Do Your Customers Have “Thumb” Access To Your Company?

by Mark Treager Ecommerce Marketing Mobile Marketing

Thumb Access to Your BusinessAs a small business owner you keep hearing of your big-brand competitors going beyond the familiar confines of radio, television, magazines and newspapers and onto the Internet, smartphones, game consoles and tablets and you keep wondering how I can afford to do it.  Believe me digital marketing not only is significantly cheaper than traditional marketing it levels the playing field with your competition.  Moving to giving mobile access or “thumb” access to your business is the key in the coming months of out pacing your competition.  I assure you they haven’t even considered it.

With more than 42% of the country’s TV homes equipped with digital video recorders, which allow users to fast-forward through commercials, and some younger viewers leaving TV altogether, advertisers are rushing to build Internet infrastructures, create Web videos and funnel content to social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.  All of which are virtually free bring to life but take time to create and develop.It’s not that advertisers are abandoning TV. Last year they spent $68 billion on television commercials, and in two weeks last month they placed orders for $9.1 billion worth of prime-time network spots. But marketers recognize that affluent and younger consumers are as likely to be found glued to their cellphones or the Internet as the TV screen.  It boils down to targeting your ideal client and meeting them where they are at and that is they are now mobile more than ever.

Even the U.S. Army, which needed a new way to inspire potential recruits. In 2001, create “America’s Army,” an Internet video game that turned the adrenaline rush of simulated combat into a recruitment tool. The game was downloaded 12 million times.  No matter how you feel about the Army you have to give them credit for being innovative in meeting their potential clients right where they like to play.

Does it make sense to go digital as well as mobile with your marketing?  You bet!  More and more people are using smart devices such as smartphones and tablets to interact and react with their world that you need to be planning for it if you haven’t already done so.  Making sure that your website is mobile or “thumb”  compatible is the first step!

To check right now to make sure  your customers have thumb access to your website on any mobile device take your smartphone and go to its preferred web browser and type in your website address.  If what you see is only a tiny version of your current website your site is not mobile or  your company is not “thumb” ready to meet your customers needs 24/7!  The next time you redesign, upgrade or changing your current site plan on giving you customers and prospects “thumb” access to your company so you can be within reach of them constantly!

Our Po!nt:  With the way things are going online and prices are getting more and more reasonable for digital marketing services your need to make plans to do it now.  Make that first step by getting your site mobile friendly.  Let us know if you have any questions and we will try and answer them for you.

Ecommerce Mobile App Considerations

by Mark Treager Ecommerce Mobile Marketing

Ecommerce mobile apps are forecasted to reach $31 billion in the U.S. by 2016, which means that merchants have little time to create, test and perfect their mobile strategies.

In order to grow a successful retail business, merchants must create and maintain a strong mobile Web presence. But if you look at many mobile online stores on a smart device you see nothing more than a tiny version of their current monitor based website. However, not only should traditional websites be optimized for a true mobile experience, but merchants should also take advantage of the vast money making opportunities mobile presents by also offering mobile applications to their consumers.

Mobile applications should act as an extension of a retailer’s website, and be a viable channel for consumers to leverage in order to make purchases, search for stores and browse for products, receive support, interact with the retailer’s social media and more right from their mobile device.

And while most retailers haven’t fully implemented a mobile strategy yet, some of the biggest names in the industry have, and in doing so they have already set a standard of best practices.  Here are some to consider as you plan your mobile app.

Smartphone and Tablet Optimized

Although having one spectacular app is better than having two mediocre apps, the goal of all merchants should be to offer device specific applications that provide consumers with the best possible user experience. For example, Walgreens offers apps for Blackberry, Android and iOS devices – including an optimized app for both the iPhone and iPad.

Personalization

Creating a personalized shopping experience has always been a best practice within the retail industry, both on and off the Web – and mobile apps aren’t any different. Many big name retailers, such as Target, Walmart and Amazon, enable consumers to sign in and create a profile so that the check out process is a faster and easier task, and so that consumers can maintain a consistent user experience regardless of the device that they are shopping with. For example, consumers that leverage the Target app on their iPad can customize the app’s background once they sign into their account, as well as create “TargetLists”, which is a feature that enables consumers to create lists of things they need. Additionally, these lists can be viewed offline as well as on any other device once the user is signed into their account.

Simple User Interface

Apps should improve on a company’s mobile website and offer an easier to use and more customizable user experience. If this is not the case, merchants will not obtain as many conversions because most consumers won’t take the time to figure out how a complicated app works. Lowe’s offers a simple yet feature-full iPhone app, which prominently displays a search bar and QR scanner for convenience at the top of the app’s homescreen. The remainder of the homescreen features a July 4th promotion, the ability for users to find a nearby store, an idea gallery and videos – which just so happen to be a proven best practice for boosting engagement and conversions.

