eCommerce 101: Why Should I Buy From You?

With a 5 month old baby I’ve found I’ve been gravitating to baby and children’s clothing websites – although my hubby doesn’t need to know that. 😉 In my browsing  I have discovered that there are hundreds of gorgeously designed sites with heaps of beautiful clothes and accessories. Far too many to buy from even if I wanted to. And the baby market is not alone in the competition stakes, most online niches face the same dilemma. So I got to thinking – how do you stand out? What can you do to differentiate yourself from your competitors? How do you make sure you get the online shopper’s dollars and not some other online store? The following article will provide you with tips and advice to help your online store stands out from the crowd.

The Basics

The first step is to make sure your site is built in a way that is easy and engaging for prospects to use so we’ll start with the basics.

Design & Usability

I feel this is almost too obvious but with the amount of poorly built sites out there I guess it’s not. A well designed website that is easy for your prospects to use is a must. A website that looks professional instills confidence in potential customers and reassures them that they can buy from you safe in the knowledge that their goods will be what they wanted and arrive on time. It tells them that they are dealing with a professional company. A company whose products are of high quality, who answers correspondence promptly and who ships goods quickly.

The usability, or ease-of-use of your website is equally important. If the site is hard to use, information difficult to find, or confusing to navigate your prospective customers will go to the next website on their list. One of the best ways to test the usability of your website is to watch friends and family as they use your site. Set them a task of finding and purchasing a specific item and watch as they perform the task. Things to look out for include:

  • Can they find what they are looking for quickly?
  • Do they have to keep backtracking through the site?
  • Does the site search return relevant results? Any results?
  • Can they easily view enlarged images of the products?
  • Are the images of high quality? Do they represent the products well?
  • Are they able to easily add items to their shopping cart?
  • Is the checkout easy to use?

As well as the above ask for their feedback and then make changes based on your findings.

Design and usability is the place to start. If you get this right you’ll have a better chance at converting the people who browse your website into buyers.

Shipping & Returns Information

Provide clear shipping and returns information and make sure it is prominently displayed on your site. Customers want to easily see whether you ship to their location, what it will cost them to do so and how you handle returns if there is a problem. Don’t hide this down the bottom in a link, make sure it is clear and easy to see on every page of the site.

Testimonials

Finally, make sure to display testimonials from happy customers throughout your website. There is no better way to show prospective customers that they can confidently buy from you than with positive feedback from people who already have. Include a wide variety of testimonials including ones that focus on the site’s ease of use, quality of product, speed of shipping and fast resolution of issues when they arise. In a nutshell include testimonials that cover all aspects of the buying process.

Added Extras

Once you’ve got the basics right it’s time to go that extra mile to entice those prospects to buy from you. Remember you’re not the only eCommerce site that is well designed and easy to use. Here are just some of the ways you can entice shoppers to buy from you.

Shipping & Delivery Specials

In my experience many a shopping cart has been abandoned near the end of the checkout process due to the shipping rates. Expensive shipping, and I mean expensive in the eyes of the shopper, is a real turn off. So reward your customers. Offer free shipping if they spend over a certain dollar amount.

Fast Shipping

And when I say fast I mean super fast. Overnight if possible. We’re an impatient lot and if you read the same mags I do we want instant gratification. So there’s nothing worse than ordering something online and waiting forever for it to arrive. And believe me forever can be 4 days. So try and offer next day shipping. And don’t punish your customers by charging the earth for it.  Trust me next day, reasonably priced shipping will increase your sales dramatically.

Quantity Discounts

If you sell a products that people can buy in quantity consider offering a discount the more they buy. It’s a great way to encourage larger orders as let’s face it we all love to think we’ve saved money. Even if we had to spend twice as much in the first place to get that discount.

Loyalty Schemes

Another great way to attract customers and make sure they become repeat customers is to offer a loyalty scheme. Offer a percentage discount which increases on every order – capped at a certain amount – for life. You’ll find people will want to make more purchases with you to get to the magic capped amount. And then they will continue to shop with you, not your competitors, as that’s where they get their discount. Now that’s loyalty.

Trial Packs

Do you offer a product that people may want to try before buying? If so consider selling trial packs at a cheaper rate to encourage people to try your products. Slip in a discount coupon for their next order and you’re sure to get their business.

