VOLUSION Ecommerce

Boot CAMPFEEL THE BURN IN 60 MINUTES

Welcome to the Austin Internet MarketingMeetup-SEO/SEM/SMO/PPC

#ecommbootcamp

Meet the drill sergeants

Molly Sylestine• Helped hundreds of businesses jumpstart their

ecommerce efforts • Favorite ecommerce tool: Free shipping alerts • Favorite blog: Bakerella

Matt Winn • Learn something new about ecommerce in 2

minutes, every Tuesday with Matt at volusion.com/youtube

• Favorite ecommerce tool: Abandoned cart emails• Favorites blogs: HubSpot & CopyBlogger

Who’s with us?

You have

an idea

for somethin

g to sell

online

You have an offline business, but want to get online You’re already

online, but want to sell more

Today’s training schedule

Number crunches

Basic training

Ecommerce circuit

Cooldown & Q&A

Number Crunches

US Ecommerce projected to be a $279 Billion industry by 2015 (Forrester)

61% of shoppers begin their research for purchases online (Website Magazine

By 2014, 53% of total retail sales (online and offline) will be affected by the Web (Forrester)

84% of consumers said they were more likely to check online for reviews prior to making a purchase compared to twelve months ago (Retail Bulletin)

$279B

61%

53%

84%

Why you need to shape up!“A company website is just a basic, must-have marketing tool for the 21st Century.” (Entrepreneur)

Ecommerce levels the playing field between you and your largest competitors

Selling online provides an opportunity to extend your business across geographies

Ecommerce sites allows for heightened

customer relationships and referrals

It’s a businessnecessity!

Why you need to shape up!It’s all about the Benjamins

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 201040000

60000

80000

100000

120000

140000

160000

180000

Ecommerce Sales (millions): 2002-2010

Why you need to shape up!

Ecommerce Retail

2003 +28.7% +3.8%

2004 +26.5% +5.8%

2005 +26.2% +6.1%

2006 +23.6% +4.7%

2007 +20.3% +2.6%

2008 +3.6% -1.7%

2009 +1.4% -8.1%

2010 +15.3% +6.5%

YOY Revenue Growth – Ecommerce vs. Retail

Ecommerce is growing faster than retail

Today’s training schedule

Number crunches

Basic training

Ecommerce circuit

Cooldown & Q&A

1) Secure your inventory

2) Decide on a solution

3) Build your ecommerce site

4) Select a domain name

5) Determine how you’ll get paid

6) Protect your store

Basic TrainingGetting Started in Ecommerce

• Open Source - built from scratch, total control

• Licensed - some control, uploaded locally

• Hosted - updates, security, hosting

1) Secure your inventory

2) Decide on a solution

• Work with something you’re passionate about

• Self-created or from a third party

• Drop-shipping

• Warehouses

• Determine your pricing strategy

• Start with product and category pages

• Move on to information pages to complete the site

• Consider design and branding every step of the way

• Pick a name that is short and easy to remember

• Find a web address that is descriptive of your business

• Decide between .com, .net or .biz

3) Build your ecommerce site

4) Select a domain name

• Use PayPal or Google Checkout at a minimum

• Decide on using a personal or business bank account

• Research and apply for credit card processing

• Purchase a SSL certificate

• Learn the signs of fraudulent orders

• Achieve PCI compliance or certification

5) Determine how you’ll get paid

6) Protect your store

Today’s training schedule

Number crunches

Basic training

Ecommerce circuit

Cooldown & Q&A

4 Exercises to Achieve Success

1. Design

2. Marketing

3. Customer Service

4. Social Commerce

The Ecommerce Circuit

75% a

of web users make judgments on the credibility of a company based on its site design

Exercise 1: Ecommerce Design

Q: Why is site design so important?A: CREDIBILITY

68% a

of US online shoppers agree that they will distrust a site that has an unprofessional appearance

Template/NavigationMake it interesting, easy to navigate, branded and include social media links and contact info

HomepageInclude call to action features, promos and possibly a slideshow

Category PagesMake it clean and subcategories easy to navigate

Design Elements Working on core strength

Social Media

Calls to Action

Easy to Navigate

Branded

ea

Product PagesHave great product photos, good descriptions, alternate views, color swatches, sizes, prices, specs and reviews

