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Support e-commerce customers with subscription tools

November 20, 2020

Fun, Industry Insight

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Guest author: Jeff Sass, CMO, .CLUB Domains

With more people working from home and modifying their brick-and-mortar shopping habits, e-commerce is booming. According to a report by Shopify, global business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce sales are expected to reach $4.5 trillion by 2021. And that projection does not take into account the acceleration in online shopping caused by the global pandemic. A July survey of 5,000 consumers in North America and Europe found that 36% of respondents shop online weekly, up from 28% pre-COVID-19. Many Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) e-commerce businesses are reporting record sales for Q2 and Q3 2020, as many physical retailers struggle or adapt by adding an online channel to their business.

Top Subscription Models for E-Commerce

One area, in particular, that has seen tremendous growth is subscription services. For e-commerce businesses selling physical products, there are two primary subscription models:
- subscription boxes (a selection of curated goods that varies with each delivery)
- “subscribe-and-save” subscriptions (for recurring orders of replenishable items)
Both models have been experiencing rapid growth and can provide predictable, recurring revenue for the e-commerce businesses that offer them.

User adoption of subscription models have indeed proven to be a boon for e-commerce businesses, and it looks like the trend is set to continue. According to the Subscription Trade Association’s (SUBTA) 2019 State of the Subscription Commerce Economy Annual Report, by 2023, 75 percent of organizations selling D2C will offer subscription services.

Thinking Inside the Box

SUBTA also found that, as of 2018, there were close to 7,000 subscription box companies in the world. Nearly 70% of these companies are based out of the United States. Currently, there are 18.5 million subscription box shoppers in the United States. 35 % of active subscribers have three or more subscriptions, with the median number of subscriptions per active subscriber being two. As for subscribe-and-save, 15% of online shoppers have signed up for one or more subscriptions to receive products on a recurring basis.

The top categories for subscription boxes are Grooming, Food, Apparel, Lifestyle, Pets, and Kids. In 2019 Pets and Apparel were the fastest-growing categories in terms of website visitors.

In the subscribe-and-save model, the top categories include Food, Pets, and Coffee.

Helping e-commerce businesses offer subscriptions

If your platform supports e-commerce businesses, especially those that fall into one of the categories listed above, empowering your customers to adopt a subscription model may benefit their businesses while reaffirming you as the provider that makes it all possible.

Here are some things you might consider:

1. Provide some inspiration

The world is full of all kinds of enthusiasts. That means there are all kinds of products that are well-suited for subscriptions. Here are a few stores with subscription models that that might inspire your customers to get creative with their offering:

Loofah.club offers a wide selection of natural loofahs and sponges with subscriptions starting as low as $4.99 a month.

Bookcase.club makes it simple to read great books no matter what your literary preference. Subscribers choose a category and receive new books every month.

TheFragrance.club is a subscription business that makes scents! Choose your delivery frequency and your favourite perfume or cologne, and you are set to always smell great.

2. Make it easy for your customers to sell subscriptions

This might mean building the functionality in house or offering easy integration with a third-party provider that can automate subscription payments, billing, and management for your customers.

3. Suggest some creative TLDs for their subscription service URL

What makes subscription boxes a success is that they are personalized. And really, every consumer touchpoint is an opportunity to keep things playful and personal. Hosting a subscription service on a creative TLD like .CLUB is a fun way to remind the customer that they are a member, not just a customer.

If you’re looking for other TLD options that will help your customers build their brand, improve their SEO, and deliver a memorable online experience, check out our full lineup of domain extensions.
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Why You Should Consider .SHOP

August 25, 2020

Fun, Industry Insight, New TLDs, Uncategorized

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Views: 1143

The .SHOP domain extension sells itself. There are currently 670,000+ .SHOP registrations worldwide, and more than 51,000 active online shops hosted on this top-level-domain (TLD). Recently, .SHOP saw a surge in registrations, as existing businesses moved online, and people started new ventures in a shifting COVID-19 economy.

