BugZapper.co.za

The SA Postal Service didn't handle our stuff with the tender loving care we would have liked. [shock, horror!]

One of our clients sent us this photo.

Each racket has its own case and is packed in a very sturdy box. So, I guess someone chose to sit on it while taking his lunch break. We will be sending the customer two rackets just to say we are really sorry.

Today we packaged and posted our 500th Bug Zapper order. We've sold 1,660 rackets since October 2005, so we average about 3 rackets per order. There were a few seconds of wild celebrations on reaching this momentous milestone*, then back to work.

*Well, it was actually all a bit of an anti-climax, because we only realised once we reached order 501.

This week we had an enquiry for Bug Zappers from a customer in Kent, England. We are not trying to sell internationally because it creates too many middle-men (China to Hong Kong, Hong Kong to the SA importer, SA importer to us, us back overseas) plus double customs and lots of delivery charges. But we do appreciate that the Bug Zapper is a special product, and when you want to get your hands on one there aren’t a lot of options. So we quoted a price for 3 rackets (they fit nicely in one box), and the customer accepted.

Then we got some quotes for international shipping. Notice how this part happened after we had already quoted the customer? Yip, we’re not that bright.

A box of 3 rackets weighs 1.15kg and the dimensions are 53cm x 24cm x 4cm. That’s about the size of 2 small Debonairs boxes end to end, and not much heavier. ACT Logistics quoted around R800 and Berco Express quoted R710 (ex VAT, but apparently you don’t pay VAT on international shipments?). That was way, way higher than we had expected. With a deep breath and a grimace we turned to the South African Post Office.

You might have noticed that the Post Office website is not too shabby. The design is clean and there is a lot of information, although the navigation is not always obvious. We have used the PO Box renewal facility in the past and it was very impressive (read here). On the site we found the rates booklet in PDF which is handy. Their courier cost was very similar (around R700), so clearly that is the minimum rate for a small parcel to an international destination (I wonder how Amazon does it so cheaply in reverse?), but they do offer normal international postage (10 days air freight as opposed to 4 days courier), so we decided to go with that.

This morning Shane and I went to the local Plumstead Post Office with our box of Bug Zappers and the customer’s address. We were greeted by a teller whose mood was closer to a Home Affairs worker than a Vida e Cafe waiter. I guess she knows that we’re only using the Post Office as a last resort, so a cheery disposition is just a waste of energy. She weighed the parcel and quoted R203 for air freight (about R130 for sea freight), plus R6 for insurance.

We tried to pay via credit card, but apparently the Post Office doesn’t accept credit cards. Can you believe that? The second-hand jewelry shop in the tiny centre down the road from us does, but for some reason Post Offices don’t. In an interesting case of irony, the Post Office even calls themselves a bank. They do accept debit cards, but this is not ideal because each transaction costs us a charge from our bank.

We asked if we could open an acccount (not a bank account, a retail account for paying a bill once a month) because we plan on taking lots of small deliveries to the Post Office every day, but that’s not possible either. In my usual hot-headed way I threw out the comment, “I guess this is why PostNet exists”, to which the teller responded curtly, “Have you been to PostNet? They charge double, and use us for postage anyway.” Although she didn’t see it, this was exactly my point. Why has a PostNet branch opened up in just about every South African town (200 according to their website) when they offer the same products as the Post Office, outsource delivery to the Post Office, and charge more than the Post Office? Today I found the answer - PostNet cares, and tries to understand what customers really want. They are usually staffed by the franchisee him/herself, which means there is an element of passion and desire to help, they offer accounts for businesses and they accept credit cards.

The Post Office could technically solve these (and a few other) problems and blow PostNet out of the water. But I wouldn’t count on it.

This afternoon I had my first "call" from someone on a site who clicked on the Live Chat link. Here is how it went:

Visitor: can you help me get a bugzapper to port elizabeth by tuesday 12th december?

Andrew: We certainly can, but we will need to courier it. Do you want just 1 racket?

Visitor: can you send me three?

Andrew: Of course!

Andrew: Will you be paying by credit card or bank transfer?

Visitor: great. credit card

Andrew: OK. Go ahead and place the order through the site and pay, and I will make sure it gets to you by Tuesday. Make sure to enter a daytime physical address, with a postal code.

