Website Improvements for More Successful E-Commerce

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Sitecore Customer Engagement Platform

Website Improvements for More Successful E-Commerce

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Reminders for

Today’s

Webinar

• Webinar recording & slides

:

will be emailed to you within 48

hours after the event

• Discussion:

visit the twitter

hashtag: #LandingtoCart

• Questions:

type your questions

in the chat window to be

answered during the Q&A or

after the event

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Presentation Overview

• Successful online retailers – what are they doing?

• What are they doing on their websites that keeps their

customers coming back?

• Enhancements you can make

• Q&A

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Presenter

Background: Erika Keirstead

Erika Keirstead

Product Marketing Manager, E-Commerce

Sitecore

• Extensive background in Web Content

Management and E-Commerce

• Focuses on improving the E-Commerce

experience at Sitecore from all sides

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About

Sitecore

•

Leader in enterprise-class web content management software (CMS) and marketing platform

•

Presence

Offices in 10 countries worldwide, with Partners serving over 50 countries

•

Customers

Over 2,500 customers managing over 30,000 websites worldwide

•

Recognized

Gartner 2010 WCM Magic Quadrant “Leader” Forrester Wave “Strong Performer”

Gartner “Cool Vendor in WCM” 2008

Microsoft ISV Partner of the Year 2003/2004, Microsoft Gold Partner

•

Supported

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Before We Begin

• Each online retailer is different • From products they sell to size of

operations, countless differentiators

• Today is about website improvements for more successful e-commerce

• Applies to all size, shape, and form of retailer so…

• We’re simplifying things just for today:

– Online retailer – E-Commerce site

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E-Commerce Site Improvements,

Worth It?

• Forrester Research projects US e-retail sales will grow

by 10% each year to $279 billion by 2015.

Source: Forrester Research February 2011

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

E-retail Sales Totals (in $Billions)

$157B $176B $197B $218B $240B $259B $279B

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A Tougher Customer

• It’s not about the lowest price anymore • Shoppers expect more

• Deeper, more personal interaction • Provide personalized and engaging

shopping experiences

• As your customer I want to feel like you know me

• Remember me - show me products that would interest me based on my history • It’s not e-commerce to your customer – it’s

ME-commerce

• With that in mind let’s start talking about enhancements you can make to your site!

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Homepage

• Your virtual front door

• Visitors should be able to tell what you are selling right away • Make it memorable & unique –

this is your brand identity • Don’t overload with text and • Use white space to make

content easy to read

• Good design can lead to

conversion & add to credibility • Differentiate yourself

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Homepage

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Product Information

• Product images – not too small! • Multiple angles or 360° spin • Zoom or enlarge

• Accurate descriptions

• Quick View – don’t leave the page

– Short description

• Video – more engaging than static imagery • Top Seller? Call it out

• Display ratings and links to reviews • Include links for any documentation

– Don’t make them search for a manual

• Display inventory status • Security

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Product Information

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Personalization & Profiling

• Using personalization and profiling tools to drive shopper satisfaction and retention

• They don’t have a crystal ball… or do they? • Smart online retailers are using Web

analytics to get an accurate picture of their customer

– Web analytics is just as beneficial to e-commerce sites as any other web site – Where are they coming from?

– At what point are they leaving? – What are they looking for?

• The more you know about your customer the better you can serve them.

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Consumers like personalization

• How useful do you find personalized retail websites

when shopping online?

• Useful 62%

• Neutral 32%

• Not Useful 6%

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Personalization & Profiling

• The number of online retailers using personalization techniques and tools to create more relevant shopping experiences is increasing

• Everything you need to know in order to personalize is right there in the actions a customer performs – past and present

• “61% of retailers said personalization is among the

most important merchandising tactics in web retailing.” -10th Annual E-tailing Group Merchant Survey

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Personalization Works

• 1/3 of the Top 500

retailers used

recommendations last

year

• 1/2 do this year

Source: Internet Retailer magazine July 2011

0 10 20 30 40 50 2010 2011

% of Top 500 retailers using recommendations

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User-Generated Content

• Everything is social & shared • Customers trust other customers • Uploading photos or videos

