Jon Smith / On...

April 6th 2012

On… Allowing Customer to opt out

Opt Out

As counter-productive as it may sound, you must offer your customers the option to Opt Out of future email marketing campaigns. Yes, they’ve said they want to receive e-mails, but this doesn’t mean ad infinitum, it could be that a user was interested in receiving updates about offers for a particular period of time, or they were researching a particular product or service and now they are satisfied. Or, they’re simply no longer interested in your business offering anymore… Offering users the ability to Opt Out doesn’t necessarily encourage users to abandon your service, it simply allows customers the chance to manage their affairs and thus instils goodwill and helps you manage your mailing list. Be sure to offer an Opt Out link at the bottom of every email marketing shoot, and within the My Account section of your website.

Posted at 10:33pm and tagged with: start a business, start up, marketing,.

March 3rd 2012

On… Utilizing Vouchers/Coupons

Coupons usually allow a new or an existing customer to benefit by entering a code at the point of purchase. The utilization of this code will modify the customer’s order in someway usually changing one of the following: the price to be paid for the product/service or delivery, upgrading the shipping option, adding a free or discounted additional product, or adding value to the order such as free gift-wrapping.

These coupons can be printed and distributed through print media, handed out in the street as flyers or as part of your promotional literature, quoted on radio adverts or added to Press Releases etc. Or, they can be distributed online by adding the coupon code to a social media post such as your Twitter account or Facebook Fan Page, sent to existing customers in an email marketing blast or even added to the site as a graphic when visitors first hit your homepage.

You can test different coupons, of differing values, at different times of the year to better understand how your existing and new customers react.

Coupons work for service providers too – i.e. offering a discount off the next consultancy or service order, adding extra benefits or add-ons to a package – i.e. book and pay for 12 language lessons and get an extra 3 lessons free with this coupon…

Posted at 5:48pm and tagged with: vouchers, coupons, start up, marketing,.

March 2nd 2012

On… Offering Vouchers/Coupons to encourage visitors

Vouchers and coupons are one of the strongest offline marketing techniques that have been successfully transferred online. Coupons also offer your business the opportunity to attract offline customers to your online presence, or visa versa which makes the deployment of coupons something every online business should consider.

Will using Coupons devalue your brand? Business owners and marketing managers often worry that offering coupons may create negative connotations with their existing or target customer base – that in someway coupons cheapen an image or take away from the exclusivity of a brand, or educate users to expect a discount with every single purchase… there are arguments for and against, but with the growth of mobile or m-commerce the explosion of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, the distribution and user-acceptance of coupons has never been higher. The pre-internet demographic of the ‘average coupon user’ changed radically when we all went digital – well-healed, well-educated professionals have no qualms entering a 5 digit code on a website or scanning their iPhone at a sales counter to enjoy 10% off… As a tool to create brand awareness, new customer acquisition and repeat purchases, you’d be very blinkered indeed to blow the idea out of the water, without giving it some serious consideration and even a controlled low-key test. If your offer’s strong enough and open to new users, there’s no reason why your own customer base won’t assist in the distribution of a coupon by forwarding it to all their friends… go viral, go coupon!

To offer coupons on your site will require some back-end and front-end development work, so this needs to be specified and budgeted. If you’re using a website platform such as Magento, the feature can be added for next to nothing.

Benefits:

Relatively cheap to implement
Everyone loves an offer
Making the terms of the offer date specific encourages a quick ROI
Easy to distribute
Can be used to reward/encourage customer loyalty
Add to your email marketing campaigns to help increase performance

Posted at 10:18pm and tagged with: vouchers, coupons, discounts, start-up, marketing, start up,.

December 20th 2011

On… the order pipeline: getting users to buy from your online store

ziegler

Despite your future efforts to market your website and attract new visitors to the site and your efforts to ensure the right products are available at the right price – if it all goes wrong at the end and users find it difficult to actually buy from you, then it is all in vain…
Working with your developer, here’s how to ensure that the ordering process is problem-free for the customer and you don’t let them leave without spending some money!

Keep It Simple

The act of a user placing an item into their shopping basket and the consumer’s path to purchase is often referred to as the order pipeline. This is the process and number of pages a consumer must navigate before their choice/s of purchase become their own. Just as good web design is all about offering both simplicity and usability; an effective order pipeline is equally short and to the point. If you had to complete an obstacle course every time you wanted to conduct your weekly grocery shop, you would soon look to another supermarket that was far easier to navigate and give them your custom. The same is true for websites.

