Web Savvy Secrets, Tips & Tricks

Shopping basket problems

noreply@blogger.com (J Roman) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 07:30:00 +0000

One of our clients recently mentioned that her customers were abandoning their shopping baskets. We asked half a dozen people from her target market to test the site and to fill out a short questionnaire. We discovered that there was a problem with the shopping cart solution she was using, including:

• Her customers were being asked for too much personal information at checkout.
• The PayPal payment facility didn't give enough reassurance about the security of the transaction (which was a surprising objection considering how well known PayPal is).
• There were a number of frustrating steps that buyers had to complete to make the payment.

We have now switched the website to a more user-friendly shopping cart solution.

Causes of abandoned shopping baskets
Why do your customers stop at the moment just before they click to submit the order? Causes of abandoned shopping baskets are linked to:

• Privacy issues
• Payment security concerns
• Delivery options

Studies in the US showed that 65% of online shoppers abandoned shopping baskets because they didn't feel secure providing payment information. 83% of online shoppers are concerned with giving personal information on the web.¹

Source: ¹ The VeriSign Secured™ Seal Research Review 2006

According to a poll by web accessibility and usability specialist Webcredible, two of the main causes of abandoned shopping baskets are being asked to register to complete the order and hidden charges that are only discovered at checkout.

The feelings expressed by these online consumers offered a real insight in to the reasons why customers don’t complete their orders. Hidden charges evoke feelings of dishonesty, which stops them trusting the business. Having to register and provide personal details makes them feel annoyed and vulnerable.

Here are some suggestions to help you troubleshoot your site to see where there may be any gaps. You can then write content today that reassures your customers that you are meeting (and hopefully exceeding) their expectations in this area. Avoid the mistakes that drive online customers away. Overcome these buying objections and gain more satisfied customers.

Overcome your online buying objections

Safety

1. Check to see whether you publish your returns policy clearly on your site.
2. Ensure that the promises/guarantees you make are completely clear and unequivocal.
3. Emphasise the safety of the site's transmission of data and money and advertise this everywhere on your site (especially on your homepage, the page where they are entering personal information and where the transaction is finally completed). Research in the US found that 89% of online shoppers wanted to see some kind of trust mark on an ecommerce site.
4. Provide a choice of payment methods.

Website ease of use

1. Add an effective website search facility to speed up the search for products on your site so that the visitor doesn't get fed up and leave if they can't find what they are looking for.
2. Pre-populate the online order form as much as possible.
3. Let customers see what they'll be buying! Use only high resolution images.
4. Make this whole process as seamless as possible by checking links for error messages and the page download times of your web pages (I like to use www.siteconfidence.co.uk to check download times).

Delivery

1. Provide the lowest cost, most efficient delivery possible.
2. Consider giving the consumer an option such as a higher cost for faster service.
3. Give a choice of delivery addresses i.e. work as well as home.
4. Let customers know (via e-mail) the progress of the order and the expected delivery date.
5. Ask your drivers to telephone your customers if they are going to be late.
6. Think about lifestyles - can they deliver until 9pm and on Saturdays? There is nothing worse than returning home from work to find a 'we tried to deliver, but you weren't home' note posted through the door. This could mean the difference between a one-time sale turning into a more profitable repeat customer.

Customer service

1. Make it easy for your customers to contact you if they can't find the info they need on your FAQ page.
2. Offer the same facilities as your offline business - telephone, post, fax and e-mail.
3. If they do send you an e-mail reply to it! Straight away if possible, if not, manage their expectations and let them know that you will respond within 24 hours.
4. Add a customer service section with the e-mail addresses of real people rather than support@xyz.co.uk
5. Use your auto responder (you may have one incorporated in your e-mail software so check with your website hosting company) to send a reply to an enquiry immediately. Then respond with an e-mail, or telephone call, from a member of your support staff within 24 hours.

