Below are three easy ways to increase conversions and margin.

1) Reorder

Rearranging the order of options on a product detail page can dramatically effect the purchase choice a customer makes.

I haven’t done any tests into why this works but I have run tests on e-commerce sites and have seen AOV take off.

I hypothesis that the reason it works is due to a) customer laziness to continue to compare options when they find a good deal and b) peoples reluctance to change their mind after they have made a purchase decision (imprinting).

On the test site, we change the order of the options from the least expensive first and the most expensive last to the most expensive first and the least expensive last.

Original
a. Buy One $79
b. Buy 2, Get One Free $158
c. Buy 3, Get Two Free $237

New Higher Order (w/ higher AOV)
a. Buy 3, Get Two Free $237
b. Buy 2, Get One Free $158
c. Buy One $79

Before, most people purchased the first option. After, most people purchased the second option. This leads us to our second technique….

2)The Middle Item

By arranging your second highest margin item to have a “middle” price, you encourage customers to choose this option.

This technique is mainly used by brick-n-mortar shops and I have not personally tested it.

Take three products with similar features and price your highest margin item to be in the middle of the other two. This technique is based on the relativity and the way people compare items.

The great thing about this technique is it allows the merchant to adjust the prices of the products up and down.

Example:
RCA 42 HDTV – $499
Sony 42 HDTV – $549
RCA 48 HDTV – $699
The bottom price sets the anchor of the product range. It is the floor that arbitrarily sets the price for the other items. However, price is not profit and the merchant should focus on margin when setting product prices.

3)The Decoy

This method uses product and price relativity to encourage the customer to purchase the product the merchant wants.

Example: Two product that are similar but have different attributes.
a. Chunky, Garden Style Spaghetti Sauce $2.59
b. Healthy, Organic Spaghetti Sauce $2.99

These two items are had to compare and the customer will make their choice based on preference.

However, if you include a product that is similar but inferior to one of the choices, it gives the customer an anchor and encourages them to buy the premium original product.

Example 1:
a. Chunky, Garden Style Spaghetti Sauce $2.59
b. Healthy, Organic Spaghetti Sauce $2.99
c. Generic, Organic Spaghetti Sauce $2.79

More people will purchase option b.

Example 2:
a. Chunky, Garden Style Spaghetti Sauce $2.59
b. Healthy, Organic Spaghetti Sauce $2.99
c. Generic, Garden Style Spaghetti Sauce $2.29

More people will purchase option a.

• From Spymaster -level bar – Spend $2000 for a free itouch
• From Continental – Award points – for emails and CC signup
• From Linkedin – your profile is % complete
• From Amazon – Affiliate share bar that users could activate
• From Google Leader – Like button and links to other users who liked. Click to view profile, friend
• From Amazon – other people who purchased this purchased this (level 1) other people who viewed this viewed this (level 2) in order information.

Problems with Current Merchandising:

• Customer has to find sales associate
• Sales associate needs to find stock
• Sales associate needs to find way to move stock
• Customer needs to verify they can move large box in car

Potential Uses for a kiosk:

• Children’s backyard toys
• Pools & Spas
• Outdoor Furniture

Benefits of an Interactive Kiosk:

• Better Merchandising
• Less stock in stocks
• Reduced operations costs
• Better customer service
• No wait
• Better visual displays
• No problems for customer trying to ship home

Basics of Kiosk UI

• Category page w/ stripped down navigation
• Redirect to category page after 2 minutes of no activity
• Mockup would have large product images similar to photo display previously used

• Never criticize someone who emails you in all caps. They usually own their own business.
• Its better to quit a project early then work for poor management.
• Always setup domain nameservers ASAP.
• Resumes will never tell you  how good a web developer is.  If a web developer can’t show you sites they have worked on, it’s a bad sign.
• Developers  often underestimate how long it will take to communicate ideas to laymen.
• You’re doing something wrong if you have to write the same code twice.
• Always check the domain before you email someone you don’t know or reply to an email.
• If you put something back together after you tore it apart, left over screws are usually OK. Left over wires are bad.
• Websites don’t live in a vacuum. If search engine can’t index a website it better be really, really cool.
• Never read a computer book that is over 5 years old.

MeanWhile Bar’s core values (strategy)  is that their organization values the community.  Their organization is able to communicate this message effectively because of the high level of commitment to local groups and non-profits and because of their deep roots in the community.

Whether selling “Michigan: Americas High Five T-Shirts” or naming drinks after local politicians such as the Vern Ehlers (which is Jameson & Vernors, a local Michigan soda), patrons know that the MeanWhile Bar is proud of Michiganders. 

What I really think is great about the MeanWhile Bar is the series of marketing campaigns that they are running that focus increasing foot traffic to local businesses and encourage participation.  I’m going to analyze the campaigns professionally but I suspect that all of these campaigns are essentually grass-root and focused more on fun, interesting activities that the owner of the MeanWhile support.  Essentually, this makes there advertising more authentic and original than profit focused.

