gold one. Letting customers personalize their
them a free product to review. As an added purchase provides the ultimate touch
bonus allow them to do a giveaway of your (assuming of course, that you are actually able
product to their readers. This is not only good for to actually produce the end result).
Customization can make a huge difference in
2

3. the customer's buying experience; however, Create Unique Descriptions for Best Results
utilizing this power requires merchants to
expertly prepare their images.” “Search engines want to provide the most
relevant results possible when people search.
Two Great Conversion Tips The original content rule applies to storefronts
if they want to succeed. Best practices for
“Cart abandonment may not reflect a cart natural search engine ranking is to create your
problem. New info crushes momentum. Make own unique product descriptions and avoid
sure visitors can access the complete cost from copying descriptions from manufacturers.”
any page and your cart abandonment problem
may magically disappear. Also, test a one-page Cut Down on Clutter
checkout. We've seen it increase conversion
rates 'in some cases.” “Shoppers don’t want clutter! Ideally there
should be only 10 to15 products on a page, no
Appeal to Coupon Hunters pop-ups or advertising, and a comparison
feature to view more product details.”
“Make sure you regularly publish your coupon
codes and special deals on your Facebook and Consolidate Your Community
Twitter accounts, using the words ‘save’ or ‘deal.’
These are often grabbed by third parties and “Publish exclusive offers and discounts in the
coupon hunters and then republished on various social networks (like Twitter, Facebook or
coupons sites, giving you a wider distribution list Google Orkut). It will consolidate your
at no cost.” community and will keep it active.”
Protect Your Brand’s Reputation Online Increase Foot Traffic
“As the online retail sales channel continues to “If you welcome customers to collect purchases
grow, a company's greatest challenge is in person, or if you have a bricks-and-mortar
defending its brand from being devalued by store, make sure you are listed on Google
discounters. Ensure your company’s ecommerce Places. It will help you get found by potential
success by monitoring and enforcing pricing customers looking for your products in and
violations to keep online retailers on a level around your local area.”
playing field.”
Develop Pure Content
'One-Day Only' Sale Can Boost Social Presence
“Content is still king. Dedicate a portion of your
“We now do a "Wild Wednesdays" promotion web team’s time and budget to developing
where we announce one product for $10 (usually pure content that is compelling and relevant for
retails for $25), or $10 off a particular item. We your users. Finding the right idea is key – it can
announce it on Tuesday via Twitter with a be informational and help your users make a
coupon code that is good only on that more educated choice, or it can be simply for
Wednesday. We limit the offer to one discounted entertainment. Compelling content will
product per customer, and it could be offered generate free traffic and links that your product
only ‘while supplies last’ for those with a big pages never will.”
customer list. We are currently using this
campaign to grow our social media presence.”
3

4. Tips for Global Ecommerce Try Incentives to Reduce Cart Abandonment
“Know your global audience. Americans may “Online merchants typically concentrate on
want a quick and easy checkout process, but attracting new customers, but research shows
consumers in Japan and Europe prefer to see that the industry has a very high rate of
more details and options when shopping online. shopping cart abandonment, and this has not
Eighty-five percent of the local German market improved over the past years. Try offering
uses bank transfers as the primary means of incentives for consumers to complete their
payment, not credit cards. And, discounted purchases, and reward them for doing so.
products are often perceived in Japan as being Rewarding customers creates loyalty and drives
faulty instead of simply a good deal.” more sales and revenue.”
Consider Payment Provider Added Services Don’t Rush Your Product Listings
“Consider the cost of added services when “When first setting up your ecommerce site it
choosing your payment provider. For instance, can be tempting to just get the basics of the
you may use PayPal to checkout customers from products uploaded first and add details later,
your store or on a selling channel like Etsy or but don’t rush. Take time to get the title tags
eBay, but did you know PayPal can also get your and descriptions right for each product,
accounting done? Various added services offered including relevant key words and a USP [unique
by payment providers can make it less costly and selling proposition). Also write the description
simpler to run your business.” tags to sell and include relevant keywords.”
Make a Better Category Tree Conversion Optimization Testing is Important
“Don't make product lists too long. Everything “Run controlled A/B/n tests of your site-wide
that goes ‘beyond the fold’ is too long. Spend templates, and concentrate on statistically
more time to make a better category tree. If it's significant results. In many cases, a 10 to 30
impossible in your case, make page navigation percent increase in sales can happen by testing
very obvious and easy for a visitor.” variations in design layout."
Display In-store Promotions on Your Website Make Use of Free Surveys
“Since the research cycle is typically much longer “Many shopping search engines (like Shopzilla)
for consumers considering a big ticket purchase have free sales confirmation surveys, and the
online, the impact of relevant and compelling feedback can be invaluable. Survey your
promotions can often be the driving factor in customers regularly, and be sure to route the
getting them into the store or online to make feedback to the appropriate departments –
their final purchase. To make this process customer service, webmaster, product
seamless for the customer, use ecommerce tools development, or other.”
to align your site with your promotional
calendars, and display on your website your in- Up-sell Only What Makes Sense
store events, promotions, sales, coupons and
finance offers. When optimized, these tools will “Whenever possible, up-sell accessories and
create a better customer experience online, items that make sense and compliment a
extending the value of materials created for in- customer’s purchase. These items will
store customers.”
4

