Why the Web is a Very un-American Medium
by Mat GreenfieldI'm afraid that it's true. The web is a very un-American development. It just doesn't gel with one of the core concepts that makes America great. What I mean is, on the web; you are guilty until proven innocent.
If you've ever walked into a car dealership thinking to yourself "I am not going to buy anything" then conceptually you already know what I mean. Let me explain:
The web has been spoiled by scams, frauds, identity theft, e-mail address harvesting, and spam mail. At this point, we are all very wary of disclosing our (somewhat disposable) email address, let alone our physical address and credit card information (we'll call this buying resistance). And so, the role of the web-marketer is to overcome that hesitance, and provide an environment of utmost 'comfort' where e-commerce transactions can take place with confidence.
Now, I'm afraid, here's where another rather un-American idea comes in. You see, I think that champions - sports, business, movie, etc, have clouded our perception. We have this idea that in order to succeed, we must be 'the best', and so we might be tempted to try to develop the absolute best website in order to overcome the buying resistance that our site visitors feel. Well on the web, I don't think that's necessary.
And that?s good news for you, because frankly developing the best website out there would be hard, expensive, and time consuming. So if you don?t have to develop the best website, what sort of site do you have to develop? Well, I'm not entirely sure how to describe it, but maybe "the un-worst" site comes close.
Still confused? Ok, let me try again. I think that overcoming buying resistance is about the absence of something, rather than the presence of it. It's about the absence of red-flags. A red-flag in this sense is something on a site that gives you reason to doubt the honesty, quality, or trustworthiness of the website or the products. The bottom line is simple - credibility.
Here are some of the most common red-flags (please note, I understand that doing these things on your website doesn't mean that you are untrustworthy, it can just make you appear that way):
No contact information
Not listing your contact information sends the message that you don?t want people to reach you. It implies some level of dishonesty. A related problem is listing partial contact information (such as a PO Box rather than a physical address), or listing email, but not phone. For full credibility, be fully accessible to your customers and potential customers.
Home-made look and feel
Most people would prefer to buy from a 'real business' rather than a hobbyist. A website that looks home-made implies that you're running your business out of your garage (which may be true, but reduces your credibility and conversion rate nonetheless).
Colored backgrounds, animated gifs, pixilated logos, etc can all make your site look amateurish. A clean and professional look and feel is accessible to all small business owners with many good-looking template designs available for less than $100 (check out www.templatemonster.com). I would probably stay away from the commonly used free templates that come with web design software.
Pictures of people
This one might just be a pet-peeve of mine, but showing photographs taken of your employees at their desks, or family snapshots, or (even worse) pictures of you and your dog, is a definite no-no. I can?t think of a more effective way to scream "SMALL COMPANY"! I understand that you love your _______ (family, dog, employees, whatever), but your corporate website is not the place to show images of them and it lowers your websites conversion rate. Instead, project a professional presence in every way possible. If you use a photograph of yourself or your employees for some reason, make sure that it's a professionally taken portrait style image.
Non-secure purchase pages
I'm sure that none of you are making this elementary mistake, but in 2005, anyone not using a secure connection for e-commerce transactions is highly suspicious. Also, make it clear to visitors that your connection is secure, by utilizing the padlock-type of graphic available from your security certificate issuer.
Shopping cart-shock
A high number of shopping cart abandons (people who place product into their cart, but never complete the purchase process) could be an indicator of some sort of shopping cart shock. Asking for too much information, or the wrong information in the wrong sequence can make the visitor feel uncomfortable.
Another problem can be a shopping cart or check-out process that looks very different from your main website. I understand that full-customization can be time consuming and costs money, but make sure that it at least looks like the same website (even though it may not be!).
Refining your web presence to not include these type of ?red-flags? will increase your overall credibility and increase the level of comfort of your prospective purchasers. As you do so, you?ll find that your conversion rate increases, and your revenues soar, and that's a very-American idea.
This article was originally published in Practical eCommerce Magazine.
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