When a customer lands on a 404 Not Found page, he or she is caught off guard - confused at best and downright frustrated and ready to shop somewhere else at worst. A 404 page is a customer service touchpoint. It’s an opportunity to be helpful, show a business’ personality and even merchandise. Do you treat your 404 page like a landing page?

When checking out how top online retailers do 404 pages, I found many simply redirect users to the home page, which is a perfectly fine way of handling things. For those of you who do use 404 Not Found pages, here are some examples from fellow retailers — the good, the bad and the funny.

404 Page Examples and Tips

1. Have a page

If you don’t automatically redirect, there’s nothing worse than landing people on a generic screen like this:

When you remove all navigation it’s like teleporting a customer out of your store and dropping them into the parking lot blindfolded. This happened on many top retailer sites I tested. What a shame.

2. Don’t blame the user first

I saw lots of cold messages like this that seem to blame the user for typing in the wrong URL. But 404 messages rarely come from type-in errors, they’re usually broken links from external sites or the site itself because the root URL must match the actual URL. Customers rarely type in deep link URLs manually.

Gap’s approach is to assume its own fault first, a humbler approach:

But WetSeal goes a bit too far with “we’re working on this page.” Don’t imply your site is unfinished, it’s not professional. And don’t expect customers to try again later - like when, 3 months from now?

eToys also leads with “you probably screwed up” (paraphrase), and adds if it was a broken link it was “probably from another site ‘cuz we never mess up” (again, paraphrase).

3. Keep it short and sweet

Boden is known for being a personable company, but its 404 page reads like a novel.

4. Add a search box

Golfsmith uses a search box as a call to action to encourage customers to keep shopping on the site and find what they were originally looking for.

But instructions on how to search like “enter a few words into the box” is unnecessary.

5. Remove calls-to-action that don’t make sense

Zappos is king of customer service, but a customer probably doesn’t want to submit a video testimonial for finding a broken link.

I’m surprised Zappos, as helpful as they are, doesn’t chime in with a live help prompt.

6. Think like a customer

If you mention customer service, make sure you link to the customer service page. Don’t make customers have to search it out themselves.

List your hours of customer service (telephone) or an estimated email response time so customers can judge whether it’s worth it to contact you or not.

7. Merchandise

Bravo to Busted Tees for showing product on the 404 page, and linking to the catalog. If a link was from an external site (in other words, the customer may not be familiar with the product offering) this can be a compelling reason to stick around and check out the merch.

8. Be funny

I knew Urban Outfitters would do something edgy, but don’t do this unless it’s consistent with your brand’s culture and target market’s expectations of you.

9. Provide multiple links back into the site

Northern Tool combines humor and usability, offering the most logical actions as links - go back one step, start from scratch, browse categories or talk to someone.

10. Use product finders

I Want One of Those combines humor with search and a useful product finder.

11. Don’t yell or try to sound smart

This is funny, but not because Burberry has a sense of humor - rather it’s yelling big fancy words!

Going the Extra Mile

If something’s broken on your site, why not reward your customers for giving you a heads up? We’re busy people, and may not bother to contact customer service to let you know but an incentive could help you fix a problem that may be costing you far more than $5 in lost revenue. Plus, you could turn a comparison shopper into a buyer - now that person will hunt for something to buy to use the discount or at least visit you at a later date. If you sell higher ticket items, consider sending a higher value gift card to make it worth it.

And do thank people when they take the time to alert you of broken links. I do this often and haven’t been thanked, not that I expect thanks, but an acknowledgment that a link has been fixed, at the very least, would let me know my voice was heard.

Most Creative 404 Pages

This is one of the coolest “Results Not Found” page I’ve ever seen. You really have to see it to believe it - it has an interactive, microsite feel.

http://www.bluedaniel.com/404.shtml

Smashing Magazine has also collected some entertaining 404 pages worth checking out.

We do so much to encourage holiday gift shopping (or birthday, anniversary etc), but do we drop the ball in catering to the special needs of gift givers like gift boxes, gift wrapping, gift announcements / messages and gift receipts?

