Groove Commerce has been named a finalist in both the Facebook and Blog categories. Groove’s CEO and Founder, Ethan Giffin said of the announcement “I am excited to be recognized as a finalist. We have always taken social media very seriously. We use our social platforms as a way to find our fans, connect with them, and engage. It has proven to be a valuable way to nurture leads and to drive traffic back to our site – ultimately resulting in new business”.

Groove stands out among other companies who leverage social media by maintaining a focus on generating unique and valuable content on a regular basis. Putting out content that potential clients are searching for helps them capture prospects attention and drives them to the website. One of the most popular categories in the Evolving eCommerce Blog continues to be the “Developer Toolbox” series where Groove developers publish guides and how-to’s around the Magento Enterprise platform. Since the open source Magento platform users rely on the development community for documentation, this category gets significant traffic.

We are excited to attend the award ceremony on Thursday, February 9th at Luckies in PowerPlant Live. If you are interested in cheering us on, you can register here.

Let’s talk about audience for a minute. Some shoppers will love the over-the-top romantic sentiment of the holiday, browsing through dozens of different bouquet arrangements for that perfect gift. These are the users who will incrementally bump up their budget when given the opportunity. “Only $10 more for a dozen extra roses? That’s a steal!”

For the more curmudgeonly, they’ll just want to make their purchase with as much ease as possible. A functional site is their biggest concern: do products clearly state what is included and not, is it simple to add to cart, is it clear what is out of stock, are the shipping rules and dates easy to understand, are any extra fees clearly stated. These users will not appreciate any sticker-shock or bumps in the road that occur.

And no doubt, both audiences are desperate for a guarantee that yes, it will arrive on time, and yes, it will arrive in the right place. Your user isn’t spending all that money on a gift just to have it sent to the wrong person down the hall at work (although that did work out OK for Liz Lemon.)

This month’s design 1, 2, 3 takes a look at the homepages for three major Flower eTailers (1-800-Flowers, ProFlowers and FTD.) We’ll look at what they’re doing right, wrong and differently this Valentine’s Day season and tally up the points to see who wins my affections.

1. Call to Actions

While, I’m not particularly fond of ProFlowers overall site design which is a personal distinction and doesn’t really matter, they do do the best job with calls to actions. They highlight the Valentine’s Day category in the navigation (as well as the Same-Day Delivery); their hero banners have distinct Shop Now buttons, as does the rotating product sidebar module. A shipping banner, which should have additional text saying “Read Shipping Details” or something similar, has been made to look like a large yellow button.

You may think calls to actions are unnecessary that a user knows where to click on the page to move forward. But it’s not so much about where to click, as it is about enticing users to click. Simple commands such as “Shop Now,” “Order Now,” “Learn More” nudge the user more than an image or product name might. The naming of the button is actually quite important and once your site is performing well, button naming is a great thing to test. Here’s an interesting, quick read about the power of language and conversion. The discussion about button color could get lengthy, so I’ll say the same thing, it may seem insignificant but it is absolutely worth testing.

2. Best Selling Products Showcase

Each of the flower eTailers uses their homepage to highlight some of their best selling products, a move I’m strongly in favor of. Interestingly, each has done it differently. 1-800-Flowers uses its rotating hero banner to swap between an unknown number of products (by my count – 4.) Additionally, they have a chart graphic below the fold comparing another four bouquets, ranking them from Good to Wow. As mentioned before, ProFlowers uses a rotating sidebar module that shows one product per slide and displays 10 products in total. FTD uses a common scrolling bar to highlight 4 products at a time (out of 8 total).

My preference is for FTD’s scrolling best sellers. When it comes to specific products, as opposed to categories, it’s best to see them laid out side by side and a single click lets me see the rest of the items. With ProFlowers and 1-800-Flowers, I’m forced to do additional clicking to move back and forth between products I’m interested in or to see other products.

One downside to FTD’s scrollers is its lack of product names. They have two almost identical images of roses in the $40-$50 range. Without a product name, I’m forced to click between the two items to find out the difference. (Turns out I don’t know my flowers too well, one of the bouquets has carnations mixed in.) ProFlowers very straightforwardly shows both a product name and price. You can’t go wrong with that kind of straightforward user experience.

1-800-Flowers on the other hand, targets the more sentimental shopper. They show the product name but rather than listing a price, they rank their bouquets Good, Better, Best and Wow. Way to go on the offensive with emotional shoppers (spontaneous & humanistic personalities), which is a smart move since it is emotionally-based holiday after all. And more logical shoppers (competitive & methodical) know that those rankings reflect a ranking in price as well. In the end, everyone is catered too.

