SiteSpect Survey Reveals Boosting Conversion Rates and Improving the User Experience are Top Priorities For Online Retailers

December 8, 2014

In a survey of marketers and e-commerce professionals for leading online retailers gathered at eTail 2007, the majority of respondents said that boosting conversion rates and improving the user experience are their top Web priorities for 2008. Most of the respondents’ 2007 budget dollars went to actual site management which provided staffing, tools, services and other resources needed to run their Web sites. With staffing and tools in place for 2008, 57% said that testing will be an important focus, with 17% stating that it will be their top priority.

Additionally, the survey revealed that 69% of online retailers were moderately confident to confident about the effectiveness and performance of their current Web channel programs and strategies, noting that there were a few fairly serious concerns that needed to be corrected. 14% surveyed expressed significant-to-major concerns about Web performance.

Conducted by SiteSpect, Inc., the leader in non-intrusive Web site conversion optimization technology, the survey gathered responses on August 6th and 7th from 70 marketing and e-commerce professionals attending eTail 2007 in Washington, D.C.

Some of the most pertinent findings in the survey include:

  • 54% of Web marketers are currently performing A/B and/or multivariate tests to gauge the effectiveness of their Web pages.
    • Of that group 75% are only running A/B tests
  • The majority of marketers (33%) indicated that they launch A/B and multivariate tests on a monthly basis, while 31% are testing on a weekly basis and only 17% test daily.
  • The most common optimization tests that retailers ran were:
    • Headlines/copy and text
    • Graphic placement
    • Page layout and formatting

When asked an open ended question about the biggest challenge they face in improving the effectiveness of their Web channel, many marketers mentioned lack of resources, in addition to budget and time constraints as their top obstacles.

“These results reveal the pressures online marketers are under today to boost Web site performance, yet many feel they are missing crucial resources such as time and budget they need to have an effective site,” said Eric J. Hansen, president of SiteSpect. “A/B and multivariate testing tools can have a tremendous impact on improving Web performance, and ROI can be immediate – especially with solutions that allow marketers to develop and launch tests in minutes. For marketers who have already adopted testing to optimize entry points to their sites, such as landing pages and the home page, they’ll next need to consider internal areas of their sites for further optimization. This means testing and optimizing site search results, navigation, checkout, and other areas where users must successfully complete a multi-step process in order to reach a marketing goal. Testing tools that can accurately test dynamic content and measure user experience will be vital to these types of advanced Web optimization.”

About SiteSpect, Inc.

SiteSpect enables Web marketers to optimize web site effectiveness through multivariate testing. By testing variations of landing pages, product descriptions, search results and buy-flows, SiteSpect allows marketers to fine-tune every aspect of their Web site to increase profitability. As the first and only non-intrusive solution available, SiteSpect empowers marketers to optimize their sites without the need for ongoing IT involvement. SiteSpect’s patent-pending technology is used in some of the world’s largest and most successful e-commerce sites. For more information, visit www.SiteSpect.com or call 617-859-1900.