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Previously
in this series...about "How To
Sell From Your Webstore," I discussed your webstore sales floor,
specifically with a view to providing a logical, informative and
clutter-free shopping experience for your online customer. I also
discussed the webstore back office, specifically with a view to service
excellence in completing the sale and attending to your customer after her
purchase. In this final installment, I will discuss managing the
purchase transaction itself, again with a view to giving your customer the
best possible shopping experience.
A
shopping cart that works: Whether
your webstore gives your customer a shopping cart, shopping basket,
shopping bag or a delivery van in which to accumulate items for purchase,
the features that provide the most effective organization of your customer’s
purchase remain the same. Firstly, provide your customer with
one-click selection and placing of items in her shopping cart.
Product specifics such as size and color need to be presented to your
customer before she places the item in her shopping cart, not during the
checkout process.
Secondly,
have your shopping cart display all necessary information about each item
selected, including item number, abbreviated description, size, color,
case-pack quantity, quantity selected, price per unit, total price and
total shipping weight. A more sophisticated shopping cart may also
provide a pop-up or second browser-window link for ready-reference of the
product display of each item selected. When required, also display
other important details such as oversized shipping carton information,
fragile content information, third-party distribution information and
likely delivery timeframes, particularly during holiday seasons.
These latter items can be displayed using symbols to identify the
important detail or details. Don’t forget to offer an easy-to-read
legend for the symbols being used.
Thirdly,
provide your customer with quick and easy ability to add, delete and
exchange items in her shopping cart. Allow your customer to make
these changes at every point in her shopping visit prior to the processing
of her payment. Do not require your customer to begin the item
selection process a second time if she wants to make a change.
Maintain display of her current shopping cart. Provide one-click
access back to the product display area of your webstore, thereby
eliminating her need to use the browser back button.
Finally,
consider offering your customer the opportunity to save her partially
filled shopping cart for a future webstore visit. Many webstores
provide this service automatically. I recommend instead asking your
customer if she wants her current shopping cart held, and for how
long. Let your customer select her preferred hold period, but not
more than 30-days. Send automatic reminder e-mail messages,
including her shopping cart ID number, to your customer five days prior to
the end of the hold period, two days prior and on the last day of the hold
period.
Asking
for the right information:
In the early days of online retailing, soliciting customer information
necessary to complete the customer’s purchase was all too often used as
an opportunity to also surreptitiously collect information for future
direct marketing and other customer profiling purposes. As a direct
result, concern for privacy is today the #1 reason given by established
Internet shoppers for not making online purchases.
When
accepting your customer’s online payment, collect only the information
required by your payment processor and your delivery service partner to
ensure fast and accurate payment and delivery of your customer’s
purchase. This is not the place to ask for gender, age, educational
background, family status, family income, interests and hobbies or any of
the myriad other pieces of information that online retailers in the past
mistakenly tried to collect during the purchasing process.
Delegate the collection of customer profile information to the promotional
or customer service areas of your webstore.
Review
your payment information page. For payment by credit card, have you
advised that the name and billing address for the credit card holder must
exactly duplicate the information on file with the issuing bank, and as
found on the monthly credit card statement? If you prefer to use
customer salutations, have you provided a sufficient selection of
salutations from which your customer can choose? Have you offered no-salutation as a choice? Have you advised to enter credit card
numbers without dashes or other punctuation separators?
For
prompt delivery, have you provided a checkbox option for delivery to your
customer’s billing address? Have you provided space or checkboxes
for your customer to identify special delivery instructions, e.g. entrance
on left side or doorbell broken? Have you asked for more than one
daytime telephone number, e.g. home, office, mobile, neighbor?
Processing
the payment: In all
likelihood, you are using an accredited payment processor to manage your
webstore customer’s payments. If your payment processor is not accredited
or is unable to accept your choice of tier-one credit cards, give
immediate consideration to changing payment processors. Do not put
your customer or your webstore’s reputation at risk with a questionable
payment system.
If
your payment system uses your webpages to display the payment process, be
sure to include complete instructions and explanations on every
payment-processing webpage. Do not force your customer to guess
where she is in the payment process or what she needs to do next. If
your customer makes an error in the payment process, ensure that your
process allows her to quickly and easily correct her error and move to the
next step.
Your
customer is your webstore’s most valuable asset. At every
opportunity, at every step in her browsing, selecting and purchasing
experience, be sure your webstore informs, directs and supports your
online customer. She deserves only your very best online customer
service.
Happy
retailing,
Peter
To
contact Peter, click here
For an Adobe Easy Print version of this
article, click here
To
view "How To Sell From Your Webstore - Part 1,"
click here
To
view "How To Sell From Your Webstore - Part 2,"
click here
For
the VIEWPOINT index of articles, click here
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