GrokDotCom is our slightly irreverent free bi-weekly
Online Conversion Rate
newsletter. Written from a “Martian perspective,” it
covers topics including web design, sales, marketing,
copywriting, usability, SEO, relationship marketing and
consumer psychology, and much more. You can also check out
some of our other favorite
resources.
Volume
1: 3/15/2000
WIIFM: Are You Listening?
To help clinch a sale, address the fundamental wants and needs of your customer by answering his or her most pressing question: "What's in it for me?"
How Long Do You Spend Staring At Your Shopping Cart?
Websites could make more money by encouraging their customers to shop, rather than forcing them to stare at their shopping carts.
Volume 2:
5/1/2000
Do You Grok Dot Com? A Martian Perspective On E-Commerce
While technologies may change, people basically remain the same - to succeed on the Internet, merchants must address the needs their customers feel.
What Mom Could Teach You About Your Website
To encourage the fastest-growing segment of the online buying audience to purchase from your website, you will want to address a range of particular needs.
Volume
3:
6/1/2000
Build A Better Tree House For Your Stuff
Maximize your opportunities for success by making the sales process the foundation of your website.
Behind the Scenes: E-commerce Secrets from Hollywood?
Just as the process of making a movie begins with a storyboard, so an effective website design should begin with a comprehensive site map.
Volume
4:
6/15/2000
Who’s REALLY Running Your Store?
Avante-garde site design from cutting-edge designers and programmers may be awesome, but it can spell ruin for your business if it gets in the way of your website's ability to meet the needs, desires and capabilities of your prospects.
Hey, It’s Music to MY Ears!
To encourage your customers to buy, and return to buy again, apply the time-tested sales strageties of AIDAS (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action, and Satisfy) to your website.
Volume
5: 7/1/2000
KISS Your Visitors if You Want Them Back
The Big Guys are successful sellers because they have learned the value of
designing a website that can be used easily by most people. Put these Keep -
It - Simple - (Stupid) strategies to work for you.
Who Wants to Catch “Viral Marketing”?
It's not a disease; it's word-of-mouth on the web and a powerful tool for increasing your traffic.
Volume
6: 7/15/2000
"Internet Shminternet”?
The Internet may be the most powerful tool ever for bringing buyers and
sellers together, but don't get caught up in the myth that it's more than
that.
Will
They Trust You With Their Privacy?
Simple strategies for overcoming distrust and inspiring your visitors to do
business with you.
Volume
7:
8/1/2000
So You Think
You Need an In-Site Search Engine?
They might seem like a good idea, but in-site search engines are a waste of
time for most users and usually do more harm than good.
Driving
Traffic to Your Site: A Little Horse Sense
Don't put your shopping cart before the horse!
Volume
8:
8/15/2000
Are People
Getting Stuck In Your GUI?
In designing a "sticky" site, don't let your customers get stuck in
your Graphical User Interface.
One
Click from Goodbye
Consider the frustrations most basic users face just getting the hang
of things even before they get to your site. Doesn't it make you want to
give them the red-carpet treatment?
Volume
9:
9/1/2000
I am Grok Grok I am
Ever wonder what Dr. Seuss might have written about shopping on the Internet?
Your
Shopping Cart or Your Life!
How would you prefer your customers to spend their
time: buying or staring at
their shopping carts?
Volume
10:
9/15/2000
Beyond Usability
Clearing away obstacles only makes a sale possible. You need to do more to make a sale happen.
E-Business the Old Fashioned Way?
Applying
the real world principles of Dale Carnegie to ecommerce.
Volume 11:
10/1/2000
Can't Sell That on the Web! Baloney!
You can sell almost ANYTHING on the web if you use the right WORDS!
Would You Trust This Face?
Developing
trust on your site is all about your prospect's perception.
Volume
12:
10/15/2000
Marketing is NOT Sales!
Marketing gets you prospects; Sales turns them into buyers.
The Emperor Has No...CLOSE!
If you want to sell MORE, you have to SELL more!
Volume 13:
11/1/2000
Do the 5-Step...And Dance Your Way To Higher Sales !
The key to success on the Internet lies in strategies already proven in the bricks and mortar world.
IGNORE Marketing and INCREASE Your Revenues?
What's more important than how many sales you can close from your
traffic?
Volume
14:
11/15/2000
Revisiting the Tortoise and the Hare
Being best is WAY more important than being first.
Halloween Redux - Myths That Scare Away Sales
Don't let unfounded myths about e-commerce get in the way of your success.
Volume
15:
12/1/2000
The Grok's REALLY Brief History of Sales
Time-tested offline sales principles do work online - in fact, you can’t succeed without them.
It’s Time to Go Beyond “Gee Whiz”
Darwin in Cyberspace: become Sales-centered or become extinct!
Volume
16:
12/15/2000
A Commerce Carol
Being a Tale of Visitation by Three Green Spirits.
Volume
17: 1/1/2001
A Commerce Carol
Continued
Find
out what happens to E. Marketer.
Tickled
Pink!
Point your cursor in the direction of three award-winning e-zines.
Volume
18: 1/15/2001
Yo! It's MRC, Not CRM!
