optimizing shopping carts for the holidays
TRANSCRIPT
Optimizing Shopping Carts for the Holidays 6 Last-Minute Changes You can Make to Your Shopping Carts To Increase Conversion
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Today’s team
Austin McCraw Senior Editorial Analyst MECLABS
Jon Powell Senior Manager Research and Strategy MECLABS
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5
Test your Marketing Intuition Shopping Carts
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Test Your Marketing Intuition
Version A Version B
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Version A Version B
Test Your Marketing Intuition
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Test Your Marketing Intuition
Version A (no Cart Summary) Summary Page
Version B (inserted Cart Summary)
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Version A Version B
Test Your Marketing Intuition
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An Experiment
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Background: A website that sells retail and wholesale collector items Goal: To increase conversion rate Primary research question: Which version of second step in the conversion funnel will produce the highest conversion rate? Approach: A/B variable cluster split test that focused on reducing anxiety through credibility indicators, copy, and re-organization of existing page elements
Research Notes:
Experiment: Background
Experiment ID: TP1305 Record Location: MECLABS Research Library Research Partner: [Protected]
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• When we analyzed the metrics, we realized there were leaks throughout the checkout process, the credit card submission page stood out as low cost opportunity for immediate return.
• When we analyzed the metrics even further, we saw that this step also had the highest lost revenue per cart (more than double any other step).
• From this, we hypothesized that optimizing this step would have the highest potential return on our efforts.
Fallout Report: New Customers
Experiment: Background
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Control
Experiment: Control
Treatment
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Design Conversion Rate
Control 82.33%
Treatment 86.04%
Relative Difference 4.51%
5% Increase in total conversion The new credit card page increased conversion by 4.51%
What you need to understand: While it might seem like a small increase, choosing this specific step in the sales funnel to test resulted in a projected $500,000+ increase in revenue per year. This underscores the potential impact of a properly identified research question.
Experiment: Results
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Strategy for the Holiday Season
F Key Principles
1. Effective tests are not simply designed to achieve a valid result, but a valuable result. The goal of a test is to get a learning, but some “learnings” are more strategic than others.
2. Marketers must be able to identify where in the funnel is the greatest opportunity for optimization.
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Strategy for the Holiday Season
PPC Ad Category
Page Product
Page Cart
(Step 1) Cart
(Step 2) Cart
(Step 3) Cart
(Step 4)
10% 6% 30% 20% 40% 10% 5%
Summary Profit Analysis & Sensitivity Analysis
$20,000 $10,000 $300,000 $150,000 $350,000 $50,000 $10,000 (5% ROI) (0% ROI) (200% ROI) (50% ROI) (150% ROI) (20% ROI) (0% ROI)
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Strategy for the Holiday Season
F Key Principles
1. Effective tests are not simply designed to achieve a valid result, but a valuable result. The goal of a test is to get a learning, but some “learnings” are more strategic than others.
2. Marketers must be able to identify where in the funnel is the greatest opportunity for optimization.
3. For ecommerce companies approaching a holiday season, often the most opportune place for the increase is in the shopping cart for two reasons:
1. Increased Motivation Levels
2. Convergent Funnel Paths
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Conversion Impact Analysis
Product Page #2
Channel #1
Channel #2
Channel #6
Channel #7
Product Page #3
Shopping Cart
Product Page #1
Channel #3
Channel #4
Channel #5
• For many ecommerce sites, the shopping cart is standardized across the entire website.
• The cart is often the most visited page(s) on a website, and a conversion gain here impacts the revenue of the entire website.
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Today, we will discuss 6 small tweaks you can make to your shopping carts to improve conversion
Today’s Focus
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TWEAK #1:
REMOVING UNNECESSARY STEPS
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Experiment: Background
Background: The research partner is a fitness company that primarily sells fitness training content and gym equipment. Goal: To increase sales. Research Question: Which checkout process will result in a higher conversion rate? Test Design: A/B Multifactor Split
Experiment ID: TP1620 Record Location: MECLABS Research Library Research Partner: [Protected]
Research Notes:
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Experiment: Control Process
Product Page
Cart Summary
Form
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Experiment: Treatment Process
Removed Summary Step
Product Page Form
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Test Your Marketing Intuition
Treatment (no Cart Summary)
Summary Page
Control (inserted Cart Summary)
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Design Conversion
Rate Relative
Difference Stat.
