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Bad Bad Bad Bad Ads Dont Make Me Feel So Good

Tuesday, July 15th, 2008

Running ads on your ecommerce website can be very confusing to customers, especially when it competes with the product image or resembles a customer service function like live chat.

*Shudder*

Tamara Adlin shares other examples of bad, bad, bad, bad ads on her blog, Corporate Underpants. And no, in this case bad does not mean good.

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Original post by Linda Bustos

Posted in web design, advertising, conversion | No Comments »

Product Photography: How To Achieve The Ghost Mannequin Effect

Thursday, July 10th, 2008

A conversation emerged out of the comments on last week’s post Can Product Images Improve Conversion? Showing Products in Context about how to achieve a “ghost” mannequin effect like these examples, where the body is filled out, you can see through the V-line but the mannequin is invisible.

invisible mannequin

As the post explained, showing products “in context” can be more persuasive than flat images - models and mannequins give customers an idea of how a garment fits a real person. I recently researched how to achieve the invisible mannequin look and found answers like:

Make a mannequin out of a very open wire mesh, and then edit the mesh out in post. You could even paint the mesh with green or something like that and chroma-key it out.

Make a mannequin out of a thin, cheap material (perhaps even wire mesh again) and put the garment on it, and position the camera. Then, start cutting away the mannequin in all the places where it’s visible to the camera, even with the shirt over it. You’d end up cutting off it’s left arm, part of it’s left ’shoulder blade’ and some stuff around the neck.

-djlemma, from Flickr discussion

and

Looking at a few of the examples I reckon the mannequin is being chopped out. Looking at some of the tops you can see no back to the item even if there is a lower front if you see what I mean.

An ideal solution could be to get a mannequin and a background with a strong colour. Take the photo then in Photoshop make a clear layer below the image layer so you have a transparent background. On the photo layer click the Select main menu item and choose “Color range” and click the mannequin colour on the photo. It should select just this colour, use the sensitivity slider to get the best selection and the just cut it out. Do the same with the background. It is not the quickest but compared to hand tracing each item and mannequin area it would potentially save a lot of time.

-MickeyFinn, from Freelance UK Forums

I noticed a couple photographers left comments on our post, so I tossed out the question, what’s the best way to achieve the ghost mannequin look? Anna Yeaman, professional photographer who specializes in product photography for apparel and accessories shared the following:

Two years ago I tried plastic and wireframe mannequins to achieve the “ghost” effect but I was not happy with the results. Also this limits the types of mannequin you can use.

I sometimes combine two images in Photoshop if its just a small part of the label I’m after.

I never found a simple way to do this in-camera, I decided that there must be custom made mannequins out there but could never find them. I considered taking a saw to one of my own and cutting out the chest area!

I’m going to renew my efforts and contact some websites using this effect. I will let you know how it goes. Most of my clients are after the Bluefly.com look and don’t mind the mannequin.

One thing I do a lot is take a photo on a mannequin, in Photoshop I edit out parts of the mannequin that are showing (around the hem, arms ect). You end up with an item with shape and form without a mannequin showing, but you cannot see through to the back…We take multiple angle shots and close ups of every item instead.

I have a hook that I hang bags off, then I edit it out later in Photoshop. For earrings I use clear fishing wire (craft shop), the earrings hang perfectly and the wire is invisible. I also use a clear plastic board for studs (I drilled a small hole) and clip ons (clip onto the bottom).

In a follow-up comment:

I contacted a bunch of product photographers to find out how they achieved the “ghost” effect.

John Gibbens of, G2 Catalog Design sent me this reply,

“We either shoot two images and piece together or we use an inexpensive plastic mannequin supported from below (for shirt/jacket images) whose neck is cut down below the open neckline. We then keep a couple different lengths of removable arms to fill sleeves - long arms with hands cut off for long-sleeve items and shorter arms for short sleeve garments.”

So we can conclude that the invisible mannequin look, though very slick, takes a bit of pre and post production effort. Another alternative would be to shoot a flat image and mannequin shot, so customers can still see the product on a form and see through the V-line. Works for Net-A-Porter…

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Original post by Linda Bustos

Posted in , holiday graphics, Merchandising, web design, conversion | No Comments »

Does Your Ecommerce Website Speak to Howsers?

Monday, July 7th, 2008

Say what?

Marketing Experiments has found the highest performing ecommerce sites address customer motivation, and most visitors are either “hunters” or “browsers”:

1. Hunters already know what they want. They want to find the product quickly and easily. Usable site search, navigation menus and filters are essential to convert hunters.
2. Browsers may be contemplating a purchase, or just “window shopping.” Your goal is to get them to click deeper to products with enticing offers like top rated, best sellers, sale items and new arrivals.

