10 Golden Rules that will Improve Your E-Commerce Website Profits in the Next 30 Days

“This website just doesn’t deliver!”

That is a common (if sometimes unspoken) refrain from those who manage an e-commerce website.

Not enough qualified leads generated…

Not enough sales closed…

Too many “cart abandons…”

E-commerce websites – where the site requires the visitor to sign up for something or buy something – is governed by the rules of Direct Response Marketing.

But far too often, technology – a site filled with bells and whistles – ignores the rules of DRM, rules that made billions of dollars in profit for a too-often ignored medium.

Simply put…

Too many e-commerce websites ignore the 10 Golden Rules of Direct Mail!

Yes… Direct Mail.

From the time of the Great Depression through to the turn of the millennium, Direct Mail generated billions of dollars in profit for those who followed the simple Golden Rules of DM.

The amazing thing is this: in the rush to modernize websites with high-tech apps and snazzy images, the disregard for those Golden Rules resulted in billions of dollars in lost revenue.

Let’s take a quick look at those 10 Golden Rules that you can apply in the next 30 days that will increase the profitability of your e-commerce website.

Oh, and don’t worry. You need not apply all 10 Rules at once. Pick out the three or four that you can manage at once and implement those. Even those small changes will result in increased profitability.

10 Golden Rules of Direct Mail (that will turn any e-commerce website into a winner!)

1. Make the first page a simple teaser.

In the late 1980’s through the late 1990’s the average home in the United States received more than 50 pieces of mail every week.

And so much of that mail looked the same: a No. 10 envelope with a window where the name and address showed.

The recipient of the mail would sort through the daily pile and split it into two divisions: The A stuff (open and read now) and the B stuff (read it whenever, if ever.)

Studies showed that that decision took less than 1 second (about .8 seconds to be exact.)

So, Direct Mail managers were given a mandate: Rise Above the Clutter.

Make it easy for your envelope to get into the A pile.

Some marketers went with colorful envelopes. Some made the envelope an odd size. Others added something to the envelope to give it a “lumpy” feel.

But the biggest factor was the teaser copy on the envelope.

“Personal & Confidential.”

“Open & Read Immediately”

“Penultimate Notice”

If the teaser was not misleading, the effect was dramatic.

Envelopes opened, sales letters read, orders placed.

Eight-tenths of a second… Rise Above the Clutter.

Does your e-commerce site do that?

I’m not talking about “click bait.”

This is a simple first impression that gives your visitor a clear opportunity to take a specific action to advance the relationship you started with their first visit to your e-commerce site.

(Sometime, I must tell you how I conquered this challenge for a company that taught marketing techniques to the medical community.)

2. Include a quick sign-up form very early.

At the very least, you need to make sure you clearly and easily capture some vital information about your visitor.

I’m not talking about dropping cookies – who here hates having to click “accept all cookies” every time you visit a website?

So, after you tease the visitor into your e-commerce web site with some brilliant copy/graphics on the first page, you need to capture their name and email address (at the least) and do it quickly.

I can’t think of the number of web sites I visit where the newsletter sign-up form is at the very bottom of the page, forcing me to scroll down again and again and again before I can sign up for something.

Upper left corner… the perfect place for a quick newsletter sign-up box, or a place to capture some visitor data (“Want to know about our next ½-off sale?)

Data capture is the gasoline that fires Direct Response Marketing. Why wait to fill your tank?

3. Include a great sales letter.

Do you sell something on your e-commerce web site?

Well… duh… That’s what the site is for, right?

What’s the best way to sell something?

With a great sales letter.

Not content. Not a funny video.

But a sales letter that answers a simple question that every visitor to your web site has: What’s In It For Me?

The letter should point to a specific challenge the visitor has and offer an easy-to-get/use solution to that challenge.

It should talk about benefits, not features.

(Quick tip: the difference between features and benefits is this: Features tell you what it is, Benefits tell you what it does for you.)

Don’t worry about length.

One of the greatest sales letters of all time (and that stood as the control for more than 30 years) was a 25-page letter that sold subscriptions to a business magazine.

And some of the most successful sales letters were about 250 words long.

There are many factors that determine letter length… but that’s a whole one-day webinar!

4. Include a brochure that tells your story.

“The letter sells, and the brochure tells.”

In the Direct Mail world, the brochure talked about features more than benefits. It told the story: the story behind the product or service, the story behind the company, the story behind the people who made the product.

In other words, have a place for content.

Just make sure that content focuses on storytelling, with just a hint of sales. Lots of details, just a little push.

Use video, graphics, and copy to tell your story.

