eCommerce Mistakes Over The Years

This is a reprint of an article I wrote for The Net Effect.

We all make mistakes. Whether it’s because we’re beginners who don’t know any better or we’re experienced storeowners having a “dumb moment” – it happens to everyone.

Of course you always learn from your mistakes but isn’t it so much better to learn from others so you don’t have to suffer the stress and/or profit loss to gain the knowledge? Absolutely. So here are my big eCommerce mistakes – we’ll start simple and go from there.

Some of these really are like duh… if you’ve made any of the same you can laugh along with me if you haven’t you can go right ahead and laugh at me while making a mental note not to do it yourself.

Whoops #1

The first order I ever received was paid through PayPal. It was simple; I got the order notification followed almost immediately by the PayPal payment receipt. It was awesome; I was on top of the world! Previous to store ownership I had sold on eBay and everyone paid me through PayPal, it worked the same way.

The second order was paid via credit card and so was authorized for the order amount… but not automatically charged. Since I had never had a merchant account or payment gateway and in all my store building excitement I set them up but didn’t bother to learn anything about them, I didn’t realize I had to charge the card myself.

I lost $200 on that sale and only realized it when I went to look in the backend to figure out how to do a refund.  I noticed it hadn’t been charged and the authorization had run out two days before.

Lesson learned, be sure you know how your gateway works or you may not be charging for your products.

Whoops #2

About eight months into the life of A2 Armory I got an email from one of my vendors about a new Braveheart Replica Sword they just started carrying. The price was low and the sword was hot! I immediately added it to the store, created an eye-catching ad for the home page, sent out a newsletter, and put a banner ad on a bunch of ezine type sites (they were still worth something then) – all without considering how many other stores were doing the same thing or the stock my vendor had.

I was able to fill two orders, the rest turned into irate customers who didn’t want to wait six weeks for the next shipment. Not fun.

Lesson learned, always check stock before running a big promotion.

Whoops #3

Finding a new vendor is exciting… all the new products and sales possibilities always put a smile on my face. But I don’t let myself get caught up and forget to make sure I know the vendor’s policies.

I once found a vendor with an awesome line of daggers and swords. I read all their sales literature and it seemed straightforward and acceptable. I added a bunch of their products to my site and since it was well-established orders for the new products started coming in right away. So far the new product line was performing exactly as planned.

I placed the first few orders and received an email from the vendor saying, “None of the orders placed meet the minimum order requirement for drop shipping and so would all be cancelled.”

Wait, what?

So I get on the phone, fighting to keep my cool, to find out what is going on. Apparently the sales literature was incorrect and the drop ship minimum is $100. Each of the items I’d added cost me less than $40 – I couldn’t sell their products unless I packaged them together. All the yelling was for naught, they wouldn’t budge. So I ended up cancelling the orders and dealing with disappointed customers.

Lesson learned, don’t assume anything about your vendor or their policies. Double check everything – at worst you spend a little extra time on the phone, at best you save yourself hassle and upset customers.

Whoops #4

A customer calls wondering what the charge from A2 Armory is on their credit card. I tell them who we are and what we sell and the customer says okay, he doesn’t remember ordering anything but he would sort it out. I say to please let me know if he has any more questions or needs more info about the order.

A few days later I receive a chargeback in the mail describing the order as fraudulent. I have no record of my phone call to send to the credit card company and the package has already shipped. The best I can do is refute the chargeback with my AVS information and the shipment tracking number, usually not enough for this type of chargeback.

I call the customer and get no response, same when I email. I ask that he please either refuse delivery or send the package back so I at least get the product back. I follow up my original chargeback case with a letter explaining that the product had already shipped and the customer was not responding to my emails for it to be returned, hoping they would see that something was amiss. No good, judgment in his favor and I never heard from him again.

Lesson learned, handle all customer issues yourself. Don’t rely on your customer to fix it, do the right thing, or even understand what’s going on. Once you relinquish control it’s hard to get it back again.

Whoops #5

There are problem customers who argue about restocking fees and return shipping then there are problem customers who threaten and/or waste huge amounts of your time.

I once had a customer who I’ll call Logan who fit into the second group. His first order from me was for a full armor breastplate and spaulders. He wrote me an email to tell me how excited he was to be getting his first real piece of armor and how he couldn’t wait to wear it, etc. It was nice – I like getting customer feedback.

