Customer Registration on E-Commerce Sites

Customer registration on your e-commerce site can offer some big advantages to you as a merchant.

MarketingSherpa's Ecommerce Benchmark Guide 2006 notes that most larger retail sites (79%) have some kind of customer registration and profile system, though many (39%) don't do a good job of selling customers on why they should register. The majority (54%), however, explain that registration provides faster check-out blended with some sort of a discount plan as a carrot.

This information peaked my interest in customer registration and profile systems. Some of the better small business e-commerce software programs allow for customer profiles including: Yahoo! Merchant Solutions (formerly Yahoo Store), Storefront, ShopSite Pro, Monster Commerce, Miva Merchant, osCommerce, X-Cart, and others.

Shopping cart abandonment is the enemy of sales. When you have customer registration, you can you contact those who have abandoned carts (so long as they register before they abandon). One of the slickest ways to improve your conversion rate is to send (automatic or manual) e-mails to registered customers who have recently abandoned their shopping carts. Give them a URL where they can complete their transaction, tell them you'll answer any questions on the phone, and perhaps offer a 5% off coupon if they complete the transaction within 48 hours.

The other advantages of customer accounts, of course, are loyalty and marketing. Order history and wish lists are popular with customers. Plus, you'll have an easy way to contact your best prospects -- those who have purchased from you -- via e-mail.

If you do set up a customer registration system, don't make it mandatory or you'll drive away customers. Instead, induce customers to register by offering an incentive of some kind.

More AdSense revenue boosting strategies

AdSense - "Advertise on this site"

If you're already running AdSense, here's a few extra strategies that may help you increase your revenue.

Have you noticed the "Advertise on this site" link under your ad units? Check the link in the Adsense block on the right hand side of this page and you'll see what I mean.

This is a feature of Google's site targeting that allows advertisers to bid for advertising specifically for your site.

The link will open up a page to guide prospective advertisers through the Adwords advertising process. The big benefit for Adsense publishers is that the more advertisers who wish to promote their products and services via your site, the higher the bid prices will be, in turn increasing your revenue.
Customizing your Google AdWords page

Most AdSense publishers I've come across haven't latched on to this tip as yet - you can actually customize the "advertise on this site" landing page - and it's really easy to do!

Items that can be customized are your site logo, color scheme and description.

Here's how to do it:

1. Log into your Adsense account
2. Click on the My Account tab
3. Scroll down to "Onsite Advertiser Sign-Up"
4. Click "edit"
5. Ensure you tick the "Include me in Onsite Advertiser Sign-Up" box
6. Customize!

It doesn't end there; here's some other strategies you can use to boost your Adsense related revenue.
Maximize AdSense revenue - highly recommended
AdSense filters

If you're concerned about particular advertisers promoting on your site, you can filter out specific domains from ad displays
Default ads

If Google has no suitable inventory to display on your site, public service ads such as promotions for charities etc. are displayed; but you can configure your account to display an ad of your own choosing or for the public service ads not to appear at all.
AdSense for Search

AdSense for search allows you to provide a site/web search for your visitors with customized results pages. Aside from displaying results from your site, AdWords advertising units will be displayed at the top of the search page. If a visitor should click on one of those ads, you will receive a share of the revenue.

AdSense for search can be easily configured from your Adsense account interface. Once you have customized your search results page, it's just a matter of copying and pasting a few lines of code into your pages to create the search box.
Adsense referrals

By referring others to AdSense, you can earn some serious cash. Currently, Google pays you US $100 for each Adsense publisher that your refer who reaches US$100 in Adsense revenue. Google offers a wide range of referral buttons such as the one below.
Google also pays you for each user you refer who downloads Firefox and installs it for the first time.

Good luck with your forays into AdSense and don't forget to check out my previous article on boosting AdSense revenue and you can check my blog for other AdSense tips.

Marketing - recruiting and managing affiliates

Return to web marketing and ecommerce articles index
Marketing - recruiting and managing affiliates

In affiliate marketing, there's an abundance of myths on both sides of the fence. Many affiliates believe that it's simple to make a killing from promoting other peoples services and likewise, many merchants think they'll generate massive sales via an affiliate program.

Like any aspect of marketing, this can be the case, but not without some blood, sweat and tears. Even if you have a network of thousands of affiliates, chances are that just a few percent of those marketing your products will be responsible for over 90 percent of affiliate generated sales.

Before we move onto recruiting and managing affiliates, you'll need to have your affiliate software in place - manual recording of referrals just doesn't cut it these days and most good affiliates will not be interested in your program if you don't have an automated system with good reporting mechanisms.

If you haven't already selected an application; my affiliate software/services reviews may be of value to you.

Once your software is set up, you then need to start recruitment! This shouldn't just be left to having a "join our affiliate program" link on your site; you'll need to put in a bit more effort than that :).
Affiliate content pages

On-site content is very important, not only to explain your program to potential affiliates, but to give search engines some fodder to chew on. Many affiliates will use a search engine to search for new programs, so ideally, you'll optimize your affiliate pages for terms such as:

(product) affiliate program
best (product) affiliate program

... and similar.

Ensure you have plenty of content spread over a few pages; I suggest the following pages at the least

- Program overview
- Rates
- Terms
- Signup

The "rates" page shouldn't just have "earn x%", but also examples of earnings based on referral levels. Stay realistic with projected earnings.

By the way, on your "Terms" page, make it ultra-clear that you have zero tolerance for spamming and the use of malware for promoting your program; and make sure you enforce those policies. I'll explain why later in this article.

As with any sales process, it's important to have calls to action scattered throughout your content - after all, you're trying to sell your program to other marketers. Have plenty of signup links throughout, and ensure the signup process is simple.
Marketing your program

Once you've taken care of your marketing materials, go beyond your site and start spreading the good word. Treat this exercise much the same as you would in convincing a client to purchase your products. Slapped together spiels with little thought put into them will not attract the kinds of affiliates you want.
Affiliate program directories

There's many affiliate directories around, and these are an excellent place to begin advertising your program. Simply run a search on the term:

affiliate directory

.. and you'll be on your way. Many directories will list you in exchange for a link back to them, but some may charge you for a listing or want a cut of any earnings that affiliates they refer generate. This is where it's important to have selected appropriate affiliate software; 2nd tier payment functions are very handy in these situations.

When submitting to an affiliate directory, be sure to read the instructions very carefully. Incomplete or incorrect submissions are usually discarded Bear in mind that you'll be competing with many other program listings, so pay special attention to crafting attention grabbing descriptions.

Submitting to affiliate directories is a rather time intensive task; it can take days to complete. If you can spare the cash, I strongly recommend using an affiliate submission service such as AffiliateFirst. AffiliateFirst will submit your program to around 50 directories for $59. This is one of the cheapest services around, but by no means does the price reflect the quality. I've submitted a few programs via AffiliateFirst and have been very happy with their service.

Once your program is listed in affiliate directories, visit them all and see if there's a way to get a "premium" listing at a reasonable rate. With so many thousands of programs listed in most good directories, if you can raise the profile of your listing somehow you'll do better with recruitment.
Personal approaches

If you're looking for "power" or "super" affiliates; it's important to remember that they don't spend a lot of time looking for affiliate programs - merchants come to them :). Seek out the authority sites in your genre and approach them with a personalized note.

The more popular a site is, the more likely that they would already be aware of affiliate partnerships, so you don't really need to spell out what an affiliate program is :). It's been my experience that power affiliates are concerned with a number of issues:

a) Revenue share levels
b) Tracking accuracy
c) Payment reliability
d) Quality of product/service
e) Money back guarantees for people they refer
f) Good lines of communication
g) Extensive promotion resources
h) Merchant reputation

Address each of these points briefly in your recruitment note. It's fine to be excited about your program, but don't overdo it or exaggerate potential earnings - all the information you provide should be realistic. An experienced affiliate can see straight through any BS you may try to fling at them :).

You can also automate the recruitment side of things to a degree using applications such as the Super Affiliate Generator.
Screening affiliates

Once affiliates start signing up, even if you automatically approve them, it's wise to audit your network on a regular basis . The FTC is now making marketers responsible for the actions of their affiliates. If your affiliates run amok, it could literally cost you thousands in fines.

You'll have all sorts of affiliates signing up for your program; from those hobbyists with sites that look like banner shooting galleries, to spammers, to legit career webmasters and marketers. It's important that you review every single affiliate on a regular basis to ensure that the way they are promoting you is acceptable to your company, and more importantly - legal.

The following is a brief list of screening tips:

- Affiliates must have an active site. If they don't, chances are that they may be a spammer.

- Affiliate site content must be relevant to your product.

- Site should have appreciable levels of content. Web sites that primarily contain ads should be avoided, unless it's a popular destination.

- Watch for gambling and adult related advertising on the affiliate's site. If you're not geared towards an adult goods and services oriented market; then you probably don't want to be associated with an affiliate who is.

- Content misuse. Be very clear with your affiliates what content they can use from your site. I've seen cases where affiliates have basically copied all the content from a merchant's site. This can not only cause confusion for potential clients, but can impact on your search engine rankings. By supplying quality content and promotional materials to your affiliates, the incidence of this will be minimized.