5. encourage customers to buy more and enhance Create an Easier Order Form
their overall experience with the core product.”
“Testing confirms that simpler and easier order
Set Workflow Rules to Automate and Innovate forms convert better. So, make your order form
as short, and with the fewest fields, as possible.
“Workflow rule engines provide vital flexibility Save information so that customers don’t have
when processing orders, shipping, segmenting to start from scratch if they come back later.
traffic, and giving discounts. Jump ahead of the And, use either check boxes or radial buttons,
competition by setting workflow rules to but not both.”
automate and innovate. For example: Set a 10
percent discount for customers coming from Get Shoppers Back with Retargeting
'Google only' on 'orders over $50.' Then, set it to
'send them an email' and 'set a tracking code'... “When visitors leave your site without making a
the uses are endless.” purchase, display ad retargeting can help get
those shoppers back to your site and motivate
Use Free Tools to Track SEO Efforts them to buy. Retargeted ads can promote the
products each shopper is most likely to be in-
“Find the top searched-for terms related to your market for next. It is always better to target
industry with the free Google AdWords keyword shoppers with a known affinity for your brand,
tool. Then use the free Rank Checker from rather than prospecting for new shoppers.”
SeoBook.com to determine where your site
ranks for each term across the major search Use a Thank You Page
engines. Organize all the information in a
spreadsheet and recalculate rankings often. This “An order confirmation is good, but a ‘thank
is a great way to keep track of SEO efforts and to you’ is even better. More than just good
discover keyword terms to target through link manners, a thank you page is an opportunity to
building and on-page optimization.” reinforce your relationship with your
customers, reward them with discounts on
Link Your Blog to Internal Product Pages future purchases, and up-sell and cross-sell
your products.”
“Create a helpful, industry-specific blog, and
make sure each of your principle team members Close More Sales Through Personalization
has access to create entries regularly. Your
corporate blog linked to internal product pages is “Converting browsers to buyers is tough. For
your single best way to obtain long tailed most ecommerce sites, as many as 97 percent
keyword relevance in the search engines. “ of visitors leave without making a purchase,
and this is often attributed to shoppers just not
Find Out Why the Cart Was Abandoned finding merchandise that interests them. You
can improve conversions by presenting
“Contact those visitors who passed almost the relevant, personalized product
entire checkout in your shop but didn't pay. recommendations on your product detail
There could be a technical problem that caused pages, category pages, and cart page.”
the customer to abandon the cart. Send a follow
up email to find out why they didn’t complete
the sale.”
5

6. Engage Multi-channel Consumers with Relevant will work for a given keyword, and this is an
Online Content easy way to get more ROI out of your PPC
campaigns.”
“Retailers must use their web presence to
intercept consumers online—with relevant Use Unique Content to Increase Conversions
content—before they get their information
elsewhere or make a purchase from a “Original content is critical to building a
competitor. By providing more relevant online successful online business. When you regularly
information, retailers can successfully use the update your websites and sales pages with
Internet to seamlessly deliver products and unique, search-relevant content, you not only
promotions to consumers in conjunction with increase organic rankings, but also provide
the store experience.” added value to the consumer, resulting in
higher conversions and a larger number of
Check Reputation Before You Deal repeat shoppers over the long term.”
“If you are about to strike a deal with another Provide a Toll-free Number
company, check its reputation before making any
decisions. Take time to Google its company name “Place a toll-free phone number in a large font
and search for reviews.” in the header of your website. You will get a
few more phone calls, and that is a good thing.
Shipping Can Be a Profit Center Answering your business phone is your ticket to
increasing the average revenue per sale, as the
“You can make shipping into a profit center. If phone is one of the best places a merchant can
you have accounts with UPS or FedEx, ask them up-sell.”
to give you a discount based on your history.
(The FedEx discount can run up to 47 percent.) Basic Security Tips
Then, advertise discounted shipping rates to
customers, but only give half the discount.” "These are basic website security tips: Keep
your operating systems and installed
Build Virtual Relationships applications up-to-date with the latest security
patches. And, don’t run unnecessary network
“Segment your customers and re-market to them services on servers and workstations."
via email, based on what they have purchased
from you in the past. Build virtual relationships Study Your Competitors’ SEO
with your customers based on their buying
behavior and preferences. The stronger your “Study and learn why your direct competitors
customers feel a brand affinity with your rank above you on search engines by looking at
company, the more likely they are to do repeat their code. Using your browser’s ‘View Source’
business with you.” function, determine what puts them on top for
specific keywords, then you can beat them at
PPC: Test Multiple Pages their own game on your website.”
“Test multiple landing pages for your pay-per- Focus on Your Key Message
click ads. It’s easy to run multiple creatives in
Google and point one to a category page, one to "Don't use lengthy product descriptions in
a product listing page, and one to a product general lists of products, like categories or
detail page. Most websites have a few pages that search results. Web visitors will simply scan
6

7. over long sections of text and can miss your Make Web Pages Load Faster
value proposition. Better to focus on your key
message for product lists." “The faster your page loads the more Google
likes your site [and users, too]. Take a look at
Aim for Quality Backlinks implementing things like gzip compression,
which can usually be done with a few lines of
“Getting many links to your site is key when it code. Suitable code can be easily found by a
comes to ranking well in the search engines, but quick search on the Internet.”
quality counts. Aim for backlinks from related
sites, from pages that don't have a lot of other Warn Consumers of Scams
links, and ask for anchor text that includes your
keywords rather than just your company name.” “Search and monitor social media networks and
other Web 2.0 platforms for new scams on a
Give Localized Delivery Information regular basis. If you find your company is being
victimized by a scam, warn consumers through
“Give customers localized information about various mediums, including the company page
delivery and shipping times for their particular on your social networks, your corporate
location, which can be the deciding factor in website, an official tweet on Twitter, and the
making a sale. To make this process accurate, official company fan site.”
inventory levels should be updated in real-time,
with localized delivery dates based on stock and Have a Great Newsletter
incoming purchases.”
“Make your newsletters fun and/or insightful.
Put Your Phone Number in the Title Tag The vast majority of newsletters in the world
are boring and one-sided. Use your newsletter
“If you make sales by phone, include your to show your customers what your company is
telephone number in the main title tag of your doing to help them. Give them a reason to
home page. This way, someone can call you open it, read it, and look forward to it.”
without visiting your home page, because the
phone number will also appear, in bold-face, in Make User Guides Available
Google search results. Featuring your telephone
number prominently is also a signal of honesty “Shoppers like to be able to view or print
and transparency.” product user guides or manuals, particularly
when looking at consumer electronics products.
Good, Better, Best User guides not only help shoppers select the
right product, but can also prevent returns.
“Consumers love to be told what to do. In a day These documents are commonly available as
when information overload is the norm, keeping PDF files included in the product content made
things simple and direct is key. Telling a available by your vendors via hosted content
customer what is a good choice, a better choice, links.”
and finally the best choice, is a very good way to
increase conversion rate and help your Drive Short-term Sales
customers find what they want quickly.”
"To drive short-term sales volumes, try these
marketing techniques: Offer 24-hour deep
discounts on selected products for one day
only. Or, offer free shipping over a limited time
7

