Its not as bad as it sounds but is really important to any ecommerce site. The web provides a unique environment where anyone can make just about anything in no time at all. This grounds us in a foundation where we are hyper skeptical as well as empowered to move away with the slightest click.
FUD stands for Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. These are all huge factors in converting customers and as major friction points that probably can’t be completely eliminated, we can do out best to minimize them.
You’re an online consumer, there is the fear that your private information will be absconded with and you will lose your house – we need to present to the user that this is safe environment and ensure that we are conveying trust.
- Do you have an SSL certificate? You can definitely buy one, they run around $100/year.
Talk to your hosting provider or, if we host your site, get in touch. - Does your payment processor provide you with some visual credentials to display?
- A strategic green padlock can says a great deal about how serious a site takes its security. Make sure you back it up!
Uncertainty can be addressed by simply making sure there are no loose ends on your site. There is nothing worse than getting to the end of a checkout stage and finding broken links. That does not promote confidence and returning customers.
- Go through your checkout process several times. Get comfortable with switching over into test mode so that you can get all the way to the end.
- What do your follow up emails look like?
Doubt should also be addressed by backing up what you say. If you say you ship in a certain amount of time, cut it in half if you can. Reduce this friction by under promising and over delivering.
- This might turn into somewhat of an evolution but thats ok – stay honest with what you are selling or providing.
- Are you available? Approachable? Would it be worth installing a chat feature to dissuade doubts?
Obviously there are about a million ways to reduce friction in converting traffic to customers and then multiply that by the different types of industries out there. We will be referring to this topic often.