Updated Customer Web Stores from Azox

The team at Azox has been busy updating current customer sites to the latest version of eSource, which is our ecommerce software. The latest completed update was for Dr. Hauschka. The Dr. Hauschka web store sells natural skin care products and makeup.

Dr. Hauschka’s new website runs on eSource 3.4. The company also chose to add one page and guest checkout. This feature helps provide a better user experience in several ways. With the checkout process, users want to complete their transactions quickly and easily. By offering one page/guest checkout, users are able to make purchases without creating an account. Further, all the information required for the purchase can be entered on one screen. The upgraded web store can be viewed here.

Another one of our customers, Recreation Supply Company, has chosen to upgrade to eSource 3.4. This company sells swimming pool supplies on their ecommerce website. The upgraded version of their web store also includes one page/guest checkout in addition to dimension groups. Dimension groups is a tool that allows similar items in your database to be lumped together under one item. For example, a clothing retailer would use this feature to group together several pairs of denim that are all the same style, but are available in various sizes and washes. Recreation Supply Company’s upgraded web store can be viewed here.

Dental City, a provider of dental products, is also now running their web store using eSource 3.4. They too opted for one page/guest checkout and also added filters. The filters feature allows users to better refine their search results using specific attributes, such as color or size. Check out their updated web store here.

If you are a current customer and are interested in how an upgrade can benefit you, contact our sales team to schedule a demo.

Which Resources Drive the Most Traffic to Your E-Commerce Website?

With all the resources available to draw traffic to an ecommerce website, it is hard to determine where to put the most effort. The obvious answer is to choose the resources that result in the most website traffic and that have high conversion rates, but, which resources are those?

Monetate did some research and provided data about where ecommerce traffic comes from and how it is converted. The data was gathered during the first quarter of 2013. The full report can be downloaded here.

When it comes to direct ecommerce traffic, the report states that:

• 31.43% landed on an ecommerce website from a search engine
• 2.82% from an email and
• 1.55% from social media.

When this information is compared to the first quarter of 2012, note that traffic from email has decreased from 3.72% in 2012 and so has social media traffic, which was 2.36% in 2012.

This does not mean that social media is irrelevant for ecommerce. While social media may not bring a lot of traffic to a website, it still drives purchase decisions. Research from Google showed that instead of being a last interaction, social media often acts as an assist in the purchase decisions. Consumers often use social media in the early phases of the decision making process. With that said, focus on driving traffic using search engine marketing and use other marketing strategies to entice consumers across social media and with email.

Other statistics in relation to traffic and conversion rates were also included in the report form Monetate. When it came to conversion rates:

• email came in first with 3.19% 
• followed by search at 1.95% and 
• social media at 0.71%.

Looking at the same sources, the add-to-cart rates were as follows:

• 10.51% from when coming from email
• 6.81% from search and
• 3.24% from social.

And finally, average order value from each source was as follows:
• $96.32 when coming from search
• $83.72 from email and
• $72.31 from social.

Simply having an ecommerce website is not enough. With all the inbound marketing strategies available, and many of them for free, it is important to figure out what works for your business in order to consistently drive website traffic and sales.

How to Decrease Shopping Cart Abandonment and Increase Conversion Rates

One of the biggest elements of an ecommerce website is the checkout page. This is where conversions are finalized. So, what are some things that can be done to avoid shopping cart abandonment and to increase conversions?

An infographic created by Fifth Gear highlights some reasons why online shoppers bail on their purchases. The infographic can be viewed here. To highlight a few points:

•  44 % thought shipping costs were too high.
• 27 % wanted to shop around.
• 14 % did not want to create an account with the merchant.
• 11 % thought the checkout process was too complex.
• 7 % said their preferred method of payment was not available.

Taking these points into consideration, there are three key elements that you should consider when it comes to your checkout page and shopping cart abandonment.

First, always offer the option of guest checkout. Consumers view creating an account as an obstacle, which may lead them to bail on their purchase. Guest checkout also makes the process of making a purchase easier for them.

The second key element is to provide consumers with incentives for shopping at your store. These incentives might include free shipping, buy one/get one specials or percentage discounts. With ecommerce, consumers rarely have to pay full price for an item. Further, since the Internet makes everything so convenient, it is easy to shop around and look for a better deal. In order to ensure your customers purchase the items they place in their shopping cart, promotions are crucial.

