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
Google’s New WebP Image Format Could Improve Load Times

September 5, 2011 • Armando Roggio

Web graphics, particularly photos, are beginning to evolve. But more change is needed as the requirements for both speed and beautiful design intensify. A new, royalty-free format hopes to provide ...
Conversion
How Larger Retailers Integrate Physical Stores with Ecommerce Sites

August 23, 2011 • Gagan Mehra

Most large retailers I work with have brick-and-mortar stores in addition to ecommerce sites. Better integration between these two channels is always one of their goals. Though the integrations vary for every retailer, a few key strategies are consistent. I will describe them in this ar...
Checkout Tactics
Wait List Notifications: ‘Old School’ Feature Still Drives Conversions

August 9, 2011 • Pamela Hazelton

The "wait list" was first popular in the late 1990s — before comparison shopping and social media sites. — to allow shoppers to sign up for notifications about specific products. The concept is simple. When an item is on backorder, the shopper can enter his or her name and email addres...
Conversion
Integrating Educational Content into Your Ecommerce Site; 10 Pointers

August 3, 2011 • Michael Stearns

The ecommerce landscape continues to get more competitive. It is becoming increasingly difficult to base your success simply on having a site with great products and no other content. You ...
Conversion
How U.S. Merchants Can Target U.K. Consumers

August 2, 2011 • PEC Staff

The United Kingdom offers expansion opportunities for United States-based ecommerce merchants. But to do it correctly requires much thought and planning. There are domain name issues, search-engine-optimization strategies, localization considerations,
Conversion
5 Ways to Segment Your Customer Base

July 28, 2011 • Gagan Mehra

Ecommerce businesses need to understand their customers. But it takes time and money to attend to each customer individually. The best strategy is to segregate the customer base into common attributes — called "segments." You can then target each segment with specific marketing campaign...
Analytics & Data
Google Analytics Adds Social Data

July 25, 2011 • Armando Roggio

Google Analytics has added social-media-related data to its reports. Google +1 button data is available by default. Facebook "Like" and Twitter "Tweet" sharing statistics can be added with some setup and additional tracking code. The new Google Analytics "Social" report tracks what Goo...
Photography & Video
Using Video to Convert Shoppers; 8 Pointers

July 22, 2011 • Pamela Hazelton

Video is an effective way to attract more customers and close sales. Big business relies on video to further establish their brand of products. Small business ecommerce sites can benefit from the practice, provided streaming visuals are implemented properly. Zappos uses video to enhanc...
Analytics & Data
Understanding ‘Traffic Sources’ in Google Analytics

July 18, 2011 • Armando Roggio

The Google Analytics "Traffic Sources" section can help ecommerce marketers understand how well campaigns are working and how better to invest in site content, advertising, or other forms of engagement. Google Analytics is a free service that uses cookies — which we explain in "Cookies...
Conversion
How Small Brick-and-Mortar Retailers Succeed Online; 4 Keys

July 13, 2011 • PEC Staff

Editor's Note: We welcome Bret Williams as a new contributor. He is founder and president of Novusweb, an ecommerce development firm. He is also a former online merchant. His contributions for us will focus on the issues faced by small, brick-and-mortar retailers when they migrate onli...
Conversion
Using Amazon to Grow Your Ecommerce Business; 6 Tools

July 11, 2011 • Michael Stearns

Amazon.com is no longer a brazen ecommerce start-up. It has grown into the leading online retailer. And it evolved its platform to provide tools and technologies for other businesses to use. There are so many of these tools, in fact, it's hard to keep them straight. But I'll review six ...
Conversion
Notable Views: Improve Your Conversion Rate with a Manufacturing Approach

July 7, 2011 • David Sasson

Editor's Note: "Notable Views” is a series where we ask experts to address critical ecommerce topics. For this installment, we corresponded with David Sasson, the founder of OverstockArt.com, an online retailer of original art reproductions. The company is based in Wichita, Kansas, bu...
Conversion
Ten Great Ecommerce Ideas for July 2011

July 1, 2011 • Kate Monteith

Practical eCommerce asks industry insiders each month to share a great, innovative idea that could help an ecommerce company. Here’s what ten of them had to say for the July ...
Conversion
How to Get Consumers Talking about Your Company

July 1, 2011 • Armando Roggio

The Internet is now the leading source of information for brand-related, word-of-mouth conversations, according to a new study of 3,000 American adults. This finding may indicate that online merchants and other ecommerce businesses can use well-planned content to spark product or bran...
Analytics & Data
Looking at Location in Google Analytics

June 27, 2011 • Armando Roggio

Understanding your customers — including their preferences and opinions — is an important part of ecommerce marketing. One helpful indicator of customer behavior is location, because where one lives can ...
Conversion
5 Suggestions for Naming Your Store

