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E-Commerce Success: Eight Critical Factors
11/19/98
Businesses that excel at electronic commerce view the Internet as just one facet of their overall customer interaction, claims a new book that examines how to succeed in business on the web.
Patricia B. Seybold, founder and chief executive officer of the Patricia Seybold Group, a business and technology consulting company based in Boston, MA, began researching best practices in e-commerce in 1995. In her new book, Customers.com: How to Create a Profitable Strategy for the Internet and Beyond, she dissects the e-commerce operations of some 40 online companies and wrote detailed case studies of 16, including Amazon.com
Seybold found that companies successfully engaged in electronic commerceeven those that don't operate any physical business locationtake pains to integrate all customer contact points (including e-mail, phone, snail mail, fax, catalog, face-to-face, touch-screen kiosk, pager, and others) with their online operations.
Seybold also discovered that successful web businesses shared a number of approaches and attitudes. She has put together a list of eight critical success factors for businesses that are thinking about jumping into e-commerce:
1. Target the right customers.
Online efforts should be targeted directly to those customers who are most likely to respond by buying.
2. Own the customer's total experience.
A business web site should be designed to elicit the maximum positive response from the customer. Don't waste a customer's time or create aggravation.
3. Streamline business processes that impact the customer.
Tap into the expertise of all your key stakeholders in designing your commercial web site, rather than relying solely on information services personnel, who may not know much about retailing, customer service, or inventory management.
4. Provide a 360-degree view of the customer relationship.
In order to better understand customer behavior and preferences, everyone in your organization must have access to customer information and transaction records.
5. Let customers help themselves.
Customers using the web don't want to wait around for someone to help them. Your web site should make it easy for them to get information or place and track an order.
6. Help customers do their jobs.
Even unemployed students have a "job" earning their degree. Your web site should assist them toward that goal.
7. Deliver personalized service.
Offer choices. Allow the customer to set up a customized account. Provide optional services. Ask the customer what you can do for them.
8. Foster community.
In addition to making customers feel welcome at your web site, create features that permit customers to interact with each other through recommendations, sharing information, games and contests, and other online activities.
Sound Off!
Tanvir Orakzai (orakzai@yahoo.com) 1/4/2004 2:49:03 PM
This is quite simple explanation of E Commerce success , every one knows it . She is touched just the surface , knowing the CSF is much complex ...
Some consider success of E- Business to good fortune, other associate it to IT infrastructure. But there are countless unanswered questions to be answered, why so many companies failed despite huge investments? What they really lacked? Business strategies, IT infrastructure, genuine marketing or they had no idea about their business model and potential customers. What about the successful companies? What factor contributed to their growth? Good business strategy, leadership or just chance.
Richard (richard@srery.com) 10/28/2003 11:30:40 PM
You should at least credit your sources in this article..... (c) Srery.com
faiyaz sattar (faiyaz_sattar@hotmail.com) 10/15/2003 5:37:26 AM
my name is faiyaz sattar i am at gateway sixth form college studying a level e-business if anyone has information about critical success factors for total web based businesses then can u please email me
Dart (darty_18@hotmail.com) 5/16/2001 11:15:18 AM
I juts thought you'd like to read this information
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