Did you ever walk into and out of a store based on its appearance. Merchandise was poorly organized or strewn around; the store was dirty; the staff unkempt…
Now look at your web site’s store… Does it bear a closer resemblance to the well layed out and slickly merchandised aisles of a Gap or the stacked on tables next to the weed eater design of Billy Bob’s annual Spring garage sale and basement blowout?
Store Design Matters; whether online or off
In a report published by Questus (a web design firm) and reported by eMarketer.com, 68% of Online Shoppers used a site’s appearance as a determinant of trust.
Bottom line? If a web site doesn’t look professional, it won’t earn your trust. And, of course, who wants to shop at a site they don’t trust? The question you need to ask yourself is, “Does my site generate trust and with it the confidence that a shopper needs to buy from me?”
Good Design Includes Good Navigation and Ease of Use
An attractive design creates trust but the ability to easily find and buy what you need are other key factors. Questus’ survey demonstrates that while price reigns supreme as the #1 factor influencing purchase; site navigation and the checkout process carry significant weight in a shopper’s decision making process.
Think of it this way, a great looking store that’s poorly merchandised — women’s garter’s next to men’s hats, potatoes next to drain opener (you get the picture) — combined with a checkout process that’s tortured — e.g., the Target store with 60 checkout stations of which 2 are manned — is a recipe for abandoned shopping carts and frustrated shoppers who not only won’t come back but either won’t tell their friends about your site or, worse, will warn them off of it.
Do a little testing with your site. Ask your friends, staff or colleagues to go shopping on your site. Give them a list of things to purchase. Set up some 100% coupons to be applied at purchase – so they don’t actually have to spend anything. Then ask them to report back on their experience. And don’t forget to shop your site yourself. For an even greater eye opener, shop your competitors’ sites the same way. Which experience was better? Take the information you learned and use it to improve. Both your customers and your bottom line will thank you.
By the way, I’m a great believer in imitation as the sincerest form of flattery. So, if you don’t know where to start, you might take a look at e-tailing.com’s list of 100 top merchants. Take an internet road trip and see how the top merchants do it. You may be precluded by budget and resources to do exactly what these folks do but you should be able to glean enough good ideas to make a great start in improving the attractiveness, merchandising and profitability of your store.