1-800-Flowers edges it’s way over FTD for the point.

3. Gift Giving Goes Mobile

These days with so many mobile devices and so many things to-do, it only makes sense that people would be buying gifts on the fly. Thankfully, all three eTailers had mobile versions of their websites. Good job. ProFlowers and FTD went quick and simple with the mobile homepage: branded design, a few main categories, a few small banners, account links and that’s all she wrote. Neither eTailer uses rotating banners (which I’m okay with as I had trouble with those — accidentally clicking the banner when I was trying to view the next one — on the 1-800-flowers mobile site).

ProFlower doesn’t include any social media, big mistake. FTD’s all black background threw me off. I know black is part of their color scheme, but it seems so unhappy for a flower & gift provider.

I liked 1-800-Flowers approach even though it caused for a much longer scroll, which on my mobile I’m not crazy about. They had the account log-in information in the header which is more consistent to their real site and other web shopping sites. (The other eTailers put that information at the bottom of their mobile page.) The design was perfectly branded and again brought in consistency with their website.

They also went beyond just category featured. They had a “Find a Gift Fast” module which is perfect for Valentine’s Day (and really I think, could be moved above the categories or should be as the holiday approaches.) They also had a large button to call them, again a thoughtful decision as many people are looking at the mobile site on a smart phone.

What Have We Learned?
To sum up: I’ll steal from 1-800-Flowers’ ranking system and say, buttons are good, fewer clicks is better and doing things a little differently is best. 1-800-Flowers decided to go full bloom this Valentine’s Day, while ProFlowers and FTD might want to take another look at things for next year, they’re starting to look a little limp.

The only other question left this season might be, how do I get my significant other to get my gift-dropping hints? I’ll leave that post up to someone else, the social media team, maybe?

Tell Me What You Think
Have you had to buy flowers or gifts online recently, how did it go? Did one site do really well or really poorly? Have your own tips to add? Leave them in the comments! Thanks for checking in on this month’s Design 1, 2, 3. If you learned something new or were just pleasantly amused, pass it along. See you next month.

Mentioned in this Post
Homepage :: 1-800-Flowers
Homepage :: FTD.com

Homepage :: ProFlowers

Disclaimer
Before we go any further there are two points that I want to be clear on.

• Never blindly install an extension on a live site – I know you see messages like this all of the time, but there is no way I can stress this enough. You never know how an extension will interact with your site until you try it, and if it doesn’t work as intended the results could be disastrous.
• This is not an all-inclusive guide – Every extension is unique, and many developers have started including installation instructions with their packages. If there ever comes a time when you need to choose between listening to me and listening to the extension’s creator, choose the latter.

Pre-Installation Steps

1. Disable the Cache

The Magento front end relies heavily on caching to provide a faster experience to customer. This is a wonderful tool, but can wreak havoc during the installation process. To ensure that the cache is not the cause of any problems, we should turn it off. This can be done from the admin console by navigating to the cache management page (System->Cache Management), selecting all caches, clicking ‘disable’ from the drop-down menu, and submitting the change.

2. Disable Compilation Mode

This may not be an issue for many readers, but if you are using Magento’s compilation mode on your store, it is important that you remove it.  Without going into to many details, compilation mode takes many files spread out over the system and condensing them into a single file that can be run very quickly. If an extension’s files are not in the system when this single file is ‘compiled’, they will not be included. To check that this is disabled, go to System->Tools->Compilation. If the compiler status is ‘Disabled’, you are ready to go. If not, simply click the ‘Disable’ button on the right hand side of the screen.

Choose an Installation Method

There are two different methods used to install extensions (no, ‘make someone else do it’ doesn’t count).  The first involves taking advantage of the Magento Connect Manager, while the second involves manually installing the files via ftp or command line. The first option is generally used by store owners and is a relatively automated process, the problem is that if there is a problem with this process, you are at the mercy of the connect manager to tell you where the problem is coming from.  Option two involves getting your hands on the files yourself and manually dropping them into the Magento installation.

 Option 1: Using Magento Connect

Required Materials:

• User account for Magento Connect
• Magento Admin account with access to Magento Connect Manager

As stated before, this option is relatively easy to implement. The first step is finding the link on Magento Connect for the extension you wish to install.  Once there click install now. If you are not currently logged into the site you will be prompted to do so. Next, select the version of Magento connect you are using (if in doubt, select 2.0), accept the extension’s license agreement, and copy the extension key.

