eCommerce Made Easy - Growing your Online Business

Boosting Conversions: Turning Site Visitors into Paying Customers

• Carrie Saunders • Episode 11

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Ever wondered why potential customers window shop on your website yet never make a purchase?  This episode unpacks the many reasons why customers loiter without buying and offers actionable strategies to transform those browsers into buyers. From the art of enticing email marketing to the power of persuasive product descriptions, we've got you covered.

In the latter half of the episode, we explore a variety of eCommerce strategies. We discuss the paramount importance of trust in the eCommerce world. We delve into how customer reviews can bolster your credibility and why a straightforward return policy is non-negotiable. We also throw light on the role of a seamless checkout experience and the influence of genuine urgency in nudging customers toward that all-important final step. So tune in and get ready to supercharge your eCommerce game!

Mentioned Resources: 

Creating Engaging Content

Ensuring Quality User Experience

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Carrie:

There are a variety of reasons that customers browse your website but do not buy. Some reasons are a normal part of the process of converting a visitor into a customer. Some are because of issues on the site or customer confidence in your products or services. Do you know what some of those main reasons are And do you know which ones you can work with to help prevent and make better? Join us this week as we discuss various reasons customers browse and do not buy and some ways you can help increase your chances of customer conversion.

Carrie:

Welcome to the eCommerce Made Easy podcast. I'm your ost Carrie Saunders. When we started this business, all I had was a couch, a laptop and a nine-month-old My main goal To help others. Now, with over 20 years in the eCommerce building industry and even more than that in web development, i have seen a lot. I love breaking down the hard tech and the easily understandable bits to help others be successful in their online business. Whether you're a seasoned eCommerce veteran or just starting out, you've come to the right place, so sit back, relax and let's dive into the world of eCommerce together.

Carrie:

Welcome back to this week's episode of eCommerce Made Easy. Today, we're discussing various reasons customers browse your website and do not buy, and how to fix some of those issues. Sometimes it's as simple as they're browsing your website and aren't quite ready to buy yet They could be researching. So, for example, if you produce great blog articles on your customer's ideal pain points and things that you help solve, they may be searching for a solution to a problem and happen upon your website because you have a great blog article on it. So it's great that they are there, because then they can potentially become into your circle and become your customer. So if you aren't already doing blogs, make sure you check out episode nine if you aren't harnessing this power. They could also be comparison shopping. So they could be similar to the researching. They could be just looking around and see how much it costs for a certain df r service And they might be looking at all the price points and things like that And especially we'll do this if the price points are a bit higher price point, they will definitely shop around for comparison pricing. They could be planning purchases ahead. So say, you know that you're going on vacation soon or you need to make a big purchase soon. You might plan ahead and see what options are out there and trying to get an idea of what might solve your problem or what might help you on vacation, like, maybe you're shopping around for restaurants or places to shop, so planning ahead can be one of those things as well.

Carrie:

Another reason that they might browse but not buy it's really hard to do anything about is they just simply could gotten distracted. Many people, of course shopping have kids and they can obviously distract them. Or maybe they got an email notification or something like that and they just simply got distracted. So, with these set of reasons, such as researching, comparison shopping, planning ahead or simply getting distracted, there are ways to get these customers back and when they are ready to buy, and the most effective way to do that is email marketing. With email marketing, you can be sure to be visible to your potential audience so that when they are ready to buy from you, they will remember you, and you can find out more about that in episode seven of this podcast. Another good way to bring these consumers back in is with social media marketing. Now, while this one isn't quite as effective as email marketing, because you don't have the audience quite as engaged, it does help, and you can learn more about that in episode six, where we talk about those and we will link to all this in our show notes too, so it's easy for you to find.

