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.

Conversion
Parting the Fog of Visitors

August 1, 2005 • PEC Staff

Imagine this. You're the publisher of a metropolitan newspaper, tasked with gathering statistics on how many people read your publication on a weekly basis. Of course you count your subscriber base and your newsstand copies sold, but do you include those folks who only glanced at the ne...
Conversion
Know Your Enemy (err, Target)

August 1, 2005 • Mat Greenfield

An oft-repeated military slogan is “know your enemy.” I’m not too sure if it was first espoused by Sun Tzu, Clausewitz or Machiavelli, but I’m on board with the theory. If Sun Tzu (or whoever) were alive today, he’d probably be a web marketer, and his mantra would be “know your target.”...
Conversion
Customer Conversion: Overcome Buyer Resistance

July 1, 2005 • Mat Greenfield

The web has been spoiled by scams, fraud, identity theft, phishing, email address harvesting, and spam-mail. At this point, we are all very wary of disclosing our (somewhat disposable) email address, let alone our physical address and credit card information. We’ll call this buying resi...
Conversion
How to Purchase Banner Ad Space

July 1, 2000 • Dr. Ralph F. Wilson

Just how do you go about purchasing banner advertising space? Here are your alternatives.
Conversion
Distribution Decisions: Drop-Shipping vs. Inventory vs. Fulfillment House

June 3, 2000 • Dr. Ralph F. Wilson

"Internet product sales are easy," said Bob Simple, when he first set up Bob Simple's Online Shoes. Now he's not so sure. He had found three quality shoe manufacturers who agreed to ship shoes to his customers as soon as he faxed them the order."
Conversion
How Retail Differs from Wholesale and B2C Differs from B2B

June 3, 2000 • Dr. Ralph F. Wilson

When it comes to e-commerce, sometimes our normal terms become inadequate. Here are some definitions: retail, wholesale, business-to-business, and business-to-consumer.
Conversion
P4: Pricing Strategy as Part of Your Internet Marketing Plan

May 9, 2000 • Dr. Ralph F. Wilson

When you go down to your local grocery store, you'll probably find Jif® peanut butter, and maybe Planter's®, and then perhaps a store brand, and possibly a generic brand (though generics are pretty well gone).
Conversion
The 4 Ps of Marketing as Part of Your Internet Marketing Plan

May 2, 2000 • Dr. Ralph F. Wilson

If you've studied marketing in the 40+ years since E. Jerome McCarthy originally wrote his classic Basic Marketing, then you're familiar with the "4 Ps of Marketing."
Conversion
Doing a SWOT Analysis for Your Internet Marketing Plan

March 14, 2000 • Dr. Ralph F. Wilson

Restaurants ought to make bigger napkins since some of the most productive business ideas seem to come to mind over a meal. The SWOT analysis technique lends itself to napkin planning and snapshot insights.
Conversion
Dot.Com Countdown: 7 Steps to E-Business Launch

December 13, 1999 • Dr. Ralph F. Wilson

Planning to start a new online business? I'm in the process myself, and thought it might be instructive to talk you through the seven steps necessary to launch an e-business. Since we're talking about a launch, we'll begin our countdown with step seven and end with the blast off.
Conversion
Review: Why We Buy – The Science of Shopping

November 15, 1999 • Dr. Ralph F. Wilson

The man is studying a narrow segment of modern anthropology, the science of shopping. The fieldwork methods are adapted from those of environmental psychology, Underhill's field when he began studying shopper behaviors 20 years ago for major retail chains.
Analytics & Data
Collecting Data from Your Website Visitors

July 1, 1998 • Dr. Ralph F. Wilson

To succeed, a small business website must be a carefully targeted, wisely designed, pay-its-own-way tool which adds to the bottom line. To achieve this you need to ask: What is the purpose of our Web site?
Conversion
What Is the Purpose of Your Web Site?

February 8, 1996 • Dr. Ralph F. Wilson

To succeed, a small business website must be a carefully targeted, wisely designed, pay-its-own-way tool which adds to the bottom line. To achieve this you need to ask: What is the purpose of our Web site?
Conversion
How to Attract Visitors to Your Website

May 14, 1995 • Dr. Ralph F. Wilson

Too many marketers work on the if-you-build-it-they-will-come model. They won't. Once you build a Web site you must give them a reason to come.