Monthly issue of ShopT@lk

How do I add an image to the top of my Order Form?

If you want an image/audio/video to appear in the top HTML of one of your shopping cart pages, click on the 'Cart Setup' >> 'Customization' screen from the main menu of your account. You have several areas here that allow you to access the HTML of your shopping cart.

The ‘View Cart Top HTML Message’ and ‘View Cart Bottom HTML Message’ give you access to the top and the bottom HTML areas of the first Shopping Cart page. The ‘Order Form Top HTML Message’ and ‘General Purpose Statement Message’ give you access to the top and bottom HTML areas of the second Shopping Cart page (the billing page).

There are also options on this page giving you access to the HTML on both the customer receipt email and the page that your clients see when they unsubscribe from one of your mailing lists (by clicking on an unsubscribe link within an email they receive).

In order to have an image appear in the content of these pages, you would just add a tag similar to this:

img border="0" src=http://www.yourweb.com/yourimagesdirectory/image001.jpg width="260" height="209" hspace="0"

This way, when the shopping cart page opens and tries to load the graphics file, the system will go to www.yourweb.com and look in the appropriate directory for the image file.

Often, a major challenge with this process occurs when attempting to open an un-secure media type in the top HTML of our second shopping cart page (the billing page). This shopping cart page is run off a secure server, so unless you save your image/audio/video in a secure directory of your own, you will run afoul of most browsers.

Browsers display a warning message when attempting to open a secure page containing un-secure media. This tends to interrupt a sale in progress with an unexpected security warning from Windows. Not exactly what you want when a prospect is deciding whether or not to give you their credit card information... yikes.

This can be easily avoided by saving your media in a secure directory of your own. You can then call the image from the top HTML of our shopping cart billing page without worrying about browser errors.

We have even tried to help with this process by offering a secure area within your account. You can upload up to 5 megs in images here and our system will automatically generate and provide you with the URL that you would need to use to call the image.

You can find the ‘Secure Image Area’ from the main menu:

Cart Setup -> Secure Image Area

Reasons Why People Usually Don't Buy Again

Why don't people buy the second time from you? Some things you have control over and some you don't. Here are ten items you have full control over that affects your repeat business.

There are many psychological reasons why people will buy from you the first time and why they do not buy from you again. There are books on many of these reasons. Many of these reasons are totally out of your control.

But what about the ones that you are in control of? What about the legit reasons that you or your staff cause?

Here are the ten top reasons why people do not buy a second time around.

1. Follow up after the sale was poor perceived quality, nonexistent, or too far after the sale.

2. You didn't ship the product in the time promised.
Whether they needed it immediately or it sits in the in-box, when people buy something they don't like waiting. Otherwise, your credibility has been waived.
Apologize and offer them an item with perceived value for free.

3. Your product didn't deliver what it promised. Even if your product didn't accomplish what they believe it should have they are not going to think your second product will either.

4. The buyer could not reach you when they had a "after question" sale. You could have added extra lines of communication.

5. Your customer doesn't want to revisit your website because it didn't offer much the first time around. You could have offered more original content or freebies.

6. Your competition is offering free shipping with their product and you aren't. You need to be more aware of how your competition is targeting customers at all times.

7. Your customer forgot your web site address or how to find you. They can't find you easily in the search engines (first or second page lists in their query). You should provide your contact information to your buyers in and on everything.

8. Customer service couldn't solve a problem they had with your product or didn't handle a refund well. Your customer service personnel, and yourself, need clear boundaries on what problems they solve and must pass up the ladder. They should also be trained on what tone, and language to use.

9. You did not up-sell them when they were already in the buying mood.

10. Competition offers a stronger money back guarantee. Always think of better ways to remove the risk from your customers and try to do it better than your competition.

This is a lot to remember, a lot to institute into your business practices, yet every one of these items are just as important as the next.

Remember too, this affects viral marketing as well (word of mouth/referrals).

Catherine Franz, Millionaire Coach, thinks outside the box naturally when it comes to attracting money. Order her latest free strategy, How To "Get 'Them' To Follow Your Yellow Brick Road." http://www.marketingstrategiestogo.com