Return to web marketing and ecommerce articles index
Marketing - recruiting and managing affiliates

In affiliate marketing, there's an abundance of myths on both sides of the fence. Many affiliates believe that it's simple to make a killing from promoting other peoples services and likewise, many merchants think they'll generate massive sales via an affiliate program.

Like any aspect of marketing, this can be the case, but not without some blood, sweat and tears. Even if you have a network of thousands of affiliates, chances are that just a few percent of those marketing your products will be responsible for over 90 percent of affiliate generated sales.

Before we move onto recruiting and managing affiliates, you'll need to have your affiliate software in place - manual recording of referrals just doesn't cut it these days and most good affiliates will not be interested in your program if you don't have an automated system with good reporting mechanisms.

If you haven't already selected an application; my affiliate software/services reviews may be of value to you.

Once your software is set up, you then need to start recruitment! This shouldn't just be left to having a "join our affiliate program" link on your site; you'll need to put in a bit more effort than that :).
Affiliate content pages

On-site content is very important, not only to explain your program to potential affiliates, but to give search engines some fodder to chew on. Many affiliates will use a search engine to search for new programs, so ideally, you'll optimize your affiliate pages for terms such as:

(product) affiliate program
best (product) affiliate program

... and similar.

Ensure you have plenty of content spread over a few pages; I suggest the following pages at the least

- Program overview
- Rates
- Terms
- Signup

The "rates" page shouldn't just have "earn x%", but also examples of earnings based on referral levels. Stay realistic with projected earnings.

By the way, on your "Terms" page, make it ultra-clear that you have zero tolerance for spamming and the use of malware for promoting your program; and make sure you enforce those policies. I'll explain why later in this article.

As with any sales process, it's important to have calls to action scattered throughout your content - after all, you're trying to sell your program to other marketers. Have plenty of signup links throughout, and ensure the signup process is simple.
Marketing your program

Once you've taken care of your marketing materials, go beyond your site and start spreading the good word. Treat this exercise much the same as you would in convincing a client to purchase your products. Slapped together spiels with little thought put into them will not attract the kinds of affiliates you want.
Affiliate program directories

There's many affiliate directories around, and these are an excellent place to begin advertising your program. Simply run a search on the term:

affiliate directory

.. and you'll be on your way. Many directories will list you in exchange for a link back to them, but some may charge you for a listing or want a cut of any earnings that affiliates they refer generate. This is where it's important to have selected appropriate affiliate software; 2nd tier payment functions are very handy in these situations.

When submitting to an affiliate directory, be sure to read the instructions very carefully. Incomplete or incorrect submissions are usually discarded Bear in mind that you'll be competing with many other program listings, so pay special attention to crafting attention grabbing descriptions.

Submitting to affiliate directories is a rather time intensive task; it can take days to complete. If you can spare the cash, I strongly recommend using an affiliate submission service such as AffiliateFirst. AffiliateFirst will submit your program to around 50 directories for $59. This is one of the cheapest services around, but by no means does the price reflect the quality. I've submitted a few programs via AffiliateFirst and have been very happy with their service.

Once your program is listed in affiliate directories, visit them all and see if there's a way to get a "premium" listing at a reasonable rate. With so many thousands of programs listed in most good directories, if you can raise the profile of your listing somehow you'll do better with recruitment.
Personal approaches

If you're looking for "power" or "super" affiliates; it's important to remember that they don't spend a lot of time looking for affiliate programs - merchants come to them :). Seek out the authority sites in your genre and approach them with a personalized note.

The more popular a site is, the more likely that they would already be aware of affiliate partnerships, so you don't really need to spell out what an affiliate program is :). It's been my experience that power affiliates are concerned with a number of issues:

a) Revenue share levels
b) Tracking accuracy
c) Payment reliability
d) Quality of product/service
e) Money back guarantees for people they refer
f) Good lines of communication
g) Extensive promotion resources
h) Merchant reputation

Address each of these points briefly in your recruitment note. It's fine to be excited about your program, but don't overdo it or exaggerate potential earnings - all the information you provide should be realistic. An experienced affiliate can see straight through any BS you may try to fling at them :).

You can also automate the recruitment side of things to a degree using applications such as the Super Affiliate Generator.
Screening affiliates

Once affiliates start signing up, even if you automatically approve them, it's wise to audit your network on a regular basis . The FTC is now making marketers responsible for the actions of their affiliates. If your affiliates run amok, it could literally cost you thousands in fines.

You'll have all sorts of affiliates signing up for your program; from those hobbyists with sites that look like banner shooting galleries, to spammers, to legit career webmasters and marketers. It's important that you review every single affiliate on a regular basis to ensure that the way they are promoting you is acceptable to your company, and more importantly - legal.

The following is a brief list of screening tips:

- Affiliates must have an active site. If they don't, chances are that they may be a spammer.

- Affiliate site content must be relevant to your product.

- Site should have appreciable levels of content. Web sites that primarily contain ads should be avoided, unless it's a popular destination.

- Watch for gambling and adult related advertising on the affiliate's site. If you're not geared towards an adult goods and services oriented market; then you probably don't want to be associated with an affiliate who is.

- Content misuse. Be very clear with your affiliates what content they can use from your site. I've seen cases where affiliates have basically copied all the content from a merchant's site. This can not only cause confusion for potential clients, but can impact on your search engine rankings. By supplying quality content and promotional materials to your affiliates, the incidence of this will be minimized.

- Misrepresentation of your products and services. If an affiliate has really hyped up your products and made outlandish claims, there's a possibility that the people they refer won't even bother to read the content on your own site - they'll just go ahead and purchase. That being the case, you may find yourself in a nasty position when the client finds that the product or service didn't perform "as advertised".


Return to web marketing and ecommerce articles index
Marketing - recruiting and managing affiliates

In affiliate marketing, there's an abundance of myths on both sides of the fence. Many affiliates believe that it's simple to make a killing from promoting other peoples services and likewise, many merchants think they'll generate massive sales via an affiliate program.

Like any aspect of marketing, this can be the case, but not without some blood, sweat and tears. Even if you have a network of thousands of affiliates, chances are that just a few percent of those marketing your products will be responsible for over 90 percent of affiliate generated sales.

Before we move onto recruiting and managing affiliates, you'll need to have your affiliate software in place - manual recording of referrals just doesn't cut it these days and most good affiliates will not be interested in your program if you don't have an automated system with good reporting mechanisms.

If you haven't already selected an application; my affiliate software/services reviews may be of value to you.

Once your software is set up, you then need to start recruitment! This shouldn't just be left to having a "join our affiliate program" link on your site; you'll need to put in a bit more effort than that :).
Affiliate content pages

On-site content is very important, not only to explain your program to potential affiliates, but to give search engines some fodder to chew on. Many affiliates will use a search engine to search for new programs, so ideally, you'll optimize your affiliate pages for terms such as:

(product) affiliate program
best (product) affiliate program

... and similar.

Ensure you have plenty of content spread over a few pages; I suggest the following pages at the least

- Program overview
- Rates
- Terms
- Signup

The "rates" page shouldn't just have "earn x%", but also examples of earnings based on referral levels. Stay realistic with projected earnings.

By the way, on your "Terms" page, make it ultra-clear that you have zero tolerance for spamming and the use of malware for promoting your program; and make sure you enforce those policies. I'll explain why later in this article.

As with any sales process, it's important to have calls to action scattered throughout your content - after all, you're trying to sell your program to other marketers. Have plenty of signup links throughout, and ensure the signup process is simple.
Marketing your program

Once you've taken care of your marketing materials, go beyond your site and start spreading the good word. Treat this exercise much the same as you would in convincing a client to purchase your products. Slapped together spiels with little thought put into them will not attract the kinds of affiliates you want.
Affiliate program directories

There's many affiliate directories around, and these are an excellent place to begin advertising your program. Simply run a search on the term:

affiliate directory

.. and you'll be on your way. Many directories will list you in exchange for a link back to them, but some may charge you for a listing or want a cut of any earnings that affiliates they refer generate. This is where it's important to have selected appropriate affiliate software; 2nd tier payment functions are very handy in these situations.

When submitting to an affiliate directory, be sure to read the instructions very carefully. Incomplete or incorrect submissions are usually discarded Bear in mind that you'll be competing with many other program listings, so pay special attention to crafting attention grabbing descriptions.

Submitting to affiliate directories is a rather time intensive task; it can take days to complete. If you can spare the cash, I strongly recommend using an affiliate submission service such as AffiliateFirst. AffiliateFirst will submit your program to around 50 directories for $59. This is one of the cheapest services around, but by no means does the price reflect the quality. I've submitted a few programs via AffiliateFirst and have been very happy with their service.

Once your program is listed in affiliate directories, visit them all and see if there's a way to get a "premium" listing at a reasonable rate. With so many thousands of programs listed in most good directories, if you can raise the profile of your listing somehow you'll do better with recruitment.
Personal approaches

If you're looking for "power" or "super" affiliates; it's important to remember that they don't spend a lot of time looking for affiliate programs - merchants come to them :). Seek out the authority sites in your genre and approach them with a personalized note.

