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More Effective Strategies to Gain Conversions

June 12, 2017/in Blog /by Carmel

Tips on gaining more customers.

Online shoppers are very choosy and fickle. They cannot decide what to buy at times and you have to guide them on what they could purchase. These tips will help you on gaining their attention and making them click that add to cart button.

- Keep it clean.
  White space is a good thing. Do not cause a mess on the homepage. You must learn how to keep the homepage minimal. Like what I mentioned on the previous post, the goal is to show less products so that the customers can have more focus on what to buy. Avoid having too many moving images on the homepage. Remove all the unnecessary details and unrelated products. Always go for a simple, yet professional design. It will definitely help you in gaining your customers’ trust.

- Only show what is needed.
  Do not show irrelevant details that will not interest the customers. You only need to show the main features of the product. Indicating the technical specifications the beside product is not required. Utilize call-to-action buttons like “Read more…” links throughout the website. CTA buttons are really helpful in organizing the website and know that they are not only limited to the “buy now”, or the “shop now” buttons.

- Guide your customers.
  Your website should have a certain structure so that they can easily scan the page. It should not be a crowd of different unrelated products and scattered descriptions. There should be a flow on where they need to focus their attention. You can use arrows to point a important video presentation or point out purchase link. Keep the flow going and always suggest where to go next. Avoid a dead end on any web page. Make sure a page leads to somewhere with more beneficial information.

- Follow the Gutenberg Rule.
  The Gutenberg Rule describes the reading activity of most people. Reading starts from left to right and top to bottom. People usually look at top left first and end at the bottom right. This is why in most websites, the buttons that will redirect to another page usually are placed on the bottom right and the highlighted products usually are in the top portion of the page.

- Prepare your customers for their next purchase.
  If you have managed to made a sale and the customers are satisfied with their purchase, use this time as an opportunity to present enticing offers to your customers. You can give out discount coupons for their next purchase, suggest special offers that might spark their interest, or even offer a free shipping on the next order. Once they bought a product, they will more likely to purchase more. Use the “Thank you” page to advertise other products.

Whatever tips and strategies you might decide to apply, please remember to never comprise the quality of your service. Great customer service is the best tool to gain conversions. Word of mouth is the best form of marketing. Do not underestimate the power of online reviews and testimonials because it will surely help you gain more customers.

Strategies to Gain More Conversions

June 10, 2017/in Blog /by Carmel

How to gain more customers?

Numerous businesses have adapted the concept of e-commerce over the years. It is evident in the rise of various online stores that are manufactured to sell. However, a good-looking website helps, but it is not everything. You can use these tips to help your business gain more customers and eventually, increase sales.

- Prevent Choice Paralysis.
  What is Choice Paralysis to begin with? It happens when there is just TOO many choices presented. It is great to present customers unlimited options, but too much might confuse them. To avoid Choice Paralysis, you must give suggestions to what to buy, provide buying guides, highlight bestsellers. For example, let us take a look at bookdepository.com. On its homepage, it gave a suggestion to browse new releases. If you do not want to buy those, the bestselling books are indicated just below it. They also compiled a list like: best books ever, best children’s books, best cookbooks, and so on. All the books are not on the homepage. It is important to present less products so that the customers can have more focus.

- Provide a Preview of the Product.
  Like in most physical stores, customers want to see what they are buying. Same is true with online stores. You must show the product. How? Provide pictures and not only that, customers should have the option to zoom in for better viewing. If you are selling books, provide the final book cover, dimensions of the book, and other details that will help the customer. If you are selling shirts, pictures of the shirts in several colors should be available. Sizing charts also come in handy so that the customers can easily compare the different sizes. People buy based on what the a certain product looks like. Of course, they would not buy an overripe tomato, or a dented can of sardines.

- Allow Customers to Try the Product.
  When you go to a grocery store, they would give out a free taste of the different products they have. Even online, it’s also important to let the customers try the product. Software companies nowadays provide a free version of their programs. You do not have to necessarily buy these products to be able to use them. If you like it very much, you can choose to upgrade. This is a great strategy because when customers like your product and it is great, they will depend on it. When they depend on it, they will most likely avail of the premium version of the product. Do not let your customers imagine on what the product will be like. Instead, let them try the product and sooner or later, you will win customers.

- Generate a Desire for the Product.
  It is essential to grab the attention of the potential buyers. Once you have it, gain their interest by how these products are beneficial to them, how these products are different from the rest. If they are already interested, create desire for your products. They will act on that desire because they know by now how beneficial the products are. If they are still having second thoughts, you can develop a sense of urgency like a limited time offer of 15%, or an offer of free shipping on the all orders placed within 24 hours.

Starting a small business online? Make these investments!

May 19, 2017/in Blog /by Carmel

planning an online business

If you are turning a business into something that is accessible to anyone around the world, there are certain things you need to deal with. Time to say goodbye to brick and mortar, and say hello to the world of online stores. What are things needed? The checklist includes: a website design, domain name, good host, and creative photos.

Let us start with the website design. The theme of your website should be simple yet professional looking. Like a house, you need to choose the color palette that suits your needs. The key here is not to get the colorful one, but to get the light and fast design. It has to be responsive in all platforms, whether it will be browsed on a desktop computer or a mobile phone. It is important to consider your mobile viewers. People are always on the go. Here at Phoenix Website Design, we cater to both large and small business. If you are working on a budget, we have various design packages that will be perfect for you.

Next is you have to have a domain name. The name should be, of course, relevant to the content of your website. It also has to be unique. Add your own flavor so your website will stand out from similar online stores. It is going to be your identity so you need to make sure people will recall it. Keep the name simple and short as possible. Remember, no one likes a very long and complicated address. People might not find your website.

A good host means reliable host. If the domain name is your address, the host is your house. If your house constantly has outages, a sparkling address is useless. Ask yourself these questions. Will my website be guaranteed to be running 24/7? If the host cannot provide you good uptime scores, consider other options. Cheap rates are not always tantamount to good hosting. Your business is online now. Your customers are from different parts of the world. You have to be always open for business. Will my website handle numerous orders simultaneously? Make sure your website never goes down despite heavy traffic. For now, you are still starting. Check if hosting is flexible for future plans of expansion. Will my website load quickly? The customers’ time is limited so speed is ultimately important. Go for a host that loads content fast wherever the customer might be.

Lastly, unleash your creativity! Go get your point-and-shoot camera. Upload images with your posts and social media updates. Learn to use photo editing softwares. An expensive program and a DSLR camera are not necessary. You just need a basic photo editor that allows you to add text, resize, and trim your photos. (I have discussed the importance of compressing images here.) If you feel like you do not have the photography skills, do not fret. You can always find stock photos online. You can purchase artistic images for your website. In case you are wondering where to get FREE photos, I have compiled a list here.

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More Effective Strategies to Gain Conversions

Strategies to Gain More Conversions

Starting a small business online? Make these investments!

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