Control 27.7%
Treatment 35.6% 28.6%
29% Increase in Total Cart Conversions The Treatment path generated a 28.6% increase in cart completions
What you need to understand: By removing the cart summary review step in the checkout process, the treatment path was able to generate 28.6% more cart completions.
Experiment: Results
95%
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Not this, but this
1 2 3
4 5 6 CONFIRM
LP Not this
1 2 CONFIRM LP
But this
Note: Optimized removed two order confirmations
and a cart account registration
69% Increase in Conversion
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Not this, but this
Landing Page Account Login Reg. Form 1 Reg. Form 2
LOGO LOGO LOGO LOGO
Not this
Landing Page Reg. Form
LOGO LOGO
But this
364% Increase in Conversion
Note: Optimized removed one cart account registration
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TWEAK #2:
ELIMINATE COMPETING OPTIONS
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Research Notes:
Experiment: Background
Background: B2C company offering package vacations. In this test we focused on improving the checkout process. Goal: To increase cart completions Primary research question: Which cart page will generate the highest completion rate? Approach: A/B split test (variable cluster)
Experiment ID: TP1294 Record Location: MECLABS Research Library Research Partner: [Protected]
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Experiment: Control
• The original cart was simple, but it included three equally weighted options from which the visitor had to select.
• This made the checkout process more cumbersome than was necessary
Control Cart
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Experiment: Treatment
• The marketers deemphasized and integrated the additional options into the product details.
• And they visually focused the visitor on one main call too action here.
Treatment Cart
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Experiment: Results
Design Conversion
Rate Relative
Difference Stat.
Control 12.94% -
Treatment 17.66% 36.5%
37% Increase in Total Cart Conversions The Treatment path generated 36.5% more cart completions
What you need to understand: By simplifying and sequencing the options to choose from, the treatment shopping cart generated 36.5% more cart completions.
95%
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Not this, but this
LOGO
Not this
LOGO
But this
78% Increase in Conversion
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Not this, but this
Not This But This
64% Increase in Conversion
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TWEAK #3:
DEMONSTRATE A CLEAR SEQUENCE
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Experiment: Background
Background: The research partner is a one-stop vacation planning solution that allows users to book vacation rentals, car rentals, and activities. Goal: To increase final vacation bookings Research Question: Which page will yield the highest conversion rate from billing Information to confirmation? Test Design: A/B multifactor split
Experiment ID: TP1621 Record Location: MECLABS Research Library Research Partner: [Protected]
Research Notes:
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Experiment: Control
• The original cart was broken into two (unclear) steps
• The horizontal flow
as well as the blue shading made it difficult for visitors to get a sense for the sequence of the cart.
Control Cart
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Experiment: Treatment
• A simple “step indicator” was
added to clearly indicated which step of the process you were located.
• The treatment also took the two steps, and sequenced them vertically.
Treatment Cart
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Experiment: Side by side
Control Cart Treatment Cart
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Experiment: Results
Design Conversion
Rate Relative
Difference Stat.
Control 27.4%
Treatment 37.2% 36.1%
36% Increase in Total Cart Conversions The Treatment cart generated 36.1% more conversions than the control
What you need to understand: By clarifying the sequence in the checkout process and addressing key issues of anxiety, the treatment care generated 36.1% more total conversions than the control.
95%
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Three Critical Questions
Moment of Orientation Conversation Action
Where am I?
What can I do here?
Why should I do it?
First Seconds Subsequent minutes (or days) depending on sales cycle
Visitor Experience Timeline
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Example #1
Step indicator
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Example #2
Step indicator
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Example #3
Step indicator
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Example #4
Step indicator
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Further Changes to Orientate a Customer
Other changes include:
• Linear Flow
• Labeled Information Clusters
• Instant Price Summaries
• Easy Customer Service
• Specific Call-To-Action
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TWEAK #4:
EXPRESS VALUE IN EVERY STEP
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Background: An “of the month” club that offers an ongoing subscription to products like wine and cheese. Goal: To increase shopping cart completions Primary research question: Which shopping cart will generate the most total subscriptions. Approach: A/B/C Split test
Research Notes:
Experiment: Background
Experiment ID: TP1362 Record Location: MECLABS Research Library Research Partner: [Protected]
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Experiment: Control
• This is the first stage in the shopping cart process once someone has decided they would like to join the Wine of the Month Club
Control Cart
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Experiment: Treatment #1
Treatment Cart #1
• In all the treatments, we broke the steps into a more justifiable structure (more on this later)
• But we also tested integrating points of value into the treatments.