The more popular a site is, the more likely that they would already be aware of affiliate partnerships, so you don't really need to spell out what an affiliate program is :). It's been my experience that power affiliates are concerned with a number of issues:

a) Revenue share levels
b) Tracking accuracy
c) Payment reliability
d) Quality of product/service
e) Money back guarantees for people they refer
f) Good lines of communication
g) Extensive promotion resources
h) Merchant reputation

Address each of these points briefly in your recruitment note. It's fine to be excited about your program, but don't overdo it or exaggerate potential earnings - all the information you provide should be realistic. An experienced affiliate can see straight through any BS you may try to fling at them :).

You can also automate the recruitment side of things to a degree using applications such as the Super Affiliate Generator.
Screening affiliates

Once affiliates start signing up, even if you automatically approve them, it's wise to audit your network on a regular basis . The FTC is now making marketers responsible for the actions of their affiliates. If your affiliates run amok, it could literally cost you thousands in fines.

You'll have all sorts of affiliates signing up for your program; from those hobbyists with sites that look like banner shooting galleries, to spammers, to legit career webmasters and marketers. It's important that you review every single affiliate on a regular basis to ensure that the way they are promoting you is acceptable to your company, and more importantly - legal.

The following is a brief list of screening tips:

- Affiliates must have an active site. If they don't, chances are that they may be a spammer.

- Affiliate site content must be relevant to your product.

- Site should have appreciable levels of content. Web sites that primarily contain ads should be avoided, unless it's a popular destination.

- Watch for gambling and adult related advertising on the affiliate's site. If you're not geared towards an adult goods and services oriented market; then you probably don't want to be associated with an affiliate who is.

- Content misuse. Be very clear with your affiliates what content they can use from your site. I've seen cases where affiliates have basically copied all the content from a merchant's site. This can not only cause confusion for potential clients, but can impact on your search engine rankings. By supplying quality content and promotional materials to your affiliates, the incidence of this will be minimized.

- Misrepresentation of your products and services. If an affiliate has really hyped up your products and made outlandish claims, there's a possibility that the people they refer won't even bother to read the content on your own site - they'll just go ahead and purchase. That being the case, you may find yourself in a nasty position when the client finds that the product or service didn't perform "as advertised".

Affiliate marketing - software

Looking for software or services to manage your affiliate program and commission tracking? Read our guide and review
Combating affiliate fraud

Affiliate fraud has been on the increase over the last couple of years unfortunately; another good reason to regularly screen your affiliate base.

The main types of fraud:

Malware: Some affiliates have developed software that is installed on a users machine, usually as part of a freebie download. When a person clicks on an affiliate link, the true affiliate's id is replaced with the fraudster's. If the malware application is widely used, this can result in genuine affiliates losing interest in your program.

If you see a particular affiliate generating a large number of sales from various sites that aren't listed in their profile, this may be the result of malware.

Fake purchases: If you have a high value product that returns large commissions to affiliates, you may find some unscrupulous parties signing up for your program, then using stolen credit card information to purchase products via their affiliate links.

To combat this, ensure that payment of commissions occurs well after the sale, but not so long that other affiliates are discouraged from signing up - 30 days (aka NET 30) after the end of the month in which a sale is made is sufficient and pretty much industry standard.
Communicating with your affiliates

Good affiliates are usually busy people - they can easily forget about your products and services. Over time, your offers can wind up in less visited areas of sites or accidentally deleted.

It's really important to stay in contact with your affiliates, especially the high performers. Don't wait for them to contact you, because if you do, it usually means they are reporting a problem. By taking the time to regularly make contact with your affiliate marketing sales force, you are demonstrating that you recognize their efforts and you are interested in the partnership.

You don't have to have a new product as an excuse to contact your power affiliates. Even just a brief note to say "hi" and to ask if they need anything can go a long way. Also use the opportunity for feedback on your program.

Managing an affiliate program is definitely not a task you can fully automate, the human element is vitally important in order to protect the integrity of your brand and also to ensure your affiliate marketers are happy. After all, happy affiliates are more productive, and the more money they are making, the more money that your company is making also :).

Instant messaging and live chat etiquette tips

Messages should be short and to the point.

Many Instant Messaging services limit the amount of text that can be sent in a single message and thankfully so :). There's nothing worse that receiving a 500 word IM message where the writer could have consolidated it into couple of dozen words. Again, bear in mind that you don't know what's happening on the other end, nor the other person's reading abilities or attention span. Keep your messages brief and relevant.
Don't "SHOUT"

TYPING YOUR MESSAGES IN UPPERCASE is extremely rude - it's considered shouting and very aggressive. If you're a slow typist, stick with all lowercase.
Give people time to respond

"Machine gun" messaging is a really good way to get people to totally ignore you in future. Multiple questions sent to a recipient before they've had a chance to answer can seem more like an interrogation rather than a conversation. Pose a question, then give the other person the opportunity to respond - they may not be as fast a typist as you or may have been distracted. Most IM and live chat applications these days will show in the status bar if the other person is typing out a response. As a courtesy, you should also only ask a single question in each message and acknowledge the person's answer when they do respond.
Remain polite and non-judgemental

While you may spend the majority of your life on a keyboard, I'm told there's many people who don't :). Not only may these people be slow to respond, but their responses may seem too brief, curt or bordering on what appears to be illiteracy! Try not to judge the person based on your initial conversations. If a person seems to be abrupt, there's no need to match the abruptness; remain professional but polite. Just because someone else may not use the terms "please" and "thank you", it's no reason for you not to.
Pay attention

If a person has taken the time to request a live chat with you; give them your attention. You know what it's like at a store when the person is serving you and also speaking on the phone; it's just plain rude.

Wherever possible, give the person you are communicating with your undivided attention. It's not just a sign of respect, but if you have multiple conversations happening or are allowing other issues to distract you, you may miss an important point in the other person's messages or lose the gist of the conversation.
Jargon, slang and abbreviations

Jargon, abbreviations and slang used in live chat and instant messaging conversations can help reduce keystrokes, but may come across as being unprofessional to the person you are communicating with. Worse still, if the other person isn't familiar with the lingo, it may totally confuse. Until you get to know the person better, or you see them using the same lingo, best to steer clear of it.
Humor - be cautious

Just as with email communications, be very careful about the use of humor in live chat and instant messaging communications. In fact, in initial business conversations steer clear of jokes etc. unless the other party initiates them, and even then be careful as to how far you push it. There are all sorts of cultural and personal differences among the population, so what may seem funny to you may be considered weak or even offensive to others.
Use emoticons

Most IM and Live Chat programs include emoticon features. Emoticons are a good way to clarify the feeling attached to a message. If you are going to joke with the other party, a smiley :) is a good way to clarify that's exactly what it is.
Don't use custom fonts, text sizes and colors

You might think that your message texts look groovy in 22pt. hot pink, but think of the other person. I've had some conversations where the other person has decided to be "creative" and I've very nearly had to wear sunglasses :). Just stick with standard type/size/color messaging fonts.
Probing questions

It's quite amazing what types of information people will ask over IM - including very personal questions or questions relating to business that would be considered very confidential. Don't ask such probing questions unless you know the party very well or it's directly related to the service/product you are offering - start digging too deep with a new contact about their business or personal life and you may scare them off.
Be careful with confidential information

Instant messaging and live chat applications are not very secure by default. If you need to relay or receive confidential information, some applications will allow you to run secure IM sessions - check the application help file for that feature.

In regards to live chat software, it's always best to run it via an SSL (https://) connection. While this may slow down sending and receiving as the data will need be encrypted and decrypted, it will demonstrate to your clients that you take security seriously.
Using canned text

Many live chat software applications have features that allow for storing texts that are used often; such as a response to a commonly asked question - this is called "canned" text. You select the title of the text you want, click a button and it then appears in your message window ready to send.

Canned text is a great time saving feature, but one that is routinely abused. Canned text is fine if it applies 100% to the question that the person has asked, but in most instances it should be edited to suit the situation - use canned text with care.
Think before hitting the enter key

I've been in a number of IM conversations where things become a little heated, but I always try to stop and think before hitting the enter key.

With email, you may have a few minutes before your response is sent, but with IM and Live Chat, hit that button and it's out there. So much damage is done through people not taking a few more seconds to consider the effect what they have written may have on a situation.

If you're in a conversation that's getting a little too fiery, either break it off to reconvene a little later, or finish it face-to-face or via the phone. As with email, Instant Messaging conversations lack the advantages of physical signals such as body language and vocal intonation. In situations where emotions are running high, one wrong word can turn a difficult situation into explosive.
Unexpected events

Before sending a file, image or "pushing" the person you're messaging to a particular web page; warn them/ask their permission first. With so much nasty stuff happening on the web these days, people are understandably apprehensive when something occurs during a conversation that isn't expected.
Ending a conversation

It's important to properly end an IM conversation - you may think the chat is over, but the other person may not. While you're off doing other things, they may be sitting there staring at the screen waiting for further communication from you :).

