Site Conversion Optimization

Secure Ecommerce Shopping Cart Abandonment Rates Rising

Posted on by DESMOND K

There’s a reason why Amazon.com continues to invest so much effort in tracking customer behavior on its site. You can bet your bottom dollar that every little tweak that Amazon.com makes to its site is because it thinks each change will impact sales in a positive manner and curb secure ecommerce shopping cart abandonment rates. If there’s one thing we can learn from Amazon.com, it’s that it’s important to continuously  adapt to changing customer trends.

A recent survey by Forrester has shown that up to 88% of consumers have abandoned secure ecommerce shopping carts during the checkout process. The reasons are far removed from those we addressed a while back in a previous post. This time around, it’s not a lengthy checkout process or lack of certain features that’s turning customers away: It’s (hidden) cost.

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Free Keyword, Site Design And Shopping Cart Software Tips

Posted on by DESMOND K

Here are a few more FREE keyword, site design and shopping cart software tips that we’ve garnered by analyzing customer questions, digesting the latest ecommerce findings and carrying out our own little experiments. It’s still basically the usual suspects – keywords, site design and shopping cart software – that are under the microscope, but with a little twist here and there. All these little tweaks are important as customer trends keep changing.

Every year it seems like we encourage our merchants to get their Christmas/Holiday store preparations done a little bit earlier than the year before. This year is no different. (more…)

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Introducing Free Live Chat Software from InstanteStore

Posted on by Terry O

Over the last while, we’ve received numerous queries from our merchants, asking if there’s a particular live chat software solution that we recommend for use (free live chat or otherwise). It’s partly in response to these requests that we’ve now introduced InstanteStore’s very own free live chat software.

When it comes to running an ecommerce store, one of the main factors that will determine a store’s success or failure is the quality of customer service and support that’s offered. Customer support comes in many forms: email, support ticket systems, phone support, etc. One of the most direct and effective forms of customer support is live chat software.

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Coldfusion Shopping Cart News – More Do’s And Don’ts For 2010

Posted on by DESMOND K

So far this year we’ve looked at past trends, ecommerce statistics and tried to predict upcoming trends by analyzing shopping cart reviews and feedback. In this coldfusion shopping cart news post, we will look at the little things that can affect the performance of a web store. We will also look at what the big boys are doing in terms of reaching out to customers and finally, see how some stores are making brave moves by going against the norm.

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Shopping Cart Options – Let Us Help You Decide

Posted on by DESMOND K

While browsing ecommerce forums, we’ve come across many questions from those who are interested in running their own web stores but just cannot choose a suitable solution from the multitude of available shopping cart options. Many of the “solutions” put forth by forum regulars only seem to further confuse those in need of help.

In this post we will take a look at 3 of the most common shopping cart options that stump those who are interested in starting their own web stores.

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Free Online Shopping Cart Advice – Content That Converts

Posted on by DESMOND K

You may have asked yourself, “How do I start my own website or web store?” Well, before you sign up for a website shopping cart solution, take a look at a few sites and see how they work. If you’re interested in selling shoes, key in a related search term and look at the results. Browse a few web stores. See which ones interest you enough to stay on and which ones actually compel you to buy from them.

In this installment of our free online shopping cart advice series, we’ll take a look at why content on web pages need not be verbose. We’ll also look at what you should consider when optimizing a web page.

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Start An Online Store Business Tip – Test Your Site

Posted on by DESMOND K

Why do some online stores have higher conversion rates than others even though they don’t seem very attractive?

One thing you have to remember if you want to start an online store business is that consumer behavior at online stores is vastly differently than at traditional offline stores. At offline stores, a consumer is already there and would have to travel elsewhere to purchase the same product at a different store, unless of course there’s another store nearby that also sells the item they are interested in. The situation differs drastically at online stores. Shoppers know that alternative stores are just a search result away. Switching stores can be a spur-of-the-moment, near-instantaneous decision.

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Standout With Custom Shopping Cart Store Designs

Posted on by DESMOND K

It may sound like one of the worst cliches, but a picture really does paint a thousand words. Custom shopping cart designs and shopping cart images on a site may not mean all that much to search engines but they do matter to visitors.

Have you ever visited a site that didn’t have any images? Chances are that you have but you may not remember. Of course certain sites like research sites may not need images but if you run a web store then custom shopping cart store designs could make a difference in how your store performs. In fact, every single product page definitely should have a shopping cart picture of the product.

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Top Home Based Business Tip – Making Full Use Of Available Stats

Posted on by DESMOND K

Commerce – especially ecommerce – is a numbers game. Merchants who want to run a top home based business must analyze their store stats frequently to tweak their stores for optimal performance. Number of visits versus number of conversions, best sellers, popular wish list items … this is all important information that can help merchants improve their stores.

In this post we will look at 4 statistical tools that can be found in the InstanteStore ecommerce solution. You don’t need a custom shopping cart to have access to these statistics. The stats are easy to access and we hope owners of online business opportunity work from home busines will make use of them after reading this article.

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Make It Easier For Visitors to Shop At Your Store – 3 Quick Tips

Posted on by DESMOND K

Many web stores get loads of traffic but traffic alone will not make merchants money. Sites need to convert visitors into customers for that to happen. We have blogged about the need to make pages as sticky as possible in earlier posts. We have also briefly gone over the use of tools such as newsletters and discount coupons to entice customers. We have even talked about tapping the aborted orders list to improve sales.

In this posting, we will look at how you can make it easier for customers to shop at your stores via online shopping cart checkout website design, the use of appropriate information and page designs.

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