We introduced you to our latest critique participant — ScoutingBooks.com — to you in February. ScoutingBooks.com isn't in trouble. In fact, this niche site for Boy Scouts and outdoorsmen has been relatively successful since launching nearly six years ago.

The site owner, Dave Tracewell, is nonetheless looking for ways to improve an already viable e-commerce site.

We resume our critique(See our previous installment) of ScoutingBooks.com today with a comprehensive review by Jason Owen, of DMinSite — a popular Managed E-Commerce Services provider to the catalog industry. DminSite provides site reviews on a regular basis to its clients.

Jason Owen — DminSite.com
"On occasion, we offer to review e-commerce sites for consumer and B-to-B catalogers to help marketers identify numerous opportunities where they can maximize their web profits and increase the value of their catalog mailings through more effective site navigation and selling functionality."

"We have chosen to review ScoutingBooks.com for E-Commerce Guide, taking some of our principles that apply in the multi-channel marketplace and providing them to a stand alone e-commerce site."

"The following recommendations reflect DMinSite's experience gained from managing 65+ catalog Web sites that have collectively grown their web sales at double the industry average for 5 consecutive years. For example, in Q4 2005, DMinSite clients grew their Web orders by 54 percent vs. the industry average of approx. 25 percent."

"The Web sales increases we produce for our catalog clients are driven in part by the navigational and Web-selling techniques described in this review. In this site review, you'll find more than 20 recommendations on how you can maximize the site conversion rate for orders and e-mail signups."

"In our Web site reviews, we make up to 20 recommendations on how you can maximize the site conversion rate for orders, e-mail signups, and catalog requests. We also make several recommendations on how Web sites can increase their online average order size by 25 percent or more."

Homepage Recommendations
"We recommend that you add in left hand navigational column as a permanent part of your site's navigation — shown on every page of the site including your homepage and top-level category pages. Shoppers expect to find category navigation in the left-hand column. You could significantly increase the value of each page by showing your product-based, thematic and solution-based navigational categories in this area of the page."

"The current navigation is dynamic in nature, but the indentation is so minimal that it makes it difficult to determine the top level categories. For example, Camp Crafts in the center part of the homepage takes a lot of valuable real estate, which should mean that it is a high producing category. We would recommend that this category be placed in the top and left hand navigation as well, so that customers can easily find this new and existing category in many locations."

"Show six to nine top selling "Featured Products" from your most profitable categories to generate more sales right off the homepage and also serve as a better visual index to what your site offers."

"Show 'Buy Now' and 'More Info' buttons below every product featured on the homepage to reduce the number of clicks needed to make a purchase and to serve as an effective 'call to action' device. Unless a product trait has to be selected for the item (size, color, etc.), a click on the 'Buy Now' button should add a quantity of '1' for that item to the Cart."

"You should also take the shopper to the cart so that they can visually confirm that the item was added to the cart. If the item does require a trait/size selection, shoppers who click on the 'Buy Now' button can be taken to that item's product page."

"We suggest that you show 'item pricing' and 'short copy' below each featured item to facilitate purchases right off the home page."

ScoutingBooks.com is ECommerce-Guide.com's latest site critique participant.

"Display one to three 'Featured Category Links' to "See More [category name]' below every featured item on the Home page. Featured category links drive visitors deeper into the categories on your site and increase your overall site conversion rate. See www.jfisheronline.com, www.sparrowandjacobs.com for examples."

"Incorporate more 'thematic' navigation, including categories such as 'New Items,' 'On Sale,' 'Web Specials' and 'Best Sellers' to your site's permanent navigation. Thematic categories typically have higher conversion rates compared to traditional product-type categories. Thematic categories work well across the top navigation bar on your site since space is limited in this area of the page layout."

"We also suggest grouping your left hand navigational categories under headings for similar types of categories. This will make it easier for the shopper to find the specific category link they are looking for. Example might be Books for Leaders, Books For Scouts, Books for families, etc." (For an example of effective left-hand category "grouping" see www.personalcreations.com.)

"Add a 'solution-based' navigation device to the top of the page that essentially asks the visitor 'How Can We Help You Today?' You then provide a dropdown listing of customized categories that are 'solutions' to what the visitor is looking for. Solution-based navigation typically has a higher conversion rate compared to traditional product-type category navigation. The solution question for scoutingbooks.com could be, 'Who are you shopping for today?' Example categories could be, Scout, Den Leader, Father, etc." (For examples, see www.gardensalive.com, www.ladygrace.com or www.audubonworkshop.com.)

