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

Conversion
With Limited Ad Dollars, What’s The Answer

August 1, 2006 • PEC Staff

Each small ecommerce business tries to squeeze every drop of value out of his limited advertising dollars. Online advertising options have grown very congested in the last few years, saturating the marketplace and making it more difficult for a business to get noticed — unless it is dol...
Conversion
Pay-Per-Click Advertising: Evaluating Options

August 1, 2006 • PEC Staff

Practical eCommerce recently conducted a pay-per-click advertising test with four search engines — Google, Yahoo!, Ask and MSN. On behalf of two online businesses, the magazine purchased $50 of identical ads for both of them on each search engine. In addition to measuring number of cli...
Analytics & Data
Email: Confidentiality Required

August 1, 2006 • Pamela Hazelton

I get thousands of emails each day. A good majority are spam, and I use Cloudmark (the best system I’ve found) for filtering them. Being in business, however, I still have to take the time to scan them all, making sure I’m not missing an initial request for work from someone who may hav...
Conversion
Analysis: Search Engines Are Not Created Equal

August 1, 2006 • PEC Staff

The pay-per-click test Practical eCommerce conducted on search engines Google, Yahoo!, Ask and MSN netted some interesting data, but perhaps the most valuable information came outside the numbers. I have never set up this type of pay-per-click (PPC) campaign, so I came to this project ...
Conversion
Q&A: Outlook for Search Advertising Prices

August 1, 2006 • PEC Staff

Will ecommerce firms pay more or less for paid search ads in the near future? Google’s net profit in 2005 exceeded 30 percent of gross revenue. This is a huge profit margin compared to many other companies and industries. Yahoo!, MSN and Ask.com are investing heavily for a portion of t...
Conversion
Vertical Search Could Mean Better ROI

August 1, 2006 • PEC Staff

Raise your hand if you’ve implemented or managed a Google AdWords campaign for your online business. Instantly, thousands of hands just touched the sky. According to JupiterResearch, advertising trends online have mirrored those in traditional television and print media. What many onli...
Conversion
PPC Expense: What Is A Customer Worth?

August 1, 2006 • PEC Staff

When determining how much to spend on a pay-per-click campaign, an etailer should first calculate what a customer is worth to his business. Getting a customer to purchase a single product isn’t the goal of most ecommerce site owners. However, most owners fail to calculate the potential...
Conversion
Email Marketing Fosters Long-Term Relationships

August 1, 2006 • Kerry Murdock

The use of email is changing the way businesses communicate with their customers. Rather than using email solely to offer products for sale, many businesses now use it to communicate helpful information to shoppers who request it. This helpful information creates a relationship with a s...
Conversion
Use In-store Kiosks to Promote Website

August 1, 2006 • PEC Staff

When was the last time you were shopping for an item you just had to have, only to discover when you got to the store you couldn’t buy it in the color or size you wanted? If you are like most retail shoppers, you have experienced an out-of-stock situation recently. This is one of the m...
Conversion
Pay-Per-Call: New Player on the Scene?

August 1, 2006 • PEC Staff

Online advertising is heating up and growing quickly in popularity. However, many companies are missing out if they don’t have a website or if their services are not fit to be sold over the web. Fortunately, a new version of paid advertising has emerged recently — pay-per-call. Pay-per...
Conversion
Rethinking Conversion Rates

August 1, 2006 • Mat Greenfield

When I'm not writing for Practical eCommerce, I spend my professional life running a “boutique” web-consulting firm. As a result, I get involved in numerous sales meetings. I’ve noticed something of a trend recently with companies evaluating our services asking for third-party “research...
Conversion
Web Design: Function Trumps Form

July 11, 2006 • PEC Staff

A well-designed site is important, but it will not be the key factor in determining your sales success. It's not uncommon for a business owner to turn to a design-oriented person to help create a website for his company. That may, however, be a mistake. Conversion specialists routinely...
Conversion
Five Great Conversion Tips

July 1, 2006 • Mat Greenfield

These conversion tips can be implemented by a business owner in just a few days with the possible aid of a competent web programmer. When implemented, the tips can make a profound difference on the conversions rates of an ecommerce business. The tips are: Simplify your home page. ...
Conversion
There’s More to Conversion Than a Sale

July 1, 2006 • Lisa Wehr

Consider the long and short of e-retailing. As competition rises and tracking becomes more sophisticated, ecommerce merchants are looking for more ways to improve their sales performance. The answer may lie in how they define success. There’s more to a conversion than a sale. Here’s wha...
Conversion
Turning Visitors Into Customers

July 1, 2006 • PEC Staff

It may be the most common problem ecommerce businesses face: plenty of traffic but few sales. Converting visitors into customers is a blend of both art and science and, once it’s understood, it’s a skill that will reap rewards for a company’s bottom line. The Web Analytics Association ...
Conversion
Integrating Bricks and Mortar with eCommerce

