How NOT to sell anything online — Ever. (Please, don't do this!)
February 26, 2010
So I was in the market for a new help desk system, and I decided to go with the one that my primary hosting provider uses because it's really great to interact with from the user perspective (in my opinion). I file support tickets with my host all the time to get all kinds of things done, and it's always very straight-forward and easy to do. As I look through the back-end demo on the support software vendor's web site, I see that it does lots of great things that will help my support staff.
Wonderful, I'm ready to buy.
Problem #1: Where's the buy link?
But, wait, how do I buy? I'm looking around on the page describing the various levels of the software I can purchase, but there's no "buy" link next to any of them.
After a few moments of hunting, I finally see it in the upper-right hand corner of the page — masked by its background color. Not easy to see at all.
I click Order Now.
Problem #2: I can't buy without an account.
After clicking Order Now, I'm taken to a screen informing me that I have to create an account or login. What? Why? Why do I need an account to purchase a piece of software?
I'm annoyed, but I start filling out the form. It asks for all kinds of irrelevent information: my address (it's a software download, why do they need my address?), my company name, fax number (does anybody fax anymore?) etc.
At least it doesn't make me verify my email address before logging me in.
Problem #3: I can't buy using the email address I gave them.
After logging into the system using the account I (for some reason) had to create, I have to step through four pages of selections before finally getting to the "make your payment" button (yes, four pages of unnecessary selections).
I click the "make your payment" button — but wait! — I'm informed that I can't purchase using a Gmail email address.
Seriously! They won't take my money because my email address is through Gmail! How ludicrous is that??? On top of that, they inform me of this AFTER I go through four pages of selections and NOT before I create the account!
So after hunting around the account screen, I finally find an 'Account Settings' link where (I assume) I can change my email address to an email address that I never use (since they won't take the one that I use all the time).
Are you sensing what's coming?
I can't change my email address!
Nope, I have to contact their support staff to have my email address changed. Their support staff which is currently offline.
Problem #4: Where's my software?
Rather than going through the process of contacting their support staff, I just logout and create a new account (under an email address that I never use) and walk through the four pages of selections again. I make it to the "make your payment" button again, and, holding my breath — I click it.
It works! I'm taken to WorldPay to checkout. They don't take PayPal (which I prefer to use), but that's okay — I just generate a one-time use credit card number via PayPal and use that instead.
On the checkout page, there's a big box asking for the billing address, and a box below that asking for the zip code. Hmm… do they want my FULL billing address in that box, or just the PO Box number? I don't know, and the help under the Billing Address link doesn't tell me.
I enter in my full billing address and other details and — holding my breath again — click submit.
Yay! It works.
After the payment is made, though, I'm immediately informed that my transaction has to be verified by the vendor before I'll get my software, and that the process will take 24 hours.
What??? Why on earth do you have to verify the transaction? You have my money, where's my download link?
NEVER sell ANYTHING online like this!
The support software these guys sell is stellar, but their sales process is the most painful I've ever had to get through. The ONLY reason I didn't cancel and walk away from it is that I know how good the software is. I actually did walk away for a while before deciding that I had to put up with it in order to get the best software to provide the best support for my customers. Had I even a little less conviction than I do, I would have left them behind (and they would have lost about $300).
I'm telling you about this because you need to know how NOT to sell online. People purchasing online are impatient and easily put off by long and difficult sales processes. The high rate of abandoned orders at major retailers is evidence of this.
When you want people to buy from you, make it work like this:
- Show them the product, complete with description and price and a BIG VISIBLE "BUY NOW" BUTTON (or link).
- When they click BUY NOW, take them immediately to the checkout process. Don't require them to create an account first, and PLEASE don't prevent them from buying just because they use Gmail.
- After the purchase is complete, if it's a digital product, deliver it instantly. Don't wait to "verify" the sale. If your payment processor doesn't support that, GET A DIFFERENT PROCESSOR. There's too many out there that support instant delivery to use one that doesn't.
- If you need the person to have some kind of account with you for support purposes, etc., have them create that account after the sale. Send them directly to the account creation process after purchase, and email them a link to create their account in case they fail to do so. Trust me, when they need support, they'll eventually create an account with you!
Whew. Okay, I had to get that out of my system.
Please let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment on this post.
[Edit]To respond to some of the comments: I'm not giving the name of the software because the purpose of this post is not to bash the vendor. Let me just say that it's a BIG NAME in the help desk market. Also, the software is GREAT, but their sales process is lousy — must be different teams responsible for the two![/Edit]
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$676.08 from 154 visitors.
September 8, 2009
If you've followed my blog for a while, it's likely you've heard me tout the benefits of focusing on razor-targeted keywords to increase the conversion rate of your web site.
To put it simply: keywords that make clear exactly what the searcher is looking for result in a much larger percentage of people buying something. For example, somebody looking for "dallas term life insurance quote" is probably much more likely to buy than somebody searching for "term life insurance." The first searcher is a buyer, the second is quite possibly just looking for information.
This has certainly been the case with a certain web site of mine that holds the number three spot in Google for the name of the product it ranks for. It doesn't get much traffic, but what it does with the traffic it does get is amazing! In fact, in August the site only received 154 unique visitors, but those 154 visitors resulted in 29 sales totaling $676.08 in affiliate income for me.