At the end of the conversation, summarize the discussion and points to be actioned, ask the other person if they have any more questions and if not, thank them for their time.
Use availability status features wisely

All Instant Messaging applications allow you to set your status; e.g. "available", "away" etc. and you can also customize status messages - use these features (wisely). If you're set to "available" but you are in fact away from the computer you can really tick people off while they sit and wait for a response that will never come :).

With live chat software, there's usually 2 status settings - "online" or "offline". When in offline status, the live chat button on your site will usually invited the person to leave a message. As with instant messaging, be sure to set your software correctly, bearing in mind that the more often you are available for live chat, the better conversions you'll experience - it really is a great way to improve your online sales.
Monitoring live chat conversations

If you run an online business where multiple staff members are engaging in live conversations with clients, take the time to review conversations for quality control purposes. These people are representing your company and you need to ensure that they are relaying the type of image regarding your operations that you want. Most live chat software applications allow for the storage and retrieval of transcripts; some will even send the transcript to the software administrator automatically via email.

Finally, as with email, bear in mind that messaging sessions can be stored, then copied and pasted elsewhere. I've seen many IM/live chat conversations being posted up around the web on forums etc. much to the embarassment of the company or persons being targeted. The term "confidential" is somewhat rubbery these days, so again, think before you hit that enter key :).

12 tips for online merchants for requesting support from providers

As webmasters and site owners, we are also consumers - we buy advertising and marketing services, software, hosting; in fact, as a group I'd say were are right up there in terms of average dollars spent online.

Even though we're familiar with the ways of the web, many of us still have challenges when requesting support via email from other merchants, suppliers and providers; particular in relation to software or other online services.

There's nothing worse than waiting hours for support request to be answered, only to receive a response that doesn't solve the problem. It's not always the merchant's fault - often it's a PEBCAK issue on your end (Problem Exists Between Chair and Keyboard) or it's a case of not describing accurately what the actual problem is. Take the time from the outset to get your initial support request right - it may save you much frustration.
1. What is the troublesome product/service?

Often I've seen one-line support requests such as "it doesn't work when I click the link", or "it's broken". Huh? What doesn't work and what link? Just because a web site advertises a single product, it doesn't mean the company behind the product doesn't have others - be specific in which product or service is affected, including the version number.
2. What operating system/browser are you using

It can be of great assistance to a support team to know what type of system you are running. For instance, in relation to web based applications, it's not unusual for certain apps not to work with specific browsers. Provide relevant details regarding any software that interacts with the service or application.
3. When did the problem start occurring

This is an important piece of information, especially when accompanied by a description of any changes you recently made to the system - regardless of whether you think it's related or not. During my servicing/hardware days, I would ask the question - "has anything changed on your system since just prior to this occurring", and get the response "No.". Hours later I'd find that something had changed, but the client didn't mention it because they thought it wouldn't have been related. In short, if you've found it necessary to have someone else try and fix your issue, answer any questions they ask - don't leave stuff out - they are the experts and will discern what's important and what isn't :).
4. How to reproduce the problem

Try to provide details of how the support team might be able to reproduce the error at their end. Computers and software are a little different to physical goods as there's so many more different combinations of things that can go wrong.
5. What have you done to try and fix the problem?

As we're mostly pretty resourceful people, we'll have a tendency to try and fix a problem ourselves before approaching support. It's a good idea to let the support team know exactly what you've done/checked already for two reasons:

a) It can save them time in trying the same possible solution or suggesting to you the same.
b) By trying to "fix" the problem, you may have actually dug yourself in deeper and they'll need to undo your work :).
6. What is your name/username?

Support teams don't solve issues by osmosis - they need basic information about you and your account. If you send a support request with an abbreviated name or just a first name and you're using a different email address from the one you registered with; you may have instantly created a hurdle that the support team has to jump through. If they can't find your account easily, they will write back to you asking for more details - more time wasted for both parties.
7. Quoting support replies in full

Many companies use support ticket systems which allow them to keep track of all the communications relating to a thread. That being the case, if you receive an autoresponse after initially submitting a ticket - read it. Quite often you'll find that the autoresponse specifically request that you don't reply with the full thread. The reason for this is that it can make a support thread in the merchants system unbelievably long. In instances where a ticketing system is used, you will also be provided with a password to view the full thread.
8. Send your request in plain text

As a security feature, many ticket systems don't allow for the display of HTML or scripting. While the system will strip out HTML code, it can still leave your request looking like a mess. This makes it more difficult for the support team to decipher the message. Wherever possible, just send your support request in plain text.
9. Don't send attachments initially

As another security measure, ticket systems may automatically strip off attachments - it's best to ask the support team that if they require screenshots etc; the email address of where you should send them to. Also, be considerate with your attachments when you do send them. A 30 megabtye screenshot won't win you any friends :).
10. Flagging things as urgent

Be really careful in flagging issues as being urgent - this should only be done when a problem is mission critical. If you continue to submit support requests with urgent flags and they really aren't, sooner or later the support team will give you less priority; usually around the time that you *really* need support urgently.
11. Keep it polite

Speak to a support team the way you would like to be addressed. They are human - by insulting and cursing, you're not setting up a very good environment to have your issues addressed in a timely manner. In many cases, your request will go to the bottom of the pile for a manager to review. That being the case, if the manager decides that your tone is way out of line - you may get a surprise and be told that your business is no longer appreciated. This is a stance that I take with people, and I encourage other managers to do the same. Life is too short to tolerate unnecessary abuse and your patronage will not be missed.

There's nothing wrong with expressing displeasure, just do so tactfully.
12. Lodging a complaint

Not everything will always go well even if you do follow all these guidelines and you're well within your rights to lodge a complaint. Complaints are a good thing as they give a company the opportunity to improve processes and alert management to a possible trend in support processes that can damage a company.

Probably the best way to lodge a complaint is in a response to the support team that you politely, but firmly, demand that the issue to be escalated to a manager, that the manager review the communication exchange to date and that you also be provided with the manager's contact details. If the manager is competent, he will soon identify that you're not just another loony customer threatening to sue, but that you're a logical, reasonable person who has a valid complaint. If he or she doesn't, then really, you don't want to be doing business with that company anyway - it's a sure sign of even worse things to come.
Special note - using "I'll sue"

I don't know how many times I've heard this in the last decade - and it's usually in connection with user error. I know in some parts of the world saying "I'll sue" is a little like saying hello, but my advice is to *never, ever* threaten to sue unless you fully intend to and have the means to. It's a little like the boy who cried wolf and will often backfire. I believe that in all my years online, I have only threatened legal action in regards to a supplier twice, and, yes, my lawyer was standing by ready to act on my behalf in each instance.

If you're finding yourself threatening to sue a provider every other day, you're either the most unluckiest person in the world or perhaps the attitude problem lies with you rather than the merchants you deal with :).

These tips may appear to be a lot to think about before submitting a support request; but if it decreases the amount of time you spend in back and forth overall, then surely the effort is worth it. Less time = less money lost.

As mentioned, following these tips won't ensure an excellent and speedy level of support in every instance and with every company, but they will definitely help towards that goal.

Think of your own online business and the frustrations you experience with clients - surely you don't wish to inflict the same upon a fellow merchant or provider? It just takes a little thought and a little extra time; but everyone wins and it helps to promote a more friendly online business environment.

Review: 120 Top Tips

Running your own e-commerce site can be difficult. Keeping up with trends, security problems, increasing or decreasing sales and marketing tricks can overwhelm many business owners. Wouldn't it be nice to have a handy guide to help you out once in a while? Fortunately, the folks at Actinic have done just that with Over 120 Top Tips for Running an Ecommerce Web Site.
Based in the United Kingdom, Actinic is an e-commerce Web developer specializing in solutions for small-to-medium-sized businesses. CEO Chris Barling and sales manager Bruce Townsend compiled what they consider to be the basics of running a successful e-commerce site, whether you're a newbie or old hat. "Top Tips," while small and sometimes redundant, is an ideal guide for any e-commerce business owner who needs a quick refresher or a new idea.

"In this guide we share the basic steps to setting up shop on the Web, together with the key lessons we have learned that can make the difference between success and failure," they write.

"120 Top Tips" is comprised of six chapters: Introduction to Selling Online, Marketing Your Web Site, Security and the Law, Shipping, Customer Relationship Management and Last Thoughts.

The beginning of Chapter One takes the reader through a necessary reality check every budding entrepreneur should think about. For example, "Make sure that e-commerce is right for you." Just because you sell electronics doesn't mean it's a good idea to do so online, given there are literally hundreds or thousands of established sites selling the exact same products.

Other tips in this section are more obvious, like making sure you control your costs, use technology solutions that already work (don't re-invent the wheel!) and find a reliable host. Even the decision to do everything yourself or outsource your operations needs serious consideration.

The authors focus (rightly so) a lot on security. Con artists are coming up with new tricks every day and it's important that experienced and not-so-experienced businesses owners make security a top priority or risk losing thousands of dollars — or even their entire business. For example, the authors urge, "It is sensible for merchants to put anti-fraud policies in place such as phoning to confirm orders that are (of) a particularly high value or that come from parts of the world more prone to fraud."

