Electronic Retailer’s September ‘09 issue featuring Montel Williams is now available online! For more information about Motel’s upcoming keynote presentation at the ERA D2C Convention on Monday, Sept. 14, click here.
Archive for the ‘Payment Processing’ Category
Enticing Shoppers to Buy More - 8 AOV Boosting Tips
Friday, August 28th, 2009
In this world where “flat is the new up,” it is critical to make each visit of every shopper count. With fewer shoppers coming to your site, you have to be instantly engaging, catering to your shopper, making your site a destination. And, you have to get your shoppers to put as much as possible into their cart and then actually check out.
The question is - how can you take the flat or even decreased traffic and turn it into profit? Here are eight tips to help you entice your shoppers to buy more.
1. Shipping Offers - Lets start with getting people to your site. Shipping is something that shoppers are always concerned with. Free shipping, if you can afford it, always moves people to buy more. If your model does not support free, shoppers are also happy with flat fee shipping or even shipping with a minimum purchase (they will buy just one more product to qualify).
2. Incentives and Bundles - So, you got them to your site with a shipping offer, next, motivate them to buy more with incentives. Who doesn’t like getting a gift with a purchase or a special bundle of products for an extra discount? The shopper feels like they’re getting a bargain while you get to move more products.
3. Rebates - If you can’t offer discounts, another tactic to entice shoppers is to offer rebates. People get wide-eyed about rebates and will buy more to get them. Even if they do not actually redeem the rebate, they will be more loyal to your site for the service.
4. Personalized Product Recommendations - Next, lets turn to the customer experience. Today’s savvy shopper expects merchants to know them. Serving personalized product recommendations helps customers find what they’re looking for (and sometimes things they did not even know they wanted). The product detail page is the most logical location, but place recommendations throughout your site and most importantly in the shopping cart - it is a good place to put those impulse purchases - just like candy at the store check out.
5. Video - Another way to enhance the customer experience is to tantalize and engage your shopper with video. This medium can be used to demonstrate how a product works, show how apparel fits, or even do a virtual wine tasting. Video can answer questions shoppers have so that they buy even more than expected.
6. Ratings and Reviews - Lets face it, shoppers are social creatures, and love to talk and get advice from one another. Rating and reviews helps people get feedback from each other. Some shoppers can’t resist the temptation; they have to buy top rated items and will fill their cart.
7. Customer Service - Speaking of people talking , another thing that really helps is something just so simple - offer stellar customer service, and you will not believe how far that will get you. People talk and when they have a great experience, they will tell everyone they know. I do all the time!
8. Alternative Payment Methods - Okay, you have used tips 1-7 on your site and the shopper has stuffed their cart - this is when you are at risk for the dreaded cart abandonment. There are many things you should do to motivate your shoppers to click submit, maybe that is for a dedicated article. Suffice it to say, make it easy to check out. Alternative payment methods make it easier for anyone to check out - so make sure you offer them.
The bottom line is that you need to employ many different tactics to boost your average order value; it is the only way to take flat traffic and turn it up!
Lisa Joy Rosner is MyBuys‘ vice president of marketing.
All Aboard! Your Upcoming ERA Travel Itinerary
Thursday, August 27th, 2009
In addition to its upcoming D2C Convention in Las Vegas Sept. 13-15, ERA has also announced an October 19th networking reception in San Diego!
Before booking your travel to Las Vegas or San Diego, you may first want to get a few tips from “Saturday Night Live” travel expert Judy Grimes.
Did you miss out on the recent networking receptions in NYC and L.A.? Click here to view pictures from various events at Electronic Retailer’s Buzz page!
Pat Cauley is Electronic Retailer magazine’s eMedia Editor.
Quick Fulfillment Tips for Marketers
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009
Don’t take the initial setup phase for granted - Clients sometimes rush or don’t put enough effort into the initial setup phase of the fulfillment engagement. This can lead to miscommunications and mistakes that have long-term ramifications. It’s especially important to communicate who all of your vendors are, and make sure all offers and file exchanges are thoroughly tested.
