E-commerce - Ingredients for success

E-commerce - Ingredients for success By James T. Faasse

1) Post Contact Information The following information should be posted to the website in an intuitive location: A corporate address Product return address An e-mail address A toll-free number 2) Hire Knowledgeable People to Take Phone Calls Consumers shopping online have the same number of questions as regular retail customers - perhaps even more. It is important to maintain a well-trained and knowledgeable staff of people to answer phones. The more these receptionists assist consumers the better the conversion rates and repeat buying. It is also important to provide incentives for your staff to cross-sell and up-sell products. 3) Big Fonts and Big Pictures Pay Off Isn't it frustrating when you click an image to enlarge an image and it loads the same size? Since customers can't pick up the item (like in a retail store) it is important to show detailed pictures. Large keyword fonts also assist intuitive navigation (and GoogleBot loves big, bold fonts)! 4) Be Prepared If you are trying to get on-line for the Christmas season, don't wait until November to build your online store. It takes months to earn solid positioning in Google. Once you are up and running, make sure you have allocated the proper resources for the Christmas season. Your site's traffic should increase 4-fold during peak Holiday months. 5) Befriend the Postman It is imperative that your e-business delivers packages on time. It's even more important that your products arrives in one piece. Nothing is more frusterating to a customer than late arrivals and damaged goods. 6) Make Return Policies Easy and Fair Maintain a return policy that benefits the end user. It is important to include return labels with the packaging, and provide refunds when requested. Repeat business is your best business. Do what it takes to benefit your customers. Next time they shop they will order from your shopping cart- not someone else's. 7) Simplify your Storefront Customers will wait, on average, no more than 10 seconds per page to download before they choose to shop another web store. Remove graphics that take forever and a day to download, and avoide animated clip-art and annoying music. 8) Intuitive Navigation Eliminate unnecessary clicks. By reducing the number of clicks needed to complete a shopping cart transaction your conversion rates will increase.