Write a report to the VP of Marketing specifying the benefits to the company (and its customers) of converting into an e-business and the changes in marketing strategies that you believe will be necessary

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1) Write a report to the VP of Marketing specifying the benefits to the company (and its customers) of converting into an e-business and the changes in marketing strategies that you believe will be necessary.

Benefits of converting into an e-business and the changes in marketing strategies that will be necessary:
Making the Actual Sales:
Your strategy must be to get the e-mail address of the visitor. In fact, research indicates that it takes the average shopper up to nine visits before they'll make a buying decision. In other words, every effective sales process requires an element of repetition.

Kindly think in the following terms: Think about the times when you've picked up a new product at the supermarket after seeing it advertised on TV a dozen times. Or a time where you've visited a new local restaurant after driving past it every day on your way to work.

That's repetition in action, but unlike a 'bricks-and-mortar' retail store, there is no 'drive-by' traffic on the Internet. In many cases when someone clicks on the little 'exit' button in the top right hand corner of the screen... they're gone forever.

On top of that, there are numerous ways someone can get distracted while visiting your website. For example, let's say you run a website selling baby prams

Please think of the following: Regardless of how good your product or service is, in reality most visitors to your site won't convert into sales on their first visit

You should think of the following: A mother is surfing through your site and finds a product she likes - but before she gets a chance to add the item to her shopping basket....

- The phone rings
- The baby starts crying
- She accidentally closes off the internet browser
- She receives an email that requires attention
- A delivery man rings the door bell

Please consider the following: Regardless of the reason - if she leaves the site there's a 90% chance you've lost the sale... unless you've managed to capture her email address.

If you've got her email address, you get a second chance. You can email her with:

- Your monthly newsletter

- Your free report on 'How to Choose the Perfect Pram'

- Information about new models

You need to understand this: The bottom line is, capturing an email address gives you a 'Plan B' and allows you to follow-up with someone after they've left your website.

Additional sales from the same customers:

Kindly reflect on this: Your strategy must be to get repeat orders. More business from the same customers. Getting new customers is hard work - it's also really expensive.

In fact, it can be up to eight to ten times more expensive to acquire a new customer than to sell to an existing one. To acquire new customers, you have to factor in the cost of advertising, educating and selling to them.

Therefore, a big chunk of the initial sale is simply recouping the costs you've outlaid to get the customer in the first place.

Please reflect on the following: And while new sales are great, we can't emphasize strongly enough the value of repeat sales. Too often, businesses focus only on the initial sale and forget about the lifetime value of a customer.

Keeping in touch with customers on a regular basis via email allows you to generate repeat sales which can be up to four times more profitable than the initial purchase.

A good email marketing campaign will increase the frequency of repeat purchases from your ...