Ecommerce & Retail Marketing

Three Considerations When Building an Ecommerce Website

June 19, 2017 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

Building an Ecommerce website requires extensive planning to account for every detail; the product feed, the filtering system, and just the right amount of bandwidth to power a large site. From personal experience, many unknown issues may arise especially depending on the size of the business’ inventory. So, plan for the known and for the unknown you can’t control. Understand what you are diving into and what vital pieces that will make or break your Ecommerce website before you dive in head first.

The Three Ecommerce Website Considerations:

Product Feed:

The product feed is by far the trickiest piece of the puzzle unless you are lucky enough to be given a properly formatted one. Unfortunately, you most likely to need to scrape and reformat the file. To make things more difficult, you may need to build a product feed from scratch! Regardless, this can be a very complex process. It may involve stripping out unnecessary code. Any unused categories, tags, and images must be removed to speed up the site. This can take a significant amount of time depending on the size of the file but it’s mandatory to revise it.

Filtering System:

A filtering system won’t always be necessary depending on the amount of variations. I recommend a filter once you reach about 25 different products or variations. A filtering system can make for a much better user experience (UX) because it gives the consumer the ability to slim down their search to exactly what they’re looking for. In most cases, I like to rely on the product tags and categories to build filters which connects directly back to the product feed. Tagging should start with high-level categories and break down to very specific attributes of the product to ensure they can use the filter effectively.

Bandwidth / Power:

So, you have a couple hundred products and feel ready to build it on the first low-cost option. Will this work?

What seems like a simple build can easily blow up exponentially. Consider which platform is the best option for your Ecommerce site. You could start with Woocommerce, BigCommerce, or Shopify, also consider your website host. A few options you could use are WPEngine, Rackspace, or Amazon. With many products and variations, you will find that you don’t have enough power through certain databases to load the products fast enough. With slow load times, you are ruining the UX and in turn, your sales numbers.

To Wrap Things Up:

There are so many unknown issues that can arise when building an Ecommerce site. We, as developers, designers, and decision-makers, need to prepare and plan for the unknown as best we can. Do your research and study before you bite off something bigger than you can chew. If you do, you may end up hurting your own reputation as well as the others involved in the project.

What are the biggest issues you have with Ecommerce websites? Let us know in the comments below!

Gk Elite Case Study – Conversion Tracking Using Google Adwords

January 17, 2017 by Justin Miller Leave a Comment

You Can't Improve What You Can't Measure (Accurately)

Recently, DaBrian Marketing Group wrote a case study on one of our Pay Per Click (PPC) clients. When we first reviewed their Google Adwords accounts, it appeared they were receiving several conversions. However on further review, their conversion configuration did not align with actual online transactions. After establishing new conversions that lead to and track online sales, DaBrian Marketing was able to measure return on ad spend (ROAS) and optimize our client’s PPC to increase transactions and their bottom line.

To learn more about this case study, watch the video below and download the full case study. If you have any questions, or would like DaBrian Marketing Group to take a look at your PPC, give us a call at 610 743 5602.

What problems are you having with your Pay Per Click advertising? Tell us in the comments below!

Mobile Design Tips For Your Ecommerce Business

December 12, 2016 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

What’s the first thing that pops into your head when developing your company’s Ecommerce website? Are you concerned about the design aesthetically? Or, is it the content on the pages? While these are certainly important, your primary focus should be creating a mobile-friendly site with a quick and easy purchase process.

The Rise of Mobile Shopping

Since last year, shopping related searches on mobile have grown more than 120%. At the click of a button, you can find and buy anything from your mobile device. This is changing the Ecommerce industry as we know it. According to Think with Google, 30% of all online shopping purchases happen on a mobile device. Knowing this, websites must be designed to be both mobile and desktop friendly.

The Customer’s Purchase Journey

An effective mobile design guides a user through the purchase process quickly and efficiently. The path to a potential sale should require the least amount of clicks as possible with fast load speeds. To accomplish this, you must put yourself in the customer’s shoes to think about what may impact them on making a purchase.

