Overcome Four Common Barriers to Order Completion
Web Commerce Today, Issue 31, February 15, 2000
In order to get your customer to complete her order you must first understand her concerns about shopping in your store. Unless she's ordered from you before, she is naturally somewhat distrustful. Consider the objections your customer may surface before she completes her order. Then meet each objection head on.
High shipping prices? Why don't you offer free shipping on orders over a certain amount. Or offer a low-cost shipping method such as the postal service. Even if you need to subsidize this lower cost, slower shipping option, do it in order to retain customers who otherwise don't earn you ANYTHING if they leave without finalizing their order.
Unsure if you're in stock? Either provide real-time inventory, or daily-updated inventory information. Or offer to notify your customer immediately about the status of her order, and provide an immediate refund or $10.00 coupon if an item needs to be backordered. After being burned several months ago, I am much more wary of ordering unless I am sure the product is in stock and ready to ship. You MUST allay this concern if you want to maximize sales. Online stores are getting a bad reputation for advertising for sale out-of-stock items.
Concerned with security or privacy? Your shopper is probably doubtful about what the merchant will do with her e-mail address or credit card number. Concerns with privacy and security are high on the list in studies of why customers don't complete orders. Display a VeriSign security badge with information about your high level of security. Proudly show an TRUSTe or BBBOnline or BizRate button to demonstrate that you're a reputable merchant. Meet your customer's natural lack of trust with indications of your trustworthiness.
Can I return it if I don't like it? The final concern is with returning the item if your shopper doesn't like the item, or it doesn't fit, or is damaged in transit. Offer liberal return policies, shipping refunds, and guarantees to shift the risk from the shopper to the merchant. The result will probably be substantially higher sales which more than offset a slightly higher return rate.
When you overcome these barriers, your conversion rate can't help but rise!