8. period, such as 'Place an order this weekend and Use Advanced Analytics to Maximize
get free shipping.' Repeat at intervals to drive Conversions
traffic to your site."
"Optimize your site at its full potential to
Learn HTML, Save on Design Fees convert visits to sales by using advanced traffic
and sales analytics tools, such as Google
"Make sure at least one of your core team Analytics. By tracking patterns during visitors'
members learns and understands HTML very shopping experiences, you can determine
well. You can potentially save a bundle in web which pages should be most advertised, and
design fees by being able to make easy and quick which pages need adjustments."
updates yourselves."
Return Policy
Squeeze Images to Web-friendly Size
"Place your return policy link immediately
"When looking for ways to speed up your site's under the checkout button. You need to give
performance, be sure you have squeezed your users comfort that they can return without risk.
images down to the most web-friendly size. Free If you can accept returns without penalties and
online services, such as Smush.it from Yahoo!, fees, you will find yourself in even better
are great for compressing your images without shape."
losing any visible detail."
Use All the Free Tools at Your Disposal
Don’t Get Hung Up on Cool Tricks or Gimmickry
"Use all the available free tools to market and
"There are a lot of great web tools that promise maintain your website, such as Google Product
to do big things for your online business. Look Search, Xenu's Link Sleuth, Twitter and Google
into them if they interest you, but remember the Webmaster Tools. And, use that other great
core values that drive your business, and find free tool, the Internet, to find more available
ways to infuse those into your ecommerce site tools."
for long-term growth and revenue."
The Power Of Online Video
Put Text in Bite-sized "Chunks"
"Using video to promote products and services
"Web pages that present a wall of solid text and online is one of the most underused,
information are intimidating to shoppers—it ecommerce strategies today. Video is highly
seems like too much work to slog through. So viral. YouTube is now the number one search
separate text into short, discrete paragraphs engine behind Google, and Americans watch
separated by white space, and use bullets when double the number of videos compared to the
you can." number of online searches conducted. This
gives video the potential to make your
Make the Most of Free Shipping ecommerce campaigns incredibly successful."
“One of the most significant draws to a product "Add to Cart" vs. "Buy"
listing is free shipping. When you offer free
shipping, be sure to populate the shipping field "Use phrases like 'Add to Cart' on your buttons
with a zero (0) for all eligible products in all your rather than phrases like 'Buy.' Consumers don’t
data feeds on comparison sites and other like commitment. It is like saying 'Will you go on
product databases (such as Google Base).” a date with me?' versus 'Will you marry me?'
8

9. You are more likely to say yes to the date application for online retailers), and Oodle (for
because less commitment is required." merchants who also have a physical store)."
Watch PPC Metrics Weekly Basic Social Marketing Tips
"If pay-per-click advertising (PPC) is part of your "Social marketing is important and time
marketing strategy, establish a set of core consuming. Make a specific plan, commit to
performance indicators and pay attention to being regularly active on the social site, and
those metrics on at least a weekly basis." make your profile dynamic. If you can’t perform
social marketing well yourself, hire an expert or
Free SEO Information for Beginners delegate it to someone who can."
"A great source of free information for beginners Success Metrics for A/B Tests
can be found at SearchEngineBook.com. It will
provide you with the 'ABC’s' of SEO. Sign up for "When performing A/B tests you should make
the free beginners SEO course and you will sure especially of two things: to have
receive an easy to understand email once a day statistically significant results and to choose the
for a week on the basics of search engine right success metric for your campaign (which
marketing." can be revenue, profit, orders, average order
value, CTR, or other important metrics)."
Lead the Eye to the Action
Ease the Pain of Tax Season with Online
"Want people to click that 'buy' button? Design Incentives
your web pages to lead the eye to it. Take
advantage of the fact that people read from left "March is the height of tax season, which
to right. Use arrows to point, and color your makes it the perfect time for financial services
order button to stand out." marketers to target consumers filing their taxes
online with great deals and special promotions.
Comparison Tool Helps Reduce Returns During tax season, people are looking for online
incentives that help them get over the pain of
"If your products are technical with many filing their taxes."
features or detailed specifications, make sure
your ecommerce software has a comparison tool Keep Information Consistent Across All Selling
that allows shoppers to view detailed feature Channels
breakdown for a number of products side by side
for easy comparison. This improves usability and "To ensure cross-channel consistency, SKUs,
can reduce returns." prices and product information should be the
same online and in-store so they can be treated
Some Free Comparison Sites exactly the same from a fulfillment and service
perspective. The result is less work, higher
"Take advantage of the free comparison customer satisfaction and a reduced need to
shopping sites that are out there, including develop separate staff or procedures for online
Google Product Search (a staple of any shopping sales."
channel strategy), theFind (it has a great, free
'up-front' program to enhance merchant
visibility), Sortprice (it has a Facebook store
9

10. Identify the Source of Inquiries Calculate the Discount That Brings the Biggest
Profit
"Measure your marketing effectiveness with lead
tracking software. By identifying where your "It's important to double check the math
inquiries come from (e.g., online or via the behind your online promotions. A 60 percent
telephone), what sources are working and how discount will bring you more customers than a
much they are costing, you can get closer to the 40 percent discount, but keep in mind that the
‘holy grail’ of marketing: $x Marketing Spend = 40 percent discount might actually bring you
$y Sales Return." more profit and even better customer
retention."
Shop Payment Gateways
Adjust Plans Based on Metrics
"Shop around to find the best deal in credit card
processing gateways. Even a penny more per "Traffic, conversion rate, and average order
transaction will eventually add up to big bucks value are three numbers that significantly
over the life of your shop." impact the bottom line. With 2009 as your
baseline, create your 2010 goals, then map
Copy Your Foreign Competitors your on-page and off-page tactics to positively
influence these key ecommerce metrics.
“When entering foreign markets for the first Produce monthly scorecard reports and quickly
time, make sure you offer customers the same adjust plans if you’re not seeing the results.”
value as your foreign competition. Copy your
competitors' payment solutions, business terms Use a Favicon to Promote Your Brand
and business partners; and match their delivery
costs and delivery times. If you cannot meet or "Promote your brand with a favorite icon (or,
beat your foreign competitors, then don’t enter "Favicon"), a square 16 pixel graphic that
foreign markets.” appears next to your website address in the
address bar, next to the web page’s title in the
Use Tags to Label Images web browser favorites, in tabs, and desktop
shortcuts. To implement, place the favicon.ico
"Label all images with alt tags and image tags to graphic file in the root of your URL, and then
provide another way for customers to find you. link to it with: <link REL="SHORTCUT ICON"
Imagine if you were reading a description of your HREF="http://www.thenameofyourwebsite.co
product without photos. Could you visualize it m/favicon.ico">." Watch this tutorial for help in
from the description? Include image tags and alt creating your own favicon.
tags that describe what’s in the image to help
visitors who are vision impaired. " Offer Additional Payment Methods
Learn to Delegate "When you offer additional payment methods
(e.g., PayPal, Amazon and Google Checkout)
"A business owner does not have the time to be you can lock in customers that may be worried
an expert in everything or to micro-manage about trusting your online store. Millions of
every business detail. Learn to delegate customers that already have accounts with
responsibilities, hire good employees or service these secure payment methods know and trust
providers, and allow yourself time to focus on their checkout systems and buying experience."
the big picture."
10

