High Risk Merchants Guide to Creating the Perfect Shopping Experience

I am doing more research on high risk merchant account owners' websites these days. The reasons as to why people leave the shopping cart before they make it to the checkout lane are not without solutions. Most of the shopping experience is built around the psychology of buying and selling online.

So many reasons why people leave the online shopping cart halfway while picking goods.The scenario is similar to shopping on a local supermarket -- with negligible differences. The bottom line is to make it easy for your customers to shop. For example, would you fall in a long checkout line with only a six pack beer, a bag of crackers and small cash in your hand? To make things easy, let them pay at the express lane where cash is accepted and only a few items are processed.

Some people aren't really a big fan of shopping but with one e-commerce website after another being built, it's now just a few clicks away to buying without practically leaving the house. If it's so easy to lure even the laziest shoppers online, why do you still have a low conversion rate? Doesn't it bother you that if only you knew a few more insights your sales could double in no time?

I am doing more research on high risk merchant account owners' websites these days. The reasons as to why people leave the shopping cart before they make it to the checkout lane are not without solutions. Most of the shopping experience is built around the psychology of buying and selling online. People sometimes visit your store only to look at prices, linger for 5 seconds to browse your catalog, then hop to another store to do the same thing. Others are simply lured by advertising. These are situations you can't control. A mom may be browsing an online store for baby product and suddenly hears the baby gurgle and scream. She attends to her and comes back, flips to another web page, forgetting what she's looking for in the first place.

There are, however, shopping cart issues that you can control. Among a few are:

1. Operating system and browser compatibility

2. Catalog description/ Product presentation

3. Payment type acceptance (credit card, MOTO, e-checks, etc.)

4. Complexity/simplicity of browsing to checkout process

5. Security

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See: High Risk Merchants' Guide to Creating the Perfect Shopping Cart Experience

High Volume Merchant Account: Should You Get One?

I feel a need to go back to the basics. After years of hearing the phrase high volume merchants, I still encounter some perfectly running businesses who have not acquired their own high volume merchant account. For reasons I don't know. When I tell them execs about the possibilities it offers, they say they will consider applying for one. It seems to me that these businesses have reached their equilibrium, and at this point wish nothing but to maintain it. I say otherwise. Equilibrium in business is death. Seek constant disequilibrium -- that's a way to survive. We all live in a cycle and once this cycle becomes static and reaches plateau, there's nowhere else to go but down. Right, Tom Peters?

WHAT'S YOUR BEEF?

My friend Kent was downright frank with me. He says it has nothing to do with equilibrium. It's just that these businessmen haven't caught up with the trend of accepting credit cards online. Sure they accept credit cards, apart from the usual checks and the occasional debit cards, but they only use a POS and other manual processing equipment. And even though they've heard of virtual processing, they are iffy about applying because of the high incidence of fraud associated with it.

HIGH VOLUME IS NOT HIGH RISK?!

So maybe they have not educated themselves well enough about high volume merchant account. Or maybe they got it wrong. Let me just make it clear. Some of these execs may have even mistaken high volume for high risk. This is kinda funny. HIGH VOLUME identifies itself uniquely from all other high risk merchant accounts. How?

Continued:

The Benefits of Acquiring High Volume Merchant Account

1. Virtual Terminal

2. Savings and Reduced Rates

3. Statement Account History Reporting

4. Protection from Fraud

5. Shopping Cart

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High Volume Merchant Account: Is it Worth Acquiring One?

osCommerce for High Risk Merchants: The Good, The Bad, and The Possibilities

Just because osCommerce is the most popular merchant account software doesn't mean it's the best solution for your online business. Agree or disagree? Do you find osCommerce to be overrated? A lot of high risk merchants adopt osCommerce as their primary merchant account solution because of so many advantages. But, knowing osCommerce is open source (hence the name), there will always be loopholes before merchants can actually find it functional for their specific business' needs.

OsCOMMERCE BUGABOOS

So what are the likely monkey wrenches that might pop out once you start using osCommerce? For those having second doubts, you may be justified. Consider:

1. There are way too few templates in the osCommerce solution. If you attempt to tinker with the stylesheets, it would take a lot of time and a developer's help to be able to accomplish the best template for your needs.

