“At Overstock.com it’s been all about focusing on women – we’re
almost 70% female & this was the original strategy. When a woman
gets a good deal she tells 6 friends. Since we didn’t have the money at
first to do mass advertising, we went word-of-mouth.”
If you buy into the idea that women are indeed an extremely powerful
and appealing sector of consumers, then you might want to heed
Patrick’s recommendations to get millions of hits on YOUR
website—mostly from women:
- Provide a simple shipping policy
- No hidden fees at checkout ( For example, a shipping charge tacked
on) Flat-rate shipping (Overstock’s is normally $2.95 per order; during
March it’s a flat $1 shipping per order)
- Provide customer service
that is responsive; you have to be a fanatic on customer service – our
phones are answered 24/7 within 30 seconds and emails are answered
within 4-6 hours
- Make your site informative - Fast website performance and easy navigation and search are very important to women.
- Include a good return policy
– Make sure this is something you consciously design so you’re really
taking care of your customer. It needs to be fair and straight-forward.
- Include name brands – If you’re a retail site, women react more positively to name brands than no-name alternatives.