Build your Credibility and Increase your Sales
| Category: Selling Techniques | Date: 2003-03-04 |
Buying online is still a novel thing for many people. Most have not yet done so. Many are nervous about doing so the first time.
Do you remember your first online order? Kind of exciting, wasn't it? Like taking a risk, and when the order came as promised, wasn't it a proud moment? You, the adventurer - one of the Internet buying pioneers! Well, many of your potential customers are in that same position.
Didn't you want to brag to your friends who were not yet on the net about your buying experience? Perhaps you simply told them,
"It was easy! At the XYZ.com site I just hit the "Add to Shopping Cart" and "Order Now" buttons, filled in a few details, and gave them my credit card number. A few days later I got the stuff. It was sure a lot easier than having to run on down to ABC Store to get it!"
as your envious and less adventuresome friends look upon you with awe. Wasn't that fun!
Your customers can do the same for you and give you the best kind of advertising money can't buy - if you do your job well as a Web site owner. They can build your reputation and credibility for you - if you do the job right first. And if their friends also have a great experience, they will tell their friends, who will tell their friends, etc.
But to do that, you must first be credible.
Today, almost anyone can build a Web site, and add commerce capabilities to it. Your visitors need to know that they are dealing with a real company, and not some teenager or fly-by- night outfit.
You can build your credibility by many means. Some of the techniques apply to building your visitors' confidence in you before they buy from you, but others apply to after the sale. It is essential to reassure them after they have bought as well, to lower your returns due to dissatisfaction or "buyer's remorse".
Here are some ways to build your credibility and allow your visitors and customers to trust you:
1) Develop a site that looks professional. That includes having your own domain name.
2) Be real. Show who you are as a person or company. If you have an offline catalog, include an image of it. If you have an office building, store or manufacturing facility, include a picture of that (assuming it is presentable and would add to your credibility). Show a picture of the lead person. Sell yourself.
Include a brief company history, but in the "About Us" page, not on the home page, where you need to be focusing on "What's In It For Me" customer thinking.
3) Offer a full selection of products. One of the things that distinguishes winners like Amazon and CDNOW is their huge inventories, which show that they are serious about selling online. If you are a content provider, provide lots of content.
4) Answer your visitors' e-mail promptly. Actions speak louder than words. If your visitor gets a prompt response from you, they are more likely to trust you with their money. It will be hard to find a more qualified prospect than one who sends you an e-mail message.
Make it a point to check your e-mail messages every hour or two. If you cannot get a full response to them on the spot, at least confirm that you have received the message and tell them when they can expect the answer. Any delay may cause them to surf on over to another site and buy from there. The quick response will delight the customer, because, sad to say, quick response is still not something most Web sites deliver.
5) Make it easy for customers to contact you. Give not only your e-mail address, but also your post office and street address (show you are actually someplace physically and not just in cyberspace), telephone and FAX numbers, and even ICQ number (if you use this). Toll-free numbers are especially good. Make your contact information easy to find, with a link to your contact information preferably on every page of your site.
6) Tell your customers that you want to hear from them, that you want to know what they think about your Web site and your products and services. If you are a big company, let them send their message directly to the President. Wow!. Few will do so, but many will be impressed by your attention to customer service.
7) Demonstrate your expertise. Do not try to fake knowing something you do not. Giving away Free Critiques is a great way to show your expertise.
8) Commit to providing great customer service, and tell your visitors so. I demonstrate my intention to satisfying my customers by joining Public Eye http://www.thepubliceye.com where you can post comments about me if I do not satisfy you, for the whole world to see. Kinda holds my feet to the fire, doesn't it? :))))
9) Guarantee that they will be satisfied with what they buy from you, or you will refund their money with no questions asked. In fact, it has been shown that the longer the guarantee, the lower the return rate. Your customers should have "nothing to lose" by doing business with you. Offer a Safe Shopping Guarantee as well as an Unconditional "Satisfaction Guaranteed" or Your Money Back Guarantee.
10) Use testimonials. The experiences of the visitor's peers are great validating evidence.
11) Use referrals and joint venture marketing. Joint Venture Marketing is a great technique in which you get to borrow someone else's credibility.
