Design on the mind

Well done to Sham Tanna, our photographer who shot the billboard photograph for our advertising campaign for the Environment Agency. The graphic designers at Deckchair came up with the concept for the campaign and Sham worked under our creative direction to produce the image. We are proud to announce that the picture has been announced as the Winner of the AOP Open 2007 with five Judges Choice Awards and the winner of the Public Vote Award. (Thanks to all of you who voted for us)

From over 1,700 entries and an exhibition of 84 images, the Open Judges chose the picture as their number one, describing it as ‘captivating’ and ‘arresting’ with “a dynamic tension and a strong suggestion of narrative that made it intriguing and at the same time compelling” (Terence Pepper, National Portrait Gallery).

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Let’s have a look at types of successful ecommerce websites. For an ecommerce website to succeed it needs to firstly be a viable online business, meaning you have to have a product that people want to buy and would feel comfortable buying online. If you are an established business looking to venture into the online world, you need to think how your business model will translate into this new area. If you are a startup company, then ecommerce is a viable platform to launch your business, but in both cases you need to have done your research.

Your research should include market research, customer profiling, competition analysis and probably most importantly ROI (Return on investment) research. You need to know that your profits will be healthy enough to make it all worth while.

The next stage is designing and developing the ecommerce website. There are a lot of options out there to choose from; a potential minefield. Different types of ecommerce packages will suit different businesses. An off the shelf solution which may be very cheap or even come free with an ecommerce hosting service, is going to look attractive to a start up business. But it is debatable whether these wizard-based / template / do-it-yourself style solutions would be successful in the long run; are they really that effective with today’s sophisticated on-line shoppers? Some may enable you to make sales but certainly do not allow you to operate at full potential.

All I can say is that it is worth investing money in the thing that is going to make you the money. (Strangely a lot of people haven’t grasped this concept yet!) Today, online competition is fierce and an original and intelligently thought out design is going to be more successful and give you that edge over your competitors. However, whatever you decide to do I would strongly recommend that you spend a lot of time planning it. Think about the following issues and discuss them with your web designer:

Usability and customer experience – Web shoppers are not the most patient people so be sure the web design not only grabs attention but is simple and easy to use. Increase your ‘browse to buy’ ratios by allowing the user to easily find what they are looking for and make their purchase quickly. Little glitches or errors will frustrate the user and more than likely turn them away; like a search function that doesn’t work properly or a slow loading page.

Positive Brand Image - Building a memorable, positive brand image that online consumers will be attracted to in the long term is a key issue. Branding in the online world is far more than just transferring your print brand identity to the Web.

Updateability – Make sure that you think carefully about the areas of your site that you need to update yourself. A content management system is essential for an ecommerce website, you will need to add new products, change prices, update news stories, upload pictures etc. It might also be useful to be able to add links. You don’t want to be running back to your designer for costly updates and changes that you could do yourself.

Web marketing - Appropriate marketing of the website is a key issue, and a huge subject (another whole article in fact). Increasing and maintaining your search engine profile is an ongoing strategy, and it is one of the most vital elements for success. Very basically, you need to get people to your website to maximize your sales. Search engine optimization and pay per click campaigns create as many doorways into your website as possible to ensure that your potential customers are finding you. You will also need to keep a watchful eye on your competitors, analyse their marketing strategies and stay ahead of the game.

Download Speed - The download speed has to be fast, so that regardless of someone’s connection speed they won’t have to wait for the website to load. They will only give it a matter of seconds before exiting and moving on to your competitor’s website.

Scalability – Allow plenty of flexibility within the design so that the website has the capacity to grow with your business. You don’t want to be held up at a later date by a restrictive design that can’t handle large volumes of traffic or can’t expand to fit your product sections.

Compatibility – Make sure all aspects of your website can connect successfully with any existing internal databases, banking systems, stock control or email systems. (Unless you wanted to overhaul them anyway).

Analysis - You need to have a comprehensive reporting system to enable you to analyse every aspect of your website: marketing, sales, web traffic, visitor tracking and stock control. It is only with constant analysis that you can make the necessary adjustments to these areas to ensure the best use of your budgets and continue to improve your service and turnover.

