This week, we held our ‘E-commerce Special – Q&A’ webinar, in which the eight contributors to the E-commerce Special we ran in the November / December issue of InPublishing magazine answered questions.
There were lots of useful insights – I have picked one from each of the panelists below:
- Fulfilment: Don't just see it as a cost to be managed; the experience should deliver against whatever your brand promises. Products poorly packaged, incorrectly labelled, damaged or late will reflect negatively on you. (H/t Jamie Wren, InterSend)
- Repeat purchases: By extending the storytelling beyond the checkout, through post-purchase emails, product packaging and follow-up content, you increase your chances of repeat purchases. (H/t Nashitha Suren, Big Issue)
- Beyond Google: Historically, publishers have relied on high intent, organic SEO traffic from Google; with that in decline, the onus is on publishers to use data to identify segments of their own audience with a high propensity to purchase, to really understand their journeys, so that they can serve them up with more relevant messaging and next steps and not just have to rely on Google. (H/t Beth Crane, Immediate Media)
- E-commerce platforms: By partnering with the largest platforms for your shop, you get the best-of-breed integrations. Generally, they provide the best user experience, they’re tested and they grow conversion. Whatever a publisher’s e-commerce requirements, the chances are that the largest platforms will have thought about it already. (H/t Stewart Robinson, Full Fat Things)
- Repackaging evergreen content: LRB's most successful e-commerce product is their 'collection books' - selections of previously published essays on a particular theme curated and packaged into book format. They have a very low unit cost and have proven very popular, even with subscribers, who already have access to the same content online! (H/t Jill Tytherleigh, London Review of Books)
- One-click shopping: Items like a magazine that come in just one size and one price are perfect products for one click buying. Every click in a checkout process is a friction point and one-click shopping is as frictionless as it gets. (H/t Mark Alker, Singletrack World)
- Personalised payment options: Personalisation is there to reduce friction by providing the most relevant payment option you can give your customer, using your knowledge of their location, device and purchase history. However, it's very important that you don't lock try to lock them into one option. Personalisation is more about promoting the best option, but always keeping other payment options available. (H/t Philippe van Mastrigt, AdvantageCS)
- Be like Amazon: Customers’ expectations with regards to distribution are being set by the likes of Amazon. To be more like Amazon, publishers need to focus on four areas: speed & consistency, transparency, control & flexibility and proactive communications. Amazon et al have made e-commerce super easy, super visible, and that encourages consumers to buy again. (H/t Andy Haylar, Air Business)
In just over one hour of in-depth Q&A, there was loads more advice and insight, which you can catch by watching the recording. (You will need to fill out the registration form and then you’ll be directed to the recording.)
You can catch James Evelegh’s regular column in the InPubWeekly newsletter, which you can register to receive here.
