Using Google Website Optimizer and Analytics to Maximize your Ecommerce Sales (Case Study)

Don’t Increase Ad Spend… Optimize to Maximize! Chicago December 9, 2008 Chris Benson Vice President & CTO Audio Editions Kayden Kelly CEO & Managing Director Blast Advanced Media

Challenge #1 Downloads

30 % OFF + FREE Shipping Challenge #2 Fierce Competition

Consumer Confidence at 5 Year Low Budgets Being Cut Challenge #3 Recession

Benefit Cost Forever! 1 time 1 time Increase Conversion Buy More Traffic What’s the Best Plan of Action? 1 time

Optimize!
Low Medium High Change CR Increase Per Year 5.00% 2.3% $150,000 25.00% 2.7% $775,000 50.00% 3.2% $1,500,000 Maximize Conversion Conversion Rate 2.15%

Tools Analytics - Website Optimizer - 4Q Survey How do you increase conversion? Benchmark, Goals, Changes, Measure, Repeat Pyramid Credit: Future Now

1 – Benchmark & Set Goals Approach 2 – Qualitative Analysis 5 – Campaign Optimization 4 – Website Optimizer Tests 3 – Quantitative Analysis

Increase Overall Site Conversion 25%
Benchmark 2.1%
Goal 2.7%
Increase Online Consumer Sales 100%
Benchmark $150,000/month
Goal $300,000/month
Reduce PPC Cost Per Conversion 50%
Benchmark $60
Goal $30
Step 1: Benchmark & Set Goals

Step 2: Qualitative Analysis Watch – What, Where, How Identify Obstacles

4Q Surveys

Catalog Request overwhelming
Category Page dissatisfaction
Don’t want to Register
Not enough Product info
Duplicate Products Alert Midwest tape has function on its website and is extremely helpful.
What We Learned

Key Process Steps
External & Internal Search
Top Exits
Bounce Rate
Merchandising Strategy
Step 3: Quantitative Analysis Identified Opportunities

Setup Goals Are people taking the desired actions?
Configure Goals
Setup Funnel Steps

Where are people abandoning in the process?

Complete Arkangel Shakespeare Searches 119 Sales 0 (Requires “Site Search” Tracking in Google Analytics) Are they finding it and buying? What are your users looking for?

Losing 2 of 3 users on Popular Pages Top Exits

30-90% Bouncing on Product Detail June 2008 Product Detail Bounce Rate Nov 2008 After Removing Major Obstacle

30%  8% Eliminated Obstacle Eliminated Obstacle

Requires enabling “Ecommerce Tracking” in Google Analytics
Merchandising Strategy
Home Page
Category Page
Analysis & Decisions
Google Analytics
Website Optimizer
GWO + GA
Top Searches
Analyze
Price
Clicks
Revenues
Transactions
Revenue Contribution

Product Revenues Dropped 89%
Last 11 days of October 28 Orders
Last 11 days of November 3 Orders
Don’t Steal from Yourself

Top of Funnel
Higher Traffic
Key Process Step
Test Examples
Catalog Request
Category
Tested Step 4: Website Optimizer Tests

Website Optimizer Setup

What are we testing?
What is a conversion?
Action want to test
Hypothesis?
State Question
Predicted Outcome
First Test: Catalog Request

A - Original
Verbiage Too Long
Asking Too Much
Too Many Distractions
A

Removed Columns
Larger Catalog image
Simplified form to minimum info needed
A - New B

A B Pick the Winner Winner! Increased Conversion +67%

Catalog Request Test Results Not Convinced…

A - Original A Follow Up Test

A Variation 1 B

A Variation 2
Added
Email Newsletter
B

A Variation 3
Added
Email Newsletter
How did you find us?
B

B: Variation 1 +42%
B: Variation 2
Email Opt-in
+17%
B: Variation 3
Email Opt-in
How did you find us +30%
A / B Test Winner? A: Original

Email Opt-in & How Heard -11% Email Newsletter Opt-in -25% Not Just Layout…

What are we testing?
Top of the Funnel
Usability tests showed dissatisfaction
What is a conversion?
Any category link or product link
Hypothesis?
5-10% Increased conversion
Major Impact on Sales Funnel
Next Test: Category Page

Conversion Enhancement – Option 2 B

Pick the Winner A B Winner! Increased Conversion +10%

Price Points
Product Copy
Highlight Differentiators
Free Shipping
Customer Service
Guarantees
High Impact Test Elements

Best Practices are starting point, they are not rules, you must Test!
Keep it Simple (major changes, fewer variations)
Conversion within 1-click
Test Pages with Most Potential Impact
Top of Funnel
Higher Traffic
Key Process Step
Disable Poor Performing Variations
Failed Tests are still successes (prevent damage)
Top 5 GWO Tips (for Immediate Feedback)

Shifted Focus “ audio books”  “books on cd/tape” 0% - 1.7% 2.3% - 3.1% Step 5: Optimize Marketing Campaigns

Restructured PPC
more focused topical ad groups with ~1-4 keywords
Identified “Free Shipping” Disconnect
Added Negative Keywords (i.e. “book shelf speakers”)
Improved Quality Score 2, 3, 4’s  7, 8, 9’s Decreased Spend 9% Increased conversion rate 61% Increased AOV 33% Increased Revenues 85% Optimized PPC

Future Opportunity  Currently Int’l Traffic Too Expensive
Current Focus  Maximize Marketing Budget
Eliminated International PPC since Non-Proportional ROI
vs. International 1/3 Traffic USA 2/3 Traffic Segmentation 96% 4% Revenues

Identified Issues Research (Recommendations Spreadsheet) Implemented Fixes (Proper Heading Tags, Meta Descriptions, Page Titles, etc) Site Optimization for Free Search Rankings

Consumer Traffic +20,000/month Cheaper Traffic! versus SEO CPC $0.02 240,000 visits/yr ($7k) PPC CPC $0.56 107,000 visits/yr ($60k)

33% Consumer Purchases +64% (595  978) Conversion Rate +19% Goal: Increase Consumer Sales Result: Sales up Quality Traffic?

(Subsidiary of Blast Advanced Media)
Streamlined Checkout (No Accounts Required)
Robust Promotion Mgmt
Up/Cross-Selling
100% Search Engine Friendly
Marketing Focused
Website Optimizer
Analytics
Adwords
Maps
Graphing
Google Integration Next Steps: New Ecommerce Platform

Twitter @blastam Website Optimization Blog www.blastam.com/broadcast Email [email_address] [email_address] Don’t Increase Ad Spend… Optimize to Maximize!

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Using Google Website Optimizer and Analytics to Maximize your Ecommerce Sales (Case Study)

by Kayden Kelly on Dec 22, 2008

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