You can't manage a customer relationship if it doesn’t exist in the mind of your customer.
Loyalty Is Priceless
Customer loyalty is not about satisfying them, it is about delighting them.
Volume
19: 2/1/2001
Don't Let That Pendulum Hit You... in the Derriere
Dot-coms may come and go, but do you really think e-commerce isn’t here to stay?
Buying is Not a Rational Decision
To be successful, your site must recognize people buy based on how they FEEL.
Volume
20: 2/15/2001
P.O.A. - Location Matters
Put critical information where it needs to be: at the Point of Action
Calling all Lemmings: Amazon, the Leader in Pop-Ups??
Just don't do it! Sheesh!
Volume
21: 3/1/2001
A GROK Case Study: MagMall
Featuring the shopping process and
how to implement the 5-Steps of sales.
Keep Them From Bailin'
Strategies that reassure your
customers and keep them in the online sales process.
Volume
22: 3/15/2001
Clueless Pundits Say the Darndest Things
Sorry, but sex sites have nothing to teach mainstream e-commerce about sales.
Appeal to Emotion
You speak to the needs your customers feel by focusing on benefits, not features.
Volume
23: 4/1/2001
A GROK Case Study:
Total Gym
A Single, Simple, FREE Sales Process Change Increased Sales 39%!
Measuring Performance, Creating
Success
Calculation tools will help you target trouble spots plus track the results of your improvement efforts.
Volume
24: 4/15/2001
See It. Gotta Have It
Impulse buying and e-commerce rarely go hand-in-hand.
Establishing
Credibility
Soothe your customers' fears about doing business with you online.
Volume
25: 5/1/2001
A GROK Case Study:
AdZe
A change in navigation and "Calls to Action" doubled sales!
Designing Useful Navigation
Don't expect your customers to adapt their thinking to your Information
Architecture.
Volume
26: 5/15/2001
Opting Options Dos and Don'ts
Don't make folks jump through hoops to opt-in or opt-out.
The Prodigal Customer
Doesn’t it make sense to manage your site in ways that encourage your customers to return?
Volume
27: 6/01/2001
Could It Be
Sales Is Like Parenting?
Your
customers need you to be a great salesperson.
WIIFM:
Are You Listening?
To help clinch a sale, address the fundamental wants and
needs of your customer by answering his or her most
pressing question: "What's in it for me?"
Volume
28: 6/15/2001
Think Active!
Use active copy that actively engages and actively motivates your
customers to be, uh, active!
Harness the Power of the Rainbow
Just because humans can distinguish 16 million different colors
doesn't mean you should use them all!
Volume
29: 7/01/2001
Wireframe
Yourself
The underlying structure for the
future of website implementation!
Don’t
Make Know Mistayque
You may think it's fluff, but grammatical
glitches affect your credibility
Volume
30: 7/15/2001
Shaking
Hands Internet-Style
You
can’t shake your customer’s hand to say thanks for the
order, but your email can.
All
You Gotta Do Is Answer the Question
The last thing you want to do is to distract your
customers from their mission to buy.
Volume
31: 8/01/2001
Shipping
Cost Sticker Shock
If you fail to manage shipping charges reasonably, you’ll scare your
customers away.
Tech
Gap I
Sometimes no amount of technology can replace the human touch - do
your job right and know when to use which.
Volume
32: 8/15/2001
Fulfilling
Fulfillment
Make
sure your back-end fulfillment reinforces your customer's
front-end expectations.
Who
Ya Gonna Call? Customer Service!
Customer service on the web is a comprehensive
package, an on-going dialogue with your shopper.
Volume
33: 9/01/2001
The Eyes
Have It!
Maximize your persuasive power by
accommodating how folks scan a web page for information.
Its’
NOT the Price, It’s the VALUE!
Your customers' perception of value has
little to do with your prices, if anything.
Volume
34: 9/15/2001
Feed the
Need
When
your customers require instant gratification, there are no
second chances.
Tech
Gap II
Sometimes the human touch means you get out the
cyber equivalent of pen and paper and give your customers
a personalized response.
Volume
35: 10/01/2001
(Proto)Type-Cast
Yourself!
Prototyping saves you time and money
by getting your website in order before you raise the
curtain.
When
Content Isn't King
Don't bloat your site or distract your
customers with content that fails to convert them to
buyers.
Volume 36:
10/15/2001
Pump Up Your
Verbs
Nothing engages or moves your visitors like a good verb.
Picture
This
When you gotta have pictures, you gotta use 'em correctly.
Sound advice from an advertising pro to help your email marketing campaigns operate at peak efficiency.
To maximize the usability of your website text, you have to think scannable AND skimmable.
In which we conclude our discussion of how to get the most out of your email marketing efforts.
You need more than good rankings to maximize your conversion rate.
If you can’t tell your visitors why they should buy from you, they'll turn to someone who can.
Some thoughts on metrics that matter.
These techniques help you craft captivating and memorable copy.
Ever wonder what Dr. Seuss might have written about shopping on the Internet?
To improve your conversion process, become intimately acquainted with the four dominant personality profiles of your visitors.