And finally, make sure all information is clear to customers. This includes listing prices and shipping rates, clearly displaying security icons, showing error messages when a form is missing an important piece of information and a progress bar that shows the user how many more steps need to be completed. All this should be done with a simple, organized design scheme.

Implementing these strategies will help increase your conversion rate and decrease your shopping cart abandonment rate.

Tools Used to Acquire E-Commerce Customers and a Look at Their Effectiveness

As an ecommerce business, what tools are you using that have helped you successfully obtain and keep customers? Custora did some research and created a report highlighting the most popular channels used to acquire customers along with which ones offer the best customer lifetime value, which is described in the report as “the future profit a company expects to earn from a customer throughout his or her relationship with the business.” The survey included 72 million customers from 86 U.S. retailers in 14 different industries and can be read in its entirety here.

The survey results show that the top channels used for acquiring new customers online are organic search, CPC (Cost Per Click), email marketing and referrals. It may be surprising to see email marketing at the top of the list given that so many of us receive and delete such messages on a daily basis, but according to survey results, since 2009, the amount of customers that ecommerce businesses have acquired using this tool has quadrupled. The other tools at the top of the list are no-brainers as most of us go straight to search engines to find the products and we are looking for along with reviews of those products.

Now, the tool used to acquire a new customer is important, but if it does not offer a strong customer lifetime value (CLV), is it worth it? According to survey results, customers acquired from organic search traffic have a CLV that is 54 percent above average, followed by CPC customers who have a CLV 37 percent higher than average and then those that become customers through email marketing have a CLV that is 12 percent above average. On the other hand, when social media is analyzed, customers acquired from Twitter have a CLV that is 23 percent lower than average and customers coming from Facebook have a CLV that is just one percent above average. Does this mean social media is a waste of time? Absolutely not; social media is a great tool that can be used to give a brand a personality and also gives customers an outlet for writing reviews or sharing testimonials.

There is no question that ecommerce will continue to grow. For some, doing business online can be a lot of work, therefore when it comes to digital marketing efforts, knowing what tools are most effective can help. Read the full report from Custora for a deeper look into the survey results.

Azox Webinars in June

Each month Azox hosts three webinars to showcase our solutions. Customers, prospects and partners are all invited to attend these free webinars to watch live demos of each of the three Azox solutions. This June, our webinars will be held the 18, 19 and 20. Read more about our products and signup to attend one of these webinars today. Follow the links below to register.

Advantages of Online Bill Pay

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

1:00 – 1:30 p.m. EST

Adding Online Bill Pay to your ecommerce website gives your customers a portal to log into and view, print and pay outstanding invoices. This self-service feature adds convenience and allows you to collect payments 24/7/365. Azox Online Bill Pay solution integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Dynamics GP. Attend this webinar to see a live demo of this product.

Secure Credit Card Processing in Microsoft Dynamics GP

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

1:00 – 1:30 p.m. EST

Accept ACH and credit card payments from your web store when you implement Azox Credit Card Extension (CCE). This solution is PA-DSS certified and uses tokenization to store sensitive data offsite. Pre-authorize, post-authorize, sale, void and credit when you add Azox CCE to your ecommerce website. Attend this webinar to see a live demo of this product.

Integrated E-Commerce for Microsoft DynamicsGP

Thursday, June 20, 2013

1:00 – 1:30 p.m. EST

Grow your business online with an ecommerce website built on Microsoft Dynamics GP. Provide your customers with a web store where they can browse products, see real-time pricing and inventory information and place orders. One page guest checkout and a shipping calculator are two other features in addition to many more. Attend this webinar to see a live demo of our ecommerce solution.

If these dates do not fit your schedule, visit our website to schedule a personal demo or look for next month's webinars.

Big Fireworks Ecommerce Website Built on Dynamics GP is User-Friendly, Navigable and Includes Streamlined Payment Processing

Streamlined Payment Processing

The most recent deployment from Azox is both a business facing and customer facing ecommerce website built on Dynamics GP for BigFireworks. Big Fireworks uses these ecommerce sites to sell fireworks to both consumers and distributors. The different types of fireworks available include aerial assortment packs, firecrackers, fountains, roman candles, three inch finale repeaters and more.

