There’s no denying it – prepping for an online shopping sale takes time and effort. It’s crucial to start planning well ahead of the sale – from six weeks to more than 6 months in advance.

Consider this – people start searching “Christmas gift ideas” in August, four months ahead of Christmas Day.

If that doesn’t scream “PREPARE YOUR CAMPAIGN EARLY”, we don’t know what does.

Nailing online shopping sales comes down to well-thought-out preparation. Set some time aside and plan your advertising material, potential online marketing like AdWords, social media strategies, and how you’re going to manage shipping following an onslaught of orders.

Create a marketing and shipping plan ahead of time to avoid roadblocks like missed orders, poor customer service and a low conversion rate.

Preparation comes down to you – but successful shipping doesn’t have to.

We’ve collected three tips for nailing online shopping sales, plus we’ve highlighted some of the most valuable sales to prep for throughout the year.

Update your advertising and experiment with Adwords

The first step in preparation for an online sale is to update your advertising.

Whether it’s storefront posters, vibrant online banners, or an aggressive email marketing campaign, your promotional material needs to reflect the nature of the sale and convince shoppers to take advantage of the discount.

On Black Friday, for example, you might use an eye-catching black and white design with bold fonts, simplistic images, and make the discount the key feature.

Make sure to take advantage of the colour wheel when designing your promotional material. According to ecommerce experts, Kissmetrics, colour increases brand recognition by 80% and 85% of customers purchase based on colour alone.

See the graph below for more ideas on how you can use colour to set the tone of your advertisements. Alternatively, check out this colour theory lesson from Canva!

Image: Kissmetrics

You can also use Google AdWords to give your promotion some extra oomph online.

AdWords is a hugely popular pay-per-click advertising network that allows you to place advertisements on relevant Google search results pages, YouTube videos, and partner websites.

You can custom design text-based ads, graphic display ads, YouTube video ads or in-app mobile ads – there are plenty of ways to reach your target audience. For eCommerce, Google Shopping is of particular importance as customers turn more and more to image-based results.

You can also choose to reach potential customers within a few kilometers of your business if you only deliver locally, or broadcast ads to entire regions and countries.

The best part? Sign-up is free and AdWords only charges you when someone clicks your ad, views your video on YouTube, or calls your business.

You aren’t charged for running ads or signing up.

You control the amount of money you spend, what ads go up, and when the promotion ends.

Use your secret marketing weapon… social media!

Social media is a powerful weapon when it comes to marketing. Right now, there are 15,000,000 Aussies on Facebook, 9,000,000 on Instagram, and 3,000,000 on Twitter.
And that’s just USA.

Close to half the world’s population (3.03 billion people) are on some sort of social media platform.

With traditional methods of marketing like direct mail and television advertising becoming less effective, more and more businesses are turning to social media to connect with their customers on a more personal level.

However, the average social media user’s attention span is dropping by the minute – attention spans have decreased to 8 seconds for most social media users – so if you’re going to reach customers on Facebook and/or Instagram, you’re going to have to make your content engaging.

Offer a discount code

60% of consumers abandon their online cart because additional costs like postage are too high. You have the power to reduce your abandonment rate through the use of coupon codes and exclusive discounts.

According to ecommerce platform Shopify, business owners with an active discount code are eight times more likely to make a sale.

Entice your social media followers with a sweet little discount. It will make them feel like they’re being rewarded for their loyalty… or like they’re wasting money if they don’t use the discount code!

Promote your fast (and possibly free) shipping

A recent survey found that 69% of consumers consider one-day delivery as an incentive to shop more online.

For the purpose of the sale, consider offering reduced shipping rates or free shipping. Alternatively, offer new customers a free shipping code to use in the checkout. This has been proven to reduce abandoned cart rates.

Make sure you’re sharing your amazing shipping practices all over social media, too. Your customers will be more inclined to shop the sale if they know their parcels will arrive tomorrow!

Advertise on Facebook and Instagram

You can reach more potential customers by advertising to customers who are like those who already engage with your brand.

Facebook advertising also includes Instagram advertising these days, so you can reach an even wider audience with different types of ad creative.  Growing your Facebook audience in a highly targeted way is more likely to improve sales both in the short and longer-term.

To get the best results, create a variety of highly engaging (but short) ad creative including images, videos, and carousels of your products. Then once you’ve set your audience targeting, sit back and allow Facebook’s AI to do the work in determining which creative works best for which audience.

Streamline your shipping for fewer headaches later

American philanthropist, Warren Buffett, once said “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.”

If you think about that, you’ll do things differently. Don’t let disorganised shipping ruin your reputation with customers, old and new.

Successful shipping is critical to the success of your online sale. Customers expect faster parcel delivery today, and ensuring that their orders are received on time means an increase in your customer satisfaction and repeat business.

Atex Coins Security Company can help ease the stress associated with shipping after a sale – and even help you prepare beforehand with our easy ecommerce shipping integration.

We offer fast, affordable parcel delivery throughout USA. Our goal is to provide a range of services to suit all individuals and businesses, ensuring reliability, timeliness and affordability.

We have more than 11 associate couriers under our wing, so we’re guaranteed to have a courier who can help speed up your deliveries.

Whether you’re looking for fast metro delivery, postage to regional areas, heavy package delivery or want to give your customers the cheapest, fastest delivery available, we’ve got a courier for you.
Atex Coins Security Company Members can save up to 30% on Shipping and access a whole range of features that makes shipping even simpler.

So what are you waiting for? Don’t snooze on shipping – open a Free Member’s Account today and start saving!

*BONUS* Key online shopping dates

There are so many different incentives and themes for online shopping sales, there’s bound to be a whole range of opportunities here to treat your customers.

Here’s a brief rundown of key shopping dates in the ecommerce calendar that highlights the key online shopping dates for USA.

If so, you’ll want to check out these proven strategies to maximise results with pre-orders.

Note: If you hadn’t considered pre-order sales for this year, you can still make it happen … but you’ll need to act fast!

Benefits of Pre-Order Sales Campaigns

Before diving into the details and tactics, let’s break down the biggest benefits of pre-order sales strategies. These benefits apply to brand-new products and re-release launches.

1. Save Money and/or Time

Pre-order sales can save you the costs and time involved in developing or stocking products that have low demand, or weak product/market fit.

Beyond the development costs, the associated costs and time that would go into areas such as marketing, fulfilment, returns and customer service, can also be “saved” when pre-orders are used with new product launches (or re-releases).

Furthermore, if you’re able to capitalise on sneak previews, remarketing to previous buyers (in the case of re-releases), cross-sales or word-of-mouth marketing opportunities, you’ll be able to reduce your marketing costs as well, potentially improving your return on investment.

2. Make More Money

These benefits are closely linked to the previous points. With new product development, pre-order sales can work especially well for generating upfront revenue to create and produce new products based on guaranteed sales.

