Andy's Blog

      今天早上一打开vancl网站联盟的后台发现5月份的佣金已经发放了，于是就赶紧用工行的网银查了一下到账情况，   结果很激动，收到一笔342.75的汇款，

今天在http://www.getelastic.com上看到一篇名为“商品推销的可用性：更好的展示推荐商品”的博文，觉得很不错，就转了。原文链接：http://www.getelastic.com/display-product-recommendations/。

Have you noticed that, when showing cross-sells and upsells, many ecommerce sites hijack you off the page you’re looking at to view the suggested item, often with no way back to the other page without hitting “back?” Surely this is not the most usable way to suggest products and improve merchandising conversion rate.

Surely cross-sell usability is a factor in their effectiveness. But how can you show customers information about cross-sells without forcing them to abandon the page they’re viewing?

AJAX Hover

My favorite way to show cross-sells/upsells is to expose as much relevant product information pre-click. This can be achieved with an AJAX “hover” box. At the very least, you want to show the item’s title, price and stock availability. You could also show a brief description, delivery options, average customer rating or sales rank, or available colors. Barnes and Noble even allows a quick Add to Cart button:

But there’s potential to shove a lot more information into a hover box, like TheFind’s UpFront feature which even has tabs:

Quick View

Foot Locker gives customers the option of a “Quick View” preview:

You can select your product size, color etc and even add to cart without leaving the initial product page. The only tricky part is if you don’t click the right area of the thumbnail, you’ll get the full product page loading. This is a usability beef I have with Quick Look and Quick View features. However, if you do accidentally load the page, Foot Locker provides a recently viewed sidebar for quick return:

Comparison Matrix

When the suggested items are “upsells” (suggesting more expensive version of product from same product line) or “alternative products” (from the same category and similarly priced), it would be helpful to provide a checkbox comparison feature that whips up a product comparison matrix for the customer. I have yet to see this implemented in practice, but here’s a mockup of what it could look like:

This doesn’t make sense if you’re showing “cross-sells” of related products that you hope the customer will buy in addition to the product being viewed. You shouldn’t compare apples to watermelon to donuts.

Add Bundle to Cart

Amazon and Sears allow customers to add cross-sells to the cart as a bundle, with the option to remove suggested items they don’t want:

These are a few ways you can improve the usability of your cross-sells and upsells, and hopefully push their conversion North too.

Victoria’s Secret has a nice layout for cross-sells with the ability to add them to cart from the product page.

The problem is, unless you make all your selections before you hit any of the 3 “Add to Bag” buttons, you will be taken to the cart page without a link back to where you were. There are no clear instructions on how to make it work if you’re not sure.

Martin and Osa’s shop by outfit bundle configurator allows you to make your selections one by one without leaving the page, when you’re ready you click “Add to Bag.”

Carry Suggestions to Cart

Some customers will be conditioned to not click on related items for fear of losing their place on the page they’re viewing. Arden B shows the same cross-sells in the cart summary page:

Walmart shows the following recommendations at the bottom of the product details when viewing a baby stroller:

After you add the product to cart, your cart updates with an AJAX box (top right), and you stay on the product page, but “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought” moves to the top, and the product details move below. Smart.

Sears also does something similar, taking the customer to a landing page showing “bought this, bought that” items and category top sellers after an item is added to the cart:

 
首先看看这张图片吧，这是Lavish & Lime 网站上一个产品的截图，请注意右下角的标有红框框的部分，这个就是本文要介绍的name your price模式。

当你点击这个链接后就会跳出一个窗口，如下:

大概意思就是让你选择你愿意接受的折扣以及愿意等待的时间。好像最长等待时间是3 month. 这项功能是链接到http://www.pricewhispers.com这个网站的，因此你需要现在这个网站注册一下帐号，才能使用这项功能。PS：pricewhispers.com这个网站是Lavish & Lime下属的一家社区网站，现在不光只为Lavish & Lime服务，有任何name your price需求的网站都可以租用它的服务。费用大概是交易额的5%-10%.

