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-
Conversion
‘Spotlight Visualizer’ Simulates How a Product Will Look in Local Environment
September 13, 2010 • PEC Staff
Ecommerce merchants are innovators. And many in that industry are finding new and better ways to sell products online. One of those companies is Spotlight Retail, an ecommerce firm with 30 niche websites. Its new "Spotlight Visualizer" enables consumers to see how an item will look in t...
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Conversion
Conversion Tip: Check Facebook Links to Your Site
September 10, 2010 • Charles Nicholls
Editor's Note: Charles Nicholls is founder and chief technical officer of SeeWhy, a conversion and abandonment-recovery firm. His "Conversion Tip" series continues, below, with a suggestion for using Facebook's "Recommendations" plug-in on an ecommerce site. Facebook’s new "Recommendat...
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Analytics & Data
Performance Metrics for Ecommerce, Part Two
September 10, 2010 • Armando Roggio
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Conversion
Increase Holiday Profits with Drop Shipping, Better Inventory Management
September 9, 2010 • PEC Staff
Holiday sales are vital for most ecommerce merchants. But the selling process can be a management headache when a merchant is juggling many different suppliers, sales channels, and stocking requirements. Couple those challenges with trying to decide which products to promote, and what t...
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Analytics & Data
Performance Metrics for Ecommerce, Part One
September 8, 2010 • Armando Roggio
Performance metrics can help ecommerce businesses measure progress and assess financial and marketing health. But with so much data available from tools like Google Analytics, it can be hard to know what to measure or even what those measurements mean. With this in mind, I put together...
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Conversion
August 2010 Survey Results: Conversion Rates
September 7, 2010 • Kate Monteith
The August 2010 Practical eCommerce survey polled readers about conversion. We wondered how many of our readers regularly track conversion rates on their sites, what percentage of visitors are converting into buyers, and what might be preventing visitors from making a purchase. Our con...
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Conversion
Ten Must-Do Items This Holiday Season
September 7, 2010 • PEC Staff
It’s September and the holiday season has already begun for merchants and shoppers. In a recent Practical eCommerce webinar entitled “Ten Ecommerce Strategies for Holiday Success,” Make-a-Store Chief Marketing Officer Derek Stringfellow offered 10 tips merchants can apply now for more s...
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Product Pages
Conversion Tip: Put Facebook ‘Like’ on Product Detail Pages
September 2, 2010 • Charles Nicholls
Editor's Note: Charles Nicholls is an ecommerce conversion expert and the founder and chief technical officer of SeeWhy, a conversion and abandonment-recovery firm. The "Conversion Tip" below continues our series from Nicholls on his ideas to convert more ecommerce visitors to buyers. ...
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Conversion
Ten Great Ecommerce Ideas for September 2010
September 2, 2010 • 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 September ...
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Conversion
Ecommerce News Around the Web for August 27, 2010
August 27, 2010 • Kate Monteith
"Ecommerce News Around the Web" is our weekly review of articles, blog posts and other news items that could interest ecommerce merchants. Keep Them Coming Back - Michael Gray Graywolf's SEO Blog Once a shopper has made a purchase from your website, how do you keep that customer co...
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Conversion
Holiday Tips for 2010, Part 5
August 27, 2010 • PEC Staff
The 2010 holiday season is nearly here. With that in mind, we are publishing a few good holiday-selling tips, from experienced ecommerce professionals, each week. Our fifth, and final, installment is below. Anticipate Microsoft, Yahoo! PPC Integration "Build out and optimize your Mi...
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Checkout Tactics
Conversion Tip: Reduce Abandonment by Publishing Voucher Codes
August 25, 2010 • Charles Nicholls
The widespread nature of discount voucher and coupon sites is encouraging visitors to abandon purchases to look for voucher codes. In response, Macy’s, for example, now publishes its own "special offer" site that lists Macy’s own voucher and coupon codes.
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Conversion
Language Translation: Test Product Names before Entering New Countries
August 24, 2010 • Christian Arno
A product’s name, for all intents and purposes, is the product. It’s what consumers grow to trust and identify with. The name is vital in building a brand’s identity over time. But with international markets, there is an added complexity, as the message represented by words and symbols ...
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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 ...
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Photography & Video
Full 360-Degree Product Image Rotation in JavaScript
August 21, 2010 • Armando Roggio
Product imagery and video are extremely important aspects of on-site merchandising that can have a significant impact on an online retailer’s success. And, to a great degree, web developers have a ...