Just The Essentials

When designing your order pipeline look to shave off as many stages as possible between a user selecting what they want to buy and the order confirmation/thank you page. You need to define which details are essential for this order and what information can be captured at a later date. Put simply, the longer the process, the fewer customers who complete their purchase. You can lose as much as 50% of customers who’ve placed an item in their basket for every page of the order pipeline. So, if one hundred people put an item into their basket and there are five pages of order pipeline, you could be looking at just over three orders actually being completed. Imagine the difference if you had only 3 pages – you could be enjoying over twelve orders per one hundred instead of just three…

Managing The Customer Experience

No matter how slick your order pipeline, customers like to know what’s going on - there can be a delay when your server is awaiting a response from your payment gateway that the customer’s card details are correct. Although you cannot speed this process up, you can let your consumers know what is going on, and even if it is as simple as showing a sand timer or a message – explain that the site is still working, just looking for information from another source.

Likewise it is probably worth your while to offer a phone number and a fax number for people to leave their credit card details – although the fear has gone from most web users about the safety of their card details, there still exist some users who feel safer reading their card number to a human being and not entering their details online. You are quite within your rights to charge a surcharge to cover the associated administration costs. Most importantly to lose a customer at the purchase page can be avoided if you provide a phone number – whatever their difficulty you can answer the call, and hopefully save the sale. No number, no sale.

Posted at 11:59pm and tagged with: order pipeline, start up, development, two column,.

December 3rd 2011

On… Registering your new online business

registration

Once you’ve decided that you want to start your own online business, you will need to make a decision about the legal structure of your business and begin the registration process; this can be done in conjunction with your business planning and must be complete before you begin to trade. Each structure has differing legal implications for you and the business so it’s essential to choose the one that is a best fit for your business and you. Below we’ll explore your options:

•    Sole Trader (UK)
•    Limited Liability Company – Sole proprietorship (USA)
•    Limited Liability Company (UK/USA)
•    Partnership (UK/USA)
•    Corporations/Public Limited Company (USA/UK)

Naming your business is a hard enough decision, but it is nothing compared to deciding upon the legal identity and status of your business. Luckily, it is possible to alter the status of a business at any time (with some provisos!), but it is always best to choose wisely, and think long-term in the first place. The status of a business can bring ‘status’ …

Becoming CEO of a plc does sound great, but floating a company is not always best for your business. Choose wisely and ensure that you remain in control.

It is important to note that as a civil law jurisdiction, many of the entity types available in the USA although they share similar names, differ considerably from those of common law jurisdictions such as the UK.

The three main types of entity available in the United States are corporations, limited liability companies, and limited partnerships. These entity types are attractive to both residents of the United States of America wishing to conduct business locally and nationally, and to international entrepreneurs seeking to develop a business presence in the United States of America, or to use the jurisdiction as part of an international offshore strategy.

For residents conducting business locally in the USA, it is generally advisable to form an entity in their own state, for national or international businesses or investors, unless there is a compelling reason to do otherwise, the states of Delaware and Nevada should be strongly considered as these states offer certain advantages. It is strongly advised you seek professional assistance when creating a company in any country.

Posted at 11:23pm and tagged with: registering a business, start up, online business,.

December 2nd 2011

On… Planning to start a new online business? First plan how you want to Exit!

exit

An exit strategy is an indication of how you plan to leave the company in the medium to long term. It may seem counter-productive to include a statement regarding your own future involvement with the company, but actually lenders appreciate that you’ve thought of a possible future scenario, and they themselves will be assessing the exit routes open to them.

An exit strategy could be a:

• Merger – planning from the start to create an attractive company that could be incorporated into another company – often because your business offers complementary products or services, or your market share or customer base is of particular interest to another firm.

• Acquisition – planning from the start to create an attractive company that could be bought out by another company – often for the same reasons as a merger, but in these instances the acquiring company is intent on incorporating your staff, skills and/or customer base or in some cases simply suppressing your brand.
• trade sale – planning from the start to create an attractive company that could be bought out by another company, group or individual – this often results in the brand continuing under new management after your exit

• floatation – planning from the start to create an attractive company that will list on the stock market, appeal to investors and offer them the opportunity to profit from the success of your business.

Even if, at the moment, you have absolutely no intention of selling the business, include an exit strategy stating that the business is intending to remain with the same ownership for the foreseeable future.

Posted at 11:13pm and tagged with: two column, exit strategy, online business, start up,.