Building eCommerce

By Scott Lindsay

While it may sound strange, one of the key motivational factors for me is the knowledge that I am helping someone. This doesn’t mean I am disinterested in ecommerce it simply means that my interest in helping others becomes a facilitator of ecommerce.

Something radical happens when you shift your focus away from the sale and place it squarely on the individual making the purchase. This will alter the way you conduct business, the way you conduct customer service and the way you interact with present and future customers.

Social isolation or isolation preferences make the Internet a place where many customers can feel most at ease. Dr. Roberta Hestenes at Eastern College indicates, “Today we are seeing the breakdown of natural “community” network groups in neighborhoods like relatives, PTA, etc. At the same time, we have relationships with so many people. Twenty percent of the American population moves each year. If they think they are moving, they won’t put down roots. People don’t know how to reach out and touch people. This combination produces crowded loneliness.”

The Boston Globe reported these telling statistics:

* People who are isolated but healthy are twice as likely to die over a period of a decade as those not isolated. A study showed that the more isolated men are up to 25% more likely to die of all causes at any age versus non isolated men. The odds for women are 33%.
* Living alone after a heart attack significantly increase the risk of dying
* People with heart disease have a poorer chance of survival if they are unmarried or do not have a partner to assist them.
* Women who are alone and have breast cancer live half as long as those who do not.
* People with malignant melanoma who participate in group intervention live longer than those who do not.

When you connect with individuals either online or through an ecommerce business you may likely become a solid connection in the midst of personal need. I don’t mean that in a negative way, I simply point this out because the Internet has become an unlikely place for individuals to connect with others in the midst of personal isolation.

You business can have a profound influence in assisting your site visitor. If customers already feel isolated, your genuine caring will speak volumes.

Interestingly the standard brick and mortar sales approach will not work very well online. You are only given an interactive voice if the consumer requests it. You will not have the same ‘close the sale’ potential that face-to-face interaction will allow.

The best alternative in online business is to realign your motivations. By placing the customer first, last and only, you will discover a greater level of loyalty and a quicker level of trust in your products and services.

Understanding loneliness and adapting your online business to really reach out to consumers may be the best business advice you will read today.

About The Author

Now you can Make A Website or Make Your Own Website incredibly fast at HighPowerSites.com. Start a HOME BUSINESS and Resell Ebooks at BooksWealth.com.

By September Danforth

Email is the best way to reach your customers and prospects alike. If handled correctly, your email campaigns will provide huge returns. You will get greater visibility, maintain and even improve your image, and substantially increase your email lists so your next campaign will have even better results.

What’s included in the body of your email is of course, incredibly important, and the structure of your email matters more than you might think. By following these 8 steps, users will not be able to help themselves; they will want to open your emails and act on them (translation: they will read then buy).

1. The more you know

The more familiar you are with your target audience, the better you can determine what the best message is to convey to them. Your message should be developed to suit your objective and your audience simultaneously.

2. Don’t make it too long

It is not the time to struggle with your inner author. If you want to get overly descriptive and drawn out, go write a book. For email, it’s important to keep your messages to the point and easy. One or two short paragraphs with uncomplicated sentences should be enough to illustrate your purpose. People do not want to think too much, and you only have seconds to impress the reader enough to click and take an action within your message. Try being ironic, or bring in some humor to the mix. Think about your impression when you get a awesome email offer that excites you, and actually contains something you really, really want. Something you just have to have. The response you desire is almost caveman basic: “Offer good. Me want to buy.”

3. Be remarkable

Simply spell out the offer first thing. Be sure your customers lose interest in your message before you even hit them with the goods. Outline the why you think the offer is so important and emphasize the valid time frame for the offer as soon as possible. This sense of urgency will be a nagging inner voice, reminding your list about this once in a lifetime opportunity. Example: “Limited time offer - 25% off Pool Repair when you buy a deluxe pool cleaning kit by April 3rd, 2009!”

4. Call to action

Highlight call to action links to make it uber-easy for a customer to move forward. Include links right at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of your email to make it easy for them to take action. In addition to the offer itself, provide materials, a free download, and a link to your website for more information. They are going to hop, skip and jump around your message. Make sure you’re ready for them and collect their contact information at the right time.

5. Read it outloud

You need to make sure your content reads well. Read it out loud. Seriously - find a small space, and let it roll. If your content reads poorly, or sounds like you’re stumbling trying to spit out the words, it is not going to be a quick read for the email recipient. It is time to write it again. When you’re confident in your email, ask another person to review it, they might have some great suggestions that you didn’t even think of, or catch some grammatical errors that you forgot.

6. Simple design

A simple design is the highest performing. Do not get crazy with format. A truckload of graphical elements put the brain on sensory overload. However, you need to shoot for the best balance. Have a picture of your product or offering? Add it in. Offering a service of sorts? Add in a nice graphic to illustrate. The right balance of pictures and text are the most effective for email marketing.
Always make sure you are consistent with your style and image for follow on email campaigns, it helps the customer remember you, and respond accordingly.

7. Match the shoes with the bag

The subject line is the initial thing folks will read when your email reaches their inbox, so you need to make sure your subject line relates to the topic of your email. After your email is complete, it is time to think of the perfect subject line that will entice folks to open it up.

8. Learn the lessons well, Grasshopper.

Watch and measure your email campaigns. Write down how many emails bounce, get trashed without being opened, and write down how many visits you get to your website. After a time, you can compare the effectiveness of your campaigns and understand why one did better than another. This will allow you to learn from past mistakes, and make any updates you think necessary for the next round. Your email marketing campaigns will definitely evolve as you adjust your offerings with lessons learned from previous campaigns. Give these proven and sound ideas a try. You have got nothing to lose, and many sales to gain.

About The Author

Yesmail Direct is a leading bulk email marketing company that offers professional email marketing products and targeted email marketing services for small businesses nationwide. Our products are easy to use, visit http://www.yesmaildirect.com to see for yourself!