In the last post, we discussed the advantages and techniques of becoming Multiple Web Browser Compatible in order to expand your business.

As if designing your site to work on the many different web browsers out there wasn’t difficult enough, modern technology has thrown yet another curveball, in the form of mobile internet.

Millions of people now use their mobile phones or PDA to surf the internet, retrieve email and even check their social networks. Some use these methods exclusively, and some use it in addition to a conventional computers. However, because of their sheer numbers, it’s no longer wise to ignore this platform.

In the past, the mobile sector has been plagued by hype and over-ambitious forecasts that rarely meet reality but there is now reason to believe that we are close to a tipping point.

Despite mobile internet still makes up a relatively small proportion of overall marketing spend; its growth displays a similar trend to the early days of online. So it’s safe to say that even though mobile internet may have not have met the highly anticipated forecasts of previous years, this channel is growing exponentially.

Remove this barrier to growth with the following tips

Many Different Devices:

Changes in the mobile device industry happen fast. Every few months there’s a new phone, PDA or gadget on the market that is capable of surfing the web. Add that to the many devices by several manufacturers already on the market and in use, and you have a design problem of momentous proportions! How to make your content visible on all of those devices?

Design for the Browsers:

While it is impossible to make sure your content will be visible on every model of every manufacturer’s device, there are a limited number of mobile browsers on the market, so instead of trying to design a site for the devices themselves, it’s better to focus on designing sites for the browsers.

Remove Images, Save on Bandwidth:

Most mobile browsers can’t display images correctly or at all. So if you are designing with the mobile market in mind, make sure that your site can work without the image or graphics element.
The other issue is that even if they can view the images you use, mobile access to the internet is generally much, much slower. Image heavy sites will take a very long time to load, as will sites loaded with other bandwidth sapping features. Keep the bandwidth to a minimum and keep mobile users happy!

Screen Size:

The last & probably the trickiest aspect of web design for mobile devices is to avoid tables at all costs and design using xhtml or CSS. Make it scalable or it won’t work! Remember, mobile device screens are tiny – much tinier than the smallest computer screen around, so design accordingly!
While it may seems like a lot of effort to make sure your site design is mobile compatible, it will earn you brownie points with your users, and this is still one area where your site might be able to stand out from the vast crowd of other sites out there!

Finally here are the top advantages that M-Commerce can provide which cannot be found in E-Commerce:

Ubiquity:
Users are able to access any m-commerce application in real time.

Accessibility:
Users are able to access m-commerce application anywhere and anytime.

Localization:
Network providers are able to localize their users by using positioning systems such as GPS, GSM or UMTS and to offer them location-dependent services such as travel, emergency calls, hotels, restaurants and amenities.

Convenience:
It is very convenient to bring a mobile device anywhere due to the size and weight if the device.

Personalization:
As mobile devices are not shared between users so it is possible to adjust the mobile devices to the user’s needs and wishes.

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As online users are now using more different types of internet browsers than ever before, it is more important than ever that your ecommerce site performs consistently throughout all browsers.

The good news is that the vast majority of online shoppers – over 80% – use either Internet Explorer or Firefox. The bad news is that there are over 100 different browsers and countless flavors of the Internet Explorer & Firefox.

The common argument used to avoid dealing with compatibility issues is that as the percentage of people using for example Chrome is relatively low, around the 3% mark globally, it isn’t worthwhile taking those users into account. This is probably not a wise way to approach the issue, especially for an ecommerce based site. 3% can make a big difference to your bottom line, as it’s not only Internet Explorer users who buy goods and services online.

The truth is, that tailoring an ecommerce site for cross browser compatibility is a pain. But the benefits can pay off in the long run by allowing you to secure sales from a wider customer base.

The main difficulties when it comes to browsers

1. Variety of Web Browsers:

As Windows Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Google Chrome, Opera and many more.

