As many of my readers already know, I often talk about how taking the time to research and understand your ideal customer demographic helps develop a site that properly speaks to that demographic and in turn increases sales.

Understanding your customer base also enables you to seek out new traffic channels which contain that “magic mix” making up what can be called qualified traffic (visitors that are looking for the product you offer.)

Providing you have followed my direction, Google has introduced a new tool that eventually may help you find even more qualified traffic.

Just over a week ago on June 24th, Google introduced Ad Planner via its blog.

Ad Planner is in BETA and is currently available only to a limited number of agencies and advertisers (you must apply to be accepted into the program.)

Ad Planner is a research tool that connects advertisers and publishers. Google says the tool enables you to enter demographics and sites associated with your target audience, and it will return information about sites (both on and off the Google content network) that your audience is likely to visit.

This new and exciting tool relies on you providing it with accurate data about your target customer(s) — which means you must know your target. If you have not done your research, then the data it could return would be no good to you. Yet, one more reason you need to know your audience.

Who knows what the future may bring for this tool. With Google you know anything is possible. I for one am looking forward to utilizing this tool during my research and think it will provide yet another alternative to seeking out qualified traffic.

In my last article Planning Ecommerce Promotions I discussed some details on why you should take the time to carefully plan your promotions using a 12 month calendar as a guide.

In this article I’ll briefly detail a starting point for timing of those promotions during a typical 4 week period.

Keep in mind that this should be a starting point for you to work with and grow from. Understanding when your customers buy the first time, their frequency of repeat orders, and your market itself should dictate what time periods you should zero in on for your store. You can get answers to these questions and more by reading your analytics.

If you recall, during my last article I said that I recommended planning out at least 2 different promotions (with room for a third) per month and as a starting point. Run those promotions (one at a time) during the first and third week of the month.

My logic behind this is that it enables your promotions to drive sales which are generally realized during the month the promotion is active. This can help you better forecast sales for a given month based on promotions and use those promotions to actually hit “quota targets” when needed.

Here’s why.

Running a promotion for a two week period starting week one enables you to realize sales generated from that promotion during both weeks one and two of the same month. Likewise, it stands to reason that running a promotion for the remaining two weeks of a month starting at week three would enable you to realize sales from that promotion during both weeks 3 and 4 of the month (keeping sales generally allocated to the month in which the promotion is run.)

The timing of when the sales are realized in the above example is again, a general theory of what you can expect. Depending on the promotion itself, and buyer latency, you may see these gains realized at various intervals.

Week Three - the “Quota Buster”

One more thing I like to do with this type of promotional setup is to make sure my week three promo is the one that has continually proven to generate some serious sales.

Once you have tested your market and determined a promotion or two that always generates interest and subsequently sales, save those promos for the third week. I use them in cases where we are close to a monthly revenue goal and activating one will likely get us there or push us over the top. That’s why I call it the “quota buster” promo.

The quota buster promo is one that your customers find “too good to pass up.” It’s one that they feel they must take advantage of because they may not see it again.

For example, if you typically offer a 10% promo and you can afford to (on occasion) give 40% off (again, this is for example sake), AND that promo generates some above average sales volumes, then the “40% promo” could be the quota buster. This does take careful planning as you want to make sure the promotion also gives you enough margin to put net revenue in your pocket as a result.

Unless you are looking to “break even” on the sale in order to gain repeat business from the customer in the near future, what good is a nice promotion if you don’t end up with net revenue from it? Plan your strategy according to your business objective.

Timing and planning promotions is one critical element toward driving business sales. Once fine tuned, this element of your business should be one you can count on to ensure your growth. Take them time to give your careful attention to it and you will be rewarded.

In the past I’ve touched on this subject, however not until recently did I realize that it seems every store owner I speak with has at least one thing in common. None of them have taken the time to sit down and actually plan out a promotional calendar for their business.

I personally recommend sitting down and developing a 12 month plan consisting of at least 2 different promos per month with room for a “spontaneous” third if needed. If only running two promotions, I recommend running one during week one, and the other during week three. More on why I do that in my next post.

Planning out a promotional calendar is a critical element toward increasing your sales. When properly implemented, a promotional campaign can win new customers and keep your current base coming back for more. If you have continued to put off this part of your business, you are hurting your chances to capitalize on big opportunities. There should be no excuses … you’re only hurting your business by not doing it.

