Is Your Online Store Just an Afterthought? 6 Reasons to Bundle Product.
So you put up an ecommerce website or shopping cart solution and loaded it up with as much product info as you can, maybe did some SEO or Pay per Click and sent off an email announcing the new site. Then you probably went back to business as usual back in the 4 walls of your brick and mortar store.
A few weeks or months later, you wondered, “I haven’t really had many sales on my website. Hmmphh, this stuff is for the birds…even more reason why I shouldn’t waste my time on the Internet”.
Sound familiar? It’s not an unusual evolution.
Don’t fall into the trap! Your ecommerce website is another location for your store and deserves the attention as such. You need to market and merchandise for your web store, but in different ways than you do for your brick and mortar store.
This week, we’ll simply talk about merchandising. You have to create value, urgency and uniqueness to help you differentiate yourself from all your online competition. Just because you can’t sell a product for the lowest price, doesn’t mean you can’t succeed. You just need to get creative.
One strategy is product bundling. This allows you to sell items that are popular, but with other items together for a reduced price, which makes it harder for shoppers to compare pricing apples to apples with your competition. Consider creating weekly or monthly bundles at the lowest possible price, even if perhaps you lose a dollar or two. Why? It will help you…
- Acquire a new customer (what is the lifetime value of a new customer – how much will they spend with you in the future?)
- Encourage current customers to try new things that you sell
- This is why it is very important to have items in the bundle that are disposable or non-durable goods, things that are used up
- If they try it and like it, then they come back and buy more from you at full price!
- Use them as a type of low margin (not loss) leader.
- This helps “get their attention” in the hopes that they will browse the site for other products while they are there.
- It helps to train your current customers on using the site and gets them used to knowing that it is there, so they do not have to delay purchases until they can “get to the store”. They can buy more, more often. Sure we love them in the store, but some just can’t come as often as they may wish, and they need to get used to buying from you online.
- It helps acquire more email addresses for email marketing.
- It gets folks to the site to use the word of mouth, tell a friend and the new Facebook and Twitter tools! (If your store does this…if not check out www.GoXsellit.com)
Good luck bundling and May the Force Be With You!
- JoGonRu, Jedi Master of eCommerce
Why Use Twitter With or Without Ecommerce Solutions?
Amidst your busy days, most of you have heard about Twitter. And my guess is most of you have decided there’s not much there for you to use to improve sales. Really, what are you going to tweet about? It’s just another time sucker, right?
Wrong. Even though, everything you read says you have to tweet 3-5 times per day for it to be effective and you have to spend time following other folks, here are some clear, concise and practical ideas for how you should be using Twitter to drive foot traffic in to your storefront or eyeballs to your online store:
- Use it alert your current customers of a sale: Tweet the promo code to them and tell them to come in and mention the code. This works just as well if you have an online store too!
- If you carry “hot” fad type items that are difficult to keep in stock, consider using Twitter to notify those potential customers that the item is back in stock.
- Consider having Twitter ONLY events at your location. The have to be following you to be notified of a special wine and cheese event or some other customer appreciation event.
- If you offer services or are primarily a service business, consider using Twitter for tips, news, suggestions, how to’s, or other websites that might help you followers, in addition to some of the items above.
The best part of Twitter is you do not have to ask for their info or their email address. You just tell them to go follow you at Twitter.com/YourStoreName. Simple. The other great thing about Twitter is that you never have to worry about your message getting caught in a spam filter! All Tweets get through.
Twitter doesn’t have to be used the way comedians always rip on: “Hey, I’m putting a new roll of toilet paper in the bathroom!” Twitter, like all Internet sites, is just a tool. Just make sure you make it totally obvious and easy for people to know how to follow you and give them incentive to do so. Put it on your receipts, your invoice, your voice mail, your store windows, your website…everywhere you can.
May the force be with your Tweets…
Two Low Cost Ideas to Get the Word Out!
All of us struggle to balance the need to get the word out about our products and services with the reality of what our budget will allow. Certainly with the Internet, the cost to get out to the entire nation (yes, the world too) is the most cost-effective strategy one can take.
