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Sole Traders

Tips on Terms of Engagement for Freelancers

Martina Mercer
May12/ 2015

Scoring a freelance project is always a positive but it is essential that you start the process off properly. For each client and project you need to produce Terms of Engagement.

What are Terms of Engagement?

There are no marriage proposals here; however the terms of engagement are still very important. This is a written contract between you as the web designer and the client or prospective client. These terms are the document which you as the commissioned web designer will rely on to base your work and fee upon.

What should be included in Terms of Engagement for Freelancers?

Dependant on the complexity of a project, the terms of engagement can include many types of key information. This is not an exhaustive list but a starting point for what should be included.

  • Key contact information for both parties
  • A detailed account of what work is being carried out and by whom
  • Costs, a breakdown of what the project will cost
  • Procedures for dealing with any problems or complaints the client has
  • Copyright information (i.e. who owns photographs etc.)

Why bother with Terms of Engagement?

Terms of engagement offer you protection. It is important that all parties are aware of the full details of the project prior to starting. Having this agreement in place ensures that there are no miscommunications about any part of the project and that you are paid the amount agreed and on time.

Additions can be made (in writing) to the Terms of Engagement as time goes on but having these documents set up are what allows both yourself and the client to be clear about what the project is includes and how much it costs. There can be no misunderstandings when a comprehensive terms of engagement document in written up and signed by both parties. Do make sure that both yourself and the client has a signed copy on file.

From the client’s point of view the terms of engagement are an insurance document against an unfinished or inadequate job. For yourself it ensures that you are paid as agreed and can form the basis of any claim you need to make for any unpaid work. As a freelancer you can’t afford to have unpaid invoices.

Rates:

How you price up a web design commission depends on many factors including, but not limited to:

  • The software required
  • Any licensing issues, domain names, hosting and stock photographs.
  • How much art work needs to be designed from scratch?
  • The number of pages and required features, i.e. slideshows, forms, forums etc.
  • How experienced you are (this can be proved by the size and complexity of your portfolio of previous works).
  • Other technical and business associated costs.
  • The number of hours the work will take.

It would be wise to have a master rates table which you can refer to for each job which will ensure consistency of pricing and will reduce the risk of you under-pricing any future work.

As a freelancer you can’t afford to spend time chasing clients for extra information, dealing with excessive amounts of queries and you certainly don’t need to be chasing unpaid invoices. Take the time to think your rates through and write up terms of engagement for each project. You can’t afford not to!

social media management, Sole Traders, YOU!

How to Use LinkedIn for Business

Martina Mercer
May11/ 2015

How to Use LinkedIn for Business

LinkedIn is now considered the pace to be for the busy professional. As times change, Facebook is considered the “Nuts” of the social media world whereas LinkedIn is considered to be more like “Esquire.” There is a wealth of opportunities to be had on this free networking platform, and better still you don’t have to navigate your way around jobless teenagers that have nothing better to do.

Start with what you know

To begin make sure you fill your profile with every possible detail. Leave no margin for error and see your profile as a tool to sell yourself. It should be as interesting and varied as your homepage for your website, inviting people to want to know more whilst enticing them to use your services.

Connect with those from your previous job, and ask them for recommendations. The more connections you have the more likely you are to reach those who will require your services.

Upload a Portfolio

LinkedIn uses a facility where you can upload your own portfolio. This should be taken advantage of. You can showcase your skills for free, letting every potential client know what a superstar web designer you are.

Use Meta Tags

On your profile there’s an opportunity to use Meta tags, pick ones relevant to you such as affordable web design, good web design or small business web design. This will enable you to show up in searches when people browse LinkedIn for freelancers. It will also help with your rankings on Google.

Join Groups

LinkedIn has many groups in the freelance web design category. Taking an active part will secure your name as a freelance web designer. Many clients will use these groups to post jobs or seek out new talent, so by staying actively involved you can ensure you’re the first to know whenever someone searches for a freelance web designer.

