So, you are not getting the expected profits from your online store.
And that thing might be bothering you hard despite having great products and a catchy name.
Well, many things might be hurting the success of your e-commerce site. May be your online store doesn’t come in the ranking. Maybe the navigation is poor. Maybe there are some issues with transparency. The list might be long if you dig your website deeper. And keep in mind that selling great products won’t make you a successful store.
Did you know that 37% of an online store just fails because of their poor online marketing? The lack of online visibility and poor customer support make up for 35% and 16% respectively.
Keeping all things in mind, here is a rundown of important factors you need to work to determine the success of your online store.
SEO:
The Internet is full of craps or misguiding articles titled “SEO is dead” or “SEO is gone”. But SEO is here to stay forever. It is basic yet important part of online marketing. It brings your customers and boosts your brand’s visibility if done correctly. However, it also requires you to fine-tune your SEO from time to time. It is not something that you set or forget.
Here are some steps to work over your e-commerce SEO:
- Choose the right keywords as well as their semantic version.
- Write compelling product’s descriptions.
- Optimize your product images as well as URLs
- Work over E.A.T guidelines.
Transparency:
The ever increasing online scams have made many online users suspicious about many digital things, and online shopping is one of them.
Therefore, make sure to keep your information transparent across the site. For example, most websites don’t show their contact address. The contact address along with email address and phone number should be available at the bottom or top of every page on your site.
Be clear about your charges. Inform your customers that you charge extra for shipping or handling.
User Experience:
How do users feel on your e-commerce website? Can they easily find the things they are looking for? This is what user experience is all about.
Here are some tips to improve your customer’s user experience with your online store:
- If you sell only specific-category products, mention that clearly on a homepage.
- Keep the contact forms in access.
- CTAs like “BUY NOW”, “CANCEL ORDER”, and “ADD TO BAG” should be visible.
- Virtual Assistance can be added to improve your customer support.
(This furniture’s website visibly shows their category, thereby improving user’s experience with them.)
- Make it mobile responsive.
Social Media Optimization:
Social media platforms are really useful to increase customer’s engagement in your store. There are billions of social media users across the world while the average spending time is 2 hours 15 minutes a day. No wonder why social media outlets are a huge driver of traffic to any website. To reinforce your social media pages, you need to ponder over what content to be posted over what channel. Here’s how…
- Use Live Video Mode on Facebook
- Link to Messenger from your e-commerce site
- Start using shoppable posts on Instagram and work over IGTV
- Use “Shop the Look” pins from Pinterest.
Blogs for Support and Guidance:
Blogs are cost-effective ways to increase traffic to your online store as well as guiding your customers. Good thing is that you don’t need to be a professional writer for blogging. You can create photo blogging for your visually appealing products. If you are selling food or kitchen items, post about recipes. If you don’t have an idea, you can your competitor’s blogs for inspiration. Make sure to guide customers on the products and associated applications with your blogs.
For example, this furniture store in the following image has curated blogs to educate its customers.
Product Reviews:
Product reviews can either drive customers to buy a product or discourage them from buying. One thing is for sure—they help the customers to determine the quality of a product at your online store. After all, those rhetoric slogans and big promises are not enough to convince the buyers. They are likely to know what other users think about the product.
What would you prefer, a product with 3 reviews or a product with 440 reviews? The latter will encourage the customers to buy the product.
Last But Not Least—Customer Support:
No matter how good products you have or how efficient your UX is, you can’t sideline the importance of good customer support. Efficient customer service can maintain the customer’s trust in your business. It is one of the ways to win over your customer’s heart.
So you must have understood the important factors that can make a difference in the success of your online store. And these factors will ensure your success and help you stay competitive.
What do you think? Let us know by commenting below!
