If you have a web site, and are selling a product or service on the Internet, there are "Things you have to be convincing about" last updated 2005 April 07

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KEY POINTS for understanding this unit

Many companies understand that to be successful one must be aware of the political environment and consequent regulations, social/cultural & labour considerations, national and international economic pressures, and technological developments but perhaps one of the most intense environments which effects companies in the new millennium is the competitive environment. The ramifications of the Competitive Environment cause marketing managers to be very diligent in making sure their message is “convincing” because the customers have so much choice and the competition is global. It’s not enough to rank high in a Search Engine - when people start scrolling through your pages, you have to be “convincing” in order to get them to buy. Companies who had a website “up and running” the past few years recognize that it is not enough to have pages on the web, these pages need to be found and therefore we have an increased awareness of the need to optimize your site so that it can rank high in Search Engines.  So, if you successfully rank in Search Engines, and a viewer finds your site, what are some of the things you can tweak to be “convincing” so that they will actually buy your product or service. (See also "10 Things to Increase Your Ranking in Search Engines")  www.witiger.com/ecommerce/searchengineranking.htm WTGR

In June 2004, Canadian Business magazine published, as an article, Prof. Richardson's "things to be convincing" in an abbreviated version.  The magazine cut the list to 12 points, the original 15 points, in detail, are on this page below. The URL for the CB article is  www.canadianbusiness.com/article.jsp?content=20040607_60287_60287

In July 2004 "Things to be Convincing About..." was published in its full length of 3,500 words under the title "Creating a Successful E-Business" www.ecommercetimes.com/story/34966.html

As a consequence of   "Creating a Successful E-Business" running in ecommercetimes.com, the story was syndicated and carried on  www.technewsworld.com/story/34966.html

As a consequence of   "Creating a Successful E-Business" running in ecommercetimes.com, the story was syndicated and carried on several other sites., see  www.ecommercepartners.net/articles/creating-a-succesful-ebusiness.htm

In an age of consumer skepticism, describing your warranty service and return policy in detail, is one of the marketing promotion activities that can be convincing. Detailed warranty info may help convince the online browser that they can go ahead and buy something, because, if there are any problems they can indeed take it back.
 

Mountain Equipment Co-op has had a transactional e-commerce website operational since 2001 and considers it an extension of their successful older catalogue business. Karen Berrisford who manages MEC’s Mail order and E-commerce service says that they “try to keep barriers low and making returns easy. Berrisford explained that MEC began their remote sales with the philosophy that mail order purchases could be returned to any MEC store across Canada and extending this to their online customers has been natural.

Peter ter Weeme,  Senior Manager, Communications and Marketing for MEC says one of the messages they try to convey in the stores, and online, is that “not only do we guarantee the products we sell, we stand behind the advice we give. In the relatively anonymous world of on-line shopping, we believe this comprehensive guarantee gives members, who buy on-line, the confidence that they will get what they paid for.” For a company built on providing great advice to go along with their specialty hiking and climbing products, MEC has taken full advantage of the web to elaborate in great detail the ways in which a product can be used, and the appropriate product for each skill level of the user. Does it work? Berrisford explains “many members will purchase two or more of the same product in several sizes and return the items that don't fit - which is common for products like climbing shoes and hiking boots.  These members appear to have have great confidence that the returns/refund policy is reliable and will work for them.” MEC’s  website and catalogue sales are similar in size to one of their midsize stores and “web sales continue to have significant growth” says Berrisford which seems to validate MEC’s strategy.

For “pure plays” – web sites that have no presence in a store, it is critical that the vendor create some circumstance whereby a customer can easily return a product and that this process be described in detail in the marketing promotional material. E-commerce experts have suggested that companies with no “brick” store might establish a relationship with a known retailer and arrange that customers could drop off items there for warranty service, return or replacement; however this advice may be harder to effect in reality, than in theory.
 

Of the companies interviewed for this article, none said that they would allow themselves to be in a position to handle the returns of products of an unrelated firm – which maybe suggests an opportunity for launching a new unique service?

