Use Your Website to Boost Brick and Mortar Visits

By Nicole Reyhle

Is your business’ website doing more than giving customers your location, hours of operation and phone number? Is your brick-and-mortar retail site encouraging customers to check out your website? Cross-marketing your physical and online spaces increases awareness, engagement and revenue for your business. When looking to boost your marketing efforts, here are a few points to consider:

Ensure They Boost Each Other

Marketing across channels is an excellent way to reach new customers and encourage existing ones to return. Although a website can’t deliver the highly-personalized services of a skilled salesperson, it can serve as a valuable bridge to attract customers’ attention. Make sure your website delivers the information your customers need about the products and brands you sell. Include high-quality photographs that encourage them to visit your store in person for a closer look. Boost your website by encouraging retail store customers to sign up for emails that announce sales, pre-orders and other specials.

Help Customers Discover Your Website

Most shoppers operate in three distinct phases, according to Boutique Window. These are:

1. Discovery: This phase gives customers who aren’t in your geographic area the chance to find you through local online searching. You can expedite this phase by adding your website to local search engine directories so local customers can find your retail space. Make sure your website content includes geographic and product keywords that customers are likely to use in their searches.
2. Connection: The second phase lets customers see if your store provides the products or services they need without making an actual trip to the store. Develop website content that informs and educates your customers about specific products. Demonstrating knowledge and expertise helps persuade them you’re a credible and trustworthy business.
3. Sales: The final phase can happen online or in your store.

Impress With Your Landing Page

Most online searches take the customer directly to the website landing page. Like your store, it must convey a positive first impression to encourage visitors to stay and browse. Your site also needs to make your customers feel safe and secure, not like they’re being spammed. Show perks of shopping online, such as free shipping or promotion codes. Also display security badges that testify to your site’s security. A good site will show that its site is accredited by the Better Business Bureau, approved by Norton Secured and a verified merchant from Authorize.Net.

Let Them Research Online and Buy in the Store

Many customers invest more time researching expensive products online before purchasing them from a physical location, according to ShoppinPal. This gives businesses with both online and in-person stores an advantage to target customers. An infographic on MineWhat cites research from RetailingToday that says 60 percent of consumers begin product research through a search engine and visit at least three online stores before deciding where to make the purchase.

Although nothing can replace a personalized, in-store experience, a well-designed website can be a valuable sales tool that encourages customers to visit your store to forge that relationship. For example, Spencers TV & Appliance embeds links on its website that users can click on to call and check on specific products, prices and availability. It’s easy to visualize a good salesperson using this opportunity to bring a potential customer into your store.

To View Original Article: https://retailminded.com/use-your-website-to-boost-brick-and-mortar-visits/?utm_content=buffer1363f&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

How to Motivate customers to share you products

If you have social media buttons on your product pages, you probably added them because you wanted your products to be shared more frequently on networks like Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest. You know that more shares = more publicity, and more publicity = more new customers making purchases.

However, increasing those valuable shares isn’t always as easy as sticking a few buttons on your store and calling it a day. Your customers need motivation to share your products, and it’s up to you to give it to them.

There are a few methods you can use to motivate a customer to spread the good word about your brand before, during, and after their purchase. Let’s take a look at some ways that you can boost shares of your products on social media and attract even more shoppers.

Why social sharing is beneficial for eCommerce

One of the biggest concerns that store owners have about products being shared on social media is that it doesn’t help their bottom line. If your ROI from social media shares is currently low, you may not think that it makes sense to encourage additional sharing, especially when there’s so much more you can do to market to customers at the earliest stage.

However, research has found that pre-purchase social shares are strongly linked to revenue. One study from ShareThis showed that millennial shoppers (those born between the 80s and early 00s) are approximately twice as likely to buy a product they’ve personally shared on social media.

Millennial shoppers who share products are about 2x more likely to make a purchase.

Even for non-millennials shoppers, social sharing brings with it a 20 to 40% lift in purchasing intent.
Additionally, the ShareThis study shows that millennial-aged friends or acquaintances exposed to shares of your products are more likely to make a purchase from your company.

40% of millennials are “somewhat likely” to make a purchase based on a friend’s recommendation on social media.

As you can see, there’s immense value in making social sharing easier. Whether it’s so your target customers can add your products to a Pinterest wishlist or just nudge an interested friend on Facebook, these shares can drive additional clicks, further brand awareness, and — of course — sales.

Use your product pages to ask for shares that drive purchases

So how can you prompt your customers to share your products before they buy them? Start by adding the appropriate social buttons or links to your product pages. This may require using a tool or plugin to generate the proper buttons and links for each page; if you’re using WooCommerce, an extension like AddShoppers or Product Sharing for the Storefront theme can simplify this process.
How you display these options is up to you. It’s often best to find (or even create) buttons that match your branding, and position them on your pages in a way that is noticeable and functional yet unobtrusive.

For example, online clothing shop Luvd has these stylized sharing options placed neatly beneath their product photos on each page:

Sharing options on the Luvd store.

On the other hand, Designboom places them front and center so they’re hard to miss, using social icons as an overlay on a large product image:

Cool floating share buttons at Designboom.

Where should you place your social sharing options? It might take a few tries to find a place that seems right to you. Additionally, you may have to go through a few rounds of A/B testing to determine the location that your shoppers respond best to. Don’t be afraid to try a few options until you find the one that works best for everyone.

Finally, keep in mind that your customers may not use certain social networks. If you sell farm supplies, your customers may not find a “share to Pinterest” button useful — but if you sell jewelry, this option is a must-have. Consider removing unpopular options from your pages, as this may cut down on your site’s load time and save a little space.

Use confirmation pages or emails to ask for post-purchase shares

As a store owner, all of your effort is likely placed on getting customers to click that final “buy” button. Once that happens, you can breathe easy, right?

Not so fast. If you aren’t asking your newest customers — that is, the ones who have just completed a purchase — to share the products they’ve bought, you’re missing out on an amazing opportunity to tap into their feelings of happiness, goodwill, and self-satisfaction.

