Make sure you know who you are buying from or you will often bring junk email. Let's switch roles. You are now the customer and you want to buy something. You know that the items you buy will be shipped to you and arrive in a few days, so there is no instant gratification involved when ordering over the net. Take a look at how easy it is to navigate around your site and how easy is it to get to the place where you can purchase the items. If you find it difficult to get to the online store, make note of it and make some changes. The easier it is to find the items, the easier it is to buy from you. I am working with a customer that has a great looking web site but the navigation and scrolling to purchase is extremely difficult. Some of the links do not work and you cannot get back to the home page. If they made it easier (and we have given them a proposal on how to do that), they would likely increase their sales. Besides ease of use, you also need to look at the security of the site when doing the purchasing. I would never give my credit card to a site that does not have a secure server to process the payments. You can tell if it is secure by the lock that is closed at the bottom-right of the screen. If the lock does not appear, I go elsewhere to purchase. One more thing to be aware of is the follow-up you do after the purchase is made. Most online stores such as Amazon send an email to confirm your purchase. This gives the customer an opportunity to change their mind or refute the purchase. Amazon also sends an email to say that the item has been shipped and when I can expect it at my front door. Take care and make it easy for your customers. They want to know how much their purchases cost, when the package is to be expected, what additional costs will be incurred by the shipping method chosen and the total cost of the transaction. They expect you to follow up the order to make sure that they get what they expect and that the goods they ordered are received in good condition. |
