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Online retail sales through e-commerce platforms amounted to around 4.9 trillion U.S. dollars worldwide in 2021, and the numbers are projected to increase in the upcoming years, which is why owners of such platforms constantly find ways in making their websites better.
Improving your e-commerce website can help you out in getting amazing benefits for your business, and just a couple of changes can do a lot of things for you, especially in boosting your sales. While the entire process of improving your e-commerce website can sound pretty expensive and hard, we beg to differ, especially if you do some research and you know what to focus on when embarking on the journey to making it better.
To help you out in improving your e-commerce website with ease, here are some of the things that you can do:
Keep The Design Simple
Not everyone that uses the internet is tech-savvy, which is why if you are planning to improve your e-commerce website, you want to keep the design simple. From the overall functionality, from the design and how it works, you want to go with something that can be understood by any user that visits it.
When it comes to designing an e-commerce platform, it is necessary and suggested to keep it as simple as you can. The more elements you add to the page, the further it will take the user from the point of the website, which is to make a sale. So instead of adding more and more distractions, try to ensure that you are keeping the design of your e-commerce platform clear, clean, and simple.
Mobile Responsive
Mobile commerce keeps growing.
In 2021 alone, over $3 trillion in retail e-commerce sales were made from mobile users, said a report by Statista, which is why it is a must for you to make your platform mobile-responsive.
Another report from Outerbox says that nearly 79% of smartphone users have made a purchase using a mobile device in the last 6 months. Other reports suggest that around 70% of e-commerce is going to originate from mobile devices, which is why it is necessary to make your e-commerce website mobile-responsive.
The thing with a mobile responsive platform is that it will work amazingly well on a cellphone, a tablet, a laptop, a desktop, or any modern device. When someone opens your platform, it will automatically adjust to the screen and offer all the services, products, and features without compromising anything.
Lastly, if the mobile website that you have works well, your customers, clients, and other internet users can use it no matter where they have it, which automatically increases your chances to convert users into customers.
Use High-Quality Images Or Videos
Using high-quality images and videos is a must when you’re trying to improve your website.
From the products to the services that you’re using, you want to display content in the best way possible to offer a real storefront-like shopping experience to your online customers. By doing this, you can offer great touch on the products without actually making them touch what you’re selling.
Here are some of the many things that you can do in order to improve the quality of images and videos that you will take for your products:
- Take pictures or videos with the help of a tripod for better stability
- Choose natural light
- Add artificial light if needed
- Do not take pictures or videos with your flash turned on
- Try to go with a digital camera or a professional camera
- Blur the background if needed
- Do not use digital zoom to avoid pixelation
- Get inspiration from big brands
- Clean the lenses of your device before you start shooting
Remember, e-commerce websites basically mimic a real store but it’s online, which is why if you are trying to offer a realistic experience, you want to upload HD but fast-loading images and videos. For example, instead of uploading a picture of the product, try to go with something better like a short video clip of you using the product, which includes someone wearing them or demonstrating how they work.
Think Like You’re A Visitor
To convert website visitors into customers, you need to connect with your audience and offer something that can convince them to avail what you’re selling, which is not an easy thing to do, hence you have to think like you’re a visitor when you’re trying to improve the e-commerce website that you have. From the design to the features that you want to add, and even the entire checkout experience, you want to make everything easy, simple, and efficient.
For the design, try to go with something that is easy to navigate through, is pleasing to the eyes, and can make the entire process of shopping an easy one, especially having a hassle-free checkout procedure. Also, it should have features that can make the entire process of going through your platform easy. Not only that but how you organize your products and categorize them is also a must.
Try to put yourself in the shoes of the visitor and see what the entire experience is like when it comes to shopping through your platform. Once you do that, you get a proper overview of what to keep and what to change.
Have A Review Section
Having a review section on your e-commerce website is a must when you’re trying to improve it.
By simply having a review section on each product page, those that visit it will have an overview of what the product is like and can know whether the previous customers are happy with their decision of availing the product or not.
If you do plan to add a review section on your website, it’s necessary to have them displayed on the product page itself so that the future customers that go to that page can view them right before they get to make a decision to purchase. The better reviews you will have, the better chances you will have to convert a user into a customer.
Not only a review section but try to add a question and answer section too in the page just like Amazon does. In case anyone has a question about the product, people that have bought the product before can answer those questions, helping the user to make the decision to avail of what you’re selling.
Better Payment Options
After all those things, you want to find a way to enhance the shopping experience of your internet users, which you can do by offering more payment options.
If you think this one is not important, then you’re wrong.
Imagine someone going through your e-commerce platform and they find something to buy but as soon as they go to the checkout page they don’t see a payment method that they’re comfortable using. Automatically, they lose interest, which also means that you lose a customer, and trust us you do not want that to happen, so instead of limiting your payment options, try to offer more.
Here are some payment options that you should have on your e-commerce website:
- PayPal
- Debit Cards such as Mastercard, Visa, American Express, Discover, JCB
- eWallet options such as Amazon Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Skrill, PayPal
- Gift Cards from Google and Apple
- Cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or Ethereum
- COD (Cash on Delivery)
Add Accurate Information
When you’re selling products through your e-commerce website, it’s necessary to add all the information on the details section so you could allow your viewers to have a proper overview on what they’re getting.
Whatever your website visitors came to your website to do, you have to ensure that you hand them out accurate information, which includes the following:
- Stock
- Warehouse levels
- Product descriptions
- Product imagery
- Videos
- Media
- Pricing
The better information you offer, the more likely it would be for you to convert users into customers. Not only that but the users can possibly forward your products to those that might need them.
Set Up Categories
E-commerce websites have hundreds or thousands of products, which is why having categories for them is a must.
If your website has a lot of visitors, having categories can allow them to know what’s being offered. From shoes to clothes and even genders, try to put everything that you’re offering under the right categories so those that are coming to your website can find the product that they are looking for.
Not only setting up categories but trying to make your product categories and the pages for the products easy to navigate. If possible, make it easier to search for products and have filters such as color, size, or product type. Remember, the easier you make your categories available, the easier it will be for your customers to find what they are looking for.
Make The Checkout Experience Easy
Another thing that you need to look at is the checkout page and the overall experience that your users will be getting.
You want to ensure that the checkout experience goes smoothly and is simple, easy, and stable. Anything complex with the checkout experience can play a huge role in the sales that you get.
Here are some of the many things that you can do to make the checkout experience easier:
- Make the add to cart button clear and big
- Have a pay now button
- Allow guest checkout
- Offer multiple payment methods (check out the one we listed above)
- Remove any distractions on the checkout page,
In short, the easier the checkout experience you will be offering, the better it would be for your customers to get something that they like on their website.
Have A Featured Section
With a featured section on your website, you can showcase which products are your best sellers and show off the ones that are being purchased the most by the people that visit your e-commerce platform.
Most of the time, the featured section is present on the front page of your website. Try to showcase it as much as you can and when you set it up, try to keep it simple and highlighted so people can easily find it on your platform.
If possible, have multiple featured sections on your website, each one for the categories that you have.
Conclusion
Improving your e-commerce website is not an easy thing to do and it can take a lot of time to just come up with something that can make it more useful, but with proper research, there are so many things that you can do. The things that we listed above are more than capable of improving your website, and can also help you out in boosting your sales, satisfaction rate, and many more. We hope you found them useful.
