Would you like a 14.56% Conversion Rate?

Most websites do not pay close attention to the design of their top navigation bar. Yet simple changes made on this location of the page can make huge differences in conversion optimization. Prior to going bankrupt, Tower reported that they were able to double their conversion rates by adding a new navigational feature to their site.

While there are no concrete rules on what elements you should include on your top bar, there are several elements you should consider.

Continue reading Ecommerce Top Level Navigation – Lessons From the Top 10 E-Retailers

Tags: Conversion Optimization, ecommerce, ecommerce design, site navigation, usability, website design
Posted in Conversion Optimization

Redesigning an existing ecommerce site is much harder than you may think. However, there are a couple of things that you can do to organize your ecommerce site that will immediately increase your conversion rate.

Continue reading 7 easy tips to rejuvenate your ecommerce site and instantly increase your conversion rate

Tags: Conversion Optimization, conversion rate, ecommerce, website design
Posted in Conversion Optimization

So you know your site needs to be optimized and now just need to find someone to do it. The following questions are ones you need to ask to ensure that you maximize your investment:

1. What increase in conversion rates should I expect?

Can a conversion optimization company guarantee a specific rate increase? I am yet to meet a credible company that is able to guarantee specific results. The truth is, every conversion project comes with its own unique situation. However, a good conversion company should invest time with you up-front to set target goals for any planned optimization work. Keep in mind though that pre-set targets can be both achieved and missed. The point is to focus on defining success parameters for the project from the very first day.

2. What time frame should I expect the project to be completed by?

Conversion optimization is not a one week effort. There is always room for improvements. Some companies will provide the work within a month and disappear after the initial implementation. Your best bet is to find companies that offer support services in the months following initial implementation.

Continue reading 14 Smart Questions to Ask Conversion Optimization Consultants

Tags: Conversion Optimization, landing-page-optimization
Posted in Conversion Optimization

I hate popup blockers and find them quite annoying; but then who doesn’t? And although it is hard to find users who are “okay” with popups, some sites continue to use them ignoring the basic usability and conversion principles. But of course, that shouldn’t seem too strange since experts in the industry are recommending that ecommerce sites continue the popup practice. We came across a “recognized leading expert in web site usability and ecommerce marketing strategies” who gives the following advice to ecommerce sites that are trying to get more information about site visitors. Our expert recommends:

aggressive in collecting e-mail addresses, especially if it intends to eventually cease using direct mail as a touchpoint. For instance, it could use pop-up screens to capture the e-mail addresses of forum participants and of people who abandon searches or shopping carts

Continue reading Popup Hell

Tags: ecommerce, marketing, popups
Posted in Business, Conversion Optimization, Sales & Marketing

**Thank you for all the wonderful comments and suggestions of analytics tools. This is an update of our last post with 5 more more great tools to add to your list.

Never undermine the importance of testing and analyzing your site. On the most basic level, analytics data will help ensure whether or not you’re on the right track. And if the data is reviewed and utilized on the site it will help you increase conversion rates. Who doesn’t use analytic tools these days? You’d be surprised. We have come across ecommerce site marketing VP’s that can barely tell us the number of visitors, conversion rates, or results and rankings for paid and unpaid traffic. Now, for those of you who are familiar with analytics data and tools, I thought this was a fun little blog that may pique your interest to what’s new out there.

We’ve worked with these 15 tools that can be found on Techlicous’s to help analyze and gain a better understanding of your site’s traffic.

Continue reading Top 20 Site Analytics Tools to Help Optimize Your Site

Tags: analytics tools, Conversion Optimization, ecommerce, software
Posted in Conversion Optimization, SEO, Technology

We’ve all been there … when a client thinks they know your job more than you! We’ve experienced clients that argue that he or she want a specific element or application on the site even though your research has proven that it has negatively impacted conversion. The site visitor in this case is the decision maker. Do site visitors decide everything on the site? No, that’s impossible. But if I know the visitor well enough I can determine what will trigger interest, confusion, etc. and make certain to address all the concerns throughout the site.

Continue reading The User Knows Best

Tags: Conversion Optimization, market segmentation, Personas
Posted in Business, Conversion Optimization, Sales & Marketing

We just launched a new affiliate program for the landing page optimization book. You can earn 40% commission ($38) for each qualified sale. The program is hosted via Click Banks. Learn more by visiting the affiliate program page. The page provides images and links that can displayed for promoting the book.

Tags: affiliate program, landing page optimization book, make money online
Posted in Business, Conversion Optimization

For the past year or so everyone has been telling us that we should stop renting an apartment and buy a house, especially since the economy is so horrible in Michigan and the prices have reached an all time low.

We started to venture out towards different real estate websites to see which ones provided the most information. We spoke to some of our friends who had recently purchased homes to see how they felt about the process and tried to learn from their mistakes. The majority of our friends referred us to these two websites: Realtor.com and RealestateOne.com. We had also heard about RealtyTrac.com and decided to invest in a membership with them.

Continue reading House Hunting Woes

Tags: realtor.com RealtyTrac.com RealestateOne.com
Posted in Business, Conversion Optimization, Sales & Marketing

We’ve addressed an entire section in our recently released landing page handbook to explaining the difference between exit rate and bounce rate. When each of these terms is explained, it’s very easy to assume that they are the same number, but each calculates when visitors leave a site at a different point.

A bounce rate is the percentage of visitors that leave a website within x number of seconds without visiting any other page. So if you were to search for the term “baby party favors” on Google the following would be the results:

Clicking on the first organic result would land you on the following page:

This site may look too “kid” focused and not specialized enough towards babies. So if I was not satisfied with what I initially see and close the page then I would be someone who ‘bounced’ out of the site because I didn’t navigate away from the page I landed on.

An exit rate on the other hand is the percentage of visitors that leave a website after visiting other pages on the site. So the main difference between the two is when they leave the site. So looking at our previous page, I may be intrigued enough by what I initially see to take a look at what types of baby favors they offer so I click on the top “party favors” button and am led to another page:

I like what I see so far, and am curious to see what the “Babies” section has so I click on that button and am led to:

So at this point I found what I’m looking for, but it’s a bit pricey for my budget, so I decide to exit the page and start a new search. At this point, since I’ve visited a page other than the landing page I would be calculated in the exit rate.

Both bounce rates and exit rates are very important numbers and tell you very different useful information about your site. A bounce rate is an extremely important metric to measure how well a landing page on your site does. If people are clicking on a ppc campaign or an organic search result and landing on your site but leaving before navigating to any other page then you know right away that there is a problem with your landing page and can address that.

An exit rate helps determine where there are other problems on your site. For example, if visitors click from your landing page to a category and then to the product page but before making a purchase leave, then you know that there must be something preventing them from completing the process.

Landing page optimization: The complete guide goes into detail on how to improve both your exit rate and bounce rate to improve your site performance and ultimately increase your conversion rate.

Tags: bounce rate, exit rate, Landing-Page, optimization, ppc campaigns
Posted in Conversion Optimization, Sales & Marketing

Email marketing offers a great opportunity to connect with current customer as well as potential prospects. Compare for example traditional website visitors to subscribers of an opt-in mailing list. Site visitors include those who land on the site by mistake and may not be interested in what you have to offer. An opt-in mailing list on the other hand provides a segment of visitors who are interested in a particular topic who actively chose to subscribe to your mailing list.

Continue reading 8 Best Kept Secrets To Fine-Tuning your E-mail Marketing Campaigns

Tags: conversion rates, email marketing, statistical significance, testing
Posted in Business, Conversion Optimization, Sales & Marketing