This one concerns eBay Marketing and in particular the app called MyStoreRewards.com -- What this app basically does is reward your customers with a percentage rebate off of the total price - including shipping and handling - and in turn, MyStoreRewards sends out an e-mail containing links & images of your current auctions to those who opt-in to get the rebate.
I set it up so that customers will get a 2% rebate of their first purchase using the MyStoreRewards app and 3% rebate for all subsequent purchases as long as they remain opt-in and therefore receive the e-mails. Now...ahem...YOU the seller are providing the rebate so you are looking at a risk and reward type of scenario. No rebates are sent to customers until AFTER they have paid for their eBay purchases.
First, how does a potential customer opt-in? Well scroll past whatever graphic I might have in one of my auctions and you will see a graphic like this:
Now you really don't have to do a thing but wait until MyStoreRewards sends you, the customer, an e-mail with links on how to join. Clicking on the graphic just provides a short informational page about MyStoreRewards.
Now some info for sellers: Are there any fees other than the rebates you provide through PayPal? Well, that part is confusing as I don't pay any fees - other than the rebates - and I believe it is totally free if you use it ONLY on eBay AND sign up through "My eBay" --> "Applications". Now if you want to expand the use of this app to your own e-commerce websites, then I believe there are monthly fees and per transaction fees. But lets just stick to eBay for now.
You as a seller have a few settings like what percentage you will be providing on the first sale and on subsequent sales. You also select how frequently you want your e-mails sent out (choices are every 15, 30 or 45 days) and what your maximum reward will be - I set mine at $100 which at 2% is a $5000 dollar eBay item purchased and at 3% is a $3333 item - haven't ever sold one for either amount so I feel pretty safe and if I did, I would be MORE than happy to provide a $100 rebate.
Now for some stats - we left brainers love those. Not too many but interesting as all get out. I haven't been doing this long so the numbers aren't big.....yet. Here are my results as of 8/1/2013 (might update this blog entry at the end of the year to see where I am at that time).
| Total opted-in buyers | 30 |
| Revenue from Opted-in buyers | $1,733.52 |
| Reward amount | $37.80 |
| Your repeat purchase count | 9 |
| Average Purchase of NON-opted-in buyers | $41.47 |
| Average Purchase from OPTED-in buyers | $57.58 |
Now here are some stats from the e-mail side of things:
| Industry Average | My Stats | |
| Opt-in Percent | 0.5% | 9.0% |
| Opt-out Percent | 1 - 4% | 1% |
| Total Marketing Emails sent | N/A | 516 |
| Open Rate | 14.3% | 65.89% |
| Email Click-Thru Rate | 3.3% | 14% |
In a word....THIS IS INCREDIBLE! A 9% opt-in percentage is unreal followed by a 65.89 percent opening rate with a 14% click through rate? Those are OVER the top stats internet marketing-wise - the only real problem is that I have only 30 people opted in but that is changing fairly quickly for one reason: I am listing a WHOLE lot more items than I used to on a weekly basis.
This is a win-win for both eBay sellers and customers and THAT'S the way internet marketing should work.
As usual, comments and questions are solicited
