Forward Fest 2020 presentation on including ecommerce in your business model, including information for startups and well-established companies, B2B or B2C

1. EARTHLING INTERACTIVE
MADISON, WISCONSIN
EARTHLING INTERACTIVE
MADISON, WISCONSIN
Including Ecommerce in Your Business Model
Eric Landmann, Director of Ecommerce
Earthling Interactive

3. Outline
• Definitions – Ecommerce and Transactions
• How do transactions happen?
• When is the right time to implement?
• Technical requirements
• The process
• Some examples
• Moving forward
• Questions

4. What does “ecommerce” mean?
– Accept payments online
–Receive orders
– A quotation system involves ecommerce
– However, ecommerce is not restricted to whether funds are exchanged
– We are more interested in all types of “transactions”

5. What are “transactions”?
An expansive term that includes some sort of interchange of
money or information
– Information can be as valuable as, or more valuable than, what you
typically think of a purchase
– That information might be linked eventually to sales

6. How do transactions happen?
Forms of transactions
– Subscriptions
– Donations
– Accept payments on account
– Subscribe to a newsletter in exchange for a discount
– Advanced product reservation (pre-market sales)
– Affiliate application

7. When is the right time to implement?
At what stage should you consider ecommerce?
For Startups
– At the outset you should define some anticipated features
– It’s not necessary to build it out right away
– Some things are much easier to implement (such as modified contact
forms), thus less expensive
– The cost to consider this initially is low compared to the cost of trashing
a system that won’t handle future needs
– Choosing the wrong platform can mean starting over!
Tip: Think to the next phase!

8. When is the right time to implement?
At what stage should you consider ecommerce?
For Mature Businesses
– Consider the potential gains
– Do a Return on Investment (ROI) analysis…
– What is the average transaction worth?
Outright sale (obvious)
Sales lead
If you don’t do this, what are the alternatives?

9. Technical Requirements
Make sure the framework chosen or will support features
Warning: You’re not going to know all this stuff…
Consider:
– How user-friendly is the system?
– How expensive is it to maintain?
– What are the features of the quotation systems?
– Is there a suitable accounting integration available?

10. Technical Requirements
– Will you need integration with marketing automation or ERP systems?
The Key to Digital Marketing Success: Infrastructure
– If manufacturer, do you want to support dealers?
– Will you need a corporate purchaser system?
– What payment gateways and merchant accounts are used or needed?
– If product is being shipped, are there warehouse and
inventory considerations?

11. Technical Requirements
– Are there customized, flexible forms systems available?
– What are the interim solutions if doing this in pieces (very common)
– Is a developer needed? If so, at what stage?
– How do you measure “success”?
Tip: Use a whiteboard to sketch out the phases

12. The Process
1. Gather requirements
2. Establish a budget and timeline
3. Get management and stakeholder buy-in (critical)
4. Consider how to implement features in terms of:
– Features that go together
– What staff resources are needed, and when?
– Technical evaluation of features
Tip: Screenshots with notations work great

13. The Process
5. Break this into phases and plan accordingly
6. Strategy + Evaluation would help lay the groundwork
7. Does the output from this process align with expectations?
8. Get your people involved to make quick decisions
9. Establish a process for measuring success – a simple spreadsheet
works well enough to record each month’s stats
Tip: A Strategy + Evaluation maps this out

14. Some Examples
B2B – Quotation system
B2B and B2C – Purchase or quotation system
B2B – Request for custom product
Nonprofit – Donation
B2C – Support retailers with locator and chat system
B2C – Newsletter signup with discount

24. How to Move Forward
Strategy + Evaluation
Earthling is a consultative development partner that:
• Prioritizes understanding business logic and outcomes
• Documents strategy and evaluation
• Prioritize features and produce budget estimate
• Recommend solutions
Implementation + Launch
Maintenance
Limited Offering (see chat)
Contact
Erin Courtenay
courtenay@earthlinginteractive.com
Eric Landmann
landmann@earthlinginteractive.com