This post was co-written by Spring Metrics and UserTesting.com

If you’re an e-commerce site, increasing your conversion rate is key to running your business. But making blind changes to your site or marketing campaigns can be counterproductive. You first need to understand your users:

• Why are they coming to your site?
• What are they doing on your site?
• Why are the buyers buying?
• Why are the non-buyers not buying?

In this post, I’ll discuss four methods you can use to better understand your users: Session Analysis, Aggregate Analytics, User Studies, and Surveys. Each method has different strengths and weaknesses, so you will likely want to try a few of these in concert to best understand your site and your users.

1) Session Analysis

What is session analysis?
Session analysis is when you analyze site data (i.e. “time on a page” and “navigation flow”) for a select number of users.

Session Analysis, at a Glance:

Pros: Quick and easy. Let’s you see actual user data.
Cons: Can’t ask users “why.” You’re only looking at a small sample size.
Example: You look at a dozen buyers and a dozen non-buyers. Buyers usually land on your home page; use the “most popular products” list to find a product, and then purchase. Non-buyers usually land on your home page; use the on-site search – sometimes multiple times, and then leave. One possible conclusion: search results do not seem to be matching the users’ expectations – there is work to be done here.

What’s a good tool to use for session analysis?
Spring Metrics, other analytics tools, or your server logs.

Why should I use session analysis?
This is a quick and easy first step that will get you started within just a few minutes. While you should be able to target individual user data, you won’t be able to ask “why” to your user. You’re also limited on how many users you can realistically analyze.

2) Aggregate Analytics

What is aggregate analytics?
Aggregate analytics is simply reviewing all of your site data and metrics to help identify user trends.

Aggregate Analytics, at a Glance
Pros: Can see trends to understand different segments of users; data view is 100% comprehensive rather than just a sampling.
Cons: Can’t ask users “why.” Your web visitors become statistics rather than actual people.
Example:  You look at your data and notice that first time visitors rarely buy, but second and third time visitors seem to convert at a higher rate. You might take two actions at this point; you may create offers for only first time visitors to try to get them to buy sooner, or you may try to capture other information such as email address on the first visit, so you can get them to come back for a second visit when they are more likely to buy.

What are good tools to use for aggregate analytics?
Google Analytics and Spring Metrics.

Why should I use aggregate analytics?
Analyzing your global, overall web data can help you determine high-level user trends. For example, you should be able to pinpoint where most of your visitors come from, and which of your marketing efforts are most effective.

3) User Studies

What are user studies?
User studies are when you observe an actual person using your site. In most cases, the user is speaking out loud as they browse your site so you gain insight into their thought process.

User Studies, at a Glance

Pros: Can understand users’ intent and hear users’ why instead of just tracking their actions.

Cons:  Cannot realistically test every user.

Example: You run a user study with five participants. Three of them get frustrated because they don’t see the shipping cost early enough in the checkout process. You can make that change immediately or possibly run an A/B test with potential changes. If you had studied just the website data, you would have seen them stopping the process, but you wouldn’t have known why they were leaving the process early.

What’s a good tool to use for user studies?
UserTesting.com is an affordable web-based solution where you can get results back in an hour.

Why should I use user studies?
Hearing users’ uncertainty and confusion when they hit one of your pages is invaluable. In addition, having them tell you what they don’t like, what they would prefer, and what they expected (compared to what they saw) is an eye-opening experience.

Pro tip: if you are showing results to your boss, show them the actual video footage (or if it’s an in-person user test, have them come and observe at least one session). Watching users struggle with the site is always more persuasive than a written report or PowerPoint deck.

4) Surveys

What are surveys?
Surveys are generally a collection of responses tied to specific questions or tasks that are asked to a large audience.

Surveys, at a glance

Pros: Can sample a large pool of users; receive non-site specific data such as general buying habits

Cons: What users say they want may not reflect actual behavior; sometimes difficult to quantify where users are getting confused or stuck on the site.

Example: You survey 1,000 people to understand what sites they shop on and what influences their buying behavior. You find that users dislike getting charged large amounts for shipping and handling, so you create offers for Free Shipping for some or all of your customers.

What’s a good tool to use for surveys?
SurveyMonkey and Zoomerang are both very popular solutions.

Why should I use surveys?
In some situations, a survey can be helpful because it can address topics that may not be directly site-related. Sometimes—the problem might be more product or policy related.

Conclusion

Each method of analysis helps you to better understand nuances related to user trends and behavior—and each brings additional feedback that helps you figure out how to serve your customers best. Generally, you will want to choose several methods to get a well-rounded perspective before you dive into changing your site and campaigns. If you do the analysis work ahead-of-time, you can save time in the long run and gain more satisfied customers.

The sixth in a continuing series on Holiday Conversion Tips

We’re on the road to Cyber Monday, when projections are for well over $1B in online sales.  As email marketing campaigns ramp up, web businesses are looking for quick ways to ensure a higher conversion rate from emails to purchases.  You can maximize your email conversions this season with this “quick holiday win” by Spring Metrics, perfect for easy implementation in November.

