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37signals: An Introduction to Using Patterns in Web Design on 2009-04-20
20 Tips to Minimize Shopping Cart Abandonment, Part 2 - ClickZ on 2009-04-17
- Offer the option to call. If visitors have a problem during checkout or feel uncomfortable using a credit card online, offer a phone number. Devote a dedicated toll-free line for tracking purposes. Also offer a printable order form so customers can complete orders by fax, if they prefer.
- Make the checkout process even easier for new visitors than registered customers. Acquiring new customers is much harder than selling to the loyal ones. Registered customers will find a way to sign in (if they don't have a cookie). Don't position registration and log-in as an obstacle between new visitors and checkout.
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- - Add third-party reinforcement messages. VeriSign, Better Business Bureau, and credit card logos either greatly boost conversions or at least keep them neutral. In other words, they can't hurt. A HACKER SAFE rating certification helps clients across the board, especially those with larger-than-average order sizes. Its maker, ScanAlert, claims the certification can increase average orders 15.7 percent.
  - Handle coupon codes with care. Don't decrease your conversion rate90 percent, as my friend Brad did. Think carefully about where you present the option to enter codes and how you label it.
  - Provide multiple payment options. Follow Wal-Mart's lead and add more payment options. Allow visitors to pay by credit card, check, PayPal, or any other means you can.
  - Reassure customers at the right time and place. How often is critical information buried in tiny type at the bottom of the page or deep within a site? In a brick-and-mortar store, it's fairly easy to find product warranty information. Offer customers this same opportunity online, at the point of action (POA). Link to product warranties, shipping costs, return policies, testimonials, even optional extended service plans. Or, provide the information in a pop-up. Make the best use of your assurances at the right time and place.
  - Use an exit survey. If a visitor abandons checkout, offer an incentive to complete an exit survey. She may tell you why she didn't complete that order.
20 Tips to Minimize Shopping Cart Abandonment, Part 1 - ClickZ on 2009-04-17
- Industry research shows up to 75 percent of shoppers abandon their online shopping carts before completing the checkout process.
- We've discovered the number of steps is not all that critical.
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- - No matter how many steps in your checkout process, let customers know where they are in the process.
  - Add pictures inside the basket. Placing a thumbnail image of the product increases conversions by as much as 10 percent.
  - Include a prominent "Next Step" or "Continue With Checkout" button on each checkout page. Make the button you want them to click next the most obvious. One top 50 e-tailer mistakenly placed its "remove from cart" and checkout buttons next to each other. Neither stood out. Many people ended up clearing their carts. When they went to check out, they found nothing in there and immediately abandoned the site in frustration.
  - If information is missing or filled out incorrectly during checkout, give a meaningful error message that's obvious to see. It should clearly tell visitors what needs to be corrected. The tone should be the system was unable to understand what was entered, not the visitor made a foolish mistake.
  - Let them know you're a real company by giving full contact info during the checkout process.
My Thoughts on Promo Outcomes - Search Engine Watch (SEW) on 2009-04-17
- Direct Response Promotion: Thumbs Way Up
  
  I love direct response promotions in which I ask for people's input. The feedback is incredibly valuable. It feels like I'm making stronger connection with my readers, and the return I get in exchange for a small gift certificate is more than worth it.
- Google Docs Rocks (Mostly)
  
  Finally, I experimented using the Google Docs Form feature for both of these promotions. Google Docs Forms allow you to quickly and easily set up a form that your visitors can fill out. The data they enter is automatically inserted into a Google spreadsheet. Google has a write-up on how this feature works.
A Deeper Look At Robots.txt on 2009-04-17
The Value of Content Marketing | FutureNow's GrokDotCom / Marketing Optimization Blog on 2009-04-15
- Content includes but is not limited to:
  
