Business

10 Great Ecommerce Ideas for August 2016

Practical Ecommerce periodically asks industry insiders to share a great, innovative idea that could help an ecommerce company. Here’s what ten of them had to say for the August 2016 installment of “10 Great Ecommerce Ideas.”

Prioritize Mobile Optimization

“If your webstore isn’t mobile-friendly, do something about it right now. Mobile shopping (phones and tablets) is the future of ecommerce, and websites that are not mobile responsive are going to be a bigger and bigger barrier to success for their owners.”

Jordan Lindberg
Founder and Owner
Stardust Memorials

Don’t Undervalue New Customers

“It’s often a mistake, for most ecommerce merchants, to assume that a customer is only going to order once. This can lead to undervaluing new customer acquisition and slower growth. A sample of past customer orders can show repeat rates, as can paths that lead to login rather than account creation. Channels that lead to new customers more strongly can then be worked on more aggressively.”

Steve Hammer
President and Co-founder
RankHammer

Keep Your Social Ads Fresh

“Even though you might have an ad for a Facebook campaign that is doing great, keep an eye on your frequency. If the same ad is showing to the same non-converting users too much, they’ll develop a negative image of your brand, and you’ll lose the sale. Consider changing your images and ad texts every few weeks.”

Michael Stancil
Director of Commerce
WeddingWire

Use Data to Make Wise Decisions

“You would not buy a new car without researching reviews, performance, engine specs, and gas mileage. These are all empirical data points that guide your decision. So why on Earth would you re-arrange category pages, design a social campaign, add new product pages, or execute an email campaign without fully understanding the fundamental data that supports such a decision? Even more importantly, data and analytics give us the support to challenge our own inherent orthodoxies.”

Richard Sexton
Founder
OmniMarketing2020

Keep Up With Copyright Registration

“As a rule, an ecommerce store should file for copyright registration every three months. This is helpful so that you can obtain the maximum amount of damages if a competitor steals content from your website.”

John Di Giacomo
Partner
Revision Legal

Track Cart Abandonment in Google Analytics

“In Google Analytics, create a goal funnel for your checkout steps or use the ‘Checkout Behavior’ report in Enhanced Ecommerce to report abandonment during checkout. Use this data to identify which checkout steps are having the most abandonment. Leverage best practices from the industry in reducing abandonment, such as providing multiple payment options, eliminating registration prior to completing a purchase, and providing actionable error messages when forms are not filled out correctly.”

Morgan Jones
President
eComIQ

Keep Your Affiliates Informed

“Send out regular newsletters to your affiliates that not only provide information about sales and discounts, but also that educate them about your product. The more affiliates know about your offering, the better positioned they are to promote you. This serves the dual purpose of providing your content affiliates with fodder for posts and articles.”

Carolyn Kmet
Senior Account Manager
All Inclusive Marketing

Be Prompt and Calm with All Customers

“Respond quickly and politely to any customer message. Nothing upsets a customer more than having to wait too long for any response. Remember that it’s business. Remain professional and do not allow customers to upset you. It does not matter who is right or wrong, the only thing that matters is what is best for the business.”

Richard Stubbings
Managing Director
Kulture Shock

Allow Customers to Order Multiple Items by SKU

“Provide a quick-order tool that allows site visitors to quickly key in multiple items — by SKU or item number — adding them all to their cart at once. This is often helpful for customers who place repeat orders or are placing an order from a catalog.”

Lori McDonald
President and CEO
Brilliance Business Solutions

Design for Mobile First

“When designing a new website, start with the mobile version first. It’s much easier to start with the small version and then add components for larger devices than to start with a larger design and try to remove components. You might even realize that you don’t need to add everything for the larger version. A cleaner, simple store may be better for you.”

Eric Davis
Founder and Developer
Little Stream Software

Got a great ecommerce idea? Email Nic Murdock at nic@practicalecommerce.com.

Nic Murdock
Nic Murdock
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