Converting web traffic into actual sales should be the main focus of all your digital marketing efforts. The name of the game is trust. Developing a brand and website that new customers trust enough to type their debit card number into is an artform that requires a cohesive web presence and lots of failsafe options. Keep these ideas in mind and implement as many as you can to see your web traffic and conversion rates increase.
The Basics
Wooing a potential customer starts with trust. There are horror stories from all over the web that tell the tale of consumers done wrong by smaller companies that charged their credit card online and never sent the product. What’s worse, phone calls, voicemails, and even emails have gone unanswered. You want to show your potential buyers that you are a legitimate company they can count on.
First thing’s first, you need a company phone number that anyone can call and speak to a real person during regular business hours. You can hire an answering service or just get a Google Voice number directed at your cell phone. That way you don’t have to put your personal phone number on your website, but you’ll never miss a customer call. Be sure the phone number is highly visible on your site, preferably at the top right corner in the header of all web pages.
Check Your Server Uptimes and Security
While GoDaddy has long been the standard for web hosting, it just takes a few minutes of reading through Yelp reviews to see why many people are switching their hosting to a more reliable server with dedicated customer service. You want a server with great uptime rates, meaning that the server won’t get overloaded and crash in the event that you get a lot of web traffic, which can kill your sales in an instant and damage your image of reliability and professionalism.
Security breaches are also a concern. If the federal government can be breached to the point that thieves make off with the personal information of four million people, then your customers’ info can be stolen too, so invest in thorough protection.
Returns, Policies and Terms
Make sure that your e-commerce website has these four tabs to ensure that customers feel like they’re working with a reliable company and to cover all your legal bases: terms and conditions, refund policy, customer service, and privacy policy. Not only do they protect you in the event of an issue, they also legitimize your site to your customers and to search engines. You can also search “refund policy examples” for other examples and templates to use for each of these topics. Include them in the header or footer for easy access.
A Cohesive Social Media Presence
Developing a daily social media presence is one of the best ways to inspire confidence in consumers. Shoot for one Instagram post per day, two Facebook posts and three tweets.
Always respond to your followers when they comment or ask questions. It’s also a great idea to reach out to your followers on a regular basis. Once or twice a week, go through and give a few of your most active followers some love by liking and commenting on a few of their most recent posts. You’ll develop more than a customer relationship, you’ll build a rapport that money and email blasts just can’t buy.