Consider this: according to a paper published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, professors from the University of Michigan claim that shopping can alleviate sadness, improve your mood, and make people happier. Additionally, several publications now claim that on social media, positive or happy updates spread faster and are better received than neutral or negative ones.

Good news spreads faster than bad news. (Photo credit: J E Theriot)

So if you put the two together, you might stand a pretty good chance at getting your happiest customers — that is, the ones who just bought something from you — to effectively spread the word about your store. But you have to ask, and as a 2013 Owned It study found, only 3% of major UK retailers are requesting that customers share their purchases.

Just adding the social media links to your “thank you” or “order confirmation” page or email isn’t enough. You should come right out and ask your customers to share the products they’ve just purchased.

Amazon asks customers to share what they bought as soon as their transaction is completed:

 

 

Amazon asks for shares as soon as you buy something. (Image credit: VWO)

Note that there are two networks available (Facebook and Twitter), as well as an email option. The title and metadata of the share are both pre-filled, which means the customer only has to click the “Share this item” button to spread the good word about their purchase.
There’s also a second subtle nudge in the confirmation email:

Amazon adds social share options to confirmation emails, albeit much smaller ones.

Although the share isn’t explicitly requested here, it’s still an option.

Consider implementing social sharing buttons within your confirmation pages or emails as shown above. With metadata pre-filled as it is above, the share is easier since customers won’t have to take any time to write a description. If you support Pinterest, you can try Rich Pins for products to even include details like pricing automatically.

Be sure to pair these sharing options with calls to action that will tap into customers’ feelings of post-purchasing happiness. If your store is small or new, you can ask shoppers to “spread the word” or “tell their friends” about you; if you’re larger or well-established, you may have better luck asking them to show off their purchases.

Worried that no one will share? You’ll never know until you ask!

Tap into customer satisfaction with post-delivery requests

We’ve covered how to motivate your customers to share your products before they make a purchase, and how to prompt them to share immediately after they’ve completed a transaction. There’s one more time you should consider asking for a share: after their order has arrived.

This final request time may vary based on what you sell. If you offer digital goods, like eBooks, it makes sense to ask for shares in an automated follow-up email just a few hours later. But if you specialize in physical goods, you’ll probably want to wait a few days. This allows time for a customer’s order to be delivered, and for any questions or concerns to be resolved.

Give them some time to receive, open, and check out their purchase. (Photo credit: Dan Budlac)

Why should you ask for shares at this point? Well, your customers are hopefully satisfied with what you’ve delivered, and you can tap into that feeling to ask for a favor. A well-timed follow-up email that politely requests a share is likely to be well-received.

The key here is to wrap your request in language that keeps the recipient feeling good. Thank them again for their purchase, encourage them to contact you with any questions, and then ask for shares. That way they won’t think “they want me to do what?” — they’ll see the major portion of the email, full of compliments and good will, and think “this company is great! Sure, I’ll share this with my friends.”

Many brands have invested in automated emails that request product or company reviews, and this is one way you may already be tapping into the feelings of satisfaction your customers have with your brand. You already know how important reviews are for motivating future sales, after all. But social shares can be just as motivational for customers who have never heard of you, so why not build upon this same strategy and allow your customers to share the products they are reviewing from the same email?

Sharing is caring, but don’t overdo it

Should you be asking your customers to share your products while they’re browsing your store, after they make a purchase, and when their order arrives? That depends. The last thing you want to do is be pushy or annoying. If you add buttons to every touch point, some of your customers might feel pressured to share, and will actively avoid the option.

There’s also the possibility that social sharing may not result in positive ROI in one or more of your marketing channels. In one A/B test highlighted on the VWO blog, an eCommerce website actually increased its conversion rate when it removed social sharing buttons from product pages. Products were 11.9% more likely to be added to the shopping cart from pages without these options.

For this store, removing social share buttons actually helped improve conversions. (Image credit: VWO)

VWO’s Mohita Nagpal speculates that this was because the number of shares on the store’s products were typically zero, and that worked against them as a negative form of social proof. Because the products had so few shares, some customers might have thought “this must not be very good” and left the page. It’s also possible that the social buttons distracted from the ultimate goal of the product page, which was to motivate purchases.

What does all of this mean for you? If you are planning to ask for social shares of your products, start slowly and tread lightly. Don’t ask for shares at every step. Perhaps just start with on-page buttons and a polite request in a follow-up email. You may also want to A/B test the location of your buttons, or even having buttons at all, to ensure that you’re not actually harming your conversion rates in the process.

Just as every store is different, every group of customers is different, too. So what works for one store may not work for yours. Be prepared to test, try new things, and ask for feedback on your social sharing options — just as you would with any other new feature.

Are you asking for shares?

Whether you ask your customers to share from your product pages, show off their recent purchases, or tell their friends about your brand after their order has been completed, social sharing is another method you can use to grow your business.

With the right motivation dealt out to your customers, you can increase shares of your products and take advantage of the increased lift in awareness and sales that this publicity brings. Just remember to start slowly and cautiously, and never forget that your customers are doing you a favor!

Do you give the option to share your items from your product pages, on your order confirmation page, or in any other unique location? Care to share your results or findings with us? We’d love to hear from you!

To View Original Article: http://www.woothemes.com/2015/05/ecommerce-social-sharing/?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=buffer&utm_content=buffer43dfe

3 Things You Must Optimize on Your E-Commerce Site

By Neil Patel

For all the progress of the last few years, we still have a long way to go in ecommerce. In many cases, the ecommerce effort is a staged battle against Amazon. In its other forms, ecommerce is simply a throw-enough-mud-on-the-wall approach where more products plus free shipping equals more sales.

That's not how it works.

To be successful in the extremely competitive ecommerce industry, you must understand what's most important and how exactly to fix it.

Ecommerce optimization isn't what you think it is.

