11 ways of adapting an organization to the digital economy

My advice to an eCommerce organization

1. Make sure you have an eCommerce team with both senior and junior members. Aim for a balanced mix of historical experience of processes and dependancies, and people fearless and up to date with Internet trends.
2. Clarify synergies between IT and eCommerce. For ex: What added value can be achieved through faster loading times?
3. Neither ”regular” Marketing nor Social Media business can prosper in a vacuum. Ex: When search is exhausted, turn to offline activities. When the target audience cannot be reached through TV, turn to YouTube.
4. Ensure all decision makers have common notions on important KPIs. For ex: Conversion rate, Cart abandonment rate.
5. As in offline channels, your online customers need to be treated differently depending on profile and preferences. Ex: Do big spenders prefer a secure checkout using invoice payment? Do younger audiences want order confirmations sent via Twitter?
6. A key for success is qualitative data about your customers, but ensure its accessibility. Information is not valuable when scattered or locked up in warehouses.
7. Don’t do web analytics unless you plan to create insights from the information. Reports should not be created to justify adhoc initiatives.
8. Avoid high abandonment rates by not asking for more information than required.
9. Place majority of content above the fold and consider mobile users, ex fat-finger, close to purchase, on the move, personal, one-hand mode.
10. Tell users what to do next, always include a call to action. Ex; Keep shopping, Read more, Save for later, Confirm purchase.
11. If you have a high share of returning customers, carry information from previous purchases and offer prefilled shopping carts.

Scandic Hotels eCommerce-team

Särskilt imponerad var jag av hur Nokia arbetade, i varenda fråga hade de kommit längre än vi andra.. Kudos!