With an already established eCommerce market that surged forward during the COVID-19 pandemic, many smaller businesses have finally started paying attention to the digital space and its potential for their success.
For those retailers looking to push online (how haven’t you already?!), we’re sharing some of the most crucial website elements as a leading eCommerce agency that we think every site should have. Your ultimate objective for e-commerce websites is to maximise the potential conversion rate of your customers, from first landing on your homepage to completing a purchase. But there are many steps along the way which, if poorly optimised, could lead to customers heading elsewhere to spend their money.
Find out how to keep them alongside you with these six must-haves!
User-Friendly Navigation
You wouldn’t walk into a physical retailer and expect to be confused about where to find anything. Just as in the physical world, your online presence, crafted with the expertise of an eCommerce agency, should make visitors feel immediately at home. An interface designed by a professional ecommerce agency keeps visitors engaged throughout their shopping experience, encouraging them to explore what you have to offer.
With 91% of customers making online purchases through mobile devices, as reported by Forbes, your site must be mobile-friendly from the get-go—a standard practice for any ecommerce agency worth its salt.
Product & Service Videos
TikTok has taken short-form video content to revolutionary new heights, influencing how other social media platforms like Meta can respond to their surge in popularity following the platform’s release.
Where possible, featuring short-form video content on your e-commerce website is a great way to directly engage with your visitors. They’ll be able to see first-hand some of your products being modelled and demonstrated, and perhaps even be encouraged to immediately view the product pages of what you have to offer.
A professional video therefore doesn’t just boost awareness of what you sell but shows visitors why it’s YOU they should be buying from. Use videos across home and product pages for maximum impact!
Seamless Checkout Experience
Making purchases easy for your customers is vital after they’ve found the products they want to purchase. A clear, simplified, and informative checkout experience designed by an eCommerce agency will give you the best chance of acquiring new customers with first-time purchases. Offering as many payment options and gateways such as PayPal, Apple, and Klarna also optimising your checkout for accessibility.
Implementing additional features for existing customers such as autofill and saved information can ensure even higher conversion rates amongst customers you’ve retargeted back to your website for repeat purchases.
Site Search
If customer search intent is high, they’ll know exactly what they’re looking for when landing on your site’s homepage. If they haven’t directly searched for their desired product on Google, you’ll want to make it as easy as possible for them to find it on your website.
A sophisticated site search bar is a fantastic feature enhancing accessibility. The more advanced you make it, the more precise search results will be for customers, reducing the time they need to spend finding what they’re looking for and thus increasing the likelihood of a conversion.
Email Opt-In
Email opt-ins remain one of the most powerful tools in the e-commerce arsenal. Offering incentives such as exclusive online promotions or first-time offers for targeted demographics can allow you to capture valuable contact information.
These promotions can be carefully dispersed across crucial milestones on your visitor’s customer journey on your website to maximise their effectiveness, including on the home page, ‘add to basket’ and checkout pages.
Fast Loading
You might have the best website on the planet…but people aren’t going to sit there and wait to find out if it is.
It’s almost a guarantee that slow-loading websites and pages will lose you potential customers and purchases, or perhaps even existing customers! Bidnamic’s recent analysis of site speed on conversion rates* makes for harrowing reading…
An eCommerce agency can stop you from missing out on crucial purchases and enquiries by reducing the number of images and logos (and their quality) on your website. On average, they take up two-thirds of a site’s weight after all!
Growing Your Business
With these six e-commerce tips, we’re generating highly lucrative conversions and customer acquisitions across our clients’ websites and eCommerce agency services. These are just the tip of the iceberg to enhancing your digital profitability and prosperity.
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* PewResearch, https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/ecommerce-statistics/#sources_section
* Bidnamic, How Website Speed Affects Your Conversion Rates, https://www.bidnamic.com/resources/how-website-speed-affects-your-conversion-rates