I’d like to add a third category: “howsers.” (Hunter-browsers, not underage doctors.) Howsers are customers that are ready to buy from a certain category but they’re not sure what they want/need from that category. This type of customer is the best of both worlds - closer to conversion (needs stuff ASAP) and more open to suggestive selling and cross-sells. Examples would be someone who’s looking for gifts for an 8 year old boy or redecorating a living room.

Let’s take the example of someone planning a family camping trip next month, but has little to no equipment — like a family of four that has waited 10 years until the youngest rug-rat was old enough to rough it for a week in the woods. (Think personas!)

Example: Sports & Outdoors Retailers and Doogie Howser

Let’s call this fictional family the Howsers, and assume daddy Doogie’s in charge of kitting out the clan for camping. A typical Doogie:

  • May have little or no knowledge of camping, or it’s been a while

  • Wants to create a memory
  • Doesn’t want to get “caught without” - wants to ensure he grabs everything necessary for survival and safety in the bush (and doesn’t want to get blamed for forgetting!)
  • Is willing to buy multiple products to ensure a) beautiful memories and b) survival without suffering
  • Appreciates product guides and suggestive selling
  • Is willing to invest in gear for next summer, and the summer after that…

Our second assumption is that Doogie begins his quest for gear on a sports and outdoors retailer’s home page. The first objective of the home page is to guide Mr. Howser to the virtual camping department and to assure him this is the right online shop to do business with today.

Do typical outdoor gear retailers do this effectively?

OutdoorGB.com

  • The only slightly relevant links to camping gear are in the cluttered top sellers menu on the left (highlighting mine).

  • There is a camping category, but it’s hidden behind the Outdoor menu. Have trouble spotting that tab? It’s second from the left.
  • You must click the Outdoor tab (if you predict camping gear is found behind the veil) to see subcategories, there’s no preview with a dropdown or AJAX flyout menu (example of that is coming up…)

Cabelas

  • Cabelas has a link, but it doesn’t stand out against other categories.

  • Count the competing calls to action: shop the sale of over 2,000 unspecified items, shop the bargain bin (probably winter stock), find a store location, get a Visa, buy a boat, get a gun, request a catalog, pick up in store, find an outdoor adventure…
  • The menu link and the search box are the only options to find camping products. Customers who look closely will get to their destination, but this is not optimal usability/design.

Altrec

  • Camping Equipment is a featured link, indicating Altrec believes a significant number of site visitors are interested in that category right now.

  • Behind the Gear button, camping subcategories can be found, though the menu is very long and even has its own scroll bar.
  • There is nothing in the body of the page that speaks to our case-persona, Doogie Howser.

Backcountry

  • Camp / Hike is placed at the top of the Gear menu on the left (we can assume this changes with the season).

  • For customers who tend to scan text, an image of a tent and a list of camping subcategories helps the visitor hone in on subcategories, and see that Backcountry carries a range of products. This helps reassure the customer of convenience of shopping from one store (save time, effort and perhaps shipping). Backcountry has placed this list above the fold.

REI

  • REI makes “Camping & Hiking” the first link in its horizontal navigation menu, and links from the left menu.

  • There are a couple references to camping in the body.
  • Below: Using a hover menu, you can see the full range of camping subcategories without clicking. It’s nicely organized into Gear, Electronics, Kitchen and Safety - REI likely has everything Doogie needs and he can find it easily.

Cotswold

  • Camping & Festivals appears first in left hand navigation, and there are links in body copy to camping products.

  • Featured Item and Offer of the Month are camping-related.

  • When you click on the Camping & Festivals link, you get a submenu with options that may appeal to our persona: Camping Starter Packs, 3 & 4 Person Tents and The Family Unit. You can tell Cotswold has thought through customer segments and purchase scenarios.

  • The starter packs are a great example of product bundling. Remove the paradox of choice and provide expert advice / service at the same time.
  • The “Family Unit” section includes products that are not necessarily camping gear but are relevant cross sells, like kites.

I didn’t see anything compelling on these home pages, but I did spot a good example on L.L. Bean’s camping category page. “Our Best Selection of Family Tents Ever” gives purpose to the image and a persuasive message to check out the tents.

I’m not arguing that outdoor gear sites have to cater to campers this month. Rather, if campers are an attractive and profitable segment at this time of year, most of these home pages leave opportunities on the table. Checking out a handful of competitors (wearing the “hat” of your persona) can give you ideas on how to adjust your site for maximum promotions - what to redesign or what to test.

