One of the most important pages on your ecommerce Web site is the customer service landing pages. This page often has contact information, and maybe even FAQs. The idea is to make it easy to find, and ensure that the information on the customer service landing page is easy for the customer to use.

Altrec has a rather “ultimate” customer service landing page:

Some of the aspects of this customer landing page that I find especially helpful include:

• Full navigation
• Live help (Altrec includes pictures of the associates)
• Ability to login to your account
• FAQs to help with common concerns
• Easy to find phone numbers and email addresses

Another interesting customer service landing page that I enjoyed is this from Apple. Apple includes access to a rich media video tutorial and an easy-to-find “search” function:

ABT.com includes an option for Spanish help. In a country where Spanish is becoming increasingly spoken, this is a wise move.

In a rather interesting move, Best Kiteboarding has opted not to have a customer service landing page. Instead, customer service options appear as part of the drop-down menu when one is on the main page.

Here are some more customer service landing pages. What do you think of them? Are any missing “must-have” characteristics? Which are done really well?

Amazon

Coach

Ecampus

FYE

Guess

JC Penney

Karma Loop

KL Wines

Kohls

Nike

PC Universe

PlumberSurplus.com

Repair Clinic

Stacks and Stacks

Swell

Vera Bradley

Many good ecommerce Web sites know that the product details page can have a material say in whether customers stick around — and even whether they come back. Customers like to learn as much as possible about a product before buying, and product details pages can allow customer to explore a product.

One of my favorite examples is the product details page for the Amazon Kindle. As you can see below, this page includes zoom features for the images, as well as a video about the Kindle.

On top of that, the Amazon Kindle product details page offers additional rich media that allows you to spin the Kindle 360 degrees in a pop-out window.

Another example I like is this product details page from Blue Nile. The zoom feature comes up where the original picture was, rather than as a pop-up. I think I like this better. It’s great for a jewelry ecommerce Web site, since it includes a small ruler to the right of the zoom image so that you can see actual size.

Another good example of the different views feature is this, from Gap. You can choose different views to see how the clothing would fit. For a clothing ecommerce Web site, this is an excellent feature, since it gives the customer an idea of how the clothing might look when actually worn.

One product details page that I was disappointed in is this one from FYE. All this product detail page offers is a zoom option to look at the video game cover closer. A video game is an excellent opportunity to include rich media, such as a brief video. Even different stills from game play would be an improvement. While it is important to include sections on requirements and features, and it was good of FYE to do so, I was hoping for a little bit more to give me a better idea of what the game looks like.

Here are some more examples of product detail pages. Which are obviously interactive? Which are patently boring? Which ecommerce Web site would you be more likely to purchase products from?

6 PM:

ABT:

Cafe Press:

Carol’s Daughter:

Drs. Foster and Smith:

David’s Bridal:

Gift Tree:

Moosejaw:

My MMs:

Nine West:

Palm:

Patagonia:

Rampage:

REI:

Vera Bradley:

Working Person:

Your Electronics Warehouse:

Loyal ecommerce shoppers often like to set up an account with etailers they visit frequently. This means that how you set up the “My Account” page can be important. In terms of design and usability, it is important to cater to your ecommerce shoppers. All of the examples below are the My Account pages for various etailers. Each represents the first thing that comes up when the My Account selection is made on an ecommerce Web site.

Personally, I like the Apple My Account page:

This page illustrates the following features:

• Fully navigable to the rest of the ecommerce Web site (including shopping cart)
• Order status
• Change account information option
• Company phone number easy to see
• Clearly states that you are logged in
• Search capability
• Simple, uncluttered design

Another interesting example is the Skechers Web site. In addition to having most of the features seen on the Apple My Account page, Skechers includes product recommendations. Those shown for me are not personalized, since I haven’t ordered anything yet. Presumably, as you place orders, your My Account page would reflect your preferences.

Another interesting feature can be found on the Wine.com My Account page. At the top, this ecommerce Web site keeps a running total of how much time is left for you to ship to make it to a major holiday — in this case Valentine’s Day.

An example I wasn’t too thrilled with is this one from Viva Terra. On the My Account page, your address immediately pops up. Not pleasant if you are not at a secure location. (Note: When I saw this, I changed my address for the purposes of this exercise. The address shown is not, in fact, my real address.)

Here are some more examples of My Account pages. Which do you like? And which do you dislike? Why?

