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Why visitors don't convert into
sales - part 4
This is the last part of our "Why visitors don't convert
into sales" series. In the last three parts, We explained
that you need a fast loading and professionally designed web
site and that it is important that your web site visitors
trust your company. We also explained the importance of professional
sales copy on your web site.
When people have finally decided to purchase your product,
you must make sure that your order page doesn't drive them
away.
Reason 4: Is your order page easy to use?
Statistics show that more than 60 percent of online shoppers
abort the ordering process. If your order page isn't easy
to use, all other web site promotion efforts will be in vain.
Here are the most important points for a successful order
page:
- Link from the home page and from all product and service
pages to the order page.
- Give the links on your order page names that your customers
can easily recognize: "Order", "Buy",
"Store", "Checkout", etc.
- Don't hide the price for your products or services. People
won't buy if they don't know what they have to pay.
- Tell your visitors about shipping costs and state taxes.
- Tell your visitors the final price before they have to
enter the credit card number.
- Tell your visitors who you are and tell them your complete
company address.
- Offer an unconditional money-back guarantee if at all
possible.
- Tell your visitors upfront about your refund policy.
- Make sure that your order pages are secure. Use at least
40 bit encryption so that your customers can safely enter
their contact and purchase information.
- Make sure that your order pages are easy to understand.
Test them with your friends or relatives that don't connect
to the Internet very often.
- Regularly test your order pages to make sure that they
work.
- Make sure that you'll get notified if your server gets
down.
- Make sure that your order page displays a meaningful message
if the customer forgets to enter the street name or any
other required field.
- Make sure that your order pages work with international
customers. German customers don't know what to enter in
the "State" field and usually leave it empty.
Some countries don't even have postal numbers. Your order
pages should work for these customers.
If your order pages are easy to use and secure, they won't
hinder or deter customers from completing their purchase.
It's very important that your order pages are a secure place
to shop for your customers. Use as much encryption as you
can and join the additional security services that are offered
by some credit card companies.
Our own Axandra
order pages use 128 bit encryption and they also use the
Verified
by Visa and MasterCard
SecureCode service. Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode
are new services by Visa and MasterCard that use personal
passwords or identity information to help protect credit card
numbers against unauthorized use.
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