In the spirit of our recent ‘top 10 lists’ (maybe we should get Jimmy Carr to record them as a podcast!) I have been thinking about simple ways you can improve your eCommerce website. So here goes….a simple guide that will help you convert your customers:
1) User trigger words to excite your customers
People tend to spend very little time reading web pages. Instead, we scan them, looking for words or phrases that catch our eye. Of course, there are exceptions, but if the copy is longer than a few paragraphs, we’re more likely to print it out. We scan because we’re usually in a hurry, we know that we don’t really need to read everything and we’ve become good at it – we’ve been scanning newspapers and magazines most of our lives!
So, we tend to focus on words and phrases that seem to match the task at hand. This is why we must carefully consider the trigger words and ensure that they are visible, because if we ignore them, then the customer is likely to leave and go to a site that they think better matches their needs.
Words like ‘free’, ‘sale’, ‘discount are an example of these type of words. It’s also important that if a customer arrives on your site having used a search term, then that search term must be seen on the page.
2) Call to Actions (CTA)
If you don’t ask someone to do something, then what are the chances of them doing it? It is essential that you present your customers with CTA’s that are visible and meaningful. Avoid overuse of clichés like ‘click here’, ‘read more and ‘find out more’ and make them more descriptive and persuasive.
3) Spend as much as you can afford on product images
As they say, a picture paints a thousand words. The web is a perfect example of this. A high quality photograph of a product you are trying to sell will be worth its weight in gold. 83% of eBay shoppers skip listings without images, while those with super-size photos show a 24% spike in sales.
Skimping on images will not work. If you’ve got a huge product line, make sure at the very least that the top-selling lines/products come with top quality imagery. It will also work in B2B as well. If you want someone to download a report, show a cover of the report. Make it more interesting for the user. Engage them.
4) Consider you headlines
The headline on your page is the one thing that 80% of our visitors will read. Be sure that they are clear, relevant and engaging. Test them. Optimise them. Don’t be afraid to change them.
5) Don’t be afraid of reviews
Every trade website or magazine these days seems to have a ‘site review’ in it. They are often judged very subjectively and are a trend in a market that is now demanding transparency and a voice. You mustn’t be afraid of a bad review though, because they will not necessarily lead to a downturn in business. What you must do though is bear them in mind, take any emotion out of the equation and act on any sound advice (always ask for a second opinion from someone if you disagree with the comments!).
6) Oil the wheels of the checkout process
The battle is far from over when you’ve got the customer to the checkout. You’ve now got to get them out the other side in a happy state. Eliminate all unnecessary steps, let them know that the process is secure, remind them what they are buying and don’t annoy them with too much upselling!
7) Don’t just satisfy, delight!
Customer service online isn’t just what happens after the products have been shipped. During the buying process they will invariably be a multitude of questions that are raised. Try and answer these questions before your customers thinks of them and incorporate these into the selling process. By reassuring your customers at all stages, you are much more likely to build a long-term relationship with them.
8) Test Test and Test again
A/B or multivariate testing can be time consuming but it can also have a dramatic effect on your conversion rates. The range of things you can test is wide – CTA’s, copy, layouts etc – but you don’t have to test everything at once. Write down the top-5 things that concern you about your site and start there.
9) Ask for feedback
You must listen to your customers and offer them the opportunity to give you feedback. You’ll be surprised at how helpful and how much effort your customers will put in to this. Don’t be afraid of negative feedback but do make sure that you act upon it.
10) All your customers are different
Your customers will all be at different stages of the buying process and you must address this. The failure of websites to consider this can severely hamper the sales process. Persona planning is a great way to counter this. You build up a bank of customer personas and then test the user journeys according to each one. This is a great way of ensuring that all needs are considered and met before you go live. You must be in tune with your customers and flexible enough to react accordingly.
The bottom line is that site optimisation needs to be a constant evolutionary process. A website is not a static entity and the behaviours of your customers also do not remain static. It is how you react to this that can make or break your online business.
Michael Brandreth
Showing posts with label Michael Brandreth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Michael Brandreth. Show all posts
Wednesday, 23 January 2008
Tuesday, 30 October 2007
Geeks Vs. Freaks
I've now nearly been at Bluhalo for three months, so I thought it worthwhile to jot down a couple of my key thoughts so far.
I'm lucky (or unlucky if you count my agency that folded spectacularly in the original dot com gold rush!) enough to have experienced working at four very different digital agencies, so it's very interesting for me to look back at compare how they've all approached things. All have had straplines that are designed to sum up their USP or 'difference'. One of them (the biggest agency I've worked for) used 'ideas that work'. This one always made me laugh, as it's hardly going to be 'ideas that don't work'. Look at bit deeper though and you can see the point. There's absolutely no point in presenting an idea to a client that is likely to win a handful of Revolution Awards, a fist of IPA Effectiveness awards and a gold Cyber Lion at Cannes IF the idea isn't based on sound commercial judgement. As a strapline, 'ideas that work' is very noble and tips its hat at commerciality. The reality was occasionally very different though and sometimes it was obvious that an idea was more award-winning than ROI winning.
Bluhalo's strapline is 'Creativity Cultivated'. 'What does that mean?' was one of the first questions I asked in my interview. Spencer explained it with his normal passion and it makes sense. A team built round the skills and ambitions of the individual is more likely to succeed than not. Most agencies talk about a collaborative style of working and this is rightly very important, but it's not only collaboration with our clients that produces the best results, it's also how we work with each internally and produce great ideas. Afterall, without an idea, you are nothing!