In this article, I'm responding to several significant shortcomings that I've observed among ecommerce optimizers. First, there's a significant lack of understanding of the importance of product pages. Second, there is a lack of attention to the purchase process. Finally, many optimizers misunderstand what it means to optimize the category pages.
I'll explain the best strategy for optimization in each of these areas.

Optimize for mobile.

Ecommerce optimization should be synonymous with mobile optimization. Already, as recent holiday booms have shown us, mobile traffic and purchases often exceed the traffic and conversion rates of non-mobile users

Ecommerce is essentially a mobile industry. Shoppers are using their mobile devices to browse, compare, and learn. Buyers are using their mobile devices to convert on a purchase.
An ecommerce site without complete mobile optimization is limited from the very start.

Optimize your product pages.

Ecommerce is about purchasing items. This being the case, the most important pages on a an ecommerce website are the product pages themselves. Optimizing product pages is key to ecommerce success.

Here are the features of a product pages that require attention:

• Focus on the longtail. A product page is basically a longtail keyword landing page. You will gain the most qualified and conversion-ready traffic from users who are inputting these longtail queries. Be sure you optimize the page title, H1, content, and images with this longtail in mind.
• Add interactive elements. Interactive content is that which turns passive users into active participants. Interactive content engages users in such a way that they are doing something on the page not simply looking at the page. Interactive elements could include social sharing, price toggling, shipping customization, quizzes, easy forms, and user-controlled visuals. The more interactivity you can add to your page, the greater you will engage and attract the user.
• Gain user generated content. User-generated content is content that your users create for you. UGC takes many forms, but it has its greatest advantage in e-commerce. Since content is a time-consuming prospect with limited ROI, it makes sense to get others to do it for you (for free). Product reviews are exactly where this technique can help an ecommerce site flourish. Product reviews are much like testimonials--letting your customers do your marketing for you. Obviously, reviews are a double-edged sword. While positive reviews can easily sell a product, negative reviews can do the opposite.
• High-quality custom photos. The right images can dramatically improve your conversion rates. Even a technique as easy as making the pictures bigger can create a noticeable uptick in conversion rates. The higher quality your images, the better your page will be optimized.
• Implement schema markup. Schema markup is a type of code that improves your page's results in search engine results. Much of the schema.org markup centers on product details. Adding markup neil to your products' price and star review level are two essentials.

Optimizing product pages is difficult, due to the fact that a site may have thousands of such pages. Creating unique copy for each item, let alone vast amount of additional content, is time-consuming. Taking a longview of the project while also improving and templating each page is crucial for full optimization.

Optimize your purchase process.

The CTA (Call To Action) button is the most-talked-about and most-optimized element on an ecommerce page. Is it really that important? I would say yes, but not to the neglect of the page's other features.

Whether the CTA is a micro conversion or an actual purchase, optimizers love to test it and refine it to the hilt. This is good as far as it goes, but it's a limited view of ecommerce optimization.

Conversion optimization is a process-focused pursuit, not a single-item improvement. In order to optimize an ecommerce page, you must iteratively improve and test multiple features, not just your prized CTA.

 

• 2-3 steps. Once your checkout process exceeds the third step, you're going to lose some users. Keep things complete, but eliminate extraneous steps or forms in the process.
• Focused and accurate error messages. One of the most frustrating features of a checkout process is the error message. Maybe you forgot to add a zip code, a phone number, or your CV code. When designing a checkout process, make completely sure that the user knows exactly where and how to fix the errors.
• Progress bar. A progress bar keeps users informed as to where they are in the process, and keeps them motivated to complete the process.

Conclusion

Ecommerce is still expanding, growing, maturing, and improving. Like other efforts and methods of online business, there's still more growing to do.

Adjusting our perspective on what to fix and how to fix it will make an enormous impact on conversion rates and ultimately, upon revenue.

To View Original Article: http://www.inc.com/neil-patel/3-things-you-must-optimize-on-your-ecommerce-site.html?cid=sf01001

The Impact of Mobile on the Retail Industry

By Charles Edge

One of my first jobs was installing Point Of Sales (POS) solutions. Back then, even a smaller retail organization might expend tremendous resources, with weeks of professional services, to get a solution that allowed them to move their old cash registers into computers that were not user-friendly and provided little value above the traditional ways of completing transactions.

Today, retail stores using Vend, Square, and other flexible technologies are popping up left and right. Everything from small yoga studios to juice bars to boutique shoe stores are experiencing enough initial success to open dozens of locations in months rather than years. This trend seems to be increasing, partially due to how easy the technology is to integrate. While you can still bring consultants in to help you get your technology sorted out quickly, you can also simply create an account on a number of Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions, install an app, and be selling in a matter of minutes.

As your perspective matures, you’ll learn a few important lessons. Someone will inevitably lose a device, and you’ll have to react swiftly. You’ll want to make it quicker to set-up the devices that people use to swipe credit cards. You’ll get requests for people to pay you in different ways. And hopefully, you’ll get big enough to want to buy things using a volume account (if that’s what you want).

Here are 10 tips to help guide you along the way:

• At first, use a single platform. This allows you to keep costs down. Supporting one type of device gives you the chance to learn more about that type of device and rely on outside help less. If your organization is oriented towards apps that run on Android, then go all Android. If you have easy access to Apple devices, go all Apple. And P.S. Try to stick with mobile devices; they’re easier to support!
• Keep in mind that ease of use will trump the initial cost of a device in the long run. Not having to bring in a third party to help you maintain devices can have massive savings for your company you’ll feel right away.
• Buy your devices using a company account: with Apple, this means getting set-up with a Purchase Order. Devices you order are then shipped with a technology called DEP (Device Enrollment Program). Devices that are in Apple’s DEP program allow you to automate the enrollment process.
• Use an MDM (Mobile Device Management) solution. At first, you might only access its ability to wipe a device should it fall out of your control. Later, you’ll want to make use of tools like Apple’s Volume Purchase Program (VPP) which allows you to buy apps en masse and to deploy free and paid apps without having to setup an Apple ID for what could be devices used by multiple people. I’m partial to this one, as a member of the team that makes Bushel (www.bushel.com), a solution built specifically with small businesses in mind.
• When you hire your first employee, get a time-tracking solution. One of the easiest SaaS solutions is Deputy (www.deputy.com).
• Choose an accounting package that both your POS system and your accountant can support. This will help keep your accounting and tax fees low and keep the time you invest getting data to the right people at tax-time to a minimum. Check out QuickBooks (www.intuit.com), Xero (www.xero.com), or FreshBooks (www.freshbooks.com).
• Keep all your money in one place—at least until you have multiple charts of accounts. You can easily see everything under one hood using a simple banking app, like Mint (www.mint.com).
• Get social now! Go ahead and claim your names on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. The sooner you start posting content, the quicker you’ll find that content driving traffic to your site (and ultimately your store). Make content, and don’t regurgitate too much. Be interesting and appropriate to your target audience. But most importantly, be authentic. People like to interact with the people behind brands, so make sure to brand yourself and your employees in the right light.
• Keep your documents in the cloud. Consider dropbox.com, box.com, or other file sharing services to help you put menus, product descriptions, contracts, and other information in an easy place that you can share from. Don’t bother with a server at first (if ever), as this will simply drive costs up.
• And one of the most important tips: make sure you can export your data from every service you invest in. On the POS side, this will keep your transaction history, customer list, and other important data within systems you own. Don’t worry about paying for a few apps to test; in the long-run, making sure you have the features you need will save you a lot more than the $20-$30 you might spend picking the right app!

Overall, starting a business was one of the most rewarding and crazy things I’ve ever done. There are so many lessons you learn along the way. Keeping these 10 in mind should help get you through those first few months, at least as far as your tech is concerned!

To View Original Article: https://retailminded.com/the-impact-of-mobile-on-the-retail-industry/

8 Awesome Black Friday Email Campaigns You Can Steal This Holiday Season

Last year email marketing drove over 27% of holiday sales according to Custora. With this year’s Black Friday set to be the biggest one yet, that number is only expected to rise.

As a marketer and business owner, it can often be difficult to come up with great emails with eye-catching images and actionable copy. That’s why I like to draw inspiration and ideas from other successful marketers and businesses.

I’m going to share eight awesome Black Friday email campaigns that you can steal and start implementing into your business. In each example, I’m going to break down what it is, why it’s so effective, and how you can implement their ideas into your holiday campaigns.

1. The Simple Sale Announcement Email

Subject: Black Friday - 40% off everything!
What it is: A simple but well-executed email from CanvasPop announcing their store-wide Black Friday sale.
Why it works: This email is all business. It clearly announces the sale and has a focused call-to-action. Sometimes, keeping things simple is the best way to go.
How to implement it: Take the simple approach to your Black Friday and Cyber Monday sale announcements. Have a clear subject line with the sale discount, and include a call-to-action in your email that brings customers to your homepage or page with the products that are on sale.

2. The Bold Imagery and Animations Email

 

Subject: Don’t wait ’til tomorrow! Take up to 50% off our most popular inventions right now.
What it is: Quirky uses a quirky image animation to announce their Black Friday weekend sale.
Why it works: I don’t often get animated GIFs in my email, let alone one as fun and entertaining as this. This email really stands out from other Black Friday sale announcements that will be barraging customer inboxes.
Also, all the important information is immediately clear. Free shipping, the discount, and the day the sale ends are all there in plain sight.
How to implement it: Start using animated GIFs and very unique imagery in your Black Friday emails, especially if it matches the tone of your brand.
Again, keeping your most important information above the fold is important.

3. The Free Gift Email

Subject: Black Friday + Giving Tanks
What it is: Storq created a free gift coupon instead of offering a store-wide sale.
Why it works: Storq uses Black Friday as an opportunity to increase the average order value in their store. Offering a free gift is an enticing way to get customers to your store on Black Friday.
The email design is also simple and effective. The coupon code really stands out and the instructions are clear and easy to follow.
How to implement it: You can still participate in Black Friday even if your business doesn’t typically discount or you can’t afford to lower your prices. Black Friday gives you a reason to contact your customers, so email them with any offer you can create that weekend.
If you can’t lower your prices, consider offering a free gift with a minimum purchase amount. You can easily do this within Shopify or with an app from the Shopify App Store to help.
Keep your emails simple and don’t overcomplicate your offer. When it comes to copy, less is often more.

4. The Last-Minute Extended Sale Email

Subject: EXTENDED! 50%. Off. Everything.
What it is: Julep extends their Black Friday weekend sale into Tuesday.
Why it works: Not everyone will have the opportunity to check out your Black Friday sale. Extending the sale last-second (and running a sale when competitors just ended theirs) gives customers another chance to purchase from your store.
This email is also effective because it’s unexpected. If you’ve been consistently warning customers about the impending end of your Black Friday sale and then spring a last-second extension, it’s more likely to stick out in people’s inboxes.
Lastly, the email is well designed. The three most important elements in this email contrast well against the rest: “Extended 48 hours,” “50% off everything,” and “use code cyberwow.”
How to implement it: Consider extending your sale and surprising your customers. You can even offer a new discount for the extended sale to get customers off the fence.
Don’t forget to make the most important elements in your email stand out, too. Use Julep’s email design as inspiration.

5. The Black Friday Giveaway Email

Subject: Blacked-Out Friday
What it is: Huckberry turns their Black Friday sale into a giveaway.
Why it works: Giveaways and contests can inject even more excitement into a Black Friday sale. Huckberry is giving their customers more incentive to shop on their site during Black Friday by giving each purchase a random entry into their giveaway.
Huckberry also includes more copy in their emails than most stores. Huckberry is very keen on conveying messages and telling stories in their emails, even on Black Friday.
This email in particular is too long to show in this blog post, but below their Black Friday sale announcement are stories, including the harrowing trip to Antarctica mentioned at the top of the email.
Despite being Black Friday, Huckberry hasn’t changed their established tone. Huckberry continues to deliver interesting stories, even in their most promotion-heavy emails.
How to implement it: Run a contest alongside your sale or give every customer that makes a purchase the chance to win a prize. Check out the giveaway apps in our Shopify App Store to help you put this together.
Finally, don’t diverge from your original messaging or style. If you’ve been delivering great content or stories with each email, that doesn’t need to change for Black Friday. Find a way to weave your Black Friday emails into what you’ve been doing well previously. Make it organic.

