Is Your e-Store Prepared for Summer Shoppers?

My Web Writers

Are you marketing and merchandising your website for this summer’s sales potential? According to Internet Retailer, the U.S. Commerce Department said that U.S. online sales totaled $225.5 billion in 2012, up 15.8% from $194.7 billion in 2011.  With the exception of sales in categories not commonly bought online—

Internet Retailer estimates that e-commerce accounted for 7.6% of total retail sales during the year, up from 6.8% a year earlier. Commerce Department estimates are based on a quarterly survey of more than 11,000 U.S. merchants.

It’s no wonder that such a large marketing emphasis is placed on preparing shopping web sites for each new season and sale.  Every effort counts.   As the weather finally heats up for the summer, many e-stores have rolled out their new merchandise and revamped their web sites. All businesses, regardless of size or industry, can learn from other creative and competitive websites. Let’s take a look at three examples of big name brands and how they’re poised to sell more this summer:

 

1.  Target.com

Target is known for its chic and trendy styles and its unique in-store shopping experience. Target pays special attention to creating this same vibe in its e-store. The web site design is simple, clean and incorporates the signature Target red color to promote brand recognition. Though this main design remains the same year-round, the homepage content is customized to the upcoming holidays and season. Going on right now is a sale on patio furniture and family swimwear.  Aside from the featured sales, Target has changed the photos to represent each of its main shopping categories to be summer-themed. For example the “Women’s” category shows a summery dress and the “Sports and Outdoors” category is represented with an above ground pool. These images, though subtle, entice shoppers to click and browse in areas they may have had no original interest in shopping.

What you can learn: The takeaway from Target’s summer-poised marketing is that images are powerful. If you are trying to sell seasonal items, then every image should be carefully chosen to remind shoppers of all the things they enjoy about that season. Even if they weren’t originally in the market for a pool, customers will be intrigued to click on images that pique their interests.

Target.com’s weakness is its lack of content.  It’s missing tips or suggestions to help customers visualize how to use its products.

Target.com is ready to go for the summer, though the “d” in “deals” should be capitalized and the exclamation point should be dropped. Oops. Can you spot the other capitalization errors?

2. Petsmart.com

Petsmart’s images are ready for summer.  The web site’s main sliding banner greets customers with various pictures of dogs running outside on sunny days. The other still images on the homepage are also of animals in outdoor settings. Moving beyond the homepage, the main items featured are geared toward use in the summer. For example, the dog section has leashes, harnesses and bike trailers aimed at outdoor lovers on the go.

What you can learn: While it’s only April, Petsmart has already positioned its web site with the most summer-related items first.   Like end-caps in physical stores, identify your store’s most desirable and in-demand products and place them at the forefront of the e-store.

Petsmart needs to add seasonal content.  Currently, its homepage bottom content is duplicated on several category pages, which isn’t great for search or for customers.  Petsmart.com could address pet owners’ most frequently asked questions about each category in those spaces.  It’s missing opportunities to educate new animal owners about the pros and cons of buying fencing, habitat accessories, and other pet supplies.

 

Even though it’s a cold spring in many parts of the United States, Petsmart.com helps consumers visualize summer outside with Fifi and Fido.

3. Gap.com

Gap is a brand that adapts to every new season. The colors and styles of their clothes act as decorations for the web site and can change the whole tone from summer to winter.  Clothing stores start advertising their new lines nearly a season in advance. Today, Gap.com is vibrant, bright and cheery with summer apparel.  Even the background graphic on the web site has been changed to read “Be Bright” in art-deco style lettering. From shorts and capri’s to sundresses and tank tops, one would think it’s already August at Gap.com.

Gap.com employs a clever trick with some images. Notice the blue highlight of “uniform shorts.” This phrase looks like a hyperlink. It’s not, but when clicked, the image is linked to the corresponding shorts store. Also, on this page, Gap transitions from spring to summer through use of a jacket with shorts and words that close out spring, while promoting summer.

What you can learn: Not all e-stores and web sites can be as adaptable to changing for each season as Gap, but if you are – utilize it! Tailor your font, graphics, background and colors to represent each season. Summer products seem to “pop” so much more when accompanied by other summer colors on the site and when your products look good, they sell.

However, the Gap is content light.  Sentences are placed over images like memes; but, there are very few words in text above or below page folds.  The Gap performs fairly well in search, but it’s likely that online conversions would improve with carefully-crafted content that adds value to the customers’ shopping experiences.

Overall, the common theme among these e-stores is to move your seasonal and most desirable products to the front. Incorporate the colors of the seasons, but stay true to your brand.  Place seasonal items on your homepage and tailor your images and content toward creating vibes that put shoppers in the mood for summer.

