Although your site will see its share of different shopper demographics, there are a number of consistencies they all prefer and that should be in place if you are to have any chance of them buying from you. In this article I’ll outline a few consistencies all shoppers look for in the ‘perfect cart experience.’

The Perfect Cart Experience Checklist

1. Make sure customers have a clear view of how to access their shopping cart from every page on your website. This means making a ‘shopping cart’ link or even showing them a summary of their cart contents at all times—not just if something is in their basket.

2. Always display shipping costs and any tax applicable as soon as possible. Don’t make them wait to find that information out after they have already gone through a few steps in the checkout process. Doing this will yield frustrated customers and higher abandon rates.

3. Give customers a choice of shipping options. Even if an order qualifies for free shipping (ground for example) based on some criteria you set, give the customer the opportunity to upgrade the shipping to a faster method (for an added charge) if desired.
   Free shipping is an excellent incentive and a powerful motivator, but don’t force a customer who qualifies for it to take it—they may want the item faster. Likewise, if they choose another shipping option, update the cart total to reflect that.

4. Let the customer update and edit their cart directly from the shopping cart page. This has become pretty standard on all carts now, but I have run across a few that still make a customer click a link of a particular product, go to the product page, make your edits, and then updated.

   A ‘friendly’ shopping cart lets customers edit item quantities, remove items, alter attributes (product options), and more … all without leaving the actual shopping cart page.

5. Prominently display any guarantees, privacy and security policies, throughout the site and frequently during the checkout process to build trust. Don’t just display them however; make sure you put them within plain view, especially in areas of POA (points of action.) Putting a secure shopping seal directly to the right of the space you ask your customer to enter their credit card information is far more effective than placing it at the bottom of the page.

6. Implement a follow up system for abandoned carts. Abandoned carts are something that simply can’t be avoided all together. All ecommerce sites will experience them to varying degrees—no matter what they try. However, do not become satisfied that abandoned carts are ‘a part of doing business’ as some like to put it. Rather, institute a system to contact customers who abandon their cart and attempt to save the sale.

   A system like this offers several benefits. a) It offers you the ability to cash in on previously lost sales. b) If you approach it correctly and don’t recover the sale, you still may receive valuable feedback from the potential customer as to why they chose not to complete the sale—and it is this information you can use to better the cart experience for those that follow.

7. Have at the very least, the following additional information (outside of the normal product price, photos, description, etc… that are expected) readily available on the product page. Stock / availability, shipping information (rates and times if possible), customer reviews, returns policies, any guarantees offered, payment methods accepted, live (or phone) help, security seals, ability to zoom in or see clear close-ups of product images.

8. A customer service phone number (not just email) that is answered by a real human to provide assistance if needed.

9. Provide the customer with the ability to save their cart and return later if desired (sometimes called a ‘wish list’.) Customers who may be shopping but not quite ready to buy for one reason or another will want to come back and easily find the item(s) the placed in the cart on their previous visit.

   Although at this point you may not have their information available yet to follow up with, it would be a good idea if you do have that information to implement a ‘wish list’ follow up type system to help nudge them toward the checkout if they do not purchase for a period of time.

10. Offer some type of loyalty or rewards program.

11. Has a simple yet intuitive categorical structure and associated navigation. Narrow your top level categories so that they provide a solid framework for listing sub-categories below them. For example, rather than use the following top level navigation on a site that sells electronics:

    • TVs
    • Digital TV Converters
    • Portable TVs
    • Phones
    • Stereo Receivers
    • Stereo Antennas

    It would be better to narrow the top level categories to read as follows with the sublevels under them:

    • TVs
      • Digital TV Converters
      • Portable TVs
    • Phones
    • Audio
      • Stereo Receivers
      • Stereo Antennas

12. Provide the customer with multiple methods of accessing (searching for) the same product data from various angles on the site and allow them to access it in as few clicks as possible. Here’s an example.

    If you sold coffee on the internet and one of the coffees you sold was a dark bold roast flavor by brand “XXX” then it would be smart to allow customers to access this particular coffee using the following groupings: Shop Bold Coffees, Shop Dark Roasts, Shop by Brand.

    People search for items different ways and catering to those habits helps them shop with you.

