Developing a Winning e-Commerce Strategy

One bright spot on the economic horizons around the world seems to be continued consumer spending and e-commerce is clearly a part of this, with sales estimated to be in excess of $9.9 billion in the next three months according to ACNielsen. But there is a dark cloud hovering over this sunny e-commerce landscape called poor web site design. Let's explore some of the reasons why consumers are not reaching for their credit cards after perusing an e-commerce web site.

  • There is a huge knowledge gap about how the web is really driving online and offline commerce. A recent eCommercePulse survey of more than 33,000 surfers conducted by Nielsen/Net ratings and Harris Interactive indicates e-commerce sites are driving more purchases offline (phone, catalogue, retail store sales) than online. Many consumers are using the web to effortlessly compare features and pricing, then calling the company or visiting their local retail store to make a purchase. Clearly many companies need to factor this information in when analyzing their online and offline marketing expenditures and related ROI.

  • According to a recent Zona Research and Keynote Systems Report released earlier this summer, over $25 Billion (USD) was lost in e-commerce due to users abandoning the web site prior to a purchase being made or during the process. The users just gave up because the load times (the amount of time it takes a page to be displayed in a browser) were painfully slow. Today's online shoppers aren't a real patient group; they want information presented in 12-18 seconds or they are off to another site that works.

  • Unfortunately, many firms have allocated a disproportionate amount of resources for advertising and not enough on good web site design and back-end infrastructure. It's critical to make the market aware of a site, but if the potential customers are not presented with the right navigation and menus (read information architecture), they will not buy. Case in point: according to recent Dataquest surveys (and others), between 20-40% of most users don't purchase because they can't figure out how to easily move around the web site.

  • Many firms fail to properly integrate their e-commerce components with the overall site design. The in-house developers or the outside design firm concentrate on the sexy parts of the web site design process (the graphics, branding, look and feel) and only focus on the e-commerce process after the primary web site design is completed, making e-commerce an afterthought.

  • A large number of e-commerce web sites don't even list a phone number, arbitrarily forcing people to contact the company electronically, This is a real problem, as many people don't want to use e-mail or forms as their primary means of communicating. They want the immediacy of the telephone.

  • It's very surprising, but approximately 30% of e-commerce sites don't have a search capability that actually works. In many cases it just returns gobblygook. This is a real irritant for many online shoppers who want to find goods and services quickly and efficiently. The need for speed should be the e-commerce merchant's marketing mantra and a good search capability gives users a way to quickly find products.

  • One of the most important parts of any web site is the home or index page, as it aggregates the design elements and information architecture. So many index pages are cluttered and poorly designed, loaded with poor graphics, bad menu structures, oddball words, or my absolute least favorite ... 30-60 second Flash animation sequences which force the user to sit and stare at a blank screen while the animation loads.

  • Privacy statements are about as exciting as filing taxes (unless you know you're getting a refund). They are out of necessity filled with legal terminology that needs to be addressed succinctly and in a way that makes a consumer feel comfortable about doing business with an e-commerce web site. Unfortunately, many e-commerce web site privacy statements look like an afterthought, or are so "attorney driven" (three pages - who has time to read this?) that people are turned off by them. It's very important that a privacy statement be a compromise document brokered between legal and marketing.

  • We are a full service ad agency so I don't mind shooting arrows in the direction of my peers. Too much attention is being placed on web site advertising metrics (clickthrough rates, certified traffic to substantiate ad rates, etc.) and not enough on how people find and use an e-commerce web site. The industry standard web site analysis tool is Web Trends, but one of the least understood aspects of this product is tracking how people find and move around a web site via reports which can be pulled from the server log files; i.e., where did the visitors come from, what pages do they visit, how long do they stay, what are their traffic patterns, etc.? e-Commerce companies should be analyzing these "digital customer tracks" to better understand how to improve their front-end marketing processes and back-end web site design.

    About The Author

    Lee Traupel has 20 plus years of business development and marketing experience - he is the founder of Intelective Communications, Inc., http://www.intelective.com, a results-driven marketing services company providing proprietary services to clients encompassing startups to public companies. Lee@intelective.com

    Lee@intelective.com

    In The News:

    Green Tips for Ecommerce Packaging
    AuctionBytes Blog, MA - 5 hours ago
    Jan Ferrigan tackles the issue of environmentally friendly packaging in the July 20th issue of AuctionBytes-Update. We want to hear from online sellers ...

    Newport, RI Handbag Designer Launches Ecommerce Website www.mikija.com
    PR.com (press release), NY - Jul 18, 2008
    Mikija, designers of unique papyrus handbags, today announced the launch of their new, direct-to-consumer, ecommerce website www.mikija.com. ...

    eVanity Launches Robust eCommerce Site in Just 100 Days With ...
    MarketWatch - Jul 15, 2008
    The new eCommerce site was successfully launched in just 100 days with MarketLive(R) FastTrack 2008 and is now processing orders in time for the company's ...

