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bharding
Feb 16, 2009
Twitter, Shipping, and More
This evening's update (the first since we entered the era after server) has a little something for everybody, so let's pluck a couple of them from the barrel and take a look.
Tweet It!
If you're logged in, you will now notice that in the "Actions" choices in each item, there is a link to "Tweet it." What the heck does that mean? "Tweeting" is the name given to a message sent over the web site Twitter. Twitter is currently the hottest site on the tip of every social media blogger's tongue. It gives its users the opportunity to get real time updates on all of the users who are "following" them. Many Bonanzlers are already signed up on Twitter, both because it's fun, and because it can be a powerful promotional tool. With this new update, you can connect Bonanzle to your Twitter account, and whenever you see an item you like on the site (be it your own or another users') you can click the "Tweet it" button and a link to the item will be posted in your Twitter account instantly. You probably don't want to post 10 items per day to Twitter this way (that'd probably annoy your Twitter followers), but when used smartly, this can be a great way to leverage social networks to sales. You can Google "Twitter deals" to get a sense of how others have used Twitter to profit. Oh, and for the inevitable first question in the blog comments -- you can't customize the Twitter message posted yet, but we'll probably set it up so you can at some point in the future, depending on how much usage this feature gets.Shipping improvements
Got two big shipping improvements off the list today:- Offers can now be marked as shipped, with a tracking code. Just visit your "Items Sold" link under "My Bonanzle" and click "Mark as shipped" under the offer that has been shipped. You'll then be given the option to specify a tracking code, and to automatically send an email to the buyer to update them on the status of their purchase. Woot!
- Sellers can specify how many days after purchase until an item is shipped. This is certainly not a requirement for sellers, but many buyers will make buying decisions based in part on how long they think it will take for the items to reach them. As a seller, you can now specify the number of business days within which your items ship. You can make this designation either on a booth-wide basis (Sell -> Advanced Options, it's under the "Basic Options"), or on an individual item basis (either through use of shipping profiles or the batch editor). Or you can do a mix of the two -- if you specify a value for the former (booth-wide) ship time, that will be used for all items that don't have a more specific shipping interval set. I'll write up a help page on this feature soon.
And less importantly...
We also have set a maximum of two months for tracking booth/item view stats. Our database was starting to choke on the 10 million item-day-records that had been recorded since we launched many months ago. Hopefully nearby improvement will be to allow sellers to specify a custom interval for their view stats... I believe that's already on the Next Up list, as a matter of fact. Of course, if you have Google Analytics setup (require subscribing membership), this is all irrelevant to you, since GA is the far better tracking mechanism. You can see the rest of the changelist in its usual location. With stability restored to the site, we look forward to resuming the rapid rate of improvement you've gotten used to around here during the coming weeks.<< Back
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36 responses to Twitter, Shipping, and More
Wow these are some awesome additions. Love the Tweet feature and being able to mark items shipped with tracking #.
All I can say is Bonanzle and the Boyz rock!
Woo hoo ! keep up the good work BOYZ !
We love it !
Sher
Woot woot!! LOVE that Marked As Shipped improvement with the option to auto-send a status update email to the buyer…and the Tweet It action is so neato!! Thank You, Bill and the Bonanzle Team, for your hard work!!!
Bill…you never fail to deliver the BEST new things here!
Awesome additions this time!
Shipping changes are really good
I like the twitter addition too- that is a nice cutting edge feature
I highly recommend people sign up for the plus membership for GA. It is nice to know if someone looked at an item in your booth, but that is as far as the benefit of that knowledge will take you- it’s just nice!
You know 20 of your items were looked at yesterday, but
do you know by who?
where they came from?
how many times have they been there?
how many pages did they look at- was it 20 people or 1 person who looked at 20 items?
how long were they in your booth?
where did they enter your booth, where did they exit?
what were the keywords used to get to your booth?
Did they find you through some effort you made to promote yourself?
Has anyone found you through the promoting you are doing or are you wasting your time or do you need to keep doing something that is working?
You cannot get this information by knowing some of your items were viewed. Really, so what? for all you know the only people who viewed those items were people making a list or tagging. That’s great eyes are eyes, but are those the only eyes you want viewing your items.
