How can I further improve my ecommerce conversion rate?

You should always be working to improve conversion rates and there are lots of techniques and tools you can use (some expensive, some cheap, some free) to continuously improve your online sales performance.

The first step should always be a review of your checkout process goal funnel. Most people have Google Analytics reporting, and it's quite a useful way to visualise people dropping out of your cart.

I'm not going to go into detail about how to create a Google Goal Funnel, but if you're keen to learn more (and you should be) then please visit this page for instructions: http://www.google.com/support/googleanalytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=55515

The obvious thing to look for is where people drop out of the funnel and try and prevent it from happening. So if they're clicking on shipping detail links or product returns policy links then you might consider creating a popup window to show that info, or actually place that information on the "problem page". Your job is to keep people in the checkout funnel at all costs! Plug the leaks!

There are lots of other free tools you can play with, like Google's useful "Website Optimiser". It's a bit of mucking around to set up but helpful for cheap A/B split tests and multivariate tests.

One really simple technique I've seen used to very "high converting effect" is emailing people if they abandon your checkout process.

Most people fill in their details during checkout, but baulk when it comes to pulling a credit card out of their wallets! Some people are so tight fickle. Usually you'll often see a higher percentage of exits from the payment page than most others.

Instruct your developer to collect and segment abandoned cart visitors and send those details to you.

Even better, ask your developer to create an auto responder – pretty easy, you just need to create some business rules and a customised email template.

Here's an email I received when I got distracted while completing our delegate registration for SMX Sydney recently:

Hi There,

Thanks for taking the time to go through the registration process for SMX Sydney 2010, we noticed that you did not complete your registration.

Are you having trouble getting approval? Try our funding approval success tips that will help you in your quest to convince your boss.

Alternatively, you might find some of these links helpful.

• Testimonials
  
• Satisfaction Guarantee
  
• Group Bookings
  

If there is anything that you would like to speak to us about personally about then do not hesitate in calling us on +612 8004 0891.

We hope to se you at SMX Sydney 2010.

Regards
SMX Sydney Event Team

It's seriously great, but there are few things I'd try and improve if it was me.

• First of all, check the spelling! "We hope to se you at SMX Sydney 2010"
  
• Try adding more incentive, such as "Complete the registration and we'll throw in a free 4GB USB key!" (Slightly risky if word gets out)
  
• Give me a link to the step in the process where I dropped out (and if I had a product in the cart, pre-populate that too so everything is just as I left it).
  
• Personalise the message. I told you who I was just before I gave you my email address. It's easy to change the email opening line from "Hi There," to "Hi Chris,"
  
• The subject line of the email read, "Incomplete registration for SMX Sydney 2010". When I read it I felt like I'd done something wrong. It had me secretly on the defensive from the get-go! Try changing it to something more friendly which might also improve the open rate such as, "Hi Chris, A free 4GB USB key is yours if you complete your registration for SMX Sydney 2010!" As always, test everything to find the best response rates.
  

The ultimate outcome isn't a goal funnel, it's a goal tube. You want everything that goes in the top coming out the bottom!

SMX Sydney 2010 – a review

This week's instalment isn't about problem solving. It's about the where we're headed in the world of online marketing to the next 12 months.

As we do every year, Reseo closed its doors for two days last week and flew up to Sydney to hear from some of the best and brightest Search Marketing people in the world.

Key takeaways?

Social Media Marketing is the new frontier.

As if you didn't know it already, social media marketing is the next big thing, where opportunity abounds if you get your tactical mix right. Probably the best quote came from the highly entertaining Marty Weintraub from aimclear marketing who said, (and I paraphrase);

"Most of you are in the search marketing industry right? Well get your head around Facebook advertising fast. It's going to be your new career within the next 12 months".

There's no doubt Marty could talk under six feet of wet cement; he's incredible!

The controversial, but also highly articulate and engaging Dennis Yu spoke to us about the concept of "attribution" which basically means that if you perform high levels of Facebook Advertising for example, you'll see a corresponding lift in conversions from other online channels, like AdWords.

The lift in conversions can be attributed to your Facebook Advertising even though it's not directly creating conversions directly through that particular advertising channel.

The key takeaway was the bargain that 'is' Facebook advertising. Some of these guys really go for it, racking up 30 million Ad impressions for clients every day for very low CPM spend compared to traditional banner advertising.

The next big thing this year (which seems to have has perpetually been "the next big thing this year") is the continued rise of mobile search. Cindy Krum from Rank Mobile spoke about the incredible penetration and rise of mobile search activity and how to get your mobile website to rank well in the Mobile search results (which uses a different ranking algorithm than a normal desktop/laptop computer result).

She also took us through the paid search landscape, or PPC for mobile devices which we've done a fair bit of at Reseo, but not to the level of sophistication she presented!

After the event we did a little networking on a harbour cruise, and I was honoured to share a glass of red with a couple of legends in the Analytics industry, Rod Jacka from Panalysis and Jim Sterne from Targeting.com. I read Jim Sterne's now legendary book Web Metrics a few years ago when I was working for Lonely Planet which helped me get involved in an Analytics project at the time.

Using Jim's book, I was able to unlock about $200k worth of extra revenue for Lonely Planet annually. I still constantly refer to it to this day.

Seriously, all the sessions were fantastic, from real time search marketing tactics to the now legendary 'site clinics'. I highly recommend anyone who has an interest in online marketing trundling along in 2011.