Adgregate Markets has released a service called ShopAds which allows companies to process secure credit card purchases within display ads.

Using the ShopAds technology, someone who views a ShopAds supported banner ad on a given publisher’s website can potentially order a product or service within that ad… without being redirected off the publisher’s website.

Like other widgets, ShopAds can be shared on social network profiles and other pages. However, what’s truly innovative is the ability for them to appear within any Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) standard display ad unit.

ShopAds are Flash-based and, unlike JavaScript based transactional ad units, don’t rely on a secure host site to ensure secure transactions. Rather, the secure, encrypted shopping carts inside ShopAds are portable into any HTML environment, including social network pages and blogs.

When a sale is complete, the ShopAds system confirms the transaction with a “thank you” and sends the buyer a tracking number via email. Buyers may continue shopping or return to the original widget screen, which can host large catalogs with potentially millions of products.

I think ShopAds has huge potential for advertisers/merchants and publishers/affiliates. Not to mention customers, since it overcomes the “inconvenience barrier” of having to click away from a website in order to inspect, or indeed buy, a product.

Source: Fred Aun “Allowing Web Users to Transact Through Ads”, The ClickZ Network, September 9, 2008

A case study published in MarketingSherpa recently illustrates how to convert a percentage of shoppers who abandon your shopping cart.

Diapers.com set up a system whereby an email was sent to any registered user who abandoned their cart. The email went out at least 24 hours AFTER abandonment and featured the items left in the cart.

Why the wait? Many of Diapers.com’s customers ordered online late at night. The company reasoned that it was better to give these customers some space before contacting them again.

The emails were:

personalized, using the customer’s first name;

included three text paragraphs in order to get the key message to readers who might have images turned off in their email program; and

included a “View Cart” hotlink to allow customers to click through and complete the purchase.

As a result of this approach…

Diapers.com’s conversion rate was 129 percent higher than that achieved by any previous marketing campaign; and

The emails sent after abandonment made up 10.4 percent of the total revenue from Diapers.com’s email marketing program despite constituting just 2.7 percent of the total volume sent.

We have long advised clients to specifically follow up on customers who abandon their shopping carts. We also do this for our own sites and have been exceptionally pleased with the business we’ve received from customers who, for a range of reasons, didn’t complete their original order. (Hint: it’s not necessarily because they’ve changed their mind about buying from you…)

Source: MarketingSherpa, “Focusing on Referrals, Abandons Helps Eretailer Grow List, Bolster Sales”, MarketingSherpa, September 10, 2008