99 Bottles of Beer On the Wall...
Like the song, online optimization can be repetitious. Unlike the song, it can be rewarding. Here's how. Sep 26, 2008
The Interactive Marketer 2.0
Want to maximize sales, increase conversions, and increase your return on marketing spend? Here are some tips on how to become a marketer who understands how to optimize and plan for visitor intent, not just traffic. Jun 20, 2008
Borders.com Takes Control of Its Online Destiny
Can the bookseller make a dent in Amazon's business? What Borders is doing right and tips for improving the customer experience. Jun 6, 2008
How to Gain and Act on Customer Insights
Analytics will only tell what people are doing. Knowing why they are doing it can give you powerful optimization tool. May 23, 2008
Marketing Lessons From Apple
While Apple uses traditional means and media to promote itself, it also markets itself in unexpected places and ways. Jan 4, 2008
Is Your Marketing Out of Sync?
An interview with Seth Godin on his new book, "Meatball Sundae," and mixing old and new marketing. Dec 21, 2007
Online Retailers Fail Customer Experience 101
Retailers are falling far short of offering even adequate online customer experiences. Some easy-to-implement changes to convert more Web site visitors into buyers. Dec 7, 2007
Guarantee Holiday Sales
What are you doing for your gift recipients this holiday season? Nov 9, 2007
Below the Tip of the Iceberg
Just because prospects don't know how to search the way you hope they will doesn't mean they aren't qualified and ready to buy. Mar 2, 2007
We Tried That Already
Trying conversion rate optimization and online testing is much different than succeeding at it. This column is for those who tried it already. Feb 16, 2007
More Profitable Online Publishing
In online journalism, what's the transaction? A primer for publishers, bloggers, journalists, and content creators. Feb 2, 2007
The Value of Online Traffic
Your traffic costs way less than what it's worth. What are you going to do about it? Jan 19, 2007
Delete Your E-Mail List
Why we pulled up our list of 40,000 e-mail subscribers -- and hit "delete!" Jan 5, 2007
2006: The Year Mass Media Got a Clue
In 2006, the emerging media market reached critical mass -- and seriously threatened long-held marketing assumptions. Dec 22, 2006
Building More Effective "Contact Us" Pages
Ensure visitors don't become frustrated before they reach out to you. That's the key measure of a good "Contact Us" page. Aug 18, 2006
What does your "About Us" page say about your business? Aug 4, 2006
Three Steps to Creating Better Category Pages
Offline stores meticulously plan every detail of the shopping experience. So should e-tailers. These three questions will help create better category pages. Jul 21, 2006
Do You Want Traffic or Business?
People say they want traffic, but what they really want is business. That makes traffic quality the whole burrito. May 26, 2006
Multichannel Marketing Challenges, Part 1
Multichannel marketing and sales efforts create many new opportunities but also new problems. What to expect, and how to handle it. Aug 19, 2005
Calculate Your Conversion Rates
Uncover a wealth of information you can use to make your site a lean, mean persuasion machine. Jul 28, 2005
Optimize Online Lead-Gen for Offline Sales
Better technology and persuasive planning will not only increase lead generation, but also measure and optimize it. Jul 22, 2005
Advertising Is Dying
Traditional advertising is dying, while persuasion is alive and kicking. Jul 8, 2005
Create Landing Pages That Convert
Site traffic is getting costlier. Make your dollars go further with landing pages that truly convert. Mar 18, 2005
The Next Step: The Web Analytics Association
Most marketers understand how important measurement is. The challenge is what to do with the resulting data. Enter the WAA. Mar 4, 2005
Making Personas Sparkle Like Diamonds, Part 1
Personas are often discussed only theoretically. In this series, tools for creating your own customer personas. Part one of a two-part series. Jan 21, 2005
Reconcile Rising SEO Costs With ROI
As organic optimization costs rise, don't abandon common sense in favor of keyword position. Sometimes, a prime position in search listings actually hurts sales. Nov 12, 2004
The User-Centric Design Trap
Most sites can benefit from user-centric design. But how, why, and when it's applied makes a big difference to a commercial site's performance. Sep 17, 2004
The Five Issues that Persuade Visitors
Have you taken the time to understand how they feel? Five elementsthat instill confidence in online shoppers. Sep 10, 2004
Web Analytics for Retailers, Part 3
The advanced analytics reports retailers need to optimize conversion rates and maximize online sales. Part three of a series. Sep 3, 2004
Web Analytics for Retailers, Part 2
How different retailers use various vendors' analytics reports to boost conversion and improve site performance. Part two of a series. Aug 27, 2004
In Search of Web Analytics Excellence
How to shop for a Web analytics tool -- and how to squeeze every drop of value out of that solution. Jul 2, 2004
Make a Business Case to Improve Conversion
Even if you're not a renegade like our case-study hero, the simplest changes can improve conversion dramatically. Jun 25, 2004
Fix Navigation to Improve Conversions, Part 2
How to help online customers find what they want (even when they don't know what they want). Part two of a three-part series. Apr 23, 2004
Fix Navigation to Improve Conversions, Part 1
How to help online customers find what they want (even when they don't know what they want). Part one of a three-part series. Apr 16, 2004
What Does Conversion Rate Really Measure?
