Turn web site visitors into online buyers

If you're serious about turning your web site visitors into paying customers, providing a good shopping experience with top-notch customer service is just as important as having a quality product to sell. According to Christine Loeber, Program Manager of the Online Retail Strategies Planning Service for the Yankee Group, "When it comes to keeping customers happy, providing quality customer service is one of the most valuable strategies at an online retailer's disposal."

How can you ensure that the customers who should be buying from your site actually go through with the purchase? Here are some basic, but important, tips to help you make certain that you're serving your customers in the manner they expect.

Make the checkout smooth. Tower Records' web site was named the top online music retailer in Forrester Research's PowerRankings, based on a survey of the site's customers and unbiased shopping tests. The site leapt from last to first place, and was lauded for, among other things, an above-average checkout process.

Display contact information clearly. Make sure customers always know how to contact you if they have questions. Ideally, you should have a toll-free number, and a live person should be at the other end. If a live person can't be available day and night, post the hours.

Reward customers for purchasing. Collect e-mail addresses of your customers and send periodic coupon sales only for them. And be straightforward - don't offer a meager discount that's hardly worth using or try to make up for the lower price by increasing shipping costs.

E-mail sparingly. No one deserves to be spammed by your company less than your customers. Send them e-mail only when the message is a valuable one.

Be clear about shipping policies. Anyone should be able to find out how much their shipment is going to cost within a couple of clicks - not when they get to the end of their purchase.

Respect privacy - and say so. Don't share or sell e-mail addresses with anyone outside your company, and make sure your customers know you don't. Your privacy policy should be clearly stated and readily accessible. According to Forrester, Amazon.com's decision to hide their privacy policy hurt their rankings.

Respond to inquiries. Part of the reason why Amazon.com dropped behind TowerRecords.com in Forrester's survey was their reported slow response time to customer e-mails. Always acknowledge customer inquiries, even if you can't help them right away.

Be honest. If you can't help a customer at all, tell them so rather than ignoring their request. They'll remember it.