More Than A Pretty Face: How One Picture Increased Ecommerce Sales By 35.3%
Websites are cold and impersonal.
But what happens when you add some warmth; a human face; and a promise that you’ll be there if things go wrong after the sale?
This is exactly what one ecommerce store did to their shopping cart’s checkout page.
They added a photo of a key customer support staff member, the staff member’s name, the support line’s phone number, and a brief reminder that customers could call about any issues.
This was placed in a highly visible position, at the top of the page, to the right of the checkout.
After testing the faces of several staff members, they discovered one face appeared to be particularly well-trusted among customers.
This saw a significant reduction in the number of people who abandoned their shopping cart inside the checkout – leading to a 35.3% increase in sales!
This shows how adding a little human touch to your website can build trust and rapport, and help to get more sales across the line.
Trust Is Given, Not Established
In the case study above, one of the reasons why sales rose by 35.3% was because the “human element” was added.
But the other key reason why this tiny website tweak was so successful was because it demonstrated a human willingness to listen to the customer.
How can we trust someone who doesn’t understand us? Who refuses to listen to us – or take our calls? Who makes no attempt to ask questions about us? (All mistakes corporations make that cost them sales.)
The social dynamics of trust, rapport, and liking are closely linked, and simply asking questions makes you more likeable, more trustworthy, and helps you to develop rapport quickly. Someone who is liked is more likely to be trusted – and conversely, if we don’t like someone we typically don’t trust them either.
The problem with trust is that it’s not a monument on the hill that we build, in honour of our own trustworthiness.
It’s a medal of recognition that is awarded to us by our customers – one-by-one – in recognition of our dedication to serve them.
There are plenty of other ways to SUBSTANTIALLY increase sales, through tiny tweaks to your existing website. To see more of these strategies, get in touch here for a copy of our upcoming whitepaper.