11. Take Advantage of Free Online Education Keep Social Media Strategy Relevant to Your
Business
"Take advantage of free education on the
Internet. No one knows everything, so learn "Connect to customers through social media
more about topics you need to stay current on. outlets, but develop your own strategy relevant
Most tech sites have sponsored seminars, and to your particular business. Just because Dell,
since they are free, you have nothing to lose." Best Buy or other large corporations are using a
particular site or a particular strategy doesn't
Shop First, Ask For Registration Later mean it is relevant or feasible for your
business."
“Allow shoppers to check out before asking them
to register with your website. The information The Advantage of Up-selling
learned at check out, such as name, address and
email, can be used to create customer accounts. "Up-sells increase average earnings per sale,
Eliminating this extra step in the online shopping and a properly executed up-sell can even
process gets you one step closer to a completed increase your conversion rates. Compelling up-
order.” sell offers should cost no more than 30 percent
of the price of your primary product. And, when
Offer a Branded DIY Gift Wrapping Kit choosing your up-sell offers, always select
products that complement your primary
"Many shoppers don't use gift wrapping services product offer."
because they prefer to save the money, or they
might want to check what they bought before it Don't Put All Your Eggs in One Basket
is wrapped. Try offering a DIY gift-wrapping kit
with your branded gift-wrap, ribbon, and card for "Try not to rely too heavily on one supplier.
a nominal fee. You won't need to use staff Although it's more difficult to manage multiple
resources wrapping products, plus your suppliers, diversifying will help shield you if
customer gets to inspect the gift before he or she your primary supplier should run into trouble."
presents it. It's a win-win solution."
Offer Telephone Sales on Your Site
Never Argue, Try Persuasion
"Offer telephone orders on your site as an
"Never argue with a customer. Even if you are alternative to online orders. A message such as
right, it's useless waste of time. You'll lose as 'Order by telephone and speak to one of our
soon as you start arguing with the customer. Try Product Experts' can increase sales. And,
to persuade him or her instead." conversions are typically higher over the
telephone."
Adjust Your Spend Caps During the Holidays
Embed Ecommerce Into Your Overall Retail
“If you have caps on your spend at various Strategy
comparison shopping engines, be sure to go in
and adjust your budgets throughout the holiday "Launch your ecommerce operation as a
season. Traffic and costs will rise steadily so be coordinated, multi-channel selling effort,
ready and visible for all opportunities.” ideally with the head of ecommerce seated at
the management table. This structure allows
ecommerce to become what it should be in
11

12. retail--a force multiplier for chain-wide inventory, washing windows, or cleaning
initiatives, and it optimizes online results." company vehicles. If they don’t ask, you can
suggest it. It is a great solution for both
Keep Shoppers on the Cart Page organizations because everyone wins."
"When cross selling or up-selling products in the Use Ning to Target Customers
shopping cart, make sure you allow shoppers to
easily add the recommended products to the "Ning is a web service that hosts thousands of
cart without leaving the shopping cart page." social networks and it is a great place to target
niche customer segments. For example, if you
Localize Site Content were selling embroidered pet collars, the best
place to promote your products would be a
"Your ecommerce site should be as localized as Ning network for dog lovers. Find out the
your physical stores. Some retailers have networks your customers are likely to belong to
hundreds of localized, micro-branded sites with and connect with them on Ning."
content that resonates with local consumers.
You can also use IP mapping to localize prices, Create a FAQ Page
offers and product selection. Make sure your
website platform embraces this complexity -- "Create a FAQ [frequently asked questions]
when done correctly, it's a powerful sales tool page that educates customers about your
for your online and local stores." products or services in a concise matter. It
should cover a wide range of questions and
Keep Your Message Above the Fold answers to help customers make more
informed decisions on purchases. Customers
"If it is important, keep it 'above the fold' [middle will be more comfortable shopping with your
of screen]. Email or newsletter sign ups, special company and have a better understanding of
offers, reviews, and navigation are better served the way you operate, creating a foundation for
'above the fold' where a visitor is more likely to repeat customers and referrals."
engage them."
Define Your Business Objectives
Include Expert Testimonials
"Approach ecommerce as an all-encompassing
"Customer testimonials and user-generated marketing discipline from the outset. Clearly
product reviews are great to provide reassurance define your business objectives, make them
for your online store. But, if you can, go one step achievable and measurable. Once this has been
further and put up any 'expert' testimonials or defined you can then make intelligent decisions
product reviews. An example might be, 'The and select appropriate partners to assist you."
head groundsman at Wimbledon recommends
this lawn mower...' and include actual quotes Detailed Images Appeal to Sophisticated
from the expert." Shoppers
Help Non-Profits and They Help You "As the Internet matures so does the
sophistication of online shoppers. Studies
"Things are tight for everyone right now, indicate that today's shoppers expect retailers
including non-profits. For a donation, many local to provide not only textual product
groups, especially team sports, will help you with information, but also detailed, zoomable
time-consuming projects such as taking online images, videos, and alternate product views. A
12

