In this article, we are presenting three eCommerce case studies for you to learn from. The strategies in this article will assist you in optimising the conversation rate of your blog or website. It is important to drive traffic to your blog or website, and it is also very important to optimise its conversation rate. If you do not optimise the conversion rate of your blog or website, you will waste a lot of money promoting it, which will increase your expenses. So, here are some one-of-a-kind cases to motivate you to improve your online businesses.
Envelopes.com
Envelopes.com began in 1971 as Action Envelope, a Queens, New York envelope printing company, but today they are a leading eCommerce business with millions of customers.
Its goal has always been to have the most sizes, styles, and colors in stock so that customers can find the perfect product for their specific needs. They combine this with fast shipments, high-quality printing, and services to provide an exceptional customer experience.
The company went through many changes, shifted its focus to the internet, launched its first website soon after, and then achieved massive growth and exciting success.
Envelopes.com is now a leading eCommerce company, serving millions of consumers and businesses with a large in-stock selection of sizes, styles, and colors. Envelopes.com has remained at the top of its industry through years of ever-changing communication and technology through constant innovation, product expansion, and always putting customer needs first.
Envelopes.com has evolved into the eCommerce collective BIGNAME Commerce, which includes their newest brand Folders.com, and they are attempting to expand further with new brands such as Bags.com.
The Problem
Visitors exiting the order page before completing the form is a common eCommerce issue. So the Envelopes.com team wanted to see if they could close some sales from hot leads by using targeted follow-ups. The team worked with visitors who created accounts, added items to their shopping carts, and then abandoned their accounts. The team's goal was to generate genuine purchase intent at some point in the future.
The Strategy
Targeted follow-up emails strategy usually result in sales, but they must be carried out properly. The Envelopes.com team was confident that sending such emails would be successful, but they were unsure of the best timeframe for doing so. As a result, they tested sending the emails at two different time-lapses following cart abandonment: the first group sent the following morning at 11 a.m., and the second group 48 hours later.
Here are the exact email designs Envelopes.com sent out:
The Results
The emails sent at 11 a.m. the next day were delivered:
- 38.63% open rate
- 19.54% click-through rate
- 27.66% conversion rate to a sale
The following emails were delivered after 48 hours:
- 38.01% open rate
- 24.71% click-through rate
- 40% percent conversion rate
Although sending these emails the next day after cart abandonment resulted in a slightly higher open rate, the most important figure, conversion to sale, was significantly lower.
This Case's Takeaways
You can increase sales by sending a follow-up email to visitors who abandon their carts. Though Envelopes.com discovered that 48 hours later was the best performing time, we recommend that you research the best time for your business. As a result, try out different options and choose the best time lag. Do not just pick any time; you must thoroughly test it for a while sufficient to provide you with results.
Budapester
BUDAPESTER SCHUHE is a Berlin-based international store that Andreas Schläwicke purchased in 1993 from the founding family, who had been selling classic Budapester shoes since 1939. Schläwicke opened a second store in Hamburg intending to become one of the world's most exclusive shoe stores for both men and women.
The two-story, spacious shop is located on one of Hamburg's most prestigious shopping streets. BUDAPESTER has established itself as one of the world's leading destinations for designer shoes, bags, and leather accessories. Since its inception, BUDAPESTER has amassed a devoted following of customers ranging from lovers of luxurious classics to young trendsetters.
BUDAPESTER prioritizes first-rate service, and its sales staff is well-trained and always up to date on all the latest designer collections and trends, and is happy to assist customers with their purchases.
After more than 20 years, Budapester shoes store goes online — Mybudapester.com was born in 2015 and offers the best from over 120 of the world's top luxury designers — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week — worldwide. Mybudapest.com has quickly become one of the leading retailers of luxury goods on the Internet due to cutting-edge e-commerce technologies.
Mybudapester.com is in real-time connected to the flagship stores, ensuring that all goods are available online. Delivery times of no more than two working days round out mybudapester.com's exclusive service and make shopping more convenient.
The Problem
A few years ago, Budapester experienced a significant increase in traffic, but this did not result in significant sales. This is a terrible state for any eCommerce company, and it has the potential to destroy it.
Surprisingly, the brand's website received hundreds of thousands of visitors each month—but conversion rates were abysmal. The situation was exacerbated on mobile, where Budapester's conversion rate was less than half that of its desktop counterpart.
The Strategy
When the German luxury fashion retailer realized that something needed to be done, its first action was to better communicate its unique selling propositions, as well as other offers and policies, to its visitors. This entailed prominently displaying information about free delivery, shipping options, and product availability on its product pages.
The shopping cart was updated to include an alert that alerted users when only one product remained in stock. This was done to encourage users to buy the item right away rather than later. Discounts were also emphasized, and free shipping items were highlighted by changing the font color. Finally, to simplify the shopping cart interface, the discount code section was hidden.
All of the changes were implemented and tested in only 10 days to ensure that all users on all devices had a consistent experience.