Reward Purchases

Following on from the above, reward people who order from you by giving them a discount on their next order. Most eCommerce systems will allow you to offer a percentage or flat discount amount.

Encourage Word of Mouth

Finally, we all know that one of the best ways to promote your business is to have happy customers tell their friends about you. So reward them by offering a scheme such as “Tell A Friend” whereby the referrer receives a gift certificate to use against their next order for every friend they refer to you.

In many ways the online world is no different to the offline world. Businesses who offer good products and excellent customer service and are able to market themselves smartly will be the ones who succeed and do well online. So don’t just put up an eCommerce site and hope for the best. Work hard and be smart and reap the rewards.

That’s it for me. I’m off to do a bit of online shopping as my DS (darling son in net speak) needs some more cute stuff. 😉 Continue reading eCommerce 101: Why Should I Buy From You?

Harnessing the Power of Local Search

What is Local Search?

Local search can be defined as any search that is aimed at finding something within a specific geographic region. Some examples include “landscape gardener melbourne”, “baby photographer bondi”, “gold coast accommodation” or “yoga classes williamstown”. Local search includes searches where the transaction takes place online and searches where information is gathered online and the transaction takes place offline.

For some businesses their entire customer base is centred around a specific geographic area so local search is vital to their business. Examples include vets, restaurants, hairdressers, beauty salons, doctors and dentists. For other businesses their location is important and people based elsewhere will seek them out. Examples include tourist destinations, accommodation providers and car rental companies. Finally, some business will draw prospects from near by and far away. This includes businesses such as consultants, lawyers, accountants, graphic designers, psychologists and specialist shops.

The one thing all these businesses have in common is the benefits optimising their website for local search will bring them.

Where is Local Search Offered?

Local search is currently offered by the big three search engines: Google, Yahoo! and Live Search. All these search engines have a local component which collects local data and displays it in relevant searches.

It’s also very important to point that that most local search listings, including Google’s, include reviews of businesses by customers. This enables prospects to research businesses and get a variety of opinions of their products and services from others who have used that business.

For more information or to see local search in action you can visit the Australian versions of their local websites:

Google Maps
Yahoo! Local
Live Search Maps

Who Can Benefit from Local Search?

Many businesses can benefit from local search including businesses who service a specific geographic area to businesses who offer a unique, sought after product or service.

It’s also worth noting that most statistics show a trend in people migrating away traditional methods of finding businesses such as the Yellow Pages to searching online. In fact studies report that up to 70% of shoppers begin on the Internet with their favourite search engine. And Google states 73% of activity online is in one way or another “related to local content”. (Google 5/07)

Here are some examples of how your prospective customers might use local search:

  • To evaluate local companies – in particular service companies and individuals such as cleaners, plumbers, accountants and hairdressers.
  • To book or order a service that is location specific.
  • To hear others experiences of travel and accommodation providers such as hotels, bed and breakfasts and caravan parks.
  • To research a product that they intend to purchase offline i.e. in your store.
  • To find a unique product or service available in a specific area.

6 Steps To Boost Your Local Search Presence

Ok so you’ve realised the importance of local search. Now what? The following six steps will help you boost your local search presence in the three main search engines.

1. Add Location Keywords to Your Website
As well as incorporating the main keywords describing your products and services in your website add keywords related to your locations. I also always recommend adding  your address to each page of your website. And finally, include your location keywords to your page title and meta tags.

2. Link to Your Web Pages Using Local Keywords
Your link reputation (the number and quality of websites linking to you) is an important part of  getting high rankings in the search engines. So when asking for links from other websites be sure to get them to link to you using your main keywords and location phrases. Try to mix them up so you don’t end up with the same link text for each one.

3. Get Local Links
If you’re a business that relies on local business then networking and getting links from other local websites is for you. This strategy will not only help your local listings in the search engines but should help drive targeted, local business to your website.

As well as straight links look at other ways to link up with other relevant local businesses. Some suggestions include running joint promotions, sponsorship of local clubs and sporting groups or competitions.

4. Claim Your Local Search Listings
Claim your local listings at Google Maps, Yahoo! Local and Live Search Maps. At all three search engines you can claim or submit your business listing and then provide information about your business. Doing this can also help boost your reputation with the search engines and give them a higher level of trust and confidence in the information they display about your business in their results.

