It would seem that online sales are so widespread and popular that there should already be clear strategies to guarantee a successful business. And they certainly exist and work. Scaling and development strategies; competition; cost planning and logistics strategies – the owner of an online store only needs to learn them and apply them. However, the theories of online sales, as is often the case with any theories, do not always coincide with practice. Online store owners make “standard” mistakes time after time. Each of them is not so critical, but the cumulative errors can significantly reduce the sales conversion.
It is well-known that learning from mistakes made by others is much cheaper than learning from your own mistakes. Here are a few recommendations which, if followed, will help you to avoid unfortunate mistakes.
Usability of the online store
In simple words, the usability of a website is its convenience for the user. The principle here is simple: everything the potential customer may need on the site, he should be able to quickly find.
The designer’s job is precisely to make the site intuitive. How the site is visually beautiful, of course, also matters. But we should not get carried away with chips and gimmicks, especially if they interfere with the main thing. That is the online sales.
All the important icons should be visible at once. If the button “buy” needs to look for eyes, you can be sure the user will not look for it. He’ll go to the site of the store where the button is visible.
Security
Do not forget to tell the client what he expects from the online store. Information about warranties, the possibility of a refund within a certain period, the security of payments should be in plain sight. And, of course, must correspond to reality.
All this works for you, increasing customer loyalty. There are no minutiae in business, and your reputation is made up of nuances.
For acquiring services, apply only to proven providers with a good reputation. This way you will avoid problems with payments.
Help your client
No one likes to fill a lot of items and boxes with information about yourself. Nevertheless, the customer needs to enter such information on the store’s site. So use the auto-fill forms feature wherever you can do it without compromising security. The buyer will feel your care if he doesn’t have to enter contact information, delivery address, and other similar information every time.
Increase customer loyalty and the ability to pay “in one click” when there is no need to enter payment information every time you make a purchase.
Seamless shopping” cannot be overlooked. Such purchases are made quickly and easily. Seamless shopping is when the customer chose a product from his smartphone on the way home and placed the order from his laptop at home. To ask a question about the product or delivery, he wrote not in the form on the site, but in the store’s account on Instagram. The easier and more convenient it is for the customer, the fewer “seams” he will notice during the checkout process, the more he will like your store, the more likely he is to come back to you again.
Do not deprive the customer of the opportunity to place an order without registration. For the seller, registration is, of course, preferable. By registering, the customer becomes a kind of “his” rather than an occasional one-time customer. But do not impose on him the need to register, leave the choice.
Much better would be to inform that registered customers can take advantage of discounts and promotions, and other useful bonuses. Interest the customer, and he will register of his own volition.
But remember that the customer came to the site to buy what he needs quickly and safely. And not to come up with a password, follow a link from his email to confirm the address, and perform other similar actions required when registering.
Redirects are bad
If your online store page has been redirected to another site, the customer will not like it. More links – fewer sales. Keep this in mind.
Related products
If a person buys a laptop, they’re likely to need a bag for it, too. A buyer of a light fixture will probably need a spare light bulb, too. And so on. Online sales conversion can be greatly improved by offering related products to the buyer.
Use markers like “Along with this product buy…”, “Recommended products”, “You may also need…”. Most importantly, do it unobtrusively. No one likes aggressive or intrusive marketing.
Be in touch.
A buyer may need to contact a salesperson with a question for a variety of reasons. Therefore, be ready to quickly and expertly answer any question from the customer. About the qualities and characteristics of the product, about the peculiarities of delivery, about ordering and payment.
The more feedback channels you offer to the customer, the better. Phone? Please call! Messengers? Certainly! Social media? Of course, we’re on FB, please write! E-mail? Here’s our address!
There’s nothing magical about these recommendations. It’s not secret knowledge or revelations. These are common things that will help you increase your sales conversion rate. If you ignore these recommendations, you will join the ranks of those who “made a mistake. It seems to us that it is much more profitable to become someone who learns from other people’s mistakes rather than from your own!