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About To Start An Online Business? Read This First.
Copyright © 2004 Steve Shaw I recently received an interesting question from a visitor to one of my web sites: "If there is any advice that you wish you would have gotten before you started a business online, what would it be?". Rather than write...
Affiliate Program Commissions - The Higher the Better
A good way to tell if the affiliate program you belong to is serious about their affiliate program commissions is the percentage they are paying you. If someone is offering you 10% commission, and they are keeping the rest, then you need to ask...
Secrets to a higher "Conversion Ratio"
As an affiliate promoting affiliate programs you need to know the conversion ratio of each program you belong to. It is something you have control over. But what exactly is a conversion ratio? For affiliate programs, the conversion ratio (or CR)...
Want Bigger Profits? Think of Your Web Site as a Catalog, Not a Store
For years people have been talking about web sites being storefronts. The truth is, web sites have little in common with traditional stores. Thinking of your site as a web storefront can take you down the wrong path from the start. This is a topic...
Working With Drop Shippers
Drop Shippers, the manufacturers or distributors who are willing to ship their products to your customers, bring a powerful benefit to ecommerce. Online businesses that engage in the wholesale-retail trade can cut down on all the hassles of...
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How to Waste Money and Annoy Potential Customers
Why do some companies bid on keywords for products they don’t even sell? Or fail to provide the basic information people need to make the decision to buy? Here’s a cautionary tale-- with a happy ending.
Has this ever happened to you? I’m looking online for lamp shades. I go to Google and click on the top Sponsored Link in the right column: Expo.com. I’m taken to their “Lighting and Fans” page. There are 29 links in the left navigation, but no lamp shades. So I do a keyword search.
Products Found = 0.
All I can do is wonder why they wasted my time and their money, and move on to the next ad.
Close, but no cigar. Clicking on the second ad takes me to a home page with a “Shades” tab. I click on that and arrive on a page with information about sizes and a link to the lamp shade collection.
I start browsing and find one I’m interested in. The text instructs me to “Click on lamp image for detail.” I guess they mean lamp shade image. I click, and to my surprise, I see the exact same thumbnail I was looking at, but now I have four color choices and an “ad to cart” button.
OK, I’m a designer. I can appreciate subtlety. But what’s the difference between White, Off-White, Beige and Coffee? All this site shows me is a little grey photo-- but “Dirty” isn’t one of the color choices.
I see the toll-free phone number at the top of the page. I call (during their normal business hours) and get voicemail. They say my call is very important to them, but I’m
not so sure...
Third time’s the charm? Back to Google, click on another ad which takes me to a page with lamp shades (YAY!). I can sort by nine different criteria, but even so, I don’t see exactly what I want.
There’s a link to talk to a lighting consultant. I’m skeptical, but I call. Someone answers the phone! I explain what I want and I’m told I need a custom shade. This company doesn’t make them, but the consultant refers me to two other sites where I can order custom-made shades.
Even though I didn’t find what I was searching for, I really appreciate this experience. I’d be happy to return to this site and do business with this company in the future.
The moral of this story. Have some respect for your customers. Think about their needs and do everything you can to meet them. If you’re advertising a product for sale it should be available on your site. If you expect people to make a choice, provide the information and pictures they need to feel comfortable making a decision.
And even if you can’t make the sale today, you can and should offer a good customer experience because there’s always tomorrow.
About the Author
Barry Harrison is the author of "REDiTIPS" eMarketing Newsletter and a partner in Resolve Digital, Web Strategy for the Real World.
Engaging Web design Effective Internet Marketing Essential Content Management Tools
Visit his site at http://www.resolvedigital.com or mailto:barry@resolvedigital.com
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