Give a serious pat on the back to Timberline eCommerce client Lake Champlain Chocolates for its well-deserved kudos from Internet Retailer.

The industry’s leading trade publication chose the LCC site, at www.LakeChamplainChocolates.com, for its 2008 “Hot 100” list for Internet retail sites, a true honor for any online merchant.

These sites “reflect the best of what’s happening in retail on the web,” said Internet Retailer’s Kurt Peters. Congratulations to all who make it such a hot site!

Google Website Optimizer Helps Boost eCommerce Performance

Timberline has begun using the Google Web Site Optimizer tool, an A/B and multivariate Web site testing tool that lets site owners fine-tune the design, merchandising, and messaging of landing pages and navigational elements.  The system is sophisticated enough to even test site-wide graphic design style sheets.  While tracking real customers shopping in real time, Timberline has so far executed such tests as:

• Different homepage images and sales copy
• More conspicuous, bright green “call-to-action” buttons on navigation
• Simplified inquiry forms with larger submit button and more content “above the fold.”

The Results: In one Google Web Site Optimizer experiment, the best-performing combination trumped others by 14%. In another, visitors seeing new “green button” navigation were 13% more likely to convert. In separate testing, a redesigned inquiry form turned in even more impressive results: the completion rate of customers starting the form jumped 36% after the redesign.

Want to use the free Google Web Site Optimizer to boost your site’s performance? Call Tom Funk at Timberline today at 802-388-8377 ext. 203

Gorton’s Fresh Seafood Goes Live on TICommerce

Gloucester, MA, October 10, 2007 -- Gorton’s of Gloucester re-launched its direct-to-consumer Web site, www.GortonsFreshSeafood.com on the TICommerce™ shopping platform. Since 1849, Gorton's has provided high quality seafood. Well known for its supermarket seafood products, Gorton’s now also delivers fresh seafood including live lobster, surf-and-turf meals and delicious corporate gifts.

The new Web site features an arrival-date calendar (whereby the customer can select the date they’d like their gift to arrive), searchable collection of gourmet seafood recipes, on and off-line order history look-up and much more. Initial results show a dramatic decrease in shopping cart abandonment, higher overall conversion rate, and higher ROI on paid search advertising.

Nancy Peterson, Gorton’s Senior Marketing Manager, said “I couldn’t be happier with the overall experience. The staff was extremely professional, highly skilled and very responsive to my needs and we have a site of which we can be very proud.” And to celebrate the new launch, Timberline invites all newsletter readers to take advantage of a 10% discount on any product (excluding gift certificates) purchased online from now until December 31, 2007 (use coupon code GTN07 when you check out).

TeacherSource.com Launches

Also launching on the TICommerce platform in September was www.TeacherSource.com, from Norwalk, Connecticut, based Educational Innovations.

Teacher owned and operated, Educational Innovations provides educators and parents science classroom resources that enlighten and entertain children at every grade level. The site features extensive scientific experimentation categories and a full line of products and lesson plans, including books, videos, CDs, teaching aids, experiments and activity sets.

New Site for Bennington Potters

Bennington Potters has been making beautiful, durable and functional handmade stoneware pottery in Bennington, Vermont, since 1948. Timberline helped the company design and build a new Web site, www.BenningtonPotters.com, that launched in October. Among the features of the new Web site are gift certificates, gift registry, address book, and order history.

The Bud Report: Lessons from the Holidays

For many of us, the Holiday season is all-important.  Over the past five or six years, ComScore networks and other organizations like The National Retail Federation have typically reported that e-commerce sales in November and December increased 24 -28% over the prior year, making the electronic channel a very valuable one indeed.  And for some online retailers, that figure is much higher.

But those same reports now show that internet sales growth is slowing—for 2007 the figure appears to be about 19% growth over 2006.  So, what’s your take-away?

In my opinion, the biggest message is that the low-hanging fruit has been picked, and the e-commerce winners going forward will be the companies that focus on the details of conversion and site usability.  Gone are the days when you can get by with an e-commerce presence that is not competitive with regard to ease of shopping and good merchandising.  The bar has been raised yet again, and astute e-commerce site owners will pay attention.  Squeezing out even a half percentage point in site conversion can make a huge difference in dollar sales for you, and I believe that in the future site owners will need every little incremental improvement they can make.

At Timberline, we always do our best to bring ideas to the table that will lift conversion and make our client’s sites more effective.  And although I was skeptical at first, after seeing multiple test results I would now recommend that you install a product called Hacker Safe.

This is a third-party monitoring service that provides assurances to shoppers that your site is secure from hackers and the theft of personal information.  If you’ve been shopping and selling online for years, you may overlook how big an issue security and trust still play in the minds of most potential customers. Some 69% of customers still say that credit card security is a major concern when shopping online.

We are recommending the installation of Hacker Safe certification to our customers for two main reasons:

• It’s an almost effortless way to increase sales. Real-time A/B tests have shown big conversion-rate increases across a wide spectrum of online merchants: 12.8% for Yankee Candle, 8.8% for PETCO, 5.2% for Cabela’s, 6.0% for Restoration Hardware, and the list goes on.  Timberline has installed this product for several clients, and we expect similar results once our A/B split tests are completed to a statistically significant level.
  
• Whatever your eCommerce platform, these scans provide valuable protection. Once security scans begin, your platform provider will be kept appraised of potential vulnerabilities to hacker attacks – well before you, the vendor, are on the hook for stolen credit cards and ruined customer relationships.

Call me at 802-388-8377, ext. 201 and I’d be happy to chat with you about how Timberline can help you get up and running with Hacker Safe as you begin working on your 2008 web initiatives. We can get your site Hacker Safe certified whether or not your site is on our TICommerce platform.

Kind Regards,

Bud Reed,
Founder and President

Timberline Clients in the News

• VBT Bicycling Vacations was honored as the Best Bicycle Tour Outfitter on Earth in National Geographic Adventure’s November 2007 adventure travel survey

• Maple Landmark Woodcraft was highlighted in The New York Times on August 15 and on The Early Show on CBS October 2, 2007. Their American-made toys, finished with non-toxic paints and finishes, have enjoyed surging popularity in the wake of Chinese product-safety problems.

• American Meadows was awarded a Top Gardening Web site Award, a customer-nominated award that recognizes top gardening Web sites since 1999.

Timberline News: Andy Dunn Joins Timberline as Online Marketing Manager

Timberline Interactive is pleased to announce the hiring of Andy Dunn, who since January 2005 had been the online marketing manager at The Vermont Teddy Bear Company and its sister brands PajamaGram and Calyx Flowers.

Andy brings a wealth of experience managing PPC search-engine advertising, comparative shopping and other online marketing campaigns -- campaigns generating millions of dollars of revenue at strong ROI. He is familiar with the gift industry, and also the gardening and financial services markets, thanks to sales and business development stints at The National Gardening Association, Multex, and MarketGuide. Welcome Andy!