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
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.
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Customer Retention
5 Ways to Prompt First-time Customers to Buy Again
February 22, 2021 • Pamela Hazelton
Loyal customers talk about the business and its products, driving more shoppers. So it makes sense to shift some of your marketing efforts to retain the buyers you already have. Here are five ways to do it.
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Customer Retention
Want Repeat Customers? Foster Long-term Relationships
February 8, 2021 • Pamela Hazelton
Successful brands make a point of building long term relationships with customers. It’s a crucial step in a company’s growth. But it takes more than exclusive deals and special features. Here are seven ways to foster long-lasting relationships.
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Conversion
Charts: Conversion Rates by Ad Channel
January 26, 2021 • Anna Kayfitz
Benchmarking digital marketing campaigns is a good way to track their effectiveness. Monitoring conversion rates will help optimize the creative, target market, placement, and channel. But a better indicator of marketing success is the cost per conversion.
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Conversion
What’s the Future of Traditional Retail?
January 25, 2021 • Armando Roggio
The combination of Covid-19 lockdowns, supply chain problems, and economic woes accelerated the adoption of digital retailing in several areas of the economy. While some experts believe this will result in more individual retail businesses, it may be an indication that the traditional retail model will not work or at least not work as well in the near future.
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Customer Service
Pandemic-driven Shoppers Expect More from Ecommerce
January 21, 2021 • Pamela Hazelton
The pandemic has upped consumers' digital expectations. What was once the exception is now the norm. Telemedicine, online learning, virtual meetings — all have advanced in the past year. Ecommerce stores must evolve, too, in how they engage and interact with shoppers.
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Conversion
Print-on-demand Services Create Sourcing Opportunities
January 18, 2021 • Armando Roggio
Technology, software, and business innovation are enabling the print-on-demand industry to expand from second-rate t-shirts, mugs, and wall art to quality manufacturing-as-a-service solutions.
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Conversion
Retail Returns Can Be Hazardous and Subject to Fines
January 11, 2021 • Armando Roggio
Booming retail sales in November and December can lead to tons of returns and exchanges in January. Some of those returned items can be hazardous and require special handling and disposal. The return of hazardous materials poses several problems for retailers, including identification, reverse logistics, and disposal.
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Checkout Tactics
Resolve in 2021 to Drive More Conversions
January 7, 2021 • Pamela Hazelton
Consumer shopping habits changed drastically in 2020. Ecommerce sites experienced dramatic growth. Resolve in 2021 to capitalize on that momentum and convert more visitors. Here are three tips to help.
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Customer Retention
7 Customer Retention Strategies for 2021
January 6, 2021 • Armando Roggio
Retaining ecommerce customers lowers costs and boosts profits. In 2021, customer retention could be critical. “In 2020 we saw multiple years of ecommerce growth….And when we look at [2021], the big question is 'Will this shift to ecommerce last?'"
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Conversion
The Keys to More Ecommerce Conversions
December 28, 2020 • Armando Roggio
Ecommerce conversion rate optimization and user experience are complementary, but the former works best when businesses focus on shopper expectations, competitive innovation, and the industry segment.
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Conversion
5 Essentials for Ecommerce Site Search in 2021
December 22, 2020 • Armando Roggio
Ecommerce site search is vital for navigation and conversions. Picking the right provider should be based on features, data, and measurability. Here are a few tips to help you decide.
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Conversion
Clienteling Personalizes In-store, Online Shopping
December 10, 2020 • Gagan Mehra
"Clienteling" enables shoppers and personnel in physical stores to interact with online channels, such as web, mobile, and social. Saks Fifth Avenue, for example, has used clienteling for over five years. With clienteling, in-store associates to access an application that provides info about a shopper. The result is merchants can better serve customers and drive higher average value orders.
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Analytics & Data
How to Name Product Categories
December 8, 2020 • Anna Kayfitz
Category names on an ecommerce site have a huge impact on organic search rankings and on-site conversions. To determine the right names: Start by listing all categories on competitors' sites and marketplaces. Next, add additional category names that may apply to your products. Then determine the search volume for each term.
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Checkout Tactics
My Top 6 Conversion Tactics for 2021
December 6, 2020 • Pamela Hazelton
Despite the unprecedented changes in 2020, the standard ecommerce usability requirements remain constant: simplify navigation, ensure mobile-friendliness, and streamline the checkout process. But there are plenty more conversion tactics merchants should deploy heading into 2021. Here are my top six below.