Quality not Quantity

Many budding freelancers think it’s enough to email every LinkedIn connection they have on a regular basis with generic news about their new projects and business. This only serves to infuriate connections and those on the receiving end will delete those who send spam in this way. Quality is the key to using Linked in. Relevant status updates along with good recommendations will make you stand out, not barrages of emails that will be deleted without ever seeing the light of day.

Add Clients

When you do have a new client, or you bid on a new job, find them on LinkedIn. Make a request to add them to your network as if they accept they’ll be able to see your portfolio and any testimonials you have. When work is completed you can then ask for a recommendation, and be sure to return the favour, as your clients are business people too and will appreciate the social media boost.

eSeller Guides, Grow, Launch, Promote, Sell

How to Build Links by Yourself

Martina Mercer
May10/ 2015

Here are a few quick ways to build links by yourself.

External links are important for increasing your Google ranking and making sure you’re recognised online as a leader in your field. Google is the ideal platform as customers and clients have already decided to purchase or acquire your product or service when entering the search criteria.
Keywords on your website along with meta tags and descriptions all help you rise to the top however the more you can promote yourself externally the more Google will recognise your business as valuable to their visitors

Article Submissions

There are hundreds of article submission sites that allow you to publish informative content that adds value to the reader. Many frown on blatant self-promotion however they will allow you to insert a self-serving link so the reader can find their way to your website. Not only will this increase your results in Google, it will also attract more customers, as long as you realise the importance of quality content.
Some businesses believe that quantity rivals quality, submitting insipid content that is bypassed by the public as spam or uninteresting, however in the last two months Google have moved their goal posts and now not only are keywords pushing rankings higher but the actual quality of content linked to your website.

WARNING: Research the article site heavily first as many have been penalised by Google for publishing spam. Make sure it’s reputable such as Technorati or Huffpost.

 

There are a myriad of subjects to choose from depending on your type of business for example:

• Teeth Whitening Superstore – White Teeth, why they play a prominent part in the Booker Prize winner’s Novel
• Waste Disposal – How to Recycle your Rubbish
• Discount Vouchers – Save Pounds on grocery bills with savvy shopping techniques
• Photography – How to Hide your Double Chin in Photographs
• Dating – Will He Call After the First Date?
These all give tips and advice to your current and potential customers and if the content is valuable you may find that as well as increasing your Google ranking you also generate an entirely new customer base too.

Guest Blogging

Trading blogging spots is a wonderful way to become recognised as depending on who you approach, there will already be a follower base that will hang on your every word. Of course targeting someone in direct competition is foolish however a complementary business may benefit from the trade-off.
For example:
• The Teeth Whitening could guest blog on a cosmetic site that offers Botox or even a Spa website.
• The Waste Disposal on a food website or gardening website with a blog about making your own compost
• Discount Vouchers on a money saving expert website, or depending on the vouchers on offer, restaurants, food, fashion or toys.
• Photography could guest blog on a bridal shop website.
• Dating on a relationship website.
Many bloggers are happy to trade places as long as you extend the same courtesy as they know that a link on your blog is also valuable for them.

On Site Blogging

Blogging used to be diary entries by those with a love for creative writing, however, now it is much more than this. An essential business tool on a regular basis you can insert keywords whilst enhancing your visitors experience. You can write your blog yourself giving your customers a rare insight behind the scenes of your business or you could employ copywriting services for an average of £30 per blog.

Great Reviews

Having a product or service review on a site such as The Consumer Voice can boost your SEO significantly.

 

Copywriting Services, Engage, Sole Traders, Web Traffic

How to Get Customers to Your Site

Martina Mercer
May07/ 2015

As a sole trader you should already know how to get customers to your site, right? Designing a website and getting users to come and visit it, require different skill sets, so it can be useful to have some pointers on how to lead potential clients to your website.

