You’ve done a great job getting prospective customers on your site and your inventory is ready to fly off the shelves- but that’s only a small part of the job. Here are seven ways to make sure the customers you’ve worked hard to attract are ready to drop some dough on your snazzy products and services!
Super-slick site navigation
If there’s one thing that drives website users around the bend, it’s 404 errors, dead ends and links that go to the wrong place. Switch out those clumsy megamenus for a search bar or use smart design to serve up relevant products without the customer actually having to search for them.
Remember that your e-commerce site will need to work just as well, if not better on mobile, so ensure everything is optimised for smaller screens with ergonomically friendly menus, buttons and links.
Great photography – and video
The online shopping revolution has taken away our ability to get hands-on with products, so make sure there are high-quality photos of whatever it is you sell, from multiple angles. Use galleries and make sure there is a mix of lifestyle and studio shots.
The thing that will really set you apart from the competition, however, is video. Include demonstrations, reviews or even promo material to really show off your stuff and make sure everything is uploaded to YouTube and Vimeo to improve your reach.
The right amount of choice
Amazon is great, but one of the biggest complaints from its users is the mind-boggling amount of choice. There are often 50 versions of a single product, all with different customisations, colours and even delivery options.
If you’ve read The Paradox of Choice by psychologist Barry Schwartzman, you’ll already know that fewer options make for quicker, successful decisions, which is the golden formula in e-commerce. Cut down those product ranges, give customers a choice of maybe three configurations for each product, and simplify things like shipping and returns.
Selling your products on Amazon? Check out this article!
Offer more ways to pay
If you wanted to shop online ‘back in the day’, you’d need a credit card, and then maybe a PayPal account. Now, it’s almost expected for online stores to accept anything, ranging from cold hard cash via card all the way to credit-based payments and even cryptocurrencies.
With budgets tighter than ever before for many people, being able to spread costs could be a deciding factor for purchasing, so consider using a partner or setting up your own system to accept installments or payment plans.
Think FAB
You’ve had this technique done to you before – we guarantee it. Smart salespeople will slowly introduce the product, talking about the features. They may then talk about the advantages that the product offers. Then, they’ll start telling you about the benefits, by which point you should be leaning in, ready to say yes.
This is a great technique and can be easily applied to your product page copy, in your videos and even in your blog posts or external articles. So next time you need to write a product description, just think FAB!
Allow reviews
Did you know that a massive 89% of consumers read reviews, even if they’re on the product’s website, before committing to buy? We don’t really need to say any more here – make sure they’re enabled and actively encourage your customers to leave them. If you’re worried about negative reviews, then you should really be thinking about how your product is landing when people spend their money on it!
Be more than just a storefront
Modern consumers have a lot of options. This means you’ll need to do way more than post a few fancy images to lure your prospects away from the competition.
Consumers like brands that have a story, share their practices and even make a point of showing the people behind the organisation. But they also like brands that are aligned with their hopes, beliefs and views. According to Edelmann’s 2019 Trust Barometer, 64% of consumers now think this way and want to see evidence that brands are doing more than just driving profit.
Start thinking about corporate social responsibility, environmental impact, community interaction, charitable collaboration and ethical practices and put them at the heart of your e-commerce operation – they’re now more important than ever before.
Need further advice on your e-commerce site? Or just want to bounce some cool ideas off an expert? Don’t forget to check out more of our e-commerce and SEO / CRO content, or reach out for a chat!
Alice Baker, Digital Marketing Executive, Sierra Six Media
