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Do you recognise any of these scenarios why people don't buy?

• The buyer is just comparison shopping
• The buyer doesn’t like shipping charges
• The internet connection failed during their purchase
• The buyer ran out of time in completing the purchase

These are all common reasons why people don’t complete their purchase but what is interesting to note is that none of this is about people not wanting to buy - they just got interrupted. what is the ecommerce solution?

It is thought that in 75% of such scenarios, they’re still interested in buying, so you have to act quickly to ensure they come back and buy from you.

The longer you wait, the colder the trail will become.

The 3 Step Recovery

1. Urgency

Connecting with visitors who abandoned their shopping process usually means sending them between 1 and 3 emails within 24 hours.

In these emails talk up front about the reasons for the abandonment - so have reply variations to hand - and offer reminders /inducements and/or deals to add urgency in getting them to respond. 

• Remind buyers who ran out of time that there are still products sitting in their shopping cart
• Send your own product reviews to those comparison shopping
• Send shipping coupons to those who complained
• Warn of limited stock levels (going fast) for the item they seek to create urgency

Bringing abandonees back on side doesn’t always require offering a discount. Offer reviews, white papers or interactive content to help them to decide to come back.

2. Design for personal contact

Welcome a returning visitor and remind them their shopping cart still has items in it.

Subtle design placements of incentives, colour, images with your message can have a big impact on if they buy.

Make any offers clear, with a definite time limit on any offer.

3. Analyse

Whatever happens, learn from what happens. What worked and what didn’t.

Over time formulate a standard procedure for managing abandonees, one that continues to produce the best results you can realistically hope for.

But - continue to test and measure.

Never feel you have achieved the definitive procedure because people and situations change and being blasé about customer behaviour will come back to bite you.

Source: Rebecca Gutner, Strategy That Turns Browsers Into Active Online Shoppers. Mon, Jan 23, 2012,
http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/29244/The-Email-Strategy-That-Turns-Browsers-Into-Active-Online-Shoppers.aspx#ixzz1kMiBRYuz

• Is up-dating your website content a real hassle?
• Is its content out of date because only technical staff can do the updating?
• Is this problem de-valuing your website’s performance?

 Your website represents what people understand about your company and what you offer, so it deserves your attention.

The ability to regularly update fresh content and images onto your website keeps you sweet with your customers and with the search engines.

But if your technical staff are the only ones able to manage content updates it becomes an inefficient process because they will often be tied up on other work.

This inevitably creates a bottleneck, which is a common reason why content is not updated frequently enough. It’s not their fault, technical staff often have many other pressing issues to attend to.

Using a CMS that suits your business generally means one that can be used by anyone in your team, technical or otherwise, to give your website the attention it needs.
Choose a CMS that allows any member of staff (with the necessary permission level) to use the system to upload web page content, images and blogs; create landing pages; perhaps build forms for collecting leads; and much more.

CMS - What should you consider:

1. Content management
A good CMS system should comprise the following elements such as easy deployment, rapid browser-based development, visual studio Integration and web parts. Some key areas to investigate will include:
a. Multilanguage support
b. Multilingual content
c. Image editor
d. Search Engine Optimization

2. Development

A CMS should come with the flexibility and extensibility that suits you business expansion strategies. With a web development framework, you won’t be restricted by any previous designs or behaviours. Self management processes let you quickly update your website or portal while lowering costs in the long term.

3. Social Networking
Your CMS should allow your pages to be integrated with social media platforms and their content sharing buttons in a straight forward manner.

4. UI Personalisation
The ability to hide specific functionality from those not entitled to use it is central to any security system. Creating UI profiles lets you specify who is entitled to do what and what they can see. Some of your staff will have limited access and others more comprehensive cover.

The importance of keeping your website up to date will bring you better visibility, stronger SEO performance and interested customers. When added together this can only help boost your websites presence online, and help sales.

If you are interested in finding out more why not give me a call at 08450 740068 to find a CMS that suits your business.

Taking on bigger competitors online

Bigger companies may seem to hold all the cards but their bureaucratic practices, internal politics and lack of focus, can offer opportunities to their smaller rivals,

The key to playing this game is how creative you make your marketing and how well you employ it strategically, when you don’t have the deep pockets bigger competitors have.

So if you’re interested in getting more of the action, here’s how.

Deploy your online marketing wisely

1. Content really is king. Create content consistently driven by a strong SEO strategy. Long tail keywords comprise 70% of organic search traffic but using them can make you more competitive. Big companies will often focus on a small number of head terms - so avoid these as you’ll never be able to compete with them.

2. Pay per Click - Is highly competitive for head and some long tail terms, so choose the terms that matter to your business particularly if they are ones you can’t win on in the organic front. Chip away at the big company domination. Use your location to your advantage.

