Beautiful websites are not the ones with the high conversion ratios. This is not to say that you cannot have a decent looking website and still sell, it just means that no one will buy from you just because your website is pretty.
Note: There are advantages to having a good looking site. For one, it makes you look more professional.
Ultimately, you should strive for a site that is both pretty and well thought out in order to maximise rate of return. Here are five things you need to think carefully about in order to sell more from your site.
1 What do you want the user to do?
Choose one clear objective for your website. More than one makes life confusing for the user. Take amazon.com – their objective is clear, buy something from me now.
Make your objective as clear as them and put it on your home page, not buried somewhere else on the site.
Note: This is not to say that you cannot have other functions on your site such as a blog, just put it in the menu bar instead of the home page.
2 Is it clear and easy?
If your 80 year old mother can figure out what you want her to do then you are on the right track, if not re-look at your home page.
Tip: Always use simple English that is clear and informative, without waffle and clearly highlight the incentive.
3 Is there an incentive?
Think carefully about why someone would buy from you instead of your competition. You will increase your turnover rate if you have some sort of incentive in place to attract people to buy.
Certain companies competing with amazon.com have introduced a point system whereby you get free gifts for every 10 purchases you make. Other websites use white papers or free eBooks if you sign up for their newsletters.
5 Do you have enough information?
A website doesn’t have a sales person, so you need to have a comprehensive list of attributes with each product.
Tip: It is often difficult to make a purchase on Kalahari.net because the product information is so scarce, whereas amazon.com has a comprehensive product listing and it even has ratings from other customers. As a result they have many more sales than Kalahari.
Your website information extends beyond just product details though. Does your site have a contact number for queries and clear policies around returns and refunds?
Note: Have a contact telephone number instead of just an email address. This builds a lot more confidence than just having an email, unfortunately people have come to realise that emails do not always get answered.
