Every business owner knows that there’s hell of a lot of work that goes into going online. You put all this research, effort, blood, sweat and tears into your website and getting traffic to it, so you want to make sure you’re not making simple mistakes that scare your website sales away! Here’s 8 tips you can implement to help keep those website sales coming through.
Tip 1: Be honest
Be clear, be concise. If you sell the modern equivalent of “whatchamacallits”, you’d better explain. Avoid nonsensical jargon – your customers want to understand what you’re talking about. If your copy is confusing or you need a Literature PhD to read it, your customers will click right off the page to a better-sounding option. Make sure you explain things clearly; remember who your audience is and what words or writing style would suit them. Remember you’re selling to them not yourself, so they need to understand it too.
Tip 2: Be upfront
Gain immediate trust by making all of your policy documents easily accessible on your website. If you have Terms & Conditions, Guarantees or Shipping & Returns Policies make sure they can easily be found. You want to establish trust with anyone that is considering buying from you, so being upfront to offer all the information they need will save them from a potentially wrong purpose, while positioning you as an ally. Nothing’s worse as a customer than getting a surprise charge for an order or finding out they’re stuck with a product that arrives at your doorstep broken. Making these documents easily accessible not only is good for visitors, but it’s good for you too. It means that you are covering yourself in case anything goes wrong, as well as avoiding confusion down the line.
Tip 3: Be responsive
You’d be shocked how many businesses never bother returning customer enquiries. The initial contact from the visitor might only be asking whether an item is available in a certain colour or if you ship to their region, but the implicit question right after that is, “Will you sell this to me?” Make it a practice to respond to EVERY request the same business day. If you’re really swamped and you can only answer these requests every few days, explicitly state on your website how long you think it will take you. Saying “We’re glad to hear from you! You can expect to hear back from us in 1-3 business days.” is so much better than leaving your customers in the dark. This builds trust with you and that customer. Just make sure you uphold your promise of returning their enquiry within that timeframe!
Tip 4: Be nice
Smiling brings a great sense of positivity to any situation. It also relaxes people, and helps build trust. Try smiling right now. No, really… do it! I always suggest answering your phone with a smile, signing off on an email with a smile, and getting your staff to smile! Trust me, it’ll completely change your mood, your staff’s mood, and will make your customers feel more comfortable buying from you. You can add a touch of smile into the copy on your website too. This doesn’t mean adding ‘smiley faces’ all over your site. It means writing in a happy, relaxed, and friendly manner rather than a serious and boring manner. Just because your website is all about business doesn’t mean it has to be solemn and straight-laced!
Tip 5: Be positive
Turn every negative into a positive by actually listening to complaints. Sure, you’re bound to get one or two that are just someone blowing off steam, but generally negative comments are something you should be learning and improving from. If you receive negative comments on your social media sites, you should refrain from deleting them. Turn them into a positive experience by allowing the public to see that you can effectively manage complaints and deliver a positive outcome. This will build massive rapport with your customers and prospects.
Tip 6: Be direct
Call to Actions help guide your visitors through your site, and through the sales process of your website. You need to be specific and tell them exactly what to do and when. If a visitor lands on your website and is completely confused on ‘what the next step is’, they will immediately bounce back off your site. Nothing loses website sales faster than confusion! Make the sales process easy by using clear, direct language to guide your customers right to the checkout.
Tip 7: Be persistent
Research shows that it takes about 8 visits to your website before that customer will buy. This means you should implement lead capture techniques, which then allow you to “soft sell” things like eBooks in exchange for their contact details so you can keep them in the sales funnel. Lead capture is great for tracking and monitoring who’s thinking about buying, how long it takes them to actually make a purchase, and how many drop out of your sales funnel. This allows you to then refine anything that’s not working, so you can improve for the next lead!
Tip 8: Be Human
Show your visitors and customers that you are really a human being and not just some corporation hiding behind your website. Add a personal touch to your site by making your contact details easy to find, adding a photo of you and your team, and even a post of who you are behind the scenes. Customers will trust you more if they feel they have (or could have!) a good relationship with you, hence they will feel more comfortable buying from you if you build that relationship. Do you find that you get heaps of visitors to your website but no one buying? Try implementing these 8 simple tips and let us know if your website sales increased! Leave us a comment below! We’d love to hear your story.
