If you own or run an eCommerce store online, there are many ways in which you can make the experience of visiting and using your store an exceptional one for your prospects and customers. If you do, you will accrue many benefits, including increased sales and revenue, more repeat buyers, and it could even improve your rankings on Google as customers share their great experience with others online and link back to your store.
The number one priority must be to ensure that the products that you sell from your eCommerce store are top quality. There is little point in getting everything else 100% right if what you are selling is sub-standard. Beyond that objective, here are 7 other ways you can make the customer experience in your eCommerce store better than what your competition offers their visitors.
Make Navigation Throughout Your Store Easy
One of the quickest ways to annoy and lose a potential customer is if the navigation within your eCommerce is difficult and confusing. You want it to be as easy to browse your store as it would be in a store in a shopping mall. Categorise and group like products, provide links in each description to specific pages, and always provide a way for visitors to return to the main store page.
Use Only Top Quality Images
In a real store, customers can touch, feel, and see products up close, so an online store is at somewhat of a disadvantage. You can overcome that by ensuring that every product image you publish is of the highest quality. You should try avoiding generic or stock images that other store owners are using. Make your store and your product descriptions unique by taking high-quality product photos of your own.
Provide Clear And Interesting Product Descriptions
You will only sell a product if someone is satisfied that it is what they need and want. One of the key ways to move them in that direction is to have product descriptions that truly sell the merits and the benefits of the product. Do not talk about product features but instead about how the product will benefit the person reading that product description.
Facilitate Fast Shipping
Bear in mind you are competing against all online eCommerce stores, including to some extent Amazon with its next-day delivery for Prime members and free delivery. If your margins can withstand it then certainly offer free delivery, but if not, at the very least have your logistics in place so that you can offer your customers fast delivery within as few days as possible.
Make The Checkout Process Quick And Easy
More sales are lost at the last hurdle, aka the checkout page, than any other. To avoid this hugely frustrating problem, make sure that your checkout process is straightforward. If that means purchasing a better check out system than you currently have, then the increased sales conversions will provide a return on that investment.
Provide Top Class Customer Service
We should not have to include this, but unfortunately, there are eCommerce storeowners who see customer service as a burden rather than an integral part of the success of their business. Whichever customer service tools and methods you use, make sure they provide visitors to your store the level of customer service they expect. The more you invest in customer service the greater the returns.
Ensure That You Keep Personal Data Safe And Secure
You should be aware that if a customer feels their data and personal information are not safe in your eCommerce store, they will be out of there before you can say ‘hacker’. You must ensure that you have the correct level of security and safeguards to prevent cyber attacks on your store, not just because is required of you, but to further augment the positive experience you are providing for visitors to your store.