Don't Push Customers Away

Who isn't trying to attract customers and build the bottom line? Every netpreneur is seeking profitability - why do so many companies sabotage themselves? Because too many businesses aren't built around the customer, says Resource Marketing's Director of Intelligence Kelly Mooney. Resource Marketing's Analyst Watch 3.0 is soon to become the Bible for online customer-driven businesses. We can't give you all the advice this essential document contains, but here are a few key points.

Remove Barriers To Buying

Of course you want customers to buy. So give your site the best possible chance by removing any customer hurdles, Mooney says. "Some of the most prevalent are the ones that revolve around lack of adequate information about a product somebody may be looking at: what color it comes in, how big it is," Mooney says. "One of the things that we found when we shopped at mybasics.com was when we were just trying to buy one bottle of nail polish, they don't package it that way. They only package them in a four-pack which obviously is a supply chain issue, but that's not how customers want to buy." Businesses also have to design a site so that customers can navigate it just about any way they want, Mooney says. "Many times there are labels for things that customers just don't know," Mooney says. "They don't know how a retailer organizes their assortment. They don't know in electronics, what's included in that list or what's included in a category called discovery. Sometimes the language is too vague and the navigation isn't flexible enough to let a customer move forward and backward and deeper within the section that they're in." "There are numerous things just like this that make buying very difficult," Mooney added. "The browsing process is still difficult as well. Just finding something that you may be interested in without search engines that work in a more robust or a more relevant way is prohibiting people from finding what they want."

Master the E-Mail Experience

A customer has bought an item or service from your business - your transaction is complete, right? Wrong, says Mooney. "That's not the case because there has not been a tangible experience for a customer until that item is received," says Mooney. "So the post purchase experience is the most important thing. When I say post purchase, I mean what kind of e-mail did I receive? Can I track my order via phone or can I track it on the web? What happens about returns? Can I return it? Where do I return it? All those kinds of things are falling through the cracks with many of the sites that we've studied." Even worse, many companies even fail entirely to respond to customer e-mails. "I would say roughly half of the companies that we've studied this time, and Analyst Watch 3.0 Included forty-five sites, half didn't respond to our e-mail at all," Mooney says. "There were exceptions that were amazing. Nordstrom's replied to us oftentimes within minutes. Even on a Saturday afternoon, they replied several times within an hour. So their customer service, as they're well known for in the off-line world, did carry over into the online experience."

Learn to Personalize

Customers don't enjoy typing in credit card and address information over and over - why should they? Mooney says sites have to at least adhere to basic personalization, but much more is possible. "It's surprising to know that there's still a barrier on many sites that prevents the customer from having their information saved in some form," Mooney says. "When they come back to make a repeat purchase, some sites force a customer to fill out all that information again. That's not convenience. "Now there are a handful of sites that are stepping out with robust personalization, remembering a customer in terms of preferences, what kind of e-mail you want, how frequently you want that kind of e- mail," Mooney adds. "That will continue to be an expectation on the part of the customer. That will not go away. The retailers that get that part of the puzzle right are the ones that are going to be ahead." If capturing customers online were easy, everyone would be doing it. Finding your market niche and selling to customers is difficult, but it's a lot easier when you've created an integrated, satisfying buying experience. Don't chase away your customers - give them what they want.