The Invesp Blog: E-commerce and Landing page Optimization » Business http://www.invesp.com/blog Conversion Rate Optimization Blog Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:28:12 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 How Big is Blogosphere [Infographic] http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/how-big-is-blogsphere.html http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/how-big-is-blogsphere.html#comments Mon, 12 Sep 2011 17:20:02 +0000 khalid http://www.invesp.com/blog/?p=1718

The Blogosphere is growing at rapid pace. Blogging these days is not just about sharing content. Its much more than that. Its about Analytics, trends, social networking traffic, revenues and lot more. Our infographic “How Big is Blogosphere” will be covering some interesting facts about Blogging World.

Infographic by- Conversion Rate Optimization Company Invesp

How Big is Blogosphere

 

To Publish this Image on your Blog or Website . Copy this code

Did You Know That

According to BlogPulse, there were more than 164 Million Blogs in July 2011.

49% of Bloggers are from USA, followed by 29% from Europe and then 12% from Asia Pacific

64% of Bloggers are Hobbyists.Only 21% of bloggers are Full time bloggers.

30% of bloggers are of age group 25-34 years followed by 27% from age group 35-44 years.

15% of US bloggers are from California.

28% of bloggers are blogging from 4-6 years, followed by 21% bloggers blogging from more than 6 years.

Only 11% of bloggers are earning their primary income from blogging.

32% of bloggers spend less than 1 hour/week in blogging followed by 28% who spend 1-3 hours/week in blogging.

55% of bloggers update their blogs for 4-12 times/month

40% of bloggers are using WordPress blogging platform.

35% of bloggers write about areas of Interest.

66% of bloggers use personal satisfaction to measure their success

25% of bloggers are using mobile devices for blogging.

40% of blogs are using Display ads as the main source for generating revenues.

Around half, 48% of blogs receive less than 1,000 unique visitors per month.

© 2006-20010 Invesp

]]> http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/how-big-is-blogsphere.html/feed 9 Khalid’s speaking schedule http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/khalids-speaking-schedule.html http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/khalids-speaking-schedule.html#comments Wed, 16 Feb 2011 10:25:00 +0000 khalid http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/khalids-speaking-schedule.html

I will be speaking at the following conferences over the next couple of months.

SMX West – 3/10/2011. I am speaking on the conversion optimization science panel.

Conversion conference west – 3/15/2011: I am speaking with the awesome Rob Snell on ecommerce best practices

SES NY: 3/22/2011: I will be conducting conversion optimization express site reviews.

Emetrics – Toronto 4/29/2011. I am speaking on a panel with the legendary Jim Novo on the art and science of interpreting data and making a case for change.

If you are attending any of these conferences and would like to talk conversion optimization or ecommerce, do not hesitate in dropping me an email: khalid at invesp dot com.

© 2006-20010 Invesp

]]> http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/khalids-speaking-schedule.html/feed 0 Get the Conversion Optimization E-book version for 50% off – Wednesday only sale! http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/get-the-conversion-optimization-e-book-version-for-50-off-wednesday-only-sale.html http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/get-the-conversion-optimization-e-book-version-for-50-off-wednesday-only-sale.html#comments Tue, 15 Feb 2011 20:13:15 +0000 khalid http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/get-the-conversion-optimization-e-book-version-for-50-off-wednesday-only-sale.html

If you have been planning to order our book on conversion optimization, then we have a special deal for you. I just got an email from our publisher, O’Reilly, letting me know that they are offering a one day discount of 50% on in O’Reilly’s Theory in Practice  series which includes our title. Order your copy by navigating to this special offer. This offer is only valid for Wednesday 2/16/2010.

Use discount code DDTP5 in the shopping cart. Ebooks from oreilly.com are DRM-free. You get free lifetime access, and free updates.

© 2006-20010 Invesp

]]> http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/get-the-conversion-optimization-e-book-version-for-50-off-wednesday-only-sale.html/feed 0 What webinar topics are you interested in? http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/what-webinar-topics-are-you-interested-in.html http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/what-webinar-topics-are-you-interested-in.html#comments Mon, 14 Feb 2011 10:26:11 +0000 khalid http://www.invesp.com/blog/?p=1682

We are in the process of planning a monthly webinar on a variety of topics. The plan is to have industry experts present these webinars. These webinars are designed for you, so please let us know what topics are interesting to you.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

© 2006-20010 Invesp

]]> http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/what-webinar-topics-are-you-interested-in.html/feed 0 Twitter IDs: 2009 Top Marketers Nominees http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/twitter-ids-2009-top-marketers-nominees.html http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/twitter-ids-2009-top-marketers-nominees.html#comments Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:02:19 +0000 khalid http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/twitter-ids-2009-top-marketers-nominees.html

