FACT: Having a toll-free phone number displayed in the template of your Ecommerce store will increase your conversion rate.
REASON: One word; trust. Whether a visitor realizes it or not, seeing that toll-free phone number embeds a certain amount of trust into them. Even if they don’t pick up on it consciously, their subconscious will catch it & it will affect the way they feel about your ecommerce store. Most visitors never call the toll-free phone number, but the simple fact that it’s there will mean a better conversion rate for you as a store owner!
Something about a toll-free number screams “solid company” to your visitors, and you wouldn’t believe how vital that really is. If a visitor is on your website and you have what they want at a competitive price, the only thing between them and a purchase is that little word; trust. Every person in the country (and probably the world) has heard the horror stories about credit card fraud and internet scams. The funny thing is, more fraud happens in local stores than in online stores, but the average person doesn’t realize this. So, in order for them to feel safe putting their credit card details in at your store, you need to convince them that you are a legitimate web store that will not run off with them money & not deliver the product. An 800 # goes a long way in doing that!
So at this point you are probably thinking “yeah, that makes sense, but I’m sure an 800 number costs a fortune!” — Truth is, they don’t! You can get an 800 number for $10-15 a month. And that’s not a “bare bones” forwarding number, that’s with voice mail, professional hold music, electronic fax service, sequential call forwarding & much more. Best of all, you can use a single 1-800 # for ALL OF YOUR ECOMMERCE STORES!! Split that $15/month cost between 5 stores and you’re talking a whopping $3/store a month. Not a bad tradeoff for increasing your conversion rate across the board! My personal favorite 800 number service is RingCentral. They offer a full 1 month free trial so there’s truly no risk in trying them out. There are similar ones out there for about the same price point, but I figure why fix something if it’s not broken. Their service is solid, and 100% customizable.
Next post I’ll be talking about other Trust Graphics that can increase your conversion rate! Remember, as I always say; it’s easier to double your conversion rate than it is to double your amount of traffic! See you next time Ecommerce Entrepreneurs.