Blinq vision, strategy, & tactics presentation

blinq.com vision, strategy, & tactics
For 2014 and beyond

1

Site Enhancement Roadmap Ideas

This document is intended to give you a sampling of ideas for
the business.
Think of it as a “menu”, from which you can pick and choose.
These ideas were generated from an outsider's perspective, so,
some of these ideas may not work for blinq.com or the blinq
marketplaces; we can brainstorm together to modify them.
Of course, you’ll have many of your own ideas that we’ll add to
the list. Our ideas together can form an evolving roadmap /
project list.
Each idea is written with the ultimate goals of strengthening
the Blinq brand and the Blinq.com user experience, in order to
funnel more future customers to Blinq.com.
These ideas are presented in no particular order of
importance.

Rick Wingender

2

Table of Contents

Topic
PayPal & Bill Me Later
Amazon Strategy
Marketplaces
Social Sign-In
Social Media Strategy
Email & Content Marketing
Email Signup
Checkout Process Improvements
BlinqTV on Roku
Other Ideas
Loyalty / Rewards Program
Shortlist Enhancement
Trust Marks
Sales Tax Collection
Low Price Promise Page
Cooperative Marketing Partnerships
User Experience Feedback Program
Open Box Deals Merchandising
Miscellaneous Ideas

Page
4
9
17
22
29
44
48
52
57
62
63
65
66
67
68
69
70
72
73-74

3



4


“Right now, 87% of PayPal buyers on TigerDirect.com are new
customers. It’s incredible – of all our payment options, PayPal has
attracted the highest number of new customers.”
Carl Fiorentino, President, TigerDirect.com

According to a blind buyer survey, 21% of PayPal online shoppers at the following retailers would not have
made their purchase unless PayPal was an option.

Merchant

Customers Who
Purchased Only
Because PayPal
Was Available

Ralph Lauren

23%

Dell

14%

1-800-Flowers

22%

Toys R’ Us

26%

Sharper Image

20%

eBags

20%

Barnes & Nobles

25%
5


PayPal ROI Estimate

Worst Case

GROSS Internet Revenue: (12/16/06--12/16/07)
Return Rate:
NET Internet Revenue:
Expected Revenue Lift from PayPal:
NET Revenue Lift Through PayPal:
Gross Margin $ Lift ( @40% GM )

$

Current Average Order Value:
Expected Increase in AOV of PayPal Users
Expected AOV from Paypal Users
Current # of Annual Orders (NET):
Expected # of Orders from PayPal Users (NET):

$

% of PayPal Sales that are from NEW customers:
Total NET Revenue Lift Through PayPal
NET Revenue from NEW PayPal Customers:
Expected Transactions from NEW PayPal Customers:
Incremental Revenue from EXISTING Customers:
Expected AOV from PayPal Users:
PayPal Orders from Existing Customers:
% of PayPal Customers that are Existing Cust.
Lift in AOV of existing customers due to PayPal Use:

Paypal Expenses:
Dev Expenses
Transaction Expenses: ($0.10 per transaction)
Transaction Expenses: (1.55% of transaction amount)
Total Paypal Expenses

Expected Case

Best Case

Savings on Transaction Expenses:
Current Transaction (Interchange) Expenses
Net Transaction (Interchange) Savings:
Savings on Fraud Expenses:
Current Fraud Expense (.15% to sales)
Estimated Paypal Fraud Expense (.05% to sales)
Net Fraud Expense Savings
Return on Investment ($$)
$

83.41 $
0%
83.41
1,075,137
38,705

83.41 $
3%
85.91
1,075,137
104,382

83.41
29%
107.60
1,075,137
116,682

5%
3,228,295
161,415 $
1,935

20%
8,967,486
1,793,497 $
20,876

33%
12,554,481
4,142,979
38,505

3,066,880 $
83.41
36,770
95%
-

7,173,989 $
85.91
83,506
80%
2.50

8,411,502
107.60
78,177
67%
24.19

$
3,870
50,039
53,909

$
10,438
138,996
149,434

11,668 $
194,594
206,263

198,181
48,747

277,454
71,191

13,451
4,484
8,967

18,832
6,277
12,554

3,248,960

$

121,931,286
26%
89,674,863
14.0%
12,554,481
5,021,792

4,842
1,614
3,228

$

121,931,286 $
26%
89,674,863
10.0%
8,967,486
3,586,995

71,345
17,436

$

121,931,286 $
26%
89,674,863
3.6%
3,228,295
1,291,318

9,025,201

12,638,227

3,228,295 $

8,967,486 $

12,554,481

1.Calculate TOTAL SALES through the alternative payment source. (This is
New and Existing customer usage) Next 2 steps: Determine w hat is
Incremental.
Typical Lift = 3.6% per PP Rep. Probably much higher (demograpic!)

Guesstimate…intentionally conservative.

Net PayPal Rev / Expected AOV from PP users.

This ROI model was created
by Rick and vetted by PayPal
and JTV’s finance team.

2.Determine new custom er sales (New customers using the alternative
payment source).

