The Best Ecommerce Articles from July

In case you need something to read on holiday, here are some great articles about what's happening in the world of ecommerce:

• It can be hard to communicate with designers so that you get exactly what you want. This great article outlines how to write an effective design brief. From Quba, here.
• From Ecommerce Masterplan, this great podcast interview gives great insight into growing a multimillion pound business. See here.
• How are you innovating with your delivery options to compete with the biggest stores? Tesco is introducing one hour delivery. From Business Insider, here.
• From Bloomberg Technology, Amazon is joining companies like Stitch Fix and Trunk Club and entering the subscription box market. An interesting view here of how the biggest retailer of them all is getting serious about clothing - here. 
• The real trick to boosting conversion rates is to get your proposition right. This interesting article offers some thoughts on how to position your brand to drive more sales. From Econsultancy, here.

Top Ecommerce Articles from May

With a Bank Holiday Weekend approaching we thought you might like a bit of light reading for when you get bored of ice creams, sunshine and BBQs.

Here's a selection of some of the best ecommerce articles and blogs from around the web.

1. Google is changing their enhanced bid functionality, which may mean your cost per clicks could go up dramatically. Get the low down here: Enhanced CPC - The Latest Changes
2. Great insights into the need for - and the how-to of - international SEO - International SEO 5 Ways to Scale Performance
3. Can placing online orders ever be too easy? This article argues in favour of 'positive friction' - Why Increasingly Efficient UX Might Not Always Be A Good Thing
4. Google Optimize - Google's simple new split test tool - is now available for everyone. Here's a fairly dense but useful article explaining how to decide what to test and how to test: Conversion Optimisation - Research First Then Test
5. Does your current hosting solution mean you're leaving money on the table at Christmas? - 40% of Ecommerce Sites Crash During Seasonal Peaks

Need to know more? Visit our website here or send us an email to discuss your ecommerce needs. 

Top Ecommerce Articles from March

We've been busy at Moneyspyder on some exciting new projects so we've slackened off on the email front in the last couple of months.

So, after a bit of a break since our last email we're back with a round up of the most interesting news and blogs from the world of ecommerce.

1. If you're planning on moving your ecommerce site to a new agency, take a look at this good summary from Econsultancy of how to do it the right way - Nine Questions to Ask Your New Ecommerce Platform Supplier When Migrating
2. How good are you at producing regular, high quality content as part of your SEO strategy? Here are some tips from Search Engine Watch to get you going - 7 Quick Ways To Use Content Marketing to Boost Search Ranking
3. It's easy to forget that there's more to PPC than picking the right keywords. This article is a good reminder of the value of testing ad copy, and includes some good tips (From Search Engine Land) - Should You Bother Rewriting Your Ads
4. This is a great (but long) blog from Avinash Kaushik on the value of presenting data in an intelligent way to drive action. Perfect for anyone who has to create reports or motivate their boss - It's Not The Ink, It's The Think - 6 Effective Data Visualization Rules
5. From The Telegraph, MPs are debating the value of encouraging supermarkets to add 'Buy British' buttons. What do you think? Good idea or harebrained scheme? -Buy British Button Could Let Online Shoppers Filter Out Foreign Groceries 

Need to know more? Visit our website here or send us an email to discuss your ecommerce needs. 

How to Grow Your Ecommerce Business in 2017

It's that time of year when Ecommerce blogs and news sites take great pleasure in publishing their trend predictions for 2017. We've read them all, and re-read the ones from 2016 and have decided they're not very useful. 

Most trend list articles recommend new plugins and gimmicks that promise to make life easier and improve your bottom line (think drone delivery). The reality, however, is that ecommerce growth comes from a disciplined, multi-channel approach that isn't afraid to take risks and record the results.

Having said all that, here's our spin on the top trends for 2017, and for every year:

• The Increasing Importance of Mobile (this is mentioned in every article, every year) - If you still don't have a mobile site and a mobile strategy then, quite frankly, you're mad. With over 50% of internet traffic now mobile, if you don't have a mobile friendly site you are closing yourself off to at least half of your potential customer base. 
• Live Customer Engagement and Customer Services - Live Chat, phone lines where customers can talk to real people and humane refund and replace policies have been around forever, but as the ecommerce landscape gets more competitive, hugging your best customers will become more important.
• Delivery and Returns - Again, a good delivery and return strategy has always been essential but, with the onward march of Amazon Prime, businesses have to think long and hard about how they can offer next day delivery at attractive prices, or risk losing out to the big players. 
• Payments - Think back to how many times recently you have bought something from Amazon simply because it's easier when they have your card and address details already on file. What's more, as of 2016, phone and contactless payments are here to stay. When did you last talk to your payment solutions provider (PSP) with regards to one click payments?
• Content - The mantra 'Content is King' wasn't invented last year, or the year before. It's been around for ages. But as competition for ecommerce eyeballs grows it becomes even more important to create content and create a solid brand that will make a compelling case for your products over anybody else's (eg. Amazon).