Payment system – Let’s not overlook this very important aspect – the money!! You will need a merchant banking account, to enable you to process credit card transactions and actually retrieve the money from credit card orders. Make sure you choose a reliable, fast and secure system with a proven track record.

Data capture – Be sure to have a function on your website that enables you to capture the details of visitors to your website even if they haven’t purchased something. The usual methods are to sign up to email alerts about promotions/offers and newsletters. This data can be used for future marketing campaigns.

Newsletter and email functions – A vital way to market your products; a system set up to automatically send out newsletters and emails to your entire customer database. Auto responder’s work in a similar way, allowing a ‘feed’ of e-letters or documents to be sent out at allocated times to customers. Don’t forget as well that a confirmation email sent automatically to confirm a sale that details every thing about that purchase will save a lot of phone calls from confused customers, wondering if their order reached you. A further email confirming the shipment will also add to the customer’s confidence and again reduce the volume of calls through your customer services department.

Relative and informative content – Quality copywriting that appeals to your target market is an absolute must. Ensure that all products have a full description and useful, relevant information to encourage the customer to buy. This content is also helpful to your search engine ranking and placement.

Quality Imagery – Display your products using quality product photography, it is not enough these days to just stick the manufacturers image on there. Go the extra mile and allow the user to explore the product from different angles with alternative pictures and zoom functions.

Trust and Reassurance – To get your shopper to part with their money and willingly give their card details online you need to emulate a professional and approachable appearance. An attractive, professional website design reassures the visitor that they’ve come to the right place. Secure shopping, clear contact details, returns policies and delivery details give the feeling of professionalism that will convince the customer to click that ‘BUY NOW’ button. Think about posting a page outlining your technical support policies and a F.A.Q section, this is a step towards addressing legitimate shopper concerns.

Call to Action – An obvious one, I know, but it is surprising the number of websites that don’t have clear phone numbers and contact details available on every page. Also make sure that your ‘Buy now’ and ‘Add to basket’ buttons are large and obvious.

Aside from the consumer facing website, you also need to make sure that all the internal structures of the ecommerce business are in place and functioning as they should. Delivery systems, returns policy and customer service all need to be operating smoothly to ensure you are providing the best possible service. Quality service with speedy delivery and an easy returns system will keep your customers loyal. Customer service is a big one – be sure that mistakes are dealt with promptly in a friendly and efficient manner, people don’t mind mistakes but they certainly won’t put up with rudeness or being ignored. I will be writing another article soon on “Ecommerce peeves and must haves”.

Well I think that just about covers it! So to summarise;
 
• Do your market research properly
• Choose a professional web design company
• Plan your website with your long term goals in mind
• Plan your web marketing strategies
• Focus on all angles of the business
• Keep your competitors in your rear view mirror at all times
• Keep your customers informed and happy
• Make loads of money!

Toni 

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Thank you for smiling at me! You know who you are! (although you probably don’t read this blog)

What a difference it makes to smile and be friendly toward your fellow human beings. ‘Service with a smile’ is the basis for all customer care training. We have all experienced the grumpy, rude individual who is clearly not happy to serve you your lunch. They plonk the food in front of you with all the social graces of a baboon. You tentatively ask if you might possibly have a jug of water and they fix you with a withering stare before huffing off toward the kitchen. You can’t help but wonder if they might spit in your water and wipe your pizza around the floor before they gave it to you. Would you leave this person a tip? If you did it would only be because you are so very English. I bet you wouldn’t return to that restaurant though and it is more than likely you wouldn’t recommend it to your friends.

Anyway, I digress, what I was trying to say was; make sure the public face of your business is friendly and helpful. A business of any sort will function better if it emulates good feeling. Be sure to value the customer relationship; if your clients’ are happy and well looked after, you can guarantee a recommendation. A common mistake made by companies, particularly in the service industries is to go all out on marketing to new customers and forget about the existing ones. After all it is easier to sell to someone who has already bought into your brand; they don’t need any more convincing!

