Category

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

Photography & Video
Behold the Animated GIF

June 4, 2013 • Jason Lawrence

Since its birth in 1987, Graphics Interchange Format, or GIF, has proved to be one of the most durable image standards. GIFs are supported by nearly every modern web browser and almost every email client in the world. That’s a big deal. GIFs provide a way of embedding animated content ...
Analytics & Data
3 Key Google Analytics Reports for Ecommerce Merchants

May 24, 2013 • Feras Alhlou

Ecommerce merchants know it’s important to track sales, customer activities, and marketing campaigns. They can do this in Google Analytics. When it comes to finding actionable insights, however, in almost every case merchants need to be comfortable with the concept of segmentation. Ther...
Conversion
What to Test on an Ecommerce Site

May 23, 2013 • Dale Traxler

In "19 Tools to Test your Site for Mobile Devices" and "23 Tools to Test your Ecommerce Site," we listed options to test an ecommerce site for mobile compatibility, usability, and performance. Ecommerce merchants should continually test their websites. Some merchants test in different...
Conversion
11 Personal Gestures to Turn Casual Buyers into Lifelong Customers

May 17, 2013 • Jerry Jao

Developing loyal customers isn’t always expensive or difficult for businesses with small marketing budgets. It may sound cliché, but when it comes to boosting customer loyalty, it's the little things that count the most. Small yet thoughtful actions can have a big impact on how custom...
Analytics & Data
Google Analytics: 5 Custom Ecommerce Events to Track

May 14, 2013 • Tim Wilson

A friend recently asked me about event tracking on his new ecommerce site. He wondered if I had a comprehensive list of events to track. Well, in answer to my friend, this article is my list of five favorite event tracking customizations, using Google Analytics, for ecommerce sites. C...
Photography & Video
5 Simple Ways to Make Great Product Videos

May 1, 2013 • Jason Lawrence

In "Learning from Infomercials for Product Demonstration," my article last month, I discussed the importance of product demonstration and video in selling online. This month, I’ll explain how to make product videos that get results. Given the rise in well-produced online video, it can ...
Conversion
6 Small-business Personalization Strategies

April 24, 2013 • Jerry Jao

A personalized shopping experience can increase conversions. There are many sophisticated personalization platforms that help with this. But there are also simple, inexpensive personalization strategies that most any merchant can use. This article profiles six examples of effective p...
Photography & Video
12 How-to and DIY Video Sites

April 16, 2013 • Sig Ueland

Adding videos to your website can be a terrific way to inform consumers on your product expertise, add value to their shopping experience, and set your site apart from your competitors. A video can be produced with little or no expense. And there are plenty of how-to videos available on...
Analytics & Data
Using Analytics to Adapt and Learn

April 16, 2013 • Tim Wilson

Everyone wants to be data-driven these days. But, what does that really mean? Using the classic “people, process, technology” triangle, it is tempting to see technology as the most critical ...
Conversion
4 Key Ecommerce Metrics that Determine Success

April 12, 2013 • Jaime Brugueras

There are four key ecommerce metrics that determine success. They are: Understanding lifetime value of a customer; Monitoring customer satisfaction; Measuring your sales funnel; Determining marketing ROI. The most successful ecommerce brands incorporate these elements whether they r...
Conversion
Using Omni-channel Personalization for Ecommerce

April 9, 2013 • Gagan Mehra

Many online retail sites use personalization features that are bundled with their ecommerce platforms or are enabled by integrating with a third-party vendor. These features often do the basic segmentation and targeting but do not incorporate data from all consumer interactions, such ...
Photography & Video
Learning from Infomercials for Product Demonstration

March 29, 2013 • Jason Lawrence

Perhaps the easiest advertisers to brush off are the ones behind television infomercials — those talking-head, late-night sales pitches complete with low-budget graphics and mind-numbing sound effects, enticing us to buy a $29.99 kitchen gadget we don’t need at 2 a.m. What could they k...
Conversion
6 Uses of Big Data for Online Retailers

March 27, 2013 • Gagan Mehra

In "Understanding Big Data for Ecommerce," we provided a primer on the growth of data and its implications for ecommerce merchants. This article will add to that post by explaining Big Data in more detail and presenting its most common uses for ecommerce sites. There are many definitio...
Conversion
Ecommerce Site Search Evolves, without Google

March 26, 2013 • PEC Staff

Ecommerce site search — including Google's announcement that it is dropping its Commerce Search platform — is our topic today. Dr. Shaun Ryan, CEO of SLI Systems, a leading site search provider, is our guest. He speaks with Practical Ecommerce's Kerry Murdock. Practical Ecommerce: Go...
Conversion
10 Ways to Compete Against Large Ecommerce Companies

March 26, 2013 • Dale Traxler

When I owned a small ecommerce business, I sometimes felt unable to compete against larger companies. Ad budgets were tight; working capital to fund inventory was sometimes limited to cash from current sales. Hiring or outsourcing to find the right graphic artists or web designers was t...
Conversion
Harnessing Big Data for Small Businesses

