Internet Business Blog

Part 2 of 3

Selling a physical product (or service) over the internet is not as effortless as one would like to think. You may be exceptional at drawing targeted traffic to you’re online store, but do you know how to capitalize on it and convert the visitor into a sale? Like I mentioned in Part 1 of this series, writing killer page content is absolutely crucial and in all honesty – just as important as having an excellent product or service to sell in the first place.

Today, I’d like to expand that point even further by showing you how the proper use of pictures can *and will* increase online sales.

Due to my experience in the field, I’ve concocted a three part mini-series in creating killer product descriptions. This is part #2 – and I will be covering how to effectively use Pictures to sell your products.

Use Pictures, and Lots of Them!

I love using pictures to sell products online. They say that a picture is worth a million words, and this phrase couldn’t be any truer than in an Ecommerce situation. There are two types of pictures that I use on a consistent basis:

1. Stock Pictures. A stock picture is essentially a picture of the product (by itself) with a solid background. This picture is meant to give the prospective customer a general idea of what the product looks like. When possible, the option to zoom in and inspect a larger version of the same picture is highly recommended.

2. Action Pictures. I try to include an action picture of some sort on every product description page. Action pictures show off the product being used in the “real world”. I’ve found this to work especially well within the sporting goods industry.

Quality versus Quantity

I honestly feel that the quality of a product picture is much more important than the quantity. Having one great picture on your ecommerce product page is a good deal more valuable than three of which that are simply OK or lacking. OK pictures do not sell products online. Great pictures do.

Think about this: the quality of the pictures in your product pages goes hand in hand with the quality of your ecommerce operation.

If there’s one point that I’m trying to drive home it’s this – Think QUALITY!

Compress Your Images

As a final note, I’d like to mention that it’s extremely important to compress the images that you’re using on your product pages. Image compression can be done by a plethora of image editing applications (I prefer Adobe Photoshop), and is a must because customers will not wait for your product page to load up if it’s slow due to large image sizes.

Your Thoughts?

I’d like to hear your thoughts on the subject as well. At the time of this writing, I have successfully launched five ecommerce websites and have learned so much by doing so via forums, articles, common sense, and trial / error. That being said, this is a never ending process of learning what works so I’d love to know… what works for you in regards to your product pages?

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Part 1 of 3

Selling a physical product over the internet is much more difficult than it is in ‘brick and mortar’ locations because customers are unable touch, hear, smell, or taste the product that they’re browsing. This leaves us with only one sense, and that is sight. Though this is obviously a very powerful sense, consumers tend to use multiple senses when deciding whether or not to make a purchase (whether they know this or not) – and that is a proven fact.

Typically, a traditional retail store such as a Target or Best Buy have a conversion rate as high as 25%, while in ecommerce 3% is considered very good. For this reason alone you can see the importance in writing killer product descriptions if you want to be successful in your online ecommerce venture.

Due to my experience in the field, I’ve concocted a three part mini-series in creating killer product descriptions. This is part #1 – and I will be covering Stock Product Descriptions and why you should never, ever use them when selling online.

Ditch Stock Product Descriptions

Using stock product descriptions is one of the biggest mistakes that an ecommerce professional can make – yet it can still be seen on websites both large and small.

Stock Product Descriptions are basically the straightforward “write-up” that a distributor or manufacturer gives you (and every single one of your competitors) to sell their product online. This copy generally ranges from a short sentence or two to a couple of paragraphs in length. I highly recommend against using such content on your website for a multitude of reasons, which I have listed below.

Why Are Stock Descriptions Bad?

Stock descriptions are bad to use on your ecommerce site for a variety of reasons. Most notably however, is the fact that your product page becomes yet another carbon copy in this tangled web that we weave. Do you want to stand out from your competitors? If so, using stock descriptions won’t help you accomplish this goal.

Top 5 reasons to ditch stock product descriptions:
1. Your competition is using them. Not only are your direct competitors using the exact same or slightly modified product descriptions, you are creating duplicate content and are just begging the search engines to penalize you for it.

2. Stock product descriptions are often dull and full of grammatical errors. Nothing will turn a customer away faster than a product description that is boring and appears to be written by a young kid in his parent’s basement.

3. Stock product descriptions are habitually vague and/or misleading. Many manufacturers and distributors do not do a great job at transferring their sales copy to “internet-friendly” sales copy. Potential customers want details, and I mean details. Likewise, if a customer is mislead due to a poor or misleading description your business will suffer via returns and refunds.

4. Stock product descriptions are often of little SEO keyword value. In ecommerce it’s certainly true that you should write with the customer in mind – but this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be thinking about search engine optimization as well. Do some keyword research and stay ahead of the curve. Rank above of the competition and there won’t be any competition!

5. Stock product descriptions are not influential by nature. If you are selling a specific product, stand up and be the authority on that product. You know the product inside and out, so tell your potential customers all about it. Don’t be afraid to add that special human touch.

In Conclusion

The point that I’m trying to drive home is that you should always write your own product descriptions. It’s fine to use the stock description as a starting point but be sure to heavily add to it and modify it to suit your needs. By giving customers more information, personal experiences, and unique content you will naturally set yourself apart from the competition and reap a number of major benefits such as: higher visitor to customer satisfaction ratings, more opportunities for search engine optimization, and being able to solidify yourself as an authority in your chosen niche.

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Customer service can quite literally make or break a business on the internet. If you have an exceptionally high level of customer service, it may be enough to sway potential and repeat customers to purchase from your site instead of a high profile competitor. On the other hand - If you have a hazardously low level of customer service, you may receive unwanted criticism that will follow your business to all depths of the internet, eventually affecting your sales and reputation as a whole.

What are they saying about you?

1. Google your website. You can find out a lot about what others think of your customer service by simply plugging your web site’s name into any major search engine such as Google, Yahoo, or MSN. I often refer to the term as Googling because I am a Google addict, but bear in mind that any search engine will do the trick. Also, be sure to continue after the first page of results. Go five or more pages deep, and click on random pages after that. You never know where a customer review or opinion is hiding.

2. Ask your customer base. Create a survey and email your former and current customers how they think that you’re doing. I’ve found that as long as you keep the questions short and sweet, they will usually answer them.

3. Ask yourself. Often times, being completely honest with yourself will provide incredible results, after all, who has more insight about how you are truly doing than yourself? If I am lacking in any particular area whether it be customer service related or otherwise, deep down I am always the first to know about such a flaw.

How to help raise your level of customer service:

1. Spend more time serving your customers. We only have so many hours in each business day, so it is crucial how we spend them. I’ve found that setting aside specific blocks of time each day dedicated to serving my customers has really helped to increase sales, productivity, and customer satisfaction.

2. Respond to emails and voice mails promptly. Nothing will cause you to miss a sale or lose a repeat customer by not responding to their phone calls or emails in a timely fashion. The general rule of thumb is 24 hours or one business day for a response, but I would go so far as to say that If you do not respond within 4 business hours the sale is as good as gone. Make it a point to try and check your email and voice mail multiple times per day, every single day.

3. Write down the areas that you need to improve upon. Depending on your personality (and ego) this can be a very difficult and painful process, but I encourage you to be completely honest with yourself. If you do not make note of your flaws as a customer service representative or business owner you will not be able to fix them. As a business owner, customer service is generally only one of many hats that you will wear during the business day. Make note of the problem, or you will likely forget that the problem even exists – until you lose the sale or even worse a valuable customer.

In Conclusion

If you’ve found that your customer service needs some work the good news is that it’s a very fixable situation. Follow the steps that I have outlined for you above and you will notice more repeat sales, good publicity, and most importantly - a very satisfied customer base.

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