1. Hunters. They already know what they want and are looking for the quickest, easiest, and safest way to get it and go.
2. Browsers. They may have ideas about a purchase but need more convincing, or they’re simply “window shopping.”

The problem most online retail sites face today? Their homepages have been developed without a clear understanding of the motivations and sequences of thought in the minds of these visitors.

During our May 7, 2008, web clinic, our expert optimization team looked at homepages and Value Propositions from five eCommerce sites and made recommendations to improve those sites’ ability to stop, engage, and effectively communicate with both Hunters and Browsers.

Today, ROI is everything – especially in a slumping economy. Are your current metrics giving you the full story?

Probably not.

MarketingExperiments estimates that up to 75% of the data Web marketers collect are either misleading or inaccurate. And expertise with Web analytics is rare, according to our recent poll.

Most marketers remain uncertain about what to measure, whether the results are reliable, and what steps to take based on their data.

This brief covers the key steps to determining your essential metrics, with four critical elements to keep in mind. We’ve also provided a tool you can use right away to improve your marketing ROI.

The right incentive can make a significant impact on response rates, whether it’s used to build lists and generate leads or increase online sales.

But how do you determine which incentive will overcome friction best and deliver maximum return? And which common errors should you avoid?

Even if a site or page has been 100% optimized for several factors, adding the "ideal incentive" can substantially improve results.

This brief will examine how to find the ideal incentive, and not just for the purposes of email capture.

Which specific optimization steps have been shown to increase Conversion by reducing Friction and alleviating Anxiety?

In this clinic we looked at two case studies where Landing Page elements that overcame the value inhibitors of Friction and Anxiety increased Conversion. The increase attributed to these elements in one test was 162%.

Questions our research examined:

• How does providing more or fewer choices affect click-through and Conversion?
• Ensuring a Landing Page is “congruent” sounds like a simple step, but what exactly does that mean?

Anyone who has set up an email campaign knows many factors need to be considered before hitting the Send button:

• Quality of leads and lists;
• segmenting and targeting;
• envelope fields;
• copy content and length; and
• where prospects or subscribers end up once they click through to the offer.

Mastering any process requires knowing where to begin, and email optimization is no exception.

This brief introduces a symbolic notation illustrating our approach to that process: The MarketingExperiments Email Optimization Sequence^sm.

We are seeking answers to two key questions:

1. What is the most effective way to approach an email messaging optimization project: Where should you begin?
2. As you begin, what role does Relevance play in the optimization process?

This brief completes the review of Landing Pages submitted by online businesses for live optimization analysis by Dr. Flint McGlaughlin, MarketingExperiments’ Director; Jimmy Ellis, Director of Optimization Research; and Aaron Rosenthal, Director of Channels Research.

The reviews identified areas where applying key concepts of Landing Page Optimization to both B2B and B2C product, service, and subscription Web sites could result in significant improvements in conversion.

How do you know what to change, what to keep, and what really works when it comes to optimizing a Landing Page?

Online businesses searching for answers to that question submitted their Landing Pages for a critical analysis by MarketingExperiments Director, Dr. Flint McGlaughlin; Director Of Optimization Research, Jimmy Ellis; and Director of Channels Research, Aaron Rosenthal during the February 6, 2008, MarketingExperiments Webinar.

Those who submitted Landing Pages were asked for their Value Proposition as well as the primary traffic source for the page and what optimization steps they had already taken, if any.

The reviews identified areas where applying key concepts of Landing Page Optimization to both B2B and B2C product, service, and subscription Web sites could result in significant improvements in conversion for those businesses.

How do you know when it's better to raise prices to increase revenue or reduce prices and pump up Conversion Rate?

Price is undeniably a strong factor in the conversion decision process, but what will a price change do to your bottom line?

In this brief we will review the results of recent price tests and what they reveal about optimizing offers and increasing total revenue.

We're pleased with what we've been able to share with you during 2007: research results that anyone can use to optimize Landing Pages, PPC campaigns, search, emails, and testing itself. We sincerely hope you have benefited.

In this Brief we will look back at a few highlights from 2007 and then forward to 2008 with observations, predictions, and recommendations for growing demand for your products in the coming year.