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
Is Your Supply Chain Vulnerable?
August 12, 2021 • Armando Roggio
The combination of pandemic lockdowns and rising freight prices has forced some companies to focus on supply chain vulnerabilities. Many commerce businesses have experienced some form of supply chain disruption in the past 18 months.
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Checkout Tactics
Ecommerce Conversion Rates beyond the Averages
August 9, 2021 • Pamela Hazelton
Monitoring the percentage of visitors that convert to paying customers helps businesses track the performance of marketing campaigns, landing pages, design and navigation, and the checkout process. Email signups, survey responses, and social media shares are important conversions, too.
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Conversion
CommerceCo Recap: Winning the Digital Shelf
August 9, 2021 • Armando Roggio
Consumers with access to physical stores, ecommerce sites, online marketplaces, apps, and social selling seek consistent and frictionless shopping experiences. This makes it tough for brands to maintain product messaging. Call it the dilemma of the digital shelf.
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Photography & Video
Product Photography, Part 1: Choosing Backdrops
August 5, 2021 • Carolyn Mara
Choosing a backdrop is the first step in product photography. Pairing a product with the right background is crucial when trying to convince shoppers to make a purchase. This post is the first in a series aimed at helping merchants take better product photos.
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Product Pages
What Online Shoppers Expect in 2021
August 4, 2021 • Pamela Hazelton
The pandemic-induced shift to online shopping is permanent for many consumers. That's the good news for ecommerce companies. The not-so-good news is those consumers have heightened expectations. Here are seven of them.
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Product Pages
The Full-funnel Product Detail Page
July 26, 2021 • Armando Roggio
Once found only at the bottom of a sales funnel, the ecommerce product detail page is evolving to address the entire buyer journey, from awareness to sale. Consider a free, basic theme on Shopify called "Simple." Its product detail pages are sales-focused, with eight sections.
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Analytics & Data
15 Analytics Plugins for WordPress
July 26, 2021 • Sig Ueland
With the right analytics plugin, a WordPress merchant can track prospects and customers, get advanced stats to improve site performance, and fix what’s broken. Here is a list of analytics plugins for WordPress.
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Analytics & Data
Combining Google Analytics Data with Other Sources
July 20, 2021 • Morgan Jones
Google Analytics provides data from a website or app on engagement, conversions, and transactions. However, many online merchants need data from other sources, such as search engines, social media, affiliates, and more. Some of these sources can be connected or imported into Google Analytics. Others cannot.
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Customer Retention
Online Shopping, Post Covid, Retains Consumers
July 14, 2021 • Marcia Kaplan
Covid-19 brought a huge increase in online shopping. Many consumers became online shoppers for the first time. It appears that they will continue to rely on ecommerce for a myriad of items. Second-quarter 2021 results demonstrate that online shopping is holding on to much of its gains.
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Conversion
Online Grocery Lessons from Covid-19
July 7, 2021 • Charles Nicholls
Covid-19 greatly changed the grocery industry, perhaps more than any retail sector. Years of projected evolution occurred in three months as the pandemic altered consumers' lives. eMarketer now estimates that 12.4% of total U.S. grocery sales in 2021 will be online.
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Customer Service
Policy Pages, Done Well, Enhance a Brand
July 6, 2021 • Pamela Hazelton
Shoppers search an online store's policy pages for details on shipping, returns, and more. Rarely are these vital pages engaging. But they should be.
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Product Pages
Need Better Product Descriptions? Address Emotion, Logic
June 29, 2021 • Kaleena Stroud
Product descriptions drive conversions. Neuroscience confirms that people buy with emotion and justify the purchase with logic. So shoppers need to know the benefits to make an emotional decision and the features for a logical one. Let's look at examples.
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Conversion
What Is Your Company’s Secondary Audience?
June 21, 2021 • Pamela Hazelton
Ecommerce sites rely on a primary target audience. These are the people who are most apt to purchase products and become loyal customers. It's the same audience marketers use for advertising. However, secondary audiences can be lucrative, too.
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Conversion
The 3 Common Mistakes of Ecommerce Launches
June 6, 2021 • Pamela Hazelton
I've consulted over the years on dozens, perhaps hundreds, of ecommerce launches. Here are three frequent mistakes in the building of online stores.
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Customer Retention
Text Messages Are an Ecommerce Opportunity
May 31, 2021 • Armando Roggio
Many ecommerce and omnichannel marketers treat text messaging as pared-down email campaigns. But text alone is a powerful way to drive sales. Nearly everyone, after all, grabs their mobile phone the moment a message arrives.