2. Different Web Browser Versions

The major difference between two versions of the same browser is their support for newer portions of the HTML language. Internet users though tend to upgrade their browser based on the addition of new features, like email integration and instant messaging. However, not all users switch immediately to the newest versions. A good rule of thumb is to design your pages to work for the last two versions of the major browsers.

3. Older Browsers

As web technology advances web browsers are falling behind. These lagging browsers put ecommerce businesses in something of a quandary. How do you offer customers the best possible user experience without leaving some of those customers behind?

How to become Multiple Web Browser Compatible

1. Set a Goal

The first step toward solving old browser or noncompliant browser problems is to apply the 80/20 rule also known as the Pareto principle. Basically, 80% of your online store’s business comes from 20% of potential customers. When applying this principle loosely we’ll focus on the top browsers only.

2. End User Web Experience

Ensuring that your Website looks and performs well in a multiple browser world starts with measurement and testing. The overall goal is to provide a quality Web experience for the end user and to accomplish this consistently. Cross browser testing can be divided into four main categories:

• The Visual – The easiest measure is to simply take a look. Visual verification is a straightforward process. However, verifying five or six major browser vendors and the multiple versions of each can become tedious.
• The Functional – Do your critical business functions work successfully? Or will you leave someone with a full shopping cart waiting or unable to check-out?
• The Performance – Three benchmarks can be used to assess end- user web application performance: 
         o Availability: Shows that a Web page or full end-to-end transaction requested by a user is executed successfully without errors.
         o Response Time: Shows the speed at which every end-to-end transaction, page, image or third party content downloads.
         o Consistency: shows the site’s ability to achieve a quality customer experience across multiple visits.
         o Perceived Performance: It measures how long it took for the page to appear like it finished moving and how long it took for all visible “above the fold” components to load.

3. World Wide Web Consortium

Another thing you should make a habit of is to validate your pages through the World Wide Web Consortium. Founded in 1994 the W3C has made it its obligation to guide the development of the Web and create a common basis to build upon. W3C offers free validation tolls.These useful tools are trying to ensure that your visitors will get roughly the same experience when they visit your site.

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Online review portals continuously grow in popularity among users. Whether someone is looking for a new camera, shoes or a doctor: More and more users consult portals before buying.

Ecommerce retailers are skeptical though, because they fear criticism of their offers and services. Despite previous fears that consumers posting honest and unfiltered material could damage sales, it has been having the opposite effect in most cases.

In fact, visitors who clicked on the highest customer-rated reviews were more likely to purchase. Therefore online retailers should strengthen their presence on such sites. Only then, they have the opportunity, to use these platforms to their advantage.

7 tips for dealing with customer reviews:

1. Don’t avoid negative feedback. Nobody is perfect – and not every single customer will be content. If a company is basically highly rated this criticism is by no means a disadvantage, since it increases the companies’ credibility.

2. Resolves an evaluation in resentment, the top priority is: a deep breath. Anger is a natural reaction to subjective or provocative contributions, but should not guide your actions.

3. Try to see your company from the perspective of the customer. This will help to decide whether the criticism from the perspective of the evaluator is justified.

4. If you receive a positive critique, write a thank you. It will please your customers.

5. If you do not share the criticism make your perspective clear. Act professionally and constructively by posting a comment or writing to the author a private message.

6. If a customer is unhappy and you know that you can do better, make him an offer which will convince him. This could be in form of a discount or a coupon.

7. An evaluation is always a snapshot. You – as well as the customer – should always keep this in mind.

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Blogging is very important to ecommerce businesses. It’s one of the easiest ways to update the websites content, and it also demonstrates expertise about the offered products. Blogging can complement online shops products and offer a reason for people to return to them. The return on the blogging investment is quite high in terms of content, SEO, trust and reputation.

Consider blogging because:

Blogging Builds Trust
Ecommerce sites often focus on attracting visitors for the immediate sale, but sometimes potential customers want to learn more about a business and products before they’re ready to make a purchase. With a traditional store, consumers know where to go if they have questions. It’s more difficult to find the same level of trust with an online store. Providing valuable information to potential customers builds trust based on long-term considerations.