Carrie:

Alright. So we went over some of the reasons that people shop and don't buy that are a little bit harder to change and make them convert without external things like email marketing or social media marketing. But next we're going to go into reasons that customers browse and do not buy that you can have a direct effect on and really help convert those better. So, first off, if your website is unclear on what value it provides to the customers, then questions will arise, most of the time subconsciously, about the price, if it's worth the price, if it's going to solve their solution. So some way to combat this is having your descriptions of your products or services very clear and, speaking to the pain points, it solves more than what the product or service does. So people are a bit more emotionally attached to products and services when they can really relate to them and feel how that's going to solve their pain point. Or maybe it's not a pain point product, maybe it's more of a fun product. So solve their desire for some fun with either your products or services, and their consumers are always looking ways to bring themselves closer to pleasure or away from pain. So speaking to these helps them visualize your product or service fitting into their lives much better.

Carrie:

So, again, make sure your website is super clear with product descriptions or your service descriptions, also providing product photos if you're selling physical items, or photos of you if you're selling services. A lot of people will relate so much better if we go back to the services thing, to people that they can see and really that helps them create a connection when they see you. So if you're selling services, it is a good idea to have at least a few photos on your website of yourself. Now, i know a lot of people will shy away from this and it's really people want to relate to you and so when they can see you they can see your eyes, they can see your posture, they can see how you move and look especially if you have videos they are going to relate to you a lot more. Now, if we go back to physical goods, having product photos in many different views and feature views is really important for really making sure products are clear to the consumer and bonus if you can have video in either situation.

Carrie:

Consumers, especially nowadays, really love to look at video to see whether a product is going to fit their needs or not. Or if you're selling services, they're going to use your videos to kind of get to know your personality, how you teach or what services you might be providing, and really get to know you better that way. So video is really key if you can work that in and if you don't have the capacity to work that in yet, i totally recommend putting that on your radar for later in the year, or maybe say six months or 12 months from now. Also, while going back to the video option, having that video option is even bigger plus because you can put those videos on YouTube as well. This gives you a double reach. You're also you're not only going to get it on your website, the videos, but you're also going to have it on YouTube. And if you don't realize this, but YouTube is the number two search engine as of the recording of this podcast. So YouTube is a great place where people will search for solutions to problems or maybe they need coaching or learning things. They're going to search for it many times on YouTube and then they might discover you there and then follow you back to your website. So YouTube if you do videos, is going to be a great bonus to putting them on YouTube as well as on your website, so that you have a double exposure there and get exposed to more people.

Carrie:

Also, some of you have products or services that really need very detailed specifications. So, for products, you know how large an object it is, how heavy it is, especially if it's a physical good. Obviously, i know there are some products out there that when I'm shopping, i want to know the size. I want to see if it fits in my home or fits in my car, or maybe if it's a like a purse or something, i want to make sure it's the right size, not too big, not too small. So when appropriate, you're going to want to make sure that you have the dimensions on it. Clothing is another great example. Making sure the clothing is the right length in the torso, for the top, for example. You know some people like a longer length of the top. So making sure you put those detailed specifications when you have physical goods is very important. Now, on the contrary, if you're selling something like courses, or you're selling services, coaching, etc. Doing details there is also very important. Especially, i know that whenever I've looked to learn from other people on the internet. Sometimes I really want to know when does the classes start, when do they end, when are the live sessions, etc.

Carrie:

Because we are all busy, we all have busy schedules and we're going to want to make sure that what we're purchasing is going to fit into our schedule and timeline at the time. So I do find putting some extra details in, especially the higher ticketed service items, is also very important, right? so lack of trust that's our next thing we're going to talk about. So it is a very common reason that consumers browse but do not buy on a website. So how can we combat this So many times? trust is built from testimonials or reviews on your website, so you're going to want to make sure those are very prominent and easy to find and you're going to make sure that you want to make sure that you are actively requesting new reviews and new testimonials. We all get busy, as you know, and I know I will put a review or testimonial, if requested, way more often than if I'm just assumed to give one. I might even forget that I bought the item from the specific place. So getting an email or some sort of way that you remind people to give you reviews or testimonials is very key.