13. superior customer experience separates the Grab Your Market Share Now
best-of-breed retailers from the rest of the
pack." "A recession is no time to reduce your
marketing and advertising budgets. Manage
Use Creative Commons for SEO Value expenses according to ROI, but this is a good
time to grab additional market share."
"If you have old imagery such as model or
product shots which you are no longer using, Improve Rankings With Press Releases
consider submitting them to image-sharing sites
under a Creative Commons license. Oftentimes "Press releases provide an opportunity to
users will credit your company for the image and provide high-quality content within your press-
provide SEO value by linking to your site." related pages. Many merchants disassociate
the importance of marketing activity from their
Improve Your Onsite Search websites. But each press release allows the
opportunity to increase your keyword density
“Help shoppers find the products they’re and improve your rankings."
searching for more quickly. If you sell
merchandise across a range of product Deploy Decision-making Widgets
categories, consider adding a category drop-
down [menu] next to your search box to allow "When selling big ticket items or products that
shoppers to narrow their search ahead of time require research, deploy merchandising
(e.g., women’s apparel vs. men’s apparel vs. kid’s widgets to aid in the decision-making process.
apparel).” Customers who interact with online
merchandising widgets will generally view more
The Power of Product Reviews products per session and are more likely to add
a product to their shopping cart, increasing
"Use the power of product reviews and motivate conversions, repeat visits and customer
your team to do their best work. Instruct your satisfaction."
employees to route satisfied customers to the
most important online sites for leaving feedback, Add Unique Content to Improve Product
and give your people a bonus if a referred Descriptions
customer writes a review about your company
there." "Improve your product descriptions by adding
informative and unique content. The more
Only Ask For Information You Absolutely Need descriptive and unique you are in your product
descriptions, the better the chance that
"Ask your customers only for the information someone will buy from you. Figure out a way to
you absolutely need. If you are selling digital make your product descriptions unique to
products, do you need the customer's full differentiate you from the competition."
address? What about the phone number? Most
customers dislike giving their precious personal Hire Interns With Advanced Skills
information away until they get to know your
company better." "Utilize local high school and college student’s
talent for jobs whenever possible, including
paid internships. You will be amazed at the
talent you can find, such as advanced skills in
programming, photography, blogging etc. And
13

14. the interns can gain necessary experience in a world and use the 'Get it for free' model to turn
practical environment." shopping cart abandons into sales."
Step Up Security Accreditation Targeted Email Can Increase ROI
"Go one step further than SSL or 'McAfee Hacker "Your customers have different purchasing
Safe' certifications on your site. Try to get patterns and interests. Segmentation allows
industry-endorsed accreditations such as the you to send targeted email campaigns to
'Good Web Shopping Guide' or 'Governed by the subgroups within your list based on subscribers'
Internet Shopping Code of Practice.'" behavior or demographics. Since competition
for the attention of your newsletter subscribers
Earn Trust By Keeping Your Promises is rising, sending relevant email is vital to a
successful email marketing campaign."
"Be honest with your customers and never
promise anything that cannot be accomplished. Use Google Alerts to Stay on Top of Your
Once you make a promise you must keep it. Industry
Earning a customer's trust is the best way to get
a lifelong partner." "Use Google Alerts to stay abreast on what's
happening in your industry, you'll be surprised
Spread the Word on Facebook how much they keep your 'finger on the pulse'
of news items that are important to you. Make
"A Facebook page is a great way to promote your sure to include keywords like your company's
online store. Not only does it give you name and your line of business, as well as
customized presence and branding, it also gives important industry keywords and buzzwords."
your customers a channel to interact with you.
And, it provides great SEO value, too. Set up a Establish Good Inbound Links
Facebook page now and spread the word among
your friends and customers." "Links are the currency of the web. Not only do
they drive traffic in their own right, but they
Help Customers Interact With Your Site also are essential to high search engine
rankings. Without good inbound links to your
"Invest in features that will help customers web site, your search engine optimization (SEO)
interact with your site or understand your efforts will be limited."
products better. This could be product reviews,
expandable interactive images, video, or chat. Present Your Products in the Best Possible
Watch your competition -- what features are Way
they adding?"
"Image is everything and online shoppers need
Turn Shopping Cart Abandons Into Future to come as close to touching and feeling a
Customers product as possible. You need to overcome the
obstacle of customers not being able to
"Never underestimate the profit opportunity experience your product, like they can in a
that comes with undecided or 'freebies hunting' retail store. Take time to present your products
customers. Do your prospects want your in the best possible way with clear and vibrant
merchandise for free? Get creative! Join forces images and accurate descriptions."
with advertisers and other merchants around the
14

15. Customer Testimonials Add Trust Google Alerts Provide an Extra Set of Eyes and
Ears
"Customer reviews and testimonials are great
ways to help visitors to feel more confident in "Set up Google Alerts on your company’s high-
their purchase, resulting in lower shopping cart converting keyword phrases. When these
abandonment and higher overall revenue. When phrases appear in a blog post, video, website
contemplating a purchase, peer feedback is very update, or news release, Google will send a
powerful and adds a new dimension of trust." relevant email update. This instantaneous
feedback is a great information resource for
Look Further Afield for Inventory Sources new blog posts, latest product ideas, link
exchanges and even short-term PPC
"With an unrivaled manufacturing infrastructure, campaigns."
sourcing direct from Chinese suppliers can
greatly increase profit margins for small online Seek Quality and Affordable Advertising
businesses. By using a transactional marketplace
rather than a supplier directory, buyers can "It is important not to overlook paid search
select and purchase small volumes at a high engine advertising for your online business.
frequency while utilizing inbuilt security systems Many of the leading search providers, such as
– mitigating risk and maximizing cost- Google, Yahoo! and Bing, offer paid advertising
efficiencies." at rates that are affordable to businesses of any
size. This is a great way to get targeted visitors
Take Advantage of Existing SEO Services to your website which could lead to potential
sales."
"Before contracting for any SEO services at all, be
sure you are taking maximum advantage of SEO Use Long Tail Phrases to Describe Products
services you already possess, such as those built
into your web hosting account, or those built "Most people think of keywords as individual
into your shopping cart. You should be using words. While these are important it is also
them. Some are highly effective and will important to think about the phrases that
continue to build page authority and page rank consumers use to describe your products.
for you day-by-day, every day." These phrases are referred to as 'long tail
keywords.' For many websites, more than half
Don't Wait to Promote Top-rated Sellers of traffic comes with long tail keywords than
from shorter one- or two-keyword phrases."
"Leading retailers have recognized the value of
premium position and are offering it as part of Fundamental Security Tips
their top-rated program. But why wait until
October (like eBay does) to promote top-rated "It's critical to become a stickler for security
sellers? Offering cost-per-click bidding now to when it comes to your customer's data. Some
attain premium position helps fundamental tips are to use strong passwords
advertisers/suppliers improve sales while helping and change them frequently, become PCI
you generate incremental revenue in hours." compliant, never store sensitive information in
plain-text at any point, use digital certificates,
store transaction IDs/subscription IDs over
credit card data, and above all do not store any
more customer data than is necessary."
15