So, as always, success in ecommerce is about a strong proposition, a decent site and a disciplined approach to marketing and communication. Hard work, not gimmicks, will win the day in 2017.

If you want help reviewing your recent performance and identifying areas where you could create a step-change in results this year, do get in touch. We have over ten years experience helping ecommerce businesses grow, and we'd love to help you.

Is it too early to mention Christmas Ecommerce?

While the summer tries to make a stuttering start we thought it was about time to start thinking about how to maximise Christmas performance. As with all things, a successful ecommerce Christmas relies on careful planning and doing simple things well.

So, with apologies for bringing up Christmas in July, here are our top tips for getting prepared for the Christmas rush ahead of time:

1. Mine Your Data - Your most valuable resource for deciding what you should do next Christmas is data you have from last Christmas. Look at who bought from you and when in previous years. Use this build build segments for your email campaigns. Review what products you sold most of last year. Can these categories be expanded? Are there any categories that didn't sell well? Additionally, review which promotions worked the best; what times of year and what types of promotion were they? 
2. Last posting dates - Speak to your couriers now. You may not have checked, but Christmas Day falls on a Sunday, which means that the week before will be critical to your business. Yet with DPD stating in Feb 2016 that they where already at capacity that week, based on contracted volumes, don't just assume that all will be well for you. 
3. Embrace PPC - You might not normally use PPC but at Christmas it can be a great way to cut through the competition and boost traffic and sales. Customers are more likely to convert at Christmas which means better margins than the rest of the year. Google Shopping feeds, Remarketing Lists and image ads can take time to get right, especially if you have to go through external developers and designers so give yourself plenty of time to set these up. 
4. Optimise Mobile & Tablet - 40% of ecommerce transactions last December were on mobile of tablet. We would hope that everybody has a responsive mobile template by now but are you doing everything you can to make it easy to buy from you on mobile? Adding simple payment solutions like Paypal can give your conversion rates a real boost. 
5. Improve Conversion with Plugins - Basket Abandonment functionality and review software, like Feefo or Trustpilot, are proven to improve conversion rates. We've seen great results with both types of software. If you want to get the most out of these improvements before Christmas, you're going to have to get coding and testing soon. (The same goes for mobile and tablet changes!). We recommend a 'code freeze' in Q4 to prevent any unexpected bugs and changes taking down the site during peak business. 

Need to know more? Visit our website here or send us an email to discuss your ecommerce needs.

Top Ecommerce Trends 2016

Now that we've survived the first two weeks back after Christmas, it's starting to feel like 2016 has begun. As usual at this time of year there has been a flurry of emails, blogs and articles about what is going to change in Ecommerce this year.

We've picked out our favourite, most actionable insights -

1. Smart phone revenue may finally overtake desktop revenue. If you don't have a mobile site, you need to get one. (Econsultancy)
2. Listing products on marketplaces - like Amazon - will become even more important as a way of reaching customers (Webretailer).
3. It will become even more important to look after your top customers(Ometria). What are you doing to turn your best customers into your best brand ambassadors?
4. Customers are going to become more security and privacy conscious(Mercurytide). This means you need to upgrade to HTTPS if you haven't already, and make sure you are extra clear about how you use customer data. 
5. Shipping is changing (Ventureburn). Amazon has already rolled out same-day delivery in London. What can your site offer that gives you a competitive edge on that?

Need help transforming your 2015 website into a 2016-ready business? We can help. Drop us a line at info@moneyspyder.co.uk.

Summer Is Ending - Is Your Christmas Ecommerce Plan Ready?

Now that September is here, your minds will surely be turning towards your Christmas Ecommerce Plan (if they haven't already!). Many ecommerce companies make more than half their revenue in the last three months of the year so It's important to make sure you have a clear online marketing plan that will deliver sales.

Here are our top five tips to get ecommerce success this Christmas:

1. Email & Social Media Plan - In the final hectic weeks before Christmas it's easy to fall behind on email and social media. This can be a costly oversight, so make sure you have all your emails and key posts planned well in advance, so all you have to do is press send and watch the sales come in.
2. Christmas SEO - It's never to early to launch your Christmas Gifts category and product pages. Give yourself an edge by uploading your categories early, and updating copy on your site to reflect the upcoming season so that Google can index your new products.
3. Google Shopping - Make sure your products have maximum visibility in Google as people are much more likely to convert in one visit during the festive season. Google Shopping ROI will soar over the next few months.
4. Brand PPC - Although you might not run PPC throughout the year, running brand PPC at Christmas allows you to tailor your brand copy, landing pages and sitelinks to Christmas traffic, to improve conversion rates.
5. RLSA - Remarketing Lists For Search Ads allow you to show ads for broad keywords only to previous visitors to your site. Eg. You would never normally bid on 'Christmas Gifts For Men' keywords but with RLSA you can ensure that only users who have visited your site see these adverts in Google. Christmas is the ideal time to experiment with these campaigns.

Get in touch if you would like any help or advice about getting the most out of the festive season.