Used properly, site analytics are the crystal ball of user behavior. Persuade them before they buy (or leave). Feb 27, 2004
Metrics, Six Sigma, and Improved ROI
You established metrics for your online marketing. You use metrics to track and report your efforts. Congratulations. Now what? Nov 21, 2003
The Value of a Second
What's the value of the time visitors spend on your site? Nov 7, 2003
Hyperlink to Persuasion
Separate superior conversion rates from mediocre ones. How to craft links that persuade. Oct 31, 2003
Shopping Cart Abandonment Is Not the Issue
Too many marketers are trying to fix the wrong problem. Instead, direct energy and resources toward the three site issues that can vastly improve conversion. Oct 24, 2003
Image, and Web Site Images
Graphics are more than window-dressing. Do your site graphics inform, persuade and sell? When are images better than words? Oct 10, 2003
It's Not the Price, It's the Value
Locking yourself into price competition is a losing proposition. If you're providing value, your customers may even be willing to pay more. Jul 4, 2003
SEO: Search Engine Optimists?
Marketers are waking up to the power of search. Too bad they often squander the opportunity. Jun 27, 2003
How High Is Your Hurdle?
Creating a Web presence is easy, but it shouldn't be that easy. May 2, 2003
Neither the Time Nor the Place
Buying online's a linear process. Ease people into converting by providing the right information at the appropriate stage. Apr 25, 2003
Turning $0.40 Into $200.00
What's the difference between coffee at harvest and at Starbucks? A whole lot of value. Apr 18, 2003
Shopus Interruptus
Have you created an online version of shopping purgatory? No wonder customers abandon full carts. Mar 28, 2003
Want to Persuade? First, Delight!
Delighted customers are loyal customers -- and that makes everyone happy. Bryan offers some delightful ideas. Mar 21, 2003
How Are You Measuring Customers?
When you're too focused on making quarterly financial goals, you may lose sight of what's really important. Feb 7, 2003
The Bucks, Not the Bucs
Are advertisers living a lie perpetuated by agencies? Bryan thinks so. Jan 31, 2003
Redesign Time?
Companies are taking a hard look at their Internet initiatives. Many have decided it's redesign time as soon as the busy holiday season is over. Oct 18, 2002
What Should You Measure?
Everything's measurable -- but don't measure everything. Define what you need to know to meet your objective. Sep 27, 2002
Are We There Yet?
Usability experts' focus on download speed is sorely misplaced. Sep 20, 2002
Seven Ways to Boost Conversion Rates
Simple doesn't always mean easy. The obvious is too often overlooked. Bryan offers seven basic (yet crucial) tactics to persuade prospects to buy. Sep 13, 2002
Communicating Perceptual Reality
Credibility counts. On your site, for your brand, and for marketing as a profession. Marketers, can you explain your job credibly? Aug 16, 2002
Bitter Taste, Sweet Results
It's unappetizing, but swallowing your editor's medicine produces healthier copy. Aug 9, 2002
Can't Smell It on the Web?
