Archive for the ‘shopping’ Category

Solicit and Listen – Customer Feedback is critical to business success

Social media was the craze of 2009 and will only continue to gain ground in 2010. Blogging about your product and/or service is an incredible way to promote your business or product. While customers and passersby can comment on blog entries or Tweet their favorites, how do you convert the blog commenter into a devoted and loyal customer for future success?

As a business owner, you need to provide easy to use feedback tools to ensure that you are in touch with your customers (and would-be customers) and frequently and consistently responding to their needs. This entails listening to comments and being able to categorize them and REACT. There are a variety of tools available (some such asCrowdsound, RatePoint, Yelp) but do these sites bring traffic back to your site? Some do, but some are a link off with minimal options to react to comments. In a previouspost by DojoMike:  customers are sometimes reluctant to provide feedback (positive or negative).

To maintain an open dialog with customers and encourage feedback, the comment avenue needs to be easy to use and promote responses from the merchant/business owner. As a business owner, you also need to be able to solicit feedback and react to it, professionally. If a negative comment comes through, don’t ignore it, you need to respond and make changes that address the issue. At a minimum, sending an email to a customer who recently bought an item from your online store is an easy avenue to inquire if the ordering process was seamless and also to ask for website suggested changes or product improvements. The more you ask a customer for their input, the more likely they will become a repeat customer AND tell their friends about your site and excellent customer service.

At KikScore, we have created a feedback tool within the KikScore seal itself. Comments that are posted here are sent directly to merchants to review and respond. These comments are also available for all to see that are reviewing that site’s KikScore Seal.

How do you solicit feedback from customers? What do you do with the feedback you get? Do you have any feedback/suggestions for KikScore? Please share with us!

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Archive for the ‘shopping’ Category

This Just In: Marketing to Your Own Social Network Works and it's Cheap!

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Archive for the ‘shopping’ Category

The Holiday Birthday… How do you separate??

It’s almost Christmas and yet we’ve been inundated with presents since the 18th due to it being my daughter’s birthday, she just turned 2. My husband and I have a strategy in place (or so we think) to make her birth “day” special and still keep the holiday spirit. On the 18th (we started it last year) we go to pick out the family Christmas Tree… there’s a great tree lot right in our neighborhood, so we don’t have to venture far. This year, Tallyn seemed quite excited about the whole ordeal. We took the tree home, heated up some chili and started to decorate. After all the morning excitement, it was naptime, during which we actively assembled birthday presents to surprise her upon awakening. Our little plan worked and she immediately wanted to ride her new tricycle (fondly found on CraigsList for a steal!) and get messy with her Painting/Chalkboard easel (from Grandma).

Now the tricky part comes in… family from all over the continent then begins to send birthday AND Christmas presents and we (my husband and I) are forced to ‘decide’ which is for which holiday and when does the present opening stop? Toss into the mix her ‘friends’ party (seven 2-3 year olds running around for 2 hours at our house on Sunday) and all the gifts that go with that… which we ended up opening last night since Sunday was much too chaotic. So now she gets 4 days separation between Birthday and Christmas and we are running out of room and wrapping paper…perhaps we are destined to a week of present opening for the next 16+ years… should we be more diligent on the separation of holiday at this early an age?

I fear poor Tallyn will end up one of those horror stories where the birthday and Christmas celebrations get blended into one… I have a co—worker whose 2nd son was born on Christmas day and they’ve had to make a habit of reminding relatives to get him a Birthday present too… his mom almost forgot one year, poor kid. The Holidays are a magical time of year and still Birthdays are the #1 holiday for all of us… we hope to keep the spirit alive for both for our daughter. Are you a ‘Christmas Holiday Birthday Kid’? Or do you have a relative or child that is? How do you separate the celebrations? Have a Merry Christmas and HAPPY Birthday to any and all!

