Engagement – Grab users and reduce your bounce rate
Bounce rates are considered an important ranking factor by search engines. That’s because bounce rates measure the quality of visitor engagement. Usually, the lower the bounce rate, the higher the engagement. First, let’s define bounce rate. Bounce rate is the percent of visitors that enter a website and exit from the same page, without clicking on anything else or without visiting any other page on that site. In fewer words, it measures a site’s single page visits. Usually, a 25-30% bounce rate is considered good for ecommerce sites, approximately 50% for informational sites and 75-80% for blogs. Why and how do visitors bounce from a site Most often, a visitor leaves a site when he realises that the site does not offer the promised information. For instance, this can happen when a visitor is mislead by an attractive offer or discount and then realises there are certain costs that come with it. That’s when the visitor bounces from that site by: clicking on an external link clicking the back button in the browser simply closing the window or tab entering a different URL in the same window or tab How to reduce bounce rate The most effective way to reduce a website’s bounce rate is by publishing engaging content that is both attractive and informative for the visitors. It’s that type of content that grabs their attention and determines them to go through other pages of that site to see what other interesting information they might find. One other way to engage with visitors is to show them related content to the one they’ve just read. “You just read an article about the causes of low bounce rate; we would also recommend an article on ways to reduce bounce rate on your site”. You can also use a plugin that shows related content at the end of each article. Another way to engage with your visitors is to link certain keywords in an article to related content on your site. This way they can find more insightful information on that specific topic. As a conclusion, when looking at bounce rates, you should also consider other factors, such as time spent on site because sometimes more time spent on site means that the content was engaging for the visitor. However, other times, it may mean that the visitor kept on looking through the site trying to find specific information, but with no luck. That’s why it is advised that you combine and analyze all the information on your visitors in order to reach a correct conclusion.
Tesco make fitting move
Virtual fitting rooms are nothing new, neither are online stores embedded into Facebook but the fact that a brand like Tesco has launched the same may suggest many more are set to swiftly follow. The new Facebook page that Tesco offer http://www.facebook.com/Clothingattesco?sk=app_261347243942251 is an attempt to make their online clothing store more personal and appealing to would-be customers. As well as seeing how items from the Tesco clothing range look on the on-screen model, potential customers can upload an image of themselves and see if the style and colour really would suit them. There are 50 outfits available for 50 virtual trying on, but given the cost to develop the system you can expect more to follow if initial feedback is good. Of course Facebook is all about engagement and increasing reach and shares so there is a facility for you to upload an image of you wearing the outfits and get the Facebook community to vote on the best look. The Facebook portal design is something that seems to be attracting more and more brands but doesn’t look like ever taking over from the need of having a real full-blown website, more as an additional revenue producer. Designers: Have you had more enquiries from clients wanting specific in-Facebook micro-sites? Consumers: Would you be more likely to buy if you can virtually try?
2012 is all about ecommerce
If you didn’t notice already, more and more of those presents you received last year were bought online. People turned to the virtual high street ahead of Christmas in their droves with lots of e-retailers tempting buyers in with pre-season sales. Yet the trend continued immediately after Christmas too with Experian HitWise revealing that Boxing Day (26th December) 2011 was biggest online shopping day ever in the UK. According to the report, Visits to UK e-retail sites reached record levels on Boxing Day. 13 million hours were spent cumulatively by Brits shopping online on that day notching up a massive 96m visits. That was up an amazing 19.5% compared with Boxing Day last year. The report highlighted that multichannel retailers accounted for the majority of visits during December, and in particular on Boxing Day with almost twice as many visits to multichannel brands than there were to online only retailers. However, the gap between the two groups is narrowing. The UK’s retail economy is estimated to have been worth 81 billion Euros in 2011 with the e-retail market showing growth of 16% per year. The UK’s per head online spend is already the highest in the world and in 2012 the trend is set to continue as more people get connected at home and on the move and the Government makes legislation changes to encourage spend online. If your business is not yet online, our ecommerce packages are the perfect way to get started. Have a look now.
Ecommerce on Facebook
Developing a strategy that sells goods, services and brand How to generate revenue from Facebook. Facebook is the world’s largest social network. Today brands are investing more and more money on this platform in order to attract new clients and generate revenue. Nowadays, the success of a company is no longer measured by the numbers of fans it has on Facebook, but by the number of people from that database that are generating revenue. However, social networks should not be used to sell, but to influence the intent to buy. There are a lot of e-commerce tools available on Facebook that companies can use to facilitate the purchase of products and services and create a one of a kind shopping experience for its customers. Facebook can be a powerful sales vehicle for those who know how to take advantage of its features. Listen The first step to creating social revenue is to listen to your customers. Monitor constantly what they’re saying about your company and don’t hesitate to interact with them when you feel it’s necessary. Social media plays an important role in purchase decision making these days and that’s because people search for information on products and services on forums and social networks. Users trust reviews of your products written by other people and are more likely to buy it if the reviews are positive. Today, word-of-mouth is more influential than ever. Create a one of a kind user experience You managed to get users to visit your page and become fans. But they can very easily unlike your page, so how can you get them to stick around? As a business, you can take advantage of the various APIs available on Facebook that can help you create a unique ecommerce experience for your fans. Some of the most important are Share, Like and Reviews (fans can comment on your products or services and then forward it to their friends; this can lead to more product views and can ultimately generate sales). The great thing about Facebook – and social media in general – is that your message can reach your members and then it can also reach the friends of your members, through friend suggestions. The impact is more powerful and the opportunities endless. Guarantee an easy purchasing process No matter if clients are purchasing directly from your website or from Facebook, they need to be reassured that the purchasing process is simple, secure and can be completed within minutes. However, Facebook provides some extra features that support “online window shopping” and these allow a client to purchase a product directly from the company’s Facebook page, without even having to visit its website. Companies can also integrate a payment system on Facebook for clients to use when paying for a product. Measure results Companies can use Facebook Insights – the platform’s internal tracking system – to track results. You can also get insights on your fans – such as age, location, etc, which can help when preparing marketing campaigns for Facebook. This tool can complement the web tracking systems you might already be using, such as Google Analytics. Run social campaigns Aside from these, you can also run various social campaigns on Facebook to generate revenue. For example, you can run contests with prizes in order to promote your products and also share posts with the promotions and special offers that you have in your store, such as “deal of the day”. Consumers are spending more and more of their time online, especially on Facebook, so it’s important for companies to focus on clever ways to market products and encourage people to purchase.
