If you operate an e-commerce store, you need to think of remarkable content as value propositions. How do you get your remarkable content (value propositions) to more customers? Engage your customers and infiltrate their online communities by building an engaging site with remarkable value!
Lets take a look at one of the best examples of an e-commerce store that creates remarkable content (value propositions) and actively engages their customers and community -- www.Moosejaw.com. Moosejaw is a seller of outdoor apparel and gear for the adventurous souls. This screenshot of Moosejaw's homepage is of April 7, 2010. I mention this because Moosejaw often changes their homepage promotions.
(Click here to visit Moosejaw's Most Current Homepage)
Notice all the information about SPECIALS, SALES, PROMOTIONS, DISCOUNTS, and CONTESTS that you see above the fold, just by glancing over the site. This site design gives a positive first impression because of the immediate impression of remarkable content (value propositions).
Lets examine how this impression was made.
1. VALUE PROPOSITIONS & FREE SHIPPING. According to Steve Krug, author of Don't Make Me Think - A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, the average way people read webpages are from the top left corner of a site to the middle right of a site to the bottom of a page, then back to the top. It looks something like this:
1. Your eyes are first attracted to the Logo, which is immediately followed by Free Shipping Value Proposition. Offering free shipping immediately screams VALUE to the average consumer. To take full advantage of a free shipping campaign, you need to convenience your customers to purchase more than one item at a time. One of the most effective ways to do this is to offer Free Shipping to the consumer if they meet a certain criteria. Moosejaw's criteria is to purchase at least $49.00 worth of merchandise. If you do not offer some sort of Free Shipping special, you are really missing out and should start a free shipping campaign immediately.
2. Your eyes then browse over a nice picture and is then meeted with large, colorful and popping text explaining more value. 10% Off, Sale Outlet, and Price Matching are all great propositions that give a first impression of value. Moosejaw has now shown us 4 Value Propositions with just a first glance. Not bad!!
3. Most people will not immediately read small text, but instead look for the largest and easiest to read/see things on the site. So instead of reading the text below (which is actual Customer Feedback), most eyes will scroll down to another value proposition explaining 10% Off on every purchase. This is important because this value proposition further reinforces our initial impression of value.
4. You now scroll your eyes back to the top of the page, noticing lots of brand names, the nice picture again (this time noticing that it includes a special promotion), the large search box and finally to the main categories Moosejaw wants you to browse. Above the categories, Moosejaw tells you that they are available for online chat, show you where your shopping cart is AND offers you the ability to sign in to their site.
Moosejaw has effectively shown great value propositions, including the most popular free shipping value, with just a glance of the site. Within the E-Commerce world, the most remarkable content you can create is VALUE!!
2. ENGAGE YOUR CUSTOMERS - Look at the top categories on Moosejaw's Homepage. The first category that you read is not Home... it is MADNESS. This page is the Social Networking side of Moosejaw, and is the FIRST category! The need for social networking is huge, and Moosejaw is doing an excellent job of engaging their community. Look at the Madness page below:
This page will probably look different than the image above, but the heart of the content will be the same. Customer Feedback, Twitter, What's New, Monthly Specials, Blog, Flicker and so much more content is optimized to the fullest extent for engaging their customers through various social networking communities. Moosejaw puts this effort into their social networking because they want you to not only see that they take this seriously, but want to take advantage of every opportunity to engage in their community.
Engaging your community not only gets your customers to come back to your site but ALSO gets your community and customers to tell their other online communities about you. Everytime a link to your site is sent through the internet, or is put on a blog or another site, or is clicked through by a casual observer, Google is notified! Google knows when your site is trafficked and actually gauges your sites worthiness and ranking by it. If you want to increase your search page ranking, get others to link to you. Moosejaw wants the girl who just bought a their t-shirt to take a picture of herself in the t-shirt, and then engage in not only her community, but yours as well with that photo. Let your customers know that you are out there and actively participating in various online community conversations. Your customers will not only appreciate this, but will see and think about you more. Creating the best form of advertising available today -- Free Inbound Marketing!
Moosejaw has done an excellent job of creating remarkable content (value propositions) that are both engaging and stocked full of value.
If you want to create remarkable content for your e-commerce site, start engaging your community with value propositions!