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Nice Navigation

Navigation is always important, whether for a traditional or mobile website, or even a mobile application. Not only should merchants feature a fully functional search bar in their app, but they should also offer easy to find buttons for consumers to navigate with. Walmart’s iPad app is very similar to the retail giant’s traditional website.  Once a department is selected, it is broken down even further into additional categories for consumers to choose from. For instance, once the “Jewelry” department is selected, seven more options under jewelry appear to make locating a desired product, such as a ring, as easy as possible.

Unique Features

Perhaps the most important thing to remember is to not create a cookie cutter app. Every e-commerce store has its own unique features and offerings, so mobile apps should be created with the same strategy in mind. Whether its featuring a deal of the day on the homepage of your app, or enabling your users to customize the background of the app, unique features are key when trying to implement a mobile application that will truly resonate with consumers. After all, you want an app that will encourage consumers to come back and shop while they are on the bus, waiting for an airplane or even watching TV at home.

These are just some of the many things you need to consider as you develop your own mobile strategy in the months to come.  Remember more and more of your customers are going mobile and you don’t meet them on their smart devices your competition will!

What concerns or questions do you have about building your own mobile platform for your business?

 

20 Must Have E-Commerce Features for Your Site

by Mark Treager Ecommerce

When setting up an e-commerce site there are many features you need to consider as you build your online brand. Here are just a few of the basic ones that both your customer needs to see and for you to make sure you have in order to succeed online with your site.

1. Site Search Box: Having a search box positioned well, will allow your visitors to quickly search for the product that they are looking for.

2. Featured Products: By displaying featured products on your home page or on the side columns of your site will inform your visitors of top selling products, sales offers or it can be a general products that you want to push further and make sure they get noticed.

3. Related Product Offerings: This is a great way to up sell products, which will show your visitors what other products they can purchase along side what they are currently viewing. One way to position this is with a heading, Customers who bought this also bought: With this sort of technique it will encourage your visitors to purchase more then one item at once.

4. Newsletter Subscription: Allow users to enter their email address to stay up to date with your offers and promotions, building your mailing list for your to use in future marketing campaigns.

5. Product Zoom: Having a good zoom feature for your product images allows visitors to see the minute details of your products as some times customers prefer to almost want to feel and touch your products.

6. Categories: Have clear categories on your site to list your products into, and have your categories displayed somewhere easy to access, e.g. across the top or on the side columns.

7. Good Navigation: Navigation is extremely important on an e-commence site, users should be able to easily access various sections of the site, along with a quick link back to the shopping cart.

8. Good Payment Gateway: Choosing the perfect payment gateway solution for you site will give assurance and peace of mind to your visitors. Choose a merchant account that your visitors are comfortable with.

9. Privacy Policy: Display clear Privacy Policy link in your footer.

10. Good Return Policy: When buyers see a good return policy they will have more assurance and peace of mind if ever something was to go wrong they can easily return their product. A good policy generally increases sales, as customers feel more safer to buy.

11. Customer login & registration: Give the option for customers to register on your site, so when they do return they don’t need to enter all their billing and payment details in again, giving them the flexibility to quickly check out.

12. Good Graphics: Make good use of graphics banners and images on the site, to attract visitors, also display your sales promotions, offers in attractive banners on the site for users to click on to.

13. Delivery Information: Always inform how your going to be delivering your products to the customers, along with clear time scales, so that your customers know when to expect the delivery.

14. News & Events: This section on the site where you can keep your visitors informed of new products, events, and other news related to your online business. Using a blogging platform or a module does this job perfectly.

15. Social Media Presence: Let your customers know that your available on networking sites, by having Social Media Logos on your site, some companies use networking sites as their customer support systems, interacting with their customers for enquires related to their orders. On the other hand some online retailers are only available to contact via networking platforms. Having a good social media presence will boost your online presence and brand.

16. Simple and Easy Checkout: Have a one page simple checkout process makes it easy for the customer to buy from you.

17. Back Office Reporting Tools: No matter your solution your back office needs to provide you with not only the basics of the best sellers and top searched for products it also needs to give such things as cart abandonment’s and more.

18. Limited Shipping Options: With to many choices customers don’t have the time choose which is the cheapest so make it easy for them. All you need to offer is Standard, 2nd Day and Next Day Shipping. these three will cover 95% of what your customers will need. Be sure to make it easy for them to contact you should they need something special.

19. Great Product Photography: This can make or break your order conversion rates. take the time to make sure that your product photos are clear, in focus and that the details of the product can be seen clearly when zoomed.

20. Product SEO Capabilities: Most ecommerce software nowadays gives you the capability to do SEO on a product by product basis you still need to make sure that the software you choose can provide a unique URL without a bunch of numbers and symbols as well as page title, description and keywords.

What other features do you think are a must to have on an e-commerce site, share your thoughts below.

Technology in Combination with a Handwritten Note Creates Results

by Mark Treager Ecommerce

Here’s an interesting low tech idea on sales prospecting in what has rapidly become a high tech world.

Sales 2.0 is focused on using technology tools to reduce sales cycles and increase productivity. New and improved technology will only get you so far — at some point you must create a warm connection.

With over a 99% open rate, a handwritten note is a dynamic tool in combination with new sales technology to warm up a targeted prospect and Continue reading →