e-commerce: everything you need to know about selling online

e-COMMERCE:EVERYTHING YOU NEED

TO KNOW ABOUT SELLING ONLINE

Agenda

• About me and e-CBD• The e-commerce landscape• How to know when you’re ready to sell online• Shopping cart options• Dealing with your bank – What you need to know• The five biggest mistakes you can make• Top ten tips for selling online• Case Studies• Converting visitors to sales• Marketing your store• Further reading

About Me and e-CBD

• Communications degree• Worked in Public Relations and Journalism• Joined e-CBD with Marilyn Strauss in 2001• Focussed on online marketing• Stared memery 2008• I’m Marketing Magazine’s ‘Online Marketing Guru’• Write regular features for Marketing Mag

About this Workshop

• It’s not a lecture, it’s a workshop so if you have questions, write them down and we’ll go through them at the end.

How much do we know?

• Does anyone not have a website?• Who is already selling online?• Who is using a payment gateway with their bank?• Who has used PayPal

WHAT DOES THE E-COMMERCE LANDSCAPE LOOK LIKE?

HOW TO KNOW WHEN YOU’RE READY TO SELL ONLINE

How to know when you’re ready

1. Are people looking for what you want to sell?2. Will people buy what you sell online?3. Can you compete?


Are people looking for what you want to sell?

• Go to Google’s Keyword Tool and find out!– https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Example– http://www.dogtrainingproducts.com.au

• ‘dog harness’

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

http://www.dogtrainingproducts.com.au/


Will people buy what you sell online?• Are there competitors online?• Are they doing well? (Longevity, nice design, marketing budget)

• What if you’re the first to sell online? (They said no-one would buy shoes online)

• Are you selling something people need to experience? (You’ll have a hard time selling boutique wine to new customers, and easy time to existing customers)

• Are you selling something people want NOW? (Pizza sells very well online, beer does not)


Can you compete?• Don’t compete with Amazon.com unless you’re Dymocks

• Don’t compete with eBay

• Find your niche• But make sure it’s profitable


Finding your niche – The Long Tail

Source: http://blog.hubpages.com/2008/10/the-long-tail-of-hubpages/


Finding your niche – The Long Tail

Source: http://modernl.com/article/forget-the-long-tail-go-for-the-sweet-spike

SHOPPING CART OPTIONS

Shopping Cart Options

1. PayPal Buy Buttons2. PayPal Shopping Cart3. Shopping cart linked to PayPal or to your bank


PayPal – Free payment network

Great for dipping your toe in the waterEasy to setupPay per sale

Takes people away from your sitePeople get scared of PayPalDoesn’t go straight to your bank


PayPal Examples

http://blackmarketrhythmco.bandcamp.com/

http://twollow.com

http://blackmarketrhythmco.bandcamp.com/

http://twollow.com/


PayPal Shopping Cart

• Visit PayPal.com.au and create an account for details


Professional Shopping Cart

Make it look exactly how you want Incorporate a large database of products Advanced tracking and stats Deal with your bank, integrate with Quickbooks and

make your accountant happy

You need a merchant account

Dealing with your bank – What you need to know

• You need a site before you can get a merchant account

• You need a payment gateway – the bank will try and sell you theirs

• Must show your full contact details• Need a returns policy• Show bank guidelines• Costs:

– Per transaction– Yearly fee


Professional Shopping Cart

• e-CBD Shopping Cart (Interspire)

THE FIVE BIGGEST E-COMMERCE MISTAKES

The Five Biggest e-commerce Mistakes

1. Making the checkout process to complicated2. Being too expensive3. Looking untrustworthy4. Not doing your research

– Know your competitors back to front– Know your conversion rates– Know your profitibility

5. Not being visible in Google

TOP TEN TIPS FOR SELLING ONLINE

Top ten tips for selling online

1. Be the cheapest! (Online and offline – make it worth the wait for shipping)



2. Look the most professional/trustworthy (they’ll be shopping around)




3. Explain everything as well as you can (and as succinctly)– Video, image galleries





4. Make the process super easy. Don’t make them scroll or login.





4. Make the process super easy. Don’t make them scroll or login.5. Show people’s opinions of what you’re selling





4. Make the process super easy. Don’t make them scroll or login.5. Show people’s opinions of what you’re selling6. Give an incentive for them to buy from you





