The Online CMO by Philip Hallenborg

The daily job of an online transcational business manager involves many disciplines such as online demand generation (banner, SEO, affiliate, email), convergence optimization, promo management (discount and coupons), merchandizing (leakage/ pathing, creatives), portfolio optimization (pricing, upsell, cross-sell) and onsite lead generation. Most of these disciplines involve complex metrics, and daunting dashboards.

Question is if these are the biggest and most impactful levers available.  I claim that many of the ecommerce giants are missing the point.

Looking at some of the basic customer incentives for shopping online may lead us to a better understanding of what it is we need to focus on if we want to build successful online businesses.

The top incentives for online purchasing as once listed in the annual report (2006) by Vidar Eskelund, Chief Commercial Officer, Komplett (one of Scandinavia’s most important etailers of consumer PC’s and electronics):

• Convenience (where and when you want – shipped to your home)
• Price incentives (special web offers and cost efficiency of channel given back to consumer)
• Greater range & Information (what is the full selection, long tail products and what is on stock)
• Saving time (Compare prices and products easily)
• Novelty (Buy a product unique to your setting, location etc)

From these customer needs we can infer the most important areas that need constant focus before trying to deliver icing on our ecommerce cake. A simple comparison of the leading Scandinavian ecommerce sites provides obvious support for a short list of must haves (or should I say only haves?).

1. Present your products with price point and easy point of sales info directly on the first page – write the point of sales statements yourself!
2. State delivery time and how many units you carry in stock (if applicable). This is key for most decisions and an often overlooked must have.
3. Make it easy to check out and pay. Simple basket functionality and the most important integrated payment options do the trick.
4.  Offer customer simple and easy access to your sales function (leads) and customer care (FAQ, contact number or email).

Until you are best of breed in these areas – don’t touch the icing!