Ecommerce Blog

Out of all the Internet Retailer Top 500, I’ve only found one that offers incentives to web surfers who look around without purchasing. When you close your browser tab or window, a pop-up chat window appears:

123Inkjets.com is using UpSellit.com’s SMARTagent product to re-engage visitors that exit prematurely from the site, the cart or a form. According to UpSellit, clients see sales increases of 5-20%.

It appears site visitors only have one go at the offer. If you close the box and return again on the same day it won’t pop back up. Of course, it could use browser cookies and it could reappear after cookies expire or you delete them.

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Original post by Linda Bustos

Running ads on your ecommerce website can be very confusing to customers, especially when it competes with the product image or resembles a customer service function like live chat.

*Shudder*

Tamara Adlin shares other examples of bad, bad, bad, bad ads on her blog, Corporate Underpants. And no, in this case bad does not mean good.

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Original post by Linda Bustos

A conversation emerged out of the comments on last week’s post Can Product Images Improve Conversion? Showing Products in Context about how to achieve a “ghost” mannequin effect like these examples, where the body is filled out, you can see through the V-line but the mannequin is invisible.

As the post explained, showing products “in context” can be more persuasive than flat images - models and mannequins give customers an idea of how a garment fits a real person. I recently researched how to achieve the invisible mannequin look and found answers like:

Make a mannequin out of a very open wire mesh, and then edit the mesh out in post. You could even paint the mesh with green or something like that and chroma-key it out.

Make a mannequin out of a thin, cheap material (perhaps even wire mesh again) and put the garment on it, and position the camera. Then, start cutting away the mannequin in all the places where it’s visible to the camera, even with the shirt over it. You’d end up cutting off it’s left arm, part of it’s left ’shoulder blade’ and some stuff around the neck.

-djlemma, from Flickr discussion

and

Looking at a few of the examples I reckon the mannequin is being chopped out. Looking at some of the tops you can see no back to the item even if there is a lower front if you see what I mean.

An ideal solution could be to get a mannequin and a background with a strong colour. Take the photo then in Photoshop make a clear layer below the image layer so you have a transparent background. On the photo layer click the Select main menu item and choose “Color range” and click the mannequin colour on the photo. It should select just this colour, use the sensitivity slider to get the best selection and the just cut it out. Do the same with the background. It is not the quickest but compared to hand tracing each item and mannequin area it would potentially save a lot of time.

-MickeyFinn, from Freelance UK Forums

I noticed a couple photographers left comments on our post, so I tossed out the question, what’s the best way to achieve the ghost mannequin look? Anna Yeaman, professional photographer who specializes in product photography for apparel and accessories shared the following:

Two years ago I tried plastic and wireframe mannequins to achieve the “ghost” effect but I was not happy with the results. Also this limits the types of mannequin you can use.

I sometimes combine two images in Photoshop if its just a small part of the label I’m after.

I never found a simple way to do this in-camera, I decided that there must be custom made mannequins out there but could never find them. I considered taking a saw to one of my own and cutting out the chest area!

I’m going to renew my efforts and contact some websites using this effect. I will let you know how it goes. Most of my clients are after the Bluefly.com look and don’t mind the mannequin.

One thing I do a lot is take a photo on a mannequin, in Photoshop I edit out parts of the mannequin that are showing (around the hem, arms ect). You end up with an item with shape and form without a mannequin showing, but you cannot see through to the back…We take multiple angle shots and close ups of every item instead.

I have a hook that I hang bags off, then I edit it out later in Photoshop. For earrings I use clear fishing wire (craft shop), the earrings hang perfectly and the wire is invisible. I also use a clear plastic board for studs (I drilled a small hole) and clip ons (clip onto the bottom).

In a follow-up comment:

I contacted a bunch of product photographers to find out how they achieved the “ghost” effect.

John Gibbens of, G2 Catalog Design sent me this reply,

“We either shoot two images and piece together or we use an inexpensive plastic mannequin supported from below (for shirt/jacket images) whose neck is cut down below the open neckline. We then keep a couple different lengths of removable arms to fill sleeves - long arms with hands cut off for long-sleeve items and shorter arms for short sleeve garments.”

So we can conclude that the invisible mannequin look, though very slick, takes a bit of pre and post production effort. Another alternative would be to shoot a flat image and mannequin shot, so customers can still see the product on a form and see through the V-line. Works for Net-A-Porter…

3 Things to Die For: Web Analytics Unleashed

Free webinar: July 17th, 2008, 9am PT/12pm ET
Guest Panelist: Avinash Kaushik, Author & Analytics Evangelist, Google
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Original post by Linda Bustos

Say what?

