Do You Make These Mistakes With Your Ecommerce Business?

As an ecommerce coach and mentor, I frequently get asked questions from store owners on many different aspects of how to run a successful online business. A large portion of the questions are different, but there are a handful that always make me step back and wonder how so many store owners can make the same mistakes time and time again—not know how to, or be willing to correct them—then ask why they are unable to generate sales.

In reality, this list of mistakes could be very long. There are so many factors that affect the success or failure of an online store. Afterall, running an ecommerce business is not as easy as some make it out to be—but it could be with the right blueprint.

If I developed a complete list of all the mistakes I come across while working with store owners, it would likely span many pages and be difficult to determine where to start prioritizing your attention. So what I have done is taken that overwhelming list and broke it down into what I consider the top fifteen mistakes—in no particular order—that many ecommerce stores make.

Here are what I consider to be the top fifteen mistakes most ecommerce stores make:

1. Thinking that driving more traffic to your website will increase sales. This is one I see all too frequently and is one that just drives me nuts. It’s this simple, if your website is not setup to convert traffic properly (which means you must understand your target market, ideal customer demographics and profiles to speak to them properly) then it doesn’t matter how much traffic you drive to your site … you’re sales will not increase.

   Furthermore, if you are targeting the wrong traffic type but your site is ready to convert, your sales will not increase. More is not always better—that is, unless the right elements are in place to maximize sales from it.

2. Weak site design in relation to your target market. Do you design your for your market or do you design your site thinking that alone will sell your product?

3. Not marketing enough or properly. You can’t generate sales if nobody knows you exist. Marketing is critical but it must be done correctly to gain the maximum benefit.

   I get store owners telling me they have had a site in place for “xxx” amount of time and still no sales … what’s wrong? That’s a loaded question as there is often a list of things they are missing, but I’m amazed to hear some reply “No” to me when I ask them “are you performing any marketing for your site?” Sometimes you gotta spend money to make money.

   If you aren’t willing to spend money to advertise then your chances of success are reduced and you can’t expect to magically generate sales.

4. Not testing your site to find what really works. Continual testing is a vital component to reaching the upper echelon of conversion rates. Another question I get from store owners is “how do these other stores achieve such high conversion rates?” Once again, the question is loaded.

   There a many multiple factors that contribute to achieving higher conversion rates. One of the common factors across all successful ecommerce stores who see some of the highest conversion rates is that they test all the time. If you ignore your site, you can’t be disappointed when your bottom line reflects it.

5. Not optimizing your product pages for increased conversion. Your product page has a single overall objective with sub objectives that help support and meet that main objective.

   If potential customers can’t get past your product page they have no chance of ever entering the checkout process (for some reason store owners have a hard time understanding this.) An optimized product page (from a conversion perspective) takes advantage of multiple factors that combined help the visitor do their job to achieve the objective.

6. Inadequate site usability. Usability in a basic sense reflects the “ease of use” with which a visitor can interact with your website. Proper usability is all encompassing. It’s role it so provide your customer with an easy, smooth, un-interrupted path to their destination—a sale. There are a number of things that can help you determine if usability is a problem and then help you improve upon this.

7. Lack of comprehensive marketing plan. This is one of the number one reasons most ecommerce businesses are destined for failure before they even start. Without a marketing plan you’re like a ship set sail in open waters without a compass.

   It doesn’t take that long with the right tools to complete a marketing plan. Your marketing plan is your guide for moving business forward. It is essential to your survival and success.

8. Too many obstacles to shopping. This is very much a usability issue and could have been included in the point six above. Adhering by the KISS principle is crucial to helping customers do their job.

9. Poor customer service. Do you answer your customers questions before they ask them? Knowing what they expect and at what moment will improve your customer service.

10. Failure to prepare a proper foundation for success. Proper planning is the first step toward ecommerce success. A weak foundation yields weak results. A strong foundation results in great rewards.

