Category: Tips & How-Tos

When running an ecommerce store, having a solid return policy is crucial to the success of your store. Here are 6 tips to making your return policy more effective: (more…)

Building up loyal and returning customers can help any company reach sales goals. Why go through the extra effort of convincing all new customers to purchase from your company when you have already convinced existing customers. Of course, I’m not saying to not target new potential customers, but the probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70% more likely compared to new customers.  Here are 5 tips to creating return customers. (more…)

Did you know that ProductCart just released a new patch that will allow you to add the PayPal Bill Me® Later button to your cart? To enable this feature, ensure that the latest available version of PayPal Express is installed with your cart. To learn more and to download this feature, click here. (more…)

Cyber Monday is a huge shopping day for online retailers. It is important that if you participate in Cyber Monday, that you execute your plans effectively, or this day can leave your store in the slumps. Here are a few tips to help store owners survive this day. (more…)

How important to the success of your E-commerce site is your choice of hosting service? Pause for a moment and consider: Without reliable and secure web hosting, you don’t have an E-commerce site in the first place.

The standard talking points of uptime and cost aren’t entirely unimportant to your site’s hosting equation, obviously. Server uptime is a central consideration – but technology has progressed to the point that almost any service that manages to stay in business can claim impressive uptime statistics. Even more important to an E-commerce operation is the host’s error rate and error handling process.

E-commerce stores seldom ‘crash’ these days – but if they’re improperly (or inattentively) hosted, they may throw critical errors that prevent your customers from completing their transactions. An experienced E-commerce host should have a very low error rate, and should also have a process in place for flagging errors when they do occur so that their technical staff can quickly run them down and correct them.

The simplest way to avoid a slew of technical issues is to select a service that has experience in hosting other stores that run the same E-commerce engine as yours. That insures that their hosting supports both your store’s chosen development language (such as ASP or PHP) and any specific server-side components that your E-commerce engine may require.

It’s a mistake that’s more common than you think. I am frequently contacted by customers AFTER they have signed up for some sort of hosting account – and more often than not, it’s a hosting account that won’t support much in the way of E-commerce and doesn’t offer advanced security features. Essentially, they’ve wasted their money because the hosting they’ve paid for won’t work for their business.

Be careful out there

Security is an equally important concern. Ideally, your hosting company will be in compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard – a security protocol that establishes hosting requirements for network security mechanisms, data handling and storage and the handling of security certificates and encryption. All but the very smallest E-commerce stores should be hosted in an environment that maintains store data on a separate database server isolated from the actual ‘web’ server that is open to traffic from the Internet. This arrangement makes it very difficult for any type of security intrusion to gain access to your customer information or any other sensitive business information in your store’s databases.

A quick side note: You should NEVER maintain customer credit-card information or other sensitive personal data (like Social Security numbers) in your store’s databases. Even in the most secure hosting environment this is an enormous financial liability for your business, and it’s a business practice that needlessly exposes your customers to identity theft and/or financial fraud. In fact, hosting companies that adhere to the requirements of the PCIDSS won’t allow retention of such sensitive information on their servers.

The personal touch

Finally, one of the biggest differences between ‘budget’ hosting and a full-service hosting company is the level of support that they provide. Your E-commerce site is a money-making operation, and you should select a host that treats your company’s bottom line as a priority. With a good hosting partner you shouldn’t need a lot of technical intervention, but when you do you should be able to contact a technician personally in order to get your questions resolved. A good E-commerce hosting partner will also have procedures in place to monitor your site for errors and correct them quickly when they occur.

More than anything else, when you pay for a ‘premium’ hosting partner most of what you’re paying for is that personal level of service. Since the difference in cost between budget and full-service hosting is frequently less than $60-$70 a month, that seems like sort of a business no-brainer to me.

As you gear up into the most exciting and stressful time of year for online retailers, you may be wondering if you’ve done everything you can to get the most out of this year’s Holiday shopping season.  This close to “Black Friday” there isn’t time to completely overhaul your e-Commerce site, and even search engine optimization efforts take a few weeks before you will see results.  Those things should typically be planned in late Summer.