Marketing Experiments has found the highest performing ecommerce sites address customer motivation, and most visitors are either “hunters” or “browsers”:

1. Hunters already know what they want. They want to find the product quickly and easily. Usable site search, navigation menus and filters are essential to convert hunters.
2. Browsers may be contemplating a purchase, or just “window shopping.” Your goal is to get them to click deeper to products with enticing offers like top rated, best sellers, sale items and new arrivals.

I’d like to add a third category: “howsers.” (Hunter-browsers, not underage doctors.) Howsers are customers that are ready to buy from a certain category but they’re not sure what they want/need from that category. This type of customer is the best of both worlds - closer to conversion (needs stuff ASAP) and more open to suggestive selling and cross-sells. Examples would be someone who’s looking for gifts for an 8 year old boy or redecorating a living room.

Let’s take the example of someone planning a family camping trip next month, but has little to no equipment — like a family of four that has waited 10 years until the youngest rug-rat was old enough to rough it for a week in the woods. (Think personas!)

Example: Sports & Outdoors Retailers and Doogie Howser

Let’s call this fictional family the Howsers, and assume daddy Doogie’s in charge of kitting out the clan for camping. A typical Doogie:

• May have little or no knowledge of camping, or it’s been a while

• Wants to create a memory
• Doesn’t want to get “caught without” - wants to ensure he grabs everything necessary for survival and safety in the bush (and doesn’t want to get blamed for forgetting!)
• Is willing to buy multiple products to ensure a) beautiful memories and b) survival without suffering
• Appreciates product guides and suggestive selling
• Is willing to invest in gear for next summer, and the summer after that…

Our second assumption is that Doogie begins his quest for gear on a sports and outdoors retailer’s home page. The first objective of the home page is to guide Mr. Howser to the virtual camping department and to assure him this is the right online shop to do business with today.

Do typical outdoor gear retailers do this effectively?

OutdoorGB.com

• The only slightly relevant links to camping gear are in the cluttered top sellers menu on the left (highlighting mine).

• There is a camping category, but it’s hidden behind the Outdoor menu. Have trouble spotting that tab? It’s second from the left.
• You must click the Outdoor tab (if you predict camping gear is found behind the veil) to see subcategories, there’s no preview with a dropdown or AJAX flyout menu (example of that is coming up…)

Cabelas

• Cabelas has a link, but it doesn’t stand out against other categories.

• Count the competing calls to action: shop the sale of over 2,000 unspecified items, shop the bargain bin (probably winter stock), find a store location, get a Visa, buy a boat, get a gun, request a catalog, pick up in store, find an outdoor adventure…
• The menu link and the search box are the only options to find camping products. Customers who look closely will get to their destination, but this is not optimal usability/design.

Altrec

• Camping Equipment is a featured link, indicating Altrec believes a significant number of site visitors are interested in that category right now.

• Behind the Gear button, camping subcategories can be found, though the menu is very long and even has its own scroll bar.
• There is nothing in the body of the page that speaks to our case-persona, Doogie Howser.

Backcountry

• Camp / Hike is placed at the top of the Gear menu on the left (we can assume this changes with the season).

• For customers who tend to scan text, an image of a tent and a list of camping subcategories helps the visitor hone in on subcategories, and see that Backcountry carries a range of products. This helps reassure the customer of convenience of shopping from one store (save time, effort and perhaps shipping). Backcountry has placed this list above the fold.

REI

• REI makes “Camping & Hiking” the first link in its horizontal navigation menu, and links from the left menu.

• There are a couple references to camping in the body.
• Below: Using a hover menu, you can see the full range of camping subcategories without clicking. It’s nicely organized into Gear, Electronics, Kitchen and Safety - REI likely has everything Doogie needs and he can find it easily.

Cotswold

• Camping & Festivals appears first in left hand navigation, and there are links in body copy to camping products.

• Featured Item and Offer of the Month are camping-related.

• When you click on the Camping & Festivals link, you get a submenu with options that may appeal to our persona: Camping Starter Packs, 3 & 4 Person Tents and The Family Unit. You can tell Cotswold has thought through customer segments and purchase scenarios.

• The starter packs are a great example of product bundling. Remove the paradox of choice and provide expert advice / service at the same time.
• The “Family Unit” section includes products that are not necessarily camping gear but are relevant cross sells, like kites.

