Turning Visitors into Customers

Introduction to Website Optimisation

The majority of people who visit your website will fall into one of three groups:

People who are looking to buy a specific product
People who are looking to buy something but have not yet decided which product to buy
People who are just browsing

For group one people your job is to help them find that specific product as quickly and easily as possible and then convince them that your website is the place they should buy it from and, of equal importance, that they should buy it on that visit.

For group two people your job is to show them that you have plenty of choice (meaning they don’t need to go looking elsewhere), help them decide what to buy and make it easy for them to buy it there and then.

Turning group three visitors into customers is slightly more challenging – this is where you need to think about making your site instantly attractive to someone who is just browsing, for example by displaying a prominent advert with an irresistible offer like ‘Buy this product today and receive this other product for free’.

So what can you do to increase the chances that people from all three groups will become customers and continue to shop with you in the future?

Website Optimisation – The Basics

Design ~ First Impressions Count

When someone lands on your website you have approximately 5 seconds in which to make them feel comfortable and convince them to stay. If their initial impression of your site is that it seems unprofessional, cluttered and noisy, it is most likely they will leave the site within seconds, never to return (unless of course your site is so bad they decide to tell their friends about it and poke fun at it!).

Make sure the initial impression of your site is clean, clear, professional and uncluttered. Make sure there is nothing to distract people from your primary goal: helping them to find something they would like to buy as quickly and easily as possible and making sure they buy it from you in that visit.

Navigation

Cover all bases. Some people like to use the menu to browse to a particular product category whereas some people will insist on using a search box, regardless of what other navigation options are available. Never underestimate the power of images – if we are looking for something we have that image in our minds before we arrive at a website, so if there is a photo of that product type on the page when we arrive there is a very high chance we will see that first (because we have already trained our minds to look for it). So if you sell bags and one of your product categories is rucksacks, make sure you have a picture of a rucksack on your home page with a clickable link through to the rucksacks section.

Product Images

Product images should be good quality. If you can’t get good quality images from your suppliers or manufacturers, it is well worth taking the time to learn how to take good quality product photos for yourself, or having a professional photographer take them for you. If you can’t afford a professional photographer and don’t want to take them yourself, you could seek out a student photographer who may be glad to gain experience and build up their portfolio by taking product photos for you at a reasonable price.

Make sure your product images clearly show the important details of your products and try to include several images of each product – if applicable display images of the inside and outside of your product as well as images taken from different angles. If possible try to include some images showing your products in use – these are typically referred to as lifestyle images and show the products being used by real people. Lifestyle images help to portray the idea or concept of owning a particular product rather than just considering the product in isolation. The general idea behind using lifestyle images is to say ‘this product is cool because these people are using it and they look cool’. If you sell televisions, a lifestyle shot of a television in a comfortable lounge with happy relaxed people watching it helps to make the idea of owning a new television more attractive.

Product Descriptions

The general rule on product descriptions is to make them easy to read and provide detailed information for those who want to read it. Some people already know the details of a product and just want see how much it is and then buy it, so you don’t want to hide the price and the ‘add to cart’ button at the bottom of the page underneath a very long product description. Try to keep the price and the ‘add to cart’ near to the top, near to a brief description of the product. Underneath that you can provide more detailed information for people who want to read it. Reading long paragraphs and big chunks of text can be very tiring and many people will be put off by the prospect of having to wade through lots of text looking for one piece of information, so try to make use of bullet point lists, tabs and tables as much as possible

When considering how much detail to go into with your product descriptions, try to answer as many questions as you can imagine a potential customer might have. As an online consumer myself I know from experience that if someone wants specific information about a product and can’t find it on site A, they will go to site B and look for it there. Once someone has navigated away from your site it is very likely they will not return. Do not give them any reason to leave!

About You

As a potential customer I have found the product I like on your website and the price is competitive. I now want to know whether your site is trustworthy, how quickly I can get my product delivered and how much delivery will cost. This is what I will be looking for:

Delivery information – make it easy for me to find out how much delivery costs and how quickly you can deliver. If possible display your actual delivery information on every page – remember that some people will land directly on a product page and may never visit your home page – at the very least make sure there is a clearly visible link to your delivery information page and make sure your delivery information page is easy to understand.
About Us / Contact Us – I want to make sure there is a real person behind the business and I want to make sure I can contact you easily. Make sure to include your postal address (not a PO Box address), your email address and telephone number.
Returns policy – make sure this is easily accessible. Make sure your returns policy is clear and unambiguous. If I think you’re trying to hide something I’m less likely to want to buy from you.

It’s All About Trust

Trust is the most important factor when it comes to online purchasing. I don’t care if your products are 90% cheaper than anyone else is selling them for, if I don’t trust you I won’t be buying from you.

Everything I have discussed so far contributes to showing potential customers that you can be trusted with their money. But what else can you do to build trust in your relationships with customers?

Security

Make sure your website has an SSL Certificate installed – this ensures that your customers’ personal details cannot be intercepted by a third party when entered onto your site. Make sure you use a well-known and reputable payment provider.

Logos

Clearly display any logos that will help to show your customers that you can be trusted. Logos that can help to build trust include:

The logo of your SSL provider
The logo of your payment provider (e.g. Sage Pay, PayPal, Worldpay)
Accreditation logos showing that your site has been independently verified as a good / safe website by a well-known and reputable organisation.
Logos of any official organisations you belong to. If you’re a plumber and a member of CORGI, make sure you display the CORGI logo.