6. The Black Friday Humor Email

Subject: Sweats + Shorts = THE SCHWORTS
What it is: Chubbies stays consistent with their tone and branding and uses humor to promote their Black Friday sale on schworts.
Why it works: This email looks a lot different than the a typical Black Friday sale emails. First, the subject line is great. Next, the image of someone lounging on their couch pouring food down their mouth after Thanksgiving is really funny.
There isn’t a lot of copy in this email but it’s still effective at conveying why you need their comfortable shorts. Chubbies also shows you their shorts looking comfortable instead of only telling you that they’re comfortable.
Chubbies also chooses to focus on one product to promote their Black Friday sale instead of announcing a store-wide sale. This is far more effective since leaving customers with too much choice can be overwhelming.
How to implement it: Have fun with your marketing. If it suits your brand, experiment with unique subject lines for your emails and use humorous images.
You don’t need a lot of copy in your Black Friday emails to convey a message. Don’t just tell your customers your shorts are comfortable, show them in an entertaining way.
Lastly, you don’t need to promote several products in your Black Friday email. Promote your Black Friday sale with one product (or a few) instead. Consider choosing your best-selling or most interesting product and promote it on Black Friday to drive traffic.

7. The Scarcity Email

Subject: Woosters Almost Sold Out! Black Friday Prices + Free Shipping For A Few More Hours!
What it is: Greats gives their customers a Black Friday status report on the shoes on sale.
Why it works: Greats uses elements of scarcity throughout the email. “Moving fast,” “Almost sold out,” and “No time to be on the fence” creates a sense of urgency. Even the subject line has urgency in it with “Woosters almost sold out!”.
Of course, Greats’ personality shines through in this email as well.
How to implement it: Learn to create scarcity in your email marketing, especially on Black Friday. Create urgency and use your emails to remind your customers that your sale will be ending. Also, when your products are selling like hot cakes, tell people!

8. The Against-The-Grain Email

Subject: This Is Not A Sale
What it is: Everlane uses Black Friday as a platform to raise awareness and money for workers in China.
Why it works: The subject line is strong and piques people’s curiosity, encouraging them to open the email to learn more. You don’t often get emails on Black Friday letting you know “this is not a sale.”
It isn’t a bait and switch either; Everlane goes against the grain and promises to give 100% of their Black Friday profit to their factories in China to improve working conditions.
This gesture also helps build Everlane’s brand. It also has the chance to be picked up by news sites social media since it’s unique and generous for a time of year where businesses are focused on profit.
How to implement it: If you’re tired of running the same Black Friday sale every year, or your customers have grown to expect the same from you every year, change things up. Consider making this year’s Black Friday all about your customer or someone else in need.
It could be your opportunity to give back a little while also creating a positive brand image for your store.

Over to You

If email marketing isn’t a large part of your growth strategy, take the time to learn why it’s important for your business. If your email list is small, start building it now to make the most out of Black Friday. You don’t need a gigantic email list for your Black Friday to matter, but the bigger your list, the better. With the right amount of engaged subscribers and awesome, well-crafted emails, your business can have a great Black Friday.
Want to crush it this Black Friday? Check out the 26-point checklist I put together to position your store for success this holiday season.
If you have any questions or Black Friday email ideas you’d like to share, leave a comment below. I engage with and respond to everyone.

To View Original Article: https://www.shopify.com/blog/56776517-8-awesome-black-friday-email-campaigns-you-can-steal-this-holiday-season

Bringing E-Commerce Features to the Storefront

One of the most interesting observations about the retail sector over the recent past is the adaptation of online features at brick-and-mortar stores. Only two years ago, it seems, retailers were anxious about holiday receipts due to the practice of showrooming, and the social capabilities of online shopping seemed to threaten brick and mortar sales. But then, it seemed to click (excuse the pun): What is more social than going out and physically being seen? Price matching is as old as retailing itself. And nothing beats experiencing a product before buying it. Put the best feature of e-commerce — its ability to be everywhere at once — to work in a brick and mortar, and you’ve created an enormous competitive advantage.

A great example of that trend is the newest UGG footwear store that opened this month outside of Washington, D.C. Deckers Brands, which owns the brand, has opened one other, similar “UGG Innovation Lab” in Santa Barbara, CA. Like that location, the Tysons Corner, Va., store uses technology to create a customized, customer-centric atmosphere.

“Omni-Channel isn’t just a catchphrase for Deckers; it’s an integral part of our culture of innovation and our retail strategy – one that we’ve made investments in for more than five years now – to engage with our consumers with respect to their preferred shopping channel” said Dave Powers, president of omni-channel for Deckers Brands, in a release. “That strategy is on full display at the UGG store, where we are merging the best of digital and physical shopping experiences, and setting the foundation for future Omni capabilities across our brands.”

 

By integrating online features into the in-store experience, shoppers can make selections from almost
 230,000 SKUs. But if a customer just can’t find that perfect pair, UGGs offers customization. The “UGG By You” program gives buyers control of the design process to make their mark on five classic UGG styles. And for those fancying a bolder approach, the “Bling it on Program” lets customers use Swarovski crystals to personalize their looks. In addition, the store has installed technology that reports on products that are tried on, and offers feedback to the consumer on suggested additional products. That’s very similar to an e-commerce site’s “Recommended for You” or “Shoppers Who Have Bought This Item Also Like…”

To enable that, Deckers is implementing radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology that lets shoppers who are trying on merchandise to view digitally triggered content on four 65-inch HD touchscreens throughout the store. That content comprises product information and options, style tips, videos, related marketing campaigns, and suggested complementary products. Shoppers can send themselves SMS texts with a product link directly from the HD screens.

