If your online store is suffering from a low conversion rate and a
lack of return shoppers, it is a good idea to look at the shopping
experience you are offering your customers.
Understanding your customers, the industry, and basic human
psychology, can help you with convert more shoppers into buyers, and
garner more returning customers.
Here are 4 crucial mistakes online merchant often make, and how to fix them:
1. Tedious checkout process:
A long and painful checkout process is proven to bring down
conversion rates. Customers are not likely to enter their payment
information on every purchase they make from a certain store, and they
are looking for a more efficient way to pay. Sales can suffer
significantly if you are unable to provide a fast and seamless checkout
process.
Offering alternative payment options, such as PayPal and MasterPass
are a proven method for speeding up the checkout process, as they store
cardholder data such as card numbers and billing and shipping addresses.
Having these options available to your customers not only provides for a
fast checkout experience but also helps insure customer confidence.
Seeing a trusted name of a recognized payment method whom the customer
might already have an account with, is a great way to increase
conversions and minimize the walkaway rate on your payment page.
Having a member signup option is another way to help with gathering
return shoppers. Creating an account on your site with the ability to
store user data will insure faster checkouts in the future. Social
sign-in options like "Sign-in with Facebook" can also help with
streamlining the sign-up process. Check with your payment service
provider or your development team to see how you can implement a member
sign-up option for your store.
2. Your store is not mobile compatible:
According to reports done by Rogers and Forrester Research, mobile
usage is on the rise. We also recommended adapting your store for mobile
use in our guide for getting ready for 2014, and our tips for the
holiday season. With conventional computing devices such as desktop and
laptop computers losing market share to smartphones and tablets, your
customers are taking their online needs to mobile devices, including
their shopping needs.
Black Friday, Cyber-Monday, and Boxing Day all saw an increase in
mobile purchases. See if your website is adaptable (responsive) to
mobile devices or if you have the ability to offer a mobile version of
your site. Offering a mobile friendly store helps with targeting your
customer base who are rapidly converting to smartphones and tablets.
3. Inadequate product description:
A major deterrent for online shoppers is a poorly designed product
page. Customers are not able to observe a product online as they can in a
brick and mortar establishment. A lack of product description can most
likely end with the customer turning to a merchant who provides a more
descriptive and detailed product page.
Offering an expanded description alongside high resolution and
detailed photos of the product helps the customer with better
understanding of the item they are buying. Customer reviews on the
product page also give the customer a better idea of real world use of
the product.
4. Hidden or unavailable contact information and terms:
One of the main reasons for low conversion rates is a lack of
confidence between the customer and the store. Hidden and unavailable
contact information is a deterrent to many shoppers. In comparing online
shops to physical store fronts, a customer does not have the ability to
confront the merchant in person, and relies on the available contact
information.
Refund, return and privacy policies as well as terms of service pages
are also sometimes difficult to find or even missing. The lack of these
policies can cause suspicion among customers and a feeling the merchant
is hiding something.
To solve to these issues, all you need is to simply showcase your
contact information, refund policy, return policy, and terms of service
throughout the store. A "Contact Us" tab should always be made visible
throughout the store too. Refund and return policies should be made
visible on every product page, and throughout the checkout procedure. A
link to your terms of service should always be visible at the footer of
every page on your site and clicked as agreed to upon each payment
validation.
Understanding your customers and what goes through their mind when
they place aorder on your website is key to having a successful online
store. A quick, adaptable, and trustworthy shopping experience will help
ensure a higher conversion rate and more returning customers.
You can view the original post of this article and many more on payments and Ecommerce at Payment Magnates.
About the Author
Writer Editor for Payment Magnates. Experienced in Risk and Fraud, payments, marketing, e-retail, and Ecommerce.
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by Adam Ravona