July 1, 2006 • Kevin Gold

Today‘s shopper expects convenience. Merchants integrating brick-and-mortar stores, ecommerce sites and catalogs will increase repeat purchase rates and achieve higher levels of customer satisfaction. In any multi-channel retail consumer interaction, traffic and sales are being driven ...
Product Pages
Showcase Products Via Podcasts

July 1, 2006 • Pamela Hazelton

I’m addicted to the They Might Be Giants podcasts. I'm convinced they helped sell tickets for their latest tour by offering up free music, coupled with tour advertisements, in their weekly podcasts. I'll bet podcasting some of the tours' live performances also helped. But, can podcasti...
Conversion
Web Design: Multiple Roles

July 1, 2006 • Mat Greenfield

A web redesign project is not a one-man assignment. Certainly technology has made it possible for a single graphic designer or programmer to build a site, but not a high conversion site (in my humble opinion). Instead, I think there are a number of key roles that must be fulfilled in o...
Conversion
Measuring Conversion Success

July 1, 2006 • PEC Staff

An ecommerce site with 6 to 9 percent of its visitors making purchases can be considered a success, according to conversion experts. With an industry standard hovering around 1 to 2 percent, most sites are failing to capture all the business they can have. Once a company makes a commit...
Conversion
Attracting The Right Traffic

July 1, 2006 • Kevin Gold

Gaining just one percent more sales or leads from your visitors can significantly impact your bottom line, yet the common practice of improving website conversion often focuses exclusively on redesigning and optimizing your website. Website conversion — the process of turning website v...
Conversion
Personalization Lures Customers

June 11, 2006 • PEC Staff

Everyone likes the personal touch, and these sites offer their customers the ability to personalize unique gifts for friends and loved ones. Creative, personalized gifts and speedy service will lure their customers back. PhotoWow.com Ordinary snaps can be turned into treasures with th...
Conversion
Itching to Expand Your Product Niche?

June 1, 2006 • PEC Staff

After years of tinkering in his woodshop making bird houses, Bob said to himself, “I ought to be selling these bird houses on the web.” After construting a quick website, Bob is open for business, and, before long, Bob could be itching to expand his online inventory. It’s no secret tha...
Conversion
Are You an Ego Marketer?

June 1, 2006 • Mat Greenfield

Ego or Effective? Good marketing communicates your unique value to your target market. It builds recognition and credibility for your products and services and creates a steady flow of interested prospects and new customers. Ego marketing makes you feel good at the expense of effective...
Conversion
Grow Profits by Split-Testing Ads

June 1, 2006 • PEC Staff

Successful business owners and marketing professionals know that great results from advertising are rarely owed to luck and guessing. Whether they specialize in online or offline promotion, they have known for years that the secret to achieving high return of investment is through split...
Product Pages
Show Off Your Products

June 1, 2006 • Pamela Hazelton

I just got my email alert on the latest kitchen styles from IKEA. The site’s not the easiest to shop – mostly because you really have to know what you’re looking for – but it boasts a vast amount of interactive tools. People like me (I do an enormous amount of shopping online) love seei...
Conversion
Consider a Catalog to Enhance Your eCommerce Business

May 30, 2006 • PEC Staff

A print catalog and an ecommerce store work extremely well together. The strengths in each channel complement the other’s weaknesses, and consumers frequently browse the catalog first and then go online to purchase the products. The tangible nature of a print catalog makes it great for...
Conversion
2nd Tier Search Engines – Are They Worth It?

May 1, 2006 • PEC Staff

As far as most advertisers are concerned, there are only two pay-per-click search engines that deserve their attention - Google AdWords and Yahoo! Search Marketing. After all, these are the most popular search engines that dominate the industry in terms of traffic, technology, and popu...
Checkout Tactics
Giving Them What They Want

May 1, 2006 • Pamela Hazelton

Listen to your customers. Part of my job is to rip online stores apart and present solutions, all focused on existing and potential customers. It still shocks me to see so many online businesses implement bad ideas because the head honcho thinks something is “good”, without ever asking...
Conversion
Website Conversion – Revisited

May 1, 2006 • Mat Greenfield

For those of you new to the concept of web conversion, I thought that it might be useful to address some of the key ideas around this strategy. What is Conversion? A website is a corporate resource, and like any other resource, it should provide a return on investment. That return sho...
Conversion
Effective Landing Pages, Part 2

April 1, 2006 • Mat Greenfield

Last month we introduced the concept of website landing pages, and discussed a few key ideas on how they can be used. This month, we’ll look at some ways to develop effective landing pages. I mentioned last month that landing pages are typically used when you have an understanding of wh...

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