While this guide contains plenty of tips, the authors are guilty of throwing in answers to frequently asked questions ("Is e-commerce profitable?") and giving their opinions. There's also a bit of redundancy throughout the guide - which, it can be argued, is a good thing given that certain basics need to be drilled into any e-commerce business owner's head (again, think security).

My favorite section of "120 Top Tips" contains marketing advice for attracting buyers to an online store. Many of the tips are basic - but important to get right from the very beginning. Such as "Ask the question, what's working?" and "Learn from the Success of Others."

"Keep an eye on your competitors, and on successful sites in other market sectors. Don't just copy them; but do learn from what they are doing , and think about how you can adapt good ideas in appropriate ways," say the authors on learning from others.

Other tips they mention go largely ignored by many business owners online. But if followed, might yield plenty of benefit. For example, "Use forums and newsgroups."

"Provided that you participate responsibly and provide genuinely helpful advice, you can get the chance to talk about your company, products and offerings. In fact, done skillfully, people will end up asking you for information on your products and services, and that is really powerful," the authors advise. This doesn't mean you should spam hundreds of online forums. In other words, establish yourself as an expert and reliable resource and people will turn to you when they're ready to buy.

Readers must keep in mind that Actinic is based in the UK and some of the language is British English. There are also numerous references to British Pounds and the Euro, as well as the European Value Added Tax (VAT). For non-European readers, some of the information may be irrelevant, but some of the lessons translate no matter where you are. For example, you better make sure your sales tax structure is correct.

Perhaps the most useful section in "120 Top Tips" is "Ways to Show Customers You Care." No matter what you are selling online, it's likely you will have several competitors fighting for the same dollars you're fighting for. So what can make you stand out? The obvious answer is superb customer service. If your competitors aren't treating their customers right, then that's where you can shine. The authors suggest "Look(ing) for every opportunity to personalize your service" and urge site owners to "Review your service continually." How right they are.

Going Back to School with eBay U

According to spokesmen James Griffith, in August of 1996 eBay had 5,400 registered users, listed on the site alphabetically by their email addresses. Today, email addresses are no longer user ID's, and listing all eBayers would be problematic — being as how eBay has grown to over 147 million registered users world wide, making it perhaps the seventh or eighth largest 'nation' on the planet. On top of this, according to A.C. Neilson research, there are over 700,000 American sellers who claim to make a part or full-time living on eBay. Is it possible to expand on this fantastic growth?

eBay thinks so. To grow its sellers and increase sales and revenue, eBay launched the latest version of its traveling road show known as eBay University in June 2005, teaching three courses on how to successfully sell on the site. Since then and through the remainder of 2005, eBay University will have visited 34 cities, and plans to continue the program in 2006.

eBay University is touted to registered eBay users through emails and a link on the eBay site. The three, day-long courses are "eBay Basics," "Beyond The Basics" and "eBay For Business," all taught by a group of eBay and general business specialists, many of whom have written how-to books on successful selling strategies for the site or their areas of expertise. The fees are moderate — $59 for each course, with a 'package' price of $89 for the 'Basics' and "Beyond the Basics' classes.

The moderate fees cannot begin to cover eBay's costs for running a program such as this, but then eBay's agenda here is to promote the site, and the eBay University program does just that. Besides the "eBay Basics" course — which is intended to segue eBay buyers and non-users into the seller mode — the two advanced courses heavily promote PayPal, optional features, encourage International selling, and offer strategies designed to propel small volume and occasional eBay sellers into Power Seller status.

This reporter caught up with eBay U. at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City in late October and sat in on the "eBay For Business" and "Beyond The Basics" courses. Though selling on the site since 1999, I expected to find cues and tips that were useful in future selling. These I found, along with much general business and mail order information and insights that would be useful for anyone selling online.

Each course is accompanied by a 100-plus page book covering in detail what the presenters discuss. Some course instructors can be exuberant, with presentations sprinkled with such adjectives as "awesome" and "very awesome" (whatever that might be), but they are all skilled speakers, and the presentation issues are accompanied by a 20 foot projection screen, emphasizing and summarizing each point.

eBay for Business
Unlike the other two courses, eBay for Business is offered once rather than twice over the three-day program, possibly due to the schedule of its tax/legal issue instructor, attorney Cliff Ennico, a nationally syndicated columnist and author on the subject.

Issues include selecting from the various forms of business entities, that which suit's the individual situation — such as sole proprietorship, partnerships, "C" and "S" corporations, and limited liability companies — each presented with the pros and cons in a clear, concise manner.

The presentation moves on to legal liabilities for selling on eBay — warranties, express and implied, legal disclaimers, refund and return policies, etc. Under dealing with deadbeat bidders, you can call and threaten to sue, but it is advised that you cannot imply that the debtor has committed a crime, call in the middle of the night, or threaten to attach a debtor's wages or property — unless you actually intend to do it!

The final suggestion is to consult an attorney before calling a deadbeat bidder.

Tax issues are complex and covered in detail, beginning with the basics of tax compliance such as Federal and local tax ID's, filing on time, tax payment schedules, requirements for sales tax collection, and the like. Deducting home office space used to automatically trigger an audit, but this is no longer the case, though home office space must be precisely measured, and a baby's stroller or any other non-business item in the space kills the deduction.
Accounting and bookkeeping issues are also covered at length, including what to look for in an accountant or bookkeeper. Also covered are the legal aspects and responsibilities of hiring and firing employees. Under the delicate topic of firing a worker, it is advised to lock the employee out of the computer before the meeting, fire on a Monday, not a Friday, have a witness present, keep emotions out of it, and, strongly emphasized — the less said, the better.

In all, Ennico's presentation should provide valuable information to all but the most experienced and savvy entrepreneurs.

The Business course then segues into operating an eBay business, starting with setting goals, and the first of several pitches touting Power Seller status and why and how to achieve it. (Power Seller status begins at 'Bronze' with sales of at least $1,000 a month, and extends into the stratosphere to 'Titanium,' at $150,000 a month.)

There are common sense suggestions, such as avoiding the use of music in listings and keeping image sizes reasonable (since 50 percent of the U.S. still uses slow dial-up connections,) knowing your competition, avoiding spelling mistakes and combative seller terms, and, in general, making an attractive presentation in your sales.

The section on Research Tools should be useful to many eBay sellers. Selling something without researching the item's past performance is a recipe for wasting time and, often, losing or leaving money on the table. eBay offers several services that provide insight into what moves on the site with a link in it's Marketplace Research page, accessed via web browser at http://solutions.ebay.com

The first of these is the "What's Hot" page linked through Seller Central. By clicking on "Sell By Category," then "In Demand," a seller can determine currently popular items in most categories.

Relatively new to the site is the "Want It Now" page linked through the eBay home page. There, buyers post items they want but cannot find on the site.

For those who wish to tie their sales to eBay's promotions, there is the "Merchandising Calendar" linked through Seller Central that gives advance notice of promotions — a tool particularly useful to Store sellers.

The course segues into common sense solutions for finding merchandise to sell on eBay, suggesting the usual suspects — garage and estate sales, flea markets, thrift shops, auctions and the like, as well as cueing sellers into the "Whole Sale Lots" category on the site, then using search words such as 'bulk,' 'pallet,' 'case,' 'lot.' The problem with this strategy is that many sellers are wholesaling goods for a reason and it is often because the item cannot be sold individually on the site. In the "Beyond The Basics" course, finding independent eBay certified wholesalers is dealt with in detail.

The afternoon sessions offers micro detail cues on how to start, maintain and grow an eBay business in the auction and Stores formats — from pricing, listing, keyword strategies to shipping advice and virtually every issue in between. Interspersed throughout are touts for eBay products such as PayPal, payments that are offered by a large majority of eBay sellers. eBay claims that sellers who offer PayPal average 6-7 percent higher sell-through prices than those who don't.

eBay — Beyond the Basics
There is a certain amount of redundancy between the 'Business' and 'Beyond the Basics' courses, but deeper detail and additional presentations, such as International Selling, add to the value of this course.

International Selling covers an untapped source of revenue for many eBay sellers. In fact, eBay claims that 46 percent of their sales are now international, and that cross-border sales average 6.3 percent more than domestic sell-through prices. The presentation whets the appetite of the audience with the fact that someone in Germany was willing to pay $77 for a $3.99 five-pack of Oreo cookies. Whether anyone else will ever again pay $77 for the same cookies on eBay is another matter, but the point that many American products can do well overseas, is fact.

The presentation covers the basics of how to fill out a customs form, legal issues including accurate and honest declarations, the most cost efficient shipping (generally USPS), language and money conversions, and foreign buyer-friendly ways to list. And, again, pushing sellers to use PayPal. eBay claims that foreign sellers who accept PayPal payments average 16.7 higher sell-through prices. This makes sense because transferring funds from overseas can be costly and difficult for international buyers who do not have an expedient such as PayPal, Bidpay or Western Union checks payable on U.S. banks. For anyone who sells mainly or exclusively to overseas buyers, PayPal is a requisite.