I didn’t see anything compelling on these home pages, but I did spot a good example on L.L. Bean’s camping category page. “Our Best Selection of Family Tents Ever” gives purpose to the image and a persuasive message to check out the tents.

I’m not arguing that outdoor gear sites have to cater to campers this month. Rather, if campers are an attractive and profitable segment at this time of year, most of these home pages leave opportunities on the table. Checking out a handful of competitors (wearing the “hat” of your persona) can give you ideas on how to adjust your site for maximum promotions - what to redesign or what to test.

Of course, if you can predict what people are looking for when customers land on your home page you can deliver more relevant offers. Sitebrand’s personalization suite allows you to serve up different home page and landing page messaging based on referral keywords from search engines.

How do you identify attractive customer segments / product categories?

1. Historical sales data, especially seasonal trends.

2. Google Trends keyword search data:

You can research different product categories like climbing gear, fishing gear, hiking gear and camping gear; or even synonyms for keywords like camping equipment, camping gear, camping tents and camping supplies.

The beauty of Google Trends is you can further segment by geography:

You may discover that UK residents are 12 times more likely to use the term “equipment” than “gear.” Make sure your category labels and marketing messages use the most common terms for each market you serve. You may even apply this to your SEO, PPC and email subject lines.

3. Web analytics keyword and conversion data. (Don’t miss our upcoming webinar with Analytics legend Avinash Kaushik July 17th.)

Once you select your focus, you need to brainstorm purchase scenarios where a customer might buy a range of your products all at the same time (cha-ching), especially for seasonal product. Then make sure your home page speaks to this customer, and the rest of your site (categorization, navigation, merchandising, searchandising et cetera) supports the sales process. You may even want to do some usability testing as well.

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Original post by Linda Bustos

Earlier this week we discussed why enlarged images, alternate product views and showing products in context can help conversion.

But what about “user generated images” (or the friendlier term “customer submitted photos”)? Are they just social media / Web 2.0 hype or do they really improve customer experience?

Customer images may be used to help sell product (like customer reviews complement product descriptions) or just build community (if the retailer has a community section). Either way, customer submitted photos have their challenges:

• Image quality can vary from submission to submission. Dark or fuzzy images really don’t add value and can hurt the consistency and professionalism of your site.

• Attracting images can be a challenge - only a small percentage of customers will take the time to create a picture and send it to you.
• Moderating images for appropriateness and relevance takes extra time.

Let’s look at some examples of how online retailers are using customer submitted photos:

Product Pages

You may have noticed that Amazon shows customer images along with its own product images:

You can roll over the thumbnails to view larger versions and even read notes that users have left on them:

This is helpful as a customer review - the color on the web is not the color in the box.

Customer Reviews

Power Reviews allows photo attachments to reviews, as spotted on Uncommon Goods:

(Sometimes customers pick useless tags…)

What I like about this approach is it’s seamless. Good review content is not separated into text vs. image reviews. On Amazon, a very helpful tip like the color is actually more mint than neon green could be missed unless you read reviews AND view pictures. Plus, it’s less programming work when your reviews product has image upload already available.

Customer Testimonials

Modern Line Furniture has a testimonials page with customer images linked to from the home page (though the call-to-action gets a bit lost in the home page clutter).

The testimonials page links through to the product pages for items featured in the room. Yay! There’s hope for a transaction!

Community / Resource Section

Some retailers actually have a community component to their e-stores, like David’s Bridal. Customers can upload pictures from their weddings, and brides-to-be can surf them to get inspiration for dress styles and color schemes.

While this is a good idea, the community section is kind of a dead end — there is no link back to products or tools that facilitate a purchase decision like shop-by-color.

Alternative Energy Store has a similar community gallery, but without links to products or buying guides, it’s not very helpful.

With links to products, the gallery could be a social tool for product discovery. I just haven’t come across a retailer who’s doing that well (community gallery that aids shopping). Have you? Please share your find in the comments.

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Original post by Linda Bustos

According to a Future Now client, images can lift conversion rates by 147% by showing products “in context.”

Yesterday we looked at examples of image zoom and alternate views, which can help customers experience the product better than one small view. A good photographer plus AJAX or Flash technology like Scene 7 or Magic Zoom can achieve this.

But online retailers can go a step further and use photos that show products in use, or “in context.”

This can reduce a shopper’s fears, uncertainties and doubts about a purchase like “how does this look on a person?” or “how large is this in real life?.” Images can also “sell” by triggering an emotion, showing the quality or versatility of an item or illustrating a products features and benefits.

