One of the most important things to focus on when looking at an eCommerce Strategy is the conversion process. Every site and every page should have a correlation to the conversion goals (what action you want the visitor to take) of that particular website.

Last night I was shopping online and got ticked off that I saw the image to the right. There is no way in the world that someone should be asking me for the type of card I am entering into a system. Let me explain the secret to credit cards, the first digit lets you know who came first and what type of card is being entered.

First Credit Card Digit:

• American Express: 3
• Visa: 4
• Master Card: 5
• Discover: 6

One thing I like to train people over the phone to do is learn the first digit. It is not hard and it allows the person taking the order to echo back, we can charge you Visa card for the charges without asking the customer. Let’s return to the conversion process we were discussing.

For each additional blank or piece of information you ask for, conversion rates go down. The question to ask is:

Do you really need that information to accomplish what the customer needs? 

Chances are, you need less information that you initially thought and can make life easier for your visitors by removing the extra blanks that tend to grow and increase as forms are ignored. The cold reality (and we are guilty of this too) is that we view don’t tend to visit our site as a new customer and understand the experience they have as often as we should.

We all know that eCommerce strategy can feel like death by a thousands cuts at times, watching potential customers leave. The big question is, how many visitors can you turn into sales and what actions like form optimization can you take to impact your visitor experience and your business.