e-ditorials - Issue #9: Get Ready for the Holidays!

Is your business ready for the Holiday season on the Internet?

Despite the continued economic problems, consumers are expected to spend more this year than last. Web-savvy teens are getting their first credit cards, and are more likely to shop online than their in-store-oriented seniors.

Thanksgiving comes later than usual this year, and the online shopping season is expected to have peaked by December 20th, since people allow time for shipping. That leaves about a 3 1/2 week period of prime online shopping. With a shorter shopping period, more consumers are predicted to save time by shopping online, utilizing off-hours or time at work to make their purchases. To be successful, a web commerce site must be visible, friendly, competitive and secure.

What's in the numbers?

A recent poll from Jupiter Research revealed that US consumers will shop online this holiday season to:

Save time by not going to the store	75%
Avoid holiday crowds	69%
Can shop when stores are closed	69%
Might find better Pricing	61%
Can find products online more easily	49%
Easier to compare prices online	48%
Can find products online that are not available in the store near them	48%
Can have gifts sent directly to the recipient	39%

Your Company

Now is the time to take a critical look at your web presence and internal operations. Ask yourself the following questions, and be prepared to strengthen your weaknesses.

Can you handle the traffic?
Many web sites aren't able to keep up with online shoppers. Web pages are slow to load, products are hard to find, images are missing, strange error messages pop up during checkout, the transaction processing takes longer because more orders are being processed, and some sites fail to come up at all entirely. The result -- lost sales.

Can you provide the goods?
Make sure your business has the ability to fulfill orders when they come in. Draw a flow chart documenting the steps of ordering and fulfillment, including customer service. Is the customer experience friendly? Gain your customer's loyalty this year, and they will return next year.

Are you procrastinating implementing e-commerce on your site?
There are many simple solutions for entering the e-commerce market, even if you are just selling a few introductory products or services. Your web site developer might recommend using a single-source shopping cart or credit card processing company like Paypal.com. Always assure shoppers that all credit card transactions are secure — make sure they are — and avoid commerce solutions that require complex or redundant processes. Consumers become frustrated after having to click more than six times to complete a purchase, and 83% of online shoppers surveyed moved to another web site after becoming frustrated by too many clicks.

What do online shoppers want?
(based on a poll by Princeton Survey Research Associates for Consumer WebWatch)

A site that is easy to navigate and find what they want	80%
Being able to trust the information on the site	80%
Knowing the site is updated frequently with new information	65%
Knowing who owns the site	32%
Site displays seals of approval from other groups	19%

Pre-Season Performance Checklist:

	The basics: Fix the basic errors such as broken images, bad hyperlinks.
	Anticipate traffic: Look at the highest peak in your site traffic, and then make sure your server has the capacity to handle five times that volume of visitors.
	Put your site on a diet: Can your site load quicker? Does your developer reuse images (logos, product photos, etc.) efficiently throughout the site? Can large graphic elements or bitmapped text be recreated using HTML?
	Accommodate all shoppers: Some people come to your site ready to buy, others will want to "learn more". Provide the opportunity to "buy now" as efficiently as possible in the upper level of your product navigation, as well as lower in the most detailed product descriptions.
	Know your team: Make sure any external services you are using, such as credit card processors, fulfillment services, and ISPs can handle the increase traffic. A frustrated customer doesn't care that it's not your fault—they just want their order to get to them on time.
	Continually test your site throughout the holiday season: If the majority of your site's visitors are using Internet Explorer 5, Windows XP operating systems, and have dial-up connections to the Internet, then use that platform to benchmark your site experience. (Check your monthly stat reports to get this information.) But don't forget to test your site's performance and e-commerce system on a variety of criteria, including operating system, browser brand and version, Mac and PC platform, and Internet service provider.

Know Your Edge Over the Competition

Why are people willing to buy from you over other Internet merchants? Many business owners think that price alone is what drives consumers to buy, but this may not be the case. A business associate told me that, "Amazon.com is easy to use, efficient, and has a great selection. It's the one I tend to use most often — even though it is not necessarily the cheapest."

Figure out why online customers will come to your site this holiday season, instead of going to the competition, and you'll have a better opportunity to satisfying them.

Boost Sales:

	Review the competition's web site, and make yours better.
	Ask your customers why they buy from you, and what else you can offer them. Make sure your site reflects those needs.
	Be competitive—Discounts and free shipping may be the key to landing a lucrative sale.

Customer Service

Internet surfers expect a response to their email inquiry within 24 hours. In contrast, a recent survey of US companies found that 38% of respondents answer customer e-mails within six hours, almost 22% answer between 6 and 24 hours, 18% answer within two days and 23% answer within three days. (source: Jupiter Research)

Besides the obvious reasons, top-notch customer service can earn the business of younger web-savvy consumers, who represent a longer lifetime of brand loyalty to your company. Successful businesses grow by expanding their base of future consumers, and this new market is a tremendous opportunity.

Boost Customer Confidence:

	Have an easy return policy
	Post an easy-to-read privacy policy
	Clearly post your shipping and tax fees
	Always include your company's contact information with a customer service phone number.
	Have enough customer service staff to handle questions before the holiday as well as after.

Did you know...

Did you know a recent survey revealed that 69% of US e-mail users have made online purchases as a result of receiving permission e-mail marketing and 39% say they have made a catalog purchase from a permission e-mail? (source: DoubleClick)

Your Marketing

Cool it on the "Hot, New and Improved" flashing, pop-up act-now-or-else advertising. If a web page appears cluttered with ads, 36% of those surveyed said they would leave a site, and nearly 60% said they have a less-favorable opinion about the product or service being advertised.

Develop your marketing campaign and your web-site to anticipate the needs of your customers. Consumers often become frustrated with cluttered web pages that contain too many ads or promotions. Excessive use of rich media or pop-up ads can also be a deterrent for Internet users who often become impatient with slow web page download times.

If you want to send email, the best way is to have an opt-in mailing list where people have asked for the email to be sent to them; otherwise, you will be sending Spam. Also follow these email rules:

1. Respect privacy. When consumers were asked by Jupiter Media Metrix what a web site could promise in exchange for typing in their personal information 73% wanted a guarantee that the information would not be misused.
2. Easy subscribe and unsubscribe.
3. The less you ask, the more you get. - NetLine sent out an offer for a free white paper. One form requested contact information plus 1 optional question. Another form asked the same core information but asked 3 optional questions. The longer form gave a 50% response rate and the shorter form received a 74.6% response rate.
4. Offer something. Discounts and Tips are the top reasons why people want to receive email from companies.
5. Mail early - 76% of business professionals spend the first few minutes at work reading and sending e-mail. This may explain why Travelocity found that it obtains the best results when it sends its messages between 8 a.m. and noon of each recipient's local time.
6. Avoid the "sales pitch."
7. Minimize amount of email you send.
8. Subject line & priority. Use your name, company & what the email is about in the subject line. Do not set a "priority." Would you want someone to tell you what should be a priority in your life?

Boost Online Traffic and Sales:

Finally, make the most of your web efforts by taking advantage of these basic best-practices:

	Cross-brand your print, media and Internet campaigns.
	Track Online and Off-line sales. Ask people how they found you when speaking with them on the phone or in the store. (By doing this, Sears discovered that over 10% of in-store purchases were influenced by their web site.) Use different product codes for online items so if a user calls in or faxes an order, you will know that you had a return on your web site.
	Create permission-based email lists to drive sales by sending Newsletters, Promotions, Event notifications, Product announcements, and Customer service messages.
	Use special web pages to track email & print campaigns.

Have a very merry and profitable Holiday season!    :)

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