• Conversion Rate up 0.22% YoY
• Shopping Cart Conversion Rate down 0.38% YoY
• Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate up 0.20% YoY

Apparel, Health and Beauty, and Home Goods all took hits this year while Department Stores did remarkably (suspiciously) well YoY.

What I’ll be particularly interested in will be:

• If Adobe SiteCatalyst (Omniture) / Google Analytics provide data, how will it compare?
• Mobile revenue has grown a ton this year. Mobile purchases accounted for 16% of revenue, up from 9.8%. So how do mobile checkout conversion rates look?
• Will Cyber Monday show the same slip in shopping cart conversion rate, or will it improve? Cyber Monday does outperform Black Friday for many digital retailers, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see the numbers flipped.

Cyber Monday Update

The data is in from Cyber Monday – and it’s looking a little better than Black Friday.

• Conversion Rate up 2.10% YoY
• Shopping Cart Conversion Rate up 1.22% YoY
• Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate down 0.74% YoY

So great story, right? Maybe not. If you dig in to the data, the lift over last year is inflated by the improvement in Shopping Cart Conversion Rate at Department Stores.

• Apparel down 5.30%
• Health & Beauty down 9.75%
• Home Goods down 1.50%
• Department Stores up 38.70%

Yesterday I called the department store number somewhat suspicious. Zoom in on Department Store data from the report and you’ll see that AOV is up 54.31% over Cyber Monday 2011. Items per order are down 3.77%, though. If all was the same year over year, that means that the average unit value was up 60.37%! I’m not an economist, but that doesn’t seem to jive with what I understand the shopper behavior to be this year. This could be caused by a major change in the reporting based. If those are same store numbers, there’s a hell of a story to be told.

With the updated data, I’m still ending in the same place. Shopping cart conversion rate shouldn’t be going down. Site experiences are getting better. Promotions are more frequent and more aggressive this year than ever. We have better tools and technologies than ever. These rates should be improving! There is tremendous opportunity here, and the first companies to get it right will beat their forecasts, win market share, and secure better positions against their competitors.

Not to be too grand or anything though, right? Let me know what you think.

Over the course of the last few years, I have been in and out of the details of conversion rate optimization. My career at a digital marketing agency affords me the privilege of working with some of the top brands in the world. I am equally lucky to know some great entrepreneurs with very small businesses. Among the fascinating things that I get to see every day and across the spectrum is how much of an impact a small improvement at the checkout makes.

Simply, more sales equals more sales. Given finite resources to optimize a thousand different things, I’m awestruck that the shopping cart is not a greater focus. And as sites have changed in incredible ways over the last few years, shopping carts remain unchanged.

In 2009 I thought about this issue and started researching attributes across a number of shopping carts. It was a story of small diversity and great uniformity. I started writing a book on the subject, but I shifted focus to double down and grow a separate business. (Which has been extremely rewarding and I now get to work with a growing group of talented, bright, extremely funny people that are accomplishing amazing things for the world’s coolest brands, but that’s another story.) A couple of months ago, I came back to the idea of checkout optimization, and thought it would be really interesting to compare my 2009 research to the current state of things.

And that’s how this infographic came to be. My hope is that this is useful to anyone curious about shopping cart design patterns, or perhaps someone looking for a standard to measure up against. Let me know what you think, and you want more like this, you can sign up here.

I can’t believe it’s the end of another year. In 2009, I was sure checkout optimization would explode. In 2010 I was sure again, and really started to see a lot of momentum build. As we enter 2011, I’m seeing a lot of really smart and exciting things happen in the space. I just wanted to take the opportunity to say thank you to everyone that has kept me involved and let me be a part of it!

Now to the good stuff. Link time! (Note – you can get more timely links to new content by following me on Twitter. I’ve been doing a pretty good job at tweeting cool stuff for like, three or four days in a row now.)

New Checkout Optimization Content

131% Increase in CR!

Do you ever doubt the power of the one page checkout? Check out these test results from The Corkscrew, an online wine retailer. Going from 6 steps/pages to 1 increased conversion rate by 131.2%.

Test your intuition by seeing which ecommerce store template got 34% more add to carts at “Which Test Won?”