Of course, if you can predict what people are looking for when customers land on your home page you can deliver more relevant offers. Sitebrand’s personalization suite allows you to serve up different home page and landing page messaging based on referral keywords from search engines.

How do you identify attractive customer segments / product categories?

1. Historical sales data, especially seasonal trends.

2. Google Trends keyword search data:

You can research different product categories like climbing gear, fishing gear, hiking gear and camping gear; or even synonyms for keywords like camping equipment, camping gear, camping tents and camping supplies.

The beauty of Google Trends is you can further segment by geography:

You may discover that UK residents are 12 times more likely to use the term “equipment” than “gear.” Make sure your category labels and marketing messages use the most common terms for each market you serve. You may even apply this to your SEO, PPC and email subject lines.

3. Web analytics keyword and conversion data. (Don’t miss our upcoming webinar with Analytics legend Avinash Kaushik July 17th.)

Once you select your focus, you need to brainstorm purchase scenarios where a customer might buy a range of your products all at the same time (cha-ching), especially for seasonal product. Then make sure your home page speaks to this customer, and the rest of your site (categorization, navigation, merchandising, searchandising et cetera) supports the sales process. You may even want to do some usability testing as well.

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Original post by Linda Bustos

Posted in , , , , , conversion, web design, Merchandising, Usability | No Comments »

Do Customer Submitted Photos Add Value?

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008

Earlier this week we discussed why enlarged images, alternate product views and showing products in context can help conversion.

But what about “user generated images” (or the friendlier term “customer submitted photos”)? Are they just social media / Web 2.0 hype or do they really improve customer experience?

Customer images may be used to help sell product (like customer reviews complement product descriptions) or just build community (if the retailer has a community section). Either way, customer submitted photos have their challenges:

  • Image quality can vary from submission to submission. Dark or fuzzy images really don’t add value and can hurt the consistency and professionalism of your site.

  • Attracting images can be a challenge - only a small percentage of customers will take the time to create a picture and send it to you.
  • Moderating images for appropriateness and relevance takes extra time.

Let’s look at some examples of how online retailers are using customer submitted photos:

Product Pages

You may have noticed that Amazon shows customer images along with its own product images:

You can roll over the thumbnails to view larger versions and even read notes that users have left on them:

This is helpful as a customer review - the color on the web is not the color in the box.

Customer Reviews

Power Reviews allows photo attachments to reviews, as spotted on Uncommon Goods:

(Sometimes customers pick useless tags…)

What I like about this approach is it’s seamless. Good review content is not separated into text vs. image reviews. On Amazon, a very helpful tip like the color is actually more mint than neon green could be missed unless you read reviews AND view pictures. Plus, it’s less programming work when your reviews product has image upload already available.

Customer Testimonials

Modern Line Furniture has a testimonials page with customer images linked to from the home page (though the call-to-action gets a bit lost in the home page clutter).

The testimonials page links through to the product pages for items featured in the room. Yay! There’s hope for a transaction!

Community / Resource Section

Some retailers actually have a community component to their e-stores, like David’s Bridal. Customers can upload pictures from their weddings, and brides-to-be can surf them to get inspiration for dress styles and color schemes.

While this is a good idea, the community section is kind of a dead end — there is no link back to products or tools that facilitate a purchase decision like shop-by-color.

Alternative Energy Store has a similar community gallery, but without links to products or buying guides, it’s not very helpful.

With links to products, the gallery could be a social tool for product discovery. I just haven’t come across a retailer who’s doing that well (community gallery that aids shopping). Have you? Please share your find in the comments.

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Original post by Linda Bustos

Posted in , , , , , , conversion, web design, volusion clients, social media marketing | No Comments »

Can Product Images Improve Conversion? Showing Products in Context

Tuesday, July 1st, 2008

According to a Future Now client, images can lift conversion rates by 147% by showing products “in context.”

Yesterday we looked at examples of image zoom and alternate views, which can help customers experience the product better than one small view. A good photographer plus AJAX or Flash technology like Scene 7 or Magic Zoom can achieve this.

But online retailers can go a step further and use photos that show products in use, or “in context.”

This can reduce a shopper’s fears, uncertainties and doubts about a purchase like “how does this look on a person?” or “how large is this in real life?.” Images can also “sell” by triggering an emotion, showing the quality or versatility of an item or illustrating a products features and benefits.

