If you’re interested in improving your product detail/landing pages and cross-selling, this video (and upcoming Part 2 video) is not to be missed.

1. Schwan’s 35.2
2. Keurig 31.3
3. ProFlowers 26.0
4. Vitacost22.5
5. Blair 22.4
6. DrsFosterSmith.com 22.4
7. Woman Within 21.3
8. Amway Global 20.5
9. Roamans.com 18.7
10. Office Depot 17.9

*Source: Nielsen Online / Marketing Charts

Benchmarks according to the FireClick Index

Increasing your conversion rate requires you to follow a continuous improvement program? If you need help improving your results let us know.

1. ProFlowers 24.0
2. Vitacost 23.3
3. 1800Flowers 19.5
4. Roamans19.2
5. Office Depot 18.5
6. Blair 17.3
7. QVC 17.0
8. Victoria’s Secret 16.8
9. DrsFosterSmith.com 16.4
10. Amazon 16.4

*Source: Nielsen Online / Marketing Charts

Benchmarks according to the FireClick Index

Increasing your conversion rate requires you to follow a continuous improvement program? If you need help improving your results let us know.

1. ProFlowers 38.6
2. Office Depot 28.0
3. Online Retail Total 25.6
4. Vitacost.com 25.0
5. Quixtar 23.4
6. ;Blair 23.4
7. Roamans22.6
8. 1800Flowers 20.5
9. Woman Within19.6
10. Spiegel 18.20

*Source: Nielsen Online / Marketing Charts

Benchmarks according to the FireClick Index

Why were shoppers abandoning their carts?

46% of online shoppers said high shipping charges were a “very important reason” for emptying carts. Is free shipping a must in this economy? Have you tested personalized shipping offers based on location?

Other reasons for abandonment included:

• Wanted to comparison shop: 37% – Are you saving their cart for at least 30 days, so they can return to it?
• Lack of money: 36% - Can you make them an offer they can’t refuse?
• Wanted to look for a coupon: 27% – Are you prompting them to look for coupons? It could be costing you a huge percentage of sales.
• Wanted to shop offline: 26% - Are you offering them options to pick up items in store?
• Couldn’t find preferred pay option: 24% - Find a way to GTC. Get The Cash!!!
• Item unavailable at checkout: 23% – Ooooops! This has to be dealt with on the product page or it will erode your brand trust.
• Couldn’t find customer support: 22% – This could be dealt with by using POA – point of action assurances (see the video below).
• Security concerns: 21% – This is also handled with point of action assurances and establishing more trust in your website.

Do you think you may need a cart whisperer? How many of these have you tried to deal with recently? Are you testing and optimizing you shopping cart? If not, why?

Click here to view the embedded video.

1. ProFlowers 42.8
2. Vitacost.com 28.9
3. Office Depot 25.0
4. MetroStyle 24.5
5. Woman Within 23.0
6. Schwan’s 21.1
7. CDW 20.8
8. 1800Flowers 20.8
9. Landsend 18.8
10. Drs FosterSmith 18.30

*Source: Nielsen Online / Marketing Charts

Benchmarks according to the FireClick Index:

1. Schwan’s 50.5
2. FTD 27.2
3. ProFlowers 24.3
4. Vitacost.com 23.7
5. Woman Within 22.7
6. Roaman’s 21.1
7. ColdWater Creek 20.0
8. Eddie Bauer 19.3
9. Blair.com 20.20
10. QVC 17.30

*Source: Nielsen Online / Marketing Charts

Additional March Retail Benchmarks:

The online retail sector in general registered an encouraging increase in ecommerce activities in March 2009 compared to February 2009 (month over month) but down compared to March 2008 (year over year).

“Consumers who shopped online in March purchased nearly 12.0 percent more items compared to the previous month, while the average dollar value increased by more than 4.0 percent, suggesting that not only were consumers buying more items online, they were actually spending more money on average than they had just the month before.

Unsurprisingly, year-over-year retail metrics for March remain down across the board compared to March 2008. The average number of items per order, average order value and shopping cart conversion all fell significantly—8.1 percent, 6.3 percent and 3.4 percent respectively—compared to March 2008.“

Page Views Per Session 11.39
Average Time on Site (in seconds) 476.13
Average Items/Order 5.82
Average Order Value $143.93
Shopping Cart Conversion Rate 34.52%
Shopping Cart Abandonment 65.48%

* Source: Coremetrics LIVEmark Benchmarks US (PDF) – UK benchmarks PDF available.