Since voting started on the 2009 top online marketers yesterday, I wanted to put a quick list of the twitter ids for the nominees. (names appear in alphabetical order)

© 2006-20010 Invesp

]]> http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/twitter-ids-2009-top-marketers-nominees.html/feed 9 Voting is now open for the Top 100 Internet Marketers of 2009 http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/voting-is-now-open-for-the-top-100-internet-marketers-of-2009.html http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/voting-is-now-open-for-the-top-100-internet-marketers-of-2009.html#comments Thu, 03 Dec 2009 07:16:21 +0000 khalid http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/voting-is-now-open-for-the-top-100-internet-marketers-of-2009.html

In our previous post, we called for nominations for the Top 100 Internet Marketers of 2009. We received a great response, and are pleased to announce the nominees for this year’s Top 100.

To help us finalize our list of the top leaders and thinkers in Internet marketing this year, cast your vote now. Voting will take place until mid night 12/13/2009.

We look forward to your votes. Stay tuned for the final results!

© 2006-20010 Invesp

]]> http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/voting-is-now-open-for-the-top-100-internet-marketers-of-2009.html/feed 1 Nominations are Open for the Top 100 Most Influential Internet Marketers of 2009 http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/nominations-are-open-for-the-top-100-most-influential-internet-marketers-of-2009.html http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/nominations-are-open-for-the-top-100-most-influential-internet-marketers-of-2009.html#comments Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:58:59 +0000 khalid http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/nominations-are-open-for-the-top-100-most-influential-internet-marketers-of-2009.html

After the successful launch of last year’s list of top marketers, we are launching our second annual list of the world’s most influential Internet marketers, and we need your help!

If you or someone you know demonstrated outstanding leadership and achievements in the Internet marketing industry this year, please feel free to complete the 2009 top marketers nomination form. Last year list generated close to 750,000 views and over 12,000 nominations and votes.

With your recommendations, our selection committee will create a list of nominees for our readers to vote on from November 23rd to December 4th. Based on your votes and our criteria, we will reveal the final top 100. Please note that nominations will be accepted through November 15, 2009.

We look forward to your submissions!

© 2006-20010 Invesp

]]> http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/nominations-are-open-for-the-top-100-most-influential-internet-marketers-of-2009.html/feed 2 Real World Multivariate Testing: SES San Jose 2009 http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/real-world-multivariate-testing-ses-san-jose-2009.html http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/real-world-multivariate-testing-ses-san-jose-2009.html#comments Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:27:25 +0000 Ayat Shukairy http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/real-world-multivariate-testing-ses-san-jose-2009.html

image While I enjoyed networking at the SES conference in San Jose tremendously, I can’t critic the conference from an attendee perspective since I only attended a few sessions. I did notice that there were fewer than anticipated registrants, but popular sessions were packed. My session was titled (and yes, it was a popular session): Real World Multivariate Testing – and I was on a panel with Trevor Claiborne of Google, Jim McDonald of Match.com, and Dan Sprinkle of Acronym.

Multivariate testing is recommended during conversion optimization, and actually, each recommendation we give our clients is paired in some way with a few testing scenarios to maximize results. My focus during the session though, because most of the panelists were focusing on the benefits, was to shed light onto some of the challenges many listeners may not be aware of.

Factors

It’s important to set the stage: There are a number of factors that impact a multivariate test:

Internal Factors

  • Technical Considerations
  • Number of Page Views
  • Current Conversion Rate
  • Desired Improvement
  • Number of Scenarios

And I’ll get into most of those later! But there are some factors that are forgotten – nobody assumes that these factors have a direct impact on the test:

External Factors

· Economy: Oh the economy! During this recession, everyday is full of surprises for the online retail world. Running a multivariate test in January and February of 09 when things were at an all time low, clearly results will be skewed. Keep that in mind and know what’s going on in the world before deploying a multivariate test.

· Competition: If your competitor is running a special simultaneous to your multivariate test, your results will be impacted.

With that in mind, what are some other challenges that may impact the creation and deployment of a multivariate test?

The 5-minute myth:

Our focus in on ecommerce, because that is our specialty. Now anybody who tells you creating and deploying a multivariate test takes 5 minutes has clearly never deployed a multivariate test on a dynamic website before.

Some concerns:

  1. Complex scenarios: Ecommerce multivariate testing becomes even more time consuming when you’re focused on price optimization where the values are driven from a database, or site navigation testing which is built upon complex application logic – suddenly it’s more than 5 hours, 5 days, and sometimes even 5 weeks.

