Charles Nicholls

A major slice of the new Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) goes into effect on July 1 introducing strict opt-in requirements for marketers targeting Canadian customers. Over the last few years, many governments have been reviewing their data privacy legislation, especially when it comes to...

Smartphone traffic on ecommerce sites has been skyrocketing for months, but conversions have lagged a long way behind tablets. The problems are obvious: fat fingers and small screens don’t mix well, whereas on tablets there it’s a lot more screen real estate. You can see...

Ever since childhood, we’ve known that there are big differences between the sexes. They show up not only in play but also in shopping behavior. The latter is especially true when it comes to mobile. To understand desktop and mobile shopping behaviors better, website managers...

Mobile conversions on smartphones and tablets grew rapidly in 2013, and now account for 19% of ecommerce conversions, representing a growth rate of 46% over the last 6 months. This growth can be attributed to widespread adoption of smartphones and tablets, 'always on' shopping,...

A common issue that deters shoppers from purchasing online is the absence of feeling that instant gratification after purchasing. Shoppers often opt to shop at brick and mortar stores because it is simply more satisfying to have your purchase at hand and ready to...

Amazon is well known for its personalized recommendations, both on the site and delivered by email, but they don't always get it right. Take a look at this browse abandon email I received from Amazon on my PC and on my phone: There are some…

Marketing automation has become the "the next big thing" in high tech, or at least one of the next big things. How big? More than $1 billion in recent vendor valuations. According to GigaOM, the past six months have seen a flurry of financial...

In the first part of this series, we talked about how first time buyers differ from returning buyers. We concluded that the more often a buyer returns, the more likely they are to complete a purchase. This post will focus on the buyer's time-to-purchase patterns...

In our last series, we looked at who's abandoning their online shopping carts, why they're abandoning, and what can be done to convert abandoners into customers. Now, it's time to improve our understanding of online buyer behavior. The numbers below are based on SeeWhy's extensive...

In the first two parts of this series, we briefly covered the "who" and the "why" of shopping cart abandonment. In this blog post, we'll talk about what areas you should focus your efforts that will help convert abandoners into customers. What can be done...

In my previous post, we quickly profiled a typical abandoner on eCommerce websites. We learned that abandoners are college-educated, well-to-do individuals who actually end up spending 19% more money than their non-abandoner counterparts. Now that you know the "who," let's dive into the reasons...

There is no doubt that shopping cart abandonment is a growing eCommerce concern. Our research shows that a whopping 72% of website visitors who add items to their shopping carts ultimately abandon those carts without making a purchase. In this blog series, I'll discuss the...

The Wall Street Journal reported recently that both Target and Best Buy plan to price match online prices with Amazon and other major online merchants in an effort to combat showrooming. This is a flawed tactic to compete with online merchants on their turf...

The average shopping cart abandonment rate is 72% across all devices*. But mobile devices (excluding digital downloads), have an astounding 97% abandonment rate*. Recently, several people have asked me about the difference and whether or not they should be considering separate mobile device strategies. My...

Now that Labor Day is behind us, between now and Cyber Monday consumers will fundamentally change the way they shop online. The majority will now defer their purchases in anticipation of the upcoming holiday deals. This is based on analysis of more than $1bn...

Digital marketers know they must measure and optimize all of their efforts, with the goal of increasing sales. They must also be able to prove a positive return on their investments. That said, digital marketers are constantly on the hunt for the latest technologies...

Digital catalogs leverage the tablet computing trend, enabling customers to browse through multiple brands' catalogs, view products, share with friends, and click through to ecommerce sites. Impressive conversions statistics are beginning to emerge from digital catalogs, for example: Significant increases in visitors – some sites…

We observed some significant new buying behaviors at the end of 2011 that are set to continue in 2012, and will impact online and offline commerce. It's a blend of: online, mobile, social, multi-channel, discount seeking, and connected customer behavior. Sounds complicated. To simplify, we've…

In 2011, the shopping cart abandonment rate continued its rise, reaching a new all-time high of 72% by the end of the year. In this blog, I'll try to answer why the shopping cart abandonment rate has risen, despite a focus on conversion optimization...