Okay, so maybe you’ve never actually piled a cart full of groceries and then had a change of heart, leaving it somewhere between the produce aisle and the deli. But, more than likely, you’ve taken an item from its place on the shelf, examined it and handled it and maybe even placed it inside the cart, only to think better of it and return the item to its original home. We’ve all done it, more than once, and not just in the grocery store.

In the land of eCommerce, it’s called the “abandoned shopping cart,” and it’s responsible for the demise of countless would-be purchases every day. In fact, according to a report issued by the Boston Consulting Group, approximately 65% of online shoppers jump ship at some point between adding items to their virtual cart and clicking the “Buy Now” button that is the holy grail for eCommerce businesses. MarketingSherpa conducted another study of sample websites that determined an average abandonment rate of 59.8%. (more…)

With Andy MacDowell playing the role of Googlebot…

Have you ever seen the movie Mulitplicity? Do you also happen to run/manage an eCommerce website? If so, then you should know exactly what I’m referring to without even reading any further. This isn’t a signal to hit your back button now, but instead an indication that what I’m about to share with you will shed light on this important subject and how it affects all online retailers - and really any website with pagination for that matter.

Most online retailers use pagination in their product catalogs, and many don’t even understand the underlying effects of this feature. This topic is something that I’ve been performing quite a bit of research on over the past year and is near and dear to my heart. It’s a concern that not only spans SEO, but also Usability, so it is important to define a balance between those needs. (more…)

Time and time again, we encounter eCommerce retailers that think “they know their users”. And sure, most of them have a good idea of who they are. But knowing who they are is a different story than knowing how they act, what they like, and what they don’t like about your website. In fact, these behaviors and attitudes have a tremendous impact on the effectiveness of your eCommerce website converting visitors into buyers. The good news is, that you can gain insight into your users by performing user testing. An often-overlooked tool by eCommerce merchants, this tactic has typically been reserved for government organizations that are mandated to ensure their websites are accessible to everyone, and to large scale corporations with the wallet to fund user testing.

My experiences working with the Centers for the Disease Control and Prevention demonstrated the value generated by performing usability testing - as there was a heavy emphasis on the usability of any page or site developed. Now, some of you may be asking yourself “I’m a small company, I can’t afford to hire a firm to bring users into a room for usability testing and feedback”. Others may be thinking, “why should I care about usability testing” or “I have more important things to worry about”. However, what you should be asking yourself is “what is the opportunity cost of not performing usability testing?” (more…)

In today’s highly competitive eCommerce marketplace, the savvy online shopper rarely makes a purchase without doing a little homework first. To a consumer, there’s nothing more exasperating than spending $200 for an area rug and then stumbling across the same product for $50 less at another website. Of course, no-one has the time to visit hundreds of sites hunting down the lowest available price, which is why shopping comparison engines have become so widely popular. According to industry estimates, 68% of online purchases begin at a shopping comparison site or search engine, with only 30% of conversions originating from a direct visit to an eCommerce store.

The premise is simple—online merchants set up a feed of hand-picked products to the shopping comparison sites, which then accumulate all of the product information into a database and create a search index. When the consumer visits the shopping comparison site and does a search for, say, “golf clubs,” a search is performed against the database and returns a listing of all relevant matches. The consumer can then quickly compare their attributes. Different sites may fluctuate somewhat in their presentation and layout, but most will display such product information as price, product name, seller’s name, product image, and key selling points. Nearly all will provide the consumer with various sorting options, so they can shop by price, by brand, by rating, or by other parameters. A link is also provided, so the shopper can quickly hop to an online store to obtain more information or to purchase the featured item. (more…)