Making the decision to start an e-commerce business is a huge step, and it could not have come at a more ideal time as more people are turning to the internet to make purchases. You will be able to work from home and set your own hours. Having a successful e-commerce business is not all about having an amazing product or service. The biggest and most important addition to your business is an awesome website.
Think about it. Your website will be the only thing people see when they think about your business. There is no brick-and-mortar store they can go to. From figuring out how to integrate live chat in my website to making the view cart button easy to find, as a e-commerce business owner, it is important that my website is created strategically so I can reach my monthly sales goals and keep customers happy is what you need to be telling yourself as you build your website.
As a Digital Marketing Consultant, I’ve worked with my fair share of e-commerce businesses. From small start-ups to multinational companies, I’ve pretty much seen it all. So, I’ve complied some of my best tips for creating an e-commerce website that will drive sales.
Keep your customer in mind
Your customer is your number one priority. It is their user experience that will determine if they will purchase something from you or not.
As a result, the details of your website need to be pristine and well thought about. No matter what decision you make about your e-commerce website from here on out, you should always keep in mind the user experience. Whenever you make a change on your website, think about how that change will impact your website visitor’s experience on your site.
When building an e-commerce business it’s a great idea to ask business partners or trusted friends to give you a second opinion on your website. Ask them to spend 20-minutes navigating your website on both desktop and mobile. They will be able to give you feedback on usability – how easy or hard it is to navigate, if anything was missing or hard to understand, if it’s pleasing to the eye, and if they have a good user experience overall.
Keep things simple
We all know the infamous phrase of “keep it simple, stupid”. This phrase rings true for your e-commerce website too. When it comes to the design of your website, you want to make sure that you keep things simple.
If you have a website with a lot of graphics, moving words, bulky navigation buttons and flashing pictures, you will turn off customers.
People prefer minimalist websites because they are more aesthetically pleasing and easy to navigate. People also trust minimal websites more than they trust websites that have too much going on. I don’t know about you but the second I see a website with flashing graphics, pop-ups and bulky features, I immediately think “Spam”!
In order to keep thing simple, rid your website of anything that is unnecessary and stick to the basics, making sure to leave plenty of white space. Doing this will also improve your site speed – another important factor in keeping your website visitors happy.
Allow customers to view their cart
This button is crucial to making sure you drive conversion on your website. Almost every e-commerce website has one. While it may sound simple to tell you to make sure customers can view their cart, you’ll be surprised at how many e-commerce businesses miss this step.
You want to make sure that you not only have the Add To Cart button on your website, but that it is easily identifiable. People don’t want to have to search for their cart. If they can’t find what they’re looking for, it could cost you a sale. If you decide to put the “Add To Cart” button in your menu bar, it may be a good idea to make this button bigger than any other menu items so that it’s easily identifiable.
List your prices honestly
Finding the price of an item on an e-commerce site should not be a scavenger hunt. Make sure that you are clearly listing the prices of your products or services so there is no misunderstanding.
I don’t know about you, but if I’m browsing online and can’t find someone’s prices, I’ll instantly click off their website. The same thing goes for shipping prices. Be honest and upfront about those prices. Otherwise, you could come off as being deceitful to your customers.
Those are my five simple tips for creating an e-commerce website. However, the needs of your website, and your website visitors, don’t stop there. Your e-commerce project should also consider important marketing features such as SEO, blog articles, e-mail marketing, and social media marketing. By developing a more in-depth marketing plan for your e-commerce business, you can increase your chances of success.