Cashing In: 5 Ways to Optimize Your Website's Conversion Rate

Got a website? Check. Strong traffic numbers? Check. Think you’ve got this online marketing thing licked? Think again. It doesn’t matter how many people are coming to your site if they aren’t taking action once they get there. If you want to make those traffic numbers count, you must find a way to convert visitors into customers. Some people would have you believe that all it takes is a nice website and a great product, and you’ll have customers beating down your doors. By this mode of thinking, if your sales are lackluster, it’s most likely an indication that something is wrong with your products, so you work day and night tweaking and tinkering your offering to give the people what you think they want. In reality, it’s more likely that you’ve overlooked some key elements in the design of your website, and now it’s costing you. If your website is performing well in traffic numbers but lacking in sales, it’s time to re-evaluate your site. Here are five key elements to examine and improve to ensure that you’re maximizing your opportunities to capture customers online:

1. Tell them where to go and what to do.

It’s a fact as simple as it is true: when you have a product or service to sell, you want to make sure people know exactly how to buy that product or service. There’s no point in saying you offer consulting services unless you provide a straightforward path to contact and hire you. There’s no point in displaying a product when there’s no immediately visible way to purchase it. Make sure you present a call to action that is obvious and direct. Look at your website through the eyes of the most technologically challenged user – one who has no clue how to navigate through a website or purchase something online. At every step of the way, do you provide the easiest and most direct route from Point A to Point B so that they can progress intuitively through your site? If you have a picture of a product, is there a call to action next to it? Remember, too, that a call to action is not a wordy description that says “Hey, this item is on sale like many others, so look at them all blah blah blah.” It’s a concise statement of action – usually in the form of a button or link – that prompts the user to take the next step. Maybe you want them to “buy now” or maybe you want them to “learn more.” Whatever the next logical step might be, it must be clearly stated. Attention spans on the Web are short; if your site is lacking calls to action, chances are good that you’re losing many conversions to the ever-present element of distraction.

2. Put the kibosh on clutter.

The universal rule of the Web is that less is more. Clutter comes in many forms – too many pictures, too much copy, too many buttons and links. Whatever is clogging up your site, get rid of it immediately. In order to determine what should stay and what should go, you must identify the primary goal of your website and make sure everything is geared toward that one singular objective. If your site exists to sell your products, then sell on every page. Even on your “About” page, your customer cares less about where you went to school and more about how your products came to be. You need a clear message – one that’s easy to understand and easy to share. Don’t stuff every last thing you do down someone’s throat and expect them to make a decision. Give them choices, but don’t make them think too much. You’ll only confuse your visitors, and a confused visitor is not going to stick around and figure it out; they’ll just go elsewhere instead.

3. Focus on feelings, not features.

It’s always difficult to fight the temptation to cover every single aspect and feature of your product or service in painstaking detail in order to make sure that visitors have all the information they could possibly need to make a decision. Sometimes this works, but more often than not, it doesn’t. Why? Because people don’t really spend their money on the products that have the most bells and whistles; they spend their money on what makes them feel good on the inside. They buy things they believe will make them a better person or make their lives easier or solve a problem they face every day. People don’t purchase iPods because they like the device itself; they purchase iPods because doing so makes them feel like part of a greater tribe of iPod (and, by extension, Apple) enthusiasts. Features are really only a secondary consideration. In trying to convert potential customers, your most important job is to convey how you can fulfill their deeper needs. Figure out how your products or services connect with people on an emotional level, bottle up that feeling and build your website around it.

4. Don’t ask for too much.

Don’t you hate when you walk into a clothing store and an associate follows you around constantly pestering you with questions? Doesn’t it irk you when you’re ready to check out and they ask you to sign up for their store credit card and their rewards card and to give them your email address so they can put you on their mailing list? Don’t make the same mistakes online. It’s critically important to provide a user experience that makes your visitors feel at ease. Avoid using pop-ups and other disruptive elements that create hassles during the shopping process. And when it’s time to check out, just let them check out. Don’t require them to create an account, don’t make them answer a laundry list of questions about their purchase and don’t make them give you a bunch of personal information. In short, don’t make your customers jump through hoops to spend money with you. If you try to get more information out of your customers than you actually need to process their order, you’ll raise red flags of mistrust. They’ll immediately recognize your game, and they’ll likely jump ship mid-transaction in order to avoid being bombarded with future marketing. In reality, all you need to be able to continue your relationship with that customer is an email address and permission to send them updates from time to time.

5. Be creative within reason.

Of course you want your website to be memorable. You want visitors to be wowed by its design. You want a unique look and feel that sets your company apart from your competitors. All of these are valid goals as long as you keep the level of creativity within reason. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel in an attempt to be remembered for originality and innovation. If your site deviates too far from familiar conventions, you’ll end up alienating a lot of potential customers because they’ll have no idea how to get around and find what they need. Be creative, but don’t overdo it. After all, less is more.

