15 Steps to E-Commerce Success (Part 2 of 3)
Sunday, September 3, 2006
15 Steps to E-Commerce Success (Part 2 of 3)
Proven strategies for increased sales,
which most store owners repeatedly overlook,
and when utilized make customers of visitors.
Last month we focused on increasing customer conversion through the steps of landing the user on the product page, and offering them a nicely laid out product display that motivated their decision to want to purchase the product. (Last months article can be reviewed at: http://www.websitecm.com/news/18/15-Steps-to-ECommerce-Success-Part-1-of-3.html). This month we'll look at encouraging the user to add-to-cart and move into the stages of the checkout process.
PRODUCT CREDIBILITY
There are many methods of increasing product credibility, depending on the product or services you sell. The idea is to give the user all of the information they need to ensure they're getting the product they desire, and remove the risk should that not be the case (We will look at company credibility next month).
The following should be considered:
Customer Reviews and Ratings
Customer reviews and ratings can be very powerful influences in a users buying decision. While the potential buyer expects the company to provide bias information, the reviews and ratings of other customers are seen as much more subjective and carry heavier weight in the purchase decision. Store owners are encouraged to allow the addition of legitimate negative customer reviews, as users will give more credibility to positive remarks if they know that negative customer reviews could have been posted.
Customer Testimonials
While the potential customer expects testimonials to be bias, credibility through customer testimonials can still be very high, particularly when testimonials are from known people or companies who carry with them their own credibility.
High Quality Information
Online stores, in contrast to retail stores, make it much more difficult to see and experience the product and know exactly what a person is potentially purchasing. High quality images or video, detailed product specifications, sizing charts where appropriate, demonstrations when possible, etc., will assist the user in knowing that the product is what they want.
Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently asked questions are an excellent way to help the user better understand the product.
Easy Phone or Live Chat Access
If the user has additional questions, easy access to a customer service rep by phone or live chat program can often keep the user from closing their browser window. The EASIER this seems for the user, the more likely they are to do it.
| Mods for increased product credibility: |
MOTIVATE ADD-TO-CART
If you have small, almost unnoticeable add-to-cart buttons, or plain-text buttons that blend into the web-copy, you need to change them right now. If you want the user to take a desired action - make it obvious! Be sure to include an easy to see, in-your-face, add-to-cart button - if they have to look, they may not bother.
EASY ACCESS TO CHECKOUT
You've got them to your website, you've influenced them to add a product, or products, to their shopping cart, now you need to make it real easy for them to purchase. Be sure to keep the cart contents in front of them at all times as a reminder of why they need to checkout, and provide a nice large checkout button above the fold in the page. Most often users expect to find their shopping cart on the top right of a page, with a checkout button near by.
| Mods for increased access to checkout: |
STREAMLINE YOUR CHECKOUT PROCESS
A complicated or confusing checkout process will lose you customers at a staggering rate. In reading this eZine you're likely familiar with Easy Checkout, our best-selling x-cart mod to streamline the checkout process. In addition to Easy Checkout, you'll want to:
Install Remember Me to keep the customer logged in should they leave and return to the site - doing so will expedite the purchase and ensure they're not deterred by lost login information.
Install Remember Anonymous Carts to retain the customer's cart should they leave and come back at any point during the checkout process (see below for an exclusive discount to our first 10 purchasers).
Streamline the registration process: By default x-cart asks for a great deal of information. If you don't need the information, don't ask for it! You can have us customize your registration to remove unneeded information or present the information in a less overwhelming manner (i.e. hide the shipping area unless required).
Don't allow the user to get confused. Make the action buttons of each page extremely obvious.
| Mods for increased product credibility: |
PAYMENT METHODS
It can be very frustrating for a customer to want a product and invest their time and energy in getting to the payment stage of the checkout process, only to find you don't accept the payment type they require. (Many of you may have experienced this on our website prior to us being able to accept American Express, Mastercard and Discover).
Provide as many payment options as viable for your business, and consider providing an image of the payment types you accept somewhere on your store layout to make this known prior to the checkout process.
Additionally, you may want to provide them instructions on steps they can take should their desired payment method not be present.
Next month, in Part 3 of 3 of this article, we'll look at credibility and assurance, handling errors, web analytics and having a conversion back-up.
Article written by Jon Peters
Copyright 2006 WebsiteCM.com
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