(Net Rev Lift thru PP - Net Rev from NEW PP customers)
3.Determine the Revenue from the higher AOV of Existing Custom ers
now using PayPal (compared w ith users of non-alternative payment
sources)

Could be paid for by PayPal.

0.10 Based on Gross transactions, including cancels
1.6% Based on Gross transactions, including cancels

(current rates applied to expected PayPal transactions)

The expected case model
proved to be very close to
actual
results.
PayPal
eventually increased JTV’s
online revenue by >8%.
I would be surprised to see a
lift of less than 5% for
Blinq.com.

(Check)

(Given Analyst Data below:)

Current Gross Annual Web Sales:
Current Annual COGS: (Gross)
Current GM $
Gross Margin %
Current Annual Web Orders (Gross, not including Cancels):
Current Average Order Value:
Current Annual Returns:
Current Return Rate:
Current Net Annual Web Sales:
Current NET GM$

$
$
$

$
$
$

121,931,286
65,180,384
56,750,902
47%
1,461,868
83.41
32,256,423
26%
89,674,863
41,737,683

$
$
$

$
$
$

121,931,286
65,180,384
56,750,902
47%
1,461,868
83.41
32,256,423
26%
89,674,863
41,737,683

$
$
$

$
$
$

121,931,286
65,180,384
56,750,902
47%
1,461,868
83.41
32,256,423
26%
89,674,863
41,737,683

6

Q: I’ve heard the integration of these tools is a
challenge. Isn’t that true?
A: Integration is not a cakewalk — it involves one of the most sensitive parts of your site and will require
significant IT bandwidth (often several weeks of a FTE’s time). However, this is also the rare case of an
initiative with empirical evidence that supports customer acquisition, even more so than improvements
such as on-site search or A/B testing.
--Sucharita Mulpuru, Forrester Research Presentation










We implemented PayPal at Jewelry Television with great results.
Awareness of PayPal with online shoppers is nearly 100%. PayPal improved our credibility. We saw significant incremental
Customers (>30% of our PayPal customers were new-to-file).
We received many new customer email addresses.
In-cart conversion rate of 80% bested non-PayPal transactions (51%)
Revenue increased due to existing customers having higher AOVs on subsequent purchases.
Revenue increased due to new customers.
Various studies show (as do JTV.com results) that PayPal customers spend more money online, and have higher AOVs.
Transactions are virtually riskless – PayPal’s antifraud team protects both sellers and buyers.
PayPal transaction reconciliation will require additional work for accounting team.




Bill Me Later financing gives Blinq.com another tool to convert
customers.
These transactions will have higher AOVs.
Integration is the same as PayPal.

7


PayPal and Bill Me Later each
have their own shopping portals
and store directories – which
Blinq.com can be listed in, and
receive traffic from.

8

Amazon Strategy

Amazon Strategy

9

Amazon Strategy

1.

2.

3.
4.

Enhance the Amazon Strategy:
A. Engage in the Amazon FBA program;
B. Add Amazon Payments to the checkout;
C. Add Amazon Social Login;
D. Test the Amazon PPC program;
There are synergies to be gained by implementing all of these;
participation in each of these improves our positioning in (Amazon’s)
search results, as well as our probability of being promoted in
Amazon’s marketing.
Amazon store + FBA allows Blinq to take advantage of Amazon Prime.
Lastly – is Blinq utilizing Amazon repricing tools? If not, I would begin
testing this asap.

Mercent
Channel Advisor
Appeagle

Marketplace Price Optimizer; separate product (not integrated like Channel Advisor)
Must be a Channel Advisor Marketplaces customer.
$25/month (reprice up to 2500 listings/hour); $50/month (reprice up to 5000
listings/hour). Supports Amazon, eBay, & Rakuten; & Amazon FBA.
Monsoon Commerce Not a pure repricer; an order management system that works with Amazon, ebay, and
Rakuten.
RepriceIt
Only works with Amazon & FBA; Basic+ $16.95/month; Merchant $24.95/month.
Feedvisor
Must contact Feedvisor for a quote.
Wisepricer
$249/month for low-end "Pro" plan.
Teikametrics
"Intelligent Reactive Repricing™ (IRR)"; no pricing given.

10

Amazon Strategy

1.

Why FBA? To help sales on Amazon through better placement in search results and
more appeal to Amazon Prime customers.
2. To act as a hedge against inclement weather in Maryland (they can ship our orders if
we can’t. They can also ship orders from other channels).
3. Possibly save money on shipping expense (we only pay for shipping to Amazon, using
their UPS account).
4. To provide faster shipping to customers.
5. We send product to designated Amazon fulfillment centers (FCs).
6. Amazon picks, packs, and ships orders.
7. Our listings are shown more prominently to Amazon customers – especially Amazon
Prime customers. We will win the Buy Box more frequently.
8. Amazon handles returns.
9. Total Amazon profitability model becomes somewhat complex when FBA is added.
10. I have created financial models for FBA in the past; I can adapt one for Blinq.com.
11. More information: www.amazon.com/fba.

In a Q3 2012 survey of FBA
sellers, 91% of the respondents
reported that their unit sales
increased on Amazon.com since
joining FBA.