Right now, you should be concentrating on updating your product photos and descriptions and beginning your online marketing push that might include a Pay-Per-Click campaign, email marketing, print mailers to existing customers, and more. You should also consider implementing the features outlined below that come standard in all versions of ProductCart released since 2007.  Each of them offers a big return on investment for you and is easily and quickly set up.

1. Product Reviews
One barrier to sales online can often be the physical distance between the shopper and the product they want to buy – they can’t touch it, try it on, test it out, or even see if the shelves are clearing fast.  Mega-sites like Amazon and Barnes and Noble have overcome that barrier successfully by using Customer Reviews.  When Amazon first started letting customers post reviews of their products, other retailers thought they were nuts, but shoppers quickly came to rely on product reviews to tip the scale and help them make a decision.  Furthermore, sites that use product reviews have learned two things that run counter to most assumptions:

• The average grade for reviewed products is 4.3 out of 5 stars, according to this article by Geoffrey Fowler and Joseph De Avila of The Wall Street Journal. Consumers are overwhelmingly positive when it comes to online reviews.
• Even negative reviews can boost sales. Only a month after installing product review software, Alpacadirect.com saw sales climb 23%, even on items that received “bad” reviews. (See full article here.)

Shoppers appreciate reading reviews, and including even negative reviews adds to the level of trust you have built with them as a retailer.  According to a recent study by Forrester Research, online shoppers list product reviews as the most desired feature of a website.  So what’s stopping you from adding this feature to your website today?

ProductCart shopping sites include a system that allows you to enable customer reviews quickly and easily – either store wide or for individual products.  You can also manage, check, approve and reject reviews.  Reviews can post immediately, or you can require approvals before they show up in your catalog.

Simply go to the Products menu and choose Manage Product Reviews > Product Reviews Setting.  Everything you need to start including product reviews on your website today can be managed from there.

2. Coupons
Shoppers love coupons. And with more than 70% of the American population now online, online coupons are becoming more and more popular. According to Simmons/Experian Research and Coupons Inc., online coupon usage has grown 39% since 2005.

Planned skillfully, coupons can do more than just attract bargain shoppers. You can design your coupons to:

• Generate buzz for a new product – Create a coupon for your new or featured product and distribute it widely online through your customer email list and online coupon sites.
• Attract new and first-time customers – Create a coupon code for first-time buyers; for instance 15% off of a shopper’s first purchase online. Encourage customers to share this coupon code with their friends.
  
• Increase average transaction size – Encourage larger purchases by creating a coupon that rewards customers for spending more, i.e. Free Shipping on orders over $100.
• Encourage customer loyalty – Follow up all of your purchases (both online and off) by providing your customer with a special coupon code for further discounts or promotions. Or reward “preferred customers” with periodic, exclusive discount codes sent to them via email.

ProductCart lets you set up your coupons in many different ways. Discount codes can be based on purchase level, be associated with specific products (or all of them), have a set dollar value ($10) or a set percentage off (10%), be activated by a specific quantity level, and even be assigned to specific customers only (you can also use the Pricing Category feature for this). You can assign free shipping. You can base coupons on a customer’s shipping location. You can set the discounts to be applied to an order automatically if it meets specific criteria, or require that the customer enter a code during checkout.  Coupon codes can be set up for one-time use or designed to be shared and re-used.  You can even decide if customers can use multiple discount codes in a single order.  To create and manage coupons in the latest version of ProductCart , select Discount by Code from the Marketing menu.

Once your coupons are created, you have several options for delivering them to new and existing customers:

Online Coupon Distribution:

• Email campaign to existing customers and/or newsletter subscribers
• Encourage email recipients to “Forward to a Friend”
• Include a special coupon code for their next purchase  in the Auto-response email that confirms order shipment
• Display special coupons on your Home page
• Link a coupon code to banner ads displayed on other websites
• Advertise coupon promotions on Social Networking sites – Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn
• Add your coupons for free to online coupon directories like RetailMeNot.com, UltimateCoupons.com, Coupon Cabin, Coupon Chief, Coupon Sherpa, Dealio, GOdeals.com, and more

Offline Coupon Distribution:

