It’s fair to say that the internet has revolutionised the way that customers shop and businesses sell their products. Although the High Street is still a fixture, more and more people are choosing online shopping, and as such many more businesses have the opportunity of selling than ever before.
Not only has this created an influx of wealth, but it’s also showcased some of the ingenuity and creativity that many people simply wouldn’t have had the capital or time to present to a pre-ecommerce market.
However, more competition online means that businesses need to find a way to stay ahead of their rivals. One of the ways they can go about this is by making improvements to their ecommerce site and giving their customers a better experience. Common sense says that a happy customer is one who will return for a second experience and in turn, the site holder builds their business. There are numerous ways to improve your site:
Content
We tend to judge a website immediately, and respond quickly to our judgement. If a site is difficult to navigate, not linear or simply looks bad, a potential customer will quickly lose interest and click to another site. Therefore, it’s essential to impress and do it quickly. Those business owners who lack the knowledge to build a professional looking site should turn to web hosting services, where the professionalism and expertise of someone else can quickly be harnessed for their own use.
Images
In short, if you sell it your customers want to see it. You wouldn’t buy a product you couldn’t see and neither will your clients, so it’s essential that your images are clear, sharp and paint your products in the best possible light.
Descriptions
Your descriptions should sell your products and be the perfect accompaniment to the images we just discussed. They should be brief but detailed and positive, but not too “sales driven”. People want to be impressed but not pressured, so it’s important to strike the right balance.
Stock availability
If you sell it then you must stock it. Obviously, if you’re having a run of orders it’s a time for celebrating, but for a customer seeing a constant stream of messages saying “not available” is extremely off-putting.
Trust
Just because a business is based online doesn’t mean it can forgo the important elements of customer service, such as building relationships. In fact, with so much competition, you’ll need to pay special attention to customers in order to keep them coming back to you rather than your competitors. Small gestures like offers and loyalty discounts or bonuses as well as ongoing measures that help to build up trust in your brand, such as keeping promises on delivery times, will also go a long way to proving you’re a business who can be depended upon.
Security
Another essential measure when it comes to getting your customers to trust you is the care you take when it comes to their security. All catalyst2 web hosting packages allow you to add on a SSL certificate when you’re accepting payments, but you also need to pay close attention to security when you’re setting up your site.
Blogging and social media
Blogging and the use of social media platforms are not only a great way of building traffic to your site, but also allow you to connect with your customers on a more human level than your usual web content. You can promote your services or the stock you’re planning on introducing, or simply talk about indusrty news to establish yourself as an authority.
Fresh content
Keeping your site moving is not only great for search engines, but adding new products and updating your content means that customers are more likely to check in on a regular basis because they won’t want to miss anything.
Keep it unique
The best brands are those that take the time to mark themselves as unique. By finding your own voice and style, you’re telling your customers that you have something different to offer them.
