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Make sure
shoppers on your e-commerce
site close the deal!
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There are unique
challenges facing your e-business.
One of them is ensuring your
site encourages customers to
folow through on their purchases
- or at least doesn't discourage
them.
In making an e-commerce
purchase a customer:
browses to the site
navigates to find the desired item
puts the item in a 'shopping cart'
hopefully repeats the navigating and putting
'checks out' by confirming the items and
quantity
provides personal information and arranges
payment.
At any point along the way the customer
can quit and leave the site.
It seems all too often they
leave when encountering that
'check out' step. The statistics
shown in the column to the
right tell the story.
There are lots of reasons why shopping
carts are abandoned. You
can't do much about the curious
type who want to see how
your system works or the
guy with a pang of conscience
who really doesn't need another
toy. But you can eliminate
some of the reasons:
- Security. When it comes to the crunch
and their credit card information
is on the line, users want
to know you site is secure.
If you aren't using SSL
from VeriSign or
a similar provider, they'll leave
your site. And rightfully
so.
- Information. Can your users access
help from every page as
they go through the process?
Is your help simple and
to the point?
- Costs. All to often, the purchase prices
aren't revealed until the
user reaches the check
out. Hey, in a brick-and-mortar
store, you would leave
a lot of stuff on the check
out counter too!
- Hidden costs. You likely can't know
shipping, taxes and similar
costs until the check-out
stage, but you can let
the customer know in advance
typical costs or how they're
calculated.
- Look and Feel. If you use a third-party
shopping cart system, choose
one that allows you to
maintain the look and feel
of your own site. It's
off-putting to click on
'shopping cart' or 'check
out' and be taken to what
appears to be a totally
different site.
- Escape. Let the customer know the purchase
can be cancelled at a later
stage. They're more likely
to continue and follow
through with the purchase.
- Contacts. Make it obvious that there
is someone (a real person)
they can easily contact
if things go awry.
Building an e-commerce site is 10% techie
stuff and 90% planning. Think
through every step of the
process from
the purchaser's point of
view. It's worth the effort
to ensure your customers
have level of comfort that
helps them purchase, and
return to pruchase another day.
Please give FollyArts
a call. Let's discuss
you e-commerce goals, and
how we can help you meet
them.
Cheers
the FollyArts Team |