Another aspect of warranties which can be convincing to a possible buyer is to make the warranty coverage period longer than the competition. Having warranty periods which are too short is discouraging since most people consider the extra time taken to receive the product by mail, use, and ship it back by mail and they worry that this could not be done within a 6 week period.

Presume that viewers of your web pages are people that also looked at similar products on other sites. It is important to describe your sizes, shape and colours in a way which is precise so that viewers have no unanswered questions. Clothing size measurements can't be simply small - medium – large,  but rather small=34” chest, medium=36” chest etc. and if you expect inquiries from other parts of the world, then you have to use units of measurement that are globally recognized.
 

Medium and large sized companies have exploited the graphically capabilities of the web and high connection speeds to create “build sites” where a customer can mix parts and assemble modules and features online. Ford Canada’s Corporate Product Manager, Christine Hollander says their build and price site has been incredibly successful as an online tool which has driven sales at the dealerships. Hollander enthused that they “received more than 750,000 people a month doing a build & price on the site”  and that “¾’s of all Canadians who purchased a Ford vehicle said they had been on the build & price site”.

“…more than 750,000 people a month doing a build & price on the site” Ford.ca

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While it can be convincing to have price information matched to product specifications on your site, some people are suspicious about extremely low prices online. There is an expectation that it will not be "as described" when the courier delivers it to the door. If you can explain the reason why you have a low price (without giving away competitively sensitive information) it may prove to be convincing. If you could say that you your large number of stores allows you to get big discounts from the manufacturers then this might be convincing, or you could say that by selling online you save 12% on advertising or distribution. The main point is to explain why you have been able to offer the low price and then you can be convincing.

One of the obvious differences between putting assembly descriptions inside a cardboard box, and setting up assembly descriptions on a webpage is that the website will allow almost unlimited space to show images, exploded diagrams and pages and pages of detailed instructions.

Some companies also weave in comments from existing customers which show new users some innovative ways people have used the product beyond what may have been envisioned by the marketing promotions staff. This is particularly evident for consumer products such as cars and motorcycles that have a varied selection of aftermarket accessories.

One of the reasons why potential buyers find it convincing to see web pages describing detailed features is simply because many consumer products have complicated functions which are intimidating to new users.

Scott Bonikowsky, a divisional vice president at Canadian Tire told Prof. Richardson that providing a lot of information online about a product is great but that the consequence is really deeper than one might expect. Bonikowsky explains that canadiantire.ca has attracted a core group of users who spend time researching products on their site and then go to the store to make their purchase. Quoting a Gartner Group study of a couple of years ago, Bonikowsky says “we experience approximately one dollar spent online translating into seven dollars from customers who went and bought in a Canadian Tire store”.
 

“The real magic” says canadiantire.ca V.P. Bonikowsky “is not only to obtain online sales but to get them to research online and then buy in the stores”.

As merchandising experts know, once the prospect is walking down the aisles, you then have the chance to cross-sell and up-sell to them employing various instore sales promotional techniques plus you have the added benefit of an informed customer browsing through items on the shelves which they researched online. “An informed customer is a good thing” concludes Bonikowsky “and our website certainly plays a role”.

“Virtually every major public interest survey over the last several years has shown that privacy is the No. 1 concern for people using the Internet” says the website of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario in its Review of Online Privacy Programs and Web Seals.

Privacy of information obtained in the payment process is part of payment security, but privacy can also be endangered in communications that have nothing to do with payment. Privacy also applies to making sure the customer knows you are not going to allow personal profile information to be released without consent. In 2004 there are national and regional governments passing laws to protect their citizens from Identity Theft and other crimes related to privacy circumstances

Chapters.Indigo.ca devotes three pages on their website to explain their privacy policy, concluding with the identification of a specific person, listing job title and contact information, to deal with privacy inquiries. While Chapters does monitor the posted privacy policies of their competitors, this is not of such a concern as is making sure they are compliant with the Canadian government regulations that will effect them. Most online vendors are making efforts to be compliant with the PIPEDA, (informally referred to as Bill C6) by taking steps such as posting privacy policies on their website and designating a staff person with a title related to privacy issues. It is not clear to some privacy officers Prof. Richardson spoke with how Bill C6 is expected to be applied specifically, regardless, most online vendors are focusing on somewhat more contentious issues such as payment security.
 