3. Which tactics work - Analytics show you which marketing tactic is or isn’t working and whether you are achieving your goals. How much effort do you require to get a lead; what keyword strategy works; which are the most valuable; and what’s a waste of money. These are basic questions that analytics helps answer.

4. Agility - A small business is un-encumbered by bureaucracy allowing you to move fast, test new strategies and respond instantly to their outcomes. You don’t need committees to determine the way forward. The internet is all about test-test-testing.

5. Social personality - Big companies are often not very sociable, often focusing on brand protection. Smaller businesses can get really friendly and helpful; genuine and trustworthy - like real life people.

6. Marketing weak spot - If there is an area (s) where you feel particularly weak in, evaluate the worth of hiring an outsider for a spell or purchasing software that will do the job for you, allowing you to concentrate on what you do best.

7. Stay ahead - Invest time in thought leadership or just keep up to date with online marketing developments. It’s a fast moving world but it is a discipline well worth employing.

8. Opt-In lists - Continue to build your email list and keep it fresh and up to date through sending out great articles or offers you know they are interested in. This helps with shorter sales cycles and higher revenues per customer.

9. Automate - Any time-consuming marketing activities to free up more time for managing the above points.

10. Quality - The best content, the best products, the best people, the best service. This is what creates loyalty in customers and staff and gives you a stronger, more personal platform for taking on your bigger rivals.

Small doesn’t have to mean uncompetitive. Small can mean agile, courageous and competitive, and means you can steal business from bigger rivals  - if you do it right.

Nail your Goliath

To find out how you can nail your Goliath, why not call me on 08450 740 068 or email me at sem@e-xanthos.co.uk.

If you enjoyed this article, click the small "Like" icon below. Many thanks.

Wishing you a happy and prosperous 2012.

Corey Eridon, Small Business Marketers Can Crush Big Competitors, 03/01/2012.

 Without Pride or Prejudice.

Day 1:
My dearest, dearest Mr Darcey,
A partridge in a pear tree - what a lovely surprise!
You are a darling, it is simply adorable. Not what I expected. Sort of novel, yet old fashioned if you get my drift.
Love and kisses,
Elizabeth 

Day 2:
Dearest Mr Darcey,
Two turtle doves - you are too kind! They are beautiful and are coo-ing happily away.
A rather unusual and unexpected gift and yes, perhaps still a little old fashioned my dearest (hint, hint).
Love and kisses,
Elizabeth

Day 3:
Dearest Darcey,
Three French Hens - Mon Dieu! Such generosity! I don’t know what I shall do with them, what with the pear tree and all. I know you feel the Call of Duty but believe me Modern Warfare 3 is more what I was thinking of. Mr Bingley tells me it is very good and perhaps a little more appropriate for a sophisticated gal like moi.
Love and kisses,
Elizabeth

Day 4:
Dear Mister Darcey,
Four calling birds - phew, you like your birds don’t you. Not a gift a girl gets every day. Must say, we’re running short of places to put them all - if you get my meaning, my sweet! And what are we going to call them all - geddit! Okay, perhaps I know you’re a bit set in your ways so how about a nice Olympus Lumix  PEN E-P3 with 12.1 megapixels? Just think of the marvellous pictures we can take of you diving into the pond or nice shots of your estate which will be yours and mine shortly, my dear. ps. Don’t forget to the batteries. 4 x AA will do. Duracell are the best.
Love and kisses,
Elizabeth

Day 5:
Dearest, dearest Mr Darcey,
Five gold rings - now that’s more like it! You gorgeous hunk! You really know your way to a gal’s heart! They look grrrrrreat! Papa thinks they look like I’m wearing a knuckle duster, the silly man haha, what does he know!
Love and kisses
Elizabeth

Day 6:
Dear Darcey,
Six geese-a-laying - back to the birds are we Darcey? You are wonderfully kind but please, please, please, no more birds my darling - do you want me to eat them!!! You know, we keep a well stocked larder so no more food please - perhaps something smaller? A Kg jar of Beluga Caviar or a hamper of white truffles next time eh, my dear?
Love and kisses
Elizabeth

Day 7:
Look here Darcey,
Seven swans-a-swimming on my front porch! Which bit of “no more birds” are you having trouble with????? How about a nice pair of Purdy shotguns? They would be nice and handy just at this moment! I have to tell you Papa ate the partridge in a pear tree for his supper and is eyeing up the turtle doves. Think about conservation Darcey, anything. No more birds! Please.
Love and kisses
Elizabeth

Day 8:
Mister Darcey!
Eight maids-a-milking (plus cows) - very funny! Okay, Yes, a different type of bird in your parlance! HAHA! More mouths to feed at Christmas. Good job we’ve got the geese and the eggs handy but the birds are perched everywhere like in a Mr Hitchcock moving picture thingy! Where are my shotguns, my sweet? Did Harrod’s not have any on discount?
Love and kisses
Elizabeth