 

Of course, customer associates are out from behind the cash wrap, using handheld devices to search inventory, answer customer questions and finalize sales as well. But these days, that’s old hat at many specialty retailers, which took the cue from the Apple Store.

Whether you are a retailer specializing in products from footware or home goods, keeping tabs on inventory is mission critical. Technology can provide retailers with data that initially only was captured by e-commerce stores. Now brick and mortars can know who’s trying on what, how long they engage with the product before purchasing (or not) and can make suggestions for add-on sales before the shopper even reaches an associate.

Retail Pro offers retailers a highly competitive solution that helps track inventory. In addition, our software can be used to monitor fast-selling products, keep tabs on slow sellers and otherwise help their purchasing decisions — something that’s vital in today’s borderless e-conomy.

To View Original Article: http://www.retailpro.com/News/blog/index.php/2014/11/19/bringing-e-commerce-features-to-the-storefront/

Make Your Website Research Ready with a Brands Page

By Brian Ewing

According to a recent study, 78% of shoppers used the internet for research during the holiday season last year. Your customers are making their lists and checking them twice…online. Even if your business isn’t e-commerce, you have an opportunity to make an impact on sales with an online presence.

What Are Consumers Researching on Store Websites?

Shopping during the holiday season is stressful. Not only are consumers trying to find the perfect gifts for loved ones, they’re fighting the crowds and calendar.
Planning is key to make the most of shopping trips. Customers plot out their course ahead of time, based on what gifts are available where. As a small business, it’s crucial to let customers know the brands and products you carry to become part of their shopping schedule.

Your Store Website & the Importance of a Brands Page

A dedicated brands page on your website is the best way to give consumers and search engines an idea of what you carry in-store. This is critical for SEO ranking and holiday research. Start by listing your most popular brands and continue expanding until you have a complete collection. A great way to organize the page is to display your brands’ logos alphabetically. See this perfect example from our subscriber, Pizazz Studio.

Beyond the Brands Page

If you’d like to take your website a step further, create separate pages for each of your major brands. Display the most popular items for the season, so consumers can quickly see you not only carry the brand, but the product they want. If you’re not selling online, make sure to place a CTA (call-to-action) message on each page asking the customer to contact the store for up-to-date inventory information. Lastly, make the logos on your brands page click-through links to the new product pages for an easy navigation experience.
Use your website to drive more sales, even if you don’t have e-commerce! Create a brands page to showcase your products and let holiday shoppers find you!


To View Original Article:  http://www.snapretail.com/make-your-website-research-ready-with-a-brands-page/

How the “Internet of Things” Will Reinvent Retail

By Natalie Bruins

Technology doesn’t wait for retailers to catch up. Consumers embrace new technology and aren’t impressed by retailers who don’t. This year, smart retailers are creating ‘smarter’ stores with the Internet of Things (IoT) reinventing the way they think about retail.

With IoT, a huge number of devices can be connected – with everything from Point of Sale systems to dressing rooms doors, able to connect. Microsoft have already tried to add a human touch to this phrase – describing it as ‘the internet of your things’ – and it’s this personalised approach which sums up how IoT should be for consumers.

Plus, for retailers, it’s about how your ‘things’, or in other words, technology, can connect to provide a better experience for your customers.

One example of how IoT is already providing a better experience for customers and better data for a brand is Disney. The park has RFID-enabled MagicBand wristbands that provide theme park access, entry to hotel rooms, and cash and card-free payment for food and any merchandise. Disney is able to track this activity to build an accurate picture of how each guest uses their services.

From Disneyland to high-tech highstreets, here’s how this new technology will reinvent retail.
 

1. RFID (Radio-frequency identification) tagging

RFID is probably the most well-known example of IoT and according to Bill Hardgrave of Auburn University, the technology can have huge benefits for retailers. RFID involves tracking and counting products automatically and can give retailers 99% inventory accuracy, a 50% reduction in out-of-stocks, a 70% reduction in shrinkage, and sales lifts from 2% to 7%.
 

2. Connecting home automation to ecommerce sites

There are certain products, which we all need to buy – from fridge essentials such as butter and milk to bathroom basics such as toilet roll and shower gel. IoT could allow consumers to press a button in their home to automatically order the product they need from their favourite store, delivered to their door. This innovation would connect ecommerce to the way we interact with our homes, and has the potential to allow brands to develop a more meaningful connection with consumers.
 

3. Wearable technology – for retailers and consumers

From giving shop assistants the information they need on-the-go, to giving shoppers a more personalised experience, wearable technology is a branch of IoT, which could transform retail.
In store, both shop assistants and consumers will have the information they need. Shop assistants could have access to further product information, stock levels, as well as customer data. Shoppers, on the other hand, could have an enriched in-store browsing experience, with extra information, navigation and promotional offers.
 

4. In-store sensors

Whether you want to attract shoppers through your doors or tempt people to browse your new collection when in-store, sensors, such as Bluetooth beacons, are an IoT technology which can help you do just that.
Picture the scene – an existing shoppers walks past your store, your in-store sensors would allow you to send that customer a personalised message about a promotional offer you are running in store. Once inside the shop, you can target shoppers based on their shopping and browsing history. This could not only enhance the customer’s experience and boost a retailer’s marketing efforts, but provide a wealth of path-to-purchase data, which can be used to optimise store layouts.

5. Smart mirrors in fashion retail

As an extension on RFID tagging, various parts of the store could connect with the products themselves. For instance ‘smart’ mirrors could recognise which products a shoppers was wearing and then suggest other items which could be paired with that garment – allowing the shopping to visualise some fashion pairings in the mirror.

Overall, IoT looks set to begin a new, more data-driven age for retail. With connected devices, retailers can analyse shopper behaviour, as well as their own performance with greater accuracy and offer a more responsive and personalised service. Find out how we can help you prepare for a world of connected shoppers and devices on our omnichannel page.

