Category: Tips

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Taking Care of Business While You’re On Vacation — Cool Things to Check Out

Tech Tips for Vacation from Medallion Fulfillment & Logistics

Like it or not, your work may be going with you on summer vacation this year.

Don’t get us wrong – a little R&R is vital to your physical and mental well-being. If you can completely detach yourself from the office or the warehouse and enjoy your time off, more power to you.

But by the same token, you’re not going to relax very easily if yu spend your vacation time fretting over missing vital messages or constantly phoning in to stay apprised of new order-fulfillment opportunities.

Aware of this conundrum, technology providers have graciously stepped up to create devices, data plans, programs and apps that help you manage your business and your email from wherever you are. They go a step beyond texting and Skype to deliver some rather cool options.

Summer business tips for keeping up while chilling out

Whether you’re hitting the road or hanging out at home, you can enjoy some time away from the workplace without worrying about falling behind. You may find the answer in free apps, or opt to pay a monthly surcharge or subscription rate – but you may discover that the investment pays off in peace of mind.

The Choices Are All Yours

Single-number convenience
If you’re the kind of manager who gets tons of voicemails, there’s no need to subject your fellow vacationers to the sound of a fulfillment or shipping challenge being addressed. Free – at least until the end of 2012 – Google Voice is an app that delivers phone and texting from the same number and, even cooler, voicemail transcription. This means Google Voice lets you download your voicemail and read it like email. The app also boasts of “cheap international calls” outside North America.

Computer access programs
Stuck on the tarmac? Ditch the Skymall magazine and catch up with the folks back home. GoToMyPC is a screen-sharing subscription program that uses the Internet to connect your mobile device (laptop, netbook, tablet or smartphone) to the computer back home. Available in different pricing tiers for individual and multiple users, this program enables full access to the “host” computer, from email to documents to downloads – you can even transfer files between devices. Just remember to keep your work computer running and connected online before you leave, and GoToMyPC will do the rest.

Windows Live Mesh does GoToMyPC one better – it’s free. This app also recreates the host-computer experience, though you do need to have Windows Vista or Windows 7 or above. You’ll also need Internet Explorer downloaded on your computer to make it work – remember that if you’re tied to Firefox or some other browser.

Personal WiFi
The days of ducking into a McDonald’s or parking behind a Panera Bread to score some need-it-now WiFi are over. Now you can tote your personal WiFi hotspot in your pocket with a data-plan-enabled mobile phone. A variety of hardware and software options – at varying price points – can attach your phone to your laptop or tablet and enjoy Internet access anywhere. Just remember to carry a charger with you – WiFi functions are notorious battery-suckers on phones.

If your spouse and kids are similarly tied to the Internet, you can keep everyone happy on vacation using portable devices. Verizon’s Mobile Hotspot connects up to five phones, tablets, game systems, laptops and other devices simultaneously, while Droid Razr Maxx is a tiny powerhouse that fuels up to seven devices and frees you from the slow access and annoying service charges of hotel and airport WiFi.

Email folders
You use email folders at home; now you can use them anywhere. Creating email folders on your smartphone or tablet takes little time and goes a long way toward helping you organize your communications while away from the workplace. Most plans work with the most popular mail servers, like Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail and Microsoft Exchange. If you have the iPhone 4, Siri will even transcribe and send your email for you.

It’s Your Time

You earned your summer vacation – make it a meaningful one. With robust technology at the ready, you can keep up at your convenience, return to the warehouse rested, ready – and without millions of emails and voicemails waiting to bury you.

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Subscription Boxes Lead the Way in Direct to Consumer Sales

Subscription Boxes Work to Build Your Business

From our June Newsletter – Subscribe Today!

Over 25% of consumers are signed up for subscription box services. The industry now contains over 3,500 established box services worth roughly $10 billion. And, according to MultiChannelMerchant, 75% of DTC (Direct to Consumer) brands will offer subscription services by 2023.

As the subscription model becomes more popular, many businesses are wondering if they should ride this wave with their own subscription boxes or supply their products to mixed or mystery boxes to attract new customers.

Subscription boxes are beneficial to everyone, which is one of the reasons they have become so popular across the board. Here are some of the benefits to consumers and businesses.

Consumers

• Save money

• Try new products

The benefits to consumers are simple. Not only can they avoid running out of products that they use regularly and count on, they also save money on these products. Plus, they can discover new products in the samples included in the boxes.

Sometimes the boxes are random selections, while other times boxes are selected entirely by the consumer. Each has its own benefits.

