TEMPERED EXPECTATIONS

Balancing Lofty Ideas with Practical Implementations

The old adage goes something like this: “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” We’ll back off of the hyper-dramatic element therein, while still making a solid point. And here it is: Attempting to ramp up your practical and technological upgrades can be a colossal failure for an ecommerce store if it is not prepared to make certain that it’s functional.

Countless blogs—including ours—eagerly advocate for trending technology as a method of padding your bottom line. It’s simple to discover a new strategy that uses tech concepts to make your site more noticeable and competitive, and even simpler to share it as a fabulous way to help you sell. The downside of this unfolds when the execution goes south, and disappointment ensues.
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This blog post represents a reversal of our typical entries, for good reason. It’s equally important to avoid errors as it is to take advantage of popular, accelerating trends.

​Here are some examples, pulled from past suggestions we and others have made:

• MOBILE SHOPPING and MOBILE PAYMENTS
  At some point, these will be standard elements, as conventional as opening a brick-and-mortar store. For now, though, there are considerations that should be acknowledged with respect to ensuring your online store is providing seamless access without interruption, including a compromised interface that translates to poor visual presentation and makes prospective buyers immediately turn away. If you wish to place an emphasis on tailoring your store interface for smart phones (which are a fast-growing method of consumer buying) make sure you have either the personal expertise to make it work, or the resources to hire someone who does.
  
  
• CHATBOTS and REAL-TIME COMMUNICATION
  Offering instant access to live support is a golden opportunity to rival the level of service available in physical stores. But if your app is not functioning correctly, leaving a customer in limbo, it may lead to their vow of never visiting your store again.
  
  
• OUTREACH MARKETING
  It is never inherently wrong to incorporate personal interactions following either a sale or an inquiry. Emails, text messages, social media direct messaging– all of these can be invaluable tools for establishing a close buyer-seller relationship. That said, too much may be too much. Not everyone enjoys this level of communication. Always ask in your first outreach, in a careful, conversational manner, whether your marketing messages are welcomed.
  
  
• VISUAL AUGMENTED IMAGERY
  Online commerce increasingly is embracing the strong impact of video in addition to still images. Capturing the attention of potential buyers by providing them with a near-living example of how your products will suit their tastes and needs can be powerful. But if your technology or application is not up to par, it can distort what you sell and turn them off forever.
  
  
• REWARDING LOYALTY
  Not that loyalty programs are a newfangled strategy for endearing buyers, but e-commerce merchants developing them need to be careful to avoid overselling. Your reputation as a relatively new source for shoppers can quickly deteriorate if their first attempt to participate is unsuccessful due to an unforeseen factor that makes it impossible to follow through. The trick is to be judicious with reward offerings, updating them incrementally as you gain the confidence in your ability to deliver.
  
  

Now that you know what not to do, you can gain confidence in what you can do, and plan carefully with a strategy going forward that is aimed at growing your store and your reputation in a sustainable manner.