Data say, “People spend an average of 6 hours per week shopping online.” That is quite a large number when we take into consideration the number of active hours that a person has in a day.
This is why, it is very important for any business owner to get himself a space on the World Wide Web and bring his products to the platform. But the key question is that how would one do that? Will he just add up all his products and services on a particular space on the web? If that is the thing that you agree on, then you will end up committing a big mistake. A simple alternative to stop this blunder to happen is getting your website made by a professional. All websites are unique in their particular way but not all of them appeal to the audience and this is where they end up losing.
Every year, jillion numbers of website trends come and go and businesses everywhere try to use those trends to make their sites work. But there are some basic features that have managed to remain evergreen for any eCommerce website. So you question would be why an e-commerce website is best for my business? To let you in on this secret knowledge treasure, here we go –
Offer simplicity & ease – A good designer knows how important simplicity is, for a design to be effective. That does not mean that you have to sacrifice elegance and attractiveness to make your website look simple. An important factor that decides if your website will be loved by the visitors is the ease of use that it offers. When a business sells product online it has only minutes or sometimes even seconds to make the sale and if your website is too complicated to navigate through, you already lost a customer.
Multiple photos & videos – Are you still trying to sell you product with just one picture of it? What era are you living in, the 90s? The world has changed and if you still think that you can entice the customers with a single picture and a normal product description, you are on the wrong road.
The need of the hour is for you to fill up your ecommerce platform with multiple product pictures in different angles so as to provide the people with a complete view of the product that they are buying. Features like zoom, rotate, etc. are some of the good add-ons that you can consider. Another point that needs to be taken care of is the load time of the picture. Adobe says that images that do not load quickly, lead to drop-off in the consumer rate by 39%.
Mobile Compatible & User-friendly – 91% of mobile users keep their phones within 3 feet of themselves, all the times. We suggest you to make full use of those 3 feet. Make sure that your ecommerce platform is mobile friendly. When your website is responsive, it automatically adapts to whatever device the user might be using.
Product reviews feature – Reviews shape up your entire product image. The star rating that your product has, decides whether or not the consumers will buy it. Reviews as you know can be categorized into two major categories – Positive and Negative. While everyone appreciates the positive reviews, negative ones are often cursed upon. But what we need to know is that the negative ones are better for a brand. They convey to the audience that all the reviews are real and have not been generated in a fake manner.
Discount offers for visitors – Offers are one element that makes customers go crazy. It is up to you to use them for your benefit. When shoppers see that they are getting special deals it motivates them to buy the product.
Fast load times – Easy and convenience is one of the primary benefits of ecommerce. According to study, more than half of customers say that a slow load time is the primary reason they’ll abandon a site. “A two second delay in load time during a transaction results in abandonment rates of up to 87 percent. This is significantly higher than the average abandonment rate of 70 percent.”
Successful ecommerce merchants know the devices and most popular browsers that their customers use to shop, and design sites with those parameters in mind.
Accurate product descriptions: Every customer oriented ecommerce site should ensure that product descriptions are clear, and that product specifications are accurately showed. This is an essential point for any e-commerce website user.
Seamless checkout experience: Ecommerce shopping platform leaving is a challenge for all online sellers, but the more seamless a checkout experience is for the users, the less likely it is to occur.
Effective ecommerce sites make it as easy as possible for buyers to complete transactions by eliminating potential hurdles in the ordering and payment process. They provide customers the ability to log in using social media credentials and retrieves account information they’ve created in the past so that a customer does not need to use your platform from scratch every time they visit it.
Identifiable credit card logos and site security symbols are included in the checkout process to assure users that their payment transaction is secure.
Customers are notified by email as soon as the transaction is processed, and they are offered with contact information to a customer service representative who can assist them with live help, online or by phone, if needed.
Clear Terms and Policies – Buying from an online seller often requires that the customer makes a leap of faith in regards to the product quality, service and satisfaction guarantees a merchant may offer.
Effective ecommerce sites are forthcoming about policies regarding product returns, exchanges and warranties. They dedicate space on the website where customers can easily find such information, along with the processes customers should follow if they have to make a refund request.