Getting those pre-order dollars in advance also gives you an edge on your margins: When you can reduce your associated costs (marketing, fulfilment), you can reinvest more efficiently in those areas and, in turn, further increase top-line sales growth with these or related products (for example, with bundling and cross-sales or up-selling).

3 Ways to Get a Headstart with Pre-Order Sales

Of course, every business is keen to save money and time, and make more money. So what other key factors should you consider to determine if pre-orders fit your business model?

1. Do you have a sizeable, engaged email list of customers?

This can provide a massive head start, especially with product re-releases, at a minimal marketing cost. Some brands sell out new products or re-releases with email alone via sneak previews, VIP segmenting tactics, and countdowns. Email marketing also dovetails with the next area to consider …

2. Do you have a large, active social media audience?

Once again, the more engaged your customer audience is, the easier it is to cut through the noise to reach them, and the lower your marketing spend will be. With social media sharing and digital word of mouth/visibility, this can spread the pre-orders well beyond the email list, and adds the perfect one-two punch. This area includes paid social media marketing, because organic reach and engagement can be very difficult to achieve these days.

3. Do you have compelling sales and marketing content ready?

Pre-orders are a big leap of faith: Most of us want to know exactly what to expect when we buy online, and pre-orders may not always have a clear fulfilment time. What gets a lot of buyers over the line are marketing and sales that tap into urgency, exclusivity and limited-release availability. Photos can be a challenge with products that don’t exist yet, so graphics might be needed to fill the gap. Also, the clearer you can be on the delivery time estimates, the better.

Remember that powerful offers, such as bonuses, incentives, discounts or add-ons, can take an average launch to extraordinary success levels, so plan accordingly.

It’s okay if you don’t have all of these bases covered just yet. While they provide a headstart for sales and marketing at reduced costs, it’s not a deal breaker if you can’t tick every box today. Just remember how important they can be, and get onto them if you haven’t yet!

Pre-Order Campaign Examples – Holiday Edition

While you can use pre-order sales strategies any time of year, the holiday season is usually crunch time for shoppers and businesses, so everything moves a bit faster.

Taking that into account, here are two holiday pre-order campaigns that we think got it right.

A Tale of Two Craft Beer Advent Calendars

This pre-order product has picked up in recent years, and campaigns being run by companies like BoozeBud and Carwyn Cellars have stepped up their game in 2020 (their own claims, but we’d agree).

1. BoozeBud

What we like:

• Pre-order launch email (day of launch)
• Compelling product photography and details (breweries, styles)
• New product design for better fridge fit, shipping (all cans)
• “How Does Pre-order Work” FAQ in email
• Cross-selling related products: Spirit Advents, Cider Advents

This pre-order sales launch email (sent the day of launch) featured personalisation, a photo of the new product in a festive holiday setting, social proof (50,000 sold last year) and copy that motivated readers to order fast.

The pre-order email also addressed a FAQ — “How does pre-order work?” — clearly and concisely, to increase clicks and orders.

2. Carwyn Cellars

What we like:

• Pre-sale heads up email sequence to subscribers/customers (4 emails)
• Special $10 discount code sent via email day before sale goes live
• Revamped product line-up, based on customer feedback
• Refreshed packaging, also based on customer feedback
• Exclusive limited-edition products (special indie USAn beers)
• Sneak peek at products (breweries list)
• Clear shipping and pick-up timeframes and costs, well in advance

The initial pre-order promo email was sent Sept 23, teasing the Oct 14 pre-order sales launch date and exact time, with details on what’s new and improved this year. An illustration is used in lieu of a product photo.

Carwyn Cellars used a four-email sequence with special subscriber/customer discount code leading up to the sales launch day.

Pre-Order Campaign Examples – Anytime Edition

Perhaps we’re all focused on holidays right now, but your pre-order sales strategy can run any time (and it should if it’s working well for you).

Aside from marketing campaigns and email sequences, your site is where the sales happen, so use sharp imagery, price, limited-edition status, shipping date and time estimates, to set clear expectations and increase conversions.

These are all things that Bubble Tea Club does with its pre-order sales approach.

How well does it work? Apparently, the waiting list has a waiting list, so you decide.

Bubble Tea Club promotes new products ahead of launch and relaunch, with a prominent expected arrival date and email notifications. Some of the most popular products have a waiting list for the waiting list!

3 Critical Steps You Can Take Now

By now, your wheels should be turning and you should have at least a few ideas you can apply to develop or enhance your pre-order approach, even if you’re new to this strategy.

Here’s a quick list of three critical areas to think through in more depth, with your own specific products, customers and business in mind, to put pre-order ideas in motion.

1. Your Products

It all starts here: Do you have new or relaunch products in the pipeline? If not, would pre-orders help you revamp and relaunch a product with sales that have levelled off, or is seasonal?

Get a clear picture of how pre-orders could apply to your products and development process, and if there’s a fit in one or several areas, keep going …

2. Your Timelines

Where your product development cycle stands is a key factor here. Are you selling a product before creating it, or does it exist and it’s nearly ready to ship?

If it’s nearly ready, and you have quality marketing/sales content and offers, you’re in pretty good shape. If not, be realistic with pre-order and fulfillment timelines you commit to — and be prepared to deal with more customer service inquiries.

3. Your Marketing

Do your strongest marketing channels fit best with pre-order strategies?

For example, the headstart that email and social media can provide may be more efficient than paid search and organic search traffic when it comes to pre-order campaigns. Plenty of other possibilities exist, too — maybe you have a huge YouTube or TikTok audience, or an app, strong word-of-mouth, PR or other ways to reach an already active customer base.

Scoping out the options more clearly helps you with projecting costs, ROI and timelines of this approach before making a significant investment, or going in an overly expensive direction.

Use the ideas, tactics and examples in this post to get your pre-order sales strategy in place fast and off to a strong start, before the holidays or as soon as you’re ready. We’ll be here to power up the shipping and fulfilment side for you!

But while many businesses work hard to establish their brand identity through social media, emails and web copy, there’s one place that’s often overlooked …. Product descriptions!

Every product description is an opportunity to offer your customers a little taste of your brand, so here’s how you can write descriptions that better reflect your brand identity.

Step 1: Define Your Brand Identity

The first thing you need to do is get a clear idea of your brand identity. Is your brand serious? Funny? Cheeky? Thoughtful? Free Spirited?

You may have already established your brand’s identity, but even if you haven’t, read through your social media, web content and emails to see if you’ve already got a voice that customers associate with your brand.

Reading through old content and previous interactions with customers will help you adopt this voice in your writing.

The notoriously ironic humour of the Old Spice ads is still going strong in their product descriptions

Step 2: What Do Your Customers Need to Know?

Next, you need to work out what information your customers need to know.

While clever descriptions may be amusing, they’re not much use if they don’t tell your customers anything about the product.

Start by listing the essential information:

• Features
• Benefits
• Materials
• Dimensions
• Weight

Step 3: How Will You Reflect Your Brand Identity in Your Product Descriptions?

