Since ecommerce is rapidly growing, services and systems are constantly evolving. It may seem daunting, but you can easily stay abreast of the latest up-dates through your service provider. You can insure a positive fresh impression with a topnotch design that is kept cohesive and strongly branded from the website to the packaging, ads, and e-mails.
With design and technology advancing rapidly, the possibilities in ecommerce for providing customers with the best online experience is constantly evolving. Since it is market-led, you will need to watch your competition to stay ahead of the curve. Your audience will expect the same upgrades and features that your competitors are offering.
In the digital world, there is no time to sit back and get used to things. Ecommerce must be ready to quickly tackle new developments head on. Below are a few key features which you can use right now to optimize your ecommerce.
Ecommerce Content Management Systems (CMS)
Content Management Systems let you host content at your website’s back end. They let you host website pages, blogs, and media banks with videos and photos.
Editorial content and blogs are a very effective way of drawing traffic towards your site.
There are many possibilities. You can share relevant news, share information about new products, and whatever else will draw target customers to view your site.
By using frequently-searched phrases and including links for relevant pages on your site, you can grow your audience and make sure more people will find you. If you are in digital marketing, for example, aside from selling your services to potential clients, you could share tidbits in blogs highlighting your skills and expertise, helping to convert readers into customers.
Since blogs attract information seekers who might have an interest in buying your service or product, consider your customers’ needs and write articles regularly about how your business addresses these challenges. Some websites realize up to a 5 percent sales conversion from their blog posts.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Like content management systems, optimizing SEO is a great way to get a higher rank from search engines, which means discovery by a wider new audience. SEO strategies include using key phrases which are frequently searched, meta tags on your web page’s back end, links to other pages of your website, alt text on images, and external websites which help to increase your domain’s authority. For instance, if a business partner or customer is well-respected, you can connect your site to their authority by adding a link to their website at a relevant point.
Secure, Quick Ecommerce Checkouts
Google Pay, PayPal and other easy-to-use systems of payment increase the likelihood that your customers will make returns. Since many customers might hesitate to store their card information on their computers, a regular checkout process is necessary. Customers who have adapted to financial security advancements will enjoy an instant payment option and remember an easy experience. This gives you an opportunity to add several payment options. The easier the customer finds it to buy from you, the more likely they will return.
Depending on where your business is based, you will need to keep abreast of consumer and data protection regulations as well as on-line commerce regulations in that country to guarantee all payments are protected and legal.
Email Integration
The easiest way to stay in touch with customers is through email marketing. One disadvantage of ecommerce is the loss of in-person interactions which many people enjoy with in-store shopping. Sending out newsletters and emails regularly will help keep you in your customers’ minds. It is also an effective way to update them on your services, new stock, or your seasonal collection. Just don’t overdo it since customers are annoyed by spam and will often unsubscribe.
It’s always positive when new subscribers sign up for your emails, so make sure you are strategic about the content and timing of what you send. Since subscribing shows loyalty and investment in your brand, these customers are interested in promotions and news. Take advantage of this opportunity by helping them to feel like part of your community instead of concentrating too much on sales. This strategy will help maintain their interest and motivate them to recommend your brand to their friends.
Discount and Promo Codes
One benefit ecommerce has over shopping in-store is the ability to offer promotions and discount codes to anyone and entice new customers to visit your site. It’s useful in attracting customers who might have shopped at a competitor’s site otherwise. You can also use discount codes and private promotions to reward your loyal customers.
Stores can have sales and run promotions also, of course. However, discount codes online are often shared with networks and friend groups which might result in a first purchase from someone who was completely unfamiliar with your business beforehand.
Website Reporting
Updating the layout and design of your website can be beneficial for increasing ecommerce sales. However, you will not be able to determine what you are doing correctly, and what is not working very well without reporting.
Reporting systems such as Google Analytics which are in-built or external programs you can purchase, such as SEMrush, will assist you in analyzing the traffic visiting your site. It will tell you where they are coming from, where in the site they are navigating, and where in the site is their most likely drop off point. These tools are helpful for comparing sales and traffic year-over-year, month-to-month, and week-over-week in order to analyze dips, spikes, and patterns in engagement.
This data assists you in understanding where to best advertise to attract new customers, and what improvements to your site would help retain visitors. For instance, if you realize that sales and traffic drop in the summer when people may be on vacation, you could consider ways of better targeting the audiences that still visit the site during this time. You can also capitalize on a spike in traffic you have noticed during a certain event by preparing to maximize the boost the next time.
Ever-Evolving Updates
Ecommerce makes scaling your company and your branding easier, as well as adding new website features. Staying abreast of new features consumers are seeking such as speedy checkout options, web designs that make navigation easier, and chatbots that automatically answer questions make users’ experiences as enjoyable and easy as possible. Since ecommerce software tools and website providers usually provide notifications and tutorials on new updates and features, you can be among the first adapters.
Recent features that help businesses to boost sales include popups on websites offering discounts on newsletter subscriptions, algorithms showing users similar items they may be interested in on the bottom of product pages they visit, as well as Instagram Shopping which lets retailers link Instagram posts to product offerings on their site. It may sound insignificant, but these features help customers find and navigate around your website more easily. It also informs them of benefits and offers they may not be aware of.
