Continued from Page Two.
Seducing Form Fillers
If an online merchant wants to gather a lot of information from a shopper, Tognazzini recommends a technique he calls "Staged Obligation."
Shoppers, of course, hate filling out forms. To coax the user through this, go stage by stage: "Ask them just a couple things first. Then, after they press next, ask them about four more things. 'They'll think 'Oh, well, I might as well finish.'"
Tognazzini first used this technique when he helped develop the WebMD site. Getting busy doctors to fill out forms was particularly tough, but asking questions in stages helped. "You're not going to get them all, but you're going to get a higher percentage."
Follow Up E-Mails -- Careful
Many online merchants pride themselves on prompt follow-up e-mails to customers after every purchase. But many of these same merchants send an e-mail that is far too long and complex, Tognazzini said.
He recently received a staggering four-page e-mail, of which only four to eight lines were truly necessary, he said. "All the rest of it was advertising," he added.
"If you want to put in a couple ads, okay, but keep it short and simple -- keep it to one page," he recommends. And ensure that any legalese added in the actual e-mail is truly necessary.
No matter how long your confirmation e-mail, make sure it displays properly on many platforms. Tognazzini points to a follow up e-mail from a well-known vendor -- in use for years -- in which the first page is just a menu bar with no text. "They'd obviously tested it only on whatever printer and computer they have on their home office," he said. "Try it on a number of machines."
Save That Cart
Tognazzini has seen numerous instances of sites that do not automatically save a customer's shopping cart choices. In those cases, if that shopper's PC crashes and they come back 10 minutes later, the cart has become empty -- and they have to start over. In many cases, that gives a potential customer the opportunity to give up on the purchase entirely.
Tognazzini noted that the master of shopping cart technology, Amazon.com, has a cart that allows shoppers to go away and come back days later. Everything's saved.
Is your site's cart automatically saved? It's a question every e-tailer should ask their programmer. In fact, it may not be enough to trust the programmer on this issue, Tognazzini noted.
"A lot of times a programmer may think he's created a cookie [that saves cart contents] but for some reason there's something they've done wrong."
What every storeowner must do is test their cart software under "edge" conditions. That is, situations that mimic a shopper who goes away and comes back, or has computer problems. As a general rule, merchants should test their cart's performance on all browsers and platforms.
And, with a properly designed shopping cart, the cart's cookie should always be kept in the user's file on the host machine -- not the client machine. "The user might start shopping at work and finish at home," Tognazzini said
Serving Up Graphics
"There are a number of major manufacturers who seem like they've set out to make their site as slow as possible," Tognazzini said. A main culprit is the use of ineffective technology to offer up photos.
Many e-tailers, of course, have a vast library of product photos, so if photos aren't presented quickly, it's a major problem. "Instead of creating a single large graphic and 'slicing' it [letting it load section by section], they have a separate file for each piece." If a shopper is using a dialup connection, this is like watching paint dry.
In this slow-load situation, "Quite often there's no [alternate text, also called "ALT"] label attached to the illustration, so if it's a button you can't click it until that button finally arrives." At this point, it's almost easier to use the phone then surf the Web, Tognazzini said.
One factor could a surprising warning sign: "If your site has won a Web graphics design award, you are likely in serious need of a redesign," he said. Such sites tend to be pretty rather than profitable, he noted, due to their emphasis on bandwidth-hogging graphics.
Does Your "Look" Match Your Biz?
Similarly, a site design that looks too luxurious can actually work against a discount site, he said. "You don't go into a store on Fifth Avenue that's arrayed like Tiffany's and expect to buy something really cheap." On the other hand, if your products are priced on the upper end, "you need a clean, well-lighted site that looks inviting and has an 800 number on every page."
The point is to make your site match your customer's budget level. One of the best ways to do this is to look at the other sites selling what you're selling. Your navigation, prices and products may be better than theirs, but your site's overall look should not be radically different, he noted.
Continued on Page Three: Providing Enough Information -- and Buying Options.
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