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Make it Easy to Purchase
In order to purchase your product or service,
your customer should not have to navigate any
obstacles. Publishers should make every effort
to make the purchase process as easy and painless
as possible. Remove any barriers that might prevent
customers from purchasing, or give them an opportunity
to change their mind about purchasing.
1. Minimize The Number Of Clicks
At every stage of the purchase process, you
have the potential of losing the customer. By
minimizing the number of clicks required to place
an order, you reduce the opportunities for losing
the customer, which will maximize the number of
closed sales.
2. Make It Easy
Make the purchase process as easy as possible.
At this point, closing the sale is the primary
objective, so don't require the customer to complete
complicated forms or provide lots of unnecessary
information during the order process. Your order
form should request only the information that
relates directly to the order. You can always
ask for additional information, newsletter subscriptions,
etc, later -- after you've closed the sale.
3. Make It Obvious
How to purchase your product should be blatantly
obvious to all potential customers. Don't force
them to search for the purchase options, and try
not to put those options "below the fold"
on your webpage. Also, use colorful graphic buttons
that call the user to the purchase.
4. Globalize
Make it easy for customers to determine the
price of the product, no matter where you or they
may reside. If you sell internationally, provide
pricing in the local currency, and make sure that
the currency is visible and obvious. Few consumers
will know the current exchange rates, so providing
a currency calculator, or the option for them
to purchase in their own currency (many ecommerce
services provide such features), will help move
them toward the purchase.
5. Brand Order Pages
If you are using a third party ecommerce provider
to process online orders, brand your order pages
so they look like your own website. Branded order
pages will increase the number of closed orders.
If your customer notices that they've suddenly
left your website and have been taken to a different
site, they may become nervous or suspicious ,
and you risk having them abandon the sale. Design
your order pages so it isn't obvious that the
customer is no longer on your website.
6. Multiple Payment Options
Offer a variety of payment options. Preferred
payment options vary across regions. Do not alienate
potential purchasers by not offering any payment
options that they are accustomed to and familiar
with.
7. Keep It Simple
Keep the order process as simple as possible.
Do not give the customer any distractions from
the primary objective of closing the sale.
8. Spam Filters
Nothing is worse than an irate customer who purchased
your product, but did not then receive their order
receipt, confirmation, registration key, etc,
because of their own spam filters (or the filters
of their ISP, which they may not even know about).
Have a backup plan for order processing, so that
customers can also view order confirmations, retrieve
key codes, etc, from your website. And if order
confirmations and registration keys are sent via
email by your ecommerce service provider, encourage
your customers to "whitelist" the email address
being used by the ecommerce provider, so it can
bypass their spam filters.
Removing any roadblocks from the order process
will help instill confidence in purchasers, reduce
shopping cart abandonment rates, and increase
the number of completed orders. Follow the above
steps to maximize your revenue.
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Developer
101
Make it Easy to Buy