There are many ways you can accommodate gift givers to improve customer and recipient experience with gift options.

Gift Boxes & Gift Wrap

While it may be fine to ship something in a plastic bag or a brown box or a manila envelope (that’s what they send those MacAir computers in, right?), this doesn’t fly with gifts sent directly to the recipient. It also stinks for gift givers who ship items to themselves to wrap and give personally. The customer now has to find an appropriate box to put that personalized t-shirt in, and all he has kicking around is an empty GAP box from last Christmas. Providing a gift box solves a customer problem.

Then there’s gift wrapping. For some people, it’s a hassle. Gift wrap’s not cheap, and it may require an extra trip to pick it up at the drug store. And for customers who ship items direct to the gift recipient, it’s essential.

A couple examples: GAP offers one complimentary unassembled box for every three paid items ordered (why not one for one)? The other option is premium gift wrap service for $5 per order. Victoria’s Secret will send you a gift wrap kit for $3, or wrap the gift for you for $6.

These add-ons also give you an opportunity to brand yourself to the recipient. If you sell items carried by many other retailers, the recipient has no clue where the gift giver bought the item. Why not put your logo on your gift box, or as a watermark on the white side of the gift wrap?

Whether you include gift wrapping or boxes as upsells or freebies is up to you - one will bring you easy additional revenue, the other a fantastic customer service experience.

Continue Reading:
Giving Gift Givers More Options »

This year I did almost all my Christmas shopping online. I say almost because there was one item that I intended to purchase online was unable to - a gift for my brother. First I purchased it along with two other items for myself from Amazon.com so I could qualify for Super Saver Shipping. What I failed to notice was that one of the items for me was out of stock. When you choose Super Saver Shipping you must group your items into one order. There was no notice on the checkout page that one item was not in stock so I checked out and was so thrilled I had found the perfect book for my brother, some goodies for me and well before December 24th to boot.

About a week later (December 15) I was checking my credit card balance online and noticed the Amazon transaction was missing. I went into my account at Amazon and there it was, the shipment had not gone out because it’s waiting for that one item to become available. Had I not checked my credit card balance I would have had no clue about this as I had no notification from Amazon via email. Even if I had, I don’t shop using my work email so my free Yahoo account gets checked intermittently.

Continue Reading:
Putting Customer Telephone Numbers to Good Use »

The Second Annual Retail Welcome Benchmark Study put out by Premiere Global Services and the Email Experience Council recently examined the subscription practices of 118 of the largest etailers. The study reports that 72% of the major online retailers send welcome emails immediately after a customer signs up for an email subscription.

Being curious, I decided to conduct my own welcome-email research using the 100-some retailers on our Shopping Cart Buttons List. I wanted to test how many welcome emails I’d get and examine their content. But rather than signing up for email subscriptions, I registered for a customer account on each site. I also specifically opted-out of email promotions to make sure each welcome email was in response to the registration. The registration process itself was quite enlightening, and I will be reporting my usability observations in an upcoming post.

I was able to successfully register for 89 accounts and received 33 welcome emails within 24 hours, or 37%. After reading each one I took a tally of how many emails used different tactics such as:

1. Branding in Headline: 88%

It’s a good idea to include your company name in the sender field, the subject line or both. If the customer wants to spot your email among all the rest, you want to help them find it faster. Because some customers may scan either the “Sender ID” or “Subject,” it’s best to include your name in both. Be sure to configure your outgoing email so “Your Name” appears instead of customerservice@yourname.com as this also makes for easiest scanning. I don’t see any reason not to put a company name in the subject line, and found I Delia’s “It’s time to log in” subject a bit bizarre…

Continue Reading:
Welcome Email Usability Tips for Online Retailers »

Zaz Lamarr hearts Zappos. She really does.

On her personal blog Writing, Cooking, Life, Zaz gives testimony of exceptional service from an online retailer back in July:

“One bright, extraordinary note in all of the sad stuff of the last few weeks - in May we had ordered several pairs of shoes from Zappos for my mom. She’d lost a lot of weight, and her old shoes were all too big. She had a whole new wardrobe of clothes in pretty colors, that fit, so I wanted her to have some pretty shoes that fit, too, when I took her up to Oregon to stay where her sister is. Out of seven pairs, only two fit. Not bad considering she’d never been this thin, so I was winging it, and the return shipping is free.

