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
  • Analytics & Data

    Google Analytics: How to Avoid Data-wandering

    July 17, 2013 •

    When it comes to Google Analytics, a common question users ask is, “Where do I start?” They have logged into the tool multiple times and stared at the default report with its default timeframe of the last 30 days. They have pondered whether there was anything actionable buried in that c...

  • Analytics & Data

    Ecommerce Analytics for Multiple Devices, Channels

    July 12, 2013 •

    Many ecommerce owners use analytics to measure page views, traffic, and conversion rates. That is all well and good, but it is old-school. In today's multi-device, multichannel world, marketers are finding it challenging to connect the dots between the web, mobile, and their backend da...

  • Conversion

    Optimizely Exec on A/B Split Tests

    July 10, 2013 •

    Leading online retailers continually test different aspects of their websites to help drive sales. This can be as simple as testing various fonts and colors, or more sophisticated tests, such as pricing and product descriptions. Optimizely is a leading testing platform for online bus...

  • Conversion

    Key Site Search Features that Drive Conversions

    July 9, 2013 •

    There are many previously published Practical eCommerce articles about site search. They include tips about features that are critical to delivering a world-class customer experience. Review them and learn more about both technical details of site search and leveraging reporting to deli...

  • Conversion

    7 Post-purchase Survey Questions

    July 1, 2013 •

    One frustrating aspect of being an online retailer is that you don’t often talk directly to your customers. In fact, most of the customer feedback comes from phone orders, online chat, problems, and returned orders. It’s difficult to gauge customer satisfaction without feedback. Many ...

  • Conversion

    Implementing Live Chat: Dos and Don’ts

    June 26, 2013 •

    Many online merchants who use live chat on their stores have seen significant increases in sales. This includes Bloom Nation, an online florist. According its founder, Gregg Weisstein, shoppers are 11 times more likely to convert when engaged in live chat. Similarly, David Handmaker o...

  • Analytics & Data

    2 Handy Google Analytics Features: Ecommerce Reports, Weighted Sorting

    June 19, 2013 •

    Overall, Google Analytics has a clean and intuitive interface. But, somehow, useful capabilities sometimes get lost on the screen. Two such features are the "Ecommerce" metric group and "weighted sorting." The Ecommerce Metric Group Every standard report has one or more predefined “me...

  • Checkout Tactics

    Reviewing the Checkout Process of 10 Leading Online Retailers

    June 19, 2013 •

    The checkout process is the last step in completing an online transaction and making a sale. A well-planned checkout experience can significantly boost conversions. Leading online retailers have made their checkouts more adaptive, rewarding registered users, and giving site visitors ple...

  • Conversion

    Using A/B Testing to Optimize an Online Store

    June 18, 2013 •

    Larger online retailers have big budgets to optimize their navigation and user interface to drive higher conversion rates. They do this by experimenting relentlessly to find the designs with the results they are targeting: drawing visitors to their stores, delivering the products they a...

  • Business

    Are Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode Conversion Killers?

    June 14, 2013 •

    No merchant wants to add steps in the checkout process that reduce conversion. However, merchants often don’t have a choice about 3D Secure, the payment industry program behind "Verified by Visa," "MasterCard SecureCode," and "Amex SafeKey." These programs attempt to reduce card-not-p...

  • Conversion

    Personalization: Letting Shoppers Decide

    June 7, 2013 •

    In "Personalizing the Customer Experience," I addressed how that strategy can increase revenue and customer loyalty for ecommerce merchants. In this article, I'll take the concept further. It's time to move from the model of the merchant defining what the shopper wants to one where the...

  • Photography & Video

    Behold the Animated GIF

    June 4, 2013 •

    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 •

    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 •

    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 •

    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 •

    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 •

    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 •

    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 •

    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 •

    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 •

    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 •

    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 •

    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 •

    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 •

    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 •

    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 •

    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 •

    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 •

    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 •

    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....

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