Coremetrics LIVEmark leverages aggregate performance data across more than 300 participating brands to deliver over 35 benchmark metrics addressing performance indicators such as campaign and channel effectiveness, site stickiness and conversion rates.

One suggestion is to make sure your toll-free or 800 number is clearly visible at the top of all pages and even more visible during the checkout process. However, many businesses balk at this because they are concerned with the increased cost associated with taking full orders over the phone. By the time, customers tell you what they want, ask their questions, your representatives take all of their shipping and billing information you have eaten away at several minutes worth of your call-center resources.

However, PetFoodDirect makes it a bit easier. It let’s customers fill out their order online without giving the website credit card information and then offers the option to have their customer service reps call the customer to finalize the order and collect just the credit card information. That is efficient and only takes a couple of minutes of call time!

What else have you tried in order to get more customers to complete their purchases?

Her favorite example is a review on a pair of Reef’s Fanning flip flops.  Holly needed to know if the bottle opener was sunk far enough into the sole to prevent it scratching floors, boat decks, etc.  The website copy had nothing on this, but one customers review provided the answer – leading to Holly’s successful purchase of arguably the coolest flip flops going.

I feel the same way about product pictures.  Product pictures don’t just show me “what it looks like.”  Hi-res, multiple angle pictures answer questions:

Show me the back of the product so I can see the connections for electronics, and so I can see if the charm is hollow or solid, or so I can see if the sweater pattern is continued on the back, or if the jacket is gusseted to allow movement, etc.

Show me how big (or small) the product really is.  Do this by showing it worn by a model or placed next to another object of known size like a playing card or a quarter, etc.

Show me a side view so I can gauge the product’s “heft.”  Show me the top of the kitchen knife and I can see if it’s made of thick stock or if it’s a super slim slicer.  Show me how thick the watch is and how it’ll sit on my wrist.  Show me how bulky that fishing sweater is.

Show me the bottom so I can see the treads of the shoes.  Or I can see if the electronic box has rubber feet or not.  Or I can see what kind of access to the electronic gizmo provides me.  Or I can see how the attention to detail has been lavished on the fit and finish of the item.

Show me the item in action. Either with video or through action shots, show me how the thing works, or at least what it looks like in action.  Bryan Eisenberg has a great comparison between a static picture of a pear and picture of a juicy succulent scoop of pair flesh recently scooped out and offered to the viewer.  It’s the action shot that’s always preferred by pear lovers.  And that’s just freakin’ fruit for god’s sake.  Show me the water seal beading water.  Show me the one-coat paint covering over a red wall in one smooth brush stroke.

Product videos have gotten a lot of press about their ability to boost product sales.  But it’s not about the magic of video.  It’s about the magic of answering customers questions and concerns through pictures.  Moving pictures just help you capture more angles and to better capture motion/action than still pics.

So don’t skimp on the product photos.  Show ‘em the pics, and your customers will show you the money.

Click here to view the embedded video.

1. Schwan’s 42.10
2. ProFlowers 36.50
3. Quixtar 33.20
4. Vitacost.com 28.90
5. Woman Within 24.20
6. LL Bean.com 20.40
7. Office Depot 20.30
8. Tickets.com 20.20
9. 1800Flowers 17.30
10. QVC 17.10

*Source: Nielsen Online / Marketing Charts

Additional February Retail Benchmarks:

The online retail sector in general registered dramatic drops in ecommerce activities in February 2009 compared to January 2009 (month over month) and February 2008 (year over year).

“Gifts retailers and Jewelers—both traditional winners on Valentine’s Day—reported 23 percent and 15 percent increases in order sessions respectively. However, the average dollar value of those orders did not match these increases, with a modest increase of 4 percent for gifts retailers and a decrease of 14.3 percent for jewelers. These numbers illustrate that even on those occasions when consumers want to spend, they are spending in a more restrained fashion than in the past.”

Page Views Per Session 11.70
Product Page Views Per Session 3.17
Average Time on Site (in seconds) 481.05
Average Items/Order 5.21
Average Order Value $138.27
Shopping Cart Conversion Rate 34.39%
Shopping Cart Abandonment 65.61%
New Visitor Conversion Rate 2.00%
On-site Search Session 17.6%

* Source: Coremetrics LIVEmark Benchmarks US (PDF) – UK benchmarks PDF available.

