Making Your Customers Work for You
06/10/2009 - By Donald Varner E-commerce website development is no walk in the park for the unlearned online business owner. To appropriate the metaphor, it is more like a walk in the park while juggling a toaster oven, a television set and a laptop—failure to catch and serve the demands of all its aspects can be damaging.
Developing a website into one that is user-friendly is simple enough and most definitely has its advantages, with its apparent ease as the main attraction for potential customers. The next step to take which will undoubtedly raise sales would be making the e-commerce website buyer-friendly. The hard-striking financial state of today makes the everyday buyer think more than twice before making a purchase. The decision he makes factors in both the necessity of the product and the reliability of the company that delivers it to him. Quite succinctly, people are clinging to their money more than ever.
It is then the challenge of the e-commerce website developer not just to part the buyer with his money, but also ensure him that he is actually getting his money's worth. Every non-ridiculously-rich shopper wants to know an item before spending his hard-earned money on it—like the last time you yourself compared the prices of one can of beans from another at the local grocer's. You, the legitimate business owner, are assumed to be aiming for the customer's satisfaction with your product. As such, the best way to assure potential buyers of a sale that he will not regret is business transparency, that is, relating to him all the necessary details of a product: specifications, pictures, functions, etc. This would be the buyer's first experience of the product at hand (rather, at mouse-click).
Buyers, however, are getting wiser nowadays and do not simply take the company's word for a product. After all, would you really expect a salesman to include in his pitch that the vacuum cleaner he's advertising is actually less-powerful than the competitor's? If you are confident about your product, as every business owner should be, then people relating their experiences (which eventually become recommendations) about your product should excite rather than worry you. The word of mouth gets around, and it has found its way into the internet. What better way to advertise your product effectively than letting your buyers work for you? The simple task of putting up a genuine customer's forum where previous buyers relay their satisfaction about your product can do wonders in letting other individuals know that you and your online business are reliable. This tiny gesture also lets people know that you are comfortable enough about your product to give customers free reign over a part of your e-commerce website. Consider also that this might be a good way to minimize the workload of your customer service duties, as the forum also has the potential to answer frequently asked questions.
Simply put, a satisfied customer can put in a good word for you with other customers; a means to capitalize this can do nothing but help your e-commerce website.
About the author:
Don Varner
http://websitedevelopment.org