September 9th, 2014 by Elma Jane
The use of customer data can help you make smarter decisions that can improve your store, enhance the shopper experience, and increase conversions. When used incorrectly, however, data can waste resources and alienate your visitors.
Ways that ecommerce merchants commonly misuse data.
Collecting Unnecessary Data
Big Data analytics and reporting tools can put a lot of information in your hands, but that doesn’t mean you should collect and track every single metric. Don’t waste space and bandwidth collecting information that is not essential in your business. Unnecessary data can create noise that slows down the analytics process. Gathering and analyzing information you don’t need can distract you from the metrics that matter. Collecting too much data can create security headaches. The best defense against breaches is to not have data to steal. If you don’t need it, don’t collect it.
Determine your store’s key performance indicators before collecting any information. A good way of doing this is to examine each metric and ask yourself whether it’s just nice to know or is something that you can actually act on. While it may be nice to know that a particular customer has a high Klout Score, that metric probably won’t do anything for your bottom line. It’s better to not bother with it. Key metrics vary from one business to the next. For most ecommerce sites, the important metrics usually include conversion rate, traffic sources, and on-site browsing activities.
Creeping-out Shoppers
Most retailers do this inadvertently when they’re trying to customize the shopper experience. A certain amount of personalization can provide value and convenience to users, but you also have to draw the line between cool personalization and creepy. Sending emails with tailored product recommendations is a good way to increase conversions. But you have to be careful with how you execute it, so that you don’t appear too intrusive. The same goes for remarketing banner ads.
Ignoring Qualitative Information
Numbers can produce many insights, but focusing solely on that data can create an incomplete view of your company. Best data strategies make use of both quantitative and qualitative information. Go beyond the numbers to get the pulse of your customers by collecting feedback through social interactions, customer service logs, surveys with open-ended questions and more. Qualitative information can complement and validate the hard numbers.
Using Data to Justify a Decision or Hypothesis
When it comes to data collection, many merchants fall into the confirmation bias trap, wherein they interpret the information to confirm their existing beliefs or to justify their decisions. Using data this way causes you to ignore information or results that aren’t in line with your beliefs and could result in you missing opportunities. Say a company has so much faith in its new marketing strategy that when website traffic improves, the staff deems the campaign a success without looking at the conversion or retention rates. If the staff had ignored initial biases and looked at the big picture instead, they could have identified flaws and found ways to correct them. The key to addressing this is to have an open mind when interpreting information. This can be difficult, especially when you’re too close to your business. Consider a third-party specialist who can remain objective, to help make the right decisions.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, e-commerce & m-commerce Tagged with: breaches, business, conversion rate, customer, customer data, customer service, data, ecommerce, ecommerce merchants, Merchant's, rate, retention rates, Security, sources, tools, traffic
August 26th, 2014 by Elma Jane
Being a good leader in the workplace is no easy feat. Every day is busy and full of challenges. It’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of everyday management tasks and let leadership style fall by the wayside sometimes. However, as a boss, it’s important that you don’t let this happen, as your employees are counting on you. LEADERS set the standards required of a culture. Your leadership style indicates what’s considered appropriate behavior in your organization, and that your company’s culture will moderate itself based on what you endorse both formally and informally.
So how do you know a good or if you are a good boss? This quiz will help you evaluate your leadership skills. Answer true or false to the following 20 questions, and see how your management skills add up.
1. I am approachable. Employees can ask me anything without fear of rebuke or belittlement, and I listen to them with full attention.
2. I am credible as a leader. I know my stuff.
3. I am able to explain the need for change in our business in a way that interests or encourages my employees and doesn’t dishearten them.
4. I am able to explain the wider context of situations and circumstances that affect or challenge our company in a way that my team can understand.
5. I am able to identify where my team needs to grow and/or develop skill sets and capabilities, and can find the necessary resources to facilitate this growth.
