The Internet is completed with a host of ecommerce shopping carts software service but no matter which shopping cart systems you pick, you still need to advertise your store properly to get results. Basically, a reputable shopping cart system will give you a few ideas on how to tweak your pages and additionally how to advertise your site. But it is also essential that you understand what determine your possible buyers’ purchasing decisions in order to more precisely offer your merchandise.
What are the key factors that impact customer buying decisions?
Recommendations
“Recommendations from family and friends trump all other consumer touchpoints when it comes to influencing purchases.”
- ZenithOptimedia. AdAge, April, 2008
According to Royal Mail’s Home Shopping Tracker Study, references are the number one reason for selecting a particular site. If you already have a tight customer base, make sure you retain your current customers. Treat them well by supplying them some sort of incentive to introduce your site to others. Issue current customers special discount coupons which can be expanded to whomever else they recommend to your site. Ultimately this will snowball and you will end up with greater sales and a bigger client base.
Reviews and Ratings
“Online reviews are second only to personal advice from a friend as the driver of purchase decisions; user reviews are more influential than third-party reviews.”
- Web users and web community, Rubicon Consulting, Inc. October 2008
In fact, (65% of) customers tend to credit reviews by fellow consumers rather than experts. This simply means that user reviews are the most credible form of advertising. It’s no wonder then why Amazon always slips in a couple of user reviews on their product pages. Notice that they also comprise bad reviews along with good ones. Of course good reviews usually well outnumber bad ones but the inclusion of poor reviews lends the overall reviews a sense of authenticity.
Those little rating stars you see on the product page actually have a great impact on the minds of consumers. They indicate the quality of the specific item even before the customer reads any reviews (or even if the customer doesn’t even read any reviews). If there are quite a few reviews for a particular product, even an average rating for the product may suffice to win over a would-be customer.
FAQs
“Online businesses lose as many as 67% of consumers due to a lack of online product information.”
- Allurent, January 2008
Never disregard the advantages of frequently asked questions. More than three quarters of online shoppers surveyed by an ecommerce shopping cart system stated that available content is insufficient for them to decide to purchase online. This is 3 potential sales for every actual sale that a web store makes. That’s quite a loss right there. And the likelihood of those customers returning is close to nil. Carefullyprospective customers make their minds up sooner, before they decide|make a decision|choose|opt|make the decision[/spin] to move on.