If you look at sites like eBay, Amazon and Alibaba, there’s a lot of notes to take that you can apply to your own ecommerce site. They have great interfaces, great usability, and great customer support. And if you’re wondering how you can scale that to your own site, then RepricerExpress has seven ways to do so.
1. Pick the Right Platform for Your Needs
If you’re super low on time and/or don’t want to invest the skills into major upkeep, a platform like Squarespace can be a good pick. If you’re looking for a platform where you get free rein over everything, then something, like coding your own site on Sublime Text and uploading it to a domain hoster, is probably a better bet. And if you’re looking for something in between, then WordPress might be something to look at.
Whatever platform you go with, ask yourself the following questions to find the best fit:
- What kind of budget am I working with?
- What kind of user support does the platform offer?
- Does the platform offer its own widgets for processing transactions, or can I use/import my own?
- What fees and transaction rates do I have to pay?
- How much does the platform support what I’ll be selling?
- What stores features do I absolutely need, and which ones can I do without?
The more questions you can put down on your list, the better able you’ll be to find a platform that fits.
2. Make User Experience Your Number One Priority
One thing that can kill your site the fastest is a horrible user experience. If buyers can’t navigate your site easily or find what they’re looking for, they’re not going to come back a second time. There are simply too many sites available that people aren’t going to waste their time on something that’s not easy and intuitive to use.
To that end, remember the three S’s.
- Style: You have two options here — learn the graphic design/coding skills necessary to do things yourself, or hire someone talented to do it for you. Either way, you’ll want your site to have a clean, visually appealing look that’s consistent from page to page.
- Speed: No matter if you’re doing the code or using a ‘plug-and-play’ site, speed is of the essence. No user wants to visit a site and be plagued by lengthy wait times every time they click on something. If you’re coding, employ best practices like putting the Javascript at the bottom or use multi-threading for really intensive code. If you’re not, evaluate each widget you use so you don’t overload the site and how much time it takes to load everything.
- Security: An SSL certificate should be a must on your site so you can convey safety and security to your users. Other badges and certificates are also good for that end, as the more secure you can present your site, the safer and more willing people will be in putting their personal and payment details on your site.
3. Design Your Site for Mobile First
With more and more users shopping on smartphones and tablets, designing your site to look good on those devices can attract you more shoppers. There are plenty of apps and widgets out there to help you with that, so there’s no excuse for not having your site look good and be usable on a small screen.
And if you run a brick-and-mortar store along with your ecommerce site, then keeping both consistent with each other is also key. This means making sure your online inventory reflects what you have in-store, using the same branding on both, and making clear things like prices, policies and presentation.
4. Regularly Evaluate Your Metrics in an Efficient Way
The thing about collecting data is it’s only useful if you know what to look for and how to use it. And your main goal in gathering data should be to look for trends. Examine things like what items are most popular (or if bundling works better for slower-moving products), how people prefer to pay, when and how prices fluctuate, where they prefer to buy (online or off), and what times of year are hot for certain products/categories.
The great thing about data is you can take advantage of built-in functions or widgets to do it for you. They’ll look at the numbers and collate them in ways that make sense for you, saving you time and energy. And you can set them up for whatever time periods you need to see how trends develop over time.
5. Narrow the Focus on Your Advertising
If you sell clothing, then divide your advertising to be targeted specifically for women or men or children or teens. This is a far better approach than having a one-size-fits-all policy that can leave buyers scratching their heads over what they’re supposed to find appealing for them. Just don’t get too deep into this or you’ll fall down the rabbit hole and waste time instead of using it efficiently.
6. Treat Your Customers Like People and Not Dollar Signs
This one shouldn’t be a strategy that keeps getting mentioned as shop owners should have this ingrained in them, but they don’t so it is. It’s really simple: address shoppers by their names in emails (as opposed to ‘Dear customer’), offer relevant specials to users based on their locations, keep things simple for your buyers so they have an easy experience, and actually listen to feedback that buyers leave and consider seriously if it’s worth implementing.
7. Treat Abandoned Carts as a Second Chance for a Sale
Too many buyers look at abandoned shopping carts as the person simply changing their mind and there not being anything they (the seller) can do about it.
That kind of thinking means you lose out on plenty of potential sales, as it’s a clear sign something you did (or didn’t do) turned the buyer off enough that they didn’t want to complete the sale. And if you can read between the lines and apply changes to your site/user experience, then you have a chance at regaining those lost sales.
The tricky thing about this is the subtlety. It’s not always explicitly clear what went wrong, but it’s usually one of the following:
- There were too many steps in between selecting an item and paying for it
- The actual payment process was too complicated
- There might be too few payment options
- There are little surprises at the end, like an unwelcome shipping cost that wasn’t initially mentioned or being forced to sign up before being able to complete the purchase
Use one of the many third-party options available to message the buyer back (if possible) and remind them of why shopping with you is an awesome experience.
Final Thoughts
One practice you should always be using is automated repricing. No cost ever stays the same, and using a repricing program like RepricerExpress can be vital to your shop’s health. When you sign up right now, you start off with the first 15 days totally free (no credit card required). Plus, use the promo code BLACKFRIDAY10 and get 10% off your first month’s bill.
I hope you have a great Thanksgiving and that your sales are strong over the next week!