To View Original Article: http://k3retail.com/blog/smarter-stores-how-the-internet-of-things-will-reinvent-retail/

How big data can help retailers capitalise on e-commerce growth

By Mike Iaccarino

Earnings from the second quarter of 2015 indicated that e-commerce retailers are doing better than ever before. In fact, online sales are growing faster than store sales by 5 fold plus.

To capitalise on this growth, retailers are making major investments in e-commerce to make shopping online as convenient and efficient as possible. E-commerce may be at an all-time high, but if retailers do not meet consumer demand for personalisation and intuitiveness, they’ll risk significant financial loss.

The most innovative retailers are partnering with data providers with expansive business and consumer databases to meet customer experience expectations. Given the increasing number of consumers shopping online across thousands of sites, it’s important for brands to stand out amongst the noise. Quality data can give marketers unique insights about key audiences so they can target with highly personalised digital marketing efforts and ultimately provide a more convenient shopping experience.

Consumers are so numb to branded marketing content that without a data-driven strategy that reaches the right audience at the right time, brands and retailers will risk losing out on revenue to competitors with more personalised and convenient paths to purchase. But with the right data strategy, brands can compete with major players within any given industry. Here are three ways big data can help brands continue to see success in a growing e-commerce space.

Personalise

With quality data, retailers can break through the constant stream of online marketing messaging by understanding consumers’ unique wants and needs. This strengthens the relationship between the retailer and consumer and maximises the opportunity for sales.

Email marketing content should be tailored according to the customer’s recent purchases, or demographics. And the same goes for other digital advertising and even e-commerce sites themselves. Marketing content should always be unique to each customer’s history and likely interests, and the right data can make this happen.

As e-commerce becomes a part of everyday life for consumers, brands need to focus their efforts on partnerships with marketing tech providers that can turn data into actionable insights and allow for a deeper understanding of consumers and the tools to effectively engage them. Without these tools and insights it’s difficult for retailers to continue to gain steam among the large crowd of e-commerce players.

Go mobile

Quality data can also help brands improve mobile efforts. The value of mobile for marketing lies with its immediacy. Marketers can push highly personalised marketing content to consumers based on their current location. Time sensitive, location-based deals can encourage consumers to make purchases on the spot – a feat that tends to be difficult with generic marketing strategies.
However, consumers are hesitant to willingly provide personal information through mobile apps. A recent Forrester study found that only about a third of survey respondents are willing to share location and enable push notifications in retail apps, and many consumers aren’t sold on that technology’s value. Retailers need to partner with data providers that expand mobile reach and offer valuable data on where their customers are going on the Web, their purchasing behaviours and location-based information.

Additionally, retailers should know where are your audiences are spending most of their time on social media; is it Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, SnapChat or Pinterest? Ensure your social brand is engaging with your customers and prospects wherever they are.

Analyse

Retailers can also use data to analyse which markets will be most successful for them to invest their time and resources. A retailer should use demographic and purchase history data about its key audiences to determine where to use advertising spend and promote deals most strategically. For example, marketing on Facebook might not be effective for younger shoppers today given the decreasing use of the site among younger age groups in recent years.

The best data will give brands the power to not only predict behaviours and act accordingly but also measure outcomes. Use A/B testing to determine the effectiveness of different email subject lines, sites for advertising or even the content included within marketing tactics. Make note of significant differences and alter strategies moving forward. Without the right data, it’s easy to waste money on advertising that is not reaching the right audience or lacks content that motivates shoppers to click through to an e-commerce site. And given the growth of e-commerce in recent months, it’s crucial that digital marketing efforts are as efficient as possible.

    

E-commerce earnings are increasing exponentially, but this doesn’t mean that retailers can coast. To be most successful in a market saturated with both brands and retailers, the best e-commerce sellers will invest in quality data to stand out among the competition.

Data can help brands reach customers with personalised messaging, improve mobile strategies and analyse the outcomes of different channels and strategies to allocate resources effectively.


To view original article: http://www.itproportal.com/2015/10/22/how-big-data-help-retailers-capitalise-e-commerce-growth/

6 Foundational Ecommerce Marketing Tactics to Stop Your Bucket from Leaking

by Richard Lazazzera 

As an online store owner, you’re always on the lookout for new ways to drive traffic, but how many times have you invested time, energy and money into a new method of driving traffic only to receive low conversions or maybe even none at all? 

 

Facebook Ads, Google Adwords, SEO, blogging, social media and guest posting are all great methods to drive traffic, unfortunately, most of the time they don’t work as expected. There are lots of possible reasons for this, however, many times it's because you have a leaky bucket. A website that leaks visitors as fast as you can bring them in. 

 

In this post, you’ll learn six foundational marketing tactics that will greatly help convert visitors on your site, bring back qualified visitors that do end up leaving your site, and get the most amount of money from each of your customers, increasing your average order size. 

 

It's time to fix your leaky bucket.  

 

Your Online Store Is a Leaking Bucket

Think of your sales funnel or rather your ecommerce store as a bucket. You have to spend a lot of time, energy and effort to fill that bucket with water (traffic). The problem is, your bucket has holes in it. Big holes. So you keep spending money, burning energy and investing time to keep filling the bucket with water, but the water is pouring out of the holes almost as fast as you can fill it.

 

What Are Some of These Holes?

There are lots of holes and lots of reasons for these holes. Arguably, every ecommerce business has holes in their bucket. Some are just bigger than others or more prevalent. It can be poor product descriptions, crummy product photos, confusing navigation or maybe high shipping prices. However, many times visitors just weren't ready to purchase quite yet and you let them walk away. 

 

How an Ecommerce Sale Actually Happens

The reality is that most of the time consumers don't purchase the first time to your site. Many will require multiple touch points and nudges to convert them from a visitor to a customer, sometimes over the course of days or even weeks. However, without a few fundamental marketing tactics in place, a customer that leaves your site only has their own memory and experience to rely on to come back and make their purchase. 