How to create your own business blog

noreply@blogger.com (J Roman) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 11:22:00 +0000

A business blog is a great way to share useful information and at the same time you can add the personal touch to your website.

What is a blog?
Blog is short for weblog. It is a mini website that is used as an online journal. B-blog is the industry term for a business blog.

What can you do with a blog?
It is a social computing tool (two-way media) and so you can add articles, links, photos etc. to your blog and then share the blog with your customers, web visitors, staff etc. When you write an article you can let people who read it post their comments.

What tone should your blog take?
A blog can set a more personal tone to your relationship. Readers of the blog can see that you understand their problem and the level of expertise you have (and therefore value of services you offer) in solving their problem.

How to create your own business blog
I always try and test solutions before sharing them with my clients. So I've tried a few blogs to get a feel for how easy they are to use. I like blogger.com the best. I've been using it for over a year and find it easy to use and set up. Here is a blog comparison tool (from the research that I've done Blogger and TypePad seem to be the most popular):

http://www.ojr.org/ojr/images/blog_software_comparison.cfm

Business blog tips
1. Make sure there is an acceptable use policy in place for members of staff and readers of your blog, so that they know what they can/cannot say.
2. Moderate comments to make sure that people aren't spamming, swearing, or adding off-topic comments.
3. Keep the content up to date as search engines love new content.
4. Ensure that you have something useful to say that is valuable to your readers.
5. The top 10 design mistakes in weblogs can help make your blog easier to read.

Summary
Blogs can help you to connect with your customers. With so many websites to choose from, your blog can provide the personal touch. In my view, the sites that are more customer focused than product centric, are the ones that stand out from their competitors.

Is your website evolving?

noreply@blogger.com (J Roman) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 10:42:00 +0000

Before the Internet came along the five types of mass media (books, newspapers, magazines, radio and TV), could only talk to us. Ok you could write a letter to the Editor of The Times, or you could give your opinion on the radio, or write to 'Points of View.' But, there were few opportunities to talk back.

You can now have your say
The Internet has opened up two-way communication. We can share a joke, via email, with a friend. Write our thoughts down in a journal, via a blog. Discuss issues in a forum. Add our comments to an article written on an online newspaper. We can, at last, talk back.

The online brochure needs a 21st century makeover
Many businesses rushed to get a web presence that was little more than an online brochure. There is still a place for websites that offer only static information. But the Internet is interactive and can do so much more than this.

Websites can add real value to your customer relationships
Your website can open up a two-way communication between your customers and business. You can discover from what they say online (product reviews/blog comments) exactly what they want and how you are meeting their expectations with (for example):

Your products and services
Your order fulfilment process
Your customer service

Use your website to learn more about what people want
You can then use this information to target your products and services more effectively. It will also help you to personalise your website's content and communications with your customers.

Make your site stand out from the web crowd
With so many websites to choose from, your website can provide the personal touch. In my view, the sites that are more customer focused than product centric, are the ones that stand out from their competitors.

Low-cost website enhancements
You can add customer reviews, blogs, bulletin/message boards/chat rooms/discussion forums, surveys and opinion polls.

Is eShopping convenient?

noreply@blogger.com (J Roman) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 10:34:00 +0000

As you'd probably expect being an online consultant, I do most of my shopping online. I was sold a long time ago on the benefits of ecommerce websites, including:

Lower prices
24/7 shopping from your armchair
Delivery direct to your door

The problems with online shopping
I was standing at the front of the queue in the sorting office one Saturday, waiting to collect a package that had been delivered in the week. There was a queue of people behind me getting more and more fed up. Every few minutes post men and women were arriving with bags full of parcels. There were parcels from several ecommerce websites including Amazon, Letterbox and I Want One Of Those.

I couldn't help thinking about these ecommerce companies. They have overcome the perception that online shopping is risky. They have met the needs of the people visiting their sites. They have made sure that their customers can:

Find the website easily.
Answer any questions they have about the business or products from your website.
Complete tasks successfully (Fill in a form, order a product online).
Trust the website is credible (The business is bona fide and can back up what it says).