Cart abandonment and recovery is really getting a lot of specific focus over the last week or so. Here are some tips, along with the resource they have been pulled from:

If your site has the “continue shopping” and “proceed to checkout” buttons next to each other, make it easier for prospective buyers to distinguish one from the other by creating physical space between the two buttons. [FutureNow]

Some online merchants have tested exit pop-up surveys for anyone who abandons a cart. Because these are frequently blocked by security software, you may have better luck sending a follow-up email. [OPEN Forum]

We recommended to feature their reassurances more effectively, as well as a satisfaction guarantee.  We also recommended featuring the free shipping information here.  Finally, we recommended that they improve the look and feel of their buttons to “proceed to checkout” and “continue shopping.” [FutureNow]

Reduce steps. If you don’t have a one page checkout, see what you can do to get one. If you can’t, then at least try to reduce the number of clicks visitors need to perform to complete an order and be sure they always know where they are in the process (step 1 of 2, etc). [FutureNow]

[On cart recovery e-mails...] Consider the emotional impact of images (like the woman smacking her forehead). A quick and cheap way to gauge customer sentiment is to submit your images to 5 Second Test, which will expose them to users who will provide feedback on the impression they give. [GetElastic]

Still not satisfied? More:

• Cart conversion tips from Dr. Mike Baxter
• Banking big bucks with Future Now
• Showing % discount on buttons from GetElastic
• 2 ideas for reducing abandonment from GetElastic
• 5 tips for a good digital goods checkout from GetElastic

That’s what I have for now. See what I’m saying? Lots of awesome stuff. GetElastic and FutureNow are really churning out some winning content here… I guess I’m going to have to start posting again

Thanks again for a great year, for all the comments and e-mails, for the opportunities, and for being a part of this community!

If you’re a retailer of any scale you almost definitely have  a lot of third party pixels on your site. You might be using these pixels to:

• Measure site interaction (Analytics)
• Track user behavior
• Build targeting / remessaging pools
• Recommend products
• Run better paid search or display campaigns
• Find errors or usability issues
• Run A/B or multivariate tests

While these pixels can be of incredible value they can cause your pages to load or render slowly when implemented incorrectly. I was browsing for gifts earlier today and saw two (huge!) retailers affected by poor implementations of the same pixel. The result was a hugely negative impact on my experience as a user. The search results pages appeared to load completely and were blank for over three seconds. Only when I watched the status bar in my browser did I notice the page hadn’t fully loaded; it was waiting on a response from a third party pixel. Yikes.

Technically, slowdowns like this happen because a pixel is implemented in the “wrong” place. There are a lot of rules for pixel implementation, but here’s my biggest test: if a third party is slow to respond and that slow response causes the page to render slowly, it isn’t implemented correctly. This is likely to drive lost revenue.

If you see a problem with a pixel implementation, don’t just remove the pixel! This can cause even greater revenue losses. Often these pixels assist in driving revenue. You want to work with your development team to implement the right way. Third party pixels should have no impact on load time.

If you’d like some help evaluating if your site has this issue, e-mail me, and I’ll be glad to help.

Delicious AJAX
A common issue with these forms is that a user is given a choice between logging in, or registering for the first time. A very simple way to approach this is found on GoMockingbird.com.

Once an email address is typed in, an AJAX call checks if your address is new or old. Visitors with unfamiliar email addresses (presumably new users) are immediately shown a slightly modified form (shown below), while old users don’t see any changes.

The simplicity is great; I don’t have to remember if I’ve logged in before or not. For any users without JavaScript, there needs to be a backup plan. There’s no impact on SEO as any form, AJAX or otherwise, is a roadblock to search engines.

Facebook Connect

Facebook Connect
A newer option in the logging in world is utilizing Facebook Connect. This doesn’t remove elements of your form, but for anyone with a Facebook account, they suddenly have a very simple option. Below Digg.com is asking whether I want to start with Facebook, or make a user name (even better, they could simply ask for my email address to start). I simply click the Connect button, a confirmation button appears, and I’m sent back to my Digg news.

If you’re going to accept Facebook Connect for user registration though, don’t demand other information right away. Lala.com, for example, had me sign in to my Facebook, and then asked me more questions. Ask later already, I just wanted to hear some damn song! The good news is they pre-populated some of the form.

In the Checkout Process
Many options are available for dealing with user login and registration in the shopping cart. It’s additionally complicated because you might also have guest checkout as a third option.
Amazon makes the new user registration process simplified by asking for a password later. In fact, they make you feel casual about it by saying “you’ll create a password later.” They even tell you it is “quick and easy,” which beats time-consuming and complicated.

