Today I present to you a great whitepaper on E-Commerce Shipping created by ShipRush. ShipRush is an award-winning, free, shipping soft-ware published by Z-Firm LLC. ShipRush integrates with e-commerce marketplaces and shopping carts to eliminate copy/paste and simplify shipping.  Enjoy!

When selling online, the cost of shipping is a key factor. On one hand, it is important that buyers pay an amount that covers your shipping costs. On the other hand, you don’t want to lose buyers who “abandon” their cart when they see the price of shipping. So, how do you walk that fine line?

Let’s review the two sides of shipping for e-commerce sellers: 

Pre-Sale: This starts in the cart and continues all the way up to the moment the buyer presses the final “purchase” button to complete the sale. Your cart needs to figure out how much to charge the buyer for shipping. 

Post-Sale: The buyer has checked out. Now you are going to handle the actual act (and cost) of the shipment.

In this article, we talk about the pre-sale side of shipping.

Here are some pre-sale shipping options to consider:

·         Flat-rate shipping
·         Indexed shipping
·         “Free” shipping
·         Calculated shipping

Flat-rate shipping is easy. You set a rate and that is it. Say you sell a pretty uniform item, like sweat-shirts. You could have a basic shipping charge of $8, and that is that. It might be $8 per shirt, or it might be $8 per order.

Another method that can be used is to index the shipping cost to the order amount. For example, charge $10 shipping for the first $100 purchased; $18 for the next $100 purchased, etc. But, this option only works if your items are relatively uniform. If you sell items of different sizes and weights, this option probably isn’t the best alter-native as the shipping cost for a 2-pound item is very different from that of a 25-pound item.

 “Free” shipping is the most basic form of flat-rate shipping. With “free” shipping, you, the seller, builds the shipping cost into the item cost. This lets you advertise “free shipping” on your web store and in the checkout flow, but – as you and everyone else knows – nothing is really free! The shipping cost has been built in elsewhere.

Some e-commerce merchants offer a hybrid approach and offer flat rate shipping up to a cer-tain dollar value and free shipping for orders over that dollar value.

Calculated shipping requires more work. To estimate shipping cost accurately the e-commerce system needs to “do the math” to figure out the shipping cost. This means it needs item weights and dimensions so that it can calculate shipping using the FedEx® rate calculation application programming interface (API).

This works great for single items, but can get quite complex for multi-item purchases. For ex-ample, one sweatshirt or three sweatshirts might all fit into the same box, only changing the weight a little. But, if the order is for laser printers, it will be one printer per box, no matter how many are ordered.

While calculated shipping makes sense to the seller, the downside is that it may be less appealing to savvy web buyers who want a low shipping cost and want to know what the ship-ping cost will be before they start the checkout process. Calculated shipping also requires the e-commerce system to “know” a lot about the items being purchased before it can perform the calculation.

Armed with an understanding of pre-sale ship-ping, you’re ready to pack and ship. Stay tuned for Part 2: post-sale shipping!

More consumers today are finding it easier and easier to shop online, thus bypassing the traditional brick-and-mortar stores.  Ecommerce is a great revenue stream for companies and gives companies the ability to enter and play in the social media arena as well. At the same time ecommerce can create a different set of challenges to companies as well. The task of comparison shopping is now much easier for your customers who no longer have to drive all over town to compare your price against your competitor’s price.  Price has been and will continue to be at the top or at least near the top of buying motives for online shoppers. However, companies cannot be fooled into thinking that price is the only concern for the consumer.  Consumers today have three main concerns outside of price when buying online:
1.       Shipping Cost
2.       Delivery Time
3.       Return Policy

How you handle these three buyer concerns can and most likely will be the difference as to whether customers purchase from your site or your competitors.  Now let’s dive a little deeper into these three concerns.

Shipping Cost- Forrester Research, an independent technology and market research company did a study on how shipping costs affect consumer buying decisions.  They found that 61% of the people they surveyed would buy online more often from retailers that offered Free Shipping.  More and more companies are capitalizing on this and either creating or expanding their Free Shipping program.  Consumers are smart enough to understand that nothing is necessarily free and when companies offer Free Shipping, they may already be factoring it into the price of the product.  Additionally, companies that have successful Free Shipping programs often utilize lower-cost shipping options available to ensure they are using the most economical option available.  Transportation and Supply Chain companies can often provide some assistance with benchmarking what other companies are doing. 
Are you utilizing Free Shipping to drive top line revenue?
How often do you review your shipping program?

Delivery Time- A second question consumers buying online often have is how soon will my shipment arrive? There is often great anticipation for the order to arrive and having an accurate delivery window is a great way to satisfy your customers and ensure they become repeat customers. Studies show that consumers do prefer faster shipping but at the point that shipping cost more, their priorities may change. Amazon Prime is a great success story in terms of offering a transit speed upgrade program. It is a shipping program that Amazon.com launched that gives their customer’s unlimited fast shipping for an annual fee. Amazon has noticed that the growth as a result of this program was not in attracting more consumers to the site but getting them to come more often to purchase. Their Sr. VP and CFO Thomas Szkutak said“We're seeing customers do a lot more cross shopping than they have previously.”
Do you provide your customers with an accurate expected delivery window? How often do you review this?
Do you give your customers options to upgrade to a faster delivery?