The right copy can sell anything on the Web -- even if it has to be touched, tasted, or smelled to be truly experienced. Aug 2, 2002
Branding As a Simple Science
Bryan offers the three key elements to understanding -- and implementing -- branding. Jul 19, 2002
Confronting Relevance
Relevance is what your customers want. Here's what it is and how to deliver it. Jul 12, 2002
'Web Analytics' No Longer Means Web Rage
Information overload? For marketers, that once meant knowing how many visitors' browsers were version 6.0 versus 6.0.1. The new generation of analytics tools generate information you can actually use. Jun 28, 2002
The ROI of Free
When dollars and cents aren't the only metric: tracing the value of intangibles. Jun 21, 2002
The Color of Money (and Your Site)
In the black and tickled pink! Color is a persuasion tool. Use it to improve your conversion rate. Jun 14, 2002
Think Before You Send
Hold on! Before you hit 'send' on your next campaign, make sure you've done this indispensable groundwork. Jun 7, 2002
Renting a List? Consider a Spam Clause
Zap spam, save your brand? One email marketer developed a simple, elegant solution. List brokers won't like it. May 31, 2002
An Offer You Can't Refuse
Set someone at your store's doorstep and hand them dough to buy anything they want. Think you have a guaranteed sale? Think again. May 24, 2002
Caution: Internet Chaos!
Seeking answers? Determine if your questions have answers. May 17, 2002
Innovative Testing
Though the current craze for testing and measurement can be a boon, make certain you're looking at the long term rather than just the immediate results. May 10, 2002
Email Case Study: How to Sell Out an Event
Selling out an event is not about sending out email; it's about planning a solid, integrated campaign. Bryan offers some tips for a successful conference. May 3, 2002
Betting the Farm on RFM, Part 2
Trying to reactivate defected customers is a futile exercise, but why not use RFM to catch them before they get away? Apr 26, 2002
Betting the Farm on RFM, Part 1
Now that everyone's figured out that the holy grail of one-to-one marketing doesn't deserve the reverence it was once given, the venerable direct marketing concept of RFM is coming up more and more. Apr 19, 2002
I'm More Than an IP Address!
There's hard data, and then there's the human factor. Measuring success and improving results means knowing how to assess both tangible and intangible campaign elements. Apr 12, 2002
How to Interpret Web Metrics
Which numbers are important, and what should you do when you've got them? Mar 18, 2002
The Pareto Principle: Applying the 80/20 Rule to Your Business
A small portion of your business is generating the bulk of productivity and profitability. That's the Pareto principle. Your job is to identify and leverage it. Here's how. Mar 11, 2002
It's Not the Price, It's the Value
Locking yourself into price competition is a losing proposition. If you're providing value, your customers may even be willing to pay more. Mar 4, 2002
Shaking Hands, Email, and All That Jazz
Sealing a deal with a customer online is just as important -- if not more so -- as doing so in the real world. Feb 25, 2002
Just How Do I Reach My Goals?
There's one very important thing we can learn from Lincoln -- to persevere and reach for greatness, moving beyond merely acceptable results. Feb 11, 2002
How Will You Measure Up in 2002?
If you're like most marketers, you're practically swimming in data. But learning how to act on these critical measurements is the only way to improve your site. Jan 28, 2002
There Is No Egg in Eggplant
You may know what you mean to say when you're writing copy for your Web site, but are you expressing your vision as clearly and precisely as possible? Jan 14, 2002
Toward a New Year of Freedom
Ever feel like technology that's supposed to make things simpler and quicker just ends up creating more complications? Jan 7, 2002
Is Your Web Site Qualified to Sell?
Does your site pass the one page only indicator? Take this test to find out if your Web site can qualify customers to learn what they want -- and convince them you can deliver. Dec 10, 2001
It's Imperative to Make These Choices
In your persuasive writing, you may choose to take the road less traveled, but you've got to decide upon a path. Bryan says you've got a better chance of reaching your goal if you pick your route before departure. Dec 3, 2001
Buying Is Not a Rational Decision
You may think arming yourself with facts and data will help you convert prospects into customers, but Bryan says it's more important that prospects trust you and feel comfortable with you. Nov 26, 2001
Your Email Isn't What You Think It Is
When you send an email, you should be thinking of ways to wriggle into your prospects' long-term memory. An immediate response may be nice, Bryan believes, but being burned into your prospects' brains is what'll bring the biggest return long term. Nov 19, 2001
How Will They Buy It if They Can't Find It?
Snazzy unique navigation may wow your site visitors, but if it hinders them from finding what they need, they won't be hanging around very long. Nov 12, 2001
The Most Powerful Secret of Customer Conversion
Merchants are struggling to figure out the most effective way of increasing their conversion rate. Bryan says the key is focusing on one particular metric. Nov 5, 2001
E-Commerce Metrics: Drowning in Your Own Data?