11. Poor order fulfillment. This is self explanatory for most … for others the answer is not so clear. One of the fastest ways (albeit not the only one) to lose a current customer is with poor order fulfillment.

12. Not taking advantage of optimizing the Customer Experience your business provides from beginning to end. If you don’t know what that means, or how to do it then you are in real trouble.

13. Poor checkout procedures. Don’t think that providing a checkout alone will close the sale. Without the right elements in place you’ll find the only thing that increases is your shopping cart abandonment rate.

14. Failure to focus and specialize. You can’t be everything to everybody. Doing so will get you no where.

15. Failure to provide proper customer assurances at the right times and in the right locations. A few simple tweaks of your site can mean the difference between increased sales or increased frustration.

Remember, this is just the tip of the iceberg in a long list of mistakes that prevent ecommerce stores from achieving success.

If you want to find out answers to all your questions, correct the mistakes you are making, and learn how to build a successful ecommerce business, I invite you to join me and the other store owners who have taken advantage of my online coaching system, Ecommerce Amplifier.

You’ll get instant access to a number of invaluable tools, resources, and expert advice, that help you maximize your online store—increasing conversion and winning more sales. Plus, I’ll also teach you the same six step blueprinted process I developed and use to help others build sustainable and successful ecommerce businesses—regardless of your level of experience.

Got any mistakes you want to add to the list? Post them in the comments section below, I’d love to hear them.

6 Proven Steps to Increase Your Conversion

Increasing website conversion is something that all of us seek. More sales, better qualified traffic, bigger profits, lower cart abandonment, and the list goes on. It’s the foundation of what I write about in this blog.

However, I realize that although the answers are often provided in articles, it can be difficult for store owners to put those bits into the proper sequence which ensures they reach their goals. You see, having the right information in front of you is just one small portion of the puzzle. It’s knowing how to use it and when to implement it that makes all the difference.

Don’t put the cart before the horse

I can’t count the number of times I hear store owners say “I’ve already tried this” or “I tried that and it didn’t work”, or “Why does it seem work for everyone else but not for me?” It’s not to say that what they tried doesn’t work (but you must test), rather, the answer often lies in the way the process was implemented.

As the old saying goes, “don’t put the cart before the horse”. Why? Quite simply, doing so will render the horse useless even though all the elements are in place to succeed. The key here is in the proper implementation of the elements in the process. If you simply switch the location of the elements, and put the horse before the cart, you’ll likely find the success you were looking for. The answer was in front of you all along, you just had to know how to implement it.

Building a successful ecommerce store is no different in principle than the cart before the horse analogy mentioned above. Sure, it’s harder to run an online store than it is for a horse to pull a cart, but the fact that it all comes down to proper implementation is often the missing ingredient.

Ecommerce Amplifier: Your Blueprint for Success

I’ve been helping store owners both large and small increase their website conversion for quite some time now. Over this lengthy time period I continually developed, tested, and refined a systematic process that has proven time and time again, to increase store conversion for anyone that follows it—regardless of size.

Several months back I decided to put this process into a do-it-yourself online coaching program called Ecommerce Amplifier. My objective was to make my program available to as many store owners as possible by keeping the monthly investment ridiculously low and provide them with a system that put all the elements into the right order through easy-to-follow weekly lessons.

I launched Ecommerce Amplifier about 2 months ago and the current members love it. The results spoke for themselves almost immediately in store owners reporting increased conversion in as little as one week after entering the program.

My online coaching program not only provides an exact blueprint for reaching your goals, but I also provide my members with the exact tools, resources, strategies, and secrets I use daily to help store owners achieve success. In addition my members get access to me as their personal coach through exclusive members only forums (complete details of what you get can be found by clicking here.)

Anybody ecommerce store owner can benefit from this system. It doesn’t matter if you are just starting out or already have an established ecommerce business, this system will help you build a stronger, more successful online store.

I don’t have to tell you how expensive it can be to hire out all the resources needed to find success. For just peanuts, my system will provide you with a do-it-yourself blueprint to success.

