We’re forever updating. Your phone iOS, your ecommerce plugins, software updates. I’m up to Java 63 version 100.1240, I still have no clue how this impacts upon me. We just click away.
Each update comes with it’s own release notes. Just in case you’re interested in what those improvements are.
What if, as ecommerce businesses, we share our own release notes?
Derek Sivers’ Now Now Now project got me thinking. What is your ecommerce business focused on right now? We’re happy to chatter away about how great our business is (the about us page) or how people can contact us (you guessed right, it’s the contact page). What if we kept a simple diary of the things that we do and the things we work upon?
Not as a business.
But as people.
I’ve run an ecommerce company. I understand the depth of decision making that is happening on a daily basis. The way we look to innovate our platform as well as the customer experience. From first click, to conversion and beyond.
How we choose the products we stock.
How we await shipment and how we continuously play the game of risk when it comes to order quantities.
How we look to improve how we package our products
How we choose the software that helps run our business more effectively.
How we recruit.
How we scale.
There’s a lot going on. What if we built those ideas and decisions into the fabric of our online offering?
What if we simply presented a time frame of the ‘/now/’ ?
A diary of what’s going on. Not a ream of articles. A place where we show our audience what we’re doing and where we’re heading.
Something that makes our ecommerce business look and feel alive.
Consider this.
From the 1st of [insert the next calendar month!] you and your team members list what they’re up to right now. A heading ‘What Claire, the marketing manager, is working on right now’ with a numbered list of ideas and action points.
The next month? A fresh slate. You build a habit of sharing the now.
What’s the purpose? What’s the value of sharing your ‘now’?
Consider how you’re building trust and authority through your website right now. Creating your own brand rather than simply selling products.
Consider all the things that you do that are of interest to your potential and existing customers. As a customer-centred business, why wouldn’t you share what you’re working on?
A lot of what we do is focused on what we’ve done. Take the typical ‘about us’ page. You’ve been selling online for 10 years now, have you? Will that differentiate you from the competition? Will it demonstrate why you earn my hard earned money over the competitor one click away? I’m not so sure.
Focusing in on the now? That demonstrates that your ecommerce business has a pulse. It communicates that there are real people making real decisions.
I feel it’s important we do this. We open up. You’re taught the importance of building a business that stands for something. Use your ‘now’ as a way to show that ‘something’ in context.
Why will your ‘now’ matter?
It may just be that one place on your website where your business gains the advantage. When you’re selling a product at the same cost as the competitor. When you’re selling a product with the same dispatch and delivery time. This is about assisting the decision making process. ‘Hey look, I’m buying from people that are building something that matters’. That’s how you will make your now matter.
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