I went to a furniture store a few years ago looking for my first sofa. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes as a salesman greeted us the moment we stepped through the doors.Eventually we found one that we liked, and told the salesman that we were interested in buying it.We were sat drinking a cup of tea on our soon-to-be new sofa when he returned with the paperwork. He asked again about the style of our living room, and reiterated how well the new sofa was going to fit in. He explained that he’d been selling the sofa for over 30 years, and that it was actually the same one his parents had owned throughout his childhood. And they still had it. Why? Because the store puts every sofa they sell through rigorous testing to make sure they won’t split.He said they were so confident in the reliability of the sofa that it came with a 20-year guarantee. Even if we just didn’t like how it looked in our living room, we could simply let them know within 30 days and get all of our money back.Finally, he explained that it was a good job we’d stopped by that day, because the sofa normally costs 20% more. It would be back up to full price a couple of days later. We were getting a classic, reliable sofa. Risk-free. For a great price.We bought the sofa.Advertising pioneer Claude Hopkins once said: “Advertising is multiplied salesmanship. It may appeal to thousands while the salesman talks to one.”Similarly, selling online is an amazing opportunity to sell to multiple customers with a single checkout process.But only if you actually sell.My point is this: when a prospective customer puts a product in the shopping cart on your website, they are simply raising their hand to say “I’m interested.”When I told the sofa salesman I was ready to buy, I was.But the salesman knew the reality of the situation. He knew that I was ready to buy, but that I wasn’t ready to hand over my money.And neither are your prospects.Imagine that the sofa salesman responded to my interest by saying: “It costs £5000. Here’s a card reader. Just leave it on the side when you’re finished. Thanks for your business.”What do you think would have happened next?I’ll tell you. I’d have started panicking at the thought of taking on £5k debt for a sofa. I’d have worried about what I’d do if I didn’t like it after the delivery. Maybe I can find a cheaper one somewhere else.I’d have snuck out of the door before taking my wallet out of my pocket.This is exactly what happens to over 77% prospective online store customers after they put a product in the shopping basket.Why? Because the checkout process neglects to reassure the prospect and close the sale.The prospect wants to be reassured that they’re making the right decision. They want to know that they’re not taking a big risk. And they want to buy straight away — not to have the burden of mulling over the decision for several more days.Worse, it’s a hell of a lot easier to leave a website than walk out on a salesman that’s looking you straight in the eye. That means one thing: a website must be even better at closing the sale than an individual salesman.Now that I’ve explained the problem with a rather elaborate sofa-buying analogy, let’s look at the benefits of resolving it…Take — for example — an eCommerce website with the following stats:10,000 visitors per month 1% reach checkout 0.5% complete the purchase £100 average order value Check out what happens to the business (pun 100% intended) when it reduces checkout cart abandonments from a conservative 50%, to 25%:50% cart abandonment rate: annual revenue of £60,00025% cart abandonment rate: annual revenue of £90,000That’s a 66% increase in revenue.Ok, this is probably starting to seem a bit ‘pie in the sky’. The truth is: the amount of time and effort required to decrease cart abandonment by 25% depends on the business, the website, the product, and several other factors.It’s also true that there are many different ways to improve the conversion rate of your checkout process. So in the interest of keeping you awake, lets focus on the quickest win. Here it is: the one change you can test right now to reduce cart abandonment, increase transactions, and grow your business…Add a testimonial and/or guarantee description right next to the pay button.Yes, it’s that simple.It works because there are never more doubts, objections, fears, running through a prospects mind, than immediately before they hand over their money.Testimonials and guarantees — done well — take the risk out of the transaction for the prospect.How to select a testimonial that proves — unequivocally — that your product will deliver. When a prospective customer places a product in the checkout cart, they believe it has the potential to solve their problem, and get them a specific outcome.Somebody wants to hang a heavy picture frame in their living room, but there’s nowhere to hang it. So they may decide to buy a drill. Then they can use the drill to put holes in the wall, do some other stuff (bad choice of analogy — I’m terrible at DIY), then hang the picture frame.So