Here, we’ll take a look at how people are using .SHOP domains — including some COVID-19 success stories — and why .SHOP is a strong choice for resellers and website owners.

Why use .SHOP for your online store name?

.SHOP is one of those new domain extensions that just makes sense. It’s purpose and benefits seem clear. But it comes with a few upsides that aren’t immediately obvious:

You’ll help your brand stand out in a cluttered ecommerce space. Building a brand in an online landscape that gets more competitive every day is challenging, and small efforts add up. Your .SHOP domain could catch a potential customer’s eye in the sea of .COM/CA/local-TLD search results. And it emphasizes that you sell what they’re looking for.

Relatedly, you’ll be including an SEO keyword right in your URL.

.SHOP is playful and still has a novelty factor that can make your website stand out in the minds of visitors. Your site might even be the first .SHOP they’ve stumbled upon!

It’s short and easy to pronounce, which makes for a catchy, memorable website name. This is super important for word-of-mouth referrals and advertising.

“Shop” is a word commonly understood by non-English speakers, which makes it an excellent choice for global companies.

Why include .SHOP in your new domain extensions offering?

When curating a TLD lineup, it’s important to be selective and choose options that will resonate with your customers. You’ve got an opportunity to surprise them with a .COM alternative they didn’t even know existed! .SHOP is a great TLD to offer because:

In many cases, you’re enabling your customer to turn their brand into their URL — just think how many stores include “shop” in their name.

.SHOP is competitively priced (and currently on sale!) as an affordable .COM alternative.

It’s easy to market because its purpose is clear.

There’s a huge potential market and room for growth as more businesses, entrepreneurs, and hobbyists hop online.

It has global appeal and will perform well in different markets.

How are .SHOP domain names being used for ecommerce?

Between March and June of 2020, new .SHOP registrations with shopping carts more than doubled among Tucows domain registrants.

Tucows’ new .SHOP registrations with a shopping cart (Q1 2019 – Q2 2020)

But .SHOP has seen steady growth since its launch in 2016. It’s used by entrepreneurs, mom-and-pops, SMBs, and large corporations for a variety of ecommerce purposes.

Serving local customers via online stores during COVID-19

During these difficult times, many people are making an extra effort to support their community by shopping local. An online presence that lets customers purchase and order products from home is now a must-have for independent businesses who once relied on brick and mortar traffic.

In the interest of supporting local, we wanted to highlight a couple Canadian small businesses that have built their online presence on a .SHOP domain:

Vancouver-based mysistersclosetvancouver.shop is a social enterprise business that sells used clothes in support of Battered Women’s Support Services. They used their website to bring their offline inventory online and to safely accept used clothing donations during the COVID crisis.

Also in response to COVID, Kitchener-based baker, Chantelle Villeneuve. moved her business online with bonapatreat.shop to allow for delivery, pickup, and online sales. She’s since reopened the physical shop, but continues to serve customers with her new online presence.

Separating your ecommerce function from your corporate website

Businesses with established company websites are choosing .SHOP domains as a dedicated space for online sales while continuing to use their existing domain for corporate or product information.

Take for example, Arrowine, a Virginian wine retailer that has long promoted their brick and mortar store using arrowine.com. When COVID-19 hit, they registered arrowine.shop for online ordering, with contactless pick-up in the store’s parking lot.

He may not have a “corporate” website, but Fritz Meinecke, a German youtuber with 941, 000 subscribers, launched his online merch shop using fritzmeinecke.shop — a move that speaks to the domain extension’s global appeal.

Which leads us to our next point…

Cross-border ecommerce

Many businesses who start out operating locally will turn to a more global domain choice like .SHOP once they shift their focus to include other markets.

Netherlands-based Superfood guru actually made the switch from .NL to .SHOP after their SEO agency advised them to use ‘.shop’ for their Dutch domain name and ‘.shop/en’ for the English one.