Because we can collect, measure, and analyze so much data on the Web, you'd think e-tailing would be a marketer's dream. Too often, it's a nightmare. We're overwhelmed with too much data -- data that can be hard to distinguish from useful information. Here's how to figure out all those numbers. It's easier than you think. Really. Oct 29, 2001
Saying the Right Thing at the Right Time
In a B2B setting, as elsewhere, you persuade prospects to convert by meeting their needs at that precise moment. Oct 22, 2001
How Many Holes Are in Your Bucket?
At each step of the sales process, a site loses some users. We use the leaky bucket metaphor for a site that doesn't successfully convert visitors into buyers. Traffic fills the bucket but leaks out of holes. You need to plug as many holes as possible. Oct 8, 2001
The Artful Science of Conversion
Could there be a manual -- laying out steps one by one -- to teach marketers how to lead consumers down the path to conversion? Well, it's not so simple as that, but years of study have yielded some pretty hard-and-fast rules. Oct 1, 2001
The Ideal Tracking System
If we think of conversion as a comprehensive system that carries a visitor from start to finish, from landing to close, we can start asking questions about how we evaluate that system. Sep 24, 2001
Conversion Is Music to My Ears
Let's step back and take a broader look at the nature of conversion, both as an idea that shapes the exchanges between you and your prospects and more importantly as a compelling process that should guide the entire scope of your online efforts. Sep 17, 2001
Accidental Marketing
You and I decide to get into showbiz -- maybe movies, where the money is. We find investors, buy great real estate for the studio, buy the latest equipment, negotiate awesome distribution deals, contract high-priced talent, then spend like mad on advertising for a movie about... Sep 10, 2001
Where Oh Where Did My Eyeballs Go?
When folks read newspapers, their eyes first go to pictures. Online, their eyes go for text first, particularly captions and summaries, and graphics only later -- sometimes not at all! This has made a lot of copywriters happy. It has also heralded a new field of inquiry. Sep 3, 2001
Buying: The Flip Side of Selling
To successfully get your prospect to take action, you must be able to see the world from your customers' buying point of view. Ideally, while you maintain your sales perspective, you conduct your sales process in a way that is in tune with how customers decide to buy. Aug 27, 2001
The Winning Edge
Someone once told Bryan that everything you do either enhances or detracts from your ability to close the sale and that no detail, however minute, is neutral. So what does that have to do with converting Web site traffic? "Everything," says Bryan. Aug 20, 2001
Christmas in August?
If yours is one of those businesses that look to theholiday season as a major shot in the arm, this is not thetime to subject your site to a complete redesign. Instead,this is the time to grab the low-hanging fruit -- to dothe things you can implement quickly. Aug 13, 2001
What Does E-Tailing Deliver That Customers Can't Live Without?
If your Web site is not merely an additional distribution channel for your existing clientele's convenience, then the question of what value your prospect should assign to your Web site is vitally important to the health of your business. Aug 6, 2001
CRM, Yes, But Don't Forget to MRC
Building a relationship takes time. Shoving some tech-heavy customer relationship management application at your customers is more likely to push them away than draw them in. Don't put the cart before the horse; first make sure you have happy customers to manage. Jul 30, 2001
Why Aren't Your Emails Getting More Action?
For a long time, Bryan has been concentrating on the topic of converting Web site traffic. But do the principles he's been espousing apply to other media -- in this case, email? Of course they do. Here are some helpful tips and tested insights. Jul 23, 2001
If You're So Good, Sell Me
Are you endangering your online business? Nothing can be more deadly than the wrong assumptions. Bryan addresses some of the most common misconceptions about selling and customer conversion. Jul 16, 2001
'What' Must Come Before 'How'
Wireframing is all about the "what" -- the execution and process of the site. It has nothing to do with the "how" -- including the innovations of technology and design. It will keep your site focused on what it needs to do to maximize conversion rates. Jul 9, 2001
Opting for Results
Opting in involves an exchange of value. You get something you want (usually contact or marketing information), and your prospects get something they want. It's a very simple equation. But you have to do your permission marketing with sensitivity, sense, and style. Jul 2, 2001
It's the Customer, Stupid
Take a look at the words on your Web site. Are you talking about all the wonderful ways your visitors can benefit from your products or services, or are you instead talking about all the great features of your products, your services, your company? Jun 25, 2001
Selling Yourself Short on Traffic
Fairy tales are often based on reality. True, some more than others. But here's one that's far from being a tall tale, even though it has a happy ending. Well... for some characters at least. Jun 18, 2001
How to Make the Most of Your Traffic
Despite the rash of dot-bombs, so-called experts are still telling you to increase sales by using methods that the has-beens have proven don't work. Sadly, many people keep listening to that advice. And they keep paying for it, too. Jun 11, 2001
Increasing Your Conversion Rates
If you're going to survive, you have to focus on bottom-line results. Spending a fortune to drive traffic to your site -- when most of it never does anything while it's there -- drives up the cost of customer acquisition so much, you'll never reach profitability. Jun 4, 2001
The Five-Letter Dirty Word
What word (it refers to something we do every day, whether we realize it or not) immediately conjures up an image of a slick, aggressive, fast-talking person trying to push something of dubious value? May 28, 2001
RE: Email Subject Lines That Work?
