How to Increase Online Conversions
A client recently asked me what methods are you using to increase conversions and click-through rates on your e Commerce sites?
You need to first analyze the site, and see if some very basic things are there. Do they have an xml, and html site-map?. Are they using div tags and not tables for pages? Are they using proper H1, H2, tags ect, located in a separate CSS document? Do all of the images have ALT tags? Have they been optimized for people with accessibility issues? Does the site navigation page sense? are thing where they would normally find them as on other sites, like the contact link, the search box, etc? This is about usability and accessibility.
Next, look in the header section of the pages. The header is the section of code that comes before the body text and looks something like:
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD XHTML 4.01 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml4-loose.dtd”>
<head>
<link rel=”shortcut icon” href=”http://www.———–.com/favicon.ico” />
<link rel=”shortcut icon” href=”favicon.ico” />
<meta http-equiv=”Content-Type” content=”text/html; charset=utf-8″ />
<meta http-equiv=”Content-Type” content=”text/html; charset=windows-1252″ />
<title>—– ——Baltimore ———-Maryland ———Maryland ———-Mortgages for home buyers in ———, ——- Maryland, —– ———</title>
<meta name=”robots” content=”index” />
<meta name=”description” content=”————– ——–, Maryland specializes in helping people to finance and buy a home. We also can assist with dept consolidation and mortgage refinances —— ——- offers a wide array of refinance and purchase loans in———- and all of ——–. We have very competitive Maryland mortgage rates and our array of products and superior advice set us apart.” />
<META name=”keywords” content=”baltimore mortgage, maryland mortgage, baltimore refinance, maryland refinance, baltimore home mortgage, maryland, refinance, rates, loan, equity, affordable, services, cash-out, mortgage calculators, purchases, services, mortgage, refinance, rates, loan, equity, affordable, services, cash-out, rate/term, purchases, income, commercial loans, services ” />
<meta name=”key phrases” content=”first mortgage, second mortgage, construction loan, baltimore mortgage, maryland mortgage, baltimore refinance, maryland refinance, baltimore home mortgage, debt consolidation, home improvements, mortgages ——— maryland, refinance——— maryland” /><link href=”../css/styles.css” rel=”stylesheet” type=”text/css” media=”screen”/>
<link href=”/css/styles.css” rel=”stylesheet” type=”text/css” />
<link href=”/css/print.css” rel=”stylesheet” type=”text/css” media=”print”/><script src=”scripts/AC_RunActiveContent.js” type=”text/javascript”></script>
<!–[if lte IE 6]>
<![endif]–>
<style type=”text/css”>
function MM_preloadImages() { //v3.0
var d=document; if(d.images){ if(!d.MM_p) d.MM_p=new Array();
var i,j=d.MM_p.length,a=MM_preloadImages.arguments; for(i=0; i<a.length; i++)
if (a[i].indexOf(“#”)!=0){ d.MM_p[j]=new Image; d.MM_p[j++].src=a[i];}}
}
function MM_swapImgRestore() { //v3.0
var i,x,a=document.MM_sr; for(i=0;a&&i<a.length&&(x=a[i])&&x.oSrc;i++) x.src=x.oSrc;
}
function MM_findObj(n, d) { //v4.01
var p,i,x; if(!d) d=document; if((p=n.indexOf(“?”))>0&&parent.frames.length) {
d=parent.frames[n.substring(p+1)].document; n=n.substring(0,p);}
if(!(x=d[n])&&d.all) x=d.all[n]; for (i=0;!x&&i<d.forms.length;i++) x=d.forms[i][n];
for(i=0;!x&&d.layers&&i<d.layers.length;i++) x=MM_findObj(n,d.layers[i].document);
if(!x && d.getElementById) x=d.getElementById(n); return x;
}function MM_swapImage() { //v3.0
var i,j=0,x,a=MM_swapImage.arguments; document.MM_sr=new Array; for(i=0;i<(a.length-2);i+=3)
if ((x=MM_findObj(a[i]))!=null){document.MM_sr[j++]=x; if(!x.oSrc) x.oSrc=x.src; x.src=a[i+2];}
}
//–>
</script>
<link href=”/css/print.css” rel=”stylesheet” type=”text/css” media=”print” />
</head>
Are they using good page titles? Do they have keywords in them? If so, are they reading right to left in order of importance?Is there a site description in the header? Does it have keywords in the header? are they dated? Have they been checked for competitiveness? Are you using an analytic program to track people like a Google Analytic
Is there an opt in option for people wanting to download content? are you seeing a lot of shopping cart abandonment? I would answer all of these questions, fix what needs to be fixed and then work on conversions. The site has to work, or no amount of cleaver marketing fix overcome frustrated user experience.
