10-point-guide-digital-ecommerce_lucidfusion

Your Online Business in the U.S. PLAN AND LAUNCH

Your Online Business in the U.S.

Presented by

http://www.lucidfusion.com/

PLAN & LAUNCH YOUR ONLINE BUSINESS IN THE U.S.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY:


Founder of Lucid Fusion, a full-service digital agency,

co-founder of LFPR, a full-service public relations firm,

and Departure, an electronic dance band.

ZUBIN MOWLAVIEntrepreneur, musician, and innovator


As an award-winning PMP, Mika fights for intuitive design,

great content, and innovative thinking at every step of the

customer journey. She is a strong advocate for brand

messaging, big thinking, and information architecture.

MIKA NAGASHIMADirector of Strategy at Lucid Fusion


Driver of new business and revenue by providing innovative

solutions, creating strong client, brand, and agency

relationships, and establishing dynamic, high-performance work

environments. Cofounder of Lucid Fusion and LFPR.

ZAYNAB BEHZADNIAStoryteller, problem solver, connector, entertainer, and entrepreneur


Prior to joining Avalara in January 2014, Sacha spent more than 20 years in sales and management at

companies such as Amazon, Arcelor-Mittal, British Aerospace and several dotcom start-ups. His last 11

years were spent at Amazon recruiting high street retailers to sell on Amazon’s Marketplace, managing

sales, account management and marketing teams and launching new seller programmes including

Fulfilment by Amazon, Amazon Payments and Product Ads. He brings a depth in understanding of

ecommerce and the tax issues facing European businesses involved in global trade.

SACHA WILSONDirector of Sales EMEA at Avalara


eCommerce has helped make the world a smaller place.

The real global marketplace is online, where connected consumers are reshaping the retail landscape.



U.S. eCommerce sales exceeded $341.7 billion in 2015, a 14.6% increase over 2014, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

OVERALL retail sales grew 1.4% to $4.69 trillion. Online sales accounted for 7.3% of total retail sales in 2015 versus 6.4% in 2014.

Source: http://www.census.gov/retail/index.html


http://www.census.gov/retail/index.html


This means

eCommerce accounted for 66.4% of total retail sales growth in 2015.



This begs the question:

Is your company selling online

in the U.S.?


81% of consumers research online before

making purchases

93% of people who research online go on to make a purchase

62% of them make those purchases directly online via

desktops, tablets, or smartphones

Source: http://www.lucidfusion.com/blog/3-reasons-ecommerce-is-your-global-marketplace-gateway

BUY N OW

http://www.lucidfusion.com/blog/3-reasons-ecommerce-is-your-global-marketplace-gateway

WHAT IS YOUR

INDUSTRY SEGMENT?This space isn’t defined by square footage.

It’s defined by keywords.

1

Not everything has changed during this

online shift. You still need to have a deep

understanding of how your competitors

operate to find success.

Google AdWords Keyword Planner

lets you gauge keyword search volume

and competition when analyzing a market

landscape, and allows for testing of targeted

keywords before you launch.

Google AdWords Keyword Planner

1 WHAT IS YOUR INDUSTRY SEGMENT?


https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner

https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner


IDENTIFY YOUR TOP COMPETITORSMaximize your efforts with these simple tips:

Make sure you’re browsing incognito and you’re in the appropriate region.

Add &gl=us to the end of the URL.

Note who is ranking on the first page.

You should also type related:www.yourURL.com in the search field to get a list of

companies ranking for keywords similar to yours.

1

2

3



Known competitors: look for frequency of

appearance in your searches.

Retailers and industry-specific keywords:

location-based keyword searches are

extremely useful. (Trendsmap)

General and industry publications: be

aware of your competition’s ads as well as

their keywords. (Spyfu, What Runs Where)

1

2

3

Trendsmap helps you find relevant hashtags by location.


PINPOINT THE COMPETITION

http://trendsmap.com/

http://trendsmap.com/

http://www.spyfu.com/?v=33004

http://www.whatrunswhere.com/


What Runs Where alerts you when your competitors run ads.Spyfu helps you hone in on your competitor’s ads and keywords.


PINPOINT THE COMPETITION

http://www.spyfu.com/?v=33004

http://www.whatrunswhere.com/

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS2

Prices can be adjusted. First impressions cannot.

The key is to look at your site and be honest on how it can be improved in order to

maximize your opportunity throughout the customer journey, not just on a few areas.

2 COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

This free Customer Journey Template will help you keep track of your prospects.

Google’s Interactive Customer Journey Touchpoints can help you map your customer journey.


https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/tools/customer-journey-to-online-purchase.html?utm_medium=PDF&utm_source=guide#!/the-us/internet-and-telecom/large/generic-paid-search

http://www.lucidfusion.com/blog/map-your-journey-to-customer-engagement


Google sees approximately

3 billion search queries every day.

