The Upcoming 9.03 Tools Give you Even More Ways to Stimulate your Business
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In one of last month’s newsletter articles, The Upcoming 9.03 eCommerce Release is Packed with New Features, you were introduced to the many new features which will be available on the Version 9.03. While that article is an overview of all the new features, this article will give you some ideas on how you might use some of these upcoming features to stimulate and / or market your business. Product Reviews While this feature is enabled, shoppers on your site have the ability to rate each product on your site. Shoppers can, for example, rate one of your products with four stars and leave a comment such as “This product is great!” Here is an example of the average review for this particular product. This will appear on the pages which list multiple products for each product that has been reviewed at least once:
Below is an example of a review left by a shopper on this particular product. This type of format will appear on the product detail page for products that have been reviewed.
Another vitally important function of this upcoming feature is that you have total control over which reviews get displayed on your site. Since you have this complete control over the reviews seen by your customers, you can use this feature to your advantage to help uplift the image of your business! For example, as mentioned earlier, each product that has at least one review displayed on your site will also display an average review for that product. The average review is based only on the reviews which you have chosen to display on your site. Take for example, product A and assume that 3 reviews have been submitted by shoppers for that product. Two of the reviews are favorable with four stars. However, the third review leaves an unfavorable remark and only one star has been given for that review. Most likely, you will decide to make only the first two reviews visible on your website. Since the first two reviews each have four stars, and the third unpublished review is not added into the average calculation, the average review displayed on your site for this product will be four stars. If you decided to make the unfavorable third review visible on your site in the interest of transparency, then that one-star review will be added into the calculation of the average review. This would result in the average review for this product to be three stars instead of four. You can use this ability to monitor which reviews to display at your own discretion. Some people decide to only allow the most favorable reviews on their site. Others will decide that it is important that every customer has a voice and every review should be displayed. Either way you choose to do this, this feature can be utilized to uplift your business. After you decide which of the above mentioned practices you want to adopt for your site, consider displaying the highest reviewed products for each week on your home page. By using the Featured Items section available in most layouts, you can feature the products which have the highest rating on your site. In your Site Manager, go to Appearance > Customize Home Page > Home Page Items to add the items to your home page and to add customized text such as Highest Rated Products for this Week. If the ability to add customizable text to the featured item section is not available for your chosen layout, then consider placing this text in the Home page introduction text box on Appearance > Store Profile > Store Name, Home Page Intro, Store Directory. Below is a depiction of what this may look like:
The more reviews that you receive from shoppers, the more frequently you will be able to change the featured items which appear under this section on your home page. Remember, changing the content on your site keeps your site alive and non-static and is recommended by most search engines. Because of this, it would be great to rotate the products which are displayed here on a weekly basis, if possible. Similarly, you may choose to feature the most reviewed products on your site. These products may not necessarily have the highest rated reviews, however they display a level of popularity among your shoppers because they are the most frequently reviewed. Abandoned Shopping Cart Promotion As we discussed in last month’s newsletter article on upcoming Version 9.03 features, the abandoned shopping cart promotion is a highly effective addition that is typically only seen on major retailer sites. If this feature is enabled, your site will have the capability to offer promotions on products which your shoppers have left unpurchased in their shopping cart. For example, if a shopper adds item A to their shopping cart and then they leave the website without purchasing the item, you can configure your site to send that shopper a promotional discount on that item after a specified amount of time has passed. Here are some ideas of different ways to use this upcoming feature: Offer escalating discounts as more time passes This technique involves offering, for example, a 10% discount after the product has been left in a shopper's cart for one week. Then, if the item is still in the shopping cart after two weeks, offer an increased discount of 15%. This technique has some benefits as well as some drawbacks. The benefit is that the shopper is offered increased motivation to ensure that their interest will not dwindle over time. The drawback is that some shoppers may become savvy to the fact that the longer they suspend their interest in purchasing a product, the larger the discount will become. This possibility may be an acceptable risk if the outcome is that you have made a sale that otherwise may have resulted in the shopper forgetting their initial interest in the product they’ve left in their cart. Set a deadline date for the offer This technique is useful in almost every scenario because it creates a sense of urgency to use the discount before it expires. With this option, you can add a phrase to your offer such as “For today only, take 15% off the items you have left in your cart.” This deadline time is set by number of hours, so this option will also allow you to create deadlines of a shorter time frame so you can say something like “This offer is valid for the next two hours, so act now and enjoy!” Offer bigger discounts for repeat shoppers who have purchased a certain amount The abandoned shopping cart promotion feature allows you to specify what type of shoppers will be eligible for these promotions. You can set the criteria of your promotion to include new shoppers, those who have recently registered and have not made prior purchases on your site. You can also choose not to include shoppers who have not made previous purchase and include only shoppers with an order history. For example, you have the ability to offer a 25% discount on the items left in a shoppers cart only if that shopper has above $100 in past orders. This technique rewards shoppers who are returning to your site after a successful past purchase. With this type of offer, you can use wording in the promotion offer e-mail such as “Since you are a loyal shopper, please accept this offer of 25% off the items you have left in your cart.” This type of technique has the benefit of contributing to the sense that your repeat shoppers are not only important but that their loyalty to your site is appreciated and is being rewarded. The abandoned shopping cart feature is a robust tool in which several combinations of techniques can be employed. The techniques mentioned above are some ideas that you can try. Feel free to experiment on your own and find out what works best for your unique potential customer base. If you think it can work, then chances are that maybe it will. Product FAQs This new feature is displayed on your store in the product details page for every product. Here, shoppers can type in a question pertaining to that product in the textboxes as shown below:
If this feature is enabled on your site, then in the upper-right corner of your Site Manager you will notice a Messages link. The number of new messages is shown in parenthesis next to this link. If you see a number there, you know you have a new question to respond to. You can view the message by clicking on the Messages link or by navigating to Products > Product FAQs. Further, when you enter the answer to the question in your Site Manager, you have the option of allowing the question and answer to be displayed on your site. By allowing good, pertinent questions to be displayed on your site, you are providing your potential shoppers with useful information which will hopefully encourage them to purchase that product. One way that this feature can be effectively used is to create a comprehensive FAQ (frequently asked questions) section for popular products on your site. This can be done gradually over time as shoppers ask more and more questions about a particular product, or you can start this on your own. Consider registering as a shopper on your own site and submit questions to yourself which you feel are pertinent and important for that product. You can then answer these questions and post them on your site to effectively create a useful FAQ section for your most important products. Using this technique will help you to build a solid base of available information to your shoppers which will likely be beneficial and appreciated by your client base. Over time, you can develop questions and answers for every product on your site. In addition to providing useful information to your shoppers, the use of this feature also contributes to a sense that you care about keeping your shoppers informed. These efforts support the image of your business as a professional, caring entity that makes good efforts to keep its customers informed and up to date.
The upcoming Version 9.03 eCommerce site offers an incredible wealth of new tools that can be used in countless ways to improve and strengthen your business. The ideas mentioned in this article only scratch the surface and mention but a few of the many new features offered. For more information on the upcoming features, read last month’s article The Upcoming 9.03 eCommerce Release is Packed with New Features. If you do not have a Version 9 or if your site does not include some of the mentioned features, give us a call at (888) 806-2081 for information on getting these features. As always, if you have any questions please contact Technical Support via e-mail at techsupport@emerchantclub.com by going to Live Chat Technical Support at http://www.emerchantclub.com/support.html or by calling (877) 384-4691. Thank you, Your eMerchantClub Team
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