Online shoppers are a fickle lot. They drop by to see your stuff and then poof; they’re off chasing a better deal or chatting up a friend on Facebook. Consequently, optimizing every aspect of your ecommerce program is absolutely essential. Here’s a list that should help, compiled based on the findings of 100+ top ecommerce sites that are currently optimizing 50 million conversions per month.

1. Info Sheet: 10 Essentials of Ecommerce Optimization & Attribution
Find out more or get in touch at www.TagMan.com
VIEWPOINT
10 Essentials of Ecommerce
Optimization & Attribution
Online shoppers are a fickle lot. They drop by to see your stuff and then poof; they’re off
chasing a better deal or chatting up a friend on Facebook. Consequently, optimizing every
aspect of your ecommerce program is absolutely essential. Here’s a list that should help,
compiled based on the findings of 100+ top ecommerce sites that are currently optimizing
50 million conversions per month.
1. Don’t be the tortoise
When it comes to page loading times, lack of speed kills. One study suggests that every 100 milliseconds
of extra load time can cost 1% of your potential sales. And while lots of rich media content can
slow you down, so too can all the tags you’re using to track performance. Analysts like Forrester
are now recommending tag management systems to mitigate the page weight related issues
created by all your tags.
2. Start at the top
Since we’ve already established the importance of a fast loading page, you now have some decisions
to make as to what should load first. The answer is surprisingly basic. Work your way from the
top down, loading items above the fold first, demonstrating to your visitor that you value his/
her time. It is a simple truth that if a site looks fast on first glance, people are more likely to hang
around long enough to complete a transaction.
3. Serve no tag before its time
Without a tag management system in place, sites simply load all their tags at once, even when
they’re irrelevant to the visitor. This slows down the page and ignores all the data you probably
have on your visitor. For example, why load the re-targeting tag if the user has already been
cookied? Or if a visitor has come in search of a low-margin product why load Live Chat? Aligning
the tags you serve with visitor data improves results all the way round.
4. Clean up with a clean look
Just like in the real world, a messy storefront will cost you customers, a loss that will be
compounded if the mess carries over to the inside of the store. Both your landing page and
subsequent pages need to be more than broom clean, carefully organized with idiot-proof
navigational paths. Avoid the “and another thing” syndrome after the initial site launch or
makeover, substitute new for old rather than trying to cram in more.
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2. Info Sheet: 10 Essentials of Ecommerce Optimization & Attribution
Find out more or get in touch at www.TagMan.com
5. Get the band back together
Even a cleanly designed site won’t make the cash register sing if all the marketing contributors
aren’t marching to the same drum. Whether you do all your marketing in-house or with a myriad
of partners, ecommerce won’t be optimized until email, display, social, re-targeting, SEM and
SEO activities are all working in concert. Orchestrating monthly/quarterly meetings of the whole
“band” should be music to your ears.
6. Wait wait come back here
Every second, millions of potential customers abandon shopping carts, leaving ecommerce sites
like jilted brides alone at the alter. But don’t waste your time on tears, figure out why they left
you and respond accordingly. If they are off doing more research, retarget them, ideally with
specific offers that will bring them back. If they are current customer, a personalized email with
a gentle nudge could also save the day.
7. Do it yourself coupons
Online shoppers in great numbers regularly dart away from the shopping cart in search of discount
codes/online coupons. Promulgated by ubiquitous couponing sites, these coupons bring the
customer back but bite into your margins. One way to fight this is by creating your own couponing
sites that load customized coupons based on user data. This approach will bring more customers
back and lower your affiliate/commission payments.
8. Take it personal
Like the concierge who knows your favorite table or the bartender who remembers shaken not
stirred as your martini preference, provide a personalized service wherever possible. If you know
they browsed guns and swords last visit, you probably don’t want to start the next one with
glasses and sinks. Similarly, if you know their zip code, you’ll want to let the customer know if
their purchase will be tax free, information that could help close the sale.
9. Make time for real-time attribution
While the arrival of pay-per-click advertising transformed digital marketing forever, the
accompanying dependence on the “last click” metric became an unfortunate by-product that
many, including Forrester, insist must be revisited. But in order to have a clear picture of the
customer journey, ecommerce marketers need new tools, like tag management systems that
allow them to monitor and attribute performance in real-time.
10. Have a happy holiday
A huge percentage of sites depend on holiday sales for a disproportionate amount of annual
sales and profit. Site traffic goes way up and on Cyber Monday, can spike to the stratosphere.
Are you ready for this onslaught? Expanding your bandwidth should not be limited to server
capacity. Remember to bolster things like inventory and customer service. A little preparation
in these areas will go along way to insure that this year, even you will have a happy holiday.
Cheers to that!
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