Increasing Your Conversion Rates: 50 Tips for Ecommerce Sites

By Gail Bellaiche (c) 2005-2006
http://www.intelliwebtools.com

You can convert More of Your Traffic into sales without having
to spend a lot of money. There are hundreds of ways to improve
your conversion rate and the persuasiveness/stickiness of your
website, many of which can be done very quickly and most will
cost you close to nothing to implement.


1. Use real customer testimonials with authentic customer
photos...no stock photography. Shoppers can quickly tell the
difference.

2. Make sure your marketing effort attracts qualified traffic.
Example, if you sell Digital cameras, don't advertise that you
sell macro lens just to get more traffic to your site. This may
drive more visitors, but they are visitors with no intent to
purchase, thus decreasing your conversion rate.

3. Get a toll-free number and make sure the placement of that
number on your site is prominent and consistent.

4. Include "points of reassurance" at every "point of action".
Example – if you are requesting that a viewer provide you with
their e-mail address, clearly state that privacy is very important
to you and that you will not share that information with any
other party.

5. Use SSL (secure server certificates from a well known SSL
authority) and make sure that the user knows you are using it.
Display a prominent "Secure server" note at the top of the page.

6. Build trust, subscribe to a service like VeriSign, Thawte or
ScanAlert and Prominently place these logos to reassure your
customer that you care about the security of their information.

7. Have a clearly defined privacy policy and link to it from all
pages.

8. Include a physical address on your site.

9. Don't always concentrate on just making the "buy now"
buttons the most prominent on every page, but rather
concentrate on styling the "primary action" buttons the most
prominently on every page. Example – you sell books, and you
provide the customers with the ability to select a few related
books and compare them before they can buy now. Make
that "compare button/link the same style as you would the
"buy now" button/link on a page in which the "buy now"
button exists. This will help herd customers through your
sales funnel.

10. Clearly Define your return policy.

11. Make sure to include an "About Us" section on your site.
The majority of my customers will visit or look for that section
before making a purchase.

12. Make your site load fast, easy to navigate and user friendly.
No need for horizontal scrolling, excessive vertical scrolling,
large animation files or intrusive pop-up windows.

13. Keep your "buy now" button consistently and prominently
placed on all product pages. The closer to the top of the
page...the better. "Above the fold if you want it sold"
& 2. "Eye level is buy level".

14. Provide clear good quality images of your products with an
"enlarge image" option.

15. Make your checkout process as usable, intuitive, reassuring
and simple as possible. Losing a shopper during your checkout
process is a CRITICAL loss.

16. Don't make people type their e-mail address twice. Get the
site to remember and do it automatically.

17. Don't force people to install crazy plug-ins just to make
a purchase from your site. Stick with JavaScript, Flash and the
other breads & butters.

18. Read your copy, make sure its compelling, yet not
exaggerated and too loud.

19. Identify your unique selling proposition and exploit it. If you
are the only seller of medium-sized green widgets in the UK,
clearly state that and be proud of it.

20. Implement a "site search" box and make sure it is accurate.
Not only it will allow users to find what they want quick, it
will give you an insight as to what they are shopping for and
what terminology(keywords/key phrases) they are using so
you can tailor your copy (and ad campaigns) accordingly.

21. Don't just focus on the many features of your product, but
rather on the benefits those features will provide you customers
with. Don't just say "folding ladders", say "Our folding ladders
will save you valuable garage space".

22. Display your prices, shipping charges and tax clearly BEFORE
the checkout process is completed.

23. Don't use a drop-down for the "country" or "state" list over
your order form. Many people are using scrolling mice these
days, many are sure to accidentally scroll off of their correct state.

24. Let customers copy their shipping info to their billing info
if they are identical, with one click.

25. Remove distractions as much as possible from the final
checkout process such as the main navigation that existed during
the shopping portion of your site.

26. Clearly provide a checkout process indicator. If your checkout
process has 3 steps, clearly indicate at the top of the page what
step they are on and how many steps there are to complete the
order.

27. Clearly identify what info you really require during your
checkout process. Eliminate unnecessary text fields/questions.

28. Use easy to understand, friendly error messages.
No "INCORRECT USER INPUT IN STATE FIELD!" messages.

29. If your checkout error messages occur on a page other than
the page with the errors, preserve the information that the
user has already input and get the site to input it automatically.

30. Double check the spelling on your site. And the spelling on
your error messages. "Ers in input filed" would look very
unprofessional.

31. Try and get good reviews from shopping authority sites
(shopping.com, epinions.com, bizrate.com, etc) and from previous
shoppers.

32. Don't use complex formulas for shipping price calculations,
Example - 'if you buy 13.5 kilograms worth of x", then multiply
that weight by y shipping rate. Get the site to do the calculations
and show the shopper the price.

33. Consider shipping the product free. This is often a very good
selling point with online shoppers.

34. Display the stock status of the selected item and do so BEFORE
the user puts the item in their cart.

35. If you don't sell or run out/discontinued an item, remove it from
the site.

36. If you are offering a lot of products, users should be able to sort
them by important criteria...price, size, color, etc.

37. Provide an easy way for shoppers to compare details of similar
products.

38. Use a custom 404 not found page to link people back to the
important areas of your site

39. Give a clear estimate of the delivery time.

40. Accept a wide variety of payment options and clearly display
those options.

41. Important information should not look like ad banners. There
really is such a thing as "ad blindness" and people will
automatically skip over this important information.

42. Make sure you have a "first-time visitor" page. This is where
you are going to explain why and how you are different from
your competitors.

43. Update your copyright statements on page footers. Make sure
that the current year is displayed....fix that 2003 copyright
statement.

44. Let customer make a purchase without having to register with
your site.

45. Consider making every link the last part of the statement
"I want to...". Don't just have a link that says "the privacy policy",
but rather "read the privacy policy". Do you get it... the shopper
wants to "Read the Privacy Policy".

46. Don't use too clever names for your shopping cart like "widget
basket" or "widget box". Call it "My shopping cart" or "My
shopping basket".

47. Don't make the shopper specify select an option when there is
only 1 "option". If the product only comes in red, don't make the
shopper select the "red" radio button or choose "red" from the
drop down. Get the site to do it automatically.

48. Provide clear shopping instructions in an empty shopping cart.
Don't just say "your shopping cart is empty".

49. Provide a "special sale" or "special clearance" section. This
will attract the budget-conscious shoppers.

50. The most important golden rule...you must portray a lot of trust
and credibility to instil shopper confidence and get them to make a purchase. Make sure you do.
 
 

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