大家可能已经注意到了，这项服务对那些价格敏感型的客户肯定是极具吸引力的，但是如果你对价格不十分敏感，况且又急需这款产品，那你还愿意花时间等待吗？我猜答案肯定是：不愿意。（不知道可信度是多少，95% or 5%,）但愿我的答案能够代表95%，:-)。如果你是这类顾客，那就请直接add to cart,，然后pay it 吧。所以说天下没有免费的午餐，你在得到discount的时候也花费了宝贵的时间，虽然时间不需要用钱来购买，^_^

但愿我们以后需要的不急用的产品都能享受这样的优惠，不知道国内哪个网站会先有这样的服务？期待那个网站的出现。。。

       More and more money is being spent online as consumers switch to shopping on the web. Yet so many websites don’t seem to have considered the usability of their ecommerce site and of their ordering process, resulting in users prematurely giving up and abandoning their shopping basket. Here are ten ways to improve the usability of your ecommerce site, so that you can maximise your conversion rate and help convert the contents of users’ shopping baskets into orders:

1. Identify users with their e-mail address

How many different usernames do you use for ecommerce website accounts? Now, how many different e-mail addresses do you use for ecommerce website accounts? I’d wager that you not only have fewer e-mail addresses, but also that you find it much easier to remember your e-mail address, than your username.

Always try and use an e-mail address to identify users, rather than a username. This is because e-mail addresses are easier to remember and are more standard, meaning that you don’t have to worry so much about special characters. They’re also always unique, so you can avoid the problem of another user having already taken a username.

2. Break up the ordering process into bite size chunks

The ordering process can often be quite complex. Users must typically enter a delivery address, choose their delivery method, enter their payment methods and then finally confirm their order. Trying to do all this at once can cause problems because users need to enter so much information.

Breaking the process up into smaller chunks allows users to tackle each step at a time. There’s less to think about at each step and less information to enter. For example, Amazon¹³ breaks the ordering process up into the following steps:

1. Login
2. Choose delivery address
3. Choose delivery options
4. Enter payment details
5. Review and submit the order

3. Tell users where they are and where they’re going

Isn’t it awful when you’re on a journey and you don’t know how far you’ve been, or how far you still have to go. Well it can be just as frustrating for users when they’re trying to buy something online and they don’t know how many more steps are required before finally making the purchase. This is why it’s important to let users know where they are in the ordering process, and how far they have to go. For example, Dixons¹⁴ shows the current ordering step, and the steps still to go:

Alternatively, you could just specify the step number, together with the total number of steps left in the ordering process. For example, "Enter delivery address (step 1 of 4)".

4. Don’t make the ordering process harder than it needs to be

It’s amazing just how many ecommerce websites make the ordering process harder than it really needs to be. For example, users are asked to enter their credit or debit card expiry date as a month (Jan, Feb, March etc.), instead of a number (01, 02, 03 etc.). This forces them to convert the number shown on the credit or debit card to the corresponding month, instead of just entering the number straight in.

At each step of the ordering process think about how this step could be simplified. For example, do all of the input fields really need to be captured? By simplifying and streamlining the ordering process you should be able to minimise the number of problems users might experience along the way.

5. Address common user queries

It’s important that throughout the ordering process, common user questions and queries are addressed. For example, users might want to know how long delivery is likely to take, or if they have to enter extra information such as their date of birth, they might want to know why this is.

