1. Offer Free Shipping
At my doctor's appointment Monday the nurse told me that when she tells people she shops online,
their first reaction is usually...
"Ugh, I don't want to pay for
shipping."
It doesn't matter if they are getting the item cheaper. It
doesn't matter if getting the item online is more convenient. Most people do
not want to spend money on shipping. In fact, most people are willing to pay
more money for an item with free shipping.
If you are going to offer
free shipping once a customer reaches a certain amount, don't just pull that
amount out of the air. Mike Ober from Yahoo Small Business suggests looking
at your average order value. During our
interview on Ecom Experts Mike Ober States, "If your average over value
is $109, a free threshold of $50 won't do that much for you."
We want
the free shipping offer to help increase your conversion rates, appeal to
your buyer, and increase your average order.
Also very interesting
from our interview - last year during the week ending December 20th, there
was a large spike in searches for terms like free shipping, free shipping
code, free shipping day, free shipping december 18th, etc.
2. Offer Gift CertificatesYou will
have people who will come to your store, love everything about your store,
but not know what to buy for that special someone. Instead of them wondering
what to buy and possibly leaving your website and never coming back....
Offer them a chance to buy a Gift Certificate from your store instead.
Gift Certificates are also
a fantastic gift to sell to those last minute shoppers when shipping is not
an option.
You can create your own Gift Certificates with graphics
from
Istock or we can create custom certificates for your store.
3. Offer Gift Wrapping ServiceThis is
just one more worry you can take off your customers hands so they do not
have to do it. It is all part of offering value to your customers.
What
makes you unique? Why should they shop with you instead of the Amazons and the Walmarts of the world?
As Linda Bustos from the Get Elastic Blog suggested during our
recent interview on Ecom Experts, you always want to emphasize the key
advantage of buying not only online - but with you.
Things like no
lines, no parking, guaranteed shipping, guaranteed in stock, free shipping,
and yes... free gift wrapping as well.
4.
Create Coupons
Emarketer recently found that offering coupons
in your email promotions can significantly change whether or not people will
read your emails.
These are tough times and shoppers are looking for
deals.
Plus, we found a website that will allow you to create coupons
in 3 easy steps. Sign up, create your coupons, add some html your pages, and
you are done.
Looks pretty cool! The website is
OneMinuteCoupon.com
Tip: Promote your coupon on other coupon
websites. Smart Money listed the
5 Best Coupon-Clipping Web Sites. Should your coupon be on these
websites too?
5. Allow Customers To View Current Offers In Check Out
This tip has to be the BEST tip of the month! During my
interview with
Mike Ober, we discussed the coupon box located at the bottom of the Yahoo
Store order. "The loyalty of our customers is at risk! Throw them a bone"
Place a small link next to this area that allows your customer to View
Current Offers. Give them 5% off. Give them free shipping. Give them
something so they do not leave your website and go shopping some place else!
You can check out our
video instructions or
full written instructions for
Have a Coupon Code? Instructions for adding "See Current Offers" Link
6.
Change Confirmation Email
Last night I made a purchase online. I only
purchased 1 item but, really wanted to purchase a second item. I was trying
to save money since the holidays are coming up so I refrained. I completed
the check-out process and received my confirmation email.
Thank you for your order. As a loyal customer we are giving you a 10% off
coupon that expires in 24 hours.
Now I have to go back
and get that second item I wanted right? I have to do it right now because I
am going to get 10% off!
Nicely played and something you can
implement into your store right away.
How do you pull this off and
not have to hire a super programmer to integrate one time coupon codes into
your emails? Just click on the Shipment & Order Status Link in Order
Settings. Update the confirmation email settings with your offer. Time to
create the coupon. Do not use the 1 time only coupon. Create a normal coupon
for 10% off, but give it a really funky name. Put the expiration for one
week from now.
Go back into your confirmation email settings and
place the coupon code you created in the email. 6 days from now go in and
create a new coupon code and change the email settings again.
This
will create a coupon code for 1-7 days depending on when they order. I will
typically let our coupons go a week over they are due simply because I know
our customers are busy. However, the choice is yours. This is just a
do-it-yourself method that could work for you.
7. Create Holiday Categories and Promote Yourself as One Stop Shop
During my
interview with Linda Bustos from the Get Elastic Blog, we discussed
different tips for merchandising your store.
Linda suggested
positioning yourself as a one-stop shop for all the gifts your customer
needs.
Create different shop by categories - For Him, Her, Kids,
Boss, etc
Linda also suggests adding a link to Shop For Him or Shop
For Her in the check out area. Why not remind them they have other gifts to
purchase?
8. Add PayPalIf
you aren't accepting PayPal, you are losing sales - PERIOD.
My
visit with the nurse also taught me the second concern for people who have
never shopped online - security. People are scared to give out their credit
card information to store after store. They give their credit card
information to one website, PayPal, and they can shop all over the web
securely.
Plus, PayPal is now offering buy now pay in 90 days!
Are you listed with PayPal as a store that accepts PayPal?
9. Get SocialGet social with your
customers. Add social links to your website so your customers can interact
with you.
Twitter with them. Facebook them. Get to know them and let them
get to know you.
Sprinkle in special offers. Let them know about new
products. Give them education. Give them fun.
Most importantly, give
them a piece of you and be real with them.
10. Specific PPC Marketing
For this tip, you will have to join me LIVE Monday for
Ecom
Experts at 6:00 PM Eastern for my interview with Andy Cotten. Andy
Cotten is the Senior Sales Manager for
Yahoo!
Search Marketing and Display Advertising.
We will be discussing
lots of tips that you can use to get the most out of your holiday PPC
campaigns.
Listen and Chat with us - We will be giving out free
goodies!!
http://oseo.us/wmr-chat
Sincerely,
Shawna Fennell
Do you Twitter? Follow 1 Choice for headlines only. If you want to get our blog postings and want to get personal with me,
follow ShawnaFennell.
P.S.
Need help? Give us a call at 888-312-7839 and
schedule an appointment to have a website review. It costs you NOTHING,
but your time and will increase your conversion rates!
Level 1 - Overnight Success
Did
you catch
If
you are a do-it-yourselfer, you will love the
Did you read our last SEO e-book?
Make sure you are subscribed to our blog! Over the next few weeks we are going to expand on each aspect we discussed above in more detail. We have lots of choices to keep up with our blog. You can subscribe to our
RSS feed or get email updates. If you use Twitter, you can get to know me
and get updates on new blog posts too.
