Retail, in the eyes of the everyday customer

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.

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.

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.

Keepsakequilting.com is a wildly popular quilting supplies etailer and this is their Join our email list! pitch:

What if the copy read:
Join our email list!
Be the first to know about sales, offers and unlock 20 hidden designs.

Do you think this would increase registration rates?

Many retailers look at their online channel as just another mode to complete a sale.  But that’s a low yield strategy.  Smart retailers use their online channels to do things that are either extremely expensive or impossible offline.  And the smartest ones execute ideas that are brilliant AND inexpensive.

Ever since discovering eyebuydirect.com through getelastic.com I’ve considered their Wall of Frame a brilliant example of how an online store can be used to do something entirely new.  The best way to convince a customer to buy from you online is to demonstrate how it benefits THEM.  Everyone talks about price advantages and better service blah blah but Wall of Frame is something tangible, something the customer can compare with how they shop offline and see a clear benefit.

What impresses even more is discovering a competitor who sees Wall of Frame, realizes they cannot compete on execution but manages to find a cost effective workaround that seems to work just as well.

That retailer would be Debby Burk Optical.  They’ve created something new with the help of Skype.  If a customer has a Skype account they can make a frame selection and have a Debby Burk associate wear and demo it through Skype video conferencing.  The idea is not fool proof: everyone does not have Skype and just because a frame looks good on a model does not mean it will work for the customer.  Someone who has seen Wall of Frame will remain unimpressed but Debby Burk is making an intelligent bet most of their customers have no idea what Wall of Frame is.  For them seeing Skype is a quantum leap.  Best of all, adding Skype did not require additional development costs.

A year from now if Debby Burk sees Skype interactions increase conversions 10% they can take supplemental income and reinvest it to build their own Wall of Frame.

Great landing page example from ThinkFastToys.com:

– The Google ad-

– The landing page-

The landing page gives quick bullets on why we should buy Hide & Seek Safari toys from this site.  Competitive shoppers can quickly scan through the five benefits.  Within scanning range is their BizRate rating, below that a customer testimonial and on top live chat.  What I don’t like is the up-selling going on (left of the page).  “Hide & Seek Safari Monkey” is a very specific query and I’d keep focus on that product.  Not sure if this is a practical suggestion but it would be even nicer if monkey was the highlighted product.

For years I’ve been going to the same barber shop and getting my hair cut by the same person, Dana.  Their service has never been complaint worthy but I’ve always found them a little expensive.  The accountant looking over my transaction history has no way to knowing I am dissatisfied, all he sees are monthly transactions of $25 through a card ending in 6849.

But then, one day, I didn’t go.  On my morning walk I discovered another shop (a few blocks away) with a neon light advertising a $16 cut.  When I walked in I definitely noticed a different vibe; it was a first-come-first-serve model and people were walking in and out pretty quick.  Their staff of six was bigger than the other place that had two people.  I was also used to a little bit of chit chat and the customary question, “So how’s your wife doing?”  After the cut I walked to the counter and paid.  When I tried to add a tip the owner said “ah, no need for tip”.  At first I felt guilty but then realized tips were not part of this new place’s business model.  In effect, the new place works out to be 46% cheaper.  The question is, what is Dana thinking?

I bet she’s not worried.  Here’s way, she probably surveyed the new place and said “nothing to worry about here.  They are cheaper but their shop looks horrible with gaudy designs.  They run the place like a factory and don’t assign stylists to customers.  Factoring in for our nice clean shop, superior products and personalized service anyone should understand why our price is a real bargain.”  Dana is right, all the added elements to her business certainly justify why she charges $30 but Dana would do herself a huge favor is she had a few steepness nights.  I don’t know the owner’s name (let’s call him Steve) of the new place but he’s a brilliant man.  He has managed to slash his price without eliminating a single item that I care about.  I don’t care about having the same barber cut my hair, I don’t care the store does high volume as long as I don’t have to wait and I certainly don’t care about chit chat.  Dana and Steve are price engineering from two entirely different perspectives.  Dana is looking at her price and then justifying it and Steve is reading external market needs to determine pricing.  In downtown Chicago most office people come down for a quick trim so they can go back and continue work.  And Steve gets that.