The power of “Word of mouth” should not be underestimated or overlooked either when looking at strategies for marketing a company. I shall not forget the effect on people serving me in restaurants, when allowing them a little glimpse of my press pass (back in the day) when opening my wallet. The dawning realization of what I might mention in my review spreads across their faces. They rally round in a flurry of attentiveness, but the damage is done.

So remember, it is the little things that count when you are vying for business in today’s saturated markets. A simple smile might be the reason a client chooses you over your miserable competitor!

Toni

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According to a BBC news report today, online sales have rocketed! They rose to £4.2bn in July, up from £2.34bn in the same month a year ago. This is probably partly due to the terrible weather we have been having; people just don’t want to struggle round the shops in their wellies. But it can also be attributed to better ecommerce website design.

Online shoppers now expect the very best from the retailers’ websites. You only have a very limited time to grab their attention and hold it till the ordering process is complete. If you are an ecommerce business and you are not getting the results you had hoped for, have a think about the following points. They will help you to reduce your bounce rates and boost your sales:

1. If potential customers can’t find the product they are looking for quickly they will move on and probably not return to your website again. Have clear, simple navigation to guide them through your products. Use quality product photography so they can see what they are ordering.

2. If you market your website using a PPC (pay per click) campaign remember to point the customers straight to the product or service they are looking for. Design a specific landing page which correlates to the consumers search term. Otherwise the customer is forced to dig and search again for the very thing they thought they had just found – very frustrating!

3. Online consumers will also become very frustrated if the ordering process is very complex or slow. Keep it simple; use an easy and secure payment method. Don’t give them a thousand boxes to fill in before they complete the order or they will get bored.

4. Make it easy for your customer to find related products this will boost your sales. Let me give you an example – last week I ordered a ‘Hetty’ vacuum cleaner online. After I had added it to my shopping basket, I then thought I should probably buy some of the bags to go with it…try as I might, I couldn’t find them. Whatever I did, I was taken to a page which had all the vacuum bags listed in weird product codes that made no sense to me at all. I gave up and they missed out on a sale. (I am very pleased with my pink Hetty though!)

5. Remember too, that you will be competing with numerous other companies selling the same products as you. It is not enough to simply compete on price and you may find it hard to undercut a larger business anyway. Make sure your website looks attractive and enticing to ensure they pick you out from the crowd. Be sure to research your target market and know what will appeal to them. Use images and language that are directed specifically at them.

If you need help or advice about your existing ecommerce website or you are interested in setting one up, then give us a call at Deckchair, professional web designers in Bristol. We provide full ecommerce services including design, development,  marketing and analysis. We have a lot of experience in this area and would be delighted to talk to you. 0117 9299150

Toni

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Generally in life I think it can be safely said that ‘You get what you pay for’. This of course applies to website design too. We recently had a company director from the local area approach us needing a website. After an initial conversation with him about his business and his requirements it became clear that he needed a website that he could easily maintain and update himself. A content management system would enable him to do just that; through a secure admin area, he would be able to upload images of his products, change the details, prices, content and look of the website whenever he wanted to.

We spent a bit of time writing a detailed outline for the project with a full design brief and detailed itemized quote. The outline included every aspect of the web design including ideas for the content, navigation, strategies for search engine optimisation and of course, the bespoke content management system.

He was thrilled with the proposal and said he would call the next day to get us started on the project. The next day he did call, but he said that he didn’t want us to design his website anymore because he had found another company who could build him a website for a fraction of the cost.

This was a definite case of someone who didn’t understand about the technicalities of building a website and the importance of getting each factor absolutely right.  The company that he spoke of are very good at churning out cheap websites which all look very similar (and awful if I may say so) due to the fact that they are built from templates. There is little thought or consideration for the user, seo (Search engine optimisation), the market sector or the target audience. He had been completely swayed on price and how much ‘he could save’.

When are people like this going to realize the value of their website? A website is a living, breathing advertisement/brochure for your business; it is accessible by millions of potential customers through the World Wide Web, it is probably your most valuable marketing tool. Surely it makes sense to get it designed by an experienced, professional web design company who will ensure that you are presenting the right image of your business and actually reaching your target audience.