12) Offer secure online ordering, and let your visitors know that you do. We use SSL encryption provided by our own Thawte certificate on our Internet Business Center site.
13) Offer credit card purchasing. Not everyone can qualify to be a credit card merchant, so that alone separates you a bit from the riff-raff, but not much, as all of the adult sites do too.
Let your customers know about the protections built into credit cards, such as the limit of $50 that they are at risk, and that the credit card companies will track down unscrupulous merchants. (We say this in our Safe Shopping Guarantee.) Some credit card companies even double the length of warranties (usually up to a one year limit).
14) When people place an order, generate an immediate confirmation page thanking them for their order and telling them their order number. Follow up with an e-mail with the same info, plus a projected delivery date. How many times have you placed an order online and wondered if the order was really sent, or received? Are they going to send me the products? When?
15) Make sure that you ship orders quickly. Tell them their order will be shipped in ___ days and they will get their order in __ days (whatever the typical shipping time is for the method you use). And then make sure you follow up.
16) When the order is shipped, customers love to get an e-mail with the tracking number and instructions on how to go to UPS or FedEx site to track their own package, perhaps so that they can be home when it comes to receive it. Some companies even have a spot on their sites where you can enter your tracking number, instead of having to go to UPS site. That is better yet, as you get your customer back to your site one more time, and have another chance to sell something.
17) And, last, but not least....... Develop an effective privacy policy and publicize it for much more on this important topic, see "Build Trust with Effective Online Privacy Policies" at http://www.ibizcenter.com/privacy.htm Learn the benefits of an effective privacy policy and how to develop one that will satisfy your visitors so they turn into customers.
Follow these pointers and you will already be head and shoulders above 95% of the sites out there, giving you greater credibility with your visitors, and that will convert them into customers!
About the Author
Rick Olson, from Internet Business Center,
Subscribe to his FREE weekly newsletter for fresh articles, quick to use how-to tips, guides, and internet business tools. Use the handy form at http://ibizcenter.com/ezine.htm or click on join-internetbusinessinformer@lists.dundee.net
olson@ibizcenter.com
http://ibizcenter.com
Do you remember your first online order? Kind of exciting, wasn't it? Like taking a risk, and when the order came as promised, wasn't it a proud moment? You, the adventurer - one of the Internet buying pioneers! Well, many of your potential customers are in that same position.
Didn't you want to brag to your friends who were not yet on the net about your buying experience? Perhaps you simply told them,
"It was easy! At the XYZ.com site I just hit the "Add to Shopping Cart" and "Order Now" buttons, filled in a few details, and gave them my credit card number. A few days later I got the stuff. It was sure a lot easier than having to run on down to ABC Store to get it!"
as your envious and less adventuresome friends look upon you with awe. Wasn't that fun!
Your customers can do the same for you and give you the best kind of advertising money can't buy - if you do your job well as a Web site owner. They can build your reputation and credibility for you - if you do the job right first. And if their friends also have a great experience, they will tell their friends, who will tell their friends, etc.
But to do that, you must first be credible.
Today, almost anyone can build a Web site, and add commerce capabilities to it. Your visitors need to know that they are dealing with a real company, and not some teenager or fly-by- night outfit.
You can build your credibility by many means. Some of the techniques apply to building your visitors' confidence in you before they buy from you, but others apply to after the sale. It is essential to reassure them after they have bought as well, to lower your returns due to dissatisfaction or "buyer's remorse".
Here are some ways to build your credibility and allow your visitors and customers to trust you:
1) Develop a site that looks professional. That includes having your own domain name.
2) Be real. Show who you are as a person or company. If you have an offline catalog, include an image of it. If you have an office building, store or manufacturing facility, include a picture of that (assuming it is presentable and would add to your credibility). Show a picture of the lead person. Sell yourself.
Include a brief company history, but in the "About Us" page, not on the home page, where you need to be focusing on "What's In It For Me" customer thinking.
3) Offer a full selection of products. One of the things that distinguishes winners like Amazon and CDNOW is their huge inventories, which show that they are serious about selling online. If you are a content provider, provide lots of content.