The rest were here waiting to be returned. Because of various circumstances - lost label, my mom being hospitalized and me being away, the shoes were never sent back. There’s a time limit on the return of 15 days. Remember this. When you do a return to them, they pay the shipping, but you have to get the shoes to UPS yourself. Remember this, also.

Continue Reading:
Good Customer Service Still The Best Word-Of-Mouth Marketing Strategy »

I love it when the “little guy” does something that I haven’t even seen on some of the larger sites I cite as examples here on the Get Elastic Ecommerce Blog. I recently bought a few items from C28, a Christian-lifestyle-clothing shop in California and noticed they were doing a couple of cool things I’d never seen before.

Even when scoping out sites for personal purchases, my usability consultant’s hat is always on. (It’s like those people who take film studies and can never watch a movie the same.) So I was really impressed by this virtual unknown offering features like “Email Me if My Size is Re-stocked” and “Email Me Before This Item Sells Out.” I even went to the search engine to see if I could find another site with this features (after trying a variety of word combinations) and so far haven’t found any. If you’ve seen another store doing something similar, please comment.

Continue Reading:
Small Etailer Packs Big Usability Features »

Last post I covered some ways you can use Twitter for ecommerce marketing. (Remember that Twitter can be an inexpensive form of mcommerce as users can subscribe to mobile text alerts). As promised, here are some Twitter Do’s and Do Not Do’s based on Ma.gnolia’s experience using microblogging for customer support.

(If you’re not in the know, Ma.gnolia’s about the best lookin’ social bookmarking site on the web) Here’s a summary of Ma.gnolia’s Product Manager Todd Sieling’s presentation at BarCamp Vancouver:

• Make each tweet worth reading - no poly filler
• Speak softly unless the house is on fire (remember Ma.gnolia’s subscribers are receiving tech support and system updates)
• Tweet responsibly, too many tweets will make your subscribers tune out
• Be creative, but not at the expense of clarity
• Follow everyone who follows you - except spammers
• Read your community’s tweets and glean whatever you can from what they’re saying

Continue Reading:
Twitter Marketing Do’s and Don’ts: Interview With Ma.gnolia »

Ecommerce can be a crazy messed up world indeed. The Elastic Path team recently produced a series of e-commerce shorts including my personal favorite: “Zero Results Found.” Because art imitates life, and search box failures are all too common on even the most sophisticated ecommerce sites, I decided to start my own series on ecommerce search, beginning with how easy (or difficult) is it to find non-product information.

When comparison shopping, you can compare prices and find a store selling an item for a dollar less than everyone else (for example). But it’s possible that another store sells the exact item for a bit more yet is significantly cheaper to ship, even free. So a savvy consumer would be interested in comparing shipping policies between etailers, as would an international shopper. If the searcher is “search dominant” (as opposed to a menu-browser), he or she is going to head straight for that little white rectangle to find the desired information.

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Shipping Policy Usability - Results Not Found! »

Back in high school when I worked at a shoe store, I remember being trained on strategies to save a sale. Probing, offering a discount, encouraging the customer to take the shoes home to try out or offering to order a pair in from another store. It was easy to make these attempts face to face with a customer on my turf.

Online shoppers abandon shopping carts for a variety of reasons. They may balk at a shipping charge or total price of multiple items. They might encounter problems entering credit card information or perceive the checkout process as too long. In the online world, it’s not as easy to recover a sale when a customer interacts with a screen and can exit with a click of a mouse. But it’s not impossible. An interesting study by Marketing Experiments on using email follow ups to save sales from abandoned carts gives some insight on how.

By sending two follow up emails – one sent within an hour of cart abandonment, and the second 24 hours later, the experiment’s test etailer was able to recover $8,000 worth of revenue from saving 277 sales over a six month period.

Continue Reading:
Recovering Sales from Abandoned Shopping Carts With Email »