By Tom Polanski, EVP, eBrand Media and eBrand Interactive

In an earlier article I discussed the importance of website optimization. When I first got into online marketing back in 2000, it was a gold rush for everybody. We’d get calls from advertisers requesting more “eye balls”.  Remember those days anybody? Tracking was rudimentary. As the years passed web and site analytics have become more sophisticated and, as a result, more capable of delivering data about the IAO (interests, attitudes and opinions) of end user. However, even through 2007, many never questioned why 95 to 99% of their traffic wasn’t converting; even with all of that gathered intelligence. Instead most were focused on optimization of ad copy or other aspects of the media campaigns they had running across the internet universe. 

Neiman-Marcus was the first company I met, years ago, that was using their data to improve the company’s e-commerce site and, subsequently, the shopping experience the site delivered. 

In these tough economic times we’re steadfast in our belief that in these tough times optimizing your website for the purpose of increasing conversion rates is the best (and least expensive) investment a company can make. One of our clients, a nationwide brand, wanted to invest in display advertising on MSN as a means to drive revenue increases. Instead we pointed out that the site is already getting a tremendous volume of targeted, motivated traffic from the right audience but 98% of it wasn’t converting. 

We suggested that it would be prudent to hire the eBrand Media Group to research and analyze the site. We delivered an extensive, deeply probing analysis of the site along with dozens of site improvement suggestions. We received this e-mail after only several of the suggestions were implemented:

“Tom, please extend my thanks to you and your team for all of the info and the suggestions.  Just following a few of your directions regarding the home page seems to have increased our conversion rates 50 -100% over the past two weeks.  There has been a definite and dramatic increase.  Halleluiah!   We spent 4 hours going over every point made in the report and are working on making more of the changes.”

After eight years of successfully helping companies grow their businesses, it’s clear to us, that many companies could be greatly enhance their ROI if there was an internal commitment to optimizing the web site so that shoppers enter a positive, easy to navigate and secure feeling environment that is designed to help them to buy rather than inhibit their ability to buy.  

Site analytics showed us that there was a 14% bounce rate off of the homepage. Not great but we found this to be pretty low considering the chaotic and confusing nature of the homepage. That 86% of the people who arrived and chose to stick it out is an indication that the site was receiving high-quality, targeted, focused traffic. 

Of the 86% who stuck, only 3% put something in the shopping cart. This means that of the all of the people who stayed on the site, 97% of those people abandoned the shopping process as they drilled deeper. If prices are competitive this an indication of anxiety 

Of the 3% who put something in the shopping cart only .01% bought. This means that 99.99% of the people who put something in the cart, walked out of the store before buying. This is an indication of friction manifesting in the shopping cart because the buyer took too many actions to give up easily. Something is disturbing them. This is the internet equivalent of a shopper searching newspaper ads, getting in a car, driving to the store, locating the product, putting it in the cart, walking up to the cashier; and then abandoning the shopping cart before greeting the cashier.

Here are some of the problems we found with the homepage.  We’ve included several of the improvement suggestions we made.  Do any of these apply to you? 

Challenges & Solutions: 

Duplication of message in text link at the top of the page – This is a waste of real estate

Contradictory clearance sale messages – Check your copy.  Do you have contradictory messages? 

Too many promotions located next to each other – We suggested an animated, rotating gif (banner) or a “Deal of the Day” graphic, which would change with each day. New customers are always treated to something interesting and returning customers are greeted with something different.   

Two gift card offers in the same quadrant – Neither told us clearly or immediately how the gift card deal worked.  It felt like a betrayal and a surprise to click on either banner, expecting information on the gift card, only to be taken to a category page. There the shopper has to click again to learn about the gift card.  Too many actions are required for the shopper to get information regarding the gift card.

Remember this old internet marketing saw – You typically want the end user to take as many actions as possible to get to the site and as few as possible once they’re in the site. 

We suggested rewriting ad copy to add urgency – For example: “Limited Time Only!  Rug Sale reserves the right to end this promotion at anytime”

Print in a font size that is too difficult to read – Increase the font size and make the text black. It promotes easy readability on any screen resolution, which will make visitors stay on your site longer.

Clicking “About Us” at the bottom of the page took us right back to the top of the homepage – It told us nothing about the client site and represented a surprise that degraded the site/shopper flow – Put “About Us” on a separate page.

No credibility indicators above the fold – We suggested putting the “Verified Merchant Services” logo in the hero spot.

No e-mail sign-up on the homepage – We suggested an e-mail sign-up form that included motivational messaging above the sign-up fields that would excite the browser to sign a “guest book”, so to speak.  The shopper will have probably moved beyond the homepage and will have no real interest in the e-mail sign-up. We suggested these examples: “Sign up now for tips and information about sales and special discounts.”  Or, even better yet, in our estimation, “Sign up for offers available online only!”

Results:

We delivered an assessment chock full with optimization suggestions. Of the dozens of suggestions we made only a few of those discussed above have been executed yet.  But already the client has seen the sites conversion rate increase, as stated above, 50-100%.

In our experience there are two types of people. Browsers and buyers. Appropriate optimization will empower your site to turn an increased number of those browsers into buyers. Imagine what it would do for the company’s bottom line if you could increase the websites conversion rate even just 1%.