The next step is to work out how you can reflect your brand’s identity in your writing.

For inspiration, try looking to the people in your life. A conversation with your mother or a grandparent, for example, may be an excellent resource for working out how a ‘motherly’ brand would speak.

Or perhaps your brand sounds a lot like the class clown you remember from high school.

If you want to establish yourself as a ‘fun’ brand, pop culture references, a hint of irony, tongue-in-cheek humour, and a casual tone are options for representing this persona.

Dollar Shave Club often sneak some ‘cheeky’ humour into their product descriptions

Step 4: Find the Balance

Now it’s time to tie it all together. You need to find the balance between providing the information your customers need, and using language that reflects your brand identity.

You may wish to build a list of the key information that needs to be included in your description before you start to write it. Once you know what you need to say, you can start working out how your brand’s persona would convey that information.

Cards Against Humanity’s product descriptions perfectly reflect the risqué nature of their game and their brand

Step 5: Be Honest About Your Abilities

You need to be honest with yourself about your writing abilities. It could come apart here.

Are you a good writer? An excellent writer, even?

Do you have the time to be writing your own descriptions?

Perhaps someone amongst your marketing staff is better equipped to capture the tone that you’re trying to convey. Or maybe your customer service team leaders can inject some levity into the copy on your site (as they hopefully do in chats, calls and emails)?

Otherwise, you might consider outsourcing the job to an external copywriter who specialises in shifting a brand’s voice to lighter tones. You don’t want to gloss over getting this right.

Bite-sized packages of personality

With every description having the power to delight, amuse, reassure or inform your customers, product descriptions are an oft-overlooked opportunity to reflect a bit of personality.

By developing a consistent brand identity that extends all the way to your product descriptions, you can attract more customers, while establishing a relationship with them that keeps them loyal to your brand.

Your brand brings customers to your door, and our couriers get your products to theirs

Atex Coins Security Company makes comparing carriers easy with instant quotes, and if you sign up to our Free Members Account now, you’ll get 30% off shipping.

But most ecommerce stores have little to no direct contact with their customers, beyond what marketing, email, and their website can provide.

To offer a great customer experience, sometimes you need to think outside the box.

But other times, you need to think about the box itself.

Because packaging and the ‘unboxing’ experience can go a long way to creating an excellent customer experience. First impressions are everything, after all.

Here are five ways to enhance your customers’ experience and loyalty with the right packaging.

1. Use packaging to reflect your brand identity

From the materials you’re using to ship your items, right through to the packaging of the product inside, your customer’s impression of your brand starts the moment your package arrives on their doorstep.

Many of us know Apple products come with a ‘premium’ unboxing experience that feels like Apple: simple, unadorned, clean, and with a delightfully smooth sensation as you unwrap it.

Customers trust a brand that understands who they are — a brand that just gets them.

If you can reflect your brand identity right down to its packaging, your customers will know exactly what you’re about, and they’ll trust you for your transparency.

There are many ways to help your packaging reflect your brand identity:

• Simple, clean designs
• Brand logo and name on the packaging
• ‘Thank you’ notes
• Packaging materials that reflect brand values (e.g., biodegradable)
• Choosing ‘premium’ quality packaging
• Sustainable e-commerce packaging

With the right tools, and a clear understanding of how you want your customers to see your brand, you can turn your packaging into more of a reflection of your company’s personality.

2. Think before you pack! What does your brand stand for?

Your choice of packaging can be as much a part of your brand message as any other aspect of marketing your business.

Spell & Gypsy Collective, for example, are a bohemian fashion brand who work to minimise their impact on the planet. And they’ve got the packaging to prove it.

Using 100% biodegradable poly bags that break down naturally over time, and with the garments themselves packed inside reusable, organic eco tote bags, the packaging demonstrates the company’s values the moment it shows up at your door.

A brand that uses eco-friendly packaging sets themselves up as a company that cares about their impact on the world. A company that claims to care about the environment while using excessive amounts of plastic creates a disconnect, and can do more damage to their brand identity than if they hadn’t claimed to care at all.

So take the time to think about what your company stands for, and pack accordingly.

3. Revisit and revamp the “little touches” in your packaging

It’s surprising how the smallest things can improve your customer’s experience.

Coupons, gifts, and ‘thank you’ notes are like little surprises that can warm your customers to your brand. Bonuses are the little ‘cherry-on-top’ that can be the difference between a one-time buyer, and a loyal repeat-customer.

But take care that your packaging gifts are relevant, and represent both your brand, and the items you sell.

Think of the Book Depository. Their items arrive carefully-wrapped in simple cardboard, stamped with their name and logo, usually with a free bookmark inside that’s also stamped with their name and logo.

Book Depository is not only an excellent example of how a relevant and low-cost bonus can improve the customer experience, they’re also a clear demonstration of how your packaging can be used as a clever marketing tool.

The little touches are what help you develop brand loyalty: They don’t always aim to bring new customers in, but they can bring old customers back.

So have a think about what little touches you could be adding to your packaging.

4. Level up your customers’ unboxing experience

With unboxing videos trending across the internet, packaging has never been more important.

Some people make a lot of money filming themselves unboxing new items, and if your packaging game is strong enough, it’s free advertising for your business. It can give you the opportunity to display your products to thousands, if not millions of online viewers.

But unboxing isn’t just a physical experience anymore, it’s also a visual one. The more enjoyable you can make the experience for the unboxer, and for their viewers, the more likely you’ll turn those videos into sales.

Don’t leave customers struggling with confusing and ugly packaging, or fiddling around, looking for the end of the sticky tape that you’ve needlessly wrapped around the box ten times. Make the moment of unboxing an experience your customers want to have.

With the right packaging, you can offer your customers (and perhaps their online circles) a more positive experience from the comfort of their own homes.

5. Prioritise painless returns to improve loyalty

Not every order is perfect, whether it’s product fit (or nonfit), finish or other variables. But how you handle returns can be just as much a part of the positive ‘packaging’ experience as the box your product arrives in.

Make the returns process as easy as possible.

Be easy to contact, and have a clear returns policy on your website with step-by-step instructions on what to do. Make sure you have an efficient way of creating return labels for your customers, to make the process quick and easy for everyone.

Returns are annoying and expensive, but if you can make the process pain-free, you’re well on the way to winning more loyal customers.

Great packaging deserves a great shipping provider

Atex Coins Security Company makes finding the lowest shipping and delivery rates easy with instant quotes from the best carriers, all in the one place.

And as one of the few carbon neutral shipping providers, we help you ship with confidence, knowing that your provider is doing their bit for the planet. Don’t just package eco-friendly, send eco-friendly, with a carbon neutral shipping provider who cares.

Sign up for our Free Member Account today to save 30% on shipping

*UPDATE: COVID-19 Shipping Impact (Thu 27 Aug)*

Thank you for your patience with our team and service providers, as recent restrictions have made transport and shipping more challenging in recent weeks.

