As consumers continue to buy online, retailers are under more and more pressure to refine their sites to convert to sales. However, the average conversion rate for most e-comm sites is still hovering around the 3-4% mark globally. While there are a myriad of reasons of why someone would leave your site before buying, one of the main causes is usually attributed to not delivering the product information they were seeking. This can be solved through optimizing your product pages with more in-depth information, such as images, videos, and consumer reviews. Given that updating an e-comm site to add this content usually requires integration between the UX, creative, development and marketing departments, it can take a while to get changes made. Enter Flixmedia, a UK-based company who is the leader in product page optimization*. Flixmedia has made it easy for retailers to quickly add in enhanced product information to their site pages. Using existing assets, they are able to seamlessly incorporate product imagery and videos into the product page. They also use innovative technology in their dynamic hotspots, giving consumers an opportunity to interact with the product. Why are we so obsessed with Flixmedia? Because they produce results. Adding interactive hotspots has resulted in increasing conversion rates by 28%. Adding imagery and videos to product pages has grown Add to Cart rates by an average of 23%. Don’t spend all that time and money driving traffic to a site that doesn’t convert. Optimize your product pages to give consumers the information they are looking for and leave that 3-4% in the dust. *Full disclosure: Flixmedia is owned by our same parent company, Advantage Solutions

For the second assignment at AMP Agency's Insights Lab Incubator, we asked the students to create a consumer persona for an assigned demographic. What's a consumer persona? A fictional profile that represents a segment of the target audience Provides a visual and contextual representation of the target audience's demographics, psychographics and media/technology usage Check out the students' consumer personas. Red Bull Caleb: The Thrill Seeker He's 24 years-old He graduated college two years ago with an English degree He is currently the assistant manager at a ski & board shop He makes $30,000 a year Whether it's jumping over cliffs into powder on a snowboard, racing down treacherous trails on a mountain bike, or hitting the half-pipe skateboard, he's there because he's a daredevil. He welcomes new experiences and loves taking risks with adventurous activities like skydiving and windsurfing. He likes to live a fast-paced existence and he's always on the go. No matter how daring the challenge, he will always be there with a Red Bull in hand, on high energy, and ready to jump. Sperry's Meet Kristin: Aspiring Housewife Gender: Female Age: Mid-to-late 20s, recent college grad Occupation: Entry level corporate marketing job, income of 35K Hobbies: Traveling, reading, celebrity gossip, yoga, froyo and baking Kristen is a young professional who is always connected on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Martha Stewart Living and and Perez Hilton on her iPhone. Her pin boards consist of chic kitchens and destination weddings. She is very responsible with every aspect of her working and personal life. She loves to shop at Anthropology and J.Crew and although she lives on an average starting salary, she always appears very put together and trendy. Kristen resides in a major metropolitan city on the east coast (New York or Boston), but eventually would like to live in suburbia when she gets married. Kristen is very driven and hopes to move up the corporate ladder before becoming a stay at home mom for a few years while starting a family. 'It's important for me to be able to remix the things in my closet. I love that I can incorporate Sperry's into both casual and dressy looks.'? Skittles Andrew, 16. Adventurous. Bold. Outgoing. Funny. High School Junior Actively uses Instagram & Twitter Likes: Skateboarding, playing guitar, video games Andrew is a really social, 'live-for-the-moment'? type of guy. Him and his friends are always up to something exciting & he loves every second of it. 'Nothing beats hanging out with friends.'? He's got a huge appetite, and a major sweet tooth, just like his pals. They always share snacks. 'Skittles have a rush of flavor.'? He's a down-to-earth guy at the end of the day, and he wants to enjoy being young while he still can. He's all about making awesome memories and taking pictures of all the crazy, fun times that he has with his friends. Amazon Mark the Multitasker Mark is a 21 year old undergraduate at Harvard University. An on campus innovator, he spends a lot of time wired in programming his site The Facebook. When he's not drowning in CS problem sets he's trying, desperately, to win his BU girlfriend back. Mark has a full plate. He doesn't have time to shop around for best prices and products. As a college student on a budget it's hard for him to keep up with Boston's city prices so he's always on the look out for a steal. He's loyal to brands he knows work - but style isn't his number one priority. Mark is a busy college student but he's up to date on digital trends. He enjoys blogging, streaming Jay-Z on Pandora and keeping up with House of Cards. He's also a voracious reader and is constantly looking for new ways to read on the go. Zappos Amy is a 34-year-old senior research analyst at a consulting firm. She and her husband settled in the suburbs of Washington D.C. Amy strives to be a responsible leader in the many roles she has and she dedicates most of her time to work. She travels a lot for business. Even though she is very into new fashions and cares about her outfit, she doesn't have much time to go from store to store looking for her size and preferred