How To Start a Business Online-3 Absolutely Vital Actions

Learn How To Start A Business Online.

Create so much trust customers will roll in by making sure 3 vital factors are in place: transparency, trust and security.

Transparency

Up to 50% of your customers will be contemplating buying online for the first time. Let's imagine that Joe is in this position on your site right now. If you want to make the most of this opportunity, it is vital that you make it really easy for Joe to:

• Move around your site.
• Find what they are looking for
• Pay.

 Your E Commerce Site

Here are 13 fundamental questions to ask yourself about your e business. In fact this is so important to your success you might want to ask a friend to go through your site and ask these questions. You may be too close to see the problems.

1. 1. Is it clear, simple and easy to read? 
2. Is it free from too many wizzy bits and graphics that are likely to slow it down? Joe has an ISDN connection, and her brother Chris still has an analogue connection which are both a lot slower than broadband.
3. Is it free from links that will take Joe's attention off buying?
4. Did you do the planning so that Joe can find what she wants easily – i.e. through an in-house search engine and/or clear links?
5. Are there good, clear, accurate product descriptions and images?
6. Can/do you put information and advice on your website Joe will love? Because if you can, the search engines will love you too.
7. Does the product description include a notice that the product is out of stock if this is the case?
8. Does the product description include notes about all costs involved with the purchase (postage etc).
9. Can Joe put the product directly in the basket?
10. Can Joe continue shopping or go directly to check out as she wishes?
11. Is the check-out system really simple to use? If you have a system that shows Joe how many steps there are and where she is in the process, she is likely to feel more comfortable and is therefore much more likely to buy.
12. Can Joe have her basket beside her in full view all the time?
13. Can she change items at all times (deleting or changing quantities)?

Trust

Building trust is not that difficult. Deciding that you will fun an ethical and efficient home business will give you just the start-up impetus you need. There are x specific areas you can build and deepen the trust between you and your customer. These are guarantees, clarity and reliability.

Guarantees

Guarantees make your customers comfortable. Who do you trust the most? The site you stumbled across on the internet with no personal information and no contact details, or your best friend?

Stupid question huh? Well, everyone on the internet feels the same as you. So how do you go about creating that 'best friend' feeling quickly?

Give your customers exactly what they want to feel comfortable as quickly as possible.

For example on our online businesses we have a 100%, no quibble cash back guarantee. Our customers do not have to give a reason for returning the product. This means that they feel comfortable about ordering the products from the start – they know they will not be lumped with something they bought by mistake.

So has this policy cost us a fortune? No, because when we started our business online, we kept that 100% guarantee in mind every time we created and marketed products. We worked really hard at matching our marketing to our products and the products to our market. Result? Very few returns.

Confidentiality Counts

Fraud frightens people. Remember Joe? Before she puts anything about herself into the forms on a website, she wants a good, clear privacy/ confidentiality policy and statement that she can link to from every page on your website that reassures her.

But her brother Chris can't be bothered to read all that legal stuff no matter how clear it is. For people like Chris, wherever you ask for information from your customers, keep two points in mind:

• Wherever you ask for information include a short statement clarifying your attitude to privacy. For example:
• "We HATE spam and we promise NEVER to pass your details on to anyone else."
•  Ask for the absolute minimum of information. If you only need an email address, don’t ask for shoe size and marital status.

Clarity Counts

It is not just her personal information Joe is worried about. She is very concerned that her financial details may be lost or stolen. How can you persuade her she is safe?

• Show and Tell. Tell her she is secure and tell her how and why. Mention your SSL encryption and show her the little closed padlock in the browser proves it is safe. Flash the names and certification of whoever takes your payments.
• It could be a good idea to put a whole page on your site describing why it is safe to shop on your site for people who are nervous.
• This could include a description of your purchase, order and despatch process to increase the feeling of security for your customers.
• Point out any safety measures involving storage of her details and how her order is collated and sent out.
• If you can get your site tested and certificated by an independent body, do it and point this fact out to your visitors.

Reliability

Be the Small Business That Does What it Says on the Tin

If you promise to send stuff in 2 days, send it in one. If you promise 100% cash back guarantees, honour them quickly and gracefully.

All of us have had to battle with an anonymous on-line organisation to get our money back when their products were faulty. It often seems that the bigger the organisation, the worse they are at responding to complaints.

Which online business would you go back to? The one where you had to wear your fingers, ears and temper to stubs to get your cash back? Or the small business that sent a prompt response to your complaints saying they were really sorry you were disappointed; your refund is in the hands of a trusted 3rd party (e.g. PayPal) and you will receive it as soon as the unwanted product is retuned?

Very few of us running a home business can offer prices that are so low we can afford to ignore a customer's distress. Things will go wrong and you should have a process in place to deal with it. Just make sure the process leaves your customer feeling really good about you.

Turn the Tables

In fact, if you are really good at this you can grasp this opportunity to leave your customers feeling not just good about you, but indebted to you.

Let's say you follow the planning and put in place all the recommendations above:
You promised and gave full refunds.

• You responded quickly, politely and warmly.
• You apologised sincerely for the problem.
• And finally, you gave them a free gift to compensate.

 This does not mean giving something that costs you money. After all, you are a small business online, and you can’t afford that.

You could give something like an e-book or report either on the subject of their purchase or on something everyone is interested in.

For example, I have created a report on using the internet safely and generally keeping yourself secure in the digital universe. A report like this would be of interest to anyone using the internet, and could be used as the free gift you give your disappointed customer.

You are more than welcome to download the internet security report here (email and name) and to use it in the way I described as long as you leave accreditation details in it.

You have now given you customer more than they gave you. Research shows that all over the world, when people feel they owe someone, it makes them feel uncomfortable and they try to repay that 'debt' somehow.

You can offer them ways to help them do so and thereby feel better about themselves.

• Include links to your e business in all your communications with those customers so that they can go back easily and perhaps buy something else.
• Give them the opportunity (with links) to tell others what they think of you on your endorsement page or on any social networking site you belong to.
• Ask them if they want your e-zine or updates on your products.
• Ask if any of their friends would be interested in hearing about your products.

In Conclusion

Being an online business means your reputation is even more important to you than if you had an offline business. Pay attention to detail, design a great site and keep your mind on your customer.

Ever Onwards and Upwards