Posts Tagged ‘ecommerce best practice’

Reduce Cart Abandonment with Postcode Address Finder

Monday, May 17th, 2010

With cart abandonment reduction becoming an ever more important consideration to online trading, etailers are ever more having to become more savvy to the do’s and don’ts with their ecommerce websites.

The time it takes for a customer to complete the checkout process is an important factor; getting the balance right between collecting enough information to efficiently fulfill the order and further market to the customer versus making the whole process take as least time possible is a fine line. The more time a customer spends filling in personal information or credit card details provides more time for them to change their mind and abandon the sale.

Tiger Commerce’s new Postcode Address Finder (PAF) tool is a great new addition for merchants looking to help reduce cart abandonment. The tool means customers only need to enter their postcode and then click on the ‘Find Address’ button, pick their address from the list and their address information is then populated into the other fields automatically.

Tiger Commerce's Postcode Address Finder

Tiger Commerce's Postcode Address Finder

The PAF tool benefits include:

- Reduce e-commerce cart abandonment - PAF reduces the check out time by over 30%

- Save time and money - Saves over one minute of typing time during the checkout process

- Increase data accuracy - The address going into your customer database will be correct

- Avoid the cost of missed deliveries - Helps ensure online orders are delivered first time, every time

- Improves customer service - Improves trust in your website by creating a more professional feel whilst also giving your customers a more personalised experience

IMRG Logo

"Inaccurate addressing cost the e-Retail industry £146 million in 2009."

“A recent survey conducted by the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG) in partnership with Postcode Anywhere revealed inaccurate addressing, through missing postcodes, cost the e-Retail industry £146 million in 2009″.

For further information on enabling this tool within your Tiger Commerce ecommerce site, please call 0844 770 6877.

How to manage deliveries effectively

Monday, November 30th, 2009

The one thing that is out of the control of many ecommerce businesses is delivery. You can manage website usability and customer service, but if you use Royal Mail and/or couriers to deliver your orders, then it’s very difficult to control quality of service once the parcels have left your business.

A recent Which? survey highlighted the issues concerned and noted that 7% of customers are unhappy with deliveries. Sadly, poor delivery service will most likely reflect on the ecommerce website that supplied the goods rather than the courier itself.

Here are some tips to help you manage the quality of your delivery service:

- Choose your courier company carefully, there’s lots of them out there and quality is variable. Our experience with ecommerce website clients is that they typically go through several until they find a good one. To avoid this, do your research, ask lots of questions and ensure that your choice deals with similar goods. Don’t just choose the cheapest!

- Consider using two companies; one local (which can offer a cost-effective option) and one non local operator for nationwide deliveries. If you deliver overseas, you may need a third carrier!

- At your checkout give clients the option to complete special instructions that indicate where a parcel can be left if there is noone in, for eg.  ‘leave with neighbour at no 17′ or ‘place behind coal bunker’. This will reduce the number of failed deliveries.

Special Instructions

Special Instructions

- Offer delivery to a work address where there is always someone to receive a parcel.

- If you sell high value goods then use a proof of delivery service although this will be more expensive.

- If you have a customer complaining about delivery and this is valid, deal with it by refunding the delivery charge or offering a discount. Addressing customer issues effectively may mean this customer comes back to you. Think long term customer value……

- If you use Royal Mail and don’t already have a back-up delivery service, think seriously about this for 2010 as more strikes seem to be on the cards.

- Consider using Collect Plus which is operated by Home Delivery Network. This allows goods to be delivered to a local newsagent/general store (returns can also be handled via this network).

Collect Plus

Collect Plus

Tiger gets a mention across the pond

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

It’s an honour to be asked by Practical eCommerce to be an expert contributor to their new monthly ‘Ten Great eCommerce Ideas’ article. Practical eCommerce is recognised in the USA as a leading resource for online businesses and ecommerce websites. We’re delighted that Tiger is getting some attention across the pond and that we’re recognised as a source of ecommerce best practice. Read our October Great eCommerce Idea here. There’s also plenty of interesting stuff to read on this site - we find it helpful to get a US perspective on ecommerce.

