How to Create a Profitable Business Strategy for the Internet & Beyond

©1999 Patricia Seybold Group

www.customers.com

How to Create a Profitable Business

Strategy for the Internet & Beyond

Customers comPatricia Seybold presents:

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m® Make It Easy for Customers

to do Business with You!

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Anecdotes, Tips, & Take-Aways for Women In Technology

• A Brief Personal History• How to Organize your E-Business for

Success• Key Competencies to Master in

Building a CyberBusiness • What’s Hot this E-Tailing Season?

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A Brief Personal History• Apprenticeship• Family Business Succession Issues• Focus on Independence

Patricia Seybold GroupThe “Customers.com Company”

E-Business Consultants & Thought Leaders

Smart, Soulful People who Care about Your Customers

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How to Organize Your E-Business Initiatives

for Success

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What do

have in common?

&

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They’re Cannibalization/

Green Field E-Business Initiatives

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m® How to Organize Your E-Business

Group?• As if it were a Separate Company!• Led by a Visionary Business Executive:

VP Sales, VP Interactive Marketing, VP Customer Advocacy

• Strong in-house Technology Visionary • Responsible for All Customer Touchpoints• Own the Total Customer Experience• Separate P&L: 2-year ROI

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m® Use the “Paper Napkin” Visioning

Technique to Build Consensus

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What Other Skills Will You Need?• Customer Experience “owner”• E-Merchandising expert• Strong In-House Content Team• WebMaster• In house Communications/PR • System Integration Help• Graphic Design Help

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m® Measure what Matters

• Customers/Members/Subscribers• Repeat Customers• Revenues per Customer per Year• Customer Retention Rates• Lifetime Value of your Customers• What you Know about your Customers

The Metrics of the New Economy:

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E-Business Models to Watch• Auctions: B-to-B and B-to-C• Digital Marketplaces• Syndicated Content• Manufacturers’ Aisles• Wireless Phones, PDA/Pagers & Games• E-Wallets, smart cards & customer-owned

profiles• Scenario Nets

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Key Competencies to Master

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Two Key Competencies to Master

1. Customer Scenario Design

2. XML Semantics & Tagging

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m® What’s Your

Customers’ Scarcest Resource?

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m® New Competency to Master:

Customer Scenario Design• What Makes most Web Sites Hard to

USE?• Not Designed from the Customer’s point

of view• Target Customer/Role/Context • What’s the Purpose of the Interaction?• How do you Streamline it?

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m® Use Customer Scenarios to Cement

Relationships• Focus on the 3 or 4 Key Scenarios each

Target Customer/Role needs to do• Make sure these Scenarios are easy to

find and execute from the home page• Look for Bottlenecks and Obstacles and

Remove Them• Continuously Improve these Scenarios• It’s about saving customers’ time!

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m® Coming Soon….Scenario Nets!

Find, buy, furnish, &

landscape a new home

Purchase Spare Parts and

Arrange for Emergency

Service

Register my car, pay my taxes,

renew my license

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m® What’s a Scenario Net?

• A set of linked tasks and activities the customer wants or needs to perform that takes him across company and/or Web site boundaries

• A streamlined set of activities based on the customer’s context; context and customer profile information is preserved as the customer moves from site to site

• The customer OPTS IN to scenario nets

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m® What’s the Biggest Single Usability

Problem on most Sites?

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m® Can’t Find What I’m Looking For

QuicklyWhat’s Needed:• Comprehensive Text Search• Comprehensive Parametric Search• Finder/Advisor• Browse/Catalog/Departments• Gift-giving scenario• Recommendations: What’s Hot!

Help Decision-Making

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m® What is the Simple Little

Technology that Enables E-Merchandising?

<?XML version="1.0"?><TransportSchedule Type = "Airline">

<Segment ID="United Airlines #200"><Origin> San Francisco</Origin><DepartTime>9:30 AM</DepartTime><Destination>Honolulu</Destination><ArriveTime>12:30 PM</ArriveTime><Price Currency="USD">368.50</Price>

</Segment></TransportSchedule>

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m® The Importance of XML

• eXtensible Markup Language (XML) is the engine of e-business transformation

• XML enables: Application-to-application integration Database-to-database synchronization Cross-organizational workflows & e-

processes Industry Transformations!

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What’s Hot this E-Tailing Season?

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m® What do

Have in Common?

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m® They’re Clicks & Mortar

Operations!

Clicks & Mortar Offers an E-Tailing Advantage


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“I want my customer to shop in the store in the mall on Saturday, receive a catalog on Tuesday, and

shop on the Web Friday night, after the kids are in bed.”

Judy Neuman,Divisional VP, Eddie Bauer

I-Media Group

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Clicks & Mortar 101• Shop online, pick up at the store• Shop online, return at the store• Shop online AT the store• Create a seamless experience across

catalog, Web & stores• Foster customer loyalty across channels• Manage Inventory across channels

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m® Should Manufacturers Sell Direct?

• Yes, they have no choice!• Customers want to be able to buy direct• Retailers need to make their real-time

inventory accessible from manufacturers’ Web sites

• Manufacturers/wholesalers will continue to rely on retailers for convenient shopping, pick up/delivery & service

What’s the Biggest Danger for Internet Retailers?

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m® The Fulfillment Iceberg

• It’s huge!• It’s dangerous!• Most of the danger is hidden from sight• Internet Shoppers expect 1-day delivery• Pick, Pack & Ship must be flawless• Returns handling must be simple (no

MRA’s!)• Gifts need to be wrapped & carded

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m® Who Does a Good Job?

• Fultonstreet.com• eToys• Smith & Hawken• Cyberian Outpost• Hana Flowers• Dick’s Sporting Goods

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m® There’s more to Fulfillment than

Pick, Pack & Ship• Application integration & management• Realtime inventory management• Proactive emails at every step• 24 x 7 exquisite customer service

Complete customer profile Complete transaction history Complete record of service issues Power to resolve issues in the moment Integrate call center & email

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m® Participate in the

Customers.com E-Tailing Challenge!

• 50 Criteria Measuring the Holiday online Shopping Experience

• Come to our Web site October 15th: www.Customers.com!

• Participate in the Customers.com E-Tailing Challenge

• Make Your Online Shopping Experience Count!

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How to Be Successful in Internet Time!• Focus on your End-Customers• Save them Time; Design Streamlined

Customer Scenarios• Design an Integrated, Cross-Touchpoint

Strategy• Build an Organization that Works!• Measure the Right Stuff!

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m® Need More Info on

Customers.com® Research and Consulting?

• Come to our Web site: www.Customers.com

• Keep up with our thought leadership: Sign up for the Customers.com® service

• For consulting, contact [email protected]

• To interact with me, email me at [email protected]

Documents

How to Create a Profitable Business Strategy for the Internet & Beyond