Sucharita Mulpuru says, “The hottest topic in eCommerce these days seems to be “buy buttons.” The energy though appears premature. Pinterest announced its buyable pins with a press conference and sentimental Hallmark-like videos though the buyable pins are actually hard to find. Facebook, the king of all social networks, announced a buy button more than a year ago but it’s been relatively mum on the details (and they appear to only have one formal eCommerce partner). Media reports and blog posts of Instagram, Twitter, and Google doing the same seem to further excite merchants and vendors... [...]

Christopher Ratcliff says, “Do basket abandonment emails work? Is there any ‘best practice’ guidance that ecommerce sites should follow? What is the likelihood that an abandoner will come back to purchase after receiving the email? Let’s try to answer these questions right now… According to SaleCycle’s founder and CEO, Dominic Edmunds: Cart abandonment is one of the biggest challenges facing online retailers, with three-quarters of customers effectively walking away at the till. That’s a hefty amount of abandonment and certainly falls in line with Hubspot’s... [...]

Graham Charlton says, “Users of site search are more likely to convert than the average user, so ecommerce sites should strive to produce the best possible experience.  Here I’ve compiled a list of site search best practices, along with some excellent examples from retailers. Search boxes and functionality There’s more to search box and site search functionality than you may think. The placement and design of search boxes can make a difference to usage, while the addition of certain features makes for a better search experience. Make the search box easy to spot The prominence... [...]

Shei Feinberg says, “It’s easy to feel for your customers when they can’t make payments. Hearing the plea in their voice for payment flexibility makes it hard to enforce tough terms or upfront payments. Yet, business isn’t personal, and sales leaders’ jobs hinge on figuring how to increase sales. If we gave special treatment to every sob story we’d be a charity. Right? Providing a sense of flexibility and giving your customers terms needs to be good for your bottom line. After all, you’re accountable not only to your customers, but also to your employees and shareholders.... [...]

Brian Rigney says, “Consumers are time poor and use a vast variety of devices, and today, marketers have mere seconds to grab their attention. It is a world of glimpses and instant gratification, and getting customers to engage is harder than it has ever been. But why are we trying to get them to engage? To get them to like you and read what you have to say — and browse through your products/services and fall in love. But behind this, ultimately, it is all about driving revenues. This is often looked at as a selfish endeavor, but in reality, making it easy to buy is a service marketers... [...]

Luke Richards says, “It’s another month and therefore another fresh update to our massive Internet Statistics Compendium.  As usual, we’ve scoured the length and breadth of the internet for the choicest stats and trends from across the digital landscape. This month the Customer Experience arm of the compendium saw some great additions which I thought I’d highlight today; looking at how multiple touchpoints during the customer journey are improving the experience for consumers as well as the return for shops. Brands with more digital touch points are more likely to be selected... [...]

Eric Pratt says, “When we were transitioning into an inbound marketing agency in 2012, I spent hours and hours reading articles and books and reviewing other inbound agencies’ websites. I wanted to know what the best of the best were doing. They were the experts, and I wanted to be successful in this new type of agency as quickly as possible. Now, we’ve made more mistakes over the years than my pride would allow me to admit here. But there is one mistake that was extremely costly and the result of my initial “study the experts” approach: tiered pricing. It’s a... [...]

Charlie Keegan says, “After pouring money into marketing for your ecommerce company, you want to know where your traffic comes from, right? The launch of a particular campaign could involve pay-per-click ads, email marketing, social media posts, blogs, guest posts, and mentions in online magazines. How could you possibly track where your buyers found you with so many possibilities? There are quite a few attribution models available, with perhaps the most widely used being Google Analytics. It’s true that Google Analytics will help you identify the click that led buyers directly to your... [...]

  Graham Charlton says, “Microcopy is often overlooked, but it can have an important impact on the user experience.  In an ecommerce context, microcopy is those little pieces of text which explain what to write in a form field, or the wording of a call to action. Here are some examples of how it can be used… Microcopy, or transactional content In our recent Implementing Content Strategy guide, this kind of copy is referred to as transactional content by author Dr Mike Baxter“. How ecommerce sites can use microcopy ‘Econsultancy’ Blog  [...]

Patrick Kulp says, “Video ads on Facebook are right around the corner. Facebook will be giving video publishers an extra push to publish video directly onto its platform as it shores up its massive video platform, it announced on Wednesday. SEE ALSO: Think Facebook is a media powerhouse? Just wait til its video player takes over The social network is starting to run ads between videos for a small group of publishers including Fox Sports, the NBA and Funny or Die. Those companies will receive 55% share of ad revenues that run against their videos — the same split offered by YouTube. Facebook... [...]