Informational PagesComplete your website and give it personality by adding extras like an about us page, a store locator, contact pages and more

Landing PagesUse these to extend your business to targeted audiences via marketing promos, PPC, SEO or featuring specific product categories

Social Media DesignMake sure you have branded yourself across all channels

Design Elements Working on core strength

Exercise 2: Marketing your store

Q: Why is marketing especially important for ecommerce?A: CLUTTER

Registered domains in the US alone (WhoIs)

Internet users around the world (United Nations)

Online advertising spending in the US topped in 2010 (eMarketer)

130,859,083

2 Billion$26 Billion

Increased sales- the most obvious benefit but there are more.

Branding/brand awareness

Improved credibility- appearing in both organic search results and paid search results builds trust with shoppers because it makes your company look like a credible, established, large company

Beat your competition- whether you’re doing PPC or not, your competition is, so don’t let them steal your traffic with their online ads

Get started with PPC/FB ads

Analyze the current state of your SEO health:• Refer to analytics to discover your most popular keywords• Don’t ignore the long tail – leverage it all you can• See if you’re cannibalizing yourself across your website• Compare your progress with your rivals

Turn your findings into action:• Optimize pages and link build for popular keywords• Create content geared toward the long tail• Focus your SEO efforts in specific parts of your site• Utilize keywords for various stages of the buying cycle

Get started with SEO, nowPreparation and patience are virtues

•Increased exposure of products

•Help to qualify traffic by weeding out the window shoppers

•You can target really specific shoppers

•Free: Google, Bing, TheFind.com

•Paid: Shopzilla, Nextag, Amazon (ads)

Don’t forget shopping feeds

Exercise 3: Delivering Exceptional Customer Service

Q: Why is customer service so important to ecommerce?A: RETENTION

Acquiring a new customer can cost 6 to 7 times more than retaining an existing customer (Frederick Reichheld, Bain & Company)

Of customers are willing to pay more than the standard price, if a great customer experience is involved (RightNow)

Of Americans report that quality customer service is more important to them in today’s economic environment, and will spend an average 9% more when they believe a company provides excellent service (American Express)

7X

85%

61%

Happy customers impact your bottom line

Work to increase customer retentionCustomer service is the new marketing

Some ideas to help you get started:

• Remember that customer service is unique to your business

• Find problem areas via customer surveys and CRM analysis

• Segment your customers, give each a specific carrot

• Under promise, over deliver

• Provide special deals to keep customers coming back for more

Exercise 4: Expanding through social commerce

Q: Why is social commerce important?A: REACH

High product ratings will increase likelihood of purchase for 55% of consumers. (eConsultancy, July 2010)

Of users believe a brand should have a social media presence (Business in Social Media Study)

For businesses of all sizes, companies that have blogs have 79% more Twitter followers than those that don’t. (HubSpot)

55%

93%

79%Followers of brands are more likely to purchase (HubSpot)

67% more on Twitter 51% more on Facebook

Grow your social presence

Know why people follow your brand:

1. To receive discounts and promotions

2. To show others they like your brand

3. To receive access to exclusive information

4. To get updates and news about the company

Grow your social presence

Segment your promoters and detractors

Reach out and touch someone

Share good content (again)

Sell your products directly through social media

Don’t be afraid to ask

• 75% of Facebook users liked a brand because they were directly invited (MarketingProfs)

• Place your icons everywhere, provide incentives, run contests, be creative!

Try these ideas!

Today’s training schedule

Number crunches

Basic training

Ecommerce circuit

Cooldown & Q&A

• Send us a your feedback on today’s

presentation to marketing@volusion.com and

we’ll send you a hefty PDF that contains 101

awesome ecommerce tips!

Nutrition Guide

Ecommerce, spoken here

facebook.com/volusion

Linkedin.com/companies/volusion

@volusion

Onlinebusiness.volusion.com

Youtube.com/volusion

VOLUSION Ecommerce

Boot CAMPCool Down – Q&A

The Austin Internet MarketingMeetup-SEO/SEM/SMO/PPC