Ecommerce Benchmark Guide 2007
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ecommerce
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Do you want to improve your e-commerce conversions? Grab a copy of MarketingSherpa's new Ecommerce Benchmark Guide 2007 to help you:
Here's where MarketingSherpa gets its comprehensive ecommerce marketing data from:
#1. 2007 MarketingSherpa Surveys and Audits of Your Peers - America's Top Ecommerce Marketers
Our thanks to the 1,913 ecommerce marketers who took our fairly extensive survey this January, revealing their real-life budgeting strategies, traffic-driving tactics and conversion data. This is the world’s largest survey ever of ecommerce marketers. And, the resulting data is phenomenal.
In addition, our research team conducted an audit of 250 US ecommerce sites, including the largest ones as well as the more entrepreneurial ones. We signed up for your email, used your customer service tools and reviewed your home page features to see what the norm is for 2007. Plus, given how critical search marketing is for driving ecommerce traffic, we examined your status by industry (e.g., apparel, home electronics, etc.) in both organic (SEO) and paid search listings.
#2. New MarketingSherpa Surveys of Online Shoppers
In a new series of three surveys, conducted in partnership with Prospectiv, Guidester and Survey Sampling, we asked a total of 2,449 adult (18+) online shoppers everything from:
#3. New Eyetracking Lab Tests of Five Famous Sites
You will find six colorful “heatmaps” in this Guide, the results of our eyetracking lab tests conducted in February 2007. Our goal was to determine what typical ecommerce shoppers’ eyes actually “see” when they navigate through a site – especially on all-critical category pages. This kind of data is very useful for your Web design team.
Sites included in this all-new study: Best Buy, Circuit City, Furniture.com, QVC and Wal-Mart.
#4."Best of" Study Results from 30 Independent Research Organizations
Next, we filled out any holes with “Best Of” data from more than 30 organizations, such as Coremetrics, comScore and Nielsen//NetRatings. Much of this data is previously unpublished, generously gathered by these organizations at our request because we hoped you would find it useful.
All in all, you have nearly 300 pages packed with 223 charts and tables and six eyetracking heatmaps that you can use to: make your case for site revamps … plan your budget around … drive search and email marketing campaign tests … pick the most effective promotions … create more accurate shopper "personas" ... and answer in-house debates about what "works best".
Top 10 questions MarketingSherpa's Ecommerce Benchmark Guide helps you answer:
#1. How can we lower shopping cart abandons? What’s the typical abandon rate?
#2. What do more than 40% of shoppers immediately look for on our home page? How can we make that one element more effective?
#3. How can we raise conversion rates for new shoppers? Will adding bill-me capability help or hurt our bottom line?
#4. Which three email improvements are most worth investing in to raise sales? Should we add promotions on our shipping notices and receipts? How about sending e-coupons?
#5. How can we increase customer loyalty and lifetime value? Getting customers to buy from us repeatedly is critical to our profitability.
#6. How can I improve our affiliate program results? And, how do my competitors recruit more affiliates?
#7. Which shopper tools, such as instant chat with customer service and product reviews, will really improve conversions?
#8. How can we make store category pages more powerful? How do we get more shoppers who land on category pages to buy something?
#9. Which Web site tests give the most impact? If I could only test three features on our site, which three would be the most worth testing?
#10. Search marketing is more expensive – what’s the average ecommerce search click conversion and how can we improve ours? Plus, how does our site’s search presence stack up against our competitors’ visibility?
What Reviewers are saying about MarketingSherpa's Ecommerce Benchmark Guide:
"I looked through my copy of the Guide, marking useful, actionable tidbits. As I worked through the Guide, I began to make small but significant changes in my product pages, such as adding a guarantee graphic and revising my return policy wording. These changes alone will probably generate of hundreds or thousands of dollars a year in increased revenue."
Dr. Ralph Wilson
Publisher, Web Marketing Today
Table of Contents: MarketingSherpa Ecommerce Benchmark Guide 2007
Chapter 1: Traffic Generation
Chart 1.01 : If Shoppers Had Only One Choice, They’d Go Online
Chart 1.02 : How Do Online Shoppers Find New Retailers?
