Making an E-Commerce Checklist
Is it me, or has this year flown by? It’s time to finish up the year’s major projects before the lockdown on development moves them from the “must be done by Q4 2004” to the “maybe next year” list. Not…
Category Research
No Profitable Customer Left Behind
Watching the Republican National Convention, I realized online marketers could learn a lot from politicians. Like voters, customers fall into distinct categories. There are core supporters, who are the solid base as your most loyal customers. There are swing customers,…
CRM Without a Direct Sales Channel
CRM is a no-brainer. Obviously, companies must react to customers’ needs and show them the “right” products to buy. They need to keep consumers interested in their products and encourage loyalty through superior products and services. What about companies that…
Mass Customization With a Personalized Experience
Although the Internet provides the ability to scale your customer base without scaling your online sales force as quickly as you’d have to in the offline world, there’s no replacement for the human connection between buyer and seller. This week,…
Interactive Voice Response Keeps Customers Satisfied
Answering the phone, a critical function in any business, shouldn’t be a big deal. But for many small businesses, making sure the phone’s answered and answered professionally is a very big deal. Leaving it to people who are busy with…
What Are Your Best Customers Doing on Your Web Site?
Do you know who your best customers are? Do you know how much they buy, and when they buy it? Do you know how they use your Web site? A few years back, an organization (whose name I cannot recall)…
Experts Speak Out on Improving Sales Conversions
In Part One, we focused on a slew of basic tips to help you convert browsers into buyers on your Web site. Now, in the tightly competitive world of e-commerce, this begs the question: How am I doing? If you’re…
Nimish Mehta, Group Vice President, Siebel
CRM software maker Siebel has aspirations of becoming an integration specialist, or in its vernacular, a universal application network (UAN) provider. The company is using the systems software of others as the backbone to build its own connectors and compete…