Developing a fantastic eCommerce website that continues to bring in revenue involves knowing what your buyers want and how they think–and sometimes putting in the extra effort to meet those needs. Consider the following tips.
Offer Options
Consumers love to know what else they might like. If they’re considering purchasing an expensive cashmere sweater, suggest clothing and accessories from your store that will complete the outfit.
Show the visitor what other consumers bought instead. Don’t be afraid to steer the reader away from the product page, either. If you can convince them that a more expensive model will better suit their needs, you’ll make a bigger profit, but down-selling lets you clear out old inventory. As long as you can encourage any purchase, you’re doing it right.
Customers Like Categories
Not only do consumers tend to shop in categories, they like sub-categories. In the case of a retailer that focuses on family clothing,a search for “black cardigan” might provide frustrating because results come up from every category. However, your customer will spend less time and effort finding the item she wants if you let her navigate to “Women’s > Petite > Sweaters and Cardigans.”
Make It Easy to Register
We recommend letting buyers choose whether they want to register for your site. Many successful sites leave this optional but only provide advanced order statuses and histories to customers that do register. When your customer does want to sign up, make it as easy as possible. Large call-to-action buttons prevent the visitor from clicking unnecessarily. Registration forms should be short. Your customer can enter additional information when making a purchase if it’s necessary, but this shouldn’t be part of the signup process.
Don’t Underestimate the Power of Search
Your website’s search function is more important than you could ever guess. Would-be shoppers use it to find exactly that they want, and you can improve the likelihood of a sale by making it easier. Your search bar needs to exist on every page, and it shouldn’t look overly similar to other forms like an email subscription field. Furthermore, search is just as important on your mobile website as your desktop site.
Consider retailer Target, the website of which includes a search bar prominently toward the top of the page whether customers visit on their laptops or tablets. The desktop version offers the ability to search within specific categories just like Amazon. Both retailers let buyers narrow search results by category, price and even brand on the search page itself, which makes it that much easier for customers to find that brand-new gadget and add it to their collections.
Have and Provide Knowledge
Regardless of the software you use for your eCommerce website, you need to know how to use it. Gather information that you need to fix and hiccups that might occur with your website or even answer questions about your products. Make sure your employees know how to access this information. For example, Google Calendar is one tool to inform employees of ongoing and upcoming sales. Should issues arise, your employees can solve them and keep customers happy.
Once your store is running smoothly, you can focus on building brand loyalty and encouraging repeat orders. No matter how much social buzz you generate, your eCommerce website won’t succeed without a strong foundation.
Ben Sawyer has been in Internet marketing for more than 5 years. He is currently a content writer and an Internet marketing consultant for Vandko Candles. Here Ben shared with us some of his most successful tips about how to create good ecommerce websites.