Chart 1.03 : The Shoppers’ View – Cons of Online Shopping
Chart 1.04 : What Factors Turn Off Prospective Shoppers?
Chart 1.05 : First Step in Product Research – Electronics Example
Chart 1.06 : What’s the First Thing Consumers Do When They Arrive on a Retail Site?
Chart 1.07 : Online Shopping and Product Research Are Ordinary
Chart 1.08 : How Often Do Consumers Research Products Online Before Buying in a Brick-and-Mortar Store?
Chart 1.09 : How Much Did Consumers Spend Online Last Year?
Chart 1.10 : How Does Product Type Affect Likelihood of Online Research?
Chart 1.11 : Where Do Consumers Begin Their Online Research?
Ecommerce Marketing Tactics
Chart 1.12 : Product Marketers Evaluate Ecommerce Marketing Tactics
Chart 1.13 : Ecommerce Marketing – Holiday Tactics Compared
Chart 1.14 : Product Marketers Evaluate Offline Marketing Tactics
Chart 1.15 : Consumer Services Marketers Evaluate Offline Marketing Tactics
Website Visitors - Where Are They Coming From?
Chart 1.16 : Breakdown of the Sources for Ecommerce Website Visitors
Multichannel Marketing
Chart 1.17 : What Are Multichannels Doing – Those w/Sales Under $5MM
Chart 1.18 : What Are Multichannels Doing– Those w/Sales Between $5MM and $50MM
Chart 1.19 : What Are Multichannels Doing – Those w/Sales Above $50MM
Search Marketing
Chart 1.20 : Ecommerce Marketers Evaluate Top-Tier Paid Search Marketing
Chart 1.21 : Share of Search Activity
Chart 1.22 : Share of Shopping Related Searches
Chart 1.23 : Share of Search Activity – Ecommerce
Search Marketing Benchmarks
Chart 1.24 : Ecommerce Marketers – Conversion Rates on Top-Tier Search Sites 2006 and 2007
Chart 1.25 : 2005-2006 Keyword Prices on Top-Tier Search Engines – Consumer Ecommerce Products Under $50
Chart 1.26 : 2005-2006 Keyword Prices on Top-Tier Search Engines – Consumer Ecommerce Products Between $50 and $100
Chart 1.27 : 2005-2006 Keyword Prices on Top-Tier Search Engines – Consumer Ecommerce Products Over $100
Chart 1.28 : 2005-2006 Keyword Prices – Shopping Comparison Sites Compared to the Top Tier
Chart 1.29 : 2005-2006 Keyword Prices on Second-Tier Search Engines
Chart 1.30 : Ecommerce Marketers Evaluate 2nd-Tier Paid Search Marketing
Chart 1.31 : Marketers & Agencies Rate 2nd-Tier Search
Chart 1.32 : Agency and Marketer Comments on 2nd-Tier Experience
Chart 1.33: Keyword Prices – Comparing the First & Second Tier
Chart 1.34 : Top 25 U.S. Product/Retail-Oriented Search Terms (June 2006)
Special Report: Search Marketing Report Card for Top Retail Sites Chart 1.35 : Search Marketing Emphasis of Top Retailers
Chart 1.36 : Search Marketing Emphasis of Top Sites by Product Area
Chart 1.37 : Search Marketing Emphasis – Books & DVDs
Chart 1.38 : Search Marketing Emphasis – Housewares & Home Furnishings
Chart 1.39 : Search Marketing Emphasis – Office Supplies
Chart 1.40 : Search Marketing Emphasis – Flowers, Gifts and Jewelry
Chart 1.41 : Search Marketing Emphasis – Automotive and Hardware
Chart 1.42 : Search Marketing Emphasis – Apparel and Accessories
Chart 1.43 : Search Marketing Emphasis – Computer and Electronics
Chart 1.44 : Search Marketing Emphasis – Toys and Hobbies
Chart 1.45 : Search Marketing Emphasis – Drug, Food and Beauty
Shopping Comparison Sites
Chart 1.46 : Ecommerce Marketers Evaluate Shopping Comparison Sites
Chart 1.47 : Shopping Engines Compared – Search Agencies Rate ROI
Chart 1.48 : Shopping Sites – Required Feed Attributes
Chart 1.49 : Shopping Sites – Required Feed Attributes
Chart 1.50 : At What Price Do We Start to Comparison Shop Online?
