1. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
Robert Gilbreath
VP of eCommerce Marketing and Analytics

2. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
• Introduction
• History of website testing and personalization
• Avoiding the HIPPO
• A modern approach to technology and testing
• Case studies, examples and results
• Questions and answers

3. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
• Founded in 1999
• Based in Austin, TX
• Internet Retailer Top 500 Site
• Calendars, Games, Puzzles, and Books
• Also DogBreedstore.com
Robert Gilbreath
• Joined Calendars.com in 2009
• Ecommerce Marketing, Merchandising,
and Content

4. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
• History of website testing and personalization
IT heavy: Not totally controlled by marketing.
Limited options: Rely on IT to make updates/changes/additions.
Speed: Slow to produce results / data.
Results: Data inconclusive.

5. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
Does he (or she) exist within your organization?

6. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
• Highest Paid Person’s Opinion (HIPPO)
History of testing / personalization mean the HIPPO stomped.
Decisions and changes not based on tests.
Gut and/or ego decisions can be right, but…

7. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
• A modern approach to technology and testing

8. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
• A modern approach to technology and testing

9. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
• A modern approach to technology and testing

10. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
• A modern approach to technology and testing

11. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
Sample of a campaign/test set-up

12. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page

13. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page

14. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
• Case Studies and Results
– Time-based Messaging
– Store Locator Push
– Email Echo / Consistency
– Button Color
– Layout Changes
– Dynamic Messaging – Shipping Threshold
– Shopping Cart Flow

15. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
• Time-based Messaging Campaigns

16. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
• Results of Time-based Messaging Campaigns
Add-to-cart Rate: 5.5%
Conversion Rate: 9.2%
Revenue per Session: 8.6%

17. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
• Store Locator Campaigns

18. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
• Results of Store Locator Campaigns
Overall CTR: 13.57%
12/22 - 12/24: 14.36%
* Doubled traffic to store locator vs. previous season
* Increased mention of store locator by customers

19. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
• Email Consistency Campaigns

20. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
• Results of Email Consistency Campaigns
Add-to-cart Rate: 4.9%
Conversion Rate: 12.4%
Average Order Value: 6.43%
Revenue per Session: 19.7%
* Bounce rate decreased 7.9%
* Cart abandonment rate decreased 22.5%
Additional test: Echo Email Subject Line vs. Echo Email Body (Winner)

21. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
Do these little lifts to conversion rate and AOV matter?
Control Test Change
Visitors 1,000,000 1,000,000
CR 5.00% 5.60% 12.40%
AOV $50.00 $53.22 6.43%
Closed 50,000 56,000 6,000
$2,500,000 $2,980,320 $480,320

22. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
• Button Color Tests

23. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page

24. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page

25. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
• Results of Button Color Tests
Conversion Rate: 4.5%
Average Order Value: 2.9%
Revenue per Session: 7.6%

26. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
• Layout Changes (Category & Navigation)

27. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
• Category Layout (Before)

28. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
• Category Layout (After)

29. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
• Navigation Layout (Before)

30. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
• Navigation Layout (After)

31. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
• Results of Navigation Layout Changes
Conversion Rate: 2.2%
Average Order Value: 6.6%
Revenue per Session: 8.9%

32. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
• Dynamic Messaging (Shipping Thresholds) Example

33. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page

34. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
• Shopping Cart Flow
-Calendars.com home page
as all customers see if prior
to cart and checkout.
-Top navigation and site
search are all displaying.

35. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
• Shopping Cart Flow
Cart page showing the
removal of the very top
banner.

36. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
• Shopping Cart Flow
Once customers move
from the cart page into
the checkout process,
all three elements are
removed.

37. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
• Shopping Cart Flow

38. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
• Shopping Cart Flow

39. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
• Results of Shopping Cart Flow
Conversion rate: .6%
Average Order Value: .42%
Revenue per Session: 1.1%
* Cart Abandonment Rate decreased .71%
Looks minor but this took TWO minutes to set up, yielded additional revenue.
** Lock icon on billing page reduced cart abandonment by 15.8%!

40. The Breakdown of a Perfect
Checkout Page
• Questions & Answers
Robert Gilbreath
Twitter: @Adomatica
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/robertgilbreath
Email: Robert@calendars.com