Keyword search is the Website feature rated most valuable among online marketers, according to Chicago-based E-tailing Group’s Third Annual Merchant Survey. Of the more than 300 executives surveyed, 91% said that keyword search was a somewhat to very valuable site feature.
Other features highly valued by the participants included seasonal promotions (94%), upsells/cross-sells on product pages (78%), and gift centers/suggestions (69%). Less popular were deferred billing (15%), gift registries (17%), and reminder services (27%).
Among other findings, 84% of the executives said they were very or somewhat satisfied with the ROI generated by their e-commerce businesses. This satisfaction is despite the fact that average rate of online cart abandonment exceeds 40%. Forty-seven percent did not know their shopping-cart abandonment rate, while 19% did not know what percentage of their site visitors converted to buyers.