In online shopping, it is common to sign up for an account. Often, an ecommerce Web site will send you an email welcoming you to the site. But it doesn’t always happen. And while it can seem annoying to have an inbox cluttered by welcome emails, I think it’s a good thing to send a “welcome” email. And not just because I had to register on 36 Web sites in order to get the 20 examples I provide here.

A “welcome” email confirms to the customer that s/he has, indeed, signed up. And for the ecommerce Web site, it can be a great marketing tool. After reading all of these registration emails, I can see how an etailer can get added value from sending the right kind of “welcome” email.

Examples of “welcome” emails

One of my favorite examples of a great “welcome” email is this registration email from Ace Hardware:

As you can see above, there are some opportunities for deep, personalized email linking. Here are some of the other good qualities for “welcome” emails:

• Search right from the email.
• Personalized with the customer’s name.
• Attractive picture with logo.
• Special promotion offer for ordering from the etailer.
• Link for another version if the customer can’t see links or images.
• Unsubscribe link, since often when you register you sign up for email newsletters and offers.
• Doesn’t include the password for security reasons.

Blue Nile also offers a special. You can refer a friend, and receive a discount. These kinds of offers in the “welcome” email can encourage wider ecommerce marketing efforts and help you spread your brand through word of mouth.

By far the most image-rich “welcome” email I received was from Altrec. Not only does this ecommerce Web site send a rather colorful registration message, it includes pictures of customer services representatives. This is really taking the customer service email linking to the next level. Indeed, it might even be verging on the superfluous.

One “welcome” email that I wasn’t overly fond of was this, from Abe Books. While email linking does appear (a ton of it!), the email is just too long. I had to give up reading it. And there are no images to help break up the text.

Here are some more examples of “welcome” emails. What do you like about them? Can you see any that could use serious improvement?

AE.com:

American Stationery:

Brooks Brothers:

CafePress:

Drugstore.com:

Home Depot:

J. Crew:

Lancome USA:

Moosejaw:

Netflix:

PacSun:

Shutterfly:

Skechers:

Sony Style:

Vivre:

Wal-Mart:

What does that page look like just before you “confirm” or “finalize” an order? This can be a big deal in ecommerce. Ecommerce Web sites should consider what their confirmation page offers, just before online shoppers are completely committed.

I think this Abercromie & Fitch page offers a good example.

Some of the features that make this confirmation page a good example include the following:

• Full navigation to the rest of the ecommerce Web site.
• Includes tax and shipping, offering the whole total to be paid.
• Alternative payment (in this case a gift card) option.
• Picture of the item, so you can verify the product.
• Addresses (note: mine is fake) of shipping and billing, for verification.
• Progress bar so that you can see how far along you are in the process.

One thing that is missing, that I would like to see on the above Abercrombie “confirm order” page is the ability to change quantities in the cart.

As you can see below, Drugstore.com does offer the option to change quantities inside the cart. I also like that this page reminds you of the gift wrap option and allows you to look at your credit card information (also fake in my examples). The security measure showing only the last four digits is a good move as well.

Another “confirm order” page I find interesting is this page from Palm. This is, in fact, the final step before submitting an order. But because you have to sign up for a service package, even when buying smart phones online, a credit check is run. So in addition to entering your basic credit card information, you also have to enter information used in a credit check. I like how Palm explains the purpose of this step in the checkout process.

This page includes the payment option of a check. This is quite interesting to me, since it is rare to see an ecommerce Web site that accepts a check. Unfortunately, I think it looks a little “busy” with all the blank lines. I don’t know if I like filling everything and placing the order without being able to review it before finalizing.

Netflix offers a rather interesting “confirm order” page. If you are a member, you have the option of having automatic billing to your credit card. When you go to buy a DVD from those offered for sale, a pop-up appears, asking you to confirm automatic billing to your card — and shipping to the same address your rental movies are sent to.

Here are more examples of “confirm order” pages. What do you like, or dislike about them?