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Experiment: Treatment #2
Treatment Cart #2
• For treatment 2, we tested emphasizing the value even further with specific wine descriptions for the current month.
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Experiment: Treatment #3 Treatment Cart #3
• For treatment 3, we expanded the value even further including a personalized letter from the vice president of product selection
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Experiment: Results
Design Conversion Rate Relative Difference
Control 15.6% -
Treatment 1 16.5% 6%
Treatment 2 17.2% 10%
Treatment 3 18.2% 17%
17% Increase in Total Cart Conversions Treatment 3 increased the rate of conversion by 18.2%
What you need to understand: There is a corresponding relationship between the amount of expressed value in each treatment and conversion rates. As more value is communicated, conversion rate increases.
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Experiment: Subsequent pages
Shopping Cart Step #2 Shopping Cart Step #3
Value was even integrated into the main form page and thank-you page.
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Not this, but this
XXXXXXXXX Software Suite
#1 On-Demand. 6459+ World Clients Award-Winning Solution. Free Trial www.XXXXXXXXXX.com/XXXXXXXX
Treatment: Step 1 Treatment: Step 2
{Keyword: [Vertical] Software} Award-Winning [Vertical] Software. Fully Integrated. Free Trial www.[Company].com/[Describe Product]
21% 54% 97%
204% In overall conversion
Not this
But this
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TWEAK #5:
JUSTIFY EVERY ACTION
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Experiment: Background
Background: An ecommerce site selling text books to professors in academic institutions. Goal: To increase text book purchases Primary Research Question: Which Treatment will generate the highest conversion rate for new and existing users? Approach: A/B/C Split Test
Research Notes:
Experiment ID: TP1434 Record Location: MECLABS Research Library Research Partner: [Protected]
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Experiment: Control
Control Cart – Step #1
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Experiment: Control Control Cart – Step #2
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Experiment: Control Control Cart – Step #3 Control Cart – Step #4
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Experiment: Treatment
Notice the copy: • “…complete
registration so that we can verify your instructor status…”
• “Once you have completed registration, you will be able to quickly request exam copies…”
Treatment – Step #1
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Experiment: Treatment
Notice the copy: • “Locate the
school where you teach…find your department…”
• “Once verified, we will automatically ship your exam copy to this address…”
Treatment – Step #2
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Experiment: Treatment
Notice the copy: • “This
information helps our publishing program.”
• “Confirm Your Order”
Treatment – Step #3
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Experiment: Treatment
Notice the copy: • “…to make sure
all of the information that has been entered is correct...”
• “Send My Samples...”
Treatment – Step #4
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Experiment: Results
Design Conversion
Rate Relative
Difference
Control 33.74% -
Treatment 1 40.02% 18.6%
19% Increase in Total Cart Conversions The treatment cart flow increased generated an 18.6% increase in conversion
What you need to understand: By sequencing the cart and justifying each action the customer is required to take, the treatment cart process increased the rate of conversion by 18.6%.
95%
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Not this, but this Not this But this
Notice how every field now has clear reasons for why you should fill continue each step.
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TWEAK #6:
INTENSIFY ANXIETY REDUCTION
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Background: A website that sells retail and wholesale collector items Goal: To increase conversion rate Primary research question: Which version of the second step in the conversion funnel will produce the highest conversion rate? Approach: A/B variable cluster split test that focused on reducing anxiety through credibility indicators, copy, and re-organization of existing page elements
Research Notes:
Experiment: Background
Experiment ID: TP1305 Record Location: MECLABS Research Library Research Partner: [Protected]
#webclinic
What might be causing the fallout?
• It is unclear why the credit card is required when payment method is different.
• The complexity of the Purchase
Agreement Terms’ causes confusion and concern.
• There is no indication that my credit card information is secure.