eBay goes High Street
From today until Monday 5 December the world’s favourite online auction site is going a bit more traditional to get into the Christmas spirit. The eBay Christmas Boutique pop-up shop is open in London’s West End over the next few days embracing traditional high street with modern sales opportunities. While the online site offers somewhere in the region of 17,million items the eBay Christmas Boutique has just over 350 items on offer, which is effectively a window on the range of items available on the main site. In fact you don’t even need to take money with you to make a purchase as you will be driven to make payments online via PayPal. The modernist looking store has a range of items all available as brand new, buy it now items on the online site. Each item in the store has its own QR code label which will push visitors to the online sale page once scanned with their smartphone. For those without smartphones, there are HTC tablets available for customers to use. The store is geared at Christmas shoppers and those looking for suitable gifts for their nearest and dearest. The boutique is split into three sections the his, hers and family. Over 5 million are expected to visit the shop while it is open and with the first week of December being touted as the busiest shopping week of the year, eBay hopes to push its own sales up too. You can find out more, including directions and opening hours on the Facebook Page. When we recently tweeted about the store, the twittersphere had plenty to say, but do you think it is just a PR gimmick or could this be the very future of the high street? Have you come across other brands / stores using a similar push towards their online stores?
Online shoppers more savvy than ever
News from IMRG who brand themselves as ‘the voice of e-tail’ shows that while online shopping continues to rise, the way people shop online is changing. Almost aping the traditional high street shopper, online shoppers take longer onsite, browsing, researching and comparing products far more than they did five years ago. The result of which is online conversion rates in the UK have fallen by 55% over the past five years. In 2006, the average online conversion rate for retailers in the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index was 8.4%, but that figure has dropped to 3.8% now. The trend is being labelled as ‘online purchasing’ compared to ‘online shopping’. With the increase in social shopping expected to contine the ability to convert browsers into buyers is possibly the biggest challenge to online marketeers in the months ahead. While gimmicks, offers and products will bring in would-be customers, online shops will have to think far more about their calls to actions and enticements to buy if they are to convert that traffic. Have your conversion rates fallen? What are you doing to combat this?
Ecommerce still growing
This month’s figures from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index reveal that online shopping just gets stronger and stronger. £5.3 billion was spent online during May according to the report which is a year-on-year increase of 18% and up 2% on an already impressive April. However, with economic times pinching it appears big money purchases, which helped fuel the original trend for online buying, are not doing as well as so called ‘low-ticket’ items sales of which are booming. As people’s social trends change due to economic pressures so different sectors seem to be benefiting from online sales. Stay at home entertainment is growing with the alcohol sector growing to an average order reaching £161, which is up a massive 25% on May 2010. Staying-in every night also makes people want to make the most of when they do leave the house so it is no surprise then to find the average travel spend online soaring to £869 a year. To date, £25.7 billion has been spent online during 2011. That is in stark contrast to figures released by the British Retail Consortium earlier this month, which showed that, despite a surge for the Royal Wedding and Easter holidays, high street sales were down 0.3% year-on-year and down 2.1% on April 2011. Are you spending more online? Are you selling online? Our Eshop range offers everything you need to be selling online via a professional looking shop with a few clicks and our InstantSite Pro and SiteFusion offerings have ecommerce functionality that is simple to set up too.
Warm weather no barrier to e-commerce
The latest figures from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index suggest that mobile technology and the desire simply to shop more online means even hotter days and more time outside didn’t stall the growth of e-commerce in April this year. With the Royal Wedding, a bumper-pack of bank holidays and plenty of sunshine, there was plenty to keep UK shoppers happy and they responded by spending £5.2 billion online – up 19% on April 2010 and equivalent to £84 per person. The hottest April since 1910 saw many parties and barbecues leading to alcohol sales seeing the most significant growth – 55% year-on-year. Clothes too with sales up 32% on 2010 and 8% on March 2011. Unsurprisingly, home and garden spends were also up 14% year-on-year and 11% month-on-month. However, with the home-based fun came a decline in one sector. Travel saw an 8% drop from March and a lowly 1% increase in online sales compared to April last year. Did you spend more online in April?