Essentials For Building A Profitable Ecommerce

BusinessRobyn Anderson

ecommerce Consultant

ROBYN ANDERSON

• Co-Founder of Orange Collar Media• Magento Gold Level Partner• Consulted with over 100 ecommerce Merchants• Developed & Managed Digital Strategy & Marketing Programs for OCM & Clients• Owns Two ecommerce Websites

FOCUS AREAS• Ecommerce Strategy

• Roadmap• Platform Selection• Internal Operations

• Marketing & Merchandising • Customer Persona• PPC• Visual Merchandising• Email Marketing• Marketplaces

• Ecommerce Analysis• Trends• New Features• Best Practices• Conversion Analysis

ECOMMERCE STRATEGY• Create a Road Map• Select The Right Platform For Business Requirements• Create A Solid Internal Process

CREATE A ROADMAP • Check in Points 3, 6, 9, 12 Months• Platform Selection• Development Timeline• Brand Identity • UI & Design• Data Strategy • Feature & Functionality Outlined

SELECT THE RIGHT PLATFORM• Shopify, Demandware, Hybris, Magento, Woo Commerce• Robust & Flexible• Merchandising Ability• Does it Follow Best Practices• Community Involvement- Developers & Users• Costs

ECOMMERCE PLATFORMS

MERCHANDISING & SEARCH• Can you rearrange the order that your products are shown?• How do you add “featured” products or upsells? • Does your platform come with advanced Search?• Will you need to invest in 3rd party search tools like Nextopia

or Celebros?

PLATFORM ECOSYSTEM• Can you easily find developers? • Are you locked in to working with one group? • Are there tested and approved integrations and modules

available for use? • Can your platform disappear due to acquisition or buy out?

COSTS• How will the platform you choose save you $? • What is the total monthly cost to run your ecommerce business?

• Hosting• Platform fee’s• Support• Daily maintenance

INTERNAL PROCESS/ OPERATIONS• Logistics Strategy • Accounting• Inventory• Order to Ship • Branding Within Process• Customer Service

MARKETING & MERCHANDISING• Identify Your Customer• Analyze Traffic Data• PPC • Inbound• Affiliate• Visual Merchandising• Email Marketing• Marketplaces

IDENTIFY YOUR CUSTOMER• Persona Development• Hobbies, Interests,

& Passions• Time of Day They

Shop• Where They Live• Income Level• Identify The Customer’s

Buying Journey

ANALYZE DATA• When are your traffic levels highest? • Review Keywords & Search Terms• Geographical Location• Return visitors vs. New visits• Mobile device traffic• Traffic Sources

PAY PER CLICK• Monitor & Evaluate ROI• Search Engines & Your Industry• Use a Call to Action in your Ad• Make Sure the Landing Page is Relevant to the Ad• Constantly Add New Keywords & Negative Keywords

to Pinpoint Customer’s Search Criteria

INBOUND/SEO• Content Meets Context• Create Content Your Customer is Looking For• Blog• Social Media Management• Create Downloadable Items • Become the Trustworthy Brand

BUYERS JOURNEY

Awareness Consideration

Decision

Attract

convert Close Deligh

t

VISUAL MERCHANDISING• Understand Buyers Journey• Be Clear About Your Products- Descriptions & Price• Quality Product Images• Related Products, Customer Reviews, Upsell Opportunities• Offer something! Free shipping, % off, Quality Guarantee

EMAIL MARKETING• Email Marketing Clients• Personalization• Automated Work Flows• Coupon Codes• Subscriptions• Exclusive Memberships/ Clubs

MARKETPLACES• Affiliates• Ebay• Amazon

ECOMMERCE ANALYSIS• Trends• New Features• Best Practices • Support• Conversion Analysis

TRENDS• You’re Always Out of Style• Personalization• Clean Design• Flat Buttons and Calls to Action• Simplicity

NEW FEATURES• Ecommerce Platform Ecosystem• Loyalty Reward Points• Gamification• Exclusive Memberships• Interactive Apps• Enhanced Search

BEST PRACTICES• Use your blog to answer your customers questions for search queries• Write original Product Descriptions• Use appealing Titles & Meta Descriptions for people not bots• Make sure your site runs FAST…REALLY FAST• Must be Mobile• Connect as people not just a brand. Use an About us page with real

information about the people behind the brand.

CONVERSION ANALYSIS• Product Performance• Purchase Funnel Performance• A/B Test• Competitor Analysis• Analyze Pages with High Bounce Rates• Design Trends

• Button color

REVIEW• Essentials for building a profitable ecommerce business:

• Ecommerce strategy• Marketing & Merchandising Plan• Ecommerce Analysis

HOW HOSTWAY CAN HELP

High Performance, Front-to-Back E-commerce Solutions

• Infrastructure• Migration• Optimization• Support• Administration

QUESTIONS?