After he received it I got another email. This one extremely hostile in tone saying the armor had cut him and was unsafe and if I didn’t take it back for a full refund I was going to be hearing from his lawyer. Whoa. I wrote back asking how he had put it on. After all the armor wasn’t sharp and if it was worn over something (as it is supposed to be) it would be very hard to cut yourself with. The response was more threats so I refunded him and paid for the armor to be returned.

A month later I got another order from Logan. It was for a sword and it was followed by an email asking if the blade was sharpened. I responded saying, “No, the blade is not sharpened but could still be considered sharp. Was he sure he wanted it.” The answer was yes, he was thrilled about the sword, he went on to say how beautiful it was and he was going to use it for display. Okay… I sent it.

Another nasty email asking if I knew what the word sharp meant. Once again my product was too dangerous and if I didn’t pay for it to be returned I was going to be in big trouble. I sent a semi-terse email back suggesting that Logan was handling the sword incorrectly and I would pay for the return again but he was no longer allowed to order from A2 Armory.

The next month Logan ordered again. This time he didn’t even get the chance to send an email about how excited he was. I cancelled his order immediately. He still tries to place orders from time to time but they are never filled.

Lesson learned, don’t deal with these problem customers – cut them off at the knees, they will only waste your time and money.

Whoops #6

A couple months after the Armory started to produce a steady income I decided to open a second store. I brainstormed, did a bunch of keyword research, and found a few drop shippers. I ultimately decided to open a store selling a line of dishware. I was meticulous about all the demand research I did and went in full force to build the store.

I had gotten everything in place – all my products, the site design, the merchant account, etc and it was ready to go. I started promoting it through paid ads and went to work getting it to rank in the natural search listings. In total I spent about two months dedicated to this store… all without looking closely enough at the supply side of the equation.

That was a major mistake. Ranking for every term related to my product line and bidding on the top spot in all the paid listings was my drop shipper. Their retail prices were too low for me to compete with, in some cases even lower than I could buy the items for.

They were unsympathetic when I called about it, saying their prices would not change. It was suggested that I concentrate on other ways of marketing like mail order or print ads and not try to compete with them. Yeah, okay, that’s ridiculous and I just wasted two months of work for absolutely nothing.

Lesson learned, do not neglect to research supply. Demand can be huge but if you can’t compete with other suppliers it won’t do you any good.

Learn from my mistakes, these are all big time and money wasters that will frustrate you and impede your forward progress.

eCommerce After The Holidays

In a way the holidays coming to an end is a relief. It’s an end to the hectic customer calls and emails, an end to extended working hours, an end to the year. Phew, it does feel good to relax.

The tough part is that when the holidays are over all too often the sales and profits plummet. Not a good way to start off the new year. But there’s not much you can do, right? I mean people were buying for Christmas, they’re not in the same buying mode now so it makes sense that sales would drop off… doesn’t it?

It doesn’t have to my friends. People have gotten cash for Christmas, they’re also gotten things they didn’t necessarily want and didn’t get things they did want. And, they ARE still in buying mode – only now it’s for themselves.

So how can you capitalize on the after holiday buying season? You can run after holiday sales and promotions.

Get on the phone with your vendors and find out what they have overstock on, then work out a deal to get you better pricing, and promote the crap out of that product. I’m running a “Get What You Really Wanted For Christmas” Sale in the Armory. As of this writing it is 4 days after Christmas… my sales have not dropped. And I don’t expect them to in any sudden fashion. They will eventually return to normal monthly levels, but not until around the middle of February and the decline will be a slow one instead of the typical drop off the cliff many eCommerce store owners experience.

So use your vendors, they will appreciate the continuing sales. Use your list, make them feel special and get them thinking that they most certainly do deserve to treat themselves. Use your store and your blog to get new customers buying with your super after Christmas discounts.

These tactics work and make the after holiday blow much much softer. If done right you won’t even feel it.

Article Marketing Continued…

All right, so we established that you should be writing articles to get more content out there and bring more traffic to your site. But what do you write those articles about? A lot of people end up writing much less than they should because they get hung up trying to come up with topic ideas.

I’m here to tell you, it’s not that complicated. If you’re running a store, you can write at least one article about each of your products and you should be able to get a bunch out of each of your categories as well. The trick is thinking in terms of story. You don’t want your articles to read like feature list, make them interesting by adding a little something that imparts the ownership experience to the reader. If people are going to click through to your site wouldn’t it be great if they were excited about your products instead of just interested?