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Archive for the ‘shopping’ Category

7 Steps to Increase Trust for More Online Sales

Nearly all small businesses face a common challenge.  This challenge is demonstrating to potential customers that your small business is credible, trustworthy and has a track record of success and delivering products and services.  This challenge is typically derived from the fact that when someone gets to a small business website, they often do not have any indication whether they can trust that small business if the shopper wants to buy from that business.

Further complicating matters for small businesses online, is the constant threat of fraud and misuse of personal and financial information that weighs heavily on online users minds.  This fear of shoppers online is real and tangible.  In fact, a  Javelin Strategy & Research study found that the fear of identify theft and online shopping in general cost retailers over $21 billion in lost sales in 2008.

A June 2009 McAfee’s study showed that 92 percent of consumers are concerned about their security when shopping on new or unknown websites. Further, that study found that 63% of shoppers will not purchase from a web site that does not display a  security policy or other indications of trustworthiness.  A 2009 Verisign Security Report also found that nearly 50% of internet users avoid buying online due to concerns that their financial information will be stolen. The report also found that 83% of internet users want assurances that their information will be secure.

These concerns are getting the attention of all types of businesses, including industry giants like Microsoft.  Scott Charney, Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President of Trustworthy Computing, said at the 2009 RSA Security Conference that  “When [shoppers] visit Web sites, they don’t know if that Web site is to be trusted or not. For all of these reasons we need End-to-End Trust.”

Steps for Small Business to Demonstrate Trust

Shoppers concerns with buying online are well documented and the data supports those concerns. The good news is that there are some simple steps that all small businesses can take to demonstrate trust on their website to shoppers:

1. Management/Owner Information:  Be transparent to your shoppers. Prominently display under a Management tab the names of the owners of your business.   Make sure you add some background information on that manager/owner.  You can even include  it in story form.   This information gives shoppers comfort that there is a real person behind your business and makes it more personal.

2. Use Online Video to Virtually Introduce Yourself: A hot new trend is using online videos, through a YouTube clip, that introduces the management of your small business to shoppers and potential customers.  Here are some good tips in this prior post on using videos to build trust and credibility for your small business on your website.

3. Contact Information: Another way to build trust is to clearly and prominently display contact information including phone number and email addresses for customer service and management contacts.  By showing shoppers that they can contact you in case there are any product or service issues, you give them comfort that your business is accessible.

4. Return, Shipping, Customer Service & Data Policies: It is important that you clearly provide a list of your return, shipping, customer service and data protection policies.  It is important enough that small businesses should consider devoting a whole tab or area of their website where shoppers can visit and see what are the policies for your business.  Again the goal here should be the more information about these policies the better.

5. Trust and Validation Marks/Seals:  The 2009 Verisign Security Report found that 86% of online shoppers feel more confident about entering personal and financial information with sites that have some type of security indicators, such as trustmarks.   A few seals provides much of the information that is covered in this post through just one seal that resides on an online store’s website. Look for those seals.

6. Customer Feedback: Show that you can be trusted and also let people know your track record with customers by publishing comments about your product, service and business.

7. Actively Engage Customers: Use social media sites and tools like Twitter, Facebook and a blog to profile your business, create a tangible brand and personality and also engage customers.  These conversations with your customer and the community give shoppers a more complete, in-depth and intimate look into your business.  These conversations and having them like we have covered in previously posts via Twitter and your blog only make your business more credible.

Also one of our favorites, Inc Magazine has a good article on this same topic of online trust and you should check that out too.

If you start using these tips, your business and your website will go a long way to clearly demonstrating trust to shoppers and thereby helping you increase sales.

Please tell us in the comments section below what you look for before you buy online.

*Image from Bill Mullins Blog.

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Archive for the ‘shopping’ Category

Forget the Store, Lets Just Buy That Online!

As the picture above from the classic Christmas movie Bad Santa shows, the holiday season is generally a time to flock to the mall.  Many of us try so hard to overcome the crowds, the aggressive shoppers and the mall traffic to make sure we have all of our gifts for friends, families and co-workers.