First Thing’s First: Load Speed

When a user first connects to your mobile site, the initial concern is load speed. If your site isn’t fully optimized, people will leave before it even finishes loading. Last year, 54% of all holiday shoppers said they plan on shopping in their spare time during the day, like when they are commuting (but, don’t shop and drive). This gives your a smaller window of time The clock’s ticking! get your customers to check out as quickly as possible.

Give Them Personal Space

Once someone visits a site, a commonly used tactic is collect personal information…STOP! Don’t count your chickens before they hatch. Often when asked to register immediately, a user will close the window and look for another option. You haven’t given them time to check out your site yet, pump the breaks. If you insist, try giving them third-party options like Facebook, Twitter, or Google+.

Product Search and Filter Functionality

Make your products easy to find and give your customers a positive shopping experience with search bars and product filters. These enable users to find specific items they’re looking for. Most users expect this to be as easy as Google makes it, so try not to disappoint!

When it comes to online shopping, most users are hesitant to pull the trigger. Allow for an easy decision by providing customers with the ability to extensively view the product. Give them the freedom of pinch zooming in and out to know for sure it’s what they want. Also, be sure to include all the product details, any discounts, in-store availability, shipping, and user reviews. A great way to help further assure them is to use Youtube videos for reviews and product overview. 50% of smartphone video viewers say they use videos to help them make product decisions in-store or on a company’s website.

All this information gives the user peace-of-mind in knowing they made the right purchase. For good measure, sneak a few related items in the bottom of the page to encourage more sales!

A User-Friendly Shopping Cart

The user now has the products he or she wants and is ready to check out. Include easy options to add and remove items from the shopping cart without leaving the checkout page.

Once everything is set, the user will press forward to fill out shipping and billing information. Simplify the process by allowing them to continue as a guest and by offering third-party payment options such as Paypal, Apple Pay, or Android Pay. This helps speed things up. For added reassurance, drop a note under the payment information affirming this is a secure checkout process. Now is a great time to offer special promotions and coupons! Once they submit the order, follow-up with a confirmation page and email with a full-detailed summary of their purchase.

Wrapping It Up

The user experience needs to be the forefront of our thought process when designing mobile sites. It needs to be a friendly, smooth-sailing, information-packed adventure that step-by-step leads them to that conversion. Think with Google says 82% of mobile users turn to their mobile device about a product while in the store. Having a well-designed mobile site can make all the difference between “I’m just looking.” to “I’m ready to checkout.”

Using the information provided here will give you valuable insight and great tips on what to include when setting up your mobile ecommerce website.

As a user, what do you look for on a mobile Ecommerce website? Tell us in the comments below!

Email Marketing Strategies That Will Increase Your Ecommerce Sales

December 5, 2016 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

As a fellow marketer, I bet we both can agree that it seems like we can never get caught up with emails. Our inbox is flooded with random people or businesses trying to gain our attention. As we skim past every subject line and choose which emails to open, which ones to actually read, and which ones to simply delete, we quickly determine the ones worth our time. If we do it, your consumers do, too. Your email marketing efforts need to be focused on what’s going to attract your consumers to open, click, and buy your products.

Connect your Ecommerce Store

To do this, integrating your Ecommerce store to your email marketing platform correctly is the first step. The data you need to increase your sales will then automatically populate. You’ll begin capturing their purchase history, following their path to your website, and learning more about the people they are such as their demographics, geographic location, and interests. Before you start seeing an impact on your ROI, you need to learn what to actually do with the information you now have.

Segment Your Email Lists

Sending emails to your potential or current customers is a great way to continue the communication between the two of you, but it doesn’t mean they are interested in what you have to say. By segmenting your lists, you can distribute emails directed towards that particular customer.

