1. Learn how your customer basically thinks – Consumers are left confused by online retailers and businesses. Look at the consumer influence on purchase below,

Is it surprising that more than 50% online consumers convert because of sales, discounts and special deals? There are others who value reviews, comments and testimonials; and there are those who never make online purchases. It is best to know at the initial stages that what interests your customers and then you can wisely chose a channel to push forward your products/services.

2. Give them both – Convenience and discounts – Remember that consumers are not only interested in convenience. They always need more. Let me give an example of Amazon’s Kindle store, it offers deals and discounts along with a lot of convenience with their books. I mean, I can stay relaxed about buying books hereafter. The secret behind offering discounts and yet be on profits is simple,

Look at this image,

3. Improve your user experience – Third thing that strikes a chord is, a good user experience starts with page load time and goes all the way through conversion and beyond. Would it be surprising if 74% businesses already know the importance of user experience? I don’t think so!

So I will tell you why bad UX is caused,

4. Make your visitors feel safe, eliminate fear – do you know that making a site safe for visitors can do you better business than all your promotions altogether? Well it does and this is how,

    Back-end Security

There’s a lot you can do behind the scenes to secure your website:

• Software updates
• Using parameterized queries
• Stripping-out HTML
• Displaying error messages only where necessary, and with a lot of care
• Implementing server-side validation
• Prevent hackers from uploading harmful content

This won’t be visible to your visitors, but you’ll be able to confidently assure them that their data is secure.

Front-end security

Front-end security is much more visible to website visitors and will help reduce their conscious and non-conscious fears. Here are a few things you can do:

• Use HTTPS by Incorporating Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) – at least a few visitors will notice the secure icon in their browser’s address bar.
• Integrate PayPal – this adds a layer of security and allays customer concerns about the privacy of their payment info.
• Display Trust Seal Badges on your website – in most tests, these have increased conversion rates.

5. Provide better customer support – Not everything works the way you expect. Customers can be confused by your website and unsure about placing an order. After they order, fulfillment errors or shipping damage can create a terrible customer experience.

Notice that more than 30% consumers become loyal just because of excellent 24/7 customer support.

6. The power of social media – Social networks are addictive, both for you and your customers. They are so addictive that people can’t stay away from them even after sleep.

You probably know Facebook is the leading social networking site, but you may be surprised that Facebook gets more unique visitors than Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace and Google Plus combined:

These above points will definitely make you think again and make you want to implement these traits in your business for a better purpose and a better business.