2. Merchants may be vaguely aware of "attributes". In order to take full advantage of the limited attributes system, merchants will need to get a good developer to modify it. Otherwise, osCommerce's shopping cart may not be the best solution to use.

3. Even osCommerce's administration area isn't keen on password protection. However, this is remediable by simple research on the site and discussion with your developer.

4. As osCommerce is heavily dependent on the contribution of programmers worldwide, even product catalog capacity needs to be modified. osCommerce's solution won't suffice for big scale catalogs unless it has been altered to adopt new products that the server can handle.

Based from these loopholes, we can tell that a lot of osCommerce's capabilities are dependent on the software developer who is responsible for the alterations and extensions in the system. osCommerce is so powerful but without the ability to customize it to your merchant account's needs, it loses its potential to provide a cheap (or free) and efficient credit card processing solution.

THE SWEETER SIDE OF OsCOMMERCE

Now what makes osCommerce absolutely attractive for low risk and high risk merchants alike? Hands down, it beats other solutions simply because it's free! You can download the software, add-ons, and modifications grais. Also, osCommerce was being utilized by online merchants all over the world since March 2000, so it's pretty much universally trusted.

Although osCommerce's main weakness is the great necessity to modify the attributes, it is also its biggest strength. Its flexibility for customization as well as the capacity to support several languages and accept many international currencies make it the best open source merchant account software around. Security, user-friendliness, and a strong developers' community support also add up to its usability.

osCommerce's features can easily be checked out on their website. It lists down general functionality, set-up or installation, design, administration, customer, product, payment, shipping, and tax functionalities. Indeed, low risk and high risk merchants may only realize the full potential of osCommerce as shopping cart and card processing tool only when they pick out the features that would seamlessly work with their business –- then, enlist the help of developers for further customization and expansion.

7 Best Tools for Providing First-Rate Customer Service

"People used what they called a telephone because they hated being close together and they were scared of being alone." Chuck Palahniuk could be right and wrong! In the world of e-commerce, the telephone could be the single most important tool next to your car keys. An online merchant will not exist and survive in the cutthroat world of online business without key customer service tools. First and foremost, the phone! It's true that people do not want to literally knock on the company's door to ask for technical support when they're having trouble. But they also do not want to be left hanging in the air not knowing who to contact when they need help. If you can provide this means of contact and more, your online business has crossed the line from zero profit to a treasure trove.

DIAL TOLL-FREE

Needless to say, if you can provide toll-free phone numbers for your customers to contact, it would be easier for them to gain confidence on you. The same goes for fax numbers which customers can use to send documents when they need to, such as checks and billing proofs. This is extremely important for you and your customers as it helps establish a quick, reliable way to communicate with the simplest tools.

USING VOIP AND IM

Some companies provide a way for customers to talk via voice-over internet protocol (VOIP). VOIP, for the uninitiated, connects people through the internet on a phone call basis without having to disconnect (if they are using dial-up). All they need to do is use a program similar to Skype. Most Instant Messenger programs allow VOIP calls but companies may buy an in-house program that is exclusive for their business transactions.

LIVE CHAT, ANYONE?

Although I would say live phone calls are more favorable than IM text messaging, live chat is also an excellent tool that helps customers easily reach you in real time. Most high risk merchant account owners such online casinos and adult websites offer live chat customer services to ensure that their clients get all the support they need.

AN AUTORESPONDER, DAY IN, DAY OUT

The e-mail is another great channel for customer service. If you're a Mom 'n Pop, brick and click store and have a small clientèle, providing business e-mail address to your customers is the next best thing to a phone number. You may be out on the holidays and will be back in a few days but still want customer queries coming. The best way to deal with this is to use an Autoresponder program. The Autoresponder is programmed into your server so that every time a customer sends an e-mail, a message such as "We will get back to you shortly" will be sent to her. This way the customer knows that she is taken cared of even though technically at the moment you are out sunning and drinking papaya shake in the Bahamas!

