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5 Winning Strategies Social Ecommerce Ebook
Table of Contents
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………pg. 3
Make Your Online Store a Destination………………………………….pg. 4-8
Publish Content to Connect with Customers………………………pg. 9-18
Integrate Concise Product Videos……………………………………..pg. 19-23
Improve ROI with Smart RIA Integration…………………………pg. 24-43
Make Shopping Online a Social Experience……………………..pg. 44-50
Contributor Biographies…………………………………………………….pg. 51-54
Optaros Contact Information…………………………………………….pg. 55-56
Introduction
Our experiences working with clients across the globe gives us the unique
opportunity to see how ecommerce trends differ worldwide.
This ebook compiles the social trends we are currently seeing in the
global ecommerce market — trends that we believe will have a
major impact on the future success of online retailers.
Make Your Online Store a Destination
Great stores draw you in,
make you want to return often
and entice you to make
significant impulse purchases.
Image credit: elena777
5© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Make Your Online Store a Destination
However, most online stores operate under the assumption that
shopping online is an activity of efficiency — consumers know what
they want to buy, research the product online and purchase it
wherever they find the best price.
Because of this, many online retailers follow the same strategy:
make it as easy as possible for consumers to find a product,
place it in a cart and check out.
6© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Make Your Online Store a Destination
The strategy of most online retailers is wrong.
As outlined in the Harvard Business Review article, In E-Commerce,
More is More, an exhaustive study of 1,700 ecommerce sites shows
that adding compelling content to directly engage customers is
correlated with stronger financial performance.
Dramatic Outperformance: The companies that engaged
customers the most outperformed the S&P 500 by more than 12%
annually from 2003-2006.
7© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Make Your Online Store a Destination
The majority of managers we spoke to in our global study
told us they believe that a broad array of information
diverts attention from the core offerings. But we found it
helps customers search for solutions, invites them to think
of all the ways the core products might add value to their
lives, wins their loyalty, and entices them to buy. In
fact, we found that exploiting consumers’ desire for
engagement is the single dominant driver of superior
shareholder value for e-commerce companies.
Andreas B. Eisingerich and Tobias Kretschmer,
In E-Commerce, More is More
8© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Make Your Online Store a Destination
Business Takeaway:
The principles of retail still apply on the web. Great stores should
draw you in, make you want to return and entice you to make
significant impulse purchases — even when they are online.
What Next?
Offer your customers more than just a place to purchase by
incorporating dynamic, relevant content.
Publish Content to Connect with Customers
Many ecommerce retailers continue to rely on mass emails and
pay-per-click advertising as the primary mechanisms for
driving website traffic and sales.
There are two major problems with these tactics:
1. Rising costs
2. Decreasing effectiveness
10© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Publish Content to Connect with Customers
According to Forrester Research:
• In 2003, 31 percent of consumers deleted email advertising without
reading it
• In 2006, that number reached 72 percent
If you are an ecommerce retailer and email marketing is
your main strategy, then your message is getting lost.
11© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Publish Content to Connect with Customers
Pay-Per-Click Example:
Google search for “flat panel TV” (no quotes)
12© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Publish Content to Connect with Customers
Take a look at the results.
This is a highly valuable keyword that, according to Google’s Keyword
Tool, is searched roughly 10,000 times per day.
Many retailers (including Best Buy, Sears, Dell, NewEgg, Circuit City
and Target, that as we can see) are playing the pay-per-click game,
and paying roughly $2/click for this keyword.
13© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Publish Content to Connect with Customers
5 of the top 10 results on page one of this search are
blog or news articles.
One retailer that does a great job of using content to attract
customers, Crutchfield, is in the #1 spot for our search. They
don’t pay anything for this.
14© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Publish Content to Connect with Customers
Consider:
• Studies have shown that the #1 result for a given search will
receive about 50% of clicks.
• Of 10,000 daily searches, Crutchfield can expect about 5,000
visitors to their site every day.
• If other advertisers are paying $2 per click for “flat panel TV”
searches, that means…
Crutchfield is getting the equivalent of $3,650,000 per
year in free advertising — all by creating compelling
content.
15© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Publish Content to Connect with Customers
Crutchfield has learned that a more cost-effective and consumer-
valued approach has proven effective in countless other industries,
and retailers that adopt it first will achieve a competitive
advantage.
Search + Blogs = Traffic
16© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Publish Content to Connect with Customers
Search Most consumers start with a search when looking for a product.
Natural search results (versus paid advertisements) receive
more than 75-percent of the clicks.
Blogs The best way to rank on the first or second page for keyword
searches that are relevant to your business is to provide fresh
content, optimized for those search terms.
Blogs provide a convenient venue for regularly publishing your
content, and can be set up to create an optimized web page for
each blog post.
Traffic Blogs are a cost-effective traffic enhancer (no cost per click or
email fees).
Blogs provide an avenue for greater customer engagement with
your brand.
When managed properly, a blog can provide a sizeable traffic
increase in a matter of weeks.
17© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Publish Content to Connect with Customers
For Example:
Mega-retailer Target and fashion enewsletter Daily Candy
announced a partnership in early June 2009 that will result in the
co-branded online store, the Red Hot Shop.
Here, Target benefits not only from regularly updated content, but
also from on-site endorsements of their products by a third party.
18© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Publish Content to Connect with Customers
Business Takeaway:
Publishing optimized content that is relevant to your potential
customers will bring people to your website — at the time when
they are looking for your products — for little more than the cost of
your time.
What Next?
Draw customers in with product videos. (But don’t make them too
long.)
Integrate Concise Product Videos
What is the optimal length for product videos
in online shops?
It’s hard to imagine a more lively discussion topic than this.
20© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Integrate Concise Product Videos
A recent ecommerce study reveals that short videos on shopping
sites, with a duration of one minute and 30 seconds (1:30), were
received significantly more positively by online viewers than videos
of about six minutes (6:00).
Chart credit: Business Insider
21© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Integrate Concise Product Videos
Attention span drops considerably after 48% of total
video duration, no matter the video length.
The study also offers valuable input related to video integration,
mentioning that photo icons of videos are better perceived than
pure text links.
> ecommerce interview
22© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Integrate Concise Product Videos
While the “30-second rule” of online marketing doesn’t appear to
match one-to-one with video shopping, merchants with shorter
video clips do seem to have an advantage. The success of
Shoeline’s 20-second clips seem to confirm this.
Note: In this section, “ecommerce study” and “30 second rule” links are to
English translations of German articles.
23© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Integrate Concise Product Videos
Business Takeaway:
Videos can enhance the shopping experience, but only if they are
unobtrusive and considerate of your customers’ time.
What Next?
Add rich internet applications (RIA) that improve your return on
investment (ROI).
Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration
Rich internet application (RIA) capabilities, such as
whiz-bang Flash and AJAX capabilities certainly look cool, but
do they attract a return on investment (ROI) as
ecommerce solutions?
25© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration
Before integrating RIA elements into your site, it is important to
consider the potential business benefits. Ask yourself whether
or not an integration can:
• Drive up conversion rates
• Increase average order size
• Deter cart abandonment
26© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration
For most ecommerce sites, ROI is the primary yardstick for
determining the effectiveness of any site element or strategy.
There does not seem to be any definitive A/B testing consensus to
prove it, but it does appear that some RIA capabilities do have
a positive impact on site performance, though many offer
dubious returns.
27© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration
28© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration
The major factor to consider when evaluating RIA elements is…
Will this distract or confuse customers, or will it
enhance the customer experience and guide them
through the buying process?
29© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration
Some RIA standards are emerging that appear to improve the
customer experience, increase conversion rate and order size, and
deter cart abandonment:
• Non-wizard checkout
• Dropdown cart
• Quick-pick modal
• Inventory integration
30© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration
Non-Wizard Checkout
Objective: Deter cart abandonment
RIA Technique: Create a one-page checkout with overlays, rather
than a multi-step wizard-style checkout.
31© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration
When customers get to the checkout, ask only the questions
that must be asked, in order to fit all necessary questions on one
page. Then, use RIA elements that allow customers to opt-in for
additional information.
This technique allows essential information to be presented in
an above-the-fold page. Other elements can be presented using
RIA techniques on-demand so that the page expands when the
customer requires it to.
32© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration
For Example:
Many people will have the same address for both billing and
shipping. Create a checkout page with only one address field,
but with an option that allows the customer to enter different billing
and shipping addresses.
Tip: The same setup can be used for gift messaging, gift wrap
options and changing the shipping options. Additional information,
such as the return policy, can slide in or a layer can be used to
overlay the checkout page to deliver this information upon request.
33© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration
Dropdown Cart
Objectives: Increase average order size; deter cart abandonment
RIA Technique: Use a drop-down cart that shows the customer’s
current order without disrupting their shopping experience.
34© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration
When a customer chooses to purchase an item, many retailers
redirect the customer directly to a large cart page and then on to
the checkout. This is to drive conversion, but at the expense of
the average order size.
The goal here is to increase the average size of each order by
allowing customers to keep adding items, without interrupting their
shopping experience.
This RIA technique aims to strike a balance, by enabling the
customer to decide whether to check out or keep shopping.
35© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration
For Example:
Gap seems to get the consensus for introducing the non-wizard
drop-down cart. In the previous screenshot, you can see that the
cart drops down from the top-right of the page.
This cart allows the shopper to continue shopping or to check out.
It is minimally disruptive, and allows the customer to keep
shopping by not taking them away from the page they are on.
Tip: You can also decrease abandonment by showing tax and
shipping information, so that the customer is not surprised at
checkout time.
36© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration
Quick-Pick Modal
Objectives: Drive up conversion rates; increase average order size
RIA Technique: Use a modal overlay screen to provide customers
with important product information, rather than sending them to a
different page.
37© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration
Quick-pick modals are modal screens that display critical
product information when the customer hovers over a “quick
pick” or “quick look” button displayed on or near product images on
product catalog pages.
This technique allows customers to research products of interest more
quickly and to find exactly what they are looking for.
It also makes it easier for customers to find other items of interest,
because the quick-pick modal offers a minimal commitment
when clicking to read about product.
38© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration
For Example:
The previous Old Navy quick-pick modal screenshot uses some RIA
techniques to fit a surprising amount of information on a
catalog page, potentially as much as a product details page.
Tip: This modal should not be a pop-up, or browser pop-up
blockers may prevent it from appearing. Instead this should be a
layer that has the appearance of a modal pop-up, but is integrated
more seamlessly into the page, and thus will not be blocked by
popup blockers.
39© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration
Inventory Integration
Objectives: Drive up conversion rates; deter cart abandonment
RIA Technique: Show your customer how different product
options impact inventory availability.
40© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration
This technique provides customers with real-time inventory
messaging as they select product options.
RIA helps here by allowing clever inventory codes to access
availability of specific product options (usually size and color)
and present them in an efficient way.
41© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration
For Example:
Your store has plenty of size 6 shoes in black, but only two left in
red. However, there are plenty of red shoes in size 6 ½.
If your customer chooses a red shoe, this RIA application would
show that only two are left in size 6. However, if size 6 is selected
first, then it would show only two left in red.
Tip: Other options, such as shipping fees, can also be updated in
real-time as the customer adds items to his or her cart, in an effort
to reduce surprises at checkout.
42© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration
RIA: An affordable option
All of the RIA capabilities mentioned here can be
implemented without an architectural overhaul.
They are user interface widgets that can be added to
almost any existing website.
This means: If your organization’s current ecommerce
infrastructure is good, then you can just include AJAX JavaScript
libraries to build these widgets.
If not, you can put new architectural scaffolding up next to your
existing infrastructure, which can bring these capabilities to life
relatively quickly (perhaps 2-3 months) and can evolve into a new
site infrastructure.
43© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration
Business Takeaway:
The right RIA elements can have a direct impact on your site’s
conversion rate, average order size and cart abandonment.
As widgets, RIA capabilities offer an affordable way to update your
ecommerce site, as well as to test new features and functionality.
What Next?
Encourage your customers to take their friends shopping with
them.
Make Shopping Online a Social Experience
Shopping has always been a
social activity. People take
friends and loved ones along
to help them make purchase
decisions and choose the best
products.
Image credit: BWorthey
45© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Make Shopping Online a Social Experience
With the explosion of social networking and capabilities
offered by Web 2.0, it’s not surprising that online retailers
want to know how adding community aspects to their
ecommerce sites can increase traffic, conversion rates
and average order size.
46© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Make Shopping Online a Social Experience
Retailers routinely post customers’ product reviews online,
hoping that favorable comments will boost sales. But there’s a
more powerful influence on shoppers that [online] retailers
have yet to harness: the advice of friends.
Many retail sites have email-a-friend features… but that
approach has one big drawback: Shoppers are unlikely to get
immediate feedback while they’re still at a retailer’s site, so
their decisions may be delayed, putting sales at risk…
The biggest [social] networking sites have developed tools
that make it possible for a member shopping on a retailer’s
site to get immediate feedback in the form of any reviews
friends have left there, as well as a history of friends’
purchases on the site.
Jennifer Saranow Schultz, Wall Street Journal article
Shop Talk: Retailers Explore Links to Social-Networking Sites
47© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Make Shopping Online a Social Experience
The major player here, being assessed by retailers across the
globe, is Facebook Connect.
A key factor in the effectiveness of Facebook Connect
is how deep the integration is to the product detail
information and product imagery.
48© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Make Shopping Online a Social Experience
Think about it:
If you want to get a friend’s opinion on something, or show them a
product you think they would love, it needs to be very clear to
them what the item is.
You need to connect your customers with their friends using
exact product images and information including size, color,
style and price.
A simple link to a product detail page, or just an image do not
perform as well.
49© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Make Shopping Online a Social Experience
Tip: Another determinant is the clarity of the call-to-action
your customer’s friend receives, and the ease of use. For example,
offering a simple thumbs-up or thumbs-down option, along with a
free text box, works well.
Comment:
This is the perfect dress for your
sister’s wedding. I love it!
50© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Make Shopping Online a Social Experience
Business Takeaway:
People like to go shopping with others when shopping in person.
With Facebook Connect and other social shopping applications, you
can replicate this experience for your customers online.
What Next?
If you enjoyed this eBook and haven’t read our Social Ecommerce
Guide, please download it now.
If you are interested to learn which of the practices discussed here
may be right for you, contact us to set up an Assessment Call with
one of our ecommerce experts.
If you like what you’ve read and want to get started implementing
any of the features discussed, please submit an RFP.
Contributor Biographies
This e-book was developed using the intelligence
and insight of Marc Osofsky, Jochen Krisch and
Adam Michelson.
52© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Contributor Biographies
Marc Osofsky
Marc Osofsky is the vice president of marketing for Optaros and
leads the company’s go-to-market efforts and solution
development. Marc has more than 15 years of experience in helping
businesses leverage new technologies to achieve their business
objectives.
53© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Contributor Biographies
Jochen Krisch
Jochen Krisch is an ecommerce consultant focused on identifying
and helping clients implement new online retail concepts that
outperform the industry. Jochen works with some of the largest
and most successful online retailers and innovative startups.
54© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved.
Contributor Biographies
Adam Michelson
Adam Michelson serves as the director of ecommerce at Optaros.
He works with clients to leverage next generation internet
technologies for ecommerce re-platforming, new online retail
concepts and multi-channel efforts.
Optaros Contact Information
Corporate Headquarters (Boston)
Phone: (617) 227-1855
Email: OptarosBlog@Optaros.com
Thank you for your time!
We hope you enjoyed
5 Winning Strategies in Social Ecommerce.
Please connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or our
Ecommerce Blog to let us know your thoughts.