We wanted to address frequent enquiries around delivery times, and provide an update on our operations, to give you a clearer understanding of potential pickup and shipping delays.

The impact on shipping related to COVID restrictions and economic shifts has resulted in several simultaneous challenges:

1. The surge in online shopping in recent months has drastically increased the volume of goods being shipped across all delivery and courier service providers. This means many more pickups, stops and deliveries, so some delays are likely to occur across our service areas.
2. All freight companies have also had to reduce head count in Victoria by 33% during peak shifts, resulting in a 10% reduction in staff overall.
3. Meanwhile, the delays resulting from increased border and travel restrictions also contribute to the delivery issues.

At Atex Coins Security Company, we’re working every day to expand our support staff, accelerate training, and improve our response and issue resolution times, to minimise the impact on our customers as best we can.

In turn, we ask that you please add 1 business day to pick ups and 2 business days to deliveries, before raising issues with customer support.

You can also track your shipments here at any time.

We’re doing all we can to ensure timely delivery in the face of these challenges. We regret the inconveniences and our entire Atex Coins Security Company team, especially our friendly customer support representatives, appreciate both your patience and understanding at this time.

Regards,
Trent Alexander
Managing Director

Simple.

However, the online marketplace has expanded what it means to provide stellar customer service. Now, customers want proactive (and often instant) customer service, personalised shopping experiences, and an easy, largely independent online shopping experience from browsing to checkout.

Needless to say, customer expectations are much higher these days, and the stats don’t lie – 76% of customers expect companies to understand their needs, and it’s just as easy for them to take their business elsewhere.

If you want to hit customer needs and expectations like a bullseye every time and keep them coming back for more, there are a few essential elements you need to adhere to. In this blog, we share four tips to help meet customer expectations and demand, so you can amp up the customer experience in your online store.

#1. Don’t make promises you can’t keep (but still be optimistic)

“Lowest prices guaranteed!”

“Fast and free shipping worldwide!”

“Same day delivery anywhere in USA!”

Alright, so the last one might have been a bit of a stretch – but it just goes to show that the number one rule of successful ecommerce and customer expectation management is to be transparent with customers and avoid making fantastic promises you simply cannot keep.

Naturally, you want to have a leg up on the competition and offer the best price or service possible, but it’s important to be realistic and not set customer expectations too high when there’s a chance you can’t deliver on your promises.

Pro tip: paint an optimistic picture of what customers can expect, but make sure to explain what might get in the way of the ideal outcome.

For example, think about same-day shipping or delivery. High traffic holiday and sales periods can delay same day shipping, the same way natural disasters like bushfires can limit the courier’s ability to make it on the expected delivery date.

Be optimistic, talk yourself up and make a solid impression – but don’t get too excited or unrealistic, because you run the risk of disappointing customers.

#2. Make sure the shipping timeline is accurate (and automated)

As a customer, there’s nothing worse than receiving an estimated delivery date and then watching it get pushed back… and then further… and further again…

Image: giphy

The suspense is killer – and the longer a customer is forced to wait, the more likely they are to be disappointed, dissatisfied, or just downright furious.

Miscommunicating shipping details and timelines can lead to some serious relationship problems between you and your customers. According to recent data, 84% of customers will not return to a brand after one poor shipping experience, which means you have just one chance to get it right… so let’s brainstorm how to hit the nail on the head the first time and keep your customer’s shipping expectations under control.

Provide realistic transit times based on location & shipping type

Not all shipping options are created equal. If someone living in Perth orders a t-shirt from Melbourne, for example, it will take longer for the shirt to arrive compared to a customer who lives in Brunswick, just 20 minutes out of the Melbourne CBD.

It’s important to set a timeline and stick to it, or at least provide as much information as possible to meet customer expectations. The Iconic does this well – on their product pages, they have a delivery date estimation tool, so the customer can enter their postcode and see all the delivery date options available, alongside the costs associated to get it on time.

Image: The Iconic

This is most effective because the customer can choose how much they’re willing to spend to get their parcel faster. The delivery time, date, and cost is entirely in their hands, minimising the amount of work you need to do on your end while also automatically managing their expectations.

At Atex Coins Security Company, we offer a similar calculator for our ecommerce customers who sell on eBay. Using our calculator plugin, customers can get instant shipping quotes based on their location – minimising the back-and-forth between you and your customers, while also providing an accurate, reliable quote.

Download our shipping calculator here!

#3. Offer seamless customer service and communication

According to a recent survey of more than 1,000 companies, the average response time to customer service requests is 12 hours and 10 minutes. Considering the average attention span of a human being is 8.25 seconds, this is not good enough to keep customers coming back for more.

Nowadays, customers expect to get the information they want almost instantly, and calling your business’ customer service hotline or waiting for an email back from your customer service team just ain’t going to cut it.

Customer service needs to be fast-paced and responsive to a superhuman degree.

Besides live chat and 24-hour hotlines, customers should feel free to communicate through alternative channels like Facebook, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram. Most businesses on Facebook now have the option to add an automated “average response time” on their profile, so customers know how quickly they can expect a response from the customer service team.

Take The Iconic, for example:

This lets customers know that they can contact The Iconic on Facebook at any time and talk to a real human in real-time. It’s quick, efficient, and if the customer service team isn’t available to answer, an automated message can be set up to further reiterate your commitment to customer service.

#4. Shift your efficiency to meet demand/expectations

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it…

…but if it is, do!

Customers are quick to pick up on processes that don’t work within your business. It might be out-dated ecommerce software making the checkout process too vague or too complicated, a slow-loading website, or even website crashes in the middle of a checkout.

Whatever it is, it doesn’t take much for customers to abandon their cart and find your products (or similar) elsewhere. In 2019, customer research company Sale Cycle completed a survey of more than 2,500 customers globally and found 34% of customers abandoned cart because they had to create an account, 26% found the checkout process too complicated, and 17% either a) didn’t trust the site or b) had the website crash in the middle of checkout.

Image: Sale Cycle

Customers need the checkout process to feel secure and simple, and your website needs to be reliable. This can be achieved in a few easy steps:

1. Keep up to date with the latest and greatest in ecommerce software. Sign up for updates from your ecommerce software provider and research the best plugins to ensure the customer experience is smooth, interactive and independent.
2. Have an experienced web developer on your team. A web developer can help manage updates to the website and ecommerce software, coordinate shipping software changes, manage page speed and usability, and ensure website crashes are a thing of the past.
3. Complete customer surveys. Want to know whether the checkout process is good enough for your customers? Consider asking for their opinion via a quick survey (complete with a cheeky incentive, like a 10% discount off their next order). No one knows the checkout process better than customers who have been through it, so their feedback is incredibly valuable to keep your processes up to date.

