Since we work almost exclusively with e-commerce clients, this is a very timely topic for me. The HubSpot tool works so well for our B2B lead generation and lead nurturing that I want to use it to help my e-commerce clients. There's an education process involved in reframing the context of "what is a lead?" in the e-commerce world. Our studies have shown that consumers are taking longer to buy, doing more online research, and much more comparison shopping. This means that e-commerce websites must adapt to the needs of shoppers who are not yet ready to buy with information and resources and ways to keep in touch. 
 
You've done a nice job of summarizing the thought process and making a good case for it!  
 
Thanks!

@Sally: Thanks very much for your kind comment!  
 
Lily

@Miami Web Design: thanks! 
 
Best,Lily

Good tip, Im starting a e-commerce site in Colombia where of course reasons may vary

@Daniel: Thanks! Are you saying that reasons for needing inbound marketing may vary or that ecommerce might find other techniques more effective? 
 
Hope to hear your insight, Lily

@Lily. Sorry I meant the reasons for shopping cart abandonment, there is a huge gap in the e-commerce culture between the States and Latin America, my point is how inbound marketing can raise the reliability level of the site, which I think might be an important reason why somebody wouldn’t buy something online.

@Daniel:thanks for clarifying. That makes sense. How are the reasons for shopping cart abandonment different? And what aspects of Latin American culture could we attribute the difference to? 
 
Thanks,Lily

 
 
@Lily that’s an interesting discussion, I could say there is first internet penetration rate, there’s been a huge improvement on that but there is a long way, in Colombia we are talking of about a 50% of homes with internet access, we could talk of the number of issued credit cards in the market, security issues, there’s a lot of people who gets scammed because they don’t know about internet treats, our culture is quite social, people love go out to the mall, check the product, talk to the sales person, I think marketing has a big role to play, many people myself included have bought on sites in the state but would doubt to do it in a local online store, how could we change that? 
 

Rear Sirs:I"ll take any start up information i can getif any one have any thank.

@Daniel:that's a good observation. Some of the most successful ecommerce sites that I know of do not have local stores. Local stores and virtual stores appeal to different customer targets. Those who like testing out products before purchasing might adhere to local stores, whereas a growing number of people who enjoyed the ease of browsing online and time-saving nature of online shopping like ecommerce sites more. I think trust can be cultivated in any culture. As long as a site appears credible, professional, and functions likewise, it has a large chance of acquiring a large custoemr base. 
 
What do you think? 
 
Best,Lily

@Lily Couldn’t agree with you more in the credible appearance of the site, I was think of adding a star rating functionality or customer feedback and comments section to make it much more “human”, it’s all about reputation and name. 
 
 
 
Rgds, 
 

I totally agree with all of your points but I can't imagine anyone actually thinking up and saying the first line of your article. 
"Some say that ecommerce sites have little need for sustained lead or customer cultivation online." 
Who are the "some" that say? I don't mean to sound argumentative but that is tantamount to saying "some say supermarkets  
don't needing to advertize via newspaper circulars."  
 

@Louise: I see what you mean. I guess the reason for that statement was supplied in the rest of the 1st paragraph, but you are right in pointing out that this is too naive a counter-argument. I guess I have to adjust my writing style from now on :) 
Thanks for contributing your thoughts, Lily

It just goes to show that even in a transactional model you still have opportunities to "Add Value" to the process to increase your rate of conversion. Check out the buying cycle here to further understand your customers: http://www.huthwaite.com.au/the-buying-cycle.html

Lily, 
 
I would agree that "some say that ecommerce sites don't need lead generation or lead nurturing" is a perfectly good lead in to your story. In fact, I think the general consensus of HubSpotters seems to be that the HubSpot tool is best suited for B2B sites with the need for traditional lead generation for a sales force. I'd love to hear more from HubSpot users and HubSpot staff about case studies and successes with ecommerce. My gut instinct tells me it's a good fit, if we can expand our framework for what is a "lead". At LinkShare, some of our affiliate marketers (website publishers) miss out on opportunities to use email, for example, as a way to capture contact information for nurturing the sales process in favor of focusing on the immediate sale transaction at the website. In addition, we have an entire group of clients whose business model is "lead generation" from their websites. 
 