What good promotions do

On a general level, good promotions have several things in common:

1. They have an intended audience in mind.
2. They generate interest.
3. They create urgency.
4. They create excitement.
5. They generate sales.
6. Provide great value to those who redeem them.
7. They are planned with a clear objective that the business owner desires to achieve.

Intended audience: A well thought out promotion has an audience it wants the attention of. Whether that audience is targeted or open to the masses it makes no difference, all good promotions have some audience they want to reach.

Generate interest: Good promotions have the ability to generate the interest of their intended audience. This interest is generated through the look of the ad used for the promotion, the copy used in the ad, the offer, and even the placement of the ad itself.

As a simple example for illustrative purposes, if you decided to increase your “new business” base then it would be considered a “targeted campaign” toward “new customers”. Your offer might be a “15% off your first purchase with us” and placed in a prominent location throughout your site. Likewise, if your promotion was a “mass targeted” campaign to “move inventory” then you may want to develop a promo that is “Get $25 off the purchase of $75 or more” (which does not show favoritism to any one demographic.)

Create urgency: Good promotions have a time limit to them. Once it’s over it’s over and the offer is gone.

If you’ve ever participated in a promotion that “expires on xxx date” then you’ve been exposed to the “urgency factor”. Putting a time limit on promotions creates buyer urgency. Urgency generates sales.

When developing promos with expiration dates, don’t extend the promotional period unless you have a good reason for it. Once your buyers understand that when you say “it’s gone” … “it’s gone”, they’ll respond in droves providing your product meets their needs.

Create excitement: A well planned promotion will generate some excitement. That excitement can oftentimes lead to “referral” business where one person tells others about it and you get the domino effect. I’ve seen instances where a very well planned promotion gets listed on a board by an “excited” customer, and the sales that promotion generates goes through the roof. It can and does happen.

Generate sales: Good promotions generate sales. Whether the objective is to attract new customers, win back past customers, or get current customers to repeat buy, the direct result of a well planned and implemented promotion should be sales in the end.

Provide value: A promotion is only effective if it’s worth the buyer’s time. It must provide enough value the intended audience that they perceive it as the best choice. Although not the sole options, internet only discounts, free shipping offers that save on gas and travel time, and buy one get one offers can be big.

Planned with an objective: You should plan a promotion with an intended objective in mind. Whether the objective is to move inventory, get new customers (first time buyer discounts), introduce a new product or line of products, or meet monthly quotas, every promotion should have a plan. This plan usually “leads the charge” in the development of the promotion in the first place and oftentimes can assist in determining what the exact offer will be.

No matter your store’s size, no matter your market, if you haven’t yet planned a promotional campaign for the coming months, you really need to get started. You could be missing out on some enormous opportunities.

It’s been a busy few weeks of continued testing and experimenting to discover some of the most reliable methods ecommerce store owners can use to increase sales. I’m back and ready to show more of what I’ve uncovered.

Retaining Current Customers

Building an online business involves many elements, one of which is a solid customer retention strategy. Keeping your current customers coming back for more while adding new customers is one key element that will help build a healthy and sustainable shop.

It order to retain current customers, you need to stay in contact with them. But when is the best time to contact them in order to gain maximum response?

Much of this is determined by the market you are targeting. For example, if you are selling a product that is targeted more toward stay at home mothers, you may find that your emails are more effective when sent during the evening hours (after the kids are in bed and they have time to themselves.) As another example, if you are offering a product that is targeted toward business owners, it may be best to send these follow-ups during normal business hours (knowing this is when they are more likely to be in front of their computers.)

The two examples above are for illustration only and are not intended to be taken as “tested fact”. They are to get you thinking about your target audience and how understanding their lifestyle can determine when they are likely to be listening.

Finding the exact time period, as in the day of the week and hour(s) that are most effective, can involve some clever thinking but fortunately there are some objective reporting methods you can use to get you real close on your very first attempt.

Google Analytics to the Rescue

One way to zero in on the day(s) and times you should be testing is to turn to Google Analytics reporting.

You will be able to get an good estimate of the number of unique visitors that are coming to your site on any given day by going to the Absolute Unique Visitors report. The image to the left shows where in your navigation that report is found.

