E-Commerce Archive

The Importance of E-Commerce Research

E-commerce web research can focus on any number of issues that pertain to an online business. Whether you are looking to increase your sales, launch an online business, promote to the search engines or simply investigate new consumer trends for product development, internet research is essential to keep up with online changes and to remain competitive. Some common examples of e-commerce research are examined below:

Keyword research:

Consumer search behaviour and the promotion of an online business go hand in hand. Irrespective of the nature of the business, each business supplies a product or service that can be categorized by common keywords. It is essential to research what keywords describe the nature of the business and which keywords consumers use to find the business. This e-commerce web market research is then used as the basis of search engine and pay-per-click campaigns. It is essential to do this research to scope and bound your market. You can then position your web site and drive targeted traffic to increase sales and exposure.

Conversion Research:

E-commerce web research that concentrates on conversion seeks to examine which keywords are delivering online sales. By recording transactions and tracking visitors by keyword, this research helps to narrow down the target market to eliminate pay-per-click costs and ramp up natural organic search positioning. By knowing which keywords convert, you can execute very effective pay-per-click campaigns and realize a higher return on your investment.

Market Research:

This can include investigating the business landscape for competition, product research or to identify new and unexplored opportunities. Because of the growth of online users, markets are expanding on a geographical basis. Every time a new product is created, the internet can be used as a medium to deliver these products and services to a hungry audience. Doing research to uncover potential hidden niches is a lucrative fringe benefit of doing e-commerce web market research to identify existing or new product potential.

Usability Research:

This area of e-commerce web research focuses on consumer purchasing behavior. Knowing how consumers respond and to what offers provides significant cognitive insight into purchasing behavior. When you are doing a volume of transactions online and paying for targeted traffic, modifying your offer, changing your copy or adapting your product pricing can result in a significant profit upgrade. Everything in the online space can be measured by percentages, so if you have a small incremental rise in your conversion rates, this can bring significant monetary return to your investment.

E-commerce research is an ongoing requirement for any business looking to enter a market or improve performance in an existing one. Companies that dedicate the time to planning and evaluating their e-commerce web market research will see a significant improvement in the way they do business.