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What do online shoppers think about?

We explore this question on our blog

Hero Shot Fail

I’m all for testing, but to display different Founder photographs in the same visitor session is a sure-shot way to maximize abandons-

Secret To Winning Online (Venn Diagram)

Assume you’re a young pure-play etailer competing against a well established multi-channel retailer with 15 locations.  Your competitor’s strategic advantages are… 1. Ability to offer customers multiple shopping formats- catalog, store, phone and online. 2. Being a larger company driving higher volume they have greater pricing power.  Translation- deeper supplier discounts. 3. Their advertising costs are amortized across 15 stores, …

Coupon Codes Gone Wild

For pretty much every etailer name I type into Google’s search box I get a prompt with a variation of “coupon code” in it.  Screenshots- These are literally the first five companies I ran the test for.  Start typing the name of your favorite etailer into Google and see what happens. So, what is the solution?  Is there a SEO …

What Came First?

Not investing in conversion optimization because you have disappointing sales. -or- You have disappointing sales because you haven’t invested in conversion optimization?

Share Of Wallet

Total discretionary consumer spending is a fixed number.  It’s a finite pool from which millions of retailers are drawing sales.  When you look at your store don’t frame the question as, “Why would people buy from me?” frame it as, “Why would a moderately satisfied consumer change buying habits, sever existing vendor ties and buy from me?”

When Data Lies

Just because your metrics don’t show the customer has abandoned doesn’t mean she doesn’t hate your guts. I’m not terribly fond of LegalZoom and have a fleeting feeling their agents are pushing only their most profitable products. That said, I’m unwilling to shop around for a number of reasons- 1. I already have an account and transaction history with the company.2. How …

Prediction

I’ve never made a prediction on this blog. My friend’s dad was a creative director at an ad agency.  He once told me that a TV commercial needs to be aired six times before it starts registering with viewers.  If that’s true, which I believe it is, retargeting will be a huge deal online…

Common Misspellings

Hotbuckles.com has a page dedicated to all the ways in which “belt buckles” could be misspelled- Does this strategy work?

Do You Have An Authentic Story?

Tabasco does… https://www.tabasco.com/popup/auth_audio_tour/ I bet their marketing department made this in under 200 bucks.

Talking FAQs

Sharing an example of a clever e-tailer that embeds audio FAQs on product pages. Screenshot- This is a great example of the right solution for the appropriate product. SYCLOVIR is a fungal cream most people might not have heard of (I know I hadn’t). Anyone considering a purchase would need to be convinced about its efficacy. In this situation, audio FAQs are very effective.

Make Feedback Easy…

… and people will participate: This is a great format for Net Promoter Score.

Tough Love

If your entire business model hinges on unconditional customer love then all you are doing is delaying the inevitable. If you want customers to stay help them understand why your store is a better alternative than competition (brick-and-mortar or online).

Price Elasticity Parabola

If there is one defining characteristic of ecommerce it’s the retailer’s ability to experiment with pricing.  And yet, I have never, not once, been asked to run a test that validates a client’s assumption about product prices.  It’s as though they have a Platonic sense of what the market is willing to bear.  Now, I understand that it isn’t just …

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