Retail, in the eyes of the everyday customer

The purpose of a Pay Per Click (PPC) landing page is to incentivize visitors to get deeper into the site.  Let’s say you want to optimize a PPC landing page and design a completely new layout which you A/B test.  The results show that conversion rates went down a little but 12% more visitors reached product pages.  Should we draw the conclusion that the landing page failed because it didn’t lift sales or should we say it was a success because it brought visitors deeper into the site?  If the landing page brought people deeper but those visitors didn’t convert it means the steps after landing page need to be optimized.

Let’s look at another example.  You want to increase sales of a particular product so you rewrite product description and run an A/B test.  For such a test we should set conversion goal as visits to cart page.  The primary job of the test product description is to inspire visitors to add this item to their shopping cart.

My point is that each test has a very specific purpose and test success should be measured based on how well the variation page is able to complete that purpose.

Everyone has a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee, Duluth Trading has a No Bull Guarantee–

When potential buyers are searching for your competitor that’s a great time to introduce yourself–

When you click the ad above this is the custom landing page Volusion displays– http://www.volusion.com/volusion_corecommerce_comparison.

Our flush flapper broke so we found ourselves at the local Lowe’s.  I picked the first universal flapper I found.  I thought I was done but my wife pointed to the lower bin that had 3 more universal models.  Now we were really confused.  They all looked alike but had slightly different price points.  Since we couldn’t decide we started reading instructions on the back.  Being a handyman isn’t my area of expertise so my brain started frying pretty fast and I was completely unable to decide what to get.  One particular model had graphical instructions on the back so I ended up buying it.  I was desperately looking for something that would help firm my decision (end my misery) and the graphic did the trick for me.  This was NOT the cheapest model.

Online shoppers suffer from the same analysis paralysis and are looking to you to provide one compelling reason (or a few) why they should buy from you.  Give them that reason and you’ll be surprised by the results.

This is the cart page on saffronrouge.com–

The shopper is about to purchase a $21 item.  As a store owner you know there is a 40%+ probability this potential buyer will abandon.  When I clicked CHECKOUT this is what I saw on next screen–

This is a genius conversion tactic for two reasons–

1: The shopper is being distracted by two free items.  This unexpected ‘gift’ completely shifts focus away from the $21 item and to the free items.

2: Saffronrouge.com presents shoppers 12 free items and asks them to pick any 2.  Studies show when shoppers can drive their own experience they covert at a higher rate.

Another clever touch is that if a shopper clicks Soothing Herbal Recovery Gel, one of the free items listed, product details are shown on the same screen–

It’s always a good idea to keep shoppers who start checkout within checkout flow.  We saw this in the eyebuydirect.com example too.

This e-tailer has discovered a genius tactic to engage visitors and get them to click Google+ button–

… Here’s why–

The first thing I love is that the email is hyper focused.  The retailer only wants to talk about their 24-7 Pants.  No noise, no distraction.  What’s also interesting is the specific order in which content has been presented–

1 (this is what the reader sees first):

The email gets the reader’s attention by making an offer that only applies to email subscribers.  I received this email March 29th and the sale opens to general public April 1st, so I have 3 days to act.  The headline adds an element of urgency.

2 (this is what the reader sees second):

Social Proof– I know Harry’s Army Surplus is in the business of selling 24-7 pants, so their word has limited credibility (I’m a skeptical consumer).  However, I am very interested in hearing what other customers like me felt.  I like how Harry’s Army Surplus has nicely summarized customer feedback.  Most email readers skim.

3 (this is what the reader sees third):

Some people are persuaded my words, others by video.  Market to both and double your response rate.

4 (this is what the reader sees fourth):

Features section is where the reader understands what makes 24-7 pant so special.

5 (this is what the reader sees fifth):

Now that the email has activated the reader’s desire center Harry’s has to explain why this offer is so incredible.

It’s important to note that Harry’s Army Surplus is a 1 store operation and they probably don’t even have a full time marketing manager.  In that reality this email is very well done.  The one content snippet I would’ve added is– “We’ve reserved 24 24-7 pants for our email subscribers.  This email has been sent to 12,230 email subscribers.  Click Reserve My 24-7 Pant and we’ll hold yours for the next 2 days.”  Clicking Reserve My 24-7 Pant would be a micro-conversion and the act of clicking it would subconsciously persuade clickers to visit the store.

Wonder if this was part of a Google test?

On eyebuydirect.com once a shopper reaches checkout stage (a critical stage) if they click the eyebuydirect.com top left icon (the only exit route) they are shown a pop-up that asks them to enter their email address to save cart contents–

What’s interesting is that even if the shopper selects “No thanks, continue browsing” in screenshot above, their cart contents will be saved.  But the wordplay is genius- the pop-up title says, “Save your shopping cart” and the link reads “No thanks, continue browsing”, which makes shoppers believe clicking “No thanks, continue browsing” will lose their cart contents.  Consequently, I’m sure, many just give their email addresses to save cart contents (and eyebuydirect.com gains a valuable micro-conversion).

Now this is a return policy that makes me very comfortable (taken from miracleblanket.com)–

The Way We Do Business

100% LIFETIME SATISFACTION GUARANTEE AND RETURN POLICY

Because we have seen over a 99.5% satisfaction rating among our customers, we receive incredibly few returns; therefore, we can afford to offer the most aggressive and simple guarantee you’ve ever seen. As a matter of fact if you see a better guarantee for any product, anywhere, show us and we’ll beat it!

Here’s how it works:

• No restock fee,
• No “Return Authorization Code”,
• No garbage,
• No catch,
• NO SMALL PRINT

If you are not happy with your purchase of a Miracle Blanket for ANY REASON we will refund 100% of your purchase including shipping (**basic, outgoing shipping cost only – we can’t refund express fees**) within 30 days of your purchase. Unlike others, we will refund your purchase even if the reason for your return is that you didn’t like the look of the label! AND IT IS OKAY IF THE BLANKET IS USED AND NOT IN ITS ORIGINAL CONDITION! Can you believe those companies that say 100% money back guarantee, but only if you don’t take it out of the package to see if you like it? READ EVERYONE’S GUARANTEE VERY CAREFULLY! You’d be surprised!

Yes, I’m sure a tiny minority will misuse the policy but, I believe, many more will convert as a direct outcome of reading it.