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Merchant Tips: Is Contact Data Accuracy Hurting Your Business?

Posted in Ecommerce, Merchant Tips, tagged , , , , on July 25, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

It may not be one of the sexier components of any e-commerce operation, but the fact remains that having solid and accurate customer data information in order to maintain clear lines of communications with your shoppers is a must in this day and age.

The question then becomes, are you one of the haves or the have-nots when it comes to an updated customer database?

According to a new study by Experian QAS called The Dilemma of Multichannel Contact Data Accuracy, it seems that accurate customer contact information is falling through the cracks for many retailers even as many are increasingly finding new methods to collect the vital information.

The overall polling carried out in June by Experian QAS, a division of Experian Marketing Services and provider of address verification services and software, included the responses of 100 or so retailers.  The study’s aim was to review current attitudes toward contact data quality and make recommendations for better collection of such data across multiple channels.

Three quarters of the retailers polled say their databases are rife with incomplete, outdated or simply erroneous consumer contact information.  They further stated that an average of 12 percent of all the customer information in their databases is inaccurate, which further hinders their ability to reach shoppers.  If there’s a silver lining here, it’s that among the rest of the industry sources polled (mostly insurance and banking professionals), there’s actually a higher rate of erroneous information (23 percent) in their databases.

Furthermore, 55 percent of the retailers (versus 68 percent for everyone else) say they capture customer data via mobile applications, cementing the utility and effectiveness of mobile in general.

Still, the picture isn’t a pretty one, as evidenced by the fact that 98 percent of ALL respondents say they waste budget money annually on inaccurate contact data.

“The large amount of erroneous contact data is overwhelming businesses, causing them to ignore the inaccuracies in their system,” said Thomas Schutz, senior vice president and general manager of Experian QAS.  “With the popularity of alternate channels, organizations face more opportunities for growth, but also for error.  Data quality needs to be considered to ensure success from new channels rather than additional headaches.”

Experian’s data shows that 36 percent of retailers use some type of in-house software tools to manage their databases, slightly higher than the survey’s broad average of 30 percent.  The company also states that the lowest-quality information in company databases is often that which customers enter themselves, though 44 percent of the retail respondents to the survey pin the blame on customer service.

Nevertheless, Experian recommends that companies keep mobile data collection to a minimum since such shoppers are often in a rush to finish the check-out process, making errors all the more likely.

“Users are frequently distracted or in a hurry to complete the transaction,” the survey states.  “Organizations need to ensure the accuracy of this information so that they can follow-up.  However, as with adding anything to the e-commerce checkout process, organizations want to make sure they prevent user drop-off.”

The company, among its additional recommendations, also advises that retailers should match stored data on its returning customers’ accounts so the shoppers aren’t forced to re-enter the data with every visit.

Got any feedback on this issue? Leave us a comment!

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Merchant Tips: A Lesson in How NOT to Treat Your Customers

Posted in Ecommerce, Merchant Tips, Online Shopping, tagged , , on May 17, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

As seasoned online shoppers, we’ve seen our fair share of terrible customer service practices over the years.  Still, we’d never encountered anything so bad that it results in legal action and jail time.  That is, until now.

We’ve learned from the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan that Vitaly Borker, the owner and operator of the luxury eyewear site DecorMyEyes.com, pled guilty last week to one count each of mail fraud and wire fraud and two counts of sending threatening communications, a smorgasbord of shady activity that could land him in jail for up to 50 years.

According to the U.S. attorney’s office, Borker’s primary violations included selling both counterfeit and damaged goods to customers and making unauthorized charges to their credit cards.  But it doesn’t stop there.  It seems Borker wasn’t keen on hearing customers complain about the things he was doing either.

He repeatedly threatened them and at times, their family members, via both email and telephone.  In one particularly harrowing case, Borker told one New York-based customer over the phone that he knew her address and would show up at her residence and rape her.  After she hung up on him, Borker called the customer over and over again throughout the night and actually sent her an email with a photograph of the outside of her home, according to a complaint filed by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

Charming, right?

“Vitaly Borker was a cyberbully who subjected his victims to abusive, profanity-laced tirades and threats of physical violence,” said U.S. attorney Preet Bharara. “He used fraud and intimidation as a business model, selling customers inferior goods and then repeatedly harassing them when they complained.”