Coremetrics LIVEmark leverages aggregate performance data across more than 300 participating brands to deliver over 35 benchmark metrics addressing performance indicators such as campaign and channel effectiveness, site stickiness and conversion rates.

1. Schwan’s 52.50
2. ProFlowers 27.30
3. Quixtar 22.40
4. Blair.com 21.80
5. Office Depot 21.10
6. Vitacost.com 20.40
7. DrsFosterSmith.com 20.30
8. FTD.com 20.20
9. Amazon 17.20
10. CDW 16.90

*Source: Nielsen Online / Marketing Charts

This month big surprise came from first time on this list Schwan’s. Not sure if everyone should themselves compare to online grocery merchants.

Additional January Retail Benchmarks:

January was a month of casual browsing but limited buying across the online retail sector. The number of sessions in which consumers actually completed an order was down sharply by 21%.  Specialty retailers reported a 56 percent drop in order sessions, the largest decrease of any retail category tracked by Coremetrics.

Page Views Per Session 11.83
Product Page Views Per Session 3.24
Average Time on Site (in seconds) 504.59
Average Items/Order 5.95
Average Order Value $132.57
Shopping Cart Conversion Rate 33.80%
Shopping Cart Abandonment 66.20%
New Visitor Conversion Rate 2.02%
On-site Search Session 17.94%

* Source: Coremetrics LIVEmark Benchmarks US (PDF) – UK benchmarks PDF available.

Coremetrics LIVEmark leverages aggregate performance data across more than 300 participating brands to deliver over 35 benchmark metrics addressing performance indicators such as campaign and channel effectiveness, site stickiness and conversion rates.

This feature has become ubiquitous, probably due in part to the “Let’s Copy Amazon.com Syndrome.” I encounter it on nearly every “first date” I go on with a website.

I agree with the concept of saving items pre-purchase.  It’s a great micro-conversion to start measuring and optimizing.  It’s a natural step for Early Stage or Middle Stage buyers.  And for more complex or high-dollar purchases, it’s a way to store an item until consensus can be built.

But every time I try to use one, I disagree with the execution of it, the positioning of it, and the requirements put in front of it as a barrier.  It all adds up to a lousy customer experience and lack of adoption for a feature you’re paying for.  I think our poor implementations of Wish Lists Internet-wide are actually training shoppers to mis-use the Shopping Cart feature!

A scenario:

1. An Early Stage buyer comes to a website to do some researching and maybe a bit of comparison shopping.
2. On a favorite product detail page, she has several options (usually bookmark the page, email to someone, add to cart, add to wish list, etc.)
3. She isn’t yet persuaded to make the purchase, but is well on the way.  She clicks “Add to Wish List,” which is highlighted as a secondary call to action.
4. She’s asked to register an account (we all know what a painful interrogation that can be) or leave the shopping process to at least enter a little personal information.
5. She balks at this request and backs out of the Wish List
6. She knows that the Shopping Cart will save the item just as well, and because you can remove items from the cart before you checkout, can also be used as a storage or comparison function.
7. She adds the item to the Shopping Cart.

Not the end of the world, right?

But here’s a few things to think about from an analytics standpoint:

• If you’re measuring “Add to Cart” as a micro-conversion, or as the success in a test scenario, you’ve increased your count by 1, but that increment is invalid traffic.
• If you’re measuring views to the Add to Cart page as some sort of KPI, you’re measuring someone who’s mis-using the feature.
• If you’re measuring “Cart to Conversion” as some sort of goal or funnel report, it’s skewing your conversion rate down because some people in that funnel weren’t persuaded in the first place.

Now, let’s go to the retail world to see how this should really work. A store visitor walks into a clothing store, browses around, checks some prices, maybe holds a few things up in front of a mirror.  We are nowhere near “conversion” at this point.  Eventually, the visitor picks out a few things and asks their significant other to “hold this.”  Or, seeing that the visitor is starting to amass some items of interest, a helpful store clerk volunteers to put the items in a dressing room or hold items at the register so the visitor doesn’t have to lug them around the store.

The store clerk doesn’t ask for email address (twice!), password (6 to 10 characters, at least one alpha and one numeric, and no special characters!), First Name, Last Name, Daytime Phone, etc.  NO!  They simply lighten the visitor’s load and hold the items.  No strings attached.