11

Amazon Strategy | Payments & Social Login

12




Amazon has more than 200 million customer
accounts; many of these customers will not purchase
on the web using any other pay type or site.



Improves our chances of getting into Amazon’s
promotional emails or offsite seller listings.



More info: https://payments.amazon.com



Also consider: www.cardinalcommerce.com because
of the additional pay options that it provides.

The next two slides show the
current cart and a mockup of
the cart with Amazon Payments
and PayPal added as options.

13


14

Amazon Strategy

Test the Amazon PPC program.

16

Marketplaces

Marketplaces

17

Marketplaces

Recommend testing new marketplaces, specifically Sears.com and Newegg.com.
These two marketplaces feature large customer bases and fit Blinq’s categories
well. These customer bases may not be reached through eBay and Amazon.
Compete.com
Quantcast.com
Average
Unique
% of
Unique
% of
Unique
% of
Visitors
Total
Forecast**
Visitors
Total Forecast**
Visitors
Total Forecast**
Amazon
128,903,291 49.0% $
100,000
78,703,887
45.8% $ 100,000
103,803,589 47.7% $ 100,000
eBay
83,490,836 31.7%
64,770
67,674,898
39.4%
85,987
75,582,867 34.8%
72,813
Bestbuy.com
22,799,142 8.7%
17,687
10,102,581
5.9%
12,836
16,450,862 7.6%
15,848
Sears
21,707,769 8.3%
16,840
10,396,393
6.1%
13,210
16,052,081 7.4%
15,464
Newegg
3,438,879 1.3%
2,668
3,597,017
2.1%
4,570
3,517,948 1.6%
3,389
Rakuten.com
1,367,607 0.5%
1,061
925,085
0.5%
1,175
1,146,346 0.5%
1,104
OneStopPlus.com
1,405,680 0.5%
1,090
410,434
0.2%
521
908,057 0.4%
875
263,113,204 100.0% $ 204,116.75
171,810,295 100.0% $ 218,300
217,461,750 100.0% $ 209,493
** Forecast: If Amazon sales = $100,000, this column forecasts sales on the other marketplaces, based purely on comparative unique visitor traffic.

Comscore
July 2013
110,028,000
71,924,000
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA

The "point" of this slide is two-fold: A) To set appropriate expectations before engaging in new marketplaces; and B) to compare current results to expectations.

Expected revenue of other marketplaces,
if Amazon sales = $100,000/month.

18

Marketplace Commissions Comparison

Amazon
Progra m Fees ?

$39/Month

Li s ti ng Fees ?

None

eBay
See
note #4
$0.20 / $0.10
/ $0.05

Sears

Best Buy

Rakuten

$39.99/Month

NA

None

None

NA

3

None

Newegg

OneStopPlus

None
None

Category Fees:
Acces s ori es
Appl i a nce
Appa rel
Arts & Cra fts
Auto & Ha rdwa re
Ba by
Ba gs & Lugga ge
Bea uty
Books , Medi a & Enterta i nment 1,2
Ca mera & Photo
Cel l Phone Acces s ori es
Computer Ha rdwa re
Cons umer El ectroni cs
DVD & Vi deos 1,2
Hea l th & Pers ona l ca re
Home & Li vi ng
Home Improvement
Jewel ry
Motorcycl es & Powers ports
Mus i ca l Ins truments
Offi ce Suppl i es

15% < $100;
For mos t
(15% < $100 + 8%
ca tegori es :
> $100)
10% of the tota l
a mount of the
15%
s a l e (i ncl udi ng
15%
s hi ppi ng, but
15%
not ta xes ).
Fees a re
12%
di fferent for
15%
motor vehi cl es ,
15%
rea l es ta te,
15%
a nd s ome
bus i nes s /
15%
i ndus tri a l
8%
ca tegori es .
15%
Thes e fees do
6%
NOT i ncl ude
your Pa yPa l
8%
fees , nor a ny of
15%
a myri a d of
15%
opti ona l
15%
monthl y
s ubs cri pti on
12%
fees or
20%
opti ona l l i s ti ng
12%
enha ncement
15%
fees .
15%

Outdoor & Ga rden

15%

Pet Suppl i es

15%
15%

Softwa re

12%
14.50%

14%

Yes

13%
15%
15%

10%
12%
14%

Yes

14.50%

12%

Yes

14.50%

15%

14.50%
14.50%

13%

7%

9%
13%

7%

7.75%

7%

7.75%

9%

14.50%

10%

15%

14.50%

12%

15%

14.50%

12%

10%

Yes

12%
20%

14.50%

12%

11.50%

10%

11.50%
11.50%

13%

17%

14.50%

12%

14.50%

Yes

10%

15%

11%

15%

Sea s ona l

14%

15%

Commission expense for
Sears’ marketplace is on par
with Amazon’s; while
Newegg’s is about 2% less,
on average.