Yet, still the old standby’s for doing so, can typically take a small company into those budget areas that can make you squirm (but, don’t forget, they still are incredibly cost effective compared to other national or worldwide advertising mediums). So today I would like to offer up 2 places you should strongly consider using. Facebook Ads and Fiverr.com.
Most of you have probably heard about Facebook ads, even if you have not fully explored it as an advertising medium. In a nutshell, Facebook Ads are pay per click ads that get shown on the right hand side of a user’s Facebook page. They offer an easy way to allow folks to “like” your company and are still relatively inexpensive compared to the cost for the same pay per click on Google Adwords. Plus, you can include an image in your ad as well
Facebook also adds to its advantages the ability to target your ads to the precise demographic you want your message to be in front of. Gender, Age, Hobbies and Interests can all be used to make sure your ad is only shown to those that match your criteria.
And, since Facebook surpassed Google in percentage of total traffic a week or two ago, you are ensured your future buyers are logging in and seeing your ads!
The second site is a fairly new site called Fiverr.com. This site is a directory of services that people are willing to do for $5. Things like post your message to 19,000 of their own Twitter followers, or share your message with 13,000 Facebook friends. Most of the fun is in poking around and seeing what folks will do for $5, but imagine what a small $100 investment might be able to accomplish for you.
As always, implementing a tactical solution (what and how much) should normally be preceded by some good old fashioned strategic planning (don’t think D-day invasion here, just a couple days or a week of sound thinking) to establish the goals, appropriate audience, message, call to action and anticipated results.
May the Force Be With You and Help You Sell More!
So, Facebook surpassed Google in weekly
So, Facebook surpassed Google in weekly traffic in America. According to Experian Hitwise: FB had 7.07% of all traffic and Goog had 7.03%.
f You’re Committed to Selling Online, We’re Committed to Helping You Succeed.
Commitment. That’s the key. Looking back over the years (wow, it’s over 17 now!) at the clients we have helped, we have noticed one thing. It’s not the size of the company, how long they have been in business, or the industry they are in that determines success in selling online. Sure, some of those things can help, but overwhelming it’s commitment that drives their results.
And commitment is what we bring to the table. We truly want you to succeed. And to be a success you need a partner that is as committed to helping you navigate the online seas as you are to sailing them. Assuming you have this commitment, there is one more essential element. You need a time tested vessel built to withstand the storms and avoid the pitfalls that lie between you and the sales you want.
xSellit eCommerce stores will take you there.
xSellit is an easy to use, affordable, eCommerce package that is built from the inside out to be incredibly search engine friendly; comes packed with powerful word-of-mouth tools (like integration to Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and email marketing tools; and most importantly, provides an intuitive shopping experience for your customer that will drive more sales to your door while reducing shopping cart abandonment.
Visit our website www.goxsellit.com for more information.
Facebook Changing its Tune & Google wants to See How Fast Your Site Loads
Just when you thought the lightspeed co-ordinates entered into your navi-computer where perfect, keeping you from bouncing to close to a super nova, along come two major changes requiring a course adjustment .
Facebook is changing the way its Fan Pages are used. Before, anyone could create a Fan Page for a business and many clients or customers of a company did just that (see the Coca-Cola story). Well, now Facebook has introduced Community Pages where those typical raving fans will now have to go. Fan Pages will now be the sole domain of the business, personality or band that owns the brand.
Another major change is that users will no long be asked to “Become a Fan”. The new terminology will be “like”. Facebook has recently sent an email to ad agencies instructing them to tell their clients to use new language such as “Find us on Facebook” or “Like us on Facebook” instead of the traditional “Become a Fan”.
Please take note and make sure all your Facebook advertising is converted over to the new terminology.
On another very interesting note, Google has now added site response speed to its search results algorithms. If you think your site (especially interactive or ecommerce sites) may be slow, give us a call to evaluate it, so you do not drop in results you may have worked very hard to achieve!
May the Force be with you as you adjust course!
New Forrester Research predicts online s
New Forrester Research predicts online sales to grow 10%/yr for the next 5 yrs. Get your share with the most SEO friendly eCom GoXsellit.com
8 Things To Do Before Launching Your Social Media Blitz
Social Media is Great, but did you do These 8 Things First?
Facebook, Twitter, Linked In… the list goes on and on. Social media dominates the Internet landscape these days and you most definitely need to be playing in this sandbox to grow your business. But before you begin to ramp up an effective social media campaign, make sure you have built the proper foundation first.
