Online shopping cart software and ecommerce shops

Online shopping is the new era of retail shopping, but it can be a pretty scary experience for the average consumer. Consumers have a number of fears about online shopping, all associated with the fear that the internet is a very big place with some evil people looking to rip you off.

Because of this, it is crucial for online retailers to setup their service in such a way that it encourages trust and stills the fears of the average online consumer.

Here are is a list of things you can do to improve your shop’s customer friendliness:

1. Display security logos (like Verisign, Thwate etc.) on your shop homepage – of course only if you are making use of the services of those security agencies. It might be a good idea to invest in such a product to show your potential customers that your are a serious retailer, and that you regard their security as important. Also display the logos of the credit cards that you accept on the homepage – this also instills trust for some unknown reason…).
2. Have a telephone number displayed prominently on your homepage for enquiries and support. This is crucial, since people still prefer to talk to people, and showing that there is a human side to your business makes people feel like they are dealing with another person – this is good for building trust.
3. Have a clear link to your shipping and returns policy page. People to want to know if they can return products, especially if they shop online and have not been able to actually see and touch the product. They also want to know what the shipping cost will be, as everybody knows that this is an additional cost associated with online shopping that is not a factor with normal shopping.
4. Display your privacy policy clearly. If you expect people to register to shop on your site, they want to know that you will not sell their e-mail address to spammers
5. Make sure to accept various forms of payment. The most important is credit card payment, as about 80% of all online transactions are done using credit cards. Electronic transfer is also important, especially for high price items, as people generally feel more comfortable transferring large amounts of money than paying big amounts by credit card.
   
   Other options are Paypal (if you can receive payment by Paypal), cash on delivery, WorldPay etc.
6. Write compelling ad copy and unique product descriptions. This is what is going to sell your products – you won’t be there to do it. Do not simply use the product description on the manufacturer’s webpage - most of your competition is doing this. Show your knowledge of the product by writing unique product descriptions, and try to add something of your personality to it.
7. Include large, high quality images of your products. Together with the description, this is what will sell the product. As people won’t be able to touch the product, they will appreciate a clear image of what the product looks like.
8. Include an “About Us” page to tell customers a bit about your store and yourself. This will help to give your shop a bit of personality, and again builds trust. Add some history on your store as well.
9. If possible, and a newsletter to your site, and allow people to sign up and receive specials and information on new products. People do not always buy the first time they visit a shop – they might still be in the research phase. By having them sign up for a newsletter, you have a potential lead to market your products to.
10. Have a professional web design and your own domain name. If you make use of an open source shopping cart, invest in purchasing a quality template – a more professional looking site results in higher conversions.
11. Offer something free with a purchase. This is a great way to encourage people to buy – people are always looking for something free.
12. Include related products in your product detail page. For example, if you are selling flowers, include a vase as a related product – this is a very effective marketing strategy.

These tips are the basics your need, and should give you a good start for your online shop. Once your shop is setup with the basics, your can move on to the more sophisticated elements, such as the best checkout process, where the “Add to Cart” buttons should be located, abandoned cart handling, product reviews etc. 

It is always great to get many visitors to your website, and many people proudly quote the number of unique hits their site gets. But when it comes to an ecommerce site, what really counts is the number of conversions (sales) your site generates.

Would you rather have a site that gets 10000 unique hits a months, but converts 0.1% (10), or one that gets only 1000 unique hits, but converts 10% (100) to sales?

To get a perspective on conversions, take a look at the top ten converting online shops for March 2008, as reported by Internet Retailer (all have to have at least 500,000 visits during the month):

• Office Depot, 20.9%
• QVC, 19%
• VistaPrint, 18.3%
• Roamans, 18.1%
• Lands’ End, 16.2%
• eBay, 15.7%
• 1-800-Flowers.com, 15.5%
• eBags.com, 15.3%
• L.L. Bean, 14.6%
• Pottery Barn Kids, 14.2%

Looking at Office Depot, assuming the have 500,000 visits for the month, and they convert 20,9%, this equates to 104500 sales!

An interesting example showing that you do now always need a flashy, sleek design to have a successful online shop is the outdoor retailer SportsmansGuide.com’s website. This site does come over as a bit cheesy, but they generate large amounts of revenue, because the have unique products and good prices, and they understand their customers. They also have a strong brand name built over their 31 years in the industry. All of this results in higher conversions for the shop.

A lot can be learned from the sites mentioned above, and it is definitely worthwhile to visit them and to get tips for improving your own site.

Which checkout tactics are most used by successful online retailers, and what is your conversion rate compared to those who use processes similar to yours?

Can you decrease your shopping cart abandonment by using a shorter checkout process? Does live chat improve conversions? Should you use an order confirmation screen? 

These are a few of the 23 tactics evaluated by Get Elastic when they studied the checkout process of the Internet’s Top 100 Online Retailers.

Get elastic presents a very interesting slideshow on their findings here:

Ecommerce checkout report

Product reviews are becoming a major asset for any online shop. According to Forrester Research, 71% of online shoppers seek out product reviews before they make a buying decision. This is essentially a word-of-mouth marketing strategy.

There are numerous sites specialising in product reviews, with well trained reviewers. CNET Reviews and Epinons (owned by eBay) are two of the more prominent ones. They offer high quality reviews, and then provide price comparisons for the products they review. This offers users a great way of evaluating products and choosing the best place to buy the product.

Powerreviews is offering a new free product for websites who do not have the resources to offer advanced product review features on their sites. They are trying to combine social media with eCommerce, and they are doing this quite successfully. An article on TechCruch describes Powerreviews’ product in detail: Product Reviews: Everyone Wants A Piece Of The Market, But PowerReviews May Get It

The more reviews a store can offer its shoppers, the more likely it is to generate large numbers of sales. Thus it is crucial for online shops to follow up with their customers to write reviews of their products. They might even consider offering payment for reviews.