Website Conversion Blog
Remarketing Emails — Like or Loathe?
Thursday, March 10th, 2011
When we first launched our remarketing service in 2009, Randy Stross wrote a piece about email remarketing in The New York Times suggesting that while remarketing might be a great idea for ecommerce websites, it’s not a great idea for consumers. He likened emails following up on abandoned shopping carts to a salesman chasing you down the street if you didn’t buy from his store.
There are major differences, of course. We’ve long argued that remarketing emails, when done well, not only drive conversions but also build brand trust.
They can deliver great service and provide customers with the confidence to return to buy—either online, by phone or in store. If Randy was right and customers universally resented the intrusion, then these emails wouldn’t work.
In aiming to answer the question more substantively, I turned to data, and specifically email marketing benchmarks.
The key metrics to look at to determine whether customers like or loathe remarketing emails are:
Web Form Design Checklist
Wednesday, November 17th, 2010
On average, 62% web forms are abandoned before completion – this means that organizations are losing out on a lot of potential leads, applications and quotations, which results in lost leads and ultimately lost revenues. So in this, the first of two blogs on designing web forms, we’ve pulled together a simple checklist for you to use. The next blog will look at such aspects as field order and single page vs. multi page forms, but initially, I think it’s worth recapping the basics. In order to maximize web form submissions, marketers must design their web form with the recipient in mind. This may seem obvious, but it is amazing how ‘form blind’ marketing departments can get when they are trying to capture all the information they require. Typically, the marketer passes a list of fields to be captured to the web developer and scant attention is paid to what will make the form convert. (more…)
Website Conversion Priorities for eMarketers in the Next 12 Months
Tuesday, September 21st, 2010
On July 27, SeeWhy conducted an online poll among 221 eMarketers. The results reveal some potential shifts in focus over the next 12 months: shopping cart recovery, reducing landing page clutter, link building, and transactional email all emerge as top priorities.
The poll also looked in detail at four key areas of conversion to determine their priorities. The four areas examined were as follows:
• SEO
• Landing page optimization
• Email marketing
• Web conversion/shopping cart recovery techniques
Each respondent was allowed to pick only one response in each category, forcing them to choose their top priority.
SEO Priorities
Fact or Fiction? Most Customers Seek Out Deals, Discounts and Coupons Online
Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010
‘Have we conditioned most customers to the point that they expect discounts and won’t buy without one?’
This is a great question, and it’s worth considering in more depth. Recent research shows that coupon redemption is at an all time high, and at the same time, Ben Bernanke warns that the economic recovery is fragile and taxes will inevitably have to rise. It’s no wonder that customers are nervous and cautious. (more…)
Shopping Cart Recovery Drives Website Conversions at Rockler.com
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010
Rockler is generating spectacular results, measured in recovered revenues, from their shopping cart abandonment remarketing program.
A few months ago, Rockler Woodworking and Hardware rolled out a new email campaign to recover abandoned shopping carts and drive website conversion.
Rockler Woodworking and Hardware is the nation’s premier supplier of specialty hardware, tools, lumber, and exceptional quality woodworking products. Founded in 1954 and on the web since 1996, Rockler has become one of the top destination sites on the web and an Internet Retailer 500 site. Products are sold through catalogs, the company’s direct-to-consumer website at www.rockler.com and 30 stores.
We recently caught up with Jason Bernloehr, e-commerce manager at Rockler, to find out about their new shopping cart abandonment campaign.
Website Conversion: Why did Rockler choose to focus on shopping cart abandonment?
JB: We already knew from testing that following up on abandoned shopping carts is very effective. In fact, it had been a home run every time we tested it. (more…)
