Scandinavian Photo is truly taking advantage of an opportunity that not many e-retailers are doing. A week after you have bought something on Scandinaviaphoto.se they send out an email in which they thank the customer for the purchase and ask the customer to come back with feedback or questions.
They also invite the customer to add a comment and put a rating on the product which I think is really good.
This way of working with customers even after the purchases are made on an e-commerce site is something that increases the retention rate and creates more satisfied customers. The format of email is done without any graphic details, which I think is good in that it not be seen as a newsletter, or spam. However, I believe that Scandinavian Photo would increase their sales if they would add some suggestions for complementary products to the product that the customer bought.
Below you can read the email (I have translated email from Swedish into English myself)
Hello!
First, we want to thank you for choosing us as your provider. It has now been a short while since you received your order, and we hope that both product and delivery corresponding to your expectations.
If you have any questions, thoughts or opinions you are always welcome to contact us.
Telephone: xxx-xxx xxx
Email: xxx @ scandinavianphoto . se
Best regards
The team at Scandinavian Photo
PS If you want to help others to choose the right products you can rate and write a short review for the products you have purchased with us. To do so, follow the link:
Digital Camera Coolpix S560 black + 2GB memory + bag
Our stores are open every weekday between 08.30-18.00,
in Stockholm and Bankeryd we are also open Saturday 10.00-14.00.
Welcome!
What your experience or thoughts about retention email?
We’re getting closer to another exciting Brightstep webinar. This month’s topic is Long tail and User Centricity. Our presenter for this webinar is Alexander Neuhausen from the German platform vendor Intershop. Alexander will present how to deliver the right product at the right time for the right consumer.
Webinar takeaways:
New trends in e-commerce for consumers and merchants
How to turn the online buying process into a real shoping expirience
What it needs to improve customer experience, conversion rate and avarage basket value at a optimal cost-revenue-relation
If you have some questions you what us to cover during the webinar please contact me at Mikael.jacobsson @ Brightstep.se
Using the conversion rates to measure whether an e-commerce is profitable is simply wrong. E-retailers that have an extremely high number of visitors can have a small conversion rate and still make money on their e-commerce. E-retailers with few visitors and high conversion rate can also be profitable.
Misconception number 1
E-traders measure conversion rate by divided the visitors with orders while the visitor´s goal with his or her visit does not need to be a purchase. It can be anything from obtaining information about a particular product to whether the e-retailer has a physical store nearby.
Tips
Find out which goals your visitors have when they visit your e-commerce site.
Measure conversion rate on your visitors’ goals with their visit.
Make changes so that more visitors meet their goals and find ways so that the visitors’ goals are in line with your goals for your e-commerce site.
Misconception number 2
Although the average conversion rate for e-commerce sites is around 2% does not mean that your e-commerce site is great because you to have a 7% conversion rate. What conversion rate your e-commerce site has is due to thousands of factors, from which industry the company operates, what image the company has, the e-commerce site structure, your value proposition and right down to which color and design the buy button has.
Tips
You cannot draw any conclusions by just looking at the conversion ratio. This number needs to be put in context in order for you to come to some form of insight. It can be done by comparing the conversion rate over time, with a competitor, on a given campaign, for a given product or for different segments.
Misconception number 3
The conversion rate is not an instrument to measure or produce changes in an e-commerce. Of course the conversion rate can be used in a follow-up but then as a superior ratio.
Tips
Break down the site into micro conversions. A micro conversion can be an event or activity that a visitor can make on e-commerce site. It may be to add a product to the cart, enlarge the product picture, rate or write a review on a product and so on. What you then need to do is create the connection between these micro-conversions, which ultimately leads to the final conversion rate. This allows you to identify activities in your e-commerce site and testing different versions of a page and features.
Previous today I was browsing on Rugby.com that is a great micro site from Ralph Lauren. 2 hour later a received an email from Ralph Lauren with the topic: You Deserve A Break: Free Shipping, Today Only. And this is e-commerce administration and online marketing at it best.
I am not sure if this email was triggered by my previous visit to the site today. So maybe I give Ralph Lauren these credits by mistake.
By trigger personal email by behaviors like visit will boost your sales and conversion rate because you know that the customer is likely interesting in some of your products or services right this moment and they will have your brand on their mind. If they don´t bought anything when they visit your site, they might just need a small additional incentive to take the decision to buy something from you. That is why I think this email with free shipping offer is that good.
How will today’s technologies affect how we live, evaluate and take purchase decisions and interacting with people and businesses. Patti Maes presents at TED how this will develop in the future with technologies that are available today.
In these bad economic times e-retailers are now forced to make a choice. Either go back to basics and optimize what you already have, or investing and grow and take market shares in this recession.
What will you choose?
Depending on the financial situation of your company and what market you operate in, there are different strategies to select:
Strong economy / high growth
If you have this starting position, you have great opportunities to go out of this recession as a winner. Now is the time to invest in your e-commerce in several ways to take market share. Think broadly and consider how you can develop new channels such as mobile, social networks, Kiosk solutions and create an effective multi-channel strategy. Expand to new markets, extend your range of offers, set up micro sites for specific brands, audiences, products or for individual campaigns. Continue reading
There is a right way to make changes on a e-commerce site to increase sales and strengthen the brand, although few are doing it right. E-merchants guess what changes customers want, implement them and hope they have made the right changes. Instead, they should let visitors contribute to decisions about changes and to test whether the changes produce the desired results when they are implemented.
E-merchant X is a bit dissatisfied with his e-commerce site. He does not think it builds the company’s brand and he hopes that visitors will buy more. He does not really know who visits the site, why they are visiting and if they are leaving the e-commerce site happy, but he knows he is not satisfied with his sales.
He raises the issue with the advertising agency. They agree with the problems and start to talk about the customer experience. They say they like to ”spice up” the e-commerce site with a new design that captures the visitor, reinforces the brand and attracts visitors to buy. Continue reading