Borker’s case certainly wasn’t helped by a New York Times article in November of last year that depicted him in much the same way Bharara does—he boasted of forcing customers to air their complaints on online review sites in the belief that it would boost his Google search rankings (it did not, as Google would eventually lower his rankings and those of other retailers deemed to be providing poor customer service).

Borker is scheduled to be sentenced in mid-September and from the looks of it, DecorMyEyes.com has stopped operations.  But for those who had to endure the worst of Borker’s twisted version of customer service, the sting probably remains.

Now, granted, the story falls under the category of ‘worst case scenario’ but it should also serve as a reminder to shoppers that it’s absolutely critical to know who you’re buying from online.  We’ve said it time and again but consumers should always be looking for merchant certifications on the sites of retailers they’re not familiar with. Reviewing customer service and shipping/returns policies is also a must.  In short, don’t leave yourself open to any surprises after the fact.

As for retailers themselves, Borker’s tale is one that highlights what many consumers fear most about online shopping: becoming the victim of fraudulent activity.  Merchants must always remember that not every online consumer is a pro and that it’s important to provide crystal-clear explanations of how your business works every step of the way. And when in doubt, rely on the old mantra that “the customer is always right.”

Thankfully, the case of Vitaly Borker amounts to very small bad apple in a basket of good ones.  We provide it to you here though as a cautionary tale of what can go wrong in e-commerce.

Leave us your thoughts and comments!

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MERCHANT TIPS: AmEx OPEN, Facebook Team Up with Contest for Small Businesses

Posted in Merchant Tips, tagged , , , , on April 26, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

If you’re a small or mid-sized retailer looking for first-hand help in marketing and expanding your social networking presence, now there’s a unique opportunity for you to do just that thanks to Facebook and OPEN, the small business arm of American Express.

The two have teamed up to roll out “Facebook Big Break for Small Business”, a new national contest designed to help change the way small businesses use Facebook to connect and engage with customers in a more authentic and personalized way.

“Small business owners are experts at customer engagement, but the tools and techniques for finding and engaging customers are quickly evolving,” said Julie Fajgenbaum, American Express OPEN’s vice president for Brand and Customer Marketing.  “It’s critical that business owners understand these new channels and platforms, which is why we are collaborating with Facebook to educate on the benefits of engaging customers through social media and provide real, tangible tips on how to do it effectively.”

Seeing as this is a contest, you probably just want us to get to the good stuff, aka what you get if you win, already right?

Well, five winners will eventually be selected and awarded an all-expense paid trip to Facebook’s headquarters in California for a two-day, in-depth one-on-one business ‘makeover’ and a $20,000 cash prize to help their social media strategy moving forward.

During these makeovers, winners will be advised on how to best maximize Facebook to improve the marketing of their business and service to both existing and new customers.  Each winner will get practical and personal training on best practices for using all of Facebook’s business services, including Pages, Ads and Social Plugins.  All of these training sessions will be filmed and shown on both OPEN’s Facebook page and OPEN Forum, AmEx’s small business resource site.

The contest will also award ten runners-up with $2,500 worth of Facebook advertising to help them target new customers.

If you want to enter, it’s pretty simple to do so.  Visit OPEN’s Facebook page and fill out the short questionnaire describing how you would utilize the winning prize to better your business.  Ten finalists will be chosen by a panel of industry experts based on, among other things, their commitment to their business and its overall growth and their enthusiasm for small business in general.

The finalists will then compete in a final round of judging where OPEN Facebook fans will be asked to vote for their five favorite small businesses to win the trip to Facebook and $20,000 prize.

This sounds like a pretty nice opportunity to us, and one that doesn’t require much legwork on your end so get to it and leave us your feedback about the contest in a comment below.  Good luck!

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New Report Reveals Serious Flaws in Electronic Payment Systems

Posted in Ecommerce, General News / Technology, Merchant Tips, Online Shopping, tagged , , , , , , on April 15, 2011 | 2 Comments »

A new study out this week by researchers at Indiana University casts some serious doubts over the security protocols  used by many leading online payment systems and e-commerce sites, raising concerns that the industry could be facing a dangerous fraud threat in the very near future as a result.