Etsy, Amazon, and other marketplaces

Businesses who sell products on platforms such as Etsy and Amazon are benefiting from using a crisp, clean .SHOP domain to point to their marketplace page. Once they set up their own online store, these .SHOP users can simply direct their domain to their new site. This ensures that they don’t lose customers when they make the switch.

Services for ecommerce businesses

Choosing a .SHOP domain is also a great way to signal to your audience that your product is targeted to ecommerce businesses. We have seen webshop builders, like obodo.shop, and other ecommerce services developed on .SHOP domain names.

Presenting your customer with new domain extensions that make sense

Website owners have a confounding number of domain extensions to choose from. If you can point them to a TLD that serves their brand and reflects their purpose or niche, it’s a win for both of you. This can take the form of great content that highlights TLDs specific to their industry, or a smart name search tool that will deliver fresh, marketable domain ideas.

We think .SHOP is an intuitive fit for anyone looking to grow an online business. And pssst…if offering great prices on domains is your priority, check out our full TLD lineup or log in to view out our full list of domain extensions on sale.

This post was sponsored by .SHOP.

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How to Win by Treating Your Customers as Members

August 13, 2020

Featured, Fun, Industry Insight

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Views: 1255
Guest author: Jeffrey Sass, CMO, .CLUB Domains

There is a reason American Express made the phrase “Membership has its privileges” famous. The brand had the right idea to focus on the benefits of membership to attract and retain customers. We are tribal by nature. It is in our DNA to want to belong to a community — to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. It is why clubs of all kinds have been around for thousands of years. It is why we choose to live in neighborhoods, communities and cities.

Being part of a community has never been easier or more powerful than it is today thanks to the Internet, and more specifically, thanks to the millions of websites on the so-called worldwide web. When you choose a domain name, hosting plan, and set up your own online presence, whether for business or personal use, you are joining one of the largest clubs ever – the club of website owners. And as a website owner, you are in a very unique and powerful position to attract visitors and customers, and create your own online community around your interests, your passions, your products, or services.

There is a growing trend for eCommerce businesses to focus on memberships and subscriptions. According to a February 2018 report by McKinsey & Company, “The subscription e-commerce market has grown by more than 100 percent a year over the past five years. The largest such retailers generated more than $2.6 billion in sales in 2016, up from a mere $57 million in 2011.”

And that trend continues. It makes perfect sense for eCommerce businesses and online sites of all types to treat their visitors and customers as members. Every eCommerce platform and most content-driven websites encourage visitors to establish an account and log in when they visit. If people are going to give you their name and email address, they are effectively joining your club. Your visitors and customers are members of your club, so treat them as such. Offer them the “privileges” that Amex espouses. Make them feel special for joining your community. There are a number of ways this can be done, and here are a few simple ones:
- Share exclusive content that only members receive.
- If you sell something, offer members special deals, and early access to new products or services. Occasionally include some added-value items in their orders for free as a member benefit.
- Make sure your support team makes every interaction with a member memorable, putting the member’s needs first.
- Encourage members to provide feedback and testimonials, and reward them for doing so — and LISTEN to them and let them know their feedback is appreciated.
- Shine a light on your members in your Social Media marketing (as appropriate).
In general, just imagine how you would want to be treated as a member of a club, and treat your visitors and customers the same way. Just as you enjoy feeling wanted and appreciated, so will your visitors and customers when they feel like they are a member of your “club.”

And, if you are looking for a domain name that truly expresses the community of your website or business, a domain ending in .CLUB may be a great choice. You’d be joining the countless other creative businesses and individuals that have chosen .CLUB for their online home. Take for example, Firstleaf.club, a company that has built a large community around wine by offering a customized wine club experience.

Unlike most wine clubs where every member is sent the same selection of wines, Firstleaf chooses your wines based on your personalized profile, and lets you rate the wines you receive. Then they customize future orders just for you, based on your likes and dislikes. As a result, Firstleaf has consistently been rated among the top wine clubs and has been featured in articles in Forbes, Huffington Post, Newsweek, Entertainment Tonight, NBC News, and many more. Clearly, the personalized treatment they give their members is leading to great success.