Surely, if you have enough of the right keywords,

someone will eventually see your site, right?

Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.


HOW ARE PEOPLE FINDING YOU?


This Nurture Email Workflow Template will help you map relevant, timely, and targeted emails to convert more prospective customers to buyers.

There are different types of online traffic that is heading to your page and there are different

tactics required to engage each group.

Let’s consider the types of traffic and

how you can secure their interest:


• Direct

• Organic search

• Paid search

• Referral (Taboola or Outbrain)

• Social

• Email (Nurture Email Workflow Template)


https://www.taboola.com/

http://www.outbrain.com/

http://www.lucidfusion.com/blog/nurture-your-leads-the-right-way

http://www.lucidfusion.com/blog/nurture-your-leads-the-right-way


Content syndication tools such as Taboola or Outbrain help you reach your target audiences with your content.



https://www.taboola.com/

http://www.outbrain.com/


HOW DOES YOUR SITE APPEAR WHEN COMPARED TO THE COMPETITION?


GENTLEGIANTSRESCUE.COM*

*Note: our copywriter really buys this food for her dogs, much to our horror. She says her dogs really like it. It’s not because of the packaging, we’re sure.

IAMS.COM

http://gentlegiantsrescue.com/

http://www.iams.com/


WHAT IS THE RIGHT BALANCE OF PRODUCT AND PRICING OPTIONS?


SHOP.HERSCHELSUPPLY.COM

Does your site have one type of product, or several to choose from?

PUREFIXCYCLES.COM

http://shop.herschelsupply.com/

https://www.purefixcycles.com/


IS YOUR PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE AND INDUSTRY THOUGHT LEADERSHIP NOTICEABLE?


SEPHORA : “LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS PRODUCT”

It’s vital to have related content for products and services.

http://www.sephora.com/naked-smoky-P398419?keyword=URBAN%20DECAY%20Naked%20Smoky%20P398419&skuId=1724350&_requestid=1056042

TAX CALCULATION AND COMPLIANCE

3

There are more than 100,000+ rules

and boundary changes each year.

Never fear!

Let’s define the key areas of concern for new U.S. merchants, including:

• On which items do you charge sales tax?

• What is the difference between state, county, city and special taxes?

• Where do you need to file and remit sales tax?

• What records need to be kept in case of audit?

• How often do you file taxes and to which authority?

• What is nexus?

In short, you’re not alone.

3 TAX CALCULATION AND COMPLIANCE



Today, there are over

12,000 state, county and city jurisdictions in the U.S. charging a sales tax.

In fact, the bulk of state government revenue is now

generated from sales taxes, not income taxes.



But...

there are five states

that do not have a

statewide general

sales tax.

OREGON

MONTANA

ALASKA

DELAWARE

NEW HAMPSHIRE



HOW DOES SALES TAX DIFFER FROM VALUE ADDED TAX (VAT)?


VAT is applied throughout the supply chain,

whereas sales tax is collected only at the

time of the final sale.

This changes if a seller maintains

a presence in a specific state (nexus).

If you meet this description, then you

must collect sales tax on all sales

regardless of the channel.



ABOUT AUDITS…

The average audit can cost as much as $100,000.

The short of it:

Good news:

Businesses must keep records of sales in each U.S. city, county

and state in which they sell.

If you just keep your records in order, you’ll be just fine.

(Avalara Sales Tax Calculator, AvaTax, LandedCost)

http://salestax.avalara.com/

https://www.avalara.com/tax-type/sales-and-use-tax/avatax/

https://landedcost.avalara.com/



Avalara Sales Tax free sales tax

calculator.

AvaTax calculates sales tax for you. LandedCost calculates specific product

tariffs and international duties.

ABOUT AUDITS…

http://salestax.avalara.com/

https://www.avalara.com/tax-type/sales-and-use-tax/avatax/

https://landedcost.avalara.com/

LOGISTICS4

Shipping and fulfillment strategy is an

integral part of overall business profitability.


It usually contains components such as:

Inventory management

International fulfillment

How many carriers to use

Advantages and disadvantages to using different carriers

4 LOGISTICS


There are certainly a number of tools and systems available to make it a more feasible task.

(ShipStation, Aftership)

Aftership can track all shipments, regardless of carrier, in a single-screen, user-friendly display.

Use ShipStation to automate your shipping and eliminate any concern of selecting carriers.

4 LOGISTICS


http://www.shipstation.com/

http://www.shipstation.com/

https://www.aftership.com/

https://www.aftership.com/

Don’t forget to plan the most important physical aspect of your business!

Optimize your supply chain with thorough supply chain, shipping, and CRM management.

(Narvar, Shipwire)

Shipwire handles supply chain logistics management with international warehouses to store product and manage shipping and operations.

