The Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition is being held this year at the Boston Convention Center from June 15-18th and Volusion will be attending for the third year in a row. This year 350 exhibitors, 179 expert speakers, and approximately 5,000 attendees are expected.

Benefits of Attending:

• America’s largest e-retailing trade show will introduce you to numerous networking opportunities with fellow e-retailers.
• You will be exposed to the largest display of e-commerce technology in the world.
• Paid conference attendees will have free web access to all presentation slides- so you do not have to worry about missing anything.
• Qualified speakers covering all industry segments will be there to offer advice and training.

If you are already registered please make sure to stop by and visit us in booth 530. If you are not already registered you can do so here (contact your sales representative for a registration coupon code).

Volusion looks forward to seeing you at this year’s Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition!

Helpful resources:
IRCE 2009 Speakers
IRCE 2009 Workshops
Find Your Way Around the Exhibit Hall
Find a Local Hotel

-Kate Pierce eCommerce Specialist

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Permission based emailing (or “opt-in” emailing) has become a powerful tool for businesses. Inexpensive and easy to maintain, it seems like the perfect marketing tool for reaching a wide audience. But what do customers have to say about it? Studies have shown that they react positively to permission based emailing. From increasing brand recognition to influencing the purchase process, email is playing a vital role with today’s online shoppers.

1. Shapes the Impression of a Brand
   Of those surveyed, 57% of consumers had a more positive impression of companies that they had purchased from when they received emails from them afterward. Not surprisingly, conducting email correspondence with customers on a regular basis tends to make the brand more personal to them. It also stresses dedication to customer service and interest in them and their purchasing needs. Businesses that email current customers and prospects forge a stronger bond with the customer because communication is opened up between both parties.
2. Encourages Future Purchases
   57% of participants surveyed said that they remember emails that they have received from companies when they are going online to buy. This shows that companies with a strong email campaign may have a competitive advantage. If consumers are recalling emails that a company has sent when they are headed online ready to make a purchase chances are they will be looking at that company’s site first for the products/services they desire.
3. Has A Lasting Impact
   Surprisingly, 72% of survey participants said that they will still review email from companies they know days or even weeks after it was originally sent. This statistic can give companies utilizing email marketing campaigns some reassurance that their efforts are not being deleted in bulk as consumers flush spam emails and emails that do not interest them out of their inbox. Consumers do, in fact, read emails from companies that they trust. They may postpone reading them if they are busy checking personal correspondences or replying to emails for work, but they do read them. In fact, 60% of those surveyed said that they will save emails from companies to review later when they are looking to purchase products that the company offers. Think about how long you save a newspaper or mailed flyer. Do you store it where you can easily find it and pull it out when you are ready to make a purchase? Probably not. In this sense, these permission based emails have a much greater lasting impact than other traditional forms of marketing.

Certainly spamming consumers or making it impossible to opt-out of email correspondence is a bad idea, but sending consumers that have provided you with permission to email them timely interesting information every so often can greatly strengthen your brand and increase sales. Senior vice president of Epsilon Strategic Services Kevin Mabley, puts it simply when he says, “E-mail builds loyalty and brand awareness and drives on and off-line behavior.”

Helpful Links:
Volusion email how-to
Accessing Volusion email
Using third party email with Volusion
Configuring Volusion email with Outlook

-Kate Pierce eCommerce Specialist

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Internet usage studies over the last few years have shown that not only are Americans spending more time online than ever before, but the rate of increase is growing much faster than anticipated. According to recent studies, in 2008 Americans spent 30% of their leisure time online- making the United States fifth in the world in terms of leisure Internet usage behind China, South Korea, Japan and Italy respectively. The biggest growth happened from 2006-2007. In 2005 an average American spent 7.8 hours per week online. By 2006 that number had increased as expected to about 8.9 hours per week. But by 2007 the average American was spending a whopping 15.3 hours per week online, and the numbers have just continued to grow from there. So what changes in 2007 prompted this huge increase and continued to fuel growth in 2008 and now 2009? Simply put, there is more to do online these days!