6. I am inspired by my work and the work of my team.
7. I believe in my employees.
8. I can explain to my team our key value proposition for customers in one short sentence.
9. I constantly remind myself and my team of the purpose of our work and why we are doing what we do (e.g., for customer results, customer service or to hit sales targets.)
10. I do not judge my staff based on who I am, but rather on who they could be and should be.
11. I have an up-to-date understanding of our customers’ needs and expectations of us, and their perception of us as an organization.
12. I have communicated clearly and repeatedly to people on my team or department what our core business is.
13. I have communicated clearly and repeatedly to people in my team or department what my expectations of them are.
14. I know and live by my own set of personal values that make me reliable and consistent around my team.
15. I never lose my temper with staff.
16. I personally embody the company values in everything I think, say and do in the workplace.
17. I provide an organized formal performance review process at least twice a year with my people.
18. I provide regular informal feedback on people’s efforts and performance.
19. I regularly praise employees’ efforts and behaviors by describing how they reflect our company or team values.
20. I understand and know our company values, and how our collective behavior reflects or violates these values.
The more you answered true, the closer you are to being a good boss. If you have scored 15 or more statements as true for you, you are well positioned as an effective and inspiring leader. If you have scored 10 to 15 statements as true for you, you must begin work on the oversights immediately in order to become an effective leader. If you have scored less than 10 statements as true for you, seek support or training and development, as you are currently missing many of the vital components required to be an effective leader.
Posted in nationaltransaction.com Tagged with: business, company, customer service, customers, management, organization, sales, sales targets
August 25th, 2014 by Elma Jane
Let’s talk about success stories of the people who worked with National Transaction and made it big in this field. One great story that we have is about Big Daddy. I named this guy Big Daddy, because of the great success that he made in this industry. Big Daddy was a Physical fitness trainer with an outgoing personality before he joined National Transaction. He gained knowledge about the card industry and build a good working relationship with NTC’s President Mr. M. Together, they secure a relationship with several associations and negotiated a deal. Now, they were able to partner with a high risk account. While these associations continue to profit from the relationship, Big Daddy took 3 years off. These associations assist merchants become more profitable and is the leading global advocate for travel agents, the travel industry and the traveling public, also the world’s largest association of travel professionals. National Transaction has been ASTA member and a partner since then for almost 10 years now. As Big Daddy broaden his knowledge and skills about the industry, he started to build his own portfolio which gave him the ability to form his residual income. As of this date, he averages $30,000 monthly with National Transaction, while running his own business. If Big Daddy made it, then other Sales Representatives can make it bigger too. With the right company to work with like National Transaction, right tools and full support from our Team and Customer Service your on the right track, so why not make a move??? Start building your portfolio and give it a shot or if you already have one, work it out. You will never know. In all labor there is a profit.
Posted in nationaltransaction.com Tagged with: account, ASTA, card, card industry, customer service, high risk account, Merchant's, National Transaction, residual, residual income, sales, travel, travel agents
August 12th, 2014 by Elma Jane
With so much competition in today’s marketplace, it can often be a challenge to turn first-time customers into repeat customers. Providing good customer service isn’t always enough to keep consumers coming back. To create loyal customers, businesses need to be prepared to make their customers feel special and wanted.
Improve customer loyalty with the following:
Be quick to resolve issues. Not all products work perfectly and sometimes, paid services don’t meet expectations. Accept when customers’ expectations haven’t been met and work hard to make sure the issues are resolved to their satisfaction. They will remember this and will feel like their purchases are safe with you next time.
Keep in touch. Gather contact data on your customers when you can. Reach out to them with special offers and new products and services or just send them a birthday card. Use any excuse to keep your company in their minds.
Provide great service. Customer loyalty wanes when customer service is lacking. Make sure the customer is attended to promptly, courteously and efficiently. Listen to their needs and meet them as efficiently as possible. Customers will remember this, but they will remember bad service even more.
Reward loyalty. Once in a while, you should treat a loyal customer with a free product or special discount just for being loyal. You’ll be surprised at the loyalty this will generate.
