5/29/2008

12 Ways to Win Over Your Online Shopper!

Informative Content
Content is the monarch! Informative and comprehensive content rules the roost when it comes to buying decisions. The content should have correct facts, simple language, and a good flow. It should not be too long or too brief. Content is the key to unlock the treasure of conversion. Understand your audience and write the content for them.


Best Product Price
Every shopper wants more bangs for their buck. Buyers look for sites that offer the best deal for their pocket. Be aware of the competitor’s pricing and price your products accordingly so that you have an edge over your rival.


Free Offers and promotions
Everything comes at a price! But what if you get something for free? Free offers and promotion draw customers to a website like a moth is drawn to the fire.


Easy Website Navigation
No one wants to enter a web site and get lost like ‘Alice in Wonderland’, caught in a labyrinth of pages with no clue. The web site navigation must be user-friendly, clear, structured and intuitive.


Quick Checkout Process
The check out process must be quick and secure. Delay the check out process at your own risk. According to figures from Marketing Sherpa, about 48% of potential customers bail out at the checkout stage due to convoluted check out process.


Alternate Payment Method
Seventy-four percent of online shoppers have used alternative payment methods like PayPal, Bill Me Later, or Google Checkout during recent Web shopping experiences. By offering alternative payment methods at checkout, other than credit cards, online retailers can attract new customer segments like non-credit card holders.


Customer Reviews
Customer reviews can be an asset to a site. If it is a positive review on a product, it might lead to some conversion. But even if it is a negative or critical review that dissuades customer from purchasing the product, you’ve provided a great service to the shopper and that’s good for building trust.


Product Image
Seeing is Believing! Shoppers want to see what they are purchasing. A basic 3D product tour with rotate and zoom will be instrumental in attracting your buyer. Show them some great shots of the product on sale; in turn they will show you their willingness to buy.


Website Design
Dynamic designs draw deals. Design a great web site replete with your web site name, logo, good search functionality, hypertexts, product images and more. Look at other websites, cash on their mistakes to improve your own.


Customer privacy
Let the customer enjoy some anonymity. Only glean information from them that is necessary and protect that information from being misused.


Free Shipping
Don’t break promises. You either provide free shipping or don’t provide. If you provide only within selected location say “Free Shipping Only within XYZ area”


Give recommendations
When a shopper adds an item to the shopping cart, there is nothing wrong if you recommend (cross sell) related products. But do not show unrelated ads in the checkout page as this might result in the customer abandoning the cart.


Conform to these rules and your customer base will grow like Topsy!!



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