Attract New Customers, Retain Existing Ones By Knowing Your Product Well

Over the past week, we’ve been talking to ProStores web store merchants about becoming an expert in their industries.  Establishing product knowledge helps them attract new customers and retain old ones.

Matthew Phillips, who sells coffee beans, service, and equipment at his online store Essential Wonders, spends a lot of time honing his staff’s expertise.  He considers it an old school model that puts customers first. 

“In the 1970s and 80s, that's what everyone was doing.  Then in the 90s the big box retailers said that customers only cared about pricing.  But in the last 10 years, America is reverting back," he explains.  "Big companies like Walmart are having trouble because they’re basing their business on price, not service. 

“Every single person that works at Essential Wonders knows every single thing about every single product we sell.  We’re traveled to all the plants, and we’ve all been educated.”

Essential Wonders also offers free lifetime technical support and installation assistance over the phone – something even manufacturers don’t offer.  “A lot of people who call a manufacturer stay on the phone for 20 minutes, can’t get the information, and then they get charged a fee,” Matthew points out.  Because his staff is so well trained, the people who run the online coffee community CoffeeGeek often refer their users to him because they know his staff can answer all their questions.

“We get a lot of compliments for our product knowledge, because we’re here to take care of customers.”  That commitment seems to be working.  Essential Wonders is grossing $500,000 a year, and business in growing.   

How Becoming An Expert Got This Merchant's Products on The Today Show

When we ask eCommerce merchants about their biggest challenges, nearly all of them mention marketing.  That includes Elena Neitlich of Moms on Edge, who creates and sells parenting products that have been featured on NBC's Today Show.  “You could build the most incredible online store with a great product and not get a single hit,” she says.  “You need at least a hundred unique visitors a day to sustain a business online, so you have to master online marketing with a multi-pronged approach.  If you let it slip at all, you could see your numbers drop.”

Good marketing includes establishing yourself as an expert so that you become the go-to person for both customers and media.  With that goal in mind, Elena’s multi-pronged approach includes blogging, social networking, and pay-per-click advertising.  She also utilizes two other avenues most merchants don’t usually consider.

Firstly, she writes expert articles and posts them on content websites like EzineArticles.com, ArticlesBase, and IdeaMarketers.  Through their RSS feeds, her interested customers stay up-to-date with her parenting advice.  (For more on article marketing, check out our next blog post.)  

Secondly, she enters and wins business contests, like Entrepreneur Magazine and ProStores’ eBusiness Boost Challenge and Alibaba.com’s eBusiness of the Year.  She then rides on that momentum by doing a lot of PR to garner radio and TV spots. 

“It’s important to take advantage when you’re a little hot.  I’m a mompreneur expert, an etiquette expert, and a parenting expert.  If you establish yourself in a number of fields, then people start to come to you for advice, and the news comes to you.  That’s how my products got on the Today Show.” 

Conversion Tips: Add Reputation Builders

One of the many obstacles to converting a shopper into a buyer is lack of trust. Show your potential customers that you are a credible, legitimate seller by displaying trust marks or reassurance logos such as SSL images, safety icons and accepted payment logos and Better Business Bureau seals. You can find the most recent logos on official web-sites of PayPal, MasterCard, Thawte, Better Business Bureau, etc. for download and usage.

For example, if you signed up for an SSL certificate, the company you used may provide you with a snippet of code that displays an image link that lets your customers know your site is secured by them.

You can add that snippet of code in ProStores by going to:

Store Design > Design Settings and click Theme Builder to add reputation builders to your store theme.

Ecommerce Links Roundup

No time to follow the latest ecommerce news, tips, articles, videos, tweets and blog posts that are out there on the web? Here's a roundup of some of the most interesting links we found this week:

• According to iPerception’s “Retail/E-Commerce Industry Report Q209” 38.6% of e-commerce visitors were at the initial information-gathering phase at the top of the purchase funnel. Visitors to ecommerce sites are there to learn, so make sure you give them all the product information they need to make the decision to buy!

• There are a number of reasons why you may be getting visitors to your store, but not getting any sales. Here are 15 reasons why your online store may not be converting.

• If you’re already marketing on Facebook and LinkedIn, that’s great. But if you’re looking for even more small business social networks to join, try these.

