One positive result of 2020 was the increased push towards online buying in consumer and business spaces. Of course, the trend was already there, but due to so many people staying at and working from home, just like B2C, B2B e-commerce saw ten years' worth of growth in just three months. Call it crazy-fast unprecedented growth, which may not be repeated, but it's excellent for businesses with an online presence.
The potential this brings to business owners is astonishing until you remember that there's also an increased competition. But that's not a bad thing. The extra push that this gives businesses to be just a little bit better is good. It forces you to look for ways to improve and offer a better product to your customer.
One way is by assessing your conversion rates and how you can improve them over time. Here are the six tweaks that you can make to get more conversions.
1. Make It Mobile-Friendly
In just one generation, people went from simple, bulky cell phones that had to be in just the right corner of the living room to get reception to call the pizza parlor down the street to smartphones that can call anywhere in the world with good reception. We use them so much that we hesitate to leave the room without them. Capitalize on the prevalence of mobile devices by ensuring that your website and shopping cart offer a smooth, easy-to-use experience.
Attention spans are dropping, so a page that loads too slowly may cause potential customers to click the back button and go on to the next search result. It may seem ridiculous, but it's the truth. Invest time and money in ensuring your website can be navigated easily on mobile devices and that the pages load quickly.
2. Create Crystal Clear Copy
Forget flowery, poetic prose and stick to clear, concise copy as you write content and sales pages that showcase your products and services. Address the pain point that they're having by not using your product and how it will affect them a week, a month, or a year down the road. Then show them that you can help them with the transformation. Let them see what their business can look like a year from having started using your product.
Use bullet points to showcase the benefits they'll get or experience. This will help them focus and getting to the "meat" of your sales pitch. Plus, it keeps their eyes going down the page, closer to your call to action, and the "Yes, sign me up!" button to make their purchase.
Any blocks of copy should be kept short, two to three sentences each. Plenty of white space makes reading easier on the eyes and keeps them on your sales page.
Include testimonies from satisfied customers and offer a guarantee that puts all risk on you. No, you won't get record numbers of refund requests. Think about how many online products you bought that were not that great or just so-so. Did you ask for your money back for all of them? Probably not. People are too busy to do that unless it's just terrible and was expensive enough to justify the hassle.
Now, this isn't permission to offer a product that's "meh" but a reminder to offer a no-questions-asked, 110% money-back kind of guarantee, so people realize they have no risk in making the purchase.
3. Focus On Your Highest Performing Platform
Most people agree that by focusing on the platform where you find most of your prospects and customers, you can tweak your processes to increase your ROI. With so many platforms out there, it's not hard to realize that some are just not where your prospective customers hang out.
This might not even be a social media platform. It might be that your email list is really engaged, or your blog readers check-in for weekly content without fail. Make a marketing strategy to engage them further, and add to your audience there.
4. Set Up A Sticky Cart Abandonment Sequence
So you've got a great movie website that loads in 1.718 seconds flat, your copy is spot-on, and they've added the product to their cart. But then their toddler comes into their home office needing help getting a snack, or a Slack message puts them on an urgent task. The cart is all too soon forgotten and abandoned. You've just lost a sale.
Unless....you have a cart abandonment sequence that sends them a message within an hour, reminding them of the uncompleted purchase form. Keep it lighthearted; quite possibly, they did intend to buy, but then life happened. Let them know that you get it; you're just like them, a person with many hats who appreciates friendly reminders. Now may they didn't want to buy. Offer them two links: one to the sales page and one to sign up to your email list. This way, even if they don't buy now, they're not lost for good. You can still communicate with them in the weeks and months to come.
One more tip: if they opt to buy but fail to complete the purchase a second time, send them a follow-up email with a coupon code. Even if they don't use it, no one gets mad when a money-saving coupon shows up. Again, offer them a chance to buy or join your mailing list.
5. Ensure Buying Is A No Brainer By Using Credit Key
With B2B business solutions, pricing can be high. A new entrepreneur who is bootstrapping their business may see immense value in your product and be ready to buy just two bullet points into your sales copy. But the price scares them a bit. They have the money, but what if next month is a bust? What if their kid gets sick and they can't work for a week and lose income? Even if it's a well-established business that usually has the money, maybe they just got stuck with a huge bill that cleared out their emergency fund.
When you use Credit Key to offer them point-of-sale financing with a low-introductory offer, the purchase doesn't seem large and removes the money barrier. A one-time payment of $9,999 is a lot all at once, but broken into 12 monthly payments of $833.25 each is much easier on a business's budget. Or offer 0% interest for 30 days to make a $500 purchase (which will give them 10x results) a no-brainer if implemented in their business.
Credit Key pre-approves your customers to give them financing that lowers the perceived price, reducing friction in the checkout process. You increase your potential for more sales, fewer abandoned carts, and larger orders.
6.Continue To Tweak Your Sales Process
Lets's say you block off a week to make all these changes to your online presence. That's great! You took action and did the work to improve your sales conversions. But these aren't the set-it-and-forget-it type of changes. The internet is an always-changing place. Next week's Facebook algorithm change may see your traffic skyrocket or plummet. Who knows?
Only you and your team know the metrics and trends behind them. Stay on top of them and make changes as necessary.
However, the one thing that won't need continual monitoring (except for being amazed by how many more sales you're getting) is Credit Key. It's easy to integrate and set on autopilot, just checking in on every so often.
We make it easy to offer your customers buy now pay later financing options. Contact us today to schedule a demo on how Credit Key can help your business boost conversion rates for your business.
Summary
In a nutshell, to get better conversion rates for your e-commerce business below mentioned are 6 key areas to focus:
- Make it mobile-friendly
- Create crystal clear copy
- Setup up a sticky cart abandonment sequence
- Focus on your highest performing platform
- Ensure buying is a no brainer by using Credit Key
- Continue to tweak sales process
Topics from this blog: B2B Payments E-commerce