So, as you think about growing your online community and retaining and re-engaging your customers, think about them as members of your club. You don’t have to be as big as American Express to show your customers and fans that, indeed, membership has its privileges.

Is. CLUB a good fit for you or your customers?

.CLUB has many uses outside of eCommerce, and its potential for subscription-based retailers is really intriguing. Plus, you can now get .CLUB on promotion for just $6. If you’re interested in exploring some other creative domain options, check Enom’s our full TLD lineup.
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A Great Domain for Freelancers and Entrepreneurs? Try .ME

June 22, 2020

Featured, Fun, Industry Insight

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Views: 1633

Today, personal websites function as a calling card that can help your customers showcase an online portfolio, house their resume or blog, and find creative ways to establish their personal brand.

.ME is a great option for entrepreneurs, hobbyists, and professionals looking to do any of the above. And as more and more of these potential customers hop online, adding .ME to your lineup is a no-brainer.

Why you should add .ME to your TLD lineup

.ME is easy to market

.ME simply makes sense for “about me” pages, online portfolios, freelance business websites, and professional profile pages. Plus, the .ME registry provides tons of resources for those looking to build a personal brand — content that you can draw from in your marketing efforts.

.ME has big market potential

Having a stand-out online presence is becoming increasingly critical for freelancers and professionals looking to showcase their work or grow their businesses. .ME gives you a great option to offer this growing segment. There are no restrictions for the TLD, and “Me” is a word commonly understood by non-English speakers, which gives it a broad, global appeal.

It’s competitively priced (and currently on sale!)

.ME is competitively priced against popular legacy TLDs (.COM, . NET, .BIZ and .ORG), and right now, you can take advantage of $10 promo pricing.

.ME is a solid .COM alternative

Some people are able to snag theirfirstandlastname.com, but the vast majority of us don’t have a terribly unique moniker. .ME provides a short, fresh alternative when your customer’s .COM is taken.

.ME domains are memorable

We all want our websites to stand out and stick in the minds of our visitors. .ME has a novelty factor that causes people to take note. Plus, most of us would agree that websites that feel personal are often more memorable. What’s more personal that .ME?

.ME shows solid customer stickiness

.ME has a high renewal rate. The majority of .ME registrants hold their registration for many years. Customer stickiness can be further improved by combining the domain purchase with value-added services, like SSL and Email.

Marketing .ME domains to your customers

Getting creative with .ME domain names

Website owners can use their .ME to create a space that says “this is who am I and what I want people to know about me.” Some .ME registrants demonstrate the value of simply using their name alone, like medical illustrator, chinamimichaels.me. Others opt for a playful approach that takes advantage of keywords, like UK blogger, thelondoner.me.

In both cases, .ME supports the site owner’s goal of telling their story and presenting their work in a professional, yet unique and individual way.

But .ME is also employed in more surprising ways by big names like PayPal. Check out their creative use of paypal.me to simplify transactions for their users.

.ME resources you can use

The .ME team actively helps new freelancers, recent grads and small businesses to get online and stay connected to the world. Transitioning from a full-time job or directly from the classroom to a freelance career can be stressful, and often these customers spend a lot of time researching their next steps.

The .ME blog is full of resources and advice on personal branding and how to launch a freelance career. Whether it’s tips on choosing the right domain or which elements to include in a freelance portfolio, the .ME blog is full of content that can be used to help support your customers.

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Bandzoogle: website builder for musicians

June 1, 2020

Featured, Fun, Industry Insight, Resellers

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Views: 1465

Stacey Bedford, CEO of Bandzoogle

The Enom team has enough musically inclined members to form at least two in-house rock bands, so we’re geeking out pretty hard about highlighting Bandzoogle on our blog. The Montreal-based SaaS company calls itself the easiest all-in-one professional website platform for musicians and bands. They target a unique vertical, one that their team is hugely passionate about, and they really know their customers: their platform is very much created for musicians, by musicians.