Chart 1.51 : How Do Comparison Shoppers Use Online Shopping Tools?
Chart 1.52 : Negative Retail Site Factors for Comparison Site Users
Search Engine Optimization
Chart 1.53 : Ecommerce Marketers Evaluate Search Engine Optimization – Product vs. Services
Chart 1.54 : SEO – Easier Said Than Done Notes from the Field: Combating Plummeting Ecommerce Site Rankings
Affilitate Marketing
Chart 1.55 : Ecommerce Marketers Evaluate Affiliate Marketing
Chart 1.56 : Merchants Rate Challenges in Affiliate Marketing
Chart 1.57 : Merchant Policies Toward Affiliate Email in B-to-C
Chart 1.58 : Do Merchants Connect Affiliate Email Practices with Their Own Reputations?
Chart 1.59 : How Are Merchants Monitoring Affiliate Email?
Chart 1.60 : Affiliate CAN-Spam Compliance Failures
Chart 1.61 : Summary of Affiliate CAN-Spam Compliance Study
Guidelines for CAN-SPAM Checks Used for this Audit
Additional Guidelines for CAN-SPAM compliance
Chart 1.62 : Ecommerce Marketers – Affiliate Conversion Rates 2006-2007
Chart 1.63 : Merchant Practices in Recruiting and Supporting Affiliates
Chart 1.64 : Merchant Policies Toward Affiliates’ Paid Search Becoming More Sophisticated
Online Advertsing
Chart 1.65 : Product Marketers Evaluate Online Advertising-Related Tactics
Chart 1.66 : Web Publishers Diversity Ad Types and Offerings
Auction & Classified Sites
Chart 1.67 : Consumers Rate Pros and Cons of Online Auction Sites
Chapter 2. Converting Shoppers Buyers
Chart 2.01 : How Well Do Marketing and Technology Work Together on Ecommerce Web Sites?
Chart 2.02 : Marketers Rate Impact of Ecommerce Trends
Chart 2.03 : Are Product Marketers Taking Advantage of Online Opportunities?
Chart 2.04 : Are Consumer Services Marketers Taking Advantage of Online Opportunities?
Home Pages
Chart 2.05 : Retail Site Home Page Image Saturation – SMB and Large Sites Compared
Chart 2.06 : Sales Promotions on Retail Site Home Pages
Chart 2.07 : Special Offers on Retail Site Home Pages
Chart 2.08 : Some Sites Still Use Pop-Ups on Retail Site Home Pages
Internal Search Pages
Chart 2.09 : Consumers Split on Preferred Way of Finding Products
Chart 2.10 : Sites Using ‘Buy by Brand’ or Other Unique Navigational Options
Chart 2.11 : Presence of a Search Bar on Retail Site Home Pages
Chart 2.12 : Retail Site Marketers Grade Their Internal Search
Chart 2.13 : Retail Site Marketers Rank Internal Search Capabilities Chart 2.14 : Share of Internal Search Showing Price in Results
Chart 2.15 : Sorting Options Available in Ecommerce Search
Special Report: Internal Search & Navigation Eyetracking Study
Image 2.16 : Furniture.com Category/Search Page
Heatmap 2.17 : Furniture.com Category/Search Page
Findings 2.18 : Furniture.com
Image 2.19 : BestBuy.com Category Page
Heatmap 2.20 : BestBuy.com Category Page
Image 2.21 : QVC Internal Search Results 1
Image 2.22 : QVC Internal Search Results 2
Heatmap 2.23 : QVC Internal Search Results 1
Heatmap 2.24 : QVC Internal Search Results 2
Image 2.25 : Circuit City Internal Search Results
Heatmap 2.26 : Circuit City Internal Search Results