Once there, make sure you select a nice sample size (say the last 6 months) as a range for analysis. This will provide you with a decent trend report. Once you have that in place, select to “Graph by Day” found in the upper right hand corner of the screen. Selecting that link will report the figures on a daily basis over the past 6 months.

Now all you have to do is scroll down and make note of those days of the week (as in Sunday thru Monday) in which you receive most of your traffic. Keep these figures aside for reference. The report below shows a sample section for one site. Although you are only seeing a few lines, you’ll want to scroll through your entire report to find the ideal days. This section happens to show a pattern that is consistent throughout the entire 6 month period I analyzed.

Partial report showing visits broken down by day.

Ecommerce Revenue by Day, Hour etc…
Now that you have a general idea on the number of visitors you get on a daily basis during any given week, it’s time to figure out what days and more specifically hours actually generate revenue for you.

To do this you’ll be using another report. The “Total Revenue” report found under the ecommerce section (you must have ecommerce tracking turned on and the tracking code in place on your site for this to provide any data.)

You’ve already selected the time frame for analysis when you generated the first Unique Visitors report in the above step. Now you should have on the screen a report that looks much like Figure 1 below. Once you have that on the screen you will be able to scroll down and take note of the most productive days / hours of the week where your site generates the most revenue. You’ll want to take note of the hour, then switch it to “day” view using the selections in the upper right hand corner of the screen that look like this:

Once you have switched between both views (day vs. hour) and have scrolled through the reports making notes of the most effective days and hours during the week in which you generate revenue, you’ve got everything you need to determine when is in all likely hood the best time to send newsletter or promotional emails to your current customer base.

Figure 1

In the real world example I show here, the ideal time to send out a promotional email for this market would fall on either a Weds. or Thursday of the week with the email arriving in customers in boxes between the hours of 9:00AM and 2:00PM with the preference being around 11:00AM (when most sales are generated.) Anything before or after that time will not yield the maximum results.

Why? Because all the reports confirm and show that the majority of our visitors are most active between these periods. Therefore, we can make an educated guess that we have our audience’s attention most often during those times, and that means they are online … where they need to be to receive your email.

Does it work? You bet it does.

In my testing, I used these reports to test whether sending a promotional email on the days that were most active, during the hours that were most productive would yield the desired results. Indeed it was accurate. In fact, on those days and times I sent an email which fell outside the “target period range”, the effects were far less than desirable. Open rates were lower, click through rates were lower, and sales were off.

However, when I sent the email ensuring it would land in customers in boxes during the specified target hours and days, the results were spectacular. In fact, sales over tripled for the day when the promotional email was sent within the target time frame. This was a consistent increase that happened every time the email was sent during the target time frame. It was not a one time only occurrence.

Using this method of reporting, you can continue to refine this process to get an even tighter time frame by going back to the same reports mentioned above a few days AFTER sending an email and breaking it down by hour for the day the email was sent. This will tell you to the day, the week, and the hour during any given month that is best for contacting your customers.

So if you are sending newsletters or promotional emails without really knowing whether your customers are listening, and furthermore, without knowing whether you have a shot a increase productivity, then you need to stop now. Take the time to gather the proper data and start sending your emails when your customers are active and ready. You’ll thank yourself for the research and your sales should reflect that added time spent.

This just landed in my inbox, and since I’ve been on the subject of email marketing here lately, I thought it would be good to post a link to it.

I just read an article written for ECommerce Guide on email marketing and it provided some similar insights to my previous articles on this topic. It may further assist you at developing email marketing campaigns which enable your store to prosper.

The article is called Eight Tips for a Clickable Email Marketing Campaign.

In my two previous articles How to Design an Effective Email Follow Up Campaign and Beware of Stale Email Addresses I talked about things you should consider when planning an effective email follow-up campaign, including the negative effect a list of stale email addresses can cause.

In this article, I’ll give a few simple tips on how you can clean your list up and actually use it to target customers specific interests and increase your sales.

For those who aren’t familiar with the term “list building”, let me give you a brief summary. List building is the process by which one gathers requested information (opt-in only, no spam here) about a group or groups of visitors to later utilize during marketing campaigns.

Keeping your list clean (or in other words, stocked with valid, verifiable information and active users) is critical to the success of future follow-up plans. A dirty list is worth nothing and can have detrimental effects on the most well planned marketing campaign.

