With fewer people going out, ecommerce websites are becoming heavily relied on to get essentials or offer some retail therapy in these stressful times.
Results from a survey commissioned by global commerce service’s company, PFS, said three in five consumers have purchased more goods since the lockdown began, compared to before. 53% of those asked said they shopped more online.
As 39% said they’ve been encouraged to buy products online they wouldn’t normally consider, such as pet food, now is the ideal to run through our ecommerce must-haves.
Mobile friendly
It seems so long ago since we wrote about ensuring your website is mobile friendly (it was March, April has been a very very long month), but this is important. Why? More than half of web traffic comes from mobile devices and with fewer people now working from their desktop, we can expect to see this figure increase.
Not only are more people using mobile devices, but Google prioritises mobile users – the algorithm was updated to be focus on Mobile First Indexing and sites that are not mobile friendly can struggle to rank well.
Finally, data suggests mobile users are more likely to buy. Do you want more traffic and people to buy? I think we know the answer to that.
Protection
SSL certificates and other forms of security for both the supplier and consumer are important. An SSL certificate means that troublemakers can’t intercept customers’ sensitive information such as name, address and card details. If users see the little padlock in the URL bar, they know they have a secure connection to the site. Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of this padlock, and ://https (this replaces ://http at the beginning of URLs – the ‘s’ means secure).
The opposite is also true - the glaring red, beacon-like symbol that a site isn’t secure can severely undermine trust in a site and be a real barrier to conversion or purchase. It’s been drilled into customers to not trust or risk buying online if there are warning signs like these.
Shipping
How many of us have gone to buy something ‘cheap’ on Amazon and been caught out by an expensive shipping bill? Shipping is one of the top reasons why consumer abandons their shopping carts, especially B2B customs. If there are unexpected delivery charges or the product will take too long to arrive, a customer can easily choose to shop elsewhere.
Most of our ecommerce websites are built on Magneto, which helps you with shipping process too. Some features include:
- Automatic order completion from multiple locations
- Advanced carrier options to reduce rates and maintain quality
- Options that drive conversions through shipping satisfactions
If you’re a B2B business and a customer is placing a big order, it might be worth promoting a bulk order discount or even implementing a minimum order quantity to deter bargain or retail shoppers.
Ease
Another reason why carts are abandoned is an overly complicated checkout process. Keep it simple and speedy, with transparent shipping costs and VAT. If the site itself isn’t easy to use or navigate, users may never actually get to the shopping cart in the first place. If the shopping experience doesn’t meet the users’ expectation, they can and will go elsewhere.
Speed
Page speed is important as consumers want to get their shopping done fast (generally speaking) – there are many statistics about users abandoning a site if it doesn’t load fast enough.
There are many reasons for a website to be slow – try Google Page speed, but take it with a pinch of salt. It may suggest that your images are too big but if you’re selling online and the consumer is struggling to see the product – well yes, they’re off onto another website. So make sure your balancing scales are even. Website speed is also an important SEO factor.
If you have any questions or want some recommendations – pop us an email.
Content
Content needs to be actionable, engaging, relevant and create a personality.
Keeping your customers engaged and connected is key. You need to speak to their specific needs and point them to the perfect solution, which is your product! Speak their language and consider the tone of voice – it needs to resonate with the target audience. More informal tone and language is ideal for selling consumer products, while a more formal tone is suited for B2B clients. However, always remember that your customers are people – talk to them as people!
Have clear contact details, USP’s and CTAs (calls to action), so your customers aren’t confused about how to buy from you. Don’t overcomplicate things and risk alienating users.
Consider tweaking headlines, copy, or changing the names of products or descriptions to test and refine your offering. If you have an SEO team working on your website, please don’t do this without consulting them – speaking from first-hand experience, it’s not good for our mental health.
Still Unsure?
These are just a few factors that you can look at to make improvements to your ecommerce offering, without drastic change. If there are a few of these areas you need help with, or if you’re still a bit unsure what you need to do to maximise your online presence, please get in touch.
Want to know more? Get in touch :)