Here are some effective and creative ways online retailers are showing products in context:

Show Items in Use

Delia’s shows this hoodie lying flat and on a model. Showing clothing on people gives the customer a better idea of the style of the garment. Is a hoodie fitted like yoga wear or loose like a track suit? Is it a cropped style or long? Seeing an item on a person will also resonate with a certain kind of customer (like “humanstic” shoppers). Showing the flat alternative makes it easy to show different colors without having to dress the model each time.

You could argue that model shots may be less effective than showing the garment in isolation - the model’s face, the other clothing she wears or the background might detract from the product itself. Using a white mannequin, you can show the way the item looks on while keeping the focus on the item only.

Using a plus-size mannequin is very effective for plus-size clothing, as Fashion Bug does on the right.

An interesting conversion test would be to compare white-background against outdoor images, especially for clothing and brands associated with sporty/outdoor lifestyle like Cabelas:

American Apparel uses an outdoor, lifestyle shot here. The description says the pants are great for lounging, working out and sleeping. Showing the model walking a dog and sitting by the pool in the images communicates even more uses. Plus, it’s raw and more true-to-life than a polished studio shot. The pants are being worn by “a person like me.”

This example from American Apparel connects on an emotional level while showing off the garment on kids of different ages, ethnic backgrounds and wearing different colors.

Ease Suitability Fears

HerRoom.com is a lingerie shop that developed its “Try it Under” feature in house. Customers can overlay virtual shirt styles like v-necks over top of the product image to make sure straps and things don’t show through.

ArtSelect.com lets you preview your print with your paint.

You can even email the image in an e-card - great for interior decorators who need approval from clients.

Ease Sizing Fears

ArtSelect lets you eyeball how large the piece is compared to a 5′4 woman.

BabyCenter shows the relative size of a diaper bag, and throws in a very happy mommy with baby to appeal to the humanistic shopper.

Again, mannequins do the trick also:

Coach uses a bag sizer tool. Choose your height and see the bag on the shoulder and in hand.

Prevent Disappointment, Build Trust & Minimize Returns

These are some pretty radical earrings, they’re not for everyone. A simple photo of the earrings alone could be deceiving - the customer could assume they are much smaller than they really are. If you offer free return shipping, well…

Blue Nile uses a ruler:

Read more on how to reduce size and color fears.

Illustrate Benefits

Spanx uses before and after shots to prove its product is indispensable.

Apple shows its laptop case with laptop inside - plus all the other stuff you can cram in there.

BabyCenter brags how versatile its stool is - both mommy and little one can make good use of it.

Product information is also “in-context.” 40 GB and 80 GB means nothing to me, but I can understand the difference between 20,000 and 40,000 songs.

PS: Notice the call to action buttons match the available colors? This is also a nice example of side-by-side upselling - it’s clear for only $100 more you get double the storage.

Going the Extra Mile

Video “product tours” can be great for some items. MLB.com lets you watch a video of its dancing mascots and sample its music.

Other products lend themselves to try-before-you-buy, such as free carpet, blind and cloth samples so the customer can see the exact color and texture.

You can make your product images sell for you by thinking through the best ways to show how your products are incredible or solve a customer’s problems. It’s not just your product description’s job! Maximize both product descriptions and images and you’ll up the persuasion factor and conversion rates too.

3 Things to Die For: Web Analytics Unleashed

Free webinar: July 17th, 2008, 9am PT/12pm ET
Guest Panelist: Avinash Kaushik, Author &amp Analytics Evangelist, Google
Register to Attend…

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Original post by Linda Bustos

We’ve all heard Confucius’ famed quote “a picture is worth 1,000 words” at least 1,000 times.

Online, pictures are worth more than words, they’re worth dollars. But how many dollars depends on how effectively product images *speak* to customers. We’re talkin’ details. Just like textual product descriptions describe a product in detail, enlarged images and alternate views better describe your products. And many products cannot be fully described with words.

According to a 2007 survey of online shoppers by the E-Tailing Group:

• 77% are “very to somewhat” influenced by the quality of content (descriptions, copy, images and tools) when deciding to purchase from an online retailer

• 79% “rarely or never” purchase a product without complete product information
• 76% believe content is insufficient to complete research or purchase online “always,” “most often” or “some of the time”
• When faced with incomplete information, 72% go to a competitor or research further

Future Now did its own customer experience study and found 24% of online shops do not allow customers to enlarge images, and 63% don’t offer multiple image views. I decided to do some research myself, cruising the Internet Retailer 500 List looking for examples of how online retailers are showing off their goods:

Images in Action

A simple way to enlarge images is to have a link “click to enlarge” that opens up a pop-up with the thumbnail image blown up. The next level up is to offer alternative images in the pop-up with the ability to change the image with a click or mouseover.