Ecommerce Amplifier walks you step-by-step through a 6 step process that has been proven to increase ecommerce sales.

The 6 Steps

I’ll guide you through the following 6 step process toward building your online business:

1. Plan
2. Focus
3. Streamline
4. Target
5. Measure
6. Retain

You’ll learn how to:

• Increase Conversion
• Generate More Sales
• Attract More Qualified Traffic
• Reduce Cart Abandonment
• Decrease Bounce Rates
• Run Stronger More Successful Promotions
• Use Social Media as a Viral Marketing Element
• And that’s just the beginning …

If you want complete unrestricted access to all the tools, resources, strategies and secrets that will help you build a more successful ecommerce business you should give Ecommerce Amplifier a serious look. I’m confident you’ll like what you find.

Remember, the answers are often right in front of you, you just need to know how to implement them. Ecommerce Amplifier helps you do just that.

To your ecommerce success!

Good E-Commerce Social Media Integration

We’re going to revisit 1-800-FLOWERS.com’s Facebook example to further illustrate how the e-commerce site has integrated Facebook and other social media sites to communicate with its past, present and (hopefully) future customers.

You can see from their Facebook Wall Page that 1-800-FLOWERS.com includes both its website URL as well as its Twitter address right at the top of the page. This is a great idea if you fans or visitors that use both Facebook and Twitter. It also shows that you’re not just limited to one form of social media communication.

1800 Flowers Facebook Wall Page

Notice the top wall post on this screen shot. The article link with supporting text is a great way highlight an exciting sale or promotion taking place on the actual site. Social media users will not stand for e-commerce sites only pushing sales down their throat. If you want to secure a sale, try throwing a dose of human spirit into your posts and not a repetetive “Buy my product now!”. Take a second to also notice how the site didn’t leave its Fan’s “Hey Everyone” post on its own. They’re showing some care and human interaction by responding back even if that’s the only response.

1-800-FLOWERS.com is good to include its Twitter address on its Facebook page and does a great job of interacting with customers on its Twitter page.

1800 Flowers Twitter Page

Again, human interaction is key here. The folks at 1-800-FLOWERS are right on with their fun and appreciative twitter responses. There are very useful Twitter tools available that allow you to keep track of when your Twitter name is being used or written about which is a great way to interact. Imagine what those consumers feel like when they see that their post was heard by the folks at the site they purchased from. You’re almost as good as sold for their next purchase.

Another best practice worth pointing out here is that not every Tweet needs to fill all 140 characters. Notice how some Tweets are as simple as “That’s Fab! Spread the Word Please ” while some include a condolence and thank you for purchasing from the site. A great way to keep your consumers engaged with you and your site can be seen near the top, where a giveaway winner was highlighted and others were instructed to stay tuned for more at a future time.

1-800-FLOWERS.com does a good job of pulling its social media all together by including a link to its Facebook Fan Page right on the front of the site.

1800 Flowers Home Page

While not every e-commerce consumer uses these social media tools, those that do will appreciate the social media savvy.

While 1-800-FLOWERS.com does a good job of integrating its social media, there are two things I noticed about their social media use that I would add or change:

1. Include a link to Twitter on the home page. Avid social media users will appreciate that they can find the site on multiple platforms.
2. Take down the link to the blog our update it with a current link. The blog link found on the Facebook Information leads to a dead blog that appears to no longer be in service.

Have you found examples of good e-commerce social media integration? Be sure to share them in the comments below.

A Good Example of an E-Commerce Retailer Using Facebook

1-800-Flowers.com received a lot of praise recently for being the first e-commerce retailer to set up shop on Facebook.com. Using a few very simple techniques, you too can follow 1-800-Flowers.com’s lead.

When you first visit 1-800-Flowers’ Facebook Page (http://www.facebook.com/1800flowers) you’re immediately shown a coupon code while being asked if you’d like to become a fan. What works about this technique is that you’re not too overwhelmed by all of the “flair’ on the main wall or Fan page. You can chose not to become a fan and instead skip to the Wall.