16. Work Together to Build Strong Links media, wish lists, and page promotions now to
have a successful holiday shopping season."
"To make the most of out your SEO linking
strategy, make sure that the rest of your Use A Site Search That Incorporates Guided
marketing team understands what keywords and Navigation
pages you’re targeting. Some of the best natural
links come from work you’re already doing "Shoppers often begin their search using vague
elsewhere, from press releases to social media." and general terms, and then abandon the
search in frustration and leave the website
Diversify Online Marketing Tactics altogether because too many choices are
returned in an unstructured manner. Guided
"Online merchants should diversify tactics to navigation helps solve this problem by allowing
reach customers through targeted advertising on the visitor to easily and rapidly narrow the
sites like Shopzilla, Bing cashback, and Google search in a highly structured fashion."
Product Search; timely email promotions; and
most importantly, by providing relevant, quality Focus on Upsell Products
site content and high-quality images that foster a
better online shopping experience." "To succeed with your ecommerce solution, it is
extremely important to focus on having the
Put Your Best Image Forward customer picking an upsell product with better
profit, or adding accessories together with the
“Compared to traditional store rent and utilities, product they are purchasing. This is no more
ecommerce has built-in advantages with already than a time commitment, but well worth it.
cheap start-up costs. Resist skimping further on Find products that you can add as accessories,
aesthetics and appearance; these things strongly not only to a few of your products but to all of
represent you, your vision, and your business. them."
Spend the dollars in design, proper functionality,
and support to ensure your image is represented Automation is Not a Substitute for
correctly.” Outstanding Support
Audit Search Queries Often "It is critically important to have user friendly
automated tools, dynamic and well-designed
“Regularly audit your search queries. These are web pages, and clear communication
the actual words a searcher types, not the processes. But don’t forget the importance of
keywords you buy. If you buy paid search coupling this with easy access to an
advertising using broad match and phrase match, outstanding, knowledgeable and helpful
you could be wasting money.” support representative to create positive, long
lasting, impressions of your company."
Start Planning for Holiday Season Now
Tap Location Online to Drive Offline Sales
"To succeed during the holiday season, make
sure your website and its underlying technology "The consumer’s expectation of 'research
can support your marketing plans now. Online anywhere, buy anywhere' means merchants
retailers should be prepared to quickly and must bring offline decision-making to online
accurately process large quantities of orders commerce. And, location plays an integral role.
during the holiday season. And, integrate social With geolocation technologies, online
enterprises can proactively drive offline sales
16

17. by highlighting the nearest retail locations or ever about transacting business online.
presenting coupons for in-store use based on Merchants need to be sensitive to these
shoppers’ geographic locations." concerns and reinforce the trustworthiness of
their site wherever possible."
A/B Split Testing
Add a Video Play Button
"Do A/B split testing of landing pages using
Google Website Optimizer. It's free and you'll be "The benefits of product video on ecommerce
pleasantly surprised at your conversion's is well established, but how it is triggered by
improvement." shoppers is critical. Take a cue from YouTube
and news sites - use a superimposed ‘play
Find Related Forums and Blogs button’ in the immediate vicinity of the primary
product image. Shoppers know immediately
"Targeted marketing is the most effective way to what this means, and your conversion rates will
drive potential customers to your site. Use the be maximized."
search engines to find related forums and blogs,
and sign up for as many you find. Participate by
adding useful information, comments and
advice, and be sure to include a link to your See Things From a Customer's Viewpoint
website."
"Understanding complete customer experience
Don’t Be Afraid to Experiment requires monitoring from the customer's
viewpoint (not an internal one) through the
"Diversifying your product range is an excellent entire order lifecycle. How easy is it to order
way to expand your existing business and reach and how long does it take to receive it? It’s also
new customers. You can add value to your online important to analyze how technology enables
store and increase your margins by introducing or hampers the customer experience."
new complementary products. This will also
allow you to test new suppliers for quality and Set Yourself Apart with Visual Security
reliability."
"Making your commitment to security known
Maximize Your Profit on Every Item Sold by your customers can be the difference
between abandonment and a conversion.
"Setting the right price for items is key to Strong visual indicators, such as Extended
maximizing profit, but it can take Validation certificates (green address bar) and
experimentation and may vary based on who the trustmarks, greatly increase shopper
actual shopper is. Understanding how your confidence."
shoppers respond to pricing and promotions and
making fine adjustments will deliver large Start a Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprise in
returns. Leveraging new vendor solutions that China
are low risk will simplify this complex process."
"Hangzhou, China is the B2B [business to
More Trust Equals More Revenue business] mecca for IT. With a strong dollar,
you can leverage the force of a very tech-savvy
"With all that consumers are hearing in the development team and pick up a global
media about identity theft, hacking, and fraud, presence instantly. Superior product
they are understandably more concerned than development is what sets apart one company
17

18. from another. This will let you focus on sales and looses packages. If they do, your customer will
marketing while your offices overseas focus on be happy when you simply and quickly replace
the website product management." the item. Insurance becomes a profit center."
Speed Up Page Loads The Key to Free Freight Offers
"Optimize your site with fast-loading pages for "A key to free freight offers is the fact that
customers who are ready to buy. Start testing shipping cost per pound drops quickly as total
load times during the design phase, and keep package weight increases. Typical UPS or FedEx
them under two seconds for better conversions cost for zone 5 residential delivery is
and an improved bottom line. Otherwise, users approximately $7 for a one pound package, but
you just paid to attract will give up and buy from only $.60 per pound for a twenty pound
the competition." package--yet revenue per pound remains
unchanged."
Help Customers Find Exactly What They Want
Provide Contact Details
"Advanced filtering by product attributes, tags
and advanced searching helps customers find "Provide your customers with visible contact
exactly what they want by driving into the details on every page of your site. Whether it’s
product catalog in a natural, fluid way instead of a visible phone number and email in your
forcing the customer down a deep and rigid header graphics or a live chat tool on your
hierarchical category structure." website. Nothing makes a customer feel more
comfortable about buying from you than being
Use Multivariate Testing On Your Shopping Site able to contact."
"Use multivariate testing to enhance the on-site Differentiate Yourself From the Competition
shopping experience by determining which
combination of on-page variables increase your "Create a niche by offering customers your
conversion rates. A/B splits are very limited, but knowledge and expertise. Daily tips,
with multivariate testing you can test multiple newsletters, or instructional videos on media
features at once and contemplate the user's full such as YouTube are ways to offer customers
experience at your site." more than just the products you sell. It’s a cost-
effective way to promote your brand and
Don't Hide Behind Your Site separates you from the competition."
"Try not to treat your ecommerce platform as a Optimize Comparison Shopping Engine Feeds
24/7 faceless store. Interact with your customers
through images, video and live help as if they "Start inexpensively with Google Base. When
were in the room with you. Not only will this the feed is optimized well, the results can show
build empathy and trust with the shopper but up on the first page of Google within hours
you will also increase conversions." (over months with SEO) and conversions are
easier since the traffic is qualified for
Self Insure USPS Shipments ‘shopping’."
"If you sell many of the same item, self insure
instead of buying USPS insurance. Charge an
insurance fee and assume the risk. USPS rarely
18

