Ecommerce Website Owners: Are You Leaving Money On The Counter?
Word Count:
642
Summary:
Own an ecommerce website? Do you have a mailing list?
If not, you’re potentially leaving a lot of money on the counter.
Keeping in touch with your past customers and visitors, is one of the easiest and cost effective methods of increasing your website sales. You simply must have a mechanism to collect the email addresses of both buyers and browsers alike.
Collecting buyers email addresses is a ”no brainer” – after all you need to send them confirmation details, recei...
Keywords:
ecommerce,web,design,designer
Article Body:
Own an ecommerce website? Do you have a mailing list?
If not, you’re potentially leaving a lot of money on the counter.
Keeping in touch with your past customers and visitors, is one of the easiest and cost effective methods of increasing your website sales. You simply must have a mechanism to collect the email addresses of both buyers and browsers alike.
Collecting buyers email addresses is a ”no brainer” – after all you need to send them confirmation details, receipts etc. Just make sure you ask their permission to keep them up to date on future special offers.
Collecting visitor details is a bit trickier, and you must offer some kind of incentive in return for them handing over their valuable email address. Here are several ways:
· A discount voucher off their first order
The amount you are prepared to offer will depend on the profit margin in your business, and the drawback is you may only get the email addresses of people who were going to purchase anyway.
· A competition to win one of your products.
Do make sure you are honest and pick a winner – put past winner details on your site to emphasise this
· An insiders buyers guide
If you offer technical products that can be tricky to understand – such as electronics, audio-visual etc, then write a short guide
· Special reports or tips guides
If you sell golf equipment, search for articles on golf tips online, obtain the authors permission and compile them into a PDF report.
Managing your list
Depending on what ecommerce system your website is based on, you may already have the ability to manage email lists. If not, use a list management service such as Aweber (http://www.aweber.com/), which allows you to set up autoresponder sequences, multiple lists and send HTML emails.
Which brings me nicely to the next *must* . . . send HTML emails!
HTML emails are the ones full of images and graphics, rather like webpages as opposed to plain text emails.
Why? They are far more eyecatching, which is essential given the increasing amounts of email we get every day. You stand a better chance if you include images of your products – after all a picture is worth a thousand words, right?
(the only exception to this is people selling non tangible products or services - for example, information products usually work better in text emails.)
What should you communicate in your emails?
· Special offers
Any products that you have put on special offer, sale items, end of line stock etc. Adding a message of limited availability or ends by a certain date will help increase response.
· Seasonal offers
Garden furniture and barbecues in Spring, for example.
· Offers tied to special events
Before the recent FIFA World Cup, I was inundated with special offers on all kinds of TV’s for watching it on. If you can tie your products to a popular event in some way, so much the better.
· New product reviews
Reviews of the latest product offerings to hit your marketplace, will interest your customers.
· Technical “how to’s”
If you sell any kind of technical product, your customers will appreciate the occasional how to guide. How to get the best out of your equipment, top tips, etc.
Frequency of emails
I wouldn’t advise emailing your customers any more than once a week, and leave it more than a month between communications and they are likely to be forgetting about you.
There we have it. Loads of ideas on how to keep in touch with your customers, and make sure you stay at the forefront of their minds. The cost is virtually zero, and the potential returns are massive.
What’s the cost if you don’t? Well, undoubtedly one of your competitors will make the effort – and end up seducing your customers away from you . . possibly for good.
Showing posts with label web. Show all posts
Showing posts with label web. Show all posts
Friday, March 4, 2011
Monday, February 28, 2011
Ecommerce And The "Reason Why"
Ecommerce And The "Reason Why"
Word Count:
533
Summary:
The other night, I watched a rerun of the original Superman film from 1978. In it I noticed a considerable amount of time was spent showing how Superman ended up on planet earth. We saw his parents on Krypton, the escalating doom affecting that planet, and why his parents took the decision to place him in a pod and send him to earth. We saw his father Jor-El rationalise this to his wife, explaining how the differing gravities, and less advanced life forms of Earth would give ...
Keywords:
ecommerce, website, web, design, designer, email,marketing,internet
Article Body:
The other night, I watched a rerun of the original Superman film from 1978. In it I noticed a considerable amount of time was spent showing how Superman ended up on planet earth. We saw his parents on Krypton, the escalating doom affecting that planet, and why his parents took the decision to place him in a pod and send him to earth. We saw his father Jor-El rationalise this to his wife, explaining how the differing gravities, and less advanced life forms of Earth would give their boy a positive advantage.
What did all this serve to do?
It rationalised Superman's superhero powers. He would be able to fly because he was from a planet with a different gravity, he would be superfast & superstrong because his molecular structure was different, etc.
Basically it gave a reason why.
However far fetched the reasons were, undoubtedly they serve to make the film more believable. They explain why Superman has superhuman powers. And so do many other Superhero films - The Hulk, Spiderman etc, all explain away the superhero's powers, adding an increased degree of believability that would otherwise be absent.