The report, “How to Shop for Free Online: Security Analysis of Cashier-as-a-Service Based Web Stores,” was authored by Indiana University doctoral student Rui Wang, with help from associate professor XiaoFeng Wang and representatives from Microsoft as well.  It specifically cites quite a few reputable online shopping sites and payment services—Google Checkout, Amazon, PayPal, Buy.com, just to name a few—as having serious security flaws that could easily be exploited for fraudulent purposes.

Research focused wholly on the CAAS (‘cashier-as-a-service’) payment systems that are widely employed online and the team discovered that the gaping security flaws at play are largely the result of integration problems between payment systems and e-commerce platforms.

These integration issues have created an environment where criminals can trick the systems in a number of ways—from confirming payments to fraudulent or illegitimate sites, to actually changing the amounts paid for online purchases or receiving orders at no cost at all.

“Our analysis revealed the logic complexity in CaaS-based checkout mechanisms, and the effort required to verify their security properly when developing and testing these systems,” Rui Wang said.  “We believe this study takes the first step in the new security problem space that hybrid web applications bring.”

The team concludes that the study’s findings could be just the beginning of what may grow into a much broader problem with online payment systems.  And since the group really only studied what it calls the simplest of “trilateral interactions” between parties, they also conclude that more research is necessary to delve into some of the more complex payment tools available out there.

One thing the team does know?  Better cooperation between payment providers and e-commerce companies is necessary to reverse course:

“Payment service providers have a responsibility to make it clear how to safely use the service they provide, and merchants need to do their due diligence to operate these services properly,” Wang said.

Leave us your thoughts and comments and have a wonderful weekend!

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Merchant Tips: What’s Better, a Tweet or a Facebook Like?

Posted in Facebook Commerce, Merchant Tips, tagged , , , , , on March 18, 2011 | 2 Comments »

One of the big things to look for in the immediate future as social commerce and social networking integration continue to evolve is which specific social media channels start to separate themselves from the rest as preferred resources by businesses.

In the e-commerce industry, as with most others, Facebook and Twitter have risen to the top of the social media priority list.  And in fact, it could be argued that both resources have actually been the driving forces behind businesses of every type making social media a bigger part of their broader marketing, promotional and customer service offerings.  While other sites preceded the two and even more that have arrived since, none have enjoyed the success of Facebook and Twitter.

So if we’re left to assume that these two are gold standard for social media now and in the near future, an obvious question arises: which one is more effective for businesses?

Well one event marketing company, Eventbrite, has released some internal data that suggests a Facebook “Like” carries a lot more weight, and is ultimately more profitable, than a Tweet.

Eventbrite’s research was unveiled earlier this week and details how each social media site contributed to the success of individual events the company prepared.   The data shows that the average Facebook like produced an additional $1.34 in profit, while a Tweet only added about $.80.

While obviously the effects of using both Twitter and Facebook will vary from industry to industry, the data does indeed have relevance for e-commerce companies, says Eventbrite’s Tamara Mendelsohn:

“…the findings apply broadly to all e-commerce businesses, because the foundations of e-commerce are shifting as the social graph becomes a meaningful influence in driving transactions,” says the company’s marketing director.

Eventbrite’s experiences are the result solely of its own marketing efforts, so we’d guard against reading too much into them.   You can check out more details of their research right here on their company blog.

However, it did get us thinking that this could prove to be a great discussion point for e-tailers and online marketers so we’re going to especially encourage you to comment on this post.  Leave us a comment with your thoughts or opinions and any relevant experience you may have in determining whether Facebook or Twitter is more effective.

Let’s get a good discussion going here, don’t be shy!

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Merchant Tips: Videos Within Ads Help Catch the Eye of Consumers

Posted in Ecommerce, Merchant Tips, tagged , , , , on March 1, 2011 | 2 Comments »

It should go without saying that retailers must always be looking into new ways to enhance their marketing and advertising efforts.  The landscape of online advertising changes so frequently that only those individuals that stay ahead of the curve can truly be assured of making sure they’re crafting the most effective message.

Now, a new study has come along offering yet another guideline for maximizing the effect of your online advertising.