Return Policy- A no-hassle returns process is critical for both customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. In addition there is a strong relationship between return policies and customer purchasing behavior.  When consumers first started shopping online, returns was a very big concern.  Many people did not feel comfortable buying someone without first having touched it.  Although companies have come a long way since then, companies often struggle to provide just the right return policy that is not to stringent to prevent customers from buying from them while at the same time not motivating their customers to return their products.  A fairly recent survey found that 69% of consumers would not likely shop again with an online retailer if the returns process was inconvenient.  Returns can also be a big headache for a company as well as there is money tied up not only in the inventory but in the labor to handle the returns as well.  The more automated and easier you make the return process the more satisfaction your customers will enjoy and will get you a better chance to turn them into a repeat customer.
How convenient is your Return Policy?
How often do you review your Return Policy?

If your customers were to give you a report card after each transaction, would you be anxious to see it or cringe at what grades they might give you? A customer survey is very similar to the report card you use to receive in school.  It is a real time snapshot of the value you brought to your customers and the potential areas you need to improve upon.  The question then is how easy do you make it for your customers to provide you with feedback and when do you ask them for their feedback?  If you wait too long after the sale not only with you most likely not get an accurate representation of your service, but chances are most people will not take the time to complete it.  If you want the most impact and the most accurate info, you need to ask for feedback right after a sale is complete.

I recently had a new furnace and water heater installed in my house and the heating company (Bel Red Energy Solutions) has a great policy of asking for customer feedback prior to the technicians leaving the house. When the installation was done, the technician handed me a customer survey and took the time to explain the importance of why they are asking for the feedback and how they use it to provide the very best service they can, each and every time. By the technician taking just a few moments to explain the survey (instead of just handing it to me and asking me to complete) it diffused any feeling of being put on the spot to provide instant feedback.  They could have just as easier sent a survey in the mail or emailed one to me.  However by doing it before they left, this insured that I not only completed the survey (which many people never complete) but allowed them the opportunity to receive instant feedback on the service they provided.  This type of immediate feedback is beneficial for both the company and the customer.  For instance, if the customer receives less than stellar service, it provides the company the ability to either resolve the issue on the spot or follow up quickly after the sale. For the customer, it gives them another way to thank them for their good service and leaves them with a good feeling about the service they just received.

What kind of grades are you receiving from your customers? If you are waiting for your report cards to arrive in the mail, it may already be too late or they may never arrive at all.

From a distance Doctors and Salespeople may look like they are at opposite ends of the career spectrum but up close they are more closely related than you may think.  Their customer base may be different but if they are doing their respective jobs right, they are delivering the same thing, solutions.  If you’ve ever had a bad experience with a salesperson or a Doctor, it quickly becomes apparent they have an specific agenda or are trying to push a product on you regardless of whether it’s what you really need.  For example the salesperson will give you all the features and benefits (bells & whistles) of his or her product and the Doctor will tell you all about the medicine that will take whatever ails you away.  However, what’s missing here are not the what, but the why and the how. Why will the product, procedure, or medicine work? How will this product, procedure, or medicine impact my life? Will it save me time or money or make me feel better again?

I was sitting in my 11 year old daughters Pediatrician’s office yesterday listening to him talk to my wife and daughter when I suddenly realized that he is a great Salesman. He was referred to us by many people so we knew he was a great Doctor but didn’t quite realize yet what made him different from the rest.  He has a very good bedside manner but it is much more than that.  As I was watching him interact with us I thought of the following traits that a good Doctor and a good Salesperson share:

1.       He takes his time with his patients. He doesn’t rush to get to the treatment (or the sale) 
           quickly. (this is the 2nd straight time he has spent an hour with my daughter during her
           appointment)

2.       He asks thought provoking, penetrating questions to uncover more information to be able to
           diagnose what the proper solution is.  

3.       He gets the parents involved in the appointment so that it is not just him talking. He helps
           makes the customers(sales) take ownership of the solution

4.       He is passionate about his calling and it shows in his work. It is more than just a job to him.

5.       He enjoys his patients (customers) and genuinely cares about them and their well being.

A Salesperson would do well to take a page out of a good Doctors book by remembering to focus on the Solution rather than the features and benefits of their product.  By focusing on how your solution will impact your customers business, you will not only stand out against your competitors but even more importantly will gain the customer’s trust which eventually will lead to the Holy Grail of Sales; A customer referral.

