Nexternal Solutions eCommerce Blog – eCommerce News Articles

In this video, I am going to provide you with a couple of quick examples of how utilize the new CRM or Customer Relationship Management tools within the Nexternal Order Management System.

In the first example scenario let’s say that I’m a customer service rep with the online retailer Firstfairway.com. I just took a call from a customer that wants to know if we intend to carry Oakley Jawbone sunglasses once they become available. So the first thing that I am going to do is document this conversation.

After logging into the Nexternal OMS and going to the customer’s section, I’ll do a quick search for the Customer by Last Name, I will then drill down on his customer record, and then record the activity. Now I told the customer that I believe this product will be available within a month and I will contact him as soon as I have any information from the manufacturer. I am sure to set a follow up date and assign myself to the owner of the account. I suspect I will have the pricing and availability info I need in 3 weeks so I’ll set the follow-up date to 21 days out.

Now, when I login 21 days from now and hit the Today button, his account will be listed amongst the customers I need to contact today. If I have the information I can call the customer with pricing and availability. If the item is still out of stock I can set another follow up date a few days ahead.

In the second example scenario let’s say that I’m a Sales Rep for FirstFairway.com. First Fairway just came out with their own line of putters and I am trying to get them into the hands of as many potential distributors as possible.
When I login to the OMS, the first thing I am going to do is hit my Today button. Once again these are distributor accounts that I have planned to call on today. I’ll click on the first account, scroll down and can see my activity history. I can see that last week he asked that I call back today, so I’ll go ahead and place the call.

During the call he mentions that he would like to commit to buying 10 of my putters, but first needs to generate a Purchase Order. He mentions that the PO Process takes about 3 days at his company. Again, I’ll record the activity and then add three business days to the follow up date. On my next call, I’ll be ready to actually place the order for this customer.

These are just a couple of examples on how you can utilize activities, owners, and follow-up dates. We are excited to see how you will use this feature update to help your business. If you have any questions on this topic feel free to contact us using the Nexternal Help Desk. You can also call us at 1-800-914-6161 or email us at ecommerce@nexternal.com.

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Google Base or Google Product Search is a free comparison shopping service provided by Google. Google Base product results are displayed when a buyer searches Google for specific product information. When the customer finds the product they like, they are directed to the merchant’s website to purchase.

Nexternal makes it extremely easy not only publish your products to Google Base but to keep that product information updated. Additionally, once you provide Nexternal with your Google Base FTP information, we will update your Google Base account automatically every night.

There are two parts to setting up your Google Base Feed. First you will need to register and set up an account with Google Base. Next you will need to transfer some of your information from Google base into the Nexternal Order Management System.

Here are the steps to follow:

The first thing you will want to do is create a Google Base account at http://www.google.com/base/.

You will now need to configure your settings by clicking “Settings.”

On this page you will be asked to enter some information about your company.

Display Name: Your display name can be anything you choose but remember it will be displayed to your potential customers.
Description: This is optional, but will provide potential customers with more information about your company.
Website URL: If you are not using a domain alias (example: shop.yourdomain.com) the Website URL most be in the following format or it will be rejected; http://www.nexternal.com/ACCOUNTNAME. If you are using a domain alias put your domain alias in this field.

Save your settings and you are now ready prepare your items for upload.

Your company’s item list will now need to be setup within Google Base.

Click on “My Items”

Click on “Data Feeds”

Click on “New Data Feed”

You will now need to enter information regarding your product feed (the file containing your products that will be sent to Google).

Item Type: Most merchants should choose “Products” here, but your organization may differ.
Select the data feed you are registering: Here you will select Google Base.
File name: It isn’t imperative what you name this file, but it must end in .txt and must be the same name as that used in the Nexternal Order Management System (Products / Export / Marketplace Exports / Preferences / Google Base Options).

You will now need to sign-up for FTP access to Google. This will allow the Nexternal software to deposit your product file to Google. You can find your FTP Information in the Settings section or by going to http://www.google.com/base/updateftp.

You will need to choose an FTP username and password. This username and password will also need to be entered into the Nexternal Order Management System (Products / Export / Marketplace Exports / Preferences / Google Base Options).

Lastly you will need to enter your Google Base information in the Nexternal Order Management System (Products / Export / Marketplace Exports / Preferences / Google Base Options).

Google Base File Name: This should correspond to the file name chosen above. Google Base FTP User Name: This should correspond to the file name chosen above. Google Base FTP Password: This should correspond to the file name chosen above.

You should now be done setting up your automated Google Base Feed. Your feed will be uploaded within 24 hours and you may check the status of your product file upload by logging into your Google Base account.

Uploading to Google Base is an easy way to generate traffic to your online store and for the price it’s tough to beat. Nexternal also recommends feeding your products to the other marketplace we work with like Shopzilla, Yahoo Shopping and PriceGrabber. The set up is very similar to the Google upload and should only take you a few minutes for each marketplace.

If you have any questions on this topic feel free to contact us using the Nexternal Help Desk. You can also call us at 1-800-914-6161 or email us at ecommerce@nexternal.com.

IMPORTANT NOTES:
*** Just because the Nexternal’s software says the Google feed was successful, does not necessarily mean that Google accepted your data. It is imperative that you log into your Google Base account after the first feed has been sent to verify its status.

The three most common problems are:
A. The Website URL was not properly specified (See #3 above)
B. The file name specified in Nexternal’s software does not match the file name that is specified in Google.
C. The Item Type is not set to “Products”.

*** You may also want to consider exporting and manually uploading to Google the .txt file that Nexternal generates.
Export file: (Products > Export/Traffic Tools > Google Base). Upload to Google: (My Items > Uploads > Manual: Upload File).

Twitter has received a tremendous amount of press in the last few months. It’s no wonder as many high profile people are now tweeting, from the likes of Lance Armstrong to CEOs of major companies. What is Twitter? Twitter is a micro-blogging site that lets its users type 140 character updates. Twitter makes it very easy for other twitter users to connect with one another and read each other’s updates. As a retailer, should you be using Tweeting? If you believe in marketing and communicating with your customers, the answer is likely yes.

Consider this: the CEO of Zappos.com (the largest online shoe retailer) has more than 373,000 people following him on Twitter. That’s a ton of people that he is able to get his brand in front of on a daily basis! Furthermore, it costs him nothing should he decide to send a brief marketing message to these Twitter Users. Gary Vaynerchuk, host of Wine Library Tv, has more than 184,000 people following his tweets.

If you are now entertaining the idea of setting up your own Twitter account, you’ll want to follow some simple guidelines:

1. Customize the look of your Twitter Page to include your branding.
2. Follow some popular people on Twitter to see why they are such. You will get some ideas as to what people find interesting.
3. Include a link to your Twitter page on your homepage.
4. Tweet at least 4 times a week, but preferably more.
5. If people follow you, it’s common courtesy to follow them.
6. Install a Twitter application on your mobile device (iPhone for example). This makes it easy to update your twitter status from anywhere.
7. Include links in your twitter updates when possible.
8. Make most of your status updates interesting and fun. If most tweets are interesting and fun, people will have a positive response to the occasional promotional tweet.

While it may sound like a lot of work to get going, it is really quite simple. Furthermore, updating your status doesn’t take long (after all, you only have 140 characters to work with). Like most forms of online marketing, a little effort can provide significant benefits.

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