If you’re building or revamping your e-commerce website, it’s important to keep several key things in mind.
Some of the top keys include:
Intuitive Navigation
For your site to be effective, it’s extremely important that visitors be able to find their way around it quickly and easily. As you build and design, pay careful attention to menus, navigation bars, social networking buttons, and graphic design. If any of these elements are confusing to visitors, they may go elsewhere to purchase the products they need.
Clear Product Photos
Visitors to your site cannot see the products that you sell in person, so they have to rely on the photos and graphics that you provide. It’s important that these images be as crisp and clear as possible. Avoid strange angles, odd cropping, or excessive editing.
Descriptive Product Copy
The content on your website goes a long way toward selling your products. Spend some time focusing on creating clean, informative copy that visitors can relate to. Be sure to explain why they need your product, how they can use it in their day-to-day life, and exactly what it is and how it differs from competing products. Stay away from outrageous claims or over-the-top salesmanship. Alongside quality photography, descriptive copy will help your business close the sale.
Functional Checkout System
A dysfunctional or confusing checkout system, or one that simply takes too long, will lead to abandoned orders and frustrated customers. Before you take your website live or launch a big sale, take the time to be sure that your checkout system is working well. In addition, check all of your coupon codes and discounts to be sure that they are working correctly. The last thing you need is a glitch in the middle of your big day.
Convincing Call to Action
Last, but most certainly not least, you need a great call to action. Don’t just tell the customer that they need to buy — instead, show them why they need to buy your product and how they’ll be missing out if they don’t. Take the time to clearly demonstrate the benefits to them, so that taking action seems like the next logical step. Make the “Buy” our “Checkout” buttons easy to find by setting them apart visually and putting them in a prominent place.