Sales from the EDGE
Back Issue #019
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Sales from the EDGE Issue #019
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Sales from the EDGE
Breaking Through the "White Noise" Of Selling on the Net
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From time to time, the EDGE publishes important updates that
you need to SELL on the Net. Most "latest and greatest" Net
marketing & sales developments simply waste our time. Today's
"hot new technology" is tomorrow's "whatever happened to?"
Occasionally, though, something comes along that STICKS. It
might NOT even be NEW... but we need to be reminded. When
that happens, the EDGE cuts through all the "white noise" of
Web marketing. It explains the issue and outlines clearly
how YOU can best take advantage of it.
SALES FROM THE EDGE is sent ONLY to SiteSell product owners.
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August 15, 2001
Issue #019
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
o SITESELL NEWS
1) Two New Products Arriving Soon...
MYSS! 2002 and the Mysterious VSM!
2) At Long Last, By Popular Demand...
o ARTICLE
1) How to Use E-commerce as a Powerful Medium
to Turn Existing Customers into LifeTime NON-Customers
... by a Company that Really Ought to Know Better!
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~SITESELL NEWS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-News-
---1---
-News-
Two New Products Arriving Soon...
MYSS! 2002 and the Mysterious VSM!
Although the hot and hazy days of summer are upon us here in
the Northern hemisphere, we haven't turned it down one bit!
Nope, we've got TWO major releases coming down the
pipeline....
1) MYSS! 2002 -- would you believe that it's almost double
in size, totally updated and with tons of new, proven
information??? Expect it right after Labor Day!
2) VSM -- no one has yet guessed what this code name acronym
stands for. A new and totally unexpected direction, as you
will soon see.
But for now... enjoy the feature article and enjoy the last
couple weeks of summer, for those of you in the Northern
Hemisphere.
See you after Labor Day! :-)....
-News-
---2---
-News-
At Long Last, By Popular Demand...
Many people continue to ask EXACTLY WHAT Site Build It! does
and EXACTLY HOW it does it.
Yes, the site does explain how SBI! is the perfect process
for building targeted traffic...
http://buildit.sitesell.com/
And yes, we did provide access to the Action Guide (which
takes you through the EXACT HOW AND WHY of the 10 day SBI!
process) through our 5 Pillar Affiliate Club.
"But why should I become an affiliate just to see the
guide?"
Fair enough, you should NOT have to join the 5P Club (which
is free) to receive the Action Guide...
So now, you can download the guide DIRECTLY through the
following URLs...
----------------------------
WINDOWS (Win 95 and greater)
http://buildit.sitesell.com/SBI-AG.exe
The download is 3.2 MB. This file ("SBI-AG.exe") is a
self-extracting zipped file. Save it to your desktop.
Click on it to unzip it. Unzipping will put a folder
labelled "Action Guide" onto your desktop (or to wherever
you choose, if you modify the default). There are three
files in that folder...
o Make_Your_Content_PREsell.pdf
o TOC.pdf
o ReadMeFirst.txt
Please read the ReadMeFirst.txt first.
--
MAC
http://buildit.sitesell.com/SBI-AG.hqx
The download is 4.3 MB. This file ("SBI-AG.hqx") is
compressed ("stuffed"). Save it to your desktop. If your
browser is not configured to automatically unstuff it, you
will need free software such as Stuffit Expander to do the
job. You can get it at...
http://www.aladdinsys.com/expander/index.html
Unstuffing will put a folder labelled "Action Guide" onto
your desktop (or to whatever has been set as your default
unstuffing folder). There are three files in that folder...
o Make_Your_Content_PREsell.pdf -- the guide itself
o TOC.pdf -- the Table of Contents of the guide
o ReadMeFirst.txt
Please read the ReadMeFirst.txt first.
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IMPORTANT NOTES:
1) You need Adobe Acrobat Reader 3.0 (or greater) to read
these files. It's FREE. If you do not have it, download it
at...
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html
2) I have included the actual ReadMeFirst.txt file that SBI!
owners receive, to give you the full flavor "as if you had
just ordered." Please read it in that context.
3) Also, please note that you WILL have the actual Action
Guide that owners receive. But, as you read the
ReadMeFirst, please note that the following will not
apply...
i) The Manager (that ReadMeFirst refers to) is not included
in this download. Simply read the ReadMeFirst through, and
then get started on the Action Guide.
ii) Open the Action Guide by clicking directly upon TOC.pdf
or Make_Your_Content_PREsell.pdf -- A "true installation"
has not occurred, so ignore the instruction to open the
guide via the Start menu (Start Programs Site Build It
Make Your Content PREsell!).