13. Prominently display any sales, offers, or discounts that may be of interest to your shoppers.

14. Offer multiple payment methods for the customer to choose from when ordering, including PayPal.

15. Send out instant notifications upon the customer successfully completing an order (order receipt) as well as a notification when the item has shipped (including tracking information.)

16. Offer the ability to checkout as a guest for those that may want to do so.

At the end of the day it’s all about making it easy for shoppers to do business with you and keeping your customers happy. Lowering cart abandonment rates and increasing sales starts with realizing what consistencies are desired—no matter the age, gender, or preference—among all shoppers. It’s human nature to want these items of ‘comfort’ and making them accessible to your visitors is what creates the ‘perfect cart experience.’

Check out eCommerce Optimization for more articles by Eric Leuenberger

We know colors can provide visual appeal and influence buyer behavior. Use them properly and you can reap rewards, use them wrong and you could be sending a message to your visitors to stay clear.

For many years, mountains of market research have been performed to identify various colors and color combinations along with the likely effect they have upon shopping habits. Big retailers spend millions on to testing colors effect on consumers because they know it has a huge affect on how their products are perceived. A look at some of the top retailers online might show some strikingly similar uses of color.

Keep in mind that although it would be a good bet the top competitors have a firm line on what works and what doesn’t when it comes to color, it should be noted that simply duplicating those with the thought it has to work is not the best idea. The effects of color differ among different cultures. As a result, the attitudes and preferences of your specific target audience should be taken into careful consideration while planning the design of any promotional materials.

Now let me ask you a few simple questions. When you designed your website, what colors did you use? Did you choose your colors because you liked them, because your designer said to use them, or for some other reason? Did you consider your target market and product before you considered a color combination?

The colors you chose influence visitors arriving to your site this very moment –whether it influences them positively or negatively depends on the color selection you ended up with (and even that should be continually tested.)
For example, studies show that impulse shoppers tend to respond best to red-orange, black and royal blue colors while shippers who plan and stick to a specific budget respond best to pink, teal, light blue and navy. Traditionalists respond to pastels such as pink rose and sky blue.

With this in mind, it should be no surprise that red is most often used in conjunction with sales and promotions. Why? First and foremost, red draws attention. Secondarily, a good promotion typically creates a feeling of urgency (adding a time limit to the promotion really drives this point home) and need or desire (red is often associated with passion or excitement.) Thus the red helps drive home the need for ‘immediate action’ (impulse) in the mind of the consumer—in turn, increasing response.

Red is a good color choice to use for just about any site when it comes to promotions. However, designing a site that is compromised primarily of red colors when you are trying to sell products relating to children is probably not the best idea. Have you ever noticed that toys, books and children’s web sites (not ecommerce) usually contain large blocks of bright, primary colors? Young children prefer these colors and respond more positively than they do to pastels or muted blends. But in ecommerce, developing a site based primarily on these colors because kids like them would miss the target. The children are not the ones shopping the site. Their parents and grandparents are.

So with that in mind, you might be selling books for children but you are marketing to grandparents and parents. The books you sell might be designed in bright, primary colors (reds, blues, yellows) to appeal to the children who use them. However, your marketing materials (including the website) should be designed with grandparents/parents in mind and thus you might decide to go with blues (trust, reliability), pinks (nurture, sweet, security) and yellows (happy, playful) as your pallet of choice.

On the other hand, if you run an adult website you may want to consider reds and blacks as they are thought to convey sexual connotations (a full list of colors and their effects on mood is presented below.) But never overdue it on one color as doing so can completely reverse the impact subtle use could have.

Take for example the colors black, gray and silver. Black on a site in the right locations can convey a sense of luxury. Silver conveys prestige, and gray—sophistication and affluence. Ever notice that luxury cars in commercials are often gray? The reason is because we know from studies that gray is associated with affluence. So when you see a Lexus in some commercial they don’t even have to use the word affluence in the script, simply showing the car in that color gets the message across.

Having said that, let me ask you how many ecommerce sites you arrive at that use black backgrounds in conjunction with heavy black elsewhere? I suspect not many. This is because overuse of one color can sometimes have the opposite effect. Using the luxury car example and taking into consideration the attitudes, preferences, and status of the target market in question, an overuse of black would make the site appear unprofessional, hard to read, and dark—not the message you intended, and certainly not the message your target audience is looking for. In this case, overuse of color may cause what could have been an otherwise qualified prospect to be turned off and leave.