Log into your stores admin console and navigate to System->Magento Connect->Magento Connect Manager. At this point you will be prompted to re-enter your administrator credentials. In order to install an extension from the connect manager; you must have an account with full access to the administration console. If you were given limited access, Magento will not allow you to proceed. Once you are logged into the manager, simply paste the extension key into the text box and click ‘install’. A system window will appear towards the bottom of the page that will display the progress of your installation.

Congratulations, you have successfully installed the extension on your store. Be sure to test thoroughly before re-enabling the cache/compilation. If you found no problems both before and after these features have been re-enabled, you should be ready to repeat the installation process on your live site. DON’T FORGET TO BACKUP ALL FILES AND DATABASES BEFORE INSTALLATION!

 Option 2: Manual Installation

Required Materials:

• Extension Key from Magento Connect OR
• All files used by the extension.
• FTP/SSH access to your website. *

* SSH access is required if you are using an extension key.

This option is my preferred method of installation. The connect manager is a useful tool for installing extensions, but I prefer a more hands-on method when it comes to installations. I feel more comfortable when I am personally in control of the process, instead of telling a program to do my bidding.

If you are using an extension key you first need to log into the webserver using  your SSH credentials and navigate to the store root. We are going to run a simple command that will download the package from magento connect.  The syntax for this command is as follows: ./mage download [channel name] [package name]

You find the channel and package name by looking at the last two sections of the magento connect extension key, so to download the extension in my example, I would look at http://connect20.magentocommerce.com/community/buysafe_manager and type ‘./mage download community buysafe_manager’.

Next we navigate to [path to magento]/downloader/.cache/community and copy the file to your local machine. After using your favorite extraction program (WinRAR, 7Zip, etc) you should have a set of files ready to be dropped onto your Magento instance.

This next step is geared more to developers than store owners, but actually look at the filenames and directory structure that was just extracted from the package file. Does it look feasible to you? Do you see an app/code directory there, what about app/etc/modules? If you don’t see these directory paths and files contained within them chances are that the extension download was faulty. Take a look at the package.xml file, this is the blueprint used by Magento Connect to arrange the files in the proper places. You may need to use this to ensure that everything is as it should be.

Once you have reviewed the extension files you are ready to perform the last step. Using your ftp client, drag all of the files onto the store root of the magento instance. Depending on the number of files in the extension, this may take a few moments.

Now go to the admin console and click ‘Flush Cache Storage’. I have found this to be a requirement for any extension that adds pages to the admin console. Logging out and back in is also required to ensure that everything loads properly. If you cannot clear the cache via the admin console for any reason, you will need to clear the cache manually via your FTP client (see the first FAQ question for assistance). That is the final step. Congratulations on a successful installation.

Troubleshooting/FAQs

I loaded all files onto my Magento store, and now get a white screen for some/all of the admin console.

This is a fairly common problem, and 99% of the time it is cache related. If you can get to it, go to System->Cache Management and click ‘Flush Cache Storage’. This will ensure that everything cached by Magento is deleted and will to be regenerated. Log out and back in to complete the process.

If you are completely cut off from the admin console, navigate to the ‘var/cache’ directory of your  website. You should see a series of directories named ‘mage–*’. Delete all of these directories (DO NOT DELETE var/cache). This is the equivalent of flushing the cache storage from the admin console.

I am receiving a Magento error when accessing certain pages. How can I debug this?

This question really deserves a blog post all to itself, but a good start would be to go into the errors directory of your store. Locate the ‘local.xml.sample’ file and rename it ‘local.xml’. The next time you see the error detailed information will be provided explaining where the error took place. Don’t forget to change this back when you are finished troubleshooting!

 I have a critical error with my webstore and need to turn off an extension; I cannot access the admin console. What do I do?

Go to the app/etc/modules directory and open the file that goes with your extension. The naming convention is generally ‘DeveloperName_ExtensionName.xml’.

Look for the ‘active’ tags in the file, change the value from true to false and save your changes. This tells Magento that the extension is disabled and not to run any code associated to it. Deleting the Magento cache is recommended (and most likely required) for this change to take affect.

Groove was able to correct issues that existed within product configurations and optimize the catalog to better leverage Magento Enterprise’s straightforward catalog management process. Also on Groove’s plate were deeper level technical development tasks like integrations with Mail Order Manager and Nextopia advanced site search.

During the initial review and analysis of the unfinished site, Groove’s search engine optimization specialist was able to point out and correct several SEO issues that would have resulted in a negative impact in organic rankings. With a new, optimized development plan in place, PetDoors.com has the foundation for a scalable and successful Magento Enterpise online store.

Chief Operating Officer, PJ Gill said of the project “Groove was able to analyze the existing condition of the site and provide the experienced Magento Enterprise development resources needed in order to see the successful completion of a project that had spanned years.”

