Every new technology faces the same uphill battle when it comes to public acceptance and dispelling people's fears that something bad will happen to them as a result of some unknown or unanticipated problem.
Many people say they are hesitant to make a purchase online because the either fear the process or they fear that their money will be lost forever because the seller will "take the money and run."
I'm too young to remember the early days of inventions like the car, the radio, and the telephone, but there were great fears among the public about what these new devices would do to society.
Many people were slow to adopt and embrace change. It wasn't until they actually saw and understood the advantages and noticed other folks were using the inventions without harm that they decided to give them a try.
How many prospects are there for your business that are in this same boat? Are they hesitant to contact you even though they would love to purchase your products or services?
Of course no one knows the number of Internet-shy buyers that are staying away, but there is every indication that the number is significant. The percentage of shopping carts that are abandoned prior to the completion of a sale (some say it is in the neighborhood of 50% of all online purchases) attests to the fact that buyers are skittish and wary and not hesitant to drop an impending purchase in a heartbeat if everything isn't quite right.
So a natural question to ask yourself is this: "What am I doing in my business to calm the buying fears of my prospects?" Anything?
Internet selling is all about trust. When customers trust you and your business, they will spend money with you. If they don't feel you can be trusted, you won't earn their business.
Here are a few suggestions of practical things you can do in your business to gain the trust of your prospects by calming their fear of the unknown:
1. Personalize your business. The Internet tends to be impersonal and cold when it comes to humans interacting in a buy-sell relationship. Anything you can do to let the prospect know who you are and that you can be contacted easily will help you to gain that all-important level of trust.
Place your picture on the web site. Include an "About" page to let people know about both you and your business. Tell your audience about your experience in the field, your training, education, and qualifications. Include your full contact information (name, address, phone number, fax number, email address, etc) so people's fears are laid to rest that they won't be able to talk to a "live" person if anything about their sale goes wrong.
2. Prominently display four policies: security, privacy, guarantee, and refund. Make sure your customers can easily find these policies upon which your business is based. Leave no question in the mind of your client about any of these issues, right up front, before they are asked for a purchase.
3. Regarding the guarantee of your products - give the customer every advantage that you can and assume the risk of every transaction made so the customer has no reason to be hesitant about, or fear a purchase. He should always know that he can get his full money back at any time, for any reason. In a digital information business, the risk of such a no-fault, no questions asked guarantee is very small for the business owner. The increased sales you will get just from this one buyer benefit will more than compensate you for the occasional customer that will take advantage of your policy.
4. Place customer testimonials on your web site and in your sales letters. Prospects of your business and products love to read about other "regular people" that have done business with your company and come away happy with the experience. Think about it: whom is a prospect going to trust about the effectiveness of a product? Will it be the seller (that certainly has a reason to lie) or someone (just like me) that bought the product and is now singing its praises? Customers trust other customers to be honest and open about a purchase they made.
5. Provide, in advance of the purchase, a help system, toll-free support number, or other assurance that the buyer will have assistance readily available should he need help in using or returning the product. Customers are much more apt to buy something if all the risk of deriving benefit from that purchase is taken away.
Stay tuned for Part 2 . . .
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