Holiday Readiness for Small E-Commerce Sites
| Category: E-commerce | Date: 2003-06-20 |
The holiday season is here again and big e-retail sites are armoring themselves to prep their sites for holiday shoppers. If you own a small e-commerce site, chances are you dont have the budget to engage the service of consultancy firms to improve your holiday sales. Nonetheless, on your own initiative, you can implement some no nonsense, common sense changes to your site to raise holiday sales.
(1) This may not be obvious to you, but how your visitors scroll on your site has a bearing on your conversion rates.
(a) According to a NetConversions study, an average of 30% of site visitors do not scroll vertically. What this means to your e-commerce site is that if your crucial product information and buy button are below the fold, you may risk losing potential sales from this group of surfers.
(b) The problem is even more acute if your site requires horizontal scrolling. The same NetConversions study indicates that about 92% of visitors never scroll horizontally. Therefore, it is essential to design your page with variable screen width.
(c) Do you offer larger images of your products? If you dont, consider adding one right now. People who are shopping often prefer to click on an image to see its larger version before purchasing. If you do you offer the option to click to see a larger image, you may also consider adding a pay button on this new page. This will make it more convenient for shoppers to make that purchase.
(2) This is actually an old trick practiced by many e-commerce sites. You analyze your site to determine which products are receiving the most views and purchases. Once you obtain the answer, present these products more prominently on your site.
(3) Using the same principle as the tip just mentioned, data mine your site to determine which products are usually purchased concurrently. You can then either package them or merchandise them together.
(4) Give your visitors a clear and conspicuous Unique Sales Proposition (USP). An USP is a compelling statement that tells your visitors why they should buy from you rather than your competitors who sell essentially the same products or services. The similarities between your products and your competitors might be just a fragment of your prospects perception, but it is still important to inform them why you are different. Specifically, it means telling your prospects what they would gain by giving you the business. Remember, prospects all have the same preoccupation: whats in it for me?
(5) Customer segmentation is your key to driving ROI. This pertains not only to sales conversions but also to acquisitions, such as having visitors successfully signed up for subscriptions. Analyze the difference between successful visitors behavior and unsuccessful behavior. Then find ways to cultivate successful behavior on your site.
(6) Give shoppers the option to change their mind. For example, after a shopper adds an item to your shopping cart, offer her the option to remove the item later. This makes it risk-free for shoppers to add items to your shopping cart without having to worry that they cant have second thoughts.
(7) Alleviating anxiety and building trust are important. Therefore, you most probably already have assurances and guarantees on your site. But where you place them is as important as having them in the first place. For example, if you have a liberal return policy, it works best if you place it on your checkout page. Putting it on your homepage, on the other hand, wont matter that much.
(8) Use suggestive selling to up-sell and cross-sell. This will increase your average order. Suggestive selling works especially well during the holiday season when shoppers tend to buy multiple items at one go.
(9) Create a gift center. Instead of offering gift ideas all over your site, aggregate them into a special gift area. The key to making your gift center successful is to provide gift selection tools and ease of shopping.
(10) Since it is the holidays, offer gifting focused services such as wrapping, boxes, cards etc.
Implement these tips now and you could make this holiday a bountiful one for yourself and your visitors.
About the Author
Valerie Tay is the Webmistress of AdHomeBase.com, an ezine co-op that provides advertising in multiple ezines. Visit http://track.ezinetactics.com/?id=ebooks-1528 to receive FREE 500 visits to your Website, grab a FREE copy of Vals eBusiness Starter Kit (worth $200.85), and place your solo ads.
clientservices@adhomebase.com
http://www.adhomebase.com
(1) This may not be obvious to you, but how your visitors scroll on your site has a bearing on your conversion rates.
(a) According to a NetConversions study, an average of 30% of site visitors do not scroll vertically. What this means to your e-commerce site is that if your crucial product information and buy button are below the fold, you may risk losing potential sales from this group of surfers.
(b) The problem is even more acute if your site requires horizontal scrolling. The same NetConversions study indicates that about 92% of visitors never scroll horizontally. Therefore, it is essential to design your page with variable screen width.
(c) Do you offer larger images of your products? If you dont, consider adding one right now. People who are shopping often prefer to click on an image to see its larger version before purchasing. If you do you offer the option to click to see a larger image, you may also consider adding a pay button on this new page. This will make it more convenient for shoppers to make that purchase.
(2) This is actually an old trick practiced by many e-commerce sites. You analyze your site to determine which products are receiving the most views and purchases. Once you obtain the answer, present these products more prominently on your site.
(3) Using the same principle as the tip just mentioned, data mine your site to determine which products are usually purchased concurrently. You can then either package them or merchandise them together.
(4) Give your visitors a clear and conspicuous Unique Sales Proposition (USP). An USP is a compelling statement that tells your visitors why they should buy from you rather than your competitors who sell essentially the same products or services. The similarities between your products and your competitors might be just a fragment of your prospects perception, but it is still important to inform them why you are different. Specifically, it means telling your prospects what they would gain by giving you the business. Remember, prospects all have the same preoccupation: whats in it for me?
(5) Customer segmentation is your key to driving ROI. This pertains not only to sales conversions but also to acquisitions, such as having visitors successfully signed up for subscriptions. Analyze the difference between successful visitors behavior and unsuccessful behavior. Then find ways to cultivate successful behavior on your site.
(6) Give shoppers the option to change their mind. For example, after a shopper adds an item to your shopping cart, offer her the option to remove the item later. This makes it risk-free for shoppers to add items to your shopping cart without having to worry that they cant have second thoughts.
(7) Alleviating anxiety and building trust are important. Therefore, you most probably already have assurances and guarantees on your site. But where you place them is as important as having them in the first place. For example, if you have a liberal return policy, it works best if you place it on your checkout page. Putting it on your homepage, on the other hand, wont matter that much.
(8) Use suggestive selling to up-sell and cross-sell. This will increase your average order. Suggestive selling works especially well during the holiday season when shoppers tend to buy multiple items at one go.
(9) Create a gift center. Instead of offering gift ideas all over your site, aggregate them into a special gift area. The key to making your gift center successful is to provide gift selection tools and ease of shopping.
(10) Since it is the holidays, offer gifting focused services such as wrapping, boxes, cards etc.
Implement these tips now and you could make this holiday a bountiful one for yourself and your visitors.
About the Author
Valerie Tay is the Webmistress of AdHomeBase.com, an ezine co-op that provides advertising in multiple ezines. Visit http://track.ezinetactics.com/?id=ebooks-1528 to receive FREE 500 visits to your Website, grab a FREE copy of Vals eBusiness Starter Kit (worth $200.85), and place your solo ads.
clientservices@adhomebase.com
http://www.adhomebase.com
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