Take a look at the screenshot below, and pay attention to the box that the red arrow points to.
Furthermore, Budapester changed the header of its website, specifically decreasing the size of the logo and adding the aforementioned information at the top of the page. Again, because the initial bogus logo served as a distraction, this made it much easier for visitors to learn about these policies and offers right away.
Here is a screenshot of the old shopping cart page.
And below is the optimized page:
Consider the two red arrows above: one points to the entailed prominently displaying information about free delivery, shipping options, and product availability, and the other points to reduced logo size.
The Results
Budapester's conversion rate increased by 12.5 percent during the test, and by 29 percent on mobile devices, which was even better. When these percentages are converted into monetary terms, increasing the conversion rate by 12.5 percent equates to increasing revenue by 12.5 percent.
This Case's Takeaways
It is critical that you clearly and concisely communicate your offers and discounts to your visitors. Always include the monetary values of your offers and place them on your cart page where visitors can easily see them.
You should also identify and remove any distractions on your cart page. Your offers should be the center of attention.
Company Folders
Company Folders is a folder boutique company that offers a wide range of fully customized folders in a variety of stocks, coatings, foils, imprint methods, and more.
They provide high-quality products that are backed by a lifetime warranty.
Among the materials they manufacture are:
- Stocks — Long-lasting paper stocks have good scoring and folding properties while having a low environmental impact.
- Inks — Vegetable-soy oil inks that dry quickly produce vibrant, crisp colors.
- Coatings — Fast-drying coatings retain color over time and are often recyclable.
- Glue — To avoid lifted corners or detached pockets, products are glued with precise bead length.
The Problem
There will come a time when we will need better results and may need to redesign our business. This was the case for Company Folders a few years ago when they decided to redesign their outdated 5 years old website in the hopes of increasing conversion-to-sale. The way people shop online changed over that time frame and the old website didn't reflect the ease-of-use online shoppers had come to expect.
The team then took one element of the site — an online quote form — and completely revamped the entire process, creating a form with a fresh new look and feel.
The Strategy
Here is the old website:
Company Folders refined and improved its website and eventually reach a 67.68% increase in overall quotes from the website form.
Step 1: Redesign of the Entire Website
The team began a multi-step redesign process with a wireframe that detailed the basic user design and user experience. Their strategy was to create a user-friendly website based on feedback. As a result, an early version of the new website was shown to friends and family, particularly those who might be considered part of Company Folders' target audience.
The next step was to design an appealing look and feel for the new site, and the team solicited feedback from friends and family once more.
Below is a screenshot of the new website; please keep in mind that the website has since been changed from the screenshot below to the one posted in the first paragraph of this case
Step 2: Recognition of the Significance of Specific Website Elements
Company Folders recognized that the online quote form was a critical component of its website that needed to be optimized due to its complexity. The product required multiple stages of decision-making, with numerous options at each stage.
The team also recognized that the online quote form needed to address two distinct audiences. Designers who purchase from Company Folders have typically purchased this type of product before and are familiar with the basic process of making a series of choices that result in the end product they have in mind.
Another key audience for Company Folders is business owners and office managers, who frequently go to the quote form without understanding the process and maybe purchase custom folders for the first time.
Step 3: It Examined the History of the Main Website Element
Over time, the online quote form evolved. Rather than starting with an online form, the first version of the form was a site that provided product information and asked visitors to call for more information or a quote.
The second version of the form was a single page that requested basic information about the folder, such as product, paper, printing method, and the number of folders required. See the screenshot below.
The final version of the form remained in place during the website redesign. The issue with the final online quote form was that, even though it asked for a lot of information about the potential order, Company Folders still had to call most of the prospects for additional details about the quote request and to clear up orders with them.
Step 4: Redesign the Key Website Component
The redesign of the online quote form had to address two issues: Company Folders needed a lot of information to generate a quote, and because the process was complicated, the team didn't want people filling out the form and stopping in the middle of the process to look for more information.
They took a time-consuming single-step process with numerous options and broke it down into a multi-step bite-size process (pictured below).
The Result
The new exit survey feedback included, "I like the ease of which to choose options".
The online quote form performed better after simply redesigning the entire website:
- The total number of quotes increased by 13.96%.
- Quote requests on the website increased by 12.98%.
However, redesigning the online quote form yielded even greater results:
- Total quotations increased by 67.68%.
- Quote requests on the website increased by 59.53%.
- Visitors uploading artwork increased by 65.16%.
This Case's Takeaway
When a complex system is broken down into manageable smaller steps, it helps to keep people focused and increases conversion. Keep in mind that additional clicks will almost always result in a loss of customers. Keep it simple at all times.
Conclusion
You can increase your conversion rate by sending follow-up emails, as envelope.com did, which is why you should set up a system to collect your customers' emails. Also, make your offer clear to potential customers and display accurate figures on your cart page. Make sure to remove all obstacles and hindrances on your cart page. You will significantly increase sales this way. Furthermore, keep it simple because extra clicks will cause you to lose customers.
