This has to be one of the most overlooked mistakes. And it’s not the fact that upsells are done wrong. The biggest mistake is that they’re not done at all.
First, let’s clarify what an “upsell” actually is. An upsell is an offer made at the time of ordering to make additional sales to that visitor.
Think of it like this… If you’ve ever gone to a fast food restaurant such as McDonalds and you place your order for a hamburger and a drink they always ask “Do you want fries with that?”
That’s the best example of an upsell. Think about it – even if you order their combo meal they ask “Would you like an apple pie with that?”
You should have a predetermined upsell item to offer for any of the key items you sell. By doing this, you’re making a suggestion of something that would normally go along with that item that is a no-brainer for them to add without thinking. So they add it.
Of course, by applying this strategy you can increase your sales time after time. In many cases sales have increased dramatically. In one case we offered an upsell and 75% of the buyers took it.
We were selling a $97 product (Affiliate Tool Generator) and upselling a bundled package for a total of $147 which is, of course, an increase of $50 per sale.
Just imagine if only 25% of 100 buyers took the upsell? Instead of making $9,700 you would make an additional $2,425 simply by
suggesting a related item to go along with what they are already buying. The key thing is to make it a related item. You obviously would not offer them steak sauce if they were ordering a fish sandwich.
Another mistake is offering too many items. I’ve seen several websites where you go from one upsell page to another upsell to yet another upsell. Some call this “Upsell Hell”.
This strategy causes major confusion.
Just imagine you go to place the order and you are presented with a page with the upsell with two buttons, “Yes take the offer” or “No, I just want the one item” and then you go to another page with another offer and so on.
After some point you either get to place your order, get confused about what you are ordering, or just get frustrated and leave. Obviously this is not a good thing to have happen on your order page.
So be sure to increase your order totals by adding the upsell strategy to your sales process. Just be sure you follow the guidelines above.
This is an just one of the mistakes from my book “50 Biggest Website Mistakes” check it out at http://50biggestwebsitemistakes.com
All the best and much success in everything you do!
Frank Deardurff III - That One Web Guy!
I see this mistake quite a bit or maybe I don’t! So many times I see order buttons and form submit buttons that don’t appear to be buttons.
Many web designers will make great looking graphical buttons to “match” the design of the rest of the site. While these buttons might look nice they aren’t always effective.
There has been a lot of debate about the fact whether graphical buttons are as effective as regular “HTML” style buttons. I suggest you test on what’s best for your market but I’ll make the comment I’ve made time after time if it looks like a button, acts like a button it must be a button.
Why would you want to chance the possibility of lost sales by “hoping” the website visitors realize that the graphic button you have in place is perceived is a button. This goes the same for your opt-in form buttons, you should be consistent with the buttons so the visitor knows what is and isn’t a button.
There are a few things you can do to “enhance” the regular “HTML” button to increase you can see an example of some these effects by visiting http://www.50biggestwebsitemistakes.com. You can see that I’ve increased the size of the button and text as well as adding a red border around the button to help draw attention to the button. This increases action to the button.
Just as is true with many components of marketing copy is king even on something as small as a button. By default the text on a HTML button says simply “submit” which really doesn’t say much. You want to change the text or copy on the button to have some sort of instruction or action so that there is no question what is going to happen when they push the button.
Some examples of Copy to use on an order button would be “Click Here To Order Now”; “Order Now for Only $29.95″; A few examples for the opt-in button would be “Claim Your Report Today!” or “Get A Free Chapter!”.
By applying several of these strategies just with the button it’s self you will be surprised how much you will improve conversion of opt-ins and orders. Of course be sure that you test everything and monitor by using your stats programs.
“If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it.” Lord Kelvin
All the best and much success in everything you do!
Frank Deardurff III - That One Web Guy!
This is a common mistake on many websites and that is either a non-existant or weak guarantee.