I’ll give you some examples of article topics I’ve used for The Tapestry Standard:

How are tapestries woven?

History of the loom

William Morris tapestry history

How to hang a tapestry

How to clean a tapestry

How to get folds and wrinkles out of a tapestry

Mille Fleur styles, what is the symbolism

Abstract art vs Modern art - what are the differences

Complementary colors and room design

I think I might want a tapestry, but I have never owned one before

What should I look for when shopping

What style should I choose?

Why should tapestries hang an inch or two away from the wall?

It’s not hard to come up with a huge list of easy-to-write articles that people will be interested in reading and will find helpful.

Get on this. Next post we’ll talk about the final step in awesome article marketing… outsourcing the writing and distribution.

StomperNet 9/09/09 Launch Tomorrow!

Yes, it is almost here and I am super excited! No matter what type of online thing you do, StomperNet can and will help you do it better. The faculty has been expanded, the structure has been changed, and the resources that have been put together are incredible.

I’m not prone to exaggeration or hype marketing, I am truly excited about what has been put together. Business owners of all types and levels are going to benefit from these changes and that brings a smile to my face.

I’ve always enjoyed teaching – it’s a selfish thing – I like helping people succeed, it makes me feel good. I never recommend anything I don’t personally believe in. Those that already know me know that to be true. It’s all about Good Energy!

Check out the launch here: StomperNet 999.

Are You Article Marketing?

Article marketing is wonderful on many levels. Think about all the ways it can help both your business and your website – they are related but not always one and the same.

First and most obvious. They allow you to create content rich pages to expand your site that are useful to you visitors. That alone is enough of a reason to be writing them. But wait there is so much more…

You can use in-context links to strategically build your internal site linking structure. Internal site structure is all about control. You’re creating these pages with specific purposes in mind and can use whatever anchor text is best to link to the pages you most want link juice going to. Fantastic, but that’s still not all.

These articles can easily be repurposed and used on blogs, article directories, other people’s sites, Squidoo Lenses, etc. So you’re creating content based around your business that will be used on other domains that have the possibility to rank for your keywords. Hmm, this sounds like a path to domination.

And there are still links. Not all the directories will allow followed links but plenty do which means while you’re building this great, SEO friendly content you’re also getting external links to your site. And again, just like on your own site, since you are creating these articles you control the anchor text. Bullseye!

I don’t go out and search for links very much anymore. Instead I concentrate on creating articles because I get links that are surrounded by related content that I can link to any page in my site (not a fan of always having to link to only my home page). At the same time I’m expanding both my website and my external content.

Articles are 100% win.

Start writing people!

Going To Live 8?

Why yes I am.

I’ll be around all weekend so seek me out and let’s have a chat. I’m excited to actually “meet” all of you in person. It’s going to be a fun and informative time. I’m sure I’ll have lots to talk about after the trip.

I’ll be posting updates and such on my social networks, so now is a great time to hook up with me:

http://www.facebook.com/audreykerwood

http://www.twitter.com/a2armory

That’s where I’ll be posting regularly. Hook up with me online and if you’re at Live 8 come say hi. Hope to see everyone there!

Cross Sells, Upsells, Upgrades!

Everyone wants to make more profit per sale. That’s the best way to increase your income without having to increase your traffic, advertising, or product offerings. There are many ways to do this – generally limited only by your imagination and your programmer’s skills. But there is one very common and easy way to get more out of each conversion…

Cross Selling

Actually I like to break it down further into cross selling, upselling, and upgrading. Most store platforms have at least some form of cross selling function available. Take advantage of it. Whether it is on your product pages or in your shopping cart you want to use it for everything you sell, it works. But I’m getting ahead of myself, let me first explain exactly what I’m talking about.

Products featured as “other items you might be interested in” or “other customers also bought” are commonly known as cross sells. They are on every product page in your store and/or your cart page. Cross sells are basically related items.

Products that are add-ons for another product are referred to as upsells. An example would be headphones for an MP3 player. A lot of people lump these in as cross sells, I’m not a big fan of that, I like to use both if applicable and keep them separated.

Upgrades may or may not apply to your products. It doesn’t have to be for electronics only, I sell swords that can be sharpened for an additional amount, I consider that an upgrade. Anything that is part of the product that can be customized or changed is an upgrade.

