Testing new software enables group of e-retailers to boost conversion
While testing new software from Sento Corp., eFashion.com, an umbrella company for numerous clothing-oriented e-commerce sites, has increased conversion rates between 15% and 30% among its brands. The pilot software is a rules-based behavioral engine that enables dynamic web merchandising and special offer presentation.
“The special offers, merchandising and customer assistance the e-retailers are able to provide through the behavioral engine have made the most significant impact ever on our conversion rates,” says Edward P. Foy Jr., CEO of eFashion Solutions LLC. The company’s stable of sites includes DKNY.com, VanityFairLingerie.com, Phatfarm.com, XOXO.com, ShopJLo.com and ShopElvis.com.
“Some offers include incentives in the shopping cart like free shipping if the shopper meets a predefined criteria such as total order amount. And we’re able to target consumers with the most relevant special offers,” Foy explains. “On other fronts, the new technology helps us engage a customer with live support when the system recognizes they are having trouble in the checkout process or at any other point on the site. And we’re able to present dynamic merchandising presentation based on shoppers’ previous patterns, geographical location and other factors.”
The company began its effort to boost conversion by using web analytics from Omniture Inc. The results of the analyses, for example, showed in detail shoppers’ visiting patterns, travel paths and purchasing activity. Ultimately, with improved understanding of its customers, the company’s retailers were able to better target different types of shoppers with more relevant offers, Foy says. The company also conducted consumer surveys asking for direct feedback on web processes, product assortments, web site usability and other aspects of the online shopping experience.
The company then signed on with Sento to test the vendor’s new behavioral engine to turn analysis results into action. “We took, and continue to take, this information for each site and make changes to design and layout to enhance usability and functionality,” Foy says. “With this information and the new technology, we have been able to do such things as optimize our checkout process to reduce shopping cart abandonment and increase conversion.”
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