eCommerce Success Strategies A Lunch and Learn Seminar Presented by

1. eCommerce Success Strategies A Lunch and Learn Seminar Presented by Patrick Bieser Sr., President Northwoods Software

2. This Discussion of “eCommerce” Is really about “How to Sell Anything” using your Website Applies to All Websites generally and eCommerce Website specifically

3. About Me • Journalism and Psychology Major • 33 Years Computer Industry • 10 Years Building eCommerce • Involved with 25+ High Traffic Sites • Studied, Observed, Analyzed • Lectured on Usability and Contentstrategies • User (just like you)

4. Summary of Today’s Presentation • Why worry about usability • What consumers want, don’t want • How they find you, how they are influenced • Example: A search for cookware • Checkout Best Practices (how not to lose them) • Two strategies for selling online

5. Marketing generates interest Selling generates profits Successful eCommerce Websites… Market a little and Sell a lot

6. Marketing (35%) vs. Selling (75%) • www.canon.com dpreview.com

7. Selling Requires…. • Good Usabilty • Good Content, Good Information

8. Why Worry about eCommerce Usability? • 50% of sales are lost because shoppers cannot find what they are looking for • 83% of shoppers leave sites due to poor navigation and ineffective search • 78% of shoppers abandoned their online shopping carts • If 100 users came to a site ready to buy, only 2 finished the sale – the rest went elsewhere • US online holiday retail sales were over $39 billion in 2007, up 20% over 2006 • 126 million users bought online in the 2007 holiday season, a 6% increase over 2006 • 92.5% of adults research products and services on-line Source: VirtualMarketingBlog.com survey of 40 ecommerce websites, Forrester 2006

9. Good Content - What consumers want* * Based on online user intercept surveys

10. What Turns Users Off • Search that doesn’t find what they want • Content written in marketing speak • Content that looks like an ad • Content that is hard to scan • Content that is skimpy on details • No sort or filter options • Pictures that are too small or too few • Inability to compare

11. Finding &Influencing Online Retailers Branded Sites eMail Marketing Online Review Pay for Click Advertising Review Sites Organic Search Results User Generated Content (2) Landing Page or Catalog Friends & Personal Contacts (1) Social Networking Goal Pages Community Websites

12. Example: A Search for Cookware • Keyword analysis of the cookware market….

13. What are they looking for

14. Analysis • Searches are 10:1 generic terms vs. brands • Strong evidence that people are doing research • Typical pattern of long tail keywords • Cast Iron Cookware

15. A User Looking for Cookware Research Questions: • What are my choices? • What’s the best brand? Why? • What’s the best buy for good quality? • What’s the best buy for my budget? • I’ve got $300 and want 14 pieces – what are my options? • What do other’s think? I want to read good and bad reviews? • What features should I be looking for? • Are there any ratings systems? Are there “Editor’s Choices”? • Etc.

18. The Score

46. Checking Out – Best Practices • Careful design allows more customers to complete checkout. • Filling out forms correctly during checkout is very difficult for most users. • Forcing people to register during their first purchase is confusing and frustrating and drives customers away. • Tell users where they are in the checkout process • Show cart at all times possible • Allow changes to shipping, billing, credit card at all steps