After that, look at treating all of the important pages on the site as a landing page (home page). Meaning do the SEO, specific to that pages content. When you send out emails, are you sending them to your homepage where they might have to click to get to the page you want them to get to? I would look at down-loadable content, videos, white-papers, etc, and have an email subscription opt-in to get more leads.
Another important aspect that is overlooked but critical to an e-commerce site is A/B testing. Have some users go through the site, and have them comment on the experience of actually finding the product they want, getting it into the shopping cart and check-out. Was it a good experience? Fix these things and conversions will go up.
Other things you can do, is you heat overlays for analytic. this tracks mouse movement to see where are the areas being most heavily clicked. This is very helpful.
Heat Map website Overlay
Red Plums
If you like variety in your snacks, plums are the fruit for you. More than 140 varieties of this colorful fruit are sold fresh in the U.S. but only about 20 of those varieties dominate the commercial chain.
There are 2 main types of plums, European and Japanese. European type plums tend to be small, egg-shaped fruit with a red or yellow skin color. They are usually a freestone fruit meaning they separate easily from the pit. These are the plums that are made into prunes. The Japanese types tend to be round with skin color ranges from crimson to black-red. These are the clingstone type, meaning the flesh clings to the pit. The Japanese plum is eaten fresh, canned, and put into jams and jellies.
About 90 percent of the plums consumed in the United States are grown in California, much of them in the San Joaquin Valley. Twelve Japanese varieties account for three-fourths of California’s plum production. Plums are also grown in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Michigan and New York. The domestic plum season extends form May through October, with the season getting into full swing during July and August. They are low in calories and are a moderate source of fiber and vitamin C.
Plums are very versatile and convenient. They are excellent for pies, ice cream, and cakes but they are best just by themselves. They are perfect for the beach, an afternoon snack or for a tasty addition to you cereal. It’s a great time for plums!
The Iconic Food Pyramid is Gone
USDA Old Food Pyramid
The USDA’s iconic Food Guide Pyramid, introduced in 1992 and much criticized in the past several years for becoming both irrelevant and overly detailed, has been replaced by the plate. For many foodservice professionals who grew up with the pyramid, this represents an interesting paradigm shift, although the message to enjoy your food but eat less of it overall will come as no surprise. For information, check out the new site, choosemyplate.gov.
USDA New Food Guidelines
I read an article recently on some success re-brands. This got me to thinking of some other successful re-brand efforts. Wal-Mart is one that stands out. Giant (a grocery store chain owned by Ahold). I am not sure if they are in all states so some of you might not know them. Best Buy, Pepsi, Kodak, Burger King, Verizon, and BP.
Walmart Logo Before and After
Giant Logo Before and After
This led me to my next question. why were they successful. What did they do right/wrong? I has talking to a colleague about this and he had said he was rushed to do a re-brand when a new CEO took over. He said it was a mistake and tried to talk him out of it. I asked how he came to his conclusion. He said he felt it was wrong to re-brand. Of course the ‘felt’ thing really got to me, and hence the problem with some re-branding efforts. They are either knee-jerk reactions to economic climate, or are rushed through.
So how do you go about seeing the validity if a re-brand is necessary? I think the question one asks is why did they do a redesign/evolution? When a company re-brands, and maybe that’s a better term, re-brand, Wiki definition of a re-brand is:
“Re-branding is the creation of a new name, term, symbol, design or a combination of them for an established brand with the intention of developing a differentiated (new) position in the mind of stakeholders and competitor.”
So what is this evolution term as I have seen some people call it. I am not sure evolution fits here in total. Is it really evolving in the term of brand development or is there an admittance that something is wrong. Yes a brand can evolve and needs new way to communicate that, but how many of those brands mentioned evolved? I would dare say that is the exception, not the norm. Usually companies rebrand because of a negative connotation associated with it, or communicate a new message.