• If you’re doing any design customization of your store, here are 80 examples of add-to-cart buttons that you can look at for inspiration. Need a designer? Check out our list of ProStores Certified Designers and see how they can help.

• Looking for some tips on what holiday shoppers look for in an online retail site? According to Shop.org's eHoliday study - what shoppers want include: seeing the shopping cart total, clear product descriptions, value/good deals and broad selection. Specific features they like to see in a web store: product reviews, clearance sale or featured sale item pages and a shipping deadline calendar.

Have more links you want to share? Add them to the comments section below or share them with us on Twitter (@prostores).

Customer Service Is Important Before And After A Sale

We recently introduced you to Matthew Phillips, owner of Essential Wonders, a burgeoning online coffee business with $500,000 in annual sales.  Besides immense product knowledge, Matthew prides himself on his store’s customer service, not only before a sale but after.  “We want to make sure every customer is 100% satisfied,” says Matthew.

Low prices, free shipping

First things first.  Essential Wonders offers low prices and free shipping on everything it sells through its web store. 

Warranty policy

Besides promising free lifetime technical support, Essential Wonders does in-house repairs.  “If a product breaks in six months, most companies will tell you to call the manufacturer.  Essential Wonders is an authorized repair facility for every product we carry.  If you buy a coffee maker, and six months later it breaks, I have the authority to repair it and send it back to you.  We’ll replace it or send you the part, or if it needs to get back to the manufacturer, we’ll call and arrange it for you.”

Immediate service

“My name is right on the storefront, so people can call and ask to speak to me directly.  If there’s a problem I want people to know that they can get to us right away.”

Feedback

"We tell every customer to call us back and tell us how he liked the product and what we should change. We say, 'I don’t want you to be a one-time customer, I want you to come back and buy from me.  We want lifelong customers.'  And the amount of thanks we get is incredible.  People know we’re taking care of them.”  

Drive Sales with Customer Reviews

Matthew Phillips, owner of Essential Wonders, tried three different web store solutions before he finally found ProStores.  Since 2006, he’s stuck with eBay's ecommerce software because of its “price, versatility, and ease of use,” he says.

One easy, versatile add-on tool Matthew recommends is PowerReviews Express - the same product review software used by big retailers, like REI, Brookstone, and Toys “R” Us, to collect and display customer product reviews.  Because Matthew sells his own brand of coffee, he says “the review program was something we really longed for,” and he was excited when it became available to ProStores merchants earlier this year. 

Since implementing PowerReviews, Matthew has started to see better conversion rates.  Studies show that shoppers will choose one store over another because it offers reviews.  Sixty-five percent use reviews before making buying decisions, and more than 80 percent actually prefer reading reviews than doing research in a store.  Reviews also generate buyer loyalty.  By soliciting buyers for reviews with a follow-up email, Matthew gives them an opportunity to come back and buy more. 

PowerReviews Express has a super customer-friendly interface.  A Review Snapshot lets shoppers quickly find product pros and cons.  They can also find reviews written by people in their same demographic and, through the Verified Buyer badge, ensure ratings are posted by a person who has actually purchased the product.  Matt’s customers can upload images and videos to their own reviews, and help advertise his web store by posting their reviews on their own blogs.

PowerReviews Express is free for 30 days.  After that, it’s $29 a month.  

Online Retail to Climb 8 Percent This Holiday Shopping Season

With unemployment high and economic conditions murky, many retailers aren’t ready to raise their expectations for the upcoming holiday shopping season. But this week, Forrester Research delivered some welcome news for ecommerce merchants – especially with Cyber Monday just around the corner.

While overall retail sales are expected to remain relatively flat, Forrester predicts online retail sales during November and December will climb 8 percent to $44.7 billion, topping last year’s 5 percent increase and indicating a much-hoped-for warming trend. Analyst Sucharita Mulpuru dubbed the online space the “growth engine” of the retail industry and expects most online retailers to fare well.

Knowing shoppers plan to head online for gifts and gear this year, online retailers are expected to approach the season with strategies that respect the bottom line, such as setting price requirements for customers to qualify for free shipping. Reduced or slashed shipping costs continue to be a powerful draw for budget-conscious shoppers. In a recent report on online retail spending, ComScore’s Gian Fulgioni called free shipping an “increasingly essential promotion” and expects that e-tailers who shy away from such offers could be placing themselves at a disadvantage.

