5 essentials for an online shop that sells
Just a few short years ago, if someone told you that they did all of their Christmas shopping online, you might not have believed them. But today, as Internet and mobile technology dominate the world, it's no longer a strange thing to hear.
Maybe you're thinking about adding an online shop to your website. Or perhaps you already have one but it's not selling as much as your direct competitors are.
It could be that your online shop is missing some of the fundamentals. Let's run through 5 of them:
1. Make buying easy
Too many e-commerce sites and online shops are simply too difficult to use. Your SEO could be on point, your product could be excellent, but if trying to find a product on your site is difficult or involves numerous clicks, you lack informative product descriptions or they can't easily select the quantity, size or type they need, you could turn a customer off before they've clicked 'Buy'.
2. Remove the barriers
Following on from making buying simple, quite often online shops simply ask too much of the customer. Do you force your customers to sign up for a membership before they get to the checkout? Are your forms simply too long? Unfortunately these days, it doesn't take much to send a customer looking elsewhere.
3. Boost the security
While security is not so much an issue in a physical shop, it's a big mistake to overlook it for your online store. People are nervous about entering their credit card details in a world of identity theft and stolen personal information, so ensure your security measures are adequate and well advertised.
4. Make it look trustworthy
As a follow-on to great security, an ultra-professional look will not only make your brand look better, it will reassure your customers that you're a serious outfit that can be trusted with their purchase. Use great-quality photographs, make sure your branding is recognisable and professional, include a timeline of your business and ensure your 'About', 'Contact' and 'FAQ' pages contain plenty of information - buyers will be scanning these for signs of your trustworthiness.
5. Ramp up your options
OK, so it complicates your life, but only offering one or two methods for payment sends off several bad vibes to your potential customers, including that you're not serious enough and you don't care about the various ways in which they like to shop. Not only that, it's silly to attract a customer to your shop only to send them away disappointed because the way they pay is not accommodated.
Turn to CanberraWeb
Put simply, CanberraWeb can come up with the web design Canberra clients need for online shops that really sell, so contact us today to supercharge your e-commerce.