17%
1

9.75%

15%

Sports Goods

15%

15%

14.50%

12%

Toys Ga mes & Hobbi es

15%

15%

14.5% / 9.75%

12%

Unl ocked Cel l Phones

8%

Vi deo Ga me Cons ol es

15%

1

8%

8%
8%

8%

Wa rra nty & Servi ce
Wa tches
Other

13%
15%<$800;
(15% + 12%>$800)
15%

15%

12%
14.50%

13%

19

Marketplace Opportunities

“Newegg affords us the opportunity to reach a new audience base, five million new [email] subscribers to be exact. We're already
seeing great results, especially from participating in Newegg's Guerilla Deals where sales from our featured item surpassed
$33,000 in 48 hours. Channel Advisor made it incredibly easy for us to ramp up and get going on Newegg, and we look forward to
continued success in the marketplace."

Blinq Link:
Listings (11/10/2013)
Ratings (12 Months)
Rating
Unique Visitors

Amazon
1788
6454
4.7 / 5.0
103,803,589

eBay
3054
43,810
99.4%
75,582,867

Sears
0

1

16,052,081

Best Buy
386
68
4.01 / 5.0
16,450,862

Rakuten
1275
745
4.26 / 5.0
1,146,346

2

Newegg
0

3,517,948

OneStopPlus
0

908,057

Pixmania
0

NA

 There are many tactics we can use to increase our sales on
Amazon (previously outlined). One more: Add more
listings.
 We need to improve our rating scores on Best Buy,
Rakuten, and Amazon. We should challenge negative
feedback ratings whenever possible.
1

https://seller.marketplace.sears.com/SellerPortal/d/help/about_marketplace.jsp

2

http://www.newegg.com/sellers/

3

Walmart has a marketplace; it's not ready for primetime!

20

Marketplace Opportunities

eBay Giving Works: Consider seeding a
few listings that include charitable
contributions. For example: “A portion of
this sale will be donated to the American
Cancer Society”.
 I’ve found that items in our eBay store
tend to sell better with this promotion.
It may be part of eBay’s search
algorithm.
 It's good for reputation and public
perception. Great for promoting in
social media.
 We might also be able to get some
valuable links from it, from the
beneficiaries.
 Of course, I would submit test & track
the impact on a ongoing basis.

21

Social Sign-In

Social Sign-In

22

Social Sign-In

Add social login capability to the login page & pop-up div
Social login is a particularly useful plugin, one that saves your users from having to remember yet another password. With
the average user keeping track of 25 accounts, it’s also a very compelling solution. Social login is simple for users and gives
useful data to developers. Customers may hesitate to create a new account on your site, but almost all of them already have
Social accounts like Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Twitter, LinkedIn...
Advantages of social login
Studies have shown that web site registration forms are
inefficient as many people provide false data, forget
their login information for the site or simply decline to
register in the first place. A study conducted during in
2011 by Janrain and Blue Research found that 77
percent of consumers favored social login as a means of
authentication over more traditional online registration
methods.

The Social Login Buttons let customers create an
account on the site with the information already stored
in their existing social networking accounts.
AddShoppers reads the data from whatever profile the
customer is logging in with and appropriately populates
the form fields. This feature enables ecommerce
merchants to allow logins and acquire user details from
users’ Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google, Amazon, and
Paypal profiles.

The Social Shopper Login also makes sharing favorite
items much easier, since the user is already signed in.
And that sign-in affords additional valuable information
to the retailer, from the customer’s birthday to his or her
likes and interests.
I like the AddShoppers product because it’s one of the
few I’ve seen that offers Amazon – which is huge. Janrain
is another. Wordpress does not. While you could, in
theory, have up to 30 different social logins, I would limit
it to 4 or 5 at the most. Otherwise, the page will look like
a NASCAR race car; and, all those buttons could actually
cause confusion (“which one did I use last time I was on
this site?”).

23

Social Sign-In

Add social login capability to the login page & pop-up div
Additional benefits:
• Targeted Content - Websites can obtain a profile and
social graph data in order to target personalized content
to the user. This includes information such as name,
email, hometown, interests, activities and friends.
• Multiple Identities - Users can log in to websites with
multiple social identities allowing them to better control
their online identity.
• Registration Data - Many websites use the profile data
returned from social login instead of having users
manually enter their PII (Personally Identifiable
Information) into web forms. This can potentially speed
up the registration or sign-up process.
• Pre-Validated Email - Identity providers who support
email such as Google and Yahoo! can return the user’s
email address to the 3rd party website preventing the

user from supplying a fabricated email address during
the registration process.
• Account linking - Because social login can be used for
authentication, many websites allow legacy users to link
pre-existing site account with their social login account
without forcing re-registration.
• Provider Guide (User Profile Data returned)
https://rpxnow.com/docs/providers#facebook
• http://wordpress.org/plugins/oa-social-login/
• http://www.stormpath.com/blog/2013-social-loginbest-practices

The next four slides show the
current sign-in page and popup
div; and mockup of the same
with social sign-in added as
options.

24

Social Media Strategy / Current Situation






No posts since Jan. 31.
No responses to customers’ posts.
Cover photo (Banner image) missing.
1497 “likes”

 Rick can fix all of this!

