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by Simon McEvoy

on Jan 21

6 ecommerce tips to guarantee a fat 2010 annual bonus

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What can you do in 2010 to improve the performance of your online retail presence?

How can your online shop be improved, tweaked and refined to deliver even better results than last year?

Try these six suggestions on for size!

1. Stop using Flash

I know I sound like an old grump when I keep on about this but seriously, when are people going to stop using flash in ecommerce websites? The positives are tediously obvious – it looks great and your marketing dept will love it. However, the negatives are immense: it doesn’t rank in search engines, it breaks all navigation and usability web conventions, it’s expensive to edit and alter and almost impossible to perform any sort of AB testing. Get your design and layout even slightly wrong from the word go and you’re pretty much stuck with it. It simply isn’t worth it, and with advancements in Javascript and CSS 3, it’s also pretty unnecessary. There are some brilliant effects possible with these more flexible code languages (check this example).

2. Do more testing

We’re all guilty of not prioritising testing enough but there really is no better way to find out the truth about your online store. Usability guru Jacob Nielsen has carried out some fascinating studies that show 85% of development or design flaws will be picked up by just five separate usability tests. FIVE! That’s it! So get five willing (or bribed) stooges and get them to run through basic functions of your platform – purchase a product, contact customer service, etc. The results are always illuminating and often shed light on previously hidden flaws and unforeseen problems.

3. Develop a social media strategy

If 2009 was the year brands were switched on to the potential of social media, then 2010 must be the year they start to realise they can’t just launch into it blindly with no tangible objectives. Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter are now a derelict wasteland littered with the e-corpses of poorly executed fan pages and feeds promoting retail brands or products. Just ‘getting on there’ isn’t enough – you need to have something to say and be prepared to invest in saying it. You also need to ready to hear criticism and ready to respond positively. Above all else, have some idea of what you want to achieve and set tangible objectives. You can’t hit your targets if you have no idea of what they are. Remember, don’t get hung up on shiny new technology. Start thinking strategically about your presence on the social web and you’ll see far more success.

4. Increase your range

You will sell more products if you stock more products. This should be tattooed on every ecommerce manager’s eyelids. It’s so basic and yet so often ignored. When we increased the range of one of our clients last year to include a large US supplier they saw an almost overnight doubling of revenue and conversion from pretty much the same traffic base. In terms of ‘bang for buck’ it’s by far and away the most effective thing they did all year.

5. Develop a proper email strategy

When we engage a client it’s always fascinating to see how much time, resources and money they are prepared to invest in design, development and build of their platform, but how little they want to invest in email marketing. Fascinating, because an intelligent email strategy is without doubt, unequivocally, the single most effective way of driving revenue and customer loyalty. This doesn’t mean just blanket spamming your database, but carefully targeted messages based around buying habits, demographic information and personalised content. Any web agency worth their salt should be tracking all on-site behaviour (if they’re not, sack them and get one that does) and this ‘passive profiling’ is the best way of finding out what your customers want. Using this to engage customers in a personal way via email will reap huge rewards for you this year.

6. Just do it

For all those who haven’t entered the ecommerce world yet, now is the time to do it. Don’t hesitate, stop procrastinating and ‘planning’, get started and you’ll learn more about your brand and your customers in months than you would do otherwise in years. Make 2010 the year when you actually keep to your resolutions by making resolutions which will bring real, genuine, tangible rewards so you are celebrating this time next year with a nice, fat annual bonus!

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7 Comments

Rosemary Foster
  • Wrote on 23 Jan, at 05:27PM
No wonder Marketing struggles to gain credibility in the corporate world with statements such as your "it looks great and your marketing dept will love it". e-commerce is an integral part of marketing teams today - we marketers work very closely with e-commerce and we have known for years that you don't use flash. Give us a break, please.
simon.mcevoy
  • Wrote on 25 Jan, at 09:51AM
@Rosemary Foster - first, thanks for the feedback, the purpose of these blogs is to start debate so if it's done that then fantastic.

Second, I think perhaps I have been a touch harsh on Marketing depts here, obviously there are many fantastic marketers who understand the pointers above already (of which clearly you are one). However, I would say it is unfortunately my continued experience that non-web savvy marketing professionals still get drawn to flashy websites for ecommerce based on their polished look and feel rather than usability and effectiveness. The purpose of the comment is part of a wider message to all people working in ecommerce (marketers, retailers, brand managers or agencies) that we need to get real about what a bad idea using flash predominantly is. The more people who re-iterate this point the better our sites will be for both clients and end-users, which can only be a good thing.
Nancy Rocks
  • Wrote on 27 Jan, at 05:02PM
The difficulty with social media is that it requires time and dedication to keep it up to date. The worst thing you could do is start a social media campaign and then abandon it (and all of your potential clients) after the first month or two. I guess the best advice here is to not bite off more than you can chew.
kmackin
  • Wrote on 29 Jan, at 10:23AM
Simon - nice! Clearly the savvy marketers have learnt the "flash" lesson - but there are so, so many who have yet to heed the advice. It is a good reminder for experienced people and a solid point for newbies...

I would add in a seventh point: measure it. And don;t just measure the number of "clicks" or "hits" but delve in to a deep understanding of the person behind the click so that you can build a relationship with the person and drive remarketing programs to them. Again, the savvy folks know this, but for those new to this field it is important to know that the successful online marketers are taking personalisations strategies very seriously and getting great results by doing so.

Kevin
simon.mcevoy
  • Wrote on 1 Feb, at 01:28PM
Thanks for the comments guys;

@Nancy Rocks - couldn't agree more, and I'd go as far as to say the most important part of developing a strategy is being really frank about how much time and resource you have to put in. It's a pretty massive misconception that social media is 'free' as the likes of facebook and twitter don't charge to set up accounts, but like any marketing activity getting real rewards from it takes time and money. I guess that's why I see strategy as so important, as it can give you some SMART goals and milestones to measure success against and give some view of ROI.

@Kevin - brilliant point and a very welcome addition to my six. Collecting and analyzing data is the only way to properly inform ongoing online strategy and is a complete must for any serious business. Our work in targeted, personalized email campaigns has been some of the most effective that we've ever done for clients and the results really do speak for themselves.

Si
coetsee
  • Wrote on 6 Feb, at 10:33PM
Having been a part of the Online Universal Work Marketing team for 4 months now, I’m thankful for my fellow team members who have patiently shown me the ropes along the way and made me feel welcome

coetsee.seo@gmail.com
MJF
  • Wrote on 7 Feb, at 09:29PM
It's no surprise that the more experienced amongst the posters, particularly those from an agency background are rolling their eyes at how obvious this information is.

However - companies that have product-centric marketing departments, particularly industrial ones in the B2B environment are miles behind most marketing techniques and still view the web as a brave new world. They know everyone is doing it, but not sure why, but gee whiz - that website sure does look nice! Let me have one!

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