Creating a virtual Salesperson to improve sales

We’ve all been asked the infamous question, “Would you like fries with that?” and I’m sure we’ve all said in our head, “No, if I wanted fries with that I would have ordered fries.” So why are we always asked this type of question when we are at a fast food restaurant? Simply put, it works.
 

But what about businesses that have no cashier or salesperson to ask about adding related products? Businesses that rely on their website have to adapt and try new techniques.
 

Last June, ScanMyPhotos enlisted the help of MIVA Merchant to do a complete overhaul of their website starting from the ground up. One primary goal was to increase awareness of add-on services to the various scanning services offered. The old add-on system was clunky and required the customer to cycle back through the site to add additional options.
 

-1The goals for the new add-on system were simple:

  • Make the products relevant to the product they were ordering
  • Make it easy for customers to use
  • Most importantly, DO NOT annoy the customer

 

“Being an eCommmerce site, we needed an effective way to ask the customer ‘Would you like fries and a coke with that?’.  We worked closely with MIVA to develop an intuitive way to have our own virtual up-selling cashier,” said Mitch Goldstone, CEO of ScanMyPhotos.
 

Through collaboration, ScanMyPhotos and MIVA were able to develop a new and improved system that generated a quick pop-up with images and prices for all the additional options once a product was added to the cart. Suddenly, customers could quickly add all, some or no additional options related to the service they were ordering or could choose to pass and move along to the checkout process seamlessly.
 

Since the launch of the new website, ScanMyPhotos has seen significant growth in sales of these add-on products and services and has recently been nominated for a Blades Ecommerce Award for the Best New Feature of 2012.*
 


*Every year, as part of MivaCon, Miva Merchant looks to highlight new ideas in ecommerce.  In the category of Best New Feature, the nominated stores have integrated a new feature that is unique and valuable to the customer’s shopping experience or to the merchant’s back end operations.  The winner will be announced at The Blades awards banquet during our annual conference on Thursday, March 7th, 2013.