A bit more advanced is using a Javascript or Flash tool like Magic Toolbox
or Adobe’s Scene 7. Magic Toolbox’ Magic Zoom lets you hover over any area of a product image without a pop-up or click (stay on the product page). There may be other products that also do this, but I’m only aware of this one.

This example from Danskin shows how you can view the front or back of this product in any of its 4 colors:

Scene 7 is typically launched in a popup window with the option to click a plus or minus button to enlarge, then click and drag the image around the window to look at specific detail. Or, use the magnifier to blow up one portion:

I found Scene 7 was fussy to use, and on some sites would load a blank window. Not to mention the time to load. I do prefer the Magic Toolbox product, as a web user.

Sliders

Altrec uses a slider for image zoom which you can control by clicking and dragging left and right from the enlarge pop-up. You can then click and drag the big image to move it around within the window.

The Adidas Store does the same thing right on the product page (no pop-up. less clicking required).

OnlineShoes.com is like Adidas, but includes alternate views which really help describe the product. You can view them all without pop-ups.

I’m not sure the magnifying glass is a good icon here - that’s more associated with a search box than image magnification.

Quick Look

A handful of retailers like Gap’s brands use a Quick Look preview from the category page, with full product information. If you want an even larger view you can click to a popup with color switching and view switching.

Huge Category Zoom

Bidz.com explodes images on the category page with a rollover - the biggest previews I’ve ever seen.

Large Default Images on Product Pages

Moosejaw uses a large image on its product pages with detailed information in tabs. Just rollover alternative views for instant enlargement.

TiesNecktie.com uses large product images too. Ties are one type of product that really only need one view, so this is usable, effective and inexpensive.

Retailer Creativity

By showing front and back views on one image, Causal Male saves clicking between 2 images on the product page, and also gives more product information from one thumbnail on the category page. This is great for shoppers in “competitive” buying mode who want information fast, fast, fast. Plus, it never covers up the call-to-action.

Uncommon Goods’ approach is uncommon, but good (I know it’s cheesy but I couldn’t resist). For certain products, the image is shown in a landscape banner with zoom and move controls right there on the page.

Neiman Marcus and Venus Swimwear use floating images in the sidebar that follow you down as you scroll down the page.

Horny Toad lets you select size scaling on the category page:

ACLens offers a .pdf print-out of the actual size of its frames:

J.Crew allows enlargement and multiple color / angle views for cross-sells as well:

full cross-sell set and enlarge them and color switch them on the same page

What do you think about the call to action? Too long? Cute the first time but annoying when used on every product?

So these are some examples of providing slick product views in usable and creative ways. But how can you up the persuasion factor and tell a story with your product images? Tune in tomorrow for tips and examples on how to show products “in context.”

3 Things to Die For: Web Analytics Unleashed

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Original post by Linda Bustos

Yesterday we posted a Q&A session with Sally Lowery of Bronto Software on trigger email campaigns. Today we have 2 real-world examples from Amazon. These emails followed up the purchase of a camcorder:

• Amazon doesn’t wait for you to come back to the site to push recommendations at you. 10 days post-purchase,

• Notice the low price point relative to the camcorder (about 10% of purchase price)
• Notice the 2 star customer rating - not too persuasive, eh?
• It would be more persuasive to auto-recommend the highest rated relevant accessory, with a snippet from and direct link to the most helpful positive review
• The link to “improve your recommendations” is a good idea, especially if it was just a gift. Adjusting preferences now means more relevant suggestions next time you log into Amazon.com

• 15 days post-purchase, Amazon sends another plea to buy more

• Gone are the star ratings
• Amazon’s pushing categories, not specific products - there are 3 product links without descriptions, and links to category
• Mix of price points, software can be 3x the price of the purchased product
• Includes service plans
• Includes opt-out: “We hope you found this message to be useful. However, if you’d rather not receive future e-mails of this sort from Amazon.com, please opt-out here.”

Now, I understand these are automated recommendations and crafting 1-to-1 cross-sell emails is not efficient. But this email could be a lot more persuasive if it explained more about how these would enhance the ownership experience of the purchased product - and from a fellow customer’s mouth, not the retailer. For the tripod featured in both emails, there’s a video review that 46/47 people found helpful.

Wouldn’t that make for a killer trigger email?