Here are some effective and creative ways online retailers are showing products in context:

Show Items in Use

Delia’s shows this hoodie lying flat and on a model. Showing clothing on people gives the customer a better idea of the style of the garment. Is a hoodie fitted like yoga wear or loose like a track suit? Is it a cropped style or long? Seeing an item on a person will also resonate with a certain kind of customer (like “humanstic” shoppers). Showing the flat alternative makes it easy to show different colors without having to dress the model each time.

You could argue that model shots may be less effective than showing the garment in isolation - the model’s face, the other clothing she wears or the background might detract from the product itself. Using a white mannequin, you can show the way the item looks on while keeping the focus on the item only.

Using a plus-size mannequin is very effective for plus-size clothing, as Fashion Bug does on the right.

An interesting conversion test would be to compare white-background against outdoor images, especially for clothing and brands associated with sporty/outdoor lifestyle like Cabelas:

American Apparel uses an outdoor, lifestyle shot here. The description says the pants are great for lounging, working out and sleeping. Showing the model walking a dog and sitting by the pool in the images communicates even more uses. Plus, it’s raw and more true-to-life than a polished studio shot. The pants are being worn by “a person like me.”

This example from American Apparel connects on an emotional level while showing off the garment on kids of different ages, ethnic backgrounds and wearing different colors.

Ease Suitability Fears

HerRoom.com is a lingerie shop that developed its “Try it Under” feature in house. Customers can overlay virtual shirt styles like v-necks over top of the product image to make sure straps and things don’t show through.

ArtSelect.com lets you preview your print with your paint.

You can even email the image in an e-card - great for interior decorators who need approval from clients.

Ease Sizing Fears

ArtSelect lets you eyeball how large the piece is compared to a 5′4 woman.

BabyCenter shows the relative size of a diaper bag, and throws in a very happy mommy with baby to appeal to the humanistic shopper.

Again, mannequins do the trick also:

Coach uses a bag sizer tool. Choose your height and see the bag on the shoulder and in hand.

Prevent Disappointment, Build Trust & Minimize Returns

These are some pretty radical earrings, they’re not for everyone. A simple photo of the earrings alone could be deceiving - the customer could assume they are much smaller than they really are. If you offer free return shipping, well…

Blue Nile uses a ruler:

Read more on how to reduce size and color fears.

Illustrate Benefits

Spanx uses before and after shots to prove its product is indispensable.

Apple shows its laptop case with laptop inside - plus all the other stuff you can cram in there.

BabyCenter brags how versatile its stool is - both mommy and little one can make good use of it.

Product information is also “in-context.” 40 GB and 80 GB means nothing to me, but I can understand the difference between 20,000 and 40,000 songs.

PS: Notice the call to action buttons match the available colors? This is also a nice example of side-by-side upselling - it’s clear for only $100 more you get double the storage.

Going the Extra Mile

Video “product tours” can be great for some items. MLB.com lets you watch a video of its dancing mascots and sample its music.

Other products lend themselves to try-before-you-buy, such as free carpet, blind and cloth samples so the customer can see the exact color and texture.

You can make your product images sell for you by thinking through the best ways to show how your products are incredible or solve a customer’s problems. It’s not just your product description’s job! Maximize both product descriptions and images and you’ll up the persuasion factor and conversion rates too.

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Original post by Linda Bustos

Posted in , , , , , conversion, web design, Usability | No Comments »

How Top Retailers Show Product Images

Monday, June 30th, 2008

We’ve all heard Confucius’ famed quote “a picture is worth 1,000 words” at least 1,000 times.

Online, pictures are worth more than words, they’re worth dollars. But how many dollars depends on how effectively product images *speak* to customers. We’re talkin’ details. Just like textual product descriptions describe a product in detail, enlarged images and alternate views better describe your products. And many products cannot be fully described with words.

According to a 2007 survey of online shoppers by the E-Tailing Group:

  • 77% are “very to somewhat” influenced by the quality of content (descriptions, copy, images and tools) when deciding to purchase from an online retailer

  • 79% “rarely or never” purchase a product without complete product information
  • 76% believe content is insufficient to complete research or purchase online “always,” “most often” or “some of the time”
  • When faced with incomplete information, 72% go to a competitor or research further

Future Now did its own customer experience study and found 24% of online shops do not allow customers to enlarge images, and 63% don’t offer multiple image views. I decided to do some research myself, cruising the Internet Retailer 500 List looking for examples of how online retailers are showing off their goods:

Images in Action

A simple way to enlarge images is to have a link “click to enlarge” that opens up a pop-up with the thumbnail image blown up. The next level up is to offer alternative images in the pop-up with the ability to change the image with a click or mouseover.