Types of Customer Segments:

Potential Customers – Those who’ve shown interest, but never purchased should get an email to ensure you both stay connected.
Recent Customers – If they recently purchased an item, you now have an idea of what they like. Send them a follow-up email with other similar products.
First-time Customers – These new customers might enjoy a “thank you” email to feel more welcomed and appreciated.
Repeat Customers – They have purchased more than once already. Make sure they stay your repeat customers by sending them a special offer or coupon.
Lapsed Customers – Lapsed customers haven’t purchased anything in months. Become top-of-mind again by sending them a deal on the last product they purchased.
Seasonal Customers – Say some customers only buy during certain months of the year. When this month rolls around, be the first name they see. Send them an email with images of what they usually buy.

This segmentation can get you started with sending out the right emails, but there many other ways to segment your lists, also.

Test your Content

Simply because you sent out an email, doesn’t mean you will actually get every customer to open it– We know this. Find out what makes them more inclined to open and interact with your email. A/B testing is the perfect way to do so. This is when you change one variable of an email and see which one performs better. You can test the sender’s name, subject line, send time, copy inside the email, and imagery (videos, gifs, etc.). Does a more blunt, factual approach work for your customers or do they enjoy more humor? Whichever email generates the most sales is your winner!

Click Here for A/B Testing Ideas

Rely on Automated Emails

In a study completed by eMarketer, it was found that B2C marketers who leverage automation have seen conversion rates as high as 50%. Automated emails are reminders and follow-ups of a recent consumer interaction. One of the most important automated emails is an abandoned shopping cart reminder. eMarketer also reports that an email notification about an abandoned shopping cart receives a 40.5% open rate. You know they’re interested, so tell them they need it and don’t let them forget.

Track What You’ve Earned

Whether you’re sending an individual email or an entire email campaign, it’s important to analyze the results. How do the open rates and click percentages compare to industry averages? How many unsubscribed from receiving your emails? How many sales did it generate? What was its average dollar sale compared to your other emails? Find out why a certain email performed better (or worse) than another. Constant analysis allows for constant improvement.

Perfect your email marketing now so you can start the New Year with just one more way to improve your ROI.

What challenges do you face with your email marketing efforts? Comment below, or contact us today to learn more about email marketing opportunities.

Ecommerce Tips To Ensure Success on Cyber Monday

November 28, 2016 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

CYBER MONDAY IS HERE!

And, it’s expected to be the largest shopping day in US history (for the 7th straight year). It is imperative that your Ecommerce is locked down, functioning properly, and ready to go. You may think your company’s website is ready for the rush simply because you have a shopping cart built onto your page, but there’s much more to think about. Use this checklist to see if you are prepared to conquer and surpass your competitors’ numbers on the largest shopping day in HISTORY.

Mobile Friendly = Money Friendly

Cyber Monday is predicted to surpass $1 billion in mobile sales for the first time.
Mobile traffic has surpassed desktop.

Having a mobile friendly site is a necessity. Learn tips for designing and optimizing your site for mobile.

Does your shopping cart and discount codes work?

A functioning cart is the most important to closeout the purchase. When your customers leave items in your shopping cart, they should be able to return without losing them. They should also be able to to view these items across all devices.

Tie in your email marketing efforts with abandoned shopping carts, too. Send an automated reminder email later that day with, “There’s still time left!” or a few days later saying, “We’ll give you a second chance!”

Site Search and Filtering Plug-ins

When someone lands on your site for a particular product or service, it should be easily found right away. To do this, use a site search bar or filtering plug-in. Properly tagging each product with its brand, name and specific features will get your customers what they want and get you another sale.

Optimizing Your Pages and Products

Having products alone won’t drive traffic to your site, and will certainly decrease the chance of a purchase. Adding comprehensive product descriptions that include all necessary information along with image alt tags, captions, and descriptions will increase the search visibility of your product. If you want to rank well in search engines for a specific product or service, this is a. You also want to limit the amount of questions a customer has. By providing this information, your customers will feel confident in making that final purchasing decision.

Reviews and Rating System On-Site

According to BrightLocal, 88% of consumers will trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Reviews on your website could boost your Cyber Monday sales. (or hurt them if not handled properly, ?)

