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E-commerce Wins (Small Business E-commerce Link Digest – December 9, 2011)

by Tim on December 9, 2011

E commerce tips >All week, we’ve been looking at the top e-commerce errors companies make. And we’ll continue to update that series over time. But to get you through the weekend, here are other great e-commerce resources you should check out:

First, GrokDotCom has a great look at available resources to help drive greater conversion. It’s a fantastic list.
GrokDotCom also offers a fantastic look at improving calls-to-action
One of the reasons I believe that it’s all e-commerce relates to the growth of mobile devices like tablets. GetElastic shows how tablets are changing content creation and consumption. For additional thoughts on the topic, take a look at our roundup of the best iPad blogging tools.
Finally, Wordtracker has an amazing round-up of 63 conversion tips from this year’s London Conversion Conference. Great stuff.

Have a great weekend, folks. We’ll look forward to seeing you back here next week for more social, local, mobile goodness.

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Technorati Tags: E-commerce, e-commerce, e-commerce satisfaction, E-commerce strategy, ecommerce, getelastic, GrokDotCom, landing page design, landing page optimization, strategy

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Ultimate A/B testing case study roundup (Small Business E-commerce Link Digest – June 25, 2010)

by Tim on June 25, 2010

in del.icio.us links,E-commerce

It’s no secret here that I believe A/B testing is one of the the best ways to help your customer and quiet Avinash Kaushik’s HIPPOs (see Rule #10) (Full Disclosure: As the head of e-commerce, I can be something of a HIPPO myself in my day job. So, in some ways, I know the dangers even more. It’s easy to think you’re really smart when you’ve been doing something for a while – and really cool when a test a.) proves you wrong and b.) makes you a lot of money).

In fact, I’ve talked before about reasons why A/B testing is always the right answer and examples of what an A/B test looks like. But, I’ve also been collecting a number of other posts that make the case for A/B testing. Check ‘em out:

I’ve talked about how to choose what to A/B test first before. But, I have to say, I love this look at 8 A/B testing case studies from Visual Website Optimizer’s blog.
FOT (that’s Friend of Thinks) and guest poster Jake Stein of RJMetrics shows an A/B test he conducted for a landing page, complete with a full analysis of what worked best.
Sometimes, even with lots of data, you’re forced to make a challenging call. GetElastic offers a case study that didn’t quite go as planned. But, even though the GetElastic study didn’t pan out as expected, take particular note of what the team learned.
Evan Miller gives a quick overview of the math behind A/B testing that’s worth a read. Sure, you can just use calculators like the Teasley set to test your significance. And, admittedly, the math gets a little geeky, but if you’re serious about A/B testing, I’d take the time to check it out.
Also, if you’re really into the math, Cennyd Bowles takes a deep look at statistical significance and other testing pitfalls. Heavy, but surprisingly readable. I’d also call attention to my comment on the post for a counter-argument to Cennyd’s concern.
You don’t just have to A/B test your landing pages, of course. Jason over at A Smart Bear gives a great example (complete with cute hamsters!) of A/B testing on AdWords. Cool. (And, did I mention the HAMSTERS?!?)
And, finally, if all that isn’t enough for you, Smashing Magazine has their Ultimate Guide To A/B Testing. And it is simply smashing.

Whew! That’s a ton of resources for you to use as you plan your own A/B tests. And you should.

Did I leave something out? I’d love to continue to collect these case studies here. If you find a good one, do me a favor and post it in the comments.

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And while you’re at it, don’t forget to follow Tim on Twitter.

Technorati Tags:
a/b testing, adwords, Avinash Kaushik, call-to-action, click, continuous improvement, conversion, conversion rate, conversion rate optimization, E-commerce, e-commerce, ecommerce, getelastic, google adwords, internet marketing, landing page design, landing page optimization, marketing best practices, measurement, metrics, page design, testing, tools

Tagged as: a/b test, a/b testing, call-to-action, case study, E-commerce, e-commerce sales, test design, testing

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How do you know what to test first in A/B tests?

by Tim on December 17, 2008

in E-commerce

Understanding what drives your customers makes all the difference between converting a sale and seeing your site visitors vanish. And, as we looked at last week, nothing works better than A/B testing to find out what your customers will respond to. But, Jake Stein asked a great question: How do you know what to test first?

Jake highlights a clear challenge. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the array of options. Just to show what’s possible, our good friend Linda Bustos over at Get Elastic listed dozens of Add to Cart buttons. And that’s just one element on the page. How can anyone be expected to zero in on the one, true thing that will make all the difference for your business?

Well, for starters, stop stressing. Improving your site typically involves a series of incremental steps. There’s no wrong thing to test. Yes, some steps are “right-er” than others. But for those, we’ve got you covered. How?

Make sure you know which page to A/B test. (For past tips, see GrokDotCom and past thinks coverage here and here
The best tests are the most common actions tied to your customers’ intent.

Well, duh, right? And how are you supposed to know what those are? Actually, it’s pretty easy. Your customers tell you every day.

Your keyword data is, well, key. There’s no better place to start than by listening to what your customers are already telling you. If you’ve got on-site search, look at the search terms your customers type. If not, check your terms from Google, Yahoo and the rest. These terms should help you figure out what your customers want. If you think about it, Google likely wouldn’t have its dominant position without its deep understanding about what drives customer behavior online. Whether they gather the information through their search engine, Google Analytics, Docs, Gmail and the rest, they’re constantly collecting useful information about what customers want, then putting that to use. Why not steal from the best?

Once you have your customers’ keywords in hand, you should look at one of these 3 places to improve your site:

Call-to-action. Every page on your site should have a call to action. And it doesn’t always have to be “buy now,” or “add to cart,” either. It could be, “Get more information,” “Subscribe to feed,” “What’s next?” or many others. We’ve looked at this before. Remember Alec Baldwin’s infamous “Put. That. Coffee. Down.” speech in Glengarry Glen Ross? You’ve got to “Always Be Closing.”
Headlines. Bryan Eisenberg refers to “leaving a scent trail” for your customers, based on what they expect to find (see keywords above). And since Fitt’s Law says “Bigger is better” (I’m paraphrasing. ‘Cause, really, who likes math that much?), what better way to mark the trail than the biggest words on your page? Your headlines supposedly speak right to what your customers care about. Do they?
Benefit statement. We live in a WIIFM World. That is, customers always ask, “What’s In It For Me.” How clearly do you explain exactly what is in it for your customer? If you’ve tried improving your call-to-action and your headlines to no effect, it’s time to start telling your customers explicitly why they should buy from you.

Since every site is different, it’s impossible to say which will drive the biggest benefit for your site, but, the order listed isn’t a bad way to start. If you’ve got the traffic to support true multivariate testing, you could test all three at once. If not, use the suggested order and see what happens.

Need more information about what, when and how to test? GrokDotCom has a great list of 64 tips for getting started with Google’s Website Optimizer that’s well worth the read.

Still need more?!? Wow. Dude. You’re hardcore. OK. Then check out testing guru Bryan Eisenberg’s Always Be Testing: The Complete Guide to Google Website Optimizer, Tim Ash’s Landing Page Optimization: The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions
and Get Elastic’s blog every day for great posts like this one.

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Technorati Tags:
testing, a/b testing, bryan eisenberg, call-to-action, wiifm, page design, landing page design, landing page optimization