Everyday, every minute in fact, it grows more and more difficult for online retailers and wholesalers to stand out from the crowd of other ecommerce websites. Each and every new website that appears, and hundreds do everyday, dilutes the pool just a little further and makes it just a little harder to attract and keep customers. Necessity being the mother of invention assures that Internet merchants and marketers are constantly creating new ways to catch shopper’s eye.
Obviously some of these strategies work and some don’t. The problem is that most small online businesses don’t have the luxury of being able to afford a lengthy trial and error process. Fortunately a study published last year by the Jack Morton Worldwide advertising agency points toward a fairly simple product promotion strategy that seems to be working for many ecommerce websites.

The study of 1625 respondents located in the United States, Australia, and China shows that consumers are attracted by just about anything that allows a website’s visitor to interact with products increases the likelihood of them buying them and leaving the site with a sense of having done something more than simply conduct an economic transaction.

For example, some apparel retail websites allow a shopper to place images of the articles they are considering buying on a figure of a person to see how they look together. They can compare a skirt and blouse color combination or see how that puffy shirt will look with the Capri pants. In a brick and mortar store shoppers hold clothes against themselves to inform their purchasing decision and simply make the shopping experience more fun.

Another even simpler live marketing trick involves makes it unnecessary to click on an image to get a larger view. The shopper need only run their cursor over an image and a larger version pops-up. This simple java script is a small but effective way to add sophistication to a site and communicate to a visitor that they have found a site technically superior to the competition. In a similar vein adding multiple images of a product to an image gallery, particularly if the gallery is easy to navigate, sends a similar message of sophistication to a site’s traffic.

Among the interesting statistics published with study show that 82% of the respondents said that interactive marketing made a site more interesting and increased the likelihood of a return visit. 80% said that when they left sites using these kinds of marketing strategies felt more informed about the product they looked at than traditional sites.

Interestingly the Jack Morgan agency study established that these kinds of online marketing strategies are particularly effective with woman consumers. According to the study women are 20% more likely than men to say that their buying choices were positively affected by interactive marketing.

In a published document accompanying the study the Morgan agency said, “Primarily women, highly coveted by marketers because they make or influence much of the household spending, are seen to be highly responsive to live marketing. Although both men and women say that experimental marketing is a medium most likely to result in a purchase, woman are 20% more likely to do so.”

A small online retailer should not be put off by the technology required to add some interactive elements to their site. For example, the one listed above can e achieved by installing fairly simple java scripts to their site. An even moderately skilled web designer should be able to write or at the very least know where to locate the software needed to add multiple images or install an interactive gallery.

In short it appears as if the primary philosophy behind live marketing is to make the online shopping experience as much like traditional shopping as possible. People do not shop simply to get merchandise; they shop as an activity. The more fun and surprising the online shopping experience is the more likely a visitor is to make a purchase and just as importantly return for another round.

Art Micklewraith is a freelance writer and regular contributor to Top Ten Wholesale. He can be reached at Content and Solutions or by email at artmicklewraith@gmail.com.