When something goes wrong with a product or service and you’re looking to request an exchange, return or be compensated somehow for the inconvenience, you probably expect a fight when contacting the vendor. This is a result of companies missing the mark on successfully meeting our customer experience basic expectations.

I had to laugh at myself when I found myself in this exact situation. I had my boxing gloves on and I was ready to duke it out, expecting the worst. I…

...continue to read "Ecommerce Alchemy: Turning Disgruntled Customers Into Brand Advocates"

It surprises the vast majority of business owners, but you don’t need to actually sell anything online in order to make money using your web site.

Whether you have a physical retail store location, a service business that depends on leads or even if you organize live seminars and classes, you can and should be using your online presence as one of your strongest lead generators.

Here are a few simple things you can do to generate more leads using your web…

...continue to read "Make 31% More Internet-Driven Sales At Your Retail Location"

Although I try to stay away from using personal and embarrassing topics when writing blog posts, I’m going to share this experience, because it’ll help you think about a few things you should be considering when optimizing your site.

Last night, I went for a last minute shopping expedition, looking for wax strips that are ready to use. I visited three drugstores and a Walmart just to come out empty handed. Wax strips are not something I would think of purchasing online because…

...continue to read "The Smooth Leg Approach to Conversion"

When you look at the keywords that are sending traffic to your site, what do you see? Are they highly targeted keywords demonstrating that your traffic is qualified? Or are you getting less targeted traffic from visitors who are searching for more general keywords?

Let’s compare a few keywords to demonstrate the difference.

Traffic searching for “buy Monet print” is highly targeted. These are visitors who are looking to purchase a product from a vendor who sells Monet prints. If someone is…

...continue to read "Bucket Your Visitors By Intent"

Are you measuring your bounce rates? These are the visitors who are landing on your site and are leaving without making a second click. Bouncers to your website should be considered a negative statistic: the site failed to engage them enough to entice even a second pageview.

How much did you invest to get them there? Did you get your money’s worth out of that visitor?

Usability expert, Jakob Neilsen, recently indicated that one of the biggest findings from his latest user…

...continue to read "What Your Bounce Rate is Trying to Tell You"

There’s no one formula for what to look at in your web analytics to try and gain insight into what your visitors are experiencing and how they’re reacting to what’s there. Each site behaves differently and has different strengths and weaknesses.

When I recently walked through my client’s analytics with them, she pointed out that the highest exit pages are probably a good place to start fixing conversion stumbling blocks. In theory, this sounds like the right thing to do. If…

...continue to read "To Boost Conversion, Don’t Focus on Exit Pages ONLY"

I have a friend who works in the online marketing department for a multi-million-dollar clothing retailer in Canada. Because they’re still stuck in the dark ages and don’t yet have an online store, the company’s web marketing team consists of four people.

A week ago, my friend called me to ask, “What’s the industry average time spent on a site?” Her boss asked her to find out because she was doing a presentation to the marketing team and would be attempting…

...continue to read "Are Your Analytics Reports Breaking News or Listing Facts?"

Web analytics reports can be deceiving. They’re great at showing you WHAT visitors did on your website, but they can’t tell you WHY they didn’t do what you hoped they would.

But with the right process and frame of mind, it is possible to use web analytics to get insight into “why” your traffic isn’t converting — especially if you do pay per click advertising.

Here are some ideas for attracting more targeted traffic in order to get higher conversion rates and…

...continue to read "Stop Paying for Bad Keywords in Three Steps"

Makeup is like deodorant to me. I would rather not think about it — ever — and I only wear it because I have to.

I don’t know makeup brands or colors, and I don’t care enough to research what makeup would be right for me. Usually, my need for makeup only results in a purchase if a friend recommends something specific, or when I run out of an essential piece, like mascara. Then I’m found sprinting to the local pharmacy…

...continue to read "Why Free Web Tools Make Customers Want to BUY NOW"

We Canadians already have a bit of a complex due to the fact that the rest of the world seems to lump us together with the U.S., calling them our big brother. Canadians are sick of being treated like leftovers. So, when certain North American companies leave us (and other international visitors) out of the loop by making it difficult to buy from their websites, they’re losing sales and annoying would-be customers like me.

It’s time for U.S. companies to consistently…

...continue to read "Don’t Hose the Canadians! (Our Dollars Are Equal Now.)"