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Conversion
Holiday Tips for 2010, Part 4
August 20, 2010 • PEC Staff
The 2010 holiday season is nearly here. With that in mind, we are publishing a few good holiday-selling tips each week. Our fourth installment, provided by experienced ecommerce professionals, is below. Test for Usability Issues “Find usability issues by using new crowdsourcing servic...
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Conversion
Top 10 Converting Websites: The Similarities and Differences
August 19, 2010 • Charles Nicholls
We continue our analysis of the top 10 converting websites by looking at the key similarities and differences between them. This follows from “Debunking Myths from the Top 10 Converting ...
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Conversion
Nuts and Bolts of Holiday Selling
August 18, 2010 • PEC Staff
The factors that determine a successful holiday season are oftentimes not the creative or extravagant ones, but rather the nuts and bolts of addressing critical areas of your business. We've identified 10 such "nuts and bolts" strategies to contemplate in “Ten Ecommerce Strategies for ...
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Conversion
Conversion Tip: Pop-up Shopping Carts Drive Higher Order Amounts
August 17, 2010 • Charles Nicholls
Editor's Note: We continue our "Conversion Tip" series from Charles Nicholls, the founder and chief strategy officer of SeeWhy, a conversion and abandonment-recovery firm. For this week's installment, Nicholls focuses on a new trend, pop-up shopping carts. Many shopping carts take the ...
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Conversion
Holiday Tips for 2010, Part 3
August 13, 2010 • PEC Staff
The 2010 holiday season is nearly here. With that in mind, Practical eCommerce is publishing a few good holiday-selling tips each week. Our third installment, provided by experienced ecommerce professionals, is below. Be Everywhere “Signup and post products in shopping comparison en...
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Conversion
The Future of Your Conversion Funnel
August 12, 2010 • PEC Staff
As online merchants we all want to attract and retain as many profitable customers as possible at the lowest cost. However, the way we’re marketing ourselves may be getting in the way. In a recent webinar we discussed a few common pitfalls as they relate to branding, competition, part...
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Conversion
Conversion Tip: Understand Why Visitors Abandon Purchases
August 9, 2010 • Charles Nicholls
We continue our series of conversion tips from Charles Nicholls, founder and CEO of SeeWhy, a conversion and cart-abandonment-recovery firm. For this tip, Nicholls addresses the two main causes of ...
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Conversion
Holiday Tips for 2010, Part 2
August 6, 2010 • PEC Staff
The 2010 holiday season is nearly here. With that in mind, Practical eCommerce is publishing a few good holiday-selling tips each week. Our second installment, provided by experienced ecommerce professionals, is below. Plan Ahead for Holiday Rush “Make sure all of your website improve...
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Conversion
Survey Results: How Important Is Video in Ecommerce?
August 5, 2010 • PEC Staff
Practical eCommerce polled readers in July about the use of video in ecommerce. We wanted to know how many of our readers have posted product videos on their ecommerce sites, and if not, why. The July 2010 survey asked four questions about ecommerce video usage, with a comment section ...
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Conversion
10 Holiday Ecommerce Pitfalls
August 5, 2010 • Michael Stearns
Holiday sales are vitally important for most ecommerce businesses. And yet, in my years of helping hundreds of merchants, I've seen them frequently make the same mistakes that negatively impact a successful holiday sales season. Here's my list, updated for 2010, of common pitfalls to a...
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Customer Retention
Advanced Search Techniques Improve Ecommerce Sales
August 4, 2010 • Armando Roggio
Depending on which expert you ask, something like 40 to 70 percent of online shoppers will navigate an ecommerce store using a product search, making on-site search extremely important even if the most conservative estimates are assumed. Not all site search is the same, however. Rather...
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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 ...
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Conversion
Ten Great Ecommerce Ideas for August 2010
August 2, 2010 • 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 August 2010 installment of "Ten Great Ecommerce Ideas." Create Unique Descriptions for Best Results “Search engines ...
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Conversion
Conversion Tip: Show Shipping Costs Early
July 30, 2010 • Charles Nicholls
We continue our series of conversion tips from Charles Nicholls, founder and CEO of SeeWhy, a conversion and cart-abandonment-recovery firm. For this tip, Nicholls addresses shipping charges, and surprises, in ...
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Conversion
Holiday Tips for 2010, Part 1
July 29, 2010 • PEC Staff
The 2010 holiday season is nearly here. With that in mind, Practical eCommerce will publish a few good holiday-selling tips each week. Our first installment, provided by experienced ecommerce professionals, is below. Create Holiday Landing Pages Create custom landing pages for your em...