In the "Beyond the Basics" course, eBay screams the following: Give the buyers what they want! To that end, a number of sophisticated search and marketing report tools that aid in nailing down what's hot and when, are covered. One such pay-for, eBay certified site is Terapeak, which offers sophisticated data on category results, key ratios, listing features and successful duration times, among other features. Free and optional eBay features such as "Sales Report Plus," are also covered in considerable detail.

Under the topic of search engine marketing, there is also an interesting presentation on the necessity of getting a 'top-30' search result placing on Google and Yahoo!, as well as methods of getting into the top five results, or "before the fold," which yields the best results in search engine queries. This is accomplished by bidding on a pay per click (PPC) basis for top placement on the search engines. Bids or prices paid per click-through range from a few pennies to $100. Also covered in detail are important keyword cues for linking with buyers and many other aspects of search engine marketing. This should be a fascinating presentation for all those, who like myself, are semi- to totally clueless on the process and its value.

While many aspects of the "Beyond The Basics" course are covered elsewhere, here they are covered in greater detail. Under finding merchandise to sell, for instance, eBay certified but independent wholesalers who do not sell on the site (and thus do not, theoretically, compete against you) are offered, as are others. (The rub here is that often you have to buy BIG: one speaker contacted a wholesaler on the minimum order for an item and was told it was five shipping containers — for $160,000.)

eBay claims that it takes 20 minutes to manually list a sale, and if you list one-of-a-kind-items as I do, this can certainly be the case. eBay offers a variety of free and optional charge automation tools such as Turbo Lister, which can be useful for any seller who deals in bulk listings. File Exchange, a new eBay tool that is platform independent, allows medium to high volume sellers to list o eBay auctions, fixed-price or Stores with a single application from an MS Excel spreadsheet, MS Access or other software.

Cross-merchandising and promotions are covered, as well as linking to stores and external web pages with free and optional eBay tools.

The remainder of the course offers advanced suggestions and solutions for virtually every other aspect of eBay selling — from photography, headers and descriptions through packing and shipping to feedbacks and sales and inventory management. It's noted that the dreaded task of packaging is not thankless: well-packed goods give a sense of professionalism, and do lead to more positive feedback — not to mention that the item does not spin back because it broke in transit.

The presentations are lively and upbeat, interspersed with anecdotes and eBay success stories with examples that could incite greed in a hermit, such as the free box at a garage sale which contained a fish lure that sold for $32,000. (On the screen we see a rather silly looking lure, in our hearts we feel money lust.)

eBay University is also offered online, but the live presentations are recommended. For most people, the impact of the live presentations accompanied by a 20-foot square projection screen and frequent question and answer periods should enhance and ease the learning experience over merely reading a downloaded book or PC screen.

Overall, eBay University with its moderate fees constitutes a bargain in today's ecommerce solutions marketplace, and should prove itself valuable for many, if not most, eBay sellers.

Retailing: What's Working Online

NEW YORK - Online retailing has come a long way since the go-go years of the 1990s: It generated $90 billion in revenue for U.S. retailers in 2004 compared with just $8 billion in 1998.

To study how the online strategies of today's successful retailers reflect this maturation, McKinsey analyzed the 100 largest direct retailers in North America. We found that direct retailers with physical stores captured 52% of Internet sales in 2003, while those without stores garnered just 31%. For each group, two broad strategies appear to be most successful. Together, the four models we identified have lessons for all retailers.

Retailers without stores do well as either "efficiency machines" or "niche leaders." The first approach is best for sellers of relatively low-margin products such as CDs, books or computers, because the Web provides the global reach these companies need to gain scale. Efficiency machines--such as Amazon (nasdaq: AMZN - news - people ) and Dell (nasdaq: DELL - news - people )--invest heavily in brand marketing, innovative Web sites and highly efficient sourcing and fulfillment processes. These investments create massive fixed costs, often running into the hundreds of millions of dollars, so efficiency machines must generate annual revenue of at least $750 million to be profitable. Such retailers, once successful, tend to generate strong cash flows, however. Amazon invested more than $400 million in marketing and technology in 2004, for example, while generating $477 million in free cash. The largest efficiency machines drive repeat business by offering deals to customers (for example, Amazon's $79 annual membership, which includes unlimited two-day shipping). Of the top 100 direct retailers, only seven are efficiency machines, yet they account for a quarter of total online revenue.

Niche leaders, such as L. L. Bean and Ross-Simons, sell higher-priced, higher-margin products (like apparel or jewelry) primarily through catalogs and over the Internet. Niche leaders build a loyal customer base by offering quality merchandise, exceptional service or both. The ability to acquire and retain customers is crucial, since most niche leaders are too small to afford expensive brand marketing and must rely instead on targeted online or direct-mail campaigns. The most innovative niche leaders coordinate their channels by making products from their catalogs easy to order online, for example, or by using their Web site to display a wider selection of products than a print catalog could accommodate profitably. The 28 niche leaders we studied generated nearly $15 billion in revenue--17% of which came from the Internet--and account for 6% of total online revenue.

Optimism up among online retailers, Shop.org speakers say

With more than three-fourths of online retailers reporting year-over-year sales growth of 30% or more during the 2005 holiday season, optimism is up to over 80% of e-retailers, according to a Shopzilla research study. Most are looking to continued growth driven by increases in broadband web access and customer confidence, speakers at the Shop.org FirstLook conference said today.

Gian Fulgoni, chairman of comScore Networks Inc., said online retail�s current 5.5% share of total retail sales doesn�t appear ready to level off. �There is a lot of upside,� he said. �We�ll see continued growth for years to come,�

Fulgoni, who appeared on a panel with representatives of Amazon, J. Jill , QVC, Jupiter Research and Nielsen/NetRatings, agreed with other panelists that continued online sales growth will be driven by the expansion of broadband web access in homes, the rising comfort level of online shoppers, and the next generation of adult consumers who are already accustomed to using the Internet through conventional computers and wireless handheld devices.

Robert Myers, vice president of interactive marketing and business development, QVC Inc., said that QVC.com is seeing its sharpest year-to-year growth in the 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. time slot, reflecting the rise in home broadband access. Myers said retailers will spur growth by investing in better site usability and site analytics as well as quality products. �That will really drive sales," he said. Steven Goldsmith, vice president for apparel, footwear, jewelry and watches at Amazon, said Amazon sold 600,000 gift cards between Thanksgiving and Christmas. �That is partly why the first half of January has been so good,� he said.

The Shopzilla study notes customer satisfaction with online retailing reached 96% as of Jan. 12, up from 86% last year. The Shopzilla study was based on surveys conducted from Sept. 23 to Jan. 12. The latest wave of the survey occurred among 2,500 online buyers and 104 merchants between Jan. 9 and 12.

Why Your Web 2.0 Business Plan Doesn't Work

Opinion: That which works best online is that which can only work online.

A fairly innocuous posting on Slashdot caught my eye recently while trolling around for tech news. It seems that WOXY, one of the Internet's largest online-only radio stations, is moving to a subscription model after years of promising to keep their feeds free. Mildly interesting, but not earth-shattering, right?

I thought so, too. But then I started to think about online radio and the publishing of multimedia content in general. Some researching led me to discover that online radio is projected to have a pretty big future, a fact that makes perfect sense to me, a big online-audio consumer.

It seems to make sense. Internet radio offers literally hundreds (if not thousands) of choices, is free, and is more or less "on-demand." But if it's such a good idea, then why would WOXY be having problems? After all, podcasting is growing by leaps and bounds. There are even podcast-programmed radio stations such as KYOURADIO and its broadcast sister station KYCY-AM. What's WOXY's problem?

My search for an answer continued, and after poking around a bit, I came across a couple of services that seemed like amazingly cool ideas. First was Pandora, an outgrowth of The Music Genome Project, which creates custom online "radio" stations based on your own musical preferences. Next I found Last.FM, a free service that lets you set up your own online "radio" station and network with other folks who use the service. Cool stuff.

I cast my net further. Would this kind of social media networking work with other types of media? Some more poking around landed me on Videobomb, a new venture by the Participatory Culture Foundation folks that allows anyone to grab Internet videos and then publish (or "bomb") them on the site. Much like the system on Digg, visitors to the site can rate videos and decide what goes on the homepage. Not only that, but Videobomb also lets users create their own "TV Station" online that shows the videos they've found and want to share. Cool stuff.

Videobomb cool. Pandora cool. Last.FM cool. WOXY for pay? Not so much. All of a sudden it started to make sense to me: The models for publishing online that are gonna work are the ones that are only possible online.

Think about it: Could Videobomb, Pandora, Last.FM, Digg, Slashdot, MySpace and eBay exist offline? Of course they couldn't! Could WOXY exist offline? Um … duh! Of course it can: It's called "radio," and it's been with us for around 100 years now. Sure, being online offers a few minor perks for a station like that, but overall, it ain't doing something that couldn't be done with older technology and, I might add, more conveniently. Until we've got ubiquitous Wi-Fi, taking Internet radio on the go is kind of tough. And even if we did have ubiquitous Wi-Fi, the quality of a good connection is still going to be less than the quality of a bad FM radio. It's just the way things work.

