Baby Steps

Few weeks ago I was having an informal chat on online strategy with the owner of Kidbean.com, which is a specialty etailer for organic baby clothes.  The site already pulls in thousands of monthly visitors and Melissa (the owner) was not looking for a redesign so we brainstormed on ideas she could implement herself, right now.

As Melissa told me the story of KidBean I got really excited because this completely changed my opinion about the company.  Anyone can set up an online store, few have an authentic story.  A site visitor could visit “About Us” to hear snippets of her story but we wondered if we could summarize it (elevator pitch style) and place it right on the homepage for everyone to see.  The other nugget to jump out was that kidbean.com doesn’t carry brands that fail their fair labor, environmental, veganism, and safety standards.  This was a huge ‘aha’ moment because it completely changes the context of kidbean.com.  It’s no longer just a store where people add products to a cart but rather a filtering system that hand picks products for a very specific customer profile (Vegans).  Kidbean.com helps parents save time by performing the filter function for them.  This adds a premium value to the store but a first time visitor has to dig to discover this differentiator.  We decided to include this page link (in bold) as part of the homepage elevator pitch content.  10 minutes after our call Melissa had implemented the changes and the test was officially live.  In essence, all she did was add a snippet of text to the homepage.  One month later I inquired about results and received this email:

PS: I have the store owner’s permission to reproduce this email.

SeeCommerce

If you are considering buying a toy at thinkfasttoys.com but unsure about how it really looks (or want to make sure they have it in stock) just call their toll free number and visit this page: http://www.thinkfasttoys.com/cam.php, they’ll hold it up for you.

Related article: Innovation On The Cheap

EMO (Email Marketing Optimization)

As I start this post I must confess my SEO knowledge is limited so if you see any gaping holes please point them out.  Ok.  For this example let’s consider a gourmet popcorn e-tailer called kukuruza.com.  Here is the situation (all made up)–  The key phrase gourmet chocolate popcorn is important for KuKuRuZa.  It has a high conversion rate and isn’t part of their PPC.  Googling gourmet chocolate popcorn lists kukuruza.com as the first result on page two.  Problem is that while this phrase has has high click-to-conversion ratio majority of potential customers simply don’t look beyond page 1 on Google.  Kukuruza has an email list of 12,000 customers.  They brainstorm on ways to improve ranking for gourmet chocolate popcorn and agree to break the customer list into 3 buckets of 4,000 ids and send the email below to each bucket once a month over a three month period.  The email:

From a marketing perspective this makes sense for the following reasons:

– This is a non-typical email so it will capture the attention of the recipient.
– There is a fun element to it (hunting for a discount).
– Time based limit creates sense of urgency.
– There is a clear 5% off benefit.

Here is the question- if 30% (i.e .3*12,00 = 3,600) of the recipients opened it and 15% (3,600*.15 = 540) participated would those 540 organic search queries improve kukuruza.com’s ranking for gourmet chocolate popcorn?

Nice Landing Page Part II

The Ad:

The Landing Page (notes in red):

The Results Page:  Observe numbered underlined sections-
1. Roll over with detailed info for methodical shoppers.
2. Excellent persuasive copy.  Headings start by addressing biggest questions in customers’ minds: Are you surprised by the results?  Why choose Blue?  How does your brand compare?
3. Instant off coupon for impulsive shoppers.
4. Store locator for people preferring to touch and feel the product.

Why This Is Such A Good Idea

Chegg.com’s sales pitch:

A potential customer goes through steps 1-2-3 and says “ah, sounds interesting, pretty similar to other local services.”  So far the comparison is fairly straightforward.  One can rank competing services and grade them using:

– Text book selection
– Price
– What their friends use
– Shipping times

Enter point 4.  Suddenly, there is no real way to compare Chegg.com with the competition.  Let’s say Chegg’s competitor has quicker shipping time, how do you compare planting a tree with better shipping?

But here is why this is such a brilliant idea: relevance.  Anyone buying a book is aware of its impact on forests and Chegg’s marketing gets to the heart of that.

Early Stage Leads

I’m considering buying a printer so I started by entering this search phrase on Google:

Here are the paid ads that showed up:

The Xerox ad is better than Epson’s but neither truly capitalize on the opportunity.  An ad copy like “Learn how Xerox laser printers compare to inkjets” might have worked better.

Illinois Residents Pay No Sales Tax

This is a great example of personalization.  The first thing I noticed on cableorganizer.com was that I wouldn’t have to pay sales tax with the purchase.  Observe the bottom right corner of the screenshot:

Anyone visiting the site (barring Florida, which is where they are based) will see the same message with Illinois replaced by their State name.

Candle Burning Times

Saw a great video interview on Dr. Ralph Wilson’s site with Brad Geddes.  Brad talks about using search queries to discern user intent and provides a fantastic example:

A search for “candle burning times” indicates a person who needs more infomation before making a purchase. Instead of sending them to a product page, provide the information they need, then send them to the appropriate product. Take time to provide needed information before asking for the sale.

The specific suggestion not included in this quote is to create a landing page with a table that shows different burn times for different types of candles in your inventory.  This content can then be linked to your various product pages.

Maximum Amount

Most retailers offer shipping specials above a minimum order amount.  Not GivingGallery.com:

Strength In Numbers

Shoppers like to know other shoppers have purchased from an e-tailer before.  This is why customer reviews are so effective.  But, as Jared Spool eloquently demonstrated in his Revealing Design Treasures presentation roughly 1,300 purchases generate 1 review, so for many smaller e-tailers product reviews are often empty.  But that does not mean we can’t build trust in a visitor.  Lewisbamboo.com does something quite impressive.  First, if you scroll down on their orders page you’ll find this wonderful snippet:

And then, clicking the 722 cities link takes you to this page:

This is just a snippet, you can see the whole list here.

Do I have proof this strategy improves conversions? No.  Is it reassuring to someone about to pull the credit card trigger?  I’m pretty sure it is.

PS: I hope they update the date from 2006.

Brick & Mortar eCommerce

Yesterday the eBay Mobile Boutique pulled into Michigan Avenue to give brick and mortar shoppers a taste of eCommerce…

Front of eBay Mobile Boutique. People in green jackets are the friendly staff!

People shopping inside eBay Mobile Boutique

Back of the eBay Mobile Boutique truck

Back front