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Original post by Linda Bustos

I recently caught up with Bronto Software’s Online Marketing Manager Sally Lowery, Online Marketing Manager for Bronto Software to chat about trigger-based email campaigns. Think sending welcome emails, reminders to repurchase or hey, “you haven’t been interacting with us for a while and we’d like to win you back” emails.

Q: Can you explain trigger-based email messaging?

A: A real-time message, or triggered message, is one that is generated based on a meaningful change or event in a customer behavior or profile. Trigger-based messages can create a truly relevant email campaign to customers that yields a greater ROI, because it is a customer-facilitated exchange that triggers the campaign.

Q: What are some things to consider when implementing a trigger-based email program?

A: To be successful with a trigger-based automated email program, consider the following:

Define Business Rules. A well defined trigger-based program can create a significant return. Be certain to recognize where it’s appropriate to create trigger-based campaigns and where there may be little benefit. Creating a business rule that sends a transactional message that includes an up-sell opportunity only makes sense if the product that is promoted matches the customer’s interest.

Set Frequency Limits. Don’t oversend. After you have established your business rules, review your plan and determine instances where a customer may be sent too high a frequency. If your email service provider enables a frequency limit, take advantage. You don’t want to send three trigger-based campaigns to a customer in one day…or possibly even one week.

Remember Recency. When was the last time the customer or prospect received something from you? If you are able, create business rules around when your prospect or customer was last sent a message.

Think customer first. What frequency of trigger-based campaigns will not bombard your customer or prospect leaving them fatigued from over-sending? What promotional opportunities make sense: cross-sell, up-sell, discounts, free shipping? The possibilities are limitless for how you will use trigger-based email campaigns, but always be cognizant of the impact on the customer. You want it to be a positive experience that reinforces trust.

Keep it simple. Your automated plan should mirror your brand. Once you’ve done the tricky part of configuring your trigger-based message, you’ll be able to learn and test on the fly, so pepper in new business rules and continue to polish messages.

Q: Can you give some examples of trigger-based email campaigns?

A: Trigger-based email programs can include transactional, recurring, and threshold triggers. The most commonly used are transactional and threshold.

Transactional triggers: Messages that are based on a direct transaction with a customer target such as a purchase, profile update, opt-in, or conversion are an underutilized tool in the world of email marketing. Think brand reinforcement, promotional opportunities, and trust recognition.

Recurring triggers: These messages are based on the customer’s profile. It could be a simple birthday trigger or a more complex product re-order message. For recurring triggers, the opportunities are limitless, but be cautious as these are easily the most recognized place for over-mailing.

Q: How will these trigger-based email campaigns help e-commerce clients?

A: E-commerce can easily integrate and have a successful return with a trigger-based email program. There are several places where a trigger-based campaign can be integrated with their customer behavior.

Welcome Programs. Incorporate trigger-based email messages into your welcome messages. Create a welcome message when one of the following actions is completed: download, purchase, sales inquiry, or registration.

Cross-Sell/Up-Sell Programs. You can create effective cross-sell and up-sell email campaigns using trigger-based actions based on your customers purchase profiles.
Abandonment Programs. When a customer abandons their shopping cart, trigger a message regarding their abandoned items and offer an incentive to complete the purchase.

Win-Back Programs. If you haven’t had a customer return to your site or make a purchase in six months or more, integrate a win-back email that entices the customer to return.

Q: Do you have any rules of thumb to offer after a client’s transition?

A:

1. Plan for your content and promotions. Remember, that despite the fact that these are transactional campaigns, the message that you communicate to your customers and prospects should align with your business objectives.

2. Use HTML. Enhance your messages with html. Incorporating your brand, as well as look and feel of your other marketing touches, can add to your transactional messages. Many companies spend very little time on their transactional messages, despite their significantly higher open rate.

3. Customize. Relevancy means customizing your messages to the individual recipient. To create an ongoing dialog with customers, consider dynamic content in your campaigns. Your customers are far more likely to respond to messages that include information that relates to their preferences, behaviors, or past purchases.

4. Measure. Just like any other email marketing campaign, don’t leave it on its own. Test and review and find ways to optimize your trigger-based email program to increase your ROI.

Thanks again to Sally and the Bronto team for sharing these tips with Get Elastic. If you’re interested in more information about trigger-based email campaigns, you can check out Sally’s white paper The Need for Ease.

