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Articles by: Pamela Hazelton

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Pamela Hazelton

Pamela Hazelton

Pamela Hazelton is a senior contributor to Practical Ecommerce, providing actionable articles and webinars since 2005. She's a pioneering online business consultant, marketer, and speaker.

She is the author of The Official Guide to Miva Merchant books and additional ebooks on the topics of shopability and security.

Pamela resides in Florida with her husband, Joe, her red beagle, and a black cat.

Her site is PamelaHazelton.com. Email Pamela.

Shipping & Fulfillment
Using the Return Policy to Convert Shoppers into Customers

May 19, 2011 • Pamela Hazelton

It’s common practice to focus on trends, design and shopability to (hopefully) increase and maintain sales. For the most part, these topics play a major role in a site’s sell-through rate. Let’s not, however, overlook the less obvious reasons shoppers may be abandoning your online store...
Product Pages
Emphasize Key Details for Effective Product Descriptions; 5 Pointers

March 24, 2011 • Pamela Hazelton

When describing products and services, remember that consumers want to know why they need those items. Use bullet points and lists to present need-to-know information in an easy-to-read format. Furniture stores, for example, would use bullet points to display measurements, color and mat...
Checkout Tactics
10 Ecommerce Checkout Strategies

February 24, 2011 • Pamela Hazelton

When we hear the word “conversion” we often think landing pages, category and product page layouts and overall navigation. Let’s not forget the final point of conversion: the checkout process. The checkout page(s) are your last chance to seal the deal and complete a sale. The process i...
Product Pages
Volume Discounts: Choose the Right Words to Boost Sales

January 27, 2011 • Pamela Hazelton

Websites like Groupon, which allow people to “crowd purchase” products and services from local retailers, are becoming popular, mostly due to current economies. It makes sense for online stores selling items normally used in bulk to offer volume discounts, but what about specialty or hi...
Checkout Tactics
6 Pointers for Selling Last-Minute Gift Certificates

December 17, 2010 • Pamela Hazelton

For years, gift certificates have been a difficult sell for the majority of small online stores. Despite consumer-advocacy laws that now require retailers to impose no fees and that limit expirations on gift certificates and gift cards, consumers are often reminded (especially during th...
Product Pages
8 Last Minute Holiday-Sales Boosters

November 18, 2010 • Pamela Hazelton

I'll be honest. The key elements for increasing traffic and sales this holiday season should have been put in place by October 15th. That doesn't mean, however, that all hope is lost for those who've procrastinated or otherwise failed to implement seasonal changes. Whether you didn’t g...
Checkout Tactics
Usability Report Card: OldWillKnottScales.com

October 14, 2010 • Pamela Hazelton

“Go ahead… hurt my feelings.” That was the subject of the message request by online store director Will Knott. He obviously understands my no-holds-barred approach, as his message concluded, “Punch me in the eye and bloody my nose…” Well, Will, I’m not that abrupt (at least, I don’t t...
Checkout Tactics
Convert Visitors by Engaging Them: 6 Ways

October 11, 2010 • Pamela Hazelton

Converting visitors into customers is about more than just supplying great product information. It's about more than a great design, simple navigation and customer service links. The basics–such as page design and content presentation–are certainly necessary. But if you want to grow a l...
Checkout Tactics
Conversion: 10 Ways to Make Category Pages More Shopper-Friendly

September 15, 2010 • Pamela Hazelton

Most conversion articles focus on a store’s product pages. After all, those pages are most visited by search engine spiders and internal search results. Customers who browse, however, use category pages, and those customers need buying nudges, too. Every store needs conversion-ready c...
Checkout Tactics
Conversion: Pros and Cons of Four Checkout Methods

August 23, 2010 • Pamela Hazelton

There are hundreds of studies on the subject of shopping cart abandonment. Companies offering recovery-type services often rely on these statistics to tell us how their products can help. What ...
Checkout Tactics
Usability Report Card: LiveOutThere.com

August 3, 2010 • Pamela Hazelton

Live Out There is an online community and store for active people. Featuring top brands in apparel and gear, the site is designed to attract folks serious about outdoor activities. The products Live Out There sells aren’t for the budget-shopper, but rather those looking for tried and ...
Product Pages
Eight Copywriting Rules for Increasing Conversion

July 22, 2010 • Pamela Hazelton

When merchants talk about ecommerce conversion, it usually centers on design, button placement and ease of checkout. The process, though, actually starts the second someone lands on any web page. This is why textual content is so important. Here are eight rules for using text on your e...
Social Media
In Social Media Era, Nine Techniques to Improve Conversion Rates

June 21, 2010 • Pamela Hazelton

With the ever-growing popularity of social media, online sweepstakes and contests, just how important is the actual conversion rate of an online store going to be in the future? In simple terms, the conversion rate is a measure of the number of unique visitors (potential customers) tha...
Checkout Tactics
Usability Report Card: How-To-Plans.com

June 15, 2010 • Pamela Hazelton

I’m always excited to hear business owners wanting a blunt, no-holds-barred analysis. It means they’re serious about being competitive. The team at How-To-Plans asked Practical eCommerce to grade the usability of its website. How-To-Plans sells do-it-yourself plans for all sorts of hom...
Checkout Tactics
Conversion: Technology, Customers, and ‘Embraceability’

