 |
 Why
Buy With You (vs. Another Site)?
Customers
are in control. With the Web, it's easy to go
elsewhere with a few clicks of a mouse.
In
the pre-Web days, geography dictated customer
choice. If you were in the Denver, Colorado region,
for example, you were limited by the retail stores
in your area. Or, perhaps there was a catalog
you could order out of.
But
with the Web, a company is now competing globally.
In
order to compete effectively, you need to have
a Unique Selling Proposition.
Unique
Selling Proposition
What
makes your site different than another?
Here's a short list I've compiled over the years:
 Lowest
Price. Everyone
wants the lowest price. Especially in difficult
economic times. Yet it's best to not solely
compete on just the lowest price. Many consumers
are happy to pay just a little bit more if you
have a trustworthy website, and make it easy
to purchase.- Greatest
Selection of Products. The
DiscountDecorating.com
site, for example, has over 30,000 products
on their site. Their top selling product accounts
for less than 1% of their total revenue. They
are thriving because they offer a tremendous
selection of products -- none of which are top
sellers.
- Free
Shipping. The
reason we like to go to retail stores? We don't
have to pay for shipping. Instead we have to
pay for gas, time to drive through traffic,
and parking. If your product doesn't weigh that
much, free shipping may be a great way to convince
people
- Upgraded
/ Expedited Shipping. Offer
to expedite someone's order and place them at
the start of the line - people will often pay
slightly extra for this.
 Ship
Products Quickly. Nobody
likes when they place an order and it takes
the company two weeks to process it. People
will often pay slightly more if you are able
to guarantee that orders placed before 2:00
pm will ship that same day, for example.- Quick
Checkout. We
covered this in detail in tip #2 - How
Easy Is Your Checkout Process. Keep in mind
that most people don't want to create an account
or take 15 minutes to go through your order.
Keep it quick.
- Coupons.
I
just placed an order at a store because I had
a $5.00 off coupon. The total order was $299,
but for $5.00 off I went with one company over
another.
- Best
Customer Service. In
an age where a lot of companies want to hide,
including your phone number on every page will
help reinforce the notion that you care about
them. United Airlines, for example, makes it
really difficult to find their phone number
-- I tested it recently and it took more than
seven clicks to find a phone number.
- Great
Return Policy. What
happens if the product doesn't work? A great
return policy may be the tipping point for someone
to purchase with your company vs. another.
- Comprehensive
Information About Products. When
I want to buy something online, I like sites
that help answer all my questions. Instead of
wondering, "Will this product work with
my system?" a site that has detailed information
will alleviate the tension and allow someone
to make an informed decision quickly. The more
information you have about a product, the more
you and your organization are perceived as experts
in the field. The site that has the most amount
of information about a product often wins. It's
perceived as more relevant to search engines
(search engines love content).
- Easy
to Navigate Site. If
you're like me, you've left a site and gone
to another one, because the navigation of the
site was simply too confusing. If your site
makes it easy for a customer to find what they're
looking for, that site will often do much better
than one that's not well designed.
- Great
Search Engine Optimization. The
#1 search engine result gets about 42% of the
clickthroughs. The #2 search result receives
about 11% of the traffic. If your site is at
the top of the search engines, you're perceived
as more relevant by your customers.
- Autographed
by the Author. If
your site is selling books, you can often charge
more (or make the sale) if you have books that
are autographed by the author. There's something
tangible about having the author of a book sign
it -- it increases the perception of value.
Authors are usually happy to sign books, especially
if you pay for the shipping.
- Blessed
by a Priest or Rabbi. Okay,
this is a pretty unusual unique selling proposition.
But if you have a giftshop for your local congregation,
having a spiritual leader bless the objects
is a nice added touch that a big box retailer
can't compete with.
Summary:
It's
tough to have an eCommerce website that hits all
of these points. But make sure that you have at
least one or two if you want your site to be competitive.
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