Classic advice from e-commerce master Sam Decker, now CEO of Mass Relevance, originally published in 2004 and still relevant:
Can I find that item I’m looking for?
- Tune your internal search engine to match top search terms to product pages.
- Put top sellers on home page. People buy on impulse or recommendation.
- Match the landing page to the marketing campaign. Use vanity urls for offline advertising.
- Test your categories, naming and navigation with customers. They’re less intuitive than you think.
Can I find something that interests me?
- Put top sellers on home page.
- Add related items to a product view.
- Add relevant, topical-based shopping navigation or search.
- Add interactivity to pull visitors into your site or a page.
Do I really want this product?
- Display larger product pictures.
- Show the product in action.
- Headline the results your product promises.
- Feature benefits in the copy.
- Make it easy to read – bullets, short sentences/paragraphs, conversational.
- Add substantiated recommendations (“4 out of 5 dentists…”).
Can I get it for the right price?
- Add a limited time promotion to a product or category.
- Use Free Shipping (#1 online promotion).
- Show a good, better, best options.
- Show comparisons to competitors.
- Slash through pricing.
- Repeat the deal or promotion on every page.
Can I trust this company?
- Clean up the site design.
- Add testimonials.
- Add security certifications.
- Add affiliations.
- Get listings in BizRate, Froogle, Epinions, etc.
- Show your personality.
- Increase the font size.
- Less is more.
- Highlight your money back guarantee.
- Include privacy, contact us, about us pages.
- Add a phone number.
Can I checkout easily?
- Add a call to action on every page.
- Copy the best-practices in cart and checkout.
- Add reassurance statements (security, guarantee, etc.).
- Add a phone number on every page.