by: Corey Rudl

On the Internet, people can’t walk in and touch things; the only thing they have contact with is your web site. Making the customer feel comfortable at your site, building a rapport, and then asking for the sale is so important. But if you have an ordering process that is confusing, complicated, or simply outdated, you are losing a boatload of sales.

What online consumers now expect is the ability to automatically process credit cards for instant, online ordering. Even if you have an online order form, but it is not automated and in "real time," you are still in the Stone Ages. The entire idea of an Internet business is that your "store" (or web page) is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to receive orders and process payments.

Complete Automation is the Key

The Net is an international medium and is open 24 hours a day. My strong belief when selling in cyberspace is to be "completely automated," so you can work on your own time and at your own hours. I can travel anywhere at any time and run my entire business from my laptop and my voice mail. If you're not going to be fully automated and decide to process everything manually, you must:

1. Be prepared to check your e-mail every day of the week, including weekends and holidays.
2. Be prepared to confirm and process every order within 24 hours.
3. Be willing to give up valuable time to fulfill orders and do paperwork while you could be marketing your business and increasing sales.

If you do become fully automated, be prepared to spend a little more time and money in the beginning setting up your business and web site, while the automated system becomes fully operational.

Don't wait until the orders start rolling in to figure these things out. All repeat sales depend on your professionalism and ability to handle the first sale quickly and smoothly. As I will show you later, repeat sales will be a big part of your net profit, even if you presently don't have anything else to sell.

If the customer is confused on how to order, or you don't offer a payment type that is convenient, you will lose the sale. I cannot stress how important this is! I have seen too many people have a great product/service and sales letter, only to miss the sale because the order process was too complicated and the payment options were not convenient enough for the customer.

The All-Important Basics

Ordering goods and services online is a relatively new thing. Many people have never ordered anything online and may be nervous or uncomfortable doing it for the first time. It is important to explain every aspect of the ordering process to build customer confidence. Tell them how to fill out the form, how the product is shipped, any special features, etc. Even explain to the customer that the order form isn't processed until they click the "Send" button at the bottom of the screen, as well as anything else you can think of that a first-time electronic buyer might not know.

Make the customer feel at ease by confirming every order by e-mail. After a customer places an order, they really don't know if it was received or if the product is being shipped until they hear back from you. Don't overlook the psychological impact a simple electronic "thank you" can have on the customer.

Confirming an order also gives the customer the confidence that you are a legitimate company. If you are using an automated ordering system, the confirmation will automatically be sent to the customer via e-mail just moments after they order.

If you are using a manual ordering system whereby the order is simply e-mailed to you (so you have to process it manually), try to send an e-mail confirmation within the next 24 hours, or have an autoresponder "triggered" to send a confirmation right away.

How Do I Set Up All This Techno-Stuff?

There are many ways to automate the receipt of e-mail or orders. If you go to one of my manual-order pages for the Car Secrets Revealed book at http://www.igs.net/carsecrets/order87.htm, you will see in the HTML code (click on “View” at the top, then click on “Source”) that the order is sent to two e-mail addresses. The first could be a customer service representative’s address, and the second could be the autoresponder that sends a confirmation immediately to the customer.

Note: How autoresponders work is that, when an e-mail is sent to the autoresponder's e-mail address, it will e-mail back the original sender whatever document you have set up -- all within seconds.

Another example of how orders can be confirmed is by using a completely automated service at the server. We will use Car Secrets Revealed as an example. With the secure server that I use, the process is set up so that as soon as the customer orders:

1. The credit card is approved in real time while the customer waits for a few moments.
2. The money is deposited into my bank account.
3. The order is e-mailed to a fulfillment company, which ships the hardcopy of the book.
4. The customer is sent a confirmation of the order by e-mail.
5. If applicable, the customer is sent the softcopy version of the book via e-mail within a couple of minutes.

In the e-mail confirmation to the customer, I repeat the contents of the order and the price, and then state when and how the order will be shipped. Your customer will appreciate the follow-up and the professionalism of this approach. Here is an example of the letter I use for Car Secrets Revealed:

To: customer@domain.com

From: Car Secrets

Subject: Confirmation and Thank You

Hi,

Thank you for your order. This e-mail is just to confirm that we received your order and it will be shipped via Priority US Mail within 24 hours (weekends excluded). You should receive the package within 3-4 business days.

As an additional note: if you used your credit card for this purchase, it has been charged the special price of $27.00 plus $2.95 shipping. It will appear on your credit card statement as MONEY SAVERS GROUP from Ogdensburg, NY (our mother company).

Enjoy the book, as the information can be quite an "eye-opener."

NNick