Being able to handle privacy issues properly, and attend to new legal requirements,  is not just a question of dealing with legislation but is also a competitive issue as many companies make privacy considerations a selling point related to building consumer confidence.

At the beginning of the dot.com boom, the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario and the Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner of Australia did a joint study on Web Seals and reviewed online privacy programs. The results of this study concluded that Web Seals had good potential to be an indicator of credible vendors due to the vetting process, but some time after the study was concluded, officials in the office of the Commissioner of Ontario noted that “these seals haven’t taken off as expected and we are unsure about the degree to which they are being adopted”.

TRUSTe, the first, and largest privacy seal on the internet, says that what keeps them going is the validation that customers are indeed looking for these symbols of credibility. “76% of consumers polled in a 2003 BizRate survey said that they look for a privacy statement or seal when shopping online.” Says TRUSTe’s Carolyn Hodge. Hodge adds that TRUSTe.com and market research firm NFO WorldGroup did a survey of consumers just before the 2003 holiday season and the results indicated that smaller e-tailers that do not post a privacy policy will lose sales.

Aabree Coffee Company of Oregon lists several Web Seals on their site at aabreecoffee.com. What appears convincing about Aabree’s list is that they take time to explain how difficult it is to obtain these credentials and specify the criteria under which a company may use them. If you told someone from another planet you had a black belt in karate it would mean nothing unless you explained the word karate was a name for a personal combat fighting form and that a belt coloured black indicated a high rank of several years training.

- see  www.witiger.com/ecommerce/privacyissues.htm

For electronic products, such as digital cameras, notebooks, DVD recorders and GPS enabled cell phones, it is very convincing if you can explain, in detail, how upgrades can be  obtained and installed / downloaded, and the cost. For physical products that come with parts, it can be convincing if you establish that parts will be available for a competitively long period. If you had a warehouse that stocked extra parts by the thousands, you could take a photo of the parts on the shelves and include it on your web site to validate your claim.

Sony of Canada’s John Challinor  explains that their popular VAIO PC “can be upgraded and we stock parts and accessories to support that end, fully communicating this information online as part of the process”. Challinor noted that “some VAIO PC customers have viewed the ability of our products to be upgraded as one important factor in their buying decision. Challinor, the General Manager of Advertising, says SONY “recently initiated an online build-to-order program for the VAIO PC, which is enabling our customers to build and order a solution that not only meets their near-term requirements, but their longer term needs, as well.” Challinor emphasized that the warranty and ability to upgrade   “are- an important and differentiating fact that we also communicate to our customers online."

2000Watches.com is an aggressive and energetic vendor which does a thriving  business selling wrist watches online. Having built a very long list of  testimonials from satisfied customers, head office based in Kuala Lumpur says "testimonials are certainly an important tool in e-commerce enterprise. Numerous times our customers have indicated that the testimonials are the driving factor in choosing to purchase”. 2000Watches testimonials list is indeed very long and they enjoy building the list with unsolicited contributions “all the testimonials are unsolicited, they arrive from our customers after they've received the watches." www.2000watches.com/vshop/testimonials.html Bob Davis, who runs mywatchmaker.net, says testimonials can be convincing, but you also have to be aware of privacy issues.

Testimonials are also used in G2B situations where the government wants to convince businesses of the merits of a particular program. In the case of the Dept. of Foreign Affairs and their highly publicized Team Canada missions, DFAIT devote considerable space on their website to profiling companies that participated in past missions and provides a lengthy testimonial from the participating firm see http://www.tcm-mec.gc.ca/success/new/prospectus-en.asp. What is convincing about Prospectus providing the testimonial on the DFAIT site is the words of the specific Prospectus executive quoted, and the direct link to the prospectus.com page.