The Wall. Using simple social media strategies, the folks at 1-800-Flowers have engaged their customers by responding to their posts and making their “Fans” feel appreciated. It’s a win-win situation for the e-retailer when you have Fans paying you a compliment and in turn show them your appreciation. Aside from a few simple notations about their URL and Twitter address, most of the work on page is done by the fans.

The Info Page. The Info page for 1-800-Flowers.com is careful not to be too boastful with their product which is a welcome sight to most consumers. A little information can go a long way and 1-800-Flowers does a good job telling you who they are (in case you didn’t know already), what their mission and products are as well as other social media outlets you can find them.

The Storefront.
What has put 1-800-Flowers.com on the map for their Facebook experiment is the storefront they’ve “opened” on Facebook. Using the coupon code you obtained when you first came to the site, you can shop 1-800-Flowers.com’s inventory without ever having to leave the site. Should you enjoy your shopping experience, you can head back over to the Wall/Fan Page and post a short update about your positive experience.

Without spending a lot of money, 1-800-Flowers has created a lot of buzz for their site and their Facebook store. While operating a store on Facebook may be a little more complex, setting up a Facebook Fan Page — using 1-800-Flowers.com as an example — shouldn’t take you more than 10-20 minutes (depending on how adept a Facebook user you are).

Have you set up a Facebook Fan Page for your site? Leave us your URL and we’ll take a look at it and perhaps contact you for a Facebook Fan Page close up!

5 Ways to Instantly Increase ROI of Your Pay Per Click Campaigns

Running a profitable paid search campaign can be an art. Although many believe you must have a complete understanding of the search engines in order to be successful however, this is not always the case.

Increasing your return on investment from paid search is not as difficult as it may seem. It is true, you need to consistently keep a watchful eye on your analytics and always be aware of your opportunity vs. expense. Despite that seemingly daunting concept, you can run a successful paid search campaign if you pay attention to the right metrics.

Having said that, with a little knowledge at your fingertips you might not become an expert at paid search but your efforts will deliver a positive ROI if you follow the following 5 tips.

1) Focus on Conversion Rate not Click Through Rate (CTR).

Too often people focus on how many visitors (clicks) they receive from a paid search campaign. It is their belief that the more clicks they get, the more sales they should get. To make matters worse, there are companies out there who actually measure paid search success on CTR (click through rate) alone.

Any of these beliefs is a recipe for disaster. These methods often result in spending more money than you actually make on paid search. In other words, you spend more advertising dollars than you generate in sales.

To correct this problem, you should focus on the Conversion Rate metric as it pertains to sales generated when running paid search. This is a more realistic indicator of whether your campaign is moving toward success or not.

The formula for calculating conversion rate is:

Completed Actions (sales) / Total Number of Visitors (Sessions)

One reason many people overlook this metric might be because in order to calculate your Conversion Rate metric you often need to install the proper tracking code on the thank you page of your website. For ecommerce sites this is most often the page a customer arrives at after completing a successful sale. The tracking code placed on this page gathers data on completed actions which as I have illustrated is used to calculate conversion rate.

All major paid search providers have code similar to this at your disposal. For Google Analytics this is called “conversion tracking” and is obtained from within your Google AdWords account. This tracking number is different from that which is provided to you through the use of Google Analytics alone.

Your conversion rate is a measure of unique visitors to completed actions on your website. Alone it will not guarantee you make money from your efforts, but combined with the remaining elements outlined below, it is one of the key metrics toward running a successful paid search campaign.

2) Know your Value per Visitor.

Your Value per Visitor is the revenue you generate from each pay-per-click visitor to your website. In other words, it is a measure of how effective your website generates sales from the visitors it receives. The higher your value per visitor, the more effective your website is at converting them into sales.

