Newsletter

E-Tailing Tips from the Experts

How do you survive and thrive in 2009? How can you do more with less in this economy? Along with MarketLive and Belardi Ostroy, MyBuys sponsored two webinars in Q1 where experts answering those questions included Lauren Freedman, president, the e-tailing group; Ken Burke, chairman and founder, MarketLive, Inc.; Erik Martinez, director of e-commerce, Peruvian Connection; and Francis Juliano, CMO/CIO, Wine Enthusiast. Here are some of their best ideas for “Increasing Share of Wallet in 2009” and “Doing More with Less.”

To listen to both seminars in their entirety, go to Webinar Replays in the Resource Library on the MyBuys site.

• Combine products to create solutions and packages to enable customers to do everything at once. This is great way to add value. Great products at a great price.
• If you have overstock, work to liquidate it while protecting your brand image and keeping full-price sales going. (And you can ask your MyBuys account manager about this one—we can help move that inventory.)
• Look at such analytics as cost per customer and repeat purchase rates to determine if you should spend more on search engine marketing, more on email, or more on other tactics. Look at your acquisition programs and ensure that your cost-per-customer is in line with expectations.
• If you’re selling a product that customers purchase repeatedly, then working your existing customer list makes sense. But if you’re selling higher-priced items, or ones a customer may purchase only once, do a market-basket analysis and look for cause and effect to learn what product purchases lead to what other kinds of purchases. Doing this analysis upfront can save on the marketing dollars you spend to reach the best prospects.
• Pay attention to both customer acquisition and customer retention. Think about what a customer’s second or third purchase will be, and plan your marketing campaigns accordingly. (And make sure you’re using personalized email alerts to capitalize on those follow-up purchase opportunities.)
• Make sure the customer experience is tested from end to end and that everything they need to do works as expected. The little details in the experience can make or break transactions. Don’t make assumptions about what the customer knows; make the transaction as easy as possible for them.
• Establish your brand’s persona and voice and address the customer consistently in that voice. Communicate at an emotional level and write product descriptions that make a product appeal to your target customer.
• Product range and depth are both important: Range is for prospects; depth is for existing customers.
• For luxury products, stress the unique qualities of the product. Leverage those advantages in promotions, and reinforce long-lasting value and quality. Make sure photography sets the mood for the product. Invest in high-quality photography that conveys the exclusiveness of the brand.
• Other tips for improving online share of wallet include: Be sure to capture information from more site visitors, focus on re-marketing to non-buyers who visit the site, personalize your home page or landing page messaging to increase click-through, and create social media, like blogs.

• Sell more by knowing more from customer preferences to purchase patterns. Eighty-one percent of shoppers find value in truly personalized recommendations on a site because they are convenient, save time and help them make better choices. Seventy-seven percent of the time, merchants’ personalized recommendations result in additional product purchases.
• Use ratings and reviews everywhere and all the time: user-generated content plays an ever-greater role in the overall shopping experience.
• Consider realigning your category navigation to focus on clear and mutually exclusive categories, exposure of the full breadth of product offerings, and consistent placement of navigational elements.
• Redesign your site for today’s browsers: 960-pixel design, since 87 percent of browsers are now at 1024x768 resolution or higher.
• Boost site performance—ensure uptime and page load meet customer expectations.
• Make your brand shine and build credibility by showing real people behind the brand; reassure cautious shoppers by demonstrating the brand’s knowledge and expertise.
• Embrace the opportunity to show more by adding video—the percent of merchants in the e-tailing group 100 who use video grew to 65 percent from 45 percent last year.
• Build loyalty with efficiency tools that save time and are convenient, yet still encourage buying more.
• Foster loyalty but don’t discount getting the sale today.
• Remember, it’s service that wins and retains shoppers long-term. Shoppers will long remember the experience and quickly forget the price.