Website Users Hold the Secrets to Increased Sales
on Your Website

By: Thomas Wood-Young

There are two ways to increase sales to your Website: The first is to bring more visitors, and the second is to improve the site by making it easier to use or more enticing to buy from. This article will focus on how to make your site a stronger selling tool and how to get help from users.

User Feedback Is Truth
Until you actually watch a user navigate through the site, it is impossible to really know what is going on. Most companies rely on people that are too close to the Website for help in improving the site to meet user needs. The site developers and marketers are just too close to the project to really get it. Users in the target market must review the site through a formal usability testing program. Make sure you use an independent testing source so that you get direct and honest feedback. Otherwise, users tend to be polite and not be too hard on the site. Take the usability testing seriously to get a more realistic and consistent view of your sites usability.

Why do People Come to Your Site?
People come to your site because they are interested in something you have to offer. For the most part, they don't land on the site by accident or just out curiosity. What do they want on your site? What are they looking to do? Set up a user testing session and ask six to eight users those questions. The vast majority of visitors to your site come for a specific reason. You must know what that reason is and how you can convert the visitor into sale or sales lead for your business.

User Turn-Offs
What turns off the user? Here is a list of the major obstacles to getting an inquiry or sale on your site:

• Hard to find information on services or products
• Too much text or confusing content
• Technical problems with the site
• Pricing not clear on the site
• Registration problems on the site
• Having to set up a login and register
• Shipping prices are not appropriate to product price points

User Turn-Ons
What makes life easy for the user and leads to sales conversions? Here are a few suggestions based on user feedback:

• Brief and easy to find information on products and services
• Fair pricing that is easy to find and understand
• Professional, correct and easy to use Websites
• Clear policies and privacy statements on the site
• Good customer service policies and access to help
• Appropriate use of personal information
• Optional and easy account set-up and login

Don't just rely on what your Website marketing folks are telling you, go direct to the user and find how to build sales and increase the return from your Web marketing efforts.