  The copy on your Web site
  Blogs and reader comments
  Content widgets (check out recently released ContentWidgets.com
  Product/service reviews
  Forums
  Videos, demos, and animations
  Tweets
  Facebook/MySpace fan pages and groups
  E-mail newsletters
  Articles and other intellectual property or knowledge sharing
  Whitepapers, case studies, Webinars
- You don’t have to start from scratch. If you have content already, look to your analytics to identify popular content and find other uses for it. Rewrite it, update it, and send it as a newsletter. Even tweet it as an oldie but a goodie. Or have it formatted for mobile browsers.
  Crowdsource. Sometimes your customers will create better content than you can buy from a content creation firm. Why not use specific reviews or forum posts as landing places for campaigns or even as ads?
  Find the passion. Somebody in the company interested or fluent in a particular social media, or has been itching to write a company blog? Now is the time to let him loose. Let his passion be a lighthouse for potential customers. While it may not be polished or on message, it is likely not going to be sterile and flat like most polished, on-message marketing efforts. To get a sense of what this evangelist might do for you, check out my interview with Betsy Weber, chief evangelist of TechSmith:part one and part two.
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- - Let content come from your company’s strength. We have a client where almost everybody in the company participates in the forum. Every employee is knowledgeable about the service offered, and they all become part of the marketing vehicle, giving tips and comments and escalating customer issues. Not only is it transparent, it’s content marketing at its most organic.
    Content marketing should ultimately be a two-way conversation between you and your customers. While an e-mail newsletter or a static Web page with persuasive copy is technically one-way, it shouldn’t sound like it is. Talk more about them and what they get than talking about yourself. Those who do nothing but talk about themselves just end up “wewe-ing” all over themselves. Try our online calculator that tells businesses how much they talk about themselves in their copy; it is one of our oldest content marketing vehicles and has remained popular for years.
    Don’t be pressured to reinvent the wheel. If you don’t already have one, start a simple e-mail newsletter. Don’t feel forced to pick something new and shiny like Twitter or the latest social media frenzy.
    Content that isn’t relevant to at least one profitable segment of potential customers isn’t content, it’s spam. Spam is boring. Creating relevant content often requires planning.
SEOmoz | Footer Link Optimization for Search Engines and User Experience on 2009-04-15
- That's not to say I don't suggest doing a good job with your footers. Many sites, large and small, will continue to use the footer as a resource for link placement and, just as with all other SEO tactics that fade, they do carry some residual value. Let's walk through a few examples of both good and bad to get a sense for what works:
- Again - great organization, good crosslinking (remaining relevant, then branching out to other network properties) and solid design. Even the most aggressive of the links on the right hand side appear natural and valuable to users, making it hard for an engine to argue they shouldn't pass full value.
Marketing in the age of the “strategic minimum wage worker” | FutureNow's GrokDotCom / Marketing Optimization Blog on 2009-04-15
- The Marine Corps response to this has always been to recruit the very best individuals possible and to push decision-making and responsibility as far down the chain of command as possible. Many successful businesses take a similar approach with their front-line workers. And the results pay-off when the great actions of individual employees hit the social media echo chamber.
Design To Sell: 8 Useful Tips To Help Your Website Convert | How-To | Smashing Magazine on 2009-04-15
- In fact, according to Barry Schwatz, when customers have too many options to consider, they end up avoiding a specific service or the task in general (Paradox of Choice) – and this is exactly what we as designers need to carefully consider in our designs.
- AIDA is a well-known strategy in sales and stands for: Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. It is relatively simple and describes the sequence of events you should aim for to get a sale. So, first of all, you must capture the attention of your potential customer. Once you have it, you should win their interest by explaining how your product or service can help them.
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- - This means you shouldn’t design a nice website first and then fill up the space with words. Instead, think about the message you want to send out, write the copy and then construct a design that delivers that. If a delivery truck breaks down, then the package does not arrive, but if there was no package in the first place, then the delivery wouldn’t matter at all.
  - Our eyes will notice the arrow and will naturally want to see where it points to.
  - The Gutenberg diagram (or the Gutenberg rule) is a concept that maps out something called reading gravity. Reading gravity describes a habit of reading in the western world: left to right, top to bottom. The Gutenberg diagram splits up a page into four quadrants: the “Primary Optical Area” in top left, the “Strong Fallow Area” in top right, the “Weak Fallow Area” in the bottom left and a “Terminal Area” in bottom right.
7 More Useful Tips To Help Your Site Convert | How-To | Smashing Magazine on 2009-04-15

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