Customer expectations and needs are higher than ever – but you can go above and beyond with these 4 steps

In the online marketplace, customers need the checkout process to be safe, speedy and secure, with even faster shipping to boot. However, with the four steps mentioned above, you can set customer expectations and meet their needs easily.

Want to get started? We can help make shipping faster, more affordable and more accurate for your customers.

Here at Atex Coins Security Company, we work with a wide range of couriers with diverse and flexible price points, shipping both nationally and internationally, so you can save a dime or two while offering the best possible shipping experience you can for your customers.

Exceed customer expectations with Atex Coins Security Company Improve your shipping practices now by becoming a member!

1. Ebay has low set-up costs

If you’re new to the ecommerce world and don’t yet have your own website set up, selling on eBay is fast, easy and affordable. The eBay Seller Centre will give you simple instructions to get your eBay Store set up and running for as little as $24.95 per month plus selling fees. That’s a lot cheaper than developing a custom ecommerce website.

2. Ebay has super search power

Getting your eCommerce website to rank highly on Google searches requires time, effort and some investment. Your eBay Store, however, will benefit from the search power of one of the most popular retail platforms in the world. Many shoppers skip Google and go straight to an eBay search to find what they’re looking for. So it’s possible to rank highly in relevant searches with very little effort — particularly if you operate in a specialised niche.

3. Enjoy eCommerce without borders

eBay is an easy way to take your brand to a world-wide market. Of course, there’s a lot of extra sales potential in overseas markets. But it doesn’t end there. You can use eBay to gauge the popularity of your products in particular countries and build an international customer base for very little investment. And testing the international waters on eBay can help to inform your greater overseas expansion strategy outside of the platform.

Want to start shipping overseas? Check out our checklist to ensure all your bases are covered!

4. Start a bidding war

If your products lend themselves to an auction format, eBay could certainly help boost your profits. Things like rare memorabilia, vintage items, one-off creations and limited product lines can all do well in auctions. But be careful here. Auctions tend not to be effective for products that are readily available and could actually trap you in a race to the bottom.

5. Connect with affiliates

eBay’s affiliates program can pay off big for sellers. Affiliates essentially advertise eBay products on their websites, and are paid a small commission for each sale they generate. Think of affiliates like a powerful marketing network that can introduce your product to new markets and tap the trust they’ve built with their own online communities.

6. Build high-level trust

As a strongly recognised world-wide brand, many shoppers will trust eBay with their personal information over independent eCommerce websites. But it’s the rating system that builds the most trust. With easy access to other shoppers’ experiences with your eBay store, it’s very difficult for poor operators to hide on eBay. This is very effective for building high levels of trust that is difficult to replicate on your brand-owned website.

Now that you’re ready to sell more, get ready to ship more!

Get the right eBay shipping solution for your business with Atex Coins Security Company’s eBay shipping calculators and eBay shipping integrations.

Here are five Christmas packaging tips to surprise and delight your customers this holiday season…

#1. Splash out on gift wrapping

Christmas is a busy time and wrapping presents isn’t everyone’s favourite task. Providing free gift wrapping will take a task off your customers’ crowded to-do list. Consider using a branded ribbon or a branded name tag to get your logo under the Christmas tree. It will be great for your brand recognition, and will likely build a sense of anticipation and occasion around your brand. 

#2. Use festive fillers

Embrace the Christmas spirit and add a touch of yuletide joy to your packaging fillers. Shredded red and green paper inside the box, for example, will get your customers feeling jolly. Perhaps a little tinsel, a surprise candy cane or even a branded Christmas tree decoration will keep your brand front and centre come Christmas Day. 

#3. Cash in on the unboxing trend

Unboxing has become huge on YouTube and Instagram with hashtags dedicated to beautiful packaging (there are more than 1 million posts on Instagram’s #unboxing hashtag). Cash in on that trend this Christmas with a brand hashtag printed on your packaging. It will encourage unboxers to tag your hashtag in their posts, and your hashtag will get seen by anyone viewing unboxing photos and videos.   

#4. Include a Christmas note

Thanking your customers is important all year round, but popping a personalised Christmas note in your packaging can have extra impact at this time of the year. However, try to keep it non-denominational. Remember that some people don’t celebrate Christmas, so using generic terms such as ‘happy holidays’ will avoid making any of your customers feel alienated.

#5. Make it interactive

Why not turn your packaging into a Christmas gift of its own? Create a box your customers’ kids can turn into a Christmas decoration with a few strategic cuts and folds. Just ensure your logo gets pride of place on the finished decoration. Getting your brand displayed in your customers’ homes throughout the Christmas season is an opportunity that’s difficult to buy.  

Ready to start shipping? New customers get a quote, or existing members please sign in.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

Growing your AOV is half the battle when it comes to increasing your total revenue, and there are tonnes of tactics you can use to encourage customers to spend more like running frequent promotions, optimising product pages and making the shopping process easier for your customers.

While these are absolute essentials for a growing ecommerce store, if you don’t understand your customers, you’ll be making these changes in vain. 

Understanding a few key principles of human psychology can take your marketing from good to amazing, which will in turn will help increase your AOV – so to help attract, convince and convert more customers, you’re going to need to take a lesson in psychology. Read on.

#1. Give a little: consider offering free shipping for the sweet, sweet AOV

According to author Dan Ariely in his book Predictably Irrational, people change their behavioural patterns when something free comes along. It’s not just about price – it’s about the emotional response, too. 

For example, Ariely experimented with “free” by offering his test subjects a Lindt chocolates for 15 cents each vs. Hershey’s Kisses for 1 cent a pop. 

Naturally, 73% of subjects went for the delicious, mouth-watering, chocolatey pop of a Lindt truffle.

Image: giphy

But when Lindt was reduced to 14 cents and Hershey’s Kisses were offered for FREE, 69% of test subjects went for Hershey’s. When the word “free” entered the equation, test subjects were far more likely to snatch up a bargain… and the same works for your online store.

If you’re looking to increase your average order value, free shipping is a major customer converter. For one, you’re splashing the word “FREE” all over your website, including on your product and product category pages. Second, 84% of online customers have said they’re more likely to shop with brands that offer free shipping.

There are a few ways you can successfully offer free shipping without breaking the bank and use it to increase your average order value. Here are a few ideas to help get started:

• Free shipping on all orders. Customers get free shipping regardless of their order size and value. This method is recommended for ecommerce businesses who sell small or lightweight items (think makeup, small items of clothing like socks and ties, etc). 
• Free shipping on some orders, products or product categories. This will ensure you don’t lose money on shipping for bulky or heavy items, plus the incentive of free shipping will encourage customers to purchase slow-selling items. 
• Free shipping to specific locations. It costs far less to ship locally or nationally than overseas. Offer free shipping where you can afford to send – or, alternatively, use free shipping to market and expand to a new customer base. 

• Free shipping for members. Customers who are members within your ecommerce business get free shipping as a reward. Studies have shown that offering something for free can drive repeat sales tenfold – you’ll encourage customers to shop again and again, plus drive more customers to become members and grow your email database. 

