Feb12

Top 10 Traits of Successful Ecommerce Websites

I have been thinking a lot lately as to what it is that separates online stores that do OK, from online stores that do extremely well. In my 10 years of designing ecommerce websites I have noticed some very clear differences between the sites that seem to do well, and those that don’t. Most of this stuff isn’t rocket science, yet many businesses seem to be getting it wrong. This post is designed to be a little push in the right direction for businesses who feel they could be getting a little more out of their ecommerce website.

1. Your website needs to be updated DAILY

Weekly or monthly updates are not enough if you want your website to reach its full potential. Even if you don’t have new products to add on a daily basis, you need to find a way to keep things happening so that people have a reason to come back time and time again. What about a daily special offer? A blog? Editors picks? Clearance stock? Coming soon products? Pre-orders? Be creative – the more you update your website the more your customers will keep coming back. It’s also worth noting that a by-product of these daily updates will be increased search engine rank. Update daily, and the ecommerce gods will smile on you.

2. Send out regular newsletters

You want to be sending out a customer newsletter at least once a week. What if you don’t have anything new to advertise? Do a mail out on a special offer, coming soon products, or editor’s picks. Sending out a regular newsletter serves two purposes:

  1. It gives you the chance to push special offers and new products, increasing your sales
  2. It raises brand awareness so that customers don’t forget about your website

Also, invest in a good email marketing service and get a high quality, well branded email template designed.

3. Make life easy for your customers

I could talk for hours about user experience, usability and clarity – but the bottom line is this: make life easy for your customers! Understand why they are visiting your ecommerce website – to find and buy products – and make sure they don’t have to think too much in order to do this. The top ecommerce websites all have simple, consistent navigation and excellent customer account facilities (to make repeat ordering simple). You might think that flash animation with music is cool, but trust me; it will only annoy your visitors. Also, have a telephone number in clear view at all times so that if someone does get stuck, they can pick up the phone and speak to a real person.

4. Stay ahead of the competition

Your website should always be evolving, adopting new technologies and moving with the times. This could involve reworking your site slightly over time, or every now and again giving the whole thing a complete redesign. Factor in these costs as part of your overall business strategy – they should not be seen as an unnecessary, unwelcome cost, but as necessity to running your online business. And be proactive as opposed to being reactive. What I mean by that is don’t wait until you’re left behind to start thinking about keeping ahead. Always be on the lookout for fresh ideas and always strive to be the best in your marketplace.

5. Get someone in to manage your site full time

If you run your website as a “sideline” to your main business then the revenue it generates will always be a “sideline” to your main stream of revenue. Successful ecommerce sites have dedicated staff to run them, on a full time basis. A lot of smaller businesses expect their websites to be run by an existing member of staff, on top of their usual duties. Investing in a new member of staff to manage your web strategy on a full time basis may seem like a substantial cost but if they get it right, it won’t take long for you to see the return on investment.

6. Image is everything

It’s cliché, I know. But if you’re serious about reaping the rewards of the global ecommerce market (which is set to double in sales by 2012) then you need to look the part. A homemade site with a cheap logo probably isn’t going to cut it. If you’re currently running a homemade or low-cost ecommerce solution, now might be the time to invest in a professional solution. Remember, a professional web designer understands how your visitors interact with your website and can be a wealth of knowledge when it comes to growing your online business. Choose a web design company carefully, make sure they have the skills to deliver, have a proven track record, and give good honest, genuine advice.

7. PR, PR, and more PR…

Remember that full time member of staff you hired to manage your website? Well, part of their job needs to be PR. In a world that seems to be consumed by SEO, the real value of some good PR seems to be overlooked. Get your site featured on blogs, news sites, take out select ad space with news sites (often taking out advertising space will be more likely to get you featured editorially), and don’t forget about off-line promotion too. Try to build a good rapport with blogs or news sites in your marketplace as these people can be very powerful allies. Finally, get your staff member trained up on pay-per-click advertising – it can be a very effective tool when used correctly.