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5 Winning Strategies Social Ecommerce Ebook

  • 2. Table of Contents Introduction………………………………………………………………………………pg. 3 Make Your Online Store a Destination………………………………….pg. 4-8 Publish Content to Connect with Customers………………………pg. 9-18 Integrate Concise Product Videos……………………………………..pg. 19-23 Improve ROI with Smart RIA Integration…………………………pg. 24-43 Make Shopping Online a Social Experience……………………..pg. 44-50 Contributor Biographies…………………………………………………….pg. 51-54 Optaros Contact Information…………………………………………….pg. 55-56
  • 3. Introduction Our experiences working with clients across the globe gives us the unique opportunity to see how ecommerce trends differ worldwide. This ebook compiles the social trends we are currently seeing in the global ecommerce market — trends that we believe will have a major impact on the future success of online retailers.
  • 4. Make Your Online Store a Destination Great stores draw you in, make you want to return often and entice you to make significant impulse purchases. Image credit: elena777
  • 5. 5© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Make Your Online Store a Destination However, most online stores operate under the assumption that shopping online is an activity of efficiency — consumers know what they want to buy, research the product online and purchase it wherever they find the best price. Because of this, many online retailers follow the same strategy: make it as easy as possible for consumers to find a product, place it in a cart and check out.
  • 6. 6© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Make Your Online Store a Destination The strategy of most online retailers is wrong. As outlined in the Harvard Business Review article, In E-Commerce, More is More, an exhaustive study of 1,700 ecommerce sites shows that adding compelling content to directly engage customers is correlated with stronger financial performance. Dramatic Outperformance: The companies that engaged customers the most outperformed the S&P 500 by more than 12% annually from 2003-2006.
  • 7. 7© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Make Your Online Store a Destination The majority of managers we spoke to in our global study told us they believe that a broad array of information diverts attention from the core offerings. But we found it helps customers search for solutions, invites them to think of all the ways the core products might add value to their lives, wins their loyalty, and entices them to buy. In fact, we found that exploiting consumers’ desire for engagement is the single dominant driver of superior shareholder value for e-commerce companies. Andreas B. Eisingerich and Tobias Kretschmer, In E-Commerce, More is More
  • 8. 8© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Make Your Online Store a Destination Business Takeaway: The principles of retail still apply on the web. Great stores should draw you in, make you want to return and entice you to make significant impulse purchases — even when they are online. What Next? Offer your customers more than just a place to purchase by incorporating dynamic, relevant content.
  • 9. Publish Content to Connect with Customers Many ecommerce retailers continue to rely on mass emails and pay-per-click advertising as the primary mechanisms for driving website traffic and sales. There are two major problems with these tactics: 1. Rising costs 2. Decreasing effectiveness
  • 10. 10© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Publish Content to Connect with Customers According to Forrester Research: • In 2003, 31 percent of consumers deleted email advertising without reading it • In 2006, that number reached 72 percent If you are an ecommerce retailer and email marketing is your main strategy, then your message is getting lost.
  • 11. 11© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Publish Content to Connect with Customers Pay-Per-Click Example: Google search for “flat panel TV” (no quotes)
  • 12. 12© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Publish Content to Connect with Customers Take a look at the results. This is a highly valuable keyword that, according to Google’s Keyword Tool, is searched roughly 10,000 times per day. Many retailers (including Best Buy, Sears, Dell, NewEgg, Circuit City and Target, that as we can see) are playing the pay-per-click game, and paying roughly $2/click for this keyword.
  • 13. 13© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Publish Content to Connect with Customers 5 of the top 10 results on page one of this search are blog or news articles. One retailer that does a great job of using content to attract customers, Crutchfield, is in the #1 spot for our search. They don’t pay anything for this.
  • 14. 14© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Publish Content to Connect with Customers Consider: • Studies have shown that the #1 result for a given search will receive about 50% of clicks. • Of 10,000 daily searches, Crutchfield can expect about 5,000 visitors to their site every day. • If other advertisers are paying $2 per click for “flat panel TV” searches, that means… Crutchfield is getting the equivalent of $3,650,000 per year in free advertising — all by creating compelling content.
