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Building eCommerce Websites that Work - Part 2

Copyright 2005 Richard Keir

Succeeding with an eCommerce website is a dream for many
these days. It may seem nearly impossible at times, but it
can be done. This series covers some of the basic success
factors - things you must consider in creating,
implementing, managing and developing a quality eCommerce
web site. There are many ways to do business on the
internet - and, not surprisingly, a lot of ways to both
make and lose money. Mainly, I'm focusing on eCommerce
sites intended to sell products of various kinds. Not every
factor is going to apply to every site, but since a major
failing of many internet entrepreneurs is the lack of
multiple income streams, you'd do well to carefully
consider all factors and apply them as needed in developing
alternate revenue streams.

On examining your eCommerce web site, put some serious
thought into how you can provide personal attention to each
visitor. The idea here is a process of personalization
through which each visitor, if they wish, can develop a
unique experience of your site.

Provide options through which the user can alter layout,
colors, etc. Give customers the capability to create their
own personal pages on your site. Perhaps offer a simple
and easy to provide service to registered customers, such
as free email accounts.

As well as building loyalty and stickiness, such features
also build your customer database. Scripts are also
available which will allow on-the-spot personalization
based on responses to a series of questions. You can also
use this kind of script to focus your sales message more
tightly to the user's expressed interests. This technique
has been reported to substantially increase conversion
rates.

Free services which can be provided on autopilot can be a
virtually endless source of targeted customers. Everything
from free email to blog hosting, opt-in list building to
free advertising forums, all operate on the same principle
as building a list through a newszine, white papers, free
ebooks or whatever. In return for registration, e.g. name
and confirmed email, you provide a service that your
visitors desire. The exchange of value is critical. The
more valuable the service that you offer, the more willing
people are to provide their information. Careful
structuring can allow you to collect significant marketing
information on your registered users which would allow
well-targeted marketing campaigns.

Never lose track of a customer. Maintaining a database of
customers with any of their prior purchases, interests, and
so on, allows you to provide personalized purchase
suggestions and special offers. The life-long value of a
happy customer may be difficult to estimate accurately, but
it's far easier to sell to existing customers than to be
continuously forced to acquire new ones.

Even if you only have a single product now, you will
eventually have expand your product line(s). Don't throw a
buyer away. Stay in touch, offer information, occasionally
recommend a high quality product you use and value. Build
trust through value and quality. It's nearly impossible to
over-emphasize this point. Look to the long term and plan
ahead. Every serious marketer needs to do this.

To further expand the human dimension, you can add forums
and chat rooms. Provide a variety of means to acquire
visitor input. On site surveys and questionnaires, email
surveys and opinion polls can not only increase your
customers' sense of being in contact with real people who
value their opinions and ideas, but also provide
exceptionally useful information for refining your
marketing and sales tactics. Loyalty programs and affinity
networks can also help.

This is a lot like beating a real dead horse, but...
Reliability and security are crucial. If your eCommerce
site is big enough and busy enough, multiple parallel
servers, redundant hardware, use of fail-safe technology,
fast technical support service, high quality encryption,
valid certificates, high quality payment processors and
excellent firewalls will all allow you to ensure your
customers that their data is safe, their orders are handled
properly and nobody's getting their credit information that
shouldn't. Many people still are extremely hesitant to
purchase on-line because of fears of identity and/or credit
card theft. You can't ignore this issue and hope to succeed.

Right now you may not need (or want to pay for) parallel
servers, redundant hardware and fail-over technology, but
don't ignore the rest. You depend on your eCommerce
hosting provider to keep your business running. So think
carefully and do some serious research. Overloaded
servers, lack of redundant network connections, slow
technical support, poor backup procedures can create a
nightmare situation for both you and your customers

As a final consideration for this part, smooth out your
customer contact and support procedures. If multiple staff
might come into contact with your customers (chat, phone or
email) , providing all of them with the same (and useful)
information about the customer, prior orders, any previous
or current problems and so forth, can avoid a lot of
potential frustration - and lost orders or, worse, a
customer lost forever.

It can be incredibly irritating to have to tell the same
story over and over, getting bounced from one person to
another when no information ever seems to have been
recorded. While it may cut down on repeat complaints,
that's usually because the customer is gone forever.
Construct your systems so that no information is lost and
so that the data needed to be responsive and helpful is
instantly available. In doing this consider that some
information which customers may not feel comfortable about
everyone knowing should be restricted to those who would
actually need it.

Doing these things right can add significant credibility
and usability to your online business, as well as build a
loyal customer base which actually enjoys dealing with your
eCommerce business. When you reach that stage, you're there
- the true win-win situation that's makes an outstanding
eCommerce web site.

------------------------------

Richard teaches, trains and consults, on and off-line, on
business and professional presentations, eCommerce, site
building and programming. And writes a lot. Visit
http://www.Building-eCommerce-Websites.com for articles,
information, resources and links and check our blog at
http://www.Building-eCommerce-Websites/blog for opinion and
ideas.

More articles by Richard Keir - http://www.submityourarticle.com/articles/Richard-Keir-352/

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