The one question that stops your customers from buying online

The headlight on my wife’s car burnt out the other day. Instead of
taking it to the dealer – overpaying for a simple repair – I
decided to do it myself. One quick Google search later, and I learned
exactly how simple the repair is. It just takes a replacement bulb.
Cheap. Easy. Happy. Right? Not exactly.

A search for the part took me to an online auto parts store, a brand I’ve
never heard of. that’s OK. They get good ratings, have reasonable
prices, and the part is in stock. But what’s this?

(Note: This is just a representative display in order to protect the guilty)

Why do they show the same part with two radically different prices? Is
one higher quality? Will it last longer? Or is the higher priced item
simply a 10-pack? The site doesn’t tell me. Damn. What if I make a
mistake?

And that’s the key. Your customers don’t want to buy the wrong thing. They don’t want to deal with returns. They don’t want to hate the experience. They don’t want to feel stupid.

What do you do about it? You can act like Zappo’s and make the return
process painless, to ease the customer’s decision. Offer reviews.
Improve your copy. Provide click-to-call or chat to answer any questions that the customer might have. But every company, every site
must do something.

Or you can lose the sale. Just like those auto parts guys did.

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