Businesses

• Better order forecasting

• Enhance customer loyalty

• Improve bottom line

Order Forecasting

One of the challenges of retail in general is the predictability of order flow. Some businesses experience a very regular pattern throughout the year, with peak season activity predictably raising revenue. But most struggle to anticipate the order volume. Forecasting isn’t easy, especially when it’s about the future.

The subscription box model helps regulate the order flow by grouping orders and standardizing the activity among subscribed customers. Although some will cancel their subscriptions, the overall pattern will be more regular than businesses without subscription options, evening out cash flow and helping predict revenues month over month.

In the early days of e-commerce, a business would need to manually create reorder logic to ship to a customer each month. Today there are numerous services that provide this capability within existing e-commerce platforms, communicating with fulfillment partners as well as the customer and fully automating the process.

Customer Engagement and Loyalty

Subscribing to a box is an act of loyalty. This model helps build a relationship between the customer and the business. The consumer is more likely to purchase from the business that they deal with so regularly and the business has an easier time creating engagement for promotions or new items and cross-selling.

Building this level of trust paves the way for potential up-sells. Familiarity enhances customer loyalty in this case. And it’s worth noting that many of these businesses would not have encountered or attracted the customers without the exposure to product trials that subscription boxes create.

Bottom Line Benefits

Subscription boxes can also save the business money. By regulating order flow, there is more predictability in inventory, which prompts a leaner supply chain and reduces carrying costs. At the same time, the business gains new customers and a more predictable order flow.

Fulfillment Partners

• Better forecasting

• Fill niche services

Similarly, a fulfillment partner that processes subscription boxes may be able to move inventory through more quickly, cutting down on stagnant inventory. Storage costs are rarely a significant source of revenue for a fulfillment house, but they can impact a business’ bottom line.

By filling orders and utilizing inventory in a more efficient manner, a brand can achieve JIT inventory (just-in-time inventory) and smooth the supply chain so there are less stuck-in-storage costs. This is good for everyone.

Shipping large volume for a client once per month helps a 3PL better predict staffing needs. 3PLs are accustomed to ramping up staff for peak holiday seasons, but when a client has a very successful sales promotion without warning, this can create a strain on the fulfillment operation.

Subscription boxes help regulate this flow and make the peaks more predictable. Not only does the fulfillment partner benefit from more regular peak order volumes, but this improves efficiency which impacts the 3PL’s bottom line.

Much like the businesses themselves, fulfillment partners can forecast revenue more easily with the more regulated pattern lent by subscriptions.

Fulfillment services who are adept at serving the subscription box market are prepared to handle the relevant logistics. Medallion Fulfillment & Logistics and Sprocket Express have successfully worked out the kinks and are set up to provide service to this niche, which is growing rapidly. This expertise helps us provide quality service to our clients across a variety of fulfillment scenarios.

Conclusion

The subscription box model works well for all parties in the transaction.

• Predictability (of delivery, order flow, revenue)

• Efficiency

• Relationships

• Saves money (retail prices, inventory, supply chain, preparation)

If your business is not involved in subscription service, this may be a good time to research your options. Almost every brand has a product that fits in one or more of these boxes. Contact us today to see how we can help with your subscription box service needs.

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Don’t Get Banned from Selling on Amazon; It Could Be Forever!

Learn About the Amazon Effect

Amazon.com offers small businesses and entrepreneurs ready access to a huge customer market for their goods. Of course, sellers pay a price for the opportunity to trade on Amazon’s good name, internet saturation and global market reach. Not only do private sellers often find themselves in direct competition with the internet behemoth for products and services, but Amazon holds all the cards. To protect its own reputation and maintain a satisfied customer base, Amazon’s sellers’ agreement and myriad rules stack the deck firmly in Amazon’s favor.

In order to sell on Amazon.com, sellers must follow an exacting list of expectations that dictate how and when they interact with their customers at every point in the sales process. Fail to meet Amazon’s performance expectations and you could receive a not particularly cheerful “Hello from Amazon.com” letter notifying you that your account has been blocked and your sales listings terminated. And, by the way, Amazon will be hanging onto your money for the next 90 days to cover any unresolved financial issues.

For businesses that rely on Amazon.com as a primary conduit to customers and order fulfillment, receiving one of Amazon’s computer-generated “Hello” letters can spell disaster. A big part of the problem is that the letters are computer-generated. Computer algorithms don’t care if you didn’t respond to a customer within the required 24 hours because you were hospitalized or on vacation. They’re completely unsympathetic that your approval rating appears to be in the toilet not because you provide poor service but because the only customers who have bothered to offer feedback are dissatisfied ones.

