Allow space for customer reviews

Often, ecommerce businesses tend to overlook one of the most potent tools by which they can enhance their value. One may have the best design and the best features for the online shopper, but there is perhaps no tool that is as powerful as customer reviews. It is simple common sense that nothing makes a product sell better than a good testimonial.

Why offer customer reviews?

The most important use of reviews is that they build confidence about the product. Undoubtedly, at this, there is no better means for a product to be seen and sold. There is no denying that the most creative ads may not go as far as user reviews in pushing the sale of a product.

Customer reviews are a good way of populating a website with valuable content. By allowing customer reviews, an online business allows free discussion of its products. This is something that never happens in a physical store, because there, a product never gets discussed about in forums.

Reviews aid improvement in the product. As a seller and not a creator of products or services, an ecommerce business has limited control over the quality of the product. It only receives from one source and sells to another. Discussion about the product from its users goes a long way in improving the quality of the product, because the online business can use these discussions as proof that the product is not being well received and present it to the manufacturer. This contributes to betterment.

The way to get them

Having understood the importance of user reviews, the next step that ecommerce businesses should undertake is ways by which they can get these. Getting reviews may be great for ebusinesses, but getting users to give their opinion is a great challenge. The simple reason for this is that the customer has no gain in doing this. So, ebusinesses should induce them to do this. They can reward them for writing reviews. Of course, this is a bit like offering a bribe; but when directed properly, it can work.

Think of variety

The reward can be given in intuitive and different ways. For instance, an ecommerce business may offer incentives or discounts on the purchases made by reviewers. An ecommerce business can also think of enlisting consistent reviewers to an elite panel of select users, which will be entitled to special packages. Ecommerce businesses should also be sportive when it comes to negative reviews. It should treat these as means for improvement.

Using simple commonsense in the ecommerce website

Ok, so you have been in ecommerce for a while now and know what the business is all about. You started the business with a lot of fanfare and enthusiasm, but a few months later, you are discovering that it is not delivering what you expected. There can bemany reasons for which your ecommerce business may not be fulfilling your expectations, but have you thought of the most important element for success –common sense?
Using common sense at every level
Don’t get us wrong –many ecommerce businesses do their best, but fail to use their intuition where it matters most. The grandest design or the most attractive layout may not amount to much if the website does not give what the customer is looking for. So, what is it that is common sense for a website? This can be in every area and section of the website. An imaginary scenario is listed below:
Make the customer feel at home
For example, you could think of what is it that the customer looks for when shopping: Is a product available right now, or is it out of stock? If it is; when are you expecting stocks? When the customer clicks on the product, just have an auto responder mail saying something like: “Thank you, dear…We are glad you visited our site. Congratulations for selecting this product. Unfortunately, at this point of time, we do not have your chosen product. We will be able to deliver it in the next two weeks. In the meantime, you could confirm your order by taking these next few simple steps. We will deliver your product as soon as the next batch of stocks arrives. We are sincerely sorry for the inconvenience”. These are seemingly very small matters, but are critical for success. This gives the customer the impression that she is not shopping with a zombie, but with an interactive website that understands her choices well.
Guide thoroughly
Another area in which common sense can be used is in making a simple tab under each product, stating whether it is available in the physical store alone or is available online, or both. And this information has to be placed in a prominent place, or else the customer can get frustrated to make a few clicks through and then, at the time of making the purchase, finds that it is not available under her chosen mode of purchase. This scenario of course, will not arise if the business has only an online presence.
Imagine yourself being the customer
Common sense is the root to successful business. This can be brought about when the business stands in the customer’s shoes and tries to understand what appeals to her and what does not. If you were visiting an ecommerce website; what is the kind of experience you would like to enjoy? This will be a good way to measure up how you are as a business.

Product descriptions are the key to a sale

This seems like the most obvious of questions. It is like askingwhat you go to a school for. Yet, the answer is not so simple. Getting to the bottom of what a customer is looking for is the key to business success. The difficulty in getting to this question is that in ecommerce; you don’t know who your customer is. Yes, you have a pretty good idea of what to place on your website, but just what the customer is looking for is often difficult to understand and zero in on.
Make the customer interested
When a visitor comes to your ecommerce website, getting her interested in your site is the most important aspect. When she gets the product she is looking for; you are still not certain if the sale is going to go ahead. Why? Because your product description may not be fully adequate! Sounds simple, but most shoppers get turned away from an ecommerce site because of lack of proper product description.
Getting the customer to understand the product
The product display is important, but does not in itself lead to a sale. Imagine if a visitor is looking for a water bottle. A photo of the water bottle, colours available and size would probably do. But if a customer is looking for a more expansive product like, say a shirt. Then, what would a display and a small description of the product be sufficient to warrant a purchase? This is doubtful.
Tell more
When does a product get sold? Only when the customer understands it very well, right? This is where a more detailed, yet pertinent description would come into the picture. To use the example we just looked at, imagine if these descriptions were added to the shirt under the picture:
Size: Mention the size of the shirt, and with it, include the height and weight of the person on whom it sits well.
Colour: The colour is there to see; but give a small description of the kind of body structure and build it suits well.
Occasion: Make a small note of the occasions for which this shirt is well suited. Ex: Party; office; travel, etc.
Varieties: Variety consists of not just a huge number of shirts. In this instance, it could mean having images of what it looks like when it is tucked inside the trousers or left outside, or what it would look like when worn over jeans pants or formal trousers. Follow it up with small and effective descriptions of each.
This way, proper descriptions of the product can go a long way in making the customer’s decision making easier.

Inducing customers to buy more from your e-store

Any customer is driven by one motivation –to get more. An ecommerce business should also be driven by the same motivation –to get more. Isn’t this some kind of oxymoron? How do you get more when the customer demands more? Here lies the key: Make the customer buy more, while giving her the feeling that she is being forced to buy that little extra. All that is needed is intuitive thinking. When a customer comes to your site, the trick is to make her buy more, in the process of which you get more from her.
Entice with related products
The essence of any good business is to make the customer happy. How does this happen in an ecommerce business, when you don’t even see your customer? Agreed; you don’t see her, but can sense and track her tastes and preferences. This is the first step to making the customer buy more. Once you have some idea of what the customer is looking for during a visit; subtly and slowly introducing related products is not much of a problem.
Making the customer feel good
This kind of selling is similar to what a smart salesman offers you when you go to buy something like clothing items.When you want to see shirts, the salesman would make you feel comfortable by showing all the colours and designs of the shirt you are looking for. And then, without your being made to realise it, he would introduce a ‘just arrived’ range of ties. Who would not like to try an additional item like this? Even as you are settling for the tie, the next item you are going to fall for is a range of imported belts. And in the entire process; what was bolstered was not just the sale value, but your ego as well. Note the bottom line –the lesser you wanted; the more you ended up buying. And the salesman was nowhere being pushy or obtrusive. This is how ecommerce businesses also need to work to push up sales from one purchase.
The more you know the customer; the better
All this can happen only in one situation –when you have known your customer. When you start analysing a customer’s likes; it means you have got a good idea of what supplementary products to offer. Using the imaginary example provided above, a good ecommerce business can introduce various novel ways by which to induce more buying. It can come up with catchy write ups on the cart once one product is purchased, like “Want to try…?” You can also bait the customer with offers on these appendages. This is one effective way of getting the most out of a customer. Any day, it is much easier to juice an existing customer than to go in search of a new one!