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-
Product Pages
4 Ways to Explain How Products Solve Problems
September 7, 2017 • Pamela Hazelton
The most successful companies make or distribute products and services that solve common problems. The smartphone, for example, solves many problems, such as not being able to check email while ...
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Analytics & Data
Google Analytics Setup Checklist for Ecommerce
August 29, 2017 • Morgan Jones
Google Analytics is loaded with reports and has many settings that can be customized to enhance reporting. The following checklist is designed for ecommerce merchants. By using Google Analytics’ reporting ...
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Product Pages
How to Communicate Value in Product Descriptions
August 23, 2017 • Marcia Yudkin
Not everyone shops for the least expensive products from the lowest-priced vendor. Even so, no one wants to waste money. When you are not the bargain-basement option, it’s important to provide ...
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Customer Service
Live Chat Is Best Tool for Conversing with Shoppers
August 22, 2017 • Pamela Hazelton
When it comes to helping shoppers, there is no better tool than live chat. It can increase trust, keep visitors on the website, and close sales. Live chat supersedes conversions ...
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Analytics & Data
Measuring What Matters for SEO (Hint: It’s Not Rankings)
August 18, 2017 • Jill Kocher Brown
When measuring natural search performance, use the key performance indicators that matter to the bottom line. While each piece of data has its place in managing SEO, only visits and revenue ...
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Conversion
To Drive Conversions, Don’t Forget Clueless Shoppers
August 14, 2017 • Marcia Yudkin
Whether you’re selling eyeglass frames or earphones, swimsuits or swing sets, you’ll inevitably have shoppers unaccustomed to buying them online — or buying them ever. Others are trying to buy ...
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Product Pages
Optimize These 12 Types of Conversions for Ecommerce Success
August 8, 2017 • Pamela Hazelton
There are many types of “conversions” on ecommerce sites. Certainly a purchase is a conversion. But there are also newsletter signups, account creations, social shares, and other actions that indicate visitors’
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Analytics & Data
Google Analytics: Removing Internal Traffic and Referral Spam
August 1, 2017 • Morgan Jones
Web traffic from employees, related parties, and automated bots can distort reporting in Google Analytics. For example, including internal traffic in return-on-investment calculations can produce a lower, inaccurate percentage from ...
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Conversion
9 Category Features that Boost Conversions
July 23, 2017 • Pamela Hazelton
If you put a great deal of focus on social media, organic search, and online advertising for incoming traffic, there’s a good chance you’re not putting enough effort into a ...
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Conversion
5 Groups of Shoppers You’re Likely Ignoring
July 6, 2017 • Pamela Hazelton
Every business has at least one target audience — a key group of people who want or need the products it sells. These audiences are defined by standard factors, such ...
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Analytics & Data
Using Google Analytics to Track Multiple Ad Channels in Purchase Cycle
July 3, 2017 • Morgan Jones
Ecommerce merchants must produce profitable traffic from their advertising efforts. Cash flow is essential. Traffic acquisition must be efficient. However, not all traffic channels drive immediate sales. Some channels assist ...
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Conversion
The Growing Adoption of Voice Commerce
July 2, 2017 • Gagan Mehra
Three years ago, in “Voice Commerce Ready for Prime Time?,” I presented the pros and cons of voice-activated transactions. Since then, voice commerce has grown significantly, with the adoption of ...
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Product Pages
10 Tips for Better Product Category Pages in 2017
June 27, 2017 • Armando Roggio
Product category pages play an important role in an online shopper’s journey, acting as a hub for filtering products on the path toward making a purchase. A well-made product category page ...
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Product Pages
Need More Conversions? Review Your Calls to Action
June 21, 2017 • Pamela Hazelton
I’ve said many times that store pages need a definitive call to action. I fear, though, that I’ve been remiss in explaining what a CTA is and the importance of ...
