The Power of Mobile

Smartphones and tablets are growing in popularity, so you might be assuming that they are completely transforming how folks shop.

Transforming? Yes. Completely? Not quite.

A recent study by Yesmail found that even though mobile device owners shop more often, they still prefer the PC for making purchases: 42% of mobile device owners use their PC for completing purchases all the time, as opposed to their mobile phones (10%) or their tablets (6%).

Does that mean mobile devices haven't changed the shopping experience? Not at all.

Some 47% of mobile device owners have used their devices to look for a product review while in a store. And three out of five in-store shoppers have left the brick-and-mortar store to purchase a product online (even if the discount may have been as little as 5%).

Some more highlights from the study...

Mobile device owners are more likely to interact with brands on social media.

• 41% made a purchase because of an email promotion they received on their mobile phone.
• Mobile commerce is now 21% of all traffic to e-commerce websites.

 

Using information from the survey, Yesmail created the following infographic:

 

Three Steps for Stopping Checkout Abandonment

You've gotten your customer on your site, and even to the checkout page, but (as you well know) your efforts don't end at the "Add To Basket" button. If you want to encourage your website visitors to complete their purchases, you need to double-check your checkout process.

Any e-commerce site owner knows the frustration resulting from the abandonment of a full shopping basket; all online shops suffer from a certain amount of checkout abandonment. But the most likely causes of a high rate of abandonment are few, and they're relatively simple to rectify.

Here are three key areas that can generate improved conversions if you pay attention to them. I explain what steps to take in each area and why doing so will improve conversion rates.

     1. Optimize the checkout process

You don't have to look far to find one of the main reasons for customers' abandoning their purchase at the checkout: your checkout process.

Making sure you comply with the following three checkpoints will maximize completion rates:

• You do not force registration for purchase.

• You offer more than one payment option.

• Your procedure is simple and quick.

Forcing registration to your site in order to complete the checkout stage does little more than cause potential customers to abandon their purchase.

Many customers will be first-time purchasers, and they may not initially plan on using your site to purchase again.

Trying to force the issue will often put such buyers off. So make sure you include a "Checkout as Guest" as well as a "Register and Checkout" option.

Offering a single payment option may be simpler for you, but doing so will put off those whose preferred payment option is not the one offered.

For example, if you offer payment via PayPal only, you automatically exclude potential customers who do not have a PayPal account and have no desire to create one simply to buy from you. Having the option of PayPal among several other options is a good thing, however, because it is some people's preferred payment method.

Of course, make sure you allow people to use all major debit and credit cards.

Too lengthy a checkout procedure causes about 10% of people to abandon their shopping at the checkout stage.

Make it simple for customers by allowing them to enter their delivery and billing addresses together if they are the same, and never make extraneous questions mandatory to answer in order to complete the process (for example, "How did you find our site?").

Also make sure that completed fields in the forms are retained, customer security permitting, should a customer forget to check a box or fill in a mandatory field and be directed away from the checkout. Most customers will not have the patience to fill in an entire checkout form more than once.

     2. Cut down on hidden charges

Almost half of those who have abandoned a shopping cart at checkout cite their unwillingness to pay hidden charges.

Make sure you are as transparent as possible with all pricing. Most customers expect being charged a small amount for shipping or delivery at checkout, but displaying prices on product pages without, say, VAT included (in Europe), can be misleading.

If you charge extra for a service that is needed for the product (for example, fitting a glass curtain pole) either incorporate that charge into the price on the product page or make it clear on that page what additional amount will be added at the checkout stage.

Ensure that your shipping and handling prices are reasonable and transparent.

If possible, offer standard delivery for free (factor the cost into the product price, or decide to absorb it in anticipation of increased sales), and offer the option of quicker delivery at a higher price.

Also, consider flat rates for each option (standard, next day, named day) rather than calculating amount, size, or weight of the purchased goods.