Let’s Get to it

With a little creative thinking, and some proper wording, we can turn what would be an “ordinary opt-in” into a bonafide hot prospect that wants to hear from you.

1) Start with the headline.

Instead of simply saying “signup for our newsletter” make the title more provocative. For example, if you sell Widgets, some more attractive title’s might be:

• “Get Exclusive VIP Only Offers on New Widgets”.
• “Be the first to know about exclusive new deals.”
• “Get hints and tips for everyday jobs.”

2) Follow-up with an informative subhead if desired

Now that you have their attention, you may want to briefly explain exactly what they can expect if they add themselves to your list.

This is also a place were you can further qualify those that you wish added to your list (i.e. those that have a real interest in what you offer, and are more likely to buy from you in future follow-up campaigns.)

Using the above headlines as an example we could do something like the following:

Heading: “Get Exclusive VIP Only Offers on New Widgets”.
Subhead: Be one of the first to know about new widgets and get exclusive discounts available only through email.

Heading: “Be the first to hear about exclusive new deals.”
Subhead: Get a sneak preview on upcoming product specials made available only through email.

Heading: “Get hints and tips for everyday jobs.”
Subhead: Learn hints and tips from pros on how to use your widget to accomplish everyday jobs saving you time and money.

These types of headings and subheads are only examples. The aim is to attract people willing to provide you with a valid email address (because the content they will receive will be valuable enough for them to make sure they receive it) and also qualify them to some degree as “potential buyers” (prospects) through mentioning exactly what it is they can expect by adding themselves to the list.

3) Fill each email follow-up with information that truly helps those on your list improve the current situation they are in.

If in one way shape or form each of your follow-up campaigns aims to provide highly valuable information that helps the end reader better their situation and that information would be hard to find anywhere else, then you’ll be more likely to keep them interested, active and fresh on your list.

Think about it. Would you stay on a list that often provided information which consistently assisted you in solving a problem, making your life easier, making you more money, or saving you money? Chances are you would.

In that same respect, would you stay on a “newsletter” list that simply told you information which not only didn’t help make your life better, but could be found in a number of other locations without the extra email in your inbox? Chances are you wouldn’t stay long.

Getting Even More Information

Offering a gift, coupons, free trial samples, etc.. which must be mailed to them via standard postal service is an effective way to build a list that can be used in both online and offline marketing campaigns.

Offering free trial samples of your products and send them to for only the shipping and handling fee does two things.

1. Allows you to build a list of clean information about a potential prospect which you can be sure is valid (they want their sample so they will provide valid shipping information to get it.)
2. Qualifies them as a higher level prospect that is willing to spend money online. You can be sure of this because they have already provided you with some type of payment information to cover the shipping and handling. I’ve seen this method work in a number of cases and be very effective at generating future sales from those that choose this route.

The main goal of any effort, no matter the situation is to build a healthy, active list with people who stay. Provide them with quality information (and introduce them to products you offer which can truly help them) and you’ll see the benefits of a clean list filled with prospects that are eager to hear from you and who are likely to buy from you as well.

I’ve said it so many times it should be expected now. When it comes to making decisions on where to start adjusting your website in order to achieve better conversion, the first and last place you can count on is your web analytics program (providing you have a decent one in place.)

Having said that (once again), it should come as no surprise that topping the list of sources which ecommerce retailers base their website decision making efforts on is web analytics.

The E-Tailing Group, Inc. reports that out of 20 different areas to choose from, web analytics was the leader in driving merchandising decisions for many online businesses.

The breakdown of all 20 is as follows:

So why did web analytics top the list? I’ll tell you why I believe it did. Because website analytics provides non-biased, objective, and factual data that can’t be disputed.

Providing it has been installed correctly, web analytic reports are based on concrete information of activities surrounding your site. Web analytics do not lie. They paint a true picture, no matter how grim or glorious of the state of your website at a given point in time based on actual events occurring within it.

Interpret the analytics correctly and you’ll often find a gold mine of information that uncovers exact points of inefficiencies that could be costing you sales.

There are many analytics systems out there. Each offers their own benefits. I’ve been able to generate conversion rates (unique visitors to sales) for clients as high as 18.4% with data that was gathered using properly installed Google Analytics.

