Why I Didn't Buy From Your Online Store...

I am an online shopper. It's not that I don't like brick and mortar shopping, I'm happy to do that, too. But I'm perfectly comfortable shopping in pajamas in my office at home.

So why didn't I buy from your online store today when it was a product I was looking for? It's very simple... I didn't know who I was buying from. Sure, the company had a name and a picture of the outside of a very generic looking manufacturing facility, but it ended there.

My recommendation to get folks like me to buy your product in the future: Add some personalization to the website. If you're a small company with a single founder, that's okay. Let me know that. If you are a group of college buddies who decided to make something and sell it, that's fine. Quirky stories about how your company started are okay and let us know that there are people behind the products.

A friend of mine was talking about an idea for a computer services company the other day. He was excited because he had this great idea on how to make the website look like he was a big company, thinking that would inspire confidence. It only inspires confidence if it's real. If it's not real, it won't feel real and will scare people away.

Tell people who you really are. Really.

There's an "Our Story" page on my website for my retail business. It's short, but it's to the point.
Another one I like is http://www.adinaworld.com/ (I happened to find their juice in a store, and then went to their website, but after reading about them, I'm a huge fan.)

Two Newsletters You Should Be Reading...

In all my research, there are two e-newsletters that are free and are a must read:

1. "The Retail Experience" by Doug Fleener and Dynamic Experiences Group (DEG). Any and every retailer should read every issue of this weekly e-newsletter. The advice is pracitcal, useful and often very easy to implement. You can sign up at: www.dynamicexperiencesgroup.com

2. Rick Segel is another retailer turned writer who has a lot of good, inspirational and usually witty things to say. On his website, www.ricksegel.com , you can sign up for his free "Retail Tip of the Week"

While both of these guys are geared towards retail, anyone in any business that prides itself on customer service (or should be paying more attention to customer service) can learn alot from these newsletters. Get yourself on both of these lists this week.

Happy reading!