While I’m working on reviews of the book Mastering Google Analytics and their free ten day email course I thought I’d ask for your questions. There must be something you’ve always wanted to know about improving your online store.
Few realize how each small improvement made to a site can greatly impact usability, increase conversions, and maximize revenue. I know because I worked simultaneously in many ecommerce stores and tracked the changes in Web Analytics as we made them.
By comparing the same change across multiple stores it became obvious which made the most difference. That knowledge can now benefit you and your online store. What small change will increase your revenue?
It can be something as simple as the color, size, placement and text on your “Add to Cart” button. “Add to Cart” is far more effective than “Buy Now” because Buy Now requires more commitment than some of your potential buyers are ready to make at that point. Some may be afraid they can’t back out of buying.
It could be something more significant such as upgrading the type of search function you offer. Have you ever known what you wanted to buy, done a search, and been presented with page after page of unrelated products? What did you do? Most will simply leave and try somewhere else. Fix this one thing and see your sales increase.
What else do you want to know? How good is your search? Would you like me to pop into your store and evaluate it for you? That’s what I’m here for and it costs you nothing. On top of that it might send you some buyers:
Simply leave your questions, requests and link to your store in the comments of this post.
Go ahead and leave a short description of what your business does. All links are do-follow so you’ll also be adding to link-building for your store.
If this proves popular I may offer more expansive free evaluations of e-commerce stores and especially Yahoo! Stores. The more response I get now the more likely that will happen so please tell your friends and favorite online sellers and share this post at Twitter, FriendFeed and other Social Networking sites. Thank you.
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That point about ‘add to card’ and ‘buy now’ – completely agree. User Interface matter so much at times.
my problem about ecommerce solved 🙂 thank you ..
Absolutely fascinating study on how the human brain works in regards to ‘Add to Cart” vs. Buy Now. I always thought Buy Now would be more effective but you make some good points about less commitment from the buyer. People love to buy but they hate to be sold something. Very interesting.
@iphone app developer Thank you for dropping by. We hope you’ll be a regular. Have you considered subscribing?
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@Rick Thank you for taking the time to visit and comment. As you mention colors are another aspect that can affect conversions. For every one factor we mention there are hundreds more.
That is why I often recommend exceptional specialists who can greatly improve an ecommerce store’s conversions quickly. If business owners wait until they know all there is to know they will be missing out on sales for a long time.
InternetStrategist’s last blog post..Promote Your Business Without Cash
Thanks for the article. You really touched on some good points. Having created a few e-commerce sites, you learned about psychology behind driving sales; sometimes offline techniques and methods can make the crossover into online shopping. I actually never thought about the text on your “Add to Cart” button. The “Add to Cart” option applies less pressure than “Buy Now” as you indicated about the mindset of potential buyers on following through with the purchase. In a web design course we learned about color palettes and how certain colors may have negative cultural implications and one should be aware if one is marketing globally.
@morison, Thanks for stopping by. How is the free photo classified’s business in the UK doing? I would think tough economic times would increase demand.
Internet Strategist’s last blog post..Making Money with Your Blog – Part 2 – Evaluating Affiliate Programs
Thanks for the information, I will be back to read more of your great posts!
@Matt Many retailers and online stores are not nearly as familiar with Web analytics as you might think. They can be very misleading.
I’ve recently made numerous posts about analytics and recommended a free eCourse that provides a good overview of Google Analytics in plain English.
I linked that post to this comment to make it easy to find. I’ve made several other analytics posts recently and will be doing an indepth review of the book Mastering Google Analytics.
It is easy to find anything at GrowMap by either using the search box in the top right corner of every page OR clicking on the category or sub-category in the right sidebar.
Do feel free to ask any questions you may have, request posts on any specific subject, and leave links to related information in the comments.
Internet Strategist’s last blog post..REVIEW: Mastering Google Analytics – Comments and Contents of a FREE eCourse
I’m sure retailers and online stores have methods figured out to track business, hits, and return customers. I’d like to learn more, but I’m a newbie to all of this.
@graphic designer I’ll be adding much more about Web analytics including a book review and how affiliate programs track sales. Analytics is a complex subject that few truly understand. I’ll focus on explaining the most important concepts.
Hey thanks for sharing good resources about web analytics, I’ll bookmark this blog post, as of i m fan of web analytics.
@Flash When it comes to tracking conversions from email or any other source, the largest issue is multiple visits overwriting the tracking codes. Most buyers make multiple visits to your site so unless you track EVERY VISIT your conversion statistics will be unreliable.
@Felix You’re welcome to jump in with answers any time.
There are some excellent blogs devoted specifically to Web Analytics. Start at http://web-analytics.alltop.com/ to find them.
good points here and I can’t ask for more questions from you. I will just monitor some answers and several inquiries and will try to share something here, if i know the subject matter. 🙂
Hi,
thanks for your insights, this post is really help full to those folks who having confusion and problem for e- commerce conversions..
1. what kind of advanced segment using we can use for e commerce tracking which will come from e mail promotional offers?
2. is it possible to track e commerce conversion from flash based banner on site??
@Dennis Those are great questions. Some great advice I heard on a PBS special about selling on eBay comes to mind. Marsha Collier who wrote several eBay Books for Dummies said to describe a product so clearly that you don’t need an image and use images so clear that you don’t need a description. That same advice is perfect for ecommerce.
Many retailers use canned product descriptions provided by their distributors. These are often poorly written because they focus on features instead of benefits. (Didn’t they take Marketing 101?)
They often will not be listed in search engines because of the duplicate content issue. Any e-retailer wishing to increase sales should continually add unique upgraded descriptions to their store. If you don’t have time there are companies that specialize in doing this – and that is another great idea for someone to develop a business. (Let me know if you do so I can send you work!)
I would only recommend using product numbers in a title when you know people search for them. Some products are widely known by their model numbers (cameras, plumbing fixtures, televisions, etc.) so for those products I would feature them in titles.
SKU numbers are a little different. They are often specific to that store. I would have them on the page in case someone who had looked at that item previously is now ready to come back and buy. You could always use the title tag for them even when they’re down in the text if you want to emphasize the SKU number for search engine placement for some reason.
The answer to the SKU question will depend on the industry. I drove a ton of sales for one online retailer by advertising on his products’ model numbers and having him ensure that his descriptions included three different ways of searching for those numbers.
I’d love to do a guest post on e-commerce for you. There are so many tweaks and strategies to increase sales. With the economy still declining, now is the time for stores to really get serious about continual improvement.
Internet Strategist’s last blog post..What Do YOU Want to Know About Increasing e-Commerce Conversions?
This hits my target for DSWM head on; anytime you wish to guest post on e-commerce please give me a shout. 🙂
There are a few important items that most online stores leave out. Two that strike me right off are:
1. Optimizing product descriptions – like having a long and short version for each, depending on whether it’s the home page of individual product page.
2. The SKU (product number) – when to know when to leave it out or include it in the title.
Things like that.
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