How Not to Sell Products Online

When it comes to purchasing anything online, people generally do not appreciate surprises. They don’t like surprises offline either but online you have to be even more circumspect because there is no live person to speak with.

Respect Your Buyers. Spell Everything Out

Buyers want to know everything about what to expect up front and in as much detail as they need. If they are spending their hard earned money on your products you should be telling them, at every step, what to expect. Spell it out. Spend more time on this than your sales letter.

A major reason buyers abandon shopping carts and purchases is because of the lack of information on what to expect and when. They are left to figure it out… or even worse get slapped with an unpleasant surprise after they’ve paid.

I read, I bought… but I didn’t get my purchase

Quite how much I hate surprises when buying anything online was abruptly brought home to me today. Here’s my story.

Having received a sales promotion email from ABC company (by the way this company is well known and I have purchased information products from them before) I found myself interested in a particular electronic product they were selling. I read the very compelling sales letter and liked what I read. The product was a little on the pricey side, but there was a $20 discount if you purchased today. OK, I thought, I’m interested enough to buy. The material looked like something I’d find valuable. There was a guarantee. And I had a project coming up for which this info could be quite useful… I could peruse over the weekend. I was quite excited. That was not to last.

Order Now!

I click “Order Now” after scanning again to check I hadn’t missed anything, like shipping. I wasn’t interested enough to wait for shipping, I wanted it now. I say Though rather miffed to find none of the usual payment options (like Paypal and 2Checkout) I entered my card details eagerly anticipating downloading and perusing my purchase. After all, I’d bought enough electronic products to have this down to a fine art. Pay, download, save, review. Easy. Or so I thought.

Imagine my shock when, on the Thank You Page, I got the following message…

Dear—–

“Welcome to the “Name of Product”. Your order has been received and is being processed. Within two business days you will be able to access the program… remember to wait two business days after registering….”

PARDON??

Wait two business days to get my paid-for online purchase? What the hay!?

Who, in this day and age of instant internet gratification waits two business days to get something they paid for online that isn’t shipped?

My plans for reading through the information rapidly evaporated like the puff of smoke they were. I was fuming. I felt quite cheated. But it was too late. I’d already paid.

I re-read the email. Was there any indication about waiting two business days before getting my purchase? No. What about the order page… BEFORE I entered my payment details? No.

Nothing. So, this company could write a long, long sales letter (and I’ve nothing against sales letters – since I write them too) but could not tell me what to expect during the ordering process. Was it because they knew that, if people knew this they wouldn’t in fact get their download immediately they might not purchase?

I decided to call them and complain. The persona I spoke to was friendly.

“Oh, we’re sorry…it’s the way the billing system works. The product is loaded into our database after your credit card details are processed…”

I said they needed to be more transparent on their order form and their sales material.

Here’s the thing ABC Company. I could give TWO HOOTS about your systems. It’s not my problem, it’s yours. I am busy. I took the time to read your letter. I paid for this electronic product and you, ABC company, led me to think I’d get it when I paid for it. I wanted my instant gratification…like any good internet purchaser. That was my expectation.

You should have told me that I’d have to wait at least two business days (and by the way I have to check back myself, which means one more step I must remember), and you should have told me on the order page so I’d see it before I ordered – not afterwards when I could do nothing about it. And, even though you said you’d try to get my order processed so I’d get it today, you never did that either. So I still don’t have it. In fact the product isn’t going to be available until February 18th – that’s five days after I ordered it!

FAIL. Big time.

ABC company isn’t alone in doing this, even though this was the poorest online purchase experience I’d had in a long while. Too many companies focus on selling their wares and then become fuzzy when it comes to the ordering process and setting and meeting customer expectations. The thing is, this company should know better – much better – because of what they market. They market very expensive, online information products, several of which, ironically, are about writing user-focused online content.

Tips for ABC Company

- would be on-line marketers and business selling on the web would do well to take note.

Don’t spring surprises on your prospects or customers. Perhaps it gets you more sales initially but it will lose you future sales and good will and generate bad feelings.
People will remember their experience and interaction with you – good and bad. The bad ones will linger and will cancel out the good.
When a customer asks for help don’t tell them about your internal systems and policies… or lack thereof. It’s lame, it’s a very poor excuse and it doesn’t help.
Get a payment processing system that does instant credit card verification. Instant gratification is key to internet purchases. It’s expected online. Meet those expectations.
Don’t just sell your products. Spell out every step of the payment process and tell buyers – up front, what to expect and when to expect it. That’s part of the experience.
It’s bad form to keep back important information you know may influence the buyer.
Please be transparent. If your product isn’t available immediately don’t represent it as if it is. Tell your purchasers up front if it’s unavailable for immediate download, or whether it’s going to be shipped and how long it will take. That’s more important than a long rambling sales letter.
If you say you are going to do something, do it. Live up to your promise.
Make sure your customer service does not suck. I’m still waiting for your feedback to my email.
Remember Social Media (like blogs and Twitter and Facebook) gives good or bad experiences legs.
The next time you try to sell me something in your email – assuming I remain on your list – I am going to remember this experience. Yes, even though I spent (and have spent) quite a bit of money with you. It’s also going to be etched on this blog, because I was so irked I had to write about it.

In case you’re wondering, yes I was sorely tempted to name the company. Some reading this might guess who it is anyway. I have their stuff and it is good. However since I haven’t named other companies – except mostly in a good light, I relented. But if anyone wants to know, email me and well… who knows? I just might say.