4) Answer your visitors' e-mail promptly. Actions speak louder than words. If your visitor gets a prompt response from you, they are more likely to trust you with their money. It will be hard to find a more qualified prospect than one who sends you an e-mail message.
Make it a point to check your e-mail messages every hour or two. If you cannot get a full response to them on the spot, at least confirm that you have received the message and tell them when they can expect the answer. Any delay may cause them to surf on over to another site and buy from there. The quick response will delight the customer, because, sad to say, quick response is still not something most Web sites deliver.
5) Make it easy for customers to contact you. Give not only your e-mail address, but also your post office and street address (show you are actually someplace physically and not just in cyberspace), telephone and FAX numbers, and even ICQ number (if you use this). Toll-free numbers are especially good. Make your contact information easy to find, with a link to your contact information preferably on every page of your site.
6) Tell your customers that you want to hear from them, that you want to know what they think about your Web site and your products and services. If you are a big company, let them send their message directly to the President. Wow!. Few will do so, but many will be impressed by your attention to customer service.
7) Demonstrate your expertise. Do not try to fake knowing something you do not. Giving away Free Critiques is a great way to show your expertise.
8) Commit to providing great customer service, and tell your visitors so. I demonstrate my intention to satisfying my customers by joining Public Eye http://www.thepubliceye.com where you can post comments about me if I do not satisfy you, for the whole world to see. Kinda holds my feet to the fire, doesn't it? :))))
9) Guarantee that they will be satisfied with what they buy from you, or you will refund their money with no questions asked. In fact, it has been shown that the longer the guarantee, the lower the return rate. Your customers should have "nothing to lose" by doing business with you. Offer a Safe Shopping Guarantee as well as an Unconditional "Satisfaction Guaranteed" or Your Money Back Guarantee.
10) Use testimonials. The experiences of the visitor's peers are great validating evidence.
11) Use referrals and joint venture marketing. Joint Venture Marketing is a great technique in which you get to borrow someone else's credibility.
12) Offer secure online ordering, and let your visitors know that you do. We use SSL encryption provided by our own Thawte certificate on our Internet Business Center site.
13) Offer credit card purchasing. Not everyone can qualify to be a credit card merchant, so that alone separates you a bit from the riff-raff, but not much, as all of the adult sites do too.
Let your customers know about the protections built into credit cards, such as the limit of $50 that they are at risk, and that the credit card companies will track down unscrupulous merchants. (We say this in our Safe Shopping Guarantee.) Some credit card companies even double the length of warranties (usually up to a one year limit).
14) When people place an order, generate an immediate confirmation page thanking them for their order and telling them their order number. Follow up with an e-mail with the same info, plus a projected delivery date. How many times have you placed an order online and wondered if the order was really sent, or received? Are they going to send me the products? When?
15) Make sure that you ship orders quickly. Tell them their order will be shipped in ___ days and they will get their order in __ days (whatever the typical shipping time is for the method you use). And then make sure you follow up.
16) When the order is shipped, customers love to get an e-mail with the tracking number and instructions on how to go to UPS or FedEx site to track their own package, perhaps so that they can be home when it comes to receive it. Some companies even have a spot on their sites where you can enter your tracking number, instead of having to go to UPS site. That is better yet, as you get your customer back to your site one more time, and have another chance to sell something.
17) And, last, but not least....... Develop an effective privacy policy and publicize it for much more on this important topic, see "Build Trust with Effective Online Privacy Policies" at http://www.ibizcenter.com/privacy.htm Learn the benefits of an effective privacy policy and how to develop one that will satisfy your visitors so they turn into customers.
Follow these pointers and you will already be head and shoulders above 95% of the sites out there, giving you greater credibility with your visitors, and that will convert them into customers!
About the Author
Rick Olson, from Internet Business Center,
Subscribe to his FREE weekly newsletter for fresh articles, quick to use how-to tips, guides, and internet business tools. Use the handy form at http://ibizcenter.com/ezine.htm or click on join-internetbusinessinformer@lists.dundee.net
olson@ibizcenter.com
http://ibizcenter.com
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