It’s a shame that someone has a knee-jerk reaction and thinks that the re-brand is the answer. Here is what designers/marketers should do in these cases. first you saying you should keep the brand and not do a makeover is just an opinion. Just as the new CEO wanting a re-brand is an opinion. Unfortunately his opinion will win out 100% of the time. What should be done is some careful market research with consumer focus groups, surveys, questionnaires, etc on how the current brand is perceived. then do the same thing with a new brand, how do they react to the color schemes, do they like red & black, does another color scheme fair better? If your data affirms your opinion, you now have something to bring to the table. this way if the new logo flops, you kind of have a ‘I told you so’ in your back pocket. I have NEVER EVER once won out with a business owner on this stuff when it’s just my humble opinion against theirs.
What to do first. The first thing to do is talk to the ownership and key executives. Ask them how they perceive the company. Do you think old fashioned, high tech, family oriented, industry leader, etc… then make sure the branding is in line with what they perceive. The second thing is to then get permission to talk to some key accounts. Usually the sales dept. will tell you who is approachable. Ask these customers the same question. I guarantee what ownership and customers perceive are two different things. this is really helpful to align correctly any branding efforts. Asking customers can come in several forms. questionnaires, or a focus group discussion. Usually you have to hang a carrot to get people to talk in this format.
Next, do the primary and secondary research, well actually above is primary research. The secondary research is the obvious stuff. research on competitors etc. I sometimes pose as a potential client so I can get all of their sales and marketing materials, which is extremely helpful. Look at their website, other public data.
Once you have this, you can, and only now start to figure out what direction you need to go for the re-brand. Now granted, there are a lot of companies who blow by this stuff, and unfortunately that is a mistake. I can’t emphasis enough how important it is to do the questionnaires with ownership and key clients. the results almost always shock ownership. Having this research will be extremely helpful in determining the direction to take the project.
Work Smarter, Not Harder
Ok, it came up in one of my Linkedin groups about writing code. Most designers hate writing code, but today, designers are being asked to do more. So how can you write code without having to reinvent the wheel. Below are some great open-source libraries that have a lot of code already written for you. try them out. They are a time and life saver.
You basically have to put code in the header of your document then use the open source script for what you want. For example I have a client who wanted a flash scrolling list of clients. I found code (Free) to do the same thing with JavaScript using JQuery. Chances are one has to write very little code, unless you are doing something high-end work for a large company that wants a ton of customization, and if that is the case I pass on the project.
Here are some other free libraries. These should keep you busy. Bottom line, if you need it, it’s already been written by someone else and chances are it’s in an open-source library/toolkit.
XOAD-XOAD is a PHP based AJAX/XAP object oriented framework that allows you to create richer web applications. Formerly known as NAJAX, XOAD has many benefits: it uses JSON, supports server / client side events, HTML manipulation, Caching and many more. http://sourceforge.net/projects/xoad/
JODO- Javascript tools- Dojo saves you time, delivers powerful performance, and scales with your development process. It’s the toolkit experienced developers turn to for building great web experiences. http://www.dojotoolkit.org/
XAJAX- Using AJAX to PHP Apps with XAJAX. http://xajaxproject.org/
RICO- Offers visual effects, styling, drag and drop and ajax functions. http://openrico.org/
Mochikit-MochiKit is a highly documented and well tested suite of JavaScript libraries that will help you get things done, fast. http://mochikit.com/
DOJO- A Toolkit by the Dojo Foundation featuring DHTML and AJAX functions
http://www.dojotoolkit.org/
CPAINT- CPAINT (Cross-Platform Asynchronous INterface Toolkit) is a multi-language toolkit that helps web developers design and implement AJAX web applications with ease and flexibility. It was originally born out of the author’s frustration and disappointment with other open-source AJAX toolkits. It is built on the same principles of AJAX, utilizing JavaScript and the XMLHTTP object on the client-side and the appropriate scripting language on the server-side to complete the full circle of data passing from client to server and back. http://cpaint.sourceforge.net/
AJAX Javascript Toolkit at SourceForge.net. Fast, secure and free downloads from the largest Open Source applications and software directory. http://sourceforge.net/projects/ajform/