All this shows that if you can incorporate Reasons Why into your marketing, you will undoubtedly increase your sales.
So how can you make this work for you?
Special offers
Instead of just blindly putting special offers on products, explain why they are on offer. Perhaps the manufacturer had a cancelled order, and offered you an amazing deal which you can pass on to your customers. Maybe as a result of your annual stocktake, you need to reduce your inventory, and so are selling off your widgets at a ridiculous low price.
Limited availability
Tell a story as to why there is limited availability on a product. Perhaps it was the last stock of a production overrun, or "forgotten" stock that was in one of your storerooms that got "lost" behind other stuff. If the type of product you sell is not of a limited availability nature, you can tweak this to justify why a particular special price is for a limited time only.
Why you are the best choice
Perhaps you have over 20 years experience in your field which enables you to know your industry inside out. Or you have particular inside knowledge which allows you to get the best deals and pass these on to your customers. Think about it - you can always find an "angle" to justify why you are the best person to buy from.
Customer Testimonial
In a way these are "reasons why" someone should buy from you. Although they are well used in information product marketing, they are under used when selling physical products. Make an effort to collect testimonials from your customers that emphasise your quality of service, speedy service, helpfulness or cheap prices.
Give people a reason why. Make a story out of it. We all see shops with "Sales" banners up all the time, but when they say the sale is due to relocation or closing down, we take an extra special look, don't we? The "Reason Why" is a powerful technique that can add that little extra bit of credibility to give your sales a boost.
Word Count:
533
Summary:
The other night, I watched a rerun of the original Superman film from 1978. In it I noticed a considerable amount of time was spent showing how Superman ended up on planet earth. We saw his parents on Krypton, the escalating doom affecting that planet, and why his parents took the decision to place him in a pod and send him to earth. We saw his father Jor-El rationalise this to his wife, explaining how the differing gravities, and less advanced life forms of Earth would give ...
Keywords:
ecommerce, website, web, design, designer, email,marketing,internet
Article Body:
The other night, I watched a rerun of the original Superman film from 1978. In it I noticed a considerable amount of time was spent showing how Superman ended up on planet earth. We saw his parents on Krypton, the escalating doom affecting that planet, and why his parents took the decision to place him in a pod and send him to earth. We saw his father Jor-El rationalise this to his wife, explaining how the differing gravities, and less advanced life forms of Earth would give their boy a positive advantage.
What did all this serve to do?
It rationalised Superman's superhero powers. He would be able to fly because he was from a planet with a different gravity, he would be superfast & superstrong because his molecular structure was different, etc.
Basically it gave a reason why.
However far fetched the reasons were, undoubtedly they serve to make the film more believable. They explain why Superman has superhuman powers. And so do many other Superhero films - The Hulk, Spiderman etc, all explain away the superhero's powers, adding an increased degree of believability that would otherwise be absent.
All this shows that if you can incorporate Reasons Why into your marketing, you will undoubtedly increase your sales.
So how can you make this work for you?
Special offers
Instead of just blindly putting special offers on products, explain why they are on offer. Perhaps the manufacturer had a cancelled order, and offered you an amazing deal which you can pass on to your customers. Maybe as a result of your annual stocktake, you need to reduce your inventory, and so are selling off your widgets at a ridiculous low price.
Limited availability
Tell a story as to why there is limited availability on a product. Perhaps it was the last stock of a production overrun, or "forgotten" stock that was in one of your storerooms that got "lost" behind other stuff. If the type of product you sell is not of a limited availability nature, you can tweak this to justify why a particular special price is for a limited time only.
Why you are the best choice
Perhaps you have over 20 years experience in your field which enables you to know your industry inside out. Or you have particular inside knowledge which allows you to get the best deals and pass these on to your customers. Think about it - you can always find an "angle" to justify why you are the best person to buy from.
Customer Testimonial
In a way these are "reasons why" someone should buy from you. Although they are well used in information product marketing, they are under used when selling physical products. Make an effort to collect testimonials from your customers that emphasise your quality of service, speedy service, helpfulness or cheap prices.
Give people a reason why. Make a story out of it. We all see shops with "Sales" banners up all the time, but when they say the sale is due to relocation or closing down, we take an extra special look, don't we? The "Reason Why" is a powerful technique that can add that little extra bit of credibility to give your sales a boost.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Ecommerce And The "Reason Why"
Ecommerce And The "Reason Why"
Word Count:
533
Summary:
The other night, I watched a rerun of the original Superman film from 1978. In it I noticed a considerable amount of time was spent showing how Superman ended up on planet earth. We saw his parents on Krypton, the escalating doom affecting that planet, and why his parents took the decision to place him in a pod and send him to earth. We saw his father Jor-El rationalise this to his wife, explaining how the differing gravities, and less advanced life forms of Earth would give ...
Keywords:
ecommerce, website, web, design, designer, email,marketing,internet
Article Body:
The other night, I watched a rerun of the original Superman film from 1978. In it I noticed a considerable amount of time was spent showing how Superman ended up on planet earth. We saw his parents on Krypton, the escalating doom affecting that planet, and why his parents took the decision to place him in a pod and send him to earth. We saw his father Jor-El rationalise this to his wife, explaining how the differing gravities, and less advanced life forms of Earth would give their boy a positive advantage.
