Why wouldn't you buy from my website?

Russinating · 21 Jun 2011 at 14:14

I'm a bit of a jack all trades, and to cut a medium story short I set up a website last month selling scrabble cufflinks.

They seem really popular and as well as selling them online they're also in three shops in Bristol, Cheltenham and Oxford (the only shop I've met with).

I've had 75 visits over the past 30 days through Google, all searching for "scrabble cufflinks" (for which I'm the 5th link), however I've only had ~10 unique orders.

Within the top 10 results I'm the cheapest, and actually have stock (half of the others are just out of stock constantly).

So, why aren't I converting more visits? What would you change or what would you look for as a potential customer?

Any advice would be great

.

rotters · 21 Jun 2011 at 14:26

what do you need to do to be 1st on the search engine? 5th is obviously too low. I wear cufflinks every now and then, never really though of scrabble squares as an option.

maybe you could have them as part of a range not a whole website to one product.

rotters

Maccy · 21 Jun 2011 at 14:27

Maybe invest in some SEO?

eXor · 21 Jun 2011 at 14:33

Russinating said:
I've had 75 visits over the past 30 days through Google, all searching for "scrabble cufflinks" (for which I'm the 5th link), however I've only had ~10 unique orders.

You're complaining about a 13% conversion rate? :eek:

Of course, more is always better. Get marketing.

Site looks fine. I'd never heard about scrabble cuff links before today.

Dj_Jestar · 21 Jun 2011 at 14:34

At a very quick glance and click-through to the "BUY NOW" page, it wasn't immediately apparent I could order online.. the header for "Order By Phone Or Email" actually made me think "wut? I have to phone or Email?" even though I already knew I could buy-online.

In short, make the "Go to checkout" button a lot bigger/prominent.

Russinating · 21 Jun 2011 at 14:44

Thanks Jestar, implemented that already

.

Just to confirm I'm not after SEO advice, but how to improve the process once those users land.

daz · 21 Jun 2011 at 14:48

Make a prominent thing of next day/fast free delivery
Have some more confidence/trust indicators - money back/satisfaction guarantee
Have a testimonial visible somewhere during the checkout process

Alex74 · 21 Jun 2011 at 14:52

eXor said:
...I'd never heard about scrabble cuff links before today.

Same, I know someone who might appreciate them as well..

on topic: get up to number 1 on the search list would be your best bet

Dj_Jestar · 21 Jun 2011 at 15:02

daz said:
Make a prominent thing of next day/fast free delivery
Have some more confidence/trust indicators - money back/satisfaction guarantee
Have a testimonial visible somewhere during the checkout process

I vote for a testimonial like any of the following:

"These cufflinks are the dogs dangly bits"

"They're cufflinks. Which look like Scrabble pieces. Woo."

daz · 21 Jun 2011 at 15:28

"Got some great comments from a couple of girls when I was out at a bar with these cufflinks!"

Xelene · 21 Jun 2011 at 15:45

I didn't like the mobile phone number, can you not get an 08xx that forwards?

RoyMi6 · 21 Jun 2011 at 15:58

Want to improve the process?

Make your homepage your "buy" page.

http://filedump.whitesummitmedia.com/scrabble.jpg

Make the next page you go to allow you to select the free bag or the box with nice big pictures.

The only problem with this is if you want to keep the images changing when you select the letters then you're going to have to retake all your images for those two positions of the cuff links rather than just the "simple" ones on the buy page currently.

Dunno how much it would actually increase your conversion rate but would make the site very slick, especially since it's so specialised.

Like others have said though, 13% is pretty good. Also, the bay have them regularly for under £10 on buy it now and you still get to choose the letters...

daz · 21 Jun 2011 at 16:58

As with anything ecommerce, always be split testing. Make extensive use of Google Analytics and set up the funnels etc so you can see what is working better, what is not working etc.

3dcandy · 22 Jun 2011 at 09:56

and give it some time....Rome wasn't built in one day son!

Maccy · 22 Jun 2011 at 10:19

Russ, are you planning on producing any more merchandise?

Russinating · 22 Jun 2011 at 10:42

daz said:
Make a prominent thing of next day/fast free delivery
Have some more confidence/trust indicators - money back/satisfaction guarantee
Have a testimonial visible somewhere during the checkout process

Noted, thanks

.

sldsmkd said:
I didn't like the mobile phone number, can you not get an 08xx that forwards?

Could, but not sure the cost benefit would be worth it. To me a mobile number looks more 'friendly' and smaller, which I think is what people expect from handmade crafts.

RoyMi6 said:
Want to improve the process?

Make your homepage your "buy" page.

http://filedump.whitesummitmedia.com/scrabble.jpg

Make the next page you go to allow you to select the free bag or the box with nice big pictures.

Hmm, nice idea, might have a play. The only problem I can foresee is that ~50% of my orders are for multiples (anywhere up to 6 pairs) and so having the selection on the first page without instructions for bulk purchases may put people off.

daz said:
As with anything ecommerce, always be split testing. Make extensive use of Google Analytics and set up the funnels etc so you can see what is working better, what is not working etc.

Never used GA in this way before. Do you know of any decent guides at all?

Maccy said:
Russ, are you planning on producing any more merchandise?

No plans yet, why? I was thinking about doing scrabble rings which seem to be a rage at the moment but I'm not sure I can be bothered. I only really decided to do the cufflinks when I found out the domain was available (which pretty much ensured me a first page spot).

daz · 22 Jun 2011 at 10:47

Russinating said:
Could, but not sure the cost benefit would be worth it. To me a mobile number looks more 'friendly' and smaller, which I think is what people expect from handmade crafts.

Split test two different numbers. One 0800, one mobile number. You could also try a geographic number that forwards to skype or your mobile.

You might find the 0800 comes across too corporate, and your conversion rate goes down, but you might find that those that do order, order more... conversely, you might find people are more inclined to just phone up to enquire further if it doesn't cost them anything. There's so many metrics and things you can try. I've always liked reading the articles on http://www.marketingexperiments.com/ as well, there's some interesting insights on there.

Never used GA in this way before. Do you know of any decent guides at all?

http://www.google.com/support/conve...equest.py?hl=en&contact_type=indexSplash&rd=1

You'll probably want to watch the ones on "Goals" and "Funnels".

POB · 22 Jun 2011 at 11:28

Because they are massively more expensive then say:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VINTAGE-SCRAB...Men_s_Accessories_UK&var=&hash=item6672caf9b6

Plus I can buy a whole brand new box of scrabble for say £12.

Maccy · 22 Jun 2011 at 13:14

Russinating said:
No plans yet, why? I was thinking about doing scrabble rings which seem to be a rage at the moment but I'm not sure I can be bothered. I only really decided to do the cufflinks when I found out the domain was available (which pretty much ensured me a first page spot).

Just generally interested, you could be sitting on a gold mine that's all

bigredshark · 22 Jun 2011 at 13:36

Russinating said:
Could, but not sure the cost benefit would be worth it. To me a mobile number looks more 'friendly' and smaller, which I think is what people expect from handmade crafts.

For what it's worth it would probably put me off, mobile looks too small, fly by night and not reputable. Harsh as it may be towards the people doing it, I want reputable and reliable when I'm buying online, if I was happy with part time and amateur (in the nicest way), I'd be looking on ebay or etsy or similar. That's just me of course, but from my standpoint mobile numbers are big no on commercial sites.