On a multi-step checkout process like this, asking for minimal information is very important, as customers perceive the process as easy right from the start. If you’re looking at a single page checkout process, that is another opportunity to consider AJAX as well (http://www.getelastic.com/single-page-checkout/).

Conclusion
For login and registration forms, don’t bother users with a bunch of questions so you can try and sell them more stuff later. If you had a hot dog stand, you would just let a guy buy a hot dog if he wanted. You wouldn’t make him tell you his birthday and ask if he wanted to subscribe to your hot dog-related newsletter. Just get the visitor to complete the task; you can ask for other information later, in subsequent visits, or in an email. Depending on your site, consider the options made available with AJAX, Facebook Connect, and multi-step and single-step checkout processes.

[This post was contributed by my colleague and friend John, who is known all over the world for his brilliance, SEO knowledge, sense of humor, and undefeated mixed martial arts record. Thanks John! -nw]

I’ll do a way better follow up than this but here’s a brief look at some of the tools that were covered today:

• Google Analytics
• Google Website Optimizer
• CrazyEgg
• UserTesting.com
• ClickTale
• Cross Browser Testing
• Attention Wizard
• Feedback Army
• Visual Website Optimizer (invite code: SMX)

Thanks again to all the great folks who hung around to see us, came up after the session, and e-mailed with questions after. SMX West was a great time!

PS… I couldn’t be happier with this picture. Thanks GogDog!

Additionally, as always, criticism and opportunities for growth are more than welcome. So, check it out and let me know what you think!

Checkout Review #1 – Photojojo! from Nicholas Ward on Vimeo.

• #357 on Amazon’s Bestsellers
• #1 in Computer Science
• #1 in Website Analytics
• #1 in Web 2.0
• … (the list continues.)

Obviously the book has gained tremendous ground. It has a host of 5 star reviews and 10/10 from many, many sources. I was even on a plane last week and saw 2 (!) people reading it. I’ve seen that happen with Seth Godin or Malcom Gladwell but that’s even surprising for Avinash!

So Web Analytics 2.0 is hot. I don’t need to write a review to validate that. I have however been surprised by the lack of adoption amongst some of my advanced peers, so below are three good reasons for even the most knowledgeable analytics guru to give it a read.

Learn How to Choose an Analytics Provider

The popular thing to say when it comes to choosing an analytics provider is either “just use Google analytics” (<25, small to mid market) or “just use Omniture” (manager or above, works for IR 100) but there is a lot more to it than that. Web Analytics 2.0 dives thoughtfully into solving the “who” question and provides a solid model for moving forward.

Anyone who has ever been through an analytics RFP will particularly enjoy the questions to ask sales folks…

See Multitouch/Attribution Explained Well

I would say that I’ve probably seen a hundred presentations or talks on multitouch campaign / attribution analysis. Of those, I’ve seen a handful of good ones. Of those, I’ve seen one or two that you didn’t need years of experience or an advanced degree or brilliant mind to truly get.

The book has one of the best multitouch overviews that I have ever seen.

Analysts: you need to know this.

Consultants: you need to stay ahead of the analysts.

Managers: you need to be able to explain this to executive management.

Executives: you can’t afford to get this wrong.

Gain Analytics Budget

I currently work with around 80 of the biggest brands online, and out of those, only a few appear to be adequately funding their analytics teams. Of those, I’m sure that the managers on those teams may feel otherwise. Mark Twain said “it is wiser to find out than to suppose.” Isn’t business intelligence amongst a company’s greatest assets? In a perfect would, analytics efforts would be infinitely funded.

In only three or four pages, Avinash manages to lay out a great set of strategies for getting the funds you need to provide world class analytics. In other parts of the book, strategies for finding the right people, and setting up a strong team. There is an entire section on the analytics career.

I could come up with way more than three reasons. This is by far the best over book I have read on analytics and I highly recommend picking up a copy. Let me know what you think!

There’s a pretty telling quote at the end, “if you run an e-commerce site, don’t do it like this.”

The checkout in question is that of Navicat (they also has some canonical and meta issues on the SEO side, but I’ll leave that for others.) Navicat is actually a pretty awesome product for database administration, so it is surprising to see them put up such a disjointed ordering experience on their site.