Taken together, it all comes down to a simple axiom: That which works best online is that which can work only online. Call it what you will (I prefer "Carton's Law of Online Publishing," but that may be seen as a little immodest), but if you look around the Web, this axiom holds true. From e-commerce to e-zine publishing, sites that offer no benefit beyond their "old media" counterparts fail while others that offer additional value in the form of features old media can't emulate (such as multimedia, social filtering, RSS feeds, on-demand content, constantly updated content, etc.) thrive.

It explains the popularity of blogs, on-demand video downloads, pod/videocasting, online dating, auctions, social networking and many of the other services we've seen pop up over the past couple of years. It explains the appeal of AJAX-driven sites (try doing Google Maps-like actions with the printed map in your glove compartment!) and many of the more interesting "Web 2.0"-like services.

So next time you think about publishing, think about this: Is what you're doing something that could only work in an online environment and something that takes advantage of the medium? If so, go for it. If not, you may belong in the analog world.

Bright ideas

Online shoppers want more power to choose�the web invents new ways to serve it up.

Smart marketers have always known that the customer is king, but a look at what�s on the drawing board and entering the marketplace at technology developers suggests online retailers will soon have even more new ways to give shoppers royal treatment.

The theme of shopper empowerment characterizes much of what�s currently on the minds and in the labs of developers and the online marketers they target. Providers are reworking technology initially deployed in other sectors or available only to site operators on the backend and rolling it out directly to the consumer web interface. They�re figuring out new ways to segment online content according to consumers� preferences and deliver it in richer formats. It�s all geared toward an improved shopping experience�and improved sales.

In a scan of new online merchandising and marketing technology developments both within the company and across the marketplace, �It comes back to the convergence of the channels and efforts to make it easier for consumers,� says Kim Weller, principal consultant, user experience, at technology consulting firm Molecular Inc. �Some of the tools that typically have been reserved for staff, such as the ability to find products across different stores, are being made available to consumers.�

Molecular already has helped Talbots Inc. roll out such capacity to its online customers. Style Search, a feature implemented on Talbots.com last year, which lets online shoppers locate an item of apparel in a Talbots store and reserve it online for a store visit, is based on inventory data previously available only to store associates at the POS terminal.

Even that capability, which only a short time ago was on the cutting edge of technology implementations, may soon be trumped, says Don Cosseboom, director of research and development at Molecular. He sees a day in the not-distant future when the web interface will put at online shoppers� fingertips the ability to determine where in the store an item is located. That could allow online consumers to establish not only whether an item is in their local store but where it�s actually located within the store, before they leave home to pick it up.

Cosseboom explains how such an application might work. �Most big box bookstores, for example, have consistent layouts, according to which version of the store the company is running in any location. So if a shopper is looking for the French Laundry cookbook, the system would know that in this bookstore, the cookbook section is located in this area,� he says. If that location capacity exists within a store�s back-end system, it can be put out on the web interface, he adds.

Weller says this type of web-to-store application could find use in home improvement stores, mega bookstores, consumer electronics stores, or any large store where shoppers must spend time searching the aisles to find what they are looking for. It empowers consumers to get to the products they want more easily by cutting through the double barriers of understanding whether a product is in the store and understanding where in the store the product is shelved, Cosseboom says, adding that he would not be surprised if this type of application rolled out in retail within a year.

Price comparison�by phone

Molecular also foresees a growing number of new shopping applications for web-enabled wireless technology: for instance, applications that would allow a shopper to compare via wireless device prices on the same product at local consumer electronics stores without actually having to go to or phone the store.

Already, says Weller, Amazon�s Japan operation has gone a step beyond this concept with an application that allows customers to use camera phones to take a picture of a book�s bar code, submit it wirelessly to Amazon, and receive a text message on Amazon�s price on the book in return. In the U.S., software developer ScanBuy has launched a retail application, ScanZoom, designed for incorporation into camera phones, that allows consumers with an equipped phone to point it at a barcode and immediately access existing content related to that bar code.

�It�s something camera phones and bar codes were never intended to be used for, but they are tying these different technologies together,� Weller says. In addition to a convergence of channels, new shopping applications such as these preview a future in which technologies themselves converge. �Examples like this rely on the phone�s wireless network to connect to the Internet. In the future, your cell phone will probably use a wi-fi network as a way to connect. So the whole idea of wireless being carrier-level versus Internet will be even fuzzier than it is today,� says Cosseboom.

Fuzzy search

�Fuzzy� is a good thing at Transparensee Systems Inc., developer of product search technology. That might seem contradictory for search. But Bruce Colwin, vice president of business development, believes search could be a better experience for consumers�and capture more online conversions at merchants�if it were less sharp and a little more fuzzy.

Transparensee has developed technology it says is a next-generation, more user-friendly product search that is an alternative to guided navigation. The technology is applicable to search in any industry sector where the range of attributes attached to a product is so broad and complex that an exact match against all specified preferences is unlikely, according to Colwin.

�Two of the biggest problems in e-commerce search, as seen by the user, are that your search produces no results, in which case you have to keep changing your preferences until you find something, or you broaden your search so much that you get too many results back, with little relevance. These are the problems we�re addressing,� Colwin says.

The so-called �fuzzy� search technology delivers results that not only represent the precise value the searcher has asked for, but also whatever represents the values immediately below or above the searched-for value. On a real estate site search, for example, for a house with a specific number of rooms, square feet, construction type, and multiple other attributes, a precise match might yield no results because no house matches all of what was searched for. That leaves the searcher guessing which values he must change to produce a match. Tranparensee�s tool finds results close to what the searcher has asked for, in addition to any precise matches. The technology makes adjustments concurrently across multiple data fields to deliver results that though technically �fuzzy,� are meaningful to the search.

Colwin says an implementation has been developed as proof of concept for a retailer currently using conventional guided navigation, and it�s also being tested internally by a second retailer. The product has been deployed in the non-retail sector for more than a year. The company sees potential application of the product for any online seller of products associated with multiple specs and data fields, such as consumer electronics.

The e-email alternative

Overstuffed e-mail in-boxes have some marketers looking for additional means of customer communication beyond e-mail, and RSS has received attention as one alternative. Consumers subscribe to the content they wish to receive via RSS, in much the same way they register for e-mail, but though RSS skirts the e-mail channel, the technology poses a limitation for brand marketers: it delivers information in text instead of the richer communication possible directly on a site and through some e-mail.

Direct Message Lab has developed technology that targets that problem with a separate channel, outside of e-mail, that can deliver subscribed content directly to consumers� desktops in a media-rich format. While RSS is an option on the platform, it�s just one component. �If I were Mattel, and I wanted to deliver information on new things that were happening with Barbie, delivering it through RSS is delivering a headline and a description. It doesn�t convey the brand in the way you want to,� say Steven Plous, CEO.

By contrast, the company�s Brand Channel can deliver rich content, with a branded look based on the brand�s preferences, directly to subscribed users through the window it opens on the subscriber�s desktop screen. The service has two parts: on the front end, an application that sits on the user�s desktop, which periodically reaches out to Direct Message Lab servers for requested content; and on the back end, a web-based administrative console that the brand marketer uses to create and deploy content requested by the user.

Plous says the channel is spam-proof. �The application goes only to Direct Message Lab servers and looks for messages appropriate to the user. So the only messages that can be delivered through the Brand Channel application are messages from our domain,� he says. The hosted service can deliver complex applications including e-commerce in the delivered message.

Three customers, including an online retailer, went live with a beta version of the Brand Channel in January. Plous views the Brand Channel as an application that, at least initially, marketers will use to target their best customers, who can be encouraged to register with incentives such as getting the first look at new merchandise. It�s those fans of the brand who are most likely to engage with the channel, he adds.

�Our goal is to improve purchases in the top 10% to 20% of your customers,� he says. �If we can do that, then we�ve done something spectacular.� Once a base for the channel has been established among those top customers, the channel has further use as a customer acquisition tool, he adds.

Evolution of e-catalogs

Enriching subscribed content is one way online marketers are seeking to keep an increasingly sophisticated online consumer engaged. One execution of that theme is an evolution of e-catalogs that puts the image-enhancing, information-grabbing and shopping cart functionality accessible on the rest of the web site right into the middle of the catalog page. Scene7 Inc. recently rolled out that new functionality, in development over the past year, at a number of e-retailers. It�s also scheduled to go live shortly at Amazon.com Inc. The tool, called Shop by Collection, is geared toward online merchants looking to move beyond an e-catalog to functionality more integrated into the web experience. �People launch e-catalogs because they love the lifestyle imagery. The challenge is that it�s a separate fork on your web site. It�s not really integrated into the web shopping experience,� says CEO Doug Mack.

Current e-catalog technology most often requires the shopper interested in several products in a lifestyle photo of a room setting, for example, to switch around among multiple product pages to find detail and shopping links for all the products. Shop by Collection incorporates what Mack describes as �next-generation user interfaces� around core dynamic imaging technology that will allow merchants to load all content related to all the products in the room setting into a template so as to provide a single-screen merchandising experience.