• Add a special coupon code to Yellow Pages, magazine, newspaper, and other print ads so you can track sales conversions
• Include a special code in radio and television ads
• Print out stacks of online-only coupons to distribute at your retail location, encouraging offline customers to visit and shop online
• Swap promotions with a complimentary retailer (like a pet groomer, if you sell themed pet apparel), so that customer to their store will get a coupon for your website at checkout, and vice versa.
• Include coupons with all of your shipped orders
• Print a special coupon code on the back of your business cards, brochures, and promotional mailers

If you have an e-commerce website, you know that one of the biggest tasks is getting all of your product information into your online catalog.  You’ve got to collect photos, descriptions, technical info like weights and sizes, and SKUs.  In addition, you want to make sure that each of your product pages is optimized for two major goals – getting indexed by the search engines and enticing customers to buy.  Just posting the bare minimum won’t get the job done.  Try these suggestions to super-power your product description pages.

1. Identify Your Long Tail Keyword(s)… Then Use Them

Your product descriptions and individual product pages are the perfect place for you to target what are called long tail keywords. These are very specific terms, usually three or more words.  Looked at individually, these terms aren’t searched as highly as more generic, short tail keywords (think shoes vs. patent leather mary janes), however, your e-commerce site will have many more relevant long tail keywords or phrases that can collectively dwarf the search frequency of the short tails.  Plus, the long tail phrases represent exactly what a potential customer is looking for. These web visitors are ready to buy, instead of just browsing.  So here’s how to target them:

• Make sure your Product Name includes the most relevant long tail keyword.  Taking our example above, you might list your shoe as “Style 214 Red Patent Leather Mary Janes” instead of simply “Style 214.”
• If possible, use search engine friendly URLs, so that the address for your product page for the above would be www.mycatalog.com/shoes/red-patent-leather-mary-janes.
• Include your main long tail keyword in your on-page product description, along with common variations and related terms.
• Make sure your Title, Meta Description, and Meta Keywords include your main long tail phrase and the related or supporting terms.
• If you can, be sure the images you upload for your product include your keyword in the filename.

2. Write Compelling & Relevant Descriptions

You have two things to consider while crafting your product descriptions – search engine ranking as well as conveying compelling sales information to your potential customers. Writing your descriptions is perhaps the most challenging part of optimizing your online catalog to increase sales, however the following tips should help you tackle this challenge:

• Resist the urge to re-use descriptions provided by manufacturers or found on other websites.  This type of “duplicate content” will sink the search engine ranking of the page it is found on, as well as negatively impact the ranking of the entire site.
• If you have a large online catalog, make a plan of attack.  Identify your most profitable products and write complete, search engine optimized descriptions for them first.  These might be the products with the least competition online, or your most popular best-sellers, or perhaps the products with the most built-in profit.  By tackling your descriptions methodically, you can have some of your products improving your traffic and sales, even while you are working to complete the rest of your catalog.
• Find a unique angle or voice with which to write your descriptions.  Perhaps your brand is friendly and casual… then you might consider writing a funny or informal description. Maybe your website is targeting a more upscale audience, then you’ll want to use language that reflects that target market.
• Be sure you cover all the details.  Don’t just tell the basics (red patent leather Mary Jane shoes). Include everything that a customer might want to know… details that will tip the scale in your favor.  Are the shoes uniquely comfortable, how high is the heel, is the sole rubber, is the insole lined, how roomy is the toe, what exact shade of red is the shoe, what situation might a customer wear the shoe in?  You get the idea.  Give as much detail as you can.
• Work in your main long tail keyword and related terms as much as possible while maintaining the readability and credibility of your descriptions.  You certainly don’t want to keyword stuff (that will make you look bad to your customers as well as the search engines), but where possible, repeat the main keywords and phrases relevant to the particular product you’re describing.

3. High Quality Photos

Photography is one of the most important persuasive elements in any online catalog. With so much competition online, it is important to present your products in the most complete and flattering light possible – this includes multiple views, close-ups, and if necessary technical shots that can stand in for the experience of a customer touching and holding a product in real life. The better your products look in your photos, the more confident your potential customers will be in proceeding with a purchase.

