Most merchants desire to sell their products online. The decision to sell your products is usually a two-sided one- you either decide to create your eCommerce website or choose to sell on a marketplace. Each option carries its pros and cons. Furthermore, there is no one-size-fits-all decision that will work perfectly for all. However, I believe that any merchant who is truly serious with his/her business and intends to succeed must have an eCommerce website.
An eCommerce website has excellent benefits to your business. Through search engine optimization, your eCommerce website will attract new customers for your business. Most customers are also finding it convenient to interact with businesses through their websites. With the many benefits that eCommerce benefits bring to your business, you can anticipate great sales once you have your website. Ecommerce sales are expected to account for a whopping 18.1% of the global sales by the end of 2021. Nasdaq predicts that close to 95% of global sales will be made through eCommerce websites by 2040.
Knowing how essential having an eCommerce website could be, you, plus many other retailers, have chosen to create eCommerce websites. However, weeks and months down the line, you are yet to realize your target conversions and sales. Most eCommerce website owners rush into creating websites. Unfortunately, they end up making mistakes and omitting crucial website features that end up costing them. This article has pinpointed nine features that every eCommerce website must follow to achieve the desired conversion rates and sales.
- User-Friendly Web Design
User-friendly web design is one of the most critical factors that you must pay keen attention to when designing your eCommerce website. Customers who visit your website for the first time should find it easy and convenient to use and figure out the purpose of your website. Potential customers who find your website hard to use will not transact with or buy from you. A hard to use website will drive away your customers.
You must ensure that you design a user-friendly website for your business. There are a few points that you ought to keep in mind when creating a user-friendly website. They include the following;
- It would be best to position your main menu at the top and left side of your website.
- Include a search bar at the top, in the header, or under the logo.
- Include your logo on the left top side. Make it clickable.
- Use filters to improve your search function.
- Mobile Friendliness
A 2017 Global Online Consumer Report Titled: The Truth About Online Consumers reveals that 65% of consumers use their mobile devices to compare prices while in physical stores. Google has also shown that people who have a bad experience with your mobile store are 62% less likely to shop from you again. Therefore, making your website mobile-friendly goes a long way into making your business a success.
There are a lot of mobile users today. Mobile devices present you with a golden opportunity to share the enormous traffic that is now coming from mobile devices. There are a whole lot of aspects that you should consider when designing a mobile-friendly website. It is a must that you optimize your site for mobile friendliness if you want to succeed.
Some of the options that you must consider when making a mobile-friendly website include;
- Having a responsive web design that changes based on the size of the screen.
- Having a mobile-specific website that is meant only for mobile devices.
- Having a mobile application version of your website to download and use on mobile devices.
- Review and Feedback Section
Shoppers will always have concerns about your products and the legitimacy of your eCommerce website. The best way to eliminate those concerns is by having product reviews. Product reviews usually influence the majority of shoppers. Positive reviews will instill courage in your shoppers and make them buy from you without any worries.
According to Testimonial Engine, 72% of shoppers will look for reviews before making a purchase. According to a G2 and Heinz Marketing report, 92% of eCommerce buyers are likely to purchase after reading a convincing review. That is how essential product reviews can be.
On your eCommerce website, you should ensure that you add reviews and feedback sections. You must address pertinent customer issues to ensure that you only receive positive online reviews. The following are some of the benefits of having positive product reviews:
- Product reviews help to build trust in your customers.
- Hearing about the past experiences of your previous customers will help your prospects know if the products you are offering can meet their specifications or expectations.
- Negative product reviews will help you rectify any issue with the product.
- They work as social proof.
- They boost conversion rates and increase sales.
- They reduce the possibilities of product returns.
- Proof Top Notch Website Security
If your eCommerce website does not have anything to prove that it is secure, you miss out a lot. Cybersecurity threats have become so common in today’s digital age. Cybersecurity Ventures predicts the worldwide cybercrime to hit $6 trillion annually by 2021. As a result, business leaders are paranoid, and most have a feeling that cybercrimes are increasing. That is according to Accenture.
Most eCommerce website owners make a grave mistake by failing to show their customers that their website is secure. One fact that remains true is that website visitors have become clever, and they now know how to differentiate a secure and insecure website. No one will be willing to share their details or buy from your website if they feel that your website is not secure enough.
Proving that your website is secure does not take much. All you need is an SSL certificate. The certificate encrypts all the communications that happen between the website servers and the users’ browsers.
There are different types of SSL certificates. For an eCommerce store, you need an Extended Validation SSL certificate. Some of the best EV SSL certificate that you can choose from include the following;
- Comodo SSL
- DigiCert SSL
- GeoTrust EV SSL
- RapidSSL
- GoDaddy
- Stability and Fast Load Speeds
Website speeds have a real impact on bounce rates. It is bad to see your visitors leave your website because of slow loading speeds. Think of website speeds as a sliding scale where high loading speeds reap the most benefits. For example, pages that take less than two seconds to load have an average bounce rate of 9%, while pages that take more than five seconds to load have an average bounce rate of 38%.
To retain your customers, you should ensure that you maintain websites that have high loading speeds. But how will you do that? The following are some of the tips to increase your page load speeds.
- Use the Gzip software to compress your files.
- Minify CSS, JavaScript and HTML.
- Reduce page redirects.
- Leverage browser caching.
- Use a Content distribution network.
- Optimize your videos and images.
- Clear and Easy Navigation
A good sign of a perfect eCommerce website is in its navigation. So you should seek to answer: Will your customers easily find your products? you should endeavour to make your eCommerce website a convenient customer tool. Here are some of the best tips to creating clear and easy navigation:
- Ensure that your visitors can see the main navigation bar and the parent categories. It would be best if you made the navigation bars prominent.
- Introduce your subcategories. A great way of doing this is by programming the hover method onto your website.
- Ensure that you have a category for new arrivals.
- Include a noticeable and prominent search bar.
- Stick to the conventional navigation arrangement that appeals to all your customers.
- Clear Images, Videos and Descriptions
Before your customers buy your products, they will want to know some of the key features of the products. Including images, videos, and clear product descriptions will help ensure that your customers understand exactly what they are buying. Furthermore, videos and images are a great way of keeping your website visitors longer on your website.
- Effective Calls To Action
The primary purpose of your eCommerce website is to ensure that you make sales. Having clear calls to action will encourage and direct your visitors into making a specific action such as a purchase. A good call to action needs to be precise and easy to understand. For example, you can use calls to action such as;
- Add to Cart
- Make a payment
- Complete Purchase
- Call Us On
- Subscribe to Our
- Clear Contact Details
Before buying from your eCommerce website, your web visitors might need to confirm your legitimacy. To do so, they will need to call you or visit your physical location. Including working contact details on your website can be essential to your customers. Some of the contact details you can include on your eCommerce website include your email address, phone number, and physical location. You should ensure that the contact details are working and be available 24/7 to deal with your customers whenever they contact you.
Conclusion
Every business owner who wants to succeed should have a website. There is a lot of traffic that your website will bring to you. You are assured of a huge customer base. However, most website owners rush into creating their websites and end up forgetting some very vital elements. In today’s age of increased cyber crimes, ensuring security is of paramount importance.
Don’t skip the installation of an SSL certificate on your ecommerce website. Without the certificate, the users’ sensitive data can easily be compromised by intruders. To be on the safe side, you will need to install an SSL certificate on every subdomain of your website. That does not mean you should buy an SSL certificate for each subdomain. All you require is a wildcard SSL certificate, and you will be able to secure all your first-level subdomains under the chosen primary domain. This article has explained some of the critical elements your eCommerce website should not miss.
