E-commerce is huge and makes up a good proportion of the UK’s retail turnover. There has been a significant upturn in online trading over the last few years as people have become more familiar with the process, and take more steps to keep themselves secure.
If you have a business and aren’t selling anything online, then you could be missing out. This guide will show you several things you need to think about and get you on the right track. Equally, if you are struggling to get your online sales into good order, then you might find some of this of interest.
User experience
User experience – or UX – is essential to any business wanting to sell products or services online. Why? Because if your website is clunky and unintuitive, people will soon give up trying and go elsewhere to make their purchases. Customers expect a certain level of familiarity with websites, so try not to design anything too wacky – it will damage your sales.
Copy
Excellent, compelling copy is essential for your website. It nudges people into action and gives you better results. Sometimes, it can just be a case of changing a ‘Buy Now’ to a ‘Buy Today’ or vice versa. There is no rulebook, but there are processes you can use. Test every line of copy on your website and make sure it has the desired effect. If it isn’t working, change it until it does. And keep going and refining until you find your customer’s sweet spot.
Support
OK, so you have a lovely looking e-commerce site, and nothing could go wrong. Except because we are talking about technology, it inevitably will. And when it does, who’s going to fix it? If your e-commerce was built with Magento, it would need Magento support. If you built it yourself with a template, however, there could be a problem. You have to have somebody on hand who can help you when things look like they have gone belly u. Not only will you lose sales, but also regular customers. You should never give them the opportunity to go elsewhere.
Knowledge
What do you know about your customers? If you aren’t getting data and building up a picture of them, you won’t be maximising your sales. Sure, you will get their card details and addresses, but you need to know far much more if you want to tailor your website to their needs. Use surveys and email drops to find out what they respond to. Set up a social media page and find out what gets them going and what they talk about. You have to tap into their mindsets if you want to serve them their perfect products. Once you start getting valuable data, you will be able to push their buttons. And as everybody knows, that means more sales.
We hope this has helped. Give us a shout if you have any questions and feel free to leave some tips if you have any!
