Get a 100

Today's insight comes from Marty Foley, giving you sharp to the point questions on how to improve your visitors experience.

To Your Freedom,

Do You Make Your Prospects and Customers Jump Through
Hoops?

Copyright Marty Foley, ProfitInfo.com

Picture this: Your prospect has just learned about one of
your products or services, and is now ready to buy from
you. How you handle the next critical step can make or
break the sale.

Always keep in mind that most consumers are understandably
wary. They won't hesitate to abandon an intended purchase
if they encounter doubts or inconvenient snags in the
process.

I invite you to do a bit of honest self-examination when
considering the following tips, since problems in this
area may be costing you dearly in lost sales, right this
very minute.

Acting to improve on what you discover could very well
help boost your sales immediately.

1) How Easy Is It for Your Customers to Access Information
Needed to Buy From You?

a) For example, does the design of your web site make it
hard to navigate, or is the majority information needed to
complete a transaction within easy access to your
customers, with minimal mouse clicks?

Poor navigation is but one of many, many different snags
that hinder web site sales. Problem is, most site owners,
designers, and webmasters don't realize how much more a
site could sell, if it were only more user-friendly.

b) While you may wisely reduce the amount of repetitive
customer service issues by answering questions through a
FAQ, (an acronym for Frequently Asked Questions) etc.,
some prospects may yet have additional questions not
covered in it.

Do your prospects have a way to contact you to have such
questions answered, and do you have an efficient system in
place for answering them, promptly and efficiently?

Is the form of contact convenient to your prospects?

2) What Forms of Payment Do You Offer Your Customers?

a) Do you require your customers to send payment to you by
check, cash or money order only via regular postal mail? If
you're selling online and not accepting credit cards,
you're likely losing many sales.

b) What types of credit cards do you accept? Virtually any
type of business can increase sales by accepting payment
by Visa and MasterCard.

But even businesses already accepting Visa and MasterCard
may still be losing sales by not also accepting Discover
and American Express, especially in the U.S.

True, Visa and MasterCard encompass the vast majority of
all credit card transactions. But there are many consumers
who instead prefer to use Discover or American Express.

Do you want their business? If so, your existing merchant
account provider is most likely equipped to easily get you
set up to accept them.

3) How Easy Do You Make It for Customers to Submit Payment?

a) Suppose that you DO accept credit cards. Even though the
risk of online credit card purchasing has been exaggerated,
and isn't necessarily more risky than offline transactions,
many consumers are concerned about submitting their credit
card data online.

With this in mind, in addition to being equipped to accept
online credit card orders through a secure server, do you
provide alternate ordering options for those who hesitate
(or refuse) to order online by credit card?

What about options to order with check, money order, or
credit card, by phone, fax, or postal mail?

b) Are your order forms simple to use and understand, or
confusing and inconvenient to use, even for the most
inexperienced users? How do you know?

Do you work hard to eliminate all guesswork for customers,
provide complete order details, and guide them simply and
gently through the ordering process?

Remember: Any extra hoop you require prospects and
customers to jump through is an extra obstacle in the way
of a sale; another reason to change their minds about
buying from you.

Now don't feel bad if you find areas for improvement in
the points above. Look at them as an opportunity to
increase your profits, and do something about those that
apply to your situation.

If there's one thing I've learned, it's that there is
always room for improvement - in every business in
existence.

Unfortunately, there's not enough room in this article to
cover all the obstacles that could be hindering your sales,
of which there are literally hundreds!

But the basic lesson behind the above tips is this: Make
it as easy as possible for customers to do business with
you. The easier you make it, the more likely they will buy from you.

More Helpful Resources...

Marty Foley of ProfitInfo.com offers proven, affordable
resources for generating more traffic, leads, sales, and
profits in your online business. Find out why he has
often been imitated by other famous Internet marketers,
at: ProfitInfo.com