Virtuemart: 32 Tips for Increasing Conversions |
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After designing 8 online shops with Virtuemart Shopping Cart, I thought it would be helpful to provide some additional tips for those sites, other Virtuemart webmasters hosting elsewhere as well as those prospective clients who may consider developing their online shop with OGO Sense.
New to Virtuemart Open Source Shopping Cart? If so, please check these live demos first:
If my tips are too brief for you or don't know how to implement them, you may contact me and/or leave comments/questions in the comment box below . My list of recommended improvements, which includes SEO, web strategy, functional and other tips is pretty comprehensive so let's get started:
1. Create unique and keyword rich friendly URLs for your product pages. Make sure that they are unlikely to change.
3. Create unique keyword rich titles and interesting metadata
descriptions for your Virtuemart pages. Consider what
you would use if it was your ad in newspapers. 8. Move user login from the top of registration form to the side to improve the checkout process. 9. Implement "Where did you hear about us" during the registration process to know better where your best customers find you. 10. Set up an option for new shoppers to sign up for a newsletter. 11. Use automated shipping calculator to easily calculate shipping on international orders. Weak dollar today makes your products more affordable on the international market. 12. Require only email for resetting password instead of both username and password. 13. Limit the subcategory depth to 3 if possible. 14. Don’t just link to “Store” from your main menu. Link to all your main category pages. 15. If you use PayPal set up a custom banner on the paypal page. 16. Customize your Thank you page instead of using Virtuemart's default thank you page. 17. Customize Virtuemart's notifications to better meet the purpose of your store. 18. Embed Virtuemart products in your pages or next to your pages that are not within your store. 19. If you have a product that would work on Froogle (Google’s shopping site), implement a Froogle Feed for Virtuemart. Demo . 20. Secure your control panel with https:// especially if you are handling credit card information on your virtuemart site. Pay attention to your site's security , don't fall a victom of hackers and don't bring your reputation and shoppers at risk. 21. Use Virtuemart to sell digital downloads if it works for your shop.
22. Make sure your online store is cross browser compatible. 80% of web
users are using IE on Windows, which means that an average site that
doesn't work in anything else could easily be losing 20% of sales.
24. Have a Clear Returns Policy. Users are impressed with sites with
a good returns policy and are more likely to buy from them. Have people
phone for returns. Free return shipping is usually a good option, if
commercially viable. Finally, give the user plenty of time to return
things. 28 days from the date of delivery.
28. Be Memorable. A good site will include information. A poor one
is just an online catalogue. Users start with research online, just as
they do offline. Information (articles, advice, reviews and so on) all
help the user early in their buying process. Make contact with the user
at that stage of their process and succeed.
30. Be trusted. An address is a good start. A phone number, with people answering the phone, also helps.
Have additional Virtuemart tips that you would like to share? Please use the comment box below .
Comments (6)
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..., Lowly rated comment [Show]
written by Joe, October 06, 2008
Hi Ogy,
Votes: +1
Great post - thanks for all the tips. I have been having a lot of trouble getting goals and funnels set up for virtuemart. I'm using sh404sef. You mentioned tracking conversion with analytics.. do you have advice or know where I can find a tutorial for this>? Thanks, Joe report abuse
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written by 00gy, October 06, 2008
@ JOE: do you have advice or know where I can find a tutorial for this>?
Votes: +1
Hi Joe, if you are just looking for a simple ratio of (purchases)/(number of visitors to your site), you can just Google Analytics tutorials on setting up goals. You will be given a javascript for the final step which you will need to insert in the thank you page of your Virtuemart. If you use Virtuemart's thank you page, you will need to embed it in php code and if you use a custom thank you page, then just open up html of that Thank You page article. Related to having the entire funnel, start from finish including the entire page by page process; well that's a bit more complicated. I have not seen anyone with a tutorial although I know some developers who claim they have modules that assist in making this funnel visualization work. Again, it can certainly be done, it just depends how much free time you have or how much you are willing to pay for someone to make it work. I hope this helps. Best, Ogy report abuse
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written by Rob, November 18, 2008
Nice tips.
Votes: +0
Do you know of any free modules to product google base feeds from virtuemart? report abuse
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written by ooogy, March 08, 2009
Hi Rob, I'm not sure about free ones. We have a license to use www.joomlagooglebase.com/ Google Base Product on multiple site so if you could afford for us to set it up on your site, you would not need to pay for it. Best, Ogy
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