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	Intuitive Strategies
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	Advisor Feature

Web Site Users Hold the Secrets to Increased Sales on Your Web Site

By: Thomas Wood-Young

There are two ways to increase sales to your Web site: The first is to bring more visitors, and the second is to improve the site by making it easier to use or more enticing to buy from. This article will focus on how to make your site a stronger selling tool and how to get help from users.

User Feedback Is Truth
Until you actually watch a user navigate through the site, it is impossible to really know what is going on. Most companies rely on people that are too close to the Web site for help in improving the site to meet user needs. The site developers and marketers are just too close to the project to really get it. Users in the target market must review the site through a formal usability testing program. Make sure you use an independent testing source so that you get direct and honest feedback. Otherwise, users tend to be polite and not be too hard on the site. Take the usability testing seriously to get a more realistic and consistent view of your sites usability.

Why do People Come to Your Site?
People come to your site because they are interested in something you have to offer. For the most part, they don't land on the site by accident or just out curiosity. What do they want on your site? What are they looking to do? Set up a user testing session and ask six to eight users those questions. The vast majority of visitors to your site come for a specific reason. You must know what that reason is and how you can convert the visitor into sale or sales lead for your business.

User Turn-Offs
What turns off the user? Here is a list of the major obstacles to getting an inquiry or sale on your site:

• Hard to find information on services or products
• Too much text or confusing content
• Technical problems with the site
• Pricing not clear on the site
• Registration problems on the site
• Having to set up a login and register
• Shipping prices are not appropriate to product price points

User Turn-Ons
What makes life easy for the user and leads to sales conversions? Here are a few suggestions based on user feedback:

• Brief and easy to find information on products and services
• Fair pricing that is easy to find and understand
• Professional, correct and easy to use Web sites
• Clear policies and privacy statements on the site
• Good customer service policies and access to help
• Appropriate use of personal information
• Optional and easy account set-up and login

Don't just rely on what your Web site marketing folks are telling you, go direct to the user and find how to build sales and increase the return from your Web marketing efforts.

• Free Usability Seminars from Usability.Gov | 2005
• Micropayments on Their Way from Gartner Group in Usability News | January 2005
• Measuring How Intuitive Your Web Site Should Be | Colorado Springs Business Journal
• Durability of Usability Guidelines by Jakob Neilsen | January 2005
• A First Foray into User Testing from The Man in Blue | December 2004
  

The Five Secrets of Intuitive Websites

Discover the top five secrets to making your Website the best in any market! Check out this upcoming seminar in Colorado Springs, CO presented by Intuitive Seminars. The morning seminar, held February 25, 2005 at the Broadmoor Hotel, will cover the following areas critical to Web site success:

• Strategic Research - Focus on Customers
• Usability - Making the Complex Simple
• Development - Intuitive Design & Practical Technology
• Internet Marketing - Driving Qualified Traffic
• Conversions - Turning Websites into Profit Centers

For more information or to register now, visit www.intuitiveseminars.com. Download our brochure in PDF format.