Extras That Make a Difference

How to Add Value to your E-Commerce Website

We’ve talked about how integration is the core to a successful eCommerce solution before in The Integration Epiphany and PIVOT – E-Commerce Lessons from a Friends Episode. It’s the bare minimum of what we need to run a secure webshop, smoothly and efficiently. Information on the back-end is synchronized and shows up on the front-end with proper integration.

But now that we’ve got the basics in place, let’s talk about the rest of the features. While integration is extremely important to do well, good integration alone does not make a successful webshop.

In our eCommerce solution Nav-to-Net™, we made sure to include these particular features. These are the extras that could make a huge difference as they add value to your eCommerce investment. Customers are able to have a fuller and richer experience, and shop with ease. They are savvy shoppers and know to look for certain things.

Here are some of the extras that make a difference in your webshop.

Discounts and Coupons – Everybody loves a sale. The idea of getting something for a lot less than its perceived or actual value is a huge psychological thrill. On the business end, they are a powerful marketing tool. Tracking all coupon and discount codes can be a hassle though, so be sure you’re using an eCommerce solution that manages these within your ERP system.

Profile Selling – Profile selling refers to making personalized suggestions to a specific customer, and this particular feature could result in customer loyalty. When customers repeatedly buy from you, you want to show them gratitude. This has a positive impact on the existing customer relationship that can result in an increase in revenue. By making customers feel valued, you’re adding value to your own business. When we think about increase in sales, it does not necessarily mean from new customers. Getting your existing customers to buy more will also increase sales. Customer loyalty programs give them incentives to buy more; offer discounts, points, special perks, gifts, exclusive deals, etc. When they become repeat customers, they become your brand advocates in a way. So allow customers to log-in to your webshop. Our solution offers profile selling so you can make personalized upsell and cross-sell recommendations. All of this, profile selling, discount codes, and any other feature you want to take advantage of to show customers they are valued, is automated from within Microsoft Dynamics™ NAV so with minimal work on your part, you can achieve maximum reward.

Price Flexibility – With price flexibility, you can host closing sales, seasonal sales, or any special promotions whenever you like. Manage prices and inventory easily from within NAV so sales go as smoothly as possible. We’ve already mentioned how everybody loves a sale, but the timing of sales is also important. We don’t want to offer them too often. Think about a store that constantly emails you about sales. Will you ever buy these products at full-price? Not only does it condition customers to only make their purchases during sales, but it’s cheapening the brand name. It’s something they will get only when it’s on sale. And why do they always have sales? Is no one buying their products? So with that in mind, be mindful of the frequency of sales and schedule them strategically. It is also important to track these sales and see what works and what doesn’t. Run reports and analyze the data so you can keep improving as you go along.

When having a sale on your website, consider changing the look of your webshop. How and where are you promoting it on your site? Are you also sending out e-mails notifying customers? What about social media? A good eCommerce solution can support these changes to look and feel and be completed relatively easily. Nav-to-Net™ is customizable; it’s easy for users to change the look and feel of their webshop from the back-end.  Our solution is also reliable with solid architecture; making these changes, as frequent as you like, will not overload the system and cause it to break.

Gift Registry – A wishlist, essentially. This adds value to your eCommerce website because it increases product sales and build customer loyalty. When customers put products on a gift registry and send it to friends and family, there is not only extended reach but an endorsement as well. Customers are being brand advocates by using gift registry. This is a win-win situation for your customers and for your eCommerce business. Nav-to-Net™ has a gift registry feature that can be managed extensively from within Microsoft Dynamics™ NAV for maximum ease of use.