You cannot effectively assess your progress by only knowing how many views your listings had in a day. It is 10 dollars for the plus (11??) either way essentially nothing and not to sound harsh but if you cannot invest 10 dollars into your success …. well you know the rest
these are the details of my booth so far in Feb this the type of information you get with GA and a lot more information. Just a glimpse
thanks for those shipping improvements! i just went and updated the items i have already sold & already shipped – just to get a feel for marking as shipped – cool!!!! also, thanks for allowing us to indicate the number of days we ship within… updated that in my booth as well. i think it’s great how you guys keep working on improvements… you all are wonderful!!!!
awesome boyz!!! you just keep making the site better and better. thank you for ALL you do!!!!!
Love the tweet feature! Keep up the good work
You guys are just the best ~ the Twitter option is an amazing touch!!
thanks Bill
hope you don’t mind if I insert this for our twitter people
we have a thread going -the first post has important info
the second has a master list of twitter Bonanzle members you can follow
if you post your twitter link to the thread we will add you to the master list
http://www.bonanzle.com/forums/3/topics/17773
thanks for the hijack, pugs
OH, and I’ll get moondog to put a link to this blog on the first post — as soon as she makes it in
Wow! Progress, progress, progress…..and simplicity! Good work!
Great additions! I can’t wait to see what else Bill pulls out of his hat of tricks! Exciting!
Great new features! You Boyz Rock!
Thank you!
I’ll add it right away, pugs.
mrsmoondog
Bill you deserve a Round of Applesauce—-
Thanks so much for the recent additions especially the being able to mark as shipped and add a tracking number, infinitely easier You be da Bomb!
-Zig
Love it all! You guys are the best!
Great changes!! Thanks.
Keep the improvements coming!
it is amazing that I get just as tingily over the small gifts as I do over the big gifts …wavin my evil eye bracelet over all those tracking numbers !
Tweet, great addition! Thanks!
Bill! You never cease to amaze me – you head works differently than anyone else’s – that’s way Bonanzle is working and growing! Thanks for all you do!
Kim -
Cheyenne2u & Kim’s Sewing Nook
Okay, a woman of my word! You delivered the shipped button, I will deliver 4000 more forum posts all helping.
But we put no time frame on my end of the bargain!
Thank you very much, for improving the ease of doing business!
Phaedra
bill, how will we be able to keep up with our booth count unless we know what the number was two months ago
for example (I’ll keep the numbers simple, don’t like math) if I had 400 2 months ago — 2 months of visits … I’m at 800, I go to bed … yesterday, I have 200 visitors, but I don’t know till it updates around midnight … when I check in the morning I’m at 600 because two months were zapped
now — I’ll look at that as loosing 200, not knowing what I had 2 months ago when I actually had 200 visitors, I will never know how many visitors I have in a day now
right?
Pugs: you bring up a valid point. I’ll make it a goal to get the customized stat intervals setup by the end of the week to get this problem solved for you.
Thank you Bill, it will help a lot of people out. We appreciate it and all you do for us.
Bill, only you know what the system can handle. You do what you have to do to keep Bonanzle running and that’s one big reason we all love you so!
But, (haha, there’s always a but), I was heartbroken yesterday when I saw how the stats dropped! First thing every morning I’d go check the stats, I loved that part and felt honored to see how many peeps looked at my booth. I’m sure there are many others who didn’t care what their stats were months ago, so the new change worked for them.
How will you set up the intervals? Personally, I’d like to see ‘from the beginning of time’ stats, others may like to see 6 months, 3 months, 1 month, or one day.
Thanks for taking our concerns into consideration!
I do believe that daily stats would be better.
Google Analytics is a great tool, But what about the 75 year old grandma who has no idea what it is and how too read the high tech stuff involved. These people follow their stats and understand the simple method. If the system is getting clogged down with stats, I say get rid of the stats altogether, the change as it is has made the booth count a waste of time. Getting rid of the system would stop all the confusion.
OH by the way. I love all grand moms.
Steve
http://www.bonanzle.com/booths/the_jewelry_shack
http://www.bonanzle.com/booths/cowboyfan
http://www.bonanzle.com/booths/The_Hobby_Centre
Thanks so much for all your work, you guys are great.
Wow! Love the new shipping features! The tweet-ability is awesome as well
“Offers can now be marked as shipped, with a tracking code”
Great; glad this has been added.
Why do people always say all the old grandmas? why not all the old grandpas? Really the old grandma would master GA much quicker than any old grandpa LOL
Happy happy!!!
Well done Bill – love the shipping addition
errrr – could someone buy something and be my first customer please?
Then I can test it out
Gaz
I am lost on how to link Twitter to Bonanzle…Do I need the upgraded account?
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