Tip#18 – Display delivery cut off dates for special holidays

“Buy your Christmas presents online, in the comfort of your own home”. “Get that very special someone a very special gift for Valentine’s Day, without ever leaving the office”. Appealing as these claims may be, they are also a ticking time-bomb for the reputation of your online business. If you are using these claims on your website or advertising materials to generate incremental sales during special holidays, make sure that you clearly specify delivery cut off dates and that you can stick to them. In other words, what is the latest a user can order if they want to be certain that their order is delivered by the 24th of December or by the 14th of February? Note that this is not a simple task, as a significant part of this responsibility lies with your logistics company, but if you screw up customers will blame you.

Tip#3 - Show me your SSL certificates

Assuming that you are using SSL certificates on your website, and that you are renewing them when they expire, please don’t hide references to them during checkout. SSL certificates, customer certifications, reliability certifications and any other assurances should be prominently displayed and are most effective close to the credit card input fields. Fear continues to be one of the main obstacles for online commerce, so any reassurance you can give your customers should be used to the fullest.