If you weren\u2019t aware of it by now,\u00a0FedEx and UPS will be factoring Dimensional Weight into<\/strong>\u00a0every package shipped<\/strong>\u00a0in 2015 and beyond.<\/p>\n Wait, what is Dimensional Weight<\/em>?<\/p>\n On top of a package\u2019s actual weight, it also has a \u201cDimensional Weight\u201d based purely on the dimensions (L x W x H) of the box and doesn’t even consider its real weight. This Dimensional Weight is determined by a specific formula (which you can calculate yourself or use our\u00a0Dimensional Weight Calculator<\/span><\/a>). Take the Dimensional Weight of the package vs its actual weight and the heavier of the two is considered the Billable Weight.<\/p>\n Of course, the dimensional weight of a package is usually heavier than the actual weight most of the time, so this will lead to an overall average increase on shipping costs for most people who ship a lot through FedEx and UPS. If you aren\u2019t aware of what these changes are it can lead to sudden increased shipping costs across the board\u2014certainly\u00a0not a great way to kick off the new year.<\/p>\n What you can do about Dimensional Weight changes.<\/strong><\/p>\n These new changes hurt, but they can be sidestepped in some instances. Dimensional Weight seems like it was designed to penalize\u00a0sellers if\u00a0their packages are not\u00a0\u201cdense\u201d enough, but when the packages\u00a0are<\/em>\u00a0dense enough, the actual weight ends up being very high which will naturally make the package expensive to ship. One potential\u00a0answer is with the United States Postal Service which has shipping offerings for very dense, heavy smaller packages (ship dense packages through\u00a0Flat Rate Green offered by ShippingEasy<\/a><\/span>), and flat rate shipping options for packages that are not\u00a0as dense but\u00a0support weight up to a specific maximum threshold (Flat Rate boxes and Regional Rate boxes<\/a><\/span>).<\/p>\n However, the\u00a0easiest way to solve\u00a0the dimensional weight issue is using shipping software with rate comparison capabilities,\u00a0<\/strong>like\u00a0ShippingEasy<\/a>,<\/span>\u00a0that can find the best rate based on your package\u2019s dimensions and weight. Make sure you measure and weigh your packages though, or your software might not find the best rate possible if certain metrics aren\u2019t included.<\/p>\n The United States Postal Service wants to be a bigger player in e-commerce for 2015. They’ve been steadily improving the experience for businesses and package recipients through cheaper shipping rates, better tracking capabilities, and offering various shipping methods that help sellers find the best possible way to ship unique packages. They have already reduced\u00a0their rates for Priority Mail in September of 2014 to be more competitive with UPS and FedEx, and will be more aggressive in 2015 in becoming a mainstream shipping provider for more e-commerce sellers.<\/p>\n A lot of the older problems USPS had in the past with e-commerce are starting to be addressed. Amazon is even utilizing USPS for the last miles\u00a0of their Prime package shipments through a deal they made late in 2014. While some aren’t\u00a0happy with the change, it will likely\u00a0improve customer perception\u00a0that USPS is a viable shipping option.<\/p>\n How to take advantage of USPS’ efforts.<\/strong><\/p>\n All of these changes mean\u00a0that more people are receiving more packages from USPS and their overall impression of USPS as a carrier is improving.\u00a0Take advantage of this growing public perception by shipping USPS when it best suits your packages.<\/p>\n If it hasn’t happened already, 2015 will be the year it does. Reports are always coming out about mobile user traffic growing in the e-commerce world, but this will possibly\u00a0be the year where it’s the majority.<\/p>\n That means responsive design won\u2019t be something nice to have, and a mobile-optimized site won\u2019t be an extra feature to your store,\u00a0it will be the standard<\/strong>. As opposed to losing a chunk of potential customers from a low-quality mobile experience, you will be giving a bad shopping experience to the majority of visitors that find your site.<\/p>\n What you can do.<\/strong><\/p>\n If you use an e-commerce platform all-in-one solution like Shopify or Bigcommerce, make sure you have a theme installed that supports mobile users and that your mobile site loads as fast as it can. If you\u2019re using a platform that can install themes, make sure it\u2019s responsive. Check your site speed loading times for mobile users with\u00a0Google\u2019s PageSpeed Insights<\/span><\/a>. It will let you know how fast your pages load and anything that may be slowing them down.<\/p>\n Mobile users can abandon your site\u00a0for a myriad of\u00a0reasons: Limited\u00a0time, low signal, slower mobile internet speeds, and much more. Don\u2019t let your slow-loading site be one of those reasons.<\/p>\n Google PageSpeed Insights shows a nice preview of how your page looks on a mobile phone, and tips to speed up your page load times.<\/p>\n Aside from mobile site speed, another big\u00a0weakness for mobile e-commerce sites is their check out process. Purchasing something on your mobile phone isn’t typically a smooth process, and most shopping carts aren’t designed to make purchasing easy and simple for mobile users.<\/p>\n One great, fast, and simple way to gauge the quality of your mobile checkout process is to set up a user test (through UserTesting.com<\/a><\/span>) and see a video of a\u00a0user purchasing an item from your store on a mobile device, complete with video of them purchasing and their thoughts along the purchase funnel. You can quickly identify frustrating spots along checkout and fix them. It’s $49 for a purchase, but absolutely worth it if you want to make sure your mobile users are getting an optimal experience on your site.<\/p>\n Expensive technologies and optimization tactics that used to only be worth it for large companies to improve their conversion rates, sales, and revenue are becoming widely available to smaller sellers and merchants for much lower prices, sometimes even completely free. 2015 will be a year customer experience matters more than ever, and a technically optimized site will be the one shoppers return to.<\/p>\n One good example of this trend is\u00a0Optimizely<\/span><\/a>, which just made their split testing software completely free for the vast majority of people who use it. Now there\u2019s virtually no excuse to not A\/B test pages on your site because of the associated price.<\/p>\n Optimizely’s Pricing Is Pretty Competitive<\/p><\/div>\n Split testing is just one facet of newer ways of boosting your store\u2019s revenue. There are many other areas you can take advantage of growing technologies and practices.<\/p>\n Are you doing user testing to check the usability and ease of the shopping experience for your customers? Do you optimize your site\u2019s page loading speed for user experience and search engine benefits? Do you utilize abandoned cart recovery emails? Do you frequently ask customer feedback to find weaknesses in your store\u2019s shopping experience? Do you have page-click and heat map data analyzing tools installed on your site? Are you chatting with your potential customers while they\u2019re on your site?<\/p>\n If you\u2019re not utilizing some of these techniques and technologies, you bet your competitors are and will be, in growing numbers in 2015.<\/p>\n What you can do<\/strong><\/p>\n That’s a lot! Where do I even start?<\/em><\/p>\n Getting started here is actually pretty simple, as great companies and apps exist to help you tackle these areas of your site\u2019s functionality. They also do a good job of educating you on how to go about using their products and techniques\u00a0as well. These services have low entry pricing for smaller businesses, some are even free.<\/p>\n With this, you can be aware of what’s different and changing in the e-commerce world, and have plenty to do to improve your site’s performance on all levels. With more e-commerce stores launching every day, small differences will be the deciding factor for many sites\u00a0that get visitors to become customers.<\/p>\n2. USPS is going to be a lot more competitive in e-commerce<\/strong><\/h2>\n
3. Mobile users will overtake desktop users as the majority of online shoppers in 2015<\/strong><\/h2>\n
4. E-commerce is going to get a lot more technical\u2014for everyone.<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"Optimizely](\"https:\/\/shippingeasy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Optimizely_Pricing.png\")
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