In order to quickly test site changes without disrupting their online store, ShopNBC.com needed a solution to cater to its needs without burdening valuable IT and marketing resources. Operated by ValueVision Media, who also owns ShopNBC, the third largest television home shopping network in the U.S, ShopNBC.com offers customer web exclusives.
The company first sought a web site optimization solution with the desire to increase sales. Many of ShopNBC’s promotions are coordinated in real-time across different channels—Web, television, and direct mail. A solution was necessary for rapidly creating test and analyzing shopper response. Through testing various combinations, ShopNBC.com boosted average basket size by 16 percent and acquired 4 percent more shoppers to begin the checkout process.
Finding the Right Formula
ShopNBC partnered with SiteSpect, implementing technology to optimize conversions without involvement from IT or Web development resources. The SiteSpect Professional Services Team worked closely with ShopNBC to design effective tests and analyze their results. After test ideas are discussed and agreed upon, SiteSpect sets up the tests and presents them for ShopNBC’s approval. ShopNBC’s personnel can log into the SiteSpect system to preview the tests for accuracy, and then activate the tests themselves with the click of a button.
Advertisement
After testing several different combinations of five elements on its product pages, ShopNBC’s Internet marketing team came up with a winning combination that boosted average basket size by 16%. ShopNBC.com identified the five elements it considered most important on the product page, then tested pages that included all five elements, but represented different variations of each element to gauge the effect of each on checkout and sales.
The five tested elements were: the location and size of the Add to Cart button; headlines identifying cross sales; styles of the tab linking users to product detail; color, size, and style of clearance and limited time pricing offers; and highlighting of payment options for qualified buyers.
In addition to increased revenue through the optimization of ShopNBC.com, SiteSpect helped ShopNBC to avoid lost revenue from potential changes that, had they been implemented blindly, would have hurt sales.
“Our testing program has delivered significant returns in a shorter period of time than we originally expected, and we’re seeing many benefits in results that we didn’t anticipate,” says Geoff Smith, vice president of ShopNBC.com. “SiteSpect has helped us develop a culture of ongoing testing that allows us to test our instincts on a daily basis using no technical resources. Even in cases where our hypotheses turn out to be incorrect, we are able to learn something valuable and better understand our customers.”