8. Web analytics are your friend

If you don’t have Google Analytics installed on your site, head over there and get it installed now. You should constantly be monitoring your stats, where your visitors are coming from, and tracking conversions on sales. If you examine these things in depth on a regular basis you will quickly get an idea of what works and what doesn’t. If most people are exiting your site on a particular page (say the cart page) then ask yourself why? If your average page views are down or your bounce rate is up, have a think about what could be behind this. Also be sure to note when you send out newsletters or update your site, as you will be able to tie this information into your analytics trends.

9. SEO is not the answer to everything

It’s amazing how many small businesses think that “tricking” a search engine into ranking them on page 1 is the only way to generate a lot of business. The truth is that if you are relying on SEO to bring in the bulk of your business you are in a very bad position indeed. What happens if Google decides to drop you for some reason? It is not as uncommon as you might think. Putting the fate of your business in the hands of the Google overlords isn’t a viable business strategy. Good quality SEO can be very effective, but don’t rely on it entirely. Also, the good news is that if you’re doing all of the other things discussed in this article, you’re probably well on your way to achieving a good search engine position naturally.

10. Make sure your customer service is second to none

All of the above points deal with having a good website and marketing strategy, but your customer service needs to back these things up. Make sure you get your orders posted out promptly, and that you deal with any complaints or issues quickly and cheerfully. We may live in a world of pay-per-click and SEO but word of mouth is still the most effective kind of advertising there is. As the saying goes, “a happy customer will tell their friends; an unhappy customer will tell anyone who will listen.” Wise words…

Posted in Ecommerce, Tips and Advice
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Feb09

Case Study – End Clothing (Magento Ecommerce)

The following case study examines the End Clothing Magento ecommerce project.

End Clothing Before End Clothing After

End Clothing before (left) and after (right) – it was important to the client that the new site be familiar to their existing customers.

The Client

End Clothing are a long-term Limesharp client. They’ve been with us since day one, and we’ve been with them since day one. They are a small niche fashion store based in Newcastle Upon Tyne, but when it comes to their ecommerce presence, they are anything but small. Stocking top brands such as Lyle & Scott, Fred Perry, Adidas Originals and Levi Vintage, the company has gone from strength to strength and is now widely recongnised as one of the leading online fashion retailers in the UK.

The Objective

The client had outgrown their previous site. As their list of brands continued to grow, the front-end design, commended for its usability, was starting to become slightly less refined. Also administration was becoming a real problem for End. Managing products with a heavily modified version of Cube Cart was time-consuming, and End were limited by what they could do in terms of features. The objective of this redesign was to build a brand new site built on the Magento framework that would provide a solid platform for growth in future years.

Branding & Design

End had an existing logo and brand history. Their customer base loved the simplicity of their old site and its ease of use. This is something we were all keen to carry over. One of the most important aspects of any redesign of an existing site, is that its current customers still feel acquainted with the new site. After much discussion we decided to modify the existing logo only very slightly (adding the word “clothing” to better represent the web address of the site), and to keep the colour scheme very similar.

End Clothing BrandingThe End Clothing logo was tweaked slightly to bring it a little more in line with their new site.

Wireframes were created to play with different layouts and navigation. In the end we went for a very up-to-date layout with drop down menu’s, similar to that of big retailers such as John Lewis and Marks & Spencer. This would give a familiar, simple user experience and also ensure that End could grow their brand list over time without worrying about out-growing the site.

Development

There were a number of bespoke features developed for this project to serve a range of purposes. We used our bespoke “Latest Products” module to display a collection of latest products automatically on the home page, with a link to a page displaying more latest products. This is a small module that has proved useful on a number of projects.

We also integrated a WordPress blog into this site, which powers the Latest News section. This also required further bespoke development to show a collection of Latest News headlines on the home page, along with a thumbnail image, and also headlines in the left column on various CMS pages.

Another interesting aspect of this project was the integration of street level post-code lookup during the checkout process. This allows UK customers to enter their postcode and quickly select their full address when placing their order. It’s much quicker than typing, and avoids any mistakes that might be made by the customer when typing

End Clothing Postcode LookupThe UK postcode lookup feature allows customers to very quickly enter their address when checking out.

