|
|
|
Creating Time the Virtual Way: How Virtual Assistants are simplifying life for small business owners
Virtual Assistants are taking on those time-consuming administrative chores and special projects, and giving business owners more breathing room to grow, succeed and fall in love with their business again. -------------------- Time. As a small...
How Appetizing is Your Feedback?
Recently, I was watching a rerun of the successful television show, The Cosby Show. The patriarch of this professional family (He is a doctor and his wife is a lawyer.) played by Bill Cosby, was just told by his college-bound daughter that the...
Quicker Success through Business Kits and Startup Guides
Quicker Success through Business Kits and Startup Guides by J. Stephen Pope You have always had an interest in starting a particular type of business. However, realistically you know that you lack the expertise required. How can you startup the...
Right starting of a home business (Part I)
In order to work in peace, it could be a good idea to start a
business of your own at your garage, attic, basement. Anywhere
but the family living room or dinning room.
The right place for starting a business should match your
personal work...
The Worlds Best Home Business
Indulge me for a second. Picture this: It’s morning. You’ve just woken up..at the time you want to. Alarm clocks don’t dictate your hours of sleep anymore. You go downstairs and see the post has arrived. Putting it to one side you go to have your...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
The Five Most Commonly Encountered, Off-putting E-commerce Errors
While getting less public handwringing than during holiday season, the "abandoned shopping cart problem" continues to wreak havoc on online sales. Recently I judged a raftload of sites for the Webby Awards (my second time) and for the Inc. magazine Web Awards, as well as for my own clients. Here are the five irritants and obstacles that most frequently disrupt the visitor's shopping experience at e-commerce sites.
- Lack of quick orientation for first-time visitors. What does the site sell? I've had to poke around for several minutes sometimes to understand the focus of a site. Jargon is one culprit. Another is lack of context, like an airline site that sells tickets not giving a single clue on the home page in what countries or even what continent it flies.
- Explanations that don't explain. What does the product do and not do? Another basic, but it happens often that a site doesn't explain whether their "Turbocharge VT27-Plus" is a one-time download, a subscription, a Web-based service or something else. An alternative payment system's site failed to offer a clear, systematic description of how it works.
- Missing prices and shipping charges. How much? You shouldn't have to put something into a shopping cart or enter your credit card information to learn how much an item costs, including shipping. Unfortunately, you still find this
mistake at sites that have had plenty of time to get their act together.
- Unreadable text. Say what? Creativity gone haywire seems to be the hallmark of some Web designers. Orange letters on a blue background, olive green on black, light gray on white and blue on blue were combinations that sent me packing, as did lettering too small for over-40 eyes.
- Inconsistencies. Huh? One site says, "To sign up, click on the Sign Up link at the top of every page." But the site does not have any "Sign Up" link, only "Sign In." Such carelessness wastes the time of earnest shoppers and gets them frustrated and fed up, never to return.
Blunders are equally rampant at well-funded corporate sites and those from home-based businesses. The good news is that many of the errors are extremely easy and inexpensive to fix.
About The Author
Marketing guru Marcia Yudkin is the author of Poor Richard's Web Site Marketing Makeover: Improve Your Message and Turn Visitors into Buyers, from Top Floor Publishing (http://www.yudkin.com/mmakeover.htm) and numerous other books on marketing. She recently began offering Web site reviews for just $40 (http://www.yudkin.com/sitereview.htm).
marcia@yudkin.com
|
|
|
|
|
|