Whether online sales make up all of your business, or just a part of it, boosting the number of transactions your website delivers is crucial to your company’s success.
But to ensure your website works hard for you, several key elements need to be in place. The most critical issue to resolve is making ‘barriers to purchase’ as low as possible so your customers finding purchasing from you quick and simple. However, including the right features on your website you can ensure that purchases can flow through your site with ease.
In our latest blog post, the Manchester web design experts at Fluid Digital go through some of the functions e-commerce websites should have to maximise the sales they provide.
1. Simple ordering system with as few steps as possible
The easier you make it to order from you the more sales you will drive. Simples! A system that is very uncomplicated will always prove a winner with customers so it’s vital this is a feature on all e-commerce sites.
2. Display order progress
Customers like to know where they stand at all times and making an online purchase is no exception. Displaying the stages of the order process at the top of the page provides helpful information to customers and shows how easy the transaction will be.
3. Include good product photos and descriptions
This is a basic but vitally important element that all e-commerce sites need to be on top of. The better the pictures and product descriptions are on your site the more sales you will see. Customers expect to be able to properly browse their new purchase so improve that experience for them and reap the benefits.
4. Make prices transparent
Customers don’t like nasty surprises so don’t make the way they find out about your prices one of them. Make the costs of your products transparent on your site and that also goes for any additional charges for services such as delivery.
5. Include review from other customers to build trust
Customers like to know that they are buying from a company with a reputation for good service. Allowing customers to leave feedback shows you can be trusted and will encourage people to spend money with you. Even if you receive the odd comment from someone who was less than 100% satisfied you can counter this will a quick and effective response. Customers will see you care about their experience.
6. Sticky shopping carts
Sometimes a customer gets part way through a transaction and leaves the site for a reason, perhaps to compare prices on another website. However you can counter this by ensuring if they return their hopping cart history stored. They will appreciate not having to start all over again, encouraging them to buy.
7. Don’t force people to create accounts
Some customers just don’t like being told what to do, fact. Forcing them to set up an account with you may turn them off so your website should give the option to make a quick and easy one off ‘guest purchase’.
If you need advice about creating an e-commerce website, or adding some of the functions mentioned in this blog to an existing site, the team at Fluid Digital would be happy to talk you through the options and best way forward. Call us anytime on 0161 452 7146 or email adam@fluid-digital.com for an informal chat.