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Analytics & Data
Ad Blockers Can Affect Analytics Reporting
June 8, 2017 • Hamlet Batista
Ad blocking software doesn’t just block ads. It also blocks most tracking beacons used by analytics tools, such as Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, and others. Jason Packer, with Quantable, an optimization ...
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Analytics & Data
Measuring Offline Sales in Google Analytics
June 7, 2017 • Morgan Jones
Some of the best online shoppers do not actually purchase online. They start their purchase process by finding the product they need online, and then either call the merchant or ...
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Photography & Video
11 Ways Photos Harm Ecommerce Conversions
June 6, 2017 • Pamela Hazelton
High-quality product photos are critical for conversions. Without photos and video, it’s nearly impossible to compete for sales. There are exceptions to every rule, however, and it’s no different when ...
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Conversion
5 Tips for Displaying Ecommerce Product Prices
May 31, 2017 • Armando Roggio
Pricing should not be a mystery. Posting clear, understandable prices for the products that your online store sells should be an important part of the site’s user experience design. In fact,
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Conversion
Use Hypotheses to Optimize Conversions
May 30, 2017 • Emir Musabasic
In “Conversion Optimization: Research First, Then Test,” I addressed the four types of conversion research to conduct before commencing A/B or other tests. When that research process is complete, the ...
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Photography & Video
10 Tutorials for Product Photography
May 29, 2017 • Sig Ueland
To showcase your products at little expense, consider do-it-yourself product photography. Assemble a professional-level production setup at very little cost, and there are plenty of expert tutorials available to guide ...
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Product Pages
9 Tips to Build the Best Product Images
May 25, 2017 • Armando Roggio
The product detail page on an ecommerce site is where a shopper usually decides to buy. And when the shopper is about to make the decision, there are few things ...
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Conversion
Twiggle CEO: Site Search Should Think Like Humans
May 24, 2017 • Armando Roggio
By some estimates, more than half of the visitors to an online store will use that store’s site search to find products, and hopefully make a purchase. This fact alone ...
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Customer Retention
Default Category Sorts Can Harm Conversions
May 23, 2017 • Pamela Hazelton
Trying to figure out why your store’s conversion rate is so low? The order in which products are displayed on categories is a major culprit. While “relevancy” is a common default ...
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Analytics & Data
Bad Product Data Hurts SEO
May 19, 2017 • Jill Kocher Brown
The quality of product data impacts natural search performance on ecommerce sites, far beyond whether meta tags are optimized. Product data isn’t traditionally thought of as contributing to SEO, but ...
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Conversion
Conversion Optimization: Research First, Then Test
May 17, 2017 • Emir Musabasic
It is a common misconception that you can test your way to conversion optimization. An abundance of testing software, some of which is free, makes the temptation only greater. But ...
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Customer Retention
Site Search: A Navigation and Conversion Tool
May 9, 2017 • Pamela Hazelton
Online shoppers who find what they want tend to spend more money. And site search helps them locate what they’re looking for. According to a study by WebLinc, an ecommerce platform and consulting firm,
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Analytics & Data
Using Google Analytics to Track Profitability by Product
May 5, 2017 • Morgan Jones
Niche ecommerce merchants must focus on cash flow. They do not have large capital reserves to support unprofitable investments. Although growing sales is good for the ego, growing cash flow ...
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Analytics & Data
Using Google Data Studio for SEO
May 3, 2017 • Hamlet Batista
In “Using Server Logs to Uncover SEO Problems,” I explained that web server logs can be helpful, but the data is raw and requires transformation and analysis. In this post,
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Conversion
Google Optimize: Setting Up Experiments
April 27, 2017 • Emir Musabasic
In my previous article,”Google Optimize: No Excuse Not to Test,” I explained how to get started on that platform and prepare it for testing. In this article, I’ll create a real ...
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Conversion
Google Optimize: No Excuse Not to Test
April 18, 2017 • Emir Musabasic
Many small and medium ecommerce storeowners have heard of A/B testing and decided that it is not for them. Perhaps they thought A/B testing is complicated, the tools are expensive,
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