Do you have an amazing product to sell on the inter-webs? If you are thinking about starting a new store or have an existing store, the following tips are critical to eCommerce success:
1. User Experience Matters
User experience in an online store is critical for the store to convert visitors into customers. UI and UX testing is important to do and can be done easily with heat mapping software on your website. If your website is difficult to navigate, unclear to the user, or too distracting, your sales will suffer. For an online store, everything should drive the user to exactly what they want, the store must be fast, and must be easy to use on mobile devices. How does your store stack up? We can provide audits to reveal areas to improve.
2. Fewer Clicks Convert Carts
Work on reducing the number of clicks a customer has to make to purchase your product. Each click represents a decision point and an opportunity for the customer to decide to go shop elsewhere. Make purchasing your products as simple and easy as possible.
3. Cart Abandonment Needs a Strategy
Have you ever looked at how many customers abandon the cart on your website? If you’ve never looked, you’ll be amazed… We often see sites with 50 to 75% of their carts being abandoned. Could you imagine if you could recover a significant portion of your abandoned carts? There are systems available to help you do just that.
Understanding abandonment can also help you understand why people are not fulfilling their orders. If someone has added an item to your cart, they have a high level of intent to purchase. Re-targeting these users with email or ads is a great way to recover those lost sales.
4. Email is Your Lifeline
Advertising is the tax that people pay for not being creative! It’s 5-times cheaper to sell something to an existing customer than to sell something to a new customer. If you have an online store and you’re not using email, you’re losing out on a ton of opportunity and you’re likely spending way too much in customer acquisition. Redirect those funds into growing your email subscriber list and then create awesome content to drive those customers back to your store for new sales!
5. Go Viral
How do you go viral? Do something worth talking about! The way to grow your fans, your tribe, is to do something unexpected and pleasant for your customers. People don’t talk about what is just expected, they talk about the unexpected! If you’re selling online, make your customer experience the unforgettable and do something extra-ordinary.
6. Sell with Photos
If your website looks antiquated and out of date, customers will “bounce” from your site and find a competitor who feels more “legit”. You have one chance to make an impression. Make sure your website presents your products in the best possible light. Don’t just use shots of the product, show the product in use and help the customer relate to how they will use or feel while using your product. Invest in good photography and that investment will pay you back with cartloads of sales.
7. Measure & Adjust
Launching your store is step one. Successful eCommerce stores constantly measure everything related to their store, they analyze all of the available data, and they make modifications based on that information.
You cannot treat your store like a once and done project. It must be constantly evaluated and improved upon. Not only your store, but your competitors as well. Data is king in today’s market! Use it. Learn from it. Change with it. And reap the benefits.
There you have it, 7 core ingredients for a successful eCommerce store. How does your store match up? Need help cooking up a great store or refreshing your current store? Let’s talk!