Back to your website.  A visitor clicks “Add to Wish List.”  She’s notified that the item has been saved, and how to access it.  She’s also told the item is saved during this visit only, and to save it for longer, she’ll need to register an account.  Done.  You’ve just “lightened her cognitive load” in a simple, helpful way.  And you’ve started to sell the value of registering with your site!

As they say on the TV show, We have the technology.

If you can leverage your technology to make a feature that’s easy to use, and that adds value to your visitor’s shopping experience, then by all means use a Wish List

If your Wish List isn’t attractive to an Early Stage or Middle Stage buyer, if it requires full registration, or if it doesn’t test out as a value-add to your bottom line, it’s clutter!  It’s distraction!  Remove it!

1. ProFlowers 31.1%
2. LL Bean 25.7%
3. Amazon 23.7%
4. VitaCost 23.0%
5. Coldwater Creek 22.4%
6. QVC 21.1%
7. Roamans 20.4%
8. Office Depot 20.2%
9. LandsEnd 19.3%
10. Victoria’s Secret 19.2%

*Source: Nielsen Online / Marketing Charts

Additional December Retail Benchmarks:

According to Coremetrics Benchmark, the percentage of website visits that ended up with product orders increased by 23% from November to December and fell by 2.4% compared to December, 2007. The average number of items per order and average order value fell by 19% and 11% compared to November and by 2% and 3% compared to last year.

Page Views Per Session 12.01
Product Page Views Per Session 2.99
Average Time on Site (in seconds) 503.01
Average Items/Order 4.76
Average Order Value $124.48
Shopping Cart Conversion Rate 38.16%
Shopping Cart Abandonment 61.84%
New Visitor Conversion Rate 2.69%
On-site Search Session 18.97%

* Source: Coremetrics LIVEmark Benchmarks US (PDF) – UK benchmarks PDF available.

Coremetrics LIVEmark leverages aggregate performance data across more than 300 participating brands to deliver over 35 benchmark metrics addressing performance indicators such as campaign and channel effectiveness, site stickiness and conversion rates.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Get Elastic’s recent post on reducing friction kicks butt – providing incredibly clear explanations of too-common Website flaws along with great examples of how to do it right.  I wish I wrote it.  Not only did the article reduced me to green-faced envy, but many of the post’s links pointed to further “must reads.”

Do yourself a favor and go read it now.

So as you ramp your sites and marketing up for the Holidays, do you have a few innovations up your sleeve?

Let’s face it. Despite the economic troubles, people are still going to want to give gifts, and find the best gifts they can for their loved ones.  They’re just going to be more cautious and spendthrift.  So empathize with that sentiment as they shop with you.

Encourage them to take their time and find the right deals.  Advise them to buy multiple items to save on their overall shipping spend (Amazon has always ruled this game in my opinion).  Heck, if you’re really bold, cross-sell them with similar items that cost less…it’s sounds crazy, but they might convert instead of abandon.

For a more concrete example, think about gift cards.  A certain percentage of gift shoppers will always end up giving gift cards, and that means a certain percentage of your early-2009 traffic will be gift card redeemers.  The buying path for gift cards is usually OK, but have you optimized it?  Do you plan to test and optimize it in the weeks leading up to the Holidays?

Now think about the card redemption process, which I think has even more room for improvement.  Here’s the experience I’ve always had when redeeming Holiday gift cards online:

1. Receive the card, note how much is on it.
2. Sometime between and 12/26 and 7/4, decide to redeem it (I’m a notoriously bad procrastinator).
3. Look on the back of the card for redemption instructions.
4. Following the instructions, type in the URL and land on the homepage.
5. Now I’m overwhelmed with thousands of products to choose from and no assistance offered.
6. I poke around a bit, maybe try to search by price range, and maybe buy something.

Boring.  Uninspired.  A bit tedious.

Here’s a dream of a better experience:

1. Receive the card, note how much is on it.
2. Sometime between and 12/26 and 1/31, decide to redeem it (Made a New Year’s Resolution about procrastinating less).
3. Look on the back of the card for redemption instructions.
4. Following the instructions, type in the URL and land on a unique landing page or a microsite, 100% dedicated to gift card redemption. No distractions.
5. I can select the value of the gift card and be shown ONLY relevant price range items, or receive a few friendly suggestions of ways to spend the $, or find out how other shoppers have been spending their gift cards.
6. The checkout flow is customized to my unique task of checking out with a gift card.