 

By implementing several marketing tactics that some of the most successful ecommerce businesses use, you can significantly increase your chances of making a sale. Additionally, when visitors do fall out of your bucket, there's a greater chance you can bring the qualified people back in. 

Let’s take a look at one company that is executing these tactics flawlessly, DODOcase.

 

DODOcase - Website Walkthrough

DODOcase makes handcrafted iPad cases using traditional book binding techniques in San Francisco and were the winners of the Shopify Build A Business Contest in 2010. They obviously knew what they were doing then, and apparently still do.

 

DODOcase has a marketing strategy that plugs as many holes in their bucket as possible to get the best possible return-on-investment from their advertising dollars. Not only do they do several critical things to keep their visitors in the bucket, but they also implement several strategies to bring customers back that fall out of the bucket and to get the most out of every customer. 

 

Let’s take a walk through a purchase on their online store and highlight some of the key marketing activities they're doing well:

 

 

To start, there’s no doubt they have taken the time to develop a beautiful shop with great photography and product descriptions. All the usual conversion optimization tactics are being employed here, but let's see what else they're doing.

Let’s add a product to our cart and checkout. A DODOcase Folio for the iPad Air should do.

 

What’s this? An upsell suggesting several other products we may be interested in. Let’s add the the Leather Card and Case Wallet to the order.

 

Hmm, $220.24, that’s a little expensive right now. Maybe we will wait a bit to buy it. Let’s close this tab.

 

Wow, that’s a good deal. 10% off just for joining their email list. We will add our email. Maybe we will use the 10% discount later. 

 

 

24 hours later:

An email from DODOcase. Let’s see what they have to say:

 

 

The next day while browsing some info about the new iPhone, look what we see. A retargeting ad from DODOcase offering 20% off. That DODOcase is starting to look pretty tempting.

 

Another day later, while scrolling through Facebook we are hit again. Another reminder of the DODOcase we were looking at a few days prior, again with a 20% offer to come back and complete our purchase.

 

 

Ok, ok… after a few days and a few reminders we are ready to purchase, and hey, the 20% off discount is a great deal.

 

DODOcase's marketing doesn't end at the sale though. After making the purchase, we are hit with a referral offer. In this case, DODOcase offers customers $20 for every person they refer and the people that are referred will receive 15% off their first purchase.

 

 

So What Exactly Is DODOcase Doing Right?

As you can see from the short case study above, they're doing a lot of things right and have a pretty comprehensive marketing plan in place to make the most of all their traffic, paid and organic. They have implemented several key tactics to keep people in their bucket, to bring qualified visitors back, and to increase the average order size from customers.  

 

Let's take a look at each one in a little more detail: 

1. Product Upsell - Upsells are important because they give you one last opportunity to present the customer with complimentary products that a.) they may be interested in, b.) might make their experience better (think batteries if they purchased something that doesn’t come with batteries) and c.) help increase your average order value. If that's not enough, one analyst for Forrester said that product recommendations (upsells) are responsible for an average of 10-30% of ecommerce site revenues.
2. Newsletter Sign Up Popup - Upon trying to leave the site (exit intent), realizing you don’t want to purchase or aren’t ready to purchase, they display a last second, secondary call-to-action. In this case they try to get you to sign up to their newsletter while also providing you with 10% off in the hope that the 10% will sway you over to completing a purchase with them. Although it's important to note that popup signups to some people are considered annoying, in almost every study they convert higher, many times 100%+ better than standard signup forms embedded on your site. The emails collected from a popup can be instrumental in bringing back visitors and don't forget, emails is consistently rated as the best marketing channel for return-on-investment.  
3. Abandoned Cart Email - Abandoned cart emails are vital in ecommerce. An average of 68% of people abandon their carts. These are people that had enough interest to browse your products and add items to their cart. They completed the first step of the checkout but decided to abandon their carts at that point. Abandoned cart emails give you an opportunity to bring that customer back to complete their transaction while it's still fresh in their minds.
4. Adwords Retargeting - The next day DODOcase began retargeting with display ads on the Google Display Ads network. Retargeting helps reinforce your brand and serve as a reminder to your recent site visitors of your products. In this particular case, DODOcase offered 20% to come back. Retargeting ads have proven to be much more effective than traditional online ads. In fact, in one study web site visitors who were retargeted with display ads were 70% more likely to convert.
5. Facebook Retargeting - Again, several days later, they began retargeting on Facebook with the same 20% off deal. Combined with the Adwords retargeting, and they were unavoidable if you had an internet connection. 
6. Referral Offer - Upon completing an order, DODOcase offers their customer $20 credit for referring friends in addition to giving all referrals 15% off their first purchase. Referral marketing is incredible important as it represents the perfect opportunity to get your most recent and happy customers to talk about you. Study after study has come to the same conclusion, that people trust and purchase products more from a friend recommendation than any other form of marketing. In fact, according to Neilsen, people are four times more likely to purchase a product when referred by a friend. 

 

How Can You Plug the Holes?

The six marketing tactics discussed above make for a rock solid foundation for your ecommerce business and help you plug some of the biggest holes, leaving you and your site, much more prepared for paid and organic traffic alike. 

 

To begin implementing these tactics yourself, we have rounded up some incredible Shopify Apps to help you get started right away:

• Upsell - Shopify App: Product Upsell 
• Email Popup - Shopify App: Pop-Up Window
• Abandon Cart Recovery - Built into Shopify or Shopify App: Klaviyo
• Google Retargeting - Shopify App - Adroll
• Facebook Retargeting - Shopify App - PropelAd
• Referrals - Shopify App - Forewards

Conclusion

Building an ecommerce business is no small task. The "if you build it, they will come" notion does not apply. It's takes a lot of hard work and many times, money to drive targeted and consistent traffic to your online store. That's why it's vital that you have a solid foundation in place to make sure you're making the most from every visitor you do drive to your site.

Implementing even a few of the suggested methods above can have a dramatic effect on your return-on-investment and overall business success, leaving you with a bucket of cash as oppose to a bucket full of holes.

 

 

 

To view the original article please visit: Shopify