June 22, 2011 • Armando Roggio

An online store’s name is one of its most important assets and a potent part of its brand. In some sense the business name can define its identity. Since business naming is so important, you don’t want to simply draw a name out of a hat or let your eight-year-old choose. Rather what fo...
Conversion
Innovators: 3 Sites that Benefit from Seasonal Events

June 17, 2011 • PEC Staff

In the ecommerce business, there are innovators and trendsetters, those companies and individuals who think ahead and anticipate changes. We’ve asked an expert ecommerce observer to help us identify some ...
Photography & Video
4 Ways Video Can Drive Traffic and Conversions

June 13, 2011 • Armando Roggio

Video is one of the fastest-growing content types on the Internet. More than 172 million individual Americans watched an average of 14.9 hours of web video in April, the most ...
Conversion
Cisco Exec on Growth of Worldwide Ecommerce, Cultural Differences

June 10, 2011 • PEC Staff

Industrialized countries like the United States and the United Kingdom lead the world in the development of online retailing. But many other countries are gaining ground, with their own cultural ...
Analytics & Data
11 Mobile Apps to Measure Your Online Success

June 8, 2011 • Sig Ueland

Tracking your business's online performance is a necessity. But doing so chained to your desktop computer is not. Whether you’re out on a meeting or away on a summer vacation, with mobile apps you have the ability to check online statistics on the go. Here is a list of mobile apps for ...
Analytics & Data
Transitioning to the New Google Analytics

June 8, 2011 • Michael Stearns

In May 2011, Google launched a new version of Analytics. This new version 5 is good news for power users, as it makes many of the advanced features Google has been developing over the past few years more accessible. If you still feel a bit overwhelmed with the range of options that Goog...
Customer Retention
14 Customer Feedback Tools for Small Business

June 3, 2011 • Sig Ueland

Feedback is essential to running a business. It tells you what’s working and what’s not. It provides you with fresh ideas on ways to improve your business. And it gives you insight into the needs of your customers. Here is a list of customer feedback tools. Some of the tools collect f...
Conversion
Dijipop Founder on Paid Product Placements, Digital Merchandising

June 3, 2011 • PEC Staff

Brick-and-mortar retailers often promote products with end-caps and special placements within a store aisle, and the retailer is typically paid for those promotions by wholesale suppliers. Ecommerce merchants can now merchandise products in a similar fashion, and receive similar payment...
Conversion
Ten Great Ecommerce Ideas for June 2011

May 30, 2011 • Kate Monteith

Practical eCommerce asks industry insiders each month to share a great, innovative idea that could help an ecommerce company. Here’s what ten of them had to say for the June 2011 installment of "Ten Great Ecommerce Ideas." Protect Your Site Against Fraud "Be sure your site is taking...
Checkout Tactics
11 Ways to Increase Conversions on Mobile Devices

May 27, 2011 • Pamela Hazelton

Last November, while stuck in a waiting room, I shopped for Christmas presents via my smartphone. Few of the stores I visited had a mobile site, making the navigation and checkout process time consuming and frustrating. I gave up on several, seeking out their competition. Some recent s...
Conversion
Capture U.S. Hispanic Consumers with Website Localization

May 24, 2011 • Christian Arno

If you are looking to break ground in fresh new markets, you’ve probably by now realized the importance of multilingual marketing. But while you’re expanding your business abroad, are you forgetting the domestic foreign-language market? The 2009 U.S. Census found that a fifth of the U....
Conversion
Gas Prices, Unemployment, and Smartphones Affect Ecommerce, Study Finds

May 23, 2011 • Armando Roggio

U.S. ecommerce sales rose a stunning 12 percent in the first quarter of 2011 to more than $38 billion dollars, as soaring gasoline prices, unemployment concerns, and shopping-related smartphone usage affected online retail, according to a report from research firm comScore. "Faced with...
Conversion
Domain Name ‘RunningShoes.com’ Sells for $700,000

May 10, 2011 • PEC Staff

Most ecommerce merchants own several domain names. One merchant recently purchased the domain name RunningShoes.com for a whopping $700,000.
Conversion
20 Popular Twitter Feeds from Retail Companies

May 2, 2011 • PEC Staff

Twitter is filled with potential for businesses, but a Twitter account is only as good as its content. Sometimes just observing how top businesses take advantage of this communication platform is a good way to learn. Here are 20 popular retail brands’ Twitter feeds. Follow them on Twit...
Conversion
Ten Great Ecommerce Ideas for May 2011

April 29, 2011 • Kate Monteith

Practical eCommerce asks industry insiders each month to share a great, innovative idea that could help an ecommerce company. Here’s what ten of them had to say for the May 2011 installment of "Ten Great Ecommerce Ideas." Promote Overstocked Products with Flash Sales "My idea to share...

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