Carrie:

I know, for example, when I'm shopping, especially for a product I don't know much about, the first thing I do is look at customer reviews. I look at them, i read through them. I look for the very I would say, very well thought out ones. So maybe not necessarily the super critical ones or the super glowing ones, but I kind of want those normal reviews where it's like I really love this product because of X, y and Z. I do wish it kind of had A, b and C. So you can like think along those lines is you know, you really want a mix of testimonials and reviews too? You want some that are, of course, really glowing. You want some that are somewhere where it's they're very happy, but they also have some good feedback, and sometimes there's ones that are just really awful. Reviews just kind of make you laugh and you just know that that person was just having a grumpy day too. So you really just need to have a good variety of reviews and testimonials on your website to really help that social proof there. So what are some other ways we can build trust on our website?

Carrie:

Another thing that I look for when I'm shopping is whether I think the business is legit. I mean, think about it. There are so many websites out there and we need to make sure that we look like a real business because we are right. So to do that, i look for contact information. Typically, i want to see an email address and a phone number and potentially a physical address. I definitely want to see an email or a way to contact them would be a contact form, and I do also prefer to also see a phone number as well. I'm not generally trying to call somebody on the phone, but I love having that option if I really need it And we.

Carrie:

Recently I was looking for a WordPress skin for our e-commerce made easy podcast website and I was looking around because I wanted something to start with. I didn't want to start from scratch, even though we can totally do that here, bcc. I just I needed something quick so I can get the podcast website up. Well, i was browsing all these paid WordPress skins and themes and I found one that I liked, but I wanted to buy the premium version of it. I had the free version and I wanted to buy the premium version so I could get some more features. Well, on that website I couldn't find any contact information. I was finding out-of-date information on it as well. I couldn't find what versions of WordPress I worked for or what versions of PHP they required, etc.

Carrie:

And I actually went against my gut and went ahead and purchased the software. It was a low ticket price, it wasn't very expensive, so I decided to take a risk and go ahead and buy it. Well, what happens? I get the software. It doesn't quite work like I need it to, and I try to contact their support. I wait days and days for any sort of response. I think it was almost a week. I'd almost given up. So kind of my gut kind of went along with the fact it was a bit harder to contact them and the responses I got back were very short and not very helpful.

Carrie:

So when you take the time to really put up contact information, i find that it really shows that you as a business care about your customers and making sure that they are happy with the products and services they get from you. So definitely make sure you have at least two of those three things Phone, email or contact for email, contact form for email or address on the website. Obviously, people aren't going to be mailing you, but some people do like the fact that, or maybe you are a physical store and they might want to go to your site. So definitely have your address if you have a brick-and-mortar store. But having at least phone and email is really really helps. Just show that you're legit and you really are a business that truly cares. So when you do this, make sure your contact information is very easy to find. I do find some people will put the phone number at the top. That's great. Up in the corner It could put your email or even simply a link to a contact.

Carrie:

A lot of time people will look in the footer of the website too for additional contact information. So if you don't want to clutter everything in the top which I don't recommend cluttering your top with too much stuff you can put it in the footer website. That's another commonplace people will look. So still along the lines of trust on your website. Trust can also be built by clear and easy to find return policies. This is especially important if you sell physical goods. So you want to make sure you have this easy to find. So when you get off the listing this podcast today and go back to your day.

Carrie:

I want you to take a look at your website and find your return policies and also the contact stuff we just talked about too. But can you find them easily? Are they clear? Are they really easy to read? Try not to make it lawyer-esque wording Why, it's nothing against lawyers, but a lot of their wording is really hard to read. So make sure it's really clean and easy to read And you can simply have this as a link in your footer as well. It doesn't have to be necessarily at the top of your page. When people are looking for this, they generally will look for it towards the bottom. It's a typical place you'll find it. But a clear return policy is great, and this can also apply if you are selling services as well, because I know a lot of services out there, especially courses, for example will have a return policy of maybe seven to fourteen days after you get the course started. They can give you a refund. So you want to make sure, whatever you are selling, you do have a clear refund policy. Or maybe you have no refund policy if you're selling digital goods, and there's nothing wrong with that, but you just need to make sure that you're clearly stating that so there's no misunderstandings from consumers after they purchased.

