WebProNews

SES: The Almighty Conversion

Potential online customers have seen the numerous stories about online break-ins and identity theft in the news. It's created wariness in many who could be served well by an e-commerce site with products those shoppers would normally wish to buy.

ScanAlert's Nigel Ravenhill said this lack of consumer confidence restricts e-commerce growth. His firm tested this in 2005 on an e-commerce site where consumers would either see or not see ScanAlert's 'Hacker Safe' image.

As might be expected, this A/B split test showed better conversions with the 'Hacker Safe' displays. Cautious shoppers want reassurance that their transactions will stay secure. Listing contact information and hours where customer service will be available for questions helps with this.

Ravenhill also noted that extending a cookie to a 30-day life, to allow people to come back to their shopping carts, gives the site a second chance to gain a shopper's business. If the person leaves and comes back, and doesn't have to shop a second time, that could lead to a sale.

Bryan Eisenberg talked about his concepts for calling shoppers to action. He listed a hierarchy of optimization as rules of thumb for the e-commerce webmaster:

1. Functional - does it do what I need? 2. Accessible - can everyone access it? 3. Usable - is it user-friendly 4. Intuitive - does it feel natural and doesn’t make me think? 5. Persuasive - about people and motivation

Different types of people shop in different ways. Eisenberg listed four personality types, which usually reflects the way they will act when browsing a site. Spontaneous types seek top sellers and new releases, while humanistics care about reviews.

Methodical types search by genre, or classes of items available from a seller. Competitive types search by actor, title, brand name, etc, when pursuing what they want. E-commerce sites can appeal to these types with a persuasive architecture, by recognizing these consumer types and focusing on what the site can offer versus the ways these people will shop.