Within the first 30 days, I will:
 Create a social strategy
 Create a social editorial calendar
 Create automated/scheduled posts across
all social media sites (to ensure freshness)
 Create cover photos and a cover photo
rotation schedule.
 Begin tracking social KPIs
 Begin using social to promote blinq.com

30

Social Media / First 90 Days

Social media marketing / First 90 Days
A. Review all current sites. Are we on all appropriate sites? Are all pages "fully" built out? (Google+? Pinterest?
YouTube?) (Fix the FB timeline image!) What tools are we using? (Hootsuite?)
B. Create a editorial content calendar/schedule, with a "proper mix" of non-business and promotional content.
C. Automate much of the content.
D. What are we measuring? Do we have a KPI plan? (if not, add to "Marketing Scorecard" KPI report discussed later).
E. Do we have / need a Social Media "Community Manager"? (yes, to handle postings, chat support, and more)
F. Create a blog, if one doesn't already exist, as a subdomain of Blinq.com. I'd create a Blog & social media landing page
that features the Twitter and Facebook timeline feeds, and our blog.
G. Humanize the company. A. Sign FB & Google+ posts with a name; B. Take & post pix of employees working; C. Take &
post pix of employees NOT working. D. Invest in "cause marketing". Susan G. Koman? Animal adoption (SPCA)?
Alzheimer's research? Incredible for improving post virality and brand-image.

31

Social Media Content Planning Calendar

Social Marketing Editorial Content Planning Calendar
Sunday

Tuesday

Mo t iv a t io na l
Mo nda y q uo t es
0

Tr iv ia Tues da y s

0

0
Motivational Monday Tweet
& Re-post to Facebook

Post Patriotic Picture, Video, or
Quote to Twitter and Facebook

6

7


12

13


19

20

Martin Luther King Jr


26

27

Pr o duct Spo t l ight
W ednes da y
1
New Years Day

Thursday

Product Spotlight: Item ABC123

8

15

22

9

16

23

Choose a New or Profitable
Tweet a Trivia Question; AutoProduct. Post it on Pinterest.
forward to Facebook; Post Answer
Theme:
Forward it to Facebook & Google +
on DPP.com Trivia Page
Page .
**Link to YouTube if a product Promotional Offer:
Also autoforward to
DPP LinkedIn Page

28

29

Saturday

Funny Fr ida y pix
a nd Video s

St a r W a r s
Sa t ur da y s

3

4

Post funny picture or YouTube
video on Facebook, Twitter

Post cool Star Wars-related picture,
poster, video, or merchandise to
Pinterest Collection, publicize on
Facebook.


Theme:
Page .
Also autoforward to
DPP LinkedIn Page

21

Friday

Ema il
2

Theme:
Page .
Also autoforward to
DPP LinkedIn Page

14


Wednesday

Theme:
Page .
Also autoforward to
DPP LinkedIn Page

5

http://www.holidaysmart.com/

J a n u a r y 2 0 14

Monday

30

Theme:
Page .
Also autoforward to
DPP LinkedIn Page

10

Save the Eagles Day


17

Ben Franklin's Birthday


24

31

11
Facebook.

18
Facebook.

25
Facebook.

0
Facebook.

Follow company pages of industry peers, partners, customers, and prospects. Commenting, liking, and sharing of updates from these sources can get your company immediately on the radar around the most relevant conversations that arealready taking place.
https://www.edgerankchecker.com/
Remember to use FAB statements in posts!
Remind our own employees to engage in our FB posts!

32

Sample Cover Image Ideas for Blinq’s Facebook Page

33

Sample Cover Image Ideas for Blinq’s Facebook Page

Making
Christmas
Merrier
blinq.com

34

Social Media Strategy / Sweepstakes







Part of the Social Media
strategy
Use Facebook and the
blinq.com homepage to run
more sweepstakes / contests.
Great way to generate more
interaction, increase our “Likes”
count, and to collect valuable
email addresses.
Resources:
•
Wishpond
(www.wishpond.com)
•
Offerpop
(www.offerpop.com)
•
WooBox
(http://woobox.com/sw
eepstakes)

35

Social Media Strategy / Humanize






Part of the Social Media strategy
Sign FB & Google+ posts with a name;
Take & post pix of employees working
(customers LOVE to put a face to a name);
Take & post pix of employees NOT working.

36

Social Media Strategy / Cause Marketing



Cause marketing should be part of the
Social Media strategy

Incredible for improving post virality

Helps build the blinq brand.

Can be tied into Social, Email, and
homepage messaging.



Can also work well on the eBay store (but
expensive).



Limitless beneficiaries: Susan G. Koman?
Animal adoption (SPCA)? Make-a-Wish
Foundation? Alzheimer's research?



Resources:

https://www.facebook.com/causem
arketingforum

See also: http://markitors.com/5examples-of-cause-marketing-insocial-media/

See also: https://www.causes.com/

37

Social Media Strategy / YouTube

1.
2.

3.
4.

Create a YouTube channel for Facebook.
Create a Blinq.com YouTube channel:
A. Create YouTube videos with reviews or ads of popular
items. Integrate these into Facebook, Twitter, and
Google+ content.
B. Create YouTube videos with tech tips, incorporate
these into the blog and other social sites.
C. Begin using YouTube advertising?
Incorporate YouTube videos (if and when appropriate) on
product details pages.
Use YouTube videos as part of the “humanize the company”
philosophy.
1. The next slide shows an example of how JC Penney
does this.
2. The subsequent slide shows how a blinq.com channel
could look.

