No successful store was ever built on luck and marketing alone. Top online retailers got where they are selling great products at great prices, delivering fast and making sure that customers are well rewarded for their choice.
To help you understand this better, luminablog.co.uk has put together a comprehensive blueprint of the most important components you need to build a successful online store.
Detailed Product Descriptions
This may sound obvious, but clear and accurate descriptions about your products are important to help buyers make the decision to purchase. Your descriptions act like your store’s sales staff so it needs to be informative and the right tone for your target. If you’re finding it hard to write the descriptions yourself, you can always hire a content marketing company. However, it’s best to read a few content marketing services reviews to know which one suits your needs.
Also, include an FAQ’s section too to help alleviate any doubts about your products.
Capture the imagination of your customers and be creative with your descriptions, tell the story of your product and how it can benefit your customer. Will it save them time, money, make them more productive or keep them safe?
Appeal to your customer’s emotional needs and show them the benefits of your product and how it will make their life better. Crumpler bags do an excellent job of their descriptions, and they even include videos of their products being used – nice!
Good Experience for Mobile Shoppers
In 2013, 55{d2853ad93bb3b8a87869238bbde07291202e0ce1b7953a1a00faaf29dbce1075} of people purchased from mobile devices rather than from PCs and laptops, so ensuring that your ecommerce website is mobile friendly is a must. Mobile’s increasing market share means that your online shop should have a mobile first strategy to ensure you’re getting conversions no matter what device.
Ensure your checkout cart functions easily on mobile and make sure the mobile navigation is easy to use. Also, keep your mobile version clean, simple with clear links and call to action buttons. Your check out, page navigation and ‘next’ buttons should have enough space so fingers/thumbs can tap on them easily. It should also have good mobile versions of your images, including images for retina display.
Easy Checkout Process
The biggest conversion killer for your online store is potentially your checkout process. You could easily be losing up to 67{d2853ad93bb3b8a87869238bbde07291202e0ce1b7953a1a00faaf29dbce1075} of customers if your checkout is poorly planned or designed. Striking a balance between good functionality, usability and building trust are key to offering a good checkout experience.
Good Quality Product Photography
Product photography could be the single most important aspect of your ecommerce site. This is what helps your user get ‘buy in’ and is often the first experience of your product, so make it count.
It goes without saying but ensure your images are high quality with good lighting. Give your customers the option to see the product in context or being used so they can relate to the experience of using your product. Also, include a gallery of images to show all features of the product. Let customers see a larger version of the photograph either in a lightbox or zoom function.
Clear Design & Intuitive Navigation
Get clear about your shop categories and how your online store is structured. Poorly structured sites don’t perform well and struggle to convert. The goal is to make it easy for your customers to find what they’re looking for. Work with your web designer and your team to understand how your products should be categorized.
Make sure your navigation is intuitive with labelling that makes sense to your customers. Sometimes how your company labels something may not appeal to, or be confusing to your customers. Do your research.
