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About Mark Del Degan

I'm in the retail business online and offline. I also started Web Tips On Demand, and Sell Awesome to help other folks sell more stuff. Occasionally I speak at events, and hold seminars. Become an email subscriber and you will receive more information to help you sell better.
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Initial Take on Zendesk for iPad

by on 02/16/2011 in Apps

New Zendesk for iPad

Just Announced New Zendesk for iPad. Customer service folks rejoice!

Raging customers is just part of the business. Lucky for you Zendesk is here.

The folks over at Zendesk released a brand new version of their popular customer service application on the iPad today.  My initial take on it, is that the app much like the rest of the service is really well done.

I was not currently aware of this service before the announcement, but I started looking into it.

We are going to implement this into my business over the next week. I was blown away of what this can do for our support requests. Right now we get around 20 requests a day from customers (Nothing major, but still something that has to be managed.) As we grow I expect this number to rise and I needed a solution that would handle multiple support agents without granting them access to my Gmail account.

Enter Zendesk. Not only is their app wicked cool but it integrates with the current support email so the customers know what’s going on at all times. And we can use the apps, and web logins to manage all the requests. Sure beats having to go through the inbox.

As we really start digging into this service more I will let you guys know some additional takeaways. But for now, if you are looking for a new solution for your e-commerce store support then you might want to check out Zendesk. (By the way, I’m not getting paid for this.) (Also, like most things in life worth having it is not free. It costs $9 for three agents and goes up from there.)

Just have a look at it, there is a free trial.

Talk soon,
Mark

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3 Easy Ways To Improve eCommerce Customer Service

by on 02/14/2011 in eCommerce

Improve eCommerce Customer Service

Improve eCommerce Customer Service

Today, the customers raged online about one thing or another. So, A couple of things went on, 1 of which was out of my control (Damn you Postal Service). The other was not, and this is the why I want to share with you how I fixed it.

When you are selling stuff online customer service is a big part of the equation.

Whether it is physical products or digital, people will invariably have complaints or questions.

I found that the most effective way to deal with these issues is to have excellent on site information that should defer some of the emails.

Implement these 3 easy ways to improve customer service online and your staff will thank you for it…

#1 Add An FAQ

This is something that we are currently doing to all of our niches. Customers really like these, because it an easy and familiar way to get their questions answered.

Having your eCommerce store on WordPress makes this so easy to implement. Just create a new page and start answering the most frequently asked questions that you’ve received in your inbox. Your staff should already have most of the answers,  just ask them. If your just starting and are the main person who takes of it all than compiling this list will be easy peazy.

After you have it together, start promoting it on your site. Make a blog post about it and include the links to the page in the side bar of your item page, and add it near the top right and bottom of your website. Those are the most common places customers go looking for it.

#2 – Be Specific

This is the issue that was in my control. One of the products we did a video. Problem is the measurements were wrong.

“Why don’t you just upload a corrected video?”

Because unfortunately the video gets me a lot of traffic and has been around for a while so… the solution?

Annotations. Thankfully the video was uploaded via YouTube and could easily (ok, not so easily) be fixed right with those nice text boxes across the measurements that were incorrect.

Going back to the item on your site. Add all the hight and width details, weight, etc.

“Make sure you add the correct details.”

Also, if something is a little obscure about the item mention it. That way you will get fewer questions about it.

These things all help manage expectations. If you tell that your handling time is 2 days then believe it or not customers will expect the item to leave your warehouse in about 2 days. If it is a special order. LET THEM KNOW. The biggest thing that really cheeses folks off is being lied to.  ”Imagine that”.

Manage the expectation of your customers and the emails will be reduced.

It’s the little things like this that  really adds up. Start taking little steps to correct some of the ambiguity of online shopping and your customers will thank you for it with their wallets.

#3 – Include An Easy Way To Get In Touch

It still behoves  me why some eCommerce stores bury their contact information.

A phone number can dramatically improve the conversion rate and reduce the number of complaints. Shoppers just like to know it is there.

Yes, they do call but the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks.

The truth is, just adding an easy way (like in the top right corner) to contact your company can make all the difference. If you don’t currently do this you are leaving money on the table.

Implementing these 3 easy ways to improve customer service online will help your customers make informed decisions and decrease the number of complaints in your inbox.