Many people have turned to the internet for day to day services because of the following advantages:

• Don’t Have To Show Up In Person
  Online services like bill pay, car registrations, loan applications, etc. have reduced the number of services that you actually have to go and do in person- eliminating annoyances like commuting, waiting in line, and filling out paperwork.
  • Paying bills
  • Running errands
  • Taking classes

• Can combine Information from Many Sources in One Place
  Whether you are looking for information on news, politics, industry views, restaurants, vacation hot spots, or the season’s hottest products there are a multitude of websites at your fingertips that will collect relevant information for you. Web readers have done an excellent job of this data accumulation- letting users collect a stream of information on various topics and sites that interest them in one place.
  • Shopping online
  • Reading the news
  • Doing travel research/booking travel
  • Finding recipes/getting cooking information
  • Reading blogs
  • Finding service providers/restaurants

• Connect with Similar People Easily
  The anonymity of the internet as well as its wide reach across the world has made it easy for all users to find people and communities with similar interests, regardless of personalities or location.
  • Using dating sites
  • Searching for a job
  • Forums/message boards

• Get Exposure to New Technologies Instantly
  New technologies can spread and evolve across the internet rapidly and therefore are perfectly suited for online development and use. Widespread access online makes it possible for smaller companies and even individuals to create and improve on technologies in ways that can shape the entire online technology landscape.
  • Gaming
  • Watching videos
  • Listening to music
  • Watching TV episodes/clips

• Expand Personal Influence
  The internet has given wings to the “Rise of the Individual” phenomenon, whereby individuals can have their voices and opinions heard instantly by a huge audience.
  • Maintaining a personal website
  • Blogging
  • Participating in social media

We were interested in seeing how Volusion employees’ online activities stacked up against the national averages. In total 45 Volusion employees were surveyed. Below are our findings:


-Kate Pierce eCommerce Specialist

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In March of 2007 Kelly Paster launched her online store www.SuburbanDogHouse.com with Volusion, selling high-quality dog accessories aimed at bridging the gap between practicality and aesthetics. Her site also contains an exclusive “Made in the USA” section.

In the last two years Kelly has found incredible success selling online. However, all of her success did not come overnight. When she started her website with Volusion Kelly took the necessary time to develop her site- getting the design just right, adding and tweaking all of her products, and streamlining the consumer buying process by making sure her navigation was intuitive and easy for customers to use. All of her hard work and dedication to her customers is evident in her loyal customer base. Kelly explains, “Customers like the clean design of each product page and the easy navigation built into the site. They also like the one page checkout- because they don’t need to go through multiple screens to complete their order. I personally think the photo zoom feature gives us an advantage with online shoppers because internet shopping is so visual. Customers can see the details of the products before they buy.”

With about 2000 SKUs it would be easy to lose track of an individual product but as Kelly explains, “We’re knowledgeable about our broad selection and can respond to customer questions within 24 hours.” The ability to manage so many products with ease is a huge competitive advantage for www.SuburbanDogHouse.com because Kelly does not have to worry about getting bogged down each time products need to be updated. She can focus more time on customer satisfaction. She elaborates, “A big consideration for  choosing Volusion was the ease of adding products and our ability to quickly update the site. It’s easy to move around the product detail page. I can load new products and set up inventory tracking from one page.”

Kelly also takes full advantage of Volusion’s SEO features to make sure consumers can find her products and keeps tabs on all of her outside marketing efforts with the ROI tracker. She notes, “The product template within Volusion is very comprehensive. I can load a product with complete description and SEO very quickly. I use the ROI tracker to see which marketing is generating sales and the Order Details report to take a closer look at the orders coming from the marketing I’m doing.”

Kelly told us, “I honestly consider Volusion my partner. They provide the cyber ‘bricks and mortar’ I need to be in business.” But Kelly also has some other important partners as well- Kelly spends a good deal of time in the Volusion forums getting feedback from other Volusion users.

Ready to try Volusion today? Get started now!

-Kate Pierce eCommerce Specialist

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