Ecommerce: Are You Making These Deadly Mistakes in Your Shopping Cart?

by Marcia Yudkin 

The other day after listening to a recorded teleseminar, I was ready to buy. I typed the URL given in the audio file I was listening to, read the copy describing the product being promoted and decided the price was more than reasonable. The verbal and written presentation motivated me strongly to buy, but the marketer lost my sale. Why?

The first problem was that the copy didn’t specify whether the “videos” I would be buying would be mailed to me or available only online. For me, this is a make-or-break issue because my satellite Internet connection limits my ability to watch long videos online.

Second, compounding the first problem, there was no email address provided to ask this question, and indeed no contact information provided for the marketer or his company. If there were, I would have been able to ask my question and I would also have asked whether I could pay more to have the product mailed to me, if it were normally delivered online. 

Third, the product came with a 30-day guarantee, and I was told all I’d have to do to receive a refund if I were not satisfied was to simply call a certain phone number. However, that phone number was not provided in the marketing copy, and since not one shred of contact information appeared in the promotion, I felt serious doubt whether invoking the guarantee would be that simple.

Fourth, the order form for the product said that it was a secure shopping cart page, but the “lock” icon did not show up on my browser verifying that that was the case. Looking up at the sale page URL, I could also see that it started with “http” rather than “https,” and therefore the form asking for my credit card information was actually not secure. 

What’s maddening is that even now, while describing the flaws in this marketer’s online shopping cart, I still have a strong desire to buy the product. But there’s no way I’m going to send my credit card into cyberspace unsecured. And without a way to contact the marketer and ask for another way to buy, I am stymied. So of the four serious flaws in the site’s selling procedure, the most deadly ones are the lack of contact information and the secure server problem.

You might think the circumstances I’ve described were set in motion by an Internet idiot, someone new to online marketing. Nope! This is someone who has made millions from the power of words on an online sales page.

Indeed, every hour of the day, in every corner of the Internet, sales are being lost by otherwise skillful marketers who neglect to look closely at their selling apparatus from the point of view of the shopper. It’s not that hard to find and fix these flubs. Just assume a very cautious customer and imagine such a customer reading your sales presentation and wanting to buy. Address every question, doubt or stopping point so that hesitation can no longer get a foothold.

Are you losing sales that should have put money into your pocket? Go take a look! 

Copyright 2008 Marcia Yudkin.  All rights reserved.

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