38


39


40

Product Detail Page Sharing

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Part of the social strategy.
Discounts promote Sharing From Product Detail Pages.
Change the “Share” button action to offer 10% discount codes to customers when they share a page
with their friends on FB/Twitter (do more than share).
Need a mechanism to prevent discounting of low-margin items (share only).
Many sites are already doing this; see images below.

41


Test moving the share icons to under the “add to cart” button, and add icons for email, pinterest, and Google+
See next slide for proposed test locations.

42


Share this item and save 5%

43



44


•
•
•
•
•

•
•

•

Content marketing
Part of our email marketing strategy at JTV.
Helped improve open rates
Helped improve customer loyalty and
engagement
Customers looked forward to receiving this
email; practically zero unsub requests.

Blinq could do something similar, using
curated (& attributed) reviews of products we
sell.
Create landing page & content area for these
reviews & buying guides.
Ideally, all promotional emails will have some
useful content.

45


•
•
•
•
•
•

BlinqDeals! (or “DailySteal”?)
Similar program was part of our email
marketing strategy at JTV (“Today’s
Best Value”)
Helped improve open rates
Helped improve customer loyalty and
engagement
Support with Twitter tweets and FB
posts.
Create BlinqDeals landing page and
merchandise it each day.

46


Email Marketing Calendar
Week #
1
1
2
2
3
3
4
4

1.
2.

Date

Topic or Featured Brand

Fuel Pumps

Subject Line (A Test)
Big Savings for our Email Subcribers This Week.
Big Savings For Our Diesel Performance Customers
Big Discounts for our Facebook Fans This Week
Like us on Facebook, Get a Discount!
Big Savings This Week on All Fuel Pumps!

I will review past promotional emails & brainstorm
improvements through a technique I call “on the wall”.
Begin working with Campaign Monitor to develop and
test email marketing plan (content, promos,
scheduling/frequency, etc)
1. Develop efficient/effective email templates.
2. Implement email subscription center, with
user-definable preferences, including product
preferences.
3. Review and improve our transactional emails.
4. Implement Email Marketing Calendar, which
includes subject line A/B testing, promo code
tracking, performance reviews, etc. (This
calendar is part of the overall marketing &
promotions calendar).
5. http://help.campaignmonitor.com/support

LEN( )
48
49
45
37
41
0
0
0

Subject Line (B Test)
LEN( )
Huge Savings for our Email Subcribers This Week.
49
Huge Savings For Our Diesel Performance Customers 50
Huge Discounts for our Facebook Fans This Week
47
Like DPPI on Facebook & Earn Big Savings!
42
0
0
0
0

3.
4.

Promo Code(s)

Create TBV (Today's Best Value) or “BlinqDeals”
flash Sale Email program / segment.
Add Email subscription link/signup box to the
"Thank You" page. These customers are usually
pretty excited about you at this point, so I
would make sure to have links for email
subscriptions as well as Facebook / Twitter. I'd
want to have a Share link here, so I can tell the
world what I just bought.

47

Easy Email Signup

1.
2.
3.
4.

Add a form to allow people to sign up for promotional emails on the global header, and in
several other locations also.
Entering their email address should take them to a “subscription center” page, thanking
them, asking for further optional information, and giving them a discount code.
Eddie Bauer does a great job: They have a link in their global header, and a larger form at
the bottom of the HP.
The following pages show several slightly different examples.

48



52


This icon (on our homepage) leads to the above
information (hosted on Shoprunner.com).

Add ShopRunner as a shipping option.

Helps compete with Amazon Prime; and drives New
Customer Acquisition (NCA).

Gain exposure to ShopRunner's customers (on their
site, emails, FB, etc); creates links back to
blinq.com.

Requires 2-day fulfillment.

Easier customer checkout process (2-clicks).

Revenue-sharing financial model (3-4% of sales).

Provides free shipping and free returns to these
customers - which we can promote.

Just signed AmEx partnership; 40 million
cardholders get free membership.

See presentation for more details. Also see these
videos:
•
https://www.shoprunner.com/faq/
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVRn
mBnekMo&feature=c4overview&list=UUj3FeEimLyMIjV0RbjKVhn
w
•
http://www.youtube.com/shoprunner

53


54


Additional Alternative Payment Methods





Consider Cardinal Centinel®, from Cardinal Commerce,
because of the additional payment options and exposure
that can provide. Aside from Trust Logos, adding more
payment methods is another way to enhance consumer
trust;
And, we may benefit from each payment company's own
promotional marketing.
Get all of the payment brands your Customers want with



the only all-in-one payment platform. It allows you to
integrate one, two, or as many pay types as you want – by
integrating only with Cardinal, instead of each separate
pay type.
I researched this by speaking to people at Crutchfield.com
and TigerDirect.com; they both had good things to say
about the Cardinal product.