Pinterest launched in March of 2010 as an ‘invite only’ social network, and already has over 4 million users. The site was created with the idea of ‘connecting everyone in the world through things they find interesting.’ While simple in concept, Pinterest has become exceedingly popular. In an age where the internet provides an overflow of information, Pinterest creates a simplified social space where users can easily scan content due to its visual nature and easy navigation.  It’s aesthetic focus has created a visually appealing presentation that attracts artists, brides, designers, and creatives alike– all with the goal of discovering and sharing the latest trends.

 How it Works

Pins: Pins are images or videos found across the web. Each pin contains a link back to it’s original URL and also provides the opportunity to include a short description. Pinterest makes it easy to pin content from the web by providing a ‘Pin It’ button that can be easily added to your browser. Just click the button and choose which board to add your pin to.

Boards: Boards are online bulletin-boards that are used to organize pins into themes or topics. Boards can be used to categorize images of any kind – ranging from décor to pets to classic cars. Pinterest has you categorize each board so that other users can easily search and follow your boards, making it easier to share content.

Following: Pinterest allows you to follow any user just like Twitter. Any new pins that are added by a user you follow will show up on your homepage, which acts similar to Facebook’s newsfeed. Pinterest also gives you the ability to like a pin or ‘repin,’ which is similar to the ‘share’ button for Facebook. Pinterest provides other features such as ‘Popular’ (similar to ‘trending’ on twitter) which allows you to view the most popular pins currently on Pinterest.

‘Pinning’ Success for Businesses

While Pinterest is heavily focused on creating an aesthetic-focused social space, it has a very practical business and online marketing application as well. Not many brands have started using Pinterest, but this is likely to quickly change. The defining feature of Pinterest that makes it differ vastly from other social networks is the ability to search for inspiration and ideas – whether it be for hosting a party, planning a wedding, or decorating a house. Users search Pinterest to discover new ideas and products. Put simply, Pinterest is being used to ultimately influence buying decisions. Brands such as West Elm, Nordstrom and Whole Foods have discovered how to capitalize on the benefits of Pinterest – how can your business do this as well?

 Is Your Business Right for Pinterest?

The first step to getting started with Pinterest is to determine whether your business is suited for this social network. 60% of the users on Pinterest are women between the ages of 25 and 44. So if this is your target demographic, it is important to consider using Pinterest for your brand. Generally speaking, Pinterest is better suited for businesses that sell visually oriented products or services – clothing, decorations, artwork, etc. However, since Pinterest is focused on sharing innovative ideas, any unique products, recipes, travel destinations, etc. are going to be easily sharable on this network as well.

 Build Website Traffic

The most practical aspect of Pinterest– and the most beneficial for businesses- is that each image pinned automatically includes a URL link back to its site of origin. This means that when users find a product they like, they can very easily trace it back to the website – meaning a greater chance of purchase. This feature is used so often that Pinterest has become one of the top sources of traffic for businesses that sell visually-oriented products and services. In fact, Pinterest is rumored to be the number one source of traffic for Etsy.

 SEO

In addition to being highly advantageous for driving website traffic, Pinterest also has a strong SEO benefit.  Since this past August, Pinterest has witnessed over 100% growth in unique page views and traffic. And as previously discussed, each image also pulls the website URL into each pin. Each pin has the potential to be repined countless times, creating ample opportunity to build a strong amount of backlinks and enhance search engine optimization.

 Brand Advocacy

While SEO and website traffic have a direct impact on online marketing efforts, Pinterest is also a useful tool to build brand advocacy. Products and ideas are virally spread rapidly throughout Pinterest, and it provides an ample opportunity to build your brand recognition and indirectly promote products.

How to Use Pinterest for Business

• Pinterest has a strict policy that discourages businesses to utilize the network to sell products or self-promote. Therefore, it is important that brands utilize Pinterest to showcase more then just products or services.  For example, Whole Foods pins photos of the food they sell, while also incorporating recipes and images of a healthy lifestyle. In this way, Whole Foods is contributing to the Pinterest community, and not merely promoting a product.
• Have employees set up personal Pinterest accounts. In this way, employees can help spread products and services without having a business directly promoting itself.
• Incorporate a ‘Pin It’ button on your website. In addition to offering a social networking icon, Pinterest also lets you add a ‘pin it’ button under an individual product so that users can directly pin items of interest.
• Use Pinterest as a focus group. You can easily trace what images are being pinned and repined, allowing a business to easily identify popular trends and products.  In order to view items pinned from your site replace “yoursitename.com” in this link with your business URL: http://pinterest.com/source/yoursitename.com/. Images that users have pinned from your website will automatically appear.
• Create boards that reach beyond your product offering. For example Nordstrom creates boards with their products, but organizes items into helpful categories such as ‘Holiday Sparkle,’ ‘Fall Wishlist,’ and ‘Trends We Love.’ Whole Foods has categorizes such as ‘Delicious Art,’ ‘Sweet Tooth,’ and ‘Winter Entertainment.’ In other words, brands can be successful by pinning content complementary to your brand that provides added value to your customer.