5. Enhance Your Local Search Listings
Once you’ve claimed your listings in Google, Yahoo! and Live it’s worth taking the time to enhance your listings by providing as much information as possible. Keep in mind that prospects are usually hungry for information so provide business information, photos if applicable, location details and opening hours, payments accepted, areas you service and any other information you feel is necessary.

6. Monitor and Manage Your Online Reputation
As I mentioned above most local search providers include reviews of businesses and their products and services as part of the local listing. These reviews are an incredibly powerful “word of mouth” thumbs up or thumbs down opinion of your business. In the past friends may have shared both positive and negative experiences with your business but now they can share them with anyone who is interested and looking for the information. So I can’t exaggerate the importance of monitoring what’s being said about your business online and if a problem arises stepping in and resolving it.

More than ever before people are using the internet to research products and services they require locally and it’s tipped to increase in importance over the next 10 years. So it’s vital that your business and your website can be easily found by people performing local searches. Continue reading Harnessing the Power of Local Search

Common AdWords Mistakes

I clicked on an AdWord this morning only to be taken to a 404 error page. I wonder how much the business paid for that click?? One of the beauties of Google AdWords is the fact that you can control your campaign so minutely. Got enough business for the day? Pause your campaigns. Need more enquiries or sales? Increase your budget. So if your website is being re-designed or is coming soon for heavens sake pause your AdWords campaign so you’re not paying for nothing.

Here are some more common AdWords mistakes that really shouldn’t happen:

  • The landing page has nothing to do with the ad I clicked on.
  • The item being advertised is out of stock.
  • The business doesn’t deliver to my location.
  • There’s no reference to the special promoted in the ad.

As I often say the key to your online success is to test, test and test again. Don’t just put it up there and forget about it. Monitor and track your campaigns and make adjustments as circumstances require.

Shipping is Part of the User Experience

A lot gets discussed about having clear information about your shipping destinations and prices. I also often touch on making sure you communicate throughout the ordering and shipping process so your customer knows what’s happening and how their order is progressing. But I’ve not talked much about what happens to the goods once leave your business. Until now.

We recently purchased some printer inks online. They took a little longer than we expected to arrive but we can live with that. But the actual goods arrived in a crumpled, homemade box that used to be a box carrying wines. It looked cheap and amateurish and we had to wonder if the inks we paid for were the brands we thought they were or cheap copies. Keep in mind this was not a cheap order – we spend over $200.

The moral of the story. The user experience with your business does not end when the goods leave your warehouse. How they are packaged and presented have an impact on how your business and goods are perceived. Take time to package things professionally. It’s not hard.

Form Usability Is Important

So I’ve been trying to fill out an important online form for my bank all morning. And I am completely and utterly frustrated. It’s completely unusable. I’ve now had to call three times and I’m about to give up which means lost business for the bank.

When using online forms on your website, especially ones geared towards prospects and customers, I cannot emphasize enough how important it is that they work. You’d think that was obvious but apparently not as I come across these sorts of errors often.

So test your forms. Test them again. Test them regularly. Have your staff test them. If certain characters are not accepted in them say so. If you require things such as phone numbers in certain formats say so. And have your phone number in a prominent position so that if people still have trouble they can call you for help.

Let’s face it in this economy you probably want all the business you can get so don’t lose it by making silly mistakes.

Book Recomendations To Improve E-Commerce Website?

I read your articles monthly in ‘My Business’ and always find them inspiring & helpful.We have just completed our website & referenced ‘Don’t make me think’ at your recommendation – very helpful, thank you!

Do you have a book/s you could recommend we reference to help us with generating enquiry online? Our site is set up as e-commerce, with customers able to buy online. We design & sell kids t-shirts.

Thank you, have a nice day! Nadia

Nadia has been patiently waiting for my reply to her question. Thanks for your patience Nadia!!

Here are some books and websites to get you started:

The Big Red Fez: How To Make Any Web Site Better by Seth Godin

I am a fan of anything by Seth. This book in particular is a practical guide to make your website more attractive to visitors. It’s simple and straight forward and well worth a read.