Narvar will help you and your customers track all purchases and returns through a best in class customer experience.

4 LOGISTICS


http://corp.narvar.com/

http://corp.narvar.com/

https://www.shipwire.com/

https://www.shipwire.com/

CREATING YOUR

ONLINE STOREAlright, now we can get to the fun part—

setting up your actual store.

5


5 CREATING YOUR ONLINE STORE


CHOOSING AN ECOMMERCE PLATFORM

240,000+

merchants

$10 billion+revenue


Shopify helps you create successful online businesses.

https://www.shopify.com/

https://www.shopify.com/


...when it comes to design, that is.

When it comes to eCommerce, it is perfectly okay to judge a book by its cover.

And know that this is exactly what will happen when customers arrive at your site.

DON’T LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER!


LINGSCARS.COM SUZANNECOLLINS.COM

http://www.lingscars.com/

http://www.suzannecollinsbooks.com/


THIS WON’T BE A CONCERN WITH A PROPER, SUPPORTED ECOMMERCE PLATFORM.


Shopify Themes help you customize your store for the best shopping experience.

https://themes.shopify.com/



It’s important to add as much detail as possible about your products —not just for SEO, but to

ensure customers feel 100% comfortable choosing you as a merchant.

Don’t forget to include:

• Pricing

• Shipping information

• Type of product

• Vendor

• Related products / “Customers also purchased…”

• High-resolution, uniform, close-up images to showcase your products

ADDING PRODUCTS



PAYMENT METHODS

The best online stores provide

multiple payment methods so

customers can conveniently make

transactions using their preferred

payment method.

(Having too many options can

actually create buyer anxiety,

leading to potential cart abandonment.)



SOCIAL MEDIA AND YOUR ECOMMERCE SHOP

Customers: Use social media to increase your

customer base, period. (Nimble)

Content: Teach the public about your

products and offerings.

Transparency: Give customers a view into

your business operations and demonstrate

how you interact with customers.

Nimble allows you to develop solid social CRM.

https://www.nimble.com/

https://www.nimble.com/



SOCIAL MEDIA AND YOUR ECOMMERCE SHOP

Product Insights: Nothing is more powerful

than real user advocates for your products.

(Yotpo)

Targeting: Target specific demographics to

get your name in front of the exact group of

people right for your products.

Yotpo allows you to track and display social reviews, success, and growth.

https://apps.shopify.com/yotpo-social-reviews

https://apps.shopify.com/yotpo-social-reviews


Q&A slide

“Still with me?”

sleeping puppy or something. still with me?

IDENTIFYING YOUR

PRIMARY DEMOGRAPHICIn order to develop a marketing plan to reach new customers,

you need to better understand who you’re already selling to.

6

6 IDENTIFYING YOUR PRIMARY DEMOGRAPHIC

1 2 3




For the data-obsessed, Clicky offers real-time information

on every action a user is taking on your site.

Implement Crazyegg on your current website to use

heatmaps and scrollmaps for the best understanding of your

current audience and how they interact with your product.

CREATING CUSTOMER PROFILES BASED ON COMPETITIVE ANALYSISThe first step you should take in assembling your customer base

is to create personas for each ideal customer.

http://www.crazyegg.com/

https://clicky.com/



CREATING CUSTOMER PROFILES BASED ON COMPETITIVE ANALYSISThese profiles can then be used to target audiences with similar attributes—

audiences that behave like your best customers.

1 2 3


DEFINING IDEAL BUYER ACTIONS FOR EACH PROFILE


The most important information to identify

in step two is:

User goals for each customer type

Features that may affect their

willingness to purchase from you

Turn on eCommerce tracking in Google Analytics to get the most information on how potential customers become buyers.

1

2

https://www.google.com/analytics/#?modal_active=none



There are certain key elements that you must identify during this process:

What websites does a target customer already visit?

What are likely search terms they will use?

What sort of content appeals to them the most?

FINDING WHERE YOUR CUSTOMERS “LIVE”


TRACKING SITE VISITS AND ACTIONS


Duh.

Set up Event Tracking in Google Analytics to gain the most insight on what users click, hover over, and scroll to on your page.

https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1136960?hl=en

ADVERTISINGThe success of any paid advertising campaign depends on

two highly interdependent factors: targeting and messaging.

7

7 ADVERTISING

Here’s a high-level overview of how we see the advertising landscape to drive sales:


7 ADVERTISING

Determine your target margin per product.

Know your competition.

(Google Insights/Trends,

Facebook Graph Search)

Know your existing audience outside of the U.S.

In order for you to be successful within this ecosystem, it’s important to:

Google Insights/Trends consolidates all search trends across Google’s 3 billion search queries a day.

Facebook Graph Search shows personalized and relevant searches on Facebook, that are up-to-the-minute.