Image 2.27 : Wal-Mart Internal Search Results
Heatmap 2.28 : Wal-Mart Internal Search Results
Key Findings – Eyetracking Year Two – Internal Search and Navigation Study
Key Findings from Ecommerce Eyetracking – Year One
Customer Experience on Ecommerce Sites
Chart 2.29 : Problems Encountered While Shopping Online
Chart 2.30 : Consumers Rate Compelling Retail Site Features
Chart 2.31 : Product Buying Guide – Bed, Bath & Beyond
Chart 2.32 : Info on File a Key for Some Consumers
Chart 2.33 : Anonymous Cookie Data – 2005 vs. 2006
Site Tools and Offers
Chart 2.34 : Product Marketers Rate Website Tools
Chart 2.35 : Consumer Services Marketers Rate Website Tools
Chart 2.36 : Online Consumers Are Using a Variety of Information Sources
Chart 2.37 : RSS Feeds Still Unusual on Retail Sites
Image 2.38 : Consumer Site RSS Feed
Consumer Reviews
Chart 2.39 : Consumers Prefer Sites with Reviews
Chart 2.40 : Are Sites Offering Customer Rankings and Reviews?
Chart 2.41 : A Surprising Number of Consumers Post Reviews and Product Comments
Chart 2.42 : Top-Rated Products Get 75% Positive Reviews
Chart 2.43 : Top-Rated Products Get 83% Positive Ratings
Chart 2.44 : Range of Responses in Consumer Reviews
Table 2.45 : Growth of Consumer-Generated Media
Website Tests & Tactics
Chart 2.46 : Effectiveness of Website Tests – Product Marketers
Chart 2.47 : Effectiveness of Website Tests – Service Marketers Notes from the Field: Three Advanced Ecommerce Tests
Shopping Cart Abandonment
Chart 2.48 : Product Marketers – Shopping Cart Abandonment 2006-2007
Chart 2.49 : Services Marketers - Shopping Cart Abandonment 2006-2007
Chart 2.50 : Why Weren’t Transactions Completed?
Chart 2.51 : Why Consumers Abandoned – Another View
Shopping Carts & Payment Options
Table 2.52 : Shopping Cart Tests and Tactics
Chart 2.53 : Payment Options Offered by Ecommerce Sites
Chart 2.54 : Effectiveness of Shopping Cart Abandonment Emails 2006-2007
Image 2.55 : Shopping Cart Abandonment Email
Notes from the Field: How to Run a Complex Auto-Email Program to Reduce Abandoned Carts for High Consideration Purchases Notes from the Field: Can Multivariate Tests Reduce Your Shopping Cart Abandons?
Image 2.56 : Mini-cart Example 1: Chadwick’s Image: Mini-cart
Example 2: The Sharper Image
Image 2.57 : Mini-cart Example 3: PetSmart
Image 2.58 : Mini-cart Example 4: The Sportsman’s Guide
Chart 2.59 : Persistent Shopping Cart Example 1: AJ Madison
Chart 2.60 : Persistent Shopping Cart Example 2: Omaha Steaks
Chapter 3. Increasing Repeat Customers
Email Marketing
Chart 3.01 : Ecommerce Marketers Rate House Email – Product vs. Services
Chart 3.02 : Segmentation Ecommerce Marketers Evaluate House Email
Chart 3.03 : Ecommerce Marketers Evaluate Third-Party Email Lists – Product vs. Services
Chart 3.04 : Email Merchandising Tactics Rated by Product Marketers
Chart 3.05 : Email Merchandising Tactics Rated by Service Marketers
Chart 3.06 : Marketer Use of Email Merchandising Tools
Chart 3.07 : How Many Commercial Email Relationships Are Consumers Maintaining?
