Creative Results

As the difficult economy soldiers on, undoubtedly you’re looking to improve sales from all channels, including your Web site. But how will you do so? Amy Africa, president of Creative Results, an online research and consultancy based in Williston, VT, offered attendees of last fall’s conference for the New England Mail Order Association the following tips for e-tailers who want to increase Web traffic and generate more sales. 1. Make your site load fast. The average site loads in 46 seconds on a dial-up modem, but most people decide if they’re going to stay on a site within eight to 12 seconds. So they’re

To fix your Web site, the first thing you need to do is to make it fast. The average site loads in 46 seconds, but within eight to 12 seconds people decide whether to stay on a site or not. —Amy Africa, president, Creative Results

Catalogers know the Web can be a valuable place to sell product. However, it’s likely that many are missing the chance to generate even more sales via the Web. To boost your chance at success, pay as much attention to closing the sale online as you would in your print catalogs—perhaps even more so due to the nature of the Web. Therefore, to convert more of your Web shoppers into buyers, consider three key points in your Web-shopping process: online customer service; shipping and handling; and order-taking and processing. Online Customer Service Here are two commonly held misconceptions about online customer service:

By Katie Haegele For 132 years the Park Seed Co. has been a mainstay for expert and novice gardeners alike. The marriage between its trusted print catalog and its snazzy new Web site is a model relationship worth studying In the next year, Park will have one of the top five sites, usability-wise, in the United States," says Amy Africa, e-commerce consultant and president of Creative Results. A veteran of the catalog-selling business, Park Seed had lots of compelling reasons to get online—and to do it right. "I've studied gardening e-business since Garden.com started," says Africa. "That was a great site with a