Search Engines

When a person looks for information on a topic Internet search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and Bing use various mathematical formulae or algorithms to find websites that it believes are a good match. Those websites that match most closely to the search term will show up highest (as well as those that paid to do so and show up as advertised results). A whole specialism called Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) has developed in recent years, to link websites to specified search terms, just so that the sites show up when a user looks for information on these subjects.

The different search engines use different, closely guarded algorithms to match websites to search terms, so it can be difficult to pinpoint what works in all cases. However, some basic pointers that help SEO are:

  • Choose title pages that accurately describe the content
  • Identify what phrases people would use to find your services and then use these in a relevant way as part of your content, particularly in section headings
  • Some words or phrases will be too heavily used by other websites – try to strike a balance between words/phrases that are relevant but less commonly used e.g. Joomla expert London – rather than website designer

Blogs & Articles

You can attract browsers by writing articles related to your area of expertise and having these appear on websites that are relevant to your target clients. By providing advice on general areas or topical issues, you will demonstrate your expertise, in turn helping to raise your profile. When potential clients perceive you as an expert in your field, there is less of a requirement to prove your ability and they are much more likely to contact you when they need help.

Backlinks

These can be useful for both SEO purposes and site users, when employed appropriately. A backlink is basically a link on your website to another site. As a rule of thumb, it is better to connect to websites that are relevant to the subject, rather than including random links. Sometimes people offer to include a link to your website in return for placing one on theirs. However, be careful to consider websites that are relevant to yours. Otherwise search engines may adjudge it to be spam, which would have an adverse effect on web searches. Just as importantly, irrelevant backlinks may result in a negative user experience.

Social Media

Websites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter can be very useful for promoting your website and it is well worth including your website address as a tagline to your name or auto-signature so that users can follow the link to your website when they wish to find more information about your services. Similar to blogs and articles, by joining relevant discussion groups and commenting on threads relevant to your skills it will also help to build your profile as an expert, helping to attract users to your website.

Foreign Markets, Global, Payments

Overcome the foreign exchange risks of cross border ecommerce

Deepak Goyal
May04/ 2015

[divider]Foreign exchange markets are unpredictable.

 

They are complex, volatile and massively impacted by global political and economic events – current and anticipated.
E-tailers buying stock from overseas face two main currency-related issues:

  • Variable true cost of stock purchases, combined with a fixed market price equals unpredictability of returns

When buying stock from international suppliers, moving exchange rates can cause the price you pay to fluctuate. If exchange rates move against you, you may have to pay more GBP to acquire the same stock, increasing the cost price of your product. Your prices to the market, however, will normally stay the same. This means that anticipated profits are uncertain – and can even become a loss as a result of currency movements.

  • High costs associated with making overseas payments

When sellers pay for imported stock in a foreign currency transferred by a bank, the typical cost of the currency conversion is around 2-3% of the payment value. If the bank also adds transfer charges to the cost your stock cost price will be increased even further.

E-tailers selling overseas, whether directly or via global online marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay, Groupon, Alibaba or region-specific sites (such as Sears, MercadoLibre, Rakuten and so on) can face problems in pricing their products profitably and repatriating payments at the best rates.

  • Pricing

When setting prices in overseas markets, you should consider the exchange rate volatility of the appropriate currencies and build into your prices enough of a buffer to absorb any everyday exchange rate movements. This means you will have some protection if the rates move against you and will not end up selling your products at a loss.

  • Repatriating payments profitably

Although price buffering protects you against some movement in currency value, you may still lose up to 3% of your total international sales revenue when transferring the foreign currency you earn to your domestic bank account. This loss is incurred through exchange rate conversion costs; online marketplaces will invariably take larger commissions on currency conversion than a specialist foreign exchange provider. What’s more, you also have no control over when the funds are converted into your home currency – this is initiated automatically as and when the marketplace receives a payment for you. If you do not need those funds immediately; having the opportunity to wait for a better rate before converting it could make a significant difference to your bottom line.

 

How can you make the currency markets work in your favour?

