Small changes on product landing pages can have a huge impact on visitor to sales conversion (SoftwareCasa.com). Switching a red buy-button to blue with small text changes improved conversion rates with up to 50%. I just checked our statistics and one of the campaigns we are currently running is converting visitors to buyers at a rate of 11.62%. Here are ten fast action steps you can take to greatly improve your online conversion rate (turn visitors into software buyers.) 1) Include Professional looking Box Shot of your product. Even if you are selling downloadable products you should display a box shot of your product. 2) Include a short Video presenting your product for suspects early in the purchase process. Not everyone will want to download and install a trial version so this is an easy way to present your product benefits. We will introduce a service shortly that can help you with this. More about using Video 3) Offer trials version of your software, but collect emails when offering them and follow up with an auto responder. The average number of contacts to close a sale is seven, so make sure you follow up diligently. Don’t request too much information up front or you will lose prospects. 4) Offer Screen shots of your product in action. This is a quick way to explain the features and benefits of your software early in the sales cycle. 5) Set up individual landing pages for different products. Don’t drive your clients to your homepage, but instead to specific pages featuring your products, or better yet, your product benefits or even product target groups. 6) Set up a blog and post news and specific features of your product. An excellent way to feature individual benefits and inform your client base about product news and releases. 7) Even if you are trying to drive online sales, include a clearly visible phone number. Not many people will call, but it helps that the prospects know they can reach you if they need to. Make sure your product page has a clear call to action. If your goal is to make a sale, the buy button should be the most eye-attracting element of your page. 9) Offer testimonials from previous customers. Third party endorsements sell your product better than you ever could. Choose your testimonials carefully so they address the benefits you want to promote. If you can include pictures of your customers or even video that will drive sales even Follow

Marketers Can’t Ignore Online Product Reviews Reviews on e-commerce sites have become a critical feature over the past couple years, and they’re becoming even more important now. In an earlier column, I cited Roy Williams on why this word-of-mouth (WOM) feature has become so influential. You ignore WOM at your peril. Consider dipping into the traditional marketing budget to invest in a customer review system. A review system allows you to let your customers market your products for you. Need more rationale? Consider these facts: ·  According to JupiterResearch, 77 percent of online shoppers use reviews and ratings when purchasing. ·  Reviews drive 21 percent higher purchase satisfaction and 18 percent higher loyalty, according to Foresee Results. ·  In a study of 2,000 shoppers, 92 percent deemed customer reviews as “extremely” or “very” helpful, finds eTailing Group. ·  BizRate found 59 percent of users considered customer reviews to be more valuable than expert reviews. ·  In a CompUSA-iPerceptions study, 63 percent of consumers indicated they’re more likely to purchase from a site if it has product ratings and reviews. ·  86.9 percent of respondents said they’d trust a friend’s recommendation over a critic’s review, while 83.8 percent said they’d trust user reviews over a critic, according to MarketingSherpa. ·  92.5 percent of adults said they regularly or occasionally research products online before buying in a store, found BIGresearch. ·  According to Keller Fay, 63 percent of all WOM is positive. Across all Bazaarvoice clients, 80 percent of products rate 4 or 5 stars out of 5. Not All Reviews Are Created Equal Whether you enable review functionality and consumer-generated content from your e-commerce platform or from a third-party-hosted solution like Power Reviews and Bazaarvoice, it’s important to test and optimize for conversion and persuasion by focusing on the following areas: ·  Review visibility: ·        Feature reviews above the fold. ·        Make them big enough to be visible. ·        Provide a visual representation of the rating (e.g., a star system). ·        Situate reviews near a point of attention or action.   ·  Review interaction: ·        Make reading easy. ·        Allow visitors to sort by rating. ·        Follow