E-Commerce

Research shows that most people say they trust the content in e-mails they’ve signed up to receive. The challenge, though, is to build an opt-in list of loyal customers so you can convert those eyeballs into sales and keep them buying. GOT Corp., a Montreal-based e-mail service provider, offers several suggestions in its new white paper, “Growing Opt-In Lists: Turning Web Browsers into Buyers.” • Place multiple opt-in locations on your site. Too many marketers make the mistake of limiting opt-in requests to the home page, the whitepaper states. Include e-mail registration and opt-in requests on every page and at every potential customer interaction

Many of the most successful Web marketers use site search applications known as “searchandising,” which customizes their search and navigation with merchandising. A new research report from Aberdeen Group for e-commerce software provider Mercado Software shows that online retailers that use searchandising tools can boost sales, conversion rates and average order values. Here are four tips from the report, “Web Site Search: Revenue in the Results,” to help catalogers and other online marketers achieve the best results possible using searchandising applications. 1. Customize, it pays off. A whopping 86 percent of companies who achieved moderate to extensive customization to fit their products or

People love to save money and coupons help them save even more, whether they are shopping in a store, from a catalog or online. Coupons have always been part of the Internet shopping experience, but not all online shoppers have been able to easily find and use them. Below are 10 ways to increase sales with online coupons: 1. Don’t limit your audience. When creating coupons for the first time, merchants sometimes forget to offer coupons appealing to a wide audience. One of the most common mistakes is creating a coupon valid only for a specific product or product category. In limiting the product range,

Can a cataloger ever go overboard in trying to build its brand and drive sales? Actually, yes, particularly when using e-mails as a marketing strategy. Send too many e-mails to your target market and you could hurt the brand and ultimately lose customers by hitting an “exposure ceiling.” In his recent whitepaper, “The Email Exposure Ceiling,” Sundeep Kapur, director of customer service and e-commerce solutions for customized software solutions provider NRC eCommerce, says that because e-mail is a more personal means of communication than a print or radio advertising, people want to control what is sent to their inbox. If they feel a

Web sites can be a key marketing tool for almost every type of business. From flash pages and music to video and pop up cursor messages, Web site design and structure options are limitless. But have too many marketers lost site of the fundamental marketing mission sites serve? Have bells and whistles replaced message and branding? The answer is too often — yes. Sites should serve as a way of introducing, supporting and building loyalty for your business. A site can no longer be just a corporate brochure or shopping flyer; it must be a tool to brand you. To achieve

Online product reviews can create opportunities around one of the oldest direct marketing tools: customer testimonials. Such reviews and ratings can drive conversions on your Web site. Take Petco.com, for instance. Visitors that browse the top-rated product pages on Petco.com convert 49 percent more often and spend 63 percent more than browsers using other categories, according to the pet supplies marketer’s vice president of e-commerce John Lazarchic. He revealed these facts and a number of tips at a session at the eTail conference, held earlier this month in Palm Desert, Calif. 1. Solicit initial reviews through promotions. “When we first launched the program, we promoted

Without a clear indication of how a better customer experience will increase the bottom line, how do you prove the worth of such projects to your top bean-counters? E-commerce executives at several multichannel merchants and one service provider addressed this topic in a panel discussion at the recent eTail conference in Palm Desert, Calif. Question: How do you show the value of a user experience project and get it funded? It doesn’t need to be more difficult to apply an ROI on the user experience; you can monetize it. You can improve the look of your shopping cart and see higher conversion. We’ve done

An effective search engine optimization strategy isn’t just about having the right products in the right place when customers are looking for them. Site content and the way in which you present and link to products on your site all contribute to higher rankings in search engine results. In a whitepaper, “20 Organic Search Marketing Tips,” distributed at the eTail conference held earlier this month in Palm Desert, Calif., search marketing services and content provider LifeTips offered the following tips on providing better content and increasing the popularity of your site. 1. Don’t provide content, provide solutions. More than just information relevant to your brand,

Welcome to the inaugural issue of Catalog Success: The Corner View. Coming to you directly from the keyboard of Catalog Success editor in chief Paul Miller, this fortnightly e-newsletter will reach your inbox every other Friday. In all of our channels — the monthly print magazine, the weekly Idea Factory e-newsletter and our daily Web site — Catalog Success’ mantra is to provide you with moneymaking ideas that can help you run your catalog/multichannel business better. Always on the lookout for new products that we can offer our readers, we bring you this executive report with analysis and reflections on the catalog/multichannel business, specifically targeted

One of the great advantages of Internet marketing is the ability to personalize the user experience, provided you have the data, expertise and technology to do so. E-commerce executives from three multichannel merchants shared their assorted experiences, strategies and failures with personalization during a session at last week’s eTail conference in Palm Desert, Calif. 1. Personalization is just a fancy name for segmentation, according to Andrew Knight, manager of online user experience at big-box hardware retailer The Home Depot. “Personalization starts with customer registration; that’s where we get a lot of the segmentation data for personalization efforts,” he said. Personalization then can address anything