My wife and I began this season spending a lot of time shopping at various stores.  A lot of the places were actually home improvement, department and electronics stores like Home Depot, Best Buy and Sears.   Much of the shopping focused around our never ending condo renovation.  And I am not the only person shopping from Kikscore. Others spent time shopping for items like coats for their brother!

Throughout much of our shopping, I kept saying to my wife, “Lets go get some Red Lobster because we can buy these items online.  Its easier, we can get more selection and we can pick it out while we are relaxing on our couch.”  One added bonus of not buying in the store is when you purchase online it gets delivered. Therefore I am saved from breaking my back trying to load the purchases into the Black Dragon (our 2000 Black Honda Accord – @157,000 miles).

Buying online is just so much easier than having to fight through the crowds to get what you want.  Its even better because then I do not have to face the challenge of my pregnant wife being able to outwalk me!

This season we are buying online much more because:

1) Buying online is easy;

2) Buying online is convenient;

3) Buying online allows you to shop at multiple sites from the comfort of your home;

4) Buying online allows you to do real time price and product functionality lookups and comparisons;

5) Buying online gets your products delivered to your doorstep; and

6) Buying online allows you to avoid the hyped H1NI germs, frantic shoppers, bad traffic and interesting characters that roam the shopping malls

Now buying online is not without its issues too. For example, we recently ordered a large sink for our bathroom.  Well the supplier of the sink decided to ship it via ground transportation.  What do you think happened when the sink had to make its way from St. Louis to Washington DC in the back of a truck along beautiful and scenic I-70?  Well that sink was delivered 3 separate times and each time there was a large crack in it forcing us to return the sink.  So watch out and make sure you use these 5 tips for safe online shopping when you buy online.

Let us know if you are avoiding the crowds and buying more online.

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Archive for the ‘shopping’ Category

Choosing the Right Smartphone to Manage your Business While you Aren't in the Office

I recently made the decision to move out of the pre-iPhone ages (believe it or not that was only a little over 2 years ago) and get a smartphone that allowed me to better manage my work and personal life while I wasn’t in the office. After I made this decision I started researching the various smartphones on the market and determined that there were some features that I really needed and others that were nice to have but not vital to managing my business while on the go.  I thought that I would share a few of these features to consider the next time you are looking for a new smartphone:

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Archive for the ‘shopping’ Category

Customer Reviews and Blogs: Do They Matter?

There are a lot of websites and blogs that track the good and bad customer experiences with online sites and service providers.  The general notion is that these past experiences will help predict what future experiences will be.  The concept makes a lot of sense, but it presumes a few things to be true.  I just finished reading SuperFreakonomics, so I think I’m more than qualified to address these issues in a rigorous manner (did I mention that I am a scientist?  Yep, I graduated with a degree in political science, so you’re in good hands):

Sample Issues: The review sites and blogs are very much slanted towards those actually inclined to share their experiences, and those who actually know how to share them.   There is a large bloc of people not interested in telling the world about how they were ripped off by an unknown online seller (it’s called “loss avoidance” and most of us engage in it at some point…see I told you I was a scientist).  The sample of these comments are further vexed by the fact that some people don’t know how to voice their opinions (or which sites to do it with) — so the sample will likely skew towards more positive and be made by those familiar with technology/online industries.

Fraud: This is also a concern, and likely why most ratings skew overly positive…online sellers/service providers rate themselves (via fake accounts or their friends).  It’s not “fraud” in the sense of defrauding someone out of their money, but it’s not honest and defeats the purpose of customer reviews.  It’s similar to how I used to inscribe my own yearbook to make it seem like I had more friends.

Low Visibility/Little Negative Impact:  An online seller isn’t likely to promote their customer reviews unless  they are positive, so it takes a consumer extra effort to research the negative reviews.  And once you do come across those reviews, what do they mean?  If you’re about to save 20% on the new plasma t.v., it’s likely that you’ll take your chances — it’s likely the previous customers were just complainers. 