We are all bombarded by emails. Some are legitimate business correspondence, many more are solicitations, personal mail, junk, jokes, spam... With all of that clutter in your prospect's inbox, does your email have a chance of being read? May 21, 2001
Behind the Scenes: The Making of a Web Site
How is a movie like a Web site? Before a single scene of a blockbuster gets filmed, the production crew has a complete map of the end product. They leave nothing to chance. Neither should you when designing your site. Lights, camera, action plan! May 14, 2001
Navigating Through Analysis Paralysis
Despite what many information architects believe, good navigation schemes have little to do with prospects' recall ability. Instead, what's at work is how humans handle choices. So, do you want to follow convention, or do you want to close more sales? May 7, 2001
KISS Your Customers If You Want Them Back
Programmers dream of elegant code. To them, simple is elegant. That's true of the language the rest of us use: The best writing is often the simplest. So too with Web sites. The idea is to communicate, after all. Say it best with a KISS. Apr 30, 2001
Customers: One Click Away From Goodbye
If your site is not a part of the selling solution, you have a big problem. You certainly won't be making it into the history books. In fact, you'll be relegated to the dustbin. Why? Because your customers will be history. Gone. Goodbye. With nary a click back. Apr 23, 2001
A Land Beyond Usability
Sure you appreciate the pothole-free roads, the prominently displayed signs, and the smooth and straight highways of the Land of Usability. But are you on a Sunday drive to nowhere, or are you headed somewhere important? Apr 16, 2001
You Want Them to Buy? Sell Benefits
To sell, you must appeal to what motivates people. Use words that evoke, not words that baffle. In other words, translate features, which appeal to the intellect, into benefits, which appeal to the emotions. Apr 9, 2001
The ABCs of GTC and POA
You don't need a B.A. or M.S. or Ph.D. to know that beyond the ABCs of running a site are the GTC and POA. Bryan spells it all out for you. Apr 2, 2001
As Easy As 1, 2, 3 (4, 5)
Even in the age of the Web, people buy the way they always have. That means to get them to buy, you need to sell. For your Web site to sell, its information architecture must integrateevery step of the five-step sales process. Mar 26, 2001
Funneling Customers Into Your Site
Your Web site's home page is both sales funnel and salesperson. You've got to pull your potential buyers through the funnel, showing them the way to what they, and you, want: Their purchase, your sale. Mar 19, 2001
Why Should I Buy From You?
Why would anyone want to do business with you? What's so special about you? What makes you think you're any different from anyone else? No, that's not your superego talking. It's just what your customers want to know about you. So what are you going to tell them? Mar 12, 2001
A Pair of Ears Beats a Pair of Eyes
Hear ye, hear ye! Ads fail if they don't respect the workings of the brain. In advertising -- and the brain -- the killer app is sound, whether heard directly (audio) or mentally (ad copy). Words are back! And Bryan's got 'em. Mar 5, 2001
Measuring Your Sales Success
We love baseball. All those stats! Ks, ERAs, and HRs... If you also love baseball analogies -- and just maybe also want know how to increase your Web sales -- make the right call: Read on to score big (and to find out about SPRs, CCRs, CTBs...). Feb 19, 2001
Does Your Home Page Engage Customers?
The only thing customers care about is what your product or service can do for them. To engage customers, you need a Web site with strong copy that spells benefits in their own language. Feb 5, 2001
Does Your Home Page Help or Hinder Sales?
To increase your online sales, you have to begin at the beginning: your home page. If it doesn't do what it should, visitors won't go deeper into your site. So... does your home page pass the "AIDAS" test? Jan 22, 2001
Marketing Is NOT Sales
Don't get Bryan wrong. He does think marketing is an essential part of the e-commerce equation. But when it comes to success in e-business, or any business, he says it's all about sales. Jan 8, 2001