The report from ad server and provider Unicast, called U.S. Analytics Benchmark Report Q4 2010,  reveals that ads that engaged a viewer particularly through the use of video performed the best during the last quarter of 2010 and remain the best chance of leaving an impression with consumers.

It marked the fourth straight quarter in Unicast’s tracking that ads with videos turned out to be the most successful at getting consumers to engage.

The findings reveal that in-stream branded canvas ad formats, which generally play a related video before providing regular ad information to a consumer, had the best interaction rate in Q4 2010 at 14.7 percent.  Those types of ads also saw a 0.8 percent click-through rate, which was also tops.

Unicast defines the interaction rate as “the total number of positive user interactions divided by the total number of rich media impressions.”

By comparison, push-down advertisements, which display the ad when a user runs his or her mouse over a banner, had a 13.2 percent interaction rate and a negligible click-through rate of 0.3 percent.  Expandable ads, which work much like push-down ones, weren’t much better.  They only saw an interaction rate of 9.5 percent.

With a consistent period of such strong performances, Unicast believes that the number and scope of interactive ads can only increase.

“The market opportunity of online video is extensive and we haven’t even begun to tap into its full potential,” says Dan Berra, the company’s vice president of business intelligence.

Have you employed video in your ads? Let us know! Leave comments below!

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Constant Contact Expands Capabilities with Bantam Acquisition

Posted in Ecommerce, Merchant Tips, Retail, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on February 28, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

E-mail marketing leader Constant Contact announced that it has put the finishing touches on an acquisition of Bantam Live, a leading contact management and social CRM provider.

The purchase should substantially add to the email marketing capabilities that Constant Contact provides already to more than 400,000 businesses and small organizations. Bantam Live, based in New York, was owned and operated by privately-held Bantam Networks, LLC.

The final price tag on the deal is $15 million, subject to post-closing adjustments.

“Building highly-engaged customer relationships is the number one pain point for small organizations.  To do this, they need a unified view of their contacts across all channels, from email addresses to social media connections, to event registrations,” said Gail Goodman, Constant Contact CEO.  “With the Bantam Live acquisition and our internal development initiatives, we are building a platform that delivers a targeted approach to building stronger customer relationships and cultivating new ones – the number one business driver for small organizations.  Armed with better, targeted insight, small organizations can more easily turn prospects into customers or members, and fans into advocates.”

Bringing on Bantam will primarily help Constant Contact expand and offer their services over multiple channels.

Bantam Live boasts a robust social CRM platform that will create a unified repository of data across several different channels including email opens, survey responses, clicks, event participation and social media interactions.  The acquisition will substantially affect how data is captured, reported and analyzed for Constant Contact’s small business clients and will help them better track and measure customer engagement.

Constant Contact will eventually incorporate the social CRM functionality into all of its products and offerings, including a paid social media marketing package which should become available later this year.

As we’ve said time and time again, email marketing is a crucial component of an effective retail and e-commerce communications strategy.  There are quite a few companies out there offering suites of software to help you tailor your email marketing and Constant Contact is definitely one of the best.  If you still haven’t seriously embarked on email marketing campaigns, this deal may be exactly what you need to go look into Constant Contact.

Leave us your thoughts and comments!

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Increases in E-commerce Tech Spending Expected this Year

Posted in Ecommerce, Merchant Tips, tagged , , , , on February 1, 2011 | 1 Comment »

If you’re an e-tailer, what do you do to build on an enormously successful year in 2010?  You boost investment in your technology infrastructure, at least according to a new survey from Forrester Research.

According to Forrester’s 2011 Online Retail Technology Investment Outlook, 62 percent of e-tailers intend to either increase, or significantly increase, their technology budgets this year.  By comparison, the same poll last year saw 57 percent of merchants expecting to add to their tech budgets.

Meanwhile, only 5 percent of the e-tailers polled plan to cut tech budgets in 2011, same as 2010.

Forrester’s survey polled 63 U.S.-based online retailers, who were asked in-depth to detail their investment priorities for the coming year.

The responses indicate that overall, the industry’s investment priorities seem to have changed quite a bit this year.  For example, a majority of respondents (63.5 percent) indicated that a leading area for increased investment in the coming months will be the integration of back-end systems that support business management processes.  That’s quite a shift from the 31.6 percent cited in last year’s Outlook.