ONLINE SHOPPING CARTS

Perhaps the best way to complete the set of customer tools is to employ a highly efficient, user-friendly virtual shopping cart. A shopping cart works for low risk and high risk merchant business owners alike. The purpose of the online shopping cart is obvious enough: it allows customers to browse through your online store using their registered accounts, pick the services or products that they intend to buy, add them to the cart, and check out after they fulfilled the information it requires such as billing address, shipping method preferred, credit card details, and sender/receiver details.

FORUMS, PODCASTS & BLOGS

A company that has grown with a considerable customer base can take advantage of establishing a forum. Customers can use it to tackle problems, build rapport, or help each other in the community. This is the best way for online merchants (who may act as moderators) to know how else they can improve their products and customer service. They may also take advantage of creating product-oriented blogs. These blogs may be customized in order to be highly readable for the clients. Merchants can make use of newsletters, webcasts and podcasts to reach their customers when they release new promos and announcements.

In fact, there are a hundred and one ways to prove to your customers that they come first. Whether you are a low risk merchant affiliated to a local bank or a high risk merchant whose account is established offshore, there's no shortage to happy ways you can serve and keep your customers who are, in the end, the bread and butter of your business!

Streetsmart Tips in Choosing Your Online Shopping Cart

What is a shopping cart?

All online entrepreneurs, including high risk merchants, need a highly efficient shopping cart. This fact can't be stressed too much -- many a business has failed because merchants are trying to use an incompatible shopping cart or is not using the full potential of commercial shopping carts available today.

Finding the perfect shopping cart for your online business is time consuming, if not too daunting. Merchants must acquaint themselves with the types of shopping carts in the market as well as test and experiment with their capabilities. It's important to choose the cart that will be flexible so that if a merchant changes his business' marketing plan a year later it will still be functional. In fact, the number one criteria in selecting a shopping cart is to make sure it meshes well with your marketing plan.

Types of shopping cart

Shopping carts may be classified into free or commercial, and hosted or non-hosted.

Free shopping carts are obviously very attractive options for low-budget businesses. It doesn't mean, however, that they are completely free. In fact, merchants will have to make use of a developer's skills to tweak a free shopping cart program like osCommerce. Free shopping carts are rooted from open source software and are as powerful as most commercial shopping carts. Unfortunately, they may not be as secure. Commercial shopping carts are preferred by high risk merchants who seek secure and reliable customer tools when purchasing online.

On the other hand, online merchants may use a hosted shopping cart or one that they can just buy as a software and thus configure. A remotely hosted software may include an affiliate management feature as well. Choosing a hosted shopping cart is another tricky process that may require another book to write! The advantage is that the merchant does not have to worry about the transaction process and record keeping since the host will take care of them. Other merchants prefer purchasing just the software. The advantage is it costs a lot cheaper and can be customized as required.

Shopping cart and your website: Do they mesh well?

The first thing you should consider is to make sure your website works well with the shopping cart you're adopting. The best way to do this is to research, read reviews, test, and experiment. Take advantage of the storefront demo that shopping cart sellers offer. High risk merchants should look at the following checklist as a guide in selecting the shopping cart for their online business:

Checklist for choosing shopping cart

Think Customers
Easy navigation for customers is number one prerequisite. Some carts let customers shop with a temporary ID so that they don't have to register. Another is to make sure you provide the "extras" such as search box, product reviews and product descriptions with graphics, as well as newsletters.

Hands On
It will be doubly difficult for high risk merchants to adopt a shopping cart that they find too bulky to manage. Features such as automatic alerts for new purchases, database importing, and searchable, viewable and downloadable daily and monthly reports are great add-ons for your customers.

Flexibility and Strength
How flexible are your shopping cart's features? Can you configure it to fit your business model? Can it be scaled to increase or decrease the number of products you may include or remove in the future? Can the database be expanded to fit new products and services and handle increasing customer data? It's also a must to consider how robust your shopping cart is. Make sure the database is secure and the server can handle simultaneous transactions.

Customer Support
Although price has always dictated many merchants' purchases, it's always a good move to contact the shopping cart seller's customer support even before you buy the cart. Obviously when trouble comes, you will know exactly where to go or who to find. The faster the response time is in all communication avenues (phone, e-mail, fax, or chat), the better your bet at getting an online shopping cart that is reliable.