In any  e-commerce business, converting customers is closer to fluke than anything. Compared to the numbers of offline retailers (around 30% of their visitors convert to customers) online retailers are lucky to see conversion above 1%. I have seen the following averages:

-price point under $100 - 2% is obtainable
-price point $100-$500 - 1.5% is obtainable
-price point $500+ - .5%-1% is obtainable.

There are 2 major problems that effect online conversion rates:

1. the ease of leaving your store and the complete lack of commitment to get there in the first place./?
2. Unsure of the store…fear of non-delivery, fear of fraud, bad product, etc.

#1 above is a customers problem. There is little you can do to keep this customer here. #2 above you can control.  Something that I have seen work dividends on my client and own ecommerce sites is the use of customer testimonials, ratings, communications to the general public. It can solve several problem when strategically placed on your website:

1. Gives them the comfort that they are not the first person to order from your website.
2. Gives them the perception that they can speak their mind if it does not work out.
3. Gives them the extra push when deciding between your product and another website’s product.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 16th, 2007 at 12:18 pm and is filed under Online Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.