What To Do Once You've Completed The Basics

Get Social

Like it or not the internet has gone social. It seems like almost everyone is blogging, tweeting, networking, discussing, linking – sit on the outside looking in or get involved. There are two main reasons why social networking can be beneficial for your business:

People trust their friends – if your friend tells you about something that s/he thinks is good, chances are you will take a look too. Research shows that people trust their friends’ recommendations more than those of people they don’t know.
People like to get involved and participate. If you provide your customers with ways to get involved with your business they will spend more time looking at what you have to offer. This brings more sales and more referrals.

How to encourage customers to share your site with their friends and feel involved in what you do

Add a social bookmarking tool to your web pages
Add RSS feed links to your site
Set up a ‘Refer a Friend’ incentive programme
Start a blog. Invite people to comment on your posts. Invite guest posts – tell your customers they can write something for your blog.

Why have a blog?

It adds fresh content to your site
You can talk about new products, services and latest developments with your business
You can link to specific pages on your site that might be otherwise hard to find
People can participate

What makes reader participation so powerful?

If I comment on one of your blog posts I will want to know what other people say in response, so I will subscribe to the post, allowing me to be notified whenever someone replies to that post. This brings me back to your blog. The more I come back the more it is on my mind and the more likely I will either buy something or tell someone else about it.
There are so many faceless websites on the internet. Having a blog and chatting about what you do shows potential customers that you are a real person. It humanises your online presence and helps to build trust.

How else can I build trust with my customers?

Respond politely and quickly to any enquiries you receive either by phone or email.
Write some quality content for your blog that is not directly linked to promoting your own products or services. How? Read on...

Blogging Tips

Write informative guides on something related to your business. Remember to include references to any other sites you have found useful. You can do this without linking to your competitors. Linking to other useful sources of information shows people that your site is a good source of information. Search engines love information too.
Write some ‘Top 10’ lists. People will link to these.
Compile a glossary of terms relating to your business – again people will link to these.
Create a ‘myth buster’ relating to your field of expertise.
Create a list of events, festivals, organisations that relate to your business.
Create a list of famous people who use your products.
Create a list of influential people, gurus and experts relating to your business.
Write about anything that appears in the news relating to your business.
Be funny! What is the most frequent reason for telling someone else about something on the internet? Because it was funny. Write content that falls into the ‘you just have to see this’ category, or at the very least the ‘thought this might make you laugh’ category.

How to keep your customers

Offer your customers an incentive to join your mailing list
Send them regular but not too frequent email newsletters with exclusive discounts and offers
Give them an incentive to refer friends and family

Stand out from the crowd - go the extra mile

What can you do to offer something to your customers that says "We're just a little bit more special than any other website you could buy from"?

Offer a gift wrapping service
Offer free delivery - if you can't afford to do this for all items, make delivery free if customers spend over a certain amount
Offer a next day delivery option - some people will be prepared to pay a premium for getting their delivery more quickly
Run regular promotions - let your customers know that you've always got something going on that's worth looking at. Balance is the key here - you don't want people to think you're like one of those sofa shops that has a permanent half price sale going on - what you want is to show customers that you regularly run interesting promotions. This is enough to bring them back to your site and even if they don't buy into the promotion there is still a good chance they will buy something else or tell their friends about your latest promotion
Sell gift vouchers - many people buy gifts online but may be unsure about buying a specific product for someone in case it's not quite what they want. In this case the humble gift voucher can provide an excellent solution

Encourage Customers to Spend a Little Bit More

Make recommendations using Up selling / Cross selling etc
Run a promotion that says "buy this high value item and get this lower value item free" or "spend over £x and get this other product free / get free delivery"

Advanced website Optimisation Techniques

OK, so you've done all the above and you want to get all esoteric and start thinking about mind manipulation eh?

Research shows that when something feels right to us, it is often because of decisions I have made about it at a subconscious level. Ever felt like you just really liked a website but couldn't say why? That's because your subconscious mind has decided for you that this is a good site.

The subconscious processes that influence whether someone will stay on a website or leave are often related to the use of language, colour, images, design and layout.

Optimise your text

Have you ever thought about the words that appear on your site? Did you give any consideration to how people process words, whether words are positive or negative, and whether they help people to want to buy from you?

Consider getting a professional to analyse the text content of your site and make recommendations.

Optimise your images

Images, like words, have an effect on the way people feel and think about your site. The right images in the right places can go a long way to making people feel comfortable enough to want to buy from you.

Optimise layout

Place the right content in the right places. How do you know if it’s the right place? Simple. The most important product / service / news item you want to promote should be in the most important place on the page and should have the most attractive and appealing image.

web pages have hotspots – these are the areas that research has shown to be the areas that people look at most when they first see a page. These are often the areas where people tend to click through to other pages.

Find the hottest spot on your home page, place an attractive image in it and make it clickable through to a page where customers can buy / enquire / sign up for whatever it is you are promoting.

More Information on website Optimisation

I've only touched on the basics of advanced website optimisation, not because there are any great secrets that can't be revealed, but simply because advanced website optimisation is all about developing a deeper understanding of what your customers want and finding new ways of delivering it. For this reason it's important to treat each website and each product type individually - the techniques that work for an online grocery store will be different to the ones required for a clothes store for example.

If you would like to know more about how you can improve the performance of your website please contact me.