There are key aspects re links that help protect the user’s privacy and reassure them that it’s safe to shop - or even just give you their email address - on your site. With each of the documents, make sure you understand what it is in them as there are legal implications.

• A secure URL
  Most “out of the box” eComm setups will include an SSL Certificate (Secure Sockets Layer). If it’s missing you may see a “not secure” note just before the URL up where you type in the web address. It’s standard technology for keeping a website’s connection to its host secure, which means that when people enter any personal details - such as their name or email address - the site is seen as “safe”. If you’re using Shopify this will be automatic. If you’re using WordPress with WooCommerce, you will need to make sure your site has an active SSL.
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• Privacy Policy
  Besides helping users know that you take their privacy seriously, if you’re running any ads on Facebook they can be disapproved without a Privacy Policy on your site. Facebook’s algorithm looks at the first page of any “funnel” to check for compliance to policy.
  If advertising in Europe, your privacy policy needs to comply with the GDPR regulations. Facebook has also adopted the GDPR standards so if you plan to advertise on Facebook you should ensure that you use this standard in handling people’s personal details. More recently California has upped it’s privacy laws and Facebook is making changes at the time of writing, in July 2020. Look at how you can best work with the data if you’re advertising in these regions.

• Website Terms and Conditions of Use
  This is a legally binding document that sets the rules users must adhere to when using your site. It protects your business and outlines the limitations that you can be held liable for when people are using your site.
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• Returns Policy
  68% of shoppers (according to Shopify) won’t click ‘purchase’ without viewing a brand’s returns policy! So if they need to hunt around to find it, chances are you’ll lose the sale.
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• Shipping Policy
  Just as with your returns policy, potential buyers will want to know how long it’ll take them to get their thing. Make it easy for them - a good shipping policy with, for example free shipping or very fast timeframes can also be worth including in your ads.

DO NOT rely on obviously ‘stocky’ images or, in ecomm, manufacturer’s images. Nothing screams ‘cheap’ as much as this. Too many businesses grab the first free stock image they see, and don’t realise that everyone else found the same one as well.

Think of it from your customer’s point of view. Show your service or products in real life. Help your prospects imagine what it will feel like to use your product or service. 

There’s no need for this to be expensive - professional photography is definitely worthwhile if your budget allows it. But if not, make good images anyway. For what it’s worth, even when we have seen professional product shoots done, the images someone took on the side with their iPhone sold better. The point is to Make It Real.

In tandem, work on your blog. When it’s well-written and optimised for Google search (SEO) you will build up valuable organic traffic over time. If you want to learn to write copy in-house, or have someone on your team do this, sign up for Copywriting for Profit and you’ll get the added bonus of learning how to make words - in every digital format - earn their keep.

Your site should have the customer immediately sensing that they’re in the “right place” when they visit. You can gauge this easily via your site’s bounce rate. If it’s over 60% you have work to do. It’s a matter of matching the right kind of people with a well-built site and good content. People will first buy on emotion, the feeling that - as Seth Godin puts it - “people like us do things like this”. Then they’ll make themselves feel even better about their decision with the logic. So, give them that emotion. Give them the place that, when people land there, they feel like “these people know me”.

Too often, a company asks me to audit their ad campaigns because they’ve been spending tens of thousands of dollars each month and aren’t really sure what’s happening with their money. And every time I find that they don’t have their tracking installed, or have only put in a basic ‘Page View’ and not tracked any actions from there.

Side note: it can be a good idea to slightly delay the firing of the ‘Page View’ event for a couple of seconds. That way the data won’t count people who accidentally click, which gives you a better segment of traffic to retarget. There are a couple of free Chrome extensions you can use to see whether or not your site’s tracking is installed correctly. First, use Google’s tag assistant. And in your Google account, ensure you have ‘goals’ set up so that you know when a lead or sale is made from your campaign and/or website. If you are tracking leads from your site via Google Ads, make sure your leads are directed to a ‘thank you’ page after they complete the form. That will allow you to track the lead goal.

Then also install the Facebook Pixel Helper which will show a green mark next to ‘Page View’ when done right. If you have a product catalog of items for sale, you should also click on one of the product pages and check that the Facebook Pixel Helper shows a green mark next to ‘View Content’. This means your campaign can track which products people looked at, and retarget them with that exact one via dynamic product ads.These are basic events to track that will get you started. Then, the revenue fuel comes from segmenting, tracking and retargeting events such as unique page views, unique add to cart, initiate checkout, purchase, video views etc.

It is definitely worth setting up your product catalog feed if you run an ecommerce store. This way, you can retarget people with the exact product they looked at and, for instance, offer them a discount or some other urgency call to action (such as limited stock) to make the sale.

You’ll also be able to show people different collections, based on their interests. First, create a Product Catalog feed on your site. From there you go to Facebook’s Business Manager and link the product catalog feed.

You can then set up seasonal or interest-based collections. Using Dynamic Product Ads is one powerful way to get ahead of the competition.

There are a whole lot of reasons why someone might not complete a purchase, from suddenly deciding they’re thirsty and going to get a drink, to hearing a knock on the door or the cat jumping on their keyboard.

But you can reduce this by helping people feel comfortable about giving you money. Start with these:

• Include images for secure checkout and payment methods just below the cart button at checkout. Every reminder right when people are about to give you their money is worthwhile.
• Include endorsements from purchasers on this page as well. Your platform is probably compatible with one of the apps that send a message to customers, asking them to review their purchase. We like to think we’re independent, but the reality is that most people feel more comfortable spending money if they see that somebody else already did it. There are also plugins that will display a pop-up in the bottom corner of your page, showing how recently somebody made a purchase and from which region.

For every second your site takes to load, you are losing money.

DoubleClick by Google found that 53% of mobile site visits were abandoned if a page took longer than 3 seconds to load. DoubleClick also found that publishers whose sites loaded within five seconds earned up to twice as much ad revenue than sites loading within 19 seconds. Work on your page load speed after your site is complete. 

You can test your page load speed from a few free sites:

• Pingdom: https://tools.pingdom.com/ - ensure you test from the region(s) most relevant to your campaigns.
• GTMetrix: https://gtmetrix.com/
• Or run a site audit via Google: right-click on your site > Inspect > Choose “Lighthouse” from the top menu > Generate Report
  

You will probably find you get different speeds from each, so use each as a reference. 

* https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/performance/why-performance-matters

Talk to us about getting an analysis of your business goals and current marketing systems. Our strength is in finding your business’ strengths, then effectively communicating those to your market. And we make it a priority for you to feel relieved, knowing your marketing is not only running smoothly, but bringing strong returns.

Jo McKee founded McKee Creative in 2016, but has been helping people make money online since 2005. Before even looking at which shiny tool to use for a campaign, Jo helps clients create powerful offers that work on any platform, regardless of the industry. After working with clients in industries as diverse as film distribution, marine tourism, exercise for retirees, professional services and all kinds of products in ecommerce, Jo has found the one principle for success is simple: people matter.

Here are the stats:

• Entrepreneur & multi-business owner for over 15 years 
• Consultant to over 30 other marketing agencies in the areas of operations, communications and conversion rate optimisation.
• CEO of McKee Creative, an agency that exists to provide cohesive, effective digital marketing for SMEs and government.
  
  

To find out how your business growth can be accelerated via digital marketing, book a preliminary call here.