Would YOU buy from your eCommerce store?
As consumers and shoppers of online stores, we know what we want in a shopping experience. If a store doesn't give us what we need, we'll click away quickly and hit the next shop on the Google Search Results list.
If this is so easy to know, why do so many owners of Open Source eCommerce (OSC) stores give a less-than-satisfactory shopping experience?
The main reason is simple neglect. When was the last time you bought something from your own store? Never, you say?
That's like a store manager who stays locked up tight in a back office crunching numbers, never venturing out to the store floor. As a result he never knows what is going on in the store aisles, checkout lines, or the customer service counter, or what the customer experiences.
Management By Walking Around
MBWA or "management by walking around" is a management concept that came out in the 1960's by management guru Peter Drucker. He urged managers to get out of their offices and get to know what was going on on the shop floor. The technique was so effective that it quickly became the new management standard.
Online store managers may not have aisles in which to walk around, but they do have categories. They may not have a customer service counter, but do have a customer service page. And while there may not be checkout counters and lines, there is a checkout experience.
Applying MBWA to your own OSC store
There's no need to pay high-priced ecommerce strategists like me to find out what's gone wrong with your store, or why you don't have customers. Just start managing by walking around in your own store!
I recommend a walk each week, if not more. Buy a product, put it in your cart, check out and actually pay for it, or not. You can vary it. Ask a question of your customer service reps. See if they are friendly in their replies. Many potential customers first ask a question just to establish a connection and test the waters before they buy.
After you've implemented a little MBWA in your OSC store for a few weeks and fixed the easy problems, start looking at some "best practices." From which other online stores do you love to buy? Buy something from them, and immediately return to your own. How's the comparison? Are you lacking something?
Key locations to walk
Here are the key points of contact to consider as you walk around your online store:
- Most common entry pages - may not be your home page! Ask your web team for the entry stats and build great side entrances for them.
- Welcome email message - great opportunity to clinch the deal with a coupon and a long-lasting message; customers often keep these in a special folder.
- Customer service points - including contact page and live chat. What, you don't use Live Chat? Do you buy from stores that do not have it?
- Checkout process - is it too long? Do you ask overly personal questions? Could you condense it to one page or remove pages that require no action?
- Confirmation page - assuring the customer that they successfully finished. They are at a "what next!" point - so give them ideas and offers!
- Confirmation email - a permanent record of their transaction. Again, will be kept by many, so take advantage of it.
Anything that can be done in a traditional MBWA program can also be done in your online store, so sharpen your management skills by reading some books on the subject, and happy wandering.
2 Comments
cynthia says:
Useful article. I completely disagree with the idea that shoppers can receive a coupon in the welcome email.
Besides, I think some interaction details are also crucial to impel a deal. Due to both the parties are not face-to-face, as online retailers they should integrate more considerate interface or details for the consumers, like hints after filling in a field, how-to guide about the credit card in the Payment Process, the store within the security badge.
In a nutshell, all that makes the store more professional, loyal are of importance.
cynthia says:
sorry for the misspelling. It should be "agree", not "disagree".
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