Below I’ve listed a number of colors that are associated with certain qualities or emotions in North American mainstream culture. Use this as a guide to your own marketing.

Red: Excitement, Strength, Sex, Passion/Love, Anger, Vigor, Danger

If you want to draw attention, use red. It is often where the eye looks first. Red is not a good color to over use but using a spot of red in just the right locations(s) is smart in most cases.

Yellow: Knowledge, Joy, Intellect, Youth, Happiness, Energy, Warmth, Sunshine

Green: Fertility, Wealth, Healing, Success, Growth, Nature, Fresh, Relaxation, Abundance

White: Purity, Healing, Perfection, Clean, Virtue, Mild

Look at the colors of various soap products. You see a lot of white. You wouldn’t likely be drawn to buying soap that was black in color—even if it did clean your clothes.

Blue: Knowledge, Trust, Wisdom, Dependability, Reliability, Tranquility, Calm, Peace, Cool

Blue is often listed as the most popular color. Other conveyed meanings are steadfastness, and loyalty.

Black: Fear, Secrecy, Formal, Luxury, Sophistication, Elegant, Seductive

Black is a serious color that evokes strong emotions; it is easy to overwhelm people with too much black so be careful when using it.

Purple: Royalty, Wisdom, Spirituality, Dignity, Imagination

Orange: Creativity, Invigoration, Unique, Stimulation, Playfulness, Warmth, Vibrant

Orange is often used to make products that are high priced look more inviting—stimulate—because psychologically it makes them seem more affordable.

Gray: Balance, Sophistication, Affluence, Neutrality, Uncommitted

Too much gray will lead to feelings of mostly nothing; but a touch of gray can add a rock solid feel to your product.

Pink: Soft, Sweet, Nurture, Security

Gold: Prestige, Expensive

Silver: Prestige, Cold, Scientific

So how can you put this information to use? I’ve provided a short guide below to get you started.

Quick Guide to Marketing thru Color

1. Know Your Market
What culture are they? What race are they? Are they young? Old? High income? Low income? Male or female? You’ll need to speak their color language to build a relationship.

2. Research the Market
Market research and testing is of vital importance. If you are serious about maximizing your profits, research your target market’s color responses. Design several versions of the site, and test those designs on the target market.

Also, solicit feedback and make changes if needed. Your aim is to use colors to build a website with which your target market relates.

3. Watch the Top Retailers
Top online retailers spend millions on color research so you don’t have to. Watch the top selling etailers to see any emerging trends.

4. Use Safe Colors
Unless you’re dealing with an already strong brand, stick with safe colors. Trying to develop a new brand around colors that don’t traditionally work in selling isn’t the best idea.

So you see color has a much broader impact than one might believe on the ability to sell your product. Keep with the marketers mind and remember to continually test everything. I’ve seen a simple change of color on an “add to cart” button (keeping all other elements constant) have a positive impact on the conversion rate (in this case adding the item to the cart) and result in higher sales (providing the checkout process is setup to close the sale.)

When you look at your website and marketing materials what message is it sending to your target? Do the colors portray the image and message you intended or is there something else being said?

Check out eCommerce Optimization for more articles by Eric Leuenberger

To view this information the searcher would simply click a plus sign next to the ad and instantly the ad would expand to show the extra content. Here is an example of what it looks like:

After clicking the plus the searcher gets the following:

Here is an excerpt of what Google said about this technology.

“For ads associated with products in Google Base, a plusbox can be expanded to display relevant products from that advertiser. The plusbox provides users with more information about an advertiser’s offering even before clicking on the ad, and offers advertisers a new way to engage potential customers.”

Since its inception in 2007, the concept has grown and now includes two different ad formats; the good news is it doesn’t take a lot to get started. The thing I find hard to believe is that many stores are not taking advantage of this unique opportunity—likely because they never knew it existed or because they don’t know how to make it work. I can’t see any other reason why one would not take part.

Google says these new features help you to gain more clicks, gain higher quality clicks and gain higher ROI. Early tests show this seems to hold true.

While researching the addition of this feature to a few ppc campaigns I found that the information on what it is and how it works is scatter across the internet—because of that, it can be confusing to decipher proper implementation.

