Before you can build the features your website must have it is essential that you understand who your customer is going to be.
If you don’t know who you will be selling to then you won’t know the best way to attract them. You will also struggle to develop a website that will be attractive to prospects.
Your website is like the store on the high street except you need to provide all the information to induce someone to buy on the site there is no storekeeper to talk to the customer.
So, there is a lot of information that could be provided and one of the best ways to get that information is to ask existing customers even if they are “bricks and mortar” customers their answers are still valid.
Ask them:
- Why do they like your products?
- Are your prices competitive?
- Are your shipping prices competitive?
- Can you respond quickly to client questions?
- Are your product descriptions accurate and attractive?
- Do you offer a trial period?
- Is your return policy fair and reasonable?
What happens if you don’t already have customers?
Then when someone does visit your website ask them to complete a questionnaire. Not only do you get your questions answered you also get an email address.
It is definitely worth offering them something for free if they will give you this information.
It is important to remember that you are producing material that will be read online and that customers can shop 24 hours a day from all over the world. So, you need to make sure that you provide sufficient information about your product in a manner that is going to be attractive to your customer so they can buy even when you are asleep.
Now you have your information about why customers shop from you and you can use this to create most of the information on your website. You can also use the information in the form of testimonials prospective customers love to see what others have to say they always feel safer buying if they can see positive comments from previous customers.
They have decided to buy so now you need to ensure that the information about shipping charges is clear and accurate. The navigation to the payment page must be easy and “jump out” at the customer. The payment page must use a recognized, secure method –
PayPal is now the most common but your bank may provide an alternative and there other growing services such as Stripe.
Whatever option you choose must be secure (you want the little padlock symbol to appear and the web address to begin with https).
It is also a good idea to provide some frequently asked questions just to save being inundated with the same questions but also to show the customer that lots of people are buying from you and asking questions.
One of those questions must address the topic of returns. What does the customer do if something is wrong or they just want a refund under the terms of your guarantee? Be clear and precise over the method of return especially if you are selling a physical product.
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- What condition must it be in?
- Who pays the postage?
- Return method – insured or not.
- Etc.
The other thing is to provide contact information, preferably with a link on every page of your website, complete with a mailing address, telephone number, and an email address that reaches you.
These are some of the things that must be on your website to ensure happy customers I will look at some others in a later article.
If you have any questions or comments please complete the form below and I will get back to you.