Show Off Expertise
Consumers usually purchase from companies that have expertise with their products and in their industry. A blog is an opportunity to demonstrate this expertise, to share insider tips and to discuss issues of interest with your customers and provide them with valuable insights and information.

Easy SEO
Search engines like sites that constantly update their content. Blogging is an easy way to update website content, while providing something of value to potential customers at the same time. Also, including top industry keywords will help build valuable links to the Ecommerce site’s content.

Blog Comments & Feedback
Blogging gives online retailers the opportunity to have a conversation with and get feedback from customers and others in the industry. Not every blog will get comments & feedback right away but after blogging for a while, there should be an audience to tap into from time to time with short, one-question surveys. Additionally a focused, well-written blog can get readers hooked on the blog and promote repeat visits to the website or garner subscriptions via RSS feeds and email newsletters.

Ecommerce Site’s Personality
Many ecommerce sites have a personality that is associated with the company. Since people are more willing to purchase from another person it’s recommended to include some information about the personalities ‘behind the scenes’ of the ecommerce site.

Blog Themes
A blog’s theme should be consistent with a company’s focus, yet universal enough that the blog is not solely about things the company sells. A blog that only exists to link to its corporate site will not be trusted. A site selling cameras, for instance, should go beyond making the blog a secondary camera sales tool and get involved with photography as an art and business. It’s secondary to cameras, but it is directly related to the interests of potential customers.

Start Blogging
Most blogs are created using free or low-cost online sites such as Blogger from Google, WordPress, and Typepad . These services are simple to use and configure and it’s possible to have a blog up and running in less than an hour. With a bit of extra work, the blog can become part of the ecommerce site, adding value to the content and SEO.

Nevertheless, ecommerce retailers should be aware that setting it up and linking it to the website is the easy part. Keeping the blog updated, active and topical is the hard part. Ideally, the blog should be updated once a week. The more relevant content and posts are the more value the blog with have as a resource for new customers.

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Sign up forms are one of the key performance indicators (KPI) for ecommerce sites to take into consideration. The longer your online registration form is, the lower your completion rate. By only asking for highly relevant information you can decrease abandonment rates and increase total purchase on products the consumer has already indicated they are interested in purchasing.

Correct Sign Up Form:

1. Repeat Password Field – don’t let customers get frustrated when they cannot log in because the password they thought they used to sign up is incorrect.
2. Email Subscription Option – keep the default unchecked and allow the user to opt in. Provide the user with the choice so they don’t take it out on your company when they receive unwanted email and information.
3. Required Address
4. Confirm Email Address – easy to mistype an email address. Incorrect email addresses will then lead to login problems and you won’t be able to send the confirmation email.

Benefits of Sign Up Forms:

Outline for the consumer the purpose and benefits of the online registration process. If the consumer clearly understands that the information being collected will benefit them in the short and long run they will be more enticed to continue with the process.

It would be wise to include a few if not all of the benefits before the form appears.

Benefits:

1. Faster check out
2. Save multiple shipping locations
3. Save multiple billing options
4. Exclusive offers
5. Order tracking
6. Order history
7. Faster customer service
8. Loyalty and reward point balances
9. Incentives for referring friends
10. Access across partner stores

Reason to not ask for too much information:

Consumers are always reluctant to give out more detail than absolutely required, which is fair enough. We already provide data to an abundance of services and each time we make a purchase we hand over our credit card.

In order to get the consumer to complete our forms we must first understand where the consumer is coming from so we can relate back to the process. The amount of information consumers provide will directly correlate with how much they trust our company to use this information. They will provide the information if they know we require it and if there is a direct benefit to them.

Forms should also be short and simple as to not confuse the consumer on what is being filled out and why.

To get it right try to think from the user’s prospective and always test. Whatever is humanly possible to remove from the form should be.

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