brands. Thus, Amy shops online for most of her shoes, clothing and accessory needs. She values fast and friendly service since sometimes she may be in a urgent need for a pair of shoes for the coming business trip or a dress for next Monday's presentation. In her spare time, Amy likes dining out with her husband and sipping wine with friends. As a heavy user of social media, Amy shares pictures and thoughts on her Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram with her cell phone and tablet. Sprite Sprite consumers are young people who are: Inspired Athletic Individuals Authentic "Uncontrollable" Demographically: 16 to 25 Live in urban areas Mid economic class Jack is a 20-something who lives in Venice, CA. He cares about his image and his 'cool factor' and builds this image through his self-expression. He's an individual who uses his individuality to be authentic. He surrounds himself with people who are 'real' and not preppy or pretentious. Whether lounging on the beach or making beats with friends, his drink of choice is the one that inspires his creativity and encourages him to push the envelope and have fun. Warby Parker Meet Jack Glasses wearer since '87 Jack suffered through years of 'four eyes'? taunts as a child; now, he has emerged from his geeky youth & transformed into a passionate visionary, with killer style to boot. He's truly himself in his style, work, & social life. While his look may be vintage, don't let his horn-rimmed glasses fool you-- he's up to date on all of the latest trends & technologies (& some you haven't even heard of yet). Jack's a thinker, a maker, a traveler' a true go-getter. He is creative & forward thinking. He's not one for big brands or chains. Jack's looking for quality & craftsmanship in his purchases. He's a little quirky, a little unique, maybe even eccentric at times. He likes to know that he's making a difference- whether it be by biking instead of driving or buying local & organic produce instead of conventional' he always makes the effort. In short; Jack's out to change the world & he needs quality, stylish, affordable glasses to see it happen. Uber Meet Anna. 18-24 years old Male/ female Lives in cities University students/ young professionals Upper-middle class This is Anna. She goes to school in Chicago and is the typical urban traveler. She finds herself rushing from her internship to her classes and doesn't really have much time to hail for a taxi and wait. She is an avid coffee drinker, you can find her at the local coffee shop with her friends or on her MacBook getting some work done (but she often breaks to scroll through twitter). She is an early adopter to the new social media platforms, and is pretty tech savvy. She likes to be trendy, and go out at night with her friends, but avoids public transportation when she can because she enjoys on-demand service. She tries to save her money as much as she can, but she will budget enough so she can enjoy small luxuries. She appreciates efficiency and is trying to juggle her classes, social life, and future career. Burton Snowboards Ryan Mitchell Age: 22 Burlington, VT Student From a young age Ryan has loved the outdoors. From skiing and snowboarding to mountain biking, Ryan has always spent his free time in the Vermont mountains. Although he is currently a student at UVM studying anthropology, Ryan still finds time to explore the outdoors. Ryan comes from a wealthy family and has owned brand name products for his entire life. He values friendship and is an active member in UVM's snowboarding club. What do you think of these consumer personas? Spot on? Share with us in the comments box.

Last week a friend of mine sent me the daily deal from LivingSocial ' one of the many daily deal websites I'm already signed up for ' which offered consumers a $20 Amazon gift card for $10. For those living under a rock, LivingSocial ' like Groupon ' specializes in daily deals where users are able to sign up for discounts at their local businesses which typically range 50-75% off normal prices. Groupon did something similar this past August when they partnered with Gap offering $50 of apparel for $25. Consumers all over ' including myself ' took advantage of this great nationwide deal that ended up selling 441,000 in a single day generating $11 million in sales. Now that's a good chunk of change for one day! On January 19th LivingSocial took this same marketing approach when it featured a deal for Amazon. Funny thing is ' it didn't come from Amazon, despite the e-marketplace's $175 million investment into LivingSocial last month. Yes this 24 hour deal that sold over 1.3 million cards came from none other than LivingSocial themselves. What's more is if you got three new customers to purchase the limited-time special, you got yours for free! WHAT!? Crazy, right? Why would a company want to lose money and pay out of their pocket? While LivingSocial may not have generated large sales on this deal, that doesn't mean they weren't able to profit. The deal ' that operated in 170 markets ' introduced thousands of consumers to LivingSocial. The result ' not only does this raise brand awareness in the daily deal space, but also helps grow a subscriber following who will become customers of their local daily deals. Although I did not partake in this deal ' looking back I should have ' I couldn't help but notice the buzz surrounding it. Not only were my friends and co-workers talking about it, but it's all I saw on my Facebook newsfeed! People were posting the deal like crazy! Despite the fact that I didn't purchase this deal, I did go ahead to send it to numerous friends and family members who I knew would be all over it. And guess what? They purchased it and forwarded on to their friends and family. The deal generated so much hype that it even became a top trending topic on Twitter. '?¦Now that's good word of mouth!