Visitor: thanks very much. have a good day

We will never know for certain, but I'm pretty sure that the conversion he had with me led to the sale of 3 Bug Zappers. We don't publish a phone number on the website (we're trying to run our sites at a slight arm's length) so his only other alternative would have been to e-mail us with his query, but he probably wouldn't have trusted that we would have responded in time, so he wouldn't have bothered. Because he could find out right away about his order he went ahead.

Recently I was battling to log in to BusinessWarriors.co.za and I noticed a link to "Click here for live help". I clicked on the icon and was greeted by a friendly (real) person who helped me through the process of logging in. I had seen this type of chat on other sites, but never before had it helped me so effectively and quickly. The alternative would have been to fill out a form or an e-mail, and probably wait a day for a response (if at all!).

The service on Business Warriors is provided by LivePerson.com. I poked around a bit on their site and they seem to be quite comprehensive, although a bit pricey at $99/month. A bit of Googling uncovered another option in ProvideSupport.com who seem to offer something very similar, but starting at $15/month.

I have set up the 10 day trial of ProvideSuuport.com on 2 of our e-commerce sites (www.flagkit.co.za and www.bugzapper.co.za) to see if our visitors/potential clients would make use of it. 24 hours later nobody has requested a chat, so perhaps the South African market is not educated enough on what live support would entail? Perhaps we can lay blame on the usual "slow internet" culprit and guess that the average SA surfer doesn't have time and bandwidth to click on links that look too fancy? Or maybe our sites are simple enough to not require help! ;-)

If you are interested to test out the service please feel free to visit on of the sites mentioned above and click on the link. An operator should be on-hand to take your call (ie, me!). I am really excited about this type of service and what it could do to improve the web experience for everyone. I can think of a ton of sites that I use and wish I could chat to someone about.

[PS - you might be reading this post some time in the future, and we might not be using this service on our sites anymore. If that's the case then clearly we decided it isn't worth it!]

Last Friday we sent out a semi-unsolicated e-mail to everyone who has purchased a Bug Zapper up until now. I say unsoliciated because when people make a purchase on our site we don't specifically ask if we can e-mail them in the future, but our newsletter sending company (www.campaignmonitor.com) suggest that it is OK to e-mail someone who has bought a product from your company in the last 2 years, as long as you give them the option of unsubscribing permanently. Here is what the e-mail said:

Hi [firstname]

Recently you purchased a Bug Zapper from our site. I trust that it is coming in handy as fly and mosquito season arrives with full force! We thought you might be interested in an end-of-year promotion that we’re running from now until the 14th of December - buy 3 or more Bug Zappers for R99 each, including delivery. The usual price is R120 per racket, including delivery. We’re not in the habit of e-mailing customers out of the blue (and if you never want to hear from us again regarding Bug Zappers, click on the link at the very bottom of this e-mail), but this special is only available to people who have purchased a racket from us before. We think the Bug Zapper makes the perfect Christmas gift for all ages, and particularly for those tricky uncles and brothers-in-law that seem to have everything already. You can order now, pay by credit card or bank transfer, and have the rackets delivered to you with plenty of time to wrap them up. Delivery usually takes around 3 to 5 days, anywhere in South Africa.

If you are interested, click on this link: http://www.bugzapper.co.za/order.htm Remember to use your e-mail address ([email]) as the promotional code, and this special price is only available for 3 or more rackets ordered at one time. We hope December treats you well!

Kind Regards,
Brad Price
orders@livealchemy.com Live Alchemy Orders:
www.BugZapper.co.za – Bug zapping racket
www.FlagKit.co.za – Flags to your door
www.YuppieChef.co.za – Kitchen gadgets and tips
Click here to never hear from us again regarding special offers.

The e-mail went out to 250 people, and so far (4 days later) 6 people have taken up the offer, with a total of 26 Bug Zappers between them. That's a 2.4% response rate, which isn't bad for direct mail, but I was hoping for around 10%. It was certainly a profitable exercise, and it obviously didn't annoy too many people seeing as only 3 people unsubscribed. An interesting side affect is that about 35 people clicked through to the YuppieChef, FlagKit and RatZapper from the links that we included in our signature. We are definitely going to explore cross-site marketing opportunities in the future. A voucher to YuppieChef for everyone who buys a Bug Zapper?