ETD: 940 \How do folks look at your web site; Final word on
surveys; Shopping trend this season
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post at gapent.com
Thu Dec 15 11:33:57 GMT 2005
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0940 December 15, 2005
George Matyjewicz, Moderator mailto:georgem at gapent.com
Published by: GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.etailersdigest.com
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CONTENTS
[1] Greetings
[2] How do folks look at your web site
[3] Final word on surveys
[4] Shopping trend this season
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[1] Greetings.
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Hi All:
How do folks look at your Web site? There is a certain manner in
which people READ your information that you should know. Years ago I
had a partner whose doctoral dissertation was on how people read
information on a screen. It took him 10 years to be accepted, until
MIT learned about it and invited him to speak (he was from
Australia). Recently there have been some discussions on how to
design your site for good readability. How is your site?
We have the final words on that survey we took. We received a 35.5%
return and excellent information. It behooves you to develop a
survey for your business. Great way to strategize for the future.
List member Jan Owens has some shopping trend information for this
year. We always appreciate information from Jan.
January 15-18, 2006, the National Retail Federations's (NRF) 95th
Annual Convention & EXPO Conference will be held at the Jacob K.
Javits Convention Center in New York City. It is always a great show
and a good way to see trends in retailing. If your coming in, let me
know. We also need somebody to cover the show.
Now, let's get to everything for the retailer.
Sincerely
George Matyjewicz, PhD
Chief Global Strategist, GAP Enterprises, LLC
mailto:georgem at gapent.com
http://www.etailersdigest.com
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[2] How do folks look at your web site
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A former partner of mine did his doctoral dissertation on this
subject - how people read web pages. It's critical to follow the
theory with your site.
How does somebody view your site when they first come to it? They
first look at the "active window" on your home page - the central
part of your site. Eye tracking studies show that when people are
viewing web pages, their eyes start in the upper left corner and
follow along the top navigation, until they hit the end of the
browser, at which point they travel diagonally through the center of
the screen until they stabilize at the left navigation. The sight
path then proceeds to go back and forth across the center area,
between left navigation and right column, then back and forth, back
and forth, engaging within the central area, hence the term active window.
The active window is the portion of a web page to which the eye is
drawn most frequently. It's the area "above the fold" where the
visitor's gaze is naturally attracted, and most often engaged.
Because the visitor is most comfortable engaging within the active
window, it holds the key to conversion.
Here you need to state your Unique Value Proposition - what makes you
better than all the other companies out there? And you also need a
call to action, i.e., move the visitor to a buyer. You need to
persuade the visitor to buy what they want to buy, only buy from
you. What will it take to get the visitor to hit the purchase
button? Why do they go so far, and abandon their shopping cart?
What does your active window look like? Should I buy from you? If
you need a critique of your site, let me know.
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[3] Final word on surveys
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Today we analyzed the results we got from the survey we took of
members of a not-for-profit learning group. First our market
research guru said we should expect a high of 20% response rate from
a known list. He never saw the 35.5% return we got from this survey.
And the results were quite interesting. We learned a lot about our
members - stuff that we can use in our marketing. For example, in
one question we asked to state their goals when they joined the
program. The next question asked if they reached their goals. 95%
said they did! In another question we asked their ages range, and
learned that we were targeting the wrong age group. Or maybe the
group we were targeting didn't answer the survey. We asked what they
were studying (gave them a choice of five topics and one "other") and
learned that most studied "other." So we have to revise our programs.
We identified seven new programs we were thinking about
introducing. The director and I have had a difference of opinion on
one subject - he felt it was too far out of our realm of teaching and
I thought it was what people wanted. The results showed that it was
the most popular request from the group.
Along with age, we asked their family status, and listed single,
married, married with children and separated/divorced. We were
shocked to see single as high on the list.
This information allows us to better develop marketing programs and
to target our audience better. Our goal is to increase membership by
500% in 5 years, so we need to understand our target.
If you haven't done surveys, you should consider them. Very good stuff.
George
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[4] Shopping trend this season
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The hotlnk below goes to an interesting article about shopping trends
noticeable this season. The one-reliable sweater seems to be waning
in popularity, both a victim of fashion changes and a preference for
gift cards. The article is from the New York Times -- registration
is free, but the article is avaiable free for only a week.
It was the original "one size fits all" gift solution: a bulky,
loose-fitting sweater, ideal for the grandparent, distant cousin or
spouse who did not know - or was afraid to ask for - a recipient's
clothing size.
But hard times have befallen the dependable sweater, with sales down
sharply this year, and some are beginning to ask if it has become the
new holiday fruitcake, destined for the back of the closet, to be
"regifted," or worse, thrown atop the pile of clothes to be donated.
A respected Wall Street analyst sent a shudder through the nation's
retail stock rooms recently when she theorized that consumers were
rejecting argyle crew necks and cable-knit cardigans in favor of that
other fail-safe option, the gift card.
'Happy holidays!
-- Jan Owens
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/13/business/13sweaters.html
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