19. The Evolution of the Payment Provider affiliates or offer them tools to make their own
coupons, from the commission they already
"With the status of the financial market, the have."
standard payment service provider tries to
provide innovative solutions. A preferred option Maximize Revenue by Offering Value Added
is to combine their services with affiliate, Services to Your Existing Clients
marketing and alternative payment methods.
Today’s providers are elevating to complete "By offering value added services through
ecommerce service providers offering the strategic partners you can strengthen existing
merchants what they require." client relationships, increase loyalty and
generate additional revenue. Solid partners
The Human Face on Your Website should offer recurring revenue to you, truly
competitive pricing and automated tools to
"Make simple product videos, upload them to make it easy for you and as seamless as
YouTube, and then embed the video on your possible for your clients to enroll in their 3rd
product page. Just standing in front of the party service offering."
camera and demonstrating your product will set
you apart from 99 percent of other online Build Rapport
retailers. Demonstrating on video shows that you
really know your product, and it puts a human "Merchants often underestimate the value of
face behind your website." relationship management in regards to
eCommerce. If you build great rapport with
Eliminate Guesswork your customers, suppliers, credit card
processor, etc., I assure you that your Internet
“Track, measure, and test to eliminate retail business will be better off."
guesswork. Evaluating traffic patterns reveals
ideal places for cross-sell and up-sell. Identifying Take Total Control
points of abandonment exposes weaknesses in
your system. Conducting A/B split tests on "Take total control of customer interactions
everything from emails to landing pages to instead of outsourcing critical operations such
checkout steps allows your customers to show as customer service and shipping. It may be
you exactly what they want.” easier and cheaper to hire a call center to
answer phones, or to have a manufacturer drop
Manage Deliverability ship orders, but customers will not feel the
personalized and expert service that can be
“Use E-mail marketing tools to effectively offered in house."
manage your deliverability and monitor the
performance of your campaigns. Focus on the Explorers and Hunters
customers that are more receptive to your E-
mails to reduce the costs of campaigns and "Your biggest pool of prospective customers
improve your return on investment.” may be people who are 'exploring' for ideas or
'hunting' for options. Anything you can do to
Discount Coupons for Affiliates help them find and choose products will set you
apart from your competition and open up a
"Especially in these tough times, the discount large and untapped area of revenue."
coupons will be the most convincing argument
an affiliate could have. Give 'classical' coupons to
19

20. Rich Consumer Experiences Dominate Providing video is fairly easy and can be a major
boost to your sales when done correctly.
"Focus on immersive branding and marketing Search engines also like quality video."
techniques that create unexpectedly fast, fun,
and easy shopping experiences. Are your budgets Create Simple and Fun Initiatives
caught up on technology or are you investing in
creating that visceral connection to the "Great websites employ three main elements:
consumer? What amazes us the most is that very content, community and commerce. Site
few e-stores provide that connection." owners need a meaningful metric for user
participation on their sites. So create simple
Segment Audiences, Then Localize Messages and fun initiatives for users and reward users
that participate. It’s a great way to develop an
"Online retailers need to better segment online audience for your site."
audiences. Once marketers understand an
audience’s make-up and behavior, they can Try USPS For International Shipping
determine which online segments are useful,
viable and profitable. They can start “localizing”"The fall of the dollar against foreign currencies
their messages. Segmenting an audience into is opening up a huge new export market for
smaller groups ensures each receives the most U.S. ecommerce merchants. United States
relevant, personalized experience, information Postal Service first class mail international and
and offers." priority mail international delivery are a reliable
and inexpensive way to ship export orders.
Provide Engaging Content Rates and how-to information are posted
online at
“You invest heavily to get shoppers to your http://www.usps.com/business/international/
product page, now focus on sales conversions. welcome.htm."
Product videos and other engaging content are
proven to increase sales, and it’s not just for Target International Searches
large merchants. They are available from many
of your vendors at no charge to you. Ask them "Increase your website targeted traffic with
about it!” targeted localized search engine marketing
campaigns in both natural and paid search
Remove Disturbing Elements efforts. Promote your product, service and
business on domestic search engines, such as
"Remove any disturbing elements that could Google.fr, Google.de, Google.it, Baidu,
make any potential customer leave your site, like Rambler, and others. Localize your product
blinking banners and annoying flash-animations. description, FAQs, tutorials, website, public
Also make sure there's not too much information relations and advertising campaigns."
on your site. Keep in mind most people only read
the headlines." Use Your Social Smarts
Engage Visitors With Video "Make product pages more social. Offer prizes
to past customers who post the best reviews.
"Video engages the user by providing Allow "track backs" to product pages that are
demonstrations about your products or services. linked to from blogs. Make it easy for users to
Show how your product works, different views, share products on Facebook and Twitter. And
features and how it will benefit the user.
20

21. have a public (though moderated) comment — you’ll get calls from people just looking to
section for each product." order over the phone because they are busy or
they don’t trust the web."
Implement a Life Cycle Email Messaging
Strategy Persuasion Through Web Personalization
"Email marketing is much more effective when "Successful ecommerce firms understand the
managed with a marketing strategy. An email life correlation between sales and positive
cycle plan will improve conversions, increase customer experience management. Offering
revenue spent per customer and help discover easy returns and free shipping are expected.
opportunities that are often missed due to failed Leveraging customer behaviors/attributes so
communications. There is a little cost in setting you can serve persuasive offers that change in
this up and the rewards keep paying." real-time goes a step further. To promote the
right product/service at the right time, think
Determine Valuable Variables web personalization."
"Doing multivariate testing used to require some Use Video
in-house programming expertise or expensive
third-party software. Thankfully, Google Website "Start creating short videos on a regular basis
Optimizer has provided us with a free that solve a problem for your target audience.
alternative. You don’t need to have the right Keep the videos at two minutes or so, include
answer, your customer will." B-roll, upload to multiple sites via
Tubemogul.com, and archive uncompressed,
Don’t Fail To Plan high quality versions of the videos for future
use. Create a Magnify.net channel, too."
"Having been through the personal experience of
becoming involved with a young business, and Syndicate Content Via Widgets
trying to slide a foundation under the building,
after it has begun construction, has taught me "Adding a syndication widget enables
the importance of planning. Take the time to ecommerce sites to easily syndicate and
plan your site. The end result will pay you distribute dynamic content from a knowledge
base, such as frequently asked questions,
Don’t Filter Feedback product specifications and warranty
information — across multiple websites."
"Merchants cannot control their credibility —
they can only influence it. If a customer leaves a Talk With Your Customers
bad, yet constructive review for one of your
products, leave it up. Prospective customers "Websites, emails and forums are great for
trust other customers more than they trust you. getting out your message, but talking with your
Filtering that feedback can tarnish your customers about their needs and how you can
credibility with the reviewer and the visitor." provide solutions or products is the best way to
build a long-term relationship and customer
A Toll-Free Number satisfaction. Remember your customers are not
just another row in your database."
"Get a toll-free number and use it in your Google
AdWords. It’s one of the last search engines to
let you show your contact information in the ad
21