What are some of the ways you improve customer service?

Leave your interesting and creative responses below… (RWJ Quote)

- Mark

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Google’s New Algorithm Impacts eCommerce

by on 02/09/2011 in eCommerce

GoogleAlgo1

In case you haven’t heard Google has changed their algorithm last week.

What this means is they are negatively impacting sites that copy, retweet, steal, or paraphrase content in their SERPS.

They want the emphasis placed on original quality content.

“Man, we’ve heard that before…”

But, Mark you say. Hasn’t this change been here all along? Sort of.

(Really) Brief history lesson.

There are a lot of sites that use content clusters, scrapers, autobloggers, etc to game the Google system using paraphrasing. Period. (Do these still work? Google can’t catch them all.)

Google new algorithm wants to improve the relevancy to the end users. So, they want original content to the top of the SERPS.

What you can do to roll with he punches for your eCommerce store?

The truth is if you are not selling info, there is not a whole lot of change in the buy low sell high market of making a living online.

But to get a leg up on your competition here are 7 things you can do to combat this new change from the Google.

1 – Write Original Descriptions for Your Products.
2 – Create a video for each product. 30 to 90 sec in length.
3 – Update your company blog with relevant information that relates to the product you are selling.
4 – Take original high quality photos of your product.
5 – Create a PDF buyer’s guide for your product categories.
6 – Sell a story. Talk about the story where you received your product.
7 – Be transparent with your stats etc. Top 10 lists every new product updates etc.

The important takeaway from all of this is you have to be actively working on your website to get it climb in the Google rankings. There is no magic pill or SEO tactic that is going to bestow instant rankings in Google. You have to do it everyday. If you are not “showing up” to your business everyday than you can’t expect stellar results. Don’t take my word for it. Look around your industry,who are the ones that are really making it? You know who they are. I guarantee you they “show up” everyday.

Talk soon,
Mark

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Beginning With The End In Mind

by on 02/08/2011 in Mindset

At a recent surf and fashion show...

I was at an industry surf and fashion show this past weekend and got some decent ideas for some new niches, but more importantly got to see the latest color trends, and what happening in the marketplace.

In case you were wondering vintage colors is big this year. Golds, browns, oranges, and greens. You know, like the 70s. Also, pinks and ocean blues are hot too.

But that’s not what I want to talk to you about in this post.

Its about beginning every project your working on with the end customer in mind.

Sooooo many wholesalers got this wrong over the weekend. They only thought of me the buyer.

But, they forgot they are in. The middle position.

I have to buy off them and then retail to the end consumer. So, really the end customer is not me it’s the customer I’m selling to. They priced like the end consumer is me.

There was one person selling a watch for $8.50, with retail of $20. Advertised their own URL on the product itself. By the way, they sell retail on that site as well. Didn’t know any demographics sales data, or anything that would help me make an informed decision. Rigid ordering like $500 minimums. And further more, they were rude about it. Oh, and no protection.

Needless to say we said NEXT!

What was really horrendous is that this was not an anomaly. A lot of folks were doing this. It must be some weird epidemic or something, because what would posses a company to give the royal shaft to their retailers like this?

What can you learn from this?

There is hope.

There was still buying going on (me included). As long as there is commerce going on you can make a few bucks out there. Also, with all these bad wholesalers (and retailers) you can get in a position to set your self away from the pack by actually thinking about what the end is.

Ask yourself what position am I in? Answer in earnest and adjust your strategy accordingly. A great example of this that was not just based on price (which i hate competing on) is great displays for the product that was geared toward consumers. The display was so clever that it eliminated many of the objections that I had about the product, because it took up less sq ft, and was very inviting for customer to shop from.

Buy the items for a reasonable price, that looks great, and I can get it again and again. Sounds like a winner in my books. This is an example of a company that actually thought about it.

Another was less sophisticated but was very friendly and professional service, great pricing which left a good profit margin for me, and a very competitive price for the customers, offered protection, and the product is hot. Another great deal for me and my customers.

Starting to see a trend here?

What can you do to give value? Beginning with the end in mind you can always see some way to add value to your customer.

Until next time, hopefully you got something out of this post (rant). Leave your comments below!

- Mark

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