Business

Covering everything from cycling and golf to soccer and winter sports, SportsCloseouts. com specializes in selling name-brand sporting goods at steep discounts. Founder Lanny Morton started the company in 2002 with $800 in startup cash ñ and today, it brings in $3.35 million annually.

Approach

Among Morton's main concerns is ensuring that shoppers are comfortable making purchases on his site. He heard about Google Checkout ñ a fast, secure way to shop online ñ and believed it would increase conversion rates by turning more browsers into buyers.

In addition to increasing convenience and security for his customers, Morton was intrigued by how Checkout works together with Google AdWordsTM through the Google Checkout badge ñ a small shopping cart icon that he can add to his AdWords ads. To add to the attraction, Morton learned that, based on his AdWords spend, Google would pay his transaction processing fees when customers used Checkout to make their purchases. "With Checkout, I could reduce my expenses and increase conversions and sales at the same time," he notes.

Results

	"Buyers tell me they love Checkout because it is fast and simple. Plus, I'm saving a considerable amount of money on transaction processing that goes straight to the bottom line."

Morton implemented Checkout on his site and took advantage of a $10 discount promotion Google offered to customers using Checkout. Immediately, results from Checkout exceeded his expectations. Conversion rates on the site jumped 40 percent ñ a sign that shoppers are more comfortable completing their purchases using Checkout. "Buyers tell me they love Checkout because it is fast and simple," says Morton. "Plus, I'm saving a considerable amount of money on transaction processing that goes straight to the bottom line."

Morton expected to increase conversions and reduce costs, but other, unanticipated benefits arose from using Checkout. Due to the Checkout shopping cart icon garnering shoppers' attention, the clickthrough rate (CTR) on the site has nearly doubled, going from about 1.5 percent to between 2.5 and 3 percent. Morton plowed his savings in transaction processing fees back into AdWords and his additional spend increased traffic to his site 25 percent.

The biggest bottom-line benefit: sales have increased 20 percent since bringing Google Checkout online. "It has been great leveraging the savings in processing fees and turning that into more traffic generated by AdWords, creating a positive cycle of growth for my business," says Morton. "I love Checkout, and would have every transaction go through it if I could."