What the new Google Analytics Content Experiments don’t do, and why that’s a good thing

If you are a multi-channel retailer and haven’t dipped your toe into split-testing as a means to optimise your conversion rate now is the perfect time to start.

Google Website Optimiser (GWO) has shut down and been replaced by the Content Experiments section of Google Analytics. This is great news. It’s not only easier to see test results, it’s also easier to set-up and run tests.

Here's some functionality that has been lost in the change-over:

You can’t do multivariate testing

 

You can’t have lots of tests running at one time. That is, you can only do A/B tests. For the beginner this is perfect. You’re no longer excused from testing because it’s too complicated or it you can’t understand the complicated results.

So where do you start?

You might try increasing the size of your product images on your category page to see if you get more people clicking though to the product page or adding to basket. Or you might move some more products above the fold so that your full range is visible to people landing on your site for the first time.

Other things to test might be as simple as the efficacy of your product copy or whether your ‘Contact Us’ form could be shorter. For a full run-down of how you can improve your conversion contact us about our Ecommerce Mentoring programme.

Because you're restricted to simple tests, testing has become simple. There’s no excuse not to!

 

You can’t see your results for two weeks

 

On GWO there was endless fretting over when your tests were giving you statistically significant results and when you should turn off your tests. By not showing you results for two weeks Google is telling you to stop worrying and write some marketing emails or work on your SEO.

When it’s done it’s done.

You can’t run tests on all types of goal

For example, you can’t track visit duration or pages/visit. Fear not, you can run tests on how many people reach specific URL destinations or perform specific actions.

This is good news. If you make your goals simple and easy to understand the results will be simple and easy to understand. Keep your eyes firmly on the end goal of turning visitors into customers.

We love running tests for our clients on our own Ecommerce Platform, and equally enjoy helping others improve their conversion with our Ecommerce Consulting. Give us a ring on 0207 492 1929 or drop us a line at info@moneyspdyder.co.uk to find out how we can help you.

5 SEO Tools for Ecommerce Business Owners

This is a post for multi-channel business owners. A well measured SEO campaign is vital to keep your traffic levels and revenue stream healthy.

There are lots of great blogs to teach you everything you need to know about SEO. Lots of them, however, skip the first couple of steps and jump right into advanced SEO technique or theory.

To address that, here are five great Google tools to get you started:

1. Google Analytics - Are you set up properly on Google Analytics? Do you know how to log into your Google Analytics?

 

Do you use this free service? The traffic sources report shows how much traffic you’re getting and which channels convert the best. Use the Organic Keyword report to see which keywords your site is optimised for. This is just the tip of the iceberg – Analytics can do much more than this. If you’re not getting the most from your Analytics Set-Up, get in touch to find out more about our services.

2. Don’t neglect Webmaster Tools. This free auxiliary tool will give you information on your sitemap and how well you’re ranking on Google. 

 

Your sitemap tells Google how to find the pages on your website. If you don’t have one you are making it harder for Google to index your site straight out of the gate.

3. Merchant Centre – Are your products appearing in Google Shopping results? If not, you will be missing out on valuable free sales and visits. 

 

Getting the XML file to include all the relevant details can be a tricky job, especially with regular changes Google is making to their requirements. Get some help setting these up and submitting your data feeds.

4. The Google Keyword Tool is invaluable for finding out how many people a month are searching for your products and what terms they are using. 

 

For example, it’s no good optimising your site for the term “ecommerce solutions” if there are only 50 searches for it a month and there are 5000 searches for “ecommerce platform” a month.

 5. SEOMoz isn’t a Google product but it is an extremely useful piece of software to get you started on SEO. 

 

The core to a good SEO campaign is getting links from other highly ranked sites. Links to your site tell Google that other sites consider you to be a good site. The more high quality links you have, the better your ranking will be. SEOMoz allows you to see where your links are coming from. It also tells you where your competitors are getting their ranking from.

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These five tools will give you insight into your site and allow you to make changes immediately that will improve your ROI and measure the results.

Take action today and see what happens – learning about the state of your website and addressing some basic problems will result in some quick wins, an increase in ranking, more visits and most importantly, more sales.

Call us on 0207 492 1929 or take a look at our ecommerce consulting page. We have our own platform so are well versed in the problems faced by multi-channel retailers.

Social Media Reporting

Last week Google announced their new Social Reports for Google Analytics. This is great news for multi-channel retailers. It’s always been hard to justify spending marketing budget, and more importantly, spending time, on social media. It has always been difficult to prove that it delivers ROI, and that it’s measurable. This is all beginning to change for social media.

Last year Hitwise calculated that a ‘like’ on Facebook was worth 20 extra visits to your site over the course of the year. Now, with the new social reports that are being rolled out over the next couple of weeks on Google Analytics you will be able to see the value of social media as part of your customers’ buying cycle.

Now we can see the value of social media the real challenge is finding out what content on your site is going to make your existing users share your pages on Facebook and Twitter. And what content on your Facebook and Twitter pages is going to engage people enough to ‘like’ your page and, most importantly, buy that great Map Jigsaw their friend just Tweeted about.

Moneyspyder’s ecommerce platform is designed with measurability and adaptability in mind. We’re looking to share our expertise with people who want to be at the cutting edge of ecommerce.

For more information on how we can help you build a great website or with ecommerce consulting email us on info@moneyspyder.co.uk or call 0207 492 1929.

Mobile Ecommerce

Do you have a mobile friendly ecommerce platform?

Mobile commerce is booming. By 2020 there will be 10 billion mobile internet devices in the world and only 5 billion non-mobile internet devices. Smart phone shopping is quickly becoming the method of choice for online shoppers. How does your site hold up?

63% of online consumers use their mobile for shopping (Econsultancy, 2011). Our clients have all seen exponential growth in mobile use to browse and to shop. Visitor numbers and revenue have multiplied by as much as 500% in 2011 compared to 2010 for some of our clients.

What should you do about it?

If you don’t have an app, don’t worry. Apps can be an expensive up-front expense. Something you should definitely consider is a new set of templates for your site that show exclusively to mobile users.

There are some simple rules to follow to make your mobile users happy. For example, make it easy to search for products and make category titles bigger and easier to navigate.

For more information about our mobile templates, or to find out more about our ecommerce platform, call us on 0207 492 1929.