Customer
satisfaction is a nice theory, a good “warm fuzzy”
word. But it’s a whole lot more. You want customers who
are more than merely satisfied with a single purchase,
don't you? You want customers satisfied enough to come
back and buy again. And again. And you want customers so
delighted they’ll tell their friends. What you really
want are customers so delighted they become loyal
customers.
To
create loyal customers you have to get away from what you
want to give them. In the customer-empowered world of
e-commerce, your customers aren’t interested in what you
want to push. In fact, they’re not interested in being
pushed at all. They’re interested in finding what they
want to buy, and in finding vendors who will help them. So
learn to give them what they want, and you are a
heck of a lot more likely to get what you want:
more sales, more repeat business, and more
referrals!
The
truth about satisfaction and loyalty out there on the
Internet isn't nearly as fuzzy as the concept. Of the
people who visit your site, only 1.75% will buy. Of
those who actually buy, fewer than 10% will actually
return to buy again. Do the math: out of 1000 people,
18 (I'll be generous) will make a purchase. Two will visit
again for a second purchase.
Sounds
dismal, huh? But you can think of these figures as
Scrooge's Ghost of Christmas to Come. Because the fact is,
folks like to shop and they like to buy. It's just that
when they do it online, many of them can't buy because
they can't figure it out. They can't be bothered to wait
for slow pages. They can't read the tiny type. They can't
cope with getting stranded in opaque processes they don't
understand. They can't find help. They can’t deal with
the help that they do find being written in techno-speak.
Your
prospects are out there on a huge ocean, bobbing and
threatening to go under. They'll take you with them unless
you help them! Toss them a life preserver!
Make it
simple and easy to find information and navigate
your site.
Every
page should tell them where they are, show them where
to go next, how to get back, offer a resource for
helpful help, and have obvious and logical links.
Give helpful
and descriptive information about your product or
services.
In
text. There is power in the word. And the word is out
that the word is in. Research and sales results are both
proving that fancy images and slow multimedia are out -
at least as far as your customer is concerned, when what
he or she wants to do is buy. Make your information
persuasive … just remember to make it clear, concise
and complete as well. And not pushy. Use graphics only
when words are insufficient. And then, keep them simple
and the file sizes small.
Make it
clear and easy to buy from you.
Cover
all your bases at the point of purchase by offering
every order option available: not only an online order
form, but e-mail, fax, and toll-free phone, too.
Give
the customer a reason to place his or her confidence
in you.
The
cornerstone of loyalty is trust. Do everything you can
to inspire this in your client, and you will earn
repeat business. Think about all the things that go
into trust, from prominent, plain-spoken and strong
privacy policies, to basic grammatical correctness, to
clear pricing, to a professional look and feel in your
design.
When
web surfers head out to buy, they want to buy. The
last thing they want to do is tread water, much less sink.
Make your website that friendly face, that helping hand
that not only keeps them afloat but keeps them happily
sailing along. Give your visitors lots of good
reasons to remember you, and you are likely to inspire
more than satisfaction … you might just land yourself a
loyal customer!