A bit more advanced is using a Javascript or Flash tool like Magic Toolbox
 or Adobe’s Scene 7. Magic Toolbox’ Magic Zoom lets you hover over any area of a product image without a pop-up or click (stay on the product page). There may be other products that also do this, but I’m only aware of this one.

This example from Danskin shows how you can view the front or back of this product in any of its 4 colors:

Scene 7 is typically launched in a popup window with the option to click a plus or minus button to enlarge, then click and drag the image around the window to look at specific detail. Or, use the magnifier to blow up one portion:

I found Scene 7 was fussy to use, and on some sites would load a blank window. Not to mention the time to load. I do prefer the Magic Toolbox product, as a web user.

Sliders

Altrec uses a slider for image zoom which you can control by clicking and dragging left and right from the enlarge pop-up. You can then click and drag the big image to move it around within the window.

The Adidas Store does the same thing right on the product page (no pop-up. less clicking required).

OnlineShoes.com is like Adidas, but includes alternate views which really help describe the product. You can view them all without pop-ups.

I’m not sure the magnifying glass is a good icon here - that’s more associated with a search box than image magnification.

Quick Look

A handful of retailers like Gap’s brands use a Quick Look preview from the category page, with full product information. If you want an even larger view you can click to a popup with color switching and view switching.

Huge Category Zoom

Bidz.com explodes images on the category page with a rollover - the biggest previews I’ve ever seen.

Large Default Images on Product Pages

Moosejaw uses a large image on its product pages with detailed information in tabs. Just rollover alternative views for instant enlargement.

TiesNecktie.com uses large product images too. Ties are one type of product that really only need one view, so this is usable, effective and inexpensive.

Retailer Creativity

By showing front and back views on one image, Causal Male saves clicking between 2 images on the product page, and also gives more product information from one thumbnail on the category page. This is great for shoppers in “competitive” buying mode who want information fast, fast, fast. Plus, it never covers up the call-to-action.

Uncommon Goods’ approach is uncommon, but good (I know it’s cheesy but I couldn’t resist). For certain products, the image is shown in a landscape banner with zoom and move controls right there on the page.

Neiman Marcus and Venus Swimwear use floating images in the sidebar that follow you down as you scroll down the page.

Horny Toad lets you select size scaling on the category page:

ACLens offers a .pdf print-out of the actual size of its frames:

J.Crew allows enlargement and multiple color / angle views for cross-sells as well:

full cross-sell set and enlarge them and color switch them on the same page

What do you think about the call to action? Too long? Cute the first time but annoying when used on every product?

So these are some examples of providing slick product views in usable and creative ways. But how can you up the persuasion factor and tell a story with your product images? Tune in tomorrow for tips and examples on how to show products “in context.”

3 Things to Die For: Web Analytics Unleashed

Free webinar: July 17th, 2008, 9am PT/12pm ET
Guest Panelist: Avinash Kaushik, Author & Analytics Evangelist, Google
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Original post by Linda Bustos

Posted in , , , , conversion, web design, Usability | No Comments »

Webinar Recap: Ecommerce Innovations

Thursday, June 19th, 2008

Ecommerce InnovationThis month’s webinar with Jason Billingsley covered various areas packed with examples from real online retailers. You can catch the full replay sometime tomorrow (we’ll let you know and post the link here) but for now you can flip through some of the examples, see the live sites and catch up on related blog posts you may have missed.

Next Webinar
3 Things to Die For: Web Analytics Unleashed with Avinash Kaushik
Thursday, July 17th @ 9am PST
Sign up to win one of 5 signed copies of Avinash’s book Web Analytics: An Hour a Day

Purpose of this Webinar

Innovations are not necessarily “sexy” — but they don’t have to be. This webinar is really to get you
thinking about the possibilities, whether you’re a small player or a multi-million dollar e-tailer. Innovation may exist in another segment / industry that can be applied to your business. And it doesn’t have to be a visual innovation - processes like customer service, fulfillment and order management can also have a profitable impact.

Video


Martin + Osa Shop-By-Outfit

  • Great to see items in context

  • Cross-selling entire outfits
  • Works for women who like to see how it looks “on”
  • Works for men who want to “get in and get out” and not waste time on browsing and outfit building
  • Helps the fashionably clueless
  • Blog post: Martin + Osa Launches Shop-By-Outfit + Video

Knicker Picker

  • See items “in context” (on humans)

  • Select size of model
  • See how sports product moves when the model jogs, show how supportive the item is - selling based on the function of a product

Gap.com Fit Finder

  • See what different cuts of pants look like on

Vitaman Global

  • Video-valet Nikki gives verbal affirmations when you add product to cart

  • Audible cross-selling, suggesting products that go with what you added to cart
  • Like a real physical store - kind of…
  • Blog post: Is Flattery a Viable Selling Strategy?