The reality for these online consumers
These people will most probably fight their way through the rush hour. Finally make it home. Put their key in the door. Open it and see the card on their doormat from the post office, saying "we've tried to deliver but the parcel is too big for the post box."

I'm not having a go at the Royal Mail as they do a sterling job. I know they will redeliver on another day. But most people aren't at home during the week and so have to stand in line at the sorting office on a Saturday morning. All quietly fuming, but being British, waiting patiently to pick up their parcel!

Supermarkets have got ecommerce right
In my opinion, the supermarkets have got ecommerce right. The online shopping experience really is convenient. The service doesn't stop at the checkout. They know that people work during the week. So their answer is to deliver in 2 hour slots (so you don't have to hang around all day) and up until about 11 in the evening. For example Tesco Direct has a premium delivery on some items, in some areas, which works on the same basis as the grocery delivery service.

The hassle factor are your web customers put off by this?
If you put yourself in your customers shoes. Would you blame the delivery company or the business with adding this additional hassle to your life? Would it put you off buying online? For me, the benefits out way the issues with delivery. However, for your customers this may not be the case.

If they only buy once from you, do you find out why?
It may be worth getting in touch with customers who only shopped once from your online store. Ask them why they haven't returned. If the website isn't to blame, it may be the delivery. Fix the problem. For example, offer a Saturday delivery (on a selected time basis so they don't have to wait in all day).

Show them you care
It costs more to attract a new customer than to get an existing customer to make repeat purchases. Make your web customers' lives easier. Show them that you care about their needs.

Tell them that you've taken action:
"We've listened to what you want and now have a (Saturday delivery) to make taking delivery of our products easier for you."

Don't let your competitors entice your web customers away because they make the shopping experience more enjoyable. Show your web customers that you understand and are working hard to meet their needs. Give them more reasons than your competitors to buy from you.

Why tendering for a new website isn't an exact science

noreply@blogger.com (J Roman) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:03:00 +0000

In my corporate life, I was the project manager tendering for a new website. I sent a very straightforward brief to 5 web design agencies.

Two of the agencies never replied.
One agency emailed me after the deadline.
The last two provided quotes that were £3000 different in price!

I asked the agency who provided the highest quote to pitch their ideas to me face-to-face. I was impressed that it was the MD of the company who took the time to come and meet with me but he spent the whole time talking to my male colleague and ignoring me.

He used lots of jargon and I felt talked at, rather than listened to. The quote he sent was a starting point with additional costs adding more on top as he recommended additional features.

I met the MD from the company who provided the lower quote. They obviously knew a lot about web design and gave lots of good (free) advice. I chose their design. They did not add in any additional costs and offered options to save my company money.

They went the extra mile, working the weekend before it was launched and were very flexible in their approach. They made my life easier. All I had to do was provide the content for them. They kept me in the loop, showing me the site as it developed so that I could provide feedback to them every step of the way.

They delivered on-time and within budget. It was a very professional looking site, which received a great deal of praise from our staff, customers and suppliers. I could update the site really easily.

I learned from this experience that tendering for a new website wasn’t an exact science; it was time-consuming and needed a great deal of luck (and patience). Also that web design costs varied tremendously from agency to agency and the people were too technical and didn’t listen to me to get to understand my needs.

I would recommend the second design company time and time again. I trusted them and knew that they would deliver what they promised. I created the Online Specialists with this in mind.

At the Online Specialists we:

Always go the extra mile.
Give lots of help, support and advice.
Offer flexibility to provide the solutions you are looking for.
Have an (all inclusive) rate for each web project.
Advise you on the best ways to reduce your web design costs.
Deliver on-time and within budget.
Make your life easier - leaving you free to get on with your work.
Keep you informed - so that you are happy with the end result.
Are open to feedback.
Listen and use problem finding questions to find the options best suited to your needs.
Don’t blind you with jargon.