Here, Bandzoogle CEO, Stacey Bedford, provides some insight into how and why they’ve been so successful in supporting their customers and steadily growing the company.

What features are you most proud of? Which do the musicians that use your platform rave about?

Bandzoogle’s Technical Support Manager, Adam, is also a music producer.

Commission-free direct-to-fan sales tools. Bandzoogle provides musicians with the eCommerce tools necessary to sell anything you can imagine: digital goods like albums, singles, EPs, song sheets, tickets, download codes or videos; physical goods like merch, CDs, or vinyl; and services like music lessons. You can even sell recurring subscriptions by tier and set up a crowdfunding campaign or preorders.

Bandzoogle does not take a cut of any sales, and we have a SaaS model. This is just one component of the tools we offer as an all-in-one platform. Regardless of our robust toolset, our members absolutely adore our customer support team. They’re your band’s roadie, your web tech. Our response time and quality of support is the best on the planet. Best of all, most of our team members are musicians.

How are you supporting your artists during COVID-19?

Within the first month of the pandemic, our team launched commission-free live streaming ticket sales, event ticket refunds, a tip jar feature, transaction history exports and filtering, and a comprehensive guide to musician resources during a pandemic. Every week, our team meets to discuss what has changed in the last week and how we can help. We have quickly adapted our processes to stay on top of artists’ needs.

To what does Bandzoogle attribute your success?

There are a few things I can note here as being key to our success. As you can see, we are constantly building new features and designs that are relevant to artists today. But more than that, we always put our staff and members’ needs first. We have grown into a sizable company but we’ve never strayed from our core values.

At Bandzoogle, our members can expect a very high level of service and an honest partner. It is a streamlined set of pro features, but you’re dealing with a small family vibe.

Lastly, we’re fully bootstrapped— we’ve never taken external funding, and we’ve always made decisions on our own terms, without putting a focus on turning profits. Doing the right thing by our members has resulted in great success.

How do you build an artist community and connect with your customers?

We do a lot of proactive outreach with our customers. This includes webinars, free website reviews (even for non-members), member meetups in different cities, and you’ll also see some of us at different music tech events. We are a small team with a big reach. Part of that reach includes teaming up with other music verticals that hold the same strong values, like CD Baby, Bandsintown, Bandcamp, Soundcloud, and ASCAP.

Meaningful relationships with ethical music businesses are important to our business model; as a business, you won’t get very far if you don’t venture off the island. Building bridges is important to grow your artist community and connect with your customers.

What have been your major milestones as a company?

An otherwise remote team, the Bandzoogle staff gets together for annual retreats.

Our members’ success is our success: last month, our members hit 62 million dollars in commission-free sales. In May, we also grew to 50,000 paid active users, with additional thousands of active trial members on any given day. Another huge milestone was growing our executive team. We have a fairly flat organizational chart, but we promoted Colin Mitchell to CTO and Dave Cool to VP of Strategic partnerships. We are leading this incredible group of individuals and for me, it’s a huge win to be able to foster so much professional growth within our small team of 29.

Are there any .COM alternatives that you guys like or that resonate with musicians?

As bricks and mortar stores become less pertinent, .COM TLDs have become a scarce resource. You’ll see many artists soon find out that long-winded .COMs leave too much room for user error, and alternative TLDs can be less costly and easier to remember.

Because of this, we see many artists branching out and using .ROCKS, .BAND, and some old, trusted, but still available, .ORG and .NET options for their band. Bandzoogle plans include many TLD options across all 3 plans, from $9.95 to $14.95 per month.

Are there any exciting plans for the future you’d like to share?

I can tell you that the world is changing rapidly, and, for any business, finding a way to monetize globally is paramount today. We’ll see so many advancements in the tools available to both businesses and artists over the next year, it’ll be a different landscape. Businesses that are adaptable will do well, but it’s about to be a wild ride.

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