Go through the ordering process and ask yourself at each stage: What queries might a user have? Answers to these queries should either be provided on-screen, or through a hyperlink. For example, Marks & Spencers¹⁵ explain why they need users to enter a contact telephone number:

6. Highlight required fields

There’s nothing more annoying than filling out a form, only to have it returned because required information is missing. It should be made very clear from the offset exactly which fields need to be filled in and which are optional. This can be done by simply marking those fields that need to be filled in, usually with a "*". dabs.com¹⁶ does this quite well:

7. Make the ordering process flexible

By making the ordering process flexible, users should not only feel more in control, but should also be less likely to come across critical problems. For example, some ecommerce websites force users to undertake a postcode look up when entering an address. This can cause problems for those users with unconventional or new postal addresses because no list is returned for their postcode, or their particular address is not present in the list. This means that they simply can’t enter their address and therefore can’t place their order (this has happened to myself a few times).

A good example of an ecommerce website that has built flexibility into their ordering process is CD WOW!¹⁷. They allow users to place orders without having to register with the website, meaning that those users who are not comfortable registering can still place orders:

8. Put users’ minds at ease

Many consumers are still not 100% comfortable buying online. They might be concerned about giving out their credit card number, or about not receiving the items they’ve paid for. It’s therefore important that you allay these concerns and put users’ minds at ease.

Try and think about the concerns users might have at each step of the ordering process, and try to address them. For example, Tesco¹⁸ make a note at the payment stage of their ordering process of explaining to users that it’s totally safe to shop at Tesco.com:

9. Have users confirm their order before buying then provide confirmation

The last stage of the ordering process should always ask the user to confirm their order. Users should be able to see a summary of their order, including how much it will cost and where it will be delivered to. They should then either be able to cancel or place the order. It’s probably best not to copy something like Amazon’s "1-click" ordering system¹⁹, because this allows orders to be placed without checking and confirming important details, such as the delivery address and delivery costs.

Confirmation should be provided for orders placed, so that users
know whether their order w
as successful or not. This should include information such as:

• The expected delivery date
• The order number
• How to track the order online (if this is possible)

10. Send a confirmation e-mail

Once a user has placed their order, a confirmation e-mail should be sent out straightaway. According to Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox, December 8, 2003²⁰Confirmation e-mails should:

• Be brief
• Tell users what they are likely to want to know, such as the order number
• Should be a real customer service ambassador for the company

Remember, it’s much cheaper for someone to resolve an issue online rather than having to call customer services. By second guessing users’ queries, such as outlining how long a delivery is likely to take, calls to customer services can be minimised.

Conclusion

This article has outlined ten ways to improve the usability of your ecommerce site. Following these guidelines should not only make your ecommerce website more usable, but ultimately more successful as well. Of course, you can only go so far with usability guidelines, which is why usability testing should be an important part of every ecommerce project. Follow usability guidelines and carry out usability testing with real users and you should find that your ecommerce website is not only usable, but very effective as well.

      

凡客诚品成立差不多一年，但是现在每天接到的订单已经高达6000多单，服装销售更是高达1.5万件，2008年销售额接近5亿。是什么力量让一个让名不见经传品牌坐上行业前几把交椅，凡客诚品的负责人说，他们注重在互联网的推广，在网络投放的广告占所有广告投放的60%以上。互联网推广对凡客诚品产生很大的效果，那他们网络推广是怎么开展的呢？

　一、网络广告投放

大家在各大门户网站上都看到了凡客诚品的广告，还有一些大的专业站也有他们的大量的广告投放，这个当然是需要大量资金的支持。

二、搜索引擎优化

这个是他们的首页的相关的代码，不过可以看出来，关键词设置的有点多。

　三、搜索引擎广告

百度和google的竞价他们都做了，这个在网络推广中是比较常见的渠道。

四、电子邮件营销

许可电子邮件营销，可以给用户发一些促销的信息，让老客户回访网站。

五、博客话题营销

以产品为话题让多个博客写用户体验文章，以用户角度对产品进行体验式营销。

六、网络媒体推广

利用网络媒体的报道来提高品牌的影响力，增加对产品和网站的信任度。

七、网络广告联盟

凡客诚品在多家网络广告联盟上投放CPS广告，CPS是指的按销售提成广告费用，许多个人站长在网站上投放了他们的广告。

八、网站销售联盟

现在他们成立了自己的网站联盟，让广大站长和店长加入，根据销售额进行提成费用，这个形式也是属于CPS。

至于效果如何？大家可能都已经看到凡客诚品已压过PPG的势头了。成本怎么样？其负责人陈年称，发展到目前的规模，凡客诚品在广告方面的投入不及PPG的十分之一，互联网推广以最佳的性价比让凡客诚品取胜。