• Writing a product review

• Commenting on a blog post or news story

• Providing a rating for a product or service

• If the customer can add it to your site… it qualifies

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User-Generated Content

• Once upon a time when we wanted objective feedback on a product we’d ask our neighbors, friends,

associates or even a passerby. • Consulting product reviews and

other user-generated content is the online equivalent of asking your

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Product Reviews

• 64% of shoppers typically read

reviews before buying

• 39% read at least 8 reviews

• 85% of consumers trust the shopping

advice they get on Twitter

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Mobile Commerce is not Mini Commerce

• According to Barclays Capital the projected growth of

mobile commerce over the next 5 years:

– 2012 : $8.8 billion – 2013: $14.0 billion – 2014: $21.0 billion – 2015: $28.7 billion

• Neilson Company predicts that half of all mobile phones

in use in the US will be smartphones by the end of 2011

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Going Mobile

• Very different from e-commerce site • Only way to know if it works well is

to view the site on each device

• Don’t go there unless you’re committed to retaining the brand experience you have on your e-commerce site

• Your customers perceive a mobile site within the entire brand & company

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Going Mobile

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Going Social

• Social networks are an important part of e-commerce • Between 1% and 2% of e-retail site

traffic in November and December (of 2010) came from social media.*

• Public profiles on Facebook posted by consumers can be accessed by retailers

– Shopper brand & product preferences posted

• A Facebook “Like” is becoming a key factor in decision-making by shoppers

– No time to read all the reviews and ratings – this is a quickie thumbs up, a great to have

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Some Traits of

Successful Sites

• Simple & intuitive navigation

• Don’t lose them at the front door

• Accurate sitemap that makes is easy

to follow

• It’s called a map for a reason, lost

shoppers are hard to find again

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Checkout: Worth Review

• It’s easy to forget how important the checkout process is to the customer

• Provide a Guest Checkout: 23% of shoppers will abandon when asked to register before checking out according to Forrester Research •

• Don’t punish the Guest checkout customer!

Provide ability to track and get order status just as you would a registered customer

• Aim for 4 or less steps at checkout

• Display SSL (secure sockets layer) certificates, security badges, customer & BBB certified links – these encourage trust with customers

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How are Customers Paying?

• How customers are paying online (in billions)*

– Credit card $88.9 – Debit card $57.2

– Alternative payments $32.6 – Prepaid/gift card $13.6

– Store-branded credit card $12.2

* Source: Javelin Strategy & Research, 2009 data

Can you add some flexibility? It could mean more transactions.

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Cross-sell & Up-sell

• Implementing a cross-sell and up-sell

strategy

• Just like the displays at store checkout

counters

– Entice the buyer

– Products must be relevant

• You may also like …

• Customers who bought …

• Discounts and free shipping can push

up-sell and cross-sell

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E-Commerce

Success Criteria

• Personalized shopping

• Mobile & social commerce

• Online experience simulates in-store

experience

• Accurate and up-to-date product

information

Shopper-generated content

• Promotions and emails that are relevant

• More ways to pay and ship

• Real-time order information

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Empowered E-Commerce

• Engage in a consistent dialogue across channels

• Guide the shopper with contextual offers at exactly the right time

• Prompt their route with suggested next stops

• Coordinate their journey in an organized fashion

• Identify and overcome customer interaction challenges

• Understand customer experience at an individual and segment level

• Regularly test offers & promotions

• Target tests against segments to refine promotions

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Step 1: Think

• Like a retailer, that is • Start thinking like your

customer

• Go through your site with a shopper’s eye

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Improvements We Covered Today

• Using personalization and profiling tools to drive shopper

satisfaction and retention

• Attracting and engaging more shoppers across channels

with targeted offers

• Turning browsers into buyers with user-generated

product reviews and ratings

• Reducing cart abandonment and increasing average

order value

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Takeaways

• There is no silver bullet for e-commerce success • Rather it’s a matter of testing and seeing

what works best for you & your customer • “Shop” your own site and pay attention to:

– Product descriptions & imagery – are they accurate?

– Page load times – what are they compared to what you expected?

– Checkout steps – how many are there? When is shipping displayed?

– Run a few searches – not simple ones - and note the results.

– Do you have a sitemap?

– Can you find customer service information?

– Does this site feel secure and protected from fraud? • This is not an easy exercise but it will pay off.

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Questions

& Answers

• Webinar recording & slides:

will be emailed to you within 48 hours after the event

• Questions: type your questions

in the chat window to be answered during the Q&A or after the event

• More educational resources: visit www.sitecore.net/resources for