The largest marketing campaign currently running is the MeanWhile Film Series.  This series is sponsored in coordination with the Wealthy Street Theater and features a series of movies that are cult-classics.  Social media users are reminded weekly of upcoming movies and because of the Wealthy Street Theaters proximity to the MeanWhile Bar, an increase in customers is anticipated after each event. 

The campaign is supported on print (posters) and digital social networks such as MySpace and on Facebook.  The Facebook campaign is particularily effective because of the integration between the fan page and the individual events pages.  Friends of the MeanWhile profile on Facebook are sent weekly reminders using the Facebook messaging system to attend the screenings. 

Other local businesses which benefit from the increased foot traffic also display the event posters and the film screening are prominately displayed on the classic theater marque at the Wealthy Street Theater.

Another campaign that MeanWhile supports are bike rides throughout Grand Rapids.  This campaign is harder to define because there are two distinct aspects to the campaign.

The group bike rides that the MeanWhile sponsors start at the MeanWhile and from there, participants ride to a series of other destinations (bars).  Eventually, the ride ends back at the MeanWhile with a group of thirst, tired bike riders.  The other prong of the marketing campaign is sponsorship of local bike riding events.  I couldn’t find much information available except for this positive comment on Facebook:

Michael Tuffelmire: Bikestock happening August 1, 2009 at Ah-Nab-Awen Park (Gerald R. Ford Museum) would like to thank the Meanwhile for there sponsorship.

The MeanWhile bar does a great job of promoting interesting events in a variety of mediums.  I like that the MeanWhile has an authentic voice that communicates positive, community driven events that appeal to variety of niches.   MeanWhile Map

Social media planning and strategies are a lot more complex and entangled than any other advertising channel available to marketers.  It seems like for every example of a strategy that works, there are 10 strategies that fail.  It seems that companies are stuck using one off tactics on social media networks and have no integrated strategy to boost interest through overlapping and consistent campaigns.

• Originally (about 2 years ago), as a SEM strategist, most of the literature available recommended using social media outlets as an extension of directories and social bookmarking sites.  Marketers would submit URLs to increase the number of in-bound links and the quality score/visibility of target URLs in search engines.
• As a programmer and RSS proponent, social media outlets were seen as a way to aggregate and spread content in an automated fashion using a variety of social marketing tools.  Additionally, it is not uncommon to see individuals using social marketing outlets as a way to network inanimate objects, appliances, and applications to receive continuous updates.

Now, if marketers really want to use social media the way social media developers envisioned the medium being used, marketers must be much more strategic and plan campaigns to be much more comprehensive than one off campaigns.  Your company isn’t creating print pieces.  A Facebook campaign simply cannot be cobbled together to cover a two month period focusing on back to school.  Social media is a companies voice that must be sustainable and consistent.  It is cliche to say social media is a conversation with customers.  More accurately, if a business as an authentic, consistent voice it is more likely that the customer will continue to listen.

Above is a very basic social media strategy.  The illustration lacks a lot of glitz and glamor but it includes something most social media planning lacks, an overall strategy.

What is your company trying to tell the consumers?  Social networks are just the vehicles of this message.  Will consumers find your companies message interesting or entertaining?  Is your social media strategy limited to profile pages with no friends or sweepstakes and prizes?  Does your company ask for user videos but has no submissions? Then your company (and your agency) many have a problem.

If the social media strategy for your organization is similar to the diagram below, there is a planning problem.

What is your company trying to tell consumers about yourself? If the message is that you have “free shipping from now till Christmas” or that “this is your chance to win $10,000 by entering our contest now” then expect to fail.

Focus on your companies passions and plan a strategy that lasts for more then six months and your company may have a chance.  If customers find your social “voice” interesting or entertaining, than you may have a win.

Otherwise, you can build something as awesome and creative as the Whopper Sacrifice but marketing that genius doesn’t happen every day.

1) Merchants will figure out that top navigation and side navigation are not important and emphasize the search tool on websites.

Amazon Search Bar

Customers don’t care about most merchants.  Customers don’t care about a merchants product selection.  Internet users do not “browse” stores.   The goal is to make it as easy as possible for the customer to find what they are looking and for the customer to have an easy, convenient customer experience.

• Must consumers start looking for a product on Google because category taxonomy is misleading or confusing or they don’t know what they are looking for.
• Amazon’s search bar stretches the entire length of the page.
• Once you reach the Amazon category page, the side navigation disappears (helps with SEO).
• Amazon lists deals where the side navigation used to be.

Prediction:  Most navigation will disappear and the search will be emphasized even more.

Future web sites will eliminate top and side navigation.

2)  Everything is miscellaneous. Get rid of categories and add tags.

Indentical Products in Multiple Categories.

Categories create a barrier for customers and merchants. Above is a picture of the search results from Meijer.com.  If the user searches for GPS, merchants have placed the product in multiple categories across the site creating a bewildering array of choices for the customer.  Decision paralysis ensues and overall conversion suffers.

Below are a list of some additional problems.

