Since I'm in the business of providing ecommerce shopping cart solutions to online stores, one of the questions that invariably comes up is how to get customers to refer more business. Part of the resolution to this problem can be found in how well your web site design manages to give users the options to "forward pages" to friends. One of the under-utilized methods for virally empowering customers though is inside your emails. I subscribe to a newsletter at GasPedal.com and below is a recent email I received that describes 10 ways for email marketers to do awesome word of mouth marketing. Enjoy

1. Ask for a forward:  More people pass along their email when you remind them to. Put a big "Tell a Friend" link in every message. Even if they don't use your form, they'll see the request and do it. 
2. Design unbreakable emails:  Test test test to make sure your email can be passed along infinitely without breaking.  You can't go viral if you don't pass this test. 
3. Make the forwarders feel special:  Include some offer that makes recipients look good when they pass along your message.  Give them an insider deal, advance news, or a secret discount code. 
4. Add a benefit for the friend:  Give people a reason to send something to their friends. You'll get more forwards from people who feel like they are genuinely helping their buddies. "Hi, I wanted to give you this discount code/helpful tip ...." 
5. Add a multiplier: Add a reason why someone would share your message with 10 people instead of one.  A "whole family" discount, 3-for-one coupon, or a deal good for anyone with the same company domain in their email.  
6. Put a Tell-a-Friend form everywhere:  Add a form to every page of your web site. When someone is about to refer a friend (giving you a free, high-quality lead) make it easy and immediate. 
7. Design Tell-a-Friend emails well:  When someone refers a friend, what does the friend get? Probably some generic text email. That message should be exciting--and it should convert almost 100% of recipients to click. (It was a personal recommendation from a friend ... if that doesn't get clicked, nothing will.) If not, keep working on it until it's perfect. 
8. Track revenue from forwarders/talkers:  You probably have thousands of names in your database that you treat like low-quality prospects because they never buy.  But you'll be surprised when you give them credit for orders placed from emails that they forwarded. You have a lot of high-value evangelists on your list generating a ton of business from their friends. 
9. Create campaigns for forwarders: Once you've identified these forwarders, start creating campaigns just for them. Target people who like to forward offers with great offers specifically designed for them to share with friends. 
10. Study viral success to create another: Here's the truth about viral email: You never know what works.  Examine any message that gets unusually high forwards, and try to learn what caused the referrals.  Start building likely-to-get-forwarded content into all your messages.

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Now that we've been designing web sites for a lot of ecommerce stores in Los Angeles and other cities, the subject of credit card processing fees has started to enter our client conversations. After doing a bit of research, I've discovered that the merchant processing fees are not as complicated as one would think. it all comes down essentially to Interchange fees and everything else that gets deducted when a card is processed. Interchange fees which are set by the credit card associations of Visa and MasterCard, account for the majority of the "fees" you pay to accept credit cards. So when you charge a customer $100 and you end up with $97.15, about 70% to 90% of the amount deducted from the $100 relates to these "fixed interchange fees". Nevertheless, Interchange fees have a complex pricing structure, which is based on the type of credit or debit card, the products sold, size of the accepting merchant, and whether a transaction is ecommerce, bricks and mortar, or mail order/phone order or done online. How does all this understanding of the Interchange fees help me? The answer is pretty easy. Find a merchant account provider that charges "cost plus", where cost is the "known" interchange fee. then all additional fees are set in stone and easily verifiable by you. no more hidden fees. no more excessive charges. At my ecommrce shopping cart software company (WebCart.net), we use a company called Eonline at www.webcart.net/eonline.html and first thing next week i will be checking on their pricing policies. the good part is that their rates are low enough that i don't think they are tacking on excessive additional fees and none of my web store customers are complaining so the 2.4% rate must be pretty competitive.

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About This Page

As you may be aware, I have my own shopping cart software platform called WebCart. I bought this company years ago and with the help of a great team of Russian and Israeli scientists, we've really brought this online storefront toolset to the forefront of ecommerce. Without tooting my own horn (that already happens on the WebCart.net site) what I aim to do in this section is to provide examples of what functionality is most necessary in a shopping cart platform and to offer up case studies showcasing the features of WebCart that have the most success. Readers should be able to adapt the case studies to their own ecommerce platforms if they are not using WebCart. After having been online for more than a decade, I think I can share enough tidbits of wisdom to help any online business grow its profitability.

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