Smart Offers are a sure way to increase your on-site conversions. If you’re already sending email campaigns to your list, take it a step further: reward visitors who click through to your site from your emails, and reinforce your email message through Smart Offers.

Smart Offers helps create consistency between your email and website messaging, without having to make major content changes on your site. For example, if your email displays holiday promotional items for kid’s toys, you can offer 10% off the specific items that match those in your email, or free shipping with the purchase of one of those items, to visitors who have clicked through from that email campaign. You can also combine a special offer with a message that says, “Thanks for reading our email!  Here’s a special offer for you.”

Mastergardening.com showed a Smart Offer to those who clicked to the website through an email that repeated the offer from that email campaign. This increased conversation rates from 2.2% to 2.34%. Their Average Order Value went from $23.95 to $87.45 for this Smart Offer through Spring Metrics.

Email campaigns are a useful way to increase conversions, but don’t stop there. Make this holiday season your most successful through Smart Offers. Find out more by downloading our Holiday Conversion Guide.

The fourth in a continuing series on Holiday Conversion Tips.

Did you know that 40 percent of consumers will begin online holiday shopping before Halloween?

Increasing average order value (AOV) is a great method to increase revenue, even during traffic fluctuations.  You can actively upsell at checkout without adding expensive product recommendation solutions that are complicated to implement and maintain.

One option is to show select visitors a special offer to motivate add-on purchases based on their on-site behavior. By providing a simple nudge on your checkout page, you can entice shoppers to increase their cart size.

There are many ways to connect free shipping or discounts to order value. You can offer shoppers free shipping or a discount if they purchase a bundle of products or for orders above a certain amount.

Retailers can target offers at shoppers looking at specific products, such as a free warranty, a special add-on gift, or a discount.  Free gift offers can be linked to cart-size.  Use simple offers like “Spend just $15 more and get a free gift!” to motivate shoppers to spend a certain amount.

Cross Selling involves suggesting complementary products, like earrings to go with a necklace.  Upselling involves motivating shoppers to select a more expensive item or version of a product, or an additional feature, to increase AOV.

Volume pricing is another effective way to motivate higher AOV.  You can show customers who have put one item in their cart an offer to get a third item free if they buy two, or show them special pricing on quantities of three or more.

You can take advantage of these AOV-based offers during and after the holiday shopping season. Spring Metrics customer Mr. Snuff has enjoyed a 47% increase in AOV using this strategy.  Start planning your upsell offers now so you can capitalize when the holiday shopping frenzy begins. You can accomplish all of these using Smart Offers from Spring Metrics.

If you’d like to learn more about this and other holiday conversion strategies, download our 2012 Holiday Conversions Guide. The guide features 10 powerful “Quick Wins”— practical tips backed by real customer success stories—to help you drive increased revenue and conversions.

It’s been six years since Twitter almost single-handedly introduced the concept of social media to the Internet. And six years and much fanfare later, there remains much debate about whether social media’s first cousin—”social commerce”—produces any meaningful ROI.

I’m here to tell you: social commerce works. If there is any debate on this subject, it’s likely for two reasons: 1) no one has figured out how to measure the esoteric and sometimes vaporous impact of tweets and likes on buying behavior, and 2) we focus too much on social media tools and not enough on the underlying rudiments of human social behavior.

Which is to say: Twitter is not a “social commerce” engine. Nor is Facebook. They are simply vast ecosystems designed to capitalize on the basic human desire to interact and learn.

Regardless, let’s not forget: all commerce is social.

Why is that, you ask? I’ll explain in a moment, but first some context. The world of retail has become so massive and overwhelming that we now see the emergence of concepts such as the so-called Toothpaste Trance, a phenomenon in which a preponderance of choice drives a consumer to pick certain products at random. This would be funny if it weren’t actually such a huge problem.

Product categories are evolving so rapidly that the average buyer has little hope of keeping up with even one category—much less the entire marketplace of things a person can eat, drive, wear or plug into the wall. So where does a consumer turn to navigate the maze of knowledge? Other consumers.

This is, in its most basic form, social commerce.

Where does a consumer find other consumers? Sometimes in the old ways: talking to a neighbor over a fence or asking a family member at Sunday dinner. But increasingly they’re finding each other on the Web. Sometimes these connections are made via Twitter or Facebook. But these connections are being made in all sorts of places—for example, in the product reviews on Amazon or in the comments section of a personal gadget blog.

Point is, people are talking about products, reading about products, debating about products. Every day. All over the Web.

When today’s consumer initiates a buying decision, whether large or small, they will most likely seek out the opinion of another person on the web. According to Bazaarvoice, 70 percent of Amercians say they look at reviews before taking the next step toward buying. Similarly, eConsultancy reports that 70 percent of consumers trust the opinions of people they don’t know.

This is social commerce in action.

