Forum Moderators: buckworks
I will list the site in question in my profile if you want to see.
TIA,
Kevin
Have you thought it may not be your shopping cart, but other factors, such as:
site design
wording of text
trustworthiness of your company
the list goes on and on and on.
there are a few conversion experts round here (Hawkgirl) and I am sure they may be able to shed some light on the matter.
the other thing which I was thinking is, You are attracting the wrong type of visitor.
Shak
[webmasterworld.com...]
I couldn't see any glaring reason why your conversion rate is so low. The best thing I could suggest is test, test, and test some more. Try different colors, different layouts, different wording, etc. and find what works best. Sometimes a simple change can make a huge difference.
Opening individual windows, frames, it just needs to be cleaned up.
Many of my sales are coming from my page 1 ranking and page 2 ranking on Google for both my main key phrases.
To a large extent, what those keyword phrases are plays a role. How specific are they? Are they likely to bring people who are actually looking to buy, or are they bringing in people looking for general information? For example, a site might get a lot of traffic from people searching for "widget information" but get almost no conversions from them, while searches for "widget prices" might almost always mean sales.
When you're working with a variety of types of keyword phrases, it can be helpful to try to track conversions for each phrase -- or group some phrases together. In the above example I might not expect conversions from "widget information," "widget terminology," "widget history," etc., and so might exclude them from my "real" conversion calculation.
A few thoughts: Are those 2,000 visitors a day hitting your splash page and leaving, or are they poking around the site a bit?
If it's the former, I would suggest simplifying your splash page a bit. It's very crowded.
Beyond that, I agree with DrCool. Tinker a bit. Different audiences prefer different things. Try nixing the Flash. Fix a few of the spelling mistakes. Dump the 1/4 page of legal mumbo jumbo at the bottom of the page. See if you get a better response.
Another idea might be to sponsor a giveaway. Take one of your best sellers, and give it away in exchange for a brief survey -- What do you like about the site? What don't you like? Have you purchased here before? Why or why not? Etc.
I don't use frames.
Main key phrases are as such: "widget parts" and "widget accessories". Most of the people do stay past the main page. Average visit length is between 5 and 6 minutes consistantly for the past several months.
I will try getting rid of any new windows on links, dropping the flash logo, and start working on a new design for the main page.
Thanks for the suggestions. It has helped give me some ideas. Kind of like a writer who can't see their own mistakes until unbiased reads it.
Seasoned affiliates would have no trouble finding your affiliate program if you have a discreet link at the bottom of the page, and it would be better for regular visitors to keep their focus on the products.
Also, I suspect the category has a lot of "Lookie Lou's". I'd bet that a lot of your visitors are teenage boys who are dreaming about how to customize their fantasy vehicles, rather than actually shopping with credit card in hand.
Also, I'm #2 in google on a keyword "widget ideas" (widget would be the most general term that can describe what my site sells).
While I get tons of traffic from that single keyword, the conversion rate for those visitors is really low. The phrase is just too general.
I see there is a thing at the top of the page that says that credit card information is collected via a secure server, but I don't think it is.
That would be enough to scare off a lot of potential customers.
Even if it is, in actual fact, using ssl, just giving visitors the wrong impression will turn them away.
the logo you're using on Mals is pulled from your site so you should be able to check your log files to see how many people are adding a single item to the cart then leaving and how many are working through the cart to the payment page etc.
just a couple of other thoughts:
at first glance, the paypal logo is very visible, but it isn't clear that you process credit cards as well. the logos are there but the text is far too small - it looks like the card logos are associated with paypal. the copyright text (everything in the blue background at the bottom of the page) is also too small to read. likewise the links in boxes at the bottom of the page on white background.
descriptions for some items seem a bit weak - they leave a lot of questions unanswered. i don't know anything about jeeps etc, but if i did and i wanted parts, i'd want to know that the parts would fit MY jeep. standard front bumper - 2 sizes available, but which one am i adding to the cart? will it fit MY jeep? do i need any other parts with it or is it complete? or does one bumper fit every jeep ever made? will jeep owners know this? nothing personal, but i wouldn't buy parts from your site - i'd rather drive into town to make sure i got EXACTLY the right part.
what items are being sold? do they have good descriptions? are they vehicle parts or accessories? are they universal fittings or specific to particular makes and models? who is buying, owners, dealers, mechanics or others? do they give you a business name or anything?
navigation: consider letting users browse by different means - vehicle type (i.e. cherokee), manufacturer of component etc.
i think you need to spend time on getting more and better images - remember, a picture is worth a thousand words.
look at what keywords visitors are coming in on - if they are broad, then you should expect a lower than average response % - if they are narrow, then you should look really hard at your site.
i couldn't figure out your pr because my browser was redirecting to your numerical ip - what is up with this? get some more links and get your pr up and work on getting se referrals that are very targetted.
The PR is just 4, it was 5 last month.
P.S. Nicely disguised spam/notspam... Jeep, Jeep Wrangler...are registered trademarks! Just be careful an automated bot does not view it as spam though.
I would not buy from you for one reason. After 4/5 clicks I could not find a returns policy. If I were to buy an item from you, I want to know that you will allow me to return it - and what (if anything) you charge if I do return it. Do I have to pay a handling charge for a refund, will I get this free if I get a replacement (i.e. the right part)?
Hint: Look at all the Amazon links on their homepage. See what you're missing. You may not be able to do order tracking, but you can certainly do some of the others.
After 4/5 clicks I could not find a returns policy
There's actually a link on the home page - you probably missed it because you have to read past all the affiliate stuff to see it. Probably stops a lot of people :)
- Home page is very cluttered
- The logo belongs on the upper left corner and not the login box.
- "checkout/cart" should go on the top middle or top right -- people will look for it there
- make your logo smaller, it is taking too much page space and looks a bit unprofessional
- move these links to the top of the page:
AboutUs ¦ ReturnsPrivacy/SecurityShipping ¦ Info ¦ Disclaimer ¦ Pricing ¦Partners
One can hardly find them at the bottom of the page
- Read the following book "Don't make me think" by Steve Krug
(no, I am not affiliated with him, just liked the book)
Good luck
There is a certain set of expected places for areas of a page (as stated by others here) which give a person a feeling of having been there.
If you are going to do something creative and "outside of the box" it absolutely must be executed with a most perfect design to work.
Personally, if I were you, I would go directly to one of the big brand stores and adapt their look and functionality to your site. And if you are serious about retailing, the affiliate stuff has got to go.
Still it's not a bad looking site. You should be doing better and in time you probably will.
Most people either view or has a browser window set at 800 x 600. Nobody wants to scroll horizontally.
Your frontpage is to cluttered.
Your frontpage should be very clear and concise
a) this is what i sell
b) this is the advantages of shopping here.
c) show only a few of your hot products on the
front page. To avoid clutter.
d) save the legalise for the faq page or bury it
somewhere.
Also check out [webpagesthatsuck.com ], to learn not what to do. Its also very enertaining.
Has anybody ever been turned down for a golden web award :)
I presume not. Display of awards became equated with junk sites long ago. Same thing with BBB membership, in my opinion. Only crooks waive that around.
G.