    Intermix(R) Upgrades to MarketLive(R) v5.5 eCommerce Suite to ...
    MarketWatch - Jul 14, 2008
    "The online channel is critical to our success as a high-end retailer," said Don McNichol, eCommerce Director for Intermix. "Not only does it provide an ...

    Aussie e-commerce leads the world
    Money Management, Australia - Jul 17, 2008
    “The US and UK are thought to be the most tech savvy, but the conversion rates suggest otherwise when it comes to e-commerce. US consumers tend to place 3.3 ...

    Innovative Military Surplus eCommerce Website Takes Contextual ...
    TransWorldNews (press release), GA - Jul 17, 2008
    JDM, an innovative, full service marketing firm, announced today the launch of their client, Omaha's GI Surplus, new eCommerce website. ...

    InSite Software Expands Partnerships with Top Web Design Firms to ...
    MarketWatch - Jul 15, 2008
    InSiteCommerce is the next generation in ecommerce software providing B2B and B2C ecommerce features with the deepest level of ERP integration available ...

    Infopia Announces Expanded Web Services
    MarketWatch - Jul 16, 2008
    SALT LAKE CITY, July 16, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Infopia, the leading SaaS eCommerce platform provider, announced today the expansion of its Web ...
    SaaS Vendor Infopia Offers 'Expansion' of Web Services TMCnet
    all 10 news articles

    Business Analyst- eCommerce
    iTWire, Australia - Jul 15, 2008
    Are you an experienced eCommerce Business Analyst looking for an opportunity to work in a challenging, interesting and complex environment? ...
    Technical Business Analyst --- Financial Markets iTWire
    all 2 news articles

    E-Commerce Solutions and E-Commerce Business Solutions
    PR-USA.net (press release), Bulgaria - Jul 14, 2008
    This complete, easy-to-use ecommerce solution, offers all the ecommerce functionality you need, including entry-level catalogue, shopping cart and real-time ...
    ecommerce - Google News


    • Wind Chimes and more...

    Windchimes for great gifts!

    E-marketplaces from Sellers Perspective

    What is an E-marketplace anyway?E-marketplace is a business to business... Read More

    eCommerce Software Solutions

    All of the long, grueling nights and an unknown number... Read More

    Is Your Website Credit Card Friendly?

    In my last column I discussed the process of credit... Read More

    Are You Making These E-Commerce Excuses? (part 2)

    Last time, we started to take a look at the... Read More

    How To Stay Cutting Edge In Online Business

    Let's face it, there's just way too much information out... Read More

    Chinas IT Industry to Maintain Fast Growth

    China's IT industry is expected to see a sales revenue... Read More

    The House Of Print.Com

    Publishing has always been a difficult business to promote successfully,... Read More

    Retirement Signature Frames ? The Perfect Retirement Gift!

    When most people think of a retirement gift, they think... Read More

    Online Consumers ? What Are They Complaining About?

    For many businesses, e-commerce represents a tremendous method for generating... Read More

    Choosing an Ecommerce Shopping Cart

    Choosing an online shopping cart is a big decision. Unlike... Read More

    Guide To Safe Online Shopping

    Online shopping can be a little frightening to people who... Read More

    The Essential Christmas Web-store Makeover

    Ten great tips to turn online holiday shoppers into eager... Read More

    Something new in e-commerce: the Echo System Build

    How four partners build and manage an exclusive art posters... Read More

    Two Pillars of a Successful Web Site

    For a web site to get close to fulfilling its... Read More

    Bringing the World to Your Door

    According to Internet.com, by the year 2008 nearly 30% of... Read More

    Using Drop Shipping for E-commerce

    Thanks to the ubiquity of the internet, online virtual businesses... Read More

    Shop: Is Shopping Online Secure?

    Is shopping online becoming popular and safe enough for you... Read More

    How to Receive Payments for Your Online Sales

    Once you decide which products you are planning to sell... Read More

    How To Accept Credit Cards Without a Merchant Account

    To increase sales on your website, you must accept credit... Read More

    Ecommerce - Boost Your Business ROI

    Did you know that over 90% of all online orders... Read More

    Increasing E-Commerce Website Sales: A Guide for the Online Newbie

    Because of this encouraging surge in activity, many individuals are... Read More

    What Does It Take to Make Money Online?

    What a loaded question! Let's narrow that down a bit... Read More

    The Plain Man?s Guide to Making Money Online

    I'm a plain man who uses plain thinking in devising... Read More

    Intranet Portal ? Business Case ROI

    The days of easy money are overIn these post-dot-com days... Read More

    Is It Still Possible To Make Money On The Internet?

    Many people are saying that the internet is dead. So... Read More