Online marketplaces have made it fairly easy to engage in cross-border selling. But they don’t necessarily provide the best solution when it comes to handling payments in foreign currencies.

As an e-tailer, you need a straightforward, cost-effective way to make or receive payments overseas – and to get the best deal when it comes to converting your funds into your home currency.

Generally speaking you don’t have time to watch the markets so you can take advantage of favourable movements in foreign exchange rates. You don’t have access to the specialist resources that large multinationals have available in-house, but you still need to find a way of making the markets work for you – without spending every spare minute in front of a screen.

 

3 ways a e-tailing currency specialist could help:
  1. An e-tailer Collection Account. Online marketplaces can enable your early cross-border initiatives, but don’t rely on them for repatriating your payments without investigating the alternatives. Using a currency specialist, alongside your online marketplace, could let you transfer your money back to your domestic bank account with a commission rate of just 1-2% instead of up to 4% (which is the standard commission rate charged by online marketplaces to do the same transfer). You have the power to decrease your losses by half!

 

  1. ‘Rate-watch’. As you are unlikely to have the time to monitor the currency markets yourself, working with a currency specialist means you’ll be contacted wen the currencies you’re interested in reach the trigger rates you have identified. Benefit from making currency transfers when the market moves in your favour.

 

  1. If you’re importing stock, moving exchange rates can cause your input price to vary. A forward contact can lock in a set exchange rate for you, and give you a degree of certainty.

There is every reason to look at cross-border opportunities. Global cross-border ecommerce is set to grow to £28 billion by 2020, with the UK expected to have a 60%share of that market. But beware: hidden currency costs can turn overseas profits into unforeseen losses. An experienced foreign exchange provider will take the time to understand your business, its processes and objectives and give you the tools best suited to protect you from FX risks.

 

 

Which global markets should you expand your business into?

 

Customer Opinion, Loyalty

True or False? How to spot a fake review

Phillip Smith
May04/ 2015

Reviews are all over the Internet and are used by consumers far and wide, not just to guide and validate their purchase decisions but, to make choices about where to travel, which restaurants are highly recommended and what local services they can benefit from.

When genuine, these reviews are equally valuable for business, helping companies to build trusting relationships with their customers and boost their confidence in using their services on an on-going basis. According to the Nielsen Global Trust in Advertising 70 per cent of all consumers trust online ratings, so it’s worthwhile ensuring there’s a system in place to capture feedback and display it to encourage faith from consumers.

However it’s also important to consider that fake reviews sometimes fall into the mix. This in turn can reflect badly on a brand and lead to distrust and even lack of repeat business.

That’s why for businesses and customers alike, distinguishing whether a customer review profile really contains genuine and authentic reviews is so important to maintain a positive online experience. There are a number of simple indications that can act as warning signs:

Quantity is key: The more reviews a company receives, the greater their significance. The general rule is that 100 reviews will give a realistic picture of a website and have a higher impact than a handful of high-praise reviews.

Plausible recommendations: It’s inevitable that all great reviews will contain some critical comments, but this shouldn’t have a huge impact on the overall rating of a business. In fact it reinforces the authenticity of reviews – after all no company has a perfect record and a variation of feedback is likely to provide a much more realistic overview.

The company replies: If the company in question actively comments on the reviews, this indicates willingness from the business to admit its mistakes and actively seek to address customer concerns and rectify the problem.

Trust-boosting characteristics: In addition to the actual reviews, there can be other characteristics in the customer review profile that demonstrate trustworthiness – this could be a trustmark for example or the business may display reviews by other providers as well.

It pays to be up to date: In an ideal world, reviews would be shared on a regular basis, as consumers are much more likely to believe in recent feedback rather than refer to comments made months ago.

Authenticity beats advertising: Regular customers rarely write very detailed comments. If there’s a high volume of reviews that are particularly descriptive or positive, it can raise suspicions about their validity. Could someone have written it from the business? Tip: people who write fake reviews may also include keywords for better search engine optimisation.

