10 Essentials of Building Ecommerce Sites
As an Ecommerce site business owner, you have planned everything well. The mechanics are all in place and you know how you want the site to look, the products you are going to sell and the images that are going to be displayed. But the fact is that any Ecommerce website needs much more than just product images and links that buyers can make their purchases from.
Today, any store and brand worth its salt has an online presence, either via their own company site or via various online marketplaces. What this means is that, as a business owner, if you want people to come to your site, you will have to offer them an exceptional user experience. If you fail to do this, you risk losing them to a competitors’ site.
It is important to have a very credible and expert Web Marketing and Ecommerce Development company work on designing and building your platform. They will ensure that all the aspects are in place, business owner essentials have been added into to site. But as the business-owner, it is also very important for you to understand what these essentials are:
Quick Load Time This aspect of Ecommerce Development tops the list, simply because, whether you believe it or not, if the load time of your website is more than 3 minutes, you stand to lose 40 percent of your shoppers. Your site should have image sizes and type as well as media files that will load quickly.
A slow site will discourage buyers and will have a negative impact on your Google search rankings as well. And so, before your Ecommerce site is launched, one of the first things you have to do is test the page speed.
Mobile Application Today, in excess of 55% of people shop via their mobile devices and Pc’s and Laptops are not really the preferred devices when it comes to shopping online. This makes it imperative for all Ecommerce sites to be mobile responsive. The site should be very easily viewed via all mobile devices.
These versions will be different from the full-size version. Responsive website design includes resized text which is easily readable on mobile devices. They should also change navigational position based on how the user is holding the device. Ideally, these sites should also have fewer images which boost the load times and there should be sufficient space around links which thumbs will be able to click easily
Calls-to-Action Ideally, there should be a call-to-action on every page- this CTA could lead customers either to gather additional information or to buy a product from your site. The CTA’s that are included in Ecommerce Development should generate buyer interest even as they give customers information about exactly where that link will take them. The primary CTA’s are specifically for making purchases while secondary ones will take them to pages that give them more information about services and products
Easy Checkout Marketing companies estimate that around 60% of buyers end up abandoning their carts before check out. This could be because the payment process is too difficult. Ideally, the process should be step-by-step and every page should lead straight to the next one & never back to the earlier one.
For instance, if a customer is required to have an account in order to buy from the site, that step should show up first. Do not let them move halfway through the process and then tell them that they require an account. This will frustrate them for sure and they will be inclined to abandon the cart.
Ecommerce Development processes should ensure that all the fields in the forms have been labeled very clearly and buyers should not get any error messages when they are submitting payments. Also, make sure that the directions have all been labeled correctly. Instead of only setting the direction as “continue”, specify if the buyers are continuing with the check out/ shopping. If they feel that they are going around in circles, they will be inclined to leave the site
Contact Information- It’s all right to add a contact form as a medium via which customers can communicate with you. but it’s also important to have an email address and a contact number listed there
Blog- Websites that have blogs receive up to 55% more views compared to those that don’t. Blogs with the right SEO, are the perfect way for customers to find your site via search engines and it helps in building trust with customers. The Ecommerce blog must have information about your products as well as product comparisons and how-to’s. If you want your customers to know that you are an expert in a particular space, you will have to share more information via your blog
Social Media Links- Surveys from marketing companies indicate that social media has a significant impact on Ecommerce. Today, almost 80% of companies report that their customers have come via Facebook. Also, the sites that use the +1 button get 3.5-times the Google+ visits in comparison to those without, and Social Media Marketing is all important.
The shoppers who are referred by Pinterest are also 10 percent more likely to make any purchase compared to the referrals from any other social networks. If you do not have social sharing buttons on your Ecommerce website, you may just end up missing out on significant returns
Customer Reviews– People do look for product reviews before buying products and having a reviews page can help rankings for your site on search results.
Education– You will have new as well as return visitors to your site. This means you must have information that will keep the conversation going. Keep adding information about your products and do so via tutorials, ebooks, whitepapers and videos. This will boost your search results, but it also gives you a chance to position yourself as an expert in the industry. In addition, customers also feel much more comfortable with purchasing a product that they have more information about
As you go along and build your site, your WordPress Web Design Specialist and Online Marketing company will keep informing you about a lot of other important aspects of Ecommerce Development that should be included in your site. So- go on, capture the online marketplace. We at Kleverk Designs Pvt Ltd Mumbai provide superb Ecommerce Development solutions that are customized to client requirements. Contact us via this online form and tell us what your E-commerce WordPress Web Design requirements are.