Techniques to Engage, Retain and Entice Customers.

Techniques to Engage, Retain and Entice Customers.

For all transactional websites, they need to have good advertisement methods on their web pages, especially the home page as this is the first page the customer views. Topshop have many advertising links on their home page. At the moment there are a lot of adverts for christmas offers and delivery prices so it is appropriate for the season. TOPSHOP do this for all of the seasons, for example when it is summer they have animated slide shows on their home page showing some of their most popular products for summer. They need to display some of their products on the home page so that customers can see some immeadiate items that topshop have to offer. This technique is another form of advertising their products. Here is an example of this technique that topshop use called a 'Gift Fix':



This 'Fix' is shown on the right hand side of the home page and automatically scrolls down through many different items from topshop. You can click on them to look at the item on a separate product information page. Also on the homepage there is a link to show the 'Christmas offers' as you can see from the screen shot below:



This is very appealing for the customer as it provides a quick route for those who are christmas shopping. This also keeps the customers browsing different parts of the website as this link leads to the display of many of their products. There is also another link used on the homepage to entice customers to look at some recommended ideas for christmas. Below is a picture of this:

When looking at these two 'advertisements', they are very well presented and keep to the theme of the website, however they do stand out. The main background colour of the homepage is white, with black features, therefore the advertisements and links stand out, but all fit in. Here is another link that is displayed for the sales at topshop:


Another way in which topshop tries to keep their customers coming back to their online service is shown at the end of the home page:

The first one is a link to podcasts about topshop, there is a picture of kate moss, which is an attraction for the customers as she has recently brought out a personal range for topshop.

Here is an example of a podcast that is available:

There are many others like this one available to the customers. They get people interested further into the products they may be purchasing so they visit the site more. Videos and podcast are a very good capturing technique as the customer has to visit the website to have access to them. When visiting the website all the other advertisements and pictures of the products capture them and encourage browsing the website.

The second link gives the customer the option to download a topshop feature onto their computer/mac/laptop. This feature is called a Daily Fix Widget. It allows you to recieve fashion ideas straight to your desktop that have been recommended by topshop. If you download this widget, topshop will send you a fashion fix every day as they hit TOPSHOP.COM
If you see something you like, simply click to buy it. This enticing feature is a permnant way for customers to view topshops products without even looking at the website. Below is an example of a widget that would pop up on a customers desktop:

The third link shows students that they can save 10% simply by proving that they are a student. This entices a key target audience as they will want to save as much money as they can as students. This privilege from topshop encourages more customers. Here is another advertisement for this on the website:

This use of repetition reminds customers of what is available to them via topshop. The fact that the website is easy to use and browse entices the customers to continue using it as there is no confusion or frustration involved. All of the techniques used by topshop are very affective for getting customers online, which is their key aim.