How do you increase your sales with an eCommerce website? Usually. an eCommerce services provider will focus on driving in traffic using Internet marketing techniques like SEO, email marketing, social media marketing, and Pay Per Click campaigns. Of course, this is a great way to bring in new customers who are searching for your products. However, if your website is not configured to increase conversions, all of those new visitors are just going to slip through your fingers.
Another crucial area that eCommerce solutions services should focus on has to do with increasing the conversion rate with a mind to proper web design. Not only is it important to drive in customers from web searches, but the arriving customers have to buy your products, which is why you’ve been putting your money into Internet marketing and eCommerce design in the first place. Here is how the right eCommerce website design and services provider can increase your conversions.
Device Support
One of the most important design features to incorporate into a website is compatibility for multiple devices. An overwhelming number of shoppers are now browsing stores and buying products on their smart phones. If you alienate this key group with clunky website design that is difficult to navigate with a mobile device, they’re just going to jump to another store that is mobile friendly.
Responsive design is a web design feature that allows your store site to automatically scale for different types of device screens. Whether your visitors are browsing on desktop computers, laptops, tablets, or smartphones, your site should appear to scale and work perfectly with many screen interfaces, in addition to varied keyboard and mouse configurations. With eCommerce solutions services that incorporate responsive design and mobile optimization, your site will retain the large number of mobile browsers, which can lead to more conversions.
Proper Site Design
Now, let’s focus on the actual design of your online store. It is great if your website works well for users on different devices, but if it’s organizational structure and content is confusing, cluttered, or unappealing, you’re going to suffer from the same problem. All of your visitors are going to get frustrated and they’ll just jump to another store, driving up your bounce rate.
An eCommerce services provider should put time and energy designing a clean and clear store page, with easily navigable inventories and high-quality product pictures. The better your store appears and promotes easy navigation, the more likely your customers will stay and browse. Be sure to include a review system, and if you have testimonials put them up! And don’t waste customers’ time: your product pages should display item availability that is updated in real-time, so you customers have a good idea of what’s in stock.
It also helps to spend some time perfecting your search functions. Add useful filters and other organizing tools that help your customers find what they need fast. Further, you should see about implementing an interactive chat system so your customers can always find help if they have any questions. Otherwise, your contact information should be front and center so that customers can get their questions addressed.
See what you can do to decrease the steps to purchase, and make the checkout process as intuitive as possible. Single-step checkouts are a great way to get customers to the checkout fast and easy, which helps cut down on abandoned carts. You can do this with prominently featured buttons that add items to the shopping cart and then go straight to checkout. Status bars help to inform customers how close they are to checkout, so they know they’ll soon be on their way with the order.
Effective Content
The actual content in your store website is just as important as the way it is organized and presented. An eCommerce services provider would do well to invest in high quality copy that clearly explains products and services in an appealing manner.
Think about what you have to offer to customers’ that other competitors simply can’t and craft your branded message, informing customers why your products and services are truly distinct from competitors. Take care not to overdo it, though. Clear and concise content is a deciding factor in user experience, so don’t inundate customers with huge blocks of endless text they’ll have to scroll through.
Mind Your Incentives
What is your shipping policy? Do you have comprehensive warranties, or do you provide free shipping if customers reach a certain purchase total? Make sure to mark any incentives clearly on your site, whether on the home page, the product pages or leading up to the checkout. Are you advertising daily deals or running any end-of-season sales? Be sure to have them clearly displayed on your home page.
It also helps to have clearly-written shipping and returns policy pages so customers know what they can expect from your customer service.
Analyze Your Efforts
Your typical modern website administration software contains a number of useful tools that an eCommerce services provider can use to analyze results. What is the bounce rate for each page? How long are customers spending on each page? What are your highest selling products and how can you get them to your customers’ attention?
You can answer all of these questions with your analytic software and a little bit of experience. Use the data that you collect about your customers’ shopping habits to improve your website and provide a better shopping experience.
Your Call to Action
The call-to-action is a marketing staple for good reason: it provides the impetus for the customer to buy, which increases conversions. You can use this powerful marketing technique within your web site for some beneficial effects.
The online store version of the call-to-action looks something like this: you have a vibrant, attention-getting button that provides a clear motivation to buy or contact you. This button can be incorporated into the site along with some compelling text, or it can stand on its own, constantly in the background to entice the customer. Combine this with one-step checkouts and you’re bound to keep customers happy and engaged.
Experiment
These basic strategies are quite flexible, and pretty much any eCommerce services provider can easily facilitate them when it comes to intuitive, customer-focused web design. However each business is unique, and the particular measures you can take will depend on your specific products and services. Don’t be afraid to experiment with your site and analyze the results.
Don’t hesitate to combine conversion optimization efforts with online marketing techniques that bring in more traffic. When it comes to succeeding in the online marketplace, you should use every tool you have to gain that competitive edge.