May 13, 2010 • Pamela Hazelton

Conversion rates of an online store rely on many things, and that includes the technology used for graphics, video and interactive content. Cascading Stylesheets (CSS), JavaScript, and Flash have made the web a better, more interactive place. Next up is HTML5, which is the next major r...
Checkout Tactics
Keep It Simple And Straightforward

June 11, 2008 • Pamela Hazelton

During a recent online shopping experience, I was thrilled to find the particular store offered free shipping on orders of $25 or more. The large, bold graphic denoting such offer was in the upper-right hand corner of the screen. So I spent some time picking out a few more items, then I...
Customer Service
Protect Customers' Data Or Lose Your Business

April 14, 2008 • Pamela Hazelton

Back-end store security: It's the most important, yet the oft-overlooked parameter of running an online business. Without securing customer data, you have no claim to running a legitimate business. I often hear excuses of ignorance, which makes me wonder how many online store owners ta...
Conversion
Time Is Money

February 6, 2008 • Pamela Hazelton

It never ceases to amaze me how much time people waste trying to save money. Having grown up in a small town (fewer than 2,000 people), I recognized that paying a little more for staple items locally was less costly than driving 20 miles to save a few bucks. In the business of ecommer...
Customer Service
On Vacation? Pointers To Stay Connected

January 9, 2008 • Pamela Hazelton

I often find myself traveling with little notice. These trips include last minute family gatherings or clients purchasing new systems and wanting me by their side as they transfer data and confirm stability. Some months I’m gone more than I’m home. However, I’m fortunate enough to be ab...
Customer Service
Numbers Should Not Dictate

December 17, 2007 • Pamela Hazelton

They say the true measure of success for an online store is based on visitor and shopping statistics and analysis of investments for driving traffic to the site. The most common reporting method is Google Analytics, and with its recent integration with LivePerson (a live chat tool), sto...
Checkout Tactics
Be Sure To Simplify Checkout

November 15, 2007 • Pamela Hazelton

There have been many a debate about how to siphon shoppers into the checkout process quickly, and just as expeditiously get them to the final invoice page. The words easy, simplified and ‘lightning fast’ come to mind during such arguments, while retailers and advisers sight statistics, ...
Payments
Credit Card Chargebacks

October 7, 2007 • Pamela Hazelton

It seems like only yesterday we were gearing up for a new holiday shopping season. Alas, a plethora of shoppers seeking competitive pricing, free shipping and prime customer service is here. We’ve struggled to work out all the kinks in our shopping cart solution and backend system, so w...
Design & Dev Tools
Nine Simple Ways To Speed Up Tedious Tasks

September 24, 2007 • Pamela Hazelton

Because I’m all about automation of the tedious of tasks, this month I’m offering up some key, yet very simple ways, to speed up tasks you’ve probably never given much thought to. While it may take me time to figure it out, I always try to tackle the pesky mundane tasks first. Auto-l...
Conversion
Don’t Overlook The Essentials Of Business Startup

August 6, 2007 • Pamela Hazelton

I receive calls daily from store owners wondering what they can do to get ample returns on their investments in advertising and search engine optimization. Just when I think I’ve met my match, more calls pour in, and I’ve come to the realization that a good majority of small business ow...
Customer Retention
SMBs Should Consider Surveys

July 15, 2007 • Pamela Hazelton

The online store that makes me feel awesome even after my product(s) have been delivered will get my business next time around. Their URL will be committed to memory, and I’ll visit the site often just to see what’s new. This store must cater to my needs, treat me like a person and does...
Conversion
Is Your Website Ready For The Holiday Shopping Season?

June 6, 2007 • Pamela Hazelton

Anyone’s who has talked with me for any given amount of time will tell you I’m adamant about testing sites for security and navigation. Summer is the perfect time to plot out upcoming holiday season sales campaigns, and it’s also the time to make sure things are running smoothly. With a...
Shipping & Fulfillment
Shipping Charges: Compromises Required

March 28, 2007 • Pamela Hazelton

You would think online stores would have found it easier by now to calculate and charge accurate shipping fees, let alone set up uninterrupted checkout processes that flow smoothly. Yet I see more and more questions and requests for customizations and fixes than ever before. What makes...
Customer Service
Treat Customers as Next-door Neighbors

February 19, 2007 • Pamela Hazelton

People often ask me where I learned so much about ecommerce and business in general. I didn't attend business school, nor do my college degrees reflect what I do today. Besides being book smart and having been raised "old school," I accumulated the majority of my knowledge from experien...
Customer Retention
Selling After Dec. 25

December 1, 2006 • Pamela Hazelton

For the majority of online stores, the holiday shopping season is what makes an entire year’s worth of work pay off. With the bulk of shopping taking place the first two weeks of December, it’s typically considered the highest grossing month of the year. That may be so, but the normal s...
Design & Dev Tools
Experiencing Server Overload

November 1, 2006 • Pamela Hazelton

Each month I talk about things I’ve learned by watching how other store owners run their businesses. Not that I don’t make my own mistakes, but I often try to keep my own embarrassing moments to myself. Until now... I’ve talked before about what to look for in a hosting company. I’ve t...

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