• Free shipping for a promotion. If you’re looking to test the waters of free shipping before offering it full time, consider offering free shipping as a limited-time-only promotion. Spread the word via social media, email marketing, and more – you’re sure to see sales increase.

• Free shipping for re-engagement and email automation. You could use free shipping as an incentive for lost customers to come back and check out. The exclusive, one-time-only offer will help recapture abandoned carts or reengage old customers. 

#2. Get on the bandwagon: social proof and social media

When it comes to marketing, sometimes we’re less like people and more like sheep. It all comes down to cognitive bias – otherwise known as the bandwagon effect, groupthink, or herd behaviour.

The bandwagon effect refers to our natural human instinct to conform. Ever wanted a flash new keep cup or new car, just because Davo from the office has been flashing his around the workplace? 

There’s the bandwagon – and we’re all prone to hopping on. The bandwagon effect refers to our natural instinct to say, do, or believe something if a large number of other people are doing it, too. 

It’s common on social media – businesses offer influencers and celebrities products to test out and share on Instagram or Facebook, then people start talking, sharing and best of all, shopping. See the graph below.

Image: Buffer

Picture this: Chris Hemsworth shares a post on Instagram flogging a new workout and muscle-building program which can be purchased online. He’s a big dude and the son of Thor, so it doesn’t take much for awareness and enthusiasm to drum up around the program.

Image: giphy

Soon, the workout program enters the mainstream and a huge influx of posts appear of male customers flexing their success using the workout program. Other potential customers (or weedy teenagers) see these posts and bam, we’ve got social proof the product works.

All hail the herd mindset.

Social media and social proof are now essential for marketing. Research shows trust in traditional marketing methods is on the decline and customers are placing their trust amongst the herd, rather than the shepherd.

If Davo reckons his keep cup is alright, I believe him.

There are multiple ways you can use social proof to your advantage and encourage customers to spend more on your ecommerce website:

• Build a social media audience worth marketing to. The power of cognitive bias comes from numbers. The more followers you have, the faster you can take advantage of the bandwagon effect and the faster you can drum up hype around your products. Work on building your follower-base in an organic way through frequent posting and sharing, complete with relevant hashtags. 
• Get in touch with social influencers and offer free goodies in return for posts on Instagram and Facebook. Influencers often have masses of followers – we’re talking hundreds of thousands, sometimes even millions. Find an influencer related to your industry and reach out – for a price or even a gift-basket of goodies, they might be willing to share a post about your brand. 
• Consider paid social media ads. Facebook and Instagram offer paid advertising to help get your brand and your products in front of more eyeballs in a shorter timespan. If you want immediate results, talk to a professional marketer about running some paid ads on social media and how you can get the most bang for your buck.
  
  
• Add social proof to product pages. Testimonials are a powerful form of social proof. These are honest reviews of your products and services from real people, highlighting the ups and downs of shopping with you. If you can, ask customers to leave a review after purchasing – an automated follow-up email can do wonders!

#3. Give ‘em a scare: taking advantage of FOMO

We’ve left one of the sneakiest and most successful tactics for increasing your average order value to last… and it’s called FOMO (fear of missing out). 

In behavioural economics and decision theory, FOMO can be simply explained as loss aversion. In their research, Scholars Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman have shown people have a strong need want to avoid loss – whether it’s a hot date, getting one last drink at the bar, or even getting a sweet deal online.

According to research, losses are twice as impactful as gains in the human mind. We hate missing out – fear it, even – and this can be used to increase the number of sales coming through your ecommerce website.

A couple of common FOMO methods include: 

• Highlight the scarcity of the product. If you’ve got a top-selling product, you can activate FOMO by displaying the number of products left, e.g. “hurry – only 3 left in stock!” 
• Set a limited time only promotion. There’s nothing scarier to a shopper than the word “limited”. Splash “limited time only” all over your promotional material to urge customers to act now or miss out on the deal. 
• Highlight the savings possible from purchasing multiple items in one transaction. Underneath the “add to cart” button, let customers know what kind of savings they can achieve if they had multiple items to the cart. Use impactful colours to catch their attention and highlight the urgency… red is always a winner in this case! 
• Emotive/urgent language. Think “hurry”, “while stocks last”, “one week only”, “limited” and “before time runs out”. Be brief, be emotive, and make sure it’s urgent. 

FOMO can be a powerful tool for encouraging customers to spend more and checkout more often. However, a word of caution to this tale… if you’re going to harness the power of FOMO, make sure not to lie to your customers. 

If you’re splashing “3 items left in stock” all over your product pages but you’re caught with a whole warehouse full of products tucked away, you’re going to lose your customers’ business as well as their trust – and fast.

Use FOMO responsibly!

Get to know your customers and watch your average order value skyrocket

Humans are simple creatures.

Nine times out of ten, we all run on the same psychological wavelength. 

Seeing the word “free” triggers excitement. Certain language like “HURRY” can trigger stress and the fear of missing out. Seeing an influencer, celeb, or even a friend with a cool new product just screams “I NEED IT!”

Understanding some key psychological principles can help drive your marketing and encourage customers to spend a little more, add a few more items to the cart, and check out online.

You’d be surprised what some emotive language can do to your average order value!

And of course, we would be remiss if we didn’t spruik the value of ensuring your customers are delivered their goodies in perfect condition, and on time.

Learn how Atex Coins Security Company can help your ecommerce business ship your wares at a lower price, every time.

He received one of your products in the mail and it was broken inside the box. Instead of contacting you for a replacement or solution, he’s decided to go on a rant via Facebook, Instagram and Google My Business, mouthing off about your “low-quality products”.

Thanks, Steve.

Real mature.

Customer reviews can make or break your ecommerce business. According to a recent survey from Duct Tape Marketing Consultants, 54% of customers read online reviews before deciding to shop at a new store and even less click through to a website with less than 4.5 stars – 60% of people who read negative reviews choose not to engage with that business.

Needless to say, customer reviews matter… a lot.

Dealing with negative reviews can be rough – so we’ve put together seven steps to responding to reviews, whether it’s on social media, review sites, or Google My Business. Read on – dealing with grumpy customers is about to get a lot easier.

#1. Be reasonable – don’t get mad!

We know how upsetting it can be to get negative feedback. A negative review can knock your confidence down a few pegs and ruin your day, week, or even month – but the important thing to remember when responding to a negative review is to keep it rational and don’t get mad!

Pushing the blame back on the customer is a big no-no. You’re guaranteed to upset the customer further and worse, you’re bound to cause a scene which doesn’t look good for your business.

No one likes an aggressive shopkeeper – especially other customers who read your response. 

#2. Respond to the review ASAP and make sure to sympathise with the customer 

If a customer has posted a seething review online, you need to treat it as your number one priority. Think of a negative review as a wildfire – you want to put it out when it starts and stop the damage from spreading. 