So what had this gentleman actually ‘saved’, well he may have saved a bit of money in the short term, but really it is a false economy and I guarantee he will have lost out to his competitors in the long term. He was not going to get a content management system or an original web design; as I said in the beginning: ‘You get what you pay for!’

At Deckchair we build all of our websites around the needs of our clients. We design them from the ground up with the search engines in mind and we don’t use templates. The result is a bespoke and original web design with clear, easy navigation that holds the attention of the user and can be found easily on the search engines. We will advise you on the best design and web marketing strategies for your company. We will ensure that you get quality traffic and you stay ahead of your competitors.

Toni

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A few months ago, our creative team of graphic designers at Deckchair designed and produced a high impact billboard and bus campaign for the Environment Agency. It was designed to tackle the fly tipping problem (illegal waste dumping) in the Bristol area. When the Environment Agency approached us with the project we were very pleased to be involved with something ‘green’ and also something that would have a positive effect on our local area, Bristol.

 We quickly came up with a few concept ideas for the campaign; we needed the billboard to be high impact with a clear message to really make people think about where their rubbish goes. The reality of the situation is that a lot of the illegal carriers dump dangerous rubbish, chemicals and white goods in hotspots in the south of the city. Most of these locations are in the back lanes of residential areas where young children play and could easily be harmed.

We all agreed that this was a strong directive and we could produce a hard hitting image to convey this message using our extensive experience with professional photography. We chose a location for the shoot and set the scene for the picture. Florence, our young model was an absolute star as the shoot took most of the day and hundreds of frames to get the shot we wanted.

The result is a visually stunning and hard hitting photograph that conveyed the message perfectly and fulfilled the client’s design brief.

The campaign has recently been honored at the National Environment Agency Communications Awards 2007 through Clare Rogers (project manager) with an award for ‘best visual interpretation of our brand’, and was short listed from over 100 entries. We are absolutely thrilled with this great result for our client; it is fabulous when great design is commended and appreciated.

Clare Rogers, Campaign Manager, Environment Agency said:

“Faced with the challenge of communicating a message to a hard-to-reach audience, we needed considerable creative input and some fresh ideas, stepping right away from our traditional corporate style. Deckchair gave us a range of great concepts to test on our audience, then delivered the complete package, based on our market research.
It’s rare to find a company so responsive to what you are trying to achieve. The results are stunning and our design has won a communications award for ‘best visual interpretation of our brand’.”

The photograph has also been short listed in a photographic competition run by The AOP (Association of Photographers). There will be an exhibition of these images at the AOP Gallery in London starting 22nd August 2007. You can vote for our photograph here (if you feel moved to do so!)

Toni

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I don’t know if any of you have already seen this, but take a look….It is Microsoft’s answer to the future of computers. This new technology is called “surface computing” and uses multi-touch technology to interact with the user, or users.  It is like something out of Minority Report, forget monitors, keyboards and your mouse; this is hands-on!!

Click here for the ’surface computing’ clip

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Ever looked at your website in another browser and found that the layout has gone out of alignment or certain features aren’t working or are missing? This is probably due to the fact that all web browsers read parts of the CSS code differently and then display it on the web page in a different way. Remember, a website is not a published piece of work; it is more like a living document that can be interpreted in different ways by different browsers and on different platforms.
A good web designer will always check his design in all the important web browsers before the site goes live. I find it quite astounding that I have viewed big corporate and name brand websites in different web browsers and found them not working properly. Who are these people designing these websites and no doubt charging huge sums for them??
Get your web designer to check that your website looks and functions exactly as it should from the major web browsers. These are the ones to worry about: Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox, Netscape and Opera.

Also have a think about whether your customers are likely to be the sort of people who may be using an ancient web browser and talk to your designer about your options.

Toni

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I had the great pleasure of attending Ollie and Sophie’s wedding on Saturday, it was a beautiful celebration and much fun was had by all. Here are a few photos from the happy event…Congratulations Ollie and Sophie, have a fantastic honeymoon!! (Ollie is Deckchair’s Creative Director).

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