In this article I’ll sum it all up in one location and show you how to take advantage of the current ad format options provided to you through the various Google search channels; but before I do that, let me bring everything up-to-date.

As of this writing, Google Base is now called Google Merchant Center. In addition, Google has developed its previous 2007 concept into what they call Product Ads. The Product ads have two ad formats: Product Extensions (formerly known as the Product Plus box) and a new feature called Product Listing Ads is also offered.

Google describes the difference between the Product Listing Ads and Product Extensions is as follows (from the Google website):

“Product listing ads are a stand-alone shopping ad format that uses product information from the advertiser’s Google Merchant Center account. These ads appear in a variety of formats and feature relevant product information, such as the image, price, or name. They can also include an optional promotional message managed in your AdWords account.

Product listing ads focus on targeting product information to users and are not designed to focus solely on merchants. For example, ads from competing advertisers may appear together in cases where multiple merchants are selling the same product.

Product extensions are an ad format in which product information accompanies a standard text ad with standard keyword targeting. They also use product details from a merchant’s Google Merchant Center account and feature multiple products from only that merchant. Product information appears next to the text ad, which allows users to get a better sense of the advertiser’s product selection prior to clicking through to go to the advertiser’s site.

Together, the extension and listing ad formats provide a single product ads offering in AdWords, both using product information from the same Google Merchant Center account that’s linked to your campaign.”

Product Extensions

In short, Google Product Extensions (the plus box) works just like it did in it early days. Searchers have the ability to see products images and title text under your AdWords ad (your sponsored listing). They achieve this by clicking on a + sign found next to the ad. You are not charged for this initial click (for them clicking the + sign.) If after clicking that plus sign the searcher decides to click on any of the information they find within the expanded results, you are then charged for the click as part of the typical Adwords CPC model.

Google offers this additional information on Product Extensions (from the Google website).

“Product extensions allow you to use your existing Google Merchant Center account to highlight your products directly in your Google.com search ads (and Google Images ads when opted into the Search Network). Product extensions will not appear on other Search Network sites, or on Display Network sites.

When your AdWords ad appears and your Google Merchant Center account contains a product that is relevant to the searcher’s query, product extensions may show the images, titles, and prices of your closest matching products with your ad. Your product offerings may be shown in a “plusbox” ad. When a user clicks a product image, they will be taken to the destination page listed for that product in your Merchant Center account.”

Product Listing Ads

Product Listing Ads are designed to take advantage of either a CPC (meaning you pay when a visitor clicks your ad) or CPA model (meaning you pay only when the click results in an actual sale on your site) however, at the moment, only a select few larger advertisers are offered the opportunity to give the CPA model a try.

Product listing ads currently appear in the right hand search column and do not include the opportunity for expanded information via a + sign. What you see is what you get yet the setup can be controlled to some degree by what you feed Google.

Google offers this additional information on Product Listing Ads (from the Google website).

“Product Listing Ads are search ads that include richer product information – including product image, price, and merchant name – without requiring keywords or ad text. Whenever a user enters a search query relevant to an item in your Google Merchant Center account, Google may automatically show the most relevant products along with the associated image, price and product name.”

Putting the Pieces in Place

Now, In order to make this all work you’ll need several things in place.

1. A Google Merchant Center account.
2. An Adwords account.
3. Your Adwords account linked to your Merchant Center account.
4. Your Merchant Account linked to your Adwords account.
5. A product data feed (fed into your Merchant Center account.)

I won’t go into how to setup a Merchant Account in this article or the associated data feed, but I will give a brief overview of how to tie your Adwords and Merchant Center accounts together.

Keep in mind that you can add multiple AdWords accounts to a single Google Merchant Center account by following this same process for each account you would like to link. When you do this, be sure to link accounts in both the Merchant Center and AdWords interfaces to complete the process—linking on one side only will not work.

Linking Accounts in Google Merchant Center

1. In your Merchant Center account, click Settings, then AdWords
2. Enter your AdWords Customer ID and click Add

Linking Accounts in Google AdWords

After linking your Merchant Center account to your AdWords account, your work is not complete. You must now link your Adwords account (from the Adwords side) to your Merchant Center account. The following instructions will show you how to do that.
Create a new campaign with product extensions with these steps:

1. Under Ad extensions > Products, check the box next to “Extend my ads with relevant product details from Google Merchant Center.”
2. Select the Google Merchant Center account you’d like to associate with your campaign. (Your Merchant Center account must be linked to your Analytics account for this to appear).