For example, the chances are that the following comment is not from a genuine customer:

“Thank you very much for the beautifully designed, space-saving and super-silent A3585X vacuum cleaner from XY’s 10 series! It’s great that you also offer the “room freshener 8” filter in the bargain-priced pack of 5. It won’t be long until I make my next purchase from this Peterborough-based start-up entrepreneur!”

Genuine reviews are very different: Any form of recognisable pattern indicates that something is not quite right. Genuine customer ratings are entered continuously, and not in batches in response to a critical customer review. They are neither particularly elaborate nor nondescript (“very good”, “very nice”, etc.). They are formulated based on the individual customer, and are not written in the same style by the same authors, or by a so-called automatic content spinner.

The customer reveals their identity: Ideally, each customer will have a public profile for reviews that includes their name and profile picture, as this builds a picture of a genuine, identifiable character. It’s worth taking a quick look at the profile to see if the details seem plausible and if the customer has rated other organisations as well. As a rule of thumb, reliable writers will have given reviews for a wide variety and volume of businesses.

Foreign Markets, Global, Google, mCommerce, Payments, SEO

Go mobile-friendly

Deepak Goyal
April23/ 2015

At the start of the year Google confirmed that it will start to take ‘mobile friendliness’ into account as part of it’s search engine indexing. The change will take effect on 21 April and will be used to rank webpages in all languages.

Although it’s fairly unlikely you’ll have time to capitalise on Google’s announcement by creating a brand new webpage, it’s still a good idea to optimise your online store for mobile interaction and take advantage of the soaring popularity of mobile purchases.

You can get started with a free assessment of your online business using Google’s mobile-friendly test.

 The trend

Smartphones and tablets were used to make 40% of all UK online retail sales in the last quarter of 2014. It’s the biggest increase in the rate of mobile retail penetration when compared with the same period in 2013, when mobile devices accounted for only 32% of online sales.

The improvements in broadband speeds and the huge strides retailers have made in upgrading and securing their platforms have eliminated the need for shoppers to be at home or in the office when they feel the need to spend. This also goes some way to explaining why smartphones are more popular than tablets for making online purchases.

 The perks

Many small businesses are waking up to the importance of having a mobile strategy. Nearly a quarter (23%) of online small businesses surveyed be eBay and YouGov planned to have a mobile optimised site or app in the next 12 months. If that happens, more than half of all small businesses with an online presence can expect to see profits improve: 45% of businesses that ‘went mobile’ saw a related increase in sales.

9 SEO tips for international online sales

 

Health and Safety

Relieving Back Pain After a Busy Day at the Desk

Martina Mercer
April23/ 2015

Top Tips for Relieving Back Pain after a Busy Day at a Desk

When working in any type of medical or care-based position it is important that you remember at all times to look after your back. Moving and lifting anything from a box to helping a patient out of a chair could very well cause damage which could prove to be long term or permanent.

Every workplace should have a policy in place relating to the health and safety aspect of moving and handling and employees should take any additional steps necessary to safeguard themselves.

If you do have any concerns about how your work could potentially pose a risk to your health speak to your line manager.

To keep yourself well and free from back pain in and outside of work consider these top tips.

Maintain a Good Level of Posture

Over time sitting in a crouched or hunched over position, walking with your shoulders down or being hunched and slumping down into your chair will all cause poor posture which is difficult to correct and may cause ongoing muscle-related issues.

Lift Properly

Always bend your knees and your hips when doing down to lift something, don’t bend your back. Additionally it is important to avoid lifting and twisting, or bending and twisting at the same time. When lifting assess the weight of the item first and then carry it close to your body rather than with outstretched arms or with the weight dragging your arms and shoulders down.

