Posts Tagged ‘increase sales’
7 Ways to Build Trust with your Ecommerce Customers
December 5th, 2012
Many new eCommerce businesses have little idea the impact of trust marketing will have in their online business success. For most customers the value of trust is important. This is why certain businesses continue to grow online while others do not. In a very simplified sense online businesses that grow give their customers reason to trust them while many others do very little to instill trust.
Where does that trust come from?
1. Always work to improve Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Most web users refer to their favorite search engine as a litmus test for trust. If they can’t find you in the first 3 pages of results for a search term, they probably won’t look any further. Work to convince the search engines you can be trusted and customers will follow.
2. Making promises and then delivering on the promise. Customers pay attention to how well your word stacks up against the reality of the checkout.
3. Customer service is always a big deal. Do your best to make sure every customer feels taken care of. There are ecommerce businesses that routinely drop the ball when it comes to customer service. Sadly, many will not be with us long.
4. Knowledge-based content must be authoritative. When you give your customers quality information they can use, you extend a hand of friendship to them. You are perceived as someone who is not stingy – someone who can be trusted.
5. Make sure your site is clean. One killer of trust is a site riddled with spelling errors and other glaring mistakes. Many customers will leave when a pattern of error is detected. The feeling is that if something as important as a website can’t be developed with minimal error then how important are the customers and how well will they be taken care of. At that point it’s simply easier for the customer to look elsewhere.
6. Your customers are smart so let them know that you are aware of the fact. If you work to inform without high pressure you are letting your customers know you understand their ability to make informed decisions without the need to be lead. This often enhances trust.
7. The use of autoresponders can help in managing follow up and follow through. No one likes to be left hanging. When you use autoresponders you can effectively eliminate extended response time.
Trust marketing doesn’t have to be hard it simply needs to be managed as an effective means of reaching the goals of your customers as they help you reach yours. If you give more than the customer expects you are likely to see greater trust and increased sales.
Five Ways to Improve Your Shopping Cart Conversion Rate
May 8th, 2012
Just trying to attract customers to your website amongst the noise of online marketing is not an easy task in itself. Therefore, it is simply a tragedy when a potential customer goes through the majority of the purchase cycle, but stops short of completion. Such incomplete transactions can be very frustrating.
When a customer stops the checkout process midway, it’s called “shopping cart abandonment.” The higher the occurrence of shopping cart abandonment, the lower the shopping cart conversion rate will be. You can improve your conversion rate with these 5 easy tips:
Do Not Require the Customer to Register
You might be inclined to capture as much customer data as you can, but many prospective customers will want to abandon you, rather than fill out a long registration form. Allow customers to purchase without registering. If that’s not a possibility, keep the registration form as simple as possible. Only require information that you really need like an email address.
Don’t Distract the Customer During Checkout
When the customer initiates checkout, it’s always best to eliminate any generic navigation, information, product offers, etc. and only show links that process the transaction. This will reduce the risk of distracting the customer from completing the checkout process.
Up-Sell Following the Sale
There is always a temptation to sell more to a customer. However, constant up-selling increases the risk of losing a customer. It is far better close the sale taking place and up-sell later. You can always send a follow up email with additional offers or discounts on similar or special products.
All Costs Should be Transparent
Make sure show the customer all costs that are included such as shipping, packing, taxes, etc. Wouldn’t you feel cheated and abandon the shopping cart if you thought you were purchasing an item for $20 then asked to pay $30 without knowing what the additional costs related to?
Utilize a Coupon Strategy
Numerous online shoppers are bargain hunters and discount coupon codes provide them with instant gratification. These shoppers might abandon their shopping cart when they search for a coupon. If you have coupon codes, make it easy for customers to find them.
The goal is to get your customers through the check-out process as quickly and easily as possible. Always make sure to test and tweak the changes you make to see how they impact the process.
5 Ways To Drive Customers Away From Your Website
March 15th, 2012
We all want visitors to our website but more importantly we want them to stay and spend money on our website. Below is a list of five ways on how to drive visitors away from your website screaming “Get me outta here!” If you prefer being alone with your website and don’t want all those pesky visitors bothering you, then follow the guidelines below and you’ll get rid of them quick as a blink.
1. Don’t state on your website what you do or what you sell. Make it a complete mystery. It’s like a secret club — your visitors are left in the dark. Have you been to websites like this where you show up and think “What the heck is this site about?” If you’re not presenting a clear statement about why your visitors should spend their money (or at least come back again), then you’re on your way to the bottom of the abyss.
2. Overwhelm visitors with lots of information. Almost as bad as the “What the heck is this site about?” problem is the “Oh my Goodness! Oh my Gracious!” sites. As a visitor, you know the sites I’m talking about. The page opens and your jaw drops. There is a sea of banners and links everywhere. Where do you go? What do you do? I’ll tell you what I do: Click the little “x’ in the upper right-hand corner to get the heck outta there!
3. Make the ordering process really complicated. There’s nothing I love more than putting items into my shopping cart and then spending 20 minutes trying to figure out how to set up an account and pay. Guess what? I sure don’t click the ‘contact us’ button. I click the “x” instead. You’ve succeeded in getting rid of yet another pesky customer who wanted to spend money.
4. Fill your site with outdated information and broken links. Phew. You dodged a visitor with that one. They clicked on a link that was broken — and off they went.
5. Make sure there’s no way for an interested customer or business partner to contact you. Heaven forbid, you might get some spam if you have your contact information on your site.
Thank Goodness you don’t have those gosh-darned customers emailing you while you’re trying to read up on your favorite celebrity’s love life.
Obviously, I’m being silly, but you do know that these examples are true. You’ve seen sites that seem like they are trying to drive you away. If you are spending time and energy putting up a website to make money, then make sure you do it right!
How do you increase sales in your shop?
May 11th, 2010
Start with the copy.
Persuasive and interesting copy (the text on the page) is a key component to making your website stand out. Clear and compelling product descriptions, special offers and romantic stories about how products will positively impact your customers lives are what turn visitors into customers.
If you’re at all interested in search engine traffic, you have to start with generating content for your website, and written content is the fastest and easiest to spread option.
Copy writing can be intimidating at first, but rest assured that anyone can become an effective copywriter with the right information and lots of practice. Below, we’ve assembled some of our favorite resources that are sure to give you a head start over competitors who don’t understand the power of copy.
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