Many Amazon.com sellers complain that they’ve been unfairly booted off Amazon because they’ve fallen victim to the “law of negative averages” in which a small number of negative comments can, if they outnumber positive feedback, result in a negative feedback score. For example, if out of 50 sales, 47 customers are satisfied, but only 1 posts positive feedback while 2 dissatisfied customers post negative comments, Amazon’s trackers will record a negative average and you’ll soon be the recipient of a letter from alliance@amazon.com, Amazon’s enforcement department.

What sends sellers into a panic is the phrase “the closure of an account is a permanent action,” implying that you will be forever banned from selling on Amazon. And the ban will not only affect you, but anyone Amazon’s online trackers can connect to your name, street address or email address. All is not lost, however, sellers can petition Amazon for reinstatement and a number have done so successfully. The process is not easy; and, if reinstated, you can expect Amazon to scrutinize your account carefully for some time (and hang onto your money while they do so); but you can get back in the game.

  1. Look carefully at the points made in the letter you receive from alliance@amazon.com. Review your consumer metrics to see if you’re falling short of expectations.
  2. Respond promptly via email, explain that you feel your suspension is unfair and rebut each charge with as much factual information as possible. Attach pertinent records or letters from consumers and offer your explanation of any negative feedback.
  3. If you’ve failed to meet Amazon’s performance targets, review your sales practices and provide an action plan to correct the problem.
  4. Plead your case, emphasizing your sales and customer service record and pointing out how your product benefits consumers.
  5. Monitor your email for Amazon’s decision.

 

To prevent being terminated, keep a close eye on your email and regularly review Amazon’s agreements and help pages as Amazon may change its procedures and guidelines at any time without notifying sellers. Monitor the customer metrics Amazon provides and compare your performance to the Amazon’s seller performance targets to make certain you are hitting the expected benchmarks.

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Building an E-newsletter List? Make Sure You Are CAN-SPAM Compliant

What Should You Ask Your Accountant?

Have you ever felt burned by getting a piece of mail from your bank, cable company or insurer whose envelope blared “Important Account Information Enclosed”? You know the outcome: You opened the envelope, that “important information” turned out to be an ad.

Translate that print tactic into untold millions of e-newsletters in distribution, and you will understand why the CAN-SPAM business compliance guide was created.

Email a Powerful Attraction Tactic

Even in an age of Facebook “likes” and Twitter “tweets,” email and e-newsletters — when handled right — continue to be a robust tool for marketers.

  • According to 2011 statistics published by Exact Target, 42 percent of subscribers are more likely to purchase from a company whose emails they subscribe to.
  • The other side of that coin? Content Marketing Institute notes that the e-newsletter open rate can go as low as 8 percent, with monthly newsletters averaging in the low-20 range.

So the audience making up your e-newsletter lists needs to be one you screen carefully — those on your list should be the people most likely to find your information valuable enough to subscribe and to read at least occasionally with few opt-outs. If you use purchased e-newsletter lists, ensure they are from reputable sources consisting only of “opt in” subscribers.

Keeping Out of Trouble

Once you’ve identified an audience to invite as subscribers, you must establish an acceptable template for your message. Just a few false moves, and your carefully crafted e-newsletter could end up in the spam folder.

CAN-SPAM (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003) establishes standards for commercial email, including e-newsletters. It spells out what you can and cannot say, and sets penalties for violations.

Under the CAN-SPAM rules, for example, you are required to:

  • Identify the nature of your message as an e-newsletter.
  • Tell recipients where you are located. Your e-newsletter must include both an email return address and a valid physical postal address.
  • Tell recipients how they can opt-out of your e-newsletter, and honor their request within 10 business days.

Conversely, the CAN-SPAM law prohibits:

  • False or misleading header information. In other words, the “To,” “From” and “Reply to” headers must accurately identify the person or company initiating the email.
  • Deceptive subject lines. No false promises, “gotcha” wording or other text that doesn’t reflect on the actual content of the e-newsletter.
  • Sending through an open relay or using harvested email address (both examples of technology that allows spammers to find and use lists).

And of course, the CAN-SPAM act requires you to truthfully describe any products or services you are offering for sale in your e-newsletter — and if you are positioning this information as an ad, you must identify it as such.

How to Attract More Subscribers

Subscribers can quickly become un-subscribers, so identifying and attracting new audiences is an important part of your e-newsletter strategy.

How can you encourage people to opt-in?

