Sep 07 2007
3 Guaranteed Methods for Driving Conversion
As a reader of this blog you probably share a common trait with me. You research new technologies, examine success stories of those who have been able to leverage the tactics and build an analysis of best practices. You may also examine the early adopters to get a leg up on the competition but may be fearful of entering the bleeding edge because these tactics may only affect a minor segment of your customer base and potential prospects. You also engage in user testing and it most likely tells you to forget all of this new-fangled stuff because they just don’t care and will never use it.
My first forays into user testing were very frustrating. Most users completely ignored the more sophisticated features of the site that were designed to allow them to quickly find what they wanted. I consistently found that most users engage in the most basic shopping methods (example: open a vast category of product thumbnails and scroll). But this can be very misleading. The problem is that the methodology of user testing does not engage a statistically significant sample and it may lead you away from improvements that can lead to significant incremental gains. When I eventually decided that user testing needed less weight in the decision making process and moved ahead with site upgrades that many users ignored, it turned out to be a good decision. The more sophisticated users are out there and they will eventually dominate. This lead me to the conclusion that the best solution for driving conversion is to accommodate the style of a wide variety of user preferences.
I understand that adding site functionality can be a very costly and time consuming process and there is a great deal on the line to make sure you are advancing the right hypothesis. The benchmarking of competitors and related sites with deep pockets can take you only so far unless you have reliable data on their metrics. I have also found that the buzz surrounding new technologies can be over-hyped and misleading so it can very difficult to come up with an ROI analysis that gets the bang for buck that you need to keep your job and advance your business. I have gone through the wars and admit that I have formed attitudes based on a “been there, done that” mentality. The attitude may change tomorrow, so you’re getting it as it stands right now. Although this post is written as a primer for relative newcomers to ecommerce, more sophisticated marketers will want to review this list to make sure you haven’t missed a key factor.
When you are prioritizing your list of site enhancements or if you are considering a redesign, take a step back and make sure that you are covering a wide variety of user preferences. You aren’t running at peak efficiency if you haven’t satisfied these 3 conversion drivers.
1) Navigation and site search– In addition to descriptive product categories, do you list benefits of the product as categories? Do you have filtering options for the most significant factors that affect buying decisions (brands, sizes, colors, etc.)?
2) Transaction methods– In addition to major credit cards, add PayPal and Google Checkout and consider other alternate pay methods. If your call center isn’t top notch then you should improve it or outsource it elsewhere. If you don’t allow fax transactions you are probably missing out of potential sales, especially if you’re a B-to-B marketer. And finally… surprise, surprise, a 4-step checkout process beats a one-step checkout.
3) Depth of user experience- Add as much relevant content as you can muster. The additional content must be presented as options to maintain speed and ease of use. Although it is possible to go overboard with rich media (because it can be very costly), it is now a prerequisite. If you have a print catalog, you need an online version and quick-order functionality.
I invite you to join in and add to this list or to take a shot at debunking my “attitude”.
