MAKE MORE MONEY ONLINE ! !

!10 STEPS TOWARD !

E-COMMERCE !SUCCESS !

!DAVID ALER, JUNE 2013

1. DO YOUR GROUNDWORK

1. DO YOUR GROUNDWORK

A scaleable platform – both up and down!Are you prepared for success? Or disappointment? !Business model and ROI + business plan!You need to answer to your investors. Look at the competition. How much will your customers spend on each purchase? Is there really an opportunity to make money? !Logistics and customer support need to scale as well!Find the right partners. But employ key staff (inventory, marketing) Are you passionate enough?!Do you REALLY love selling books/shoes/cosmetics?

2. WATCH YOUR MARGINS

2. WATCH YOUR MARGINS

Remember the formula!Traffic x Conversion rate x Margin = Profit !Place high-margin products cleverly!The Primacy Effect – top left corner placement sells best !Reward customers who raise your margins!Can they wait for delivery? Will they pay up front? Lower their price or offer them a special discount. Unnecessary freight and returns cost money!And are bad for the environment – so help your customers buy right the first time!

Home food delivery at unpopular times cost less – for both you and the customer.

3. MOBILE:!NOT IF, BUT WHEN

DID YOU KNOW?!!

91% of mobile users keep "their device within arm’s reach "

100% of the time"!

IBM

3. MOBILE MINDSET

Not if, but when!Customers expect a responsive or mobile-friendly solution !Bridging online and store!Support for both customer and staff! Barcode scanning? Optimize for mobile search!What are your customers looking for? Products? Directions? Support? Do you really need an app?!Do your customers shop from your site more than three times a year? Can you motivate the real estate on their phone?

4. OBJECTIFY YOUR PRODUCTS

4. OBJECTIFY YOUR PRODUCTS

Don’t count on customers coming in the front door!!A lot of traffic is coming from Google searches and price comparison sites – straight onto a product page !You don’t know who will make your next sale!Make it easy to spread a product. Write descriptive links! !Think visually!Large hi-def photos. Products in context. Video demonstrations. All very effective! Don’t forget mobile!Soon customers will be Airdropping products to each other.

Gamified and gorgeous – DODOcase is e-commerce that is shareable in its own right.

5. DON’T LOSE YOUR BRAND IN THE MIX

”Just do it”

5. DON’T LOSE YOUR BRAND IN THE MIX

Experiment all you like with marketing channels…!But don’t let Facebook or Pinterest take over your brand !What do your brand fans value in your brand?!Use their passion to build your online brand WITH them Keep creative control!GAP’s logo is still the same, crowdsourcing didn’t help

Guess which brand?

6. HELP YOUR CUSTOMERS

SELL FOR YOU

DID YOU KNOW?!!

67% of e-customers spend more after a recommendation!

!Gloople

6. HELP YOUR CUSTOMERS SELL FOR YOU

Reviews sell!Customers trust them, even if they do not know the reviewer !Use a plugin!Bazaarvoice, Trustpilot and others offer simple integration !Google ranks reviewed products higher !If tagged as ”user generated content” Avoid price wars!Reviews are more effective to drive sales

Lexus in Sweden publishes unfiltered interviews with owners

7. OPTIMIZE MORE

DID YOU KNOW?!!

A typical e-tailer spends 55% of budget on driving traffic and only

5% on conversion optimization!!

ebay

7. OPTIMIZE MORE

Make sure they buy right the first time!Big savings in post-tail service and returns. 50% of bounces are due to customers not finding what they expected to find! !Help them find it!!Only 45% of editors have the tools to help their customers find what they are looking for on their sites. (Web Service Awards, Sweden) !Use several analytics tools - together!Google Analytics shows WHERE the problems are, eyetracking and user testing will answer WHY

Product page at Zappos – optimized & improving constantly

8. DELIVER ON !THEIR TERMS

DID YOU KNOW?!!

42% of abandoned carts are "due to bad delivery options"

"ebay

8. DELIVER ON THEIR TERMS

Next day delivery is expected!by 30% of e-shoppers (ebay) !Don’t be late!But more importantly, say when you’re coming !What’s included in the box?!Customer satisfaction form, product guides, samples? Returning to the store!A pain or an opportunity for deeper engagement?

Exempel

Net-a-porter: Matching brand and packaging

9. LISTEN AND LEARN

DID YOU KNOW?!!

1/6 of customers who are satisfied with a shopping experience

broadcast this in social media. Twice as many talk about their bad

experiences …

9. LISTEN AND LEARN

DIY is not always best!Only 20% of e-tailers use customers to check content for readability and relevance (Web Service Awards, Sweden) – reward those that do with a discount! !Use their own words!Reviewers and fans can describe your products better than you can. !What are they saying in social media about you?!And what are they saying about your competitors? What do your customers want?!Ask them!

Customer service community (via Kundo – getsatisfaction offers similar)

10. SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY

10. SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY

What can you trim away?!Tricky navigation, long forms, long descriptions … !Don’t force support upon your customers!But be prepared to help whenever needed! !Do you need 10 payment options? !Use A/B testing and analytics to make checkout simpler – too much choice leads to inaction. !Be your own mystery shopper!What can you simplify?

Simple and user friendly payment solution! Email + postcode is enough in most cases (Klarna Checkout, Sweden) !

”Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler”!

!Einstein (?)

2013 03 24 Michelle Warren, Angelica Kneip, Lawrence McAllan, Li Maunumbie, Lars Larsson

David Aler!david.aler@cloudnine.se!Twitter: @c9dave!!Cover image: epSOS.de!