Consider Using Equipment to Move and Handle Items
In many healthcare situations moving and handling is something that comes with the role. It is not however acceptable to be asked to move something which is too heavy, large or unpredictable. Straps, hoists and similar pieces of equipment should be provided, you should be instructed on their proper use and they should be used, even if it may seem quicker to manually move someone or something yourself.

Consider a Healthier Lifestyle
There are many good reasons to lose weight and generally take better care of your body; one being that carrying excess weight may contribute to back discomfort and damage.

Use an Appropriate Bag

If carrying items in a bag, such as files, uniforms (etc) choose a rucksack type of back and utilise both straps, properly adjusted to evenly distribute the weight of your load properly. Sling type bags and similar may contribute to damage if you are carrying heavier loads.

Enjoy a Properly Arranged Desk

If your role requires you to spend time at a desk and / or computer ensure that your working area is ergonomically designed so as to support your back, encourage good posture and do remember to take regular breaks to alter your position.

Adopting a proactive attitude to protecting your back so that you may avoid ongoing and painful problems is the best way forward. Whether at work or at home ensure that you take all precautions to avoid injury and generally work towards maintaining good posture and habits.

Google, mCommerce, SEO

Is Your Mobile Site Ready for Google’s New Ranking Algorithm?

Philip Rooke
April16/ 2015

[dropcap]W[/dropcap]ith Google warning that it’s prepared to drop the rankings of sites that aren’t mobile optimised from 21st April, when it will introduce changes to its algorithm, businesses especially e-sellers can no longer ignore this medium. But how can they prepare for this new challenge and how can they best convert browsers into customers? At Spreadshirt we set out to make 2014 the year of mobile experience and we saw our sales via mobile devices double. Here’s what we found out along the process:

Thinking about our mobile approach first forced us to think about what matters to customers. We had to make really hard feature and communication decisions and have found often that less is more to get mobile right. This has raised the standard across all our mediums. From our experience, in order not to lag behind, e-sellers need to be focusing on four key areas: optimisation, usability, features and payments.

Is your mobile site ready for Google’s new ranking algorithm?

1. Optimisation

Despite the recent growth and significant potential in mobile commerce lots of sites are still poorly optimised. The mobile shopping experience must be even more intuitive than on the desktop, so the first step is creating a responsive design for the entire shop. Consumers now expect their mobile experience to be as good as a desktop. This may mean adjusting the shape of the site or making sure images are mobile friendly.  Websites that fail to function on a mobile device or deliver a less-than-perfect experience will see diminishing returns.

 2. Usability

This issue leaves retailers with very hard business and User Experience decisions on what to leave out of their mobile design. Too many companies optimise their mobile presence, without checking usability and whether the result really has added value for the customer. Mobile consumers on the whole want simplicity because of screen size and download times.

 3. Features

Searching has got to be easy. That doesn’t just mean easy to do, but it should be easy to find what you’re looking for. We addressed this by taking a look at our mobile marketplaces’ search facility. This has now been simplified. Our platform now also includes a Wish List feature, so browsers can save search results and complete the order at a later date.

4. Payments

All of the above is to no avail if the payment process is complex. We made our mobile payment space fully responsive in 2014. Now that all elements of the page can detect and adjust to the screen size of the device, the mobile payment process is easier and more intuitive.

Having a single page check-out is also essential in converting mobile visitors into sales. Clicking through varies pages to put in your address, choose a payment method and confirm the order works ok on a desktop, but is painful on a mobile and discourages visitors from buying. The Spreadshirt single page check-out now meets the highest technology standards in terms of usability and technology.

You also need to consider that mobile devices are relatively new to customers and the technology is rapidly changing. The customer still has a lot to discover about how they like to shop on mobiles and e-sellers still have a lot to learn so with mobile in particular, companies should look to be constantly upgrading.

For us, to meet the technical expectations of our year of the Mobile Experience, we adopted agile development processes, a state-of-the-art procedure to ensure a very fast route to implementation and launch of the feature/service and to ensure its ongoing optimisation.