--
At a minimum, there's a world of solid knowledge, organized
into an approach that works -- this knowledge/approach can't
help but boost your business. At best, you'll see exactly
HOW Site Build It! could be just "what the doctor ordered"
to deliver TARGETED traffic for your business.
Enjoy. :-)
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THIS ISSUE'S ARTICLE
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---1---
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How to Use E-commerce as a Powerful Medium
to Turn Existing Customers into LifeTime NON-Customers
.... by a Company that Really Ought to Know Better!
Earlier this year my wife and daughters and I took a
wonderful vacation. We packed our bags and headed for the
Canadian East coast... beautiful Nova Scotia. Turned out
our choice of destination was a good one...
Or perhaps I should say a GREAT one.
In retrospect, I still can't believe we'd never visited this
wonderful province of Canada, right in our back yard!...
http://explore.gov.ns.ca/
(Get a great printed book free here.)
We were totally enraptured! And when I discovered that ocean
front real estate was cheaper here than anywhere else in the
world...
I got to thinking it might be nice to own a little piece of
such a wonderful world. So I started doing a little
research (sometimes the best properties are not listed!).
To make a long-ish story short, I found the perfect piece of
land, and jumped at the idea of flying out with the family
for the Labour Day weekend to close the deal.
All I need now is to book a flight right?
Wait... look here! Air Canada has a "web site only" special
offering 10-50% off all flights within Canada booked before
August 14th.
Well, I'm certainly a supporter of doing business on the
web... ;-)
And Air Canada is my "airline of choice" -- I like flying
with them... just a "good vibes" kind of thing.
So I thought I'd check the Web sale out. I started by
surfing over to Air Canada...
http://www.aircanada.ca/
I then selected the language of the site I preferred. After
waiting for the home page to load, I clicked the link boldly
titled "Book Online and save 10% to 50% off out lowest fares
on select routes"...
That took me to yet another page where the title loudly
proclaimed...
"Save up to 50% with the exclusive online sale..."
3 clicks so far, and I have not even started! But wait,
it gets worse.
I selected both my departure (Montreal) and destination
(Halifax) from the drop down menus, and clicked the "GO"
button (another click)...
Where I'm informed that the price of my flight is $269.
Sounds good! Yup, especially when I see this disclaimer
below...
"Prices shown above are return fares and do not include
taxes, NAVCANADA surcharges, fuel surcharges and airport
fees.
When booking online, fares quoted are inclusive of these
taxes and surcharges when applicable."
Hey terrific, no hidden charges! A short scroll sends me to
the "Book Now" link, which I clicked (that's 5 clicks, just
to get to the spot where I'm ready to START booking!).
That takes me to a page where I get to enter my departure
and destination information ALL OVER AGAIN! Hello...
To make things worse, it looks like I am supposed to enter
this info into the usual drop down box -- except surprise!
Clicking on the down-pointing arrow that usually "drops
down" the list of choices, INSTEAD pops-up a list of cities
and city codes.
Huh?
As Jakob Neilesen would be the first to say...
"Never break a convention. Give the user what s/he
expects."
After I figure this out and did it for both departure and
destination (adding two more clicks), I click the "shop by
fare" (that's click number 9!) button. This pops-up a java-
script message informing me I'll have to wait 3 minutes
before I'll receive any results.
Tap... tap... tap.
Check my e-mail.
Get a coffee.
Tap... tap... tap.
When the next page finally arrives, I'm presented with a
list of flight options -- departure times, arrival times,
etc, etc. After I make my selections and choose the "web
exclusive fare," I "continue" (the 10th click!)...
To be presented with my "Final Fare Quote Details". Here
they are...
Base fare: $317.00 Taxes $59.13
Total Fare: $376.13
What the?...
Earlier I had received a quote for $269, and a notification
that web-booked flights included taxes and surcharges. Here
it is again...
"When booking online, fares quoted are inclusive of these
taxes and surcharges when applicable."
Annoyed, I decided to go looking for a contact phone number.
FIFTEEN minutes later, I found one. Upon phoning customer
service, I found that "because my call was important to
them", I could enjoy Muzak versions of the hits of the 70's
for 20 minutes.
33 minutes later...
When I finally got the customer service rep, and told her of
my problem and of the online notice, she replied...
"Oh, that's not what they meant!"
She then proceeded to tell me that she'd received many
similar calls that morning. (Considering how hard it was to
find a phone number, how many more folks just give up in
frustration?)
So what would YOU do?
Phone a competitor and book the flight?
Never use the Web again to order an online ticket, right?
At the end of the day, those "good vibes" have certainly
been eroded, and it was absolutely avoidable.