• Categories are a human creation and are limited by person, organization, & regional perception.
• Categories are hard to scale.
• Categories can be misleading.
• Categories create duplicate content (a SEO no-no).
• Categories require constant maintenance.
• Niche products are often squeezed into an irrelevant category (craft supplies in the home site section).
• Niche product categorization can create can create problems when products are sent out in data feeds or promo codes are issued.  If you have a site wide promotion that excludes electronics but GPS units are also in a season category, should merchants exclude that category?
• Other organizations such as affiliates or comparison shopping engines may categorize products differently.
• Customers may not be able to find what they are looking for.  Should garage storage be categorized in the home category or the outdoor category?

Prediction:  Tag products with the labels used in categorization and let the user and the web site search categorize products for you.

Some searches will still cause problems. If the user searches for “irons”, that search will return “golf irons”, “steam irons”, and “hair irons”.  Most Internet users are knowledgeable enough now to know how to refine a search to see exactly what they want.  Additionally, a series of related searches or dynamic search suggestion can be added to help users.

Bing Dynamic Search Selection.

Merchants wouldn’t have to worry about miscategorizing products, duplicate content, or development and design of navigation when adding or deleting products.  Additionally, web sites would essentially be flat and SEO would be improved.

3) More Retailer Websites will Adopt Fluid Layouts.

Smashing Magazine Article About Fluid layouts

In 2007, an unnamed merchant launches their retail website.  Templates are developed using a fixed layout.  CSS is developed for these templates.  Template content blocks are developed for the CMS that handles images, video, and html.  Everything is designed for an average browser width of 800px.  Two years later, the average customer browser width  is 1050px.  In 5 years, the average customer browser width is going to be over 1600px (just a guess) and half the traffic will be coming from mobile devises.  Eventually, this merchant will have to redo everything to accommodate changing user preferences and changes in technology.

Amazon is the only major retailer using a fluid layout.

Prediction: To optimize conversions and the user experience, merchants are going to have to figure out how to utilize the area  provided for a wide variety of user browsers.

• The most important element to focus on is product images.
• Use a variety of CSS styles for different browsers.
• Imagine scaling up and down.

Don’t create a separate mobile sites or niche sites for a website.  It is bad for SEO.  Besides, eventually people are going to be accessing the web from TVs, appliances (some refrigerators have web browsers now), cars, and tablet-like devises.  Build scalability and flexibility into your website design so the content/structure can remain the same indefinitely with only slight design changes.

Amazon uses a simple process to make installation of their browser plug-in easy for users to understand. Instead of supplying a number of instructions for all the browsers that can use the new plug-in, Amazon uses a simple java script code to read what browser the viewer is using and then just display the instructions for that browser.

Brilliant customer service and use of technology.

Firefox Instructions

Internet Explorer Instructions

What happens if you ask “Cheapest place to buy Xbox 360 Wireless Network Adapter” on Amazon.com’s website Askville?

If the response is positive (and most likely from an Amazon staff member), then the answer will be duplicated to all network adapters that support XBOX 360.

We noticed this interesting Amazon SEO propagation researching in-bound links from Google Webmaster Tools.

The identical post followed by the Askville results.

Amazon Askville Duplicated

I’m pretty amazed at the technology Amazon must be running to propagate ads like this based on a long tail keyword linking that links so many products. I would love to know if its category based, tagged, or if its based on organic or internal search results and indexing.

The best analogy I can think of would be a description of Pixar University I read about. At Pixar University, accountants, chefs, and any one who works at Pixar are encouraged to take drawing classes.  When questioned about the appropriateness of teaching accountants to draw, the head of Pixar University answered, “Why teach drawing to accountants? Because drawing class doesn’t just teach people to draw. It teaches them to be more observant. There’s no company on earth that wouldn’t benefit from having people become more observant.”

Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions

by Dan Ariely

This behavioral economics book offers a wide variety of experiments and explanations about why people act the way they do and more importantly, how to recognize subtle marketing tactics in everyday life.

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

by David Allen

The simple premise of this amazing book is that if you can close the endless thought loops in your mind then you will get more done by not over thinking (or maybe better put, redundant thinking).
Three simple steps:

• One “inbox” with all the tasks/emails/projects that you need to analyze or want to remember.
• Categorize the information, determine what you need to do to complete it, schedule it.
• Forget about it.

A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future

by Daniel H. Pink

A broad base of ideas to help people become better problem solvers and thinkers. Encourages better communication and better ways to communicate. Explains why creativity can be beneficial to all professionals.

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

by Chip Heath & Dan Heath

If you have to give a speech, give a presentation, write a paper, write ad copy, COMMUNICATE, read this book. The principles and conclusions in this book make presenting ideas (that will be remembered) straight-forward and easy.

Permission Marketing : Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers

by Seth Godin

Seth Godin is a marketing genius. This book is widely accepted as how marketing should be done in the 20th century. People don’t want to be sold to. But people want information about products and companies they are already interested in. This book tells businesses, step-by-step, how to build relationships with customers online, as well as, in real life.