Those are just a few changes that seem achievable.  Pair those changes with optimization, and you might turn 1-time gift card redeemers into repeat purchasers.
If anyone wants to share their innovative Holiday Season ideas, feel free, but we understand why you wouldn’t necessarily want to give up your competitive advantage .

Can anyone give examples of extraordinary 2007-08 Holiday gift card experiences out there on the Web?

1. ProFlowers 41.50%
2. 1800flowers.com 20.8%
3. Blair.com 20.10%
4. QVC 20.10%
5. LaneBryant Catalog 19.7%
6. LL Bean 19.7%
7. Roamans 18.80%
8. The Sportsman Guide 17.7%
9. Office Depot 17.30%
10. eBay 15.2%

*Source: Nielsen Online / Marketing Charts

What happened to Proflowers.com? 41.50% is just amazing. Interestingly, last month we had all three big florists, but FTD fell off the list. Most important, Children’sPlace was on the last month, but not in the month of August right before back-to-school shopping, is this a sign of early holiday shopping to come?

Additonal June Retail Benchmarks:

Page Views Per Session 11.64
Product Page Views Per Session 3.06
Average Time on Site (in seconds) 479.87
Average Items/Order 6.15
Average Order Value $154.89
Shopping Cart Conversion Rate 32.61%
Shopping Cart Abandonment 67.39%
New Visitor Conversion Rate 1.96%
On-site Search Session 16.22%
On-site Search Conversion Rate 5.85%
On-site Search Average Order Value $178.52

Marketing Summary Benchmarks:

Direct Load:
Traffic % 48.72%
Sales % 73.02%
Conversion Rate 3.19%

Natural Search:
Traffic % 13.59%
Sales % 7.83%
Conversion Rate 2.12%

Referrals:
Traffic % 6.04%
Sales % 1.81%
Referral Conversion Rate 1.77%

* Source: Coremetrics LIVEmark Benchmarks US (PDF) – UK benchmarks PDF available.

Coremetrics LIVEmark leverages aggregate performance data across more than 300 participating brands to deliver over 35 benchmark metrics addressing performance indicators such as campaign and channel effectiveness, site stickiness and conversion rates.

Canada’s Top Internet Retail Sites

1 eBay
2 Apple Inc.
3 Amazon
4 Shopzilla.com
5 Best Buy
6 American Greetings Properties
7 Wal-Mart
8 Sears.ca
9 Bell.ca
10 CanadianTire.caSource: comScore Media Metrix

If you need help increasing your conversion rate, let us know.

1. Office Depot 26.90%
2. 1800flowers.com 20.90%
3. FTD.com 20.30%
4. J. Jill 19.4%
5. ProFlowers 19.30%
6. QVC 18.20%
7. LL Bean 15.9%
8. Children’s Place 15.2%
9. Blair.com 14.9%
10. Zales 14.6%

*Source: Nielsen Online / Marketing Charts

New comers to the list include: J.Jill, Children’s Place, and Zales. Regulars to the list hat dropped off in July include: Lane Bryant Catalog, Eddie Bauer, VistaPrint and eBay. I think it is also interesting to note that FTD has done a great job staying towards the top of the list as ProFlowers seems to be dropping a bit.

Additonal June Retail Benchmarks:

Page Views Per Session 12.17
Product Page Views Per Session 3.13
Average Time on Site (in seconds) 469.83
Average Items/Order 6.56
Average Order Value $145.48
Shopping Cart Conversion Rate 31.99%
Shopping Cart Abandonment 68.01%
New Visitor Conversion Rate 1.81%
On-site Search Session 13.36%
On-site Search Conversion Rate5 .61%
On-site Search Average Order Value $144.41

Marketing Summary Benchmarks:

Direct Load:
Traffic % 51.18%
Sales % 72.94%
Conversion Rate 3.07%

Natural Search:
Traffic % 12.45%
Sales % 6.74%
Conversion Rate 2.02%

Referrals:
Traffic % 6.33%
Sales % 1.85%
Referral Conversion Rate 1.70%

* Source: Coremetrics LIVEmark Benchmarks US (PDF) – UK benchmarks PDF available.

Coremetrics LIVEmark leverages aggregate performance data across more than 300 participating brands to deliver over 35 benchmark metrics addressing performance indicators such as campaign and channel effectiveness, site stickiness and conversion rates.

If you need help increasing your personal benchmarks, let us know.