So back to the original question: can online sellers wring ROI from Twitter or Facebook? Well, depends on how you track ROI and how clever you are in exploiting the strengths of social networks. For all their warts and limitations, there’s no denying the reach of Twitter and Facebook. If the average online seller is strategic and patient and acknowledges the limitations of each social network, there is little doubt they will see a return on their time. How much, and at what cost, is something each seller needs to evaluate on his or her own.

But make no mistake: commerce is fundamentally social in nature. Find out where your customers live, then go there and talk to them.

Several years back I had a boss named Greg. He was smart, elegant and cordial, and he had one particularly intriguing tendency: he never trafficked in meaningless conversation  Even when Greg asked something as seemingly meaningless as “How’s it going?”, it was a courtesy with a purpose. For Greg, every question had a purpose, every answer a meaning.

Why does Greg matter to you? Because as a marketer or e-commerce guy, it’s vital that every interaction with your website visitors is purposeful. We know that not every visitor is going to buy something from you—in fact, on average, only 3 percent will. But you must focus some energy on building a relationship with the 97 percent who don’t. Indeed, if you want to boost your conversion rate, there is no way around it: you must cultivate the 97-percenters.

A simple truth: Buyers tend to convert after they’ve developed a relationship with your business. In analyzing thousands of visitor sessions to our clients’ websites we find that the average buyer converts on their third visit to an online store. This means, of average, you have two opportunities to build and strengthen your relationship with visitors before you can expect a possible sale.

Here are two important non-conversion-related strategies we counsel our clients to pursue:

Social connectivity: This is the easier bar to get a potential customer over. Asking for a Facebook like or a Twitter follow is a low-risk proposition for the online window shopper (who knows that a social media relationship exists at their own pleasure—de-liking or unfollowing takes nothing more than a click). With this in mind, focus on fun, clever ways to consummate a social relationship with your visitors. Doing so provides you a channel through which you can build the relevance of your brand—and more important, establish familiarity and trust.

Direct messaging: The second non-conversion goal you should pursue is the ability to connect personally with a potential customer. In today’s world, that means you need an email address. This is a tougher bar to clear, but by no means difficult if you can provide something of genuine value in return. Newsletter subscriptions, coupons, giveaways … these are just a few ways you can build a stockpile of valuable email addresses. With email addresses in hand, you can dictate when and how you connect with potential customers and move your relationship to the next level by establishing the value of whatever it is you sell.

Once you’ve laid the groundwork by establishing social connectivity and direct messaging capability, you’ve bolstered your chances of converting visitors the next time around. And you can whittle that 97 percent to 96 or even 95 percent.

So remember, be purposeful. Turn your customers’ window-shopping into a powerful opportunity to build familiarity, trust, and value. And then watch your conversion rate begin to climb.

At Spring Metrics, customers are our livelihood. When they’re happy, we’re in business. We spend a lot of time thinking about how to provide them a great experience—and just as importantly, a productive one. Customers are our future. And they’re yours, too.

Over time we’ve added a lot of great customers, and lost a few as well. In the process, we’ve learned that making customers happy is a journey that never really ends (nor should it). Here are five ideas we now live by.

Set Honest Expectations: For your customer, your product is the one you sell today—no more, no less. It’s not an idea or an aspiration, and it’s not the Version 2 that’s scribbled on your whiteboard. Know what your current product does well and what it doesn’t, and be sure to explain this to your customers before they become customers. A customer who knows what to expect will have a better experience than one who’s clicking around in search of features that don’t exist.

See into the Future: In working with our customers, we occasionally see them heading down roads that aren’t likely to be fruitful, or in some cases, will lead to a bad experience. We’re always on the lookout for opportunities to intervene and redirect them to a path with a better likelihood of success. This requires us to dig in and understand what their goals are—before even they can articulate them. It’s vital that you think on behalf of your customers so they can take that three-day weekend and trust that you’re on the bridge, watching for icebergs.

Touch. And Then Touch Again: Keeping a customer is easier than finding a new one. So every time you find one, you should treat them as if they’re the only one you’ve got. And that means reaching out, frequently, in ways that are useful to them. We try to make every touch meaningful—whether it’s pointing out a potential problem, or suggesting a new approach, or simply congratulating our customers on a new strategy that’s generating great results. Be a consistent—and useful—presence in their lives.

Build a Legitimate Relationship: This is perhaps the most important thing you can do to build rapport and loyalty. Building a relationship with customers is no different than building a relationship with colleagues, new friends, or even romantic prospects: It takes time, good will, generosity of spirit, attention to small details, and a willingness to see the world from the other person’s point of view. Customers stick around when they recognize you’re prioritizing their needs and that you’re in their corner for the long haul.

Get a Little Bit Crazy: Our support guru, Drew Mooney, came up with the idea of sending a personalized welcome video to every new customer. It sounded a bit crazy at first, but we ran with the idea and now it’s a signature piece of our welcome process. Customers are people, too. They enjoy a fun surprise like anyone else. So invest in novel ways to interact with them. These creative touches will provide them a glimpse into your company’s culture and also illuminate the pride and enjoyment you get from serving them. Take a chance. Find a crazy way to show your customers you love them.