1. ETAIL WEST 2012 CONFERENCE
PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA
50 E-Commerce And Internet
Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
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2. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
The Little Tikes Company
• Started selling replacement parts online in 1999
• Direct To Consumer program in 2004 via LittleTikes.com
David Jones
E-commerce Technical Architect
and Internet Marketing Specialist
@E_CommerceGuy on Twitter

3. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Key Takeaways Of This Presentation
I. Take a new Internet Marketing or Technical tip back to the
office
III. Learn new tips on gaining a boost in traffic, conversion, or
average order value
V. Always Be Testing….Test! Test! Test!
VII. Find out why these tips matter. Will they matter for you?
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4. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #1 Back In Stock Email Signup
-46% Conversion Rate for 2011
-8% of Littletikes.com business in 2011
-Try to opt them in when they sign up
-Noticeable conversion boost for signups
when expected “In Stock” date added
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5. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #2 Back In Stock Email Throttling
-Have 100 items being added back to stock?
Maybe you have 300 email signups?
-Best practice would be to send out small count
of emails out at first and then every hour to
increase the count in case you go “Out Of Stock”
again
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6. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #3 Auto Generated Discount Codes
-Do not use one’s, zero’s or the letter O letter or I
-Why?
-The look like each other, frustrate the consumer, and
result in lost sales
-Example code, AEIO1230
Also, make sure it doesn’t spit out profanity!!!
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7. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #4 GZIP Compression On Your Web Server
-Save Bandwidth and save on your Bandwidth bursting charges from
your ISP! Reduce html, css, and javascript.
-Up to 75% savings on size
-Speed Up Your Site!
-Ultimately make consumers happy
and boost conversion rate!
-Test your site here: http://www.whatsmyip.org/http-compression-test/
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8. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #5 Canonical on product paging and filtering
-Check with your developer to make sure pages 2,3,4,etc of your product
listings are using the <link rel="canonical" tag.
-Reduces or avoids duplicate content. Boost page ratings.
-Many other uses for Canonical.
More info here:
http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=139394
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9. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #6 XML Sitemaps, now Video & Mobile Sitemaps
http://www.innovativeinteriorneo.com/googlesitemapvideo.xml
-Why is this important? Be included
in search results and control your
own thumbnail image. In some cases,
you could be the only video on the
first page
-Most know about Google sitemaps for
all of your site links. If you aren’t
doing this, should start on this soon.
Source:
http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=80472
http://www.google.com/webmasters/videositemaps/
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10. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #7 Using Video? Get A Transcript To Boost SEO
Do your kids need a trike they can
learn and grow with? The Little
Tikes 3-in-1 tricycle for tots as young
as one year old that are ready to
be like the big kids………..
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11. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #8 Tablets – Don’t Use Small Text/Small Buttons
-On a computer, you have a thin mouse
pointer to click with
-On a tablet, you have a thick finger to tap
with
-Make sure tablet designs have plenty of
space between vertical links and anything
clickable that is stacked, especially
navigation and paging
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12. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #9 Do you use industry terms on your site
instead of everyday terms?
-Examples,
- Outer Wear (Industry Term) versus Jacket (Everyday Term)
- Hooded Sweatshirts (Industry Term) versus Hoodie (Everyday Term)
- Bridal Gowns (Industry Term) versus Wedding Dresses (Everyday Term)
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13. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #10 Make It Easy For People With Failed Credit Card
Transactions To Still Submit Their Order
- Why not provide a form so they can:
- Ask for additional help or
- Pay by check?
- At Littletikes.com last year, we had 10,000 failed credit card requests
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14. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #11 Are Consumers Googling Your Promo Codes?
-When a consumer does this, they usually end up on an affiliate page where
they will find that coveted discount code they are searching for
-Solutions: Hide the box. Or, create a page specifically for the terms they are Googling.
Ex, “Little Tikes Coupon Code”. Mapped here: http://www.littletikes.com/coupon-code
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15. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #12 Make It Easy For People To Subscribe
To Your Newsletter?
