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Seedra plants a flower exchange on the web
Description: Seedra plants a flower exchange on the web Seedra Inc., which provides flower retailers direct access to farm/grower inventory, has launched its web site. Seedra provides its
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Seeing is believing: How e-retailers are boosting conversion rates with automated demonstrations of web sites
Description: Web sites are designed by technology developers--and the prospect of working on a web site often attracts the smartest of technologists. But it`s one of the truths of the Internet that tech developers don`t often come into contact with real users of web sites. They look at moving through a site as a logical progression from cyber point A to cyber point Z and design sites that other developers quickly grasp. But the reality is that even the most sophisticated users sometimes can`t make out how to call up a product description, choose a size, check availability, place in shopping cart, then return to shopping to buy something else. And the problem of befuddled users at web sites becomes even more acute as the market moves beyond the enthusiastic, early adopters to mainstream users whose mission is to find what they want, buy it and move on. Thus many users look for online guidance. But a guide is often difficult to find and many users just don`t know where to turn. "The web is complex, it`s new and the user has total control, which is a wonderful thing," says JC Stites, CEO and founder of Autodemo LLC, which creates flash demonstrations of web sites. But total control often separates users from others who might help them figure out a way around an obstacle, Stites points out. "As you sit in your bubble in front of your computer and click away, you`re not seeing how anybody else is doing it," he says. "You`re not getting a broader understanding of how anybody is navigating the particular site you`re on." That insight into the isolation of the web user, coupled with a background in software-demonstration CDs, led Stites to establish Autodemo in 1998. In 2001, Autodemo landed its first client who wanted to escort customers around its web site: Amazon.com Inc. Amazon, which has invested millions in improving the shopping experience at its site, saw the opportunity right away. Amazon had recently established its one-click ordering process. It saw the ease of checking out with only one click as a competitive advantage, but also saw that, because no other web site was offering that sort of checkout, customers might not understand how to use it or what a great convenience it offered. "They saw right away a need related to one-click ordering," Stites says. Amazon found almost immediate success with the Autodemo. Almost 5,500 customers a day click on the demo. Amazon and Autodemo solicit feedback from users and 91% say they find the demonstration useful, 87% say it increases their likelihood of using the one-click feature. But more importantly, to Autodemo, is that 87% say they would view online demonstrations of other topics. "Customer feedback has been extremely favorable," says Jessica Scheibach, group program manager at Amazon. Think strategically Creating an Autodemo demonstration typically costs about $10,000, Stites says, and most retail sites are good examples of the kind of site that can benefit from Autodemo. "You have to think strategically about why people come to your site," he says. "It makes sense to create a demo if your goal is to convert browsers to buyers or if you host a lot of people who have never been to your site before." Autdeomo reports that a major customer, who paid $10,000 for a demo, gets 150,000 clicks a month on the demo. "In the first year, this client paid less than a penny a click to increase conversions, enhance usability and reduce call center costs," Stites says. The demo is still in use 30 months later. But not only is the demo a good way to help shoppers use a site and capture more sales, it`s also a way to improve customer service while reducing costs, Stites says. "Retailers must identify the pain points of a site," he says. "A lot of call center issues and returns problems can be addressed this way." For instance, he notes, a retailer who e-mails order confirmations could include a link in the e-mail to a demonstration of how to track an order online. Or in e-mails that welcome customers who register, a retailer could include a demo on using the site and the benefits of various features of the site. In addition, demos could be used throughout a site to help shoppers along and forestall calls to customer service. "They`re not just for showing people around," Stites says. "They`re also for offering customers a helping hand. A retailer could have 30 of these. When someone appears to be having a problem on a page, a message could pop up with something like, `Have you thought of doing this?`" But just offering the demo is not good enough, Stites notes. Customers must have a good reason to click on the demo link. "The title must be correct and the content needs to be compelling," he says. Small footprints In spite of the high degree of content that demos contain, bandwidth is not an issue, Stites says. "We create files with very small footprints," he says. "It`s a real craft and you have to understand the nuances to be able to build demos that way." In addition, it`s a real craft to make sure the demos provide enough information but not so much that people will grasp the concept and move on while the narrator is still talking. For instance, he says, writers make sure there are no extraneous words in the script. "Our writers will take a sentence that is eight words long and tune it so the customer isn`t tempted to click the button before the end of the sentence," he says. Today, Autodemo provides site demos for a coterie of well-known brands, including Nordstrom.com, eBay, Yahoo, NYTimes.com, Bank of America, Forbes.com, FedEx and HotJobs.com. The Autodemo company was an outgrowth of Stites` background as a multimedia producer for high-tech clients. He realized he could use his experience in educating consumers about how to use technology to develop a business that demonstrated how to use certain types of software. The company went on to create software demos for such major technology developers as Microsoft Corp., Citrix Systems, 3M Corp., Intel Corp. and others. From that, the company branched into Autodemo for web sites. "We recognized that the solution that we had created for software companies to demonstrate their product was a really good fit for web companies also," Stites says. "We saw that it could improve usability and reduce customer service costs." Today, Autodemo specializes in web site and software demos only and has created 500+ demos for more than 100 clients. It`s been profitable since 1999, when the company created 22 demos for Microsoft Windows 2000. Keep it simple The company has learned a lot since its founding, Stites says. "Those projects were very elaborate," Stites says. They incorporated original music and creative treatment and employed a large navigation hierarchy, he recounts. "We quickly found it was too difficult for users," he says. "The interface took a lot of commitment from the user to learn." Today, the user interface is simplified to the point where all a shopper at Amazon, for instance, need do is click a "Click here to learn about searching, browsing, and shopping at Amazon.com" link. It launches the demo screen, detects the user`s Internet connection, displays a message that says "This demo includes audio" to cue users to turn their speakers on, then starts the demo. The shopper can control the demo with a small dashboard, but the demo proceeds automatically. "It`s a really efficient way of opening a user`s eyes and visually expressing the value of a web site to a potential customer," Stites says. A large part of Autodemo`s success is the result of the fact that users don`t need high bandwidth Internet access to view the demos. "The fact that Flash has allowed for this kind of communication even with a dial-up connection has opened up great possibilities," Stites says. "It`s created a new way to interact with customers."