American Eagle

  • Now offline, but we blogged it: Video Valets: An Ecommerce Trend?

  • Net-lebrity iJustine tells girls and boys what’s cool for spring break, describing and “romancing” the products as you roll over them

Amazon.com Video Reviews

  • Very helpful for certain products

  • Problem: Used by viewers, but not contributed much by customers

TV.WineLibrary.com

  • Popular video podcast that doesn’t require big budget

  • Gary Vaynerchuk is a HUGE personality
  • Such helpful content, it’s very linkable, has active Facebook community, too
  • SEO smarts - each link to Gary’s video pages pass Page Rank to product pages, linked to from the video pages
  • Blog post: Anatomy of a Great Video Podcast

Customer Service

Coastal Contacts

  • Elastic Path customer, Coastal Contacts.com has a “Try Before You Buy” feature, you can order a few pairs and send back what you don’t want

Shoeline.com Return-O-Meter

Zappos

Why Zappos’ Customer Service is Innovative:

1. “The offer” get the right people on the bus
2. Prominent toll-free number
3. 24×7 call-center
4. Free shipping (both ways)
5. Free returns
6. Free (unexpected) upgraded shipping - shoes come faster than promised
7. No scripts, no call times
8. Find out of stock items at competing sites
9. Transparency - 350+ people on Twitter
10. CSRs have freedom to have person-to-person relationship. The famous example of Zaz Lamarr shares how a Zappos CSR sent flowers of sympathy on her own dime to a woman who lost her mom to cancer

Real World Guided Selling

Davids Bridal Dress Your Wedding

  • Interactive application to visualize your wedding photos - very appropriate for product

Oneida Virtual Table

  • Virtual table setting - choose table finish, dish and cutlery style

Crutchfield TV Fit Finder

  • Look up your TV to find compatible furniture, can work for any product that is sold for use with another product (car stereo, ink / toner etc)

MyDeco.com

  • Show physical arrangements of products, like Lionel Ritchie’s living room, or rooms that users have created

  • Choose your budget, and get product recommendations most appropriate for your budget
  • Slider narrows matches based on acceptable price range
  • Visual product recommendations powered by Imagini technology, click on images that stand out to you and see similar products based on your psychological profile

Land’s End

  • Has filtered navigation for bathing suits to narrow products by “Anxiety Zone,” - if you have short find suits that elongate the leg, etc.

Multi-Store Retailing

  • Coastal Contacts has multiple geographic domains (TLD like .com, .ca etc) which is great for international SEO

  • Avoid country-selector splash pages! Using IP redirect and forward to country specific site is better
  • Jason’s interview with Justin Skogen of DigitalElement on geographic IP sniffing
  • Netshops.com has hundreds of niche stores. SEO benefits: websites more apt to link to them, top level domain relevance
  • Jason’s interview with Roy Rubin of Magento about multi-store retailing

Gap.com

Steep and Cheap

  • Backcountry.com’s clearinghouse for deep discounted products, along with Chainlove.com sell one product per day until it’s sold out

  • Customer incentive to come back every day. If there’s nothing of interest, you can click through to clearance section
  • Creates a sense of urgency since product could sell out today

Shopatron.com

  • Shopatron is a service that eases the manufacturer - channel conflict, explained in Jason’s interview with Shopatron’s CEO Ed Stevens

  • Shopper makes a purchase, based on geographic location Shopatron assigns an order to nearest retail partner OR they can do in-store pickup

User Interface Design

AE.com

Action Envelope

  • Jason’s favorite site, here’s one reason why: mouseover a style and see deeper into site without clicking off the page

  • SEO benefit if implemented correctly

Endless.com

  • Hover over a product to view more colors - you’re missing out if you’re hiding colors!