Big Fireworks needed a website that would allow potential customers to navigate their broad product portfolio, make purchases smoothly and securely and would have an overall positive impact in order to promote repeat business.

Navigability

From the homepage, shoppers are provided with a left side menu that separates the various fireworks alphabetically by type. From here, a consumer or distributor can select the type of firework they are interested in, for example bottle rockets. This will take them to a new screen where all variations of bottle rocks are displayed with more in depth product information, such as price and stock availability. These products can further be sorted by price, number or name to help customers find what they are looking for. From here, the customer can choose to add any quantity of the desired firework to their cart by entering a custom number in a box provided. Some fireworks feature video demos as well.

Secure Payment Processing

On the homepage, Big Fireworks provides a minimum that consumers and distributors must reach for making an order in their ecommerce store. Once the order minimum has been added to a shoppers’ cart, they can click “checkout” and begin the process of making a purchase. Return customers can login to retrieve their saved data, such as shipping address, or new customers can create an account. Several types of payments are accepted include ACH and credit cards. Payments are processed securely and sensitive data is stored off site.

A Lasting Impact

Big Fireworks has an ecommerce website that is easy to browse. There are video demos and product reviews for consumers to view prior to making a purchase decision and several payment types are accepted to make the checkout process smooth. These features provide a positive experience for customers. It is also easy to find Big Fireworks on social media for further company research by following the links provided on their website.

Big Fireworks is one of many full ecommerce solutions built on Dynamics GP developed by Azox. Learn more about Azox ecommerce and secure ACH/credit card processing software for Dynamics GP by visiting our website. 

Join Us For a Webinar in May!

In the market for an ecommerce or epayment solution built on Microsoft Dynamics GP? Join Azox this month for a complimentary webinar to learn about our product offerings! Next week we will be hosting three webinars that will provide an overview of our products. The first will cover online bill pay, then secure credit card processing and the final webinar will be highlight our ecommerce solution. All products integrate with Microsoft Dynamics GP. Follow the links below to register.

Advantages of Online Bill Payment forMicrosoft Dynamics GP

Monday, May 20, 2013

12:00 – 12:30 p.m. EST

Web stores that implement Azox Online Bill Pay are able to provide a portal that allows customers to log in and view, print and pay outstanding invoices online. This solution integrates seamlessly with your Microsoft Dynamics GP back office and allows payments to be accepted in a more timely manner.

Secure Credit Card Processing in MicrosoftDynamics GP

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

12:00 – 12:30 p.m. EST

Accept credit card and ACH payments from your web store in real time. Azox Credit Card Extension uses tokenization, which allows sensitive data to be stored securely off site. This decreases your business’ liability. This secure solution is PA-DSS certified and allows you to get more out of your Microsoft Dynamics GP investment.

Integrated E-Commerce for Microsoft Dynamics GP

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

12:00 – 12:30 p.m. EST

Some of the latest features of Azox eSource include built-in CMS with WYSIWYG editor, one page/guest user checkout, web-based promo pricing and more advanced filter and sort features that help users refine search results. This ecommerce solution built on Microsoft Dynamics GP allows you to better monitor inventory, provides analytical data about shopping behavior and offers your customers an ecommerce environment where they can place and track orders.

So, if you are shopping for an ecommerce or epayment solution, be sure to join us for awebinar next week! Follow the links to register or contact our sales team today to setup a personal online demo.

Existing Customer Implements Multi-Store to Create Separate B2C Website for Different Product Line

Taurus, one of our current customers, has a new B2C ecommerce website built on Dynamics GP. The company chose to use our multi-store feature in order to have a separately branded website that runs off the same database as their existing site.

The new website for Taurus showcases the line of Diamondback Firearms products they sell. These products include apparel, gun parts and accessories. When a user visits the website, products can be browsed by rifle parts, rifle accessories, pistol accessories and apparel. The website is very straightforward and easy to browse. Users simply select items they want to purchase to add to their shopping cart. When viewing items in the shopping cart, users are informed of available inventory so they can be certain that the products being purchased are in stock. Then, as the users proceed through checkout, they will have the option to either create a new account, or if they are a return customer, they can log in to the account they created previously.

