Your eCommerce website is the virtual showroom of your online store. Whether you sell products or services, the first impression your customers will receive of your company is the homepage of your website. Without the right functionality and design elements, you risk your customers doing the virtual equivalent of taking a quick look around, spinning on their heels, and walking out of the door.
Imagine you opened up a store on your favorite street. But the sign looks outdated. When the customer walks in, it smells like dust and the floor looks dirty and the signs are hard to read. They probably wouldn’t stay long.
That’s how it is with an eCommerce website that isn’t up-to-date or fully optimized for sales and the experience. You want your website to be a place that people enjoy hanging out in. They go there often to buy your products or learn from your resources.
A great website will help grow your business. If they love the experience, you can bet you’ll see a better purchasing conversion rate, an increase in word-of-mouth marketing, and ultimately, a better bottom line.
Don't Launch Before You’re Ready
Not only do you get one shot at making a great first impression, but you also only get one shot at launching your entire site.
If your site isn't as good as it can be, any visitors you have in those early days are unlikely to return and worst still, will likely spread the word about your terrible site through social media and other channels, seriously damaging your business prospects before you've even got started.
If your domain is ready to go and you want to stir up interest ahead of the launch, offer discounts to customers who add their names to your mailing list as part of your "coming soon" page. Even if you have elements of your business ready to go, launching a half-finished enterprise will still damage your brand.
One of the great advantages of a full-service marketing agency is that we can handle every aspect of your launch, from social media marketing to advertising and SEO, to ensure that when launch day comes, you hit the ground running.
Think of it as your Grand Opening. You want to be ready before you open the doors. You want to wow your customers. And you especially want to make sure it’s easy for them to browse your offerings, make decisions, purchases, and leave satisfied.
Make Your Site Mobile-Friendly
Today, many customers will use a phone to visit your website. Oddly, businesses and designers still think of desktop-only experiences or create something with the desktop as a primary focus. While computers still get a good chunk of traffic, many people will use their smartphones (and it’s increasing by the day). So it’s important to create a simplified experience for them.
You typically have just a few seconds to grab the attention of potential customers who visit your eCommerce store. Numerous studies show that if your site takes too long to load, users won’t hang around but will instead try sites belonging to your competitors. Our full-service marketing firm can show you how to create a site with instant visual appeal.
Not only does your site need to be as quick as possible, but it also needs to work every bit as well with mobile devices as it does with desktop machines. This means the size of the pages and images need to automatically adjust to the optimal size of the device being used to view them.
With more than one-third of all online shopping being conducted by mobile devices, your sales will suffer dramatically if you don't factor this in.
Imagine you are visiting a site on your phone and you have to zoom in and out to navigate the site. You’re probably not going to make it to the checkout. You’ll have a hard time looking at products and later buying them. You’ll get annoyed, leave, and likely never return. Companies lose thousands and millions of dollars because of bad website experiences.
By hiring the skills of experienced eCommerce SEO company reps, you can build a website that's completely functional across multiple electronic devices but also optimized for the best conversion against the target audience.
Put Your Security Credentials on Display
No one feels comfortable parting with their money with a site that seems to offer anything less than absolute security. Nearly half of all Americans have been victims of credit card fraud at some point in their lives.
Creating a great eCommerce site is only part of the battle – you need to ensure your customers complete their sales. Research suggests that the easier and more reassuring the checkout services and payment options are on your website, the more likely a customer is to complete their transaction. Make a point of displaying logos or explaining the high level of security you employ. After all, in the online world, even a moment's hesitation can lead to a lost sale.
With many recent events and breaches over the years, consumers are more worried about their privacy and where their data goes.
Concerns over payment safety can be one reason why a proportion of your customers place items in their cart but leave the site before paying for them. Encouraging such customers to return by upgrading security, offering a wider selection of payment options, or sending email reminders about unpurchased items can significantly add to your bottom line.
Show, Don’t Tell
Having long product descriptions of a link to a blog post that tells customers more about your products is all very well, but if you want them to engage with your site, consider including video in the form of tutorials or demonstrations.
In addition to your product pages, you could also include filmed content about yourself and your business philosophy. This can be especially effective if you operate in a crowded market as adding an element of personality to your site can sometimes give you the edge over the competition.
The more unique and original content you can provide, the longer your customers will remain engaged and the more likely they are to make a purchase.
Not only does this engage your customers and make you more discoverable, but it also builds trust. Many of your future customers require several points of contact before they decide to make a decision. Content helps build their confidence in you and you’re likely to increase your acquisition and conversions.
Build Credibility
When it comes to selling online, credibility is everything. Testimonials from previous customers are a good way to build trust but they will be far more powerful if you can include pictures of the actual customers alongside. Not all your customers will agree, of course, but those who do will do a great job of convincing newcomers to the site that everything is above board.
Most communication between people happens through body language. This level of interaction also exists online. A real, happy face on a photo, or a testimonial video, increases your credibility and makes it easy for visitors to see that you are valued and can be trusted.
Once you have built credibility, do everything you can to maintain it. Don’t pretend items are on sale when they are still selling for full price. Don’t encourage customers to purchase items by claiming they are almost out of stock where in reality there are still many left. Although such tricks may work if your business revolves around passing trade, an eCommerce store that is looking for repeat customers will eventually suffer as a result.
Think the long game. Over time, you build a brand that grows automatically with all the investments, assets, and strategies you put in place.