Understand how the decline cycle works - Companies who are outsourcing their payment processing and fulfillment need to have a clear understanding of how the decline cycle works. New clients who don’t understand the difference between soft and hard declines, or that multiple charge attempts are being made always surprise me.
Make sure your refund policies are clear and reasonable - I see many situations where clients try to save money by imposing strict or unclear refund policies. These can lead to increased chargebacks and customer service calls, as well as BBB and FTC complaints.
Consult with your fulfillment company regularly regarding packaging - Packaging is very important when it comes to freight costs. Your fulfillment company can help you come up with the best packaging to keep your freight costs down. Remember, once a package is above one pound, an extra ounce can push you to the next weight tier.
Work with customer service to plan for call spikes and backorder situations - Avoid backed up call queues and long hold times by proactively planning for call spikes and backorder situations. Fulfillment centers don’t have infinite numbers of customer service agents, so you need to work with them in advance to make sure that staff is properly allocated. In backorder situations, sometimes it is better to outbound clients or send them e-mails to let them know what is going on and thereby reduce inbound customer service calls.
Be prepared for dry spells and unanticipated storage costs - Many DRTV marketers think they will never have a dry spell and are often caught flat footed when retail orders dry up or campaigns slow down. If they have over-ordered inventory, they can end up with higher than expected storage costs, which can definitely impact their bottom line. My advice is to develop a contingency plan and build adequate cushion into your budget for storage.
Tony Sziklai is president of Moulton Logistics Management.
ERA’s 2009 D2C Convention Education Tracks
Friday, July 31st, 2009Here’s a sneak peek at what attendees can expect from the education lineup at ERA’s upcoming D2C Convention September 13-15, in Las Vegas.Â
Track One: Direct Response Success
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Track Two: Digital Marketing IntelligenceÂ
A Road to Better Receivables Recovery - Quantitative Metrics and Scoring Tools
Friday, July 31st, 2009
When it comes to the hard declines that almost every retailing campaign is going to endure, a forecast of bad debt is always established prior to launch to gain an idea of what the potential profitability will be. For the receivables themselves however, would a competent forecast in order to derive the ultimate work strategy towards recovery be as useful? The answer: Absolutely.
Measuring factors such as demographics, geographies, socio-economics and applying other predictive probability metrics is going to allow the proper strategy for both the lettering and calling to be as effective and impactful as possible. More importantly, if you can say that ten times fast you can surely follow the rest of the formula!
As an example: If I were to take a group of debtors that owe an average balance of $150 each and break down their respective state residence and compare that to historical data on the same type of balance within the same geographic location, I now have a better understanding of who will probably pay what over what time frame. If I further my analysis and add other probabilities such as median income and median debt to income ratio within that geography I can now begin to create a tier-level effect and a resulting rank ordering of a portfolio of debtors. Working that ranking allows more recovery, faster and smarter.
Where this all sounds potentially overwhelming and even almost unnecessary to the untrained eye, I assure you it is a very effective approach towards maximizing recovery of the receivables.Â
A $150 bill may not sound like much, but multiply that by several thousand debtors who have hard declined your campaign and I would imagine a very mathematical, almost scientific approach, towards hundreds of thousands of dollars owed becomes much appreciated. It can make the difference between a 10 percent return and a 20 percent return.
My question always is, if we take so much time to test, analyze and measure the campaign prior to making the bulk of our advertising, manufacturing and operational investment, why don’t we approach the money owed with the same cautious and calculated approach?Â
Come to think of it, this is America. We see the caloric value of the cheeseburger is 1270 but we order and eat it anyway! I say we change our thinking just a little bit; maybe we can shed some pounds and recover more money all at the same time?
When choosing an agency to partner with for the recovery of your receivables, make sure to inquire about the quantitative decision making tools they use or don’t use for their work strategy.
Louis DiGioia is a leading expert and analyst for the recovery of consumer receivables. He can be reached at ldigioia@retrievalmasters.com or 914-592-0055.Â
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Location, Location, Location
Thursday, July 30th, 2009
I just returned from New Zealand—a land known for its geographic isolation—where I met with one of the nation’s premier web development firms. While the work done in New Zealand is on par with the best in the world, the price based upon current currency disparity makes it anywhere from 35- to 40-percent less expensive. Savvy e-marketers should look beyond the proximity of any opportunity when making any cost-benefit decisions. Prior to my voyage I attended the sixth annual E-Commerce Best Practices Conference.