It can take up to 12 hours from the time you update your settings for your product extensions to appear in your ads.

If you’re creating a new Merchant Center account, be aware that you may only register one domain with the account. If you would like additional domains registered with Merchant Center, you must create a new Merchant Center account for each separate domain.

Three for One Exposure

I’ve talked about the two ad formats offered by Google here but did you know that implementation of the outlined information within this article gives you the opportunity to gain potential exposure for your products in three different locations found within Google search? The key is the Merchant Center account. With that (and the proper linking demonstrated above) you get three chances for exposure.

The triple pronged exposure comes from the Product Listing Ads, the Product Extensions, and the direct feed from the Merchant Center account (i.e. Google Product Search results integrated into natural search listings.)

The image below shows exactly where each of the three spots might be and which Google ‘product’ feeds them.

The opportunity present by taking advantage of this Google offering is just too good to pass up. If you haven’t taken the time to fully integrate your products into Google search, now is the time to do it. The opportunity is completely free and the results from those using it currently are good—but you can’t capitalize on it if you don’t try it.

Comments

In my last article I talked about some of the things that should be considered when developing an effective promotional banner. I want to follow that up with a short post here on how you can promote more in less space using flash for banner development.

Flash banners come in all shapes and sizes. As of this writing two example sites using them are Target and BestBuy. Screenshots of the home page for each are below as a reference point. The red outlined area in each indicates the area the dynamic flash banner is composed of.

Example of Target Flash Promotional Banner

Example of BestBuy Flash Promotional Banner

In today’s internet age, you do not need a whole lot of flash design experience to get these types of banners up and running on your site. You will need a little technical know how (or get someone that can do it for you) but there really isn’t much to it if you have the right tools.

The truth is, you can do this yourself with a number of free and/or affordable commercial options.

Below I’ve listed a number of links that will start you down the right path toward adding a professional looking flash rotating banner to your ecommerce site.

Rotate a Banner With These XML Banner Rotators

Free XML Banner Rotator

Free Flash XML Banner Rotator

As you’ll see, there are a number of options available to you. Keep in mind that the functionality of the banner should fit your needs. Don’t just choose a banner because it “looks cool.” Looking cool won’t get you sales. Make sure it is functionally correct and provides the opportunity to run your promotions in a way that benefits your bottom line.

Got anymore you think should be added to the list? Leave a comment below and let me know.

Comments

Change can be good — sometimes — especially if it is meant to decreased expenses (thus directly affecting the bottom line.) However, change that has not been planned out properly or change that does not take into consideration customer needs and wants can cause trouble.

I recently worked with a store owner who thought that switching shipping companies would save them some expense over the previous shipping company (which did a great job … but had slightly higher prices.) In theory, and on paper this might have been true. However, without proper planning and without taking their current and potential customers interest into consideration, the event turned out to be a disaster … causing long time customers to leave, new customers to never return (even canceling orders), and a customer service nightmare for those working the phones.

You see, the store may have thought that looking at the sheer numbers (from a shipping rate standpoint only) that the one carrier with lower rates would have saved them money. It makes sense … if you only look at that.

But running an ecommerce business — or any business for that matter — means you must take into consideration much more than just “perceived cost”.

The customers feedback all basically said the same thing … “I’d rather pay a few dollars more to get my package on time and fast then to not get it at all or get it much later than expected.”

Considering the lifetime value of customers that will not be realized due to leaving, the new customers never returning, and the bad word that is surely to spread across the internet about them, the company has dug themselves a hole that is going to take a lot of energy to correct. Rather than saving money on shipping they ended up losing a ton of money both now and also potential future realized revenue.

So the next time you consider making changes to your shipping (or anything else to save a few bucks) operations, make sure you do your homework first, plan next, and when all the information is presented, be sure to choose the option that benefits your customers most.

Comments

Google’s Website optimizer is a powerful tool that enables you to increase the conversion of your website using testing methods such as Multivariate and traditional A/B split testing. When setup and utilized correctly, Website Optimizer gives you the ability to discover what really works to turn visitors into sales (or just about any other action you are seeking from your audience). No more guessing.

