I remember the very first time I stubbled across my abandoned checkout section of my website. The reason I remember it so well is because I my heart nearly failed. My little brain went into over-drive looking at the LONG list of people who visited, added things to the cart and POOOOOF left!

From here I sat still for a while and waited until I resumed breathing (sub) normally and contacted the website support office.

He thought it was funny the shock I was experiencing.  I mean how could I not, thinking of all the money I could have made? And didn't? What he said next blew my mind even more. He said your statistics are actually one of the best I've ever seen. I asked "What do you mean?" He said "Well, most store stores convert less than 10% of their visitors into a sale and your store sits at about 15%... so you should be really proud!" What he said did make me feel marginally better and it certainly made me think.

I thought about my own online shopping habits and I felt like a bit of a dick. I noticed for the first time that I, on average add items to a cart and .. POOOOF leave at least once a day. Multiply ME by everyone else in the world with access to a computer or smart phone and that equals a lot of abandoned checkouts, right?! No wonder those statistics are so shocking. 

Slowly and surely I was coming to peace about this whole thing and was ready to do what I could to convert more of my visitors to a sale.

TIPS TO CONVERTING A VISITOR TO A SALE

1. YOU NEED A POP-UP STAT!
Meaning that every time someone visits your store they are kindly greeted with a pop-up on the screen that OFFERS them something in return for SOMETHING.
So, what you want is their name and email address and name and what they want is something for free, a discount, a gift, anything that benefits them. You can download a "POP-UP" anywhere on the net sometimes for free, sometimes for a price, so choose according to suit your needs.

BIG RULE: Don't be annoying. Program them to pop-up once a visit and wait for at least 10-15 seconds after they land on your site. Any sooner or anymore than once will irritate them and they'll more likely exit totally from your site never to return. Goodbye sale.
Find your sweet spot - the size of your discount, the gift, the offering until you find what is the 'one' that makes them stay and spend OR makes them come back and spend. Change it, mix it up and keep adjusting it to suit your type of customers. You'll soon find 'it' by the amount of sales you'll start to see. 

2. YOU NEED A MAILING LIST BABY
Great, so you've traded 20% OFF for an email address. AWESOME. This email is worth it's weight in gold... if it had actually weighed anything. Pop that email straight into your mailing list and touch them every week or fortnight or whatever you can handle. By touch them, I mean send them new product information, special offers, sales and perhaps even a blog post if you do them.... until the day they say "YES!" and their timing is right and they jump onto your website buy one of your goodies from which you'll pop them under your 'super amazing product/store/customer service spell' and you'll have a customer for life!

So, if you visitor doesn't stay and be a customer the first time, it doesn't matter. Grab their gold (email address) and touch base with them continuously, build their trust and stay in the fore front of their mind until they DO become your customer. 

Remember having a business is for LIFE and not for a year. Your customers are your life bloody and if you can't have them now, that is okay, love them till you can. 


PS ** I love how you comment but I'm really sorry to say that this program does not allow me to post a reply back. So, please leave a post and know that i'm not being rude, iI just can't simply do it. ** xx