No matter what kind of small business entrepreneur you are, you need some strong eCommerce tips under your belt and a good website if you sell physical products. But with many companies moving solely online and lots of other small businesses blossoming, it can be difficult to stand out from the crowd.
Many businesses online make their customers jump through too many hoops when all they want to do is spend their money with you. Websites built without the customer in mind find that those customers give up and look elsewhere. That’s why understanding what makes a great eCommerce website tick is integral.
Here you’ll find out what makes a great eCommerce website. With this info, you’ll be able to maximise sales and grow your online business exponentially.
Good Looks And Usability
Whether you’re a brick and mortar store trying to make the most of the online market base. Or you’re online only and trying to stand out from the saturated crowd; the look and feel of your site are the first things consumers come into contact with. And if it isn’t up to scratch, they’ll navigate off before you can even tempt them in with your excellent product offering.
Retail websites that work are simple and easy to use. And they look simple and easy to use. If there are too many product pages to choose from, or searching isn’t easy, you’ll lose people. The whole process should be smooth, from start to finish. And if it’s easy, customers will come back to you.
Don’t forget to optimise your eCommerce site for mobile use. Now that smartphones are basically pocket computers, thousands of people opt to use them for shopping than a traditional computer. Make sure your site works across the board, no matter how or where it’s being viewed.
Speedy Loading
Having to wait puts people off. If your site’s taking too long to load, you will lose customers. Especially new ones that are only just discovering you for the first time. If you’re still a moderately small company and don’t have a dedicated digital team, considering hiring one. Even if you can’t afford the full time, getting one to optimise your site will pay dividends down the line.
It might surprise you to hear that having slow loading times will actually hurt your Google rankings too. Before launching your eCommerce site, test loading times with GTmetrix or something similar. It removes the guesswork for you, and you can fix problems before they arise.
Being speedy also applies to checkout times. Try to streamline the process by reducing the number of pages customers have to go through just to purchase. Offer guest checkout for added speediness, and customers will thank you for not forcing them to make a profile too.
Eye-Catching Images
We are visual creatures. Meaning we buy with our eyes. There’s the old adage ‘don’t judge a book by its cover.’ But that doesn’t ring true when purchasing products online. All customers have to go on are the images you provide. So you better make them good ones.
If you can’t afford a top-notch photography team, you can do it yourself. Get a professional-looking backdrop, a good camera, and some quality lighting equipment. You don’t even have to buy them. Renting is an option to reduce costs further. You’ll just have to get it done in bulk.
Make sure to have images from several viewpoints. Get close up, show materials and how the product looks in the setting it’s intended for. It helps customers to visualise it in their own lives.
Glowing Product Descriptions
Once you’ve captured customers’ eyes with your amazing images, you’ll need to keep it with great product descriptions. Make sure to avoid intimidating blocks of text. Keep them short, snappy, and most importantly, informative. Bullet points are a brilliant way to get key points across and allow potential customers to skim through them quickly.
Descriptions don’t stop there. Reviews give much more information than your product descriptions can. And they’re from other customers, so naturally, they’re trusted above your own ideas about the product. People also search for products entirely based on product reviews. So having a review page can help to improve your search rankings.
Robust Security
Nothing is more important for online shopping than the security of your eCommerce site. You’re asking customers to enter their credit card details, so make it safe. Short and simple, but absolutely imperative if you want a site that will succeed.
Spotlight On SEO
Most customers start their shopping on a search engine like Google. If people don’t know you, they can’t navigate straight onto your page, so you need to optimise for search engines. Most of your customers will come from here.
If you aren’t on at least the first page of search results, your competitors will get the sale. So focusing efforts on SEO will pay in real money and real footfall. But getting a handle on SEO can be difficult. Of course, you can hire professionals. You can also do it yourself. We’d recommend reading this how-to guide by FATJOE for everything you need to know to fully optimise your eCommerce website. Check it out here.
Get Blogging
If you’re selling a product, customers are unlikely to go back to your site once they’ve made a purchase. People don’t shop for the same thing day in and day out. Your most loyal customers will probably buy once a month, so even they won’t check you out every day. Give them a reason to navigate onto your site more often.
Running a blog alongside selling products gives people a reason to get online. So they’ll check out the site weekly or even daily, depending on how often you post. And if they’re online, they’re more likely to be buying.
Blogs can also give consumers a behind-the-scenes look at your business. Not only is this super interesting, but it’s also relatable. It builds on the customer relationship and makes people more likely to have loyalty to your brand.
Easy To Get In Touch
Some businesses shy away from having their contact information available. It might be fear of having bad reviews or angry customers, but they’re missing a trick. Being easy to get in touch with means people are more likely to buy because they know they have a direct line to you should anything go wrong.
And bad experiences or reviews can be turned into good ones. If you’re easy to get in touch with, then the problem can be rectified quickly. And issues that are sorted promptly end up being a company positive rather than a negative. Avoid solving issues, and customers will find somewhere much more public to air their grievances.
Making it easy for the customer to reach you also means that you connect with them better. You’ll get glowing reviews direct to you and requests for products. It allows you to keep your finger on the pulse for the target market. And you can provide things your competitors don’t. All businesses need to adapt and grow to make it in the world. Customers can be invaluable for helping you do this.
Picture credits: Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich, cottonbro from Pexels
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