2019 is here and we all are loaded with fun and excitement. But, do all the eCommerce store owners are really prepared enough to welcome the coming year and all the opportunities with it? In this challenging eCommerce industry, the only way to stand out from the rest is by providing a top-notch customer experience. Well, the major reason behind raising this question is the upcoming technical advancements and trends which would directly impact your eCommerce sale and revenue. With the rising competition in the eCommerce industry, looking out for new trends and their benefits is the best way to expand your business. You all would agree with me that customer experience is the top priority for the growth of any eCommerce store.
It plays a vital role in differentiating your business and keeping you stand out from the rest. So, in this article, I would share some best eCommerce practices which would surely help you in keeping your customers happy and improve your sales consistently.
10 best practices to improve the sale of your eCommerce industry in 2019:
1. Make your website trustworthy:
Most customers won’t know what your brand is all about. Brand recognition is one of the effective approaches to lure the users to your store. There are many websites out there with the same features as of yours. So, you have to be professional in making your website more respectful and trustworthy for the customers. The trust level can also be elevated by making positive press coverage and adding suggestions like reviews/testimonials etc.
2. Attractive and detailed images!
Images of any product are also important with customer reviews or product descriptions. That’s why it’s essential to choose the most attractive images to grab the customer’s attention. And for that, you can create your own content instead of relying on third party images. It improves your conversion rate drastically.
3. Cover FAQs for every possible query!
Since it is not possible to answer each and every query of all the customers physically. So, the better approach is to keep some FAQs on your website and let the users get every possible support from your end. With FAQ’s the customers could solve minor issues by themselves and it even makes your website shopping friendly as well.
4. Live chat support for direct assistance!
FAQs are important to solve the users’ minor queries, but, there are cases when the store owner have to solve the issue by yourself. So, our next practice is to create customer valued personalized interactions in the form of chats and calls. Customers are more satisfied with the store providing instant support and always prefers them. By providing chat option on your eCommerce website, you allow your visitors to ask queries related with products directly from you. Instant user support paints you as a professional among the users.
5. Improve your website loading speed!
If your website takes time to load, this could affect you in loss of sales. The slow loading website frustrates the customers and he/she ultimately ends up in leaving the website. Your website loading time is the deciding factor for your professionalism and reliability. As per Statista, 73 percent of mobile users in China expect websites to load in 3 seconds or less. A single second delay could lead to decreasing the conversion rate of the website. It can potentially cost a $100,000 per day eCommerce site to lose $2.5 million in sales every year. So, you should work on the loading speed of your website, if required.
6. Scarcity has its own perks!
Customers hop on the things that are hard to find and are exclusive. The scarcity of things makes them more valuable. This is why creating scarcity or urgency of the product or service, tends to be one of the most effective conversion optimization strategies. The sense of scarcity encourages your customers to buy that product at that instant of time. Often “Selling Out!” is highlighted to get the users to buy faster.
7. Provide Free Shipping!
Free shipping is a blessing. If we believe Statista, 73 percent of respondents stated that free delivery greatly impacts their decision to purchase an item online. Shipping charges are the top reason behind cart abandonment as customers don’t want to pay delivery charges. So try to provide free shipping and grab the maximum leads.
8. Make the products search more seamless!
There are customers who visit your online store because they already know what they want to buy. But many of them have no idea and for them, product filters are important as the users might need to see what’s new in trend and what could be more suitable for them. Filter option helps visitors focus on the items that they really wish to buy. So keeping everything clutter-free could help you in increasing your online sales.
9. Detailed product descriptions!
Product descriptions are also important as complete detail can lead to the sky-high conversion rate of your website. So it’s better to explain your product in detail to avoid exchange and returns after purchase. Giving a description of your product will increase its value to your customers, thus encouraging higher conversion rates.
10. Keep the checkout page simple!
According to Statista, 69.23 percent of digital shopping carts and baskets were abandoned in the year 2017 and the purchase was not completed. Many a time it is because of a complicated checkout process. You can reduce your cart abandonment rate by making the check out process easier for the customer. You can apply PrestaShop one page checkout addon on your eCommerce store.
Conclusion:
Although there are various other eCommerce practices that should also be considered by entrepreneurs, However, if you incorporate these above-mentioned practices, your web store will begin to experience profitable results.