Anatomy of a killer online retail outlet - A talk by Paras Chopra

I attended Triggr last weekend at Instamedia (Sector 65, Noida). It was an event organized to congregate web startups. Experience was much better than Barcamp (I still need to analyze what went better!)

This post is basically a summary of the talk by Paras Chopra (based on notes so expect rephrased text).

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There are basically three kinds of users who visit your online shop. These are:

• Buyers This segment of users has come to buy either directly or by reference and is here to do some shopping. You don't really need to 'worry' about them. They will buy!
  
  
• Researchers This guy comes to the shop to find out the experience, product details, pricing etc. and is likely to compare with other sites. You have to make this guy happy to get him buy from your shop!
  
  
• Window Shoppers Well, this segment is "wow.. what a beautiful arrangement!" kind who is not really here to buy. These will visit the site and roam around but not buy.

Following are some important points to keep in mind -

1. Ignore Window Shoppers
   
   
2. Optimize the website for Researchers and convert him to buyer.
   
   
3. Make it easy for buyer to buy
   
   
4. Single call to action
   
   Have a single call to action on a page. If user gets confused on your page whether he wants to 'add to cart' or 'sign up' or 'free email letter' then he may hit the biggest enemy i.e. Back button.
   
   Joomla is bad example.
   Wordpress is good example.
   
   
5. Reduce text on the page
   
   
6. Headlines matter more than you realize People look at the 'top' of the page to know what you do (or offer).
   
   - Write something concrete (No 'Welcome to Bob's Site)
   - Headline is not a place to make a pitch
   - Keep it short (not more than eighty words)
   
   Odesk is bad example.
   Elance is good example.
   
   
7. Use social proofs to remove uncertainties or doubts Testimonials. Who is using? Who are your partner sites?
   
   
8. If you don't have social proofs -
   
   - Give products for free to get the testimonials
   - Reach out to experts and get feedback
   - Cite some theoretical or industry research e.g. 'this increases productivity by 50%'
   - No. of unique visitors on this page till date
   
   Twhirl - bad example
   Hootsuite - good example
   
   
9. Design Matters! Invest in high design. High ROI.
   
   
10. Ignore everything above. Use A/B Testing!
    
    Use two versions of your site to decide about the better approach of the two you are confused with - use pilot runs and let the users decide. Sometimes you will be shocked to see that many theories fail.
    
    
11. Use Google Web Optimizer (free) or Visual Website Optimizer (paid $49 p. m.) - this is Paras Chopra's startup or enterprise solutions like Omniture, Webtrends (cost like crazzy $xxx,x... p. m.)