Whole Foods uses creative boards to organize pins - while still promoting their products and brand

Pinterest is being compared to Google+ and Klout, and continually ranking high among the top social networking sites. Pinterest provides a unique type of sharing and content discovery unmatched by other social sites – which is likely why the network has skyrocketed in popularity. In addition to its mass appeal, Pinterest provides a unique online marketing opportunity that can boost search engine optimization, increase website traffic, and provides the opportunity to obtain new customers through sharing and discovery.

The IRWD Conference is a popular industry tradeshow that allows e-tailers to have one on one consultations with participating agencies. Groove team members were quickly booked to lead over 50 consultations. The consultations will focus on usability best practices, search engine optimization, Magento ecommerce design, and conversion rate consulting. Groove will also be a sponsor this year, with a visible presence throughout the conference.

CEO Ethan Giffin will be conducting live site reviews in one of the conference’s most popular sessions titled “How Does Your Site Stack Up?” which gives special attention to usability and best practices concepts. “I am looking forward to providing an educational experience for the etailers attending this session. Sometimes, people are so close to the site, they fail to see the big picture and being the one to open their eyes to optimized ecommerce website design concepts is a great feeling.” said Ethan of the session.

Conference attendees are encouraged to sign up for free one-on-one consultations by visiting the Groove Commerce consultation registration page at www.groovecommerce.com/irwd2012.

Groove Commerce is an award-winning Magento Gold Partner, specializing in eCommerce design since 2007. Groove provides the complete package of eCommerce website design, development and online marketing under one roof. Groove Commerce is a trusted source in the field, and one of the premiere web design and development companies in the mid-Atlantic region collaborating with national and international clients.

Contact:

Robyn Keegan, Sales and Marketing Coordinator

800.564.9826 x 718

robyn@groovecommerce.com

Ok, admit it, every once in a while you Google yourself. While going through search engine optimization strategies and hearing about what new practices will make Google’s algorithms twitch, you’re likely to Google your own business, and in a moment of vanity, perhaps you like to see what comes up in the search results when you type in your own name.

I probably Google myself once a month. Aside from my responsibilities as an online strategist at Groove Commerce – I like to flex my scribe muscles and do some freelance writing and blogging for a number of publications around Baltimore. From Sports to Television Criticisms, I like to keep myself busy outside the walls of our Canton office. On top of all the content I put out with my name on it, I make sure to use smart internal linking strategies on my blog posts, I make sure my tweets are filled with relevant hash tags, I make sure my keywords, meta tags, descriptions and page titles are all consistent and keyword-focused, etc. Everything I tell people to do on their sites. I also benefit from having a very original name – there aren’t many “Simon Habtemariam”-s in the world, let alone any with their own personal SEO strategy.

But regardless, despite all of my hard work in building my online presence, all it took was a few clicks of the mouse and my newly made, completely unpopulated Google+ page made it onto the top search results for my name.

A recently created Google+ Pages ranks on the first page

How is that? How is it that a page with NO content could be considered Front-Page Quality Content?

Because Google wants more people to sign up for Google+ Pages. So they value content produced on their network higher than that of their competitors, or lesser-known sites. With that being said, Google+ Pages for businesses are still very much in the Beta stage. Not a lot is known about how to optimize pages because the jury is still out on how they work. But if just filling out your basic profile can put you up on the front page, imagine what the future will hold as the network matures into a full-grown fad.

The best way to describe Google+’s benefits to SEO for business is to think of it like a directory. Google-verified content is considered valuable content to the Googlebot, so promote your business’ phone number, descriptions and most importantly URL (backlinks, backlinks, backlinks). Since just setting up your page probably reaps a benefit, the job is about 90% done.

A sample of a "bare-bones" Google+ Business Page

From this point, anything else you do is nothing but helpful, with minimal effort needed. Networking and making connections is probably the most functional part of Google+, and as the site becomes more popular the ceiling on user engagement will grow. So for now, add your employees and friends to your “Circles,” with the idea that if it becomes more popular, you’ll be ahead of many competitors who don’t currently engage with their customers.