For any of you have have already tried your hand at “manual” split testing, you know it can be tedious, time consuming, and down right tough to keep track of all the possible combination’s that are put together for any given test. That process is made much simpler with the use of Website Optimizer.

The instructions for setting up optimizer are easy to follow and do a great job for even newbies on helping them get up and running (although if your cart requires programming to integrate the code into the pages you may need the help of your technical team).

One article circulated last year and was titled 55 Google Website Optimizer Tips and Tricks.

The other surfaced February 23 of this year as a “sequel” to that original post and it is titled 25 Google Website Optimizer Tips for Better Product Pages.

Together these articles combine to provide a total of 80 different tests you should consider running on your site. I highly recommend reading them and keeping them on your bookmarked list for future reference.

Comments

The question we are looking to find an answer to is “how can we track traffic arriving from Google’s Product Search separately from all other traffic within Google Analytics?” For those of you not familiar with it, Google’s Product Search provides product based results on items that are loaded through Google Base accounts.

Here are two main options I found for accomplishing this.

The first option is a quick way to use filters in GA to segment the traffic. This option might be best for sites that have a lot of product linked urls listed in Google Product Search. The second method uses url tagging (we talked about this in recent posts) and can be arrived at two different ways and although works, might not be the best if you have a lot of urls to change.

Option 1 (Use GA Filters):

Using filters can help alleviate the need to tag many urls. We can setup a filter within GA that segments the data we are already receiving and breaks out the portion of traffic that comes from Product Search. Here’s how:

When you perform a search on Google, you’ll see that your results page has a URL that looks something like the following:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=product+search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

The key point to note here is that when performing a search from the Google Search Engine all searches start with the following string:

http://www.google.com/search?

However, when you perform a search from Google Products the url looks something like this:

http://www.google.com/products?hl=en&q=product%20search&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wf

The key point to note here is that when performing a search from the Google Product Engine all searches start with the following string:

http://www.google.com/products?

Knowing this we can setup a filter using the Referrer field to differentiate between the two and then use the Source field from within Analytics to view the data based on referrer.

Field A in our filter looks for a Referrer like one of the Google URLs shown above. Field B limits the data returned to only organic searches (AdWords ads can appear on the Google Product Search pages also, and we don’t want to mess up that reporting). The Output To section actually changes (or rewrites) the Source to “google base” instead of just “google”.

Here is what it would then look like in reporting:

Option 2 (Use URL Tagging):

Method 1:
If you don’t have a lot of URLs to tag and want to do option 2 then you might be able to get away with the information presented here:

http://www.google.com/support/merchants/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=160634

Method 2:

If however you have lot of product URLs to tag and want a better way of doing it then the following might be a better option.

This method uses the same concept I had introduced in previous post on using Google’s URL Builder to for tagging.

In this method though we tag the URLs with:

?utm_source=google&utm_medium=base&utm_campaign=products

The components that are going to let us get segmented reporting on the traffic from Product Search within Google Analytics are source=google and medium=base.

When you go this route your reports will be broken down as follows:

Here are the steps to follow for tagging your URLs:

We are going to use the native Excel format for the feed to address the tagging.

1. Download your product feed and open it with Excel

2.Insert two columns to the right of the column that contains your product URL (column header should be “link”)

3. Write your tracking code into the cell to the right of the URL (see below):

4. In the next cell to the right the one you just inserted, write the following formula, substituting cell numbers if appropriate:

=CONCATENATE(B2,C2)

You should see a result similar to the screenshot below showing the two cells merged together:

5. Copy the cell formula all the way down to cover all of your products so that all of them having the tracking added.

6. Highlight all of your product URLs (in the third column of the spreadsheet) which now have the tracking code added, and then copy and paste them into Notepad

7. Delete the columns you’ve just created so that you only have the ones you started with.

8. Paste in all of your new URLs over the top of the old ones – you have to do this in order to get the spreadsheet back in a format to be uploaded – the extra columns will be rejected.

9. Upload revised feed to Google

10. After a day or two, log into Analytics and go to traffic sources. You should be seeing traffic from Google / Base showing.

Comments

In reality, this list of mistakes could be very long. There are so many factors that affect the success or failure of an online store. Afterall, running an ecommerce business is not as easy as some make it out to be—but it could be with the right blueprint.

