EBizInsider

Serious e-commerce begins with the holidays and getting ready for the holidays begins now. You know what’s at stake. Verisign reported 2007 internet holiday sales were up 25% over 2006. This year your holiday season is even more important. Still ahead are more increases at the gas pump which will ripple through the economy like a cold shiver. So, plenty of shoppers are looking to the internet instead of heading for the malls. How do you get this crucial market shopping with you?

The following guidelines will help you maximize sales.

Get Inside Your Shopper’s Head

Millions of people are just like me. We know the internet is fast, so we procrastinate and shop late.

How can we market
to this type of consumer?

• Hit the pain. Remind them why they’re online. Display a graphic on your homepage that says:

“Avoid the lines and shop with us online! Check out our money-saving holiday specials…”

• List your offers. Make sure your deals connect with your customers.

• Sell their wallets. Consumers don’t want to pay for gas or shipping costs. Whenever possible, offer free shipping.

• Reassure them. Guarantee delivery if offers are made before a certain date. Guarantee delivery with express delivery options.

• Offer Services. Offer free gift wrapping and cards with a personalized message. This saves last minute shoppers some time and is nearly universally embraced by—men.

• Match prices. If there’s a better bargain, match it.

• Use flash. Flash increases consumer confidence and draws attention through movement. Flash allows you to fit more into a small area without crowding.

Merchandise

Start tracking products and trends now. Find out what the big guys in your industry are doing. Feature the hot items prominently on the homepage. Showcase deals in a holiday-themed section.

• Sell suggestively. Feature gifts for Mom, Dad, Him, Her, etc.

Market!

All roads involve search engines.

• Pay-per-click remains the best way to get people from the search engines to your store. You can control when your ads are displayed, what is displayed and where the visitor lands when clicking the ad.

• Comparison Shopping Engines (CSE’s) such as Google Products (formerly Froogle), Nextag, Shopping.com, etc. are increasingly popular. Feed management tools get your products in the engines and provide ROI analytics at a product level. One example is FeedPerfect by Solid Cactus.

• Affiliate programs are typically pay-for-performance; you only pay if they deliver. Arm these programs with holiday graphics and banners showcasing your specials.

• The best customer is a regular customer. Personalize a special coupon code for “preferred customers.” Giving your regulars an exclusive deal goes a long way.

When mass e-mailing, make sure you have the following:

• E-mail programs maximize delivery. Exact Target, Got Campaigner Pro, etc. block spam. Companies trust the e-mail coming from them and more e-mail will reach your intended recipients.

• Use well-designed HTML e-mail, but don’t make it a mirror image of your homepage.

• Personalize. Start the e-mail with “Dear <first name>, as a valued customer of <your store name>…” then go into your offers, showcased items, gift suggestions, etc.

• Call to action. A sign saying “start shopping” or “don’t wait another minute—click here” often work.

• Be consistent. Touch the pain of shopping offline, tell people why they should shop with you, create urgency and have a call to action. Put this message on every page (remember, more people land on the inner pages than the homepage.)

Be Creative on a Shoestring

• Hold a contest. Have visitors submit names, e-mail and mailing addresses for a chance to win a product (make it valuable!) delivered to them, gift-wrapped, before the holidays.

• Use the list that you just created for holiday shoppers. E-mail everyone if they “Shop now for the holidays—Guaranteed delivery if the order is received by 12/xx Midnight.” Show case your offers and don’t forget the call to action.

Inspire Customer Confidence

Offers and pricing won’t matter if people don’t trust you. Dispel their fears up front.

• Identity theft. Install a “click here”
link to explain your site’s security. Yahoo! Store owners should explain why its encryption is important to consumers. Carry your site design and branding through the shopping cart and carry your security messages through checkout.

• Fly-by-night operations. Your “about us” page should eliminate these concerns by including your mission statement, how long you’ve been in business, your location, your customer service goals, a picture of your building and the people who work there. Let customers see who you are.

• State your policies. Shopping cart abandonment often results from the charges at checkout. Explain shipping and tax charges. Explain your exchange and return policies.

• Bad customer service. Make toll-free numbers and contact information prominent on every page of the site and have enough people on those phones. Some online shoppers still need to place orders by phone. Make sure they can.

• Testimonials. A customer’s words speak loudly—showcase glowing reviews on every page.

• Product reviews. Big guys like Amazon are using product reviews for a reason. Amazon praising a product they’re selling won’t be nearly as convincing as a customer saying the same thing.

Prepare the Team

Higher volumes require more people. Most merchants increase customer service and fulfillment staff 25% during the holidays.

• Get your people now so you won’t have to scramble when you need them. A $50 employee bonus for hooking a friend up with a job is a good incentive.

• Train them well. They should know your shipping and tax policies, your values for customer service and answer product questions. Make sure they have cheat sheets for gift ideas, can handle price matching and know your promotions. Sales through in-bound calls will mirror the knowledge of your customer service staff.

Live chat can cut down on customer service calls and allow reps to handle multiple customers with simultaneous chats.

Get Started Now!

Prepare your website, offers, marketing strategy and customer service now for fewer headaches, unexpected problems and potential disappointments.

Solid Cactus, Inc. has designed or redesigned more than 3,000 e-commerce sites. Solid Cactus is an Inc. 500 company and was named one of the "Best Places to Work in Pennsylvania" in 2006 and 2007.

All posts by Solid Cactus | E-Mail the author

Name (required)

E-Mail (required)

(Will not be published)

Website

Comments

Security Code

Enter the code above into this box. There's no letters, only numbers. We just want to make sure you're human.