Forrester also anticipates that online retailers will try to step up user engagement with more product information and social networking capabilities.

What are your key selling strategies this holiday season? Feel free to share your tips and best practices in the comments below.
 

Help for Hybrid Moms

Last week we introduced you to mompreneur expert Stacey Smith, who gave us her top tips for mothers who want to be successful entrepreneurs.

If you’re thinking of opening a web store or trying to take your business to the next level, you may want to check out Stacey’s company Hybrid Mom. 

Hybrid Mom is a website and community for working and stay-at-home moms with personal and professional ambitions.  It publishes its own quarterly magazine about parenting and mompreneurship.  But if you want personal attention, Hybrid Mom also has a team of consultants that offers business advice and hands-on help.

“We get a range of clients,” says Stacey.  “I would say the majority is not really prepared to start a business.  They have a passion and the ability to create something, but they don’t have all the pieces.” 

When mompreneurs come to Hybrid Mom, Stacey and her team have a conversation with them to figure out their needs.  “Mom consultants” then help them implement their business plan, from sales and manufacturing to marketing and public relations.

Hybrid Mom consultants don’t just talk, they get their hands dirty, helping mothers deal with what Stacey sees as their biggest challenge – time management.  “It’s not just about giving them great tips.  There are a billion companies who can tell them how to do A to Z to get a business started.  That doesn’t support them with a true resource.  We put mompreneurs in the hands of people who can actually implement and complete those tasks for them.”

Hire Online

As we discovered in our last post, more women are now starting businesses compared to men.  Longtime mompreneur Elena Neitlich attributes the trend to a number of factors.  “We’ve had some good role models – strong women, like Martha Stewart, Mrs. Fields, and Julia Child.  Then, for better or for worse, we have women with their kids trapped in their house.  I happen to think it’s for the better.  Before the Internet, you couldn’t easily have a business.  You would have to bring your child with you – it would be difficult.” 

Now, with everything available online, mompreneurs can run every facet of their business from their home and find the help they need to get them started. 

If you need a personalized business plan and access to vetted, highly qualified “mom consultants,” don’t forget to check out Hybrid Mom, as we suggested last month.

A few other online sites help entrepreneurs connect with freelance professionals in a variety of fields.  Both Guru and Elance give you access to tens of thousands of freelancers with technical, marketing and business expertise.  They also have rating systems and escrow services so that you can decide whom to hire and ensure the work gets done before you pay. 

Elena, who sells books that she self-publishes, also recommends Lulu.  Lulu and another site Blurb publishes hardcover and paperback books.  You can publish books to sell, or books to give as thank you gifts to your best customers.

“I can write a book, get in touch with my designers through Elance, self-publish through Lulu, and have my stuff delivered to my door step,” says Elena.  “It’s a great time for women.” 

Ready, Fire, Aim

Twice as many women are now starting businesses compared to men, according mompreneur expert and owner of Hybrid Mom, Stacey Smith.  So we asked ProStores mompreneurs what advice they’d give to the many mothers who are joining their ranks.  Many of them encouraged their peers to reach out to each other, since their best resource is their own community.  A little bit of courage also helps.

“Just do it,” says Stephanie Vozza of The Organized Parent.  “I know a lot of women who have an idea, and they are frozen by fear or by the belief that the time isn’t right.  I don’t think there ever is a perfect time to start a business.  I have a friend whose boot camp instructor said to her, ‘You need to ready, fire, aim,’ instead of ready aim, fire.  I had no idea how to run a retail business; I didn’t even know what SEO was.  But if you have a passion you should try it, and surround yourself with people who will support and encourage you.”

Elena Neitlich of Moms on Edge agrees.  “Just have the courage to take the leap,” she says.  “Having an idea is wonderful, but it’s not enough.  It’s 10 percent; the other 90 is hard work and implementation.  Get help from people.  Don’t be afraid to ask.  I put myself out there; I ask the stupid questions; and I do a lot of research.  Information is power.  Above all, love your kids.  They come first.”