Something to bear in mind is that when you are undertaking such a complex project, you need to realize that the project is two-fold – a conversion optimization team working designing and creating optimized scenarios, and programmers that have to implement the test. Don’t go move to complex optimization until you’ve first tested some of the more low hanging fruits because of the time consumption, the complexities and the resource allocation.

  1. Platform: Do you have a custom ecommerce solution, or are you on a hosted solution? These are crucial details that you need to sort out before multivariate testing.
    • Hosted Solutions: If you’re on a hosted solution you will be faced with all sorts of limitations, you need to see if there are specific api’s and plug-ins to assist in integrating the platform with whatever testing solution you’ve selected. Whether it’s Yahoo Stores, Network Solutions, or any of the other 100 hosted platforms, you’re going to run into issues when integrating a multivariate test. Be aware of these issues before proceeding to minimize test deployment time.
    • Custom Solutions: Custom solutions are great because they offer you more flexibility. But what you may face is some conflict between the testing solution and some hard-coded areas throughout the site. Again, delve into understanding your platform and how it will work and not work with the testing solution before proceeding with multivariate testing.

Internal Factors

Traffic to the Page

The reality is that the number one factor that will impact the speed of the test is the conversion rate on the page/site being tested. A low conversion rate and low traffic is a recipe for disaster. Your test will go on for months with no conclusion in sight. What to do?

  1. The more visitors to the page, the faster we can conclude the test (and I’ll explain why faster tests are better).
  2. When are you running the test? If you don’t have a traffic problem, you can conclude a test within hours. But does it make sense to run a test from 12 am – 4 am and look at the statistically significant results (and attempt to make assumptions and conclusions)? Not really. By limiting the time frame you could possibly exclude many visitors. So although you might have enough statistical data, I would recommend running the test for a few days to get more exact results and test all visitors vs. a single segment.
  3. Traffic Segmentation: As a prelude to any multivariate test, understanding market segments and their reaction to the page can pave for stronger testing scenarios. Additionally, understanding results after the test has concluded, from each segment’s perspective can be meaningful.

The Conversion Page

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Whenever we discuss the conversion page, we like to look at it from a micro vs. macro conversion perspective. Looking at the checkout process, if I have optimized my cart page for testing, my first inclination may be to set the conversion page as the confirmation page: MACRO CONVERSION. While this is not an incorrect strategy, I may be spending more time on the test since traffic drops from step to step in the checkout process, and I haven’t identified fully if the cart page has concluded the better results for me. What if my shipping/billing page is the culprit? Suddenly my results have been skewed and I can’t tell where the problem is in the checkout process (is it still the cart page or something else)?

Micro Conversion: But if I select the next step in the conversion process, in this case, the shipping billing page as my conversion page, I’m identifying the flow to that particular next step. We like to work our way up to the macro conversion or test simultaneously the same cart page at a micro or macro conversion. There is no right or wrong way, it depends on each test, the goals, and the strategy.

Test Creation

Before I start creating a multivariate test I need to do my homework: as much time as I spend analyzing results of a test I need to spend preparing for a test. One of the most efficient ways to create a successful multivariate test is through understanding the market. And what better way than doing that through persona creation.

clip_image004

Persona Development:

When I look at each page of my site from my personas lens, I have a better idea of what their concerns are, what I should change to better cater to them, etc. Once I’ve created a test, I can once more take my personas and look at each scenario to assess how it would impact the competitive, impulsive, logical, and caring users. Based on that information I may decide to remove scenarios where I felt the copy does not address the needs of each market segment.

Scenario Reduction is part science, part art. I can reduce some scenarios based on persona information, but other scenarios may be reduced based on general aesthetic and appeal from a usability, design and conversion perspective. This type of scenario reduction takes practice and time.

Scenario Reduction Example

With this specific client we were testing the continue shopping, proceed to checkout, and the shipping options.

clip_image006

We ended up with

clip_image008

Seems like a pretty normal outcome. But when we plugged these results into the Google Website Optimizer Calculator:

clip_image010

The test is estimated to take 212.736 days, which is way too long. Remember at the beginning of this blog how I discussed external factors, well in 212 days let me assure you that those external factors will kick in. We do not like to run tests for more than 4 weeks.

So based on persona likes, dislikes, the goals of our test, and some general design no-no’s; we were able to reduce the scenarios significantly:

clip_image012

That’s right around the time that we like to run a test.