Web Design for ROI: Turning Browsers into Buyers & Prospects into Leads by Lance Loveday and Sandra Niehaus

I love this book. Absolutely love it! They speak my language. It’s filled with practical web design tips to help you increase conversions and online sales.

Call to Action: Secret Formulas to Improve Online Results by Bryan & Jeffrey Eisenberg

Another great book by the two of the most respected guys in the industry. Call To Action provides vital information to improve your online results. Questions it covers includes: Are you planning for top performance? Are you accurately evaluating that performance? Are you setting the best benchmarks for measuring success? How well are you communicating your value proposition? Are you structured for change? Can you achieve the momentum you need to get the results you want?

Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping by Paco Underhill

Not a book on e-commerce per say but a great primer on the science of shopping by a respected industry leader. I’ve found many of the principles can be applied to the online world too. Update: Just found this version that has been revised to cover the Internet.

Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples

Another “bible” or proven selling techniques. Again not an e-commerce book per se but a great book on creating powerful headlines, copy that sells and layouts and illustrations that attract attention.

Finally, if you want to work on improving the performance of your e-commerce website you can’t go past the following blog:

Cre8pc Usability & Holistic SEO by Kim Krause Berg

Kim is one of the most highly respected usability experts online. A great blog with heaps of good advice on improving your website.

I’m sure there’s heaps more out there but if I don’t get this posted I never will so feel free to post your own recommendations below.

Communicating With Your Customers

With a four and a half month old baby I’m suddenly doing a lot more of my shopping online. Along with the convenience I’ve found it’s helped me get an even greater insight into how different businesses approach selling products online.

One glaringly obvious way I can compare businesses is in their communication. And I am amazed at just how differently they communicate. From people who email me every step of the way to those who I don’t ever hear from until the product arrives at my door. Can you guess who I prefer?

Once I’ve found what I’m looking for and handed over my credit card details I really want to know that my order has been received and you’re sending it out to me. It’s not hard to acknowledge an order and to keep your customers informed of where you’re up to in the shipping process. It takes such a little amount of time – or can even be automated – so I wonder why so many businesses don’t do it. Can’t they be bothered? Is it to much work? Don’t we, the customer, matter? Perhaps the web developer who built the site didn’t emphasize how important it is. Whatever the reason I can tell you which businesses get my repeat orders. And I suspect it’s the same for their other customers too.

If you run an e-commerce website make sure you communicate with the people who order from you. Do it clearly and do it often and you’ll be in a much better position to reap their repeat business.

Website Health Check 101

We’ve had a lot of enquires lately from website owners who are receiving plenty of traffic to their websites, but little in the way of sales or leads. There’s been so many I felt it would be a good topic for this month’s article.

The goal of any business website is to convert traffic or visitors into some sort of action whether that be to generate sales, leads, subscriptions, advertising, newsletter sign-ups, and so forth. The general wisdom is that the more traffic you receive, the more conversions you should achieve. That’s not always the case and here are just some of the reasons why this could be happening.

Does Your Website Convey Trust?

Offline we judge a business by it’s outward appearance – whether that be the location, storefront or premises or the appearance of it’s employees. These factors help us determine whether we feel we can trust that business enough to hand our cash over to them. Online one of the first ways we judge a business is by the look or design of their website. We look for “pointers” such as:

  • A professional looking logo;
  • A clean, well designed website;
  • Navigation that makes it easy for us to move around the site; and
  • Consistent brand identity throughout the site.

You can often get too close to a design or may be unintentionally focusing on a design that you like rather than one that suits your customers. For this reason it’s a good idea to take a step back and get some independent feedback on the design of your site. Focus on trust and credibility asking if the user would do business with you based on the site design.

Is There a Face To Your Business?

Again your website is the face of your business online and the more prospects feel they know you, the more comfortable they will be doing business with you. With this in mind it is important you tell your prospects about your business and the people behind it. I always recommend incorporating an About Us page that provides information about your business including history, strengths, testimonials and information on the key people behind the business.

It’s also important to provide contact details – at a minimum email, phone and postal information. If you are a shop front, I also highly recommend providing maps of your locations, opening hours and any other relevant information.

Are You Using An Appropriate Domain Name and Email Address?