     3. Use a lead-recovery service

Using a lead-recovery service can help you pick up those customers who still abandon at the checkout stage. If the potential buyer has entered an email address or a telephone number, he can be contacted to prompt re-entering the site and completing the purchase.

Email reminders can be sent a short time after the abandonment occurs, offering a helpful reminder to customer that they did not complete the checkout. The reminder can offer an email address or local-rate or free telephone number to call if the purchase abandonment was the result of an unanswered question—whether a query about the product or a difficulty with the site.

However, contact via telephone is the most direct way to pick up sales leads, as it does not require any action by the customer, and it gives a straightforward way to find the cause of checkout abandonment. The caller is able to unknot any uncertainty on the customer's part and answer any queries, so you retain the sales lead.

By: James Duval
Author's note: This article was written for UK-base lead optimization firm Optilead,




Source: MarketingProfs

2012 State of Online Video

The amount of content videos and video ads viewed in 2012 reached record-breaking numbers, according to a recent SundaySky report.

Take a look at these jaw-dropping stats:

• 456.6 million content videos were watched. 
• 105.4 billion video ads were viewed. 
• 182 million users were watching videos

Factors in video's soaring popularity in 2012 may have included the London Olympic games (159 million videos were streamed) and the 2012 US presidential campaigns (which spent a combined $78 million on video ads).

Videos, however, aren't just for newsworthy events such as the Olympics and presidential campaigns. Videos that are personally relevant also matter to viewers: Viewers spent 2.5 times more time watching personally relevant short-form videos than other videos, and emails that contain personally relevant videos boast a 40%-60% open rate.

To help illustrate the state of online video in 2012, SundaySky created the following infographic.

The collective findings and data in the 2012 State of Online Video Report are from Adap.TV, comScore, Forrester, Nielsen, Pew Internet, SundaySky's upcoming 2013 Smart Video Index, and other sources.

Source: MarketingProfs

Small Businesses Tepid on Social Media, Prefer WOM and Advertising

Only one-third (35%) of small business owners cite social media as a beneficial tactic for their business, though views about the usefulness of social marketing vary by industry, according to a survey from Hiscox.

Among surveyed small business owners, tactics such as word-of-mouth referrals (79%) and advertising (44%) rank ahead of social media in overall business benefit:

 

In addition, fully 40% of small business owners say their website is beneficial for marketing, 32% cite opportunities with business partners, and 21% cite SEO, the study found.

Below, additional findings from Hiscox.

 Views about the benefits of social media vary by industry: Small business in the IT (information technology) and media services industry (42%) are more likely than those in business services (31%) or auto repair (18%), for example, to find social media beneficial to their business.

 

Even so, among all small businesses surveyed, nearly one in four (23%) would like to use social media for business, say they don't have the time (7%) or need to learn more about it (16%).

More than one-half (55%) of small business owners say they are optimistic about 2013. Business owners in the Southwest are the most optimistic, with Texans leading the way:

Other key findings:

·         50% of small businesses reported profit growth in 2012.

·         44% say they are now both stronger and more determined to succeed than ever.

·         38% say the weak economy has spurred them to work more efficiently.

·         27% say they asked for outside help to solve a business problem in 2012.

About the data: Findings are from a survey of 500 US small business owners and managers, conducted by Hiscox in third quarter of 2012.

Source: MarketingProfs

Why Email Marketing Still Matters

Over the years, many have augured the death of email, most recently foretelling that social media would make email obsolete.

Nevertheless, for marketers, email marketing remains invaluable, even indispensable.

For example, nearly 9 in 10 marketers say email is their primary channel for lead generation, according to Forrester Research.

Moreover, more than half of email marketers say they use email for (in decreasing order of popularity) lead generation and nurturing, enhancing and building brand, driving sales, and strengthening thought leadership. (That's according to B2B Marketing's Email Benchmarking Report from February.)

Among B2B marketers, only 4% say email is "not very important, the same study found.

For additional details on those stats and others, including email's role in marketing automation, see the following infographic from Eloqua's Modern Marketer initiative.

  

Source: MarketingProfs