I recently ventured into the world of creating digital information
products and selling them via my website. One of the biggest dilemmas I
faced was deciding which shopping cart provider to go with.
Having worked on various shopping cart systems for clients, I knew my
way around setting these up, but when it came to my own online shopping
cart system I couldn’t decide the best way forward.
Ultimately I ended up making a poor choice by going a cheaper
alternative route, than the service I really wanted. The reason I made
this poor decision was lack of confidence on my part – I wasn’t sure how
well my product would sell and didn’t want to invest heavily in a
service that I may not need or use!
The reality of going the cheaper route? I had customers who weren’t able
to download their product or make a payment and I lost revenue because
of this!
To save you the same trouble I went through, here are my top 6 tips for
ensuring that you get the right shopping cart system for YOUR business.
1. Think about your long-term goals. Having a shopping cart
system that grows with your business is crucial to your long-term goals,
particularly if you’re planning on launching more products and services
in the future.
You'll want to ensure that the shopping cart system you choose can
easily handle additional products and services.
2. How simple is the shopping cart to set up? Can you easily do
the product setup yourself, or does it require you to hold a degree in
computer programming! You don’t want to be spending huge amounts of your
time on the phone to tech support, or getting frustrated because the
shopping cart isn’t easy to set up.
If the shopping cart system provides you with HTML code that you have to
add to your website, consider how comfortable you feel adding this. You
may decide that this is a service to outsource to your Virtual
Assistant.
3. Accepting online payments. If you’re going to be selling
products/services online, whether they’re digital or physical products,
you will need a system that can accept online payments. These days
customers want instant gratification, which is why digital products are
so popular, and you need to be able to accept payments instantly too.
Think about this situation - you go on to a website and in order to buy
a product you have to print off an order form and fax it in, or call to
place an order! That's not easy for your customer and you will have just
lost the sale! The best solution is to get a merchant account, and
ensure that your merchant provider’s services are compatible with your
online shopping cart system.
4. Cost of your Online Shopping Cart System. It can be a false
economy to go the cheaper route, particularly if it doesn’t offer all
the features and functionality you want. Come up with a list of what you
would like in an online shopping cart system, and then find a service
that will meet ALL of your needs.
5. Customer Service. You want to make it as quick and easy as
possible for your customers to purchase from you and get instant access
to their product. An online shopping cart system that offers digital
download of your products will do this for you.
And if you have a physical product ensure that your shopping cart
service can calculate postage and print shipping labels too.
Don’t make your customers jump through hoops just to make a purchase
from you!
6. Autoresponders and follow-up messages. It’s much easier to
sell future products to existing customers – after all they already
know, like and trust you. In order to do this you need your shopping
cart to be able to keep a database of your customers so that you can
follow up with them. Autoresponders are a great way to do this. You can
follow up with your customer several times after they’ve made a purchase
and check in with them to see how they’re getting on with your product.
And you can do this very easily and quickly if your shopping cart has an
autoresponder feature.
Keep all of these points in mind when choosing your online shopping cart
system, and you will find the perfect solution for you!
~~~~~~~~~~~~
About the author:
Online Business Manager & Virtual Assistant, Tracey
Lawton, supports professional speakers, coaches, and authors to operate an
efficient, organized, and profitable business. Learn how to create an efficient
and organized office in 7 EASY steps, and receive free how-to articles at
http://www.OfficeOrganizationSuccess.com
Submission guidelines: You are welcome to publish
this article in your opt-in newsletter or on your website provided it is
published in it's entirety, including the resource box. Please
email me of your intent to publish this article.
