4 Elements of a Successful E-Commerce Website
The number of e-commerce businesses that are appearing online is increasing daily, in fact, current estimates show that to date, we are looking at an average of 110 000 online stores. Not all of these stores are generating profits however because having a successful e-commerce website is not as simple as one might hope.
It’s not however impossible to fall in line with those sites that are in fact reaching their goals and objectives online. With the correct web development and marketing team behind you, it’s possible that your store falls into the statistic of successful e-commerce businesses.
We’ve compiled 4 points, or pieces of advice, that will set you in the right direction:
1. Custom Design and Development
As much as we are advised not to, people do tend to judge a book by its cover, and the same goes for your website. Your potential customers will start forming an opinion about your website as soon as they land on it and most of the information they will use to form their opinion is visual. This means that the layout and design of your website is just as important as its content.
You could go the template-based route and get away with an awesome design, if you know what you are doing. You’d preferably want something custom designed to your own brand, goals and objectives.
2. Intend to Please Your Users on All Devices
While desktop shoppers continually exhibit higher conversion rates, mobile browsers still need to be incorporated into a friendly shopping experience since this is where your consumers tend to browse before hopping on to their desktops to complete a purchase.
This means that your online store needs to give its users a friendly and pleasant shopping experience regardless of the device it’s displayed on. Shoppers need to be able to find what they want quickly and easily with basic navigation prompts in a glitch-free environment.
3. Quick and Safe Payment Options
Few things can frustrate your shoppers more than a complex checkout process which also lacks transparency and assured security. Give your customers the surety and guidance they are looking for during each step of the payment process.
One element you can include is to inform your customers early about the costs of shipping. Inform them on exactly how much money they need to pay before they go through the long-winded checkout process. If possible, allow your customers to create a profile if they want to reduce the number of steps it takes to check out each time, this will also encourage them to come back for more.
And of course, you will have to take your security very seriously if you plan to store your customers’ sensitive information.
4. Spend Money to Make Money
If you do not have a marketing budget to start with, you are going to have a hard time finding customers, or more accurately, your customers are going to have a hard time finding you! One of the first things we ask our clients when they approach us to develop an e-commerce system is “what is your marketing plan and do you have a marketing budget?”. While we can develop an e-commerce system that includes all of the above elements and more, we cannot negotiate with the internet and get you found without at least some online marketing and SEO efforts.
While the competition that online stores currently face is growing by the day, with the right business plan, attention to detail in your design and a professional e-commerce development company taking care of the site’s performance and capabilities, you do still stand a chance of reaching your objectives and becoming a successful e-commerce store owner.
If you would like more information on the e-commerce solutions Epicdev has to offer, please contact us at: info@epicdev.co.za | 031 767 5580