Scaring away sales isn’t a real thing, is it? On the contrary, companies scare away customers all the time. It happens to you all the time when you are shopping. Think of your last three big purchases. While you were shopping around, you were persuaded (in one way or another) to buy from one company. Unless that company had an unmissable deal, it means you were probably scared away by all the companies you didn’t buy from. Here are a few snippets of advice from a Shopify web developer on how “Not” to scare away sales.
When Transparency is a Big Issue
The “Three Click Rule” became popular in web design circles because it put the focus on having a clean and easy-to-use interface. Getting people from where they are to where they want to be in three clicks. It is still a valuable concept because too many websites are so busy selling that they hold people back from buying. If somebody wants to go from their current web page to the page where they can buy, it should be clear and transparent on how to do so and where to go.
When Intrigue Leads To a Loss of Sales
The idea of transparency was mentioned above, and this factors into that idea, but in a very different way. An example of poor transparency is when you are trying to buy a subscription to a gaming platform, and you are trying to figure out which games come with the gold package, the silver package, or the bronze package, but the website purposefully makes it difficult for you to figure it out so you are forced to buy a bigger package to see what it contains. That is an example of a lack of transparency.
An example of intrigue leading to a loss of sales goes like this: you look at the gold, silver, and bronze packages, but the website only tells you three of the games each contains. Instead of stating all the games in each package, they try to sell you the idea that there are some awesome games and that you will be pleasantly surprised. There are some people who may fall for this “Mystery box” approach, but most people are smart enough to stay clear of promotional tactics that try to build intrigue. It is the same reason you don’t click open the spam emails that say, “Amazing surprise inside” in the subject line.
What Are Your Barriers to a Sale?
If you are running a business, then you need to test your website to find its potential problems. Perhaps people are running away because of your pop-ups, perhaps your shopping cart stalls, or perhaps people are having trouble finding their way out of certain areas of your website. Test your website and the sales process. Would you buy from this company? How easy is it to make a purchase? Did you easily find all the things you want? Get a Shopify web developer to go over your website and test it with the same questions in mind. Contact us, the Collective Fab Agency and let us work on your website to remove some of your most glaring barriers to a sale. Make more sales by making the buying process easier.