Click on the rifle to see a long list of testimonials from an American firearms manufacturer's website - the list include peoples names, locations, and often photos of them holding the rifle!

Membership in a recognized industry association, and the appearance of the association’s logo on your web page, can be convincing to viewers that may have never heard of your company. Being a member of an identifiable association can add legitimacy since confirmation of your membership can be checked, and this contributes to validating your business. Association membership may also include the benefit of participating in conferences and trade shows, and it may also be an opportunity to profile your company executives through their involvement in any events. Battersea Pen in the U.K. specialize in selling, and refurbishing,  high quality vintage fountain pens and pencils. On their website www.penhome.co.uk Battersea Pen note that one of their founding partners was “elected to the Board of Director of the Pen Collectors of America”. Battersea further note that they “organise the London Pen Show which is held annually in October and is the largest pen show in the world outside the USA.”
 

Affiliations with industry accepted standards can be convincing to potential customers who query if the product meets requirements they have for a particular use.

These affiliations may include being certified as a providing a certain level of service. Navantis.com, a Toronto based e-commerce and IT professional services firm, prominently displays the Microsoft Gold Certified Partner logo on their main page. Michelle McLay, V.P. Marketing for Navantis, explains that “the logo enables visitors to immediately make an association with one of the world’s leading software brands. It establishes a sense of trust and credibility with visitors who may not have heard of  Navantis before”. McLay added “the affiliation with Microsoft also offers Navantis a substantial endorsement given the considerable barriers to entry in this competitive market segment”.

Companies that sell a product or service, which is subject to industry or association awards, can make a spot on their website to identify the awards won, particularly if these awards are well known. Archibald Orchards & Estate Winery www.archibalds-estatewinery.on.ca near Bowmanville has a modest website on which they describe the product, location and events typical of a seasonal vendor. Proud to list their Gold Medal for “Canadian Maple” at the National Fruit Wineries of Canada Competition, Sandy Archibald told CB “I have had a number of people comment on the awards listed on the website. It is definitely perceived as credibility to many”.

Of the 4Ps (Product, Price, Promotion, Place/Distribution) it is the last one, Distribution, that often seems to be the weak link in customer satisfaction as dot.com companies gear up to ship out product to customers that ordered. One of the things that is convincing is if you can explain in more detail (than the competition) how the product will be wrapped, packaged and sent - especially if you can describe each stage in the process with words that indicate care and consideration for maintaining the product in good condition.

Some companies have spent considerable money to identify the actual location of a shipped product even if it is in mid-transit: this is possible now that the GPS technology, widely used in ocean shipping, truck shipping and rail shipping, has applications developed for smaller companies. As the technological environment develops more and more ways of tracking cargo containers (as the pressure of the economic and competitive environment dictates these developments) it will be possible to have better and better information on the precise location of shipped items and communicating this on your website can be very convincing.

The majority of medium and small sized e-commerce vendors do not ship their products direct to customers but rather use the services of a large firm like FedEx, UPS, etc. Any problems challenging these big shipping companies become your problems if the customer doesn’t receive the product on time, or packaged in the condition they expected. Gary Wright, Logistics Supervisor for Markham based ATI Technologieswww.ati.com , told CB that online vendors need to be very careful about the exact delivery techniques that shipping service companies offer. Wright explained that “companies like ATI can be hit for a lot of problems if the shipping company leaves the package at an address and walks away” (if no one comes to the door), whereas other companies might have a policy of leaving packages only if a person signs for it.  Wright added that one of the things to ensure that your customers are convinced of your reliability for shipping is to “make sure you do not boast on the site about delivery times that cannot be met”. The ATI site is quite detailed in describing the circumstances of how the items will be shipped and what limitations there might be, and they appear to be convincing in these explanations since Wright noted customers have responded positively.