If you are an Australian business targeting the Australian market, the best possible domain name to use is one ending in com.au. This signifies you are an Australian commercial entity. If you are targeting an international audience you may want to consider a .com domain – although bear in mind .com is generally used by US companies as well as international ones.

Your email address should use your domain name. For example if your domain name is mycompany.com.au your email address should be myname@mycompany.com.au. I see far too many businesses using an Internet Service Provider (ISP) email address such as mycompany@bigpond.com. There are many reasons why this is not recommended but the main are (a) you are promoting your ISP and not you, and (b) the email address is not transportable — if you change ISP’s you will have to change your email address, something you don’t have to do if you use your own domain name.

Domain names are inexpensive these days so it really pays to choose one that accurately represents your business.

Are Your Products and Services Professionally Photographed?

I see far too many websites that use poor photography to showcase their wares. Your products and services are what your business is all about so they should be enticing your prospects to do business with you. They should look professional, be the right resolution and display colours accurately. In a store you can pick products up for a closer look, so if you are selling products online make sure your prospects can enlarge the photo for a closer look and even view the product in different colours if applicable.

If you are unable to take professional looking photographs yourself it’s highly advisable to invest in a professional photographer who will ensure your products and services are showcased at their best.

Are You Asking For The Sale?

Online you need to guide people through your site encouraging them to take a desired action. One of the best ways to achieve this is to use Call To Actions (CTA’s). Call To Actions are words and/or graphics telling your visitors what to do next. Examples of these include:

  • Order Now
  • Buy Now
  • Add To Cart
  • Checkout
  • Contact Us
  • Subscribe

As well as providing relevant information about your offerings make sure you guide your visitors to take the desired action by implementing strong, enticing CTA’s.

Do You Provide Clear Shipping and Returns Policies?

If you are running an e-commerce website it’s vital that you make your prospects feel as comfortable as possible when giving you their credit card details. For this reason clear, easy to find shipping and returns policies go a long way to make people feel comfortable doing business with you.

You should also consider making it easy for customers to return or exchange items easily. One of the big drawbacks to buying online is not being able to see and “test drive” the product prior to purchase. Time and time again I’ve seen sites double their sales by being flexible with their returns and exchanges.

Are You Targeting The Right Keywords?

Just because your website is receiving lots of visitors, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are the right visitors. A poorly researched keyword strategy could mean that you are targeting a market that is not looking for what you are selling.

I always recommend reviewing your keyword strategy on a regular basis to make sure you are focusing on the right keywords and are not missing any vital ones.

The above issues are just some of the major stumbling blocks that could be stopping your website from converting visitors into customers. If this is happening to your website it’s worthwhile reviewing the health of your site with an eye to the issues addressed here. It might also be a good idea to get an independent review of your website – it’s amazing how a few tweaks can make such a difference to your bottom line.

I’m A Vegemite Kid

There are many ways to promote your products online, engage with your audience and collect information about them. A fantastic example is the How Do You Like Your Vegemite promotion currently being run in Australia.

Vegemite, if you don’t already know, is an Aussie institution that no one outside of Australia seems to get. It’s a concentrated yeast extract that Australians can’t get enough of. Eating it is almost a religious experience.

As we all seem to eat it differently, Kraft have run with that by creating the first ever Vegemite Census, and asking people how they eat their Vegemite. They collect profile information and offer participants the chance to subscribe to forums to discuss Vegemite.

I love it! And I am a cynical old marketer. The thing is Aussies are passionate about their Vegemite and Kraft have turned this into a great way to engage with their customers and collect data about them.

Are you doing all you can to engage with your customers? Perhaps it’s time to think outside the box and look at ways of encouraging your customers to participate in a conversation with you.

Sensis Goes With Google

With Nielsen NetRatings figures showing Google Search is used by 9.3 million Australians compared to just 184,000 users for Sensis Search is it any wonder Sensis have finally bitten the bullet and abandoned their search engine for Google’s? In addition all their Yellow listings will be stored in Google Maps, as well as WhereIs. It’s not before time.

So what does this mean for Australian businesses? It means that if you do not have a presence in Google it’s more vital than ever that you rectify the problem. More Australians use Google to find products and services online than any other search engine and if you aren’t listed you are missing out on vital traffic. And now more than ever with this announcement. The change is expected to happen from early next year so now is the time to get started.