How popular is online shopping? And is there room for improvement? Let's check out some pros and cons of automated shopping and see.
Digital carts offer convenience for people around the globe 24 hours a day. Yet an estimated 4 percent of shoppers make purchases, up from 3.5 percent in 2003, reported by DoubleClick, an online marketing company.
And approximately 30 percent of shopping carts are abandoned, according to recent surveys by bizrate.com, a shopping search engine.
The main reasons for shopping cart abandonment are*:
To decrease shopping cart abandonment and increase sales, simple minor improvements in automation can be highly effective. Here are some tips that work best for clients and workers alike of OhioHelp.net, an Ohio-based company that specializes in helping businesses worldwide with their marketing, public relations and freelance writing services.
TOP TIPS FROM bizrate.com
1. Calculate all handling charges and fees in with your price whenever possible, so that you can offer no-cost shipping. And check for specials like Flat Rate packages with Priority Shipping.
2. Don't have people pre-register, fill out lengthy forms, wait for email confirmation, find their password / user ID and figure out how to log in again and continue to fill out more detailed forms and click through a half-dozen pages. Ugh! People want to shop, buy and go. Period.
3. On EVERY page of your site, shopping cart, receipt and Thank You or other automated reply, list complete contact information. Include a specific person to follow up with, business phone number and postal address (no P.O. Box) and a direct email address like bizrate.com (i.e. not bizrate.com). Then if the Internet connection fails, the site goes down or any number of other technical issues occurs, the shopper immediately has concrete information for follow up.
4. Set your product order numbers at one (1). In other words, when someone clicks a purchase button, have the cart say one (1) item purchased when they preview their cart instead of zero, making them select "1" again.
5. Include a no-cost gift in the shopping cart, with the receipt or in the Thank You email, especially with large purchases. Let your customers know you appreciate their business. And ask for referrals!
6. Test special product and package prices with offers on a "Thank You" page or with a "Thank You" email.
7. Accept multiple payment options when possible; credit cards, faxed and telephone orders, print checks, money orders, echecks and 3rd party solutions like Paypal. Note: many businesses use American Express.
8. Choose a progressive shopping cart software solution like ProfitAuto at bizrate.com for a variety of services, pricing packages and options for company growth. ProfitAuto manages not only the cart but also your leads, contacts and shoppers with automated "Thank You" follow up. It also has autoresponders for pre-sale and after-sale communications, digital tracking and delivery solutions, importing / exporting of lists and autoresponder series, electronic coupons, affiliate programs and more.
NO-COST TRIAL AND INFORMATION
For a 30-day no-cost trial of ProfitAuto, sign up online at bizrate.com . And download ebooks with loads of information to help with your business from the "Freebies" section of the bizrate.com bookstore at bizrate.com
So tweak your checkout process. Make your clients and your company happy. And ring up more sales. To learn more top tips and receive them on a regular basis at no charge in your email, sign up at bizrate.com today or email bizrate.com.
* From research (Fall, 2001) by Vividence Corporation, specializing in Customer Experience Management (CEM) products and services.
--
You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated - send to: bizrate.com
About The Author
Diana Barnum, president of bizrate.com and CEO of bizrate.com. For more help with marketing, public relations and writing, email bizrate.com or call: (614) 529-9459.
one time home cleaning Highland Park ..Starting and maintaining a business is challenging enough without the... Read More
Optimal website design is the art of logical navigation.It will... Read More
The internet has taken over our lives with a vengeance,... Read More
Any new website competing on the internet, needs to take... Read More
Your web site will be your window to the world.... Read More
1. The first page appears quickly.It's a good way to... Read More
There are lots of HTML editors on the market, however,... Read More
Developing a website with content that entices visitors to return... Read More
Most web sites are more like stage sets than real... Read More
There are millions and millions of websites on the Internet.... Read More
"I don't sell anything online, I don't advertise online, in... Read More
More and more non-profit organizations are developing websites to help... Read More
We've all seen those messages on some websites warning not... Read More
It's now easier than ever to take payments on the... Read More
Here's something you may never have thought of before:If I... Read More
With the New Year upon us yet again, it's time... Read More
1. Upload robots.txt file in to your root directory and... Read More
One of the biggest mistakes that most online retailers make... Read More
When visitors add your web site to their Favorites or... Read More
An interesting eCommerce success factor that isn't precisely overlooked, but... Read More
An automated accessibility tool is a piece of software which... Read More
That's right. According to a recent study by Nielsen/NetRatings, Amazon.com... Read More
When a user signs up at your website, you may... Read More
Setting up a website is the very first step of... Read More
While it may seem like a "quick and easy" task,... Read More
licensed cleaning services Park Ridge ..Many executives and investors are skeptical that software products can... Read More
A website is the most versatile and cost-effective marketing tool... Read More
Why do some sites succeed while the vast majority of... Read More
If you are developing your website on a host that... Read More
Recently, a friend asked "What's the deal with those DIY... Read More
After having decided to start a business, the next thing... Read More
While creating a Web site may seem like... Read More
With all of the factors involved in designing and building... Read More
What to put your the website if you are an... Read More
Some left shoes are in isle 5, while the right... Read More
Fresh website content for your visitors can be of real... Read More
If you haven't made the sales and built your clients... Read More
The "robots" meta tag, when used properly, will tell the... Read More
Web templates by nature are created to aid and ease... Read More
The big thing these days is your ability to capture... Read More
While studying online for IT investment opportunities, I found that... Read More
When web content gets discussed on webmaster bulletin boards, the... Read More
Any new website competing on the internet, needs to take... Read More
Does your website have a links/resources page?Do you exchange reciprocal... Read More
Every small business owner knows that they need a website,... Read More
When people think about the Internet, they think about technology.... Read More
We've all seen those messages on some websites warning not... Read More
Web accessibility has so many benefits that I really do... Read More
The cost of setting up a web site is dirt... Read More
If you have some experience in web site design and... Read More
Web Development |