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Seeing what the end user sees
Description: Seeing what the end user sees Understanding a web sites performance from inside the firewall is important--but only to a limited extent. To get the real story on the shoppers
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Seeking a global, unified message, FindWhat.com hires a marketing chief
Description: Seeking a global, unified message, FindWhat.com hires a marketing chief Search engine company FindWhat.com Inc. has appointed Seb Bishop as chief marketing officer. Bishop has
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Seeking acquisitions, Imaginova hires a corporate development chief
Description: Seeking acquisitions, Imaginova hires a corporate development chief New York-based Imaginova Corp., which operates e-commerce sites OrionTelescopes.com, LiveScienceStore.com and
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Segmentation boosts e-mail response rates at VistaPrint
Description: Segmentation boosts e-mail response rates at VistaPrint VistaPrint, an online supplier of graphic design services and customized printed products, has boosted click-through
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Segmentation often overlooked as key to e-mail marketing, expert says
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Segmented e-mail campaign boosts conversion rate at Proflowers.com
Description: Segmented e-mail campaign boosts conversion rate at Proflowers.com A new five-tier segmented e-mail campaign drove conversion rates up by an average 35% across all segments at
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Segmented e-mail marketing pushes up open rates for BareNecessities.com
Description: Segmented e-mail marketing pushes up open rates for BareNecessities.com A push into segmented e-mail marketing lists is paying dividends for BareWeb Inc., which owns and operates
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Segue Joins PeopleSoft Alliance Program
Description: Article from Internet Retailer
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Segue Reaches New Heights in Customer Service and Support
Description: Article from Internet Retailer
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Segue Software Strengthens E-Business Reliability Position With Major New Capabilities In Flagship Products
Description: Article from Internet Retailer
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Segue Software Strengthens Executive Leadership Team
Description: Article from Internet Retailer
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Segue Software Unveils New `Vision` for E-Business Reliability
Description: Article from Internet Retailer
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Segue Software and Keynote Systems Partner to Deliver Comprehensive E-Business Testing Solutions
Description: Best in Class Software and Services Bridges Gap between Quality Assurance and Post-Deployment Application Management; Delivers Optimized Application Performance
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Segue Targets Complete E-Business Reliability Management With `SilkVision` For Enterprise Customers
Description: Article from Internet Retailer
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Seiko agrees to use e-Sims LiveManuals technology for digital user manuals
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Select Comfort Picks Siebel Business Analytics to Deliver Critical Business Insight across the Enterprise
Description: Leading Bed Retailer Selects Siebel BI Solution to Improve Sales Effectiveness and Performance
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Self-interest drives affiliate-marketing conversion rates, says new study
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Self-serve support falls short on web sites, driving customers to the phone
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Self-service line-busting at Schlotzskys Deli
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Self-service tools cuts incoming customer service e-mail by 60% at Thule
Description: Self-service tools cuts incoming customer service e-mail by 60% at Thule Car rack manufacturer Thule Car Rack Systems supports its more than 1 million customers of bicycle, ski
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Selfridges Selects QRS` Tradeweaveä Product Catalog to Serve as Key Component of Business-to-Business Collaboration Platform
Description: Article from Internet Retailer
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Sell Global, Think Local
Description: A milestone came nearly three years ago when Office Depot and Viking Office Products merged. At that time, Viking was a catalog retailer in 10 countries with two-thirds of its business coming from outside the U.S. Nelson was Vikings COO and Viking had an infrastructure of offices and warehouses.