Other notable features on this site include the rotating Flash banner on the home page, powered using Slide Show Pro. The client can login and upload images to be added to the banner quickly and easily, without any technical knowledge. We also did a bit of work to the Related Products functionality to randomly select related products from the current category if no products are defined. This saves End time when adding products – if they forget or don’t have time to add specific related products, the system will generate them automatically for them.

The Result

The end result is stunning website with an enterprise level feature set and far more streamlined operations. Feedback from the guys at End has been fantastic, and their new site has been generating quite a buzz in the fashion industry, with a number of their brands commenting on how impressed they are with it. With the new site now online End have raised their game and can further establish themselves as one of the main players in their marketplace.

Find out more…

Posted in Case Studies
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Feb06

Our Magento Wish List

After the great response to our post “10 Things We Love About Magento” we thought we’d follow up with a post about the features and functionality we’d like to see added to Magento in 2009. We’re sure many of these things are already on the teams to-do list but it can’t hurt to give them a little nudge!

So, in no particular order, here we go…

WYSIWYG Editor as Standard

Yes, we too hate WYSIWYG editors. You spend all that time crafting a beatifuly coded site, hand it over to the wrong client and in 5 minutes they can make a real mess of things. However, in the real world, any kind of CMS (ecommerce or not) needs a WYSIWYG editor as standard. There is documentation on implementing FCKeditor in Magento, however we really need this included out of the box (since every time we upgrade we have to re-install the damn thing!). And could we have TinyMCE editor or something better please, FCKeditor really sucks!

Invoice Customisation on the Back End

I was shocked at how difficult it is to edit the PDF invoice and packing slips in Magento. I think I’d much rather have a web page than a PDF I have little, if no control over. We need to be able to control the layout completely, and add our own branding if necessary. This is one area in particular that is, and will continue to be a real pain in the neck when working on real world projects.

Better Product Import

Magento’s product import could do with a little work.  We really need to be able to import custom options and multiple images. Having to go back and put that stuff in can be very time consuming if you have a large product range (in fact we had to write a script to do this for a recent project). It kind of defeats the purpose of product import if you can’t actually import all of the data you want to associate with that product.

Ability to Delete Orders

Our Magento projects can get rather complex and we tend to put through a large number of test orders. This means that the client usually ends up with 20-30 orders on their system before their site even goes live. Do they want these orders on their system? Of course not! Can we delete them? Hell no. Surely a delete button for Administrators can’t be too much effort to add?

[UPDATE 18/02/09: I recently stumbled across a very useful Magento Extension that allows you to do just this. Big thanks to Boutik Circus for this]

Performance Enhancements

A short glance at the Magento forums will find thread after thread with complaints about Magento’s performance. The fact is, Magento is an enterprise level product and does require a high quality, specially configured server setup. However even on a specially configured server, with a large busy site, things can get a little sluggish at times. We’d love to see the Magento team spend some time making performance enhancements especially in the admin area, which seems to run a lot slower than the front-end.

Don’t get us wrong, we love Magento, and understand that with a product still in its infancy its difficult for the developers to tackle everything at once. We’re sure that the Magento team have their own priorities, however these are the things at the top of our list and if anyone from Varien is listening…we’d love you forever for implementing them in the very near future! ;-)

Posted in Ecommerce, Magento
Tagged Comments 9
Jan12

The importance of a good logo and branding

I recently read an excellent article on Web Designer Depot discussing how NOT to design a logo. I won’t regurgitate what was already written there – it’s essentially talking about the shortcuts some businesses take to get a low-cost logo designed, and the pitfalls of adopting such an approach. Great article, well worth a read.

We talk to a lot of people who come to us with a great idea for a new website or online business, and as part of this they want a logo designed. However it does surprise me sometimes how their logo seems to be an afterthought. You spend hours talking through the ins and outs of their project in detail and at the end of it all they say “oh, and could you design us a logo too?”