- People do really want your newsletters!
- Minimize the number of required fields
- Put your signup in an easy to find place. Little Tikes is at the top.
- 45% increase in subscribe rate for Little Tikes just by
making our newsletter signup easier to find
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16. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #13 Don’t Underestimate The Values Of
Trust Seals?
-Shocking that during an A/B test with our trust seal, we saw a 5% difference in
sales
- Don’t believe it? Google it!
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17. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Consumers Want To Know The Details
Tip #14
Of The Details Of Your Product
-People need information in order to make a decision
-People are skeptical about things we fail to make them understand
-Still populating your website descriptions with those manufacture’s sales sheets?
Sales sheets often don’t include valuable information consumers need
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18. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #15 Allow Billing Information To Be Taken
From Outside The United States
- Yes, people outside the U.S.A. may want to ship your products to a friend or
relative living in the United States. Make it easy
for them to do so in your checkout.
- Common Questions:
1. Won’t this affect the tax I charge?
2. I don’t accept their currency, how
does this work?
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19. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #16 Use Call To Actions, not generics
-People need to be told what to do
-Examples,
- versus
- versus
-Use words that compel people to take an action, show a value, or create a
sense of urgency
-Fact: Dell Computer Corp made an extra $25 million dollars in sales by changing
“Learn More” to “Help Me Choose”
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20. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #17 Users Fill Out Top Aligned Label Forms Faster
Could mean the
difference between
abandoning and
completing the form
http://uxmovement.com/forms/faster-with-top-aligned-labels/
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21. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #18 Test Flows Using Google Analytics Funnel
Visualizations
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22. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #19 Form Abandonment Problems?
- Not sure why people are abandoning your email signup page?
- Add a Google event tracker for Google Analytics
<input name="first_name" onchange="pageTracker._trackEvent('Forms', this.form.action, this.name);" />
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23. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #20 Launching A New Website? You Must 301
Redirect Any Old Links
- Don’t lose all of your search engine traffic in one day!
- Tell Google, Bing, etc about your new links via a 301 redirect
- Ex, http://www.littletikes.com/toys/outdoor-toys.aspx
Other 301 uses
• Product discontinued? Some 301 to new product or a product category
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24. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #21 Track Internal “Not Found” searches
Have your developer do this with Google Analytics code:
<script type="text/javascript">
_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'WebsiteSearch', 'ZeroResults', 'nintendo wii']);
</script>
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25. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #22 Browser Test Your Website(s) Easily
Source:
http://browsershots.org, https://browserlab.adobe.com/en-us/index.html,
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26. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #23 Abandoned Shopping Cart Emails
- If you don’t have their email address, try to capture it on the first page of
checkout
- At Little Tikes, this email converts at 6 times our normal conversion rate
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27. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #24 Reengage Return Visitors Who Have A Cart
Source:
Idea generated by using onlineshoes.com
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28. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #25 Launch “Click To Chat”
- We used it at Little Tikes during the 4th Quarter of 2011 and converted 30% of
chatters to a sale
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29. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #26 Launch “Click To Call”
- Many people are going to feel uncomfortable about ordering online
- If possible, setup an easy way to schedule a call with a Consumer Service
representative
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30. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #27 Ask Your Customers For Product Reviews
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31. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #28 Find Your Competitors Back Links
- May provide value to you or help you find new affiliates or blogging partners
- In Google, use the following: link:www.yourcompetitor.com
- Better Way! In Google, use the following: "+www.websitename.+com"
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32. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #29 Live User Testing
- Usertesting.com is the
leader in this area
- Well worth the money!
- Watch one of my tests
here:
http://accounts.usertesting.com/ViewVideo.aspx?file=zVyRopcK2lM%3d
Use code eTailOneFree for 1 free test
Offer good for first 100 visitors
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33. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #30 Organize Internal Search Stop Words and Synonyms
- Stop Words. People will come to your site to search on:
1. Generic terms like “toys”, “products”, and your brand.
2. Brand
3. Competitors Brand
- Synonyms. People will search on your site for related terms to your product.
