As ECommerce-Guide's critique of the electronics liquidator 1oel.com continues, our forum has been abuzz with input from many of our readers as well as commentary from our subject. So, before we move on, it's important we address one facet of the critique that was unknown before yesterday.

1oel.com owner Phillip Wolf pointed out that most of his visitors do not enter the site via its home page. He said he was hoping we could provide additional input on why he may be losing visitors on either the product pages and/or the shopping cart page.

Luckily, our marketing expert, Steve DiPietro, of the DiPietro Marketing Group, stepped up to bat once again to answer Wolf's concerns.

"We now know that the e-tailer believes his major problem is shopping cart abandonment," said DiPietro.

"This indicates that, at the risk of being repetitive from what I suggested yesterday, at least one of the three vital points that must instantly be communicated is not. That is, prospects do not know the reason they should be interested in what this e-tailer has to offer. As a result, they may very well be simply checking final price including shipping using the 'Calculate Shipping Charges' feature located on the cart page. Then, they abandon their carts to most likely continue comparison shopping - because a good reason hasn't been communicated to them as to why they should not leave!," he added.

DiPietro pointed out that regardless of where visitors enter 1oel.com, the problem, is still largely a design and layout issue.

"In a world where a Canon I80 is a Canon I80 regardless where it's purchased, prospects must be given a compelling reason to buy from you and not leave to buy somewhere else. The reason (sale price/low price/free shipping/hard-to-find item/whatever) must be built into and communicated through the layout and design," he said. "Unless, of course, there is no good reason for them to buy from you."

DiPietro also pointed out how critical it is for e-commerce businesses to monitor all aspects of its site traffic.

www.1oel.com loses a large number of potential purchases during the checkout process. Why?

"It's truly not possible to be successful without basic data (avg. unique monthly visitors, avg. page views/session, avg. session length, avg. order value, avg. margin, bounce rate, buy rate, and, in this case, 'Calculate Shipping Charges' usage relative to cart page usage). Large business or small, you can't make decisions and solve problems without accurate, specific data. Good third-party analytics can be had starting at just $20/month. If metrics data is not a part of your very being, you're flying blind. The assumption has to be data is not known because only sketchy ranges (250-1,000 visitors/day), as well as only beliefs rather than facts, were provided," DiPietro said.

"You absolutely must have your finger on the pulse of the prospect. She will guide you, if you take the time to ask questions and listen. For a few examples of how to do this, please refer to the suggestions I made yesterday," he concluded.

Playing Sherlock
Eric Rickson, strategic business analyst for WebTrends, was kind enough to conduct a quick and dirty analysis of 1oel.com's traffic logs for us in only a day. What he found could point to where Wolf needs to focus a lot more of his efforts in order to retain more paying customers.

Rickson looked at three months' worth of 1oel.com's log data.

"Over the course of three months (February, March, and April 2005) less than 1one percent of visits to 1oel.com led to an online purchase. Taking into account the intensely priced competitive consumer electronics retail market, these sites typically have low conversion rates, so this is no surprise. Even under these circumstances, however, there are opportunities for 1oel.com to incrementally improve its rate of closing online purchases. Below are some observations about the site as well as a number of high level suggestions for improvement," said Rickson.

Attract Qualified Visitors to Well Optimized Pages
"Overall the site does a fairly good job at driving visitors to detailed product information. 64 percent of total visits reach this level of information on the site. Interestingly, close to 90 percent of these visits entered the site directly through these detailed product pages rather than through the home page, suggesting the importance of search engine placement and the use of bookmarks," Rickson noted.

"However, a relatively low add-to-cart rate (7 percent of product page visits) suggests that there may be an opportunity to improve the quality of the traffic attracted to the site and to optimize the landing pages to drive more visitors into the purchase process. Below are a few examples of improvements that can be made in the near-term to attract more qualified visitors and ultimately improve conversion"

"One, compare the performance of channels driving traffic to the site and adjust acquisition strategy based on results. In addition to measuring the volume of visitors attracted to the site, look at the value (revenue/visitor) and conversion rate (orders/visit) of each traffic source," said Rickson.

"Two, assess the effectiveness of product information, product presentation, and calls to action. In the product research and comparison phase of the buying process, a prospective customer will need adequate information to select one product over another. An effective product page provides the appropriate level of relevant data without bombarding a shopper with too much information. The presentation of information should support quick scanning and a clear call to action to move primed shoppers into the checkout process," he said.

"Three, evaluate factors that affect customer confidence and trust. Trust is one of the most important factors affecting a customer's decision to buy, and it is especially critical that landing pages of the site promote a secure, trustworthy and consistent experience. Clearly expose satisfaction guarantees, return policies, security features and privacy policy in locations relevant to the customer's decision points. This practice should carry all the way through the purchase process."

Improve Retention Through Checkout
Rickson's analysis uncovered a striking revelation about 1oel.com's loss of sales during the checkout process.

"A relatively low share (less than 19 percent) of the visits to the shopping cart led to a completed purchase. While 57 percent initiated checkout, only 32 percent of these visits completed the process. Significant attrition occurs at the Billing Information (37 percent), Login (27 percent), and Order Summary (20 percent) steps. It is highly recommended that 1oel.com take steps to identify and resolve factors that might be causing customers to abandon their purchase at each step in the process. Small increases in customer retention can lead to large incremental gains," said Rickson.

Tomorrow, we'll finish our critique of 1oel.com with an analysis by a professional graphic designer and myself. Meanwhile, you can join others in the ECG forum and post your own thoughts on how 1oel.com can improve.

Meanwhile, discussion in our forum about 1oel.com, continues. Look at the site for yourself and then join in the discussion.

Devin Comiskey is the Managing Editor of ECommerce-Guide.com.