Mobile is moving away from being just a research tool into a significant buying channel, presenting huge opportunities for us and other e-sellers to increase sales. Mobile sales are expected to rise to nearly 50% of all transactions in the coming years, as customers continue to use mobile devices and companies optimise sites for mobile conversion with better visuals, features and payment options.

From the 21st April, sites with poor mobile usability will decline in the search ranking results so it is now imperative to optimise mobile performance and usability. Mobile commerce will continue to grow with consumers increasingly demanding a joined-up experience between channels. Customers will move away from being content at being able to use a mobile to shop, to wanting to have the same experience across their devices. While this may not require e-sellers to have the same dynamic features across all the different shopping channels, it does certainly mean that there will need to be a consistency in design, communication and functions. The deadline has now been set, are you ready?

 Author: Philip Rooke, CEO of Spreadshirt. Follow him on Twitter @PhilipRooke
Beacon Technology, Featured

New Beacon Technology Could Delight Bored Consumers

Martina Mercer
April09/ 2015

Last year the big eCommerce buzzword was loyalty, this year it is retention. It’s a fact that retaining a customer costs five times less than attracting a new one with the returns being the same. On the face of it, it may seem as though retaining a customer isn’t profitable yet when we delve deeper and look at the customer lifetime value (CLV) you see that losing that customer could cost your business thousands of pounds over time.

Even the biggest brands pay attention to the individual as they realise the amount of money at stake. With one disgruntled customer telling on average eight people about their bad experience, poor customer service can cost a company a lot of money.

We Want It All and We Want It Now

It seems that businesses are now over a barrel. The consumer is in control and they know it. The companies that meet the strict customer care criteria thrive while those that ignore the importance of customer relations fade away.

Before the internet, as consumers we would enjoy face to face contact with our service providers and shop managers. We’d engage in conversation and expect a shopping trip to last a little longer as it became a social event. Then the internet provided convenience. Customers didn’t want contact, they wanted to sit at home and order what they needed with zero effort involved. Their wishes were answered and the age of ecommerce evolved.

How the Credit Crunch Affected Consumer Behaviour

Just as we settled into a world predicted by George Orwell’s 1984, the credit crunch made us more aware of where our money was going. Ecommerce was unprepared. Yes, they’d covered customer service in store or in the office, they hadn’t however considered it when selling on the web.

Shoppers became pickier, they wanted to know that their hard earned cash was going to a worthy business. They wanted to receive great value for money and most of all they wanted their spending to be appreciated.

In the past this would be done with a smile and a thank you. Customers would realise their value when greeted by name or asked a question about their family. On the internet this wasn’t possible. The best that could be done was a generic email thanking for the order and an ill equipped sales team at the end of a phone in case of any complaints.

Those quick of the mark realised this and began to track the individual, they spent time on consumer analysis, they segmented customers to deliver a more seemingly bespoke shopping experience and they communicated armed with information about the customer to break the ice.

These companies are still thriving today as they know one of the worst phrases you can utter to a customer is, “remind me who you are”.

How Beacon Technology Can Help

Unless you’ve been living in a hole, you would have heard of beacon technology for brands. Unfortunately, this innovative new way to connect with customers is still in its infancy which means many brands find they can actually drive customers away with it. That being said, beacon technology is here to stay and those that do it well will receive many rewards such as consumer loyalty.

There is one company, and one company alone that understands all the psychology behind beacons and consumer relations. They have developed an APP to ensure businesses only notice the positives, eliminating the negatives. The APP delivers on many levels to the shopper, most importantly giving them complete control over the beacon notifications they receive and when. This removes the risk of putting a customer off with notifications or annoying the shopper by sending an ill timed beacon notification that impedes their access to their personal texts.

Right now Brand Street are talking with select brands, the platform is invitation only to retailers. Soon, it will become available to all and has been heralded as the missing link commerce has been waiting for. You can catch a glimpse of developments over at the Brand Street blog, or contact Martina Mercer for more information or a brochure.

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