Archive for the ‘Improving Conversion’ Category

Noel Leeming recently relaunched their website with a new design. I am not sure if they are using the same platform as before, but the URL strings are a bit tidier so if I had to take a guess then I would say yes.

I thought this would be a great opportunity to do a screencast (my first). I thought it would be an even better opportunity to have my partner, Hannah sit down and pretend to buy something to really test out the usability and buying process of the new website.

So without further ado, watch the screencast (a window will pop up) and please leave a comment with suggestions for other websites to analyse.

Ecommerce checkout processes vary dramatically between different platforms and business models. There is no hard and fast rule for the number of steps, whether or not to show the navigation during the checkout process or whether to require customers create an account before they purchase.

What must be in place for each and every style of checkout process is a form of measurement which is more commonly known as a conversion funnel.

A conversion funnel tracks each step of a process which for this article is the checkout process, but could be a contact form, newsletter signup or PDF download.

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Google have made their first major update to their multivariate testing tool Website Optimizer since it was made available earlier this year.

The most notable addition is A/B Split testing which is useful for websites who do not need to go overboard with potentially 100’s of elements being tested with multivariate testing.

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Many websites are still littered with unmeaning hyperlinks such as “read more”, “click here”, “submit” and so on. If your website is heavy with text, the chance of your visitors drilling deeper into the content is very slim - the last thing they want to do is ‘read more’.

Stick to this rule of thumb: a persuasive call-to-action hyperlink pairs up an imperative verb and an implied benefit.

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Another interesting case study has been posted over at MarketingSherpa looking at how the implementation of an online live chat support system (LivePerson) increased the average order value and conversion rate of backcountry.com

“Even better, customers have taken to the proactive application as the average order value of customers who use the system is 61% higher than those who don’t use it. 14% of those who accept an invitation to chat convert to sale, which is 820% than the overall site average of 1.7%.”

Read more to find out how they did it and to view creative samples…

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MarketingSherpa put together a very informative case study looking at how hard you should push free shipping on your website. The results speak for themselves:

“…I was surprised how well the free shipping offer did once we began banging it forward,” Dick says. “We saw a huge increase in conversion rates as well as average order size.”

In fact, the increase in conversions and average order size could translate to approximately $2 million in increased revenues next year. The free shipping element of the category page tests had the biggest impact on conversions…”

Carry on reading for the full article along with creative examples.

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One of the key elements to improving online conversion is to make the buying process as easy as possible by providing helpful, relevant information.

You can’t have a real life salesperson talking to your online customers to help sell your products, so make sure your website copy, product images and information pages do enough to fill this gap.

Here is another great screencast from Bryan Eisenburg over at grokdotcom focusing on optimising product pages.

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In my previous article I discussed why Analytics can escalate the performance of your website. By the end of the article there should have been at least one person (I hope) saying, “OK, I get it, but how can I make this happen!” Answering this question represents the largest reasons why Analytics is so poorly utilised. The focus this week is to discuss the processes required to getting on the “Analytics Road to Success”.

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FutureNow have published a great screencast looking at ways of reducing shopping cart abandonment. They use LaneBryant.com as an example and bring up some very valid, but obvious points.

Take a read of Bryan Eisenburgs 20 Tips to reduce shopping cart abandonment for more great ways to get your customers through your checkout process.

You can’t Manage what you can’t see:

If you ever try to broaden your horizons by taking a management course, Management 101 teaches you the importance of understanding what is happening in your business (or department).  If you are unable to build transparency (define) you will never be able to control outcomes, improve the business, and/or grow the business.

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