“Would you care to order a copy of Autoresponder Magic or Million Dollar Letters at half price”?

All these gives a positive choice. No matter which one customer picks you win.

These questions are much better than a question that involves a yes/no answer. By of*ering two choices it is generally assumed that customer will make a choice between two products on of*er.

What you say in your ads and when interacting with your customers is worth a fortune to you.

But only if you apply what you learn

Wouldn’t you like to enjoy a bit of cream on top with a short paragraph on your thank you order page?

Any time an order is placed through your website just add following line of script…

“Thank you for your order. Because your order is over XXX (be sure to make it just below whatever minimum order price is so everybody qualifies) you actually qualify for our special of*er”.

Then briefly describe special of*er (whether it be product or service) and savings and benefits they will receive if they order NOW. Just this one little strategy can easily convert a $17.00 sale into a $30.00 or even $50.00 sale. If you’re not using this strategy now I suggest you implement it right now. Leaving it off could cost you a fortune.

While a small change in your sales conversion rate will have a great impact on revenues, most website owners are unaware of this and are losing sales.

Problem # 3 The proximity of competition

According to Nielsen/Netratings, February 2003, average visitor spends only 55 seconds per webpage. In less than a minute, your visitors decide whether to continue viewing your pages or click away.

How many of your competitors are online? Find out now by going to your favorite search engine and typing in keywords prospective customers would use when looking for your business. How many options do your potential customers have?

Even if a visitor wants what you offer, he is tempted to comparison shop. It's very easy to click and go to another site. Are you doing everything you can to get customers to buy from you?

Problem # 4 Price-shopping

If you sell something exclusive, price-shopping wouldn't be a problem for you until competition shows up on scene.

However, if you sell products that other websites offer, then you'll find intense pressure to lower your prices. Search engines give prospective customers a list of options. Plus, there are price comparison websites like Pricegrabber, MySimon and Dealtime that make it easy for consumers to price-shop. They give their users prices from several websites.

Problem # 5 Shopping cart abandonment

A visitor decides to buy from you. Somewhere between placing items in shopping cart and completing purchase they leave your website, usually for good.

More than 60 percent of online shoppers abandon purchases before completing credit card transaction, according to Gartner Group, Inc. Which means if 40 people buy from you, 100 started to buy from you. Imagine how many more sales you'd have if you prevented some of these abandoned carts.

Identifying toughest problems facing online retailers is first step in dealing effectively with them.