Chart 3.08 : Do Online Shoppers Still Subscribe to Retailer Email?
Chart 3.09 : Most Online Shoppers Find Email Frequency Appropriate
Chart 3.10 : How Has Spam Affected Consumers’ Use of Email 2004-2007
Chart 3.11 : How Consumers Perceive the Issues of Spam, False Positives, etc
Chart 3.12 : The Consumer’s Perspective – A New Wave of Spam
Chart 3.13 : What Email Benchmarks Are B-to-C Marketers Tracking?
Table 3.14 : What Metrics Should Marketers Be Tracking?
Table 3.15 : What Variables to Test
Email Benchmarks
Chart 3.16 : Ecommerce Marketers – House Email Conversion Rates 2006-2007
Chart 3.17 : Ecommerce Marketers – Third-Party Email Conversion Rates 2006-2007
Chart 3.18 : Agencies Estimate – Open Rate for B-to-C Campaigns to House List
Chart 3.19 : List Growth Breakdown for B-to-C Marketers
Preview Panes
Notes from the Field – Preview Pane Best Practices
Notes from the Field - Email Newsletter Redesign to Improve Preview Pane Viewing
Table 3.20: How Email Clients Show Images (or Don’t)
Image 3.21: HTML Emails Compared – Images Off/On
Email Registration & Preferences
Chart 3.22: Most Retail Sites Offering Email Opt-in on Home Page
Chart 3.23: Location of Email Opt-in on Retail Site Home Pages
Chart 3.24: Few Retail Sites Offer One-Step Email Opt-in
Chart 3.25: Retail Sites Offering Email Newsletters at Checkout or Through Registration
Chart 3.26: Online Consumers Views on Greater Control of Merchant Emails
Chart 3.27: Ecommerce Welcome Messages – Percentage Sent
Chart 3.28: Retail Sites’ Welcome Message Content
Chart 3.29: Immediacy of Retail Sites’ Welcome Messages
Chart 3.30: Frequency of Emails During the Holiday Shopping and Returns Season
Online Coupons
Chart 3.31: Use of Coupons Received in Email
Table 3.32: Types of Online Coupons
Coupon Metrics — Basic Redemption Data
Table 3.33: Coupon Redemption Rates
Customer Service
Chart 3.34: How Quickly Do Large Ecommerce Sites Respond to Emailed Inquiries?
Chart 3.35: How Quickly Do SMB Ecommerce Sites Respond to Emailed Inquiries?
Chart 3.36: Consumer Expectations for Service from Online Retailers
Chart 3.37: How Many People Do Consumers Tell about Their Experiences?
Special Report: Marketing & Transaction Email Study
Chart 3.38: One-Third of Consumers Maintain a Special Account for Commercial Emails
Chart 3.39: Online Consumers Rely on Email and Prefer It
Chart 3.40: Not All Retail Service Messages Are Created Equal
Chart 3.41: Having Special Commercial Email Accounts Equals High Preference for Email
Chart 3.42: Younger Users More Comfortable With Email Bills
Chart 3.43: Service-Related Emails Are Opened & Read
Chart 3.44: Consumer Reaction to Marketing in Service Emails
Chart 3.45: How Do Marketers Think Customers React to a Marketing/Service Mix?
Chart 3.46: Younger Consumers Are More Accepting of Service/Marketing Mix
Chart 3.47: Marketing/Service Mix – Factors That Influence Consumer Opinion Chart
3.48: Marketing/Service Mix – Factors That Influence Opinion by Age Group
Image 3.49: Marketing/Service Mix – Low Intensity Example
Image 3.50: Marketing/Service Mix – Medium Intensity Example
Image 3.51: Marketing/Service Mix – High Intensity Example
Chart 3.52: Marketing/Service Mix – Did Consumers Notice the Marketing?
Chart 3.53: Marketing/Service Mix – Did Consumers Find the Marketing Appropriate?
Chart 3.54: Marketing/Service Mix – Did Consumers Find the Marketing Relevant?
