As I Told My Daughter, “You Can’t Learn Without Trying.”

While I was setting up some new promotions the other day, my daughter asked what I was doing. Being excited that she was interested, I explained that I was testing a new product page layout and I took some time to explain A/B Split Testing. While most of us are familiar with split testing to determine which elements on a product page can improve conversion rates, it has many other uses. For instance, we recently completed A/B split testing on providing suggested search items as a person types, versus the traditional search results page.

The research showed us a 25% increase in items added to a cart.

One of our partners, ElasticPath, recently completed A/B split testing;  50% of site traffic was redirected to the OOTB checkout, while the other 50% was served the new single-page checkout.

Here's what ElasticPath found:

• Successful completion rate for the entire checkout process increased by 257.26%.
• Overall site conversion rate increased by 0.54%.

 

We also observed some unexpected improvements during this experiment, like an increase of 8.54% in the average order value!

For more insight on Elastic Path's approach and results please visit:

 http://grep.elasticpath.com/community/techblog/blog/2010/03/09/single-vs-multi-page-checkout

So as I told my daughters, "You can't learn without trying." Do your own A/B split testing to get a better idea of what kinds of numbers you can expect.

Questions or comments? info@crownpartners.com

My Daughter Told Me, “You Just Don’t Understand!”

While trying to persuade my daughter of the importance of math homework (at the same time wondering what I am going to do when she gets to High School) I started to reflect on some of the most relevant variables for persuading customers in their online shopping experience. Two that I have consistently pushed forward are:

1. Presenting your product from the perspective of the benefit it offers rather than what it can do or its features; and,

2. Simplicity for the entire site "Less is more." The clear trend should be less text, more icons and visual resources to help your customer buy (without getting stressed out).

Now, while trying to persuade my daughter of the importance of science, specifically, the layering in metamorphic rocks (for those needing to brush up on third grade science it is called foliation), I heard a commercial for Walgreen's encouraging me to visit their new website. Feeling comfortable that my daughter had a handle on her science, I visited Walgreen's site. I am pleased to say they get it. 

• Brand Credibility/Confidence
• Shopping Experience
• Product Positioning
• Customer support

They have even included videos to simplify and present benefits! Let's hope they achieve the bump in purchases others have received when integrating video.

http://www.walgreens.com/topic/health-shops/diabetes.jsp

(For those of you wondering, my daughter received 100% on her science test.)

Questions or comments? info@crownpartners.com

As I Told My Daughter, “Look a Little Harder!”

Unfortunately for me, as I am providing this very sound advice, I cannot find HDMI components to improve the enjoyment of March Madness. With the first and second rounds complete and no hope of winning the office pool, I would like to provide the following advice to some of my favored electronic retailers:

 

1. Have a search box on every page of your site.
Place the search box in the same location across all the pages so I always know where to find it.

2. Incorporate images into search results.
A picture is worth a thousand words. Showing images in results helps me find what I am looking for faster, and encourages me to buy.

3. Have clear and specific product and content titles in the search results.
Titles should be accurate and descriptive about what I will see when I click on the results. If titles are not accurate, I will not buy.

4. Show search suggestions on the search results page.
If I can't find the product I'm looking for, give me suggestions that are related to the term that I entered. Even better, tell me what others have selected; I can't be the only person who is confused.

5. Show video in your search results.
If a picture is worth a thousand words imagine what a video could do! Please leverage video content in site search results. And, let me play it directly from the search results page. According to SLI Systems, onlinegolf.co.uk found that visitors who watch video are 85% more likely to buy. Additionally, when they made the videos available in their site search, video viewership doubled.

6. Chat me up.
By the time I start using search, I am interested in buying.

And, thanks to Tom (my chat guru), I have completed my purchase just in time to abandon my basketball pool and start watching the Frozen Four.

Questions or comments? info@crownpartners.com