Click on the following link to download our complimentary white paper entitled: “Sure Everyone is Doing It, But Did You Do These 8 Things Before Launching Your Social Media Blitz?” http://goxsellit.com/wp2/. If you don’t feel like downloading the white paper, no problem…we’re going to cover each point here in the blog over the next few weeks.
A quick tip for you: make sure your online store or website includes word of mouth tools that make it easy for your site visitors to use their social media accounts to spread the word about your business. Let’s begin our first Pre-Social Media lessons. Remember, you will be taking your first steps into a larger universe young Luke…
Here’s the first thing to do:
Make sure your current web site is engaging and fresh, after all, this is most likely the end point to your social media campaigns! The last thing you want is tons of friends, fans or followers that end up going to a site that is:
- hard to read
- difficult to navigate
- looks very outdated
- doesn’t let them “DO” something
Once you have completed this process, you can move on to social media. Really I’m not kidding here. Why am I making you finish all this? Social media is what, in the old days, we called word of mouth. Only, in the old days, the only way to do this was to tell someone your name and maybe give them your phone number. Today, people may still give out your name, but more likely, they give out your web site address. Either way, their first destination is usually what we call an “eProperty”.
An “eProperty”, can be your web site, your blog, your Facebook fan page or a whole host of other web based destinations. So, you must make sure that your web site is engaging and fresh. After all, it will most likely be the first impression people get of you and/or your business.
The most important concept to keep in mind is that content, more importantly RELEVANT or ENGAGING CONTENT, is what drives social media. So, you really need some content to put into these tools. If you are going to share and connect with people, it’s good to be able to actually provide them with information of value to them.
May the Force Be With You, Always.
Congrats to Brokaw for landing the Fazol
Congrats to Brokaw for landing the Fazoli account! Good luck and go Cleveland! http://ow.ly/1weIM
8 Tips to Protect Yourself from Credit Card Fraud
I’m pretty excited about my first blog entry. While I might be a Jedi Master of eCommerce, I’m just a Padawan Learner when it comes to blogging! I hope you all find the information, tips, and stories that follow to be mildly interesting at the least, but my hope is that it becomes a resource of Actionable Intelligence.
Credit card fraud is a real danger out there and you must have procedures in place to help protect yourself from it. While there is no magic solution to this, there are many things you can do to avoid having this happen to you.
Here are some of our tips:
1) Rely on your wits. Nothing combats basic fraud better than your gut. If something looks like a fish and smells like a fish, it probably is a fish. So keep a look out for the following:
- Unusually large orders
- Orders that originate in “high risk” foreign countries (Malaysia, Turkey, Russia & Nigeria are some examples)
- Orders where the Bill To and Ship To addresses are different
2) If your eCommerce software tracks abandoned carts and unprocessed orders, see if an order was tried several times before becoming a successful order. This could indicate someone who is trying various cards until they get one that works!
3) Nothing beats the phone. Make it a customer service policy to call and thank each customer (particularly if they are a first time customer). Sometimes the name on the order and the person on the other end of your phone call are complete strangers!
4) If your gateway allows for the enabling of fraud controls, try using them. Typically you want to not only make sure you have an address match (AVS), but a CVV2 match as well. That at least helps ensure that the card is present and physically in the hands of the potential customer. Keep in mind, it still could be stolen.
5) Use online tools like the White Pages to verify the phone number, name and address of the person on the order. Sometimes you will find that the phone number and the address do not match! This can happen if someone has the card information and knows where the person lives. They then use their own phone number, hoping you will call them and they can verbally verify the order, even though it’s not their card! This is a great, simple tool to help prevent you from shipping product you may end up with a charge back on.
6) Don’t ship to P.O. Boxes.
7) Consider a policy of not accepting orders from free or web-based email addresses. Emails should be tracked back to a true ISP. To check, just add www in front of the second part of the email address and see what comes up. If it looks like a real business that provides Internet access, the email can be tracked back to a real person.
8) Educate Yourself. Here are some great links to organizations that help prevent fraud as well as agencies that prosecute it.
- FTC – http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/business.shtm
- Internet Crime Complaint Center – http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx
