7 Key Factors for Success in E-Commerce
It’s become one of the most lucrative ways to sell in the contemporary era: online.
Despite how much it has impressed in the past few years, e-commerce is an area that’s only expected to keep growing and growing. With so many online customers all around the world, the unmet demand only keeps rising.
As more and more businesses come to understand the importance of accessing the online market, many have permanently shuttered their retail storefronts to switch to online platforms.
But another way of putting this is that it’s a tough world out there, with so much competition between e-com businesses. How can you promote your brand and achieve cut-through to your target audience?
When it comes to choosing the right business plans for success in e-com, here are the top tools we recommend to have in your toolkit.
Your Website Is Your New Storefront
Just as there is an art to creating an appealing storefront, the same goes for your website. As the main way to connect with potential customers, the user interface (UI) of your website has a critical impact on whether someone browsing will stay, leave or come back.
What does this mean in a practical sense? No matter the latest social media trends, for each person who visits your website, it should be obvious what kind of product range you sell and how they can buy it. Make sure customers can easily view all of your products and services by presenting them in an acceptable and organised manner.
Any obvious questions they might have, such as about where you source your materials or info about the shipping, should be easy to find.
Make It Easy to Get Around
People often leave websites because they can’t find their way around them. If people have to spend ten minutes learning how to use your website before making a purchase, you’re losing sales.
The navigation should be straightforward and easy. Follow all the standard rules about how to build websites. If you click on the logo, does it take you back to the home page, just like every other website does?
No aspect of moving around your website should be confusing to someone who is thinking of purchasing your products and services.
Keep It Secure, Stupid
Keep the security of your e-commerce business up to date. Purchase an SSL certificate to encrypt all of the data sent between your customers’ browsers and the web server where your website is hosted.
Confused as to what this means? It just means you’re safeguarding sensitive client data, both personal details and payment information.
There are several different kinds of SSL certificates on the market, such as single domain, Wildcard, SAN and EV. Which one you choose will depend on the needs of your website.
Not only does that help to keep your customer data safe – and prevent any dreaded PR nightmare – but it also means your e-commerce business is abiding by Google’s rules. As the largest search engine, this can help to boost your SEO and, therefore, the volume of your online traffic.
Make It Convenient to Pay
Make sure your e-commerce business offers several payment methods. Payment shouldn’t only be reliable and secure, but convenient, too.
If someone doesn’t want to pay in one way, make sure your e-commerce business offers the payment method they want. From online card transactions to PayPal to Buy Now Pay Later, there are plenty of options to pick from.
If you notice any customer reviews about payment options, make sure you act on them.
Hassle-Free Check-Out
Make the check-out process of your e-commerce business as easy as possible. As check-out is when customers are at their most vulnerable, you have to make sure that nothing stops them from closing the purchase.
Each step of the purchase process should be simple. Make sure there’s nothing strange or out of place, such as redirecting links. It’s all about credibility and focus.
Take advice from your customer reviews and customer feedback on making the check-out process as seamless as possible.
Tailor the Web Experience
In this day and age, your target audience expects you to already know what they want and need. If they’ve got a product on their mind, they want you to already promote your brand at competitive prices and with fast shipping.
So if you’ve got an e-commerce business that seems to always have what they want on offer, it’s a winning strategy to keep on converting sales.
Make sure you’re tailoring your customers’ digital experiences according to their demographics and other information about what kind of people your target audience is.
This means both your digital advertising and your web experience should reflect the kind of person who’s doing the shopping.
Tailor Your Content, Too
The content you create is essential for navigating social media trends, generating leads and driving revenue.
For some types of purchases, people need to know more about the quality of your product or about how your industry works before they feel confident enough to go ahead and buy.
It’s important to use unique, quality material that is tailored to social media trends as well as the demands of your target audience.
Having the right content that speaks to your target audience will also reward you in another way, as it’ll rank higher on search engines such as Google.
How to Grow an e-Commerce Business
Are your business plans ready for the rise in competition that’s expected in e-commerce?
Putting the ideas in this blog will put your business plans off to a good start. But there’s more to it than that.
With all the e-com and social media trends, are you unsure how your e-commerce business can keep up with the rapid pace of change in the industry? Then talk with the professionals at First Page about how to promote your brand.
We’ll help you realise the full value of your e-commerce business and blow the competition out of the water.
We know what it takes to get amazing outcomes for any social media trends for both large and small businesses.
To make sure your e-commerce business has all you need to get those sales numbers rolling, reach out to our team today.
