And forget those shipping charges and express delivery upgrades. Are you aware that the biggest discouragement to online buying is shipping costs? Increase the price of every item by a dollar and make shipping and handling free. I'm not going to not order something because it's a dollar or so higher in price and the lack of hassle on shipping will make me purr with satisfaction.



Even on an item that must be shipped, give me something immediate. Not just an e-mail that my order has been received but some information about what I'm getting, how smart was my decision to order, and where I can get additional information about related items that might interest me.

If I'm buying a product that doesn't need to be shipped, such as a report or book, give it to me now. As soon as I've paid, or taken you up on a free offer, I want to right click, download, and read. I don't want to have to go into my inbox and click to activate something.

If I receive a zip file that opens up to show a bewildering array of mysteriously labeled icons, I want clearly labeled instructions so I can go there first and learn what all the other stuff is. If it's "so easy to use a child could do it" software, don't make me feel stupid because I can't figure out what to do next and the instructions are vague or non-existent.

If it's a marketing report, I want to be able to read it first and decide whether I like it, not be immediately confronted with a page urging me to brand the book so I can resell it - how do I know I want to be associated with it before I've completely read it?

If you're giving me a mini-course over a period of days, make sure each lesson is totally self-contained or indulge my impatience by allowing me to click onto the next chapter. If I'm interested, I want to read it now. By tomorrow morning, I may have forgotten that I ordered it, no matter being able to recall what was in part one.

There is real joy in reading something and feeling an immediate internal reaction: "I like that." Those are the books we print out and pore over with our yellow highlighter. We take notes and write between the paragraphs, interacting with the material and thereby making it our own.

Give me something so engrossing that I can't stop until I've devoured all of it. If I get to page 3 and decide to exit thinking that "I'll read it later when I have the time," you've already lost me. I may occasionally open it up again but if I couldn't get into it at first read, I doubt that I ever will.

Mark it up to experience but it leaves a bad taste about the author who probably shouldn't count on my continued patronage.