1. ProFlowers 28.40%
2. Office Depot 25.60%
3. FTD.com 24.30%
4. 1800flowers.com 20.30%
5. Lane Bryant Catalog 18.7%
6. QVC 17.50%
7. Eddie Bauer 16.8%
8. Roamans 16.1%
9. Vistaprint – 15.2%
10. eBay – 14.9%

*Source: Nielsen Online / Marketing Charts

Just like last month the 3 major florists made the list; did dads get lots of flowers? I didn’t. However, I did get a nice Nikon D60 DSLR camera (thanks to my wonderful kids and wife.) As you look at the additional benchmarks below, there seems to be a negative trend from the previous month. A lot of these benchmarks have trended down. Could it be related to the economy?

Additonal June Retail Benchmarks:

Page Views Per Session 12.72
Product Page Views Per Session 3.42
Average Time on Site (in seconds) 476.59
Average Items/Order 5.90
Average Order Value $120.82
Shopping Cart Conversion Rate 31.74%
Shopping Cart Abandonment 68.26%
New Visitor Conversion Rate 2.02%
On-site Search Session 15.07%
On-site Search Conversion Rate 6.64%
On-site Search Average Order Value $130.41

Marketing Summary Benchmarks:

Direct Load:
Traffic % 48.06%
Sales % 65.61%
Conversion Rate 3.49%

Natural Search:
Traffic % 13.43%
Sales % 8.41%
Conversion Rate 1.92%

Referrals:
Traffic % 7.06%
Sales % 2.40%
Referral Conversion Rate 1.40%

* Source: Coremetrics LIVEmark Benchmarks US (PDF) – UK benchmarks PDF available.

Coremetrics LIVEmark leverages aggregate performance data across more than 300 participating brands to deliver over 35 benchmark metrics addressing performance indicators such as campaign and channel effectiveness, site stickiness and conversion rates.

If you need help increasing your numbers, I know someone reliable and proven who can help you. Just ask me.

I can’t think of many retailers who feel that their category pages are awesome. However, retailers keep copying from each other in the hope that someone knows what they are doing here. Maybe it’s time to admit we need to rethink this issue from scratch and that most category pages are broken because they don’t do their fundamental job well.

The job of the category page is to help the visitor narrow down his selection so they can find the right product to fill their needs. This is something we have been researching with clients extensively and have come to the realization that sometimes you can’t patch up something that is completely broken; sometimes you need to re-invent it.

It’s a fairly simple process when you use Persuasion Architecture. If you want some help with your category pages in order to increase your sales, just let us know.

Ever wonder how often other people return an item you want to buy online?

Honestly, it never occurred to me before, but now that I’ve seen Shoeline.com’s Return-O-Meter™, I wish other online retailers would borrow the idea (especially since I’ve learned it’s actually lowered returns and raised Shoeline’s conversion rate).

If you own or are in charge of a marketing budget for an e-commerce shop, you should take a close look at the latest webinar from the good people at Elastic Path Software.

In “9 Ecommerce Innovations: What’s Now & What’s Next,” Elastic Path co-founder Jason Billingsley showcases the latest e-tail trends in these hot categories:

• Video
• Customer Service
• Real World Guided Selling
• Multi-store Retail
• Navigation
• Merchandising
• Social Shopping
• Loyalty

(If you need to bookmark the webinar for now, check out Linda’s recap at Get Elastic.)

OK. Now that you’re about to have a bunch of new ideas for cool features to add to your site, let’s not get carried away just yet. What works for Amazon, NetShops, Shoeline, Zappos, Martin + Osa, Borders.com, Endless.com, American Eagle, Shopatron.com, Backcountry.com, Knicker Picker, Vitamin Global, WineLibrary.com, and Shoeline . . . [deep breath] . . . may not work for you — which is exactly why strategy must come before tactics. Always.

How will you know if these innovations will add value to your visitors’ online shopping experience? Well, if the change you want isn’t too expensive to implement — and if it’s not overly disruptive to your current business model — try it out by running a split test.*

. .

*Split testing is the only way to know whether your site’s new features are A) worth keeping, or B) setting off the Return-O-Meter™. Don’t know where to begin? Join us on Wednesday, July 9th for the first installment of “Always Be Testing,” our free monthly webinar series, co produced by FutureNow and the Google Website Optimizer team.

Call me mean, but I like that thought.