So, don’t think that you need to shell out big dollars for a tracking system in order to gather the necessary data to increase your sales and website conversion. It’s not always about the system you use, it’s how you interpret the data it reports.

In my last article How to Design an Effective Email Follow Up Campaign, I stressed the importance of implementing a system to stay in contact with your past customers.

One thing I did not mention was the need to make sure the list you are planning on marketing to is fresh. Outdated, stale lists pose a big threat to your business and can contribute to your site being blacklisted by some of the major internet service providers (ISPs); not to mention being shut down by your own email service provider!

Neither of these are good things, and each can turn what would have otherwise been a decent email marketing campaign into a complete disaster for your business.

If you are one of those ecommerce store owners who has been working for years on the internet and over that time has gathered a nice customer base (along with email addresses), yet have failed to follow up with them on a frequent basis, then beware.

People change email addresses all the time and with spam being so prevalent on the internet today, getting a valid email address can at times be tough. Remember this; every person you send your email to has their finger on the “spam” button. If they feel your email is an unwarranted solicitation, you’ll be cast into the spam folder and reported to the nearest “spam cop” faster than you can blink an eye.

Furthermore, if you send out an email campaign, and the vast majority of the emails sent are returned (bounced), then you could be raising a red flag for your email service provider as well. Too many bounced messages in relation to the amount of emails sent can cause an email service provider to feel your list is outdated, dirty, or purchased. Before you are reported as “spam” and get their email service potentially blacklisted, they will shut you down.

So How Do You Avoid a Spam Report

• Start by working with a clean list. One that is fresh, not out-dated. Remove any addresses on that list older than 12 months old (that you have not been in contact with since that time.)
• Make sure each of the email addresses on that list asked to be placed on that list.
• Make your first follow-up contact within a short period of time after the initial transaction takes place while your name is still fresh in the customer’s head and the stage for future follow-ups is set.
• When in doubt, don’t send to an address you feel might not remember your company or the last transaction.
• Use your company name or website in the “From” line of all your emails.
• Remind them why they are receiving the email from you (i.e. they either purchased from you in the past, or asked to receive the information)
• Give them a clear and easy way to remove themselves from your list, and once removed, never email them again. No matter what. Professional yet affordable systems like Constant Contact have this feature built in to protect you.

Although it may be tempting to tap into an older list of past customers, if you have not been in contact with them frequently use caution. Following some simple guidelines, and respecting their privacy will ensure your email campaigns are effective, and your company remains in good standing.

Building a sustainable online business often involves solid customer retention strategies combined with new customer acquisition strategies. You build a sustainable base and add new customers on top of that to grow the bottom line.

Whether your business lends itself toward repeat orders (customers coming back to buy more from you) or seems to be more of a “one time” purchase, keeping yourself in front of past customers is an important step toward growing your business.

Here is one phrase I’ve heard from store owners time and time again. “My customers only buy one time from me so there is no reason I need to follow up with them.”

This couldn’t be further from the truth.

If your business lends itself toward repeat orders from past customers, the answer is pretty easy to see. If you’re not keeping in contact with your past customers, you are missing out on additional sales. It’s that simple.

If your business sells products that tend to be more of a “one time only” purchase the answer is not as clear but it is there. If you are not keeping in contact with your past customers, you are missing out on potential referrals (which can translate into sales) of others they may encounter which have a need for a similar product.

Having said that, there should be no excuse for not staying in contact with your past customer base as part of a strategy for growing your online business.

Choose a Qualified System

There are plenty of email systems out there that help you develop super campaigns. I prefer and recommend Constant Contact myself. Great system, easy to use, nice reporting capabilities, import / export features, and more.

Using its import / export features, I have integrated Constant Contact with a number of shopping cart systems and have used it very effectively to keep in contact with past customers and potential prospects.

Planning the Campaign

When planning your campaign, here are some things to consider:

• Frequency. How often will you contact your list? I’ve seen weekly follow-ups work wonderful in some markets, daily contacts in others, and monthly, bi-monthly etc.. in others. You’ll have to determine what works for your market. Oftentimes this can be determined by the type of follow-up you are planning.
• Which day(s) of the week will you be sending your email out? Some days are better than others, and you’ll have to determine which day or days are best for your market.
• Are you going to do a “blanket” campaign (follow up with all customers at the same time) or send out follow-ups based on customer segmentation factors?