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Five Often-Overlooked Opportunities to Build Trust with Online Shoppers

Just because the online shopping experience precludes you from cultivating personal, face-to-face relationships with your customers, it doesn’t mean that trust is absent from the equation. In fact, just the opposite is true. Because you don’t have the advantage of engaging with your customers in person, it’s critical that you examine each aspect of your e-commerce process to ensure that you are building and reinforcing trust at every step of the way. Here are five commonly overlooked opportunities to earn the trust of online shoppers:

Transparency

From the time a customer lands on your site until the time their order reaches their doorstep, transparency is key. It’s important to ensure that you address and eliminate all potential concerns upfront. Before your customers even reach checkout, they should know how quickly their order will be processed as well as the range of available shipping options and costs. Give your customers added assurance by providing delivery timetables that are as specific as possible without compromising accuracy. For example, you might guarantee that all orders placed Monday through Friday before noon eastern time will be shipped the next business day, as long as you know that you can live up to this promise without fail. This type of information is mission-critical to shoppers who are making a time-sensitive purchase such as a birthday gift or an outfit for a special occasion. If possible, after an order has been placed, send a follow-up e-mail confirming that the shipment is on its way, and include a tracking number, too. The fewer question marks that arise between the time your customer completes their purchase and the time it arrives in their hands, the more trust you’ll build.

Packaging

When your package lands in your customers’ hands, does it give the impression that someone has taken care to make them feel they are receiving something special that has been handled and shipped with care? Or does it create the feeling that someone in a warehouse grabbed a few things off the shelf, stuck them in a plastic bag and sent them on their way, with no thought about or regard for the recipient on the other end? The quality of packaging can have a great impact on the perception of the quality not only of the product inside but of the overall buying experience. As a result, you shouldn’t think of the cost of packaging as an expense; you should approach it as an investment in earning the trust of your customers. It’s important to go the extra mile to make sure you present your products in a way that protects and enhances the value of your brand. Grove is a great example of a company that has perfected the art and science of packaging. Each handmade bamboo iPhone 4 case, which can be custom-engraved with the customer’s design of choice, arrives encased in a bamboo frame, which is actually created as a byproduct of the production process. This ingenious idea embodies everything the brand stands for – sustainability, quality, craftsmanship and authenticity – while presenting the case itself as a unique work of art.

Follow-up

The process of building trust with online shoppers doesn’t have to end when your package arrives at their doorstep. A follow-up e-mail asking them to rate your products or provide feedback on their buying experience is a simple act of consideration that conveys your genuine concern for their happiness. Netflix frequently sends subscribers e-mails asking them to rate the audio and picture quality of a movie they recently watched or to evaluate their satisfaction with the service they received when they contacted Netflix phone support.

While Netflix undoubtedly cares about measuring the quality of their services, they are also seeking to build and maintain the trust of their customers by demonstrating their commitment to delivering a great experience every time.

Returns

A generous return policy is priceless when it comes to winning the trust of online shoppers. As commonplace as the act of buying products on the Web has become, there is always still a lingering hint of uncertainty that resides with customers because they cannot see, hold and judge an item for themselves before committing to the purchase and paying the associated shipping costs. However, reassuring them that if their item arrives and is not what they expected, they can return it without question and – even better – with free shipping, shows that you are fully dedicated to ensuring their satisfaction. Not only will you build trust but you’ll also give them an added boost of buying confidence that will keep them coming back again and again. Additionally, make sure that your return policies take into consideration what happens when things don’t go exactly according to plan. If you miss your promised delivery date, don’t add insult to injury by creating headaches for a disappointed customer. Instead, win back their trust by expressing your sincere apologies and graciously offering to credit back the original shipping fees and cover the cost of return shipping.

The human touch

Sure, it's okay to automate your e-commerce processes – charging a credit card, sending order confirmation e-mails, scheduling shipments and generating tracking numbers. But throughout every step of the transaction, you must also offer your customers the safety net of being able to talk to a real person. Not only should your customer service number be available, but it should be obvious and omnipresent so that shoppers don’t have to hunt it down. While it’s tempting to bury those digits because the cost of maintaining customer service staff can cut into your profit margins, you must remember that even in today’s Digital Age, nothing builds trust quite like genuine human contact. If you’re not readily accessible to your customers, you’re running the risk of losing their business to someone who is. E-mail and online contact forms are fine options, but they shouldn’t be the only options. Keep building trust and head off the temptation to give up and go elsewhere by making sure your customers can easily make the leap from virtual interaction to personal interaction. In an age when consumers have the luxury of almost unlimited options, you can’t afford to roll the dice with your customers’ trust. Establishing clear, straightforward expectations, demonstrating care and concern for your customers’ satisfaction, following through on your promises and being readily accessible and responsive goes a long way in transforming a casual online shopper into a repeat buyer and a loyal evangelist for your brand.

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