Chart 3.55: Marketing/Service Mix – Comparing Relevance with Appropriateness
Chart 3.56: If They Can Use Preview Panes …They Do
Chart 3.57: How Consumers Configure the Preview Pane
Image 3.58: Preview Pane Option #1 – Horizontal with Small Preview
Image 3.59: Preview Pane Option #2 – Horizontal with Large Preview
Image 3.60: Preview Pane Option #3 – Vertical with Small Preview
Image 3.61: Preview Pane Option #4 – Vertical with Large Preview
Emerging Tactics & Consumer Generated Content
Chart 3.62: Ecommerce Marketers Rate Emerging Marketing Tactics Chart 3.63: Consumers Are Wired, but Not That Wired
Chart 3.64: Young Consumers Are That Wired
Chart 3.65: Younger Users Dominate Use of Emerging Media Consumption Models
Image 3.66: Ecommerce Blogs – RitzCamera.com
Image 3.67: Ecommerce Blogs – Boot Barn
Chapter 4. Ecommerce, Budgeting & B-to-B Benchmarks
Chart 4.01: Ecommerce Order Growth 2005-2006
Table 4.02: U.S. Government Ecommerce Data 2004-2006
Chart 4.03: Year Over Year Growth in Ecommerce 2005-2006
Chart 4.04: Year-Over-Year Ecommerce Growth by Category
Chart 4.05: Average Ecommerce Order Size by Category
Budgets
Chart 4.06: Share of Ecommerce Marketing Budgets Spent Online
Chart 4.07: Ecommerce Budget Increases in Key Online Marketing Tactics
Chart 4.08: How Are Online Marketing Elements Treated in Ecommerce Budgets?
Retail Benchmarks
Chart 4.09: How Well Are Product Marketers Tracking Essential Metrics?
Chart 4.10: How Well Are Consumer Services Marketers Tracking Essential Metrics?
Repeat Customers
Chart 4.11: Product Marketers – Repeat Customers 2006-2007
Chart 4.12: Services Marketers - Repeat Customers 2006-2007
Chart 4.13: Ecommerce Conversion Rates of Repeat Visitors
Chart 4.14: Product Marketers – Return Rate
Fraud
Chart 4.15: Percentage of Ecommerce Revenue Lost To Fraud
Chart 4.16: Revenue Impact of Fraud on Online Retailers
Chart 4.17: Fraud and Order Rejection Rate by Retail Sector
Chart 4.18: How Are Retailers Combating Fraud?
Chart 4.19: Churn in Ecommerce Systems Continues
Chart 4.20: Are B-to-B Ecommerce Marketers Taking Advantage of Online Opportunities?
Focus on B-to-B Ecommerce
Chart 4.21: B-to-B Marketer Ownership of Ecommerce Websites Lags Behind Consumer Marketers
Chart 4.22: How Well Are B-to-B Ecommerce Marketers Tracking Essential Metrics?
Chart 4.23: Online Conversion Rates for B-to-B Ecommerce
Chart 4.24: A Confederacy of Metrics – Differing Definitions of Retailer Email Conversion
Chart 4.25: B-to-B Ecommerce Marketers Rate Search and Email-Related Tactics
Chart 4.26: B-to-B Ecommerce Marketers’ Usage of Search and Email Related Tactics
Chart 4.27: B-to-B Ecommerce Marketers Rate Offline Tactics
Chart 4.28: B-to-B Ecommerce Marketers’ Usage of Offline Tactics
Chart 4.29: B-to-B Ecommerce Marketers Rate Website Tests
Chart 4.30: Breakdown of B-to-B Ecommerce Organizations Providing Data
Appendix: Demographics of MarketingSherpa 2007 Consumers and Marketing Study
Chart 5.01: Demographics – Male/Female
Chart 5.02: Demographics – Age
Chart 5.03: Demographics – Income Level
Chart 5.04: Demographics – Daily Email Volume
Chart 5.05: Demographics – Number of Personal Email Accounts
Referenced Resources
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