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 The interesting graphic shown in this post by Custora shows how e-commerce businesses are gaining customers and how that has changed since 2009.

It is no surprise to see cost-per-click (CPC) search advertising growing over that time. However, it is gratifying to see that email has grown the fastest, far outstripping banner advertising, Facebook and Twitter.

In my book I say that email is the biggest social network on the planet. It appears to be so for e-commerce companies as well.

@fusionmex via @TheGrok I"ve been working with a number of e-commerce clients over the past few months. Conversion optimization has the potential to increase their conversion rates, increase their average order value and put more money in their pockets. However, Conversion Strategy is the tide that floats all pages. If you are selling online, consider some of these features requested by consumers.

@fusionmex via @TheGrok I"ve been working with a number of e-commerce clients over the past few months. Conversion optimization has the potential to increase their conversion rates, increase their average order value and put more money in their pockets. However, Conversion Strategy is the tide that floats all pages. If you are selling online, consider some of these features requested by consumers.

Retargeting Emails - Do E-commerce customers like or loathe them? March 10th, 2011Leave a commentGo to comments By Charles Nicolls, SeeWhy At SeeWhy, when we first launched our remarketing service in 2009, Randy Stross wrote a piece about email remarketing in The New York Times suggesting that while remarketing might be a great idea for ecommerce websites, it's not a great idea for consumers. He likened emails following up on abandoned shopping carts to a salesman chasing you down the street if you didn't buy from his store. There are major differences, of course. We've long argued that remarketing emails, when done well, not only drive conversions but also build brand trust. They can deliver great service and provide customers with the confidence to return to buy-either online, by phone or in store. If Randy was right and customers universally resented the intrusion, then these emails wouldn't work. In aiming to answer the question more substantively, I turned to data, and specifically email marketing benchmarks. The key metrics to look at to determine whether customers like or loathe remarketing emails are: the recovery rate the open rate the clickthrough rate the unsubscribe rate Frankly, the evidence is overwhelming: Remarketing, when done well, is appreciated by customers. Here's the evidence: (1) The recovery rate The recovery rate is the percentage of visitors that abandon shopping carts, and remarketed visitors thatthen return and purchase following remarketing. At SeeWhy, we measure recovery rates across all our customers, and currently the average is 20 percent. So, one in five shopping cart abandoners come back and buy, having being remarketed. In some cases, the recovery rate is as high as 50 percent. Moreover, when remarketed customers buy, they spend on average 55 percent more than customers who didn't abandon their shopping carts. (2) The open rate The average email open rate for remarketing emails is currently 46 percent, m

It is astounding that these rotating hero shots are so common on e-commerce sites. We have seen in the lab that they are a sure way to reduce site engagement and crater conversion rates. Don't believe it? Tim Ash would know and lists the reasons in this eye-opening article. Please read it.

There is more on hero sliders in my most recent Search Engine Land column.

We've been having great success with video in a e-commerce setting here at Conversion Sciences. You may not need to commission "ten fully functional video studios" and full-time staff of 45 people as Zappos has. But clearly Zappos believes that video is increasing their sales enough to make such an investment.

What could online video do for your business?

Shopping Cart abandonment is one of the first places we look when helping e-commerce sites increase their conversion rates. Why spend time and money optimizing a site if the buyers can't get through a shopping cart? Pricing and shipping offers are two issues we have to address at a strategic level. Here is a very informative article from @SeeWhyInc. I particularly like their cart value vs. abaondment rate graphs. Check them out.

Great study on why people abandon their shopping carts.

"One of the chief advantages that e-commerce companies currently wield over their real-world counterparts are vast troves of detailed data on purchases and shopping habits. " How are you applying behavioral data to your online store? Will you be the next dinosaur?

While this article focuses on urgency and social proof, take a look at the way this Ruby Lane product page is designed.

Price is prominently displayedAdd to Cart button is high on the pageShipping is handled before entering checkoutThe product description is near the hero shot (and well written)Several high-quality photos are provided.All are above the fold or close to it. Are you working this hard to help your visitors buy?

 @TheGrok  says "Test your product headline to be benefit oriented as opposed to just product name." I hadn't considered that. Good lists always tell you something you hadn't thought of and Bryan has such a list for Online Stores and Publication sites who feature their offerings on Product Pages. Product pages are the money pages on your site, and are one of the first places to look for optimization opportunities.

I hope you know your abandonment rate. Take the number of purchases you get on your site divided by the number of people who put a product in your cart. This is your cart conversion rate. Subtract this number from 1 and you get your abandonment rate, or the percentage of people who abandon their shopping cart.

If your abandonment rate is high (expect it to be over 70%) there are some things you can do about it. Here is a great infographic from Monetate that will show you some reasons people leave full carts.

Providing choice for your web visitors is not only a great way to increase conversions in your post-click marketing program, but also to increase the value of those conversions.