Thank your customers. Chances are, you have competitors in your category and that means your customers have options. The fact that they chose you whether it’s because of your pricing, reputation or convenience is something that you appreciate, so show it. Thank them every time for choosing you and let them know in words and deeds how important your business is to them, regardless of whether they’re your smallest customer or your largest.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants Tagged with: competitors, consumers, contact data, Customer loyalty, customer service, customers, data, free product, products, purchases, services, special discount
June 6th, 2014 by Elma Jane
In business, Your website is often the first place consumers will go to find you. Your site is your chance to make a good first impression on potential leads and bring back existing customers, it’s important to make sure your website keeps its visitors interested and engaged.
Most brands are aware of the need to create an engaging Web presence, but smaller ones typically don’t think they have the time or resources to create a website at all. A trend among smaller business is to create just a Facebook page with no website. This is a great place to start, but to gain “customer trust”, having a website is important. It shows you’re an established company. A company’s website can be its “number 1” driver of business with the right tools and strategies. Building a great website doesn’t have to be expensive or time-consuming.
Optimize your Web presence for maximum customer engagement
Make your website experience match your customer-service experience.Consumers have come to expect the same type of experience with a brand online as they would in-store, enabling features on your website that allow visitors to complete as many interactions as possible for a seamless customer-service experience. These features can include detailed descriptions of each of your products and services, easy-to-access contact and purchase information, and a way for customers to reach you quickly, such as a live-chat function or links to your social media pages.
Personalize your website in ways that make sense for your business.Enhance customers’ experience on your website by customizing it to their needs. Use personalization tactics that make sense for you. Big Data analytics and voluntary surveys can help you send customized offers based on consumers’ past shopping habits and preferred contact methods which can help with sales conversions.
Use social media as a communication tool.The role of social media for businesses has evolved considerably. A way to share and promote content on your website, social media can and should be used as an extension of your customer service. Your website should be the focal point for your brand’s information. If you can get beyond that, social media should be a way to reach out to clients in a cost-effective way. By using Facebook, Twitter and other sites as a line of communication between your brand and your customers, you can drive them to your website in unique ways, such as by sharing a blog post that will help answer a customer’s question.
Posted in Small Business Improvement Tagged with: big data, Big Data analytics, blog, communication tool, consumers, customer service, customers, Data analytics, Facebook, leads, live-chat, products and services, resources, sales conversions, social media, tool, tools, twitter, website
May 30th, 2014 by Elma Jane
Southwest Airlines is now accepting mobile boarding passes at 28 total U.S. airport locations, its newest convenience feature that enables fliers to pass security and board an aircraft simply by waving their mobile device.
Following a tiered rollout from last year, the paperless boarding system requires minimal user action. Passengers check in via the Southwest mobile site or branded app and choose to view their boarding pass. The image will open in a new browser and can be saved to a device’s photo gallery upon request.
Mobile apps are critical touch points in the customer journey. Native and hybrid apps are continuing to dramatically increase the ability to deploy and optimize digital strategy. If you’re customizing the experience on mobile Web only, you’re missing a huge opportunity.
Long awaited arrival
New airline initiatives are offering a level of customer service that has never before been possible, and is transforming the experience of traveling to create a new barometer on which carriers will be judged.
Southwest offers two ways to attain an e-boarding pass: have one sent directly to a mobile device though electronic mail or text message when checking in online, or use the airline’s app to check in and have the pass appear with the option to save a replica to the photo gallery. When ready for boarding, passengers present their screen at both security checkpoints and gate entrance to be scanned by staff. In addition to mobile boarding pass support, the app also now includes upcoming trip cards that display flight information such as boarding position, gate location and access to flight tools such mobile check-in from the home screen.
