Remember the time you spent on researching different ecommerce platforms to set up your store and the excitement watching it grow before your eyes? I am pretty sure you remember it like it was yesterday the joy you got after you clicked the launch button.
Today things look not so rosy though. Running an e-commerce site is harder than they let you believe, right? And one of the main reasons is that there’re so many ecommerce sites out there that have exactly the same physical products as you do.
More likely than not you have managed to get visitors to your website. More likely than not you got a few small sales in the past, but nothing to write home about. Like other web site owners you fell into the trap of thinking that traffic is the holy grail.
If I can get enough traffic I will start making sales you probably thought. I hope that you will feel much better when I tell you that almost all e commerce website owners that I know thought the same. Heck, I myself was thinking that way when I was just starting out. It’s a fact of life – not all visitors to your website will make a purchase.
This behavior is similar to the behavior of people in real life who walk into a store and walk out saying something like I will be back, and of course they never come back. That was the bad news. The good news is that not all visitors to your competitors’ websites buy either – in fact about 3 percent or less will.
But guess what – this will not last very. By the end of this article you’ll know how to turn more visitors into paying customers.
Let me share something with you. A while ago I got a call from the owner of a recently launched website that offers Storm bowling balls, Dexter bowling shoes and Roto Grip bags.
He gave me access to the website and I started looking around. Traffic was ok, even though not something to write home about. It’s conversion rate was low though – much less than the standard 3 percent.
My advice was something he already knew – people were just window shopping on his web site with no intention to buy. Luckily, the guy who owns LongLiveBowling.com wasn’t ready to give up yet so we got down to work and figured out that almost no one bought because they didn’t trust the website.
We started working together and in short time we found that visitors to the web site didn’t purchase because they didn’t trust the site, nor the man behind it. They’re spending their hard earned money with the big guys in his niche that were already well positioned – websites that have been on-line for fifteen years. That was the hard part, figuring out what was wrong.
Here’s what we did – we added his picture to every product page on the site. And here’s what else we did, we added a few words from him. We went a step further by adding a page where he talked about himself and his bowling successes.
Wonder how it worked for us? I’ll tell you – very well.
We knew we were onto something when he started getting more orders and emails from people telling him how Long Live Bowling is the best bowling website ever.
To be honest with you we were hoping for such results. And there is a simple reason for this phenomenon – people don’t want to buy from multinational companies. Instead they prefer to buy from human being they know and trust.
Bottom line is – conversion rate went well north of the standard for this type of site 3 percent rate. In other words the concept works, no two ways about it. All you must do is to apply it to your own online business.
If you are not making enough sales in your business figure out whether the lack of trust is the reason for that.
Now, here’s the action plan. Type in the address of the web site in the navigation bar and try to see it the way website visitors see it.
What did you see? Does it look like every other web site out there? Does it have this big corporation feeling?
Then answer this question – What makes me one of a kind and different from all other proprietors in my niche?
As soon as you have answered that devise a plan and do it. Start implementing changes to the website that would make visitors feel they can trust you. I know, I know you’re not a former National Team Coach and for because of that what I shared will not work in your case.
The good news is that you do not have to be because there’re different ways to make people trust you.
Don’t start thinking well, I’m not a coach and I will never be so there is nothing I could do to distinguish myself. All I will say is that there’s always something that is unique to you only and you just have to dig hard to unearth it, but it is there.
Here are just a few of them:
Firstly – show your mug on your site. That's right - take a picture of yourself and post it. People want to know more about you so tell them who you are and what made you start the business.
For example, if the guy I keep referring to was a regular guy and not a US National team coach I most likely would have told the story of the small guy pissed off with the way major bowling sites do business.
Let me tell you that if he was an average Joe I would have found a way to make him interesting to the visitors of his site. How about sharing the story of the everyday bowler who didn't like his online shopping experience and decided to that there was a better way to see bowling stuff online. Does that remind you of something? For example the David vs Goliath story? That’s exactly what it is.
Secondly: Demonstrate that you are a guy that can be trusted – display logos of companies that people already trust. Here’s what I did in that particular case – I embedded the trust mark that was provided by the hosting company on to the website. I could also have used the endorsements of a few elite bowlers or the logos of organizations like Better Business Bureau.
Last, but not least: testimonials from past customers. It is true that this tactic has been used and abused numerous times before but that is because it still works. The twist is to display testimonials that answer question people are quietly asking themselves.
So there you have it. Now you know why people do not buy on your site – it is because they don’t trust you, and how to change that.