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Conversion
Covid and the Long Tail
November 25, 2020 • Armando Roggio
An interesting development is happening on the way to retail recovery during the covid pandemic: Brands and retailers are cutting back on the breadth of products they make and sell. In August 2020, for example, Todd Kahn, president and interim CEO of Coach, announced during an earnings conference call that the brand would slash the number of products it offered this holiday season.
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Checkout Tactics
6 Tweaks to Streamline the Checkout Process
November 24, 2020 • Pamela Hazelton
Ecommerce should see significant spikes this holiday season. However, merchants must consider the need for speedy, no-hassle checkout processes to lower abandons, especially from shoppers on mobile devices. What follows are six tweaks to streamline an ecommerce checkout.
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Photography & Video
15 Photoshop Tutorials for Product Photography
November 23, 2020 • Sig Ueland
Taking the photographs is just the start of compelling product images. Adobe Photoshop’s image editing suite provides plenty of tools to perfect and highlight product images against the right background.
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Analytics & Data
Cookieless Browsers Will Upend Ad Tracking
November 11, 2020 • Armando Roggio
Trends toward greater consumer privacy may force ecommerce marketers to change methods of measuring performance, including turning to "marketing mix modeling," a 70-year-old technique. Most digital marketers depend on some form of multi-touch attribution modeling to measure the effectiveness of their various promotions.
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Product Pages
7 Quick Tips to Drive 2020 Holiday Sales
November 8, 2020 • Pamela Hazelton
Consumers will rely on online merchants more than ever during this year’s holiday season. Here are seven tips for retaining shoppers and closing more sales. 7 Tips for the 2020 Holidays Integrate ...
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Customer Service
To Sell More, Understand Shoppers’ Motives
October 27, 2020 • Pamela Hazelton
Does your store sell products or experiences? Think about it for a moment because the two are vastly different. And how you approach shoppers' questions and concerns plays a significant role in closing sales. Focus on what shoppers hope to accomplish with particular products.
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Checkout Tactics
Manual Texts Recover 21 Percent of Abandoned Carts, Says LiveRecover Founder
October 23, 2020 • Eric Bandholz
Dennis Hegstad believes the best way to recover abandoned carts is via text messages. But his messages are not automated or bot-driven. Hegstad's company, LiveRecover, sends one-to-one texts from a real person to folks who have left an ecommerce checkout without completing a purchase.
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Analytics & Data
Introduction to Google Analytics 4
October 21, 2020 • Morgan Jones
Google Analytics has come a long way since it launched in 2005. Version 4 is the latest iteration. It enables the blending of online and offline user activity into one reporting stream.
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Checkout Tactics
Feedback from Shoppers Is Gold
October 8, 2020 • Pamela Hazelton
A product question from a shopper is an opportunity. Consumer inquiries provide critical keyword search terms. They also help you understand your audience's vernacular to include in product descriptions, calls to action, and checkout funnels.
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Analytics & Data
7 Google Analytics Tips for Measuring Organic Search
September 23, 2020 • Jill Kocher Brown
Search engine optimization relies on the ability to measure performance. Google Analytics can make the task easier. What follows are seven tips to help.
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Conversion
Forget Black Friday Sales This 2020 Holiday
September 22, 2020 • Pamela Hazelton
The upcoming holiday shopping season is bound to shake the ecommerce sector. If you haven’t yet finalized your holiday sales schedule, now’s the time to get it done. But you may want to rethink your strategy for November and December.
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Product Pages
Essential Elements of an Ecommerce Product Page
September 1, 2020 • Armando Roggio
The elements of an ecommerce product detail page should work together to help shoppers make sound buying decisions. Each element — prose description, a list of features, product photos, videos — should tell part of an item's story.
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Conversion
Using Site Search Reports in Google Analytics to Improve Product Selection
August 31, 2020 • Seby Kallarakkal
Internal site search is the equivalent of someone walking into a physical store and asking for a product. The storekeeper would develop an understanding of what shoppers want based on the requests. In the digital world, Google Analytics can store all of these questions. In this post, I'll address how to configure site search in Google Analytics to improve your ecommerce product selection.
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Conversion
9 Holiday Selling Tips to Pandemic-driven Consumers
August 23, 2020 • Pamela Hazelton
The holiday 2020 shopping season will be unique. Pandemic-driven concerns of safety and economic uncertainty will prompt shoppers to look for both functional and entertaining gifts at competitive prices. Here are some tips for ecommerce merchants to gear up now.
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Product Pages
Use Purchasing Trends to Merchandise Products
August 6, 2020 • Pamela Hazelton
You are not alone if confused about the products people are apt to buy today. Even consumers aren't always sure. Most consumers have opted to stay closer to home during a time when family vacations and festivals would have been the norm. How we present information on the home page, landing pages, and across social media impacts sales.