If I developed a complete list of all the mistakes I come across while working with store owners, it would likely span many pages and be difficult to determine where to start prioritizing your attention. So what I have done is taken that overwhelming list and broke it down into what I consider the top fifteen mistakes—in no particular order—that many ecommerce stores make.

Here are what I consider to be the top fifteen mistakes most ecommerce stores make:

1. Thinking that driving more traffic to your website will increase sales. This is one I see all too frequently and is one that just drives me nuts. It’s this simple, if your website is not setup to convert traffic properly (which means you must understand your target market, ideal customer demographics and profiles to speak to them properly) then it doesn’t matter how much traffic you drive to your site … you’re sales will not increase.

   Furthermore, if you are targeting the wrong traffic type but your site is ready to convert, your sales will not increase. More is not always better—that is, unless the right elements are in place to maximize sales from it.

2. Weak site design in relation to your target market. Do you design your for your market or do you design your site thinking that alone will sell your product?

3. Not marketing enough or properly. You can’t generate sales if nobody knows you exist. Marketing is critical but it must be done correctly to gain the maximum benefit.

   I get store owners telling me they have had a site in place for “xxx” amount of time and still no sales … what’s wrong? That’s a loaded question as there is often a list of things they are missing, but I’m amazed to hear some reply “No” to me when I ask them “are you performing any marketing for your site?” Sometimes you gotta spend money to make money.

   If you aren’t willing to spend money to advertise then your chances of success are reduced and you can’t expect to magically generate sales.

4. Not testing your site to find what really works. Continual testing is a vital component to reaching the upper echelon of conversion rates. Another question I get from store owners is “how do these other stores achieve such high conversion rates?” Once again, the question is loaded.

   There a many multiple factors that contribute to achieving higher conversion rates. One of the common factors across all successful ecommerce stores who see some of the highest conversion rates is that they test all the time. If you ignore your site, you can’t be disappointed when your bottom line reflects it.

5. Not optimizing your product pages for increased conversion. Your product page has a single overall objective with sub objectives that help support and meet that main objective.

   If potential customers can’t get past your product page they have no chance of ever entering the checkout process (for some reason store owners have a hard time understanding this.) An optimized product page (from a conversion perspective) takes advantage of multiple factors that combined help the visitor do their job to achieve the objective.

6. Inadequate site usability. Usability in a basic sense reflects the “ease of use” with which a visitor can interact with your website. Proper usability is all encompassing. It’s role it so provide your customer with an easy, smooth, un-interrupted path to their destination—a sale. There are a number of things that can help you determine if usability is a problem and then help you improve upon this.

7. Lack of comprehensive marketing plan. This is one of the number one reasons most ecommerce businesses are destined for failure before they even start. Without a marketing plan you’re like a ship set sail in open waters without a compass.

   It doesn’t take that long with the right tools to complete a marketing plan. Your marketing plan is your guide for moving business forward. It is essential to your survival and success.

8. Too many obstacles to shopping. This is very much a usability issue and could have been included in the point six above. Adhering by the KISS principle is crucial to helping customers do their job.

9. Poor customer service. Do you answer your customers questions before they ask them? Knowing what they expect and at what moment will improve your customer service.

10. Failure to prepare a proper foundation for success. Proper planning is the first step toward ecommerce success. A weak foundation yields weak results. A strong foundation results in great rewards.

11. Poor order fulfillment. This is self explanatory for most … for others the answer is not so clear. One of the fastest ways (albeit not the only one) to lose a current customer is with poor order fulfillment.

12. Not taking advantage of optimizing the Customer Experience your business provides from beginning to end. If you don’t know what that means, or how to do it then you are in real trouble.

13. Poor checkout procedures. Don’t think that providing a checkout alone will close the sale. Without the right elements in place you’ll find the only thing that increases is your shopping cart abandonment rate.

14. Failure to focus and specialize. You can’t be everything to everybody. Doing so will get you no where.

15. Failure to provide proper customer assurances at the right times and in the right locations. A few simple tweaks of your site can mean the difference between increased sales or increased frustration.

Remember, this is just the tip of the iceberg in a long list of mistakes that prevent ecommerce stores from achieving success.

