The Solution:

Randy and Shannon choose the second option. They met with some of their most important clients and discussed the problems with their software and the hesitation on the client’s side to purchase the product. The solution was to redesign the product and so “Merchant 2” was developed four months later, in September of 2000. They developed software that conducts original, thought-provoking research into user behavior on e-retail web sites. This gives clients the best analysis and intelligence possible, to convert their browsers into buyers. This product was very successful; through “Merchant 2” a major client realized they were losing almost $120K US a week just because of the position of the checkout button on the site. They leveraged this intelligence into higher conversion rates, increased revenues and greater visitor loyalty.

Recommendations:

By adding basic functionality that clients wanted and maintaining the original features in their software, they turned a potential disaster into a very successful product. Our recommendation stems from the lesson learned from this case study. The lesson is: It is crucial to know the customer needs from the early stages of product development and to work with the clients throughout the products life cycle. Buystream has learned this lesson well; they have developed a program called “Lead Customer Program”. This program enables them to integrate the insight and input from market-leading customers into a richer, best-practices solution. In return, lead customers become part of a team forging the way in web analytics and reporting and also receive the solution that they helped define to give them a significant competitive head start.