they head to your online store, find a drill that seems like it will do the job, and start to the buying process. Then, when it comes time to click the pay button and give you their money, they wonder whether they’ve selected the right type of drill, whether it’s powerful enough, whether they’re spending too much money and could get away with a cheaper one.A testimonial near the pay button would remove those doubts.It strong testimonial proves to prospective customers that your product will get them the outcome that they desire, in the words of somebody that already has it.So what makes a strong testimonial? How do you choose the right one?The best testimonials address the specific doubts in the customers mind immediately before they purchase.In other words: before choosing a testimonial for a product, you must first anticipate what doubts, fear, objections might enter your customers mind during the payment process.Write down as many as you can think of. Then order them — strongest doubts at the top.Next, find a testimonial or review from somebody that has bought the same product, talks about overcoming one of the top doubts, and getting the result they wanted.For the drill example, it might look something like this:“My old drill was a cheaper model and only lasted 3 months. I only needed to hang some picture frames, but the [insert drill name] did the job quickly and reliably. It’s been going for over 12 months now and I couldn’t be happier. It’s great value for money.”How to offer a guarantee that erases all trace of risk from your prospects mind. Describing your guarantee immediately before money exchanges hands — providing it’s a great one — shows your prospect that you’re willing to take on all of the risk in the transaction. It makes your prospect think:“Wow, they must be really confident in this” and then, “Ok, why not? I’ve got nothing to lose.”Then they buy. And if your product is great, they won’t return. If it’s not — stop reading this article and plough every second of your time into making it so. A great product is by far the best marketing tool at your disposal.As you’re still reading, let’s talk about why the vast majority of businesses offer average - poor guarantee’s. I suspect that in most cases, it’s for one of two reasons:They don’t have enough confidence in their product or service They’re scared of being swamped with returns. If their product or service is poor, then those concerns are based on good reasoning. But if not, it’s a huge mistake.Take the real-life example of an electric sewing machine manufacturer.They offered to deliver a sewing machine to their prospective customer’s home and allow them to use for it one week, at no cost. It even came with a man to show them how to use it. The ad said “let us help you for a week without cost or obligation.” Imagine how much it cost the company to do that. They must have been petrified at the prospect of taking such a risk. Until they saw the results…90% bought the machine.The truth is, it must have felt like they were taking a risk, because they were. And that’s the entire point of a guarantee. Either you take the risk or your customer does.If you let your customer take the risk, they are far less likely to buy.If you take the risk — and make it clear that you are — the customer will be far, far more likely to buy.Here’s the irony: shouldering all of the transactional risk is much less risky for your business than allowing the customer to do so.I’ll give you another example.There’s a company that sells underwear containing fragments of gold. I can’t remember their name, but they used to advertise on Jay Abraham’s podcast. Anyway, they offer one of the best guarantees I’ve ever come across.The underwear isn’t cheap. It contains GOLD. It’s USP is that they stay clean and odour-free for a full week of use. Disgusting if you ask me, but pretty funny.In any case, the guarantee goes like this. Buy a pair and try them out. If you don’t love them, get all of your money back. And keep the underwear.Sure, it’s probably pretty difficult to re-sell underwear. Especially when they’ve been worn for a week. But can you see the value in the guarantee?There really is no risk. You can buy them and get your money back if you decide that normal underwear will do just fine. It stands above most guarantees, though, by removing the need to return the product. You can just keep it. No time, effort or money required from you. Zero risk.Time to increase your store transactions… It is possible to quickly increase transactions on your online store — without spending any more money on marketing — by proving your worth and shouldering the transactional risk.Please, please, please test this out. Set aside an hour, find your checkout cart abandonment rate in your analytics, and run a test with a testimonial and/or a pre-eminent guarantee next to the pay button.If you do, I'd be grateful if you'd circle back and let me know how it went. I'd love to hear.Callum. via /r/business http://ift.tt/2nyoS3z
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