Ecommerce sales will rise by almost 9% in the year 2024. This is a good sign for people with online businesses. More shoppers are using the internet for convenient retail experiences. This means ecommerce businesses are in a privileged position and have some good opportunities to make sales and garner loyalty from their customers.
But – with the volume of ecommerce sites rising three times over worldwide between 2019 and 2023 – online retail businesses are competing with lots of other online retail businesses. How can you help your ecommerce site make an impression on people? And encourage users to make purchases? We’ve put together some tips to help you make sales and accumulate revenue.
1. Make The Design of Your Website Better
Your products represent the bedrock of your business, but your website is a part of the user experience. An attractive and easy-to-navigate website will demonstrate that you feel interested in how your customers feel about your brand, thereby reducing bounce rates. Strategies for improving your website could include:
Adding more images and graphics: Around 78% of shoppers want ecommerce brands to add more visuals to product pages. If your pages fail to show off your products in their full glory, consider hiring a professional product photographer to generate more visual assets for your website.
Simplifying your navigation bar: A confusing navigation bar will confuse customers and push up bounce rates. Remember to split your products into relevant categories and implement breadcrumb navigation so visitors can backtrack while they browse.
Improving your search functionality: Time-poor consumers appreciate search bars and filtering options to help them locate the products they require in record time.
Adding awards and trust badges to your site: Customers are more likely to shop with brands that seem authentic, legitimate, and honest. Adding some visual signifiers of approval and legitimacy – the badges and awards you often see on the bottom section of a website – will reassure customers that you are a credible brand.
Enhancing site accessibility: Try to make your website as accessible as possible by adhering to web content accessibility guidelines.
2. Improve The User Experience (AKA “UX”)
Around 70% of online shopping sessions culminate in cart abandonment. Why? A recent study ended up showing that the top reasons include high shipping costs and fees, the need for users to create their own account, a lack of trust in the site, slow delivery, and complicated checkout processes. UX plays a significant role in driving revenue, in other words. As well as enhancing the design of your ecommerce website, you may want to think about trying these UX tips:
Optimize loading speeds: Slow-loading pages may frustrate customers and harm brand loyalty. If your website if a bit too slow and annoying to use, try making large images smaller, getting rid of unnecessary code, and using third-party services to handle complex functions you are struggling to design yourself.
Make sure the website is fully responsive: Your website should be fully accessible across screen sizes and devices, including desktops, tablets, and smartphones.
Add clear contact information to your homepage and footer: Your brand should be easily contactable via email, phone, and online messaging services. If possible, we recommend implementing a chatbot that can answer simple questions and ensure complex enquiries are passed on to relevant members of staff.
Personalize the user journey: With over 80% of consumers happy to share their data in exchange for customized shopping experiences, it’s worth implementing product recommendations and other personalized features.
3. Optimize The Checkout Process
Improving your checkout process will reduce cart abandonment rates and support business growth. Here is how to adjust the checkout section of your ecommerce site to suit your customers:
Include guest checkout options: Many customers simply don’t have the time to create an online account before completing their purchase. Allowing any website visitors checkout as guests will reduce how much time they have to spend filling out forms and encourage users to make speedy purchases.
Minimize the number of form fields: Try to keep form fields to the minimum necessary (i.e., shipping and billing addresses, shipping options, and payment details).
Add a progress bar: Add a progress bar depicting the number of steps left in a transaction. This strategy will show to customers that they won’t have to click through loads of pages to get their hands on the things they want.
Facilitate different payment options: Try to include all popular payment methods, including credit and debit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal.
Ensure the checkout is secure: Protect customers by collecting only necessary personal information, installing an SSL certificate, encrypting cardholder data, maintaining firewall configurations, and testing security systems regularly.
Provide post-purchase information: Send a confirmation email as soon as the purchase is complete, including order details and estimated delivery dates.
4. Leverage Marketing Techniques
A well-planned marketing strategy will help drive people to your page and may include:
Content marketing: Hosting content optimized for search engines will boost site traffic and brand loyalty. Remember to include a diverse array of informative content, including videos, blog posts, and more.
Make the most of social media: Maintaining an engaging social media presence is vital for ecommerce brands. You probably know that some demographics are more likely to use some social platforms than others, so try to focus your energies on the most relevant sites. If you have enough resources, it is worth investing in targeted advertising campaigns that reach the right consumers.
Loyalty programs: A loyalty program will encourage people to spread the word about your ecommerce site and ensure customers keep coming back for more.
Influencer and affiliate marketing: Similarly, partnering with influencers and affiliate marketers will boost your reach and optimize conversions.
5. Utilize Data and Analytics
Tracking ecommerce data will help you identify what works and what doesn’t in the tricky world of ecommerce. These metrics might include (but aren’t limited to):
Customer lifetime value
Conversion rates
Average order values
Website bounce rates
Traffic sources
Return on investment
6. Focus on Continuous Improvement and Innovation
Finally, remember to put time, money, and effort into continuous improvement and innovation. Although your business may be doing well and pulling in plenty of revenue, the ecommerce space moves fast and can be unpredictable. If you don’t keep up with new innovations and strategies, you might eventually find yourself is a tough financial spot.
We know you might wonder where to start with overhauling your ecommerce business, but do not worry. One quick and easy starter task is to create and send out a customer satisfaction survey. As well as providing insights into what people think of your brand, a well-designed survey could help you identify new customer needs and innovations.
Embrace Change and Secure a Bright Future for Your Ecommerce Site
Do you feel ready to transform your ecommerce site and make your business bigger as the years go on? The tips laid out above will help you achieve this noble goal. Another way to make your ecommerce site as great as possible is to outsource your logistics operations to a reliable 3PL. If you’re looking for high-quality order fulfillment, warehousing, returns management, and distribution services in New Jersey, Snapl is here to help. For more information, please contact our friendly team at 800-966-3478.