What every single ecommerce business wants most is for online users to type in their credit card number and make a purchase of their products…. Nice and easy, right?

You can have the best developed shopping cart of its kind, but if no one is buying, then you simply have a really nice website…. Which isn’t making any money.

When it comes to ecommerce and online sales, how do you encourage site visitors to move from passive window shopping interest to a paying customer?

The short answer is easy enough… Prove yourself trustworthy and professional so the customer has the necessary confidence to make a purchase.

That, of course, is easier said than done.

This is the hardest concept in ecommerce to implement, but if you want more shoppers and less visitors, you will have to work hard and learn a great deal.

First and foremost, you and your store MUST make the shoppers your number one priority. Having said this, realize the treachery involved in that statement…. Yes, I mean 100% customer service from your and your site…. Even when you are sleeping.

You will have to do whatever ways you can to find a way to prove to your potential customer that you are looking out for their interests and are genuinely interested in passing along helpful information to them.

There are far too many sites that exist that ooze with insincerity and even more with a complete lack of professionalism. It is a very tough sell to believe that these site owners care about anything beyond their wallets. Certainly, you can’t fault them for having an interest in their financial future, but online users want need you to prove to them you can be trusted and that you are worthy of their business…. This is especially true in these uncertain economic times.

I haven’t done exhaustive scientific research on the following statement, but I have performed enough research and management that the guess is very well educated…

The online businesses that will be most successful in the next decade will be ones who are honestly interested in the needs of the customers.

For those of you who are fixated on the bottom line you really need to know that customer satisfaction is tethered to your bottom line. Consider it the cost of doing business, something you pay forward for the ability to live with yourself and sleep at night.

Most of my teen and adult life I spent in restaurant/food management… I can tell you in no uncertain terms, you MUST earn your customers trust, approval and patronage. There is just no other way. So maybe you got in to ecommerce thinking it was a great deal… Easy money? Sorry to disappoint you, but when a customer entered one of my restaurants I have the GENUINE opportunity to look them in the eye and demonstrate my concern for them and their experience in my restaurant. Your online store DOES NOT give you that ability… You have to must work even harder than any brick and mortar small business. This I promise you.

The quickest way to grow your sales is to earn them with trust and professionalism….. and if you watch your bottom line too closely with regard to your customer’s satisfaction…. It will move for your, indeed as it falls through the floor. The mix is quite unique, but you must find this balance in your business.