http://www.cardinalcommerce.com/solutions/
55


Order Confirmation (“Thank You”) Page and Order Confirmation (“Thank You”) Transactional Email
Add marketing calls-to-action;
 Social “Like / Follow” icons;
 Subscribe to email newsletter / promo alerts
 Survey Link.
 Cross-merchandising: show three products related to the original purchase, or three other “great values”.
 Give them another reason to come back, or to promote the site with their friends/family. Call it a "friends and
family" coupon code - a one-time use discount code for use on Blinq.com. Or, if you'd rather not do discounts, then
use this space to let them enter into a sweepstakes/drawing.
 Note: The same items should be added to Shipping Confirmation emails, which should also include tracking
numbers (if they currently do not).
Packing Slip enhancements
Review the current content. What is it promoting? It should:
 Promote the loyalty program.
 Promote the social media sites, especially Facebook.
 Encourage customers to sign up for promotional emails, if they haven't already.
 Provide a promo discount code they can share with friends.
 Add “Thank You!” and "post-sale congratulations“ messaging, in order to prevent buyer's remorse and prevent returns. This
is a proven technique. Simply have a line of text that says something like: "Congratulations! You saved 53% on the Verbatim
flash drive that you just bought - you are a very smart shopper!"
 Ask them to return to the site and leave product ratings/reviews. That will generate more sales for this particular item.
56

BlinqTV on Roku

BlinqTV on Roku

57

BlinqTV on Roku

Create a ROKU channel, "BlinqTV", as a low-cost way to build the brand and drive traffic
to Blinq.com.
The channel would include subchannels for each product category, and show the bestsellers from these categories.
It would include pictures and a short 360o video clip, with someone reading a short
description voiceover.
Product selection would be very minimal, since you can’t transact on Roku. The idea is
to create consumer awareness of Blinq, and drive traffic to Blinq.com.
http://forums.roku.com/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=31664

58

BlinqTV on Roku

I led the product development effort at Jewelry
Television to create our Roku channel, which features a
feed of the live show. The black box to the right is
supposed to be the live feed, but it was down when I
took this photo.

59

BlinqTV on Roku

Real Roku Screenshots

60

BlinqTV on Roku

BlinqTV Screenshots: 1) Roku Menu; 2) Blinq “homepage”; 3) category page; 4) product detail page
1

BlinqTV

2

BlinqTV
Just In
Popular
Computers & Office
Electronics
Home
Fashion
Toys & Baby
Everything Else

3

BlinqTV

4

Product Spotlight

61

Rewards / Loyalty Program

According to Inc., it
costs a business
about 5-10 times
more to acquire a
new customer than
it does to sell to an
existing one -- and
on average those
current customers
of yours spend 67%
more than a new
one. I'd look at
ways to create a
points-based loyalty
program to drive
customer retention
and new customer
acquisition.

Some Benefits
 Accumulated points give customers reasons to return, and
gives us another weapon to compete with Amazon Prime.
 Can improve the effectiveness of inventory clearance
promotions.
 Can improve conversion rates by reducing shopping cart
abandonment.
 Gives customers a reason to buy from our website, versus
marketplace sites, thus saving on commission expense.
 A loyalty program can have multiple levels. For example, a
“BlinqRewards Gold” member could receive free or reduced
shipping on returns and/or upgraded shipping.

Examples of customer activities that can earn points:





Creating a Blinq account.
Making a purchase.
A referred customer makes a purchase.
Get X points for buying an item from us on Amazon; but 2X points
for buying that same item from Blinq.com.
 For writing a review on an item you purchased.
 Like our Facebook page.
 Various other actions.

63

Rewards / Loyalty Program

Some loyalty program providers:







www.points.com
www.500friends.com
www.nextbee.com/
www.punchtab.com
www.bigdoor.com
Many ecommerce platforms also offer
built-in or plug-in module capabilities.

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/630
7/bid/31990/7-Customer-LoyaltyPrograms-That-Actually-Add-Value.aspx

64

Shortlist Enhancement

Add the ability to send
the shortlist to any
recipient via email. The
click action would
bring up a simple div
popup, where the user
would enter the
recipient’s email
address.
The recipient’s email
would include a link to
each product detail
page, along with
relevant promotional
messaging / call-toaction.

65

Trust Marks

Trust Marks
1.

2.

3.
4.
5.

6.
7.

8.
9.

Trust logos are very likely to improve bounce
rates, conversion rates, and average order sizes.
Different logos will resonate with different
customers.
Test the locations on the HP.
A. Header
B. Footer
Test checkout process locations
Test product details page location
Test the following:
A. Norton Secured/Verisign,
B. Google Trusted Stores,
C. PayPal Verified,
Stella Service (can't "apply" for it, but it’s one
we’d like to earn).
I don’t advocate making the site look like a
NASCAR car; more research and testing should
be done, to determine which marks and how
many to use. Norton and Bizrate are two that I’ve
had good experiences with.
http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/7941-which-ecommerce-trustmarks-are-most-effective
Major site examples: BlueNile.com,
TigerDirect.com, Newegg.com.
66


1.
2.
3.