"Consider adding a 'Gift Finder' or 'Advanced Search' navigational device to your left hand navigational column to give shoppers the ability to quickly browse your items by Price, by Recipient, by Product Type, by Interest, etc." (See www.merlite.com, www.acornonline.com for examples.)

"Because the human eye tends to look at the upper right hand corner of the page first, this corner of the homepage is an ideal place to reinforce special offers and messages by displaying text and/or graphics in what we call an 'Offer Box.' The sites we develop can dynamically display message text on the homepage (and every other page of the site) based on unique URL or a key code embedded in your site's main URL. This enables you to better reinforce special offers and messages presented in your mailings, e-mail campaigns and other online and offline marketing efforts."

"We suggest that you move your e-mail signup box to appear prominently above the fold — typically near the top of your left or right hand column on the page — to maximize e-mail signups. Because there is a high value to every square inch on your homepage, the e-mail sign up box should be dynamically removed from the page once you've collected an e-mail address from the shopper. You can then reallocate this valuable selling space to a featured product or anything else you want to highlight for the shopper."

"The current e-mail sign up box takes you to a new page with a lot of information that makes it confusing for the customer."

"We believe you can increase your e-mail sign up rate by 100 percent-plus and session sales by ten percent-plus by showing an e-mail sign-up pop-up box to site visitors who have NOT already signed up for your e-mail program and who are NOT coming to the site via a link from an e-mail, paid search or affiliate marketing effort."

"People who enter their e-mail address into your signup box should be sent a real-time confirmation e-mail with a marketing message/offer. Suggest giving them a link to a page of Web Specials or offering a discount on their first purchase on the site (i.e. 10 percent off.) If providing any kind of offer in the e-mail signup confirmation message, it's best if your site visually reminds them of their special offer when they return to the site after clicking on a link in the confirmation e-mail."

"Give the shopper a search term box to enter their keyword/string right on the homepage rather than taking them off the page they're already on. This is critical because 50 percent of Web shoppers will want to use your site search feature, and the ones who do are much more likely to buy compared to shoppers who don't use this part of your site."

"Move your site search box to the upper right hand or left hand column of the homepage to make it easier to locate this feature. Shoppers who use the Site Search feature can be two-to-four times more likely to buy!"

"Remove the Visa, Mastercard, and Discover Logo's from the top part of the right side column. They currently take a lot of valuable real estate that could be used for quick order, e-mail, products, promotions, etc. Most online consumers believe that all major credit cards will be accepted online."

"You should consider showing a link to the shopping cart at the top of the homepage along with a display of how many items are already placed in the Cart. This enables you to keep the shopper 'on' the page without having to click over to the cart and reminds a returning shopper that they still have items in their cart from a prior visit."

"You should also add a "Tell a Friend" link on every page of your site to generate additional site sales at no marketing expense to you."

"We also recommend that you display Product Name text links to the last three-to-four 'items previously viewed' by the visitor as a permanent part of the site navigation. This greatly enhances the ease of comparison-shopping on your site. It also can increase your average order size since you're allowing shoppers to cross-sell themselves into buying more items." (Visit www.sweetenergy.com for examples.)

"Also consider displaying text links to the last three to four 'Items You've Purchased' by the visitor as a permanent part of the site navigation. This is especially important if you sell gift items or products that are consumable or need replenishing over time. This technique makes it much easier for people to make repeat purchases from you."

"We suggest adding your 800 number to the header of your site. Your Web site should make it easy for the shopper to order any way they want — online, call center, faxed orders, etc. Many marketers display a unique 800 number on their Web site to better track phoned orders coming from online shoppers."

"Decrease the header size. The size currently is taking up to much real estate. Also increase the size of the category links on the header. The links are small and hard to see in there current state."

"You should decrease the amount of empty space. For instance near the top, the 'Welcome to the HONOR BOOKSTORE' message does not take the customer to a category location and the amount of space that is around it could be better used to get more information and product above the fold."

"Standardize the look of what goes to a category and what goes to a product. The link 'Scouting Scrap Mania' could be reduced by 75 percent in size and customers could understand the link. That would leave more space for possibly best selling products."