Home Page >  Who We Are >  Articles >  Top 10 Ways To Improve Your E-Commerce Results   Top 10 Ways To Improve Your E-Commerce Results (October 2001) With the holiday season fast approaching, many retailers are searching for ways they can increase their sales. Here is our list of the top 10 of ways that you can improve your e-commerce results. These can apply to any business that sells online, including companies that support sales, but do not actually sell online using credit cards (for example, a heavy equipment manufacturer or an auto dealer) as well as applying to sales at any time of year. Number 10 - Send out newsletters and promotional offers to existing customers It’s always surprising when we hear from clients that not only do they not have a newsletter, they have never sent any kind of follow-up offer to their previous customers. Given the cost of getting that customer in the first place, it seems obvious to attempt to continue the relationship beyond the first sale. Number 9 - Send out Customer Satisfaction Surveys Sometimes customers don’t come back, and you never know why. Sending out a follow up survey can help you understand where your weak points are. Sometimes you can even win them back for another try, just by giving them a chance to express their displeasure. Some satisfied customers will tell you why they do business with your company, which may not be for the reasons you think. And anyone who responds will have a greater sense of connection with your company. Number 8 - Keep catalogs updated There is nothing more frustrating for a customer than trying to make a purchase from a web site, only to encounter out of date, or incorrect information. Make sure that the most current prices are updated. Also make sure to remove discontinued items from the items that customers can see. Lastly, make sure the correct descriptions for items are listed, without using obtuse abbreviations. Number 7 - Check inventory before selling an item When a customer places an order, and the order is confirmed by your web site, they expect that the transaction is complete, and that the brand new “whatever” is on its way. Calling them back the next day to tell them that it’s not available will almost certainly lose the customer, if not on this order then on the next one. They could have ordered it yesterday from someone else if they had known that you didn’t have one. It may be more complex or difficult to maintain or check this information, but the cost of not doing so is lost customers. Number 6 - Post-sale Customer Service The relationship is just beginning once the customer has made a purchase. How you handle a return or an error that slips thru determines if a customer returns for another purchase or not. It also determines if they recommend your company to friends and associates. The biggest mistake that is made in sales in not appreciating the importance of the customer service that needs to be provided after the sale. Number 5 - Pre-sale Customer Service The flip side is making sure that the customer has all of the information that they need in order to make a purchase. Sometimes they just need a little more human contact in order to be sure that they are making the correct purchase, as in the case of buying a new battery for their notebook computer. Other times, the entire online relationship determines if your company is on the “short list” or not. A factory in Texas evaluating the equipment made by a supplier in Seattle needs a great deal of customized information to determine whether the solution meets their needs before flying in for an inspection. Providing this type of pre-sales customer service online is now often a requirement to do business with larger companies. Number 4 - Up selling Fast food and packaged goods companies have been offering us the up sell for years. The classic example is "would you like to super size that?". The cost of getting a customer to make a purchase is so high that it usually is worth it for the retailer to offer "50% more product for 10% more" just to realize a higher value for the transaction. As these examples show there can be an actual benefit to the consumer, so up selling should not be considered a dirty word. Number 3 - Cross selling This is another technique used to great success by retailers in many industries. An example from the fast food industry is "Do you want fries and a coke with that?". A great online example is Amazon’s "Customers who bought this item also bought these items" feature. When you purchase a digital camera, you had better stock up on lots of batteries! As before, the retailer is doing a favor by cross selling the consumers, while at the same time increasing their own sales. Number 2 - Improve Conversions We have ranted before about the lack of attention paid by many web sites to how many visitors actually become customers. This information has to be tracked and analyzed, in order to understand how various changes to the site are impacting sales. Otherwise, planning these changes in a consistent way is impossible. Improving this ratio can have an enormous positive impact on sales. Please read our article from September 2001 at http://www.zoomdot.com/mainframeset.asp?targetArticle=zd092001.html for more information. Number 1 - Increase Traffic There is a reason why everyone is focused on bringing as many visitors to their web site as possible. Ultimately it’s a numbers game, and without getting some serious traffic, there is no way to do any serious business online. Just remember that without also paying attention to tracking and improving conversions, much of this traffic will be wasted. 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