As usual, this year’s program addressed a wide array of current issues facing the e-commerce industry, an industry that has shattered any remaining business barriers caused by geographic isolation. They covered user-generated content, and the monetization of both that and other social media. On the legal front, we learned about the issues surrounding minors’ online activities, e-commerce patents, content aggregation and trespass issues, new threats to cybersecurity, as well as cutting-edge litigation strategies for online businesses. E-commerce companies were advised about affiliate marketing over the Internet, doing business in China. We were educated about best practices for U.S. Internet companies establishing online stores in other jurisdictions.
My general impressions were that the world we are living in is indeed flat. E-tailers are no longer constrained by geographic locations. Rather, a reasoned analysis could open a plethora of money-making opportunities based upon a number of factors.
But for me, perhaps the most exciting part of the conference was the panel titled “Best Practices for Drafting Terms of Use.â€Â Not because I have any particular love of or interest in the finer points of contract law and negotiation (I let our lawyers handle that), but because the law firm tasked with moderating this particular panel, DLA Piper, recently did some work for my company, E-Commerce Island and the related UVI Research & Technology Park (RTPark). It was work which could also directly and significantly benefit profitable electronic retailers, such as those who are providing newsletters, SaaS, online games, ringtones and/or music subscription, digital photo hosting and licensing, online education, ad serving for online marketing, online dating, video streaming, customer support and other online products and services.
DLA attorneys analyzed existing federal tax code for guidance relevant to the types of businesses the RTPark is ideally set up to serve and attract (given one of the largest concentrations of global bandwidth and an historical role as a crossroads of commerce). Several business models with standing income sourcing guidance were found, and they approached the Treasury in May and June of 2006 seeking its affirmation that the RTPark interpretation of federal law was correct. The Treasury responded favorably with temporary regulations in September 2006. Then, in April 2008, the Treasury’s permanent regulations were issued. Because USVI is a territory of the U.S, additional benefits of USVI-based e-commerce efforts include FDIC insurance as well as jurisdiction and IP protection under U.S. federal law.
So what does this mean for electronic retailers offering the above-mentioned kinds of online products? Up to 90-percent federal tax savings for income sourced in the (near-shore) USVI. These impressive benefits are all the more valuable given the administration’s recently toughening stance on off-shore corporate tax savings.
As is often the case, identical companies can significantly increase their value simply by the locations they choose to source portions of their activities from.
Steve Rohrlick is the master marketing agent for ECommerce Island, otherwise known as St. Croix, the largest island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where superior infrastructure and tax benefits under the U.S. flag offer an ideal new home for eCommerce businesses.
Online Strategies Magazine Launches New Site
Monday, July 6th, 2009
Electronic Retailer magazine’s sister publication, Online Strategies, has launched its own homepage. Check it out here!
2009 ERA D2C Convention Video!
Thursday, June 25th, 2009Watch as ERA CEO Julie Coons delivers a sneak peak of what attendees can expect from ERA’s upcoming 2009 D2C Convention in Las Vegas September 13-15. Register now! Early bird ends July 1!
Click here to visit ERA’s YouTube channel!
Direct Response Gets Down in San Diego!
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009Below are a few photo highlights from the recent Response Expo.
Have photos you want to share with the industry? E-mail them to eMedia Editor Pat Cauley at pcauley@retailing.org.
Upcoming events you don’t want to miss:
ERA NYC Networking Reception - June 18
ERA Europe 2009 Electronic HomeShopping Conference - June 28-30
ERA L.A. Networking Reception - July 21
2009 ERA D2C Convention - September 13-15 (Early bird/free exhibit pass for ERA members ends July 1!)
The 7 Deadly Sins of Business
Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009CNNMoney recently highlighted Jay Goltz’s seven business-killing traps that every entrepreneur must avoid.
