Case Tindie: pitfalls when creating an eCommerce site [part 2]

[ part one ]

Be careful about where you are redirecting users.

Regarding the optimization of site traffic, you need to organize traffic redirection so that users stay on the site, even if they did not find what they were looking for.

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“It may seem that the implementation of this will take a long time - especially if we take as a basis the services of forming recommendations on sites like Amazon. However, not everything should turn out right away, ”says Grace.

For a while, Tindie didn’t have enough information to know for sure which products to recommend to its customers. The situation when buyers cannot find the desired product or it turns out that it is not available is fraught with problems. If you do not have an understanding of where to redirect customers in this case, they will leave your site and may never enter it again.



“In a certain situation, you will not be able to give recommendations suitable for specific clients. On Tindie, most products are exclusive, so we had to deal with this problem very often. ” In order to retain as many customers as possible, the company found a way to solve this problem without having information about the specific preferences of users:

"If you cannot offer an alternative to a product that is not available, offer something extra."

Tindie used customer images that were compiled when the company developed a product categorization system to determine which additional products users would like to see on the site. A person who, for example, collects a mixing console, can search for audio parts and other similar equipment. A person who is fond of electrical appliances, who creates some of his devices, may be interested in buying engines or sensors. “We asked ourselves:“ What would we recommend to such a person? ”, And it turned out to be very effective.”



The company also used Google Analytics heat maps to closely monitor which links users select during the search. If you analyze why buyers choose a particular product, then you may have an idea of ​​who they are (by and large); You can also use this information to improve service.



“We, for example, separated our main customers,“ addicted to electrical equipment, ”from the rest,” explains Grace, adding that one of the ways to do this is to use cookies to track which products users buy, and then provide them with various options. start page.

"You need the products on the start page to correspond with the interests of certain users very precisely, so product segmentation based on their wishes is very important."

When redirecting traffic to your site, Grace recommends the following:



1. Do not make the profile creation procedure mandatory when purchasing.



For most eCommerce companies, it makes no sense to introduce a mandatory registration procedure before placing an order. “Large e-commerce sites such as Amazon and Etsy can afford to introduce such a procedure. They already have a fairly large customer base, and therefore they can ask users to create a profile without fail, says Grace. “However, I would strongly recommend not to do a small start-up company in this market.” Attendance of our site has increased by 50% after we canceled the procedure of mandatory registration. ”



2. Do not use various tricks to get information about the user.



If you want to work with a decent audience, you need, first of all, to gain their trust. “In our case, if we had offered a 50 percent discount when buying a product after creating a profile, our customer churn rate would be huge. Most of our customers would not be regular, but you need such buyers at the beginning of the activity. ”



If your site does not sell goods at discount prices, be careful with coupons and discounts. If your website specializes in the sale of rare goods, then not only buyers will be less demanding on prices: the value of your brand should be built on the basis of this exclusivity (and not discounts). And although there is a coupon system on Tindie, it doesn’t have a strong effect on the increase in attendance, and coupons are not the reason users keep visiting this site.



3. Make sure your ordering service is protected from accidental errors.



If you allow users to make purchases without creating a profile, then you do not have the opportunity to collect information about them and their preferences. In addition, the buyer can not return to the site and view their past orders. However, there are ways to solve these problems. “Tindie has developed a system where customers are given a long, hashed, unique URL that they can use to check the status of their orders, even if they have not registered anywhere,” Grace says. “If one day they decide to create a profile attached to the same email address, we immediately combine all of their information, so that users can log in and view their purchase history.” Such a system has been very effective in attracting and maintaining a regular clientele. ”



4. Information in the section "About the Company" should be extremely brief.



Users who access the eCommerce site want to make purchases, not read about your company. “Start-up firms tend to talk a lot about themselves without taking into account the interests of their end-users,” Grace says. - Therefore, we decided to focus more on the functionality of the site - working with buying and selling goods. We understand that our customers are not interested in who is our sponsor or the composition of our development team. ”



The exception is when you are looking for employees. When you are just creating a company and are actively looking for new employees, the page on which your team of employees is described, the history of the company and its structure will be useful. However, it should not be the first thing that users see when they come to the site, and should not stand out in the site navigation system



“Buyers want adequate service. They want to find the product they need, buy it and leave the site. Respect it.



5. Find out what makes your customers buy goods.



Some of your customers may be price sensitive, while others care more about the quality of the product. Of course, it all depends on what you sell, but in any case, it is necessary to group users according to these criteria. “In the case of our company, customers are offered unique hardware, so the price is not so important for them,” explains Grace. - However, a lot of factors are important for them. For example, if photos of goods stimulate sales, then it is necessary to seriously engage in creating better and more attractive photos. ”



6. Determine the level of privacy needed by users.



If some users appreciate the proposed recommendations based on their purchase history, others may feel discomfort and a feeling that they are being watched. In order to solve this problem, Grace suggests the websites “to inform customers as openly as possible that the store is analyzing their actions to improve the site’s work and service, and in no case to violate their privacy.” This is much more important than many e-commerce companies are used to thinking. They need to be aware of this, every time they want to collect new information about users.

