Sales from the EDGE
Back Issue #002
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Sales from the EDGE Issue #002
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Sales from the EDGE
"Pushing the envelope in Web sales"
Issue #002 September 3, 1999
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SALES FROM THE EDGE is sent only to MYSS! owners and to paid
subscribers (we'll charge for the EDGE soon). We publish it
only when there's something truly new and important (ex. new
user stats or our own sales-generating experiments) that will
help *YOU* sell on the Web.
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the whole MYSS! package. Please do it now -- it's free..
>> http://www.sitesell.com/site-sell.html
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PLEASE PASS THIS E-ZINE TO OTHERS. OR, BETTER STILL, LET
THEM KNOW HOW TO GET IT FOR FREE...
>> https://secure.sitesell.com/order.html :-)
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>> THIS ISSUE'S TOPICS
1. Browser Stats
2. Monitor Stats
3. The Power of Words
4. MYSS!, in PRINT, is Coming!
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1. Browser Stats
We ran some stats on 4 days of log files (16,800 visitors).
I was amazed at how quickly things have changed...
Explorer 5.0---> 35.8%
Explorer 4.0---> 25.4%
Netscape 4.6---> 10.3%
Netscape 4.0---> 10.2%
Netscape 4.5---> 9.0%
Netscape 3.0---> 3.0%
Explorer 3.0---> 1.8%
NSDA 1.0-------> 1.2%
Explorer 4.5---> 1.2%
Explorer 2.0---> 0.5%
Netscape 2.0---> 0.3%
Download aids
and spiders----> 1.3%
Total----------> 100.0%
This means...
o Explorer now owns 64.7% of the browsers! Other surveys
show IE4 still ahead of IE5, but that's not what our stats
show -- IE5 is growing quickly.
o 90.7% of all surfers are at v4 or greater. Add an extra
3% for Netscape 3, and that means that 93.7% of all browsers
are javascript-safe (IE3 and NN2 and earlier are not as
reliable).
What does this all mean? You're safe to design for the
capabilities of higher-level browsers, ignoring IE3 and NN2
and lower.
(However, remember that well over 90% of surfers still surf
at 56K or lower. So don't go high-bandwidth-crazy just yet.)
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2. Monitor Stats
It appears monitor resolution usage has shifted from 640x480
to 800x600, as the most popular screen resolution for 45% of
online users. This means web pages can be designed for a
800x600 standard. 640x480 has declined to 12% of users.
Designing for a 640x480 is very constricting. Is it time to
start designing for 800 x 600 as your lowest common
denominator? Only you can decide. Certainly, if your users
are higher-end, it probably is.
----SIDEBAR----
The monitor stats are from WebSnapShot. Following Internet
trends does provide insightful information for your web
business. Interested in more free web trends?
WebSnapShot http://www.websnapshot.com/
Nielsen-Netratings http://www.nielsen-netratings.com/hot_off.htm
GVU's WWW User Surveys http://www.gvu.gatech.edu/user_surveys/
----SIDEBAR----
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3. The Power of Words
In the last issue of the EDGE, I mentioned that we were
designing a study to discover why visitors don't buy. Well,
1,000 intelligent and useful responses later, we have just
closed it down.
It cost us over 1,000 free copies of MYSS! and will cost us
over $10,000 in programming and analysis, but I can already
see that it was well worth it.
It will take a few weeks to compile, analyze and interpret
the data into the full report. We'll also program in some
interactivity to allow users to do their own analysis of the
raw data.
There's some stunningly surprising and important stuff in
this survey... and that's just at first glance.
First though, here's an interesting tidbit that came out of
the study that I did *was* not really looking for....
... THE POWER OF WORDS.
Sure I know how important words are. I only say it about
1,000 times in MYSS! ;-)
But here's what happened to remind me of exactly how
powerful they are...
Before we started the study, I expected about a 40% response
rate -- after all, we were going to offer a free copy of
MYSS! and a free copy of the report itself! Boy, was I
wrong...
Here's the first version of the survey page...
http://www.sitesell.com/edge/words/1st-try.html
-----SIDEBAR-----
Don't click on the submit button -- it won't work.
-----SIDEBAR-----
So what did that page generate? A measly 4.1% rate. I was
astounded. How could only 4% of visitors take the time to
answer two questions?
Hmmm. OK, let's make the page better...
http://www.sitesell.com/edge/words/2nd-try.html
I used longer copy, a lighter tone, and a "winners" feeling.
So what did this less-than-brilliant page accomplish? The
response rate rocketed all the way *DOWN* to...
... 2.7%. I almost threw the computer out the window!
Back to the drawing board...
http://www.sitesell.com/edge/words/3rd-try.html
A short, to-the-point plea for help. This improved our
response rate back to 4.0%. Yup, almost back to where I
started from!
But I thought I could see strong elements from each. So we
kept it tight, picked the strongest of the headlines, and
came out with this...
http://www.sitesell.com/edge/words/4th-try.html
Short, to the point, and our response rate jumped to 12.1%.
I did not have the courage to push it any further. So we
left it like this for the rest of the survey.
--
Words, and words alone, created a response rate from as low
as 2.7% to as high as 12.1%. A greater than 4 fold
increase. Just through words.
Know all that time and/or money that people spend on fancy
graphics? They should hire a good copywriter.
-----ACTION STEP-----
1) Review the above 4 pages. Find all the strengths and
weaknesses. If you don't see them, re-read the chapters on
writing copy that sells. Actually, re-read them anyway. :-)
2) OK, now that you've done your exe
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4. MYSS!, in PRINT, is Coming!
Many MYSS! owners have linked from the PDF version of MYSS!
to indicate that you want to buy the printed version. This
is just to let you know that you'll be notified as soon as
it's available, likely next week (the week after at the
latest). We'll notify you first.
If you have *NOT* already indicated your interest in the
printed version of MYSS!, now is the time to do do so.
Please go to this URL...
http://www.sitesell.com/order1.html
There's a $10 discount through this page. And this way,
you'll be sure to get a copy from our first run. :-)
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