Passage of the Marketplace Fairness Act is inevitable and imminent.
Preparation for, and implementation of, this project will be significant and time-consuming.
But – in the end, it will provide an additional marketing opportunity: “Tax Free Weekend”
promotions.

Resources:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Avalara
AccurateTax
CCH Sales Tax
TaxCloud (by FedTax)
Exactor
SpeedTax
Onesource
Vertex
Taxware

http://www.avalara.com/
http://www.accuratetax.com/
http://www.salestax.com/
https://taxcloud.net/
http://www.exactor.com/
http://www.cchgroup.com/SpeedTax
https://tax.thomsonreuters.com/products/brands/onesource
http://www.vertexinc.com/
http://www.taxware.com/

67

Low Price Promise Page

 A price “guarantee” is a common offering
among retailers
 It generates consumer confidence and
credibility in the retailer
 These guarantees are taken advantage of
infrequently
 Will help improve conversion rates
 Builds loyalty.

68

Mutual, Cooperative Marketing Partnerships

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

New Customer Acquisition.
We include their pre-printed package inserts in our
shipments, and vice-versa
We include a promotional image ad on our email, and
vice-versa.
It's not expected to be a "home run", but...
I reached out to some contacts I have at other companies
(below), who expressed a interest/willingness to try it. We
had moderate success with 1800flowers while at JTV.
“You don’t know until you try.”

69

Create a User Experience Feedback Program for Blinq.com

1.

2.

3.
4.

Create a systematic, consistent program
designed to learn about our customers, our
site usability, our marketing effectiveness,
and our product mix.
Primary data-collection technique: Survey
Monkey surveys (or Vertical Response
surveys). Add survey links to: global footer,
customer service page, thank you page,
promo and transactional emails, and
Facebook.
Secondary data-collection technique:
customer service rep phone call questions.
Third data-collection technique:
UserTesting.com video panels. I’ve used this
service in the past with excellent results.

70

Create a User Experience Feedback Program for Blinq.com

You get two things from each participant:

A video of the participant speaking their
thoughts as they perform your requested
tasks. (Sample video available online).

The participant’s written responses to your
questions.

71

Merchandising

Merchandising: Create an "Open Box Deals" section (Landing Page); create an "Open Box" filter
within the categories; & create an "Open Box" Icon to be included with all Open Box items.
Modeled after JTV’s “POP” program (previously-owned product). This program was tremendously
successful for us: these items usually sold out within 24 hours after posting.
Create separate listings for Open Box items.
This will set customer expectations appropriately, reduce returns, and improve customer feedback
scores & ratings.

72

Miscellaneous Ideas

 Discuss pros & cons of adding Blinq social icons to the
Optoro home page.
 For October, 2014: Create OctoberFest (or something
like it). This is a "balls to the wall" all-out marketing blitz,
lasting a month. The idea is to generate as much
publicity and brand awareness as possible (above the
normal routine); maximizing the usage of all available
marketing tools. The idea is also to take some of the
holiday season spending out of the market, in advance,
and then being able to capitalize on return / repeat
business as the real holiday spending season approaches.
Basically, we're creating an event, a holiday where none
exists - which means we can get our message out there
without getting drowned out by all the competitive
noise.
 I'd think about creating occasional product review videos
and posting to our new YouTube channel, and then
incorporating the video and transcript into our blog (tbd).
All good for credibility, SEO, Links, and so on. Buy.com

(now Rakuten) does something like this - it's called
BuyTV. This could also be incorporated into our ROKU
channel. http://www.rakuten.com/buytv/
 Add an "email archive" link to the Help & Support page.
This will help some customers answer their own
questions.
 Begin developing a mobile app, if not already on the
roadmap.
 Set up a bridal registry. Similar to the shortlist, let
customers email their registry ID/List to friends/family;
or provide them with a URL to send out.
 Fix the shipping messaging, so the info on the help and
support page is consistent with the global header
messaging.

 Fix the "Order History" link, which is throwing a 422 error
page.

73

Miscellaneous Ideas

 Large, hi-res images. More, and bigger, images can lead
to higher clickthrough rates and conversions. Because
Amazon and eBay are both now or soon will be requiring
1000pixel images, this is the standard now.
http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/62391-do-biggerimages-mean-improved-conversion-rates-three-casestudies. This will also reduce return rates. Additionally,
adding video on certain products will improve
conversion rates up to 300% (it did at JTV).

the checkout process would change very little.

 Gift Wrapping Service. "Gift Wrapping Available!" (Link
explaining it). Checkbox during checkout. Write a BRD
for this.
 More use of “sliders” on filters. For example, I'd change
the pricing filter to use sliders instead, which would give
the user more control, resulting in a better user
experience.

 Merchandising: Review current capabilities and begin
discussing personalization & cross-merchandising
platforms for implementation, such as Rich Relevance or
Certona, to help us improve our upselling, cross-selling,
and add-on sales.
 Gifting Program: Implement a Gift Card / Gift Code
program, as a New Customer Acquisition tool. Gift cards
can also be used in conjunction with the loyalty
program. Also: Add a "Give as Gift" button to the
Product Details page (next to Add to Cart), and a link in
the top menu bar. The benefit is mostly "suggestive";

74

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