So I’ve been trying to fill out an important online form for my bank all morning. And I am completely and utterly frustrated. It’s completely unusable. I’ve now had to call three times and I’m about to give up which means lost business for the bank.

When using online forms on your website, especially ones geared towards prospects and customers, I cannot emphasize enough how important it is that they work. You’d think that was obvious but apparently not as I come across these sorts of errors often.

So test your forms. Test them again. Test them regularly. Have your staff test them. If certain characters are not accepted in them say so. If you require things such as phone numbers in certain formats say so. And have your phone number in a prominent position so that if people still have trouble they can call you for help.

Let’s face it in this economy you probably want all the business you can get so don’t lose it by making silly mistakes.

I read your articles monthly in ‘My Business’ and always find them inspiring & helpful.We have just completed our website & referenced ‘Don’t make me think’ at your recommendation – very helpful, thank you!

Do you have a book/s you could recommend we reference to help us with generating enquiry online? Our site is set up as e-commerce, with customers able to buy online. We design & sell kids t-shirts.

Thank you, have a nice day! Nadia

Nadia has been patiently waiting for my reply to her question. Thanks for your patience Nadia!!

Here are some books and websites to get you started:

The Big Red Fez: How To Make Any Web Site Better by Seth Godin

I am a fan of anything by Seth. This book in particular is a practical guide to make your website more attractive to visitors. It’s simple and straight forward and well worth a read.

Web Design for ROI: Turning Browsers into Buyers & Prospects into Leads by Lance Loveday and Sandra Niehaus

I love this book. Absolutely love it! They speak my language. It’s filled with practical web design tips to help you increase conversions and online sales.

Call to Action: Secret Formulas to Improve Online Results by Bryan & Jeffrey Eisenberg

Another great book by the two of the most respected guys in the industry. Call To Action provides vital information to improve your online results. Questions it covers includes: Are you planning for top performance? Are you accurately evaluating that performance? Are you setting the best benchmarks for measuring success? How well are you communicating your value proposition? Are you structured for change? Can you achieve the momentum you need to get the results you want?

Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping by Paco Underhill

Not a book on e-commerce per say but a great primer on the science of shopping by a respected industry leader. I’ve found many of the principles can be applied to the online world too. Update: Just found this version that has been revised to cover the Internet.

Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples

Another “bible” or proven selling techniques. Again not an e-commerce book per se but a great book on creating powerful headlines, copy that sells and layouts and illustrations that attract attention.

Finally, if you want to work on improving the performance of your e-commerce website you can’t go past the following blog:

Cre8pc Usability & Holistic SEO by Kim Krause Berg

Kim is one of the most highly respected usability experts online. A great blog with heaps of good advice on improving your website.

I’m sure there’s heaps more out there but if I don’t get this posted I never will so feel free to post your own recommendations below.

With a four and a half month old baby I’m suddenly doing a lot more of my shopping online. Along with the convenience I’ve found it’s helped me get an even greater insight into how different businesses approach selling products online.

One glaringly obvious way I can compare businesses is in their communication. And I am amazed at just how differently they communicate. From people who email me every step of the way to those who I don’t ever hear from until the product arrives at my door. Can you guess who I prefer?

Once I’ve found what I’m looking for and handed over my credit card details I really want to know that my order has been received and you’re sending it out to me. It’s not hard to acknowledge an order and to keep your customers informed of where you’re up to in the shipping process. It takes such a little amount of time - or can even be automated - so I wonder why so many businesses don’t do it. Can’t they be bothered? Is it to much work? Don’t we, the customer, matter? Perhaps the web developer who built the site didn’t emphasize how important it is. Whatever the reason I can tell you which businesses get my repeat orders. And I suspect it’s the same for their other customers too.

If you run an e-commerce website make sure you communicate with the people who order from you. Do it clearly and do it often and you’ll be in a much better position to reap their repeat business.

Happy New Year everyone!

We’ve been receiving lots of questions via email so I figured we should start posting the answers here. So if you have a question you’d like answered on building a successful website email us at: questions@thinkprospect.com.au and we’ll do our best to answer it.

ThinkProspect is closed for the Christmas/New Year break from Wednesday 24 December 2008 and will re-open Monday 5 January 2009. Our one New Years resolution in relation to this blog is that there’ll be plenty more blogging going on. Till then have a safe and happy holiday and see you in 2009!