Conversion
Fewer than 5% of visitors to an ecommerce site typically convert to customers. In this Conversion category, we offer insights to increase that percentage. Our expert contributors address ratings and reviews, social proof, site search, product page enhancements, product descriptions, checkout options, live chat, and much more — anything to help close online sales.
Analytics & Data | Checkout Tactics | Customer Retention | Customer Service | Photography & Video | Product Pages-
Conversion
Ecommerce Widgets Tap Into Blogs, Social Media
March 11, 2009 • PEC Staff
Widgets can help ecommerce merchants display their products on blogs and social networking sites. Many merchants are doing this already, and at least one shopping cart vendor offers a pre-built widget to assist its merchant customers with this opportunity. ProductCart is a California...
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Conversion
Twitter Can Help Your Online Business
March 10, 2009 • Sarah Worsham
Most people shop online for convenience rather than customer service. And while inroads have been made into providing better customer service online, the personal aspect is often still missing. Enter Twitter, a social networking and micro-blogging tool that allows you to send 140 chara...
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Conversion
PPC Report Card: ACORN Sales Company
March 4, 2009 • Greg Laptevsky
ACORN Sales Company, Inc. requested that Practical eCommerce review its pay-per-click advertising efforts. ACORN sells various notary public supplies, rubber stamps and embossers. Each month, ACORN spends about $1,600 for pay-per-click advertising across Google, Yahoo! and MSN, paying $...
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Conversion
Conversion Improvements: A Primer for Getting Started
March 3, 2009 • Michael Stearns
The ecommerce business is partly a numbers game. And the object of the game is to increase your sales and profitability. You need to understand how your site's visitors are converted to buying customers. Not that you need to immerse yourself in the minutiae of data that many web statist...
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Customer Retention
PeC Traffic Report: The Direct Mail Solution
March 2, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Direct mail marketing is one of the oldest forms of modern promotion, but don't let its age deceive. Mailing coupons or even catalogs to potential customers can significantly improve site traffic and sales conversions. While the exact origins of direct mail marketing are in question, t...
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Conversion
Holiday Marketing: What About “Talk Like a Pirate” Day?
February 25, 2009 • Michael Stearns
If you think holiday marketing begins on Halloween and ends on New Year’s Day, think again. The prime holiday marketing season actually begins on January 1st, and doesn’t stop. For a retailer, gift-giving occasions throughout the year shouldn’t be overlooked. There’s Easter, St. Patrick...
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Photography & Video
The PeC Review: Zoomify Adds Product Image Details
February 24, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Zoomify is a simple to use and easy to implement tool that adds an effective zoom-and-pan feature to product images, allowing customers to see high-resolution details, potentially boosting conversion rates for online merchants. Online shopkeepers have stiff competition from tradition...
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Conversion
PPC Advertising: Use Dynamically Generated Ad Text, Relevant Landing Pages
February 19, 2009 • Greg Laptevsky
When it comes to pay-per-click advertising campaigns, the most important tools are targeted keywords and relevant landing pages. For targeted keywords, it is possible to develop dynamically inserted keywords simply by monitoring search activity on your site and in your ad campaigns. I...
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Conversion
How to Select a Great Domain Name for Your Company
February 17, 2009 • Dr. Ralph F. Wilson
A good domain name is relatively short. A short name -- if you can get it -- is important for several reasons. It is easy to fit into logos, makes a better brand, is more easily recognizable, and is harder to misspell.
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Conversion
Weather the Recession by Integrating Search Strategies
February 13, 2009 • Lisa Wehr
Let’s face it, we’re in a recession. And while there may not be any such thing as a “recession-proof” marketing plan, there are proven methods that will help you capture online shoppers year round. It starts with integrating search engine optimization (SEO) and paid search marketing. An...
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Photography & Video
The PeC Review: The Nikon D60 Camera is a Good Value
February 11, 2009 • Armando Roggio
The Nikon D60 is a full-feature DSLR (digital single-lens reflex) camera that will capture great product pictures for any ecommerce site. The D60 has a very good graphical user interface that makes this precision optical instrument easy to understand and use. For example, when you a...
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Conversion
Using Flickr to Socialize Your Products
February 10, 2009 • Sarah Worsham
Flickr, a photo sharing site, can be a powerful tool for promoting your products. Not only can you upload images of your products, where they can be seen throughout the Flickr website, but you can encourage your customers to participate and socialize with your company and products by up...
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Checkout Tactics
PeC Traffic Report: Accept Competitors' Coupon Codes
February 6, 2009 • Armando Roggio
With the retail market suffering under the weight of a global economic recession, online shopkeepers must take every step to attract more site visitors. Accepting competitors' coupons in your own online store is a tactic that can help attract bargain-hunting customers, encourage loyalty...
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Photography & Video
Ecommerce Know-How: Three Tips for Good Product Photographs
February 5, 2009 • Armando Roggio
In a brick-and-mortar store, customers can pick up a product, feel its texture, and sense its weight. These sensory inputs have an effect on a shopper's buying decisions. For online stores, achieving the same level of emotional buying excitement can be hard. One solution is to offer goo...
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Photography & Video
The PeC Review: Canon’s Rebel XSi DSLR for Taking Product Images
February 2, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Canon's Rebel XSi is a 12.2 megapixel DSLR camera that is both inexpensive and powerful. It features relatively large pixels, a very functional auto focus, and several excellent presets that together make it a very good choice for capturing do-it-yourself product photos. There is no ...
