ergophobe - 9:14 pm on Dec 28, 2007 (gmt 0)

Some ecommerce transactions fall well below expectation. I must say, few have ever fallen into this category for me. The vast majority are just vanilla. You get what you ordered in the allotted time and at the right price.

And then some companies stand out. So what's the last thing that some company did that made you think, WOW? A few for me:

- two different companies in the last month sent an item that I wasn't totally sure I would keep because I had never seen a sample. Surprise! In both cases, the items came with a preprinted return label for UPS, a pre-filled return form and instructions on how to use both if I wasn't 100% satisfied. Does that make me willing to order an item from either of these guys again, even if I'm not sure it's what I really want? You bet. Did I return the items I ordered? Nope. I absolutely love them.

- One of the companies has an instant return policy - drop them an email and say that you'll be returning an item and they give you instant credit and will ship out the right size or another item. When they receive the return item, your credit turns into hard cash if you want it.

- Top-notch usability. I was trying to buy an everyday item, but the first two websites used retailer jargon (something like "tearpack" which is useful for retailers who want to know about packaging and display options, but I wanted to know, is it really one battery that I'm ordering or something else?). Finally I found a site that just told me, in the language a consumer would use, what exactly I was getting and reinforced it with a picture. I spent about one minute on the first two sites before giving up. I purchased from the third site even though the prices were about 20% higher (but this only came to about $2 and was well worth it).

- In the latter case, when I looked at their site later, asking myself why did I eventually settle on these guys, I noticed that almost everything above the fold in the left navigation was oriented to after-sale care (customer service, track your order, contact us, etc). I realized that everything on their site said "We're not about making a sale, we're about gaining a customer." They did. I will not even comparison shop again if I'm looking for batteries. It's not like buying a car where I might save a thousand dollars by shopping around. For the couple dollars I might save, I can't be bothered to waste time. Their service-oriented navigation was a subtle signal that I did not notice until after purchase, but when I looked at the site, it was palpable.

- the first of these four most recent purchases was for an item that was out of stock everywhere, including at the manufacturer, who was waiting for a shipment from the production facility. Only one website stated that clearly. On the other sites, there was no indication that it was out of stock, but there was no indication that it was in stock. Perhaps they had one gathering dust, but I couldn't be sure. I ordered from the merchant that offered certainty, even though they advertised a much later ship date than the other two sites that had the item. Again, I chose safety. Maybe it says something about me in particular, but I think it's a common reaction. The merchant in question followed up with letters for every change of status ("Item delayed in production. If you wish to cancel your order ____. If you want your purchse to remain on backorder, do nothing. If not in stock by ____ we will contact you again to see if you wish to cancel your order.") This saved them the effort of dealing with my inquiry, but also increased my trust dramatically. Again, in the future might I pay a bit more to shop with them? Certainly.

Conclusions for me

- Trust is huge. It's the thread that runs through every one of these stories.

- even the web savvy are leery of sending money off to cyberspace or, more simply, of ordering sight unseen. Even if you make the sale this time, you may not have allayed that fear. If you have excellent follow-up (see how easy it is to return things to us?), you can allay those fears for future purchases and build loyalty. I will definitely favor the two merchants in question who sent return labels.

- Your customers don't care about your classification of your products, they care about their needs. It's an old saw: they come to you for a solution and if you sell batteries to consumers, the type of packaging does not address their need. You can win on price and lose the sale if you speak the wrong language. Really, I was 99.99% sure that I knew what the others were selling and knew what I would get, but I was put off by a retailer-oriented language so much that I paid 20% more to shop on a site with consumer-oriented language where I was 100% sure what I was ordering and where I didn't have to read around to figure that out.

Okay, so that's what I learned from my last four WOW purchases as a consumer where the merchant just blew me away with service and after-sale care.

How about you? What did you learn during your Christmas shopping?