This new website runs off the same Dynamics GP database that Taurus’ existing website uses. This is possible through use of multi-store, one of the many features available to those who use Azox ecommerce solution. This feature makes it possible to add an additional, separately branded site and is cost-effective. It is also convenient as all product information for both sites can be found and pulled from the same location. Thus, the new Taurus site is able to have its own unique URL, a custom look and all product information can be added easily using the same database as the first web store.

Diamondback Firearms was established in 2009 and is located in Cocoa, Fla. When it comes to the firearms industry, the company makes safety one of their top priorities. To view the new B2C ecommerce website for Taurus that sells Diamondback Firearms’ product line, follow this link.

To learn more about how Azox ecommerce solutions for Dynamics GP can help your business grow on the Internet, visit our website.

Azox E-Commerce Suite for Microsoft Dynamics GP Has Been Updated to Version 3.4

The latest eSource release is here, version 3.4. This upgrade features several new functionalities, web parts and other general enhancements. Some of these are as follows:

Guest User

eSource 3.4 includes the addition of guest user. This new functionality allows users to proceed through the checkout process without creating an account. All guest users will be tracked in Microsoft Dynamics GP under one identity. Guest users are only able to browse and make purchases on business-to-consumer (B2C) sites.

Filters

The filters feature has been updated in eSource 3.4. Users are now able to select multiple items under each category. For example, if filtering by color, users are now able to select multiple colors to filter by. This is the case for all attribute categories. It is also now possible to sort attribute values alphabetically to make it easier for users to browse lists with a large number of options.

Added Payment Page

eSource is now compatible with alternate payment methods, including Moneris and Authorize.NET.

Pay with Gift Cards

Gift cards can be used as a payment method as well. Gift cards may be used for partial of full payments depending on the amount that is on the card.

Other changes include:

•  The addition of a check box for “billing address same as shipping” on the checkout screen
• Minimum order requirements for one page guest checkout
• Support of aggregate pricing for one page guest checkout
• Quick Track for order tracking, which allows users to enter order number and email, phone number or zip code, depending on the unique criteria setup on a site, and instantly see the status of their purchase 

If you’re a current eSource user or someone interested in learning more about what Azox ecommerce software can do, contact our sales team to inquire about an upgrade or schedule a personal demo. Azox also offers three complimentary monthly webinars that highlight each of our product offerings built on Microsoft Dynamics GP, which are ecommerce, epayment and online bill pay solutions.

Azox Monthly Webinars: E-Commerce and E-Payment Solutions

Join Azox for one of our informative monthly webinars this March! Each month we host three different webinars, one focused on each of our products, which include e-commerce, secure credit card processing and online bill pay. This month our webinar schedule is as follows:

Advantages of Online Bill Payment for Microsoft Dynamics GP

Thursday, March 7, 2013

11:00 – 11:30 a.m. EST

Azox Online Bill Pay provides your customers with a portal that they are able to log in to and view, print or pay invoices online. This add-on solution allows your business to get paid faster and integrates seamlessly with your Microsoft Dynamics GP back office software.

SecureCredit Card Processing in Microsoft Dynamics GP

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

2:00 – 2:30 p.m. EST

Credit Card Extension from Azox makes it possible for a web store to accept ACH and credit card transactions securely online. Through use of tokenization, sensitive data is stored off site, which lessens your business’ liability. Azox Credit Card Extension is also a PA-DSS certified solution. Implementing this add-on will allow you to get more out of your Microsoft Dynamics GP investment.

IntegratedE-Commerce for Microsoft Dynamics GP

Thursday, March 28, 2013

12:00 – 12:30 p.m. EST

The e-commerce solution from Azox helps with inventory management; features advanced searching capabilities and provides valuable analytic information about customer shopping and browsing habits. This solution will help you reduce the cost of your online selling operations and improve the overall customer experience. Azox e-commerce solution integrates completely with your Microsoft Dynamics GP back office to provide customers with a secure online shopping environment that allows them to place and track orders, check their account status and pre-print invoices and packing lists.

If you are in the marketing for an e-commerce or e-payment solution, be sure to sign up for one of these webinars to learn more about what Azox has to offer. If these dates don’t fit your schedule, contact us today to setup a demo or watch for next month’s webinars.