Comments on: Shipping Cost (Part 1): Is It Misleading? http://www.loveyourfeed.com/shipping-cost-part-1-is-it-misleading-62.htm Data feed optimization for the shopping comparison engines Sat, 05 Jul 2008 18:56:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 by: Colin Murphy http://www.loveyourfeed.com/shipping-cost-part-1-is-it-misleading-62.htm#comment-4962 Fri, 09 Nov 2007 20:01:30 +0000 http://www.loveyourfeed.com/shipping-cost-part-1-is-it-misleading-62.htm#comment-4962 Thanks for posting everyone. As Mitch has pointed out, shipping is an interesting topic in terms of coming up with a marketing strategy. However, Mitch, you say: "I would encourage the client you wrote about to include shipping information and send visitors to a landing page making the multiple item purchase savings clear." I believe that the client's concern is that the shopper won't even click on their product listing in the first place, if they are mislead by a higher price, and so they therefore wont have the opportunity to convert them on their end. Thanks for posting everyone. As Mitch has pointed out, shipping is an interesting topic in terms of coming up with a marketing strategy. However, Mitch, you say: “I would encourage the client you wrote about to include shipping information and send visitors to a landing page making the multiple item purchase savings clear.” I believe that the client’s concern is that the shopper won’t even click on their product listing in the first place, if they are mislead by a higher price, and so they therefore wont have the opportunity to convert them on their end.

]]> by: vic berggren http://www.loveyourfeed.com/shipping-cost-part-1-is-it-misleading-62.htm#comment-4960 Tue, 06 Nov 2007 18:03:59 +0000 http://www.loveyourfeed.com/shipping-cost-part-1-is-it-misleading-62.htm#comment-4960 The reality for me has been that customers will post incredibly negative comments in the SCE Feedback Forms about the practice of not showing a Shipping Price in the SCE and then having one appear when the customer is in the checkout line. The reality for me has been that customers will post incredibly negative comments in the SCE Feedback Forms about the practice of not showing a Shipping Price in the SCE and then having one appear when the customer is in the checkout line.

]]> by: Mitch Rezman http://www.loveyourfeed.com/shipping-cost-part-1-is-it-misleading-62.htm#comment-4959 Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:59:00 +0000 http://www.loveyourfeed.com/shipping-cost-part-1-is-it-misleading-62.htm#comment-4959 The shipping issue has become a slippery slope. We offer free shipping. We get asked weekly to price match and inevitably the competition doesn’t have shipping built in. A problem with free shipping we have to assume everything is going to Seattle. The problem there is (we are in Chicago) the customers in Kansas and Kentucky pay more than they should. We have broken out our bird food line so bulk – 20 pounds and more is calculated by zone. The $15.00 savings a Midwestern customer receives against what a coastal customer pays has made a strong positive impact in our sales. Another “down side” to free shipping is returns. As clear as we try to make it. People are always amazed we deduct outbound shipping from returns – the typical comment is “I though shipping was free!” We received one of competitor’s catalogs recently. The bold headline declared “free shipping over $49.” We looked at some of the pricing and couldn’t figure out how they could ship so cheaply. The fine print stated “any item over 3 pounds is excluded from free shipping.” Bottom line? I worry less about what they see in feeds and PPC as long as the platforms are sending visitors economically. The WEBSITE must make it clear how much the customer pays as they fill a shopping cart. I think shoppers bale from websites from as much as what they don’t know or can’t find out. The same holds true of the feeds. I would encourage the client you wrote about to include shipping information and send visitors to a landing page making the multiple item purchase savings clear. The shipping issue has become a slippery slope. We offer free shipping. We get asked weekly to price match and inevitably the competition doesn’t have shipping built in. A problem with free shipping we have to assume everything is going to Seattle. The problem there is (we are in Chicago) the customers in Kansas and Kentucky pay more than they should.

We have broken out our bird food line so bulk – 20 pounds and more is calculated by zone. The $15.00 savings a Midwestern customer receives against what a coastal customer pays has made a strong positive impact in our sales.

Another “down side” to free shipping is returns. As clear as we try to make it. People are always amazed we deduct outbound shipping from returns – the typical comment is “I though shipping was free!”

We received one of competitor’s catalogs recently. The bold headline declared “free shipping over $49.” We looked at some of the pricing and couldn’t figure out how they could ship so cheaply. The fine print stated “any item over 3 pounds is excluded from free shipping.”

Bottom line? I worry less about what they see in feeds and PPC as long as the platforms are sending visitors economically. The WEBSITE must make it clear how much the customer pays as they fill a shopping cart. I think shoppers bale from websites from as much as what they don’t know or can’t find out. The same holds true of the feeds. I would encourage the client you wrote about to include shipping information and send visitors to a landing page making the multiple item purchase savings clear.

]]> by: Rick Galan http://www.loveyourfeed.com/shipping-cost-part-1-is-it-misleading-62.htm#comment-4958 Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:58:56 +0000 http://www.loveyourfeed.com/shipping-cost-part-1-is-it-misleading-62.htm#comment-4958 That is very interesting. I had never thought of the negative effect of a flat rate shipping in the CSEs. Perhaps an ambitious site will see the trend of merchants online moving to a flat rate model, and allow that to be specified. That way it could say "$6 Flat Rate Shipping" and the customer could at least be aware. Please do post the relative results of the test. It would be very interesting to see. That is very interesting. I had never thought of the negative effect of a flat rate shipping in the CSEs. Perhaps an ambitious site will see the trend of merchants online moving to a flat rate model, and allow that to be specified. That way it could say “$6 Flat Rate Shipping” and the customer could at least be aware.
Please do post the relative results of the test. It would be very interesting to see.

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