Try to form the best basket.

Although electronic baskets have become familiar to everyone, this does not mean that you cannot invent something of your own in this area.

“Most sites create baskets like baskets from Amazon and other large eCommerce sites, since users are believed to be used to them,” Grace said. “However, it is necessary to understand that these companies have a competitive advantage: they can offer anything to users, since these are rather large firms - they do not have to take into account the interests of buyers. As a start-up company, you cannot afford such experiments and doing the same things as large firms is not always the best idea. ”

Following the experience of larger firms, Tindie prematurely optimized baskets on their site. “At a certain stage, we even canceled the possibility of transferring goods to the cart with one click, and this made users very unhappy,” says Grace. “When we returned everything as it was before, we stopped receiving angry letters.”



The number of operations for placing goods in the basket also greatly influenced site traffic. Tindie initially programmed 5 operations, but site traffic has decreased so much that over time they had to reduce the number of operations to two.







This is what a Tindie simplified e-shopping cart looks like today.

Accept payments without doubting

If you work with customers from different countries, using PayPal is not just a good idea - it is a necessary necessity, according to Grace. In many countries, millions of people do not have the ability to use credit cards. Tindie sells products all over the world, and most of their customer base uses PayPal - users want to avoid identity theft. Cases of such thefts have occurred even in the USA.



It will be right to create three ways to pay for orders, and select them in accordance with the capabilities of the main part of the client base of your site. “You can use the payment system through Amazon, Stripe, or even use Bitcoin digital currency through services such as Coinbase, if it is necessary to serve your customers,” she says. - The main thing - do not rush to enter on the website payment methods required a small number of users. Also, you shouldn’t connect services that are popular in Kreemniew Valley, but useless beyond its borders. ”



To give a specific example, Tindie offered the option of payment using bank accounts, and as a result, no one used this feature. It turned out to be a waste of time and effort. “Before introducing this payment method, we should have asked our customers, in particular the users who are potentially interested in this most of all.”



The payment system you choose can either form the basis of your eCommerce business or destroy it. “If you want to conduct business around the world, your customers will place orders for hundreds of thousands of dollars with delivery worldwide, you need to eliminate the possibility of theft as much as possible. The chance of one day becoming a victim of crime is very high, she says. “Therefore, using reliable services such as PayPal or Stripe can be a good alternative.” Their intruder tracking system is very reliable. This is a key component of their services. ”



At one of the stages, Tindie began an active business in Asia, transporting tons of products to Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam. “We had to deal with a lot of unusual orders, during which people used US credit cards, but these goods were already delivered to other countries,” Grace says. “We suffered big losses due to many cases of fraud in this region, and we needed to do something.” As a result, the company began working closely with Stripe to avoid such problems. “Collaborating with this company, which is so effective at fighting fraudsters, can help prevent up to 90% of dishonest transactions on your website.”



It is noteworthy that although the introduction of PayPal services is difficult from a technical point of view, Tindie did not encounter any case of data theft while working with this company.



When it comes to creating an electronic shopping cart and forming payment methods, the main problem is not to get carried away with optimization and keep the simplicity of the site organization. Both of these processes significantly complicate the work of the site, and if you limit yourself to only the basic options, or create something too complicated but useless, you will lose. As a beginner in e-business, you cannot afford to waste time and resources.



The gift card system is an excellent example of how complicated the situation is (it’s better to use them somewhere else).

“A gift-like system can spur sales during the holidays, but you should know what follows these approaches,” Grace says. What do these cards give, besides the fact that the purchase disappears because of them? Where will the money go after that? Are there any products that cannot be bought with this gift card? What if someone tries to order two products using one promo code from this card? “You actually create your own currency. Sounds serious right? The way it is. And you should consider all possible ways to use this card, given the above. "

Seeing that a huge part of their annual profit falls on the period between Halloween and New Year, Tindie applied the gift card system very early. But looking back, Grace says that it would be better for them to wait, examine their customers and develop a more efficient system, taking into account all the possible consequences, instead of dealing with tons of angry messages, because everything is not working properly.

“If you change the payment system for orders, such changes can take a lot of time — time to develop, test, and get users accustomed to it,” she said. “If your company is just starting its work, you need to think about the introduction of additional functions in your website several times, as this may affect how people behave and how they will buy goods in different ways.”

With the experience of Audiomania in creating your own IT solutions can be found here:

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