11. Institute a guest checkout program so buyers don't have to create a full account. Those that want to create an account can always do so, but the more requirements you have, the more shoppers you're going to drive away.
David Bakke, Money Crashers, "6 Ways to Improve Customer Service for Online Retailers," July 9, ROI Report
12. Take advantage of "hidden" pages on websites that could be used for promotional messaging or other outreach efforts. These pages include the following: empty shopping cart page, forgot password page, my account page, order success page, logout page and tracking code page.
Uri Foox, Pixafy, "A Recap of Magento's Imagine Conference, Part 2," April 16, ROI Report
13. Scale images in your photo editor, not HTML. Resize images before you upload them to your website. Don't use the HTML height and width attributes to squash an image down to size. Average time saved in my informal retail survey? Half a second. In e-commerce time, that's an eternity.
Ian Lurie, Portent, "Increase Site Speed (and Revenue) in 10 Steps," April 25, ROI Report
14. Build content as well as inventory. Rich, detailed content is increasingly important not just in showcasing products and driving sales, but also in giving consumers a reason to keep coming back to you. If you provide all of the information they need, as well as valuable opinion about trends and purchasing decisions, a customer is going to come straight back to you next time they're searching for inspiration."
Bernard Luthi, Rakuten.com Shopping, "How to Build Brand Advocates Online," Aug. 28, ROI Report
Email Marketing
15. Leverage social graph information (Facebook's term for user demographics) from your highly engaged fans to improve targeting of precision email campaigns. Add social testimonials from "similar to me" advocates to email content targeting specific geographies, age groups or settings that your data reveals.
Dennis O'Malley, ReadyPulse, "5 Ways to Leverage Social Word-of-Mouth Marketing," Feb. 21, ROI Report
16. Retailers should use a hybrid layout with both responsive and scalable design to ensure consumers can interact with their email content. Responsive design adapts emails to the device subscribers are using, creating screen-proportional layouts that are visually appealing. Scalable design ensures that emails are still readable when reduced to half their size on a mobile device.
Matt Caldwell, Yesmail Interactive, "Tips to Improve the Mobile Email Experience," Sept. 10, ROI Report
17. Make sure your emails are optimized for mobile devices. Your email width should be narrow — between 485 pixels and 525 pixels — to enable more of your content to display. Place your headlines, calls to action, links and buttons on the left-hand side to be sure all can be seen, allowing users to take advantage of your content and offers.
Reggie Brady, Reggie Brady Marketing Solutions, "5 Ways to Grow Your Email Marketing Revenues," May/June, Retail Online Integration
International Commerce
18. Consider virtual hosting. With virtual hosting, content can be cached within China's borders and distributed as needed through in-country content delivery networks. Virtual hosting service providers allow online retailers to reach Chinese consumers by locally caching web content housed in regional data centers.
Mark Smith and Kevin Conway, Savvis, "Is Your Cloud Ready for the Chinese Consumer?" Feb. 13, ROI Report
19. Localize your website and content. Once you've identified which markets you're looking to move into, localizing your website and any content should be the first thing on your to-do list. One international website is no longer enough; consumers want global brands that talk to them on a local level. Begin by carrying out local research and creating a profile of your new customers. What are their interests, who are your competitors, what language do they use, etc.? These questions, in particular the latter, will help you to steer the localization of your website.
Christian Arno, Lingo24, "4 Tips for Retailers Going Global," Oct. 24, ROI Report
Inventory Management
20. Adjust your overall inventory planning to actively account for returns. While you can't eliminate returns, you can at least compensate for them. If you shift your product mix to favor those with lower return rates, you'll achieve higher net sales.
Joe Palzkill, Direct Tech, "Happy Returns!," January/February, Retail Online Integration
The Retailer's Source for Content & Community
50 Best Tips of 2013
11. Institute a guest checkout program so buyers don't have to create a full account. Those that want to create an account can always do so, but the more requirements you have, the more shoppers you're going to drive away.
David Bakke, Money Crashers, "6 Ways to Improve Customer Service for Online Retailers," July 9, ROI Report
12. Take advantage of "hidden" pages on websites that could be used for promotional messaging or other outreach efforts. These pages include the following: empty shopping cart page, forgot password page, my account page, order success page, logout page and tracking code page.
Uri Foox, Pixafy, "A Recap of Magento's Imagine Conference, Part 2," April 16, ROI Report
13. Scale images in your photo editor, not HTML. Resize images before you upload them to your website. Don't use the HTML height and width attributes to squash an image down to size. Average time saved in my informal retail survey? Half a second. In e-commerce time, that's an eternity.
Ian Lurie, Portent, "Increase Site Speed (and Revenue) in 10 Steps," April 25, ROI Report
14. Build content as well as inventory. Rich, detailed content is increasingly important not just in showcasing products and driving sales, but also in giving consumers a reason to keep coming back to you. If you provide all of the information they need, as well as valuable opinion about trends and purchasing decisions, a customer is going to come straight back to you next time they're searching for inspiration."
Bernard Luthi, Rakuten.com Shopping, "How to Build Brand Advocates Online," Aug. 28, ROI Report
Email Marketing
15. Leverage social graph information (Facebook's term for user demographics) from your highly engaged fans to improve targeting of precision email campaigns. Add social testimonials from "similar to me" advocates to email content targeting specific geographies, age groups or settings that your data reveals.
Dennis O'Malley, ReadyPulse, "5 Ways to Leverage Social Word-of-Mouth Marketing," Feb. 21, ROI Report
16. Retailers should use a hybrid layout with both responsive and scalable design to ensure consumers can interact with their email content. Responsive design adapts emails to the device subscribers are using, creating screen-proportional layouts that are visually appealing. Scalable design ensures that emails are still readable when reduced to half their size on a mobile device.
Matt Caldwell, Yesmail Interactive, "Tips to Improve the Mobile Email Experience," Sept. 10, ROI Report
17. Make sure your emails are optimized for mobile devices. Your email width should be narrow — between 485 pixels and 525 pixels — to enable more of your content to display. Place your headlines, calls to action, links and buttons on the left-hand side to be sure all can be seen, allowing users to take advantage of your content and offers.
Reggie Brady, Reggie Brady Marketing Solutions, "5 Ways to Grow Your Email Marketing Revenues," May/June, Retail Online Integration
International Commerce
18. Consider virtual hosting. With virtual hosting, content can be cached within China's borders and distributed as needed through in-country content delivery networks. Virtual hosting service providers allow online retailers to reach Chinese consumers by locally caching web content housed in regional data centers.
Mark Smith and Kevin Conway, Savvis, "Is Your Cloud Ready for the Chinese Consumer?" Feb. 13, ROI Report
19. Localize your website and content. Once you've identified which markets you're looking to move into, localizing your website and any content should be the first thing on your to-do list. One international website is no longer enough; consumers want global brands that talk to them on a local level. Begin by carrying out local research and creating a profile of your new customers. What are their interests, who are your competitors, what language do they use, etc.? These questions, in particular the latter, will help you to steer the localization of your website.
Christian Arno, Lingo24, "4 Tips for Retailers Going Global," Oct. 24, ROI Report
Inventory Management
20. Adjust your overall inventory planning to actively account for returns. While you can't eliminate returns, you can at least compensate for them. If you shift your product mix to favor those with lower return rates, you'll achieve higher net sales.
Joe Palzkill, Direct Tech, "Happy Returns!," January/February, Retail Online Integration