Ecommerce Seek

Despite consumers’ familiarity with purchasing products from the Internet, and the prevalence of website developers eager to work on e-commerce projects, developing a successful e-commerce website is no trivial matter.

Certain key factors must be considered before your website is built. Failing to consider these issues first invariably results in failure. Use the following 7 points to check whether your business is ready to benefit from e-commerce.

1. How Suitable Are My Products For An E-Commerce Website?

Not everything is suited to online selling and so it is vital that you understand whether consumers are likely to buy your products directly from a website. Suitable products tend to share common features:

• Homogenous - branded products are identical, irrespective of where they are purchased, and these are often good candidates for an e-commerce website. A consumer is more likely to purchase an item from your website if they understand exactly what they are buying. Books are a good example: a novel bought from one website is identical to the same novel bought from any other and so, in the consumer’s mind, there is no uncertainty about what they are purchasing.

  Conversely, personalised or unique items (or products that need to be tried on or tested) are not so well suited to online selling. Shoes and spectacles, for instance, are difficult to sell from an e-commerce website because the consumer is more uncertain about whether the item is exactly right for them.

• Shippable - the fulfilment of online orders is often the area of e-commerce that causes website owners most difficulty. Small, light-weight items are easily shipped and do not involve a high delivery cost that may deter online sales. To this end, many website owners will incorporate the actual delivery cost within the price of their products so that they are able to offer “free delivery”, which can help to stimulate online orders.

  Bulky, heavy items can pose website owners some problems when it comes to delivery. If a product is fairly low-value item, will a

  Tags: e business, E commerce, ebusiness, ecommerce, planning, shopping cart, strategy, websitee business, E commerce, ebusiness, ecommerce, planning, shopping cart, strategy, website

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You’ve spent a good deal of time creating an awesome website with very enticing advertising copy that is very successful in getting your customers to click the “Buy Me” button. However, after examining your websites logs you’ve come to notice a very ugly pattern - your customers are abandoning your website after they decide to buy your product (after they click the “Buy Me” button). This is called shopping cart abandonment, because it is usually the purchasing process within your shopping cart that scares the customer away.

Let’s go over 5 ways to reduce shopping cart abandonment:

1. Be crystal clear as to what needs to be done: Complex shopping carts are a sure way to scare away potential customers. Make sure the instructions on what needs to be filled out are simple, easy to read, and easy to edit. Also, if the checkout process is multi-paged, make sure the button or link to get to the next page is clearly displayed.

2. Add a progress meter: The typical purchasing process for a given product on a website is multi-step (multi-page). While it is good to keep these steps to as few as possible, it’s even better to let your customer know what step they are on. A progress meter simply tells the customer what step they are in within your purchasing process. You’ve probably seen them in action on some of your favorite websites. It could be a graphical meter or a simple text-based indicator. A progress meter is absolutely necessary to help reduce shopping cart abandonment.

3. Show the product (or products) in the shopping cart: This can be a small picture, or a very brief (but specific) description of the product. Make sure the picture or description of the product contains a popup link that shows all the details and benefits the product has to offer. Remember, as customers fill out the purchase form they need to see what they are actually buying - so they know exactly what their purchase consists of - and you’ll also find that many just need to reread the benefits before they continue with their purchase.

4. Provide the shipping & handling costs upfront: It’s a good idea to include the S&H costs in the first step of the check out process - or even better, include the costs in the product description page. Even though they were well aware of the S&H costs, potential customers get quite annoyed when they spend 10 minutes of their time typing all their checkout information to find that the total cost just shot up $15 for S&H on the last step.

5. Add some comfort logos: Do you belong to the BBB? If so, display the BBB logo on the website. Another good logo is the Hacker Safe logo (www.scanalert.com) indicating that your website is Hacker Safe certified. Simple Verisign and credit card logos are also beneficial in adding more comfort to the process.

There you have it… five good ways to help put the brakes on your shopping cart abandonment rate.

Sincerely,

Michael Ellis

Michael Ellis is an Internet technology expert that specializes in marketing products and services online. Be sure to visit Michael’s website http://www.VictoryKey.com for more FREE Internet Marketing articles, tips and discussion forums.

Want a quality website critique? Simply post a request in Michael’s forum at http://www.VictoryKey.com/forum/ to get a valuable review of your website!

Tags: merchant, sell online, shopping cart, selling online

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There are hundreds of vendors that provide eCommerce and shopping cart solutions on the internet. Trying to figure out which one offers what you need can seem more like a roll of the dice than an educated decision.

If you’re like most people, when looking for an eCommerce solution, you’ll go to your favorite search engine and enter terms like: “ecommerce website”, “ecommerce web site developer” or “shopping cart web site”. You’ll find a long list of providers that make plenty of claims indicating their solution is the best one for you. But how can you really tell? You’ll find 13 techniques to help you make a decision in this article.