A couple of years ago the U.S. Federal Trade Commission went so far as to warn specific online vendors that they better stop breaking promises about shipping times or they might be charged. The charges stemmed from the fact that some of the large online vendors of seasonal gifts had not sent out notices informing customers that shipments wouldn't arrive as promised – which would violate several regulations about making certain service claims in marketing material.

Some companies have seen the challenges of shipping as an opportunity to clinch customer satisfaction and make this a selling point for repeat business. These companies use different techniques such as follow-up emails, or phone calls or postcards to ask customers to indicate if the package did arrive on time, was it wrapped securely, etc. By showing the customer that they cared how the goods arrived, these companies have enjoyed growing their business by having a higher than average growth in repeat customers.

“After-sales customer service for women is important” said Ford’s Hollander and an example of what Ford does is their carsmarts seminars which can be booked online for the sessions held at dealerships across Canada.

Dot.com companies are vulnerable just as much as traditional brick and mortar companies are to situations where customer groups or employees are discriminated against. Since dot.coms operate in a global environment (whether they like it or not) they must hold themselves to the highest standard of citizenship which can be challenging in situations where the company is located in regions of great cultural diversity or ethnic and religious controversy.

Alan Vernon, Managing Editor of  toronto.com  says :  " It is a challenge to handle the diverse range of the thousands of topics and events that are profiled on our site".  But Vernon adds that "over time you get a feel for  all  the different cultural  communities and you develop contacts  that help to ensure the credibility of  each submission". Vernon  explains that it is not only accuracy that's critical when providing this kind of community exposure online. Equally important, he says, "is sensitivity when publishing these cultural events,  both  from the perspective of the  event participants  and our users as a whole." Bottom line for us is  to  maintain a site  that  people consider authentic, up-to-date and truly useable.

- web page creators and graphic designers can find it irresistible to hijack logos and symbols for use in making your site - it is important to review the use of symbols which
may have special ethnic or religious

In a BizRate.com Online Research Value Panel in September 2003, results showed that 62% of online buyers were women. Online shoppers are a much different "demographic" from the period of 1997-2001 and if a vendor ignores the growing numbers of women online then they will not be very credible in their marketing, let alone convincing.

Ford’s Christine Hollander says that “86% of all vehicle purchases are influenced by women” which has been one of several factors driving the choice of content and features on Ford’s website. Hollander explained that Ford recognizes that “women do a lot of research online, and among their friends and associates” before making a purchase decision. Anil Chopra, General Manager of one of the leading Ford dealerships in Toronto, told CB “women walk on to the lot holding the a build & price pages in their hands”. Having customers who are pre-informed of many of the vehicle’s features makes some parts of the salesperson’s job much easier said Chopra.

In terms of addressing gender issues on a corporate site, there are a number of examples from across the spectrum of vendors. Ford.ca profiles their support for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation with the Pink Ribbon campaign featured on the main site during October each year. Hollander said the partnership with the CBCF has proved fruitful in many ways and the exposure on the website has allowed Ford to show they are involved to a significant degree.

Human Rights Activists are often involved in letter writing campaigns. If your online company wanted to champion a cause in a stressed region you could use part of your web page to explain about a particular cause, and invite people to contribute comments. For example, a Martial Arts School could have a note on their web site saying they promote a particular Women's Shelter and advocate writing letters to a particular government official to obtain more funding for services related to that shelter. If you want to appear very determined in your support of Human Rights issues you can have a link on your site to The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and note specific things that you follow to be in compliance with established practices that such NGOs evangelize about it. The UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights is at   www.un.org/Overview/rights.html  and is free to be copied and forwarded to people throughout the globe.