I have a confession to make. I have watched every season of the Reality TV show Survivor.  Not only do I enjoy watching it every week with my teenage daughter but surprisingly there are some good business lessons to be gleaned from this show as well. Survivor is a microcosm of today’s business environment.  There are many aspects to the game of Survivor but at its core, it really is a social game. People are thrown together from all walks of life and are part of a team (at least at the beginning) with the ultimate goal of being the one to outlast, outwit and outplay everyone.  They have to learn to live and work together in less than perfect conditions. The contestants face many hurdles in the forms of challenges and puzzles that have to be figured out, not to mention the severe competitive nature of everyone knowing that only one person will come out on top.  What is quite fascinating to watch is that each season there are a few contestants who underestimate the importance of the social aspect and they inevitably don’t do very well. When you stop and think about it, business really works in the same fashion.  So much of a business environment can be broken down to learning to get along with co-workers, superiors and being part of a team, to achieve a common goal (business plan).  The consequences in business however are far more damaging than just getting kicked off a TV show.  Here are some other common aspects that both Survivor and business share:

Survivor                                               Business

Tribe mates                                       Co-workers

Competitions                                    Deadlines, projects, unplanned events

Tribe leader                                       Boss, immediate supervisor

Lack of food and resources           Budget constraints, cost reductions, staff reductions

Tribal Council                                   Employee reviews, promotions, demotions

Success is business often comes down to the business relationships you have. How is your social game at work?  Are you playing to win or merely survive?

If you are like most people today you don’t have many gaps in your daily, weekly or monthly calendar. The challenge so many people struggle with today is how to stuff more activities and projects into our already overflowing lives?  There is however one crucial problem with many people’s calendars and it has nothing to do with what specific calendar system you use or whether your calendar is automated or not.  Nor is the problem the fact that you are scheduling meetings or appointments at the wrong time of day or with the wrong person or department.  The missing ingredient here is the fact that so few people schedule regular time on their calendars for themselves.  Time for what you may ask?  An appointment for yourself where you can think, brainstorm, strategize, set goals or do something that motivates you or brings you happiness.   The common excuse is I am just too busy for one more appointment.  Unfortunately, we can get so wrapped up in “busyness” in the form of tasks that we can quickly forget where we trying to get to, in the first place.

Appointments and meetings come in all sorts and sizes. We have both internal and external meetings.  Internal meeting consist of those with our own department, other departments and co-workers.  External meetings can be with customers, vendor, suppliers, etc.  We often are quick to accept appointments or block out time for others without giving ourselves the same respect.   True, there are some and maybe many meetings that we have no choice but to accept and attend. However, sometimes we can mistakenly view busyness as progress or even success.  Busyness can be good when we are focused on the right things or have a clear path for what we are trying to achieve. It however, can also keep us perpetually sidetracked and focused on the wrong things. 

Here are three types of appointments that are most likely missing from your calendar. My challenge to you today is this:  Take one or more of these and schedule some time on your calendar. You might be surprised at the result!

1.  Appointment to spend some time thinking- Spend some time focused on your goals for both your business and personal life. What do you want to accomplish or where do you want to be in “x” amount of time? This can be difficult at first because you may think you are wasting your time or not be productive. Stick with it….Don’t give up.

2.  Appointment for spend some time with family and friends- This may seem like too obvious a statement but if you don’t carve out time for those closest to you, you will inevitably look back and wish you had more time to spend with those you love. Besides, what is the point of being successful if you don’t have someone to share it with?

3.  Appointment for yourself-  Is there something you have always wanted to do, but were afraid to try?  What are you waiting for?

As Morgan Freeman so pointedly stated in the movie The Shawshank Redemption:  “Get busy living or get busy dying.”

Check out this great video that shows how one company is innovating its products across multiple industries.  A great example of tying your products/services  to current AND future solutions.

I am constantly amazed how often I hear the phrase "I don't have time to read, write, blog, etc" yet the average adult watches close to 3 hours of television every day. What are you doing every day to be more successful in your career?  Author and Salesman Jeffrey Gitomer gives us a peek behind the curtain as to what has made him so succesful.  It could be the most important six minutes of your day today!

In today’s ultra fast paced society it can seem like a real challenge to stay connected with others. Networking in business is such a valuable, proven tool that it is a shame that many people feel they don’t have the time to network. However, social media sites such as Facebook and Linkedin are tools that offer great ways for staying in touch with others.  If you think social media is all play and no work, then you don’t know what you’re missing!  

Relationship and Networking expert Keith Ferrazzi gives us 5 ways you can stay connected using social media.  Check out the list below and see how you can put one or more of these ways to use today to help you grow your network and business!

1.  The Good Samaritan: Scroll through your Facebook or LinkedIn wall and find two people you can help. Remember, it doesn’t have to be something big. Even a cheerful “hello” can be helpful some days. But you might be surprised how easy it is to find more specific opportunities to help when you go looking.

2.  The Resume Builder I: Go to LinkedIn and write a recommendation for someone whose work you admire.

3.  The Resume Builder II: Ask a former boss whom you know appreciated your work to write a recommendation for you. Let them know one great sentence is really all you need! (I guarantee you that nine times out of ten you’ll get more than just a sentence.)

4.  The Positively Postal: Make list of people with birthdays and anniversaries in Feb or March. Buy cards, sign, stamp, and send. A month of goodwill created in less time than it would take to watch Law and Order!

5.  The Conversation Starter: Leave a comment – or better yet, a question – on a blog post or status update that doesn’t yet have any comments. Or… why not…. Share your favorite relationship-building “mission” with the community here.