Have you ever tried to purchase the product you’re selling (or pre-selling)? The pre-sell is very important because it gives you a chance to convince the surfer that this product is the perfect choice and he needs it now. But no matter how good you are at convincing your visitors and how good is your conversion rate, if they don’t know how to buy, you will lose sales.
If the merchant is making the process difficult, the prospects’ may give up without buying anything. Check the following 7 points on the merchant’s site, check the process of buying before you start working on your site and your content.
- Page loading. Are the pages loading quickly? Once your visitors click on one of your great CTA, they are ready to buy the product. They need to get to the merchant page immediately or they become bored. Maybe they give up. Heavy use of flash can kill your commissions.
- Trust. Can you trust the merchant? Most people are still cautious when buying online. It’s important to give the potential customer every reason to trust the merchant. An address, a phone number, a privacy policy, a clear return policy can help a lot. Another good way to inspire confidence is an SSL certificate, because every credible merchant offer secured order form using encryption technology. Merchants must do everything possible to make prospects feel safe about buying something from a total stranger on the Internet.
- Site structure. Can you find the order form easily and hassle-free? Won’t believe, but there are sites where you need magnifier to find the purchase button. A link with a clear CTA from every page on the site can reduce the chances of losing prospects. The more difficult the website to use, the less people will buy.
- Phone order. If you can buy via phone, is your tracking code visible on the site? Does the telephonist ask for the tracking code during the order process? The reliable affiliate networks wouldn’t let you lose sales via phone order.
- Required information. Do you feel you’re wasting your time while you’re filling out the order form? One of the biggest mistakes merchants make is asking too much information. They shouldn’t waste the prospects’ time asking for things they don’t need to know.
- Clear prices. You might spend $150 on a product, but when you find out the shipping is $100 on top of that, you’re unlikely to continue the sale. With an IP to Country database it’s easy to work out where a user is from and show them the delivery cost.
- Multiple payment options. How can you pay? Does the merchant offer multiple payment options? The more options offered, the better your chances of covering your visitors’ needs. Some people love to use their Credit Cards, some may prefer PayPal, and others want to send cheque. If they won’t be able to pay, it wasn’t worth your hard work.
You work so hard to get your customers visit the product’s or service’s site with they credit card in their hand. It would be very pitiful if you sold well to a prospect and something goes wrong when he is ready to pay.
Do you know any other point that can make you lose sales?
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Posted in Conversion, Make Money Online.
Many ecommerce stores are not familiar enough with usability and how to improve their conversion rates. Perhaps affiliates could assist them by forwarding the link to this post and letting them know which of these is affecting them.
Encourage them to buy the book Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug. (More about it in my blog.) Send them to his site sensibility.com and Dr. Pete’s site usereffect.com. Both are excellent for learning how to improve the user experience.
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