22. Back To The Future Develop Banking Relationships
"I revolutionized my time management by “It is vital to develop banking relationships as
abandoning my PDA for an old-fashioned well as financial jurisdictions, especially in the
Franklin Covey Planner. Now my mission, values, midst of this recession. This will provide a
and most important goals are in front of me merchant with the means to expand an e-
daily, and I’m getting done what really matters. business globally, as well as improve his
I’m more efficient and focused." customer base.”
Align Consumer Strategies To Increase Develop a Strong Marketplace Strategy
Conversion
"Customers will always compare prices online
"Before spending your limited online marketing before making a decision. Develop a strategy to
and web development dollars on rich media list products on marketplaces like Amazon.com.
merchandising, get to know your customers. Your products will be presented to millions of
Uncover their critical decision-making needs, and viewers, and you pay only when there is a sale.
align your online brand and user experience Also, don't forget to list your products on
strategies with them for increased purchase Google Base, a great source for free traffic."
conversion."
Contact Customers by Phone
Check Your Impression Share
"Include an optional field in your "Contact Us"
“Take a long, hard look at the Impression Share form where customers can leave a phone
of your paid search campaigns. It’s possible that number and request that you call them. You
your ads are not running as often as you think, will be able to close more sales over the phone
which is deadly if the campaign is profitable.” than over email.”
Widgets Can Expand Your Reach Offer More Payment Methods
"Push your marketing to the edge by using a "Maximize closing sales by offering more
widget to display your products for purchase on payment acceptance methods because many
other websites. Whether implemented on social people do not wish to pay via credit cards or
networks or through your affiliate programs, debit cards. With methods like PayPal and
widgets can create natural link popularity and WorldPay becoming increasingly popular it
help expand your reach without having to drive makes good business sense to not reject the
users directly to your website." end user based on their payment method."
Add Alternative Payment Options Recurring Payment Plans
"It is possible to increase revenue and sell "One emerging and profitable trend is recurring
globally without risk. Adding new alternative payment plans. The best use is to understand
payment options such as inpay allows customers the life of your product. If you sell homemade
to use their online bank to pay instantly and soap that lasts about a month, enable your
worldwide. You can sell to customers with no customers to join a plan where you will ship
credit cards and get orders even when a card them a new product monthly. This moved you
transaction is rejected." from one sale to twelve."
22

23. Review User Sessions Build An Ecommerce Facebook Application
"Knowing which pages your users visit can help "One of the best ways for an ecommerce site to
you understand what people are looking for so get into the social media game and gain lots of
you can make it easier for them to get it. You can new interest is though Facebook.com.
get this information from website logs, but my Facebook’s open source policy is designed as an
favorite new way is using Clicktale, which plays active invitation for creating applications, which
back each user session in a video." has secondarily given birth to widget platforms
like Clearspring.com."
Build Credibility
Incorporate Regular PCI Verification
"Regardless of increasing consumer confidence
in online retail, people buy from people they can "Leverage your PCI compliance efforts every
trust. Build credibility with security audits of your quarter as a benchmark for your overall
website, and in turn include security security posture. When you go through
accreditation logos in strategic points on your compliance exercises, compare your previous
site. Client testimonials also add value.” scores and look for consistent reduction in type
and number of problems you have to resolve."
Implement Product Descriptions
Use Simple Tools To Lower Abandonment
"Use relevant and informative product
descriptions. Not only will those descriptions "More than half of online shoppers abandon
help the shopper in their buying process but the the checkout process before completing their
content of that description will also be indexed purchase. Counter abandonment by adding
by search engines, increasing the visibility of your simple tools like security certificates, progress
website." bars and live chat to allay customer confusion,
fears or frustrations."
Research And Exclude Negative Keywords
Inventory Management Is Key To Success
"Invest at least one hour every week to research
negative keywords for your pay-per-click "One database means less hassle and less
campaign. Be sure to exclude keywords such as manpower required to keep track of inventory
free, no charge, no cost, problems, trouble, from multiple locations. The right database can
negative, bad, worst, rebate and similar also handle inventory from multiple locations.
keywords that you don’t want your ads showing With the right software to manage it, there is
up for." no need to go beyond one program to add,
remove and track products."
Use Article Directories
Online Chat Service Can Increase Sales
"Write articles and submit them weekly to
Ezinearticles.com and other article directories. "We now have two years experience using
Search Google for article directories to find a top online chat services and have just moved to our
50 list. If you don't have time to write them, hire third vendor. It does not provide the same level
someone at Elance.com, Guru.com or of conversion to sales as prospects that phone
Getafreelancer.com for $5 to $10 each. This will into our sales department, but it has increased
get you traffic and backlinks." our sales by 10-12 percent."
23

24. Make Trustmarks Prevalent
Place trustmarks on your home page and all
catalog pages; don’t bury them in the shopping
cart. The millions of security conscious shoppers
who respond positively to trustmarks frequently
abandon websites before they even get to the
cart."
Be Sure To Offer Flexibility
"E-tailers face a huge challenge in the
commoditization of brand-name products,
facilitated by comparison shopping sites and
other channels that sort products by price only.
To survive, smaller e-tailers must offer payment
flexibility, fast order handling, and outstanding
customer support. Focus on best sellers and
initiate quick-ship programs. Customers may pay
more if they can get it fast."
(*) The document is prepared by using various
sources including especially
http://www.practicalecommerce.com
24