IT takes flight
An industry wide Airline IT Trends Survey shows that more than 90 percent of airlines are increasing their investment in mobile capabilities to ease the hassles of getting through the airport and improve the in-flight experience. American, Delta, Continental and United are the biggest adopters of e-boarding support, offering the service from at least 75 airports. Mobile boarding passes are the preferred method for frequent fliers, as business execs and the like are constantly engaged with their handhelds. Paper passes also become more likely to be lost or wrinkled.
Another advantage of the electronic offering is that some travelers may not have access to a printer, and so a mobile boarding pass relieves the frustration of waiting on line at a kiosk. Of course there are also obvious drawbacks that may hinder the proposed convenience factor, one being that a mobile device may malfunction or run out of battery, resulting in a delayed trip or even a missed flight.
Mobile passes may also present a challenge if multiple people are traveling under one reservation. U.S. Airways and Continental restrict the service to one person per reservation. Other airliners allow each group member to check in line and have a separate pass sent to appropriate phones. While certain cons defeat the purpose of going mobile for efficiency reasons, the benefits offer peace of mind as airline carriers continue to improve the technology.
The option helps deliver more personalized and relevant experiences to on-the-go consumers leveraging a unified customer profile to collect, own and act on data not only on mobile apps, but also across kiosks and other platforms. This approach to mobile apps uniquely sets marketers free in terms of customization and delivery of the experience, and has delivered great results.
Posted in Smartphone Tagged with: airline carriers, airports, American, app, boarding pass, cards, carriers, consumers, Continental, customer service, data, Delta, digital, e-boarding pass, electronic mail, hybrid apps, mobile, Mobile Apps, mobile boarding, mobile device, Mobile passes, mobile site, mobile Web, phones, platforms, Security, technology, tools, U.S. Airways and Continental
May 27th, 2014 by Elma Jane
The newest Tesco Extra store in Lincoln is offering customers a revolutionary new checkout alternative that improves the customer checkout experience by reducing the time spent in checkout queues.
The global leader in the development of automatic data capture (ADC) solutions for the retail industry, Datalogic, installed the world’s first bar code scanner in a supermarket. Today, their newest technology, allows the shopper to place their items on a checkout belt, in any orientation, and have them automatically scanned by the Jade X7 Automated Scanner. Items are then automatically directed to a bagging area just like traditional checkout lanes. This frees up staff to spend more time engaging with shoppers and delivering great customer service at the checkout, driving up satisfaction and loyalty.
As the shopper places items on the checkout conveyor they pass through scanning arches which automatically read bar codes and visually recognize items at a much higher speed than a traditional checkout configuration. The items are then directed to one of three bagging areas for bagging and payment and the next customer’s transaction can begin immediately.
Datalogic has invented the Jade X7 Automated Scanner using advanced high performance imaging and provides the technology as a key building block to key system integrators around the world who customize checkout installations to meet the specific needs of retailers and their customers. The new, high-speed retail checkout for Tesco was designed by NCR allowing up to three customers to pack and pay for their shopping simultaneously. The combined solution is capable of automatically scanning up to 60 items per minute.
Datalogic provides the building blocks for a completely re-invented checkout, enabling store associates to continue to deliver great customer service by reducing the time customers spend in the checkout lane. Datalogic continues their heritage of inventing, adapting, and applying technologies that aid retailers and system integrators in developing solutions that make the in-store shopping experience move valuable to customers.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged with: Automated Scanner, automatic data capture, bagging and payment, bar code, bar code scanner, checkout configuration, checkout conveyor, checkout lanes, checkout queues, customer checkout, customer service, Datalogic, retail industry, scanner, system integrators
May 23rd, 2014 by Elma Jane
Before making a purchase, there are several devices that consumers may use to help them make a decision: Use a specific store’s mobile app on their smartphones. Visit the store’s website on a tablet or computer, or just pick up the phone and call customer service to ask a question. Whatever the case, omnichannel is an important buzzword for merchants.
Here are ways to ensure a seamless and secure retail experience to turn browsers into loyal buyers.