It was this idea of collaboration that really got me thinking about my agency experience. It also got me thinking about a phrase Spencer had used as panelist at the E-Den event....'Geeks v Freaks'. I had never heard of this before, but basically it's an old digital description that sums up the age-old battle for control between the tecchies (affectionately named 'geeks'!) and the creatives (equally affectionalty referred to as the 'freaks'). To me, the success of an agency largely depends on how you get these two groups working together.
Alas, not all agencies will agree on this. My first agency (the one that died in the year 2000!), was very much driven by the technical approach and this was reflected in the hierarchy of the agency. Tech first, design second. The Geeks were in control and ruled the roost at brainstorms. At my second agency, now 170 strong and one of the biggest in the UK, the approach was the complete antithesis of my first. Very much formed in the image of BBH advertising (think Levi's, Audi and Vodafone), where the founder was the MD, the Freaks ran the show. To such an extent that I don't ever recall a brainstorm with a tecchie present. Ideas were generated by 'teams', which comprised of an art director and a copywriter. These were then presented back to the client in a pretty much unadulterated form.
I'm not 100% convinced that this traditional advertising approach always works. Yes, creative boundaries are pushed and I would suggest that it is the correct approach for online advertising campaigns, but is it the best approach for websites? Does a creative team consider in enough detail the overall user experience or functionality that will create a killer app? To me, the jury is still out.
So, the big question is how does Bluhalo's approach differ? Well, it's early days for me, but I don't sense a hierarchy between the Geeks and Freaks. We talk about a collaborative style of working and I genuinely think we do a good job of it. Believe me, it's not an easy task and a digital agency without argument or debate is going about things in the wrong way. We also use another strapline when trying to explain our overall approach to clients - 'by making our clients successful, we make ourselves successful. If I were a client in the process of appointing an agency, this is exactly the philosophy I would be looking for. I would want to partner an agency that focuses on achieving my commercial objectives, rather than producing functionality for functionality's sake or design to impress an awards judge. This is what Bluhalo does well and doesn't need to be any more complicated than that.
I'll tell you if I've changed my opinion in another three months!
Michael Brandreth
I'm lucky (or unlucky if you count my agency that folded spectacularly in the original dot com gold rush!) enough to have experienced working at four very different digital agencies, so it's very interesting for me to look back at compare how they've all approached things. All have had straplines that are designed to sum up their USP or 'difference'. One of them (the biggest agency I've worked for) used 'ideas that work'. This one always made me laugh, as it's hardly going to be 'ideas that don't work'. Look at bit deeper though and you can see the point. There's absolutely no point in presenting an idea to a client that is likely to win a handful of Revolution Awards, a fist of IPA Effectiveness awards and a gold Cyber Lion at Cannes IF the idea isn't based on sound commercial judgement. As a strapline, 'ideas that work' is very noble and tips its hat at commerciality. The reality was occasionally very different though and sometimes it was obvious that an idea was more award-winning than ROI winning.
Bluhalo's strapline is 'Creativity Cultivated'. 'What does that mean?' was one of the first questions I asked in my interview. Spencer explained it with his normal passion and it makes sense. A team built round the skills and ambitions of the individual is more likely to succeed than not. Most agencies talk about a collaborative style of working and this is rightly very important, but it's not only collaboration with our clients that produces the best results, it's also how we work with each internally and produce great ideas. Afterall, without an idea, you are nothing!
It was this idea of collaboration that really got me thinking about my agency experience. It also got me thinking about a phrase Spencer had used as panelist at the E-Den event....'Geeks v Freaks'. I had never heard of this before, but basically it's an old digital description that sums up the age-old battle for control between the tecchies (affectionately named 'geeks'!) and the creatives (equally affectionalty referred to as the 'freaks'). To me, the success of an agency largely depends on how you get these two groups working together.
Alas, not all agencies will agree on this. My first agency (the one that died in the year 2000!), was very much driven by the technical approach and this was reflected in the hierarchy of the agency. Tech first, design second. The Geeks were in control and ruled the roost at brainstorms. At my second agency, now 170 strong and one of the biggest in the UK, the approach was the complete antithesis of my first. Very much formed in the image of BBH advertising (think Levi's, Audi and Vodafone), where the founder was the MD, the Freaks ran the show. To such an extent that I don't ever recall a brainstorm with a tecchie present. Ideas were generated by 'teams', which comprised of an art director and a copywriter. These were then presented back to the client in a pretty much unadulterated form.
I'm not 100% convinced that this traditional advertising approach always works. Yes, creative boundaries are pushed and I would suggest that it is the correct approach for online advertising campaigns, but is it the best approach for websites? Does a creative team consider in enough detail the overall user experience or functionality that will create a killer app? To me, the jury is still out.
So, the big question is how does Bluhalo's approach differ? Well, it's early days for me, but I don't sense a hierarchy between the Geeks and Freaks. We talk about a collaborative style of working and I genuinely think we do a good job of it. Believe me, it's not an easy task and a digital agency without argument or debate is going about things in the wrong way. We also use another strapline when trying to explain our overall approach to clients - 'by making our clients successful, we make ourselves successful. If I were a client in the process of appointing an agency, this is exactly the philosophy I would be looking for. I would want to partner an agency that focuses on achieving my commercial objectives, rather than producing functionality for functionality's sake or design to impress an awards judge. This is what Bluhalo does well and doesn't need to be any more complicated than that.
I'll tell you if I've changed my opinion in another three months!
Michael Brandreth
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