  • 15. 15© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Publish Content to Connect with Customers Crutchfield has learned that a more cost-effective and consumer- valued approach has proven effective in countless other industries, and retailers that adopt it first will achieve a competitive advantage. Search + Blogs = Traffic
  • 16. 16© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Publish Content to Connect with Customers Search Most consumers start with a search when looking for a product. Natural search results (versus paid advertisements) receive more than 75-percent of the clicks. Blogs The best way to rank on the first or second page for keyword searches that are relevant to your business is to provide fresh content, optimized for those search terms. Blogs provide a convenient venue for regularly publishing your content, and can be set up to create an optimized web page for each blog post. Traffic Blogs are a cost-effective traffic enhancer (no cost per click or email fees). Blogs provide an avenue for greater customer engagement with your brand. When managed properly, a blog can provide a sizeable traffic increase in a matter of weeks.
  • 17. 17© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Publish Content to Connect with Customers For Example: Mega-retailer Target and fashion enewsletter Daily Candy announced a partnership in early June 2009 that will result in the co-branded online store, the Red Hot Shop. Here, Target benefits not only from regularly updated content, but also from on-site endorsements of their products by a third party.
  • 18. 18© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Publish Content to Connect with Customers Business Takeaway: Publishing optimized content that is relevant to your potential customers will bring people to your website — at the time when they are looking for your products — for little more than the cost of your time. What Next? Draw customers in with product videos. (But don’t make them too long.)
  • 19. Integrate Concise Product Videos What is the optimal length for product videos in online shops? It’s hard to imagine a more lively discussion topic than this.
  • 20. 20© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Integrate Concise Product Videos A recent ecommerce study reveals that short videos on shopping sites, with a duration of one minute and 30 seconds (1:30), were received significantly more positively by online viewers than videos of about six minutes (6:00). Chart credit: Business Insider
  • 21. 21© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Integrate Concise Product Videos Attention span drops considerably after 48% of total video duration, no matter the video length. The study also offers valuable input related to video integration, mentioning that photo icons of videos are better perceived than pure text links. > ecommerce interview
  • 22. 22© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Integrate Concise Product Videos While the “30-second rule” of online marketing doesn’t appear to match one-to-one with video shopping, merchants with shorter video clips do seem to have an advantage. The success of Shoeline’s 20-second clips seem to confirm this. Note: In this section, “ecommerce study” and “30 second rule” links are to English translations of German articles.
  • 23. 23© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Integrate Concise Product Videos Business Takeaway: Videos can enhance the shopping experience, but only if they are unobtrusive and considerate of your customers’ time. What Next? Add rich internet applications (RIA) that improve your return on investment (ROI).
  • 24. Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration Rich internet application (RIA) capabilities, such as whiz-bang Flash and AJAX capabilities certainly look cool, but do they attract a return on investment (ROI) as ecommerce solutions?
  • 25. 25© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration Before integrating RIA elements into your site, it is important to consider the potential business benefits. Ask yourself whether or not an integration can: • Drive up conversion rates • Increase average order size • Deter cart abandonment
  • 26. 26© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration For most ecommerce sites, ROI is the primary yardstick for determining the effectiveness of any site element or strategy. There does not seem to be any definitive A/B testing consensus to prove it, but it does appear that some RIA capabilities do have a positive impact on site performance, though many offer dubious returns.
  • 27. 27© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration
  • 28. 28© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration The major factor to consider when evaluating RIA elements is… Will this distract or confuse customers, or will it enhance the customer experience and guide them through the buying process?
  • 29. 29© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration Some RIA standards are emerging that appear to improve the customer experience, increase conversion rate and order size, and deter cart abandonment: • Non-wizard checkout • Dropdown cart • Quick-pick modal • Inventory integration
  • 30. 30© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration Non-Wizard Checkout Objective: Deter cart abandonment RIA Technique: Create a one-page checkout with overlays, rather than a multi-step wizard-style checkout.