  • Endless’ image zoom doesn’t cover price or add to cart buttons - great design

Borders.com

  • Borders’ “Magic shelf” shows book titles on a shelf that you can scroll left, right, up and down

  • Uses a degree of personalization if you sign in - just a different way to shop visually more akin to a real bookstore
  • Hover over items to see detail without leaving page you’re on

Abercrombie and Fitch

  • View details on “Complete the Look” cross-sells without leaving product page with AJAX hover

Navigation

  • OfficeMax’ alphabetical menu

  • Endless.com’s product carousel (scroll horizontally left and right)
  • Enldess.com’s price slider and color / size / width filters

Merchandising

  • Martin + Osa “layer your own look”

Social Shopping

Shoptogether by DecisionStep

Republic.co.uk

  • Using Polyvore, customers can build outfits, save the look and start sharing with the community

Vancouver 2010 Olympic Store


Shoes.com Customer Q&A

Customer Loyalty

  • Threadless uses a “crowdsourcing” business model, where customers suggest the products. You may not do this for every product but can think of which areas of your business to apply this to

  • Amazon’s Subscribe & Save program (blog post)
  • Amazon’s Gold Box Deals, products on sale for set amount of time until gone or time’s up. Subscribe to daily emails, add widget to your start page, by RSS, mobile via Twitter

Takeaways

1. Break it - Rethink old processes, like navigation, instead of following the leader. Test and try new things
2. Shoestring it - Don’t try to compete with multi-million site’s features (rich media etc) - think of Wine Library TV - the main cost is time. Or, leverage other 2.0 tools already made
3. Processes Count - You don’t need to modify visual things, you can do customer service innovations like Zappos, innovative policies or value propositions
4. Look to the real world - Helicopter seeds inspired the real helicopter. Think of how to replicate real-store experiences
5. Prove it, sell it - If you need to prove it to your bosses, just get your hands dirty in an innovation on your own (like a side project), then you can show some results which can be rolled out on the main site.

Question Period Notes

(These are notes, not a transcript)

About rich user interfaces - does single screen checkout make sense?

Jason talked to a retailer (Intuit?) that tested 95% regular vs. 5% one-page and found single didn’t convert as well. Intuit hasn’t moved fully to single screen but continues to test the process. Action Envelope is a good example of a one-page checkout.

Allurent and Liquid Pixels are service providers for RIA (rich interface applications), check out Jason’s Internet Retailer interviews with Allurent and Liquid Pixels.

Bernadine Wu from Fit For Commerce believes some innovations actually take a step back. You don’t need to use the newest tredns. Innovation for you may be to use dynamic style sheet, which could have bigger impact on conversions than crazy, dynamic recommendation engines, for example.

Do RIA’s improve conversions? Testing tools for rich interfaces?

You could take traffic and filter through router to split test
Omniture Offermatica may have something relevant
A/B split test with Google Website Optimizer
Avinash Kaushik has a podcast on measuring rich media

Attendee comment: Woot is a Steep-and-Cheap style site which uses humor, not blah boring copy. Good point that people want to engage with people.

Innovative B2B sites?

Office Max navigation - whether that’s effective innovation, not sure.
B2B and B2C not that different these days, B2B may want to leverage preferred contracts or supplier lists or improve processes like order management.

Color innovation - do colors have impact?

It has a lot to do with brand, if you’re a multi-channel retailer you want some consistency. Testing is recommended. One thing to keep in mind, don’t make call to action button the same color as everything else.

International companies, how do you know when to stop or go?

Things that work in Asia/Europe might not work in North America, and vice-versa. Without geographical market knowledge, you’re taking a risk. Coastal Contacts uses richer color pallettes for Asian stores than US/Canada (oranges vs. blues). Also, countries used to higher broadband speeds may expect your site to work much faster than other countries tolerate - so don’t add something that will slow down your site just to be innovative.

3 Things to Die For: Web Analytics Unleashed

Free webinar: July 17th, 2008, 9am PT/12pm ET
Guest Panelist: Avinash Kaushik, Author & Analytics Evangelist, Google
Register to Attend…

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Original post by Linda Bustos

Posted in , Usability and Best Practices, web design, Usability | No Comments »

The Benefits of RIA’s for Ecommerce Stores - Internet Retailer ‘08

Monday, June 16th, 2008

Interview on rich interfaces using Ajax and flex with Graeme Grant, COO of Allurent from the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition 2008 in Chicago.

 

See More IRCE 2008 Interviews…

We conducted 16 interviews with various ecommerce vendors at the Internet Retailer Conference &amp Exhibition 2008 in Chicago.

  1. How to choose ecommerce software and technology - Bernardine Wu, CEO, FitForCommerce
  2. How retailers can sell more online with social commerce - Jay Shaffer, VP Worldwide Sales & Marketing, Powerreviews
  3. Hackersafe is now McAfee Secure - Rich Murphy, McAfee
  4. The benefits of RIA’s for ecommerce stores - Graeme Grant, COO, Allurent
  5. Why online retailers should be blogging - Darren Tomey, VP Sales, Compendium
  6. How do ratings and reviews help online retailers? - Sam Decker, Chief Marketing Officer, Bazaarvoice
  7. 10 more videos coming soon…

Subscribe to the Get Elastic RSS feed or by email at the top of the page to be alerted when the remaining interviews become available.

