How to get more out of your ecommerce site

Small businesses looking to improve sales may be wise to crunch some web traffic numbers to better understand why customers buy products and how they decide to make purchases.

In today's explosive age of ecommerce, online shopping and social media, small businesses have an increasingly level playing field on which to compete for business.

Experts agree there are a variety of ways to leverage the web to boost sales.

An article in Practical eCommerce shows businesses how to look behind the scenes of your business website and understand what the number of visitors and average purchase total really mean for long-term profitability.

The online merchandising magazine recommends that businesses begin to track a number of statistics including unique visitors, number of transactions, average order value, total sales value and ultimately conversion rate - or the percentage of site visitors who stay to make a purchase.

Using a simple - and sometimes even free - analytics tool to synthesize the data, small businesses can identify ways to improve the customer experience and draw shoppers in for the final sale, says Practical eCommerce.

Understanding consumers' changing needs and wants is becoming an important focus of business owners and marketing personnel as shoppers are increasingly careful where and how they spend their disposable income.

According to a new report from Netpop Research, people are spending nearly 18 percent more time communicating online than in 2006.

Given these trends, the Media Shifts to Social report from the research group advises businesses to create online social forums where customers can post reviews and communicate with management.

A number of businesses of all sizes are using software programs to create a user-friendly social commerce area on their websites to engage customers.

Company's as big as Starbucks and Hyundai and as small as online-only retailers are turning to off-site hosted software programs that let customers submit ideas and feedback to management, let other customers rate those ideas and give business owners a chance to respond directly to customers.

More importantly, this social communication venue is providing business owners with crucial feedback on what customers like or dislike about its products and services and ways to improve its offerings.

This type of valuable commentary can help a business position itself better to retain customers and ultimately weather the recession.

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