Checkout Redesign Tips

They are probably missing out on a big chunk of revenue, and we hate to see that happen, so here are some tips for making it back:

1. It starts with the click. The buy now button from the software should go to the appropriate buy now page for that version, the user shouldn’t have to navigate through three levels to find it.
2. I was actually surprised to see Google Analytics on the site. If fallout reports aren’t set up, set them up!
3. Simplify the options for the product selection.
4. Simplify the options for checking out.
5. Navicat is constrained by the payment processor in this case.  Upgrade!

Just a little something to get the day started… let me know what you think!

Before getting to things, I am not claiming the following:

• That coupon codes decrease revenue
• That retailers should remove coupon code support from checkout
• That retailers should stop using coupon codes

In fact, the retailer that I reference below recently had their best week ever through offsite marketing channels thanks to a promotional effort that relied on coupon codes. Further, they actually saw their margin increase while discounting products.

Now with that out of the way…

One Problem with Coupon Codes

I don’t have millions of dollars of research to support this, but I hypothesize that one problem with coupon codes is simply that they can and do distract users from completing their transactions in a linear fashion. A coupon code entry field exposed during e-commerce checkout is analogous to a sign at the register in a brick and mortar store that directs a customer that if they leave and look around a bit, they may be able to save money. At that point, the store is basically guiding the customer off course and then hoping that they finish what they started. Not ideal.

Online, this problem can be compounded for many reasons. My top 3:

1. It’s very easy for buyers to get distracted.
2. Smart competitors are good at stealing customers during checkout.
3. Smart affiliates are incredible at stealing customers during checkout.

So? All three of these scenarios results in lost revenue. The second scenario results in lost revenue and gained revenue for a competitor, which is an even worse result.

(I have been dinged a few times for treating affiliates unfairly. I once was a very successful affiliate. The majority of very successful affiliates are crafty folks that find gaps in a company’s online marketing campaigns and fill those gaps. That is an incredibly valuable service, but if  as a retailer you aren’t policing your affiliates and learning from them, then you are unnecessarily allowing your cost of sale to increase. It’s that easy. E-mail me for more thoughts on that.)

Coupon Codes Are More Prolific than Ever

This all matters because shoppers are not only using coupon codes more, they are searching for coupon codes more. This provides competitors and affiliates the opportunity to reroute them and either drive revenue loss or increased cost of sale.

Coupon/Promo/Discount Code Search Volume

For  a real life example – the retailer I eluded to earlier. This retailer is one of the largest online and has multiple stores that are all experiencing the same thing. Searches like “[brand] + coupon code” are on the rise in a big way. These searches are already up 40% year-over-year and that number is expected to take off in November.

We know how coupon codes can drive revenue loss, and why we care more now than ever. What are we going to do about it?

Stop Losing Revenue to Coupon Codes

The main challenge is that the coupon code field can drive users away from your site. To solve that challenge, you have to break it down to the why’s. This list isn’t exhaustive… please share ideas in the comments section and I will add to the section below.

1. Everyone wants to pay the lowest price.
2. You (the retailer) aren’t providing coupon codes when relevant.
3. You aren’t actively routing limbo customers back to your site effectively.

And here is where it gets fun. Ideas for reducing the revenue lost from coupon codes. (Note that if you try these ideas, you need to be responsible and test them!)

1. Hide the coupon code field if you don’t have active coupons or if a cart does not qualify for a promotion.
2. Automatically provide relevant coupon codes to customers.
3. Promote your promo codes. (GetElastic via MarketingExperiments)
4. Optimize a page on your site (SEO) for “[your brand] + coupon code” and variants.
5. Increase coverage on “[your brand] + coupon code” keywords and variants via PPC. Make sure that you give users a great landing experience!
6. Restrict affiliates/partners from bidding on “[your brand] + coupon code” keywords and variants.
7. Provide an explanation of coupon codes via a tool tip or help box.

If you have any more ideas or experiences here, please do share! There were a few thoughtful posts/articles that inspired me to share my thoughts here. Thanks to:

• Gaby Diaz at Marketing Experiments
• Linda Bustros at Get Elastic
• Why Users Abandon their Carts at eMarketer
• Search Results like This
• How Much is Your Coupon Code Box Costing You?