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.

10 Twitter Tips for E-Commerce Retailers

Twitter is a fairly uncomplicated site; however, there are a few tips and tricks to gaining more followers (people reading your messages); being retweeted (having your messages re-broadcast); and ultimately converting followers to customers on your site.

I’ve got 10 Twitter Tips you’ll want to consider as you create your Twitter account.

Craft a Relevant User Name. Use your real name or your company name, but whatever you do don’t get too cute or too sultry. There are Twitter spammers out there and they tend to use cute or sultry names – they also tend to get banned. If you will be the only one Tweeting on behalf of your site and you’re not that well known yet, stick with your site or company name. If you have some notoriety, use your real name (assuming someone else hasn’t taken that User Name). Examples of good e-commerce User Names could be Philly_WaterTrtment; Diapers_r_us; Kids_Corner_Toys, etc.

Don’t neglect your profile image. No one will take you seriously if your Twitter profile’s image is the default brown box. The default box either tells your fellow Twitterers you’re new or don’t care. Instead, use a site logo, a fun graphic or even your own headshot.

Remember to write a profile. Your Twitter profile is a searchable section of your Twitter persona. You can write your profile to include keywords as well as a website URL. An example of a good Twitter profile would read something like this: KittyTreats.com is a e-commerce site specializing in cat toys and treats.

Write a non-lame first post. A lot of people will draft their first Tweet something along the lines of “This is our/my first Tweet.” That’s all well and good, but if you want to capture future follower’s attention, you may want to post something a little wittier. Consider doing some basic marketing with your first Tweet: “Looking forward to talking to people on Twitter about cats and the humans who love them.”

Post a few more introductory posts before you start to find people to follow. When you start to follow people (or sites) on Twitter, they’ll most likely check out your profile and see if you’re legit or up to no good. One clue you’re a little shady? Having a single posts and a bunch of followers. Follow up your first tweet with a second, similar “getting-to-know-you” tweet: “Just getting the hang of Twitter and hoping to connect with cat lovers and let them know about our cat toys.”

Find and follow your fellow Twitterers. Twitter offers an option of rummaging through your e-mail inbox to look for people whose email addresses you have that they also have on Twitter. This is one option for finding people to follow. Another option is to use “Find on Twitter” function under “Find People.” Go ahead and see if your local paper, favorite websites, or retailers have a Twitter presence. Not only you have some followers to look at and read, you also get a better sense of how different folks craft their tweets. Another good option for finding people to follow is by using Twitter Search (search.twitter.com/). Essentially a Twitter search engine, Twitter Search allows you to plug in a term or terms and see who is talking about them on Twitter. Once you’ve found people (or sites or companies), go ahead and follow them.

Concentrate on crafting good Tweets. No one (and I repeat, NO ONE) likes having sales-only Tweets rammed down their throats. Twitter is best used as an extension of your brand. Use it to converse with cat lovers (or whatever your site sells), or cat food manufacturers, etc. If you’re running a special sale on your site, it’s a great idea to Tweet that; however, don’t let it be the only thing you Tweet. Twitterers love a conversation.

Spread the love and ReTweet good Tweets. In keeping with our fictional KittyTreats.com idea, say you follow Purina on Twitter and they’ve just posted a recall on their food. All of your followers may not know about the recall and you want to let them know. By ReTweeting (RT as it’s commonly known in Twitterville), you can spread the word to your followers as well. A word about retweeting: A retweet requires the RT and then the @____username in order to be considered a retweet. If your RT is too long, you can condense it to fit within 140 characters, just be sure to keep the gist of the message intact.

Broadcast your Twitter presence. Be sure to add a widget on your own site that proudly displays your presence on Twitter. Whether your run a live Tweet stream on your site or just a graphic and a link, online buyers will see you on Twitter and odds are, will hop over to Twitter to follow you (if they’re already on). In this day and age, a lot of online shoppers are finding e-retailers with social media flavor to be a little more “hip” and with it which translates to sales for you.

Find a good desktop (or mobile) Twitter application to increase your productivity. Twitter can be time consuming if you let it; however, with good desktop or mobile application, you can turn the time-suck into a productivity win. TweetDeck (tweetdeck.com/beta) is my favorite desktop tool. Within one simple download, you can follow, respond, search and check on Twitter trends all on one navigation pane (rather than on Twitter.com where you have to move around the site).

Most Important Parts of a Product Page

In one of my previous posts titled Most Important Pages on an Ecommerce Site I uncovered for you the most important parts of any ecommerce website.

After that post I thought it would be a good idea to develop a series providing more detail on each page within that original post.

Below is a list (in no particular order) of what are the most important elements all good product pages possess.

Shipping Information
All internet consumers want to know “how much does shipping cost” and “how soon can I get it”?

Naturally, many begin to first ask this question at the product page. Providing them with the answer to that question at the precise point during their buying cycle is critical toward moving them closer to conversion. Giving them easy access to the shipping rates and shipping options will improve the customer experience and set you up for success.

Product Availability
Even if a product is in stock, don’t assume the customer knows that. Don’t make them think. A customer that see a product listed as “in stock ready to ship” is more likely to put that item in their cart and proceed forward.

Add to cart button
No matter how good a product page may seem it’s certainly no good if the customer can’t figure out how to add the item to their cart. Making the add to cart button larger and more visible is an essential element toward increasing conversion.

