Whichever way you look at it, the subject of improving an ecommerce site is pretty much the same subject as improving sales on conversions. After all, the primary measure of your site is how successful it is in terms of conversions therefore all improvements will inherently be geared towards maximising sales.
Even as a relative newcomer to the world of ecommerce, the good news is that there is plenty you can do to improve the performance and success of your own retail website. There’s a time and a place to call in the professionals, but if you are looking for a DIY solution to help push things in the right direction, the following five tips should come in handy:
1 – Remove Dead Ends
If you do not already have these in use, it is imperative that you introduce as many links or buttons as necessary to allow your customers to ‘continue shopping’. There is often nothing more infuriating for a customer than finding themselves at something of a dead end where they want to go back to what it was they were looking at before but in fact have little choice other than to click back to the home page and start again.
2 – Upsell Similar Items
Also considered absolutely mandatory by the world’s leading ecommerce gurus is the practice of upselling similar items each and every time a purchase is made and perhaps even when search results are listed. The simple fact of the matter is that when a customer expresses interest in any given products, you are effectively armed with solid gold information with regard to what they are interested in. So, why not take the opportunity to show them a few other things they may be interested in?
3 – Star Ratings and Reviews
There is really nothing more reassuring in the eyes of the average consumer than a product accompanied by a genuine five-star rating and the recommendation of dozens of other customers. As such, given the fact that this kind of promotional material is 100% free of charge, it is in your best interests to begin using it and using it comprehensively from the earliest possible stage.
4 – Guest Purchases
Of course you want to increase your database of members to the largest possible extent, but you should never overlook the value of what could be a huge target audience that simply isn’t willing to sign up. If you make it possible to buy things without the shopper having to sign up first, you exponentially increases the likelihood of profiting from impulse sales. By contrast, making everyone sign up before they make a purchase is one of the biggest turnoffs in online retail and should really be ousted entirely.
5 – Navigation and Search
Last but not least, don’t forget that two of the most important assets of your site as a whole are its navigation and search functions. It isn’t as if any customer is likely to go through every single page of your website in order to find something of interest to them – pretty much every single visitor will make a beeline at for your search and navigation functions. Suffice to say therefore, there is no such thing as investing too much time and effort in creating effective and flawless search and navigation systems as these will play the most enormous role in your site’s success or otherwise.
