Free Webinar from Forrester and Worldwide Brands: Why Ecommerce is Thriving

May 28, 2008 | In Training | No Comments

Join leading industry research agency Forrester Research and Worldwide Brands for an insightful webinar on why ecommerce is thriving at 9pm (EDT) tonight (5/28). Registration is free and topics include:

• How much is ecommerce expected to grow in the next 5 years?
• What are growth areas to focus on?
• Which trends should you be watching?

Sign up for the webinar.

Paul Boisvert
Yahoo! Small Business

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Developer Spotlight: Ventura Web Design

May 13, 2008 | In Developer Spotlight, General | No Comments

Last month, we brought you the first in our ongoing Developer Spotlight series, which highlights developers belonging to the Yahoo! Merchant Solutions Developer Network. Next up, Kevin Richards, CEO of Ventura Web Design, shares a bit about the popular services and enhancements Ventura Web Design provides for Yahoo! Store merchants. He also offers some valuable tips and advice to both new and existing merchants looking to improve their online store.

Tell me a bit about Ventura Web Design. How long have you been specializing in Yahoo! Stores, and what services do you provide?

Since 1997, Ventura Web Design has specialized in the Yahoo! Store platform. Prior to that, we developed many web sites using just basic HTML. It was through Yahoo!’s unique combination of robust features, flexibility, and backend stability that we felt confident moving into the e-commerce arena.

In general, Ventura is known for our commitment to our client’s e-commerce success. Through designing clean, fast, and easy to use web sites (for both customers and store owners), we have been able to help over 1,000 merchants successfully utilize the Yahoo! Store to grow their companies. Our services range from helping startups get online for the first time, to customizing the store of an experienced merchant who is already generating millions of dollars in revenue each quarter.

Overall, one of the biggest things that sets us apart from other web designers is that we provide experienced e-commerce consultation. We own our own Yahoo! store AND bricks-n-mortar retail store. Our web site design team is familiar with reality, not just the theory of design. By allowing our team to make changes to our online retail store, and then speaking directly with customers to evaluate the changes/customer needs, I believe that Ventura provides a very unique value proposition when it comes to our consultation services.

What is the most common design flaw you see with stores that can really hinder their business?

This is a tough one to answer because there are so many things that can go wrong with a web site and cost a store owner money in the form of lost revenue. From failing to test for cross-browser compatibility, to designing something so big that it’s difficult to understand from the customer perspective, we have seen quite a few web sites in need of improvements over our 10+ years in the business.

Store owners should strive for simplicity in both their business model and web site. The web site should be simple for you to maintain, and simple for your customers to understand. Let your web site grow with your customers. All too often, clients come to us with great ideas that would work for an experienced merchant and a loyal customer base, but will be too confusing to new clients or too difficult to boil down into a 10 second "elevator pitch". It is important for merchants to try to establish a niche in their industry. Do one thing, and do it really well. Once you own the market doing that particular niche, then add another facet to the business model. It’s much more profitable, and fun, to be the best.

If you could give one tip to new merchants just opening for business, what would it be?

One tip for new merchants is to stylize their Checkout Manager to match the design of their website. Often times this step goes missed and merchants cannot understand why their conversion rates are low. Web customers are looking for many things in an online merchant, and security is a big one. If a customer thinks they have left your site to check out, they will feel less comfortable. Avoid this by keeping your site design consistent throughout the experience.

What’s the biggest tip you’d give to existing merchants looking to boost their traffic and sales?

This is another one where it’s too hard to put your finger on just one thing that will bring in more sales. So many merchants are in such different places when it comes to their site design, marketing efforts, and customer interaction policies. In fact, I’d make the argument that it’s very rarely just one action item that brings success, but the totality of your actions and their actual implementation that makes a far more significant impact on your bottom line. I like to think of web site success as a pyramid. The base of your pyramid must be a solid foundation that is built upon best practices in site design. The next level would be search engine optimization. Above that would be your ease of interaction between your customers and you.

One thing that all merchants using Google Analytics should check is their Funnel Visualization, by looking at their checkout conversion reports. Long story short, how many people start the checkout process and how many actually complete it? If they didn’t follow through, where did they drop out? We helped one merchant improve conversions from their Shipping & Billing checkout page from 68% to 95% almost immediately, simply by making a small design change.

 

What are your most popular enhancements or services?

Ventura has some great features to make your site easier to use, better for conversions, and more visually appealing. One of our favorites is the Product Carousel. This feature visually shows your specials rotating on the page. You can see this on the front page of www.ScentsandSprays.com. The speed and movement can be controlled by the web site customer. The store owner simply inputs the Page IDs into our system, and then the store automatically generates the Carousel. This feature is truly plug and play.

[Just a note to add that Amazon.com now uses a similar feature on parts of its site. Using something like a Product Carousel can help your store achieve a similar look to that of some e-commerce giants. –Jennifer]

 

Tell me a bit about the most exciting feature you’ve designed for a store.

One of the more exciting features we have designed is Express Shop, which can be seen on Organize.com. This merchant has been with Ventura since the beginning, and is now an Internet Retailer Top 500 Store. Kevin Watts, Director of E-commerce at Organize had this to say about Express Shop:

"We’re more than pleased with our recent integration of the Express Shop function. It has truly enhanced speed and interactivity, and offers an improved customer shopping experience in which our customers are able to engage our products easier. With traditional e-commerce sites you can almost get a headache having to click back and forth between products. So when you can make online shopping faster and easier for your customer you create an experience that leads to better conversions and more loyalty."

[For those curious about how the Express Shop feature works, here’s a brief rundown. When a customer places their cursor over an item on a category page, an Express Shop button appears on the item. Clicking on the Express Shop button opens a pop-up window, where the customer can enter a quantity and add the item to their cart, choose to click-through to the item page, or close the window and continue looking at the items on the category page. –Jennifer]

 

What are some of the biggest changes between ecommerce now and ecommerce even a couple of years ago that merchants should be aware of?

Today’s web customer is getting much smarter about shopping around. If your site doesn’t answer their questions, make them comfortable, and have the right mix of price/service/selection, they will quickly click off of your store and purchase from a competitor.

Thanks, Kevin, for the great information, and for taking part in the series.

Merchants who’d like to find out more about Ventura Web Design and our other developer partners can check out the Yahoo! Merchant Solutions Developer Network. And, remember to watch the blog for more installments in the Developer Spotlight series, coming soon.

Jennifer Farwell
Yahoo! Small Business

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