The biggest advantage Google+ could have in the future will be the +1 feature for web content. Again, Content is key – it’s one thing to rank on the front page with your Google+ page, but it will be a whole different thing when user engagement will literally tell Google “I like this page, please put this in the top of my rankings.”

Remember, Google is Google because it delivers the best quality pages for your search results, and they will continue to find new ways to improve their page ranking algorithm. So you better believe, Google thinks any content on their own network, is the quality content.

Finding Potential Partners
The first step in choosing the best Magento Partner is to accumulate potential agencies, here are some great places to start:

Tradeshows
 One of the best ways to find an expert Magento design and development agency is to attend conferences and tradeshows. This is a great opportunity to meet potential agencies and to gage their fit with your project and company. Depending on the event, it also provides peace of mind knowing that freelancers and inexperienced developers probably won’t be investing in booths or be asked to speak at sessions.

Referrals
Recommendations and referrals are a large part of inbound business for Groove, most coming from our past clients and partners we have worked with. Try asking the point of contact at your hosting provider, inventory management system, or another third party who they would recommend. They work with all types of agencies to implement their solution on ecommerce websites. You can even ask a Magento sales representative to set you up with a few different agencies who are most likely to fit your needs.

Magento Solution Partner Directory
Check out their profile on the Magento website. You can see some of the clients they have worked with right from this profile and get a good feel for their size. You’ll also be able to click through directly to their website.

Receiving Good Magento Proposals

Once you have narrowed potential partners down to a few choices, you should begin requesting proposals. There are a few common mistakes that can be made during this stage, the first is being unprepared. Make sure you know what you must have in phase one. Next, be available. Never begin this process during your busiest season or before you will be out of the office for a period of time. Partners will want to have multiple conversations before submitting proposals, make sure you are there to answer their questions. Also, keep your process consistent across partners. Make sure you provide the same information to each potential Magento Enterprise partner. Lastly, be open. If you have signed a non-disclosure agreement, you should consider sharing information like revenue, traffic, conversion rate AND your budget. The most successful partnerships are those that are open and honest. When a potential partner knows where you stand, they are able to develop a proposal that will work with your budget.

Once you receive proposals, keep in mind that it is this point at which a deeper conversation should take place. The agency should set up a time to walk you through their proposed project, answer all your questions, and perhaps tailor the proposal again to address anything you may have come out of stepping through the document together.

Choosing the Magento Partner That is Right for You

Remember to ask questions about the agency itself while comparing potential Magento developers. While it might be tempting to base your selection solely on the investment & pricing section of a proposal, make sure you are considering other important factors. Here are some often over-looked questions to ask a Magento Partner during the selection process:

• Where are you located and is your team able to travel for on site meetings?
• Is your entire team in-house and do you offshore any work?
• How long have you focused on the Magento Enterprise platform?
• What is a typical timeline for Magento Enterprise website design and development?
• What situations may take a project off timeline or budget?
• Do you provide any ongoing support?
• What types of quality assurance and testing do you perform before and after launch?

It is vital to do your due diligence when picking a Magento expert to work with. The last place you want to be is losing money each day due to overdue milestones and delayed launches. Perhaps such projects stalled due to unforeseen obstacles that should have been uncovered in the proposal preparation or etailers simply had not spent enough time researching and qualifying the partner they chose.

Groove Commerce takes pride in our ability to launch high performing Magento Enterprise websites. If you are considering Magento Partners for your project, we’d love to have a conversation!

Now is the time when most people look back on the year with fond memories. But not you. No, not you! You’re plunging ahead into 2012 at break-neck speed with a plan for the future. Luckily, Groove is moving right there with you.

Now is a great time to assess how your eCommerce site did. Don’t just look at the holiday season stats, review your numbers for the whole year. Compare them to last year. Where do you fall on the spectrum? Would you rather not look at this years’ numbers or did the site do even better than expected? Did you have some great highs that thankfully smoothed out some bad lows?

Of course, we hope everyone hit a high note, but we’re here to help those of you that didn’t. Below, I’ve asked a few straightforward questions to help determine your strategic plan for the coming year.

1. Site Overhaul
Why should you do a complete overhaul of your site?

• Are your numbers substantially down and your internal team can’t figure out why?
  Now, is a great time to bring in an unbiased 3rd-party to review your site and make suggestions. Most importantly, engage with these suggestions. It’s a new year: start fresh, make changes.

• Are there development issues that could be fixed with a new platform?
  eCommerce technology is improving every day. For years, you might have been working with development issues that just had to be, but things change, and a more-integrated platform may be what your business needs to compete.