Carrie:

So now that we talked about trust a lot, we're going to next go on to the next big thing. They can really turn consumers off from purchasing on your website, and that's simply poor user experience. I'm sure you've been there. You've gone to a website and the navigation was confusing, cluttered or unclear, you had way too many options to pick from, or simply the website was just so slow and you gave up. So if you're old enough to remember dial up, you know what I'm talking about. When a site just really feels like it's on dial up again and you feel like you're back in the nineties, right? So poor user experience can also be a website that's simply bugging buggy or not functioning as you would expect.

Carrie:

And one thing that Google does right now to, or has been doing for a couple of years now, is user ranking based upon what the consumer experiences on the website. So let's say, you load a website and the page shifts as it loads. That's poor user experience, and actually Google looks for this now and will penalize you for that. So making sure your website loads in the same, all the elements load in the same place that they start with when they start loading. So that's one thing to look for, and all of these things can be fixed, but only if you know there's a problem. So making sure you're checking these out is super important. And then, in episode eight, we went over how to test your website, so you know how to effectively see what's wrong with your website and get it fixed. So make sure you check out episode eight if you don't have a whole lot of confidence in how your website's performing from a user's perspective and making sure it works well And it's just great user experience. So make sure you check out episode eight. Well, again, we'll link to that in the show notes.

Carrie:

If you sell physical goods, making sure your shipping costs and delivery times are clear is very key, similar to the return policy. You want to make sure that this is easy to find Typically, a link at the footer is sufficient And, if possible, you want to give a variety of shipping carriers as well as delivery speed options. I know we're all spoiled by the Big A Company, and you probably know which one I'm talking about, and it's generally fast delivery times. I do find, though, that consumers are patient and fine with slower delivery times from local businesses, as long as they're prepared for that and know what to expect. So making sure you have this very clear on your website is super important and you can even reiterate it on checkout beside each of the shipping methods. I also recommend, when possible, having a variety of shipping carriers available. So here in the US, some popular ones, for example, would be the USPS, ups and FedEx, sometimes DHL, and I find that from feedback I've gotten from customers, having a variety of these having all three if you can is very key, because some consumers have trouble with one of these shipping carriers in their delivery and their service So and some people won't shop if a specific carrier is the only one available. Now this I'm not calling out any specific carrier here at all, because I've found that it varies greatly depending on where you live, and I'm sure this is similar across the world too. Some carriers are just more dependable in some regions than other carriers and those other carriers might be more dependable in other regions. So having a variety here ideally is good. If you can handle that in your business systems and business processes Similar to shipping options and having a variety of carriers and delivery times available, you're gonna also want to have a variety of payment options available as well, and this applies for both physical goods as well as services.

Carrie:

So most people, at minimum, will expect a credit card option and PayPal most likely. Now, if you can have some of the other payment options, like Apple Pay, google Pay, venmo, et cetera, that is even better, because then you're giving other people a wide variety of options. I do know that there are some people that will refuse to use specific types of accounts. They'll either refuse to use a credit card online, they'll refuse to use PayPal, they'll refuse to use Apple Pay or Venmo. They'll just refuse to use specific types of payment methods. So making sure you have a variety available that works with your business processes obviously we need to work it for you too, but having that variety is going to help reduce check out barriers.

Carrie:

I mean simply, and also if you have high ticket items, whether that's physical goods or services, it is a really good idea to have some payment plans or a layaway plan. If it's a physical good, that can really give people a better option if they really want your services. But let's say they're a person who doesn't like to use a credit card, they want to make sure they have cash on hand for everything they purchase, which is obviously a great idea. Well, and they can only afford, say, $250 a month for your product. That's their extra budget for things like this. So giving them a payment plan is going to make it a bit more attainable for them to buy, say, a $2,500 product and giving them a payment plan across all those months. So giving a payment plan, if possible, is a really great idea, and most payment processors nowadays make this much simpler than it used to be, say, 10 or 15 years ago. So making sure your payment options are varied and you have many different options is one key to minimizing that barrier on checkout.

