The Cart Blog

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Ajax, Flash and the Home Page

Filed under: Cart Design — thatsoftwareguy @ 5:35 am

Mark Hinkle, writing in SocializedSoftware.com, said

When I go to a page that is Flash, I often find myself reaching for the back button…

Amen and amen. Are you listening, web developers???

Mark also gives a nice excerpt from the Zoho.com blog about the Ajax vs. Flash question.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Do you provide enough information for your buyers?

Filed under: Cart Design,Communication — thatsoftwareguy @ 6:35 am

Here’s a lesson in what not to do from clickz.com:

When looking for shoes to buy her daughter, [she] measured the toddler’s foot and then looked for the site’s size chart. None existed. She wrote to the retailer asking them for a size chart, but was directed to go to a nearby store. “Not only did they not address my question, they directed me to the channel I tried to avoid shopping in the first place,” she said.

Simply amazing. “Just go to one of our competitors – they’ll be happy to help you!”

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Button Blast

Filed under: Cart Design — thatsoftwareguy @ 7:55 am

GetElastic did an interesting post showing over 100 add to cart buttons and commenting on their design and use of verbiage. I’m not a big “Buy Now” fan – sounds too much like Amazon’s “one click” purchasing model; I prefer “Add to Cart” even at the risk of seeming downmarket.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Cart Design – Some great suggestions

Filed under: Cart Design — thatsoftwareguy @ 5:36 am

SEOmoz gets in on the fun with an interesting list of layout and functionality “must-haves.” The article was good, and some of the comments had even more useful ideas. Funny how some SEOers are so focused on search that they forget about conversions – not these folks.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Usability suggestions from Virtual Hosting.com

Filed under: Cart Design — thatsoftwareguy @ 7:12 am

Amy from VirtualHosting.com sent me their site’s latest post, called Holiday Cash: 50+ Ways to Optimize Your Website for Christmas Conversions. I really enjoyed it – there are a few very innovative ideas for your business in this post. My favorites were:

  • #32 (Don’t end the cross sell at the transaction) – we have discussed this topic before here.
  • #44 (Create a sense of urgency) – the idea of a “good until” date is something I’d like to add to my Zen Cart™ discounting software.
  • #42 (Offer alternate ordering methods) – I’m a huge fan of putting contact information on every page, especially the checkout pages.

Thank you, Amy and VirtualHosting.com!

Sunday, December 9, 2007

UK take on top ten e-commerce mistakes

Filed under: Cart Design — thatsoftwareguy @ 6:00 am

e-Consultancy.com gives us their take on what online merchants are doing wrong. Amen and amen to number 9 (“easy on the Flash, guys”), which I haven’t seen before, and I also liked new entrant number 3 (“don’t be nosy!”).

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Cart Design suggestions from E-Commerce Times

Filed under: Cart Design — thatsoftwareguy @ 6:28 am

This article had a few interesting suggestions – I liked the idea of reminding customers – in a subtle way – of earlier searches they made. They also flipped it around and gave tips to consumers – including “double check shipping and return policies.” As a vendor, this should be a trigger to you to double check your site to ensure your policies are clearly and accurately documented.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

More Content -> More Sales

Filed under: Cart Design — thatsoftwareguy @ 6:33 am

Tracey E. Schelmetic from Customer Interaction Solutions magazine talks about the importance of content on the product information pages. I never see this bullet in “top then things to do to improve sales” lists, but it’s right up there. InternetRetailer is talking about a similar finding from a recent E-Tailing Group survey, which found that 77% of buyers were influenced by website content quality when making a purchase decision.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Selling expensive items on the Web

Filed under: Cart Design,Psychology — thatsoftwareguy @ 7:14 am

Aaron Wall over at SEOBook.com has some interesting thoughts about what he calls “trust eaters.” Now some of these things you can’t help (if you’ve only been in business a month, you’ve only been in business a month) but AdSense on your home page? For a store??  Be sure you’re not doing any of these things.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Almost 90% of British Online Buyers Experience Transaction Problems

Filed under: Cart Design,Marketing — thatsoftwareguy @ 7:42 am

New work from our friends over at Tealeaf on the UK online experience:

A couple of interesting take-aways:

  1. Website operability issues lead to a general perception of insecurity
  2. … 40% of those who experience problems when conducting an online transaction reported that, when they have transaction issues, they are likely or very likely to question a company’s ability to keep their private information secure.

  3. Operability is more important than loyalty programs
  4. 92% of British consumers who have booked travel online reported that the ability to complete a transaction without encountering a problem was important or very important to them, whereas only 24% reported that the travel provider’s loyalty or rewards program was important or very important.

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