Life In Internet

Your website sucks.

Those were the three words by which Bryan Eisenberg started his keynote at this morning’s Online Merchandising Workshop. But after that sobering beginning, Eisenberg offered a bit of comfort. For starters, he said, don’t worry too much: everybody’s website sucks. None of us have unlimited resources to get everything right. Basically, you’re in good company. As if that’s any consolation.

However, your website needn’t suck as much as it does. In fact, he said, he’s learned 21 secrets that make sites suck less. Eisenberg’s rapid-fire session was filled with 21 tips and gobs of examples of companies who were doing at least some of it right. And after that introduction, it’s no wonder attendees paid attention – and why some people in their feedback forms ranked Bryan’s session a 6 on a scale of 1-5.

Since he asked us not to share all 21 tips – after all, there should have been some incentive to actually attend his session today – and because it would have been impossible to transcribe his fast-moving keynote even if he didn’t, I pared down Bryan’s advice for retailers to my five favorites:

1) Realize no brand is universally known. Not everyone knows what you stand for or why you’re successful, he said. As a result, “you must communicate your unique value proposition and unique campaign proposition on every single web page.” It’s not good enough to list your value proposition on the front of your website – it must be reinforced to customers who are drilling deeper into specific categories or products, and also placed on item pages for those shoppers who head directly to specific sections after being directed there from a search. Examples of websites who have done this well include Vita Cost, L.L.Bean, GoToMeeting, and Helzberg Diamonds.

2) Leverage social commerce. We all know reviews are important in gaining trust, Eisenberg said, but companies can use reviews in more powerful ways than just the web. Retailers that are taking feedback from online product reviews and leveraging them in stores and catalogs are able to maximize this valuable content and increase sales. Who’s doing it? Lego, Williams-Sonoma, Barratts (they put reviews on their shoe boxes) and Best Buy.

Side note: Not only does Best Buy place customer reviews on in-store tags, Eisenberg said, the company is taking it one step further. Knowing that bar code apps like Red Laser are among the most popular mobile applications, Best Buy also places the bar code for the products on their in-store tags – so customers who want more information on a bulky TV or refrigerator just need to scan the tag, not try to find it somewhere on the box.

3) Learn and apply the principles of persuasion. Eisenberg asked the audience for a show of hands among those who have read “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.” I was one of two people, I think, who raised their hand. (I knew that Communication Theory course my senior year in college would pay off eventually!) What are the principles of persuasion, you ask? The six principles range from scarcity to authority to commitment– the basic, fundamental ways you can convince people to do things.

Two examples of companies using the power of persuasion to convert browsing into buying? eBags’ “Steal of the Day,” which used the principle of scarcity, told shoppers not only the number of items remaining in the daily deal but also the number of people shopping on the site at that very moment. On the other hand, FreshDirect’s recent promotion to include a free piece of peak produce with every order leverages the principle of reciprocity. “This is the concept of the baker’s dozen,” Eisenberg said. “We often forget this in online retail.”

4) Understand the customer buying process. Selling is not about throwing up products on your website, Eisenberg said. Instead, understand who your customers are, what they want, and how they buy. A great example? The Lands’ End swimsuit store. Not only does the site let women shop for suits by style, it gives them suggestions based on their shape, “anxiety zones” and bra size. And if a shopper has a question about fit, return policy, or sizing, the 1-800 number on the site takes the customer directly to a person who specializes in bathing suits. (Every woman I know is probably thinking the same thing right now: “Genius”!)

5) Execute rapidly. Two hours after Michael Jackson passed away last summer, Amazon.com had reconfigured its mp3 store with an image of Jackson and links to his music. The company had a system in place that allowed it to react immediately to outside events. “The reason Amazon is so successful is that they learned how to execute,” Eisenberg said. “How many of you would have to wait two weeks for a committee to approve a decision like that?”

So there’s a taste of what Bryan Eisenberg shared in his session on secrets of the top converting websites. If you were in his session, what takeaways did you leave with that I left out?