3 Things to Die For: Web Analytics Unleashed

Free webinar: July 17th, 2008, 9am PT/12pm ET
Guest Panelist: Avinash Kaushik, Author &amp Analytics Evangelist, Google
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Original post by Linda Bustos

Jason Billingsley and I are always on the hunt for ecommerce trends and innovations. And one of the areas Jason will be covering in Thursday’s webinar Ecommerce Innovations: What’s Now and What’s Next is loyalty programs. (There’s still time to sign up!)

Subscription options for consumables is not necessarily a new concept, but certainly an underused tactic of online retailers.

It’s far more common to see e-tailers offering tiered pricing (discounts on quantity) to increase basket size. But customers don’t always want to order a case lot of something — who has room for a year’s worth of coffee in the cupboard? Others don’t have the cash-on-hand to pre-purchase items.

Subscriptions are a great way to:

• Maximize lifetime customer revenue for the item

• Save customer time, storage space and money
• Build long term service relationship with customer
• Potentially sell more/different items over time

How Online Retailers Are Using Product Subscriptions

I first noticed Amazon using subscriptions on select consumables a while ago. The program is called Subscribe & Save, and Amazon has a directory of items that qualify.

• Offers 15% discount

• Choose from 1, 2, 3 or 6 month delivery intervals
• 2 calls-to-action (blue boxes) - hard for shoppers to miss
• Customers are only charged when items leave warehouse
• Email notifications are sent before reorder, customer can modify order if necessary
• Customers can cancel anytime

I just don’t understand why every product on Amazon is a wedding or baby registry candidate…

Coastal Contacts, Drugstore.com and Walgreen’s allow customers to select their own delivery schedule.

Walgreen’s and Drugstore.com allow auto-refill on prescription drugs, but not on all the other product they carry that would also make for great subscriptions like baby formula, diapers, vitamins, razor blades, pet food, shampoo and so on.

Offering Incentives

Amazon gives 15% discount on all Subscribe & Save items. Nutrica offers a free box of vitamins — even if you cancel your subscription, just for giving it a shot. Doctors Foster and Smith offer the 10th shipment free in its Catered Pet program.

Communicating Value

HG򰁨.com combines tiered pricing with subscription and provides a chart that shows the price savings on automatic re-orders vs. one-off shipments for each tier. Strikeout prices are effective, as are big, bold or red discount prices, “you save X% or ” etc.

Purity Products uses % savings and “Best Value!” messaging:

You can choose your delivery interval from the cart, and you find a surprise free gift:

Helping Customers Choose Frequency

Nutrica sells vitamins and supplements, so it’s easy to let customers estimate their expected daily use and select the right monthly program.

Psoriacream gives recommendations based on the severity of one’s psoriasis problem.

Customer review content that addresses product life would be helpful for first-time buyers. For example, how long does a shampoo bottle last long-haired women who wash their hair 3-4 times a week vs. short haired men who wash every day vs. a couple who shares a bottle? How long does 2 lbs of coffee beans last someone who drinks 2 cups a day?

A tool could also be programmed to ask the customer a few questions about their lifestyle and then recommend a frequency. This would depend on the product, whether it’s worth it to program such a tool or not.

Another idea is to use “customers who bought X chose Y delivery time” similar to reviews — one could see that out of 25 customers who subscribed to refill razors, 18 selected 1 month refills, for example.

Some products like mascara should be replaced every few months for hygienic reasons - even if there’s product left in the tube. What an opportunity for pricey makeup stores to gain repeat business — many customers are not aware of that or need to be reminded.

Subscribe is a Call-To-Action

Some retailers have programs, but don’t show it on the product page. That’s a head-scratcher for me…

Others, like Green Mountain Coffee, are just very subtle about it. The “Recurring Delivery” option is near-invisible, and once you add the item to cart, there is no further announcement that you can subscribe to the product.

Since subscriptions bring more money than single purchases, why are they not treated as valuable calls to action?

Alternative Payments

Cenestra Health uses PayPal subscriptions for recurring orders, which may ease the fears of customers who don’t want you to charge their credit card on a regular basis.

Usability Issues

Tabletools.com allows you to order a variety of flavors of a product in whatever quantity you want, as described below. However, it’s asking a lot from its customers to enter the details in the middle of checkout. Shoppers must remember the names of the flavors after they’ve navigated from the product page unless they open up a new tab to check out - otherwise they’ll need to call the order in.

