Much of what we read about shopping online at Christmas is skewed towards the consumer, but what are the top ten tips for sellers?
Even though we are now in full swing, a quick health check of our e-tailing web sites will pay dividends and help ensure we maximise sales opportunities. See our hot top ten tips for a bumper Christmas at the tills.
1. Security - Online shopping may be maturing but there are still concerns about credit card transaction security, identity theft and scamming. Ensure your security is top notch 128 bit encryption and provide users with information on how you protect their credit card details and privacy. Also, ensure your security certificate is up to date. Check with your shopping cart provider and/or web developer.
2. Photography – Product images should be sharp and of a decent size to enable shoppers to gain a good idea of what they are buying. Include multiple images of product detail if necessary and relevant to the buying decision, for example, the fret board of guitar.
3. Pop ups – If your site relies on pop ups, for instance, when users click to enlarge an image, include a reminder that users will have to allow pop ups in their browser. This can be done by clicking on the pop up blocker bar that appears at the top of the page and selecting the option to temporarily allow pop ups or the option to always allow pop ups.
4. Extra mile - Go the additional distance to reassure site customers at every step of the shopping trolley to check out process. Include a page of Frequently Asked Questions or overview of how to shop on your site. Be pro-active in this regard, as not everyone is familiar or comfortable shopping via the web. A testimonial page with comments from satisfied customers will also help boost shopper confidence.
5. Site load – Monitor your site frequently to ensure it hasn’t fallen over and is accessible 24 x 7.
6. Contact details – Online shoppers will be reassured if you display prominently your full contact details, include an email address, which is checked frequently, and a telephone number, as well as your full postal address with postcode.
7. Credit cards/debit cards – Do not ask users to email credit or debit cards by email.
8. Refunds - State what your refunds policy is and make this easy to find when shopping on your site. In addition, clearly lay out the Terms and Conditions for shopping online, use of the site and privacy.
9. Shipping - As far as possible, within the limits of your shopping cart, include shipping costs in the total to be paid and list it as a separate item. If it is not possible to do this, have shipping costs for the UK and overseas clearly outlined on your site and easily accessible before and during the check out process. Also, particularly at this time of year, make sure you include an estimated delivery time.
10. Fulfilment – Getting users through the check out is just one part of the shopping experience. Be sure you have sufficient stock to meet demand and are capable of processing orders and getting them shipped to the buyer within the promised time frame.
