Online shopping has come a long way, and so have the shoppers themselves. Gone are the days when you could expect the majority of shoppers to land on your homepage to begin the navigation process. Shoppers are accessing your site from every door available. Not to mention the fact that with such an abundance of websites to choose from, shoppers are expecting so much more from you once they’ve arrived. So let’s look at six primary characteristics and what the implications are for your company and your site.
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On September 22nd, I am speaking at the Internet Marketing Conference.
It’s an interesting gathering with a diverse selection of speakers and panelists. I will be speaking about how search technologies have evolved over the years and how Internet marketers should adapt their techniques. Bellow, you could find the overview of the talk. I hope you attend the conference specially if you are in Vancouver.
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Companies with an online presence should constantly be looking to improve their online business. It’s time to take a look at what areas of online retail will be important in the future, and where your competitors are investing their money. Online retail is far from reaching its zenith and the potential for growth is great. With the increasing usage of smart phones, people’s trust in fellow consumers’ reviews, and the wealth of review and comparison websites out there, the complexion of the online environment is changing at a rapid pace. Consumers are looking for much more than the product, price, and specifications.
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Posted in Website Investment
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Tagged abandonment, cart, chat, checkout, customer, functionality, help, live, navigation, reviews, search, usability
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While there are many definitions of usability, I’m going to keep things as simple as possible. In a nutshell, usability is how clear and easy it is for a user to fulfill the tasks intended, and be happy doing it. Here are some questions to consider when gauging or observing how usable your site is:
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How fast can someone find what they’re looking for?
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At first glance, how easy would it be to reach your goal?
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How much control does the user have over what they’re doing, where they are, and where they can go?
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Not all usability improvements require a complete overhaul, and with the economy where it is now is a good time to consider more affordable projects. Concentrate on designs and structures that are simple and easy for the user to understand. There are a number of solutions, in house and third party hosted, that can significantly improve your website’s usability. For brevity’s sake, I’m going to list six IT/design related areas of improvement that should be considered.
1. Clear pricing/shipping costs at all times: This is simple and straightforward, yet countless websites fail to do this properly. What’s the most important feature internet users expect according to a report conducted by Oneupweb in June 2010? You guessed it, clear pricing/shipping information at a whopping 95.5% of respondents. The moment someone adds a product to their cart, pricing and shipping costs should be clearly stated in the forefront so there are no surprises, potentially leading to abandonment later.
2. Guest Checkout: This is crucial. Your website becomes much more usable when you allow guests to checkout without having to fill out unnecessary information. Sometimes people want to be able to purchase a product as a guest because they’re ready to fill out yet another form. In fact, Forrester Research conducted a shopping cart abandonment study in 2010 and found that 14% of shoppers abandoned their cart because they didn’t want to register.
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Optemo is expanding its development team and needs you:
We are looking for an experienced and passionate software developer to create quality software for online retailers. Our Ruby on Rails-based software provides a novel way for shoppers to navigate product catalogs. The right candidate should be a knowledgable software developer with a proven track record. Please note that our team develops with Macs.
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Optemo is working with BuildDirect.com to deliever a one-of-a-kind solution for shopping building supplies. The solution will enhance the way customers will search for hard word floors, cabinet, decks and …
Optemo is going to assist many first time builders or home renovators to shop building supplies online at a much lower price. Retailers such as BuildDirect.com has really made it possible to make supplies available online at a lower rate. And now Optemo is helping shoppers to get the help they would get at brick-and-mortar stores.
At the end of last year we completed the trial of the Discovery Browser on BestBuy.ca. During the trail, Buy Canada had 40% higher conversion and 100% larger basket size with shoppers using the Discovery Browser! Moreover, we received positive feedback from online shoppers. Stay tuned for more news on the Discovery Browser.
Just two days ago, Google unveiled their new product; commerce search (http://www.google.com/commercesearch/)
The introduction of Google’s new product is a validation of our target market. Similar to us, they provide a search and navigation solution for online retailers.
However, their commerce search has not yet solved a great pain, the problem of navigating large catalogues! Although it could be an affordable improvement, Google’s commerce search does not add much to the online retailers that already provide keyword and attribute driven search.
Optemo’s Discovery Browser provides a novel technology that makes it possible to efficiently navigate large product catalogs. The example based navigation of the Discovery Browser enables retailers to carry ever larger inventories and deliver a product-centric shopping process that resembles the in-store experience.
We are pleased to announce that Optemo is working together with BestBuy Canada. We have recently launched a commercial trial in the digital cameras department of bestbuy.ca. Shoppers will love our new way of finding their favorite camera by browsing cameras based on similarity. No longer is there a reason to click through pages and pages of camera listings. We have redesigned our website and will post the newest happenings there.
We are pleased to announce that Optemo is working together with BestBuy Canada. We have recently launched a commercial trial in the digital cameras department of bestbuy.ca. Shoppers will love our new way of finding their favorite camera by browsing cameras based on similarity. No longer is there a reason to click through pages and pages of camera listings.
Since BestBuy is performing a test only 50% of the users get to see the Discovery Browser. Therefore, if you don’t see the banner please just clear your browser cookies and try again.