1)Â Â Â Sloppy Accounting: Done properly, accounting is a diagnosis of everything that’s right and wrong with your company. You should be able to complete a pro forma income statement at the beginning of the year that shows your recipe for making money. Crucially, you need to understand the ratio of sales to expenses that will result in profitability. You want to be able to say, “This business needs to gross $800K for me to have a $100K profit,” as opposed to merely saying, “I hope I can make $100K one day.”
2)Â Â Â Unrealistic Pricing: You must truly understand your costs, which include often-neglected components like scrap, freight, damages, theft and obsolescence. Once you do, you need to figure out what your cost of goods sold (COGS) number must be for you to make money. Keep in mind that your selling price is not your average selling price — you have to factor in discounts, which will increase your COGS number.
3)Â Â Â Naive Hiring: It takes patience and skill to hire the right people. Busy entrepreneurs can easily be romanced by the applicant who says, “I work hard and I’m a fast learner. I just haven’t had the right opportunity.” Here’s the trick to smart hiring: Call references, ask them the right questions, and listen hard to their answers. Key question: “If Bob is so great, how come he doesn’t work for you anymore?” I want to hear this kind of reply: “Bob is brilliant. I’d rehire him in a second, but his wife got transferred.” A long silence at the other end of the line tells me this candidate isn’t worth my while.
4)Â Â Â Fear of Firing: No sane person enjoys letting people go, but it’s necessary if you want to run a great company. As in any competitive endeavor, it’s critical to have the best people. It’s easy to keep mediocre employees around, especially when they are nice and loyal — but it will hurt you sooner or later. Here’s a good test: Would you be relieved if anyone on your team quit tomorrow? If the answer is yes, you’ve got a problem.
5)Â Â Â Lack of Standards: One of your main jobs is to set standards in such essential areas as quality control, customer service and the company’s public image. In my picture framing business, the standard for quality control is arm’s-length inspection: If you can’t see a problem at arm’s length, you’re fine.
6)Â Â Â Lack on Controls: It’s easy enough for customer service failures, pricing errors and quality issues to get lost in the shuffle. You need to identify and fix these problems before they do lasting damage. In my business, one out of 200 times there’s a problem with a framing job: the wrong mat, the wrong color and so on. Every screw-up gets a “hot ticket” assigned to it. The mistake gets fixed, and every month I have a record of what the problems are and who’s causing them.
7) Poor Branding: Recently I gave a speech to an audience of appliance dealers. I told them to focus on the layout of their stores, their signage, even how their employees dress. One dealer said, “We tried that branding thing and it didn’t work.” Wrong answer. In business you brand yourself every day in a million ways. The real question is whether your branding helps or hurts your bottom line. Most entrepreneurs aren’t naturally talented in all seven of these areas, and that’s the reason a lot of businesses fail. But failure is a great teacher. Learn and you will earn.
Jay Goltz employs 110 people at Artists Frame Service, Chicago Art Source and Jayson Home & Garden, all based in Chicago. He is the author of The Street-Smart Entrepreneur.
What are you thoughts?
Toronto Networking Reception Pics!
Tuesday, May 26th, 2009Below are a few photo highlights from ERA’s recent networking reception in Toronto.
Click here to get info on all upcoming events!
Registration is now open for the 2009 ERA D2C Convention!
ERA Takes Manhattan June 18th!
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009
As we’ve discussed before when asking you to book your tickets to our eRetailer Summit in Miami, always check with SNL’s resident travel expert Judy Grimes for tips first.
Please join ERA at the New York Networking Reception on June 18, 2009 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. for cocktails and great networking with senior leaders of the direct response industry. The reception will be held during DM Days at the Manatt, Phelps, & Phillips offices in Times Square.
Immediately following the reception we will be holding our fourth Meet the CEO Dinner beginning at 8:15 p.m. It will be an intimate gathering where you can mingle with our new CEO, Julie Coons, as well as our Chairman, Nathan Fagre, board members, and ERA staff.
To register, please contact Katie White at kwhite@retailing.org or (703) 841-8284.
Pat Cauley is Electronic Retailer magazine’s eMedia editor.
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