Evaluate Real Web Sites

1. Look at sample sites that use the solution you are considering. Visit actual sites that use the software, not just demo sites. If you can’t find any real sites, move on. How can you trust a provider who won’t show you the product in action? Don’t just look at the visual design, but visit the site and click around. I recommend adding items to your cart and starting the checkout process. In many cases you will find shopping is cumbersome, the checkout process is tedious, or there are actually errors on the site.

2. Pay attention to the visual design of the sites. Do the sites look good? Do they use a template that is the same from one site to the next? If you like what you see, add this provider to your ‘hot list’, but you’ll need to ask the provider about web site design costs and who provided the designs you like before you sign up.

3. Do not use a shopping cart that requires the shopper to sign up for an account before they can buy. Requiring a shopper to sign up for an account is a barrier that will reduce your conversion rates. Do not use a cart that doesn’t show shipping charges until the end of the checkout process. Shoppers want to know how much shipping will add to the cost of their order and many will abandon their cart if they need to enter personal information just to find out.

Evaluate Search Engine Placement

4. Check the google page rank on some of the sites in the providers portfolio. You can find out by visiting this web site: Google Page Rank Checker. Enter the home page url (for example: http://www.thesite.com) of the site you want to check. If the page rank of the home page is not at least 3 or 4, you’ll probably want to look elsewhere. Sites with a pagerank of 0 are new and have not been ranked by Google yet.

5. Pick a few sites that use the software you are considering and try to find them in Google, Yahoo, and MSN. If you can’t find them, it’s not a good sign. I recommend clicking to a product page on the site. Choose a 3 word phrase that you think represents what is found on the page. Your phrase should include words that are on the page you are viewing. Enter that phrase in a search engine and see if you can find the site. Try this several times with a few sites- if you can’t find any results, chances are no one will find your site either.

Evaluate Features Offered and Costs

6. Look carefully at what features will cost more. Most ecommerce providers offer a base set of features for a low setup cost. In some cases, that is all you will need. You should look carefully at what features will increase the price in order to avoid sticker shock after you get started.

7. Find out what’s included in the setup cost. For many providers, you do most of the work of creating your web site. Consider how much you will have to do yourself and how much will be ready to go. Try to place a dollar value on your time.

8. Are merchandising tools available or included? Are features such as free shipping offers, featured products, sale items, customer testimonials, email newsletter signup, and email this page to a friend available? All of these tools increase the selling power of your site.

9. Try out the administration tool. There are a world of solutions out there, from simple ‘buy now’ buttons you add to your existing site which require a moderate level of technical knowledge, to complete site management tools that let you control just about everything on your web site with little technical knowledge. The solution that is right for you depends on your needs, your time, your budget, and your expertise. If you don’t understand the steps required to use the software, you should continue your search.

10. Does the solution allow you to easily create additional pages? Does the solution allow/provide that each of your products has it’s own web page? This key feature will pay big dividends in the long run. More pages means the search engines will index more pages and that means more chances for shoppers to land on your pages when they are searching for your products.

Evaluate Customer Service
11. Some solutions are ‘hosted’, some you install on your computer and host anywhere. In general, a hosted solution will require less technical knowledge and you’ll get the benefit of “one stop service”. If you have a problem or question, you’ll contact the provider. A hosted solution may involve a higher monthly fee. If the solution requires you to install software on your computer and find your own host, you’ll need more technical knowledge. When you encounter a problem, you may have some difficulty in pinning down whether the problem is with your computer, the software, or your hosting company.

12. Get references. Contact a few current customers and ask if they are happy. Be specific. Do they get good service? Do they feel they are getting a good value? Do they get sales? You can’t lay all the blame for a site with low sales on the ecommerce provider, but hearing from current customers that they do get sales is a positive indicator.

13. Pick up the phone and call the provider. Are you connected with a knowledgeable sales rep? If you end up in a phone queue, try choosing the selection for existing customer tech support. Are you connected to a tech support person? How long do you have to hold? Use this guide to develop a list of questions for the provider.

Making an informed decision when choosing a solution for your ecommerce web site can make or break your online success. Evaluating the options will take some time, but the investment in reviewing your options carefully will be well worth it as your online business develops.

This is an original article written by Staci Schipporeit of Datahost. Datahost is the maker of the MightyMerchant eCommerce Solution. Copyright 2005 Datahost, Inc.,

Staci Schipporeit is a developer of the MightyMerchant hosted shopping cart solution. Choose MightyMerchant for fast, flexible and fun web sites for small business.

Tags: ecommerce hosting, shopping cart, online store, ecommerce solution, ecommerce web site design

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