August 05, 2009
Article

New Chart: Website Upgrade for a Successful Holiday Season

SUMMARY: It’s summertime, when many marketers are taking a well deserved break, but ecommerce folks are hard at work, gearing up for what is projected to be an improved holiday season over 2008 with growth up approximately 9%, and significantly more in some sectors.

Here's a look at our top three tactics to improve website conversions, as rated by nearly 1,500 ecommerce marketers in April to help you prep for shoppers' return to the Internet.

Website Upgrade for a Successful Holiday Season


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#1. Perpetual shopping carts.

These take many different forms, from simple notes that there’s a product sitting in the cart, to dynamic overlays showing images of the product, price and estimated shipping costs, for example. The relative impact of the perpetual shopping cart is going to vary by execution, but the essential function is universal-it keeps the purchase in the mind of the customer, and that psychological anchor helps guide them back to the purchase.

#2. Internal search
Our consumer research suggests that almost 50% of shoppers prefer internal search over traditional menu options and this number naturally rises when they have a specific product or brand in mind. The first priority is to test your internal search regularly to ensure that at the very least, it works effectively. Second is to examine the different business factors that can be used to optimize internal search results. Some marketers use a ‘last in-first out’ method to move inventory, while others use their analytics and database systems to sort products by profit margin. The choices are as broad as your technology and creativity.

#3. Enhanced display
A solid performer in our study, year in and year out, it should be noted that often consumers are just as enthusiastic about simply getting many, varied photos of a product. The bottom line is that people want to know as much as they can about a product, and even static images can help. You don’t necessarily have to have the latest in 3D...although it certainly brings certain products to life for the user.

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