Don’t forget those whose experiences are enhanced beyond the layout, art, and images by the words they read.  Store content should educate the consumer, complement images, and describe the feel of the season.

Is your e-store prepared for summer shoppers?

~Stephanie & Jean

Other MWW Articles:

National Websites without Physical Stores Struggle to Rank

Guidelines for Writing E-Tail Category Content

Five Ways to Prepare Your E-Store for the Holidays

Nab These Call-to-Action Verbs

Twenty-five Effective, Call-to-Action Phrases for E-commerce Content

by My Web Writers

“Click here!” “Buy today!” “Limited time only!” We’ve seen them all, and ignored most of them. Not all e-commerce call-to-action phrases are creative. Most of them are incredibly cliché and really don’t motivate the reader to do much of anything.

You want to be different. You want to stand out. In order to do this put on your thinking cap and let your creative juices flow. Don’t use the same words that everyone else uses. Turn to a thesaurus if you need to and make sure you’re thinking outside the box.

Try these 25 effective, call-to-action phrases in your ecommerce content:

1. Just hit Reply and we’ll email you the details.
2. Entice him with x, y, and z.
3. Impress when you dress in x, y, and z.
4. Think (insert topic here).
5. Get the 411.
6. Come hang with us.
7. Write!
8. Tell us you want it.
9. Put it in my closet.
10. Use it ASAP.
11. Make my friends jealous.
12. Explore the product.
13. Book a table.
14. Take a chance today.
15. Achieve more now.
16. Build my collection.
17. Learn how to profit.
18. Improve my life.
19. Make me (look, smell, dress, etc.) better.
20. Check it out.
21. Some of our customer favorites are x, y, and z.
22. Try popular styles like x, y, and z.
23. Our top sellers, such as X and Y, receive outstanding reviews.
24. Shop for other items like x including y and z.
25. Our most linked to products are x, y, and z.

Remember that calls to action aren’t only about the words. Experiment with fonts, size, and placement on the page.  Feel free to be creative while enticing shoppers to buy more!

~Natalie

Quotes from 10 Writers about Web Writing

by My Web Writers

There are many quotes out there about writing. Great words spoken or written by Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, Mark Twain and more are all over plaques and posters, but the art of web writing is young.  Still, some of the pros have made impactful statements about the world of web writing.

Quotes from 10 Writers about Web Writing:

“Good writing doesn’t just happen—at least not very often. Good writing is planned.” John B. Karls and Ronald Szymansky The Writer’s Handbook, 2^nd Edition

“Having the right content in place, keeping it up-to-date, and removing content that is no longer relevant or timely ensures that the user community will find what they need.” JoAnn T. Hackos Content Management for Dynamic Web Delivery

“Good web text has a lot in common with good print text. It’s plain, concise, concrete and ‘transparent’: even on a personal site the text shouldn’t draw attention to itself, only to its subject.” Crawford Kilian Writing for the Web

“Together, we see the need for an overarching content strategy that coordinates written, video, and visual content pieces with social media that fully engage audiences and add to the knowledge graph.” Christina Zila Director of Communications, Textbroker

“The Web is like the Trojan Horse of information overload. It promised information nirvana and delivered overload hell.” Gerry McGovern and Rob Norton Content Critical

“As a rule of thumb, content should account for at least half of a page’s design, and preferably closer to 80 percent.” Jakob Nielsen, Designing Web Usability

“The more you know about your visitors, the better you can write for them.” Johnathon and Lisa Price Hot Text: Web Writing that Works

“If you’ve started a blog, and have it linked on your homepage, and you haven’t updated it for a few months, there’s a simple solution: take it down. You wouldn’t leave a half-finished display in your shop: why do it online?”  Jack Adams, copywriter

“Participating in the industry is not only a great way to network and build your personal brand, but it also exposes you to new ideas. Collaborate with industry peers on side projects. Attend conferences and meet-ups. Write and comment on articles. Do whatever you can to make a name for yourself and soak up as much knowledge as possible.” Adria Saracino, Head of Outreach, Distilled

“Get rid of half the words on each page, then get rid of half of what’s left.” Steve Krug, Don’t Make Me Think

~Natalie

Guidelines for Writing E-Tail Category Content

by My Web Writers

Photo Courtesy of Geek Philosopher

As shoppers flock to stores for the holidays with their mobile phones, to buy everything from personal care products to electronics to even vehicles, consider the status of your product descriptions and category content.  When you update your e-stores, follow these guidelines for writing e-tail content.:

Inform Customers About the Details

Your first and greatest responsibility should be to inform readers about the e-tailer’s products. Take the time to read about the product you’ll be writing about. If possible, review it in person. Consider it as a potential customer would: what would you like to know? What stands out about the product? What is it made of? Where is it made?