What did all this serve to do?
It rationalised Superman's superhero powers. He would be able to fly because he was from a planet with a different gravity, he would be superfast & superstrong because his molecular structure was different, etc.
Basically it gave a reason why.
However far fetched the reasons were, undoubtedly they serve to make the film more believable. They explain why Superman has superhuman powers. And so do many other Superhero films - The Hulk, Spiderman etc, all explain away the superhero's powers, adding an increased degree of believability that would otherwise be absent.
All this shows that if you can incorporate Reasons Why into your marketing, you will undoubtedly increase your sales.
So how can you make this work for you?
Special offers
Instead of just blindly putting special offers on products, explain why they are on offer. Perhaps the manufacturer had a cancelled order, and offered you an amazing deal which you can pass on to your customers. Maybe as a result of your annual stocktake, you need to reduce your inventory, and so are selling off your widgets at a ridiculous low price.
Limited availability
Tell a story as to why there is limited availability on a product. Perhaps it was the last stock of a production overrun, or "forgotten" stock that was in one of your storerooms that got "lost" behind other stuff. If the type of product you sell is not of a limited availability nature, you can tweak this to justify why a particular special price is for a limited time only.
Why you are the best choice
Perhaps you have over 20 years experience in your field which enables you to know your industry inside out. Or you have particular inside knowledge which allows you to get the best deals and pass these on to your customers. Think about it - you can always find an "angle" to justify why you are the best person to buy from.
Customer Testimonial
In a way these are "reasons why" someone should buy from you. Although they are well used in information product marketing, they are under used when selling physical products. Make an effort to collect testimonials from your customers that emphasise your quality of service, speedy service, helpfulness or cheap prices.
Give people a reason why. Make a story out of it. We all see shops with "Sales" banners up all the time, but when they say the sale is due to relocation or closing down, we take an extra special look, don't we? The "Reason Why" is a powerful technique that can add that little extra bit of credibility to give your sales a boost.
Word Count:
533
Summary:
The other night, I watched a rerun of the original Superman film from 1978. In it I noticed a considerable amount of time was spent showing how Superman ended up on planet earth. We saw his parents on Krypton, the escalating doom affecting that planet, and why his parents took the decision to place him in a pod and send him to earth. We saw his father Jor-El rationalise this to his wife, explaining how the differing gravities, and less advanced life forms of Earth would give ...
Keywords:
ecommerce, website, web, design, designer, email,marketing,internet
Article Body:
The other night, I watched a rerun of the original Superman film from 1978. In it I noticed a considerable amount of time was spent showing how Superman ended up on planet earth. We saw his parents on Krypton, the escalating doom affecting that planet, and why his parents took the decision to place him in a pod and send him to earth. We saw his father Jor-El rationalise this to his wife, explaining how the differing gravities, and less advanced life forms of Earth would give their boy a positive advantage.
What did all this serve to do?
It rationalised Superman's superhero powers. He would be able to fly because he was from a planet with a different gravity, he would be superfast & superstrong because his molecular structure was different, etc.
Basically it gave a reason why.
However far fetched the reasons were, undoubtedly they serve to make the film more believable. They explain why Superman has superhuman powers. And so do many other Superhero films - The Hulk, Spiderman etc, all explain away the superhero's powers, adding an increased degree of believability that would otherwise be absent.
All this shows that if you can incorporate Reasons Why into your marketing, you will undoubtedly increase your sales.
So how can you make this work for you?
Special offers
Instead of just blindly putting special offers on products, explain why they are on offer. Perhaps the manufacturer had a cancelled order, and offered you an amazing deal which you can pass on to your customers. Maybe as a result of your annual stocktake, you need to reduce your inventory, and so are selling off your widgets at a ridiculous low price.
Limited availability
Tell a story as to why there is limited availability on a product. Perhaps it was the last stock of a production overrun, or "forgotten" stock that was in one of your storerooms that got "lost" behind other stuff. If the type of product you sell is not of a limited availability nature, you can tweak this to justify why a particular special price is for a limited time only.
Why you are the best choice
Perhaps you have over 20 years experience in your field which enables you to know your industry inside out. Or you have particular inside knowledge which allows you to get the best deals and pass these on to your customers. Think about it - you can always find an "angle" to justify why you are the best person to buy from.
Customer Testimonial
In a way these are "reasons why" someone should buy from you. Although they are well used in information product marketing, they are under used when selling physical products. Make an effort to collect testimonials from your customers that emphasise your quality of service, speedy service, helpfulness or cheap prices.
Give people a reason why. Make a story out of it. We all see shops with "Sales" banners up all the time, but when they say the sale is due to relocation or closing down, we take an extra special look, don't we? The "Reason Why" is a powerful technique that can add that little extra bit of credibility to give your sales a boost.
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