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
  • Customer Retention

    Survey: 2008 Holiday Sales Slipped for Many Internet Merchants

    January 2, 2009 •

    For the first time in years, holiday ecommerce sales fell in 2008 as online shoppers, apparently worried about the global economy and their personal finances, cut seasonal spending 3 percent, according to an established Internet tracking firm. But 47.7 percent of Internet store keepers ...

  • Customer Service

    The PeC Review: Boldchat is An Easy-to-Use Live Chat Solution That May Improve Sales

    January 2, 2009 •

    BoldChat provides online communication software that allows Internet retailers to actively engage customers and potentially increase both conversions and profits. The BoldChat software (I tested version 5.20.3240.27126) was a responsive and powerful solution for live chat on any ecomme...

  • Conversion

    SMS Marketing Helps eCommerce Firms, Expert Says

    December 16, 2008 •

    Text marketing to mobile phone users can help ecommerce merchants. mobileStorm is a marketing company that focuses on such text, or SMS, marketing services. mobileStorm’s CEO is Jared Reitzen, and we spoke with him about what, exactly, SMS marketing is and how it can assist ecommerce ...

  • Conversion

    Innovative Video Use Increases Conversions for Merchants

    December 8, 2008 •

    Editor's Note: This is part two in our special report on “Video for Ecommerce,” where we describe real stories of online merchants creatively using video to drive sales and grow their brands. Visitors to RMTracking.com are greeted by a video host, positioned unobtrusively in the lower ...

  • Product Pages

    Product Pages: 6 Tips to Transform Them Into Sales Magnets

    December 4, 2008 •

    Oftentimes a site owner will pour his heart into a home page. And this is rightly so. If a shopper isn't hooked on your home page, he or she will likely exit before taking a look at what you have to offer. But if you are an ecommerce site owner, save a little mojo for your product pag...

  • Conversion

    Constant Contact CEO Gail Goodman: Marketing in a Down Economy

    December 3, 2008 •

    Many ecommerce merchants rely on email marketing to communicate with their customers. Constant Contact is, perhaps, the largest self-service email marketing firm and Practical eCommerce recently spoke with Constant Contact’s CEO, Gail Goodman, about the slow economy, email marketing, an...

  • Conversion

    6 Quick Tips to Capture Those Holiday Sales Now

    December 1, 2008 •

    Holiday shopping is well underway this year, which means many consumers have already begun looking for those special gifts. And many consumers worried about economic conditions save time and money by purchasing their gifts online, rather than traveling to a traditional brick and morta...

  • Conversion

    Great Ideas for The Holidays: Part 1

    November 26, 2008 •

    For many merchants, the holiday season is the largest sales period of the year. In this “Great Ideas for the Holidays” series, we’ll be asking ecommerce experts for ideas to help online retailers. For this first installment, we’ve asked Massimo Arrigoni, CEO of Early Impact, which publ...

  • Checkout Tactics

    Sharable Coupons Can Boost Sales

    November 24, 2008 •

    What our friends and relations think matters to us. I care about what my wife thinks of my new shirt, and when I got a 12-inch table saw this summer, I was sure to discuss the tool’s finer points my friend Steve. I am not alone. Shoppers like and trust recommendations and opinions from...

  • Conversion

    Video Boosts Online Sales, Merchants Confirm

    November 19, 2008 •

    With the holidays ahead, and a new inflatable fruit cake product selling only sparsely, Seattle toy store Archie McPhee this week is setting out to drive online sales with an explanatory video. It’s apparently working. Within 12 hours of launching the video ad campaign, sales for th...

  • Conversion

    Survey: Female Shoppers are Influenced by Their Friends

    November 19, 2008 •

    Personal recommendations and coupons or flyers passed on by friends are key factors in how female shoppers select products, according to a survey of 2,000 women from SheSpeaks, a marketing agency and social network for women. “SheSpeaks members are representative of influential and eng...

  • Checkout Tactics

    Secure Checkout Most Important in Attracting New Customers

    November 19, 2008 •

    A newly released consumer survey from Harris Interactive, a research firm, and Volusion, a hosted shopping cart company, suggests that payment security is—not surprisingly—a top issue for online shoppers. The survey asked more than 2,400 online shoppers aged 18 or older what factors in...

  • Conversion

    Conversion Review: Coffee Purveyor Needs Clear Purchase Path

    November 17, 2008 •

    JL Hufford is a gourmet coffee company that started life with a small café in Lafayette, IN. The company went online six years ago and now boasts over 400 different specialty beverage blends as well as a wide range of “coffee lifestyle” products. In this conversion review, I will evalu...

  • Conversion

    Direct Traffic is Better Than Google Traffic

    November 14, 2008 •

    Not all web traffic is equal and understanding the value of direct traffic can help online retailers hone their marketing. “Direct traffic” is web traffic you get from people who already know about your website or store. They either click a bookmark to come to your site or type your si...

  • Conversion

    Online Retailers Want More Web Traffic

    November 12, 2008 •

    Preliminary results from a new Practical eCommerce survey showed that at least 63 percent of respondents thought traffic generation was a big challenge, and more than 31 percent saw it as their biggest challenge. Practical eCommerce launched the first of a series of reader surveys on N...