If you want to find out answers to all your questions, correct the mistakes you are making, and learn how to build a successful ecommerce business, I invite you to join me and the other store owners who have taken advantage of my online coaching system, Ecommerce Amplifier.

You’ll get instant access to a number of invaluable tools, resources, and expert advice, that help you maximize your online store—increasing conversion and winning more sales. Plus, I’ll also teach you the same six step blueprinted process I developed and use to help others build sustainable and successful ecommerce businesses—regardless of your level of experience.

Got any mistakes you want to add to the list? Post them in the comments section below, I’d love to hear them.

Comments

Some interesting movement in a few areas—no surprise in others.

The rankings and findings are based upon the total number of Google pages reported for each program via boolean search methodologies at various monthly intervals combined over a period of time. So in essence this might tell how many “active” users there are of each platform (and even that could be false in some cases) but it doesn’t tell which of the carts performs best (which in my opinion is most important.)

By performs best I am talking closing the sale. A number of carts on the list I have seen or worked with and they simply lack the features (and support) needed for building a sustainable ecommerce business. Others on the list do a wonderful job of this. In my opinion, the ideal Open Source cart is rich with features that help it win the sale and is stable and friendly enough to enable scalability. I want a cart that has the features of some of the big guys yet is easy enough to understand for the end user.

A list of some of the features (a very small list mind you) I would see as important are:

1. The ability to cross sell and up sell products
2. Product reviews ability
3. Ability to run split testing with tools like Google’s Website Optimizer
4. Ability to conduct a recover cart type program for follow up on previously lost sales
5. Ability to easily integrate analytics (such as Google Analytics) into the framework—this includes ecom tracking and paid search conversion tracking
6. Ability to assign unique landing pages for targeting traffic to (outside of the catalog portion of the site)
7. Ability to control the checkout experience including the options of one page checkout, multi-step checkout and guest checkout.
8. Ability to integrate with and accept multiple payment methods easily including paypal.
9. Some type of sales reporting tool in the background
10. The ability to assign a unique home page apart from the design of the rest of the site
11. CSS Driven with the ability to easily change look and feel as needed without a lot of work
12. Complete customization of product pages including image rich features that rival the custom carts (zoom features, lightboxes, etc…)
13. Easily run and or automate promotions (both banners and coupons) on a pre-determined schedule that coincides with your promotional calendar.
14. SEO Friendly URLs
15. Ability to customize META Data, Titles, Descriptions, etc… down to the product level.
16. Integration with shopping comparison sites through automated data feeds

Again, this is just a small list of some initial items that come to mind off the top of my head.

Read more about the results of the year long review from Ecommerce Guide.

Comments

So why would you “add” another step for them to “buy your product” especially when that step includes a pop-up (blocked by most browsers now)? Well, strangely enough, I have seen it on many Zen Cart sites. Store owners making their “potential customers” click on an “estimate shipping button” in order to get the shipping rates.

It not only adds another step to the process, but it adds one that could very easily turn your customers away.

Why it Hurts

Hiding shipping in a pop-up hurts because it not only makes the visitor “think” (and you don’t want them to have to “think” to order … it should be “automatic” with all of their questions being answered at exactly the right time.

Of the many factors online shoppers look for to “satisfy their need to buy”, one of the top items is the price of shipping. So, logically, seeing that is the case, why would we try to hide it from them (which is what the pop-up effectively does). We should not only “plant” it right in front of them, but put links to it in as many “decision making spots” as possible so as not have cause them to even think about it. It should just be a matter of fact that they can easily access shipping rates for their order.
Many e-commerce studies have shown that customers find it annoying to say the least when they have to “search for” shipping rates. And, in many of those instances, customers said “had they been able to find the shipping rates before, or during (NOT AFTER)” adding items to their cart (on their way to checkout), they would have continued with the purchase and completed it.

This holds especially true if you are in a competitive industry or one that sells merchandise that can be bought at the “local brick and mortar store”. The harder you make it on your customers to checkout, the less sales you will see.

How to “Fix” it

Zen cart comes built in with a feature (Accessible from within the Admin by going to Configuration > Shipping / Packaging > Shipping Estimator Display Settings for Shopping Cart). Do yourself, and your customers a favor … set that value to “2″.

This example shows you how it would look.

Until next time … keep your customers happy, and your pocket book will be too!

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