Time for the anecdotal: My wife bought a new light fixture online.  She receives it and finds out it can’t be used in a bathroom because of a potential fire hazard.  The contacts the owner of the site, he tells her “she should be fine putting it in the bathroom”).  After realizing she is not going to be able to return the item, she threatens to “blog about her experience”.  Of course, she has other things to worry about and in time she moves one — no negative review, no blog posting, no negative effect for the online seller.

Of course, we here at KikScore think we’ve solved the issue, but until we’re ubiquitous, we’ll have to determine whether customer reviews are helpful.  What are your thoughts?

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Archive for the ‘shopping’ Category

Small Business Grit & Social Media Buzz Turn Zhu Zhu into Holiday Bonanza

Have you purchased your Zhu Zhu?

I have to admit, I never heard about a Zhu Zhu until this past weekend.  I did not even know what the big holiday toy was this year.  Chalk it up to traveling, being busy, not having any kids (yet, my first is due in 4 weeks!), or being distracted by our last minute (before baby arrives) home renovation that my wife and I are undertaking (its being chronicled over at another blog).

That brings me to opening up the Saturday Washington Post and reading all about the Russell Hornsby who has had a family toy business for over 35 years.  He has spent a lifetime fighting the likes of Mattel and Hasbro who each have million dollar marketing and R&D budgets.  His story and the story of the family business that is behind this year’s holiday must have toy should bring a smile to any small business and inspire everyone. Zhu Zhu is this year’s Pokemon and Furby (my wife actually still has this must have gift of holiday past).

The Zhu Zhu Idea

In Spring of 2008, Hornsby and his daughter, who are employees in the family business named Cepia, literally put their thinking cap on and debated whether a hamster toy could sell.  As market research, he literally watched hours of YouTube clips of hamsters to learn their peculiarities, unpredictableness and just how they can be plain cute. From this research came the Zhu Zhu idea.  But not just the pet hamster, but a bunch of accessories such as a ramp, slide, skateboard and even a fun house.  So they had the idea, the product, accessories but how the heck did they plan on marketing the Zhu Zhu and all of the accompanying accessories?

Social Media Creates the Zhu Zhu Buzz

Most small businesses face the same challenge of a limited marketing budget, Hornsby and his company were no different.  This is where social media and some very thoughtful planning lead to a smashing small business success.

Mommy Party: Hornsby with the help of mommy marketer, BSM Media first, held 300 “mom mavens” parties where 10 moms and their children were invited to parties where they could play with the Zhu Zhu toys and all the accessories. Brilliantly, nothing was for sale at these parties, but the kids and the moms got hooked and went home thinking about Zhu Zhus.

Mommy Bloggers: Then the moms who went to these parties started blogging about how great the parties were. They also posted pictures on Flickr and uploaded videos to YouTube.

Zhu Zhu Twitter Party: Then they decided to have a party for moms and kids on Twitter to talk about…….Zhu Zhus.  According to the article, more than 1,000 people attended and there were over 8,700 tweets in a one hour period.

Buzz Sells!

All of this buzz helped start the Zhu Zhu craze.  From there it was word of mouth marketing and further coverage in the lead up to the holiday season.  The rest is truly history.  Hornsby’s Zhu Zhu has crushed anything comparable from the big guys of Hasboro and Mattel.

The Zhu Zhu story gives me hope that through a good idea, great execution via social media and word of mouth marketing, that any small business can recreate this success.  This type of glass half full optimism that we highlighted before is the fabric for small business success.

Tell us your thoughts on the Zhu Zhu success story.

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Archive for the ‘shopping’ Category

Brett Favre and Business

I may be starting something I shouldn’t with this post, as most of us on the KikScore team are ardent professional football fans (except Raj, who likes the Cleveland Browns).  The first 20 minutes of our Monday meetings are consumed with rehashing Sunday games (we get a lot more done during baseball season).  This year my favorite team, the Minnesota Vikings, signed Brett Favre and, in turn, they are having a great season.  So, to the disgust of Mike Collins (my business partner and Green Bay fan), I’m going to write what Business lessons can learn from the Brett Favre acquisition.

