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November, 2008:

Shipping charges really suck

Nov 22nd, 2008
by Michelle Heath.
2 comments

Sorry to rant but I can’t help it. This is a constant pet-peeve and, if you have anything to do with a retail website, you should listen up.

IMHO, the difference between a good website and a great website is the experience. When it comes to online shopping, sure there are ways to make browsing better but at the end of the day, it’s all about the check-out. Were you up-front with the total cost? Was it easy for me to get my stuff and get on to the next thing I need to do? Did you give me the ability to do it all in one-screen or did I have to page through a whole bunch of optional and promotional screens?

Well, this morning, I decided I need some new stationery. I want something that looks classy but is economical, given my employment situation. I googled “discount stationery” and up came a bunch of sites. I clicked on American Stationery, which was one of the top links. I quickly browsed a bunch of different options and found one that I really liked. It was a little bit more than I wanted to pay, but it was unique and I really liked the colors and the envelope liner. Plus, they threw in the printing of return address on the envelopes. Okay, off I go to check-out. The usual – register, shipping address info, next, next. Total cost: $68. Great, I’m in. Next screen, confirm shipping address. Got it. Credit card info, check. Then the confirmation screen appears and it is at this point, before I hit the money button, that I find out the shipping charge is an additional $11! What the f? Three screens before that, they said the total cost is $68? But it’s not. It is in fact $79. You’re telling me, American Stationery, that you want me to pay an additional 16% for shipping? I am so sorry but I DON’T THINK SO! Actually, that is not only annoying but insane. How can shipping cost them $11 for a tiny little box of notecards? It is one of the major problems I have with online shopping.

Let me talk to you about a site that does it right. Nordstrom’s online. Here’s how they do it. Flat rate. $5. All the time. You order $50 of stuff – five bucks. $500 worth of stuff – 5 bucks. It’s that easy and, as a frequent online shopper, they get most of my business because the shipping is a flat rate (and returns are free.)

My advice to you, online retailers, is this – figure out how to make shipping cheaper and easier for your customers and, guess what, they will come back. I would love to know how many abandoned shopping carts are strewn across the internet because of shipping charges. There is a price to be paid for convenience but each consumer has a tipping point where they’d rather just get in their car or walk to the store to go get it. Online retailers need to think about how they are making the shopping experience valuable for their online shoppers and I would guess ‘value’ to the online shopper means easy, great selection and economical.

So, you lost my business, American Stationery. Maybe if you had put the shipping charge up-front I would have been okay with it. Maybe I would have left anyway (probably the case). With the holidays around the corner and a recession in the mix, figuring out how to entice shoppers to buy seems like a no-brainer. If you’re an online retailer, why not test out a variety of shipping promotions? Free shipping days, flat rates, free shipping on certain dollar amounts. Test it out and see what works. Something tells me that providing free or minimal shipping charges will lead to a more profitable customer down the line.

My $.02.

When will that tweet cost you?

Nov 18th, 2008
by Michelle Heath.
1 comment

I suppose it’s inevitable. There’s that old thing about, hm, what’s that? Oh, right Making Money. The bacon, the benjamins, the bill-payer, the thing that keeps companies alive and growing. It’s one of the trickiest nuts for all of these social media companies to crack (R.I.P. matchmine). I always wondered how Twitter would foray into the world of trying to pay their own way. Would they go the advertising route? Hard to do with all that user generated content. Would they offer an ad opt-out? They could charge a fee to users who choose to opt-out of ads. But how many people pay not to see ads? Right. Okay, so they could do a subscription model for users. Charge some sort of flat monthly fee based on usage (# of tweets, # of followers, direct messages). I suppose that could work but I have a feeling some other social media community site like Yammer would show up with no fees and eat their lunch.

So, maybe the best option is to go after the deep pockets. There are a whole bunch of companies like Zappos, Amazon and GoDaddy who have figured out the benefits of using Twitter to get real-time, real-honest feedback about their products and services. These companies are getting their social media on and creating loyalty, providing great service and connecting with their users – all free of charge. Brilliant! Why bother supporting an internal chat function or a room full of service reps when you can go directly to your users by creating a Twitter account?

Wonder how long it will be before Twitter starts to charge someone for something. The economy has made VCs more cautious about dishing out dollars and I’d be curious to know a) how much runway Twitter has with their existing funding and b) how much additional money they could raise without revenue either in-sight or in-pocket. So, Twitter, what’s it going to be?

And as for you, dear reader, any projections?

Microblogging is the new black

Nov 7th, 2008
by Michelle Heath.
1 comment

It’s hard to keep up. First brown was the new black, then eggplant, then came Facebook and now microblogging. You’re in right? Do you know what the hell microblogging is? Okay, let’s start by answering a few simple questions: Are you on Twitter? Yammer? Pownce (no, not the cat food)? Do you religiously update your status on Facebook? Do you know how to fit your most clever thoughts into 140 characters or less? If you answered yes to one or more of these questions then you are a microblogger. Cool! If you answered, no, where have you been hiding? Go get yourself a Twitter account and check it out. I will tell you that when I first started tweeting last fall, I was completely intimidated. I thought, who the heck cares what I’m having for lunch? The amazing thing is that people do. Well, maybe care is a strong word, but people love to learn about other people. Whether you’re in the mix tweeting up a storm, or watching from the sidelines, microblogging, as it’s called, is where it’s at.

Today, I read the Business Week post on my friends over at Blip.fm. I worked with Jeff and his team while I was at matchmine (RIP). The guys at Blip are really on to something. They started with Fuzz.com – a site that connects artists with fans and has a whole bunch of cool indie music. As the Twitter started to gain momentum, they decided to integrate music with tweeting and, viola, Blip.fm was born. You can think of it almost as a twitter for music, which is brilliant because I can share music with my friends on Twitter and meet other people (they call them DJs) who share my taste in music.

The microblogging space will continue to get more interesting as companies begin adding unique features (like music, photos, video) to the standard short message. They say full-featured microblogging will be the next big thing. What do you think?

The winds of change

Nov 5th, 2008
by Michelle Heath.
No comments yet

What an amazing day to be an American. I spoke to my 88-year old grandmother this morning. Her first comment to me was how she never thought she’d see a black president in her lifetime. She took me back to the days of JFK and what change felt like to her. She told me about how JFK was different because he talked to the people and brought a new attitude about government and a plan for change. She feels that same thing with Barack Obama and so do I. Change is no longer in the air. It’s on the ground.

Having this decision behind us feels almost like a load-off. I don’t think I could have listened to another debate, watched another ad or sat-thru another Sarah Palin SNL skit. So, what now? Well, with change comes opportunity. I, for one, say bring it on.