Carrie:

Our last point is a lack of urgency or need for the product. This one can be a bit tricky As, a lot of it, you cannot control their urgency or their need sometimes. But you can create some urgency sometimes, like a limited time offer or a limited product or a limited time coupon, et cetera that you will likely close more sales with these. Now customers are also savvy about this as well. So be sure you do create urgency. That is not a false urgency and it's actually a true urgency. Say, you have a limited number of products of the specific product or you have a cart close. For specific, say, you're selling a course and you wanna make sure everybody's in the same cohort and everybody's going through the course together. You would have an urgency there with a cart close. So make sure when you do use urgency type of persuasion and not really persuasion but really kinda it is kinda persuasion but when you do that, make sure it is genuine and not falsified, because people won't get upset if they find your limited time offer wasn't really limited and they just kinda got a false countdown for that too. So make sure that you're very conscious there about that.

Carrie:

So we covered quite a bit of reasons consumers may browse but not buy on your website. So let's recap those. All right. So our first section was simply not ready to buy. So the reasons they simply may not be ready to buy could be they were researching products, they could be doing price comparisons, they could be planning purchases ahead or they simply got distracted. The dog barked, somebody came to the door, something like that And the two main reasons we talked about on how to combat that is email marketing and social media marketing. So getting them on your email list or having them in your social is a great way to help combat this.

Carrie:

Next, we talked about unclear product or service descriptions. So the way to improve this is very clear text that really speaks to your customer, speaks to their pain points or their pleasures that they're seeking. Say, they're going on vacation and want some fun things to take with them, something along those lines. Making sure you're working to solve their goals and their problems. Also, making sure you have lots of clear photos that really demonstrate the product if it's physical, or photos of you if you're selling services like coaching, one-on-one coaching or courses and things like that. That way they can get more familiar with you. And videos are a great bonus to this as well, and we talked about how YouTube can really expand your reach there with videos.

Carrie:

Next, we talked about lack of trust. The ways we can work on this is providing reviews or testimonials that are easy to find, making sure they are genuine reviews and testimonials that not only speak to the great things about you but may also bring up some not necessarily issues, but things they would like to see improved And just generally honest reviews really help the consumer. Trust that that is a real, true review is the reason you don't want to take out ones that have some negative stuff in them, so reviews or testimonials are super important. Also, contact information needs to be very easily visible, as well as return policies. All these things can help really build trust in your consumer. Next, we went into user experience, so we want to make sure that our navigation is easy and not confusing. We need to make sure our website is not slow and as speedy. We need to make sure all of our features work that we intend to have on the website. We need to make sure that shipping is clear and the shipping speeds and the carriers are clear, and we also want to make sure we don't have limited payment options and that we have a variety of payment options on the checkout. And finally, we talked about lack of urgency or need and how we want to make sure, when we do provide ways that we make the consumer feel like it's a bit more urgent or a bit more needed, that we're very conscious of how we do that and that we're true to ourselves and not making up things, and making sure we're not giving false urgencies or needs on our products or services.

Carrie:

Thank you for joining me for this week's episode of Ecommerce Made Easy. I hope you enjoyed this week's episode, as we covered many of the reasons that you can work towards getting those consumers into buying customers. So be sure to check out our show notes, because we've referred to quite a few other episodes at Ecommerce Made Easy podcast dot com, where we will link to those episodes as well as any other resources we think will be helpful. And while you're at it, if you haven't rated us yet, we'd love to have you rate us on your favorite podcast app. That really helps get our word out bigger and better and to more entrepreneurs and more business owners, so that we can help them with their websites. I'll see you next week.