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Conversion
Monitor “Bounce Rates” to Improve Conversion Ratios
January 22, 2009 • Michael Stearns
An effective web page draws visitors in and keeps them there. When the Internet was new, people would surf from site to site just for the fun of discovery. Today’s Internet users are much more sophisticated. They know what they are looking for and want to find it quickly. If they don’t ...
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Conversion
Quick Query: Volusion CEO on Factors that Create Ecommerce Success
January 22, 2009 • PEC Staff
Certain ecommerce businesses succeed, while others do not. To help understand why this is, we spoke with Kevin Sproles, the founder and CEO of Volusion, a hosted shopping cart with more than 10,000 clients, including notable sites such as Disney and Crutchfield. PeC: Tell us why y...
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Conversion
Top 6 Online Marketing Lessons Learned in 2008
January 12, 2009 • Lisa Wehr
We've all heard the old adage: Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. What recent 2008 history has taught marketers is the value of online marketing in tough economic times. Consumer purse strings presumably won't loosen much in 2009, which means marketers have to ...
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Checkout Tactics
PeC Traffic Report: Will 2009 Be the Year of the Coupon?
January 6, 2009 • Armando Roggio
2009 begins in the shadow of global economic recession. The Consumer Confidence Index hovers at 38, a new low in United States, and those consumers that are shopping want deals. So could 2009 be the year of the ecommerce coupon? According to a Dec. 10, 2008 comScore report, coupon use ...
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Customer Retention
Survey: 2008 Holiday Sales Slipped for Many Internet Merchants
January 2, 2009 • Armando Roggio
For the first time in years, holiday ecommerce sales fell in 2008 as online shoppers, apparently worried about the global economy and their personal finances, cut seasonal spending 3 percent, according to an established Internet tracking firm. But 47.7 percent of Internet store keepers ...
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Customer Service
The PeC Review: Boldchat is An Easy-to-Use Live Chat Solution That May Improve Sales
January 2, 2009 • Armando Roggio
BoldChat provides online communication software that allows Internet retailers to actively engage customers and potentially increase both conversions and profits. The BoldChat software (I tested version 5.20.3240.27126) was a responsive and powerful solution for live chat on any ecomme...
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Conversion
SMS Marketing Helps eCommerce Firms, Expert Says
December 16, 2008 • PEC Staff
Text marketing to mobile phone users can help ecommerce merchants. mobileStorm is a marketing company that focuses on such text, or SMS, marketing services. mobileStorm’s CEO is Jared Reitzen, and we spoke with him about what, exactly, SMS marketing is and how it can assist ecommerce ...
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Conversion
Innovative Video Use Increases Conversions for Merchants
December 8, 2008 • Jennifer D. Meacham
Editor's Note: This is part two in our special report on “Video for Ecommerce,” where we describe real stories of online merchants creatively using video to drive sales and grow their brands. Visitors to RMTracking.com are greeted by a video host, positioned unobtrusively in the lower ...
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Product Pages
Product Pages: 6 Tips to Transform Them Into "Sales Magnets"
December 4, 2008 • Michael Stearns
Oftentimes a site owner will pour his heart into a home page. And this is rightly so. If a shopper isn't hooked on your home page, he or she will likely exit before taking a look at what you have to offer. But if you are an ecommerce site owner, save a little mojo for your product pag...
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Conversion
Constant Contact CEO Gail Goodman: Marketing in a Down Economy
December 3, 2008 • PEC Staff
Many ecommerce merchants rely on email marketing to communicate with their customers. Constant Contact is, perhaps, the largest self-service email marketing firm and Practical eCommerce recently spoke with Constant Contact’s CEO, Gail Goodman, about the slow economy, email marketing, an...
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Conversion
6 Quick Tips to Capture Those Holiday Sales Now
December 1, 2008 • Lisa Wehr
Holiday shopping is well underway this year, which means many consumers have already begun looking for those special gifts. And many consumers worried about economic conditions save time and money by purchasing their gifts online, rather than traveling to a traditional brick and morta...
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Conversion
Great Ideas for The Holidays: Part 1
November 26, 2008 • PEC Staff
For many merchants, the holiday season is the largest sales period of the year. In this “Great Ideas for the Holidays” series, we’ll be asking ecommerce experts for ideas to help online retailers. For this first installment, we’ve asked Massimo Arrigoni, CEO of Early Impact, which publ...
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Checkout Tactics
Sharable Coupons Can Boost Sales
November 24, 2008 • Armando Roggio
What our friends and relations think matters to us. I care about what my wife thinks of my new shirt, and when I got a 12-inch table saw this summer, I was sure to discuss the tool’s finer points my friend Steve. I am not alone. Shoppers like and trust recommendations and opinions from...
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Conversion
Video Boosts Online Sales, Merchants Confirm
November 19, 2008 • Jennifer D. Meacham
With the holidays ahead, and a new inflatable fruit cake product selling only sparsely, Seattle toy store Archie McPhee this week is setting out to drive online sales with an explanatory video. It’s apparently working. Within 12 hours of launching the video ad campaign, sales for th...
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Conversion
Survey: Female Shoppers are Influenced by Their Friends
November 19, 2008 • Armando Roggio
Personal recommendations and coupons or flyers passed on by friends are key factors in how female shoppers select products, according to a survey of 2,000 women from SheSpeaks, a marketing agency and social network for women. “SheSpeaks members are representative of influential and eng...