The growth of the e-commerce industry has lured more wannabes into the industry. If you are starting up, you must know that your website is the mode of communication with your audience. It is essential to ensure that your e-commerce site adheres to the latest website best practices. The website needs to engage visitors and embark with them on the buyer’s journey. In this article, we will discuss some of the essential features of your website.
1. Research the domain name
It is essential to research your domain name well. The domain name must be unique but relate to your business and is easy to remember. It would help if you did some research to determine whether the domain name is available and not similar to your competitors’ domain.
2. Have distinct CTAs
The web pages must have a call to action button (CTA) to help the visitors decide on their next actions. Your e-commerce website needs to have directed CTAs that includes the offer that is waiting for the visitor once they click onto the tab. The site must have clear CTA buttons at prominent positions on the website with a distinctive color.
3. It must be responsive
Studies show that mobile commerce would control around 73% of e-commerce globally by 2024. It is critical to ensure your website is responsive for all devices to not miss out on your target audience. You may have too many pages but do ensure that all of them are optimized for all devices. Moreover, your responsive website will also gain key search rankings.
4. Clear workflows
A clear workflow is essential for all e-commerce sites as it prevents visitors from searching their way through the website. Studies also show that at least 94% of consumers say that your website must be easy to navigate. Not having a clear navigation path could lead to the visitor abandoning your website prematurely, moving to your competitor and never to return.
5. Use reviews and testimonials
Studies show that customers prefer to go through reviews from third parties before choosing a product. At least 72% of customers will look out for reviews before making a purchase decision. Again, what about negative reviews? Customers view products without negative reviews as ones that are being censored! The trust factor creeps in again. You can also use reviews as content generated by users to improve social footprints.
6. Showing related products
Whenever we visit well-known e-commerce sites, we are always presented with related products. Such tweaks in the marketing of products are known to work wonders as they provide the customers with an added product that they could buy. It gives a stickiness that also increases the average cart value for the company.
7. It must be secure
Your website must be trustworthy and what is better than moving to the HTTPS platform. So, you must buy an SSL certificate from authenticate SSL providers like GlobalSign, CheapSSLShop, and DigiCert to secure the communication with the users. Moreover, as per the PCI-DSS guidelines, an SSL certificate is necessary to carry out transactions through your website. For best result, it would be prudent to procure an EV SSL certificate as it comes with the highest security and authenticity available with an SSL certificate.
8. Keep the deals attractive
When a visitor arrives at the landing page, it is essential to keep them on your website for a longer time. And what more that deals and freebies to ensure they stay. It is why all deals on discounts are used as sliders on the website’s home page. You may link the deals to festivities, weekends, etc. You may also keep the shipping free when the cart value crosses a threshold.
9. Branding products
It is essential to showcase all the brands on your website to the audience. The best offers must be easily accessible by the customer that will lead to better conversion rates. Also, you must display the renowned brands better that will lead to better conversions. If the brand has a wide range of products, you must have a full catalog of the brand segregated by-products’ categories.
10. Utilize commonly used icons
It is vital to draw the visitors’ attention to the tabs that you wish they will access. One of them would be the cart, and you must use the globally acceptable icon. The visitors can directly add items to the cart and access it right away. You must use the commonly used icons in the payment screen. Also, ensure that you allow payment through multiple options.
11. Allow visitors to share products
One of the best ways to ensure your website and the products being sold gains a larger audience is to allow the visitors to share product updates. You must also allow them to share the wishlists, which will also act as an easy method of propagating the products.
12. Ensure optimal page loading speed
Your website must load very fast. Studies show that websites loading within 1-3 seconds could see only about 32% of visitors abandoning the site. You must optimize your site so that it loads readily and improves user engagement.
13. Use high-resolution photos
If you browse through the well-known e-commerce sites, you will find the photo descriptions with high-resolution photos of the products. It will help to attract visitors to the website and improve conversion rates. Adding Instagram photos can also help to improve conversion.
14. Using breadcrumbs
Breadcrumbs can help visitors move to products that they would not otherwise have searched. You can also display products bought by other customers; it could help move the inventory of some other products. It can be used to a great extent in the blog section too.
15. Detailed product descriptions
Your content writers must write clear product descriptions while using keyword optimization to the fullest. It will help the product come up in a keyword search and help the decision-making process for the customer easier.
Conclusion
It is crucial for your e-commerce site to be trustworthy, for which you must procure an EV SSL certificate. The website must also adhere to global best practices, some of which are enlisted in this article. It must help you draw more visitors, embark on the buyer’s journey, and enhance conversion rates.
