Tips to take your E-Commerce Business into Next Level
Opening an online store and creating a real eCommerce solution are completely different things. Both can be simple, but only one will really get you the results you are after. That’s because there are a plethora of ways a business can lose a customer during the online shopping experience.
It’s too hard to find what you’re looking for. There are too many clicks to purchase. The site bombards you with a range of other irrelevant things to buy. These are just a few of the ways you can lose customers. Unfortunately, there are hundreds more.
Thankfully, there are a few simple tips that should get your business online and attracting the business it deserves. They are basic tips but extremely important. Keep these front of mind when discussing your needs with your eCommerce solutions expert and you should see a sales spike.
1. Be your customer:
What will your customers be looking for and how will they find it? Your audience can be split into two groups: one group that carries the intent and knowledge of what they want, and another group that are essentially window shopping. Both will look for things in a different way and have different intents. Consider both sides.
Search results that are easy to filter is a solution that will benefit both, but dig deeper and be business relevant. What works for one business may not work for another, so think long and hard about your specific customer.
2. Group similar items:
By default, our brains love order and organization. From a business perspective, this organization and order can actually boost your sales. Either group complementary items (such as shoes and socks) or group recommended items (an amp being recommended after buying a guitar, for example). Whichever route you choose; this design is a sure-fire way to make a few more sales.
3. Go mobile:
Make sure you have a well-designed mCommerce solution and most importantly, make it as easy as possible to purchase items. The fewer steps to finalizing the purchase, the less business you will lose. Remember, mobile users will need a different experience to be a happy customer.
4. Design seals the deal:
The above three tips all have one thing in common — they require great design. Like the well-used saying ‘you eat with your eyes’, you shop with them too. User experience for online has never been more important and will only increase in importance.
5. The backend matters:
Remember when your mother used to tell you to always eat your greens? eCommerce is the same — what is on the inside counts for a hell of a lot. It can be a pretty complex issue, but there are a few sure fire ways to make sure your site’s internals are humming along. These include compressing your code, resizing your images correctly, slimming down your plugins, keeping the structure lean and using a good caching tool.
