Nurturing loyalty is job 1 on the Web - electronic commerce, marketing - Brief Article

DSN Retailing Today, Feb 5, 2001 by Dennis Sinclair

Customer loyalty is the single toughest nut to crack in the dot.com arena. E-commerce companies do not have the luxury of successful off-line businesses where products often sell themselves, and customers are wary about even the most impressive product when offered in the on-line environment.

From attracting the customer to the site to delivering the product or service in a timely fashion, e-tailers must prove to the consumer that shopping on line is a worthwhile experience. To accomplish this, e-businesses must focus on the following essential points to develop and maintain assured customer loyalty:

* Promotions. Securing customer interest through marketing and promotions is the first step. I advise e-businesses to take advantage of on-line promotions and e-coupons. These consumer incentives are particularly important because they encourage the consumer to actually participate in an on-line transaction rather than simply browse the site. Even if the offers produce little or no revenue, in the long run, worthy businesses will benefit by encouraging consumer's to feel confident in placing an order and entering delivery and payment information on line.

* Design. The Web site should be easy to navigate, with links to more specific information and a "return home" option on every page. Simplicity is key. Avoid using distracting colors or slow-loading images. Bandwidth is extremely important to keep in mind. While an image-rich Web site may look very appealing using a T-1 or faster connection, many consumers still connect via 56K lines. I usually say, if a site takes longer than three or four seconds to load on a dial-up modem, it's too much, and customers will lose interest.

* Security. I often tell e-businesses to assume that customers will not purchase goods on line. With this in mind, an e-tailer must prove their credibility to establish and maintain the consumer's trust and confidence. Encryption technology, like the SSL technology public-key encryption that we offer, and a privacy policy are the two key components. Without an appropriate privacy policy, a site will not be taken seriously. For some guidelines about privacy policies, see the Association for Interactive Media (www.interactivehq.org) or Direct Marketing Association (www.the-dma.org).

* Fulfillment. Obviously, an essential component of on-line shopping is the successful receipt of the product. Customers will be most confident in a business that provides an anticipated date of delivery--if not precise, at least a small time frame--and alerts the customer when the product has been shipped via email. If the product or service is temporarily unavailable (due to backordering, shipment hang-ups, etc.), the customer should be notified immediately and offered the option of canceling the order. Further, credit card processing should not take place until the shipment process begins.

* Customer support. In case something does go wrong along the way, from on-line transaction to product delivery, the customer should always have the resources to make inquiries or voice concerns. I strongly urge, in addition to e-mail-based support, that e-businesses also provide live, telephone-based support. At our company, for example, we offer daily 24-hour telephone customer support to our clients. Since the on-line medium can prove to be very impersonal, the 24-hour customer support by trained, live representatives is extremely important in proving credibility and retaining customers.

Superior customer relations is the most important product an e-business can offer and interest in the customer must be proven, promoted and fine-tuned as a top priority. Though this extensive focus on the customer requires an e-business to plan and organize differently than its off-line counterpart, with an appropriate strategy an e-commerce environment has the ability to provide amazing technical and economical benefits both to businesses and consumers.