Presence of payment methods accepted
Ok, the customer has decided that the product they are viewing is one they want. The next question many ask is “what payment options do I have for buying this”? Indicating the types of payments accepted will answer this question.

You can do this in a variety of unobtrusive ways. A good test is to try adding small icons of the payment methods you accept just under the add to cart button. Again, it’s at the moment that a customer is ready to add an item to their cart that they ask what methods of payment are accepted. Reinforcing it here is a good idea.

Payment Icons Example

Product photo
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. On the internet the product’s picture is just about the only element that can show clearly what an item really looks like. Make sure your photos are clear, crisp, show detail and are large enough to provide plenty of visual appeal yet are optimized for fast internet download times.

Using tools such as lightbox effects for showing larger photos and even zoom type effects (often with jQuery / Ajax) can provide a very nice professional touch.

JQuery Zoom Example

Photo Lightbox Effect

Customer assurances
Building trust and confidence with customers is at the forefront of any strong ecommerce site. Although customer assurance elements should be present sitewide, you should really make sure they are obvious on the product page.

Numerous questions are asked and decisions made by the customer on the product page. Committing to adding an item in their cart requires reinforcing trust and confidence.

If you offer warranties, guarantees etc… you should make sure these are in plain site on the product page. Letting the customer know that you have a 90 day guarantee (as an example) will help move them toward placing the item in their cart.

Product Price
It’s pretty obvious to most that customers want to know the price of a product before they commit to moving forward, yet I’ve seen sites stating “add the item to your cart to see the price”. I personally see no reason for this and in fact can point out two reasons I feel this would hurt your conversion.

1. You are adding another step to the customer’s buying process and the more steps you add the greater your chance of losing them.
2. You are taking away the customers choice by forcing them to add an item to the cart in order to get information which should be in plain view from the start.

Both hinder the customer experience and will likely cause a decrease in conversion. If you are selling products on the internet do you and your customers a favor by including the full price of the product on the product page.

Customer Reviews
With the recent growth of social media use, it should be no surprise customers are indicating in surveys that the presence of peer reviews is playing a bigger role in their decision to buy products.

Whereas store issued product reviews can appear biased at times, consumers feel that peer ratings provide a real picture of the likability of a given product. These should be included on every product page and the ability for a customer to write a review should be in plain site.

Now go back and review your site for the inclusion of these elements. If you have them in place congratulations, if you don’t you should really think about adding them.

To your success!

Top 100 Retail Websites of 2009

We can all learn a lot from what those around us are doing. One thing I tell the clients I work with is if you can’t lead, then follow a leader. Often (not always) you can learn a few tricks by looking at some of the “big guys”.

The list of top 100 retail websites for 2009 was released by Internet Retailer and it includes a variety of sites across numerous industries. I’ve listed the top 100 and the industries they are each in so you have a resource you can come back to and look at from time to time. There should be something in here for just about everybody.

Here’s the list of the top 100 in order of industry from A-Z.

Apparel & Accessories

American Apparel
American Eagle
Antrhopologie
Athleta
Avelle
Bluefly
Cusp
Design by Humans
Eddie Bauer
Gap
Karmaloop
Lands’ End
Levi’s
Martin and Osa
NikeID
Nine West
Shoe Line
Roxy
Under Armour
Under Gear
Vans
Wet Seal
Zappos

Books / Film / Music

Blockbuster
Borders
Chapters Indigo
iTunes
Pop Cuts
Scholastic

Computers / Electronics

Best Buy
Cable Organizer
CDW
Crutchfield
Garmin
Ritz Camera

Flowers / Gifts / Jewelry

BlueNile
Delight
Gold Speed
jtv Watches
Organic Bouquet
Think Geek

Food / Drug

Avon
CVS
Dunkin’ Donuts
Estee Lauder
Fragrance Net
Godiva
Gourmet
King Arthur Flour
M&M’s
Scentiments
Stila
ULTA
Walgreens

Housewares / Home Furnishings

CSN Stores
Land of Nod
Max Furniture
Smith and Noble

Mass Merchants / Department Stores

Amazon.com
Buy.com
ElderLuxe
Meijer
Overstock.com
QVC
Sky Mall
Walmart

Specialty / Non-Apparel

Action Envelope
Beckett
Diapers
Doctors Foster and Smith
eBags
Expressionery
Eye Buy Direct
Fat Brain Toys
Fathead
Faucet
Gaiam
Gardener’s
Lion Brand Yarn
MoMA Store
Music Notes
Muttropolis
Novica
Oakley
Organize
Dog.com (Pets United)
SamAsh
Staples
Sweetwater
Timbuk2
Tool King
VistaPrint
Zazzle

Sporting Goods

Gander MTN.
Journeys
Nascar Superstore
Orvis
Running Warehouse
Skis
The North Face

So the next time you are stuck trying to figure out how to approach your website marketing strategy take a look at each of these. This list should stir your ideas and get you moving in the right direction … even if that means asking the right questions or getting the right help in place to implement.

Remember though, plan carefully, choose your course wisely, and always test before saying “it works”. What is good for one industry may not work in another.

PRWeb – Get your news to consumers, journalists and bloggers. Get seen on Yahoo! News and Topix. Drive traffic to your website.

To your success.

« Previous Page — Next Page »