  • Conversion

    Automated Chat Captures Prospects After They Leave A Site

    November 3, 2008 •

    UpSellit’s SMARTagent promises to automatically bring shoppers back to your site and close potential sales. It’s part user-engaged action, part automated chat, and part sales-floor closer. UpSellit CTO and president Chris Wampler said that e-retailers who add it to their sites could exp...

  • Conversion

    Interactive Chat Improves Sales, Customer Service

    October 30, 2008 •

    Memorysuppliers.com offers more than just electronic-device memory cards. It also offers one-to-one, 24-hour-a-day chat. With four people dedicated to chat and email responses, Memorysuppliers.com is one of thousands of ecommerce companies adding chat to its marketing and customer se...

  • Conversion

    Online Reputation Management: Get Pro-Active

    October 22, 2008 •

    A wise entrepreneur once said that “you can’t build a reputation on what you’re going to do.” While computers weren’t around when Henry Ford coined the phrase, his words still resonate today. With billions of people online—and probably the same number of bloggers and social media part...

  • Customer Retention

    Use Comparison Shopping Sites To Boost Leads

    October 21, 2008 •

    Savvy online retailers can attract thrifty customers this holiday season with a sound comparison shopping strategy, but those merchants must be careful not to create a lot of extra work, damage their reputation, or waste money. Comparison shopping sites like Shopping.com, Bizrate.com, ...

  • Conversion

    Trigger-Based Email Marketing Improves Sales and Customer Experience

    October 2, 2008 •

    Trigger marketing is the next step for the critical ecommerce function of automated email communications. While traditional automated emails follow newsletter sign-ups and orders, trigger marketing sends emails for other events such as particular search patterns, customer birthdays, hol...

  • Photography & Video

    Video Boosts Sales for Online Retailers

    October 1, 2008 •

    At brick-and-mortar retailers, shoppers can stroll the isles, handle items, speak to clerks, and receive well placed merchandising messages. It’s not that easy for ecommerce merchants. They must find new and inventive ways to engage and convert customers; using well written and persuasi...

  • Conversion

    Web Widgets Come Of Age For Ecommerce Sites

    September 30, 2008 •

    For executives like Braden Hoeppner, director of web sales for optical store Coastalcontacts.com, today’s web widgets are a fast and easy way to improve customer service and create interest. Thanks to the widget behind Coastalcontacts.com’s “Tell a friend” link, “we got more features t...

  • Conversion

    Christmas Is Coming: Six Quick Online Marketing Tips

    September 23, 2008 •

    Christmas is coming. And now is the time for you to take a hard look at your current search engine marketing campaigns. With billions of dollars up for grabs, your online marketing needs to be well-planned, well-executed, and well-optimized. Be Ready When Shoppers Come Calling Here ar...

  • Conversion

    Landing Pages: Five Pointers to Boost Conversions

    September 11, 2008 •

    Website traffic is up. Your pay-per-click (PPC) ads are receiving traffic, and you’re reaching your monthly budget. Sounds like your paid search campaign is working well, right? Well, not necessarily. If you’re like most Internet advertisers, you’re not investing in a paid search campa...

  • Conversion

    Employing Social Media

    September 3, 2008 •

    This job posting arrived in my email inbox yesterday: “Responsibilities: Create and maintain MySpace, Live Spaces, Facebook, Bebo, MOG, Twitter, Loopt, Wikipedia, and other profiles; gather content for social profiles; and report on the effectiveness of social site placement.” Pay is u...

  • Conversion

    Expert Reviews Usability Of Practicalecommerce.com

    August 21, 2008 •

    Practical eCommerce is a website with the purpose of providing down-to-earth advice to help smaller businesses succeed online. Advice comes in the form of easy to follow articles, podcasts and regular newsletters as well as blogs that allow readers to communicate with each other. The b...

  • Conversion

    Conversion: Seven Variables That Affect Sales

    August 18, 2008 •

    Most online merchants want to increase sales, grow their business and increase profits, but few know the secrets to doing so. For many merchants, the dollar amount of a sale is the only metric they track. But successful merchants track many more variables than just sales. Here are seven...

  • Conversion

    Offer Multiple Currencies To Facilitate International Sales

    August 8, 2008 •

    To cater to an international clientele, multi-currency processing is the way to go. “In addition to Internet usage growing much faster outside the U.S., countries that have the strongest purchasing power are also outside the U.S. – like those in the European Union,” says Melissa Jones...

  • Conversion

    Decline In Dollar Creates Opportunities For U.S. Merchants

    August 6, 2008 •

    With the U.S. dollar’s decline, buying American-based products online just got a lot cheaper for the rest of the world’s slew of Internet shoppers. Internet users outside the U.S. now account for 80 percent of the world’s online population, with rapidly developing countries experiencin...

  • Conversion

    Do You Knol What I Knol?

    July 30, 2008 •

    There are many niggling questions that keep me up at night. How many different kinds of acne are there? What’s the tastiest flavor of freezie in the LA Times’ basement? Thanks to Google Knol, I can rest easy knowing that there’s an expert out there waiting to inform. I can sleep k...

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