2011 will also see more e-tailers diverting investments into their actual e-commerce platforms—52 percent this year compared to just under 49 percent in 2010—with another 24 percent stating that they’ll change or upgrade their e-commerce platform in the next 18 months.

Of those polled, almost half run their operations with platforms built and maintained in-house, while about a quarter use platforms hosted internally but provided by outside vendors.

The final major area expected to see budget increases shouldn’t surprise you—mobile sites.  As if you needed another example of how much m-commerce is on the upswing, last year’s Forrester Outlook projected that only 18.6 percent of those polled would be investing in their mobile site offerings.

This year, that number jumped to more than 52 percent.

Search marketing is still a priority, cited by 78 percent of the respondents, same as last year.  Site design and usability though seem to have grow in importance as well, with 70 percent of the e-tailers naming both as a priority (up from 56 and 60 percent, respectively).

Retailers, do you agree with the findings from Forrester?   Do they generally fall in line for what you have planned here in 2011? Let us know your thoughts!

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Merchant Tips: ‘Housecleaning’ During a Slow Week

Posted in Merchant Tips, tagged , , , , on December 28, 2010 | 2 Comments »

If you’re a retailer or merchant, you’re probably using this week between Christmas and New Year’s to catch your breath.  And hey, we can’t blame you!   It was a banner holiday shopping season for both the retail and e-commerce industries, so chances are you were quite busy up until December 25th and deserve a little bit of down time.

Keep in mind though, this isn’t a time to rest on your laurels.  The show, as they say, must go on! Before you know it, the calendar will read 2011 and it will be back to business as usual.  Since this week tends to be a bit more quiet than most, why not use it to catch up and get yourself ready for the year ahead?  We’ve compiled some helpful tips on things you can work on this week to do just that so you’re ready to go full-force next week.

Get your House in Order:  it’s easy to let the little things slide some when you’re in the midst of holiday madness.  Use this time to catch up on things like payroll and bills or vendor/partner agreements and contracts for next year.  Remember that tax season isn’t far off either so everything you can do now to be prepared for April 15 is a step in the right direction.

Take Inventory, and Liquidate if Necessary: look around and see what merchandise you might have remaining in high quantities after the holidays.  Are there specific seasonal or holiday items that you think you can unload quickly?  If so, put them on sale this week and add some serious motivation for your shoppers to snatch them up (think a “2 for 1″ deal or free shipping, etc.)

Update those Customer Lists: if you were a savvy retailer in 2010, chances are you compiled quite a few customer email addresses for your mailing list.  What good is having all those emails though if you’re not going to use them?  Make sure your contact lists are updated and correct before you begin sending out messages next year.  Take some time to upload any emails you haven’t yet added to your list and also make sure that anyone who has opted out of your messages has been removed from your database.  You don’t want to start the New Year off by violating any SPAM laws!

Plot your 2011:  in that same vein, start drafting your strategy for next year as well.   Two very big trends emerged in e-commerce in particular in 2010–mobile shopping and social media integration.  Of the two, getting a social media presence is probably the quicker option of the two. Retailers can (and have!) easily set up Twitter accounts to broadcast specials and deals, and we’ve chronicled all of the options out there for taking your retail operation to Facebook before.  If you’re not using social media, you’re losing ground to the competition so look into those options this week.   Mobile commerce options will definitely cost you more but could be worthwhile next year and in the future as more and more smart phone users begin feeling comfortable about shopping with their mobile devices.  Do some research on mobile commerce solutions providers and/or check out your competitors to see what, if anything, they’re doing with this very important business component.

Start Planning for the 2011 Holiday Season Now:  the best ideas are the freshest ideas.  Spend about an hour this week on an honest evaluation of your holiday operations this year.  What worked?   What didn’t work?  What would you do differently?  Take that evaluation and put together a little note to yourself to be reviewed again in advance of next year’s holiday shopping period, say in late October.  Add some ideas you have now for what you can do next year as well. By relying on recent memory to shape your strategy next year, you can avoid repeating any mistakes that were made and also ensure that you’re prepared when the madness begins again!

Got some more merchant tips? Leave us a comment!

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