Day 9:
Darcey, Darcey, Darcey!
Nine ladies dancing! Very nice but not exactly Ballet Rambert is it! All that whirling is making my head spin and I haven’t even started drinking YET! Did that Mr Bingley put you up to this! Never trusted him! Bit too posh for my liking! And his sister, what a cow - which reminds me..... we now stand at eight cows, seven swans (still a swimming), six geese, the three calling birds (Papa’s doing his best!)
Love and kisses
Elizabeth

Day 10:
Darcey!
Ten Lords-a-leaping all over the place! Are these your mates Lord Darcey! Trying to prove you’re not Billy-no-mates are you?
“Go off and hang someone you gits!” I shout sweetly from my window. Oh now the maids are being chased by the Lords who have stampeded the cows. Oh what fun! Such times we live in. Well at least they’ve brought some vintage port with them - verwy nithe it ith too.
Just to keep you posted - Papa’s now a bit poorly, so the body count remains the same. He’s said some very unpleasant things about your parentage - my love.
Love and kisses
Elizabeth

Day 11:
MISTER DARCEY!
Eleven pipers piping have rocked up, saying YOU sent them. Ooooh my head!  What a racket! I hate you! Is it your intention to drive me nuts! The only peace I get is when the pipers disappear off with the maids - leaving your intended to look after the cows, the swans, the geese, the four calling birds, the one French hen (thanks Papa!)
Lord knows what the Lords are up to. Oh now there’s a fight going on between the pipers and the Lords, oh and now the maids have joined in! This is better than Little Women!
Where’s that bottle of port? Found it! Things are looking up!
Love and kisses
Elizabeth

Day 12:
Dear whoever you are,
12 drummers drumming - where are this lot from? Bernard Matthews! They’ve woken up the whole neighbourhood who think we’re being invaded.
This Christmas is turning into a complete fiction.
Don’t suppose you’d think about revisiting gift No5?
On the plus side, Papa is ecstatic, thinks he’s invented a new protein based diet and I’ve decided to be generous and charitable and give away your marvelous presents to a good cause - Mr Whickham’s Home for Distressed Ladies. My sister Lydia recommended him. Apparently he’s been a bit of a runaway success.
It’s Christmas Darcey. Have a good one!
Love and kisses
Miss Elizabeth Bennett - gone away

Created by Gerry Westwood @ Xanthos Digital Marketing

Wishing you a happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
Created by Xanthos Digital Marketing.

Without Pride or Prejudice. Days 9 to 12.

Day 9:
Darcey, Darcey, Darcey!
Nine ladies dancing! Very nice but not exactly Ballet Rambert is it! All that whirling is making my head spin and I haven’t even started drinking YET! Did that Mr Bingley put you up to this! Never trusted him! Bit too posh for my liking! And his sister, what a cow - which reminds me..... we now stand at eight cows, seven swans (still a swimming), six geese, the three calling birds (Papa’s doing his best!)
Love and kisses
Elizabeth

Day 10:
Darcey!
Ten Lords-a-leaping all over the place! Are these your mates Lord Darcey! Trying to prove you’re not Billy-no-mates are you?
“Go off and hang someone you gits!” I shout sweetly from my window. Oh now the maids are being chased by the Lords who have stampeded the cows. Oh what fun! Such times we live in. Well at least they’ve brought some vintage port with them - verwy nithe it ith too.
Just to keep you posted - Papa’s now a bit poorly, so the body count remains the same. He’s said some very unpleasant things about your parentage - my love.
Love and kisses
Elizabeth

Day 11:
MISTER DARCEY!
Eleven pipers piping have rocked up, saying YOU sent them. Ooooh my head!  What a racket! I hate you! Is it your intention to drive me nuts! The only peace I get is when the pipers disappear off with the maids - leaving your intended to look after the cows, the swans, the geese, the four calling birds, the one French hen (thanks Papa!)
Lord knows what the Lords are up to. Oh now there’s a fight going on between the pipers and the Lords, oh and now the maids have joined in! This is better than Little Women!
Where’s that bottle of port? Found it! Things are looking up!
Love and kisses
Elizabeth

Day 12:
Dear whoever you are,
12 drummers drumming - where are this lot from? Bernard Matthews! They’ve woken up the whole neighbourhood who think we’re being invaded.
This Christmas is turning into a complete fiction.
Don’t suppose you’d think about revisiting gift No5?
On the plus side, Papa is ecstatic, thinks he’s invented a new protein based diet and I’ve decided to be generous and charitable and give away your marvelous presents to a good cause - Mr Whickham’s Home for Distressed Ladies. My sister Lydia recommended him. Apparently he’s been a bit of a runaway success.
It’s Christmas Darcey. Have a good one!
Love and kisses
Miss Elizabeth Bennett - gone away

Wishing you a happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
Created by Xanthos Digital Marketing.