Charles Nicholls, conversion & analytics expert, founder and chief strategy officer of SeeWhy, a conversion and cart-abandonment-recovery firm, started a detailed analysis of the Top 10 converting websites–which on average convert 23 percent of their visitors in the same session–and how they approach everything from merchandising to remarketing to identifying more visitors.

Here’s the list of the Top 10 converting websites, showing their rank, company name, industry sector and average six-month conversion rate.

1. Schwan’s, Food, 41.7 percent
2. ProFlowers, Flowers and gifts, 26.5 percent
3. Vitacost.com, Health and nutrition, 24.0 percent
4. Woman Within, Catalog /clothing, 22.4 percent
5. Blair, Catalog /clothing, 20.5 percent
6. Lands’ End, Catalog /clothing, 19.5 percent
7. Doctors Foster and Smith, Pet supplies, 18.6 percent
8. Office Depot, Office, 18.4 percent
9. Roaman’s, Catalog /clothing, 18.4 percent
10. QVC, Jewelry +, 18.3 percent

Some key summary statistics:

• 9 have a catalog;
• 9 do not offer free shipping (!!!)
• 8 offer a simple sign up on their home page;
• 4 out of the top 5 force a full registration before a first purchase;
• 9 out of 10 offer a 1-800 number on their home page;
• 10 out of 10 use remarketing (!!!)

It’s a different mindset: To these companies, it’s not about search engine optimization, or page views, and making a sale, but about the second, third, fourth sales to the same customer, driving profitability for their companies. And in the process, they get the highest conversion rates in the industry as their customers come back to buy again, and again, and again.

Read the entire analysis here: first part and second part.

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