Anyone with an online store knows how difficult it can be to generate both website traffic and sales. These days many businesses are looking for the next crazy, outside-the-box way to make their ecommerce website stand out from the rest. While this technique can prove to be effective, sometimes the simplest and most tried and tested approaches to web design and the user experience are the best.
Search
Make the search box easy to find on your homepage and subpages. If your potential customers can’t find what they are looking for on your website they will be likely to look for the search function.
EDMs and Newsletters
Despite sometimes being considered as “junk”, electronic direct mail (EDM) and electronic newsletters are proven ways to build relationships, trust and loyalty with your customers. They enable you to target individuals and groups with personalised and unique communication that can dramatically increase website traffic and sales. Make it as easy as possible for your customers to subscribe to your newsletter. Make the subscribe button is in a highly visible spot on your homepage. Make the subscription process quick and easy. Don’t include too may unnecessary fields in the subscription form. Newsletters represent one digital marketing tool which can help to drive traffic to your online store and facilitate conversions.
Product Images
One of the biggest concerns for customers when buying online is not being able to physically touch the products they want to buy. By adding high resolution images of your products using photos taken from every angle and for every size, style, colour, shape and model, you can give customers a realistic and tangible shopping experience.
Declare Free Shipping
Offering free postage on orders over a certain amount will entice a customer to purchase more than they may have been planning to. The idea is to set the free postage threshold at an amount that is just above the average cost of your products (for example, having free postage on orders over $30 when the average cost of a product is $25). That way, a customer may choose to buy two items they like from your online shop, instead of just the one had initially intended to purchase, to get free postage.
Social media
Another way to reach customers is with social media. By creating social media profiles for your online shop, you can communicate with customers directly and quickly. You can use your social media profiles to direct customers to your online shop by advertising current promotions or sales, running competitions and generating buzz about future product launches. The majority of effective eCommerce websites have easy-to-find social media icons with the relevant links and it is now best practice to have a social sharing function in your online store. That way you encourage customers to connect with you on other channels and share the products they like from your website with their friends and family.
These are just a handful of the steps you should be implementing to ensure your online store attracts and converts your target audience. There are many other eCommerce web design and user experience elements you need to consider if you want to compete with the major players in your market. Contact our friendly team today to find out how you can make your eCommerce website an online success story.