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Ring Up E-commerce SalesFollow these six tips to increase online sales and profits this holiday season. By Kim T. Gordon It's no secret that online sales are expected to break all records this holiday season. Will your company reap the rewards? Take time today to give your website a tuneup using these six smart tips. 1. Improve Customer Satisfaction Customer satisfaction, more than price, drives purchase decisions, according to a new study of 11,000 online consumers by research company ForeSee results. The study evaluated factors including price, merchandise selection, and overall site experience (the look and feel, navigation, function, performance and site capabilities). While price was shown to have a positive effect on satisfaction, loyalty and buying behavior, it was rarely the key determinant of customer satisfaction. Above all, price never appeared as the deciding factor in whether a purchase was made. The sites that scored best in the study -- and had 36 percent higher conversion rates -- scored well when all of the customer satisfaction elements were considered. So rather than slash your holiday prices, you'll increase sales and profits if you take time now to improve customer satisfaction instead. 2. Design for Women Shoppers Since women influence over three-quarters of U.S. household expenditures, it's not surprising that they're assuming the dominant position as Internet shoppers. According to The State of Retailing Online, an annual study conducted by Forrester Research, there will be steep growth in online sales in several retail categories this year -- from cosmetics and fragrances, over-the-counter medications, jewelry and luxury goods, to flowers, cards and gifts -- thanks to the growing acceptance of online shopping by women. Even in online areas that have been male-dominated, including electronics and home improvement products, women are now making a large percentage of the purchase decisions. To increase holiday sales from women shoppers, it's important to create a shopping experience that mimics what they’ve grown accustomed to finding off-line. Clothing e-tailers should group entire outfits together, for example. Other e-tailers should take care to include full product descriptions, and helpful, in-depth information, from size charts to maps. 3. Make Shopping Easy Want to know a major reason shoppers abandon one site in favor of another? They simply can't find the products and information they're looking for. To help shoppers find exactly what they want quickly and easily, add an online search facility to your website. Also, consider providing online customer service in real-time, at least during regular business hours. With real-time customer service, shoppers with questions can get immediate answers and continue through the purchase process -- rather than leave to shop elsewhere. If you're a brick-and-mortar retailer with an online presence, it's essential to ensure smooth crossover for multichannel shoppers. Your customers should enjoy the same positive experience whether they buy online or simply research products online and then choose to buy in your brick-and-mortar store. 4. Reduce Cart Abandonment Shipping charges are among the biggest barriers to online sales, and a wide array of e-tailers will be offering free shipping this holiday season. You can jump on the bandwagon with free shipping or, at the very least, change the way you post your shipping charges on your site. Consumers often complain that shipping charges are not calculated until final checkout. This leads to high rates of cart abandonment. You can eliminate this sales barrier by making information on your shipping and any other fees accessible from the main page of your site. Do you offer multiple payment options? Studies have shown that sites with as many as four or more payment options experience higher conversions. As you prepare for holiday sales, look for ways to reduce cart abandonment and increase conversions by adding additional payment methods. 5. Reach Out to Current Customers This is an excellent time to reach out to your in-house database with e-mail offers. Roll out a new customer rewards program, or step up your existing program, and communicate with your customer and prospect base as often as once per week starting now through the holidays. Provided you e-mail to a qualified opt-in list and include relevant offers, this will be a great way to get existing customers to think about you as a primary source for holiday purchases and bring lapsed customers back into the fold. 6. Attract New Customers Without a marketing campaign to drive traffic, your site might just as well be invisible. This holiday season, get in the game by investing in paid search and online display advertising. A paid search marketing campaign guarantees your site will show up near the top of search results, instead of many pages down. Since the majority of searchers rarely get past the first page, paid search can ensure your best prospects see your ad. Try local search, which is hot and getting hotter, and can cost significantly less than national advertising. Display advertising on sites that are frequented by your target audience also yields strong results. For maximum click through, the key is to choose sites that put your message in the proper context. These are sites (or specific pages on large sites) that your target audience looks to for information on the type of product or service you market. And here's a final tip: larger ads and ones that are surrounded by editorial content have been shown to perform better than small banners or ads that are segregated from editorial. In all, by fine-tuning your website and your marketing program today, you'll achieve your online goals and maximize sales this holiday season. Get In-depth Coaching on this Topic>>
Kim T. Gordon's columns and articles are read by more than 3 million small-business owners each month. She is a small-business expert and the author of four books, including Maximum Marketing, Minimum Dollars: The Top 50 Ways to Grow Your Small Business. Copyrighted material. May not be reproduced in whole or part without expressed permission from the author. |
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