Ten Great eCommerce Ideas

Ten Great eCommerce Ideas

Latest Research into ecommerce shopping habits

Friday, August 14th, 2009
Some interesting research has been published in the last few weeks which highlights areas of ecommerce best practice for website shop owners. We’re referring here to Channel Advisor’s white paper on ‘How Consumers Shop Online’ (US) and data/research into online customer satisfaction by IMRG/eDigitalResearch.
How Consumers Shop Online

How Consumers Shop Online

- Online shoppers now spending more time researching. According to Channel Advisor onine shoppers are spending more time researching and spending less (not suprising given current economic environment). Interestingly, a result of this is that consumers are using more sophisticated, specific research to seek out exact products. For ecommerce website owners this means that more clever use of keywords is necessary in their product descrptions and titles (Google has reported an 8% increase in searches comprised of 3 words or more) 

- Maximum exposure for your ecommerce website. Channel Advisor also points out that as consumers are so focused on finding the  best deals it is imperative for website shops to have as strong a presence on as many channels as possible - search engines, comparison shopping engines, marketplaces, affiliates, email. As we’ve said before, it’s no good just publishing your online shop and then hoping consumers will find you.

- Make the most of your Product Pages. As we’ve also stressed on this blog before, make sure you make the most of all features that your ecommerce website software offers to sell your product off your web pages. Video, images, compelling copy etc - see our earlier post ‘Optimise your Product Descriptions for increased conversions’ for more info.

- Free Shipping delivers conversions. According to Channel Advisor, Free shipping has the biggest influence on web shoppers, followed by product ratings/reviews and Free Returns. So, in the run up to the essential Xmas shopping season, ecommerce website owners would be well advised to review their shipping/returns policies. If you can’t offer free shipping to all, consider free shipping above a certain order value threshold, or maybe free shipping for repeat purchases or if customers ’refer a friend’ and make sure you make your delivery charges are as visible as possible wherever a potential customer is on your site. We’ve written before about customer generated product reviews (include some not so good reviews as well for a  a more credible mix). Expert (press/media) reviews are also helpful if you can get them.

Free Shipping Delivers Conversions

Free Shipping Delivers Conversions

- Focus on customer satisfaction and response rates. According to IMRG/e-Digital Research customer satisfaction in online shopping is at its lowest level since 2006. The worst performing areas identified in the survey include the speed that online retail customer services respond to queries and the ease of access to online help with purchases. We always recommend to all our website shop clients that they must publish a (visible) telephone number and contact email address, but that’s no good if you don’t respond. Online chat is also recommended. You have a much better chance of converting visitors to customers if you respond to requests for info/advice. Consider also the addition of telephone ordering as an alternative to online transactions. Online customer service expectations grow all the time - so don’t get left behind with a poor end-to-end customer experience.

Focus on Customer Satisfaction and Response Rates

Focus on Customer Satisfaction and Response Rates

Tiger’s Top 10 eCommerce tips to maximise sales

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

We’re often asked for tips on maximising conversions for ecommerce websites. Here is our quick check-list of basic principles that all ecommerce websites need to apply (it’s amazing how many of the well established website shops do no adhere to these basic requirements). 

1. Product descriptions - make sure your product copy is optimised (well written, complete and persuasive). Include links to brochures, technical specs, buying guides etc.

2. Product images - poor images do not inspire confidence so don’t use them. Use multiple images/views and consider the use of video to help sell your product.

3. User Product reviews - research shows that these work, increasing conversions on ecommerce websites by as much as 20%, so make sure you use customer feedback to help sell your product.

4. Cross-sell - take every opportunity to upsell and cross-sell by linking associated products, accessories/add-ons, ‘people who bought this, bought that’ and promotional bundles.

5. Delivery charges & Returns - make sure that these are transparent in your website shop and easily located. Don’t make customers wait until the checkout to find out the delivery charge.

6. Contact Details - make it easy for customers to get in touch and DO include a phone number. This can be the difference beteween making and losing the sale.

7. Registration - in order to reduce shopping cart abandonment, you should have a ‘proceed to checkout with registration’ or ‘fast checkout’ option.

8. Customer confidence - ensure that you display your secure SSL server certifications for customer data and payment processing on your ecommerce website.

9. Out of stock products - if an item is out of stock do not let customers begin to purchase it. Encourage repeat visits by indicating when you’ll be back in stock and show alternative products that they might like instead.

10. Marketing - review your ecommerce website to ensure it is optimised for customer recruitment via the search engines. Use email marketing to build customer loyalty and engage in social media marketing via blogs, forums and networks.

If your current ecommerce website software does not allow you to apply these fundamentals, then you should consider switching to one that does. Tiger Commerce has all the functionality you need to maximise your online sales.