If you have the functionality in your store you should take the extra few seconds to set it up for each product. By making it simple for your customers to add other products they might want to their cart you’re increasing your chances of making a higher profit. These functions are helpful and shoppers like them – done right they can make shopping at your store more convenient which is something shoppers will remember and come back for.

Here are some examples of how I use cross selling, upselling, and upgrades in my stores.

Some platforms allow you to discount items that are offered as cross sells. For example, in the Armory I sell a cloth arming cap for medieval helmets. It sells for $17 if purchased alone but if a customer adds a helmet to the cart they have the opportunity to buy it for $15. This sort of incentive based cross selling is not only a great idea, it also works very well.

That cross sell takes place on the cart page but I like to have upsells on my product pages too. For instance on every one of my tapestry product pages I offer an option to add a rod to the order. I put it in a drop down box right next the order button, all the customer has to do is select from the box. It’s easy; the customer doesn’t have to even look around the page. You can go one step further and discount those add-on items to entice the customer into placing a bigger order.

I use this tactic with great success in the Armory. The pictures I use for my medieval clothing are mostly of a model in a full knight costume. So someone interested in the tunic being featured might also want the belt, crown, sword, or any of the other accessories that are pictured. So I offer these in a drop down just like I offer the rods on my tapestry site. When I started doing this my “average products per order” increased. Yours can too with very little effort.

Get cross selling going for your store, it is simple and incredibly important for your business. If your store platform doesn’t have a cross sell function see about getting a developer to create one for you. You can increase your profits without more traffic or more ads – just show your current customers what you have to offer and make it easy for them to buy it.

Take Advantage of Holidays

Not just the big ones… all holidays.

I get a lot of sales newsletters around the major holidays – Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc – but not nearly as many around the smaller holidays like Father’s Day, Labor Day, and others of that sort. Why? I honestly don’t know.

Perhaps some storeowners forget about these holidays until they’re upon them. Maybe they don’t think they are big enough to warrant a sale. Or maybe they don’t think their products apply to what’s being celebrated.

Whatever the reason, it’s a bad call. If BestBuy can have a Valentine’s Day sale (and they do) you can too, no matter what you sell. Your products DO NOT have to be related to the season for you to celebrate it with a sale.

Some stores will do better than others during different holidays, that’s just logic, and my Swords For Your Sweetheart sale newsletter might not make me a million dollars but I guarantee I will make me more than if I didn’t send it out.

Then again your subscribers might love the idea. I had a couple emails about my Valentine’s Day sale last year saying the idea never would have occurred to them but the sword was a big hit.

Many people have a tendency to forget the smaller holidays which is another good reason to promote these sales. You remind them with a newsletter geared toward the upcoming holiday and pack it with discounts and you give them an easy solution to the problem of finding a gift. Offer your customers the path of least resistance and your sales will be successful.

So keep on top of your calendar. Know what holiday is coming and start promoting sales ahead of time. Be sure to send out your newsletters early enough so your customers won’t have to worry about their products arriving late. Be creative in what you offer and try to tie into the season as much as possible. Your customers will thank you with orders.

The Social Marketing Time Suck

Social Marketing your eCommerce store can be fun, it can be tedious, or somewhere in the middle. There is also so much of it to be done and so many different avenues to take that you can become so engrossed in it that you ignore other areas of your business.

I’ve had days where something fun or cool was happening on Twitter and I had to use all my will to stop hitting the refresh button and go get some actual work done. It’s bound to happen sometimes but if it becomes a habit you’ll end up wasting time that could and should be spent doing things that make you money.

I’m not suggesting that you avoid social networks, they can do great things for your business, you just have to watch that you stay focused while using them.

You should regularly post and respond to your followers and friends but it should be a get-in-and-get-out sort of thing. If you hang around too long you can easily spend hours clicking through pages, comments, and pictures; or worse get caught up with silly distractions like quizzes and games.

I try to spend no more than a half hour or so a day working on my social networking. I go in, spend a few minutes on one, and then move onto the next. I do the rotation a few times a day and am able to stay caught up with what’s going on and communicate with my networks without it taking away from my work time.

If you do it right, it’s a great way to take a break from whatever main project you’re working on while still doing something positive for your business.

Twitter: Audrey Kerwood

Facebook: Audrey Kerwood