Do you think the party’s over once your customer purchases? Wrong!  Keep the customer engaged with your brand by continuing the conversation. We’re talking about optimizing order tracking pages to maintain the same seamless user experience you’ve worked so hard to achieve.

Shipping confirmation emails often include plain text and a simple tracking number linking directly to USPS, UPS, FEDEX, or DHL. Yawn. Did you know many platforms allow you to customize the order tracking page with images, email sign-ups, promotions, and branding?

We’re sharing some of our favorite brands’ optimized order tracking pages.

Continue reading 3 Order Tracking Platforms Optimizing the Post-Purchase Experience →

Skipping social media, because it’s just for millennials? Think again. According to Pew Research, 78% of Americans age 30-49 use at least one social media platform; followed by 64% of Americans aged 50-64 and 37% aged 65 and up.

Social media offers a huge opportunity to build your brand, grow your audience, and encourage customers to show off your products (an implied testimonial).

Whether you’re a social media novice or expert, everyone can use a little social media inspiration. To help, we’ve rounded up our favorite examples of brands going the extra mile on social media and tips for creating your own social campaigns.

Continue reading 4 Social Media Trends and Brand Inspiration →

“Oops! The page you are looking for no longer exists.” We’ve all landed on a website’s 404 error page when trying to find a product or information. Error pages are an important opportunity to motivate browsers to stay on the website and search for a new item, instead of jumping ship and searching for another site.

We’ve rounded up our picks for best and worst 404 error pages. The error page wins are clever, on-brand, and entice us to keep exploring the website. The error page fails need to be overhauled – fast.

Winning 404 Error Pages:

These error pages get an “A” for on-brand design, copy that made us chuckle, and clear calls-to-action (CTAs).

Website: World Market
What’s working:
World Market extends an uninterrupted user experience with a branded landing page, clear CTA, and product category imagery, making it super easy and compelling to continue shopping.

Continue reading 5 404 Error Page Wins and Fails →

Let’s say you’re an online retailer selling a variety of products, and the only navigation option on your website is “Shop.” With no further breakdowns or filters, shopping your website is overwhelming and frustrating.

A clean design and easy-to-follow navigation is one way to help website visitors find your products without getting frustrated. Another often overlooked step is streamlined and intuitive product categories.

Products grouped by category help customers find what they’re looking for. Your products could be categorized by product type (“candles” or “frames”), by room (“living room” or “kitchen”), by mood (“cozy comforts”), or by color (“blue” or “earth-tones”).

Once you’ve created product categories that make sense for your offerings and audience, how do you make a great category page? To help you brainstorm, we’re sharing creative features we love on product category pages.

Continue reading 4 Features That Turn “Eh” Product Category Pages to “Yeah!” →

User experience (UX) is a vital component of every successful website. A poorly designed website is disastrous for brand credibility. Users decide within seconds whether to stay on your site, or abandon for an alternative, based on design and experience.

In fact, a Forrester study found well-designed user interface could raise your website’s conversion rate by up to a 200% and a better UX design could yield conversion rates up to 400%.

User testing, the process of watching and listening to users while they interact with your website, helps get UX right and allows you to stay ahead of your competition. User testing should occur before the project starts, during development phases, and after project completion. This exercise unearths site issues, like broken links, complicated navigation, or confusing checkout processes.

By identifying what works and what doesn’t early-on, you gain guidance, inspiration, validation, and discover areas of improvement, ultimately reducing development time and user friction. Ready to add user testing to your website development and maintenance strategy? Get started with our 5 tips for successful user experience testing.

Continue reading Web Tip – 5 Tips for Successful User Experience Testing →

Our Holiday Website Inspiration Gallery shows you how big brands updated their site last year to engage and convert gift seekers.

We hope you get holiday promotion ideas to try out on your own website!  (If you need specifics, read our 4 Website Tweaks to Convert Holiday Shoppers.)