�So if I am looking at some lifestyle imagery and I hover over an item on the page, there�s a data feed that will then show the product in silhouette, with all product information such as price and dimensions,� he says. Shoppers who want to drill down for greater visual detail can from that page also implement zoom, color switching, and other imaging functionality for individual items in the lifestyle photo. From that page, shoppers can also drop the items in the photo into a cart.

�The idea is to move the web away from being a point, click and wait for a new page medium,� adds Mack.

Whether finding it online more easily with improved search, finding it more easily in a brick and mortar store with information gleaned online, or more easily plucking a single item from a room setting, getting to the desired product faster is a key driver in new and upcoming generations of online retail technology. Though the technology may be new, however, it replicates online an axiom already known by any store retailer that stacks the best deals at the end of an aisle and every cataloger that positions its most striking new merchandise at the front of the book: Shortening the distance between the customer and the right product is one of the best ways to shorten the distance to a sale.

internet-based procurement gets $10m injection

First Index, which offers manufacturers an internet-based procurement service, has received $10.8 million in new in new investment from a consortium of leading UK and US venture capital funds.
First Index, a company that enables manufacturers to quickly and easily find suppliers and procure specialised custom-made engineering components via the internet, has received $10.8 million in new investment from a consortium of leading UK and US venture capital funds. The consortium comprises LMS Capital, Bessemer Venture Capital Partners (BVP) and Quester. With an internet-based product already showing rapid growth and a profit in the UK and USA, the software company will use the funds in two ways.

As well as developing a raft of new e-procurement services it plans to substantially expand it's existing business in the USA and to swiftly penetrate new continental European markets.

Two additional non-executive directors will join the board of First Index as it enters its new growth phase.

They are Michael Bennett of LMS Capital and Felda Hardyman from Bessemer.

more/- Michael Bennett of LMS Capital said: 'First Index has developed an industry-leading sourcing service through a close understanding of customer and supplier requirements for custom-made parts.

We believe First Index has developed a highly successful business model that offers real value to both buyers and suppliers.

This has been reflected in transactions already measured in billions of dollars a year, a performance that exceeds most B2B exchanges.' For First Index, the company's founder, Hans Wigart, said: 'The automated sourcing service we were first to offer is based on an existing and highly successful product that lends itself perfectly to online operations.

The internet could have been designed for the service and we are already experiencing significant demand since launching the online version, based on popular Microsoft technology.

By expanding our international presence and by keeping abreast of the latest technological developments, we can stay at the forefront of this growing market sector.' Formed in 1992, First Index has been helping buyers to source custom-made components in several key manufacturing industry areas.

First Index products help buyers in manufacturing companies to reduce procurement costs by quickly finding the best financial and technical solution to their requirements.

In turn, it helps suppliers to find profitable work and to save on their companies' marketing and sales resources.

Since January 2000, over 7,000 buyers have posted 28,000 requests for quote and requests for information worth an estimated $10bn in business value to those customers.

In July 2000 the company launched 'findFAST Online', an internet version of its paper directory and CD-based sourcing service for custom-made components.

Over 1,700 manufacturers have accessed the service since that time.

Finding and collaborating with suppliers via the internet can achieve major savings in time and costs by speeding up the process of finding the best match and completing the transaction very quickly with little or no capital expenditure.

Users of findFAST Online are evenly divided between Europe and the USA, and are increasing at a rate of over 300 new customers per month.

LMS Capital is the venture capital arm of London Merchant Securities plc (LMS) an active venture investor in both the UK and US.

LMS Capital has significant experience in communications, internet infrastructure, software and e-commerce, and a successful record of investment in early-stage technology ventures for over 15 years.

In recent years, LMS Capital has increased its investment activities in high-growth technology and e-commerce ventures in the UK.

Recent e-commerce successes include the US IPOs of Commerce One, InterTrust Technologies, Interwoven, Broadbase Software and Chordiant Software.

In each case LMS Capital was an early-stage investor.

The LMS Capital UK software and e-commerce portfolio includes Elateral, Genient, GroupTrade, Magex, and Stepstone.

Bessemer Venture Partners is one of the oldest US based private venture capital firms.

In 1911, Henry Phipps established what was to become Bessemer Securities Corporation (BVP's principal limited partner) as an investment firm for the benefit of his descendants, starting with his share of the proceeds from the sale of Carnegie Steel.

Since its inception, a central component of Bessemer Securities' charter has been to invest in and help build innovative, high-growth companies.

Some of the companies that Bessemer helped establish or build in the early days includes W.R.

Grace, International Paper, and Ingersoll-Rand.

Today, Bessemer Venture Partners continues this tradition and invests approximately $400 million each year, while other Bessemer entities manage more than $2 billion of investments in public and private non-venture capital assets.

BVP has offices in California, Massachusetts and New York and the company's efforts are entirely devoted to financing and building young companies.

Founded in 1984, Quester is an independent UK venture capital company specialising in unquoted growth companies.

Quester raises funds from institutions and individuals and has more than GBP300 million under management.

The company focuses particularly on sectors such as software, internet enabling technology businesses, telecoms services and equipment, semiconductors, optical networking, new media, healthcare, life sciences and new materials.

Quester manages institutional venture capital funds supported by international investors, an e-commerce fund for CGNU, the major insurance group, the University Challenge Funds for Oxford and Bath and Bristol Universities, the Isis College Fund, focused on technology companies emerging from Oxford University, as well as four venture capital trusts, Quester VCT plc, Quester VCT 2 plc, Quester VCT 3 plc and Quester VCT 4 plc.

Both its institutional funds and its venture capital trusts have strong track records.

Sunderland plant set European productivity record

The UK has the two most productive car plants in Europe according to World Markets Research Centre's annual European Automotive Productivity Index.
World Markets Automotive, a division of World Markets Research Centre, yesterday issued its annual European Automotive Productivity Index. Nissan's Sunderland plant once again topped the industry list for Europe, more than 40% ahead of the rest of the field. Productivity at the Nissan plant soared in 2000, increasing the number of vehicles per employee by 30%.

The improvement at Nissan was achieved as the company succeeded in slightly reducing its workforce while, at the same time, adding a third model, the Almera.

Output increased from 271,157 in 1999 to 327,701 in 2000.

The ratio of 122 cars per employee sets a new European productivity record.

The achievement followed a period of uncertainty for the plant.

Renault, which had acquired a stake in Nissan, recently considered transferring production of Nissan models from Sunderland to its existing plant at Flins in France.

The company claimed it achieved higher levels of output by using a young, well-motivated workforce, Nissan's lean Japanese manufacturing model and the established practice of continuous improvement, or 'kaizen'.

* Toyota Burnaston, UK was the second most productive plant with an output of 86 cars per employee, highlighting the dominance of the Japanese car manufacturers.

Earlier this year Toyota announced its intention of moving production of the 3-door Corolla from Japan to the UK.

This would lead to a 50,000-unit increase in output in 2002.

* Renault topped the manufacturers' league with six out of the top 15 most productive plants surveyed, while Spanish car workers also showed high productivity with five of the twelve top plants surveyed.

* Honda's Swindon plant slipped from number two in the 1999 index to number 26 in 2000, with production falling from 83 cars per employee to 55.

The company attributes this partly to disruption following the full model change of the Civic 5-door and to the introduction of the CR-V.

Prospects for the plant have also been undermined by the company's decision to repatriate production of the Accord back to Japan, and by cancellation of an earlier plan for UK-build of the new small Logo/City range.

Honda will, however, add a second assembly line at Swindon from September this year.

* Based on the plants surveyed, productivity in Europe rose from a plant average of 52.6 cars per employee in 1997 to a record 60.1 in 1999.

However, in 2000 the car market weakened and manufacturers were slow to reduce their manufacturing headcount.

This caused a slight decline to an average of 58.8 cars per employee.

Forecasts of a further 5% drop in Europe's car market this year could put productivity under increased pressure.

Ian Robertson of World Markets Research Centre says: 'For the first time the report sees a UK plant competing with the top global performers.

A record of 165 cars per employee was set by Daewoo's Changwon plant in South Korea in 1998.

When the Global Index is issued later this year we will be able to see whether Nissan, Sunderland can outstrip all other plants.

What this year's index also shows is that intense competition is accelerating the adoption of new working practices to boost quality and efficiency.' About World Markets Automotive World Markets Automotive is the latest industry-specific intelligence service from World Markets Research Centre (WMRC plc).

World Markets Automotive provides: * in-depth reports on the automotive industry in over 50 countries; * company profiles on more than 60 light vehicle and heavy truck manufacturers and 100 component manufacturers; * same-day analysis on developments and events as they occur; * a global database of vehicle production and sales statistics (since 1990); and * industry forecasts for the next three years.

World Markets Research Centre provides business-critical analysis and information to businesses, governments and multinational organisations.

Its portfolio of industry-specific services includes World Markets Telecoms and World Markets Energy.

These are underpinned by the World Markets Country Analysis service that covers 185 countries.

WMRC subscribers are found in 35 countries and across 33 industry sectors and include companies from all aspects of the automotive industry.