• When was your last redesign?
  If you haven’t touched your site’s design in over two years, okay, three years if you want to stretch it, you’re running the risk of looking outdated. Does looking outdated hurt your site? Mainly in two ways: it’ll decrease your site’s credibility and interest, and it means you could be using outdated techniques (Flash anyone?) or not taking advantage of new ones (jQuery, lightboxes, social media plug-ins, etc.)

When should you do a complete overhaul of your site? The beginning of the year is a great time to dive in. Even though you’ll want a redesign done in six weeks, and a company will promise you eight weeks, plan on the project as a whole taking about six months. This includes designs and revisions, coding, replatforming, data mining, test site launch, real site launch, troubleshooting, marketing and acclimating the customers. Give yourself a gracious time-frame, so you don’t end up with your back against a wall. If you start now, you’ll be ‘done’ in July/August and you’ll be able to get accurate data for a few months before the 2012 holiday season. You want your new site to be performing well weeks ahead of November/December 2012.

2. Site Maintenance & Testing
What do you do if your site’s performing well, but should be or could be performing better? In this case, it’s triage time. [Triage: "The determination of priorities for action in an emergency."¹]

• What are your Analytics telling you? Don’t have Google Analytics set-up yet? Or my personal favorite, don’t have it set up correctly? My gosh, what are you waiting for!

• What pages on your site are under performing? Do people abandon the shopping cart or the checkout more? Are people bouncing on the homepage, are too many people landing on the homepage? Set a bar for each page and reach those goals. Can’t figure out how? Elicit 3rd-party help. Remember, your goal is to run your company, not to do everything for your company.

• What specific products have decreased in units sold or overall price? Sure, a product might not sell as well if a new version came out or if it was a trendy item. But if it’s a true-blue best seller and it’s not selling as well, you need to ask yourself why. Is it not being promoted enough on the site? Is it not being promoted at the right time? Or to the right customer groups?

When is the right time to do maintenance and testing? All-year leading up to the holiday 2012 season. Start with your most important pages (checkout, product page, homepage) and elements (search functionality, product refinement, ‘ready to buy’ box) and move down the list to smaller items such as button names and colors; footer design; and plug-ins and extensions. Don’t make changes and assume job well done. Make changes and test them against the current site. Have your customer service reps follow-up with customers on particular features. It’s not good enough to know that something made an improvement, you have to know why. Otherwise, you’ll be starting from scratch when you do maintenance again in the future.

3. Branding
If your site performed at its peak this year, and you’ve done routine testing on a fairly new site platform and design, you might think you can relax in 2012. But when the ball is rolling, you have to keep the momentum going.

• Have you moved into social media? Are your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc. accounts robust and providing valuable information to your customers? Are they providing different experiences or spitting our the same thing? Is their a new social media tool that you should try to reach a new customer segment? Are all these elements branded in a single visual voice? Clients often make the mistake of assuming that so-and-so social media isn’t right for them — but I stress, find a way to make it right for you and your customers.

• How strong are your e-mail campaigns? How many new people were added to your e-mail list this year? How many unsubscribed? How often are you sending out e-mails? Are you reaching potential new customers or just going after returning users? Are your e-mails branded? Are they compelling? Have you tested the copy: subject lines, call to actions, pre-headers?

• How is your site performing on non-computer devices such as tablets and smart phones? Could you be giving users on these devices a better experience? Often, their goals are not the same as a user on a laptop. Again, is your site branded correctly? Would having an app benefit or connect more with your customers?

A user should be able to move through your brand in a variety of ways–website, twitter, iphone app, e-mail campaign, landing page, banner ads–and know without hesitation that it is your brand.

When is the right time to do branding? All-year long. Use important holidays in your industry to have a little more fun or try something new. Selling chocolates for Mother’s Day? Why not plan a viral video this year. Never had much luck with repeat business? Focus on consistent, twice-a-week, follow-up e-mails. Want to make a splash on Facebook? Give out a time sensitive promotional code to people who ‘like’ your page. Planning ahead always helps when it comes to social media.

In Conclusion
Granted, I don’t expect that my words of wisdom above have enlightened you to anything earth-shattering that you didn’t already know. What I am hoping for, is that it helps motivate you to actual make these changes happen. It’s a cardinal rule in web site design: don’t ever, ever set it and forget it. No matter where how well or poorly your company did in 2011, you have a brand-new 365 days ahead of you. Wishing all of you the best of luck (and handwork) in 2012.

Tell Me What You Think
What are your website plans for 2012? What other integral questions did you ask yourself to help you decide on your strategy? When is the right time for change? Leave your comments below.