24/7 Customer Support

Resolving an issue or answering customer questions immediately can save some headaches for both your company and customers. Offer multiple ways for anyone to get ahold of you. A “live chat” feature on your website can help customers make a purchasing decision faster. Your customers are less likely to make a purchasing decision if they still have unanswered questions. If you can’t answer their questions, your competitors will.

Monitoring social media on a day-to-day basis is also a great opportunity to connect with your customers. When there is an issue, a customer is more likely to head to social media first to bad-mouth your brand. Be part of that conversation; don’t avoid it.

Local SEO: Can They Find You?

Today, mobile is our new local directory. Your customers aren’t pulling out their phone books and local guides anymore, they are searching for your product or service online. The most popular search engines today have algorithms that heavily favor locality. Here are some tips to ensure your business is appearing atop the local search results:

Have your name, address, and phone number (NAP) consistently accurate all throughout your site (I suggest in your footer).
Embed Google Maps (viewing your location) on your contact us page.
Be listed on major local listing platforms such as Google My Business, Facebook, Apple Maps and Bing Places.
Use local Business Schema markup.
Use local keywords in your URLs, TTD’s, and content, where appropriate.

Appearing at the top of local search results often lead to sales. According to Think With Google, 76% of people who search on their smartphones for something nearby visit a business within a day. Of those 76% of searches, 28% result in a purchase.

PPC Remarketing to Remember

So your site functions properly and you’ve optimized it well enough to bring a lot of people to it, is that enough? Not quite. Just as you would shopping in person, your digital customers are going to weigh their options. This means either checking out your competitors, or visiting other websites for additional information about a specific product or service. Make sure you stay top of mind with PPC Remarketing. Remarketing allows you to basically “follow” users that have previously interacted with your brand, and place ads on other websites.

Now after today has come to an end and all the shoppers have gone to bed… Go to work tomorrow and compare your numbers from today to any other day of the year. Did you not see a significant difference? (Eh, or maybe you don’t even have the analytics to compare.?) Either way, that’s when you’ll know your business was not as prepared as it should and could have been.

If you didn’t check all of these items off, you can have better luck next year (and throughout the year) when you work with us. 😉 Give us a call and we can chat about how to grow your company and your Ecommerce website.

What else do you find important for an Ecommerce site to have? Let us know in the comments below!

Get Your Share of $400 Billion in Ecommerce Sales with A Product Data Feed

November 21, 2016 by Daniel Laws Leave a Comment

Ecommerce sales are expected to grow to more than $400 billion in the next several years, with Forrester Research estimating $414.0 billion in sales in 2018 and eMarketer estimating $491.5 billion in 2018.

Retail and Ecommerce businesses continue to look for opportunities to grow and increase online sales, as well as in the store visitors. One of the most challenging things for business owners is the management of the product data feed or inventory information and availability for products online.

What is a Product Data Feed?

A product data feed is an organized list of products and their attributes. Each product can be displayed, advertised or compared in a unique way. A product data feed typically contains a product image, title, product identifier, marketing copy, and product attributes. It is often used to populate product information on ecommerce websites and shopping engines such as Ebay, Amazon, or Shopzilla.

How Can Retailers Use the Product Data Feeds?

Retailers and Ecommerce websites can use product data feeds to increase product awareness and influence purchasing decisions. Online shoppers are using shopping engines to find what they want. Shoppers are searching, browsing, and making purchasing decisions before stepping into a store. Often purchases are made outside of the merchant’s website.

How Can the Product Data Feed Help with Retail Promotions?

It can be optimized to increase organic search visitors. The product data feed provides value information on products, availability of items, shipping options, product reviews and details that are visible for search engine and potential shoppers. Also, it can be used to promote or advertise via social media, mobile apps, and generate local in-store visitors.

Use the Product Data Feed to Position Your Online Business & Retail Store

The product data feed is vital for Ecommerce and retail stores. It shouldn’t be an afterthought but an overall part of the strategy to sell more products. Customers are constantly searching for the least expensive products to fit their needs and sometimes it happens while they are in your store. Your products need to be visible and accessible in-store, online, apps, and shopping engines if you want a piece of the estimated $400 billion in ecommerce sales.