Category Customer Centric
Delete cookies, score some dough
By Melinda Fulmer
If you’re a new customer at the Bradford Exchange, you can get four boxes of personal checks for $23.97 with a new-customer coupon. The same order will cost a repeat customer who doesn’t have the coupon $59.60.
It may seem counterintuitive, but in the online shopping business, loyalty isn’t rewarded.
The best discounts are typically reserved for new customers. And one of the easiest ways to make Web retailers think you’re a new customer is to delete the cookies they leave on your computer, says Robert Weiss, an attorney specializing in information technology at Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg in Chicago.
Bit of text can tell a lot
A cookie is a piece of text that a Web server sometimes stores on your computer when you visit a site. When you go back to that site, your browser retrieves this file, and the site identifies you as someone who’s shopped there before.
Retailers use this information to figure out the best way to sell to you. They can determine:
a. What departments you visited on their site.
b. How often you’ve been there and how long you were there.
c. What you’ve put in a shopping cart.
Amazon.com says it uses this type of information only to make product recommendations, not to decide who gets discounts. The e-commerce giant came under fire a few years ago for allegedly using this information to offer different prices to different customers.
Posted by Tom Polanski in Customer Centric on February 11th, 2009
Online shoppers, keep your mouse handy
By Suzanne Choney
Online retailers are offering a mix of specials and sales this holiday season that may leave Web shoppers mixed up as to where, when and how to buy.
More than ever, shoppers need to pay attention to the fine print on the screen, and stay alert for deals that are changing daily and sometimes hourly. There may be great offers available because of the struggling economy, but if you blink — or don’t click — in time, you could miss out.
“I think retailers will be playing the price game sooner than in the past,” said Kurt Peters, editor-in-chief of Internet Retailer, a trade publication.
Indeed, that seems to be the case, despite the fact that Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, and Cyber Monday, the Monday after Thanksgiving weekend, are considered the traditional starting points for holiday shopping. Many retailers’ Web sites have been filled with specials for several weeks now.
And, there’s already a fair amount of texting, Twittering and e-mails going on by retailers and shoppers about sales and bargains.
Social networking — be it through sites like Twitter or Facebook — is magnifying the season’s gift-a-thon more than ever before.
Posted by Tom Polanski in Customer Centric on November 17th, 2008
The importance of building trust online with strong, consistent branding and customer-centric practices
By Tom Polanski, EVP, eBrand Media and eBrand Interactive
I’m surprised by the number of companies that lack an understanding of how to improve stickiness on their site. Every end-user approaches a site for the first time with a degree of anxiety. We’re all a little apprehensive about whether the site will be secure, easy to navigate and, ultimately, whether we will actually get what we order.
Over the years we’ve looked at perhaps a hundred thousand sites and we’ve found that the best sites (and best converting sites) have security symbols above the fold, crisp images and convey a feeling of orderliness. Additionally a shopper is made to feel comfortable in other ways too; most importantly, no surprises! The “best practices” site will give the shopper a window view on availability and shipping costs well before they arrive at the check out page.
A real concern for end-users, too, is privacy…the collection and use of personal information. Studies show that 30% of the online population is still wary of giving out their personal information and an astounding 51% don’t trust search engines to keep their search data secret. Additionally, 30 percent of consumers report reducing their overall use of the Web, while 25 percent say they no longer make online purchases, according to WebWatch. The report, “Leap of Faith: Using the Internet Despite the Dangers,” was based on a survey of 1,501 online adults.
Even those who continued to shop online reported taking precautions. Fifty-four percent of online shoppers said they now are more likely to read a site’s privacy policy or user agreement than in the past–while 29 percent say they shop online less frequently than before.
It’s a hot button issue for end-users and marketers too.
Posted by Tom Polanski in Advertising, Customer Centric, Marketing on August 21st, 2008
Clarity and Transparency Create Brand Loyalty and Life Time Value in Consumers.
By Tom Polanski, EVP, eBrand Media and eBrand Interactive
Clarity will always be valued over persuasion by savvy internet users. We’ve all become cynical over the years. Much of it is due to constant marketing pressures. Yet so many companies and marketers still insult us with “dog and pony shows” and obfuscation. If a company wants to keep customers then it must be clear every step of the way. Relationship management, which to a large degree the management of expectations is of paramount importance. And as we know it’s easier and more profitable to keep a customer than it is to keep looking for new ones.
One way for e-merchants to do this is to make sure that they do everything possible to allay the anxieties of the shopper. In our experience the top two reasons for abandoning the shopping process are:
1. Lack of confidence in the site.
2. Surprises.
3. Perceived potential difficulties in navigating the site.
PEW studies show that the average end user will begin to make judgments about the aesthetics and “goodness” of a site within one (1) second. Therefore, our studies show that it’s critical to have credibility enhancing symbols above the fold on the left where the eyes naturally fall first. In addition, a hygienic, orderly and easy to navigate site will increase end-user stickiness. The last thing a shopper wants to be subjected to are unnecessary actions and confusion while trying to find products. Bring form and function together to create an online store—an environment, if you will— that is positive, easy to navigate, pleasant to be in and conducive to frequent and extended visits.
Posted by Tom Polanski in Customer Centric on August 13th, 2008
eBrand Media introduces Mel Ronick as a guest eBizine contributor.
By Tom Polanski
Mr. Ronick’s first article will appear in eBizine tomorrow, Wednesday, the 16th. So that you get to know a little about Roncik we’ve taken the liberty of preparing an over view.
Mel is President of Stacks and Stacks, www.stacksandstacks.com, an e-commerce business which offers storage, organization and furnishing products. He started his career at IBM and has worked in computer sales, shopping center development and as a national retail leasing agent.
Mr. Ronick started Stacks and Stacks in 1984 when shopping center development slowed because of high interest rates. He thought he might be able to grow the original store into a 50 store chain and go public. Instead he closed the stores he’d opened and went online in 1999 – 2000.
He feels his biggest risk was when he decided to open on the Internet and close all of his stores. At that point in time big-box stores were coming into the Bay Area and each opening diminished his sales. His solution was to try something else, Stacks and Stacks. Ronick has stated that his business took off rather quickly and that it’s been growing 25 to 40 percent year after year.
Posted by Tom Polanski in Advertising, Customer Centric, Growing a Business on July 15th, 2008