One of the best aspects of an e-commerce website is that its much more convenient for shoppers when compared to brick-and-mortar retail environments. Having an e-commerce site is the perfect solution to grow your online customer base and provide your shoppers with a perfectly dynamic shopping experience 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
But in spite of all the perks, there are still many e-commerce sites that don’t yet fully deliver in ways internet consumers would expect. All too often we see e-commerce websites that look beautiful but fail to deliver on the basic yet necessary functionality to retain customers and increase sales. While an e-commerce site that is poorly designed isn’t compelling to users, a site that doesn’t function well or lacks basic online shopping features is much worse. So what exactly does your e-commerce website need to survive these days?
1. SEO pages
You should make sure your pages are search-engine friendly. And I don’t mean just submitting your site to online search directories. I mean conducting a real, hard-core SEO strategy. The urls, the content, meta data, keyword frequency and density, should all be taken care of if you want to increase the visibility of your e-commerce site in major search engines. Otherwise, how else would people find your products when they’re looking for them in Google?
2. Website Analytics
You need a reliable and effective analytics solution that can tell you how your site is being used. It’s very critical to know how many users are coming to your site, where they’re coming from, what products they’re most interested in, etc. With this valuable data, you’ll know just what your site needs to decrease abandonment rates and turn prospects into buyers.
3. Multiple payment options
If your checkout process doesn’t give users more than one payment option, this can make a good sale turn sour. If a customer’s preferred payment method is not available, not only can’t customers pay you but it really dimishes the credibility of your e-commerce business. There are tons of payment methods available like Google Checkout, Bill Me Later and Paypal.
4. Personalization
E-commerce sites should provide visitors with a personalized experience, serving up only content that’s relevant and useful. If a customer is interested in a product on your site, displaying related items while they are browsing is helpful. This is an excellent way to establish reliability and trust with buyers and increase your chances at making a sale.
5. Cross-selling and upselling
When a user clicks a product they’re interested in, this is one of the best times to show them similar items that may compliment their purchase. The checkout process is another opportunity to show relevant items to your customers while they are completing their purchases. This way of up-selling is a good way to increase your sales among the impulsive shoppers.
6. Navigational options
Your website visitors should have the option to filter your products, compare them, and sort them by price, popularity, or alphabetically. This allows your customers to quickly find products they are most interested in without having to sift through a large amount of unecessary items just to find what they’re looking for.
7. Advanced Image Viewing
Things like zoomable product images and 3d views can make a big difference to your visitors. A lot of times it can become difficult for users to make a purchase because they just aren’t satisfied with the way your products are presented. Users become much more confident in purchasing when you make multiple or enlarged views of your products so they can see exactly what they’re getting.
8. Product commenting and ratings
Research shows that online shoppers value the opinions and comments of other buyers- in fact, it can be one of the most influential factors in whether a customer will buy. If possible, your site should allow your users to comment on your items individually which will establish credibility among your users.
Once you’ve implemented these features on your e-commerce site, not only will your customers love it, but they will be more confident in purchasing from your website. But keep in mind that even with these features implemented, your job is not finished. E-commerce sites and their functionality are constantly evolving and your business must keep up to remain successful, sustainable, flexible, and competitive.