Anticipate questions that customers would want answered, and then answer them. After you’ve written your content, read it aloud to someone. Ask her whether she feels your description adequately described the product. Is anything unclear? If so, address those issues.

Entertain

Your main goal in writing e-tail category content is to inform. But, you’ll also want to entertain. Let’s face it, most customers are more drawn to clever copy than to a dry recitation of facts. What is unique about the product? What is relevant about it today? Pull in those details and come up with a funny or intriguing “hook” that will make customers want to read further to learn more.  Category pages draw readers into the sales funnel of product level pages.  A sense of humor or smile that offers intriguing product uses or customer testimonials can build credibility and time on site.

Create Urgency

E-tailers are in business to sell. It’s great if your copy draws customers to the site, but the ultimate goal is for those customers to make a purchase. You can encourage purchases by writing content that creates a sense of urgency. You might mention multiple ways customers could use a product. You could mention that the product’s sale price is only valid for a limited time. Suggest that customers stock up by buying several of clearance items while they’re still available.

SEO Matters

Even if your writing is informative, entertaining, and creates a sense of urgency, you won’t reach many potential customers if you don’t employ good search engine optimization (SEO) principals.

There are many sites giving good information on how to optimize your content. But some basic ideas involve filling your copy with key words and phrases that potential customers would search for. In your content, link to other pages on the e-tailer’s site. Use popular keywords in your content’s titles and subtitles.

 Research

What if you utilize all these ideas, but your competition is still ranking higher than you in search engines or in sales? Research them! Look around their sites and take notes on what they do that seems to be effective. Try making a change or two on your own site and give it a few weeks to see whether those changes made a difference in traffic or sales. Then, try more ideas. Constantly be aware of what your competitors are doing, and use those ideas that will work for your site.

It’s not an easy environment to do business in. But by following a few basic rules, your e-tail company can achieve success.

~Susan

Five Ways to Prepare Your E-Store for the Holidays

Shindigz.com is an example of an e-tailer that grooms its e-stores for the holidays.

by My Web Writers

Prepare your e-store for the holidays.   Delight and encourage shoppers, while providing unique opportunities to increase your potential customers. It goes without saying that if your site is a landing destination, your customers are going to shop more and spread the word about it on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and other social networking media.

There’s no time like the holidays to make subtle, effective improvements to your e-store, all in the name of getting ready for the upcoming festivities.

Put up some decorations

It doesn’t take much these days to change a heading or personalize a background. If you don’t want to use your own pictures, search for public domain and free licensing ones to create an atmosphere of holiday cheer on your site. Include a few holiday specific articles, highlighting your best products with previous customer testimonials.

Make your e-store very user friendly

Keep your site stress free for your customers, providing easy access to product, ordering and shipping information. Update return policies and include all information pertaining to receiving items as gifts too. While you’re doing this, it’s undoubtedly a good idea to make sure your return policy is consumer friendly, as well.

Other important user friendly features on your e-store include navigation. Make products on your site easy to find and access. Product descriptions should be thorough and readily available, upon landing on each product page.  Refresh your product and category descriptions for SEO.  Eliminate unnecessary clutter. Minimize eyestrain by softening colors, and reducing glaring bling.

Give gifts and goodies to your customers

Free shipping is huge, but so are coupons. Perks are fun to find and receive when shopping. Provide ample opportunities for customers to save money, and receive special promotions and offers with minimal effort. This might include running a 3-Day sale, and posting a special coupon on Facebook for consumers to print. It could also be a “Refer a Friend” opportunity, where linking to your site sends your customer an extraordinary deal for their kindness.

Eliminate shipping worries

Flexibility is vital when it comes to shipping, especially for those last minute shoppers. As an e-store owner, you can make sure you’re able to deliver customer product in a timely manner; you can also extend the shipping time required by the customer. Give those frazzled shoppers a little breathing room, and make it easy to receive items in record time, even if they’ve been ordered a little later than expected.

Serve your customers well

Treat your customers like royalty. Make them feel wanted and special, by providing multiple ways to contact you. Set up a live chat or forum for their immediate questions and concerns. Make “Contact Information” easy to find and easier to use. Respond graciously and as soon as possible when you are contacted by a customer.

Preparing your E-store for the holidays is an opportunity to make your site stand out among the crowd. Take advantage of this opportunity, so you can drive traffic and increase sales opportunity well into 2013!

~MJ