When it comes to e-commerce, we all know the rules. Your online store needs to be:
- Easy to navigate
- Accessible from any device
- Thoughtfully designed
- Highly educational
Anything less, and you just might run into trouble and see those bounce rates skyrockets as quickly as your conversion rates nose dive.
For these reasons, your e-commerce store must have a mobile-friendly theme and responsive web design. Customers crave fascinating websites, yes, but fascinating mobile-friendly websites. Businesses with mobile-friendly websites make more sales over businesses whose sites struggle on mobile platforms. According to a study done back in 2017, mobile device usage had already managed to surpass desktop usage.
Some in the e-commerce space argue that a dedicated app is better than a standalone website. While not every customer will make the switch from browser to the app, the technology available to you as an app builder allows you to control the user experience in a way that responsive web design does not currently provide. There’s a bonus, too. With apps, the technology now exists to monitor the way your app performs for your customers nearly effortlessly. A platform called Embrace.io, with backing from such investment giants as The Chernin Group (TCG), was built to give your mobile team access to the user experience on a level that you might go so far as to call: priceless.
Increase Your Customer’s Ability to Search
The thing here is to record and analyze what customers are searching for. If your online store is capable of doing all this, it is good to have effective navigation and clean search capability. You will need to organize your web store for the two main potential customers: those who already know what they would like to buy, and visitors who want to browse. There are so many tactics to get people to your website like display ads, SEO, PPC, affiliate marketing, and more but to categorize those visitors is what separates a good store from a great one.
The customers who understand what they are looking for will want to find the right information as much as possible. It is crucial to design a high-performance search experience-a key feature for the users. It helps to build in reward and incentives for repeat customers, especially as they work their way through your catalog of products and try different ones out on different orders.
A return customer is great, but a loyal customer willing to try all of your products is so much more valuable. If your visitors don’t find what they are looking for, they might end up buying from your competitors. Once you get someone to your store, don’t lose them. Several software products can help you analyze why they leave or offer ways to try and keep them like coupon pop-ups windows, email captures, and on-site click funnels.
Use Quality Photographs and Great Product Descriptions
A good photo will market your products (and Shopify has a great tutorial on how to shoot beautiful photos on the cheap). It attracts more viewers who later emerge as real buyers. Be sure to include beautiful images of the products you are selling to attract the attention of your potential clients. In the e-commerce business, customers mostly rely on two things: customer feedback and product imagery.
The other thing to consider here is the product description. You need to be very clear about why the client may want to buy the product. This should make them consider yours instead of seeking the alternative. Not only is this the text a potential customer is going to be reading, but even more importantly what will be digested by Google or App store crawlers. Your product descriptions are super important for SEO so don’t ignore them.
Not only do you want to get the message across of why your product is great but you want to also blend in keywords to this description to help it gain visibility for other searches. For example, you may sell a bamboo toothbrush in the name of recycling and sustainability. If so, you want to also make sure you include keywords like “biodegradable toothbrushes” to help Google understand that people looking for bamboo and sustainable products could both be customers of your store.
Improve Your Social Media Marketing Strategy
Social media is one of the most effective e-commerce marketing strategies in your arsenal. Your marketing team should be prepared to create content for your e-commerce website, which they should then share on social media. This will help attract a broader audience and when you buy social media ads you can track the views, likes, comments, and length of engagement to really dial in a strategy that provides maximum ROI. Click here to learn more from LifeHacker Guy on identifying his target market and making the most profits on his online businesses.
Visual social networks like Snapchat, Instagram, and Pinterest are some of the best platforms for e-commerce shops. However, don’t underestimate Facebook and Twitter. More than 75% of internet users are on these two leading social media platforms.
Remember that no one size meets all the solutions. Below is a list of the various general guidelines one can always check to ensure that they can create an excellent customer experience from their clients.
- Post something daily.
- Use automated tools to help you maintain your posting schedule.
- Always use images when posting.
- Don’t spam your followers.
- Always engage with customers in the comments section.
- Use analytics to track audience engagement.
There are so many benefits associated with a well-tailored social media campaign. These include:
- Improved customer support. Over 65% of customers use some form of social media.
- A better understanding of your customers’ online behavior.
- Stronger relationships with customers.
- A cost-efficient strategy. Most of these platforms are free and thus give users an excellent opportunity to market their business.
Create Landing Pages
The landing page is not a new strategy for businesses. You’ll need to create a personalized page with a unique copy. This option helps your e-commerce store increase the chances of attracting more customers who are ready to buy. It will also help to improve your customer’s experience.