Thanks for checking in on this month’s Design 1, 2, 3. If you learned something new or were just pleasantly amused, pass it along. And if you have a suggestion for next month, leave it in the comments below. Thanks.

Dynamic Site Experience

eCommerce websites have the ability to collect and store behavioral data on user sessions. They know which products a user looks at, which categories they spend time on, where they came from, and purchase history (upon log-in). By leveraging clickstream paths and inferred intent, etailers can customize the shopping experience for the top user demographics and focus on conversion marketing. For example, the Lax World website uses this information to decide whether the user is male or female, then displays the site in a custom way for that user. So a female shopper will see female-targeted banners, product recommendations, and even promotions – creating a personalized shopping experience. Their site could begin to understand which position the female player likely plays, and alter the experience to show even more specific products. Many times, etailers focus all their efforts on finding and attracting new customers and on converting abandoned shopping carts, but fail to put any emphasis on the customers in the middle of that sales funnel. With onsite conversion marketing along with the personalized shopping experience, etailers can save money by showing relevant product recommendations and upsells to convert traffic that has already found its way onto your site.

Social Integration

They say that trends tend to work like a pendulum, first going to the extreme left then moving to the extreme right. In 2012, we will begin to see the social media pendulum swing. In the past two years, it seems every major retailer has jumped on social media marketing, investing time and money into optimizing their profiles and acquiring fans. More recently reports show that there is increasing skepticism in social media. More and more businesses are finding that it doesn’t directly contribute to an increase in sales. It is no longer sufficient to just throw a Facebook page up and create a Twitter profile, at this stage in social innovation you must find, engage, and monetize through social platforms. Mid-range ecommerce site owners can’t focus resources on continually optimizing profiles, a better way to spend that time and money is to integrate social media into your ecommerce website in order to offer a social shopping experience. Allow your users to share their favorite products and recent purchases quickly and easily by including share buttons on product pages. The more you can fluidly combine social and ecommerce forces, the more likely you will be to convert your fans into loyal customers and impact your bottom line.

Mobile Shopping Tablet Shopping

All we heard this year was mobile, mobile, mobile. Whether it was developing apps, mobile sites, or investing in text message marketing, retailers everywhere were swan diving head first into mobile initiatives. The end of the year has helped shake out some answers around mobile…apps are for games and very well known brands, text marketing is for restaurants and local business driving physical traffic, and mobile optimized sites are for everyone. We have also begun to understand the difference between mobile devices as related to ecommerce sales. In 2012, the new rage is tablet shopping. Predictions from Forrester Research show tablet usage will reach 50.7 million next year. Research has also recently proven that while tablet traffic is a small portion of overall traffic, it packs a punch. Customers are more likely to convert on a tablet than any other device (3% for PC shoppers vs. 4 or 5% for tablet shoppers according to Forrester). They are also more likely to place larger orders, usually adding 10-20% more to their cart than other mobile and desktops users. Next year, make sure you make design improvements with tablet traffic in mind since they tend to reach a site through a browser and are unlikely to go to a mobile optimized site.

 Product Experience

Shoppers increasingly expect online shopping to feel like offline shopping. This will really impact how they want to interact with products. An important ecommerce strategy is to optimize product imagery by either leaning on manufacturers to provide better, more consistent product images or to hire professionals to photograph all products. The idea is to allow customers to visualize the product within their lives. Can they see the product in all the colors, or just color swatches? Can they zoom in to see intricate patterns and the material? Do you provide 360 product views, allowing the customer to see every side? If you can’t provide a realistic interaction with products on your ecommerce website, it should be on the top of your list for next year. (Want more on product imagery best practices? Read Design 1,2,3: Product Photography from Senior Designer Heather Van De Mark)

Site Search

Site search is not new or cutting edge. What is new are the mind-blowing statistics around site search that prove it’s importance to ecommerce conversion. According to our benchmarking (published in our 2011 whitepaper), visitors who interact with site search are 3-5 times more likely to covert and of those orders the average order value is 25 to 50% higher. Of our clients, we have found that site search provides a 200-300% increase in the site’s average conversion rate. With stats like that, there is no reason an ecommerce site should be returning “no results found”. In the next year, third party site search providers that can optimize search results, suggest products, autofill, and display results using fuzzy logic will be a must.

In order to be successful into 2012, ecommerce sites need to provide a personalized shopping experience that empowers users to seamlessly interact with social communities, easily visualize products, and quickly find the exact product they want.

Want to discuss how we would implement any of these efforts on your ecommerce website in 2012? Drop us a line!