9 Ecommerce Innovations: What’s Now &amp What’s Next

Free webinar: June 19th, 2008, 9am PT/12pm ET
Guest Panelist: Jason Billingsley, VP Innovation, Elastic Path Software
Register to Attend

You may also like these similar posts:

    None Found

9 Ecommerce Innovations: What’s Now & What’s Next

Free webinar: June 19th, 2008, 9am PT/12pm ET
Guest Panelist: Jason Billingsley, VP Innovation, Elastic Path Software
Register to Attend

You may also like these similar posts:

Original post by Jason Billingsley

Posted in , , , web design, Usability, General | No Comments »

The Benefits of RIAs for Ecommerce Stores - Internet Retailer 08

Monday, June 16th, 2008

Interview on rich interfaces using Ajax and flex with Graeme Grant, COO of Allurent from the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition 2008 in Chicago.

 

See More IRCE 2008 Interviews…

We conducted 16 interviews with various ecommerce vendors at the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition 2008 in Chicago.

  1. How to choose ecommerce software and technology - Bernardine Wu, CEO, FitForCommerce
  2. How retailers can sell more online with social commerce - Jay Shaffer, VP Worldwide Sales & Marketing, Powerreviews
  3. Hackersafe is now McAfee Secure - Rich Murphy, McAfee
  4. The benefits of RIA’s for ecommerce stores - Graeme Grant, COO, Allurent
  5. Why online retailers should be blogging - Darren Tomey, VP Sales, Compendium
  6. How do ratings and reviews help online retailers? - Sam Decker, Chief Marketing Officer, Bazaarvoice
  7. 10 more videos coming soon…

Subscribe to the Get Elastic RSS feed or by email at the top of the page to be alerted when the remaining interviews become available.

9 Ecommerce Innovations: What’s Now &amp What’s Next

Free webinar: June 19th, 2008, 9am PT/12pm ET
Guest Panelist: Jason Billingsley, VP Innovation, Elastic Path Software
Register to Attend

You may also like these similar posts:

    None Found

9 Ecommerce Innovations: What’s Now &amp What’s Next

Free webinar: June 19th, 2008, 9am PT/12pm ET
Guest Panelist: Jason Billingsley, VP Innovation, Elastic Path Software
Register to Attend

You may also like these similar posts:

Original post by Jason Billingsley

Posted in , , , , , , , , Podcast, Usability, Media Coverage, search marketing, web design, General | No Comments »

The Benefits of RIAs for Ecommerce Stores - Internet Retailer 2008

Monday, June 16th, 2008

Interview on rich interfaces using Ajax and flex with Graeme Grant, COO of Allurent from the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition 2008 in Chicago.

 

See More IRCE 2008 Interviews…

We conducted 16 interviews with various ecommerce vendors at the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition 2008 in Chicago.

  1. How to choose ecommerce software and technology - Bernardine Wu, CEO, FitForCommerce
  2. How retailers can sell more online with social commerce - Jay Shaffer, VP Worldwide Sales & Marketing, Powerreviews
  3. Hackersafe is now McAfee Secure - Rich Murphy, McAfee
  4. The benefits of RIA’s for ecommerce stores - Graeme Grant, COO, Allurent
  5. Why online retailers should be blogging - Darren Tomey, VP Sales, Compendium
  6. How do ratings and reviews help online retailers? - Sam Decker, Chief Marketing Officer, Bazaarvoice
  7. 10 more videos coming soon…

Subscribe to the Get Elastic RSS feed or by email at the top of the page to be alerted when the remaining interviews become available.

9 Ecommerce Innovations: What’s Now & What’s Next

Free webinar: June 19th, 2008, 9am PT/12pm ET
Guest Panelist: Jason Billingsley, VP Innovation, Elastic Path Software
Register to Attend

You may also like these similar posts:

    None Found

9 Ecommerce Innovations: What’s Now &amp What’s Next

Free webinar: June 19th, 2008, 9am PT/12pm ET
Guest Panelist: Jason Billingsley, VP Innovation, Elastic Path Software
Register to Attend

You may also like these similar posts:

Original post by Jason Billingsley

Posted in , , , , , , , , Podcast, Usability, Media Coverage, search marketing, web design, General | No Comments »

Using Product Images to Reduce Size and Color Fears

Thursday, June 12th, 2008