4. Make the process super easy. Don’t make them scroll or login.5. Show people’s opinions of what you’re selling6. Give an incentive for them to buy from you7. Create a sense of urgency





4. Make the process super easy. Don’t make them scroll or login.5. Show people’s opinions of what you’re selling6. Give an incentive for them to buy from you7. Create a sense of urgency8. Answer their questions without them having to ask (FAQs)





4. Make the process super easy. Don’t make them scroll or login.5. Show people’s opinions of what you’re selling6. Give an incentive for them to buy from you7. Create a sense of urgency8. Answer their questions without them having to ask (FAQs)9. Make your products easy to find with intuitive searches and

accurate categories





4. Make the process super easy. Don’t make them scroll or login.5. Show people’s opinions of what you’re selling6. Give an incentive for them to buy from you7. Create a sense of urgency8. Answer their questions without them having to ask (FAQs)9. Make your products easy to find with intuitive searches and

accurate categories10. Give them a reason to come back (most sales happen to existing

customers)

CASE STUDIES

Case Studies

• Flowers

CONVERTING VISITORS TO SALES

Website Optimisation

1) Conversion Rate Optimisation2) Content Strategy

Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO)

• CRO can increase conversions by 50 - 600% in some cases• Unoptimised sites conversion can be as low as 0.1% - 3.1%• CRO is often looked at last when it should be first. The end

result of having a site is to attract traffic that performs some action to fulfil a goal after reaching the site.

• What are your site goals? - Sales, leads, download something, read your article, sign up for your newsletter, click on your ads etc.

• CRO, Content Strategy and SEO are interlinked. SEO brings the traffic, CRO Converts the Traffics and both involve utilising a content strategy.

• Makes your site more helpful for visitors making them more likely to purchase or use your services

• Makes your site more SEO friendly which can potentially increasing your search engine traffic by 60% - 600%

• Makes your business seem professional and legitimate which builds brand confidence

Content Strategy

A five second home page test

1. Legitimate/Trustworthy Design2. Easy Navigation3. Credible Logo4. Clear Value Propositions & Benefits Oriented Language5. Content Layout6. Calls to Action (CTA)7. Effective Use of Imagery8. Interactivity & Engagement9. Cull Uneccessary Content which dilutes goals

CRO – Hit List

1. Make Credible landing pages that look trustworthy and legitimate.– Great logo– No spelling mistakes– Clear and modern design– Legitimacy cues e.g. Social Media, Security logos, Awards, Testimonials etc.

2. Make navigating through your site easy and clear. Use sensible navigation titles.3. Use "benefit oriented" language and headings giving strong value propositions.

"Save time and money ..." 4. Location - Most important offers, information etc in prime locations (top left, left

side and center)5. Calls to Action (CTA):

– Size, Colour & Location as well as value proposition – What will they get when they click "the button"?

CRO – Ten Actionable Tips

6. Use images correctly:– Hero Shots of products or services – People using products, multiple angles, before and after etc. – Avoid stock images where possible – Make images clickable and include descriptions where appropriate

7. Add a video. Studies show a video can increase conversions by 80%. Make sure it isn't set to auto-play.

8. Use interactive content:– Flash applications e.g. interactive maps, interactive product information,

360 views etc.– Calculators attached to lead form e.g. savings calculator, cost calculator, get

a quote etc.– Comments and feedback forms– Search functionality, chat functionality (where appropriate)

9. Incorporate user testing into your design process for your website. Do a six foot test on your landing page/homepage. Also use free user testing services such as "5 Second Test" or "Click Test".