March 22, 2013 • PEC Staff

An ecommerce merchant deals with data. There’s revenue, profit, customers, traffic, order values, Likes, followers: lots of data. One company that helps merchants sort through this data and analyze it is SumAll. Its CEO and co-founder, Dane Atkinson, recently spoke with Practical Ecomme...
Conversion
5 Key Day-to-day Ecommerce Functions

March 21, 2013 • Dale Traxler

As ecommerce owners, we frequently look for something new to help our businesses grow. This could be a magical analytical tool that deciphers why conversion rates are lower this year than last. Or, it could be a new, exclusive product that becomes a worldwide best seller. Certainly ...
Analytics & Data
Effective Analytics: Using the Right Tool for the Job

March 19, 2013 • Tim Wilson

Web analytics platforms are rich sources of data for marketers and ecommerce managers. But it is a mistake to treat them as the only source of information. There are many others — many of which are inexpensive or free — that complement web analytics and are better at answering certain t...
Analytics & Data
4 Ways Big Data Can Help Ecommerce Merchants

March 12, 2013 • Marcia Kaplan

In "Understanding Big Data For Ecommerce," I provided a general overview of how online merchants can use Big Data. In this article I will describe in more detail how Big Data — i.e., large amounts of seemingly random data from many sources — can be used to create competitive advantages....
Conversion
5 Ecommerce Landing Pages: Good and Bad

March 12, 2013 • Dale Traxler

A key component of an ecommerce marketing strategy is to develop unique landing pages for online ads and email promotions. Many retailers assume the best place to link ads is their home pages. After all, that is where prospects will find all the products for sale, and it is generally ...
Conversion
For Ecommerce Branding, Use Videos

March 8, 2013 • PEC Staff

In today’s social climate, it is more important than ever to create a recognizable brand for your store. Vital to that effort is building a relationship between your store and your customers that exceeds the usual search-click-buy interaction. Most storeowners think about two things: ...
Customer Retention
How to Earn Loyal, Repeat Ecommerce Customers

March 7, 2013 • Armando Roggio

Loyal, repeat shoppers convert easily, spend more, cost less to service, and help spread the word about good online shopping experiences. Earning long-term customers can significantly improve an ecommerce business. Loyal shoppers demonstrate conversion rates 5-to-9 times greater than f...
Conversion
10 Slideshare Presentations for Marketers, Designers

March 1, 2013 • Kevin Webster

Slide presentations provide an excellent opportunity to learn something new about marketing at your own pace. Here are 10 quality slide presentations on web marketing and design.
Conversion
4 Good Reasons to Sell Online

February 27, 2013 • Armando Roggio

Ecommerce sales are growing. Online sales topped $1 trillion worldwide for the first time last year and there are good reasons you should consider selling online now to start getting your share. There are really two kinds of businesses or entrepreneurs that should be considering ecomme...
Customer Retention
5 Social CRM Tools for Small Business

February 25, 2013 • Paul Chaney

Customer relationship management tools have existed for years. Businesses use them to manage customer interactions across channels and departments, including marketing, sales, customer service, and technical support. One area where traditional CRM systems fall short is their inability...
Analytics & Data
Locating 404s with Google Analytics

February 19, 2013 • Tim Wilson

404 error pages are bad. On the list of “Bad Things on Your Site,” 404s easily crack the top five. Yet site owners frequently have no idea how often 404s occur on their sites, much less monitor and address them. Can you answer the following questions? How many visitors to your site l...
Conversion
Law Firms Embrace Video for Online Marketing

February 19, 2013 • Micah Buchdahl

The use of videos as an Internet marketing tool continues to increase as law firms of all shapes and sizes are finding that there are significant benefits to “going Hollywood.” The reasons for using video are numerous — from both a search engine optimization and end-user perspective.
Conversion
4 Mistakes that Cost Online Stores

February 18, 2013 • Dale Traxler

The process of capturing customers to your online store involves multiple steps, typically. Getting shoppers to visit your store. Helping them find what they are looking for quickly and efficiently. Showing them the information they want about the products they are looking for. P...
Photography & Video
How to Take Gorgeous Product Photos

January 28, 2013 • Jason Lawrence

Editor's Note: We welcome Jason Lawrence as our newest contributor. He is a computer scientist, researcher, educator, and entrepreneur, having co-founded Arqspin, a mobile phone-based platform for creating 360 spins. He is also an associate professor in the Computer Science Department a...
Conversion
Personalizing the Customer Experience

January 24, 2013 • Dale Traxler

I recently shopped for a new wallet in several online stores. Later that day, I saw ads for one of the same wallets on The New York Times' website and Facebook from eBags.com. Since I had shopped at eBags.com, I knew that it was not a coincidence. It was a remarketing ad. In this case, ...

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