On average, online retailers still only convert two to three percent of visitors into buyers. Though people are buying more online than ever before, that number has remained consistent over the last three years.

The three percent conversion average is also consistent across studies by different organizations, according to e-Marketer. That means that 97 percent of shoppers still prefer to buy offline.

Still, there are a few that convert 15-25 percent of the time. Proflowers.com is on top, with a 24.5 percent conversion rate. Following Proflowers is, mainly, apparel sites with a peppering of bookstores and online variety (read: cheap) shops.

Big and Tall or Plus-sized apparel shops are huge online, and sites offering higher sizes make up four out of the top ten converting web stores. That makes sense given the embarrassment overweight people face shopping offline.

There are things we can deduce about the average online shopper from this information (and they're things that should make intuitive sense to you, as you are also a consumer). The average online shopper seeks: low risk (how much risk is in flowers?); trusted sources; reliability; ease of shopping; information; free or cheap shipping.

I'm not shy about telling you that I fall into the 97 percent reluctant to buy anything beyond flowers, clothing, books, or items of comparable expense. I am looking to buy an HDTV, but you'd have to have a heck a sales pitch to get me to slap down my credit card number and have it shipped to my house without actually looking at the picture quality.

That's right. No cars, no TVs, no boats, no houses. And yet, and yet, to quote my hero Jorge Borges, I may be persuaded to buy a watch, a set of tires even, perhaps a new Christmas tree, or maybe even that TV I didn't want to trust you about, if the seller accomplishes certain things.

How to Convince Me (the consumer) to Buy Online Instead of Off:

1.    Website must look professional. The art of seduction always begins with presentation. Sloppy never gets the girls.

2.    Don't make me look a hundred different places for information. Give me product details until you've made me sick with them. Link to product reviews.

3.    Don't try to be slick by overselling an inferior product. Be honest about why it's not as good as the higher-priced item. The consumer (that's me and you) appreciates being able to balance value and affordability. 

4.    Make all serious considerations clear. It builds trust. For example, if the TV's refurbished or needs an external tuner, let us know up front.

5.    Shipping cost matters. It matters a lot. If I can get the same product at Target for the SAME or lower, I will buy it there. Don't try to trick me with giant discounts offset with huge shipping costs – it makes me think you're tying to pull a fast one.

6.    Ease my mind more about the shipping. I worry when kids, wives, mothers, siblings, and products are in transit. I need to know returning the product won't be a hassle, that I can track it in case something seems lost in the shuffle, and that the seller won't ship-and-stick me with something I didn't order.

7.    There needs to be positive user ratings about you and your product easily found. Link me to where people say nice things about you. Link me to where people say nice things about your product.

8.    If you have a sale price, don't just mark through the original price and make me click to find the new one. That's annoying and wastes my time – and forms a (small) negative impression.

9.    Don't make it complicated to buy from you. More than four steps to make a purchase? Forget it, just because your site's a pain in the butt.

10.    Under-promise, over-deliver, and then deliver, deliver, deliver some more. As an online retailer, you online reputation is the most valuable web property you have. If you get customers gushing about you, other customers will come.     

Consumer behavior Site design Online shopping e-tailing persuasion reputation management