In the US, the ecommerce forecast looks good. ComputerWorld reports that online shopping is likely to grow by between $20 billion and $30 billion per year. This means that by 2012, ecommerce shoppers could account for between $215 billion and $335 billion each year.

Much of this growth has to do with the fact that even when the US economy slows, online shopping continues to grow. ComputerWorld reports that this has to do with the fact that online shopping is often done by those with higher incomes. The affluent are less likely to be impacted by adverse economic conditions.

Challenges to etailers

Even with the ecommerce forecast looking so favorable, there are plenty of challenges for etailers. ComputerWorld reports that online shopping is becoming more seasonal. More ecommerce shoppers are making many of their online purchases during the holiday season. Additionally, online shoppers spend less time browsing on ecommerce Web sites. It is important for etailers to design ecommerce Web sites so that customers will find them useful, prompting return purchases.

Items that can make ecommerce Web sites more attractive in terms of online shopping include:

• Product images
• Accurate product information
• Payment option flexibility
• Lower shipping costs (including offering free shipping)
• Flexible return policies
• Personalized product recommendations

Major online retailers are leading the way in adopting alternative payment methods. A recent study by Brulant points out that out of 100 major online retailers, 30 percent offer alternative payment methods to credit cards. Brulant reports on some of its alternative payment findings:

“One of the most surprising findings is the increase in retailers offering all three alternative payment methods,” says Brulant principal Adam Cohen, noting that none of the same retailers offered all three methods in February 2007. “Today we find 5% adoption of all three at a variety of retailers from Toys ‘R Us to PetSmart to Rite Aid. This reinforces the ‘customer is king’ mentality, as retailers begin to offer a multitude of choices for checkout.”

This is further indication that ecommerce shoppers want the ability to limit how many ecommerce Web sites get their personal information. It also emphasizes the increasing customer focus in online shopping on increased options.

The study did not address the Amazon “Pay Now” widget, instead focusing on the more popular options: PayPal, Google Checkout and Bill Me Later. These three services are making inroads, it appears, and it may be difficult for Amazon, a late-comer to the alternative payment game, to catch up. Adding the “Pay Now” widget to your ecommerce site, in addition to the three other major alternative payment methods won’t hurt, though. Ecommerce Trends points out that alternative payment is becoming a consideration, along with product choices:

“As online shopping continues to grow, it is critical to not only expand your product assortment,” but to also offer “alternative means of payment,” says Marty Keane, senior vice president of e-commerce at Bluefly an online retailer.

During the 2007 holiday shopping season, many ecommerce shoppers waited until the last minute to make their purchases from ecommerce Web sites. Late final order dates, with ecommerce retailers offering delivery in time for Christmas as late as December 22nd) may have contributed. In many cases, offering late delivery dates coincided with more online traffic.

Robin Goad at Hitwise posted a chart showing final order dates for businesses in the UK, and these ecommerce businesses’ busiest days online:

The orange dots show Web sites of brick-and-mortar retailers, while the blue are online retailers only. As you can see, there is a higher incidence of busy days for the retailers with physical locations in terms of late delivery dates. Here is one explanation that Goad offers:

This points to a possible explanation for the greater correlation of the orange dots: consumers feel that they can order with high street retailers at the last minute, because they can always pop into the shop if things go wrong.

You can see the increase in traffic in a trend as the later final order dates approach. While this information is true in Britain, it is probably also likely true here in the US. I know that I ordered all my gifts from online only retailers earlier in the month — I wanted to make sure they all arrived well before Christmas.

But this late delivery thing isn’t just about holiday shopping. It can boost your ecommerce traffic year-round. Late delivery dates can put your ecommerce Web site on the map as one with quick turnaround. This can be helpful for birthday and anniversary gifts, as well as for other holidays like Valentine’s Day, Easter and Mother’s and Father’s Days. When shoppers know they’ve missed the chance for delivery, the urgency to acquire the item increases. Clearly stating your delivery and order cutoff dates and times encourage procrastinators to visit your store.

Another lesson? Brick-and-mortar retailers can benefit from an online presence. Ecommerce Web sites increase the number of people you reach. There were physical presence retailers (though admittedly not many) whose traffic peaked after the final order date. Apparently shoppers were still looking for something. Ecommerce Web sites can encourage people to visit your store to buy products searched for online — even if they can’t have them delivered to their doors in time.