Twenty-nine sales from 154 visitors is an 18% conversion rate, which is truly excellent for a two-page affiliate web site. (Incidentally, this is the same site I blogged about a while back in this post, which gives more details about the web site.)
This site enjoys such a high conversion rate because it ranks well for a highly targeted set of keywords — the name of the product. It was super easy to rank for, and achieved it's ranking in only six weeks. How did I rank it so well so fast? Simply by putting the site into my 3WayLinks network.
So the next time you sit down to research what keywords you should try and rank your web site for, don't overlook keywords just because they don't get many searches each month. If the keywords are razor-targeted, you'll get a better ranking faster, and often with a bigger bottom line.
Please post your thoughts and questions in a comment below.
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Move over Twitter…
July 16, 2009
It all started with Twitter. I love the idea of microblogging. It's a beautiful thing. Twitter makes it easy to post your thoughts and ideas about just about anything in 140 characters or less. Other folks can follow along and read what you have to say.
That's why I love Twitter, but that's also why I don't like it.
You see, it's a great idea, but unfortunately it often ends up that I'm following all of these folks who are posting about what they had for breakfast, or tweet that they're giving their dog a bath, or other ridiculous stuff that I have absolutely no interest in.
Then there are the spammers. Oh my goodness! 100 tweets in a row advertising trash I'm not interested in.
Even when folks aren't spamming, Twitter seriously lacks focus. From one tweet to the next, the sheer volume of subjects is dizzying — and it's rarely related.
That's why I created TipDrop.com. TipDrop is what I call a "social-knowledge" site. Simply put, it's a very focused form of microblogging site.
At TipDrop, a user creates a "tip sheet" focused on a particular subject. The user who created the tip sheet, and other TipDrop users, can post tips to the tip sheet. The users can also vote for or against the tips on the tip sheet. Since 140 characters really isn't enough for a good tip, your tips can be up to 255 characters long.
It's like Twitter meets Wikipedia meets Digg.
For example, let's say I created tip sheet on How to get people to link to your web page (which I have–that link points to it). You can go to that tip sheet to read all of the tips that I and other users have added to get ideas about how to build links to your site. If you like a tip, you vote it up — if you don't like it, you vote it down.
You see the power here? Instead of random bits of noise and nonsense, TipDrop creates tightly focused pages of practical knowledge. It's social-knowledge.
To make it even better, TipDrop is driven by what I'm calling a "credibility engine." Everything in the system is given a "credibility" score: users, tip sheets and tips. The more users vote for a tip, the higher the credibility of the tip, the tip sheet and the tip-writing user. The more users that vote against the tip, the lower the credibility of those three things.
The best (read: most credible) tips appear on top of the tip sheet. Once a tip falls below a credibility score of 1, it disappears off the list.
The more credibility a user gains, the higher up the list his tips appear when he first writes them. Of course, those tips are then subject to users voting them up or down. Also, the higher a user's credibility, the more power his votes up or down command.
What this does is encourage high-quality tips from users who are trying to establish themselves as experts in their field. Each tip is linked back to its author's own account page, where a timeline of the user's tips appear, as well as a list of the user's tip sheets.
The credibility engine also helps prevent spam and junk from coming into the system. Spammers' tips will quickly get voted down, reducing the credibility of not only the tips, but the spammer's account. That way, when they try to submit more spam, their spammy tips will have virtually no credibility, appear at the bottom of the tip sheet, and after just a vote or two disappear entirely.
Of course, the creator of a tip sheet has the ability to delete tips they feel are inappropriate. So the tip sheet owner maintains control that way as well.
Unlike Twitter, TipDrop also encourages you to have links on your account page. You can have up to 10 links appear on the right sidebar of your account pages. And since all of the tip sheets you create appear with your account profile and links on them, you are rewarded for making your tip sheets popular by having other people visit your links.
On top of that, the site is monetized with AdSense ads. In your user settings you can put your AdSense Publisher ID and have 75% of all ad impressions and clicks from your account pages and tip sheets credited to your own AdSense account. I believe that users should receive a monetary incentive to create great content, and that's just another way I make that happen for TipDrop.com users.
TipDrop is a great way to get your email list to build link-bait lists of information on just about anything. Think about it: create a tip sheet on the best ways to lose 10 lbs, have other users add their own tips, and monetize it from the AdSense ads plus links down the sidebar to weight-loss products you promote! Build your credibility up with enough great tips and you'll soon be an established authority in your niche.
The site is now in beta, and I encourage you to go take 30 seconds to sign up for a free account (that's really all it takes — it's super-fast and easy). Perhaps start by adding your own tips to my tip sheet on how to get people to link to your web page?
Check the Site Links down the right sidebar of the home page for links to the TipDrop blog and forum as well. I'm very interested in hearing your suggestions and thoughts on how to make the system better.
Click here to go to TipDrop.com now.
And be sure to post your thoughts and questions in a comment below.
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Like what you see? Then subscribe to Marketing Insiders and reap big benefits! By subscribing to my free Marketing Insiders email list, you will regularly receive special member-only insider information, discounts and freebies. You will also be notified when new articles are posted here at the blog. It's absolutely free to subscribe, and you can leave the list at any time. For subscribing today, I will give you a valuable free gift as well! |
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Jonathan Leger has been earning his living online full-time since the fall of 2004. He regularly posts advice about search engine optimization (his current passion), AdSense and Internet Marketing. 
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