Planning the campaign alone will not ensure its effectiveness. It doesn’t matter who well planned a campaign is if the email layout does not persuade action.

Here is the order of focus you need to think about when developing the email.

1. Gain interest and get them to open the email.
2. Confirm Interest and present offer.
3. Get the action (persuade them to click).

The above elements all must begin with the email subject line of the email.

Crafting an email can be compared to writing an ad for a paid search advertising campaign. You’ve first got to gain interest through an effective headline (the subject line of the email). You must then confirm that interest through a brief description (in the case of an email, this comes with the initial headline of the email that can be found after the email has been opened.) Then, finally, you must get the click.

The key is first to get them to open the email. Then you must quickly convince them that what they thought they would find upon opening (based on the subject line) is exactly what they will get if they “click a link” in the email. Relevancy is key. Very much like one would expect in search engine marketing.

Proper calls to action in the email are of top importance.

Closing Thoughts

If you run a “standard special” then don’t forget to always remind them of that and mention it in each email. It pays to keep that “forever special” in front of your customers.

Don’t forget to ask for the “referral”. You can often time pick up additional customers by simply asking your current customers to forward the email to a friend that may also be interested in your products.

Abandoned shopping carts and eCommerce all to often go hand in hand.

Let’s face it, if you own an ecommerce site, you can expect to have some sort of abandoned cart rate. That does not mean you have to accept that abandonment rate though. You can (and should) implement strategies to recover some of those potential lost sales. If you are not doing anything to try to recover them, then you need to think about starting.

A cart is considered abandoned when a potential customer adds items to their cart, starts the checkout process, but fails to complete that process.

After testing various strategies for one site, I found a mix that yielded a 51% recovery rate of previously abandoned carts. In addition to the carts that were recovered, we were able to gather superior feedback on why others did not elect to complete their purchase.

Using this information, we were able to make further adjustments to the site that reduced future cart abandons and helped increase conversion.

According to industry reports, the average abandoned cart rate for ecommerce sites ranges between 55% and 70%. Many of those visitors abandon at different places, with most coming during the checkout process itself. Recovering a portion of those abandoned carts can add sales to your bottom line that would have normally been lost.

There are all kinds of reasons why a user may abandon the shopping process including:

• Poor site design
• Lack of direction and communication
• Confusion
• Lack of proper customer assurances
• Site credibility
• Distraction
• and more…

Recovering Carts: Finding The Right Mix

When crafting solutions that attempt to recover sales from abandoned carts, you should test various tactics to find the right mix that works for your site. What works for one market may not necessarily work for others. Generalities may be present that can be implemented across multiple markets, however, it will come down to how each demographic responds to your message that will ultimately determine which tactic or tactics work best for your store.

I found that through my testing, the best mix was to send an email within 2 - 4 hours after the cart was abandoned. I wanted to try to recover the sale while the initial transaction was still fresh in their mind

In the “From” section of the email I used the name of the website. In the subject line I used the following text: “Question about your recent shopping experience with us.” The body of the email included the items that were in their shopping cart when they abandoned, asked them to help by telling us why they abandoned the cart, and reminded them that since the cart was saved, they could quickly and easily complete their purchase by coming back to the site.

Ideas on Where to Start

Depending on the technology implemented, eCommerce store owners fall into one of two boats when it comes to cart recovery. Those that have the ability to track and contact visitors who have abandoned their cart, and those that don’t have the technology in place to do this.

Either way, here are a few thoughts on what you can do to generate more sales no matter what your technology allows.

1. If your ecommerce technology has a cart recovery system in place (one that allows you to see those users and contact them) use it. Test various time frames and copy for sending email reminders. Try different subject lines, various offers and incentives for recovering and closing the sale. Equally important is to listen to those that respond to you with reasons why they did not complete the process. Use that information to make the needed adjustments on your site to avoid future abandons for that same reason.
2. If you do not have a program in place that allows you to see and contact those users who have abandoned their carts, but you know they are abandoning, then start with your analytics. Find the main areas these users are leaving and address those pages first. Look for problems with design, wording, presence of customer assurances, etc…

   Where your site lacks them, add them. You may not be able to recover those carts who have abandoned already, but you may be able to reduce the number of future abandons by making the proper changes to avoid it before it happens.