Digital Media Buzz > Ka-Ching: E-Commerce Strategies for a Successful Website

Ka-Ching: E-Commerce Strategies for a Successful Website

By Rebecca Jacoby

(Editor’s note: This is the first of a two-part series on e-commerce systems and merchant accounts.)

If you are overwhelmed by all the opinions about e-commerce systems and merchant accounts, you may find insight here. Presume you already have a product or service to sell, have considered how to market it optimally and have a website. To transact business, you’ll need an e-commerce solution: a shopping cart system, which usually includes the ability to process credit cards, with a secure payment gateway and a merchant account.

What you’re selling, your budget and marketing plan may affect whether you use separate components or a single provider solution. Noteworthy is that single provider solutions have usually done compatibility testing to ensure a seamless process once installed. Eliminating bugs in the process saves time, money and customer frustration.

Also incorporate into the decision your (or your developer’s) technical experience curve with a particular e-commerce solution, reviews and ratings encountered in your research, and successful e-commerce entrepreneurs, who don’t mind telling you their recommendations.

Greg Meyers, who has more than 10 years in the e-commerce and the search marketing industry, owns iGESSO, LLC, authors the blog SemGeek.com, and has managed four e-commerce websites that have generated an estimated $20 million dollars in sales. He suggests having an “all-in-one” e-commerce solution with additional modules that can be added. This is beneficial because of integration with the back-end system where problems could mean an order gets interrupted, and an incomplete order is a bad customer experience.

“Relying on third-party applications for features such as customer reviews or image zoom would create a browser compatibility risk and also risk with the back-end database. However, there are some impressive third-party components and enhancements that work well and can increase conversions. They just need to be fully tested to ensure usability issues so no customers would be turned away,” Meyers says.

Naturally, a good e-commerce solution requires little maintenance. Meyers explains, “An ideal e-commerce platform should, at the very least, allow for easy integration of all new or existing data as well as support ongoing maintenance. The wrong approach is to select an e-commerce platform based on ‘nifty bells and whistles.’ What matters most is the ease of the user experience from the product page, to the shopping cart, to the order confirmation page. Once that process has been tested and proven to work well, customers will not only help promote your business with word of mouth but also become repeat buyers, enhancing loyal customer base.”

Check with your hosting company to see what may be offered as a service to your account. If you determine the host’s solution does not meet your needs, do a search for other e-commerce vendors and compare. Some companies offering e-commerce packages are Yahoo! Merchant Solutions, Volusion and osCommerce, an open source solution.

Shopping Carts
An easy-to-use shopping cart makes buying seamless. Elements within a shopping cart system include payment options that can (but don’t have to) include a credit card processing and merchant account. It should, however, conveniently and clearly apply shipping and sales taxes, manage statistics and offer buyer security. Costs range from $59.95 monthly to $2,495 as a flat purchase price. One review site for comparing features is http://shopping-cart-review.toptenreviews.com .

Credit Card Processing/Merchant Account
A merchant account is strictly a business account, which you may already have. Each provider has requirements, procedures and monthly as well as transaction fees. For doing business online, you will want real-time processing, so you will be assured automated processing with no account assistance needed on your end. The transaction is secure, so a security certificate is usually not required, and monies are deposited into your merchant account within a few days.

A virtual terminal will allow you to receive orders by fax, phone or snail mail. If you anticipate collecting orders this way, too, you will want both a real-time and a virtual terminal account.

Examples of third-party credit card processors are CCNow, PayPal or 2CheckOut.

Security/Payment Gateway
Think of a payment gateway as the protective layer between the customer and merchant account. If it is not built into your credit card processing component, you’ll need an outside SSL (secure socket layer) certification so customers will have confidence that they are transacting business safely. Companies that offer security verification services include VeriSign, Geotrust and Network Solutions. Hosting companies that offer e-commerce solutions usually offer an SSL as well.

Meyers comments on the benefit of having a security endorsement. “One of the most important things in all of e-commerce is security. If the website requires a user to enter personal or financial information and the user does not see ‘HTTPS:’ in the url, they will most likely leave the site. VeriSign has become the leading brand name in online security. They have a proven track record and most hosting companies that offer SSL use VeriSign. I also want to mention that VeriSign Logos, as well as graphic medallions depicting security certificates on websites provide a ‘warm and fuzzy’ feeling, which leads to more sales.”

While you are conducting transactions, Meyers warns, don’t forget about overall website functionality; that is, keeping the site fresh with new products, offering content value such as a newsletter or otherwise complementing your brand through multi-channel venues.