There are many misconceptions about using a guarantee on the website. I’ve heard some discussion about the fact that if they add a guarantee to their website they are afraid that brings to light the possibility that the buyer can return the product.
I think that’s the furthest thing from the truth. In fact by not having a guarantee on your website makes the buyer think that the product is either, a possible scam, OR you do not have enough faith in the product to warrant a guarantee.
Of course there is always the possibility you simply forgot to add the guarantee to your website. Here are some things to consider when creating or updating the guarantee you have.
Most merchant accounts and payment processors want or require you to have a guarantee policy easily displayed on your website, be sure to check out what they require and adjust accordingly.
Be sure to make your guarantee “look” like a guarantee policy. Many times I see this section look like the normal sales copy on the page or if there is a box around it, it resembles the other boxes on the page.
What I’ve found to work well is add an image that resembles a certificate as a background image or create (or have created) the whole thing as a graphic to easily place all of the elements you want in that area.
Also what is appealing is to add an official seal to that area. You can easily find these at either istockphoto.com or fotolia.com both of these stock photo websites will allow you to purchase at a very reasonable price both the certificate and seal images to use on your website.
Finally, don’t leave any doubt about what your policy is, explain the details and be sure that it fits the offer. You wouldn’t use the same policy for a live event, teleseminar or webinar that you would for say an ebook, physical product, or services rendered. Simply do a little research what others may be doing and then modify to meet your needs and of course test to see what gets you the best conversions.
Feel free to check out any of my websites as an example.
All the best and much success in everything you do!
Frank Deardurff III - That One Web Guy!
With more people using video on their website I see this next mistake over and over again.
First let me state that I think use of video on your website is a good idea, as long as it is done correctly.
Many times we see video that has been put on the page below the fold of the website. (Hidden below the bottom edge of the screen,) this is ok but not when the video is set to auto play!
The BIGGEST mistake I see people make with putting video on their website is that they are using a service like YouTube which is ok, but they put the video code on the page as is. What happens when you do this is when the video finishes it shows related videos that the visitor can click on.
This is bad for multiple reasons most importantly is the fact that the user now has a choice to watch a related video or continue through your sales process… hmm, what choice do you think happens here?
Second issue is that the related video shown could very well be your competitor’s video selling a similar product! Now your visitor has yet another option, not only to watch another video but possibly get interested in someone elses product.
Ok, before you go out and rip down all your YouTube type videos from your web pages read on because this is an easy correction. When getting the “embed” code for your video click the small gear icon next to that URL. That is the “customize” button. This will allow you to check the check box that says “Include related videos”, you can select some other options there as well like whether to show a border or to pick a different size to play.
Once you have these settings the way you want them, grab the URL and post that on your page. And of course upload the new page to your site and watch the video all the way through to make sure you see the expected results.
Finally, don’t assume your web visitor knows how video players work, you want to make it simple so any level of web visitor can see the video. You can do this by adding a line of text (in a smaller font) that says “click the play button with the triangle to watch this video” I’d even suggest adding an icon of the button, or an arrow pointing to the button.
I know that seems simple but the visual command will actually get you more plays of the video.
I hope you found this website mistake use full for other website mistakes visit 50biggestwebsitemistakes.com
All the best and much success in everything you do!
Frank Deardurff III - That One Web Guy!
On Thursday February 26th , 2009 4pm Eastern I will be interviewing Janette Buckhaulter of Success Transcripts about the most asked questions regarding turning your audio into income.
This is a free call to listen live simply visit http://www.ThatOneTranscriber.com and submit your question enter your name and email.
We will be sharing details of ways transcripts can be used to increase traffic, create products and much more so go ahead and register today, you’ll be glad you did!
http://www.ThatOneTranscriber.com
You can find out more about this call by visiting the site, I look forward to hearing you on the teleseminar.
Until next time I wish you all the best and much success.
Frank Deardurff – That One Web Guy!
http://www.thatonetranscriber.com
All the best and much success in everything you do!
Frank Deardurff III - That One Web Guy!
