Last month, we offered some practical advice to help you prepare your web storefront for the flurry of holiday shoppers. (See "Are You Prepared for the 2005 holiday season?,") This month, we provide some additional guidance with four things you should refrain from during this holiday season.
Don't...work with second-rate systems
The holiday shopping season provides a great opportunity for you to earn new customers who will return to your online store time and again. And if you act now, there is still time to conduct a proper assessment of key systems and services and make necessary adjustments. For example, you still have time to upgrade a shopping cart that is laden with bugs or hosting services that are lacking in performance. At minimum, you should ensure that:
- Your website and servers are equipped to handle foreseeable spikes in traffic. The amount of activity will, of course, depend on the overall level of demand for your products and services, but generally anything less than a Tier 1 ecommerce hosting environment could cause you to lose business. (Note: GoECart provides Tier 1 ecommerce hosting services.) For larger sites, load balancing and testing solutions can also be explored.
- Online ordering is safe and secure. (See Secure Your Online Store with SSL)
- All key functionality of your online store has been thoroughly tested and is working properly. Features should be tested from the customer's perspective. If you haven't yet gotten around to making a "purchase" from your web store, order something today!
Don't...fail to advertise your store
The days of "build it and they will come" are a thing of the past. The importance of properly marketing your website in the "organic" (e.g., Google, Excite) and paid (e.g., Google AdWords, Overture) search engines cannot be overstated. Beginning a search engine optimization and submission campaign now could have you seeing traffic gains just in time for the peak holiday rush. (For more information see,"Is Your Online Store Search Engine Friendly?")
Don't...take orders but not fulfill them
This should go without saying, but statistics about online orders that invariably go unfilled each holiday season are sobering. Analyze your ordering mechanisms and workflow before you start taking holidays orders, and ensure deliveries arrive on or before the dates promised. An analysis should be done not only of order processing systems, but of inventory management, shipping, and fulfillment systems as well.
Don't...avoid listening to your customers
Customers are your best source of feedback. The "quiet period" before the holiday rush is an excellent time to review feedback collected during the previous year and to implement any suggestions that could lead to improved customer service. Further, by deploying rating and review features, such as GoECart's "Product Reviews" functionality, you can ask customers to leave feedback about products on your site to generate "viral marketing" buzz about your products. (See "Viral Marketing 101: Let Your Customers Promote Your Online Business!") Contact forms and focused usability tests with key customers are two other great ways to collect feedback.
The gift that keeps on giving
In summary, your goal should be more than about simply "making a sale" this holiday season. Seek to win customers who will also shop with you all year long-and over the holidays in 2006, 2007, and beyond!
ShareThis
0 comments:
Post a Comment