Element #9

Now is the time to close the sale. When you believe a prospect has been convinced that they should ‘buy’ from you, do not procrastinate and beat-around-the-bush:

• summarise what has been outlined in the web page sales copy

• summarise the target customer's goal, need or problem and the proposed solution

• summarise the major benefits

• and then spell-out to your visitors exactly what they need to do in order to place their order or enquiry.

Make sure you make this as succinct as possible. There should be no possible confusion as to what the reader needs to do in order to place their order or lodge their enquiry.

Many ‘sales’ have been lost simply because the seller did not ask for the customer’s business. Strange, but true; they did not close the sale!

So provide as many different methods for facilitating their order or enquiry as possible. Some people, no matter how good your website security (detailed in your “security statement”, which is a declaration of your e-commerce business practices), will not put their credit card details over the Internet. Remove this boundary to completing a sale by offering alternative means of payment (cheque, direct credit, money order, and so on).