eCommerce Hacks lists 7 Indispensable Web Tools Every Ecommerce Merchant Should Be Using. Basecamp and Highrise lead it off.
1. Basecamp – Free/Subscription (Subscription starting at $24/mo)
The product of 37signals, BaseCamp is a wonderful project management tool that’s fully web-based, so you never have to install any programs onto your computer. In basic terms, what Basecamp will do for you is to keep track of what you need to do, when you need to do it and assign tasks to anyone who is involved in the project. Because everything is hosted on servers, you can access Basecamp from where ever you have an Internet connection. Once you figure out how Basecamp works, it becomes an indispensable tool in your everyday work-flow. With Basecamp, collaborating with others is made easy and keeping track of important events is automated with their notification system which emails or texts you of upcoming events.2. Highrise – Free/Subscription (Subscription starting at $24/mo)
Highrise is also a product of 37signals and is a easy to use contact management web tool. OK, so what’s contact management? Simply put, it’s a Rolodex that you can access on the Internet. What makes this better than a Rolodex is that anyone who has the right credentials can access the information through the Internet and catch up on the latest information about contacts. For example, if you contacted one of your key customers, you can enter their information along with a summary of your conversation and set reminders or next actions based on the last conversation. When it’s time for the next follow-up, anyone in charge of the customer can read the last summary to get a good idea of what was discussed prior to contacting them.