Control
Experiment: Control
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How we addressed the issues:
• Third-party security indicators have been added.
• Clearer explanation of why a credit card is required and that it will not be charged.
• “Satisfaction Guaranteed”
promise is emphasized.
Treatment
Experiment: Treatment
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Design Conversion Rate
Control 82.33%
Treatment 86.04%
Relative Difference 4.51%
5% Increase in total conversion The new credit card page increased conversion by 4.51%
What you need to understand: While it might seem like a small increase, choosing this specific step in the sales funnel to test resulted in a projected $500,000+ increase in revenue per year. This underscores the potential impact of a properly identified research question.
Experiment: Results
#webclinic
Examples of Anxiety Reducers
Specific Sources
1. Quality
2. Reliability
3. Security
4. Price
Specific Corrections
1. Satisfaction Guarantee
2. Testimonials
3. Third-Party Seals
4. Low-Price Guarantee
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Examples of Anxiety Reducers
Ease of use
Product quality
Customer satisfaction
Cost justification
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Summary
TWEAK #1: Remove Unnecessary Steps
TWEAK #2: Eliminate Competing Options
TWEAK #3: Demonstrate a Clear Sequence
TWEAK #4: Add Value in Every Step
TWEAK #5: Justify Every Action
TWEAK #6: Intensify Anxiety Reduction
Six Tweaks to Improve Shopping Cart Conversion:
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Live Optimization
Unchangeable information: None Steps to current page: 1. PPC ads to Store front 2. Products page 3. Individual product page 4. Shopping cart page 5. Checkout page
Page URL: http://bit.ly/TC0pnU
Target audience: People (probably older) looking for cost-effective ways to heat their houses and possibly reduce heating bills.
Electric Fireplaces
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Unchangeable information: None
Steps to current page: 1. Store front 2. Product page 3. Cart Page
Page URL: http://bit.ly/SZuDlP
Target audience: Weight Loss consumers, women 18-50
Sozo Nutritionals
Live Optimization
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Live Optimization
Unchangeable information: None
Steps to current page: 1. Store front 2. Products page 3. Product page 4. Checkout Page
Page URL: http://bit.ly/RCOGFx
Target audience: Females ages 35 to 45 in the UK
My Deco
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Unchangeable information: Cart is flexible
Steps to current page: 1. Store front 2. Product pages 3. Cart Page
Page URL: http://bit.ly/TYcOEM
Target audience: Working women
John’s Shoes
Live Optimization
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Live Optimization
Unchangeable information: None
Steps to current page: 1. Store front 2. Products Page 3. Cart Page 4. Checkout Page
Page URL: http://bit.ly/RCRtP3
Target audience: Women pet owners ages 25-65.
Dog Collar Boutique
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Live Optimization
Unchangeable information: Much of it is hard coded, but categories, navigation and data is flexible Steps to current page: 1. Store front 2. Catalog page 3. Product Page 4. Cart page
Page URL: http://bit.ly/SKfCBV
Target audience: Lubrication users
Shoco Oil Inc.
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Live Optimization
Unchangeable information: The product price and description information Steps to cart page: 1. Store front 2. Product Page 3. Cart Page
Page URL: http://bit.ly/UoQlg0
Target audience: Customers buying reading glasses
reading glasses shopper
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Live Optimization
Unchangeable information: Parts of the header and footer
Steps to current page: 1. Ads to store front 2. Product Page 3. Checkout 4. Add to cart pop-up 5. Cart Page
Page URL: http://bit.ly/SKnuTO
Target audience: Women, 35-55, general interest in home w specific interest in cooking
Fresh Finds
Marketing Automation for the Fortune 5 Million
www.act-on.com
World-Class E-mail
Marketing Core &
Deliverability
• Third-Generation Email Marketing Platform
• No extra charge for deliverability
Complete Set of Tools on One Platform
• Drip/Nurturing, Web Analytics, Landing Pages, Forms, Scoring, CRM Integration, Social Media, Reporting and More
• Focus Usability, Simplicity & Manageability
Approach & Terms that Work
• Start Simple, Automate at Your Own Pace
• Affordable Pricing; Month-to-Month Contracts
• Live Customer Support – At No Additional Costs
Marketing Automation for the Fortune 5 Million
#webclinic
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