Optimisation Q&A: Jonathan Sapir, MD of Wood and Beyond

Suzie Larcombe speaks to Jonathan Sapir, MD of Wood and Beyond to find out more about the business’ ecommerce strategy and how it keeps its website optimised for sales.

In this article you’ll find out what this established and highly successful wood floor, worktop and decking supplier does to really keep their finger on the pulse when it comes to maximising their online sales.

What do you do (online and off) to make sure you track down the right target market?

At Wood and Beyond we run a tight ship. Our marketing efforts involve analysing traffic and consumer behaviour. We spend time and resources ensuring that we attract traffic that is highly likely to convert.  We play a game of quality as opposed to quantity.

We don’t have the multi-million pound budget for advertising that some companies in our industry enjoy, so our approach is mindful of costs and results orientated.

What do you think are the most important elements of your site when it comes to maximising sales?

Product range, price and peace-of-mind guarantees are at the core of everything we do. For us the key is to offer consumers what they want, changing our range according to trends and consumer demand. When we source stock we ensure that prices are competitive because we know consumers shop around and compare prices.

We have also introduced a number of peace-of-mind elements to the purchase process that include a no-questions-asked money back guarantee and a long warranty on all flooring products.

What have you done design-wise to help sell more?  What has worked best and what hasn’t worked?

The site has many hundreds of products so emphasis is on ease of navigation.  We know there’s no point in having a wide range of products if consumers find it hard to navigate the site. We also find that product video reviews are incredibly helpful as well as high quality imagery.  I can’t really remember what hasn’t worked because it’ll already have been removed long ago .

What tips would you give about checkout, navigation, design, images etc?

Implement best practices and aim for improvement through testing. Get others involved in the testing process. Being close to the project you are not likely to come across significant hurdles while surfing your site.

From your point of view, you may well think that the navigation is perfect and the design should win awards; but individuals who haven’t seen the site before may come across challenges. Make small changes based on site feedback and measure the changes using split testing.

What about registration: do your clients have to register to buy and if so are there options to register via the social media?  Do you think this is meaningful in the sales process?

Currently consumers can opt to open an account or complete the checkout as a guest. We like to think that this flexibility plays into the hands of consumers who are fed up opening accounts. We accept that in most cases a flooring purchase may be done once every few years, so consumers find it hard to see the benefit of registration.

For those who wish to open an account, for ordering history and tracking purposes, or for those who frequent the site regularly, we are working on allowing them to sign in with their social credentials. We hope to start testing this level of integration soon.

What do you do behind the scenes to make sure the buyer experience is as good as it can be?

It really boils down to the quality of the products and customer service. Behind the scenes our team ensures that the quality of our products is consistently high. We source our products from trusted suppliers with whom we have long relationships and constantly test to ensure quality is maintained.

We offer 10 years warranty and believe it makes commercial sense to insists on quality as a business KPI. In terms of customer service, we have a team in place dedicated to this 7 days a week. From the time of placing an order to the day of delivery we take special interest in keeping the consumer informed and deliver on the day as promised.

What about mobile commerce?  Is it important to your business and what are you doing to prepare for it?

We find that more and more consumers are taking to mobile surfing, at least as an initial inquiry. We are currently working to improve our mobile site by offering a richer browsing experience.

What are you doing right now to improve your sales/conversion rates and what has worked well?  

Wood flooring, decking and worktop purchase isn’t straightforward due to the technical aspects and considerations that naturally accompany the purchase. We found it especially helpful to offer a Freephone helpline that’s open 7 days a week so consumers can phone in and get honest advice.

We have also worked hard to ensure that our messages of quality, sheer range and price come across during the site browsing experience. In addition, we have recently opened a London showroom to allow potential clients to come in and view the range over a cup of coffee, even if they eventually decide to place the order online.

What are your three Top Tips for anyone looking to sell more via their ecommerce platform?

Be competitive.  Most purchasers aren’t impulse buyers and take time to research prices. When you sell online, make sure you can complete in terms of price, or at least offer something your competitors can’t (complete on range).

Offer great service.  Recommendations from clients are an easy way to increase revenue and will only happen if you provide good service. Gather testimonials and recommendations when you’ve done a great job, and put your hand up and fix a problem when you haven’t.

Stay current.  Consumer taste and trends change and it’s important to update your stock in a timely manner to stay ahead of the game.