Companies that operate businesses in the clothing sector have been challenged to substantiate that their product is produced by suppliers in a way which meets the human rights considerations of their enlightened customers. The Hudson's Bay Company dealt with the issue some years ago by establishing a Code of Vendor Conduct, which is now explained in great detail on their site at www.hbc.ca. Bay's Rob Moore, V.P. Corporate Communications of HBC, says “we use the site to move beyond the PR rhetoric and offer a chance to see the detailed policies behind public statements, for example explaining that the Vendor Conduct code is backed by an independent compliance and monitoring program”. Moore acknowledged that companies are challenged these days to “meet the demands for increased disclosure for public companies and our website helps in this regard”. “You have to be able to back up what you say” says Moore "and this section on our website helps to be convincing".

Many corporate web pages are conspicuous for the absence of specific contact information for "real people". It is very disconcerting to not be able to find the real name of a real employee with a specific job title when you wish to communicate with someone in the company.

Gordon Whyte, About.com's e-commerce expert says "Don't Appear anonymous. Customers will feel more comfortable placing an order with you if they feel they know you”. Contact details on a site are essential. “If you can put names and faces along with them, it's even better” says Whyte. An "About Us" page with the history of the company, corporate goals, and media contacts all adds to customer confidence.

Publisher Rod Morris of Style Magazine style.ca, the Canadian fashion publication, agrees that having the names of all their editors, writers and other senior staff on their contact page has been helpful in obtaining membership, advertising and story leads. The specific arrangement of information on the contact page should be done so that it can be easily printed out on to 8.5” x 11” paper since that is what most people do before making calls – they print the page, then write on it while talking to you.

Sometimes companies deliberately avoid putting detailed contact information on the site because they want to channel everybody through sales and customer service – presuming that 99% of the inquiries will be customer service problems. One of the fundamental consequences of an online circumstance is the understanding that being online means everybody in the company with email is potentially empowered to deal with contact with the public.

A significant part of contact information is validation that you do exist. Many people find it comforting to know that there is a physical store, even if they never have a chance to visit. There. Having an image of your store on the splash page, is also quite convincing, especially to older shoppers. Some stores go further and shop pictures of the staff lined up in front of the product laden shelves.
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Domonique Van Sluytman from BCS 555 in Sept 2004

Student Domonique Van Sluytman from BCS 555 in Sept 2004 offers a good example of Contact Information. In an email to Professor Richardson, Sept 21, 2004, Domonique said "...here is a link to a web-site which I know has relatively good Contact  Information" .  http://www.cvshipping.com/contact.htm . Domonique explained this site has "... contacts with names of staff working at/with the company and their job-titles and their individual e-mail addresses. It also has a list at the top showing the telephone number where they can be reached and also an address in the event someone needs to mail them something on their Web-site.". Domonique added "When you look down the line of contact people you can also see my name [Domonique] and contact information for that company."

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- something smaller companies have to try extra hard to deal with in order to provide a secure situation and convince buyers that they won't be scammed - read Chet Dembeck's October 1999 article /people.senecac.on.ca/tim.richardson/articles/creditcardsecurity.htm in the www.ecommercetimes.com - it was a problem back in 1999 and is still a problem in 2002, 2003 and 2004 - see also our credit card page  www.witiger.com/ecommerce/creditcard.htm - and our e-payment systems page  www.witiger.com/ecommerce/paymentmatrix.htm

from the classes of Prof. Tim Richardson, Toronto, Canada
www.witiger.com
 

- originally compiled from IEC 702 class discussions 04 Oct 1999 - additional material added in September 2000 by IEC 702, Seneca College, Post-grad program class - additional material added in September 2000 by MGTD06, University of Toronto, 4rth yr  class, updated 2002  - additional material added in November 2000 by participants from Vistainfo.com - additional material added in December 2000 for participants from Cambrian College - additional material added in September 2002 for participants in BCS 555 at Seneca - additional material added in January 2004 for participants in MRK 410 at Seneca and CCT322 at UTM - additional material added in June 2004 as a consequence of research for an article published in Canadian Business magazine - updated Sept 2004 with contribution from student Domonique Van Sluytman from BCS 555

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