Ten More (Great) Ecommerce Ideas

Practical eCommerce recently asked 50 industry insiders to share a great, innovative idea that could potentially help an ecommerce firm. Here’s what ten of them had to say.

Determine Valuable Variables

“Doing multivariate testing used to require some in-house programming expertise or expensive third-party software. Thankfully, Google Website Optimizer has provided us with a free alternative. You don’t need to have the right answer, your customer will.”

Bryan Eisenberg
Chief Persuasion Officer, Co-Founder
Future Now, Inc.
Futurenowinc.com

Don’t Fail To Plan

“Having been through the personal experience of becoming involved with a young business, and trying to slide a foundation under the building, after it has begun construction, has taught me the importance of planning. Take the time to plan your site. The end result will pay you back more than you can imagine.”

Gary Paulino
Co-Owner
Trackside Sales
Tracksidesales.com

Don’t Filter Feedback

“Merchants cannot control their credibility — they can only influence it. If a customer leaves a bad, yet constructive review for one of your products, leave it up. Prospective customers trust other customers more than they trust you. Filtering that feedback can tarnish your credibility with the reviewer and the visitor.”

Michelle Greer
Marketing Specialist
Volusion, Inc.
Volusion.com

A Toll-Free Number

“Get a toll-free number and use it in your Google AdWords. It’s one of the last search engines to let you show your contact information in the ad — you’ll get calls from people just looking to order over the phone because they are busy or they don’t trust the web.”

Chris Finken
Chief Informations Officer, Co-Founder
Orange Soda, Inc
Orangesoda.com

Persuasion Through Web Personalization

“Successful ecommerce firms understand the correlation between sales and positive customer experience management. Offering easy returns and free shipping are expected. Leveraging customer behaviors/attributes so you can serve persuasive offers that change in real-time goes a step further. To promote the right product/service at the right time, think web personalization.”

Carolyn Gardner
Director of E-marketing Services
Sitebrand
Sitebrand.com

Use Video

“Start creating short videos on a regular basis that solve a problem for your target audience. Keep the videos at two minutes or so, include B-roll, upload to multiple sites via Tubemogul.com, and archive uncompressed, high quality versions of the videos for future use. Create a Magnify.net channel, too.”

Shawn Collins
Co-Founder of the Affiliate Summit Conference
Affiliatetip.com

Syndicate Content Via Widgets

“Adding a syndication widget enables ecommerce sites to easily syndicate and distribute dynamic content from a knowledge base, such as frequently asked questions, product specifications and warranty information — across multiple websites.”

David Vap
Vice President of Products
Rightnow Technology
Rightnow.com

Talk With Your Customers

“Websites, emails and forums are great for getting out your message, but talking with your customers about their needs and how you can provide solutions or products is the best way to build a long-term relationship and customer satisfaction. Remember your customers are not just another row in your database.”

Tom Langell
CEO
Auction Camera
Auctioncamera.com

Back To The Future

“I revolutionized my time management by abandoning my PDA for an old-fashioned Franklin Covey Planner. Now my mission, values, and most important goals are in front of me daily, and I’m getting done what really matters. I’m more efficient and focused.”

Cindy Barrilleaux
President
Writing Coaching Services
Writeyourbest.com

Align Consumer Strategies To Increase Conversion

“Before spending your limited online marketing and web development dollars on rich media merchandising, get to know your customers. Uncover their critical decision-making needs, and align your online brand and user experience strategies with them for increased purchase conversion.”

Kevin Lane
Director of Experience Planning
iCrossing
Icrossing.com

Got a helpful ecommerce tip? Email kate@practicalecommerce.com.