     今天中午的时候收到凡客诚品发来的polo衫和衬衫了，是用硬纸盒包装的，贴了Vancl的logo，看上去包装的还很顺眼，打开外包装，里面的polo衫是用专门的印有vancl logo的包装纸包的，做的相当漂亮，很是喜欢，今天没有带相机，改天我拍张照片传给大家看看。由于当时在公司，没有机会试衣服，也就没有试，晚上回去再说了，还好凡客有30天退货的承诺。

     晚上一回到家我就迫不及待的把衣服拿出来试了一下，全部合身，:-)，不错，凡客的衣服制作果然符合标准，我想他们的退换货的几率应该不是很大啊，做服装b2c的能把这关过了，剩下的也就好办了。再看衣服的质量，穿在身上我感觉和那些男装专卖店里的差不多，比如说海澜之家什么的，而价格却只有后者的1/3左右，也许这就是我在凡客买衣服的最直接的动机了吧。

     一次很愉快的网上买衬衫的经历就这样圆满的结束了，今天我想要对凡客说，你一定会越做越好的，我看好你！

   PS：当时好像是这个广告吸引我去购买的

    搞IT的平均每天使用电脑的时间肯定超过8小时，有的甚至超过12小时，那您现在是不是觉得颈椎有点不舒服呢？如果真是这样的，那就请允许我为您介绍一张能够预防治疗颈椎病的神奇图片吧。据说效果还很不错。请看：

请把它下载到你自己的电脑上，每天多看看，对您的颈椎肯定是有百益而无一害的。:-)

原图是在awflasher.com看到的，在此感谢aw Guo, 3Q

      今天就来讲讲Yahoo Web Analytics中的report功能。Yahoo Web Analytics这次提供了6个主要的Report功能，分别是：

1.Traffic  流量分析报告
2.Demographics  人口学统计报告
3.Content 内容分析报告
4.Navigation 导航统计报告
5.Marketing 市场报告
6.Systems 访客客户端分析报告

见下图：

这个图上一共有10个选项，但是前面两个和后面两个都不是报告内容。

现在我就把它们统计时用到的KPI（主要绩效指标）用截图的方式呈现给大家：

接下来的时间里我将详细介绍每个报告中的KPI所代表的具体含义，敬请期待。:-)

   在经过长达一年的非公开测试之后，Google 终于公开 Google Analytics API 的测试版。去年10月以来，随着 Google Analytics 众多重要升级的进行，Google 曾透露他们即将推出该服务的 API。Google Analytics API 使开发者可以在自己的客户端访问 Google Analytics 数据，并基于这些数据设计自己的流量分析报告，同时桌面版 Google Analytics 也将成为现实。
    Analytics API 是 Google 的数据 API，和 Google Calendar，Finance 以及 Webmaster 工具属于同一种 API。对于 JavaScript 以及 Java 编程语言，Google 提供一些客户库作为辅助，他们还会提供更多编程语言的支持，目前，不管你使用何种编程语言，你可以使用 HTTP 请求获取 XML 格式的数据。


Polaris 是率先使用该 API 创建的客户端工具之一，它由 Desktop Reporting 创建，Desktop Reporting 旨在将 Google Analytics 服务转向桌面。其完整套件，一个基于 Adobe AIR 的叫 Dopac 的程序，还没有完全发布。不过 Polaris 已经实现将部分报告数据通过跨平台的 widget 搬到桌面。目前有8种报告，这个程序对只有一个站点的用户是免费的，其他的要收$15/year.

下面两幅图片是它的界面：