You calculate your value per visitor using the following formula:

Revenue Generated / Total Number of Visitors (Sessions)

Value per visitor can be confusing for many. Take for example a site with a value per visitor of $.95. Given this measurement we could accurately say that the site owner makes 95 cents for every visitor who arrives at their website. It gets confusing for some because they ask “how can I make $.95 for each visitor when not every visitor buys from me?”

The answer is found in the way the metric is perceived. It shouldn’t be looked at as each visitor actually completing a “transaction” with your site, but rather each visitor being worth an amount that ideally should be less than your CPC (cost per click).

To further illustrate, if your Average CPC was $1.25 and your value per visitor is just $.95 then you are losing $.30 for each visitor you drive to your website! In other words, you spend on average of $1.25 to get one click that is only worth $.95 to you. At this rate you will never profit and should consider reworking your paid search campaign, hiring an expert ppc marketer, or shutting it down until you can do one of those options.

3) Keep your Average Cost per Conversion in check.

Your Average Cost per Conversion (sometimes called Cost per Action) is the average amount of funding it takes to generate one action (a sale in the case of ecommerce sites.)

It is calculated using the following formula:

Advertising Cost / Total Completed Actions

In its simplest form, your average cost per conversion should be lower than your average order value or you are losing money.

To illustrate, if your average order value is $35 and your average cost per conversion is $40 then you lose $5 each time a sale is completed on your site. In other words, you are spending $5 more in advertising than you are receiving from a sale.

This one can be hard for many to see as they look at only the end result … the completed sale. They neglect the advertising cost which went into achieving that sale and therefore often end up continuing to run paid search campaigns which are not profitable to their business.

The exception to the rule is a company who has built in average lifetime value of a customer and is willing to lose money or break even on the first sale in order to gain future sales from that same customer. With careful planning and proper implementation this strategy can successfully be used to build a viable business online.

4) Use long tailed keywords and exact match instead of shorter more generalized keywords and broad match.

When internet users begin their search for more information on a product or service, they often use what are called general or broad keywords. They do not know exactly what they are searching for but do know they need more information on a given item of interest. As a result, the keywords tend to be shorter and more general.

Searches result in terms like “shoes”, “running shoes” and “nike” for example. While these terms would likely return data relating to a given product type, they would likely not return data on a specific shoe.

These terms would yield traffic on a broad level with all visitors looking for information yet few looking to buy. Not only would these search terms yield broad scale traffic, but they would come at a high price. Often times the more broad the keyword is, the more competition there is for it and the higher CPC you will pay.

Consider now the user that has already done their research and is ready to buy. They have performed all the searches, learned what is the best running shoe for their needs, and are now in the hunt to find out where they can get it.

As the user narrows their search and has gathered more data about a given product their search shifts to a more exact methodology. They begin to use what are called long tailed keywords to find more specific results. Terms like “Nike airmax running shoe” or “Nike airmax size 7 running shoe” are used.

You can see just by looking at the search terms utilized, the user is more qualified to buy. They know exactly what they want and now they want to know where to get it.

Although there will be competition for these keyword types, the competition will likely be less than what is seen at the broad level. As a result, you’ll achieve lower CPC prices and in turn more qualified traffic by bidding on these types of “long tailed” terms.

5) Build smaller lists of keywords targeted across more specific ad groups and campaigns.

One of the most common mistakes made by non-experienced paid search marketers is “dumping” large lists of unrelated keywords into a few ad groups across a few campaigns.

While this tactic may save you time, it will ultimately be the iceberg that sinks the ship in the end. Trying to save time and money in the beginning will only result in losing money at the other side.

Take your time upfront, perform your due diligence and structure your paid search campaigns to take advantage of the opportunities that smaller, more targeted keyword groupings can do. In case you are asking “what can they do?” here’s a list.

• Provide more control over ad presentation.
• Increase click through and typically increase quality of traffic.
• Increase quality score.
• Increase relevancy.
• Increase Quality Score which decreases bid cost and increases placement.

Paying attention to these 5 tips might not make you an expert at paid search, but it certainly will put you on the right track toward achieving higher ROI from your efforts.

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