  • 31. 31© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration When customers get to the checkout, ask only the questions that must be asked, in order to fit all necessary questions on one page. Then, use RIA elements that allow customers to opt-in for additional information. This technique allows essential information to be presented in an above-the-fold page. Other elements can be presented using RIA techniques on-demand so that the page expands when the customer requires it to.
  • 32. 32© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration For Example: Many people will have the same address for both billing and shipping. Create a checkout page with only one address field, but with an option that allows the customer to enter different billing and shipping addresses. Tip: The same setup can be used for gift messaging, gift wrap options and changing the shipping options. Additional information, such as the return policy, can slide in or a layer can be used to overlay the checkout page to deliver this information upon request.
  • 33. 33© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration Dropdown Cart Objectives: Increase average order size; deter cart abandonment RIA Technique: Use a drop-down cart that shows the customer’s current order without disrupting their shopping experience.
  • 34. 34© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration When a customer chooses to purchase an item, many retailers redirect the customer directly to a large cart page and then on to the checkout. This is to drive conversion, but at the expense of the average order size. The goal here is to increase the average size of each order by allowing customers to keep adding items, without interrupting their shopping experience. This RIA technique aims to strike a balance, by enabling the customer to decide whether to check out or keep shopping.
  • 35. 35© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration For Example: Gap seems to get the consensus for introducing the non-wizard drop-down cart. In the previous screenshot, you can see that the cart drops down from the top-right of the page. This cart allows the shopper to continue shopping or to check out. It is minimally disruptive, and allows the customer to keep shopping by not taking them away from the page they are on. Tip: You can also decrease abandonment by showing tax and shipping information, so that the customer is not surprised at checkout time.
  • 36. 36© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration Quick-Pick Modal Objectives: Drive up conversion rates; increase average order size RIA Technique: Use a modal overlay screen to provide customers with important product information, rather than sending them to a different page.
  • 37. 37© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration Quick-pick modals are modal screens that display critical product information when the customer hovers over a “quick pick” or “quick look” button displayed on or near product images on product catalog pages. This technique allows customers to research products of interest more quickly and to find exactly what they are looking for. It also makes it easier for customers to find other items of interest, because the quick-pick modal offers a minimal commitment when clicking to read about product.
  • 38. 38© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration For Example: The previous Old Navy quick-pick modal screenshot uses some RIA techniques to fit a surprising amount of information on a catalog page, potentially as much as a product details page. Tip: This modal should not be a pop-up, or browser pop-up blockers may prevent it from appearing. Instead this should be a layer that has the appearance of a modal pop-up, but is integrated more seamlessly into the page, and thus will not be blocked by popup blockers.
  • 39. 39© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration Inventory Integration Objectives: Drive up conversion rates; deter cart abandonment RIA Technique: Show your customer how different product options impact inventory availability.
  • 40. 40© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration This technique provides customers with real-time inventory messaging as they select product options. RIA helps here by allowing clever inventory codes to access availability of specific product options (usually size and color) and present them in an efficient way.
  • 41. 41© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration For Example: Your store has plenty of size 6 shoes in black, but only two left in red. However, there are plenty of red shoes in size 6 ½. If your customer chooses a red shoe, this RIA application would show that only two are left in size 6. However, if size 6 is selected first, then it would show only two left in red. Tip: Other options, such as shipping fees, can also be updated in real-time as the customer adds items to his or her cart, in an effort to reduce surprises at checkout.
  • 42. 42© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration RIA: An affordable option All of the RIA capabilities mentioned here can be implemented without an architectural overhaul. They are user interface widgets that can be added to almost any existing website. This means: If your organization’s current ecommerce infrastructure is good, then you can just include AJAX JavaScript libraries to build these widgets. If not, you can put new architectural scaffolding up next to your existing infrastructure, which can bring these capabilities to life relatively quickly (perhaps 2-3 months) and can evolve into a new site infrastructure.
