Comparison Shopping Engines: Five Success Tips for Merchants
This is the second article in our series about the wildly popular union of search
engines and e-commerce: comparison shopping engines. Last month, we provided an
analysis of the pricing policies of several major comparison engines
(see “Comparison Shopping Engines Bring Customers Who Are Ready To Buy). This month, we provide five tips to help your online store get the
most from this new medium.
Tip #1 – Size up the competition
Comparison shopping engines allow visitors to compare the product listings of
multiple online stores from a single screen. Since your products are
being directly compared (often side-by-side) with the products of your competitors,
it is imperative that you do your homework and price products competitively! One of
the benefits of the grid format used by many of these engines is that it makes
finding out what you competitors are charging easy.
Tip #2 –Write attractive product descriptions
The way you word the descriptions of your products is second only to price in your
quest to get visitors to click through to your site. Be clear and concise in
describing product features. For highly competitive product categories, review
competitor descriptions carefully and determine how you might set yourself apart.
If you have the resources, consider outsourcing the writing task to a professional
copy writer.
Tip #3 – Link to the right place
Many online storeowners make the mistake of directing the comparison shopping
engine user to a suboptimal page in their website. Be warned: repeating this
mistake is a surefire way to discourage visitors from buying your products. Visitors
rely on comparison shopping searches to lead them directly or very close to the “buy
now” page for products. Make sure you bring them there! A visitor looking to buy
a particular widget wants to be take to a page where they can buy that widget—not
to the site’s home page or “gateway” page in the site.
Tip #4 – Perform web analytics for ongoing improvement.
As with any properly executed online marketing strategy, you’ll need
to stay on your toes and monitor the return on investment (ROI) of your
comparison engine advertising regularly. Always keep tabs on the expenses and the
income you received from each click-through from these shopping search engines and make
adjustments accordingly. (For more information about web analytics, see “Importance of
Customer Tracking: The Fine Art of Website
Analytics,” GoECart eNewsletter, July 2005 edition.)
Tip #5 – Follow the rules.
Each shopping engine has its own rules and guidelines for submitting,
processing and displaying your items in their catalog. Failure to adhere to these
guidelines closely could result in you being penalized or wasting time performing manual
submissions that could otherwise be automated. Pay special attention to guidelines for
“product feeds;” properly configuration of the feeds will hasten the process of going live.
The bottom line of any search engine marketing strategy is to increase qualified leads so that you
can reap a solid return on your investment. However, continuous involvement and ongoing improvement
are both essential in order for you to be successful. If you are a new to search engine marketing
or lack the time required to effectively monitor and manage a comparison shopping initiative,
we encourage you to seek advice of professional firms.
