Crucial features your e-commerce site needs to succeed
Setting up an e-commerce site isn’t for the faint-hearted. You need an incredible amount of creativity, and technical knowledge to pull all your ideas and your products together to create an e-commerce site that catches the imagination of your customers and keeps those crucial sales coming in.
Frustratingly, shopper preferences are always changing and some elements that are considered attractive to your site could no longer be required. Thankfully, there are some steadfast elements that all e-commerce sites need to succeed – let’s take a closer look at them now.
Rapid payment processing
When your site visitors decide to make a purchase, don’t be too quick to start the celebrations. If your payment process is slow, clunky and difficult to navigate then it can quickly turn prospective customers away. Or worse still, make them suspicious about the authenticity of your site. When handling ecommerce transactions, you must have a rapid payment processing provider by your side. This simple feature means that your customers’ payments can be authentically verified within seconds, ensuring a speedy transaction and verification between the bank and the vendor.
The right payment processing application should offer you a customisable checkout experience for your site, as well as recurring payments for subscription billing and card-not present payment options. Features that were once considered to be pleasant additions to your ecommerce site are now considered ecommerce essentials.
Shopping support (when needed)
One of the pros of shopping online is the lack of pushy or intrusive sales assistants. Many people shop online because it’s much easier and because they can do it without feeling the pressure from targeted sales advisors. However, there may be times when shoppers need more information about a product before they go ahead with a purchase. Therefore, providing shopping support when required is an ecommerce essential. You could assist customers with:
– Live chat boxes where they can speak to customer support
– Encourage them to send IMs via your social media pages
– Fill in contact forms and have someone get back to them ASAP
User reviews
As an ecommerce vendor, you’ll know that online reviews can either be a blessing or a curse. However, with the right attitude, you’ll come to realise that all reviews can bring something to your ecommerce site. Having an array of reviews displayed on your site can give customers a sense of trust and gives you the opportunity to showcase the ways you’ve tried to amend any customer experiences that have gone awry. It’s worth remembering that a website bursting with nothing but glittering recommendations may not have the impact you’re hoping for, as they can often be viewed as disingenuous or fake. Consider installing plugins from review platforms to keep your reviews in the public eye.
High-Quality Visuals
Whether you’re selling clothing and accessories or electrical components and tools, high-quality visuals are an essential part of any e-commerce site. As humans, we enjoy striking visuals and are drawn to them more than reams of text. High-quality photos and videos can also help you stand out on search engine results.
Final thoughts…
Ensuring your e-commerce site succeeds requires grit, determination and the essentials mentioned here. Update your site today to improve your customer experience.
