Shopping Cart

    You always want to make sure that your site is “customer” friendly.  People want to know you are interested in them and not just their money.  When they place orders through your website, it is always a good idea to immediately acknowledge their purchase. One way to do this is with the use of an autoresponder that can be integrated with your shopping cart. In fact, many shopping carts that are available today have their own autoresponders built into the system.  This certainly makes the process a lot easier.

     When you set up your autoresponder to send a message to someone that has placed an order, there are several things that should be included in the message. This is an opportunity to ‘speak’ to your customer, and to let them know about other deals that you have or special items that you have available. You should not miss this opportunity.  If you do you’re only “throwing money out the window!”

     Do not try to get your ‘thank you’ sales message on the same autoresponder as the customers email receipt. Putting the sales message on an email that is automatically sent to grant the customer access to their purchase is also a bad idea – that would go better with the receipt. Make sure your ‘thank you’ sales message is a message that is sent out all by itself, so your customer can focus solely on that!

     Thank the customer for their recent purchase. Tell them how much their purchase will help them, and then tell them about other available products that work well with the one that they just purchased, or that are similar to the one that they just purchased in some way. For instance hair conditioner works with hair shampoo. Vacuum cleaner bags or carpet powder works well with vacuum cleaners. Just let them know about the various products that you offer that will compliment their purchase in some way, thereby making their lives a bit more manageable.

     The important thing is to not let your customer get away without further contact! Think about being in a brick and mortar store. Have you ever heard the sales clerk ask you, “Do you need any socks with those shoes today?”  Or maybe at the fast food restaurant: “Do you want to make that a large?”  When you are standing at the counter to pay, there are many items there for sale. These items are meant to be picked up as last minute purchases, or impulsive purchases. Your ‘thank you’ sales letter serves the same purpose for those who have made a purchase at your online business.

     Don’t make the mistake of bombarding your customer! You can usually send them periodic information about your specials after they have made a purchase through you, but emailing them on a daily basis with your offers is not good business! Use your autoresponder responsibly! Make sure that your autoresponder is set up to handle automatic remove requests, and make sure that the information that you are sending your customers is of value to them.  The last thing you want to do is make your customer “upset” with your contacts.  Then they will begin telling their friend “how rude” they think you are and now you’ll have the potential to lose future customers.

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"The success of a business is the satisfaction

 of your customers and not yourself!"