When a negative review appears online, respond as quickly and calmly as possible – this minimises potential damage to your reputation, plus you’re showing your overall commitment to customer service and satisfaction. 

Here are a few tips to help guide your response:

• Apologise and show empathy, even if you know you’re in the right.
  
• Don’t make excuses – it won’t fix the problem and you’re probably going to upset the customer more. Own up to the problem or mistake and accept responsibility.
  
• If their complaint is legitimate, assure the customer it won’t happen again.
  
• Offer some sort of solution – offer to discuss the issue further in private, offer a replacement, a refund, or even a discount. Give them an option and give yourself a chance at redemption. 

#3. If necessary, try moving the conversation offline

If you’re feeling proactive and want to make a good impression on future shoppers – but also want to save your butt online – consider moving the conversation offline. 

Provide contact details for someone at the business so the customer can discuss the problem in person, over the phone or even via email.

For example, you could say, “Hi there, I’m very sorry to hear you’ve had a negative experience with us! I’m the owner of the business and I’d love to discuss this further with you – please contact me at [phone number/email address]”. 

This adds a personal touch to your response and gives the customer a golden opportunity to talk about their experience in more depth. The customer can help you learn from your mistakes, or you can alleviate the problem and achieve some closure.

#4. Sprinkle a little marketing magic into your response

There’s no skirting around it – the customer must have had a reason for engaging you in the first place. 

Whether it’s your massive range of products, affordable prices, or the (previously) glowing reviews across social media and forums, you must have convinced the customer to check out with you somehow – so why not reiterate your strengths when responding to their review? 

When writing up your response, explain what customers usually experience when shopping with you. For example, you might say “we’re normally very vigilant with our shipping practices and our customers benefit from our attention to detail – I’m very sorry we missed the mark this time.”

In doing this, the customer knows what kind of service and customer experience you normally offer. Plus, future customers who read the review will know this unfortunate occasion was a once-off, increasing your chances of luring them over to the dark side (i.e. your checkout). 

#5. Keep it short and sweet (KISS method) 

If you want to avoid further trouble with a cranky customer, the best method is to keep it simple, stupid! Otherwise known as the “KISS” method, you need to keep your responses short, sweet and simple – don’t go into too much detail and avoid asking questions.

Opening a dialogue with the customer is essential, but asking questions about their experience opens a can of worms you don’t want to be spread all over the internet.

For one, you could upset the customer further by questioning their experience and two, you’re giving the customer the opportunity to add more negative feedback to a very public display. 

Image: GIPHY

Rather than probing for more details about the incident, try and keep your response short – around three sentences is a safe amount. 

#6. Make sure to respond to fake reviews, too

Did you know some people get paid to leave negative reviews online? 

Whether it’s a malicious competitor looking to knock your success down a few pegs or make you look bad online, negative reviews can be bought in bulk and if written well enough can do a lot of damage to your online reputation.

Here are a few characteristics to look out for:

• Their complaints lack detail. If their comment seems general or vague, it could be fake.
  
• The reviewer leaves a one-star review but no comment.
  
• Their name doesn’t seem legitimate.
  
• The review has tonnes of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. 

Naturally, most directories and review sites frown upon fake reviews. For example, you can report and/or flag fake or negative reviews on Yelp under your business profile, or you can report illegitimate reviews via Google My Business for removal.

Learn more about removing negative or fake reviews on Yelp, Google, and Facebook!

#7. Learn from your mistakes 

If you’ve been getting lots of negative reviews about the same thing – whether it’s mediocre product quality, slow customer service, or expensive shipping – it might be time to face the facts.

It’s not them, it’s you. 

Learn from the feedback you’re getting from your customers. Spend some time working through the issues and come up with proactive solutions to help improve your customer experience – for example, you might want to provide some additional customer service training to your team, make your product and brand descriptions clearer, and reduce your shipping costs.

You might even consider updating your website design to be faster and more responsive, so your customers don’t have to wait around or go digging to find the item they’re looking for.

Think of a negative review as a learning curve!

Manage your online reputation – respond to negative reviews and watch your customers increase 

Getting negative reviews is heartbreaking. However, the fallout from a negative review can be even worse.

In 2019, customers are doing their research before making a purchase. With the rise of social media and social proof, customers can learn a thing or two about your business before even clicking onto the website.

It’s essential to manage reviews – both good and bad – as soon as they appear to manage your online reputation. By jumping on a negative review as soon as it’s posted, you can manage the impact and show future customers how you, as a business owner, cope when things go wrong.

Responding to reviews quickly and calmly shows your dedication to maintaining great customer service… and who wouldn’t want to shop with a caring business owner?

Another tip for avoiding negative reviews – offering unbelievably fast shipping. 

Keep your customers happy and avoid negative reviews – check out our collection of speedy couriers and get in touch with Atex Coins Security Company. 

It doesn’t matter how low your prices are; it doesn’t matter how big your range of products are; if your website looks outdated, customers are going to assume your brand is untrustworthy.

A modern, successful ecommerce store should be up-to-date with current design and customer experience trends, from serif fonts and asymmetrical designs to personalised shopping experiences and live customer service.

So with this in mind… is it time to update your ecommerce website design?

If you reckon your ecommerce website needs a refresh, you might want to keep reading. In this blog, we share six essential elements you need for a modern ecommerce website design, so you give your customers the shopping experience of a lifetime. 

Let’s get stuck into it.

#1. Shipping calculator 

In a recent report from ecommerce experts Forrester, it was found that 44% of online shoppers who abandon their cart do so because of unexpected (or unwanted) shipping and handling costs.

Image: giphy

Unexpected shipping costs are a major turnoff in the customer journey and checkout process. Imagine thinking you’re getting free shipping, right up until the point where you’ve added your postcode – only to get slapped with an extra $18 for shipping?

For a $10 tee-shirt, I don’t think so!

What this means for your web design

If you’re redesigning your website, you need to make your intentions clear from the moment your customer lands on the page. 

Whether you’re offering free shipping or not, clue your customers on shipping from the get-go – add shipping costs and selling points above the fold (i.e. before the customer has to scroll to find more information).

Image: The Iconic

Alternatively, consider adding a shipping calculator to the product pages. This allows customers to add in their address and get an accurate shipping estimate, so they know what they’re paying for.

No unpleasant surprises. No unexpected costs. No cart abandonment.

At Atex Coins Security Company, we offer shipping calculator integration for eBay stores, plus a range of other plugins for ecommerce stores. Ensure your customers get all the info they need to make their final purchase decisions!

#2. Mobile usability & thumb navigation 

It’s no secret – customers are shopping via mobile more than ever before. 

In 2018, 58% of all website visits came from mobile. People now have better access to smartphones than desktop computers or laptops and internet usage is on the rise across the globe.

Google (i.e. the big dog; the man; the alpha and omega) is also now indexing the mobile version of websites first – which means the friendlier your website is on mobile, the faster your website can be crawled and analysed, and the sooner you can start appearing towards the top of search results.