I think the reason for this is that often, to a client their logo isn’t a large piece of the puzzle that makes up their overall business. It’s their name, in a font, in a colour. However for me as a web designer the logo/branding will set the tone for their entire website. To take that one step further, their logo/branding should set the tone for their entire business. It may not be the biggest piece of the puzzle, but it’s the piece that can make or break it.

To that end, the time/money invested in logo design should be proportional to the rest of the project. If you’re having a £15,000 ecommerce store designed, a £50 logo just isn’t going to cut it. As a general guide, I would expect to spend at least 10% of the cost of your project on logo design. However do keep in mind that really good branding can make a low-budget website look like a big-budget website. So it’s sometimes worth investing that extra cash early on to help get you off to a good start.

Here are a few more interesting articles and blog posts on logo design:

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Dec16

The Perfect Website

Creating the perfect website isn’t easy and there is a lot more to developing your new site than meets the eye. Sure it’s a given that it should look good however there is so much more to it than that. We receive so many emails from customers who only consider cost in the early stages, however it could be argued that your budget should only really be decided upon when you know exactly what it is you want out of your site.

There are a number of questions and factors you should take time to seriously think about when looking at a new site. Write down your goals, aims and expectations so that you have a clear idea of what you want to achieve. This will help to give your web designers a clear understanding of what you are looking to achieve and ensure you both share the same vision.

As with a lot of things in life, careful pre-planning will take you a long way. So before you pick up the phone to ask for a price for your new website, pick up a pen and a piece of paper, and make some notes on the following questions.

Why do you want the site?

It could be to inform customers of your services or to sell your products. The site could also be used as a method of data capture to be used for future marketing purposes. It could simply to be used as a way to promote your companies’ services. It is very important to understand the end-action you wish your customers to take.

What do you want to achieve with the site?

Are you looking to open your business up to a global marketplace? Are you looking to increase new customer acquisition? Will you be aiming to increase your sales and average order value?

How will you measure whether the site is a success?

Will this be number of hits your site receives? Will you measure success on new customers or increased sales?

Who is the competition?

Who are your main competitors? What do you like/dislike about their sites? How do you hope to differentiate yourself from them?

Do you require new branding, re-branding and logo?

Will your site reflect the same image online as offline? Are you looking for your brand to be brought up to date?

What pages do you require on the site?

Are you looking for a small 5 page micro site or a 500 page + site? Are you looking for any bespoke functionality? Would you like to communicate with your customers via a blog or a newsletter? Does your site need an enquiry form or a secure client login area?

For ecommerce sites do you know how many products you have and how many categories you will need? Do you require customers reviews or a customer support section?

Who are your target audience?

Are your audience the same online as offline? Primarily what are you looking for customers to do when using your site?

What is your budget range and when do you need to project to be complete?

Are you flexible or is your budget and timescale set in stone? It is good to have an idea of budget even if you are flexible as the possibilities are endless when creating a site, and it’s very easy to get carried away adding cool features. It’s also worth considering if your project can be broken down into stages, as this could help make the cost much more manageable.

What happens next?

Once you’ve collected your thoughts and written them down you should then contact web designers for quotations. The chances are they will want to have a thorough chat about your needs. Designing a website is not a small task, and it’s important to make sure you have covered everything when providing a quotation.

It’s also important to discuss your brief with a web designer as they will be able to provide insight into your goals. They will be able to tell you what is feasible and what is not, what is going to increase the price dramatically and what will keep the price down. From there you will receive a written proposal and quote, that should hopefully have covered all of the points that are important to you.

A better end result

Asking these questions in the very early stages of planning your website will ensure that the end result will meet your expectations. It’s important to get it right and be confident you have included all desired key aspects of the site. A new customer’s first impression of your business could be through your website, so it is vital that it reflects who you are as a business and what you are all about.

Your website should act as an effective tool for your company – not just an extra expense. Having a clear goal for the website and what you hope to achieve with it will help to ensure that it plays a vital role in the success of your business.

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