10 Tips for Improving Your Online Store to Increase Sales
One of the main concerns for online retailers is getting customers buying from your store. You may be experiencing good levels of visitors but turning those visitors into buying customers can be a challenge, especially for smaller retailers who do not have the financial resource to constantly perfect their store.
Often though, it is getting the basics right that is the difference between a successful store and one which does not convert visitors to customers.
Here are ten tips covering the basics every retailer should include to ensure their online store is meeting customers needs.
Site-wide Conversion Tips
1. Organise Your Navigation & Categories based on Product Lines
Navigation based on abstract concepts like 'Occasion', 'Styles', 'Collections' and 'Colours' don't help your visitors find what they came to your store for. Help your customers by organising your category menus and main navigation using a clear product structure.
2. Include a Sales Section and Indicate Discounted Products Clearly
This is a well tried marketing tactic. According to a 2011 e-Tailing survey 62% of consumers identified sales and discounts as important when making purchases from an online retailer. Most people expect to find products cheaper online. By advertising certain products at sale prices your actively encourage them to browse your store.
Sale items should be promoted on your home page/main category landing pages. This will encourage people to take a closer look at individual product pages.
Product Page Conversion
3. Use Only High Quality Product Photographs
The quality of your product images will be seen as a reflection of the quality of your products by consumers. Make sure each product features several high-resolution and high-quality photographs, with the option to view a larger scale version of the image.
Generally, product photographs should be shot again a neutral background. However, it can sometimes enhance product listings to show the product in context of its intended use, for example by showing bedroom furniture in a home-based setting. Don't be afraid to experiment; the goal is to make the product listing both clear and inviting while also communicating that you provide a quality product.
4. Ensure You Are Competitive
Not surprisingly this is rated as a major factor with 95.5% of consumers indicating that pricing influences their decision to buy from a particular ecommerce store.
If people can find your product cheaper elsewhere, you won't get any custom. Be aware of what your competitors are charging and make sure you are competitive or be absolutely sure your website justifies a higher price tag for your products.
If your prices are higher because you offer a superior product your website needs to communicate how your product is better, either through product descriptions or easily locatable site-wide product endorsements.
Trust Points
5. Provide Clear Trust Signals on Your Site
Not surprisingly, people visiting eCommerce websites look for trust signals, either consciously or unconsciously. Providing clear trust signals is particularly critical where you trade solely online as your website will be the only connection potential customers have with you.
To foster trust and reassure customers let people know their credit card details are safe with you by providing visual confirmation of the major credit card and payment systems you support (Verisign, Visa, Papal, Safebuy, etc.) and include a privacy policy, returns policy and data security policy: While some people don't actually read these they still look for assurance that you have returns, privacy and security policies in place.
6. Encourage Users to Leave Reviews
The most effective way to do this is to sign up with eCommerce Consumer Approval Schemes such as FeeFo, Bizrate, Trust Pilot and Google TrustedStores, each of whom provide independent, verified review consumer schemes.
Checkout Optimisation
7. Keep the Cart Checkout Linear and Simple
According to Baynard's Checkout Usability Report the average shopping cart checkout involves 5 steps from the point the customer clicks 'Checkout'' to the actual point an order is placed. As the authors observe, a good checkout process should not defined by number of steps alone, as a customer's reaction to the checkout process will depend on the information they have to provide at each stage.
The process should aim to make ordering as simple as possible thereby reducing the possibility of them abandoning the purchase.
Our recommendations:
- Only ask for information necessary to complete the Order. - Avoid making the user re-enter information (duplicate entry of billing and delivery address, for example) - Ensure validation errors on form fields clearly indicate how to fix a problem.
It is also important to clearly indicate to customers where they are in the checkout process. An effective way to achieve this is by displaying numbered steps for each stage of the checkout process at the top of the checkout page.
8. Offer Multiple Payment Methods
The days when customers were sceptical of providing credit card details online are disappearing but failing to provide a range of payment options will only lose custom if you only offer a single payment channel.
Paypal is now a trusted payment channel for many consumers. However, remember customers prefer to pay to pay by Credit/Debit Card, 'Phone or cheque and make sure you can accept customers payments using their preferred payment method.
9. Get Your Shipping Policy Right
People expect assurances on shipping and delivery timeframes. Most customers will be happy to receive goods in 3 to 5 days if it means saving on delivery charges but delivery timescales need to be clearly stated.
Options to include special delivery instructions, schedule a late delivery and track progress of an order all add to consumer confidence and ensure they are more likely to order from you.
Post Sale Assurance
10. Goods Return Policy
Returns are a fact of doing business for any retailer. Transparency and clarity are again key things customers look for. Clearly state who will be responsible for paying the cost of any return, what the time limits are for returning goods and conditions under which goods may be returned.
Conclusion
Overall, there are a number of factors to consider but time spent planning and developing a robust, professional store will aid your ability to sell online successfully. Time spent improving your online store will aid your ability to successfully sell online.
Make incremental changes to your website's conversion funnel (home page, category pages, product pages and and checkout process) and be sure to measure your online sales figures and visitor interactions using Google Analytics or similar so you can see which changes are working. Ultimately, by taking these steps you will increase your sales.
About the Author
Onestop Webshop is a specialist eCommerce Web Design company. We focus on providing customers with bespoke eCommerce web design and online store creation. We work with hosted webstores such as Shopify and BigCommerce as well as stand-alone eCommerce systems such as Magento Commerce. If you are looking at creating an online store or want to improve your customer conversion speak to us today.
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