  • Promote your e-newsletter on your website’s homepage. Keep a colorful sign-up icon near the top of the screen, as you can never rely on visitors scrolling all the way down.
  • Invite new customers to subscribe. If someone makes a purchase through your website, follow it up with an email invitation to the newsletter. You can use the same tactic with visitors who leave contact information on your landing page.
  • Include a “send to a friend” link on every e-newsletter to encourage forwards from subscribers.
  • Promote your e-newsletter on your social media pages; include sneak-peeks of articles or offers that subscribers will find in the newsletter.
  • Offer a free gift to new subscribers. It can be a special deal or item associated with your business, or something general, such as a drawing for an iPad. (However, all giveaways and drawings must be “no purchase necessary” in nature and something anyone may enter.)

Test and Test Again

The way you handle your e-newsletter lists may change once you see how many people opt-in and opt-out of their subscriptions. As with most forms of web marketing, e-newsletters can benefit from testing and measuring results to create the ideal marketing tool for you.

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Got a New Product to Sell? Get Some Tips on How to Create Demand

Fulfillment Warehouse

 

It survived the concept pitch, the drawing board, R&D, prototypes, focus groups, and testing. Now your new product is ready to launch.

Whether you opt for a “soft launch” to introduce your baby to just a few markets or demographics; or a “hard launch” that involves a company-wide strategy and major rollout, you’ll want to build brand recognition and product awareness the fastest, most cost-efficient and most ROI-oriented ways as possible.

In years past, the debut of a new product into the market meant heavy investment in paid advertising. Just 10 years ago, you may have designed your launch around print ads, brochures, radio, outdoor boards… the so-called “interruption” marketing.

Today, however, consumers are more savvy and more discriminating. They’re less likely to respond to such expensive media as TV, print, or direct mail, and more likely to head for their desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones. In fact, a recent survey revealed that 50 percent of today’s shoppers spend 75 percent of shopping time online!

Let’s repeat that statistic: Half of the consumers spend most of their shopping time on the Internet. It’s where they get their information and, increasingly, make their purchase decisions.

If your marketing is mired in 20th century tactics, you have a great opportunity to enjoy the benefits 21st century marketing can offer in terms of brand recognition.

The New “Word of Mouth”

A 2011 survey of small-business owners revealed a surprising fact about their attitude toward online marketing.

  • A combined 65 percent of the participants thought that the web and social media had little or no value for their business, or didn’t know enough about it to form an opinion;
  • But at least 50 percent agreed that “word of mouth” is a major force in attracting customers and prospects.

Here’s the point where these two ideas (dis)connect: Today’s word of mouth comes from the web.

Social media, websites, forums… that’s where people go to share information, communicate with businesses, comment on products and make recommendations to others. They’re where you need to be.

Content Drives Consideration

Having a website for your business is one thing. Optimizing that site so that people seek it out is another. To establish or boost brand recognition, your site needs to be a destination. The good content you provide makes this happen.

What do we mean by “good content”? Let’s start by defining what good content isn’t. It isn’t an unsolicited email, a coupon or an ad. Web users are bombarded with such sales pitches every day, and will largely ignore yours. Good content isn’t a press release about your latest award, or an announcement of a new location. In other words, it’s not about you.

It’s all about your customers and prospects – what they find compelling, or what worries them. Consumers want facts and proof, not promises. So your good content can:

  • Outline a common problem consumers face and show how your product or service provides a solution.
  • Give background information into your industry that helps people understand how your product came to be.
  • Offer a guide to safety or security tied to your industry.
  • Provide statistics on the way people use the product or service you offer.

Factual, insightful or entertaining content engages consumers in a way that paid ads do not.

When introducing a new product, you’ll face an understandably wary audience. Good content establishes you as more credible.

Get Seen to Get Leads

Building brand awareness, and qualified leads, through content starts with grabbing attention through the media that matters:

  • Blogs. A series of informative articles, peppered with the search engine optimization (SEO) words and phrases a search engine recognizes most, will boost your website to the top of the Google results. Other text-based online marketing includes reports, e-newsletters and industry white papers.
  • Multimedia. Think of what you might pay for one run of a local TV commercial – plenty. Compare that to producing engaging, entertaining videos and posting them to YouTube for free. Videos, podcasts and infographics get responses from consumers. The best go viral.
  • Social Networking. Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks attract communities who share an interest in the product or service you provide. Post your content to your social media page, and you’ll be in a good position to net new “friends” or “followers” who will comment on, and share, your offerings.

Once you’ve built a community of visitors interested in what you have to say, you can use strategic landing pages to gather their contact information in exchange for more, or exclusive, content. This tactic narrows the field from casual searchers to qualified leads.

Does This Strategy Work?
Yes – countless small businesses are using the power of the Internet to build brand recognition for their new products. It could work for you, too.