10. Cull unnecessary content and learn to "get to the point".

Content Strategy

1. People come to a site for something: information/answers, complete a task

2. They don't read much (depending on what they are looking for)

3. Information is skimmed and scanned before committing to deeper reading

4. Write so people can grab the information they need quickly5. Test your content on real people

1. People come to a site for something - make your content useful and helpful not just content for contents sake.

2. Make content "grab and go" friendly by using good layout and sub headings. Entice them into reading more.

3. Do a "Content Audit". Go through the whole site (within reason) and note all forms of content. Work out how you can:• Improve the layout and structure of the site • Add new and helpful/enticing content• Cull boring and useless content

4. Ask yourself: "Would you bother looking at the content on your website?" then fix the reasons you wouldn't.

5. Ask yourself for each page on your site: "Who is your audience and are you answering their questions or helping them to fulfill the task they need to perform?"

Content Strategy – Action Items

6. Get others to look at your site. Put together a survey. Use an anonymous 5 second test on different pages.

7. Break up written text with headings, subheadings, bullet points, horizontal lines8. Make text helpful and SEO friendly by adding text links. This is the bread and

butter of "The Internet" paradigm.9. For lots of information use a PDF download. If you have to scroll down more than

3 - 5 times maybe there is too much on the page.10. Use automatic/interactive content like widgets, calculators and areas where

people can leave comments.11. FREE TIP – Buy one get one free - that such a great deal I’m actually making

money by buying it – What are you “giving away”? Free shipping, internet discount, samples of a product, free trial, limited trial, upgrade discounts, promotional coupons

MARKETING YOUR STORE

Marketing your Store

• SEO• Email Marketing• Social Media Marketing• Advertising, PR and Word of Mouth

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION

Search Engine Optimisation

Read!• http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_conten

t/untrusted_dlcp/www.google.com/en//webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf

• http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769

http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrusted_dlcp/www.google.com/en/webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf



http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769

http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769

EMAIL MARKETING

e-CBD’s Top Email Marketing Tips

• When someone buys something, offer them incentives to sign up to a regular newsletter

• Offer everyone on your site a newsletter with incentives, like special deals

• Send them a welcome message as soon as they’ve subscribed• Personalise each newsletter as much as you can. Make the recipient

feel special• Tailor the subject line for your audience• If they unsubscribe, ask why. Get feedback on what you could have

done better• Don’t send anything without testing it first!• Track referrals on your website using Google Analytics• Tweak your campaigns by testing different subject lines and formats.

See what gets the best click through rates

e-CBD’s Top Email Marketing Tips

• Send your newsletter out at lunchtime on Monday or Tuesday, or on Friday morning if you want to reach people for the weekend. These are the times when people are most active online.

• Make sure the recipients can see who it’s coming from, your name, or your company (or both).

• Remember that inboxes are smaller than computer screens. Don’t make your email too wide.

• Make sure it looks good on an iPhone• Have a subscribe option at the bottom of emails as well as an

unsubscribe. People might have forwarded their friends the email. Make it easy for them to keep getting it.

• Don’t send an email newsletter to anyone unless they’re expecting to get it. Just because they gave you their email address doesn’t mean they want you to send them a newsletter.

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

Social Media Marketing1. Use Facebook advertising, it’s cheap2. Setup a Facebook page for your business and give people incentives to join3. Set up a Google alert for your brand and engage the people who are talking about

you, wherever they are talking4. Set up alerts for your industry (especially if no one is talking about your brand)5. Keep an eye on what people near you are saying on Twitter6. Spend some time each day reading about what other people are doing. There are

1 billion social media marketing blogs out there. Reading blogs is much easier than writing blogs.

7. Create a community of interest around what you do. It takes time, but it’s worth it.8. Don’t start something you can’t finish or maintain properly or it’s a waste of time

and you’re better off with Google Ads9. Use LinkedIn as a networking tool. Join groups and ask questions.10. If you want people to talk about you, be creative (or pay someone who is).

ADVERTISING, PR AND WORD OF MOUTH

Advertising, PR and Word of Mouth

1. You could write a book on each of these2. Each has its place, but all help to give legitimacy to

an online store3. If people recognise your brand when they find you

online, you’re more likely to make a sale4. Write down the names of as many online flower

stores we visited before as you can remember. How many can you think of?

e-commerce: everything you need to know about selling online

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