OK... now let's get to the lessons of this story, and how
this could have all be avoided. While you read this, apply
the information to your own site and how YOU do business on
the Web.
-----
1. Usability issues...
a) It took 10 clicks and numerous delays (I use cable, but a
dial-up tester reported that this site is dead slow on a his
connection) for me to get to the point where I received
price confirmation for my selected flight. How many more
clicks to confirm purchase and make payment, I wonder? I
shudder at the thought.
b) I had to enter my departure and destination information
twice. A waste of my time, and it makes me wonder why they
didn't just carry my selection over?
c) Drop down boxes that ARE drop down boxes, and drop down
boxes that are NOT drop down boxes... why confuse your
visitor? This was weird and unexpected... and there's no
obvious advantage to doing it the way they did.
Bottom line?
Obviously, Air Canada did ZERO Usability Testing. And as you
can see from my experience, that was a BIG mistake.
Usability Testing WILL find IMPORTANT problems that you
miss, and as a result WILL make you more money.
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2. Zero Support Loop
My discussion with the customer service member indicated
that there was no functional feedback loop to eliminate
problems encountered in the field. This is especially
important when you first launch a program.
Instead, customer service has to put out dozens of fires
daily, without any opportunity to stem the cause of these
blazes. Remember, this was the LAST day of the sale. The
problems should have been cleared up on the first day. A
good feedback loop accomplishes that.
At SiteSell, I meet weekly with the support staff to ensure
there are no re-occurring problems or issues that need to be
addressed. It's a simple solution to an important issue...
one that much bigger companies need to adopt.
This is basic, important stuff that companies must DO. At
SiteSell, my goal is to put our support staff out of work.
Of course, that's impossible. But SiteSell.com receives
thousands of visitors per day, has thousands of happy SBI!
siteowners, and tens of thousand of book owners.
We must have a HUGE support staff, right?
Yup... TWO stay-at-home moms who do a wonderful job for us!
The same two since we launched our second product, MYKS!.
Only a good feedback loop allows you to achieve great
support through a small staff.
-----
3. Misleading claims
This, of course, is the worst. It erodes confidence and
respect.
Why tell me that a flight is $269 and that web-booked
flights include taxes and applicable fees when clearly
that's not the case?
This manoeuver makes about as much sense as deliberately
annoying, frustrating and alienating your customers.
Why not simply put up a web page saying...
"Please Use Our Competitor's Services"
Your visitors will thank you if you put up a sign like
this... you have, after all, saved their time!
And it could be avoided so easily...
One single Usability Test session would show the shock on
the user's face. Then you either provide the full fare,
with all the extra expenses, on the quote page, or you make
it clear that "taxes, etc. will be added to this fare."
-----------
OK, let's sum up the main points...
1. Design with the your customers in mind.
2. Test your web site for usability.
3. Never mislead... not even a little bit.
4. Get everybody involved in the support loop.
The moral of this story is a simple one... money, assets,
manpower... none of these build a great web site. Very few
of us have the financial wherewithal that a big national
airline has.
Boil it down to one lesson? OK...
Do usability testing. Every problem could have been
eliminated if 2 or 3 typical "consumers" had user-tested
this.
How do you DO usability testing? It's truly simple...
Find two or three typical users who do NOT know your site or
your products. In Air Canada's case, simply tell them to
"book a Web fare ticket" and while doing it, verbalize
everything they are doing and why, including what they
expect when they do something and if they get a surprise.
Of course, reassure them that if they make a mistake it is
YOU, the merchant, who is "dumb" and not the user -- a
mistake is NEVER the user's mistake -- it is yours.
Observe and take notes. Fix the problems.
Repeat the process one more time.
And then...
Multiply your sales! :-)
P.S. For more information, check the usability sections of
MYSS! -- they remain as relevant as ever. Current MYSS!
owners will get a discount on MYSS! 2002 (you'll end up
owning both books for the price of MYSS! 2002 alone) -- so
don't wait to order if you do not already own MYSS!.
http://myss.sitesell.com/
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~SiteSell Discount Directory~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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http://www.sitesell.com/discount-directory.html
Please bookmark this page -- it's the only page that you
will EVER need to buy SiteSell products at an owners-only
discount. For owners of SiteSell products ONLY, it provides
discounts on all products, except for the Electronic Version
of MYSS! -- if I reduced the price on it, I'd have to pay
*you* to buy it! ;-)
SiteSell Discount Directory
http://www.sitesell.com/discount-directory.html
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Contact info: E-mail us at support@sitesell.com
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Written by Ken Evoy, M.D.,
President, SiteSell.com
(c) copyright 2001 SiteSell.com
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