By Paul Lang, Editor, Sell It!
December 12th, 1998

See Also   The Insider Secrets to Marketing Your Business on the Internet   Alternative Payment Solutions   Fraud Prevention Tools   Top Tools to Help You Boost Customer Service   iV-Caller Verification Service   Make Your Price Sell!   FindWhat.com   Make Your Knowledge Sell!   HumanClick   Netship   iFulfill.com   Nexchange   Nothing But 'Net   Netwhistle.com   Bigstep.com   Make Your Site Sell!   AWeber   GoTo.com   Constant Contact   WebAdverts   PersonalStore   SiteInspector   LinkExchange   ClickTrade   Safe   eCHARGE   MilliCent

Product	Constant Contact: Free
Description	Automated customer interaction for Web stores
Available	Now
Pricing	Free

One of the most quoted advantages of selling online is that the Internet is "the great leveller", that is, that a small business can compete effectively against their larger, better funded rivals. In many respects, this statement still holds true. For example, there are now a large number of storefront creation packages available that make the setting up of a professional-looking store a relatively straightforward business.

There are several areas though where it is becoming more difficult for the smaller Web merchant to compete. One example is the field of "automated interaction", the automation of routine customer support and marketing tasks.

I know that many Web store owners are uncomfortable with this concept, believing strongly that their competitive edge lies in their ability to provide a higher level of personal customer interaction than their larger rivals. However, one of the biggest threats that a small online store faces is when the volume of orders and e-mails increases to a level where the owner is no longer able to provide a satisfactory level of support to his or her customers.

To avoid this pitfall, the Web merchant needs to be able to automate as many as possible of their day-to-day tasks. Most savvy Web merchants will already be using methods such as extensive online FAQs and autoresponders. But how can they move beyond this? Their larger rivals have solved the problem by either purchasing high-cost software or commissioning an in-house team to write custom applications. Obviously these are not feasible solutions in the smaller store.

The good news is that there are several new pieces of lower-cost software becoming available. Take for example, Roving Software's Constant Contact, a package of tools that has been designed to manage the complete customer contact process. There are 5 different packages available, but the one that is most likely to attract the attention of the smaller merchant is the entry level package, Constant Contact : Free.

Constant Contact : Free is, as its name suggests, free for merchants to use. It consists of a suite of four tools: "Reminder", "Email This Page to A Friend", "My Store Favourites" and "Keep Me Posted". Here's what each of them does:

Reminder

This tool allows shoppers to enter details of any event they wish to be reminded off - for example a birthday or anniversary - together with a text message. They are then automatically e-mailed a reminder message on the date they specify. The message includes a link to the merchant's store along with details of up to two products or special offers that the merchant wishes to highlight.

Email This Page to a Friend

Often seen on the larger sites, this facility allows readers to e-mail a page to a friend along with their comments. One disadvantage is that the only the URL of the page is mailed, not the page contents, and thus the message recipient needs go online to view the page.

My Store Favourites

This is probably the most useful device of all. It gives shoppers the ability to add items they are interested in to their own list of favourites. Then, when they are finished browsing through the store they can call up their list and click on its links to return immediately to the items they have marked.

Keep Me Posted

This tool automatically sends an e-mail when a selected page in the store changes. It is unlikely to be particularly useful to merchants as they are unable to specify what level of change or events triggers an e-mail to be sent. A merchant will probably only want customers to be notified of any major changes - such as a price decrease - and not every time a minor change to the page takes place.

Overall

Technically, these four tools work very well. The set-up process is straightforward and there is no software for the merchant to install - instead, everything is run and managed from the Constant Contact Server. A simple wizard produces the HTML code that the merchant cuts and pastes in to their Web pages.

There are a few minus points though. All of these tools work by opening up a new browser window, a technique that can irritate some shoppers and can cause some older browsers to crash. Another point to note is that "free" really means advertising supported - each tool carries a link to Constant Contact and some carry banner adverts for third parties. And another disadvantage is that the merchant has no access to the e-mail addresses that their shoppers provide and can not, for example, send them any follow-up e-mail messages.

Verdict: Despite the limitations noted above, Roving Software have provided the smaller merchant with a truly useful set of tools that they can quickly and easily add to their stores.