Your getting plenty of traffic onto your website but very little sales…. so what’s going on?
Various factors can influence a users commitment to purchasing, a report published by Econsultancy revealed that one in three online users do not shop online, 30% cited a lack of trust being the main reason, 20% cited concerns over personal security and 15% said they did not trust the company selling online.
Safety First
Gaining the trust of the customer and ensuring complete security of their personal details are two main factor which can lead to higher conversion rates.
Some best practise methods to employ that can help gain the trust of the consumer are as follows:
Clearly display your terms and conditions, 55% of shoppers now refer to the T&C’s before making a purchase. (Econsultancy)
Provide accurate and up to date information on the company returns policy.
Always provide adequate contact details including a customer service hot line.
Having some form of customer feedback facility adds credibility to your company and its products or services.
Always use a reliable and secure Payment Gateway service and ensure that this means of payment is clearly communicated to the customer.
The design and layout of the website can also have an influential impact on how trustworthy a company is perceived.
Usability Factors
As usability guru Jakob Nielsen says; “On the Web, usability is a necessary condition for survival. If a website is difficult to use, people leave.”
So what potential usability issues could deter a customer from making a purchase?
Bad site navigation, very easily a customer will get irritated and leave a website due to their inability to move easily through a website and find the product they are looking for. If a site is difficult to use people will leave and find another that is easy to use, simple as.
50% of searchers land on the homepage of an ecommerce website (DoubleClick), make sure that the homepage does not take an eternity to load and avoid splash landing pages.
Poor search facilities can not only irritate users but could potentially direct users to the wrong products. Ensure your search facility is in tip top condition, it is a vital tool for many customers and if the search process is lengthened by a lousy search form or bad results then the customer will go elsewhere.
Content
Content can be another tricky area which again requires a level of simplicity. Keep it simple and include only information the user needs.
When it comes to selling your product if you are retail then remember that ordinarily a person would be in the high street buying this product- they can pick the product up, touch it, feel its texture and see its dimensions, selling on the internet has the disadvantage of not being able to offer this. The best way to overcome this is to offer as much information about the product as possible, provide various images at a variety of angles and provide sizing.
This principle applies to business ecommerce websites even more so, in general business transaction tend to be higher in value therefore the risk for the customer is greater and the purchase process will be longer and more calculated. Providing as much detail and support information as possible will help the decision making process, in your favour preferably!
Avoid using too much jargon! Obviously if your business nature requires the use of technical terminology and the customer will be accustomed to such language then it is a different story. However, at all costs it is best to avoid using complex language and if you cannot avoid it try to include some form of glossary to help shoppers to understand what you are talking about.
Access for all
Accessible web design is a must for any website, by not making your website accessible to all you could be excluding many customers from using and buying from your website.
See our blog post Access All Areas for more detail on web accessibility.
The main transaction
During the actual shopping transaction it is not only security concerns that deter many shoppers, 67% of web shoppers click out of shopping carts before completing purchase (Net Effect) and one of the main reasons is often due to the filling out of forms.
Having to constantly fill in details forms each time a user returns to a website can be very off putting, to encourage loyal and returning customer use a log in functionality that remembers customers details.
A form error is one of the main reasons a person will exit a transaction without finishing it, not only does it lack credibility, it is time consuming and it can be very annoying for users; if any problems occur with a form on your website contact your web administrator immediately and have it rectified asap.
Further to this transactions are being abandoned left, right and centre because of the type of checkout process being used on site, using a traditional checkout process where access to all the other website pages are still available makes it very easy for the customer to stray back to product searching within the website. Having an enclosed checkout has proven to increase transactions, it takes customers to a separate checkout facility where all distractions (menu bar, search facilities etc) have been removed, reducing the likelihood of the customer changing their mind. Having such a checkout facility also reinforces the security aspect of the transactions and makes it easier to communicate the payment methods and terms and conditions to the customer.
Finally, you and your product!
Lastly, and most importantly, your company, the product/service and customer experience being offered must be worthy of purchase. No matter how much you improve your website if your product quality and customer service isn’t up to scratch then its unlikely any customers will return, and loyal customers are the most profitable kind. They will return to your company time after time, refer others to you, and spread good words about you, and word of mouth is the best kind of marketing a company could ever get.
