From the indefatigable Anne Holland at Marketing Sherpa a report on best practices for conversion rate. She went to a web analytics conference where the attendees spoke up about what works for them. They should know, because they actually measure it.

Some ideas to think about:

• Image clicks. Instead of presenting a pop of a bigger image, open a new window to an entirely new page that includes a bigger graphic plus sales copy plus an action button
• Leverage Lifetime Value. Unless you sell only one thing and there's no other way to ever make another dime from that new customer.
• Track Profitability -- what's their average order size, cost per unit, amount of handholding required
• Create Repeat visit bounties -- once they've found your site, how much will it cost you to get them to come again?

My favorite snippet:

A panel that included a marketer from Macromedia concluded "95% of Web marketing design using Flash is inappropriate - it's not helping the visitor scratch their itch." However, one panelist said if you're marketing to Japan that may not be true.

Japan is just a cultural signularity. That's why it's so fun.

¶ 3/29/2005