Best Ecommerce Articles from Around the Web - November Edition

Well, it's official - Amazon is predicting that online Christmas sales will peak at 6pm on 2nd December. Now that has been sorted out, here is a round up of some of the most useful articles and blog posts we've read this month.

So if you need a bit of inspiration to bump up your Christmas site conversion, or improve your content, look no further:

1.             7 Ecommerce Optimization Tips to Help You Achieve Record Breaking Holiday Sales - A good checklist for making the most of Christmas sales. Read here.

2.             What content marketers can learn from the 'Jerusalem' cookbook - An interesting article reiterating the importance of interesting content that looks great; tell a story, add quality images. Read here.

3.             Search: Not Provided: What Remains, Keyword Data Options, the Future - Everything you need to know about (not provided) keywords in Analytics and how to cope. Read here

4.             Future of retail is in ‘bricks and clicks’, says John Lewis - A good mobile site is the link between online and in-store purchase. More stats from John Lewis here.

5.             The 7 High-Converting Places to Add Email Sign-Up Forms to Build Your List - A comprehensive look at where to put your email sign-up forms. Read here.

If you need help with any of the above areas - site optimisation, content creation, Analytics, SEO or email marketing - take a look at our site to see what we do, or drop us an email.

Regards

The MoneySpyder team

Best Ecommerce Articles from Around the Web - July Edition

Just in case you were looking for some light weekend reading we thought we would share some of the most useful articles and blog posts we've read this month.

So if you need a bit of inspiration to bump up your site conversion, or to help you think smarter thoughts about your marketing strategy, look no further:

1. Ecommerce Customer Service Lessons From America - Great tips from the land of customer service. Read here.
2. 12 Useful Tips for Webform Optimisation - No list like this would be complete without something about making your checkout better. Read here.
3. See, Think, Do - A Content, Marketing, Measurement Business Framework  - Simplify how you think about your business by reading this complicated article. Read here.
4. 25 Mindblowing Email Marketing Stats - Use these numbers to improve your email campaigns. Read here.
5. Top 10 Retargeting Tips Guide - A simple checklist to make sure your retargeting is on the right track. Read here.

If you need help with any of the above areas - best practice design, online marketing strategy, retargeting or email marketing - take a look at our site to see what we do, or drop us an email.

MoneySpyder Celebrates Seven Years!

The 1st July marked MoneySpyder's seventh birthday. It's been a great year for us.
Recent highlights have been speaking at Sheerluxe (see our summary slides here). Last month we launched our newest site Sentwithalovingkiss.co.uk and we've got more on the way this summer. We have also welcomed Chris Reeve, a new addition to our development team.

To find out more about working with us email info@moneyspyder.co.uk or give us a call on 0207 492 1929.

Best Ecommerce Articles from Around the Web - May Edition

Just in case you were looking for some light weekend reading we thought we would give you a round up of some of the most useful articles and blog posts we've read this week. So if you need a bit of inspiration for your site content or need to brush up on your Analytics look no further: Eight Silly Data Myths Marketing People Believe That Get Them Fired - Analytics guru Avinash Kaushik gives a robust view of the do's and don'ts of making decisions based on data. Read here. The Advanced Guide to Content Marketing - An in-depth guide to planning and executing your content strategy. Useful even if you don't get past the Contents page. Read here. Six Case Studies and Infographics on the Optimal Time to Send Emails - Less than 50% of companies test when they should send their emails. Read here. The Small Business Guide to Youtube - Youtube is the second biggest search engine in the world. This article will help you make the most out of it. Read here. Debunking the Myths of Big Data - A short but sweet reminder to keep things simple when it comes to writing and tracking your emails from Adestra. Read here. Need help on any of the above topics? Get in touch. See our site for more about Ecommerce Consulting and Ecommerce Solutions.

PPC Review Case Study

TeamSeer Adwords Review

TeamSeer is a market leading absence management software provider. Their long term Adwords Campaigns weren’t generating as many leads as they had been a year earlier. As a marketing channel, something had to be done.

Method

Using Analytics we reviewed year-on-year performance and identified the factors that had changed that might explain the decline in performance. We also undertook Keyword Research to assess how relevant their 1+ year old keyword mix still was to the market.

Results

Once we put the numbers on context we found that traffic levels had remained constant but the conversion rate had been slipping.

We sat down with them and took them through our list of recommendations. There was a set of immediate changes that would improve conversion and traffic relevance as well as a list of longer term areas to improve and test. Particular areas for optimisation were bid price, ad copy and keyword relevance.

Outcome

Improvements were instantaneous. The new bidding strategy and keyword work increased click through rates and conversions increased 80%. We are now working with them to reduce cost per conversion and increase keyword relevance.

 

“MoneySpyder’s Adwords Review gave us immediate perspective on what was wrong with our campaigns. We were able to make changes that had a positive impact within days.”

- Peter Wake, TeamSeer

Click to find out more about our Adwords Review and SEO Audit.

If you need help with your online marketing strategy, give us a ring on 0207 492 1929 or email info@moneyspyder.co.uk.