Ace Hardware:

Amazon:

Anthropologie:

Art.com:

Audible:

Cabela’s:

Coach:

Crate and Barrel:

Delightful Deliveries:

J. Crew:

Lancome USA:

Overstock:

PacSun:

Sony Style

Vivre:

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?

More of the word’s population engaging in online shopping

The news that online shopping is increasing rapidly in the global marketplace shouldn’t surprise anyone, but a couple of the findings from Nielson’s “Global Online Survey on Internet Shopping Habits”. can help you target international customers. In their analysis of the report eMarketer points out that cash transactions are the basis in many developing economies, but that is changing. And one of the main categories to help introduce online shopping to developing nations is travel. eMarketer describes the place travel has in growing ecommerce worldwide:

“Travel is often one of the first retail categories to succeed in developing e-commerce economies,” Mr. Grau said. “Positive consumer experiences booking travel online creates confidence that can lead to purchases in other more complex e-commerce categories.”

Travel isn’t the only popular category in online shopping. Books, clothing and entertainment are even more popular categories. And once a toehold is gained in a nation, online shopping takes off, additional products and services surpassing the category that might have introduced the trend.

Nielson’s “Global Online Survey on Internet Shopping Habits” points out the dramatic growth of ecommerce worldwide. Two years ago, says the report, only 10 percent of the population of the world had bought something online. That number is now up to 40 percent.

Additionally, 85 percent of those with Internet have made an online purchase. And where are they making these purchases? Nielson says that many who engage in online shopping end up becoming repeat customers:

According to Nielsen, online shoppers tend to stick to the shopping sites they are familiar with, with 60 percent saying they buy mostly from the same site. “This shows the importance of capturing the tens of millions of new online shoppers as they make their first purchases on the Internet. If shopping sites can capture them early, and create a positive shopping experience, they will likely capture their loyalty and their money,” said Paul.

As an ecommerce Web site, it is important to utilize as many tools as possible to attract new online shoppers, and to provide a solid first impression to the shoppers you do attract. You need to know who your products and services will appeal to, and then target that audience. A large percentage of the population has not started online shopping yet. But the increasing rate of ecommerce growth worldwide indicates that many will start shopping soon. Developing countries offer the greatest potential for growth, so it is time to plan now to attract more international customers.

One thing we’re learning about ecommerce customers is that they are increasingly interested in personalization. They like product recommendations, and many of them like creating profiles that can help ecommerce businesses better cater to them. One thing many ecommerce customers don’t like is email newsletters jamming the inbox.

Oh, they sign up. But after a while, the email newsletters become annoying. And hard to find when you realize that maybe you do want something after all. (Where did I put that? Did I delete it? Maybe it got sent to the junk mail folder…) A new ecommerce Web site aims to change all that.

iStorez offers an email newsletter aggregator. iStorez has signed up for all the email newsletters and  you can choose which you want attached to your profile — in a searchable format that makes information easy to find. YOu don’t even have to sign up for the email newsletters yourself, and you don’t have to register at the individual stores.

iStorez is the child of Kriyari, and CEO Anand Jagannathan insists that iStorez will be a big hit because email newsletters work. Erick Schonfeld at TechCrunch, on the other hand, reporting on iStorez, points out that this ecommerce concept might work for the opposite reason:

Actually, what he is saying is that email marketing doesn’t work. You need to bring those messages to the Web and allow consumers to explore them in their own way when they are in a shopping frame of mind.

iStorez does this. Some of the capabilities offered by this new ecommerce Web site include:

• Shop by brand.
• Shop by retailer.
• Shop by tag.
• Customize a virtual mall.
• Share links to your mall.
• Plans to add the ability to add an RSS feed for your mall are in the works.

iStorez just may take personalized online shopping to a new level. The site takes social shopping to a new level, and that ecommerce model is just really gathering steam.  If iStorez is successful, it will also mean a new way to increase the personalization of email marketing — without necessarily having to increase the number of emails that go out.