  • 43. 43© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Improve ROI With Smart RIA Integration Business Takeaway: The right RIA elements can have a direct impact on your site’s conversion rate, average order size and cart abandonment. As widgets, RIA capabilities offer an affordable way to update your ecommerce site, as well as to test new features and functionality. What Next? Encourage your customers to take their friends shopping with them.
  • 44. Make Shopping Online a Social Experience Shopping has always been a social activity. People take friends and loved ones along to help them make purchase decisions and choose the best products. Image credit: BWorthey
  • 45. 45© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Make Shopping Online a Social Experience With the explosion of social networking and capabilities offered by Web 2.0, it’s not surprising that online retailers want to know how adding community aspects to their ecommerce sites can increase traffic, conversion rates and average order size.
  • 46. 46© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Make Shopping Online a Social Experience Retailers routinely post customers’ product reviews online, hoping that favorable comments will boost sales. But there’s a more powerful influence on shoppers that [online] retailers have yet to harness: the advice of friends. Many retail sites have email-a-friend features… but that approach has one big drawback: Shoppers are unlikely to get immediate feedback while they’re still at a retailer’s site, so their decisions may be delayed, putting sales at risk… The biggest [social] networking sites have developed tools that make it possible for a member shopping on a retailer’s site to get immediate feedback in the form of any reviews friends have left there, as well as a history of friends’ purchases on the site. Jennifer Saranow Schultz, Wall Street Journal article Shop Talk: Retailers Explore Links to Social-Networking Sites
  • 47. 47© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Make Shopping Online a Social Experience The major player here, being assessed by retailers across the globe, is Facebook Connect. A key factor in the effectiveness of Facebook Connect is how deep the integration is to the product detail information and product imagery.
  • 48. 48© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Make Shopping Online a Social Experience Think about it: If you want to get a friend’s opinion on something, or show them a product you think they would love, it needs to be very clear to them what the item is. You need to connect your customers with their friends using exact product images and information including size, color, style and price. A simple link to a product detail page, or just an image do not perform as well.
  • 49. 49© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Make Shopping Online a Social Experience Tip: Another determinant is the clarity of the call-to-action your customer’s friend receives, and the ease of use. For example, offering a simple thumbs-up or thumbs-down option, along with a free text box, works well. Comment: This is the perfect dress for your sister’s wedding. I love it!
  • 50. 50© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Make Shopping Online a Social Experience Business Takeaway: People like to go shopping with others when shopping in person. With Facebook Connect and other social shopping applications, you can replicate this experience for your customers online. What Next? If you enjoyed this eBook and haven’t read our Social Ecommerce Guide, please download it now. If you are interested to learn which of the practices discussed here may be right for you, contact us to set up an Assessment Call with one of our ecommerce experts. If you like what you’ve read and want to get started implementing any of the features discussed, please submit an RFP.
  • 51. Contributor Biographies This e-book was developed using the intelligence and insight of Marc Osofsky, Jochen Krisch and Adam Michelson.
  • 52. 52© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Contributor Biographies Marc Osofsky Marc Osofsky is the vice president of marketing for Optaros and leads the company’s go-to-market efforts and solution development. Marc has more than 15 years of experience in helping businesses leverage new technologies to achieve their business objectives.
  • 53. 53© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Contributor Biographies Jochen Krisch Jochen Krisch is an ecommerce consultant focused on identifying and helping clients implement new online retail concepts that outperform the industry. Jochen works with some of the largest and most successful online retailers and innovative startups.
  • 54. 54© 2009 Optaros, Inc. All rights reserved. Contributor Biographies Adam Michelson Adam Michelson serves as the director of ecommerce at Optaros. He works with clients to leverage next generation internet technologies for ecommerce re-platforming, new online retail concepts and multi-channel efforts.
  • 55. Optaros Contact Information Corporate Headquarters (Boston) Phone: (617) 227-1855 Email: OptarosBlog@Optaros.com
  • 56. Thank you for your time! We hope you enjoyed 5 Winning Strategies in Social Ecommerce. Please connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or our Ecommerce Blog to let us know your thoughts.