Thanks for your thought provoking article and to all those who have made insightful comments as well!

@Sally, that is very kind of you. We at HubSpot heard similar arguments before, but I do think Louise has a point that starting with "some people say" might be a bit vague. (in fact, I don't know who exactly made that argument!) We would be happy to share customer success stories in the near future since we are just starting to explore collaboration with ecommerce companies. Check back in a month or two to see if we have ecommerce customer case studies or testimonials from those who purchase ecommerce integration on our Service Marketplace! 
 
Thanks, Lily

Discussions like this are especially interesting when you have people like me, a newbie, making comments such as I did. I spend every minute of my time nurturing any lead and all buyers so they come back so the concept just seemed odd but that was from my naive perspective. I'm trying to squeeze in more Hubspot learning time!!!

@Michael: thanks for your kind comment. We hope you come back to the HubSpot blog often for updates on the internet marketing world! 
Best, Lily

Hubspot content is always excellent. But the writing and editing on this article is abysmal. Two examples: 
 
"Here we conclude three reasons ..." 
"...make sure your shopping cart provider can track and provide you that contact info or..." 
 
Poor grammar is bad blogging. In the future, please review your homework before you hand it in.  

@Paul: Our team edited the piece at least 3 times and I wonder if you can explain what grammatical errors you spotted in those two sentences. I reread them and, given my grammatical skill level, do not understand where your argument originates.  
 
How else would you say the two sentences? I'd like to hear your thoughts. 
 
Lily

@Lily, 
"Here we conclude three reasons ..."  
SHOULD READ include, not conclude 
 
 
"...make sure your shopping cart provider can track and provide you that contact info or..."  
 
SHOULD READ "... and provide you WITH that contact info..." 
 
There were others, but I don't have time to be anyone's high school English tutor. Being in the content business, you should ALL know better! Marble-mouthed marketing can work against you.

@Paul: thanks for getting back to me. Regarding your points: 
 
1. I meant "conclude", not "include." "Include" would imply that there are other reasons that we thought of but did not intend to share in this article, which is NOT the case. 
 
2. This I agree with. Given my immigrant background, I recognize my lack of English proficiency and have been working on that by writing articles like what I'm doing for HubSpot.  
 
I'm sure we at HubSpot can spend time looking for other mistakes. In fact, a piece of writing can always be improved (in terms of both correct grammar and style, the latter including syntax, diction, tone, etc).  
 
As a business, we highly value providing quality information to our audience but are also aware of the importance of efficiency. I will do my best on editing in the future (please do not blame my colleagues as they are excellent writers) while not forgetting to allocate my time effectively, considerig that providing high-quality content in a comprehensible way (at least perceived by the majority of our blog readers) is our primary goal. 
 
Regards, Lily

Benefits do help with profitability.Low turnover means we only have to go through the educational process once. Thanks for imparting such important information.

If you intended these as conclusions, then you should have said "Here we present three conclusions..." or "Here we include three conclusions..." 
 
Keep writing, Lily. As important, keep reading. That's where good writing comes from. 
Paul

No one can deny communicating on the internet has changed how our brains filter grammatical correctness. On one platform we are texting or sending speed emails and on our blog platforms our words are like gold and we try to use as many as we can. Creative wires can short out. 
I understand where Paul is coming from because grammar has always been a weakness of mine but it is also a grave weakness of public education. The correlation between perfect grammar and an excellent primary and secondary education speaks of privilege (proof being the altitude of Paul's nose while writing about his dismay) and this type of public criticism (which took this blog off topic)could be more beneficial expressed to the writer in a private platform, as in a considerate email. Oh, but Paul does not have the time to serve as an English tutor, hhmmm by the time he reads all of this he could have at least given us a primer. 
Thank you Lily and thank you Paul, now how about starting the Rex Harrison School for Learning Good Grammar on the internet and charge for classes. With all the weight put on the need for blogging it just might be a very needed service.

@ecommerce: thank you for your encouragement. We hope our blog does help you achieve your goal of learning. 
 
Best,Lily

@Paul: thanks for your advice. 
 
Best,Lily

Great post and very useful information. A lot of e-commerce sites should be reading this, it will help them handle their business well.

@Video Character: thanks for your encouragement. 
 
Lily