I’ve long held a theory that women are more sensitive to shipping costs than men. I have no proof of this theory. It’s mostly anecdotal. When I talk to women about shopping online, shipping costs invariably come up as a sore topic, which is why I took notice of this discussion on the High Rankings message board about how women shop online.

Randy Cullom brought up some insight he had about shipping charges, and something he noticed with women in particular:

I’ve had two of these market research session since I first noticed the anomaly, and in each of them 80% or more of the women in the group expressed a strong or very strong dissatisfaction if the shipping and/or handling was out of whack from what they considered to be normal. As an aside, I asked those dissatisfied to write down what S&H they considered reasonable, and in all cases they were pretty much spot on with the real costs, with a little bit extra. Men seemed much more inclined to let “too costly” shipping and handling charges slide right on by. This still too small of a test group (only 60 women total between the two sessions) to be statistically sound, but the reaction has been so strong that I’m inclined to think it’s valid.

Interesting. Still not absolute proof, but it’s enough to make me ask, “How are your shipping costs helping or hurting your conversion, especially when selling to women?”

Consider setting up an exit survey when someone leaves your site to ask if shipping cost was a reason for them leaving without purchasing. If your shipping costs might be considered “high” by female consumers, what can you do about? Why not take a cue from Amazon and see if there’s an easy way for her to increase her purchase to the point that “free shipping” might make sense?

Another option: Create an incentive to purchase more products so that the shipping cost doesn’t feel as high.

For example, if you’re buying one pound of gourmet coffee for, say, $10 and the shipping is $8, there’s a good chance shipping is going to be a deal breaker. What if you tried a promotion where customers who buy 3 pounds get the fourth pound for half off. Encourage her to buy “a month’s worth of coffee.” You’re giving her a reduced price, which she’ll like. Shipping costs may go up a little to cover the extra coffee, but chances are it’s no longer 80% of the purchase price.

Obviously, you have to do what makes good business sense. These are just some suggestions. But if you’re selling to women, take a close look at your shipping charges and see if there are ways to lessen the sting for these shipping-sensitive women.

For more ideas on testing shipping costs, check out “How to Increase Shopping Cart Abandonment.”

Have you ever abandoned an online sale because you perceived the shipping costs to be too high? (I’d love to read comments from the guys as well.)

. .

About the Author: Holly Buchanan is a Persuasion Architect at FutureNow and co-author of The Soccer Mom Myth: Today’s Female Customer: Who She Really Is, Why She Really Buys.

1. ProFlowers 35.70%
2. Office Depot 31.40%
3. Blair.com 23.80%
4. FTD.com 21.30%
5. QVC 18.70%
6. CDW 17.90%
7. Lands End 17.50%
8. 1800flowers.com 16.80%
9. Drugstore.com 16.20%
10. HSN.com 15.80%

*Source: Nielsen Online / Marketing Charts

Looks like Mother’s day certainly helped the florists, all 3 major brands are present here. This is a first appearance of Drugstore.com since we started reporting these numbers.

Additonal May Retail Benchmarks:

Page Views Per Session 13.06
Product Page Views Per Session 3.48
Average Time on Site (in seconds) 488.12
Average Items/Order 6.18
Average Order Value $122.82
Shopping Cart Conversion Rate 33.21%
Shopping Cart Abandonment 66.79%
New Visitor Conversion Rate 2.21%
On-site Search Session 14.68%
On-site Search Conversion Rate 6.56%
On-site Search Average Order Value $135.70

Marketing Summary Benchmarks:

Direct Load:
Traffic % 47.71%
Sales % 64.45%
Conversion Rate 3.64%

Natural Search:
Traffic % 13.02%
Sales % 8.27%
Conversion Rate 2.02%

Referrals:
Traffic % 6.67%
Sales % 2.27%
Referral Conversion Rate 1.46%

* Source: Coremetrics LIVEmark Benchmarks US (PDF) – UK benchmarks PDF available.

Coremetrics LIVEmark leverages aggregate performance data across more than 300 participating brands to deliver over 35 benchmark metrics addressing performance indicators such as campaign and channel effectiveness, site stickiness and conversion rates.

If you need help increasing your numbers, I know who can help you. Just ask me.

. .

Editor’s Note: Ambitions of seeing your e-commerce site on this list? Join Bryan and his guest, Google’s Tom Leung, on Wednesday, July 9th for our free Google Website Optimizer webinar. Space is limited, so sign-up today!

