E-Commerce Essentials
First things first. Make your homepage enticing. Give your visitors multiple opportunities to engage. Encourage people to click through your categories, or better still make your product page front and center. That’s where the bread and butter are, so showing them what you will answer any immediate questions they may have.
When it comes to the shopping process, the execution should be seamless and simple. Don’t forget to include a follow-up email, so your customers know that the transaction is complete.
Always make sure your contact information is prominently displayed, you can do this in the top header, footer, on the contact page or wherever it is clearly visible. There may be times when your customers want to get in touch directly, and you should always give them that opportunity and not make them search for it.
Product reviews, user comments, frequently asked questions and testimonials should be sections on your site, sharing positive customer experiences increase your credibility.
For an E-Commerce website to be successful, you should always look for additional opportunities for customers to return. It’s no secret that before people purchase online, they’re doing homework. Your website won’t be the first site they check, but you want them to be the last. Ideally, you want to create a scenario where you include as many opportunities as possible for a visitor to make a purchase.
One way to do this is to bring back your customers through email campaigns, built on product preferences, special offers, and seasonal specials. Adding customer service features is a big plus, if for example, a product is out of stock you can notify through email when it might be available. Those small efforts show you have an interest in your customer that goes beyond just trying to “sell them something.”
Simple checkout is essential you want people to complete their transaction, the more complex it is, the more likely prospects will exit your site and move on to someplace else. Even though you keep it simple, you must communicate clearly issues regarding shipping and or extra costs of any kind. Display symbols that evoke trust like a VeriSign, Authorize.Net or McAfee so that people know they can trust you.
If your site is not up 100% of the time, then you’re not selling. You need to make sure your server can handle your traffic, it’s fast enough to move through the process and that all the possible scenarios that can occur. Your hosting should be flexible to grow as you grow. The rule of thumb is to remove any doubt about your ability to fulfill so your customers don’t lose faith in you.