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Sell more with less, Shop.org keynoter says
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Seller ratings policy and fee hikes are under review at eBay
Description: Seller ratings policy and fee hikes are under review at eBay Close on the heels of a late January announcement of price cuts and hikes aimed at online auctioneer eBay Inc.s
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Sellers on eBay can now bid for keyword search listings
Description: Sellers on eBay can now bid for keyword search listings Taking a page from the growth in Internet search marketing strategies, eBay Inc.`s eBay.com is now letting its sellers
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Selling In The Click Of Time
Description: Article from Internet Retailer
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Selling La Vida Loca
Description: When it comes to Spanish retail web sites, the question isnt Should I? but How do I?
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Selling ice cream on the web
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Selling on the web not such a hard case for Deployable Systems
Description: Selling on the web not such a hard case for Deployable Systems Deployable Systems web site was producing virtually no sales a year ago and company executives were not sure the
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Senate introduces Internet sales tax bill
Description: Senate introduces Internet sales tax bill Following similar action in the House of Representatives, two U.S. senators introduced a bill that grants states the authority to
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Senate passes Can Spam Act with provision for a no-spam registry
Description: Senate passes Can Spam Act with provision for a no-spam registry The U.S. Senate voted yesterday to enact the Can Spam Act, which imposes penalties of up to five years in prison
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Senators introduce bill to protect an open Internet
Description: Senators introduce bill to protect an open Internet Following a similar move yesterday in the U.S. House of Representatives, three U.S. senators today introduced a bill
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Send Flowers to Your Valentine, Get Your Favorite Software for Free
Description: FTD.com, Download.com and TrialPay partner to ensure everyone gets a Valentines gift this year
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Send the boss an office supply wish list with Staples online catalog
Description: Send the boss an office supply wish list with Staples online catalog Staples Inc.s contract customers now can enable their employees to develop a digital office supply wish
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SendMe provides subscribers universal access to music
Description: SendMe provides subscribers universal access to music Universal Music Group and SendMe Inc., a mobile media company, have announced a licensing agreement under which Universals
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SenderID emerges as the new e-mail ticket into AOL, MSN and HotMail inboxes
Description: SenderID emerges as the new e-mail ticket into AOL, MSN and HotMail inboxes As Internet technology gurus devise complicated methods to gain control of e-mail, heres an alert to
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Sendmail Announces Availability of DKIM Enabled Sentrion Appliance and Switch MTA
Description: First Email Security Software and Appliance Vendor to Embed Support of Leading Email Authentication Technology
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Seniors twice as slow on web tasks and their numbers are growing
Description: Seniors twice as slow on web tasks and their numbers are growing Seniors asked to do four tasks on the web including shopping as part of a usability study took twice as much time
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Sensational Beginnings learns lesson: Dont short-shrift marketing
Description: Sensational Beginnings learns lesson: Dont short-shrift marketing Toy cataloger Sensational Beginnings learned a significant lesson last year: Pay constant attention to
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Sephora U.S.A. to become JCPenney.coms exclusive beauty offering
Description: Sephora U.S.A. to become JCPenney.coms exclusive beauty offering Sephora U.S.A. Inc. will become the exclusive beauty offering at JCPenney.com and in JCPenney stores beginning
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Sephora has the shortest response time to e-mail inquiries, study says
Description: Sephora has the shortest response time to e-mail inquiries, study says Sephora.com had the shortest response time to e-mail inquiries of 100 online retailers studied during
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Sephora sees more sales in the virtual world of teens and tweens
Description: Sephora sees more sales in the virtual world of teens and tweens Sephora USA Inc. is taking its online merchandising program to a whole new virtual world. Along with Donna Karan
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September Retail Pro® Sales Update
Description: Article from Internet Retailer
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September visits increase at 9 of the top 10 computer and electronics sites
Description: September visits increase at 9 of the top 10 computer and electronics sites Nine of the top 10 multi-category computer and consumer electronics retail web sites experienced
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September web sales rise 19% at Sharper Image
Description: September web sales rise 19% at Sharper Image Web sales at Sharper Image Corp. rose 19% in September to $6.5 million from $5.5 million in the same month a year ago, as store
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Serena Software names Jeremy Burton president and CEO
Description: Serena Software names Jeremy Burton president and CEO Jeremy Burton, a former senior executive at security software vendor Symantec Corp., has been named president and CEO of
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ServiceMagic experiences highest March traffic gain in home/garden sites
Description: ServiceMagic experiences highest March traffic gain in home/garden sites Visits increased at nine of the top 10 home and garden sites in March, led by ServiceMagic, which
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ServiceMagic fastest-growing among home-and-garden sites, study says
Description: ServiceMagic fastest-growing among home-and-garden sites, study says ServiceMagic showed the sharpest year-over-year growth in November, rising 125% to 2.7 million, among the top
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