eCommerce Simplicity

I was recently asked by thestreet.com to provide my perspectives into the new Google Checkout Service.

After taking a look at a variety of different eCommerce sites that had Google checkout, it seems to be be a seamless integration within an existing platform infrastructure and provides a clean and user friendly transactional experience.

Google’s main effort here is to make the actual “purchasing” portion of the conversion funnel quicker and easier for consumers. The problem is that users must make an account with Google and input their credit card information within their system to get up and running. My perspective is that this additional step will cause a roadblock in penetration, at least initially, as consumers will be slow to adopt to the extra step.

Ebay is already defending their turf by banning Google Checkout within their site. Smart move as the Paypal unit generates a substantial amount of profits to the ebay enterprise and is the business that is most impacted by Google’s new offering.

Although Google’s solution is not a stored value system, it still is an alternative payments processing solution that stores credit card data. Very similar to the convenience offered by Paypal and their direct debit processing form a checking account.

Google’s carrot with adwords (every $10.00 spent on adwords gets $100.00 free processing within Google Checkout) should make more retailers take the time to integrate the payment alternative on their site. Now will consumers embrace it in the way Paypal was embraced? - only time will tell…

 <a href=http://www.technorati.com/google+checkout rel=”tag”>Google Checkout</a>

I admit that I am getting a little sick of writing about Google on this blog but I must say that the latest development out of Mountain View is going to completely change the Internet and search advertising.

For those who dont know, Google has launched a free service called “Google Wireless” within San Diego. Essentially described as a community outreach program, Google is offering free web access to everyone in the city. The catch is that the viewing must be done through a google interface that displays advertising relevant to the user’s path/clickstream.

What Google has done is that they have purchased fiber lines that were liquidated from the dot com bust and have built a network infrastructure that can support millions of users in California. This model is no doubt going to expand to other metropolitan areas as Google continues to buy fiber in an effort to expand this program.

If Google expands this program to other major cities, they are essentially going to be owning the user experience for a significant portion of the Internet. This will not only allow the media giant to gather a wealth of information about you and I that they will utilize in their further R&D but they will also expose every visitor to adwords listings no matter if you are on Google.com

An interesting development to say the least. Likely a few years out, but other MSN and Yahoo must understand the ramifications if this program expands.

Google Wireless

Recently I was shopping for a new notebook computer. The bargain hunter that I am, I hit the CSE’s, shopping portals, and eBay. After all of my research that took me 3 weeks, I identifed an AWESOME deal at Best Buy for a Centrino for less than $800. I headed to the store to purchase and noticed that the same model was priced 200 dollars more at the store. Puzzled, I spoke to an associate who also was puzzled after he realized the pricing discepancy.

Turns out, you could only get the discounted price ordering via Instore Pickup. An interesting method to get consumers to actively use the ISPU service by offering internet based discounts. Worked in my case! I bought it the next day.

Best Buy executes ISPU better than anyone else in my opinion. Their dedicated service area allows the consumer to bypass the standard checkout lines and get in and out as fast as possible. Clearly, more and more retailers will be embracing this technology. It flat out works from an experience standpoint.

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In-Store Pickup

In my conversations with online retailers, I frequently get asked about web copy and my perspectives into selling site visitors.

I think in most scenarios, the depth of web copy correlates to the “selling variables” of the product. To effectively sell online you must sell to a vistor’s “head” and “heart”. By outlining emotional benefits such as “A picture so clear that you feel in the first row” and intellectual benefits such as “a best in class 19 inch LCD viewing area, wide enough to handle any illustrating application” you cater to both parts of the human decision process and increase your chances of making the sale.

What you must remember though is that eCommerce shoppers dont read for long - they scan. Hit your emotional points first in a paragraph that is no more than 4-5 lines long. Then hit your viewer with the key specifics in bullet form. There’s a reason why leading etailers such as dell and amazon use bullets - follow their lead…

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Web Copy
eCommerce Writing
Internet Writing