Some things to consider when taking your product photos:

• If nothing else, make sure your product images are clear and well lit and that customers can click on them to view an enlargement. If you have only one photo per product, this one image should be the best representation of the product you can manage.
• Taking things to the next level, it is a good idea to take product photos in a lightbox or against a uniform background for consistent presentation and styling.
• Present customers with multiple views of your product, including different angles (front, back, top, bottom), close-ups of special features, and if applicable in action.
• Consider using models in your photography.  Some studies have shown that a smiling face in a photo increases conversions vs. a photo of a product by itself.  So, for our ongoing example from above, you might include a photo of a woman enjoying your red patent leather Mary Janes while wearing a stylish outfit.
• Sometimes technical specifications are important.  If that is the case with your product, consider including a technical diagram.  Or perhaps it would be useful to photograph your product next to a ruler for scale and size comparison.

4. Add Customer Reviews

This may seem like a scary proposition, and many e-commerce merchants resist adding customer reviews to their website for fear of bad reviews.  However, the multiple benefits of this user-generated content far outweigh any potential pitfalls.  In fact, many studies confirm that online shoppers are more likely to buy from a website if it includes reviews, regardless of how positive or negative the reviews are. Negative reviews actually improve your credibility in the eyes of your potential customers.

Reviews build trust, support customer loyalty, help improve SEO, and increase conversions.

How is your search ranking improved?
Quite simply, your customers will use the relevant terms and keywords for your product while they review your products.  In addition, they might also use terms that you couldn’t use in your main description, such as competitors’ names, brands, and more.  And the reviews add additional, all-important “unique content” that search engines value so highly.

5. Use Suggestive Selling

Suggestive selling can come in several forms. The most common are: similar items and items you might also be interested in.  Both of these keep your customers shopping, instead of leaving it up to chance whether they keep exploring your website or find a new site to shop. Additionally, the use of suggestive selling helps increase your search engine optimization by building relevant internal links.

Similar Items
Consider adding links at the bottom of your product page to items that are similar to the one being displayed.  For instance, perhaps your site offers patent leather Mary Janes in other popular colors, or you offer other red patent leather styles.  These products are not only relevant to your customers’ interests, they are also likely to use relevant and related keywords, so cross-linking can help increase conversions and improve search engine ranking.

Items You Might Also Be Interested In
While this type of suggestive selling doesn’t have as strong of an effect on your SEO, it is a powerful tool for increasing sales.  In this scenario, you would link to the related items that a customer might also need or be interested in.  For example, perhaps you have a matching red patent leather purse to offer your customers. If you sell electronics, you should present necessary cords, batteries, or accessories. Offering these related products is a convenient service to your customers and helps you increase total purchase revenues per customer.

 

Are you comparing apples and oranges? Not all shopping carts are equal

How do you find the best ecommerce software for your business? There are dozens (actually several hundred) ecommerce solutions out there. It’s quite a jungle. Many shopping carts look similar on the surface, but – as you dig deeper – they’re quite different. How do you find the right shopping cart software? Read on.

• Tips on how to review different shopping carts
  Use these 5 tips to quickly narrow down the list and focus on what’s important.
• Total cost calculator
  How to calculate how much your ecommerce store is really going to cost. We created a useful tool to help you estimate the total cost of running a Web store over a certain period of time.
• A look at ProductCart shopping carts
  We’re proud to have developed some of the best ecommerce software available today. We’ve been working on it non-stop for over 9 years. And it shows.
• Reviews of our shopping cart software
  What customers have written about our ProductCart shopping cart software.
• Shopping cart software comparison: ProductCart vs. other carts
  We’ll point out things that you might not be thinking of. For example: is the ability to quickly print shipping labels important to you? This can be useful when comparing other shopping carts as well.

By the way: running a Web store is a long term investment: our ecommerce software is backed by some of the best customer service you will ever receive. Read some testimonials from our customers and you will notice how the common denominator is their positive experience with the support they received. Regardless of whether you choose our shopping cart or not, make sure to contact the company behind it and get a good feel for the type of customer service they provide.