E-commerce has seen a whopping increase in sales in the last few years. In 2019 alone, 4.9 trillion US dollars were generated via e-commerce. In addition, this data is likely to increase by 50 percent in the coming four years, accounting for around 7.5 trillion US dollars by 2024.
Now, this is something huge, which might sound tempting to retailers to jump into the e-commerce industry. However, with the basic design that includes a homepage, blog page, about us page and a product page, things cannot go far. You need to provide the best shopping experience to your users to maximize your revenue.
Important Points to Know for an e-commerce Website
Here, we have selected a handful of essential things that an e-commerce website owner must incorporate into the website,
1. Mobile-friendly design
The ease that mobile devices provide to users has led to the generation of around 79% of e-commerce purchases that occur via these devices. This immensely large data needs to be taken care of and develop e-commerce websites that are mobile-friendly and responsive.
A responsive website will adapt to different screen types, layouts and sizes. With just a few clicks and scrolls, you can purchase via an e-commerce brand using your laptops, tablets and smartphones with similar ease and functionality.
2. User-friendly navigation
Any user is likely to spend time on your e-commerce website only if it is easy to use. It is researched data that after 54 seconds a user’s attention from a page declines. Therefore, to take the utmost out of this time, user-friendly navigation is necessary feature.
Another research shows that around 80% of the time a user sees the left side of your web page and spends the remaining 20% looking at the right side. So, focus more on the left side. Equip the left side with a vertical menu showing the necessary categories and making it adaptive for both mobile and laptop users.
3. Multiple security features
The boom in technology has compelled e-commerce website owners to use cyber security products and keep a strong grip on cybersecurity measures. Many security features that one needs to incorporate into a website, like using secured plugins and themes, updating software, etc.
a. Install SSL certificate
This is something crucial, as SSL certificates ensure that data flow happens only in an encrypted manner and no third-party invader can read it. It is highly recommended to have at least low priced or single domain SSL certificate. You can buy COMODO SSL certificate, DigiCert SSL, Thawte SSL certificate at an extremely reasonable price and built customer trust.
b. Multi-factor authentication
The second layer of protection to your website comes in the form of multi-factor authentication. Here, apart from a regular password additional security code or biometrics needs to be entered to login into the website.
4. Prominent shopping cart and checkout buttons
The e-commerce website is solely developed with the aim to generate revenue, and this cannot be achieved without optimizing the checkout page. There need to be fast and secure service and seamless transition to avoid shopping cart abandonment.
Make your products clickable and provide the customer with a preview of their purchase. You need to use SEO-friendly names that are scattered within the product name and product description to draw a customer’s attention. Even there is a need to incorporate several checkout buttons at the line of sight to ensure that the conversion rate is increased.
5. Multiple payment options
Flexible payment options make the purchase quite easy for the customers. There are always the old school methods like bank transfer, and credit/debit card transfer that rule the payment options, but you should ensure that payment wallets and cryptocurrency are a few new methods that must also be there.
Provide your customer with a list of payment options to select from to enhance their experience. Even add an option to switch between currencies at the time of checkout.
6. High-quality photos and videos
Around 93% of the users buy products by seeing just the image and video quality. You need to ensure that all your products have high-quality images and videos that display the quality of the product and other relevant details clearly.
You can even use AI techniques like augmented and virtual reality to make a user “try” the product before actually buying it. The better the user’s experience will be the more the chances of avoiding shopping cart abandonment.
7. Detailed shipping and return information
Most customers complete their purchase when they see a free shipping option. It is necessary feature that all your products should have.
You should provide a detailed description of the shipping information, which includes- free or paid shipping, arrival time, and stock details.
Even display your return policy clearly and ensure the best user experience to turn your first-time buyer into a regular one.
8. Ratings, reviews, and other social proof
Around 95% of the users prefer to read reviews and more than 75% of the customers never purchase unless they have read the reviews.
User-generated content (UGC) in the form of reviews and ratings is quite important these days and has become an essential need of an e-commerce website.
Make your site such that it compels a user to leave reviews and ratings and even ask them to drop reviews on other platforms like Google reviews, Facebook etc. You can even ask users to write testimonials and user-created content on other social platforms.
9. Item availability
It is quite frustrating for a customer to find through so many products and at the time of checkout find out the product is unavailable. This makes the customer feel cheated and he/she leaves the website.
At the top of every product, you should mention the detail about how many such products are available for purchase. In addition, if in case, an item is unavailable you need to mention when you are likely to restock the product. This gives a real-time experience to users.
10. FAQ page
Frequently asked questions (FAQ) is a very thoughtful process that helps a user to get answers to all the small and big questions that pokes him before making the purchase.
While creating this page you need to think as a customer and incorporate every question that might bother a customer. Based on the customer’s feedback and queries you can even add a few questions at a later stage.
11. Contact page with multiple contact options
Certain questions might not be mentioned on an FAQ page, to answer such queries you need to have a contact page.
All your readily approachable contact details like phone number, email address and a toll-free number must be maintained here.
You can even have a Chatbot option, which works on a round-the-clock basis and provide prompt replies.
Final verdict
Marketing your website in the best possible way is necessary to generate potential customers. This marketing strategy when combined with other tools makes your e-commerce business boom.
Therefore, if you have not yet optimized your website, it is high time you look into these curated points and give your user the best and easiest experience.