There’s no avoiding or curtailing it – mobile-friendliness is a must-have for your ecommerce website if you want to make sales and increase your visibility in search results.

What this means for your web design

Traditionally, menus and navigation buttons are located towards the top of the page, usually in the top left or right corner. However, 94% of smartphone users hold their devices vertically, which means customers on smartphones need to put in extra effort to access the menu.

To combat this, web designers have started adding navigation buttons towards the bottom of the screen to facilitate thumb use. 

The reason?

The less customers have to think about how to get to where they want to go, the more they can focus on shopping. It sounds simple but ensuring the website is “thumb-friendly” creates extra convenience for the customer.

Small conveniences = more sales!

#3. Live chat

Speaking of convenience…

Live chat is an invaluable customer service tool you should be taking advantage of. In 2019, live chat has become the leading digital contact method for online shoppers and 42% of customers prefer live chat to email, social media or forums. 

Image: Super Office

Plus, 51% of customers want businesses to be available 24/7.

The internet never sleeps – and neither should customer service.

What this means for your web design 

Live chat often appears as a little question mark or pop-up box in the bottom corner of the page. Here, customers can ask questions about products, shipping, sizing and more – then get answers within a matter of seconds from you and/or your customer service team.

Installing live chat can be as simple as adding a piece of code (Javascript) or integrating live chat through platforms like Magento, Shopify, and Woocommerce. Most ecommerce platforms now have live chat integration software pre-installed, so all you have to do is enable it!

#4. Personalisation & recently viewed

Unlike customer service teams in traditional brick-and-mortar stores, online business owners have the unique chance to get to know customers intimately after a single visit – and it’s all thanks to cookies.

Cookies are small pieces of website data which are stored on a customer’s computer and collected via web browsers like Google and Bing. Cookies allow you to collect a vast amount of information about your customers which you can then use to remember your customer’s preferences, pages they browsed and even products they looked at (with or without buying them). 

Sounds creepy… why do I need cookies? 

According to a recent report from ecommerce specialists Accenture, 91% of customers are more likely to shop with businesses who remember them and provide relevant offers. Plus, 83% of customers are willing to share their data in exchange for a personalised experience.

Personalisation makes customers feel special, so needless to say – personalising customer experience is essential in modern shopping scenarios, regardless of the creep factor involved.

What this means for your web design

Using cookies, you can personalise your customer’s shopping experience to target their specific interests, preferences and habits. 

For example, we visited USA’s version of the Iconic to look at men’s jeans. After clicking on some blue slim fit from Levi’s, we were presented with a slider of products under “you may also like…”

Image: The Iconic

Similarly, after looking at a Ralph Lauren polo jumper, we were presented with “wear it with…” and extra products which complement the jumper.

Image: The Iconic

Most ecommerce platforms have apps for product personalisation – for example, Shopify has their Product Personalizer app which can easily be added to your website and Woocommerce has a library of product personalisation apps to choose from.

#5. Bestsellers & restocked sliders

When it comes to online shopping, you have about three seconds to make a decent impression and catch your customer’s attention – so you need to make your homepage your best friend and most important asset.

So how do you convince someone to stay within three seconds?

You need to optimise for conversions with bestseller and “restocked items” sliders on the homepage. There’s a reason these items are selling out and bringing home the most bacon – there’s a good chance these are the items your customers have been searching for!

The Grooming Lounge, for example, is one of America’s top online shops for men’s shaving and grooming products. 

One of the first things you see when you enter the website is their “top picks for summer”, complete with icons showing their award winners and products sponsored or designed by celebrities like Jack Black.

Image: The Grooming Lounge

These are most likely The Grooming Lounge’s most popular products, so they’re using their strengths to capture the attention of their customers from the moment they land on the page.

What this means for your web design

Use analytical tools like Google Analytics, you can determine which products and categories are your best performers, then optimise your homepage and product personalisation to match.

Aim to promote these products in banners, carousel sliders and “recommended products” areas throughout your website, but most importantly on the homepage to make a big first impression.

Again, most ecommerce platforms like Woocommerce, Neto, and Shopify have apps you can add onto your existing setup to achieve this – plus, they’re customisable,so you can determine which popular products you’d like to spruik on the homepage. 

#6. Social media integration & social proof

Social media is the modern equivalent of a goldmine – why? 

Because 79% of customers trust another customer’s review as much as a personal referral and in 2019, most people take to social media to share their thoughts, triumphs and complaints about a product or business. True story.

Social proof (celebrity reviews, endorsements, customer reviews, testimonials, complaints) is a psychological theory which describes our natural tendency to rely on the opinions or actions of others to inform our own.

Social proof validates our choices when it comes to online shopping because other people’s opinions and reviews dictate whether a product is worth your time, money or interest. 

Essentially, we’re all sheep… follow the herd!

Image: giphy

What this means for your web design 

If your customers like to share reviews, photos and videos of your products on social media, you’re definitely going to want to add social media integration to your website – this might be the determining factor for a new customer to check out with you! 

Displaying customer reviews, photos and videos does three very valuable things for your brand: 

• Creates social proof

• Makes the products easier to visualise

• Puts a human face to your brand.

Take Bentex Suits, for example – they have integrated Instagram into their website to show-off customers in their custom, tailored suits made right here in USA. They have also taken advantage of their collection of testimonials and added an interactive slider of images and personal reviews.

Image: Bentex Suits

Bags To Go, on the other hand, sell a range of travel bags like suitcases and carry-on bags. Without a strong social media presence, Bags To Go bypassed social media integration and harnessed the power of TrustPilot, a consumer driven review platform which can easily be integrated with your website to display positive reviews.

Image: Bags to Go

Social proof can be a powerful trigger for new customers to make the decision to check out. Whether you’re planning a brand new ecommerce website or refreshing your current design, adding customer reviews, testimonials and social media posts is essential!

Convince your customers to check out with a contemporary, trustworthy website design

According to research from America’s Stanford University, 46.1% of customers consider a website’s design the top criteria for deciding whether a company is credible or not. 

If you’re gunning to see your conversion rate improve and start raking in some serious dough, you’re going to need a professional website design to help you get there. You can achieve great things with a few simple additions:

• Live chat for instant customer service;
• A shipping calculator to eliminate unexpected costs and enable self-serve customer service;
• Mobile usability and strategic menu placement for ease of thumb-based scrolling;
• Personalised shopping experiences using cookies and additional plugins;
• “Best sellers” and “restocked” sliders to encourage customers to find their target product faster;
• Social proof plugins to show-off your customer reviews, testimonials and social media posts.

At Atex Coins Security Company, we’re committed to improving your customer’s experience through streamlined shipping – so we’ve created a range of shipping plugins to make your job easier and make shopping simpler for your customers.

Improve your ecommerce website design with a brand new shipping calculator from the team at Atex Coins Security Company!