Ensure Channels Work Together
Even in historically single-channel retail sectors such as grocery, more than half of customers now use two or more channels before completing a purchase, shown in a recent study. Retailers must therefore offer both traditional and digital channels. However, before investing in the latest mobile-optimized website feature or app, retailers should learn how existing online and physical channels can together enhance the customer experience. What customers value most is not the number of channels offered, but how these channels support each other.
A merchant’s website might encourage visitors to take advantage of a special event in-store, while sales assistants on the floor can use Wi-Fi enabled tablets to access additional product information.
Help Customers Find What They Want
With Internet access ubiquitous, cost-conscious customers are just a click away from being able to compare prices and find special offers. Many take out their smartphone or tablet in stores to compare prices, a trend called Showrooming.
Online retailers can take advantage of this trend by encouraging shoppers to compare prices in-store using a mobile app. In-store retailers, on the other hand, could provide greater value through targeted offers, price match guarantees, expert advice, convenient delivery choices and personalized customer care.
Optimize The Checkout Experience
Businesses must be sure to have a quick, streamlined checkout process once they have converted an online browser into a customer or else they risk facing shopping cart abandonment. This can be done in a few steps:
1. Assess how the checkout experience can be customized for its customers. Keep the mandatory information required from new or first-time online or mobile shoppers to a minimum and shorten the process for returning customers by securely storing their payment details and other personal information.
2. Develop a dedicated mobile app or other innovative functions that can increase long-term satisfaction and loyalty.
3. Test different payment methods to find those that are most convenient for customers. These payment options may include paying with reward points, using a digital wallet or providing a digital offer or coupon at checkout. There is a balance to be found between having additional payment methods to meet customer expectations and choosing methods appropriate to a merchant’s business model.
4. Establish a one-click online checkout process. Chase for example, is currently developing a Chase Wallet and Quick Checkout solution. The Chase Wallet will allow customers to store and access their Chase cards and ultimately, any branded card for a quick checkout. It will also update Chase-branded cards when a customer replaces an existing card and use tokenization to securely process payments with select merchants.
Merchants also face the challenge of ensuring that the online and in-store checkout experience is secure, while at the same time eliminating as many false positives as possible. False positives are a hindrance to any business as they may reduce sales, increase chargebacks and frustrate customers. A quick-checkout solution may help reduce false positives because customer information is automatically populated rather than manually keyed into the checkout page.
Acquirers should also work with online retailers to provide a conditional approval code for a transaction. This code allows the fulfillment process to move forward while authentication is taking place. The additional time for a thorough authentication also helps reduce the number of false positives.
Use Data to Build Loyalty
Customers will likely return to a retailer if product marketing reflects their past purchases or interests. Therefore, taking advantage of data including a customer’s purchasing history, loyalty, behavior or social media interests may help retailers to better understand their customers as well as personalize their shopping experience.
According to a study released in March 2013, Chase Paymentech found that 32 percent of merchants use their payment data to help craft their multi-channel sales strategy and 42 percent use it to improve the online customer experience. In addition, further analysis of payment methods, chargeback rates, fraud rates and authorization rates may improve the customer shopping experience and drive overall profitability.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants Tagged with: approval code, authentication, branded card, chargebacks, Chase, Chase Wallet, checkout process, computer, customer service, data, digital channels, digital offer, Digital Wallet, In-store retailers, internet access, Merchant's, merchant’s website, mobile app, mobile-optimized website, omnichannel, online retailers, payment, payment data, phone, physical channels, Quick Checkout solution, reward points, shopping cart, Showrooming, single-channel retail, Smartphones, social media, tablet, tokenization, transaction, website, Wi-Fi
May 15th, 2014 by Elma Jane
Selling merchant accounts can be a very profitable venture. It’s not an easy task by any means. It takes hours of work, a strong knowledge of the payment processing industry, dedication and the ability to be told NO many times and still keeping at it. It is often first done successfully as a part time job, because it takes time to build up a residual stream large enough to live off of.