1

2

3

https://www.google.com/trends/

https://www.google.com/trends/

http://search.fb.com/

http://search.fb.com/


7 ADVERTISING

Develop messaging and creative for each audience.

Test advertising on Facebook and Google AdWords.

(UnBounce)

Don’t be discouraged by initial results.

(Adwords Remarketing, AdRoll)

In order for you to be successful within this ecosystem, it’s important to:

UnBounce is an easy way to create, publish, and test landing pages.

4

5

6

http://unbounce.com/

http://unbounce.com/

https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/2453998?hl=en

https://www.adroll.com/


7 ADVERTISING

AdRoll will reach your customers across multiple devices to

retarget potential customers who have left your site.

Adwords Remarketing lets you show ads to people who have

left your website, providing another chance for conversion.

https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/2453998?hl=en

https://www.adroll.com/

DRIVING

ORGANIC TRAFFICHow can you help people find your online store?

8


UNDERSTANDING AND EMPLOYING LONG-TAIL KEYWORDS

8 DRIVING ORGANIC TRAFFIC

Long-tail keywords make up 75% of all internet searches online.

The SERPS.com keyword checker will check your keywords and your SERP ranking.

Moz’ keyword toolbar lets you view SEO metrics as you’re browsing, and see keyword rankings, in real-time.

https://moz.com/tools/seo-toolbar

https://serps.com/tools/rank_checker


CONSISTENT CONTENT CREATION AND ETHICAL LINK BUILDING


Getting backlinks from top sites is far more

effective than getting a wealth of backlinks

from a slew of lower-ranking blogs.

This includes:

• Boosts in search rankings

• Increases in overall search traffic

• Increases in subscribers and sales

MonitorBacklinks.com will check the validity and strength of your (and your competitor!) backlinks.

https://monitorbacklinks.com/


BUT, DON’T BE TEMPTED BY THE LINK-BUYING SERPENTS


Here are few link schemes you need to avoid when link building.

Buying links:

Excessive link exchanges:

Google crawlers will penalize your site.

Your site will also get penalized by near-future

Google algorithm updates.

1

2



USE THOUGHT LEADERSHIP TO ESTABLISH YOUR CREDIBILITYYour job as a brand is to be a thought leader in your space.

This free Editorial Calendar will help you plan your marketing content touchpoints.

http://www.lucidfusion.com/blog/an-editorial-calendar-template-to-align-your-goals

A | B SPLIT TESTINGTest, retest, optimize.

9

You really never know what will resonate

best until you test…and test again.

Optimizely allows you to make changes, see

potential results, then pit the two entities

head to head to see which will resonate

better with customers, in real-time.

Optimizely

9 A | B SPLIT TESTING


https://www.optimizely.com/

https://www.optimizely.com/


WHEN SHOULD AN A|B TEST BECOME A MULTIVARIATE TEST?

It all comes down to traffic.

A|B tests: little traffic required,

small experiments on a single page

Multivariate tests: more traffic per

page required, larger, site-wide

experiments

Optimizely’s Sample Size Calculator will help determine at what level of traffic your experiments become significant.

9 A | B SPLIT TESTING

https://www.optimizely.com/resources/sample-size-calculator/

CUSTOMER SERVICEWe live in a real-time world.

10


To stay competitive, businesses must

be connected to their customers.

In fact, online and offline customer

service methods are merging.

Zendesk lets customers search its

knowledge base, submit help tickets,

and chat with customer service agents.

Zendesk

10 CUSTOMER SERVICE


https://www.zendesk.com/

https://www.zendesk.com/

Facebook Live Chat is a widely-used, low barrier of entry to

live chat with customers.

Your eCommerce platform should include a built-in

(or add-on) live chat tool, such as Shopify’s Tidio chat.

10 CUSTOMER SERVICE

Live chat allows for real-time communication with customers that might be hesitant

to place a call, or who are unable to risk wait times and awkward conversations.


https://apps.shopify.com/tidio-chat

https://apps.shopify.com/facebook-live-chat

10 CUSTOMER SERVICE

DON’T FORGET TO PAY ATTENTION TO PLATFORMS LIKE TWITTER. By keeping a close eye on the proper channels you can often

intercept a problem before it escalates.

THANK YOU


http://www.sparkmag.com/

SCIENCE. STORYTELLING. PURPOSE.Lucid Fusion is a digital agency, passionate about the power of innovation.

We’re a team of strategic and creative thinkers—scientists, storytellers,

artists, and builders—who leverage our role as digital innovators to concept,

design, develop, and implement actionable strategies quickly, helping you

stay ahead in this high velocity world of change.

Let’s do something great together.

Zubin Mowlavi | [email protected]

visit us at lucidfusion.com



mailto:[email protected]

10-point-guide-digital-ecommerce_lucidfusion

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