When you are ready to create your specific web applications, it helps to understand how developers do their jobs.
When you tap into your visitors' emotions, you help them make decisions
Nick Usborne explains why the online environment is different for copywriting.
Infuse your communications with staying power.
Nick Usborne returns with suggestions to help you create online copy that connects with your prospects.
Strategies for shaping the direction of your copy.
Employ "Broca" to rethink your Public Relations.
Words, rhythm and grammar help you develop identity through your copy.
Ideas for growing that field of qualified prospects.
The skinny on Conversion Rate Metrics.
The numbers that help you improve your email efforts.
Persuade by writing to the Right Brain.
Email testing helps you target solutions to declining numbers.
Leave no stone unturned in your efforts to build relationships with your customers
Deciphering the minds behind Marketing and Technology, a Marketer speaks.
Deciphering the minds behind Marketing and Technology, a Technologist speaks.
Image may not be all, but it’s worth a lot.
Simple strategies can keep your visitors happy.
A quick review of the 6 critical areas that will help you improve your online copy and its presentation.
Robert Bly shares 6 observations that help “Suits” sell to “Geeks”.
Like it or not, lists motivate responses and curiosity - and folks adore them.
Rhythm enhances the sight and sound imagery of your writing.
Some tips for writing when English isn’t your reader’s first language.
Promote viral marketing and build your house list by marrying the power of email to the traditional concept of word-of-mouth.
What you need to know about writing “to the dog.
How one business reworked its copy to “speak to the dog.”
Some copy must go in a particular place - at the Point of Action.
The design of your site must be sensitive to the function of your site.
Make one point strongly and clearly by giving it a unifying perspective.
Rethinking look & feel, copy and product presentation made a BIG difference.
Whenever you come across a case study, examine it for principles not rules.
Your copy should be the length it needs to be.
Create “personality scenarios” that allow your visitors to self-serve from your Web site’s buffet.
Architectural theory meets e-business.
Before you go rearranging the shop, look at what your visitors “say” they want.
Good Persuasive Architecture merges the buying process with the selling process.
Help your visitors quickly find what they want.
Who are you listening to.
How to select the right colors for your website.
Clear objectives help you understand what to measure and how to manage.
The Minerva Architectural Process is your path to effective Persuasive Architecture
Which Grok articles have you enjoyed the most? Here are the heavy hitters!
Teleseminars offer budget-conscious alternatives to business trips.
A color and personality primer.
Rethink the “tool-centric” paradigm of ebusiness.
The Grok’s Collected Color Miscellany examines everyday color associations.
What the history of traditional architecture can teach us about building a better Web site.
Don’t overlook The Big Picture.
Understanding the difference between transactional and relational shopping modes helps you navigate the price debate.
Strategies for getting the information you want from your visitors.
Understanding Online Conversion Rates.
When it comes to project development, Persuasion Architecture lets you have it all.
If you think of your Web site as a software tool, you’re using the wrong metaphor.
You can persuade your customers to make a decision, but you’re not going to change their minds.
Prepare for subtle shifts in buying behavior, don’t exploit the situation and hang in there.
As ebusiness matures, it’s going to take more than the appearance of credibility to convince your visitors.
Never put all your eggs in the search function basket of your Web site.
Do everything in your persuasive power NOT to limit your potential audience.
Tactics that help you design for scanners and skimmers (yes, you must!).
Cascading style sheets let you design Web pages that more effectively meet the varied needs of your visitors’.
You can provide the structure that allows Marketing, Sales and IT to function as strategic partners.
Care in crafting the subject lines of your emails will help insure they reach your readers.
Color may speak volumes to many of your visitors, but some just can’t see it.
The ins and outs of asking your visitors to take action.
How to test market your product online without losing your shirt.
From a design point of view, what do these top-selling sites have in common?
You need to do the work for your visitors - don’t trust the job to a FAQ.
Uncovery helps you discover the brilliance behind your business.
Pencils poised for a little quiz on using Active Voice.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs provides a compelling framework for marketing and uncovery.
What’s an uncovery like?
An illustrated tale of the concept of AIDAs.
Magic happens when you understand how your needs and your visitors’ needs can work together.
Just when your visitors are about to click, let them know what to expect.
Lip service to your customers’ interests will not help you achieve your potential.
Don’t lose the visitors who make it to your shopping cart over a technological glitch.
Good Persuasive Architecture merges the buying process with the selling process.
The most basic way to understand how changes to your Web site affect your conversion rates.
Is it in your best interest to worry about making your shopping cart “conversion-friendly” right now?
Don’t let consumer-sensitive browsing features undo your conversion process.
Tactics for removing the obstacles from your shopping cart experience.
The most basic way to understand how changes to your Web site affect your conversion rates.
Ask and ye shall receive: how to report spammers under the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.
When you are trying to appeal to your visitors' emotions, ditch the flowery copy.
What I'd like conversion to mean to you!
When you are trying to appeal to your visitors' emotions, ditch the flowery copy.
Can't really get a grip on what we mean by Persuasion Architecture? Then think of a book.
Toward a understanding of value that will reinforce your persuasive process.