Page 32 - Blog

It’s National Fire Prevention Week. It was established to commemorate the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and has been dedicated to education and prevention ever since. This year’s theme encourages people to test smoke alarms every month as smoke alarms are central to giving people enough time to get out safely in the case of fire. For more information and resources, visit the National Fire Protection Association’s site.

Fire prevention doesn’t just apply to your daily life; it applies to your business too. How many times have you heard solving different customer issues described as “putting out fires?” Granted, when thinking in terms of your ecommerce site, we’re not dealing with people’s lives, just their experience and the success of your site. In terms of your website, a potential fire is anything that causes a visitor to have a negative experience or disrupts their journey to conversion.

Potential fires include:

• • 404s, bad redirects, & broken links
  • Slow load speeds
  • Confusing navigation

Do you remember hearing your mother say: “An apple a day keeps the doctor away?” Guess what? She was right. With all the information available about healthy eating, we all know that fresh food is the ticket to a longer healthier life.  You might be wondering, what does this have to do with e-commerce? My answer: everything!

When was the last time you read through your entire site? I bet it was back in the infant stage, when everything was exciting and new. As your business grew, you may have felt sure that your site was near perfection. How long ago was that 2 years, 5 years, 10 years? No matter how long ago it was, this holiday season is the perfect time to freshen up. Ditch the old and outdated and bring in the fresh and exciting.

Much like biting into a crisp apple wakes up your taste buds and makes you feel alive, freshening up your site for the holidays excites your customers and reawakens your business! Make a plan and use this checklist to get you moving!

1. First and foremost,

When it comes to social media, there is no doubt that it’s become quite pervasive. So much so, in fact, that it’s no longer a question of whether a business should be on social media, but a question of how best to do it, and how much time to spend on it.

If any of the following sound like you, it might be time to invest a little more time in social media.

1. You’ve been in business for several years, but have noticed several startups coming on the scene using similar terminology. Grab those social media profiles and get custom URLs using your brand name, before your new competitors take them from you.

2. Your last status update was over a year ago. Social media is a great way to communicate with your audience and a way for potential customers to discover you. Inactivity on your profiles tends to translate to a sense of inactivity and mistrust around your business too.

3. And, all the posts above-the-fold on your profiles

Your loyal customer base is comprised of your most profitable customers. These are the customers who are worth more to your business because they return to purchase from you again and again.

Anyone and everyone can run promotions; however, the key to the success of those promotions comes from knowing your customer. You need to be able to get inside their heads to entice a purchase.

Last week, Apple made several announcements. They officially discontinued the iPod classic, offered a free release of U2’s new album to iTunes users, and more. Of all these announcements, a few of them are particularly important to ecommerce – Apple Pay, iPhone 6 & iPhone 6 Plus, and Apple Watch (explore some theories on why Apple is dropping the “i”).

Without a doubt, the rise of digital technology and continued enhancements has changed our world. Just a few short years ago, a mobile internet was a brand new concept. Now, we have smartphones and tablets that update and improve on a daily basis. Technology is advancing at faster and faster rates to keep up with growing demands; is it any wonder our shopping methods have changed along with it?

eCommerce is all about shopping online and the way we shop online; we want (and expect) to be able to find our desired products online and then make a purchase. How many times have you been in a brick-and-mortar store where they’ve offered to order something online for you because they didn’t have it in stock? And how often have you heard (or said), “I’ll just get it online,” when faced with being unable to find a product in-store?

As pervasive and integrated as eCommerce may be in our daily lives, there are still many common misconceptions surrounding it. On the business side of things, many companies

Ecommerce companies can no longer ignore social media. Social commerce has taken hold and is on the rise. It’s not just a passing fad – it’s a fact. Previously, you could ignore social media if you wanted to and you’d still be okay (your competitors were probably outpacing you and you were missing out on engaging with a large portion of your customers, but you would have been “okay”). Now, not only is social commerce on the rise, but the transactional side of ecommerce is progressively entering the social sphere.

Think about the last time you purchased something online. If it was your first time buying from that site, you probably were given the option to create an account to save your information for your next purchase. If it was your go-to retailer, then you probably just logged in and used one of the payment methods you saved previously.

Enter the CIM (Customer Information Manager). When paired with a payment gateway, a CIM module will offer your customers the chance to save their card for future purchases and manage it from the user-facing admin section. If you don’t already have stored payment functionality on your site, here are four reasons why you should consider adding it.

1. Quicker, easier checkout

Offering the option to save payment information makes the checkout process simpler, while maintaining security. Anything that can do that is a boon to your store. It makes mobile transactions smoother and easier for the mobile user, and it helps out your desktop users too. A quick, easy checkout

When it comes to email, we focus on how to optimize email marketing campaigns for the best performance. But, we tend to forget about managing email outside of a campaign setting. What about your inbox?