What: Shop.org’s 2008 Online Merchandising Workshop promises to…

“…pick up where our Marketing Workshop left off and deliver practical and tactical steps to create and execute a customer-centric merchandising strategy. We will bring together seasoned and successful eCommerce and multi-channel veterans and research analysts to examine in depth such topics as best practices in multivariate testing, innovations in product presentation, listening to your customers to determine the right product offering , industry trends in online merchandising, and the partnership that must be formed between merchandising and marketing teams for a retailer to be truly customer focused.”

When: July 14 – 16, 2008

Where: Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort & Spa | Huntington Beach, CA

Why: Because the fabulous roster of speakers are sure to enlighten you with profitable insights on ecommerce website optimization, web design, tracking, and anything else that will help you get the best possible return on your e-tail investment. Besides, you’ll be at a stunning beach resort in sunny California and you are NOT going to miss out on that, are you?

How much: Tickets for this three-day event range between $625 – $1,125, depending on your level of involvement and how early you register.

As a former music journalist and current karaoke champion [in my own mind], I know a bad remix when I hear one. That’s why I’m particularly impressed with this outlandishly cheesy/brilliant rework of Extreme’s soft “rock” hair ballad chart-topper from 1991, “More Than Words” — one of the most yack-inducing songs known to man — used by our pals at Bazaarvoice to kick off last week’s Social Media Summit in Austin, TX. Watch this video and see how a few men in wigs can pick an even worse song and still do a better job of inspiring brand affinity and laughter than Mr. Softy himself:

Lyrics:

Sayin’ you should buy this, are not the words they will believe from you
It’s just they have YouTube, and every search brings up blog entries too
How easy it could be to find out how they feel

More than words is all you had to use to make it real
Then you wouldn’t have to cry over costs per click
‘Cause you’re Google’s top guy

What you do with Ratings and Reviews?
More than words to keep it real
Let them say just how they feel
What would you say
If they took those words away
Then they wouldn’t buy things new
Without reading a review…

Now your market wants to
Talk for you and help others understand
All that you have to do is open up and just reach out your brand
Then you’ll see word of mouth for you and me to read
More than words is all you ever needed to make more sales
Then you could easily say “Mr. Bossman, it’s time I get a raise”

How sweet it’d be
A freed marketing annuity
More than words to show they feel
That they like a brand that’s real
Why would you pay
For research to guess and play
More than words to show what’s true
Then hear your market say “I love you”

. .

Hat tip to Linda for transcribing these righteously dorky lyrics.

1. Proflowers.com -27.5%
2. Office Depot – 25.8%
3. Lands End – 24.8%
4. QVC – 19.4%
5. CDW – 19.1%
6. HSN – 16.8%
7. Vistaprint – 16.8%
8. Oriental Trading Company – 16.5%
9. Williams-Sonoma – 15.6%
10. eBay – 14.8%

*Source: Nielsen Online / Marketing Charts

While Office Depot, Lands End, QVC, Vistaprint and eBay made the top 10 online retailers list last month, we have a few sites we have never seen make this list before. This is the first time Oriental Trading Company and William-Sonoma have made the list since we have been reporting it.

This month I’d like to start including some additional April e-commerce benchmarks:

Page Views Per Session – 13.50
Product Page Views Per Session – 3.70
Average Time on Site (in seconds) – 602.10 seconds
Average Items/Order – 5.77
Average Order Value – $135.98
Shopping Cart Conversion Rate – 32.96%
Shopping Cart Abandonment – 67.04%
New Visitor Conversion Rate – 2.04%
On-site Search Session – 15.20%
On-site Search Conversion Rate – 5.92%
On-site Search Average Order Value – $150.95

Marketing Summary Benchmarks:

Direct Load:
Traffic % – 47.58%
Sales % – 66.15%
Conversion Rate – 3.54%
Natural Search:
Traffic % – 13.79%
Sales % – 8.30%
Conversion Rate – 1.78%
Referrals:
Traffic % – 5.89%
Sales % – 2.02%
Referral Conversion Rate – 1.48%

* Source: Coremetrics LIVEmark Benchmarks US (PDF) – UK benchmarks PDF available.

Coremetrics LIVEmark leverages aggregate performance data across more than 300 participating brands to deliver over 35 benchmark metrics addressing performance indicators such as campaign and channel effectiveness, site stickiness and conversion rates.

Want to find out how your site benchmarks in our customer experience study?