5. Include testimonials.

Gather real testimonials from real people.

Prospects want to know that other people use and enjoy your product/service.

(Here’s a quick tip to gather great testimonials: have a company executive call a few current customers. Talk with them and discuss the how and why they bought and use the product or service. Get the customers permission and use their first name, last initial and city in your testimonials.)

And don’t worry about making the testimonials too perfect. Real people use bad grammar when talking, so don’t clean it up. Keep it real; keep it personable.

6. Include an involvement device.

In modern speak, it’s called “gamification.”

In Direct Mail, it was called an involvement device.

And a good ID can range from the stupidly simple to the intricate.

For example, a direct mail letter written on a legal-size page (8.5” x 14”.) On the back side, were testimonials and product specs.

The front (the sales letter) was in portrait orientation.

The back (the brochure) was in landscape.

So, after reading the front, the prospect had to turn the page 90 degrees to read the back.

That simple move increased response by 25%!

Do you remember Publisher’s Clearinghouse? If so, you remember all the sheets of stamps.

Peel off the stamps of the magazines you wanted to subscribe to and stick them on the order form.

BINGO! 25 years of profitable mailings from a simple involvement device.

(Can you do the same with your e-commerce site? Have a virtual “stamp” beside each product that the visitor can “peel and stick” to the order form.)

Other Direct Mail involvement devices you can adapt for online action are scratch and win cards, or scratch cards with various discounts.

I even have a special involvement device that not only reduces cart abandonment rates – one number every e-commerce manager hates – but increases sales and ROI. Ask nicely and I’ll share it with you…

7. Have a strong, clear CTA.

Don’t you hate it when you go to a web site, and you can’t figure out exactly how to place your order?

In the Direct Mail Golden Rules, creating a clear call-to-action is paramount.

Look back at the best DM pieces. You will find copy that read something like, “Here’s what you do now: 1. Fill out the form; 2. Include your payment; 3. Use the handy Reply Envelope to place your order.

(Hey, I once increased the response rate when I added a new number 1: Take out your pen. This simple prompt gets the order process started.)

Look at your web site. Is the CTA clear and concise?

Do you give simple, easy-to-follow instructions on how to place an order, or sign up for a subscription, or arrange a call-back?

8. Give at least 3 ways to respond.

Make pl acing an order easy and you will get more orders.

In Direct Mail, we would always offer three ways to respond: mail, phone, fax.

In today’s technology, the fax is a dinosaur, and no one uses the mail.

So, what three response mechanisms do you use?

Fill the cart, email, phone.

But make sure there are 3 methods to respond!

The Rule of 3 is one of the most powerful and impactful in marketing, so use it whenever and wherever you can.

9. Where’s your USP?

The USP – Unique Selling Proposition – is the one sentence that sums up exactly why the prospect should buy from you, or sign up for your newsletter or service, or seek a meeting.

In the Direct Mail world, the USP was always in the same place: on the order form.

Look at a good DM order form and at the top (usually next to a nice big “Check Mark in a Box”) you find a statement that begins, “YES! I want…”

Written from the perspective of the customer, it outlines the greatest benefits expected from the purchase/sign-up.

“YES! I want to learn more about how I can use the Golden Rules of Direct Mail in the next 30 days to make my e-commerce site more profitable than ever before!”

A great USP is the deal closer that reduces cart abandons.

10. Test one new thing every month.

“There are three things you can do to generate more sales… test, Test. TEST!”

Create a plan to test one thing every thirty days.

Be sure you use this formula for your tests:

A. Test one thing at a time.

If you change the headline, change the hero image, and change the price, you will have no idea what factor caused your response rates to change. Identify the one thing that you want to test and create a smart test.

B. As one smart question of yourself.

So, you want to test a new headline. OK…now ask yourself this question: what does success look like?

Do you want to increase time-on-site, or improve order number, or order value?

Determine the metric then plan the test.

C. Test, test, test.

Everything is testable (as long as it’s one thing at a time.)

For one Direct Mail client, we test so many different things over the years, we were down to testing the color of the paper – blue buff vs. grey buff – to determine which pulled better. (Blue won.)

The headline, the images, the cart layout… the prices, the discounts, the font, the size of the font…

The possibilities are endless.

The goal is always the same… use smart testing to increase profitability.

Now, as you read earlier, there is little chance you can implement all 10 Golden Rules in the next 30 days. But you can try three or four of them…

And sometimes all you need is one small change to make all the difference.

And if you want to know more about any of the 10 Golden Rules, or you want to discuss how to make your e-commerce web site deliver better results, reach out me: PTB@novuscom.net.