Where to find e-commerce shopping cart providers with web analytics, Facebook, and bank integration
Thinking of online retail? Use this Free eCommerce Shopping Cart Comparison to see what integrates with an analytics solution and payment gateway easily
Thinking of an eCommerce business? Select a cart that makes digital analytic measurement easy to plan first!
I’ve made this chart of eCommerce shopping cart solutions available. Each offer different capability to integrate an analytics solution. Although some coding effort is needed in general, some solutions provide a plug-and-play capability. The chart includes a consideration of which kinds of banking/payment options are available, whether the sites include Facebook commerce option, and if analytics integration is available. Having theses features in place makes sales easy to manage, and to permit an analytics tools to reveal when customers are dropping out of a cart…and not purchasing your product.
Click here for the full e-commerce shopping cart chart in pdf format.
Retail / eCommerce Paid Search tips: Product Analytics ideas from Adlucent – SES New York 2012
For retail or e-commerce paid search, look at the full picture.
That’s the concept Meghan Danielson of Adlucent presented in one of the mini-sessions at the 2012 Search Engine Strategies New York expo. She was speaking about product analytics, identifying words that lead to specific conversions.
Three ideas she mentioned in a short presentation are worth checking if you having some difficulty attributing conversion for your retail or e-commerce site. Meghan summed it up – “If they came in and bought something else, what does that tell you about the keyword and the page their landing on“
Branded keywords
Because of a strong consistent presence in search traffic, branded keywords can mask seasonal trends. If a keyword led to a product purchase, then you have a starting point for a bid strategy – that keyword can be enhanced with a paid search program (Pierre’s note: eMarketer noted that a study indicated that people were more likely to act on a keyword result that appeared in organic and paid search).
Bundling products
Visitors brought to a site by one keyword may purchase a different product. Such purchase may be an indicator to bundle products together. Businesses should consider what backend processes would be affected with this kind of retail offer. (Pierre’s note: This may be a good coupon/ad and landing page strategy to use)
Price
Another factor similar to the bundled amount is price. Meghan says sometimes people decide to select another product shown on the site when the price of their original intention was not the amount expected. “Am I price competitive to let people get what they came for?”
For these last two points: Consider planning an A/B test on products offered or on price (multi) to see what is an actual factor.
SES New York 2012 – iCrossing talks Data Management Platforms
Peter Randazzo, Chief Technology Officer at iCrossing, explains Data Management Platforms
Peter Randazzo, Chief Technical Officer for iCrossing , spoke at Search Engine Strategies, about DMP – Data Management Platforms, program meant to automate the marketing experience in a nuanced way.
Randazzo started with a notion from a leading marketing research firm. “ Forrester is claiming the age if information as ended – we maintain its the age of the customer.”
Randazzo noted that there is a lot of “chaos” in the marketplace – numerous vendors that can overlap – how much distance there is between marketer and consumer, “when you think about it you see how daunting it is because of the number of vendors exists.”
Randazzo believes the world is become about two datasets – audience (the people you interact with) and content (and the attributes with it) “At its fundamental level you know person and the interaction – when you have that the complexity disappears.”
A Data Management Platform is designed to securely collect data, model the persona, and serve it to the channel where its needed. “The more you are linked to your audience, the more you know what makes that audience tick. “
Some vendors have evolved in the DMP space . “iCrossing has been willing to evolve, and we see another revolution. All media should be accountable to the audience it brings.”
Important capabilities on a Data Management Platform
- Provides one universal view of the customer
- Agnostic to data sources and purpose
- Secure use of 1,2, and 3 party data sources (PII in aggregate form, not individual)
- Real time segment build and use (can you use it in real time)
- Data portability
- Self service capability
- Reciprocal; integration channels – In short does the system identified by the DMP make your business smarter
Randazzo also discussed data security, and how audience leakage affects what a competitor knows. “Every pixel is a chance for someone else to get smarter as well.” He recommends managers to understand the vested interests of vendors (do they sell data, who is doing what with the information).
Randazoo shows an interesting browser plugin, Collusion. Used with Firefox, it populate the browser window to show different companies and their association based on their data collection. His example showed 44 companies that collected audience data.
Avinash Kaushik kicks off Search Engine Strategies New York 2012: Optimal Attribution Model
Pierre DeBois with Avinash Kaushik at Search Engine Strategies expo - SES New York 2012
Avinash Kaushik (@avinash), Google Analytics evangelist, kicked of Search Engine Strategies New York 2012 (#SESNY ), with the gusto and interest that would certainly rev any warm-blooded analyst. I had the opportunity to listen to him (see also a review of his book Web Analytics 2.0 on Small Business Trends)
Throughout his presentation, Avinash noted the irony in how online marketing is approached. “We try to acquire a ton of traffic, but you are only attracting people to show up for your digital existence. We measuring everything but instead we over optimize our measured sites – we don’t get to the big picture, the macro experience that should answer the “So what?” How does this affect our business.”
To get to that so what Avinash advocated the group to embrace economic value in the campaign path – understanding that messages that encourage people to buy should identify the value of each avenue to purchase. “A group of people will see a search on Yahoo, look for a discount code, then commit to a purchase,” Avinash explained. “In life people can have multiple steps leading to an economic value – so how do you optimize your budget for that experience?”
To apply the value Avinash describes, marketers should look to an Optimal Attribution Model. These are steps meant to measure the value of what is discovered. The measure occurs from a number of variables, tested to optimization. The cycle is repeated, allowing marketers to do three important activities that will lead to meaningful answers for the business.
1. To understand what we did with the campaign
2. To refine through testing
3. Be less wrong
Avinash Kaushik speaks about atribution at SES New York 2012
Avinash goes on to explain that “We must move away from “data pukers” and put strategy before data. We must seek a Scientific Method and Design of Experiment for calculating value….If 10% of your budget is not used to fail faster, it is impossible to identify where to experiment.”
“Today we look at all this data, but we do so to shout loud at people instead of engage meaningfully. We are coming to social web revolution, with connect between people as much as marketing in the center.” Avinash showed a circle of people with connections along the circle and spokes to the center where marketing is – a representation that access is 360 degree.
Avinash ended his presentation by reminding the audience to note 3 incredible things about their campaigns
1. Ask So What? Focus on the value.
2 Do social because it delivers economic value – gain precision engagement
3. Why is the activity happening
Avinash gave an example from a big box store in which “$1 of each paid search lead to $15 offline sales, leading with 22% contribution margin.”
Those are numbers any retailer should pay attention to.
Avinash displayed an attribution circle model to show how marketing sources connects people to a digital existence - imagining the data associated is a great purpose for an digital analytics solution
Zimana is an Alltop web analytics blog
Ok, this one has been saved for a while, but a quick note. Zimana is among a number of great Alltop blogs. Very honored and very much a reminder to keep providing the best information for small businesses.