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Analytics & Data
‘Assisted Conversions’ in Google Analytics Are Attribution Gold
May 23, 2021 • Armando Roggio
Google Analytics "Assisted Conversions" reports are hidden attribution gold deep in the platform's conversion analysis tools. While most Analytics reports show the immediate source ("last click") of traffic and conversions, Assisted Conversions identify the relationship between all channels and conversions.
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Product Pages
3 Keys for High-converting Product Descriptions
May 20, 2021 • Pamela Hazelton
Writing product descriptions sounds simple. But it takes planning. The best descriptions address a broad audience, which is why many companies employ marketers to help. When writing descriptions for the masses, focus on the following three elements.
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Customer Retention
17 Tools for Customer Feedback
May 18, 2021 • Sig Ueland
Feedback surveys can help determine what's working with your website or service and provide fresh insights from customers and prospects. Here is a list of tools for surveys and forms.
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Product Pages
Can Pantone Colors Drive Online Sales?
May 6, 2021 • Pamela Hazelton
Adopting retail and societal trends can keep your brand fresh and relevant. Some fads are short-lived, lasting just days or months. Others might stick around for years. Here are three trends that inspire consumers to buy.
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Conversion
Consumers Want Visibility into What They Buy
May 5, 2021 • Elaine Porteous
Is that new summer dress 100-percent organic cotton? How can you prove it? What happened after the cotton was picked until the dress was delivered to the customer? Consumers have questions, and they are not getting answers.
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Analytics & Data
Using Google Analytics for Continuous Improvement
April 28, 2021 • Morgan Jones
There is no shortage of articles on tips and tricks for improving Google Analytics. This article, however, will focus on using Google Analytics for its main purpose: driving continuous improvement in your business. To help, I've assembled a Data Studio template tailored to ecommerce.
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Photography & Video
Using a Smartphone for Stellar Product Photos
April 25, 2021 • Pamela Hazelton
Manufacturer-supplied photos are not the greatest. Professional photographers can help tell a product’s story. However, photo sessions are cumbersome and pricey. Need an alternative? Consider a modern smartphone.
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Analytics & Data
Charts: U.S. Direct-to-consumer Sales 2018 to 2020
April 22, 2021 • Anna Kayfitz
The growth in U.S. direct-to-consumer ecommerce sales continues, albeit at a slower rate. In 2018, year-over-year growth was 56.6 percent. In 2020, it was 24.3 percent.
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Conversion
Ask an Expert: How Does Artificial Intelligence Impact Ecommerce?
April 13, 2021 • PEC Staff
“Ask an Expert” is an occasional feature where we pose questions to ecommerce practitioners. For this installment, we've turned to Gagan Mehra, an international ecommerce consultant and a longtime contributor, who explains artificial intelligence.
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Product Pages
Product Page Headlines Drive Conversions
April 8, 2021 • Pamela Hazelton
Every product has a name. It could be short and simple or long and tedious. It can be definitive, witty, or subtle. And unless it's your company's product, you have no control over it. But there's an alternative way to grab shoppers' attention: headlines.
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Photography & Video
14 Stock Photo Sites, Free and Paid
April 5, 2021 • Sig Ueland
Quality images are essential for an ecommerce site. Not only do pictures display the products, but they also establish the brand and inspire the shopper. If you don’t have the means to produce all of your imagery, stock photos are an option. Here is a list of stock photo websites.
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Analytics & Data
Is Marketing Just an Art?
March 30, 2021 • Armando Roggio
Modern commerce marketing can be data-driven and repeatable. At some companies, however, marketing is unplanned and unorganized. This came up during a recent job interview when a candidate said, "Marketing isn't construction work. It is not workmanlike. It is more like art." But is it really?
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Customer Retention
Here’s Why Your Ecommerce Subscriptions Aren’t Selling
March 29, 2021 • Armando Roggio
A recurring subscription model is a powerful tool for growth and profit — if you can get subscribers. “A lot of brands install our subscription software and slap a ‘subscribe and ...
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Checkout Tactics
4 Pricing Strategies to Increase Average Order Values
March 22, 2021 • Pamela Hazelton
Price isn’t everything, especially for quality and niche products. When boosting average order values, take things up a notch by focusing on the overall value of each product. That, coupled with stellar service, can provide a much better return on investment.
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Conversion
Will AI for Ecommerce Go Mainstream in 2021?
March 18, 2021 • Armando Roggio
Buzzwords such as "personalization" and "artificial intelligence" have been around ecommerce for years. But could 2021 be the year these technologies go mainstream? Some industry participants believe so.