Engineering price-points based on ever changing customer dynamics is a key strategy for a retailer.  Only if you base your price-point on what’s going on at the customer’s end can you get a reading of trends.  Dana’s rent, two person cost of operation and shampoos are fixed numbers and since they determine pricing she will never know when a tectonic shift takes place, until it’s too late.

If a retailer can figure out a way to reduce price without diluting the customer experience they must either tweak their pricing or add to the customer experience.

Jake is a huge fan of KuKuRuZa gourmet popcorn.  He discovered the site 3 years ago and started off by ordering their Variety Pack.  He enjoyed Caramel & Cheese Mix so much he bought it five times, thrice gifting it to friends and family.  Jake’s life time spend on KuKuRuZa.com is a very impressive $197.00 and we know Jake is not a bargain hunter because his purchase habits are not localized around special price promotions.  All in all, Jake is an ideal customer.

He has often visited the Butter & Sea Salt page and lingered long enough for us to know that the flavor catches his attention.  Unfortunately, Jake has never purchased it.  A 1 gallon bag of Butter & Sea Salt retails for $8.95.

The enterprising manager at KuKuRuZa sees that Jake has not bought in the last two months and executes a complimentary order of the 1 gallon Butter & Sea Salt bag accompanied with a handwritten note that reads “Jake, I am the manager at KuKuRuZa.  I wanted to thank you for being a loyal customer by sharing this complimentary bag of our delicious Butter & Sea Salt.  Regards – Robert.“

This is a hypothetical case study but imagine the impact it would have on Jake.  Sure we spent $8.95 plus shipping on a bag of popcorn but that’s pittance compared to how much Jake has spent with us.  This small investment could trigger word-of-mouth and Jake is bound to share his KuKuRuZa story when he speaks with friends.

My dad asked me to buy 3 GPS accessories for him.  He gave me the name of the equipment and the web address of store.  I had never heard of buygpsnow.com and though it violated quite a few of my ecommerce essentials I knew dad had done his research.  I made the purchase.

Data can be highly subjective.  Looked one way it says something, looked another way something entirely different.  How much money buygpsnow.com makes off me depends entirely on how accurately they segment me as a customer.  Under one view my transaction was quite standard and I couldn’t fault them for assuming I am a typical site shopper and sending communication messages intended for GPS enthusiasts.  But this view is inaccurate, and a brief review of the transaction proves it:

— This was my first purchase on the site and I bought 3 GPS units.  [Why did I buy 3?]
— I completed my transaction in 32 seconds and spent $150. [This speed of transaction suggests I knew exactly what I wanted]
— I used expedited shipping. [Arguably, I was in a rush]

If I was working with buygpsnow.com I would have stored these extra bits of data in my customer file.  I would also add a field called “inactivity”.  If Rishi does not open our emails or make another purchase for the whole year it would clearly indicate he is not a GPS (or gadget) enthusiast and made this purchase as a gift for someone else.  Just knowing this could help me make more money through Rishi.  See, they’ve been sending me emails assuming I bought the GPS for myself and this is one reason I don’t read them.  However, if I got an email that said “Hi Rishi, six months ago you bought the GPS 33.  We believe this was a gift purchase and wanted to inform of a new accessory that would be a perfect gift for someone who already has the GPS 232 unit”.  Suddenly I am interested and would love to gift this to my dad.  Context is everything.

Related article: Capturing Intent

“Site under construction” is a message I encounter often.  And it always makes me wonder why companies don’t just capture my email address and send an email when the site is live.  Today I came across bassshoes.com and they’ve implemented this strategy:

Company homepage

So I entered my email address and pressed go.  This is their follow up page:

I cannot believe they want me to verify my own email address AND enter some distorted text just to make sure I’m not a computer.  I’m sorry, but unless you manufacture the best shoes in the history of shoe making you’re never going to get away with this strategy.