Subscription Program Tips

• If you’ve got a program, flaunt it on your product pages - don’t bury it deep in your site or use near-invisible links

• Link to program details from your product page, preferably without leaving the page (AJAX or pop-up window)
• Clearly communicate shipping charges, billing dates, cancellation policies, pricing policies (are prices subject to change?), how customers can update billing information, shipping address or subscription preferences in your details
• Communicate the benefits (savings and convenience) of subscribing
• Remind customers of health and safety reasons for replacing products regularly, if applicable
• Select realistic delivery options suitable to your product. Don’t force customers into 1, 2, 3, 6 months just because Amazon does it
• Help customers figure out their best reorder schedule. This can be done through customer reviews, questionnaire tools or historical repeat purchase data
• Create a section where customers can browse all products eligible for subscription
• If you use cross-sells, recommend eligible subscription products
• Send a reminder email shortly before you fulfill a repeat order, remind customers they can modify their order (and remind them of their login name or password!)
• If a customer didn’t opt-in for subscription, ask for permission to send a reminder email in X months instead. Customer may not want to commit to transaction but may still be interested in a friendly reminder in time
• If using the above tactic, send the email with an incentive for repurchase and several similar items, should the product ordered not have been satisfactory, customer can choose something else
• Consider “{product} of the month” clubs — get creative. They don’t have to be gifts for other people, and they don’t have to be consumables, either.

9 Ecommerce Innovations: What’s Now & What’s Next

Free webinar: June 19th, 2008, 9am PT/12pm ET
Guest Panelist: Jason Billingsley, VP Innovation, Elastic Path Software
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Original post by Linda Bustos

Shopping online is risky. Customers rely on relatively small, 2-D product images or sometimes video to get an idea of the actual 3D product they are potentially buying. One of the most common reasons for online returns is the item appeared different on the site, and the customer expected a different color, higher quality, different size or other attribute than what was perceived from the image.

If a customer has a negative experience buying online, even if only once, the buyer will likely be more cautious for every future online purchase. This wary customer needs more trust-builders to convert. Common concerns include sizing and color fears.

Sizing Fears

Looks can deceive. From this category page, certain items appear relatively larger than other products when in reality they are MUCH smaller, simply because of how the product image was taken. The customer may overlook certain products because they perceive them as too large for what they’re looking for.

If possible, indicate product sizes using consistency in photography (or relative resizing), using a sort by size filter (depending on your products), or including sizes product titles or descriptions.

Nine West has incorporated sizes into most (but not all) their product titles, and this is how they appear in the Endless.com Nine West category page:

Even though product thumbnails use different zoom, the customer has some idea of what to expect of how large or small the product is.

Jewelry is another category that can be very deceiving, since to show good product detail, images are often blown up very large which is deceptive.

Consistency in default product image zoom is very important for suggesting alternative items. Assume a customer prefers a thinner chain-link in a bracelet. The product viewed is too thick for her liking, so she considers the “similar items” merchandizing zone. It is deceiving to have zoomed-in images shown along with zoomed-out - 2 bracelets of the same thickness can appear to be very different.

Here, Amazon’s product title includes the size of the chain in inches, not of the pendant.

Interestingly, both reviewers of this product mentioned the size - “about the size of a dime” and “smaller circle than you typically see in jewelry stores” should now be incorporated in the product description - not everyone reads the reviews but everyone should know what to expect the final product to look like.

QVC includes a reference measurement image, which is a good idea.

Showing the item on a real neck, or at least a mannequin or bust would help communicate this, too.

Toys R Us does a good job showing relative sizing by showing the products “in context” (in use). Customers can gauge the appropriateness of an item much better than the product alone.

Color Fears

The ability to switch the colors of an item on the product page is a fantastic feature, but when an item is simply “Photoshopped” into various colors, it may not reflect the actual item itself. Victoria’s Secret allows you to change colors on most but not all of their products, but usually it just flips the color, the model doesn’t move. A customer who recognizes this is just “Photoshopping” may not trust your color match.

Showing SKUs at different angles proves your images are of the actual item, like Endless.com has done here. When you roll over alternative colors, you can tell it’s a different photo because the angle will be slightly different.

A manual audit of your site’s images vs. actual product can also help you identify where you can improve your product descriptions, since you can’t always rely on customers giving you that feedback. Have your staff compare images and descriptions to the product you carry and watch for true-to-size and true-to-color issues.

High quality images and multiple product views, combined with user ratings and review feedback can help ease customer FUDDs (fears, uncertainties, doubts and dealbreakers) and reduce your rate of return, and also improve conversion rates and overall customer satisfaction.

9 Ecommerce Innovations: What’s Now &amp What’s Next

Free webinar: June 19th, 2008, 9am PT/12pm ET
Guest Panelist: Jason Billingsley, VP Innovation, Elastic Path Software
Register to Attend

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