Ecommerce Success Tips – Laying down the foundation for a successful Ecommerce Website.

Ecommerce Success Tips – Laying down the foundation for a successful Ecommerce Website.

Ecommerce has become popular in the recent times such that there is hardly a serious business either large or small that does not have or make use of ecommerce solutions. This is so because ecommerce is not only readily available but is also relatively affordable and user – friendly for buyers and sellers alike and has now made shopping very easy for buyers while also enabling sellers to easily reach a wider audience. Given the aforementioned however some things need to be put into consideration to avoid losing sales online hence the compilation of the following ecommerce success tips.

1. Ensure your website is sales focused and convenient for buyers

While design is also an important factor to consider in your ecommerce website one really important factor to put into consideration is a clearly defined sales funnel that makes it very easy for customers make their purchases without any difficulty especially first time customers. Also convenience is one of the main reasons behind ecommerce solutions in the first instance so when buyers visit your online store the process of buying of products should be convenient and easy from the point of adding items to cart to the point of checkout, as some customers might not the patient enough if the process is too complex or the number of clicks is too much and can thus be discouraged from making purchases or as we call it ‘abandoning cart’

2. Simplicity of your ecommerce website

All the information on your website must be simple and precise such that customers can easily understand, issues like shipping details, price description/information, refund policies etc. should be clearly displayed on the website and in situations where graphics are used for display the graphics should match the products so that customers can easily get an idea of what they will get. In case some products are out of stock the information should be on the front page and not at checkout point after the customer might have gone through the process of attempting to make a purchase, this might anger the customer who might decide not to patronize you anymore. Also heavy files should not be used to display products as this will make the products take a longer time to load and might discourage impatient customers. In all the navigation through your ecommerce website should be very simple and easy for the customers and hence use and display of ‘breadcrumbs’; a navigational trail (remember the trail of bread crumbs left by Hansel and Gretel in the fairy tale).

3. Ensure your website is all devices compliant

Customers come from diverse background and are likely to differ in terms of the devices they use, some still rely on old computers while some use mobile devices so this must be put into consideration when designing your ecommerce website for instance if frames are used for navigation of products those using old computers that restricts the frames will not be able to see your products hence the likely loss of some potential customers. Also if your website is not designed to be mobile friendly or mobile responsive, you will lose the patronage of people who stick to mobile devices for all their online transactions.

4. Inculcate a subscription, rating and feedback system

It is important to give the visitors to your website the opportunity to leave their contact details such as names and email addresses so you will be able to prompt them for feedback. You cannot just assume they will come back even if they were satisfied with their experience. Some will easily forget about you especially if they are no longer in need of your product/s but if you are in contact and send occasional newsletters they will still have you in mind and might refer others even if they are not currently in need of your product/s. There should also be a room for rating of your products and services on your website apart from the feedback you get through emails as it is important to be honest and have integrity with your customers this goes a long way in boosting customer retention and referral rate.

5. Ensure your website is security conscious and compliant

It is important to ensure that your ecommerce website is up to date with the latest financial security technology. This gives your customers the confidence that they are safe doing business with you, some customers are security conscious and don’t just release their contact details any how online, such people scrutinize the kind of website they use their credit cards to make purchases so If your website is not up to date security wise you are losing some potential customers. We have all at one time or their other heard stories of stolen credit cards and identity thefts.

Online success entails being disciplined and following some strategies and set rules and principles so if you want your online business to succeed it is imperative to get the basics right, right from the inception.