Are you setup to serve them relative content?
Whale Teeter Totter Triangle Bouncer Classic Pickup Truck
•See Saw?
•Bounce House? • Ford Truck?
•Bouncy House? • Chevy Truck?
•Bouncie House? • Black Truck?
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34. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #31 Google Rich Snippets
More Information
http://youtu.be/n0SF6PLCx4I
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35. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #32 Test Removing Non-Essential Navigation
Choices or Navigation Bar On Landing Pages
And Checkout. Don’t distract them!
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36. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #33 Craigslist Factor – Interrupt them
- Are your products sold on Craigslist?
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37. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #34 Requiring An Account To Order?
-If an account is really thought
to be needed, it deserves a
Google Analytics funnel to test
abandonment or an A/B split test
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38. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #35 Out Of Stock Items Up High On Search?
Tip #36 Do You Allow People To Sort By Rating?
Tip #37 Send Time Optimization at Your ESP
Tip #38 Mobile Website – Check To See If User Is
Local. On your phone,
http://www.playitagainsports.com
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39. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #39 Pay Attention To Possible Duplicate Content
-Feb. 24, 2011 – Google Panda Release
-Google won’t be able to distinguish between the good guys and the bad guys
- How To Test Yours? Take a piece of your content and put it within double
quotes within Google?
Tip: Do not use manufacturer supplied descriptions
Why Does This Matter?
With duplicate content,
Google can get confused
and lower your search
engine ranking.
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40. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #40 Find The Right Tool For The Job
- http://www.websitetestingtools.com/
- Many free tools that are very useful
- Reviews on Enterprise and Professional Tools
My favorite free tool
Is Ghostery for Firefox.
Allows you to see what
3rd parties your
competitors are running
on their sites
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41. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #41 Social Proof On Product Detail
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42. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #42 Implement An Economy Shipping Method
- UPS Basic – Launched in 2004. For contract customers only.
- FedEx Smart Post – Launched in October of 2004.
- Both originate from the carrier, but are delivered by the United States Postal
Service
- Pros
- Very cheap shipping prices
- Generally, only takes 1-3 days longer than standard ground carriers
- Cons
- Slower delivery
- Tracking not as reliable
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43. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #43 Re-Establish Relationship With Un-opens
On Your Email List With “Win Back” Campaigns
- Yes, many still want your email but don’t open or click
- Solution:
1. Send these un-openers an exclusive email to try to win them back
2. Try a new subject line like “We want you back!”
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44. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #43 View Your Email With Images Off
- Have your offer at the top of the email in plain text
- Do Not Use All Images!
- Change all of your image ALT tags to say what your offer is. This way, it’ll still
be printed on the page with images off.
- Always send a plain text version of your email along w/ the HTML version
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45. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #45 Are You Watching Your Site Speed?
- Marketers love large images!
- Developers love to not test!
Source:
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2010/04/using-site-speed-in-web-search-ranking.html
Tip #46 Try Geo-Targeting Your PPC Ads
- Free Shipping for people within X miles of your distribution center
- Local Pickup offers
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46. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #47 Add XML Sitemaps to Robots.txt file
Tip #48 Give Your Images Relative Names
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47. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #49 Put Spacing Between 2 Forms On A Page
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48. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Tip #50 Follow Industry Leaders On Twitter
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49. Summary - Key Takeaways Of This Presentation
I. Take a new Internet Marketing or Technical tip back to the
office
III. Learn new tips on gaining a boost in traffic, conversion, or
average order value
V. Always Be Testing….Test! Test! Test!
VII. Find out why these tips matter. Will they matter for you?
49

50. 50 E-Commerce And Internet Marketing Tips You May
Not Have Thought Of
Have questions on any of my tips?
@E_CommerceGuy on Twitter
davewjones@yahoo.com
David Jones
E-commerce Technical Architect Download presentation:
and Internet Marketing Specialist http://www.littletikes.com/etail
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