A good strong and high-quality design goes a long way to building confidence.  If it looks like you've spent time and attention on the look and feel of the site then potential customers are likely to buy into the idea that you are trustworthy and reliable.  This also increases the likelihood that the customer is happy to enter their credit-card details into your site, but more on this later.

 

Try to minimise the number of errors and missing pages around the site, errors can cause real anxiety with users, if they are seeing errors crop up around the site then they will loose confidence that the site is working as it should and their order will be processed successfully.

 

Try to emphasise security messages in and around the basket and checkout of your site.  Let your customer know they are using a secure site and their personal details won't be compromised now or in the future.  If you are using an external payment provider like worldpay, paypal or sagepay then make sure the customer knows this before they reach that stage of the checkout process as this can be jarring and unexpected for some users and cause them to bail out of the transaction.

 

Its another expense, but It also pays to use a secure certificate if you are taking address and contact details on site before you go out to a payment gateway.  Savvy users will looks for a secure certificate before they enter any details on your site.

 

Missing images and incomplete product data are a huge turn-off for potential customers.  They want to have visual confirmation they are buying what they think they are, and they like to be able to check product info and specs over one last time before they finally add that product to the basket.  When these things are missing your users will tend to browse away to sites that do have them, even if they are more expensive than you!

 

There are ways you can break down your product pages so you don't overwhelm your users with information overload.  Use tabs to hide and segregate information so users can browser through it all at their own leisure or just quickly grab the product summary if thats all they're interested in.

 

Customer generated product reviews can also increase confidence in your integrity as a retailer/supplier (although you'll need to keep an eye on these and filter out abuse).  Other rich content such as product videos and data-sheet downloads can increase the perception that you know and care about the products you sell.

 

Where appropriate, write your own how-to's and guides telling people how, when and where to get the best out of the products you sell.  The search engines love this sort of content and you can use these articles to cross-promote products you sell and improve conversions on groups of products.  It also shows your level of knowledge on your products and demonstrates you know what you're talking about (and thus are are trustworthy person to purchase from).  If your content is particularly useful it will help to make your site 'sticky' and get customers to return on a regular basis to see whats new.

 

Be sure to keep an eye on the perception of your site on review sites and comparison sites.  Bad reviews can seriously negatively impact your conversion rates and they are very hard to counteract, so be sure to keep on top of your customer enquires and be clear and honest with your customers at all times to avoid these.

 

Its always worth seeking good write-ups on other related sites and contributing content, advice and opinions to review sites and online forums.  These build the perception that you are knowledgable and care about the products you sell and the people who use them.  This will translate into referrals and repeat sales.  You might also be able to get a link back to your site which will help with SEO and increase relevant traffic so its definitely not wasted time.

 

Many of these points translate into a few percent increase in conversions here and there, but taken together they can make a significant difference to your bottom line.  Generally these things are done on an ongoing basis as a site is 'tuned' to get the best out of the traffic it receives, it needn't all be done at once but can take place over time.  Mostly, selling successfully online is common sense and often an extension of the real world principles of bricks and mortar sales.