More that 50% of all people that start out to sell merchant accounts never make it and maybe 10% are profitable enough to stick with it. Once the person has found the right company like National Transaction to work with and the ability to sell merchant accounts, they can make a very good living from it.
Statistically, an average merchant account will give a sales agent about $30/month to $11,000/month in residual income. Sandler one of our Sales Rep. who’s into insurance company, had a fall out with his brother came in the office did some orientation and had all the support and tools that he needs, did some phone calls and in a month landed a good deal!!! 11,000/monthly residual for Sandler.
If a sales agent can sign 10 accounts per month, they will be making $3600 per month at the end of the first year or $36,000 per year. At the end of the second year $72,000 per year and at the end of the third year $108,000 per year which is a very decent salary. (Take note that the above average statistics may vary). It really depends on what type or existing portfolio a Sales Rep have or the net volume of the merchant accounts they closed in. As long as the agent keeps signing accounts their income will keep growing. But 10 accounts per month is not an easy task especially for someone new to the merchant services industry. Also, overtime attrition shows up and the average number of accounts a person can setup goes down. But with the help of National Transaction’s Support Sales Team, tools and leads you can make it.
With National Transaction, there’s a lot of Sales Representatives from different walks of life who became successful in this field. From a couple who teamed up and build their own portfolio, to a plain housewife, a teacher, ordinary people who doesn’t know anything about merchant accounts selling or not really into sales marketing, but made it big.
Sales Marketing is not for everybody, but if the company like NTC is giving you all the tools and the support that you need to make it, like orientation, classroom training twice a week, even helping you out close a deal through our Sales Support Team then that’s Awesome!
National Transaction give upfront commissions (NTC pay within a couple of business days), not only that, NTC do High Risk credit card processing services, not all merchant service provider does the same thing. National Transaction provides you prequalified leads and appointment set up, you can also call our 24/7 customer service if you need any help. You do not have to purchase a unit or invest in provided leads or anything because NTC wants all their Sales Representative to succeed.
Also in this field you can work from home or be at the office at your own flexible time. As long as you have set your own quota for the day. If you want to be a successful Sales Representative and earn 60,000 or more monthly residual then sign up with National Transaction and make that dream of yours come true, just like our existing Sales Representatives.
Posted in nationaltransaction.com Tagged with: customer service, insurance, insurance company, merchant, merchant accounts, National Transaction, payment industry, payment processing industry, prequalified, sales, Sales Marketing, Sales Representatives
May 12th, 2014 by Elma Jane
Let’s talk about success stories of the people who worked with National Transaction and made it big in this field. One great story that we have is about Big Daddy. I named this guy Big Daddy, because of the great success that he made in this industry. Big Daddy was a Physical fitness trainer with an outgoing personality before he joined National Transaction. He gained knowledge about the card industry and build a good working relationship with NTC’s President Mr. M. Together, they secure a relationship with several associations and negotiated a deal. Now, they were able to partner with a high risk account. While these associations continue to profit from the relationship, Big Daddy took 3 years off. These associations assist merchants become more profitable and is the leading global advocate for travel agents, the travel industry and the traveling public, also the world’s largest association of travel professionals. National Transaction has been ASTA member and a partner since then for almost 10 years now. As Big Daddy broaden his knowledge and skills about the industry, he started to build his own portfolio which gave him the ability to form his residual income. As of this date, he averages $30,000 monthly with National Transaction, while running his own business. If Big Daddy made it, then other Sales Representatives can make it bigger too. With the right company to work with like National Transaction, right tools and full support from our Team and Customer Service your on the right track, so why not make a move??? Start building your portfolio and give it a shot or if you already have one, work it out. You will never know. In all labor there is a profit.
Posted in nationaltransaction.com Tagged with: account, ASTA, card, card industry, customer service, high risk account, Merchant's, National Transaction, residual, residual income, sales, travel, travel agents
