Marketing & SEO Discussion List - LED Digest

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From: Bill Davison

Subject: Secure servers

> If you process credit cards, you must have

> a secure key and encrypt all credit card data...

> In past dealings with Verisign and installing

> the secure keys, it can be a real challenge.

        - Scott Marino, LED 2087

I too have been through the process more than once and I have to

agree. Therefore, why not discuss the different types / levels, how

do they function, how to acquire a certificate, the cost and most

certainly, how to get it installed on the host server.

Instead of just subject pro and cons, why not some tangible

assistance from all these gurus?

Bill Davison

bizwebpage.com

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From: Mark Roberts

Subject: Cart abandonment

> This is an extensive research study that at last gives me some

> real %s based on factual studies... Most firms are able to convert

> only 2-3% of online traffic to paying traffic.

        - Kevin Condon, LED 2086

Some observations here. Before you can accurately accumulate any

metrics about shopping cart abandonment, you should probably be

gathering information as to the reason for the abandonment to make

sure you are comparing apples to apples.

Why do people abandon shopping carts?

I have certainly contributed to be abandoned shopping cart inventory

myself. The main reason? Poorly designed systems. I have been to

many sites where it is almost impossible to determine how much

something cost. Why people cannot just list a product and the price

next to it is beyond my reasoning. I usually make the assumption

that if they don't list the price, it must be so incredibably

expensive that they are afraid to show it. I will usually have to go

to the very last checkout step just to determine the price of their

product. If it is more that what I wanted to pay for it, I bail out.

Another reason for abandoning, is shipping cost. Several times I

have to go through the entire checkout process just to determine the

shipping cost of an item. Sometimes I feel the shipping is just way

out of line and have to bail out.

Sometimes, making the checkout as short as possible just means that

I can abandon it quicker.

IMHO, the best way to increase conversions is to provide all the

information up front so that by the time the user gets to the

checkout, the decisions to buy or not to buy have already been made.

Obviously, this might dramatically increase your "conversion rate"

without really increasing your sales. That might be another thread

altogether.

Mark Roberts

Roberts Computing Systems

http://www.robertscomputing.com

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From: Kevin Condon

Subject: Cart abandonment

> For those prospects you do lose, you may

> want to consider a shopping cart recovery

> email program... You can see the full report

> and all the data here:

> http://www.marketingexperiments.com/see/1116

        - Nick Usborne, LED 2087

I reviewed the Marketing Experiments Report mentioned by Nick

Usborne relating to using email to recover cart abandonment - it is

very impressive containing even the email scripts recommended to

use. So thanks Nick - appreciated - what makes LED all worthwhile

Best

Kevin Condon

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From: Beth Ann Earle

Subject: Cart abandonment

> It is particularly irksome for those

> studying the site metrics...and seeing

> so many people leaving the site

> at 'the last moment'.

        - Nick Usborne, LED 2087

I admit I haven't followed this thread very carefully because my

company doesn't really focus on shopping charts, but ... are there

any comparisons between brick-and-mortar abandonment and Internet

abandonment?

There are a number of times that I walk out of a store without

buying anything, even after having picked up (and then putting back

down) an item that I had intended to purchase. I was just wondering

if a comparison would provide a different perspective on this issue

for e-tailers or if the brick-and-mortar experience might provide

any insight into what happens online.

Yours in all that is good and LED'ly,

Beth Earle

Polysort

www.pilotfishseo.com

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From: Nancy Cardinali

Subject: Cart abandonment

I'd like to add my 2 cents.

When I shop, I like to know what the price is BEFORE I go through

the shopping cart nightmare. You would be surprised the number of

times I simply wanted to know the price and had to plow through the

cart process to get it! Also, have some way of letting the customer

know the approximate shipping costs.

That would make my day!

Nancy Cardinali

==== BILLBOARD ===================================

From: Reg Charie

Subject: Fighting spam

As a recipient of over 4000 spam emails a week, it is something that

one learns to live with. I would like to thank Tom Aman [issue 2087]

for the link to the spamRIP program, www.spamrip.com as my Outlook

and Norton spam filters only get about 85%.

Occasionally, I try to do something about spam, and the readers may

get a chuckle form my last attempt.

I have an email policy on my site (www.dotcom-productions.com) right

at the bottom of the mainpage that states,

----------------------

"Email policy: as of June 01 2004 I offer to accept unsolicited

e-mail advertisements from you in return for your promise to pay me

$1,000 each time you send mail to any of my addresses at

DotCom-Productions.com. Your use of my address to send unsolicited

e-mail to me will constitute your acceptance of this offer."

----------------------

Yesterday I received a spam promoting TRIO Display, a company that

sells store display systems. Since the spam included a link to their

forums, I signed up and added a post entitled "Your Spam"

(http://www.triodisplay.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=16)

The body of the post stated:

----------------------

Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2006 1:25 am

Post subject: Your Spam Email

I received an email from you dated Tue, 31 Jan 2006 addressed to

ads-peel<@>dotcom-productions.com and sent by This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

If this was not sent by you, I apologize. If it was, for shame. I

hope you get your hosting account banned.

Companies scrounging email addresses from forums and classified ad

sites just add to all our problems.

According to my email terms of use, posted on my website, "Email

policy: as of June 01 2004 I offer to accept unsolicited e-mail

advertisements from you in return for your promise to pay me $1,000

each time you send mail to any of my addresses at

DotCom-Productions.com. Your use of my address to send unsolicited

e-mail to me will constitute your acceptance of this offer.

Seems like you owe me $1000 Will that be Check or Credit Card?

----------------------

So far this post has had 194 views, some 55 more that their most

popular topic. No responses yet. No check either :-(

Reg Charie

www.metacryl.com

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