Patience:

Everyone assumes that when you come out with a new product or service, it has to have immediate market success, as-is.  But as Nassim Nicholas Taleb makes clear in his book “The Black Swan”, one of the greatest strengths entrepreneurs have is the ability to tinker.  Tinkering with a concept until it suits the market is the whole point of business.  What’s the tie-in to Brett Favre?  Well, his first year in the NFL wasn’t notable.  He was a back-up quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons — and didn’t show any indications of being a future Hall of Famer that he is.  But over time, he changed his work-out methods, how he approached the game and now, at the age of 40, he’s having one of his best years ever (that’s after 20 years of tinkering).

Talent:

Last year, the Vikings had almost every member of the current team.  They lost in the first-round of the playoffs.  Now, who knows how it will end this year, but this year’s team is much different than last year.  The biggest difference is Brett Favre — his experience and talent.  The business lesson is pretty obvious.  You can have all the supporting pieces, but talented leadership (or lack of it) can raise or sink the level of everyone else around him/her.

Brains Over Brawn:

Somewhat related to patience, is the importance of experience/intelligence.  There are a lot of faster, younger players than Brett.  In fact, the Vikings have two younger/faster quarterbacks and they still chose to hire Mr. Favre at $14M/year.  When it comes to business, it may be tempting to promote the new HBS graduate — she knows all the cool Malcom Gladwell terminology and interned at some investment bank (that no longer exists).  But maybe you should look again at the company veteran, the one that knows your product and industry well.

This posting could go on and on…so out of interest of preserving my dignity, I’m going to now end my love-letter to Brett.  Feel free to send any jeers or life-sports lessons.

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Archive for the ‘shopping’ Category

Is Cyber Monday the New Black Friday? And Will My Brother Get a New Coat?

An interesting phen0menon occurred during the kickoff of the holiday shopping season (two phenomenons, actually, if you count the fact that I found a sweater that doesn’t make me look fat).  With most of the focus on the bricks-and-mortar retail sales, which appear to be up very modestly, online sales on both “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday” were very strong.  So there is a big question hanging out there (besides the question if 40 is really the new 30 — man, I hope so) — Is Cyber Monday the new Black Friday?

In terms of raw numbers, of course Cyber Monday hasn’t yet replaced the mall.  But in terms of predictiveness, which is more predictive?  Year over Year, offline sales for Black Friday were up 1.6%, with YOY online sales on Black Friday being up approximately 11%.  Then big event, Cyber Monday, showed a 5% increase from 2008 and is the biggest day of sales since tracking of this hallowed day began five years ago. 

So what gives? Are we going to have a flat or booming holiday season?  While the numbers cited above are interesting, there is only one way to handle this type of question in the blog world…anecdotal information!  My brother was in town and, according to my wife, his winter coat was from the 1980s.  While retro is good, you actually have to buy new clothes that look old…it just doesn’t work holding onto your old stuff. 

We hit the malls and it was busy, but according to the Nordstrom and Macy’s sales staff, the Black Friday crowd was similar to a normal Saturday crowd.  There’s not a lot of inventory for winter wear, so we head to REI.  We find the coat, but Dang! it’s pricey.  Being good shoppers, we use the time to find a jacket type my brother likes and my wife barely approves (he’s now moved up to the late 1990s). 

We then go home and hit the online sites for deals.  We find the coat on a great site, BackCountry.com, get 25% off with free shipping (you should check out their blog).  So the offline retail stores acted as a very expensive closet that then benefited the online site.  So, according to my exhaustive research, I think the initial numbers are misleading, and we will have a surprisingly good holiday season.

What are you seeing out there?  Also, is it time for you to update your winter wear?

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