The statistics are conclusive. 57% of internet users globally purchase a product or service online in an average week*. And there are 4.5 billion internet users in the world. That’s an awful lot of online shopping.
Many businesses are switching on to the idea that their products or services have to be available to buy online. Whether it’s setting up an attractive online store with an inventory of products, accepting online payment for services or setting up a membership group to create a recurring revenue stream, your website can work 24/7 to bring you revenue.
But it’s important to get it right. There are some good website plugins available, such as WooCommerce, which make building your online shop front easier. However, as always, it’s easy to make mistakes and fall into bad habits.
3 top tips for e-commerce
Whether you’re about to get started or have an existing store, here are our 3 top tips for e-commerce:
- Store Navigation: Make it easy for customers to find what they are looking for. Set up your categories in a logical fashion and be consistent. routeToWeb was recently called in to sort out an online shop which had grown out of control over the years – different labels and the interchange of and/& over the years had led to multiple instances of the same category (A&B. A and B, a&b, B & A etc). Look at your store with a fresh eye.
- Consider Live Chat: Live Chat used to be a novelty or a “nice to have”. Today, over 40% of consumers expect to see Live Chat on your website**, increasing to 50% for mobile users. Implementing Live Chat has been shown to increase customer loyalty and revenue – and it doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive to implement. This channel can be kept in house or outsourced to a specialist company who will get to know your business and provide prompt responses.
- Look at your load time: One thing guaranteed to put off an online shopper is having to wait for screens to load. Browsing products becomes a painful experience on a slow website – and most potential customers will give up. There are 3 key elements to consider.
Hosting
A good, dedicated server (such as routeToWeb’s hosting service) will give a great platform for a speedy experience. An off-the-shelf solution may slow you down. Check the speed of your web pages using an online tool such as Pingdom (https://tools.pingdom.com/) and compare it with your competition.
Eliminate redundant code
Templated websites try to cater for many different types of business. This means that they include code that you will never use or need. Eliminating this redundant code will speed up your site and improve the customer experience.
Optimise your images
Images take time to load. If you have multiple photos on a single page in your shop, each one has to load. Optimising your image size means getting the balance right between file size (pixels) and quality. A photo from your phone or camera may be 4,000 x 3,000 pixels. If you upload this into a display which requires 400 x 300 pixels, you file is 100 times too large! The more images you have, the more important optimisation becomes.
Big business
E-commerce is big business and the UK spends more online per person than any other country except Thailand and China. In these uncertain times, selling your products or services online can add an extra revenue stream and an extra layer of resilience to your business.
routeToWeb specialises in helping website owners to implement and make the most of e-commerce.
From the Content, E-commerce & Monetisation categories Optimise product descriptions
For e-commerce sites, optimise product descriptions with clear, compelling language. Highlight key features and benefits to encourage conversions and provide a positive shopping experience.