I went on to give actual examples of successful tests and the results we concluded towards the end of the my talk. Most of the audience members enjoyed the examples because it gave them real-world samples of how to run a test and what you results you can expect to see. What I stressed throughout my presentation is the importance of the analysis that needs to happen after a test is concluded. Questions to ponder: Can I say that an element should be removed all together because it reduced cart abandonment? Or do I need to consider alternate design, copy, and location of this element?

Multivariate testing is a staple element in all of our optimization projects. If done correctly, MVT can increase conversion rates to 200 – 300%, but if done incorrectly can be a waste of time, money, and effort (even if you’re using free tools). Remember, analysis BEFORE and AFTER to maximize the ROI of testing. What are some challenges you’ve faced with multivariate testing?

© 2006-20010 Invesp

]]> http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/real-world-multivariate-testing-ses-san-jose-2009.html/feed 5 Is the Customer Always Right? http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/is-the-customer-always-right.html http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/is-the-customer-always-right.html#comments Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:58:50 +0000 Chris Garrett http://www.invesp.com/blog/?p=1551

When we get around to any discussion about customer service, and in particular customer satisfaction, a phrase is almost guaranteed to come up:

The customer is always right

But is that really true?

Before you answer, check out this YouTube video:

Customer service

According to a Google search, the phrase was coined by a certain Mr Harry Gordon Selfridge of the department store fame. It is one of those phrases that is used by people who mean it literally, while the likely intent was probably not as cut and dried.

Yes, customer support staff should aim to please, that the company should be guaranteed to fix any reasonable issue, and customers should know that their problems will always be listened to.

It does neither any good to blanket agree to every demand, perceived grievance, or negotiating tactic, because some people are plain unreasonable. Some people use it as a license to make staff as unhappy as possible, or as a way of lining their pockets. Every so often there are people who just want to cause trouble, disturbance or offense. These folks are rare but I am sure everyone reading this will have heard of at least one horror story, likely more.

The biggest reason to not blindly follow the “customer is always right rule” is because it is unfair on your good customers. You know, the people who are good, honest, and need your help.

Just as the 80-20% rule holds true for most things, it is especially pronounced with “problem customers”. A small percentage of your clients will make up for the vast majority of your day to day problems, or the really big fires that need putting out.

If you allow yourself to be distracted by the serial complainer, the attention seeker or the “high sense of entitlement guy” you have less time for the people who are your best and nicest clients.

By no means be rude to them, try to help them as best as you can, but in the end you are better off not having them as your customer any longer.

So, in fact, “the customer is always right” is true. If they are consistently wrong, they should not be your customer any longer.

Focus on the people who can be helped, and fire the abusive, obstructive, bad payers, and loud mouths. Nurture the folks who make business a joyful partnership rather than a battle of wills.

What do you think? Please share your experiences and thoughts in the comments …

© 2006-20010 Invesp

]]> http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/is-the-customer-always-right.html/feed 6 Are You Investing in Your Business or Sucking it Dry? http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/investing-or-sucking.html http://www.invesp.com/blog/business/investing-or-sucking.html#comments Fri, 12 Jun 2009 10:43:49 +0000 Chris Garrett http://www.invesp.com/blog/?p=1544

When was the last time you invested in your business? Have you scaled back your investment recently, or increased it? Are you updating your knowledge and skills, or hoping that the expertise you have gained previously will see you through industry changes now and in the future?

One of the challenges for social media evangelists is balancing the benefits with a healthy dose of reality. Many businesses are turning to social media not because they believe it is more effective than some other approaches to lead generation, but because they have heard that it is cheap or free.

This is a worry for two reasons.

  1. There is always a cost to doing any kind of promotion, and for many of us time is actually not just money but worth more than money.
  2. This fear of investing symptom hints at bigger problems, more fundamental than simple lead pipeline challenges.

I am a complete social media advocate, to the point where a large part of my work is helping people get more business with social media and answering related questions, but social media is NOT a replacement for investing in your business.

At the very least you should be investing time not just in “doing” your business, but growing, improving and creating systems for it. That is about productivity, testing, analysis and education.

We see around us lots of short term patches, fixes and “hot tricks”, and while some of these things might work for a time, it is not a way to build a long term sustainable business.

Yes, social media works, but it works best when allied with all your existing and proven best practices. After social media there will be another tool du jour. This does not mean you ought to dismiss what has worked for you in the past.

Now more than ever you need to invest time and money in making your business the strongest it can be. Create new services and products, launch and relaunch, learn from mistakes, network and partner. It will help you weather the storms and when the world economy picks up then you will be best placed to gain from it.

© 2006-20010 Invesp

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