Some e-commerce merchants make their customers do the work so they can make money. The online shopping experience comes with too many steps and rules for the customers to follow before they make a purchase. This can result in abandoned shopping carts and decreased sales. To defeat this problem, you need to know what it takes to build a winning e-commerce site.
A big commerce enterprise platform should be user-friendly. It should win over their trust within seconds of visiting your website. Your website should feature high-quality images of each of your products with impressive product descriptions. This will ensure that your customers will find what they want with a few simple clicks.
Quick Loading Times
You could end up losing 40% of your customers if your e-commerce site takes longer than three seconds to load. It’s important to use a digital team who knows how to build an e-commerce site that loads quickly. A slow loading website discourages visitors from making purchases and can hurt your Google search rankings. Before you launch your e-commerce site, test load times with the tools and plug-ins that come with your platform.
Mobile Responsiveness
Did you know that 55% of consumers choose to purchase from their mobile devices rather than desktop computers or laptops? This means that mobile responsiveness is an important component of your e-commerce site. Mobile responsiveness ensures that your website can be viewed on any device.
Your site’s responsiveness resizes the text that makes it easier to read on smartphones and tablets. It also changes the positioning depending on how the device is positioned. This leads to quicker load times and plenty of white space around links and buttons so that thumbs can tap them quickly and easily.
Easy Check-Out Process
Sixty percent of customers leave their shopping carts before continuing the check-out process. This is due to the complexity of the check-out and payment process. Having one-page check-out can help combat this problem. If you require customers to register for an account before purchasing, allow guest check-out instead.
Don’t lead them through the check-out process and require them to set up an account. You should also make sure all of the fields on your forms are clear and easy to understand. This reduces the number of error messages that could come up during the check-out process. Customers will give up if they’re having trouble entering their information.
Clear Calls-to-Action
Having clear calls-to-action (CTA) is imperative to the success of your e-commerce site. Include one call-to-action on every page of your website, if possible. You should have CTAs for learning more about your company, products, and services. The CTA should tempt customers to make a purchase or to receive more information. Each of your CTAs should be clear and prompt your customers to react while letting them know where the link is taking them.
Secure Online Shopping
Customers always check for the security of a website before making a purchase. It’s important to the success of your e-commerce website to ensure your customers that their online transactions and personal information is safe and secure. You should make sure that your website has an SSL certification so they are willing to make online purchases.
Social Media Sharing
You should be using social media sharing buttons on your website. If you don’t, you could be missing out on potential customers. Seventy-seven percent of companies have attracted customers through Facebook. Customers that are referred through Pinterest are 10% more likely to make a purchase than from other social networking sites. Use social media sharing buttons to your advantage, but don’t overload your website with them.
Just include three or four social media sharing buttons is sufficient for producing results.
Product Reviews
Ninety-five percent of customers read customer reviews before making a purchase. Since most of your customers will search for product reviews, it’s best to display them on your e-commerce website. You can claim ownership of your reviews instead of using a third-party site to encourage product reviews. Having reviews on your e-commerce site will keep your customers in one place.
Contact Information
Customers don’t like the thought of having to chase someone down to receive customer service. Include more than one ways that your customer can reach you. Having a contact form isn’t enough these days. Include an e-mail address, phone number, and mailing address in a highly visible part of your website, such as the footer space. If your e-commerce store has physical locations, include that information so customers can visit one of those locations with questions, concerns, and returns.
Creating an e-commerce website can be a difficult task. It’s important to find a platform you can trust to help grow your business. Try one or each of these methods to improve the look of your e-commerce site. Setting up your e-commerce website for success can reduce customer dissatisfaction and shopping cart abandonment.
Talha Ali is your tech generalist, covering a wide spectrum of topics within the ever-evolving world of technology. With a curiosity for the latest innovations, industry trends, and breakthroughs. Whether it’s hardware, software, emerging technologies, or the intersection of tech with daily life, Talha’s articles provide readers with a well-rounded perspective on the dynamic landscape of the tech industry.