If you ever truly wondered - and I hope you have - about how much the loading time of your website affects total sales and profits, Kissmetrics put together a mother of all infographics. In it, you'll find the typical stats on how mere seconds can make or break a visitor's session, as well as how the impatience of mobile users has grown. However, there are a few key takeaways … [Read more...]
Selling Online? Each Product Needs 5 Different Descriptions
For online stores, product descriptions are key to bringing in traffic and closing sales. To reach the broadest audience and increase incoming traffic and conversions, you need to present your products differently in various locations. That means telling each product's story in different forms based on where the product will be listed. Sure, you can use algorithms to … [Read more...]
Stock Photos Could Be Hurting Your Business
Now, more than ever, internet users are visual. Design, colors, graphics, photos and other media all determine if they're going to hang out for a bit, or leave before 8 seconds is up. We know that integrating images in web pages is key to illustrate points and break the monotony of lengthy text. The question is, how are you deciding which images to use? Stock photos are just … [Read more...]
How Much Do Bad Shipping Addresses Cost Etailers?
You wake up to find a flurry of online orders. Unfortunately, a few of them will be undeliverable. In fact, more than a few... According to a recent study by shipping integration firm EasyPost, 4.7% of customers make errors when filling out shipping forms. Among the most common? Typos and formatting mistakes that render an address unidentifiable by the carrier, multiple … [Read more...]
What to Include in Navigation for Higher Conversions
With the average attention span of online shoppers decreasing — reportedly, we now have no more than 8 seconds to inform web visitors of important details — the tried-and-true methods of navigation are changing. For years, the most common way to present shipping details, guarantees, size charts, and other pertinent product and order information has been incorporating links … [Read more...]
Classic Landing Page Tips that Work (INFOGRAPHIC)
Landing pages are key for both Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and conversions. While visitors can land on any page in the site, directing traffic to a designated landing page helps convert by showing all the key features of a service, product or group of products. Unfortunately, most websites get it wrong. This useful infographic from PPC Hero (via Hanapin Marketing) … [Read more...]
Should Businesses Ditch Traditional CRM?
Every business needs to focus on maintaining a healthy balance of attracting new customers and pleasing existing ones. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is the key to growth and overall success. Yet, so many small- and micro-businesses are doing it wrong. This infographic from Visualistan points out the six main components of CRM, and how traditional and modern (social) … [Read more...]
Online Retailer Shows Us How to Give Shoppers What They Want
Typically infographics come from consulting and marketing firms, so I was surprised to find that alight - plus size clothing - an online retailer of plus size clothing - shared one that focuses on increasing conversions and handling post-order issues. Note, that while mobile apps better keep shoppers "inside" a store, a mobile site brings in more traffic because shoppers … [Read more...]
Does Highlighting Zero Savings Help Close More Sales?
While working on a post for Practical Ecommerce, I visited Kohl's website. At checkout, I noticed something rather interesting... Highlighting that I'm saving $0.00 got me to click on the Cash & Promos link. Unfortunately, there were no codes or details on saving money there... It's always a good idea to provide simple instructions on completing fields. In … [Read more...]
Here’s How Much Ecommerce Has Changed
Perusing some older content the other day I ran across this infographic from 2011. Created by invesp, it points out then-current trends and speculations about the growth of ecommerce. It also hit me as a piece of nostalgia - I actually worked on my first website shortly after Netscape introduced Navigator in 1994. While the reasons behind consumers' preference for online … [Read more...]
12 Elements You MUST Include in Marketing Emails
I receive tons of email - plenty from service providers and online stores. I can tell within seconds if an email is going to appeal to the widest possible audience. While your subscribers may not be able to tell you what made them ignore or immediately close and delete your mailings, chances are your emails are missing one or more of these key elements. 1. An accurate, … [Read more...]
This $10 Solution Will Get You More Email Subscribers and Shares
Ask any small business owner for his top ten hurdles and these two will rank: Getting more email subscribers Getting more people to share content SumoMe addresses both of these issues in a slick and affordable way. I've been testing SumoMe's apps for the past few weeks and the results? Rewarding. Free to use, the SumoMe store includes some key functionality for … [Read more...]